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3,100 | Main Types of Neural Networks and its Applications — Tutorial | Main Types of Neural Networks and its Applications — Tutorial
A tutorial on the main types of neural networks and their applications to real-world challenges.
Author(s): Pratik Shukla, Roberto Iriondo
Last updated, August 11, 2020
Nowadays, there are many types of neural networks in deep learning which are used for different purposes. In this article, we will go through the most used topologies in neural networks, briefly introduce how they work, along with some of their applications to real-world challenges.
Figure 2: The perceptron: a probabilistic model for information storage and organization in the brain [3] | Source: Frank Rosenblat’s Mark I Perceptron at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory. Buffalo, New York, 1960 [4]
📚 This article is our third tutorial on neural networks, to start with our first one, check out neural networks from scratch with Python code and math in detail. 📚
Neural Network Topologies
Figure 3: Representation of the perceptron (p).
1. Perceptron (P):
The perceptron model is also known as a single-layer neural network. This neural net contains only two layers:
Input Layer
Output Layer
In this type of neural network, there are no hidden layers. It takes an input and calculates the weighted input for each node. Afterward, it uses an activation function (mostly a sigmoid function) for classification purposes.
Applications: | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/main-types-of-neural-networks-and-its-applications-tutorial-734480d7ec8e | ['Towards Ai Team'] | 2020-08-28 03:20:07.638000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Education', 'Innovation', 'Science', 'Technology'] | Title Main Types Neural Networks Applications — TutorialContent Main Types Neural Networks Applications — Tutorial tutorial main type neural network application realworld challenge Authors Pratik Shukla Roberto Iriondo Last updated August 11 2020 Nowadays many type neural network deep learning used different purpose article go used topology neural network briefly introduce work along application realworld challenge Figure 2 perceptron probabilistic model information storage organization brain 3 Source Frank Rosenblat’s Mark Perceptron Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory Buffalo New York 1960 4 📚 article third tutorial neural network start first one check neural network scratch Python code math detail 📚 Neural Network Topologies Figure 3 Representation perceptron p 1 Perceptron P perceptron model also known singlelayer neural network neural net contains two layer Input Layer Output Layer type neural network hidden layer take input calculates weighted input node Afterward us activation function mostly sigmoid function classification purpose ApplicationsTags Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Science Technology |
3,101 | Babylon.js TypeScript Project Setup for the Impatient | Photo by Jusdevoyage on Unsplash
Quick Start
It requires some proper setup to start a babylon.js project in TypeScript. The easy way is to clone a template from GitHub. I made one here:
After unzip and name it as you like, open the folder with VS Code. Run the following under Terminal.
npm install
npm run build
npm run watch
You can right-click on index.html to Open with Live Server, and start coding and testing. TypeScript will rebuild automatically when you save the file.
This is really what you need to start a TypeScript project in Babylon JS. I highly recommend TypeScript, as you can have a much better experience in comparison with JavaScript.
If you are curious about how exact a TypeScript project is set up, you can continue reading the rest of the article.
Behind the Scene
Project Setup
You should have npm set up already. If not, go to the official site to install it.
Create a folder for the project. Open the folder with Visual Studio Code.
In Code, [Terminal] -> [New Terminal]
npm init
npm install --save-dev typescript webpack ts-loader webpack-cli
npm install --save babylonjs@preview babylonjs-loaders@preview babylonjs-gui@preview
Create a file called webpack.config.js
Create tsconfig.json
The file of package.json is generated automatically by npm. Add 2 lines under scripts.
"scripts": {
"build": "webpack",
"watch": "webpack -w",
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},
Writing index.html and Typescript code
A very basic index.html.
Create a folder called src for typescript programs. This is where you do actual coding. Create a file called app.ts under this folder. (This is defined under entry section in webpack.config.js)
You can write your scene under app.ts.
To build
npm run build
To automate the process of building, you can do
npm run watch
To see the result, open index.html with a local server.
Voila. Enjoy Babylon JS and TypeScript. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/babylon-js-typescript-project-setup-for-the-impatient-d8c71b4a57ad | ['Sean Zhai'] | 2020-08-25 19:04:11.149000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Game Development', 'Visualization', 'Typescript', 'Babylonjs'] | Title Babylonjs TypeScript Project Setup ImpatientContent Photo Jusdevoyage Unsplash Quick Start requires proper setup start babylonjs project TypeScript easy way clone template GitHub made one unzip name like open folder VS Code Run following Terminal npm install npm run build npm run watch rightclick indexhtml Open Live Server start coding testing TypeScript rebuild automatically save file really need start TypeScript project Babylon JS highly recommend TypeScript much better experience comparison JavaScript curious exact TypeScript project set continue reading rest article Behind Scene Project Setup npm set already go official site install Create folder project Open folder Visual Studio Code Code Terminal New Terminal npm init npm install savedev typescript webpack tsloader webpackcli npm install save babylonjspreview babylonjsloaderspreview babylonjsguipreview Create file called webpackconfigjs Create tsconfigjson file packagejson generated automatically npm Add 2 line script script build webpack watch webpack w test echo Error test specified exit 1 Writing indexhtml Typescript code basic indexhtml Create folder called src typescript program actual coding Create file called appts folder defined entry section webpackconfigjs write scene appts build npm run build automate process building npm run watch see result open indexhtml local server Voila Enjoy Babylon JS TypeScriptTags Programming Game Development Visualization Typescript Babylonjs |
3,102 | You Always Deserve a $6 Cup of Coffee | You Always Deserve a $6 Cup of Coffee
You hold the key to happiness in your hand.
Photo by Fahmi Fakhrudin on Unsplash
I took on an internship at a tech startup during my senior year of college.
I didn’t have any business working at a tech company, but I needed to log 120 internship hours to graduate. What a deal right?
I interviewed in a building about 20 minutes from campus, and in my haste, I accepted the position on the spot.
For 13 weeks, I got a taste of the post-grad work life. And like a real working adult, I was always rushing to get to work on time.
I wasn’t as put together as I am now.
Most days during my commute, I noticed the most absurd drive-thru line at the Starbucks next to the office.
“Why don’t these people make their coffee at home,” I thought as I pulled into the parking lot just shy of on time.
I didn’t understand how people had time to wait in line for 15–20 minutes for a cup of coffee when they could save time, and money, by brewing it at home.
I thought like this, until I became a 9–5 workday zombie myself.
Now, I appreciate the experience of walking to another location for a coffee that’s only slightly better than the one I make at home. It’s not about the coffee but what it does for you.
It’s the little things that make a big difference. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/you-always-deserve-a-6-cup-of-coffee-f6b16d2a09ef | ['Ryan Porter'] | 2020-11-13 04:28:23.974000+00:00 | ['Happiness', 'Food', 'Ideas', 'Psychology', 'Productivity'] | Title Always Deserve 6 Cup CoffeeContent Always Deserve 6 Cup Coffee hold key happiness hand Photo Fahmi Fakhrudin Unsplash took internship tech startup senior year college didn’t business working tech company needed log 120 internship hour graduate deal right interviewed building 20 minute campus haste accepted position spot 13 week got taste postgrad work life like real working adult always rushing get work time wasn’t put together day commute noticed absurd drivethru line Starbucks next office “Why don’t people make coffee home” thought pulled parking lot shy time didn’t understand people time wait line 15–20 minute cup coffee could save time money brewing home thought like became 9–5 workday zombie appreciate experience walking another location coffee that’s slightly better one make home It’s coffee It’s little thing make big differenceTags Happiness Food Ideas Psychology Productivity |
3,103 | Functional Programming From an Object-Oriented Perspective | Functional Programming From an Object-Oriented Perspective
Why I’m slowly abandoning my object-oriented past
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay.
The C programming language could be a functional programming language (that aspect was and may still be implementation-dependent). On most host systems, if you left the parentheses off the function, it was just a pointer to a function. You could pass it in as a parameter or return it from a function and de-reference it by applying parentheses to it. The only problem is that the return type and parameters to a de-referenced function pointer were often lost in the shuffle and anybody's guess.
I learned all this while studying the source code to XLISP, which was an experimental LISP interpreter written in C. The author, David Michael Betz, took great pains to identify different types of functions and provide the necessary typing and casting to be able to use the functions and have the code be reasonably understandable.
Other users of functional programming were not so successful in wrangling their code into some semblance of readability. In many ways, C++ programming was a reaction to this free-for-all style of functional programming. If we think about how C++ implements objects, it maintains a list of function pointers for each “virtual” function and this list of function pointers can be modified by subclasses, which is how it achieves polymorphism.
But this method of determining functions at runtime is very restrictive. Only non-static methods of classes can be overridden, and they have to be overridden by subclassing. This allowed for a narrow style of programming, where we could classify things and define the ways in which their behavior diverges. It allowed for code reuse by putting common behavior in a base class that could be altered only in very specific ways by calling overridden methods.
With Java 8, things kind of went full circle. It introduced a functional style of programming using Single Abstract Method (SAM) classes. This used the function-overriding capability of the Java object-oriented architecture to make function objects.
For me, one of the biggest shortcomings of object-oriented programming is the inability to generically capture many common patterns. Take, for instance, the “Factory” pattern. There is no Factory class in the Java standard library, even though it is probably one of the most used patterns. I’ve made more Factory classes than I care to count.
Of course, a Factory object is inherently object-oriented, as it returns an object that implements an interface or extends a base class. But, at heart, it is a map of “suppliers” (a function that takes no argument but returns something). Assuming you have a Car interface and a bunch of classes that implement it, a factory should take some symbolic value and return a car of a particular type. The traditional implementation uses a switch to return a new value based on an enumeration or String value:
But this encloses all the knowledge of the types and options. To add to it, you have to add to the class itself.
If you were to do this the functional way, you wouldn’t have to give the factory knowledge of types or options:
All of the knowledge of the factory could be externalized and the factory could be extended without altering the code.
Here’s how you could use both of these factories:
So the FunctionalFactory takes a little more effort to build, but it’s also extensible without modifying the factory class. This satisfies the “Open-Close Principle” of SOLID, as it is easy to extend but doesn’t need to be modified. | https://medium.com/better-programming/functional-programming-from-an-object-oriented-perspective-9b47100b488a | ['Randal Kamradt Sr'] | 2020-12-11 16:32:19.435000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Programming', 'Functional Programming', 'Object Oriented', 'Design Patterns'] | Title Functional Programming ObjectOriented PerspectiveContent Functional Programming ObjectOriented Perspective I’m slowly abandoning objectoriented past Image StockSnap Pixabay C programming language could functional programming language aspect may still implementationdependent host system left parenthesis function pointer function could pas parameter return function dereference applying parenthesis problem return type parameter dereferenced function pointer often lost shuffle anybodys guess learned studying source code XLISP experimental LISP interpreter written C author David Michael Betz took great pain identify different type function provide necessary typing casting able use function code reasonably understandable user functional programming successful wrangling code semblance readability many way C programming reaction freeforall style functional programming think C implement object maintains list function pointer “virtual” function list function pointer modified subclass achieves polymorphism method determining function runtime restrictive nonstatic method class overridden overridden subclassing allowed narrow style programming could classify thing define way behavior diverges allowed code reuse putting common behavior base class could altered specific way calling overridden method Java 8 thing kind went full circle introduced functional style programming using Single Abstract Method SAM class used functionoverriding capability Java objectoriented architecture make function object one biggest shortcoming objectoriented programming inability generically capture many common pattern Take instance “Factory” pattern Factory class Java standard library even though probably one used pattern I’ve made Factory class care count course Factory object inherently objectoriented return object implement interface extends base class heart map “suppliers” function take argument return something Assuming Car interface bunch class implement factory take symbolic value return car particular type traditional implementation us switch return new value based enumeration String value encloses knowledge type option add add class functional way wouldn’t give factory knowledge type option knowledge factory could externalized factory could extended without altering code Here’s could use factory FunctionalFactory take little effort build it’s also extensible without modifying factory class satisfies “OpenClose Principle” SOLID easy extend doesn’t need modifiedTags Java Programming Functional Programming Object Oriented Design Patterns |
3,104 | How a “Worry Window” Can Stop Your Nagging Anxiety | When I was six years old, I got a vaccination shot during my annual check-up. It was terrifying and it hurt like hell.
During my visit, the doctor mentioned that I would get another booster shot when I turned 11. Given the pain and stress I had just gone through, I circled my 11th birthday in my mental calendar and began to dread its inevitable arrival.
Over the next five years, I worried about that booster shot a lot.
Sometimes, as I fell asleep at night, the thought of the needle would pop into my head and I’d jolt awake. And every time I visited a doctor, I feared they were going to surprise me with the vaccine.
When the dreaded day finally arrived, I was deeply unsettled. I worried all week leading up to the appointment, fidgeted nervously in the waiting room, and trembled as the nurse wiped alcohol on my shoulder and uncapped the shiny needle. When she finally injected me, it burned like a hornet sting from skin to bone. It was every bit as bad as I had imagined.
Fast forward 25+ years and I’ve outgrown my fear of shots. However, now I’m afraid of the dentist. Last month I was dreading an upcoming dentist appointment and it reminded me of that childhood booster shot.
Suddenly, a thought dawned on me:
I wonder how much pain and stress I suffered from worrying about the shot vs. actually getting the shot?
If you could add up all the physical and emotional pain from dreading the shot vs. getting the shot, what would that look like?
Dreading the shot: Many hours of worry and stress. Many restless nights. Anxiety at every doctor’s visit. Internal panic before the injection.
Many hours of worry and stress. Many restless nights. Anxiety at every doctor’s visit. Internal panic before the injection. Getting the shot: A few seconds of sharp pain. Some lingering soreness for a day or two afterwards.
As I reflected, I realized something profound: The total cumulative pain from dreading the shot was probably 100x greater than the actual pain of getting the shot.
If you were to compare the two in a graph, it might look like this:
As I thought back, it became clear that I had created most of my pain and suffering, not the shot. | https://medium.com/change-your-mind/how-a-worry-window-can-stop-your-nagging-anxiety-b046c48d54a6 | ['Todd Lincoln'] | 2020-12-05 14:02:27.760000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'Life', 'Psychology'] | Title “Worry Window” Stop Nagging AnxietyContent six year old got vaccination shot annual checkup terrifying hurt like hell visit doctor mentioned would get another booster shot turned 11 Given pain stress gone circled 11th birthday mental calendar began dread inevitable arrival next five year worried booster shot lot Sometimes fell asleep night thought needle would pop head I’d jolt awake every time visited doctor feared going surprise vaccine dreaded day finally arrived deeply unsettled worried week leading appointment fidgeted nervously waiting room trembled nurse wiped alcohol shoulder uncapped shiny needle finally injected burned like hornet sting skin bone every bit bad imagined Fast forward 25 year I’ve outgrown fear shot However I’m afraid dentist Last month dreading upcoming dentist appointment reminded childhood booster shot Suddenly thought dawned wonder much pain stress suffered worrying shot v actually getting shot could add physical emotional pain dreading shot v getting shot would look like Dreading shot Many hour worry stress Many restless night Anxiety every doctor’s visit Internal panic injection Many hour worry stress Many restless night Anxiety every doctor’s visit Internal panic injection Getting shot second sharp pain lingering soreness day two afterwards reflected realized something profound total cumulative pain dreading shot probably 100x greater actual pain getting shot compare two graph might look like thought back became clear created pain suffering shotTags Life Lessons Mental Health Self Improvement Life Psychology |
3,105 | The Single-Use Plastics You Never Thought About, and 13 Simple Swaps | The Single-Use Plastics You Never Thought About, and 13 Simple Swaps
How to end that plastic addiction by following the principles of conscious waste
Plastic cling-wrap: one of the many other single-use plastics that has found its way into our lives. Photos: Heidi Bischof
So you have a reusable water bottle and coffee cup and you take your own bags to the supermarket? Think you’ve ditched disposable plastic and got “green” all sorted? Before you tick that box I’d like to help you out with a little reality check. I want to challenge you to explore a little further into your plastic addiction and show you even more single-use plastics that are still lurking in the shadows and how you can weed them out. I’ll also give you some great ideas for things you can use instead. Unfortunately unsustainable habits like plastic are so embedded in our lives that it is impossible to get rid of them overnight, but if we tackle a bit at a time, and follow the principles of conscious waste, then we’ll be able to help the planet in a huge way!
Single-use plastics: Hang on, there’s more?
As the global plastic pollution crisis is really starting to sink in, single-use plastic bans are popping up all over the place. There is a lot of momentum out there and more and more people are saying no to plastic bags, bringing their own reusable bottles and cups. It’s easy to get excited about this (I did!) but before you sit back and think, “It’s all under control, the government is taking care of things; I have my reusable items and there’s nothing more to do,” there are some things you should know.
Single-use plastic bans are very piecemeal
Only a handful of countries have announced bans or taxes on single-use plastics (e.g. the U.K., Taiwan), but these bans only include a few of the most common disposable items like bags and straws. While bans on plastic bags are a bit more widespread, there are still many countries that haven’t taken any action. But plastic bags (and straws and bottles) are just the tip of the iceberg.
Single-use plastics actually include WAY more than the items covered by these bans
I pick up countless pieces of plastic litter off the street when I’m out running each week. But apart from the bags, straws, utensils, bottles, and coffee cups, there are a lot of other single use plastic items that a) you most likely didn’t realise are single-use plastic and b) you wouldn’t expect to find on the ground (from where they get washed into the stormwater system and then into the ocean).
Some OTHER single-use plastics you might not have thought about.
Many of the items pictured are acutely hazardous to marine life if they end up in the ocean (which nine times out of ten they do if they are dropped on the ground). Hard and small/thin plastic items like cable ties, cotton buds, and dental flossers can be ingested by wildlife. If a turtle can get a plastic straw stuck up her nostril, then anything similar in size can also end up there. Soft plastics (balloons, gloves, cling wrap, food packaging) are just as hazardous as plastic bags, and wildlife can become tangled in long pieces of plastic (e.g., tape and ribbon). Since we can’t seem to keep these things out of the ocean, we need to get them out of production, and the only way that will happen is if people like you and me keep them out of our shopping trolleys! So think twice next time you go to buy these things.
Breaking it down…
Cotton buds
A lot of cotton buds (or Q tips) end up in the ocean, often from being flushed down the toilet. The stick is usually made from plastic, and they are really something we can do without. I used to use them to clean my ears but learned that you can actually damage your ear drum by doing that. Now I just use my pinky finger and wipe it on a tissue (my finger nail is about 3–4mm long which is the perfect length to reach whatever is blocking the opening. Sorry, I know that’s a bit disgusting!). The wax in our ears is actually beneficial and protects our ear drums from dirt entering, so we shouldn’t be removing any wax from inside our ears, only what comes to the surface. If you don’t have long enough fingernails or are a little bit precious 😊 then you might want to get a stainless steel ear wax remover.
Dental flosser
Lazy much??? Yeah, I guess this way you’re using less floss, but these contain more plastic overall than a 30–40cm piece of dental floss, and I never see dental floss in the gutter, whereas this is probably the 10th one of these I’ve picked up in 12 months.
Disposable shaver
I don’t understand why disposable shavers even exist, when you can get re-usable shavers with replaceable blades. SOOOO wasteful!
Disposable wipes (usually marketed as “wet wipes”)
Although these look like tissues, they are not biodegradable. They are made of synthetic fibers (i.e., plastic). The “wet” part is usually anti-bacterial but contains various chemicals that your skin would be better off without. We have gone a bit over the top with anti-bacterial stuff, hand sanitizers, etc., to the point where bacteria is now becoming resistant to it and we are creating more harmful “super-bugs.” So I would recommend reducing your use of these types of products, and if you do really need to sanitize something, put some white vinegar or ethanol in a small spray bottle, which you can keep in your bag or the car with some clean hankies. This is a great reusable alternative to single-use wipes!
Blister packs
These are used for many different medications, throat lozenges, etc., and I am always finding them on the ground. They are made from plastic and foil fused together so they are not recyclable. We are guilty of using these in our household, but they are pretty hard to avoid as they are used for so many things. The main ones we use are over-the-counter painkillers (not very often), but last time we went to buy some we discovered we could get them in bottles instead (which are recyclable). They also work out MUCH cheaper (bonus!). My partner takes prescription medication that comes in blister packs so we’re going to find out if that is also available in bottles.
Balloons
Balloons kill so much wildlife, particularly turtles, and so many end up in the ocean, not just through the stormwater system but (mainly) from being released into the air. Balloons are really not a necessity in our lives, and there are plenty of safer alternatives for parties and other occasions.
Plastic ribbon and gift decorations
Aside from plastic bags, balloons, and straws, plastic ribbon is probably one of the next most hazardous items for marine life. The gift decoration (not sure what these are called) is just one long piece of plastic ribbon folded up. Jute string and raffia make great alternatives to wrap gifts.
Plastic tape
This is yet another form of plastic that ends up in the ocean. Both PVC tape (PVC is a toxic plastic that is best avoided anyway) and clear sticky tape can easily be replaced with masking tape, which is made from paper. Or try using removable adhesive (e.g. UHU u-tac), toxin-free glue, staples, pins or jute string instead.
Plastic cable ties
I find so many of these on the ground but we can easily live without them! We used to manage just fine with wire or string, so why don’t we go back to using those things again? Metal wire (the non-plastic-coated variety) is recyclable, and jute twine is 100 percent biodegradable.
Disposable gloves
I am constantly finding disposable gloves in the gutter. I have no idea where they’ve come from, but I know exactly where they end up, and they’re much the same as balloons in terms of their impact on marine life. Say no to disposable gloves and buy reusable ones instead.
Plastic wrap
This is really no different than plastic bags! It is designed for one use only, and it’s just as hazardous when it ends up in the ocean. Beeswax or silicone wraps are great alternatives to single-use plastic wrap. Pyrex dishes with lids are also useful if you have leftovers from a casserole or pudding. Just put the lid on it instead of covering it in plastic wrap. This sounds obvious, but we’ve been so brainwashed into thinking cling-wrap is the most convenient thing. When you actually think about which of these takes less time to put on, you’ll realize it’s the lid!).
Single-serve yogurt
This is something you might get as part of your weekly grocery shopping, but did you know you’re paying a double price for convenience? One price is the environmental one of creating more disposable plastic than if you bought a larger container, but the other is coming straight out of your bank account — single serve containers almost always work out more expensive than a larger size. If you like to take yoghurt to work for a snack (or pack it in your kids’ lunches) then buy a large tub (or glass jar if possible) and put some in a small reusable container.
Individually-wrapped snacks
If you have kids, snack bars and single-serve potato crisps might seem like an easy option for school snacks, but apart from the excessive packaging these are usually high in sugar and fat and not a healthy snack at all. A mix of dried fruit and nuts makes a great snack, and you can get both of these in the bulk section of supermarkets. Fresh fruit is also good, but make sure you buy it unpackaged and without plastic stickers. Some supermarkets also now have “imperfect produce” shelves, which are the same quality and freshness, they just don’t meet the strict measurements or shapes that the supermarkets claim consumers want. (Whaaaat? I don’t remember saying that to any supermarket!) So support reducing food waste and choose these over the perfect ones.
Swap the disposable plastics lurking in your home for these more sustainable alternatives
Metal wire (recyclable, sustainable alternative to plastic cable ties) Jute twine (biodegradable/compostable) Masking tape (recyclable — as paper, more sustainable alternative to plastic tape) Dental Lace plastic-free dental floss (biodegradable/compostable) Herron ibuprofen and paracetamol tablets (recyclable, better choice and value than blister-packs) Nalgene leak-proof jar (great for yoghurt and other snacks) Reusable rubber gloves (sustainable alternative to disposable gloves; can be washed and re-used many times) Pyrex oven dish with lid (great way to store leftovers without plastic cling-wrap) Agreena silicone wraps (reusable alternative to cling-wrap)
It’s great if you take reusable bags to the supermarket, and even better if you have a reusable bottle and coffee cup and say no to plastic straws. But these things are just skimming the surface of our plastic addiction, and as you can see, there’s a whole lot more stuff that you’d probably never thought about. Hopefully this has helped you begin to see just how dependent on single-use plastic we’ve become and how it is so embedded in our daily lives that we can’t even recognise it anymore until someone points it out. Once we can start seeing the single-use plastics that are literally everywhere, we’ll be able to start questioning the need for them. And if we can get these other plastics out of our life we’ll help to keep them out of the ocean too!
I’d love to hear from you…
Please let me know in the comments if you’ve discovered any other single-use plastics in your life (bonus points if you’ve found a more sustainable alternative!)
If you’d like more help to free your life from plastic, download my free pdf, 6 Ways to Conscious Waste. You can also follow me on Facebook for news, tips, and inspiration. | https://medium.com/tenderlymag/the-single-use-plastics-you-never-thought-about-and-13-simple-swaps-8f25df39019b | ['Heidi Bischof'] | 2020-03-24 22:18:19.943000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Environment', 'Zero Waste', 'Plastic'] | Title SingleUse Plastics Never Thought 13 Simple SwapsContent SingleUse Plastics Never Thought 13 Simple Swaps end plastic addiction following principle conscious waste Plastic clingwrap one many singleuse plastic found way life Photos Heidi Bischof reusable water bottle coffee cup take bag supermarket Think you’ve ditched disposable plastic got “green” sorted tick box I’d like help little reality check want challenge explore little plastic addiction show even singleuse plastic still lurking shadow weed I’ll also give great idea thing use instead Unfortunately unsustainable habit like plastic embedded life impossible get rid overnight tackle bit time follow principle conscious waste we’ll able help planet huge way Singleuse plastic Hang there’s global plastic pollution crisis really starting sink singleuse plastic ban popping place lot momentum people saying plastic bag bringing reusable bottle cup It’s easy get excited sit back think “It’s control government taking care thing reusable item there’s nothing do” thing know Singleuse plastic ban piecemeal handful country announced ban tax singleuse plastic eg UK Taiwan ban include common disposable item like bag straw ban plastic bag bit widespread still many country haven’t taken action plastic bag straw bottle tip iceberg Singleuse plastic actually include WAY item covered ban pick countless piece plastic litter street I’m running week apart bag straw utensil bottle coffee cup lot single use plastic item likely didn’t realise singleuse plastic b wouldn’t expect find ground get washed stormwater system ocean singleuse plastic might thought Many item pictured acutely hazardous marine life end ocean nine time ten dropped ground Hard smallthin plastic item like cable tie cotton bud dental flossers ingested wildlife turtle get plastic straw stuck nostril anything similar size also end Soft plastic balloon glove cling wrap food packaging hazardous plastic bag wildlife become tangled long piece plastic eg tape ribbon Since can’t seem keep thing ocean need get production way happen people like keep shopping trolley think twice next time go buy thing Breaking down… Cotton bud lot cotton bud Q tip end ocean often flushed toilet stick usually made plastic really something without used use clean ear learned actually damage ear drum use pinky finger wipe tissue finger nail 3–4mm long perfect length reach whatever blocking opening Sorry know that’s bit disgusting wax ear actually beneficial protects ear drum dirt entering shouldn’t removing wax inside ear come surface don’t long enough fingernail little bit precious 😊 might want get stainless steel ear wax remover Dental flosser Lazy much Yeah guess way you’re using le floss contain plastic overall 30–40cm piece dental floss never see dental floss gutter whereas probably 10th one I’ve picked 12 month Disposable shaver don’t understand disposable shaver even exist get reusable shaver replaceable blade SOOOO wasteful Disposable wipe usually marketed “wet wipes” Although look like tissue biodegradable made synthetic fiber ie plastic “wet” part usually antibacterial contains various chemical skin would better without gone bit top antibacterial stuff hand sanitizers etc point bacteria becoming resistant creating harmful “superbugs” would recommend reducing use type product really need sanitize something put white vinegar ethanol small spray bottle keep bag car clean hanky great reusable alternative singleuse wipe Blister pack used many different medication throat lozenge etc always finding ground made plastic foil fused together recyclable guilty using household pretty hard avoid used many thing main one use overthecounter painkiller often last time went buy discovered could get bottle instead recyclable also work MUCH cheaper bonus partner take prescription medication come blister pack we’re going find also available bottle Balloons Balloons kill much wildlife particularly turtle many end ocean stormwater system mainly released air Balloons really necessity life plenty safer alternative party occasion Plastic ribbon gift decoration Aside plastic bag balloon straw plastic ribbon probably one next hazardous item marine life gift decoration sure called one long piece plastic ribbon folded Jute string raffia make great alternative wrap gift Plastic tape yet another form plastic end ocean PVC tape PVC toxic plastic best avoided anyway clear sticky tape easily replaced masking tape made paper try using removable adhesive eg UHU utac toxinfree glue staple pin jute string instead Plastic cable tie find many ground easily live without used manage fine wire string don’t go back using thing Metal wire nonplasticcoated variety recyclable jute twine 100 percent biodegradable Disposable glove constantly finding disposable glove gutter idea they’ve come know exactly end they’re much balloon term impact marine life Say disposable glove buy reusable one instead Plastic wrap really different plastic bag designed one use it’s hazardous end ocean Beeswax silicone wrap great alternative singleuse plastic wrap Pyrex dish lid also useful leftover casserole pudding put lid instead covering plastic wrap sound obvious we’ve brainwashed thinking clingwrap convenient thing actually think take le time put you’ll realize it’s lid Singleserve yogurt something might get part weekly grocery shopping know you’re paying double price convenience One price environmental one creating disposable plastic bought larger container coming straight bank account — single serve container almost always work expensive larger size like take yoghurt work snack pack kids’ lunch buy large tub glass jar possible put small reusable container Individuallywrapped snack kid snack bar singleserve potato crisp might seem like easy option school snack apart excessive packaging usually high sugar fat healthy snack mix dried fruit nut make great snack get bulk section supermarket Fresh fruit also good make sure buy unpackaged without plastic sticker supermarket also “imperfect produce” shelf quality freshness don’t meet strict measurement shape supermarket claim consumer want Whaaaat don’t remember saying supermarket support reducing food waste choose perfect one Swap disposable plastic lurking home sustainable alternative Metal wire recyclable sustainable alternative plastic cable tie Jute twine biodegradablecompostable Masking tape recyclable — paper sustainable alternative plastic tape Dental Lace plasticfree dental floss biodegradablecompostable Herron ibuprofen paracetamol tablet recyclable better choice value blisterpacks Nalgene leakproof jar great yoghurt snack Reusable rubber glove sustainable alternative disposable glove washed reused many time Pyrex oven dish lid great way store leftover without plastic clingwrap Agreena silicone wrap reusable alternative clingwrap It’s great take reusable bag supermarket even better reusable bottle coffee cup say plastic straw thing skimming surface plastic addiction see there’s whole lot stuff you’d probably never thought Hopefully helped begin see dependent singleuse plastic we’ve become embedded daily life can’t even recognise anymore someone point start seeing singleuse plastic literally everywhere we’ll able start questioning need get plastic life we’ll help keep ocean I’d love hear you… Please let know comment you’ve discovered singleuse plastic life bonus point you’ve found sustainable alternative you’d like help free life plastic download free pdf 6 Ways Conscious Waste also follow Facebook news tip inspirationTags Sustainability Environment Zero Waste Plastic |
3,106 | The Writer. My Writer. | She was driven, full of ambition. Writing new pieces overnight wasn’t adequate to describe her remarkable capabilities. She has her way to touch people. To reach lonesome souls like no one else can to tell them that everything will be okay.
Yet somehow, she didn’t want to be a writer for a living. To her, writing is the most pleasurable form of panacea that she can take any time. She doesn’t want to trade her most idyllic utopia for money. She is gifted, but she doesn’t believe that she’s able enough to sell, at least for now. If she ever decides to publish, she will do it so her children will be inspired by the things that she’s capable of doing when she was young and no more.
Though, there is one thing I wish I can say to her; the one thing that bothered me the most. My dear, if you’re reading this, No. It’s not for your lack of knowledge in fat, flamboyant words that you always think would capture the eyes of the book devotees. It’s not for your constant grammatical errors or misspellings, either.
It is, in fact, the way you let the thing you loved most consume you into thinking that you will never be good enough to be loved. My dear, if only you knew you have the ones who love you so dearly. If only you’d be willing to stop your search for the loves you never need, you would have your heart be filled to the brim by ours. If only you would stop looking around the world, back and forth for such admiration, you’d finally be grateful that you can find them so close to you.
You were always the sensational anomaly, with writings that would forever leave us marveling at your potential. The world may not be yours to grasp just yet, my dear. For now, we’ll be your world and you’ll be ours.
It was never your burden to keep everyone elated. | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/the-writer-my-writer-cfb8e93b4317 | ['Lita Tiara'] | 2020-12-28 11:06:59.566000+00:00 | ['This Happened To Me', 'Nonfiction', 'Writing', 'Self Improvement', 'Self Love'] | Title Writer WriterContent driven full ambition Writing new piece overnight wasn’t adequate describe remarkable capability way touch people reach lonesome soul like one else tell everything okay Yet somehow didn’t want writer living writing pleasurable form panacea take time doesn’t want trade idyllic utopia money gifted doesn’t believe she’s able enough sell least ever decides publish child inspired thing she’s capable young Though one thing wish say one thing bothered dear you’re reading It’s lack knowledge fat flamboyant word always think would capture eye book devotee It’s constant grammatical error misspelling either fact way let thing loved consume thinking never good enough loved dear knew one love dearly you’d willing stop search love never need would heart filled brim would stop looking around world back forth admiration you’d finally grateful find close always sensational anomaly writing would forever leave u marveling potential world may grasp yet dear we’ll world you’ll never burden keep everyone elatedTags Happened Nonfiction Writing Self Improvement Self Love |
3,107 | An Interview With Myself | An Interview With Myself
Now that I’m officially a poet
Tara: Today on my radio programme, I am interviewing the newly proclaimed poet, Sylvia Wohlfarth. Hi, Sylvia, thank you for coming.
Sylvia: Hi, and thank you, Tara, for inviting me.
Tara: Now tell me, Sylvia, when did you realise for the first time that you were a poet and as such would call yourself one?
Sylvia: Well to be honest, when I received a message from Medium telling me they’d appointed me a Top Poet… me… I was pretty shocked and off went the alarm bells and my imposter syndrome set in.
So, what to do? I armed myself with a bottle of wine and wrote my very first stream of consciousness poem. My African Accolade. I’d been wanting to do this for a long time as I just love Ben Okri’s, ‘An African Elegy’. I wanted to capture my own thoughts on it.
Once finished, I put down my pen, sat back and thought, “Now, I’m a poet like everyone else.” I even went back and deleted the “hopefully”.
Tara: How did you feel writing it?
Sylvia: Thrilled at the ease the words came, but at the same time I had to keep reminding myself not to think about what I was writing and just go with the flow
Tara: Did the alcohol help?
Sylvia: (Smile) Of course it did. I needed to loosen my mind. Unleash the beast, block the inhibitions and desire to stop and review. By the time I’d finished, I’d guzzled about three glasses of wine which, by the way, isn’t the end of the world, you know.
Tara: And what happened to the rest?
Sylvia: I finished the bottle off, of course. I had to celebrate. Naturally, it’s a question of balance you know, you don’t want poetic slur.
Tara: So, are you happy with the result?
Sylvia: Oh yes, and thrilled that I had to do so little reviewing. I really like it. My personal project.
Tara: What made you attempt this form of poetry in the first place?
Sylvia: Well, I’ve always been aware of what I call poetic weirdness. There is so much amazing poetry around I don’t comprehend, a bit like forms of abstract art. And I sometimes wonder what machinery is inside some poets’ heads. Thank God for tags.
In fact, I was and still am, in awe at the skilful use of language and poetic forms that many poets implement. I wanted to try a bit of weirdness, too. Yeh, and I mean weird in the positive sense (smiles).
Tara: And what’s your next project going to be about?
Sylvia: To try and write a similar poem set in Ireland, the other half of me.
Tara: Will you open another bottle of wine for that?
Sylvia: I’d love to try it without. You know, test my sober mind but that would be less fun I imagine and anyway it wouldn’t really be Irish, would it?
After this, I’ll definitely go for dryer versions. Maybe something on dog poop, the bane of Irish pavements, or worms, certainly less controversial and divisive… unless you’re talking fishing (laughs).
Tara: Thank you very much, Sylvia, for this interview. I’m sure many an aspiring poet will now run off to buy a bottle of wine, grab a pen, a piece of paper, or a keyboard and drink and write to their heart’s content.
Sylvia: Emm, I’d rather they’d start the opposite way around, to be honest. First the pen, then the poem and finally the wine, if need be. I’m not sure there’s a category for inebriated poetry, but who knows, some of the best poems were probably written under the influence…
Tara: Yes, you’re probably right.
Good luck then with your next poem on Ireland and I’ll certainly come back to you on the dog poop.
Sylvia: Thank you! | https://medium.com/grab-a-slice/an-interview-with-myself-78badece3ab3 | ['Sylvia Wohlfarth'] | 2020-03-29 16:37:22.044000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Poetry Writing', 'Humor', 'Nonfiction', 'Imposter Syndrome'] | Title Interview MyselfContent Interview I’m officially poet Tara Today radio programme interviewing newly proclaimed poet Sylvia Wohlfarth Hi Sylvia thank coming Sylvia Hi thank Tara inviting Tara tell Sylvia realise first time poet would call one Sylvia Well honest received message Medium telling they’d appointed Top Poet… me… pretty shocked went alarm bell imposter syndrome set armed bottle wine wrote first stream consciousness poem African Accolade I’d wanting long time love Ben Okri’s ‘An African Elegy’ wanted capture thought finished put pen sat back thought “Now I’m poet like everyone else” even went back deleted “hopefully” Tara feel writing Sylvia Thrilled ease word came time keep reminding think writing go flow Tara alcohol help Sylvia Smile course needed loosen mind Unleash beast block inhibition desire stop review time I’d finished I’d guzzled three glass wine way isn’t end world know Tara happened rest Sylvia finished bottle course celebrate Naturally it’s question balance know don’t want poetic slur Tara happy result Sylvia Oh yes thrilled little reviewing really like personal project Tara made attempt form poetry first place Sylvia Well I’ve always aware call poetic weirdness much amazing poetry around don’t comprehend bit like form abstract art sometimes wonder machinery inside poets’ head Thank God tag fact still awe skilful use language poetic form many poet implement wanted try bit weirdness Yeh mean weird positive sense smile Tara what’s next project going Sylvia try write similar poem set Ireland half Tara open another bottle wine Sylvia I’d love try without know test sober mind would le fun imagine anyway wouldn’t really Irish would I’ll definitely go dryer version Maybe something dog poop bane Irish pavement worm certainly le controversial divisive… unless you’re talking fishing laugh Tara Thank much Sylvia interview I’m sure many aspiring poet run buy bottle wine grab pen piece paper keyboard drink write heart’s content Sylvia Emm I’d rather they’d start opposite way around honest First pen poem finally wine need I’m sure there’s category inebriated poetry know best poem probably written influence… Tara Yes you’re probably right Good luck next poem Ireland I’ll certainly come back dog poop Sylvia Thank youTags Selfawareness Poetry Writing Humor Nonfiction Imposter Syndrome |
3,108 | Dear writers, are you unsure where to publish your writing? | Dear writers, are you unsure where to publish your writing? Try using toppub.xyz! This website is a source where you can find the top publications. It provides you with information on what tags they use for their articles. It also provides a brief description of their philosophy, and their number of followers. For example, if you are looking for a publication to submit your fiction writing, go to toppub.xyz. On the right, find the section called Popular tags. From there, you can see what’s trending, or click on See all. Find the fiction tag and browse through the publications to view what type of fiction writing they accept. Remember, don’t submit a piece just because there’s a high number of followers. Your goal should be a higher number of reads, so submit it to a pub that fits with the appropriate genre!
Photo by matthew Feeney on Unsplash | https://medium.com/illumination/dear-writers-are-you-unsure-where-to-submit-your-writing-a78ce63c0ad9 | ['Aj Krow'] | 2020-12-30 04:30:35.011000+00:00 | ['Ideas', 'Writing', 'Advice', 'Productivity', 'Writing Tips'] | Title Dear writer unsure publish writingContent Dear writer unsure publish writing Try using toppubxyz website source find top publication provides information tag use article also provides brief description philosophy number follower example looking publication submit fiction writing go toppubxyz right find section called Popular tag see what’s trending click See Find fiction tag browse publication view type fiction writing accept Remember don’t submit piece there’s high number follower goal higher number read submit pub fit appropriate genre Photo matthew Feeney UnsplashTags Ideas Writing Advice Productivity Writing Tips |
3,109 | Internal Vs. External Motivation: How To Build An Exercise Routine You’ll Stick To | On my running routes, there are a few folks — the regulars — I can always count on seeing. We don’t know each other, but we wave and say “hi.” I like to add, “Enjoy the run!” for good measure. “Thanks, I always do!” is a typical reply.
I was talking to a friend about exercise recently and how it can be so hard to get yourself into any kind of rhythm that fits into a productive routine. You want to take care of your body and feel your best, but it’s damn hard to make the time in your busy life. Or you try a few routines and you just don’t like them; they don’t work for you.
That reminded me of those daily micro-exchanges:
“Enjoy the run!”
“I l always do!”
That’s not just a formality. We really do enjoy running. And the reason we enjoy it is highly dependent on where our motivation to run comes from.
If you’ve ever struggled to stick to a fitness plan — or any plan, really — the solution could be as simple as channeling your motivation from the right source. Here’s how to do it.
Internal Vs. External Motivation
Talk to someone who works with drug rehab patients, and you’ll hear the same wisdom shared over and over: “Success depends on your motivations.” They can instantly tell if their patient will get clean and stay that way. Everyone who overcomes a drug addiction is motivated, but the ones who succeed long-term are the ones who are motivated for the right reasons.
And what are the right reasons? The research shows rehab success lasts when the patient is motivated to make himself better… for himself. Some people go to rehab because they’re afraid they’ll lose their job, their house, or their family. These patients might get clean, but it rarely lasts. Others go to rehab because they fear they’ll lose themselves. These are the people who turn their lives around for good. [1]
That example illustrates the difference between internal and external motivation. When you’re externally motivated to make a change, the things that drive that change are outside of you and your control. For an addict in rehab, it could be the loss of a relationship, a job, or something else. For you, trying to get in shape, it could be keeping your partner attracted to you, finding a mate, or impressing friends and colleagues.
All the data say if these are the reasons you do what you do, it probably won’t last. External factors change, you can’t control them, and trying to keep up with them proves useless over time.
But when you’re internally motivated, you’re driven by a desire to make yourself better. You’re only accountable to you, and that means you control the variables that decide whether you succeed or fail. When those factors are stacked in your favor, the odds say you’ll make lasting change.
The most interesting part (perhaps most frustrating for some) is all the outcomes you hope for from your external motivations are often better and longer-lasting when you ignore them in favor of finding the internal ones that drive you.
How To Become Internally Motivated And Build An Exercise Routine That Lasts
Let’s face it. We’re all externally motivated to some degree. But if you struggle to build an exercise routine that will become a part of your life and produce the lasting results you hope for, the trick is in tilting the scale just a little — finding the internal motivations that will produce those external results.
Here are a few things you can try that have worked well for me and millions of others who enjoy the benefits of regular exercise:
Focus on strength, agility, and endurance instead of appearance. Everyone wants to look great, but the only reason to look great is to have others look at you. Instead of making your looks your prime motivator, focus on increasing your strength, becoming more agile, and building more stamina. These are the things you control and, as you improve, the looks will come.
Only do exercise you enjoy. Don’t feel pressured to do any specific routine just because you think it will produce results faster. Any gains you do get will be lost when you give up because you don’t like it. If you like running, then do a lot of running. If you hate lifting weights, don’t lift any weights.
When you try something new, don’t give up for at least 30 days. When I started running, I didn’t like it that much, to be honest. I was overweight, out of shape, and not very good at it. But I wanted to give it a fair trial, so I stuck with it for a few months. Nearly 1,000 runs later, it’s one of my favorite activities. Don’t give up on something because you’re not good at it. Your skill will improve with time, and you’re more likely to enjoy the things you’re good at.
Focus on consistency, not results. You have more control over how often you do something than the results you get from doing it. And great results come from great consistency, not the other way around.
These are the primary factors in building an exercise routine that is a natural part of your life instead of one you struggle to implement over and over. When you let your internal motivations guide you, the results you get won’t just be better, they’ll be more fulfilling.
Sources:
1. Motivation for Change and Alcoholism Treatment | https://medium.com/better-humans/internal-vs-external-motivation-how-to-build-an-exercise-routine-you-ll-stick-to-e5770979f223 | ['Tyler Tervooren'] | 2018-03-23 19:53:19.061000+00:00 | ['Running', 'Motivation', 'Psychology'] | Title Internal Vs External Motivation Build Exercise Routine You’ll Stick ToContent running route folk — regular — always count seeing don’t know wave say “hi” like add “Enjoy run” good measure “Thanks always do” typical reply talking friend exercise recently hard get kind rhythm fit productive routine want take care body feel best it’s damn hard make time busy life try routine don’t like don’t work reminded daily microexchanges “Enjoy run” “I l always do” That’s formality really enjoy running reason enjoy highly dependent motivation run come you’ve ever struggled stick fitness plan — plan really — solution could simple channeling motivation right source Here’s Internal Vs External Motivation Talk someone work drug rehab patient you’ll hear wisdom shared “Success depends motivations” instantly tell patient get clean stay way Everyone overcomes drug addiction motivated one succeed longterm one motivated right reason right reason research show rehab success last patient motivated make better… people go rehab they’re afraid they’ll lose job house family patient might get clean rarely last Others go rehab fear they’ll lose people turn life around good 1 example illustrates difference internal external motivation you’re externally motivated make change thing drive change outside control addict rehab could loss relationship job something else trying get shape could keeping partner attracted finding mate impressing friend colleague data say reason probably won’t last External factor change can’t control trying keep prof useless time you’re internally motivated you’re driven desire make better You’re accountable mean control variable decide whether succeed fail factor stacked favor odds say you’ll make lasting change interesting part perhaps frustrating outcome hope external motivation often better longerlasting ignore favor finding internal one drive Become Internally Motivated Build Exercise Routine Lasts Let’s face We’re externally motivated degree struggle build exercise routine become part life produce lasting result hope trick tilting scale little — finding internal motivation produce external result thing try worked well million others enjoy benefit regular exercise Focus strength agility endurance instead appearance Everyone want look great reason look great others look Instead making look prime motivator focus increasing strength becoming agile building stamen thing control improve look come exercise enjoy Don’t feel pressured specific routine think produce result faster gain get lost give don’t like like running lot running hate lifting weight don’t lift weight try something new don’t give least 30 day started running didn’t like much honest overweight shape good wanted give fair trial stuck month Nearly 1000 run later it’s one favorite activity Don’t give something you’re good skill improve time you’re likely enjoy thing you’re good Focus consistency result control often something result get great result come great consistency way around primary factor building exercise routine natural part life instead one struggle implement let internal motivation guide result get won’t better they’ll fulfilling Sources 1 Motivation Change Alcoholism TreatmentTags Running Motivation Psychology |
3,110 | 3 Influential And Life-Changing Books That Will Shift Your Paradigms | 2. “The Possibility Principle: How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think, Live, and Love” by Mel Schwartz
Picture from amazon.co.uk.
When I got to Chapter 7 in Switch On Your Brain — a chapter about Quantum Physics — I wanted to understand quantum physics better and found this book.
I was never interested in physics, and it had never been easy to understand for me.
However, with Switch On Your Brain and The Possibility Principle, I have quickly become very interested in quantum physics. I see how by understanding quantum physics’ principles, we can change our worldview from old, outdated paradigms that don’t serve us anymore to a paradigm that allows us a more abundant and flourishing life.
When writing this, I am only in Chapter 6 of The Possibility Principle book. Still, it has already been so intriguing and life-changing for me. It has been hard to resist using every moment to continue reading it.
Nevertheless, just like with other educational self-help books, you can’t read it all in one night. There are thoughts and ideas it takes time to process and reflect about.
This is a very practical book. Since Mel Schwartz is a psychotherapist, not a physicist. Therefore, his explanation of fundamental quantum physics principles is easy and helpful. He also gives a lot of real-life examples from his clients. It is easy to relate to these examples to recognize the toxic patterns in our own thinking and perceptions.
The Possibility Principle reveals how we can apply the three core tenets of quantum physics — inseparability, uncertainty, and potentiality — to live the life we choose, free from the wounds of our past and the constraints of our old beliefs.
Old Mechanistic Paradigm
We have been living under the Newtonian worldview of the mechanistic paradigm, which has dominated philosophy and science until the twentieth century, when quantum physics revealed that reality looks quite different.
The world’s mechanistic model says that the world consists of separate and inert objects disconnected from one another, interacting only through cause and effect.
According to this picture of reality, the world operates as a giant machine. We become cogs in the machine, detached from one another and disconnected from the universe at large. Through this filter, we are all separated.
Another core principle of the mechanistic paradigm is determinism. Determinism means that everything (including our moral choices) is pre-determined by previously existing causes. That’s why we seek certainty so much.
Most people fear uncertainty; it causes them anxiety. We are scared of the unknown and seek the safety that the environment, people, choices, and habits we already know bring.
“As a culture, the epidemic of anxiety that we experience is caused in large part by our addiction to certainty, which has us fear and avoid the unknown.” — Mel Schwartz
New Quantum Conscioussness Paradigm
Discovering how things work within the quantum realm makes us look at the world and our lives entirely differently.
Within the quantum realm, the rule of certainty no longer prevails. Uncertainty is the fabric of the quantum world.
And, in reality, uncertainty helps us to uncover our human potential. When we realize that everything is not anymore pre-determined, then anything is possible.
According to quantum physics, nothing is anymore in a fixed state of being — everything is a reality-making process. We can be creators of our destinies with our thoughts and consciousness.
We are no longer merely observers with limited ability to change something. We have a participatory role in the universe.
We can make and choose reality with our thoughts.
“The primary driver of reality is consciousness, not the material things of the mechanistic worldview.” — Mel Schwartz
When we understand the quantum world, there is no more either-or thinking, such as it is either “right” or “wrong,” etc.
Most people protect their egos by defending the need to be right. That is one of the most common ways that lead people towards disagreements, fights, and bitterness — their need to be correct.
However, when we realize that nothing is either-or, but instead either-and-or, it opens us up to wonder, inquiry, and new possibilities.
“The paradox here is that vulnerability of thought — being comfortable with being uncertain or wrong — actually makes us powerful and strong.” — Mel Schwartz
At the end of every chapter, Mel Schwartz provides a practical takeaway, for example:
“When you struggle with unsatisfactory or troublesome aspects of your life, ask yourself, “How is my fear around the unknown getting in the way of my change process?” Imagine yourself welcoming and embracing the uncertainty, and you’ll gain a sense of self-empowerment that can free you from the grip that certainty may have on you.”
If I would give stars to the books according to how much they can change my perceptions for the better, this book gets ten stars.
Reading about the old paradigm of mechanistic worldview and certainty — how we see everything as separated, determined, and static, has been eye-opening for me. I have seen this type of thinking everywhere — in University, in my own mind, in conversations with others, etc.
Understanding how things work differently from the quantum physics perspective is helpful. It helps us recognize how our ego has been the cause of a lot of anxiety and suffering. And it helps us courageously embrace uncertainty and take responsibility for our thinking as we can create our lives with our thoughts.
Reading this book also helps us switch on our metacognitive level of thinking — to see how we are thinking at the very foundational level. To think about our thinking and change what is old and limiting. | https://medium.com/change-your-mind/3-influential-and-life-changing-books-that-will-shift-your-paradigms-5a8b8dea72ce | ['Laine Kaleja'] | 2020-12-30 10:52:48.967000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life', 'Self', 'Psychology', 'Books'] | Title 3 Influential LifeChanging Books Shift ParadigmsContent 2 “The Possibility Principle Quantum Physics Improve Way Think Live Love” Mel Schwartz Picture amazoncouk got Chapter 7 Switch Brain — chapter Quantum Physics — wanted understand quantum physic better found book never interested physic never easy understand However Switch Brain Possibility Principle quickly become interested quantum physic see understanding quantum physics’ principle change worldview old outdated paradigm don’t serve u anymore paradigm allows u abundant flourishing life writing Chapter 6 Possibility Principle book Still already intriguing lifechanging hard resist using every moment continue reading Nevertheless like educational selfhelp book can’t read one night thought idea take time process reflect practical book Since Mel Schwartz psychotherapist physicist Therefore explanation fundamental quantum physic principle easy helpful also give lot reallife example client easy relate example recognize toxic pattern thinking perception Possibility Principle reveals apply three core tenet quantum physic — inseparability uncertainty potentiality — live life choose free wound past constraint old belief Old Mechanistic Paradigm living Newtonian worldview mechanistic paradigm dominated philosophy science twentieth century quantum physic revealed reality look quite different world’s mechanistic model say world consists separate inert object disconnected one another interacting cause effect According picture reality world operates giant machine become cog machine detached one another disconnected universe large filter separated Another core principle mechanistic paradigm determinism Determinism mean everything including moral choice predetermined previously existing cause That’s seek certainty much people fear uncertainty cause anxiety scared unknown seek safety environment people choice habit already know bring “As culture epidemic anxiety experience caused large part addiction certainty u fear avoid unknown” — Mel Schwartz New Quantum Conscioussness Paradigm Discovering thing work within quantum realm make u look world life entirely differently Within quantum realm rule certainty longer prevails Uncertainty fabric quantum world reality uncertainty help u uncover human potential realize everything anymore predetermined anything possible According quantum physic nothing anymore fixed state — everything realitymaking process creator destiny thought consciousness longer merely observer limited ability change something participatory role universe make choose reality thought “The primary driver reality consciousness material thing mechanistic worldview” — Mel Schwartz understand quantum world eitheror thinking either “right” “wrong” etc people protect ego defending need right one common way lead people towards disagreement fight bitterness — need correct However realize nothing eitheror instead eitherandor open u wonder inquiry new possibility “The paradox vulnerability thought — comfortable uncertain wrong — actually make u powerful strong” — Mel Schwartz end every chapter Mel Schwartz provides practical takeaway example “When struggle unsatisfactory troublesome aspect life ask “How fear around unknown getting way change process” Imagine welcoming embracing uncertainty you’ll gain sense selfempowerment free grip certainty may you” would give star book according much change perception better book get ten star Reading old paradigm mechanistic worldview certainty — see everything separated determined static eyeopening seen type thinking everywhere — University mind conversation others etc Understanding thing work differently quantum physic perspective helpful help u recognize ego cause lot anxiety suffering help u courageously embrace uncertainty take responsibility thinking create life thought Reading book also help u switch metacognitive level thinking — see thinking foundational level think thinking change old limitingTags Self Improvement Life Self Psychology Books |
3,111 | Why Camels Have Humps | A popular saying that’s been around since the 1960s says that “a camel is a horse designed by a committee.”
It’s a saying that’s supposed to be critical of committees, suggesting that they are ineffective and lead to poor, conflicting eventual decisions. But despite the initial impression that a camel may lead on a person, these creatures are superbly designed and completely optimized for their environment.
There’s no denying that they do look rather weird, at first glance. They’ve got wide, flat feet that look like they’ve been stung by bees. They have long eyelashes that make them look like a failed beauty competition contestant. They’re often considered to be foul-tempered, stubborn, and irritable. And that’s not even addressing that big ol’ hump that sticks up from the middle of their backs.
Let’s dig deeper into some of these camel oddities. Why the lashes? Why the flat feet? And what’s in that hump — is it filled with water, or is there another purpose for the bulge?
Unlike many committees, a camel is ideally suited for its purpose. Let’s learn about their physiological tools.
Camels Never Need False Eyelashes
I’ve never really fallen for a girl because of her long, seductive eyelashes, but I’m sure that plenty of beauty gurus, if they saw the eyelashes of a camel, would feel a bit of envy.
Gorgeous, darling, just gorgeous. Ready for the runway. Source.
But unlike the models that walk the runways in fashion shows, camels have their long lashes out of necessity. Camels have lots of eye protection; they have three eyelids, not just the two that we do, and they have two sets of eyelashes.
(By the way, the two eyelids we have are the upper and lower eyelid, in case you’re curious!)
The third eyelid that camels have is called a nictitating membrane, and it sweeps across from the inner corner of the eye. It is transparent, so it’s not obvious to spot when first looking at a camel, but it helps to protect the eye. It shields against dust and sand, which is a big issue in the desert where camels spend most of their time.
There’s also a theory that this nictitating membrane may help block some ultraviolet light, helping to reduce some of the glare that occurs in the bright, sunny desert.
Similarly to the nictitating membrane, the long lashes on camels help to keep their eyes shielded from blowing sand and dust, and also reduce glare and the amount of light that enters their eyes in the sunny desert. | https://medium.com/a-microbiome-scientist-at-large/why-camels-have-humps-1e7c9b436eed | ['Sam Westreich'] | 2020-12-07 12:02:58.699000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Evolution', 'Animals', 'Environment', 'Science'] | Title Camels HumpsContent popular saying that’s around since 1960s say “a camel horse designed committee” It’s saying that’s supposed critical committee suggesting ineffective lead poor conflicting eventual decision despite initial impression camel may lead person creature superbly designed completely optimized environment There’s denying look rather weird first glance They’ve got wide flat foot look like they’ve stung bee long eyelash make look like failed beauty competition contestant They’re often considered foultempered stubborn irritable that’s even addressing big ol’ hump stick middle back Let’s dig deeper camel oddity lash flat foot what’s hump — filled water another purpose bulge Unlike many committee camel ideally suited purpose Let’s learn physiological tool Camels Never Need False Eyelashes I’ve never really fallen girl long seductive eyelash I’m sure plenty beauty guru saw eyelash camel would feel bit envy Gorgeous darling gorgeous Ready runway Source unlike model walk runway fashion show camel long lash necessity Camels lot eye protection three eyelid two two set eyelash way two eyelid upper lower eyelid case you’re curious third eyelid camel called nictitating membrane sweep across inner corner eye transparent it’s obvious spot first looking camel help protect eye shield dust sand big issue desert camel spend time There’s also theory nictitating membrane may help block ultraviolet light helping reduce glare occurs bright sunny desert Similarly nictitating membrane long lash camel help keep eye shielded blowing sand dust also reduce glare amount light enters eye sunny desertTags Nature Evolution Animals Environment Science |
3,112 | Key trends for data journalism in 2019: machine learning, collaborations, and code art | There also was the West Africa Leaks, investigating how Africa’s elite hide billions offshore.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) carries on doing incredible work across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
In the US, ProPublica regularly publishes collaborative work through its network of publishing partners.
Also in the US, the Big Local News project — part of the Stanford Journalism and Democracy Initiative — aims to collect, process and share governmental data that’s difficult to obtain and analyze. The initiative, great example of collaboration within the data journalism industry, will partner with local and national newsrooms to use this data to examine a wide range of issues including criminal justice, housing, health and education for accountability journalism.
If you’re keen on sharing ideas about collaborative data journalism projects, and discuss with experts on the topic, come and take part in our free Slack discussion on 25 January 2019 at 9AM Pacific Time.
Data journalism, a field still growing worldwide. The examples of Taiwan and Cuba.
For those who still thinks that data journalism is a thing of the West, here is something to prove you wrong.
Kuek Ser Kuang Keng (Data Journalism Awards competition officer, Malaysia) shouted out to journalists in Taiwan, where data was used almost systematically during their recent midterm elections. Almost all online news websites have used election data and maps to enhance their reporting and analysis.
This project by Business Weekly in Taiwan looks at parliament funding, and through interactive infographics, invites its readers to know their MPs better. Find out who spent the most, what the most expensive projects were and how MPs like to use their money.
This article compiles several data-driven reporting from different outlets (it’s in Chinese, but you can use that Google Translate Chrome extension to turn it to English): How do the Taiwanese media play the 2018 local elections? by Hacks/Hackers Tapei
The use of data by news teams is also growing in Cuba, Yudivian Almeida Cruz (Postdata.club, Cuba) taught us. “Data liberation is on the way,” he said.
“It’s interesting [because] we are working on a new constitution and many different media used a data-driven approach to cover this process.
We are more or less [experiencing] data liberation, people are more interested in data, and have better access to the internet. People from the government are having more presence in social networks.”
Postdata.club has been a driving a force in the spread of data journalism in Cuba over the past year, with their coverage of the new Cuban constitution, same-sex marriage, and women in power.
Challenges for data journalists in 2019
We’ve asked our experts to name three challenges they think data journalists worldwide will have to face in 2019. Here is what they said…
Turning unstructured information into structured data is still a problem
With the growing amount of data readily available these days (though unfortunately not always in the right format), and the great effort from journalists to collect large sets of data, comes the notion of structured and unstructured information.
If you find it hard to differentiate the two, here is a great explainer by Brandon Wolfe:
“Structured data is easily searchable by basic algorithms. Examples include spreadsheets and data from machine sensors.
Unstructured data is more like human language. It doesn’t fit nicely into relational databases like SQL, and searching it based on the old algorithms ranges from difficult to completely impossible.”
“Collecting and turning unstructured information into structured data is a big challenge,” Cheryl Phillips (Stanford University, US) said. “That’s because the tools are not readily available in the newsroom yet.”
Hopefully, 2019 will be the year this problem gets fixed. In the meantime, Philips encourages newsrooms to continue their hard work collecting and normalizing disparate data, with help from collaborative initiatives such as the Big Local News project we mentioned above.
Yudivian Almeida Cruz (Postdata.club, Cuba) argued that deep learning will have an important role to play in this challenge. It could be used to help data analysis and get insights more easily out of the mess that is unstructured information.
If you’re into machine learning and looking for deep learning frameworks to play with, go check out this article by James Le: The 5 Deep Learning Frameworks Every Serious Machine Learner Should Be Familiar With
Access to government data in some countries is still limited
The second challenge our experts identified is a struggle in many countries, “even those with supposedly strong open records law,” Cheryl Phillips (Stanford University, US) said.
Access to government data was a problem in 2018, and will still be one in 2019.
“In Southeast Asia, journalists in some countries are having a hard time, especially the Philippines and Myanmar,” said Kuek Ser Kuang Keng (Data Journalism Awards competition officer, Malaysia).
“Access to government information and assessing the integrity of the information (fake or misleading data and information) are still a challenge there. But we also see huge progress in Malaysia where the new government is drafting its FOI law and reviewing its open data policy (for the better), so data journalism has a huge opportunity to grow there.”
In China, instead of getting data from the government, journalists turn to tech companies: “Some of the big tech companies are willing to share,” Kuek Ser Kuang Keng said.
“For example, instead of getting traffic data from the government, [journalists] got similar data from Didi, the equivalent of Uber in China (check out the Gaiga Initiative). Waze (a popular traffic navigation mobile app owned by Google) is also sharing traffic data with media in some countries here.”
Local data journalism doesn’t develop equally in different parts of the world
We’ve seen the great expand of The Bureau Local initiative in the UK, a collaborative, investigative network launched by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, comprising 833 members, which resulted in 293 stories so far.
Local data journalism in China is also a thing, Kuek Ser Kuang Keng explained: “Local data in China is sometimes easier to obtain compared to national data. In some big highly urbanised cities like Shanghai, the local authority has higher willingness to work with journalists on data sharing. Of course sensitive issues are still behind the line.”
But other places like Cuba, it’s still a challenge. Yudivian Almeida Cruz (Postdata.club, Cuba) said journalists find it hard “to cover the local news based on data, because it’s most common to have [national] or states [data]. It’s difficult to get data for local places.”
What technologies to use in 2019
Finally, we asked our experts what new ways of telling stories with data they were keen on playing with this year.
While Google recently announced its Fusion Tables will soon be gone (I invite you to read Simon Rogers’ Twitter thread about this), new tools will come to newsrooms in 2019.
Here are the top three tech for this year, highlighted by Simon Rogers from Google:
Artifical Intelligence
Sonification
Generative art
Morph is a free and open-source tool for creating designs, animations or interactive visualizations from data. It’s a great example of how journalists can easily innovate and play with the way they visualise information.
“I just think it’s time for some new approaches to visual storytelling, which can be a hard issue,” he said. “We worked with Datavized on something of an experiment [called Morph].”
Generative art, also called “code art”, is any art that is built using code. You can get an introduction to it in this article by Ali Spittel.
There are endless examples on CodePen — for example CSS art.
“Already some great storytellers like Nadieh Bremer are doing it,” Simon Rogers added. “I just want to see if there’s a way to make it accessible for everyone.”
To end this post in beauty, here is an example of data-driven generative art by Bremer:
Marble Butterflies by Nadieh Bremer
You can find the entire discussion this article is based on via the Data Journalism Awards Slack team. | https://medium.com/data-journalism-awards/key-trends-for-data-journalism-in-2019-machine-learning-collaborations-and-code-art-da7ffbea5ec6 | ['Marianne Bouchart'] | 2019-01-17 13:59:31.802000+00:00 | ['Data Journalism Award', 'Data Journalism', 'Dataviz', 'Journalism', 'Machine Learning'] | Title Key trend data journalism 2019 machine learning collaboration code artContent also West Africa Leaks investigating Africa’s elite hide billion offshore Organized Crime Corruption Reporting Project OCCRP carry incredible work across Europe Africa Asia Middle East Latin America US ProPublica regularly publishes collaborative work network publishing partner Also US Big Local News project — part Stanford Journalism Democracy Initiative — aim collect process share governmental data that’s difficult obtain analyze initiative great example collaboration within data journalism industry partner local national newsroom use data examine wide range issue including criminal justice housing health education accountability journalism you’re keen sharing idea collaborative data journalism project discus expert topic come take part free Slack discussion 25 January 2019 9AM Pacific Time Data journalism field still growing worldwide example Taiwan Cuba still think data journalism thing West something prove wrong Kuek Ser Kuang Keng Data Journalism Awards competition officer Malaysia shouted journalist Taiwan data used almost systematically recent midterm election Almost online news website used election data map enhance reporting analysis project Business Weekly Taiwan look parliament funding interactive infographics invite reader know MPs better Find spent expensive project MPs like use money article compiles several datadriven reporting different outlet it’s Chinese use Google Translate Chrome extension turn English Taiwanese medium play 2018 local election HacksHackers Tapei use data news team also growing Cuba Yudivian Almeida Cruz Postdataclub Cuba taught u “Data liberation way” said “It’s interesting working new constitution many different medium used datadriven approach cover process le experiencing data liberation people interested data better access internet People government presence social networks” Postdataclub driving force spread data journalism Cuba past year coverage new Cuban constitution samesex marriage woman power Challenges data journalist 2019 We’ve asked expert name three challenge think data journalist worldwide face 2019 said… Turning unstructured information structured data still problem growing amount data readily available day though unfortunately always right format great effort journalist collect large set data come notion structured unstructured information find hard differentiate two great explainer Brandon Wolfe “Structured data easily searchable basic algorithm Examples include spreadsheet data machine sensor Unstructured data like human language doesn’t fit nicely relational database like SQL searching based old algorithm range difficult completely impossible” “Collecting turning unstructured information structured data big challenge” Cheryl Phillips Stanford University US said “That’s tool readily available newsroom yet” Hopefully 2019 year problem get fixed meantime Philips encourages newsroom continue hard work collecting normalizing disparate data help collaborative initiative Big Local News project mentioned Yudivian Almeida Cruz Postdataclub Cuba argued deep learning important role play challenge could used help data analysis get insight easily mess unstructured information you’re machine learning looking deep learning framework play go check article James Le 5 Deep Learning Frameworks Every Serious Machine Learner Familiar Access government data country still limited second challenge expert identified struggle many country “even supposedly strong open record law” Cheryl Phillips Stanford University US said Access government data problem 2018 still one 2019 “In Southeast Asia journalist country hard time especially Philippines Myanmar” said Kuek Ser Kuang Keng Data Journalism Awards competition officer Malaysia “Access government information assessing integrity information fake misleading data information still challenge also see huge progress Malaysia new government drafting FOI law reviewing open data policy better data journalism huge opportunity grow there” China instead getting data government journalist turn tech company “Some big tech company willing share” Kuek Ser Kuang Keng said “For example instead getting traffic data government journalist got similar data Didi equivalent Uber China check Gaiga Initiative Waze popular traffic navigation mobile app owned Google also sharing traffic data medium country here” Local data journalism doesn’t develop equally different part world We’ve seen great expand Bureau Local initiative UK collaborative investigative network launched Bureau Investigative Journalism comprising 833 member resulted 293 story far Local data journalism China also thing Kuek Ser Kuang Keng explained “Local data China sometimes easier obtain compared national data big highly urbanised city like Shanghai local authority higher willingness work journalist data sharing course sensitive issue still behind line” place like Cuba it’s still challenge Yudivian Almeida Cruz Postdataclub Cuba said journalist find hard “to cover local news based data it’s common national state data It’s difficult get data local places” technology use 2019 Finally asked expert new way telling story data keen playing year Google recently announced Fusion Tables soon gone invite read Simon Rogers’ Twitter thread new tool come newsroom 2019 top three tech year highlighted Simon Rogers Google Artifical Intelligence Sonification Generative art Morph free opensource tool creating design animation interactive visualization data It’s great example journalist easily innovate play way visualise information “I think it’s time new approach visual storytelling hard issue” said “We worked Datavized something experiment called Morph” Generative art also called “code art” art built using code get introduction article Ali Spittel endless example CodePen — example CSS art “Already great storyteller like Nadieh Bremer it” Simon Rogers added “I want see there’s way make accessible everyone” end post beauty example datadriven generative art Bremer Marble Butterflies Nadieh Bremer find entire discussion article based via Data Journalism Awards Slack teamTags Data Journalism Award Data Journalism Dataviz Journalism Machine Learning |
3,113 | Long Live The Storytellers | Before the rise in literacy and the invention of the printing press, people told stories. To family, to friends, around the table, around a campfire, at the pub. If you were good at it, not many people knew. Did it matter? Of course not. If you liked telling stories you told them. If other people liked listening to them they listened.
Over time storytellers became writers. Stories started living in books.
As a writer, I am “known” by a few hundred people on Medium. Probably 20% of them actually read my stories regularly (based on claps and responses.) Does it matter? Of course not. The world (or Medium) doesn’t owe me a huge audience or fame or fortune. And thankfully, I am not chasing after them. God bless those who are. It is a difficult road to travel.
Of course, we all want an audience. Someone to appreciate our creative output. Audiences are good. No matter the size. They help us grow. The feedback they provide is essential. You learn what works and what doesn’t. You receive criticism, encouragement, and instructive silence. All of which are helpful.
And if you write something readers like it is very satisfying.
I write mainly humor and fiction. Topics not highly valued by Medium, but highly valued by some writers on Medium. And by some readers of Medium. So I write for them. If people like to read what I write they read it. And sometimes they respond. It’s like telling stories to friends.
I am fortunate that I can write for the pure joy of creativity and the pleasure of a small audience that enjoys what I write. Not because I am rich. By no means. I appreciate the small amount of money I make on Medium. It covers my internet, my Medium subscription, and Netflix. But writing on Medium is just one of my gigs. My main income comes from teaching guitar and playing occasional band gigs. My wife also works. Together we make enough to live simply. It is good. And it allows me to write. To tell stories.
I am a storyteller.
Long live the storytellers. | https://medium.com/mark-starlin-writes/long-live-the-storytellers-83cf34ea02d9 | ['Mark Starlin'] | 2019-04-01 23:51:29.289000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Reading', 'Writer', 'Essay', 'Storytelling'] | Title Long Live StorytellersContent rise literacy invention printing press people told story family friend around table around campfire pub good many people knew matter course liked telling story told people liked listening listened time storyteller became writer Stories started living book writer “known” hundred people Medium Probably 20 actually read story regularly based clap response matter course world Medium doesn’t owe huge audience fame fortune thankfully chasing God bless difficult road travel course want audience Someone appreciate creative output Audiences good matter size help u grow feedback provide essential learn work doesn’t receive criticism encouragement instructive silence helpful write something reader like satisfying write mainly humor fiction Topics highly valued Medium highly valued writer Medium reader Medium write people like read write read sometimes respond It’s like telling story friend fortunate write pure joy creativity pleasure small audience enjoys write rich mean appreciate small amount money make Medium cover internet Medium subscription Netflix writing Medium one gig main income come teaching guitar playing occasional band gig wife also work Together make enough live simply good allows write tell story storyteller Long live storytellersTags Writing Reading Writer Essay Storytelling |
3,114 | Predict House Prices with Machine Learning | Predict House Prices with Machine Learning
Regression model trained on 1,883 homes
Image source: Greg Carter Barrister & Solicitor.
Property valuation is an imprecise science. Individual appraisers and valuers bring their own experience, metrics and skills to a job. Consistency is difficult, with UK and Australian-based studies suggesting valuations between two professionals can differ by up to 40%. Crikey!
Perhaps a well-trained machine could perform this task in place of a human, with greater consistency and accuracy.
Let’s prototype this idea and train some ML models using data about a house’s features, costs and neighbourhood profile to predict its value. Our target variable — property price — is numerical, hence the ML task is regression. (For a categorical target, the task becomes classification.)
We’ll use a dataset from elitedatascience.com that simulates a portfolio of 1,883 properties belonging to a real-estate investment trust (REIT). There are 26 columns. Here’s a small snippet: | https://towardsdatascience.com/predict-house-prices-with-machine-learning-5b475db4e1e | ['Col Jung'] | 2020-11-29 03:29:47.678000+00:00 | ['Real Estate', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] | Title Predict House Prices Machine LearningContent Predict House Prices Machine Learning Regression model trained 1883 home Image source Greg Carter Barrister Solicitor Property valuation imprecise science Individual appraiser valuer bring experience metric skill job Consistency difficult UK Australianbased study suggesting valuation two professional differ 40 Crikey Perhaps welltrained machine could perform task place human greater consistency accuracy Let’s prototype idea train ML model using data house’s feature cost neighbourhood profile predict value target variable — property price — numerical hence ML task regression categorical target task becomes classification We’ll use dataset elitedatasciencecom simulates portfolio 1883 property belonging realestate investment trust REIT 26 column Here’s small snippetTags Real Estate Artificial Intelligence Python Data Science Machine Learning |
3,115 | My Unique Book Naming Strategy | My Unique Book Naming Strategy
Quarantined Income Workshop #6
Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash
Hello everyone and welcome to the sixth workshop in the Quarantined Income Workshop series.
Today’s workshop is somewhat unusual compared to the ones that came before, because instead of talking about a new platform on which you can build an online hustle; today we’ll be building on the previously published self-publishing with Amazon KDP workshop.
I’ve had a lot of feedback regarding the self-publishing workshop from people who have tried it themselves, and that’s not surprising. Almost everyone who makes a self-propelled living through writing has tried their hand at self-publishing at one time or another.
While some people strike gold and make a handsome living off their self-published books, the vast majority of people never make it work.
Making it work with your self-published writing requires the perfect execution of a lot of factors, and one of these important factors is your selection of book titles.
Photo by Cris Ovalle on Unsplash
Selecting a Title
Titling a book is incredibly important because it’s the first example of our ability to write that the reader will ever experience.
People say that there’s nothing like a first impression, so the first impression of your book should be something that gets a lot of care and attention.
Even more critically, the title of your books doesn’t just impact the success of the book itself; it impacts the success of the entire series that your book is a part of.
I’m a big fan of writing series’ of books for Amazon as a strategy for success. Personally, I make very little money from each of my books individually.
Instead, all of my books are individual parts of a larger whole, and it’s the series themselves that make the cash.
If I can hook a reader in for one entry, I can bring them back for the rest. (Especially if that reader has Kindle Unlimited and isn’t paying more to read more).
Providing good content is the most important factor in the success of a series, but the audience will never know how good the content is if a great title doesn’t reel them in first.
There are many strategies all over the internet for how you can write a great title.
Some advice is more academic, while others are anecdotal.
My strategy for book titling is the result of years of trial of and error. My hope is that my strategy will give you another tool for your hustlers’ toolkit going forward and most of all, that it leads to sales and glorious income.
Photo by Yuvraj Singh on Unsplash
The Homage Strategy
People are naturally risk aversive, especially when it comes to spending their hard-earned cash. Because of that, I try to make my book titles seem as familiar as possible.
Your ultimate goal when titling a book is to stand out from the enormous competition on the platform, so creativity will win every time.
You can have the most academic title of all time, but no-one will ever find it if you don’t have an edge of some kind.
Unless you’re famous, then there’s no need for an edge, or even for the book to be good.
One go-to for me is drawing inspiration from the names of already existing movie franchises in my book titles, while also conveying the message of the book series I’m writing.
As you’ll know if you read my previous self publishing workshop, my greatest success so far has come from writing an enormous amount of short romance books that all connect together as part of a large, futuristic, post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure in space.
Creating three series of connected books has led to royalties that slowly build for every entry in the series I write.
For one series, I wanted to convey a simple message while also letting the audience know that the series was both action-packed and lighthearted in tone.
For this, I decided to replicate the names of the Fast and Furious franchise.
This is a franchise with which people are familiar, so all I had to do was swap out the words Fast and Furious with my actual title, which was Dangerous Cousins.
**(To protect the anonymity of my pen name author, this title is different to the one I used in reality. This example title is swiped from the TV series Arrested Development).**
My book Dangerous Cousins is about two cousins living on a small planet who fall in love and are therefore chased by the authorities for their crime.
This chase leads to a multi-book series of adventures, twists, turns, love, betrayal, etc.
Despite the high stakes and dangerous tone, the books are lighthearted in their dialogue and character interaction.
The target demographic is people who enjoy, shall we say, “alternative romance.” Which, if you go by the statistics released by PornHub each year, is a surprisingly massive amount of people.
So the first book is just called Dangerous Cousins. But since I’m going with a Fast and Furious theme, my second book is called “2 Dangerous 2 Cousins.”
The title still works because the danger is indeed heightened in this book, and there are two cousins.
The third book is called “Dangerous Cousins 3: Tokyo Drift.” In this book, they go to futuristic version Tokyo where the laws are friendlier to people who practice their alternative lifestyle… or is it?
The rest of the series titles are as follows;
Dangerous & Cousins
Dangerous 5
Dangerous & Cousins 6
Cousins 7
The Fate of the Cousins
C9
The longer a series goes, the bigger readership it’s able to build. The goal of titling books this way is to help the series achieve its most important goal on Amazon, standing out.
I Know it Sounds Crazy
There’s just so much content on the platform, and your book titled “What Me and My Cousin Did 3” or “Cousin Love 5” is going to be completely buried by all the other content that’s similarly titled.
Reminding people of something they already love will give them a small connection to the series before even reading it.
They might chuckle when they see one of the books, then investigate and figure out that you’ve followed the whole film franchise with your titles.
Once your title has made them curious enough to click on your book, it’s the job of the book description to seal the deal.
When I recommend that you reference movies and pop culture in your titles, I don’t mean doing that porn cliche of literally re-writing the film as a sexual parody.
My ‘Dangerous Cousins’ series doesn’t follow the narrative storyline of the Fast franchise at all. They’re only similar to the Fast series in that they’re action-packed, high stakes, and super focused on the importance of family. Mmmmmm gross.
**(Remember, my real books aren’t about cousins. This was only an example to prove my point).**
Remember, your homage doesn’t have to be to a movie or movie franchise, this is just what I did.
This strategy works off the idea that people buy what they know. So simply reminding people of what they already know and love may get your foot in the door.
It may also lead to a title that’s more creative than the others in your genre, which is something all books need to succeed.
I believe that a book’s ability to stand out is the difference between it selling and going by completely unnoticed.
Although as I said earlier, this rule doesn’t apply to celebrities. | https://medium.com/money-clip/giving-your-book-a-memorable-title-a75bfbf513ca | ['Jordan Fraser'] | 2020-05-17 06:56:38.632000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Writing', 'Money', 'Hustle', 'Success'] | Title Unique Book Naming StrategyContent Unique Book Naming Strategy Quarantined Income Workshop 6 Photo Jess Bailey Unsplash Hello everyone welcome sixth workshop Quarantined Income Workshop series Today’s workshop somewhat unusual compared one came instead talking new platform build online hustle today we’ll building previously published selfpublishing Amazon KDP workshop I’ve lot feedback regarding selfpublishing workshop people tried that’s surprising Almost everyone make selfpropelled living writing tried hand selfpublishing one time another people strike gold make handsome living selfpublished book vast majority people never make work Making work selfpublished writing requires perfect execution lot factor one important factor selection book title Photo Cris Ovalle Unsplash Selecting Title Titling book incredibly important it’s first example ability write reader ever experience People say there’s nothing like first impression first impression book something get lot care attention Even critically title book doesn’t impact success book impact success entire series book part I’m big fan writing series’ book Amazon strategy success Personally make little money book individually Instead book individual part larger whole it’s series make cash hook reader one entry bring back rest Especially reader Kindle Unlimited isn’t paying read Providing good content important factor success series audience never know good content great title doesn’t reel first many strategy internet write great title advice academic others anecdotal strategy book titling result year trial error hope strategy give another tool hustlers’ toolkit going forward lead sale glorious income Photo Yuvraj Singh Unsplash Homage Strategy People naturally risk aversive especially come spending hardearned cash try make book title seem familiar possible ultimate goal titling book stand enormous competition platform creativity win every time academic title time noone ever find don’t edge kind Unless you’re famous there’s need edge even book good One goto drawing inspiration name already existing movie franchise book title also conveying message book series I’m writing you’ll know read previous self publishing workshop greatest success far come writing enormous amount short romance book connect together part large futuristic postapocalyptic scifi adventure space Creating three series connected book led royalty slowly build every entry series write one series wanted convey simple message also letting audience know series actionpacked lighthearted tone decided replicate name Fast Furious franchise franchise people familiar swap word Fast Furious actual title Dangerous Cousins protect anonymity pen name author title different one used reality example title swiped TV series Arrested Development book Dangerous Cousins two cousin living small planet fall love therefore chased authority crime chase lead multibook series adventure twist turn love betrayal etc Despite high stake dangerous tone book lighthearted dialogue character interaction target demographic people enjoy shall say “alternative romance” go statistic released PornHub year surprisingly massive amount people first book called Dangerous Cousins since I’m going Fast Furious theme second book called “2 Dangerous 2 Cousins” title still work danger indeed heightened book two cousin third book called “Dangerous Cousins 3 Tokyo Drift” book go futuristic version Tokyo law friendlier people practice alternative lifestyle… rest series title follows Dangerous Cousins Dangerous 5 Dangerous Cousins 6 Cousins 7 Fate Cousins C9 longer series go bigger readership it’s able build goal titling book way help series achieve important goal Amazon standing Know Sounds Crazy There’s much content platform book titled “What Cousin 3” “Cousin Love 5” going completely buried content that’s similarly titled Reminding people something already love give small connection series even reading might chuckle see one book investigate figure you’ve followed whole film franchise title title made curious enough click book it’s job book description seal deal recommend reference movie pop culture title don’t mean porn cliche literally rewriting film sexual parody ‘Dangerous Cousins’ series doesn’t follow narrative storyline Fast franchise They’re similar Fast series they’re actionpacked high stake super focused importance family Mmmmmm gross Remember real book aren’t cousin example prove point Remember homage doesn’t movie movie franchise strategy work idea people buy know simply reminding people already know love may get foot door may also lead title that’s creative others genre something book need succeed believe book’s ability stand difference selling going completely unnoticed Although said earlier rule doesn’t apply celebritiesTags Entrepreneurship Writing Money Hustle Success |
3,116 | Sorry Buddy — Your Brain is Not Your Friend! | Your brain is working against you. Fact. There’s a perfect evolutionary storm and it’s killing your productivity. Do you want to achieve your goals? Fine. But understanding why your brain behaves the way it does is the first step on the road to self-empowerment.
First of all, you must accept this one simple thing
Your brain screws you over. Every single day. If we were in a friendship with our brains we would’ve binned them off years ago. We wouldn’t tolerate their constant whining, negative talk, and undermining.
There are two underlying psychological predispositions I want to tell you about. We all have them to a greater or lesser degree. If they’re left unchecked and unmonitored, they will derail us. They can affect our motivation and throw us off our goals and our best-laid plans.
Everything Is Awful and here’s why…
I’m kidding. I’m having a great time writing this article. But your brain doesn’t think so. The wiring in our brains views the world with a strong negativity bias. It has to. Evolution left us with no choice in the matter.
When faced with an uncertain situation, the chimps that ran for cover were the ones that survived. Sure, that looming shape could’ve been Grandma with wooly mammoth for dinner. But it could’ve been a nasty dinosaur.
I’m kidding. There were no dinosaurs. Huge bears though. Lions. Tigers. Rhino. Massive apex predators that wouldn’t think twice about chomping on our ancestors. Those with a pessimistic inclination and nearby hiding places were the ones that made it. Your Great-Grandparents eighty times removed might’ve been skittish as hell, but they survived.
Good Hominids hid at the first sign of trouble.
But that leaves modern humans threat-focused. In any given situation we find ourselves we seek to end the threat. It’s a good trait to have. It kept the species safe. It’s unlikely a lion is going to jump out at you from behind the photocopier though. You’re not going to get trampled by Wildebeest on your way to the pub.
So you’re safe. Sounds too good to be true. Your brain thinks so.
So it does the best thing it can. It invents threats and problems for you to solve. The time you spend in the office is often spent fixing problems. We focus on what we’ve done wrong. We see other people as competitors. We focus on the threats to our business and our finances.
A lot of our time is now spent in our frontal cortex inventing problems that we may never have to face. We ruminate on the impossible, the unpredictable and the never-going-to-happen. If we do this long enough we shorten our lives. If we do this at a professional standard we will get diagnosed with anxiety.
Your brain doesn’t mind. You didn’t get eaten. That’s what counts. Your brain fixates on negatives because positives aren’t a threat. None of your ancestors died from aggressive piles of fruit. Evolution has done its job. It got you and your genes into the digital age.
You’re hard wired to see threats where threats don’t exist.
PROBLEM NUMBER ONE: you always focus on the negative. | https://medium.com/recycled/sorry-buddy-your-brain-is-not-your-friend-ab84d67ae73e | ['Argumentative Penguin'] | 2019-10-26 18:05:48.617000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Evolution', 'Life', 'Psychology', 'Productivity'] | Title Sorry Buddy — Brain FriendContent brain working Fact There’s perfect evolutionary storm it’s killing productivity want achieve goal Fine understanding brain behaves way first step road selfempowerment First must accept one simple thing brain screw Every single day friendship brain would’ve binned year ago wouldn’t tolerate constant whining negative talk undermining two underlying psychological predisposition want tell greater lesser degree they’re left unchecked unmonitored derail u affect motivation throw u goal bestlaid plan Everything Awful here’s why… I’m kidding I’m great time writing article brain doesn’t think wiring brain view world strong negativity bias Evolution left u choice matter faced uncertain situation chimp ran cover one survived Sure looming shape could’ve Grandma wooly mammoth dinner could’ve nasty dinosaur I’m kidding dinosaur Huge bear though Lions Tigers Rhino Massive apex predator wouldn’t think twice chomping ancestor pessimistic inclination nearby hiding place one made GreatGrandparents eighty time removed might’ve skittish hell survived Good Hominids hid first sign trouble leaf modern human threatfocused given situation find seek end threat It’s good trait kept specie safe It’s unlikely lion going jump behind photocopier though You’re going get trampled Wildebeest way pub you’re safe Sounds good true brain think best thing invents threat problem solve time spend office often spent fixing problem focus we’ve done wrong see people competitor focus threat business finance lot time spent frontal cortex inventing problem may never face ruminate impossible unpredictable nevergoingtohappen long enough shorten life professional standard get diagnosed anxiety brain doesn’t mind didn’t get eaten That’s count brain fixates negative positive aren’t threat None ancestor died aggressive pile fruit Evolution done job got gene digital age You’re hard wired see threat threat don’t exist PROBLEM NUMBER ONE always focus negativeTags Work Evolution Life Psychology Productivity |
3,117 | Annual Report: One year of Pictal Health | One year ago, on my 40th birthday, I fired up the Vermont Secretary of State website and filed a new business, Pictal Health. I bought a PO Box, got a business bank account, and started working on the brand and logo. From then until now, I’ve gone through periods of accomplishment and stagnation, emotional highs and lows, and varying degrees of chocolate consumption. Allow me to break some of this down, in the name of personal reflection and organizational transparency.
Accomplishments
I put together a website, brand, and business that enables me to work 1-on-1 with people to visualize their health history. This involved putting together legal agreements, figuring out how to take payments, developing templates, and making the process clear on the website.
I’ve had 7 paying customers so far and have worked with almost 30 people total. (I’ve clearly done a lot of pro bono work.) I have a paid pilot starting with the VA right now as well, and I’ll be working with 10 additional veterans. Working with people 1-on-1 has helped me refine my designs, understand the needs of diverse patients, and really understand who this process benefits most — people with complicated, mysterious, unsolved health issues who are prepping for a future doctor appointment.
Spreading the word about this work and its impact is central to my mission. I’ve written many articles here on Medium, and I’ve had a chance to share my work at both local and national events — most recently Health Datapalooza in Washington, D.C., and I’ll also be speaking this fall at my favorite healthcare event, Medicine X. I’m also going to be presenting at a local pitch competition, LaunchVT, in a couple of weeks.
My background is in design, so learning and strategizing about business models has been a good ‘growth’ process for me. I have had a lot of help on this from business-minded people, especially locally here in Burlington, VT. By my count I’ve had at least 68 meetings in the last year with informal business advisors, healthcare organizations, other healthcare startups, and potential organizational partners. How wonderful to meet so many smart, interesting people who have given me so much of their time and encouragement. I am extremely grateful.
I’ve learned a ton from talking with the patients and healthcare providers who have been so generous with their time. I’ve spoken with 22 alternative or holistic practitioners, 8 specialists, 6 nurses, 45 patients, and I’ve surveyed about 150 additional patients. User-centered / human-centered design is in my blood, so it feels good to know I am grounded in real insights. And, through these meetings I’ve been able to test and validate (or disprove) multiple business model hypotheses.
As a designer, I have had to hold myself back from getting too wrapped up in detailed design — my specialty — but I do have a pretty good prototype of a more scalable software product.
Personally this has been an interesting journey. I’ve learned how to work alone and stay motivated; my girl Jocelyn K. Glei and her Hurry Slowly podcast and RESET course have been a big help. I’ve also learned that working alone doesn’t really work for me, and I’m currently trying to fix that. I’ve had a chance to ponder what I want from my life, what a sustainable business looks like for me, and what ‘enough’ means for me. (On that topic, check out Paul Jarvis’s book Company of One — a great read.)
Challenges
In the past, I’ve felt most alive and happy when I am collaborating with a good team and doing work at which I excel. This past year I have had to work mostly alone, and I’ve found myself doing new, slightly uncomfortable types of work. Being isolated from other people and from the work of being a designer has been my biggest personal challenge and has resulted in extreme emotional lows at certain points. I’m currently working on ways to remediate this.
It’s hard to build a business without a lot of revenue or seed money. I have opinions about venture capital money, and how I want to avoid it — here’s a related article from Jeffrey Zeldman on that topic. I don’t want external pressure to grow, grow, grow; sell, sell, sell; ‘exit’; so I’m trying to figure out alternative routes.
And hey, it’s not very fun not having low-to-no income.
The business model is a big challenge; in healthcare, the people who get the most value (patients and doctors) often aren’t the ones paying. It’s tricky. Ask anyone with a small healthcare startup that is still figuring out its business model; it’s a slog.
I’m sure there are a lot more challenges. Every day is a challenge and an opportunity. I’m trying to stay focused on the good stuff and keep in mind the bigger mission and impact this work could make.
Things I am grateful for
All of the people who have contributed their time and expertise to me, and encouraged me to keep going — it’s fuel for me.
The chances I have had to actually collaborate with others: on branding and design with Alli Berry, on strategy with Jackson Latka and Tad Cooke, and on accountability with Anna de Paula Hanika.
My coach for the upcoming LaunchVT pitch competition, Anne Miller, who knows her stuff and is helping me understand and plan for the business commercialization aspect of this work.
My friends, family, therapist and husband who have provided a lot of emotional support in the last year. The people at VCET for being nice humans who I can go be amongst.
My IVIG nurses, who administer my strength-inducing go-go vein juice and talk to me about true crime.
Also: dark chocolate, being in nature, having a flexible schedule for when I have insomnia, costume parties, our cool classic Toyota space van, etc.
Anyway. Is this TMI? Thank you for reading. | https://medium.com/pictal-health/annual-report-one-year-of-pictal-health-f95b9df9823 | ['Katie Mccurdy'] | 2019-05-16 14:12:08.583000+00:00 | ['Healthcare', 'Startup', 'Startup Life', 'Design', 'Healthcare Technology'] | Title Annual Report One year Pictal HealthContent One year ago 40th birthday fired Vermont Secretary State website filed new business Pictal Health bought PO Box got business bank account started working brand logo I’ve gone period accomplishment stagnation emotional high low varying degree chocolate consumption Allow break name personal reflection organizational transparency Accomplishments put together website brand business enables work 1on1 people visualize health history involved putting together legal agreement figuring take payment developing template making process clear website I’ve 7 paying customer far worked almost 30 people total I’ve clearly done lot pro bono work paid pilot starting VA right well I’ll working 10 additional veteran Working people 1on1 helped refine design understand need diverse patient really understand process benefit — people complicated mysterious unsolved health issue prepping future doctor appointment Spreading word work impact central mission I’ve written many article Medium I’ve chance share work local national event — recently Health Datapalooza Washington DC I’ll also speaking fall favorite healthcare event Medicine X I’m also going presenting local pitch competition LaunchVT couple week background design learning strategizing business model good ‘growth’ process lot help businessminded people especially locally Burlington VT count I’ve least 68 meeting last year informal business advisor healthcare organization healthcare startup potential organizational partner wonderful meet many smart interesting people given much time encouragement extremely grateful I’ve learned ton talking patient healthcare provider generous time I’ve spoken 22 alternative holistic practitioner 8 specialist 6 nurse 45 patient I’ve surveyed 150 additional patient Usercentered humancentered design blood feel good know grounded real insight meeting I’ve able test validate disprove multiple business model hypothesis designer hold back getting wrapped detailed design — specialty — pretty good prototype scalable software product Personally interesting journey I’ve learned work alone stay motivated girl Jocelyn K Glei Hurry Slowly podcast RESET course big help I’ve also learned working alone doesn’t really work I’m currently trying fix I’ve chance ponder want life sustainable business look like ‘enough’ mean topic check Paul Jarvis’s book Company One — great read Challenges past I’ve felt alive happy collaborating good team work excel past year work mostly alone I’ve found new slightly uncomfortable type work isolated people work designer biggest personal challenge resulted extreme emotional low certain point I’m currently working way remediate It’s hard build business without lot revenue seed money opinion venture capital money want avoid — here’s related article Jeffrey Zeldman topic don’t want external pressure grow grow grow sell sell sell ‘exit’ I’m trying figure alternative route hey it’s fun lowtono income business model big challenge healthcare people get value patient doctor often aren’t one paying It’s tricky Ask anyone small healthcare startup still figuring business model it’s slog I’m sure lot challenge Every day challenge opportunity I’m trying stay focused good stuff keep mind bigger mission impact work could make Things grateful people contributed time expertise encouraged keep going — it’s fuel chance actually collaborate others branding design Alli Berry strategy Jackson Latka Tad Cooke accountability Anna de Paula Hanika coach upcoming LaunchVT pitch competition Anne Miller know stuff helping understand plan business commercialization aspect work friend family therapist husband provided lot emotional support last year people VCET nice human go amongst IVIG nurse administer strengthinducing gogo vein juice talk true crime Also dark chocolate nature flexible schedule insomnia costume party cool classic Toyota space van etc Anyway TMI Thank readingTags Healthcare Startup Startup Life Design Healthcare Technology |
3,118 | The Corruption of Power | The Corruption of Power
Years later, Robert Penn Warren’s writing still speaks to the decay of political systems
Image courtesy of mrderofcrows.wordpress.com
It is Willie Stark, the populist politician in Robert Penn Warren’s 1946 novel All the King’s Men, who announces in the first chapter that “Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption.”
Penn Warren’s novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize the year after publication, has stood the test of time as a popular diatribe against the corruption of politics. It is through the rise and fall of Willie Stark that Robert Penn Warren weaves a tale of human potential, greatness, and ultimate downfall. Here we see the story of a man who tried to use his own power to rise above the law, paying the ultimate price in his pursuit of preeminence.
Even today, it is a lesson that many readers will find familiar.
Stark’s view of human corruption is a powerful theme throughout the novel. Through the eyes of Jack Burden, the young assistant to Willie Stark, we learn that the politician initially rose to power by fighting against ongoing corruption and through advocating for political reform. Stark establishes himself as an honest, crime-fighting man, becoming immensely popular throughout the state.
As readers, we are drawn to the Stark’s larger-than-life personality and charismatic eagerness. He is portrayed as a hard worker, a man who came from nothing and established himself as something. Stark is a good public speaker, but it is clear that he possesses none of the intelligence or education that Jack Burden displays. Instead, the politician acts upon instinct, relying on motivation, influence, and power to achieve his goals.
Willie Stark’s brash instinctual mindset is displayed during a speech to supporters. Standing on the steps of the Louisiana State Capital, Stark exclaims:
“I shall live in your will and your right. And if any man tries to stop me in the fulfilling of that right and that will I’ll break him. I’ll break him like that…I’ll smite him. Hip and thigh, shinbone and neckbone, kidney punch, rabbit punch, upper cut, and solar plexus. And I don’t care what I hit him with. Or how!”
As we watch Stark’s rise to governor, we see his thirst for power push him toward unethical actions. The politician asks Burden to find dirt on his political rivals, eventually resorting to bribery to meet his needs. As the New York Daily News wrote in a 1949 review, Stark “ is gradually metamorphosed into a man so drunk with power that he wields it like a Stalin, a Hitler or a Mussolino.”
The Boss, as Jack Burden calls Willie Stark throughout the novel, has more problems than just bribery and political corruption: despite being married with one son, he becomes involved in multiple sexual affairs. Those affairs threaten his marriage, rocking his political career. And, after the brother of one of Stark’s mistresses hears sordid rumors, the brother decides to take actions into his own hands. He confronts Stark in the capital building, gunning The Boss down.
Willie Stark, after a meteoric rise from poverty to power, is suddenly dead.
Robert Penn Warren’s novel tells the tale of Willie Stark’s rise to prominence and eventual downfall, but there is so much more to the story than just the biography of a fictional politician. Like Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Willie Stark’s life and death serve as a reminder of the instability of power. Stark wanted the world, and for a time he held it in his hands. But then, in the midst of his own greatness, the power he once grasped fell from his reach.
As Penn Warren reminds the audience, power is fleeting. The past — once transformed by the misleading shine of power — returns as before.
Jack Burden reminisces on this fact at the end of the novel, stating, “In one sense it is strange that I should be here, for the discovery of truth had one time robbed me of the past…But in the end, the truth gave the past back to me.”
The novel’s focus on time continues in the final paragraph, written beautifully by Penn Warren and told through the voice of Jack Burden. As Burden and his wife attempt to move on from the death of Willie Stark by leaving their home, the narrator states:
We shall come back, no doubt, to walk down the Row and watch young people on the tennis courts by the clump of mimosas and walk down the beach by the bay, where the diving floats lift gently in the sun, and on out to the pine grove, where the needles thick on the ground will deaden the footfall so that we shall move among trees as soundless as smoke. But that will be a long time from now, and soon now we shall go out of the house and go into the convulsion of the world, out of history into history and the awful responsibility of Time.
And so Time, the formidable, unsurmountable component of all humanity, wipes clean the corruption of power. Willie Stark, the governor who rose out of poverty to reign on a decrepit throne of grandeur, stands as another footnote in Time’s long list of conquests. And Penn Warren reminds us, with his masterful use of prose, that we too are mere tokens of the “awful responsibility of Time.” | https://medium.com/literally-literary/the-corruption-of-power-fbfd4847cf3d | ['Aaron Schnoor'] | 2020-02-03 04:21:01.340000+00:00 | ['Literature', 'Books', 'Politics', 'Writing', 'Essay'] | Title Corruption PowerContent Corruption Power Years later Robert Penn Warren’s writing still speaks decay political system Image courtesy mrderofcrowswordpresscom Willie Stark populist politician Robert Penn Warren’s 1946 novel King’s Men announces first chapter “Man conceived sin born corruption” Penn Warren’s novel Pulitzer Prize year publication stood test time popular diatribe corruption politics rise fall Willie Stark Robert Penn Warren weave tale human potential greatness ultimate downfall see story man tried use power rise law paying ultimate price pursuit preeminence Even today lesson many reader find familiar Stark’s view human corruption powerful theme throughout novel eye Jack Burden young assistant Willie Stark learn politician initially rose power fighting ongoing corruption advocating political reform Stark establishes honest crimefighting man becoming immensely popular throughout state reader drawn Stark’s largerthanlife personality charismatic eagerness portrayed hard worker man came nothing established something Stark good public speaker clear posse none intelligence education Jack Burden display Instead politician act upon instinct relying motivation influence power achieve goal Willie Stark’s brash instinctual mindset displayed speech supporter Standing step Louisiana State Capital Stark exclaims “I shall live right man try stop fulfilling right I’ll break I’ll break like that…I’ll smite Hip thigh shinbone neckbone kidney punch rabbit punch upper cut solar plexus don’t care hit how” watch Stark’s rise governor see thirst power push toward unethical action politician asks Burden find dirt political rival eventually resorting bribery meet need New York Daily News wrote 1949 review Stark “ gradually metamorphosed man drunk power wields like Stalin Hitler Mussolino” Boss Jack Burden call Willie Stark throughout novel problem bribery political corruption despite married one son becomes involved multiple sexual affair affair threaten marriage rocking political career brother one Stark’s mistress hears sordid rumor brother decides take action hand confronts Stark capital building gunning Boss Willie Stark meteoric rise poverty power suddenly dead Robert Penn Warren’s novel tell tale Willie Stark’s rise prominence eventual downfall much story biography fictional politician Like Jay Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby Willie Stark’s life death serve reminder instability power Stark wanted world time held hand midst greatness power grasped fell reach Penn Warren reminds audience power fleeting past — transformed misleading shine power — return Jack Burden reminisces fact end novel stating “In one sense strange discovery truth one time robbed past…But end truth gave past back me” novel’s focus time continues final paragraph written beautifully Penn Warren told voice Jack Burden Burden wife attempt move death Willie Stark leaving home narrator state shall come back doubt walk Row watch young people tennis court clump mimosa walk beach bay diving float lift gently sun pine grove needle thick ground deaden footfall shall move among tree soundless smoke long time soon shall go house go convulsion world history history awful responsibility Time Time formidable unsurmountable component humanity wipe clean corruption power Willie Stark governor rose poverty reign decrepit throne grandeur stand another footnote Time’s long list conquest Penn Warren reminds u masterful use prose mere token “awful responsibility Time”Tags Literature Books Politics Writing Essay |
3,119 | Write First: The Craft of Content-first Design | Writing is excruciatingly hard to do.
Most adults of a certain generation have written a book report. You may have written an email love letter. Or at least a tweet. You can blunder through writing, or you can study and practice and develop the skill. Even if you never reach artistic heights, you’ve done something hard. The commitment ceremony of words on a screen (or on a page, if you’re old-fashioned) converts ideas into something more than notional. Writing is a fundamental design skill.
Good writing feels like witchcraft. An elegant narrative is a near-rapturous experience that beguiles without the mechanics showing. I love reading and re-reading passages to detect the subtle structure that makes good work land with aplomb. To practice content-first design, you don’t have to be a great writer, but recognizing it in the wild, and understanding the basics of narrative structure, certainly help.
This essay isn’t about creating content, or writing even, it’s about how to design meaningful products by starting with an examination of the contours of your content. It’s also about how content exists only to create meaning for users.
What’s content-first design?
In a product design space, “content” is shorthand for “copy”. But it’s not just that. It’s data, images, video, and user-generated content. It’s broad and borderless when considered as a whole, but the content for a given product or project probably has a discernible shape and texture that will start to inform it’s designed incarnation.
Content doesn’t exist unto itself; it serves a communication need. As product designers, everything you build is, in essence, a conversation between humans and technology. This communication is the basis of interface design, and it’s very reason for being.
2. Speak, write, show
Every UX writer has encountered situations where they’re asked to write for a container that’s ill-suited for the message. We’re either cramming important disclosures into too-small boxes, or filling space with superfluous repetition or editorializing.
As a hybrid writer/designer I get the appeal of the abstracted wireframe where text is represented by boxes or squiggles. However, we do ourselves a disservice by skipping straight to designing interactions without first mapping out the content that’s meant to be communicated.
Living in liminal space is uncomfortable. However, allowing yourself to explore abstraction can help you better articulate your product’s meaning to users. Before committing to mocks, flows, and specific choices, try experimenting with a couple content-first methods.
These methods call for nothing more than skills you’d grasped by elementary school, paired with a willingness to view your work as an opportunity for play and exploration.
3. Speak: Conversational prototyping
One of the silliest things you can do at work is act out a dialog between a user and a product. On occasion, silly things should be compulsory because they help people loosen up a little. We (weirdly, sadly) live in an age where face-to-face conversation is growing scarce. To self-edit, writers are often instructed to read their work out loud. Spoken, run-on sentences reveal themselves in your inability to draw a breath. Or style and rhythm shows its musicality. Talking through an interaction can uncover weak or awkward points, or highlight the good stuff.
Be yourself. But also be your product. (Illustration by Marin Licina.)
My coworker Marin and I had a conversation role-playing the Google Assistant and ourselves, trying to set up to shop for household goods. After some smirking, we stumbled through a conversation, unexpectedly balking when we had to ask for personal stuff, like credit card information and brand or price range preferences. It also let us explore the boundaries of tone — where does casual need to converge with reassuring, and where is authoritative an appropriate tone to ensure trust?
“Conversational prototyping”, as Marin named it, is one of the easiest, fastest ways to prototype a flow. Play acting your product’s character is unexpectedly revealing. We begin to remember that trust is built through subtle gestures like tone, consideration of people’s time, and clear, compassionate explanations for why we’re asking for sensitive information. From this practice, you can begin to explore more formal wireframes, or artifacts like tone maps, too. | https://medium.com/google-design/write-first-the-craft-of-content-first-design-d9460d567947 | [] | 2019-05-17 14:14:29.600000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Writing', 'Ux Writing'] | Title Write First Craft Contentfirst DesignContent Writing excruciatingly hard adult certain generation written book report may written email love letter least tweet blunder writing study practice develop skill Even never reach artistic height you’ve done something hard commitment ceremony word screen page you’re oldfashioned convert idea something notional Writing fundamental design skill Good writing feel like witchcraft elegant narrative nearrapturous experience beguiles without mechanic showing love reading rereading passage detect subtle structure make good work land aplomb practice contentfirst design don’t great writer recognizing wild understanding basic narrative structure certainly help essay isn’t creating content writing even it’s design meaningful product starting examination contour content It’s also content exists create meaning user What’s contentfirst design product design space “content” shorthand “copy” it’s It’s data image video usergenerated content It’s broad borderless considered whole content given product project probably discernible shape texture start inform it’s designed incarnation Content doesn’t exist unto serf communication need product designer everything build essence conversation human technology communication basis interface design it’s reason 2 Speak write show Every UX writer encountered situation they’re asked write container that’s illsuited message We’re either cramming important disclosure toosmall box filling space superfluous repetition editorializing hybrid writerdesigner get appeal abstracted wireframe text represented box squiggle However disservice skipping straight designing interaction without first mapping content that’s meant communicated Living liminal space uncomfortable However allowing explore abstraction help better articulate product’s meaning user committing mock flow specific choice try experimenting couple contentfirst method method call nothing skill you’d grasped elementary school paired willingness view work opportunity play exploration 3 Speak Conversational prototyping One silliest thing work act dialog user product occasion silly thing compulsory help people loosen little weirdly sadly live age facetoface conversation growing scarce selfedit writer often instructed read work loud Spoken runon sentence reveal inability draw breath style rhythm show musicality Talking interaction uncover weak awkward point highlight good stuff also product Illustration Marin Licina coworker Marin conversation roleplaying Google Assistant trying set shop household good smirking stumbled conversation unexpectedly balking ask personal stuff like credit card information brand price range preference also let u explore boundary tone — casual need converge reassuring authoritative appropriate tone ensure trust “Conversational prototyping” Marin named one easiest fastest way prototype flow Play acting product’s character unexpectedly revealing begin remember trust built subtle gesture like tone consideration people’s time clear compassionate explanation we’re asking sensitive information practice begin explore formal wireframes artifact like tone map tooTags Design Writing Ux Writing |
3,120 | [Chapter-1] Instance-Based Versus Model-Based Learning 🧙🏻♂️ | One more way to categorize Machine Learning systems is by how they generalize. Most Machine Learning tasks are about making predictions. This means given a number of training examples, the system needs to be able to generalize to examples it has never seen before. Having a good performance measure on the training data is good, but insufficient; the true goal should to perform good on new instance (new data).
Instance -based Learning 🤖
Instance-based Learning
Possible the most trivial from of learning is simply to learn by heart. If you were to create a spam filter this way, it would just flag all emails that are identical to emails that have already been flagged by users not the worst solution but to the best.
Instead of just flagging emails that are identical to known spam emails, your spam filter cloud be programmed to also flag emails 📧 that are very similar to known spam emails.
A very basic similarity measure between two emails cloud be to count the number of words they have in common. The system would flag an email as spam if it has many words in common with a known spam email 📧.
The system learns the example by heart, then generalizes to new cases by comparing them to the learned examples, using a similarity measure. As in picture we can see that the new instance would be classified as a tringle because the majority of the most similar instances belong to that class.
Model-based Learning 🧭
Model-based Learning
“From a set of examples is to build a model of these examples, then use that to make predictions this is called model-based learning”
For example, suppose you want to know that if money makes people happy in higher GDP rate countries or medio care GRP rate countries.
Visualized Data
As we can see, there does seems to be a trend here! Although the data is noisy, It looks like life satisfaction up more or less linearly as the country’s GDP per capita increases. So we can chose linear model, this process is known as Model Selection. We will learn more about how to chose model based on statistic result, but now is not the time remember we will take care of the process and result (achievement) will take care itself 😉. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/chapter-1-instance-based-versus-model-based-learning-%EF%B8%8F-86140ba2782f | ['Vishvdeep Dasadiya'] | 2020-12-28 16:37:23.474000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Datascience Training', 'Python', 'Artificial Intelligence'] | Title Chapter1 InstanceBased Versus ModelBased Learning 🧙🏻♂️Content One way categorize Machine Learning system generalize Machine Learning task making prediction mean given number training example system need able generalize example never seen good performance measure training data good insufficient true goal perform good new instance new data Instance based Learning 🤖 Instancebased Learning Possible trivial learning simply learn heart create spam filter way would flag email identical email already flagged user worst solution best Instead flagging email identical known spam email spam filter cloud programmed also flag email 📧 similar known spam email basic similarity measure two email cloud count number word common system would flag email spam many word common known spam email 📧 system learns example heart generalizes new case comparing learned example using similarity measure picture see new instance would classified tringle majority similar instance belong class Modelbased Learning 🧭 Modelbased Learning “From set example build model example use make prediction called modelbased learning” example suppose want know money make people happy higher GDP rate country medio care GRP rate country Visualized Data see seems trend Although data noisy look like life satisfaction le linearly country’s GDP per caput increase chose linear model process known Model Selection learn chose model based statistic result time remember take care process result achievement take care 😉Tags Machine Learning Deep Learning Datascience Training Python Artificial Intelligence |
3,121 | The Transition to Green Energy: A Brainwash or a Reality? | Today I was walking through Rotterdam and couldn’t help but see all the recent low-carbon transport developments. From electric scooters to electric car-sharing apps, mobility in the Netherlands is evolving and transitioning at unimaginable rates.
And I was so excited! And then I wasn't.
The green and the electric transition is sold to us as a fantastic economic and environmental transformation, and it kind of is. Thinking about decreasing our fossil fuel dependency for the mobility industry is a game-changer. Since the industrial revolution, it has been possible to understand how fossil fuels truly work and their long-term unsustainable damage. In recent years, a greener solution has been building up, and in the past few years, Western societies can see this more and more in their everyday lives. That is awesome.
Is it though?
I had never thought about it until recently where this new green and “zero-emission” energy comes from. It seemed very abstract to me, and to be honest, it didn’t even cross my mind. This is the thing with sustainability; we can make many efforts towards sustainability, but as we do, humanity needs to be connected with our soils and seas. Our food, energy, cosmetics, and water come from something, and that something is earth.
But, then the connection appeared. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, dysprosium, neodymium, terbium. The former are critical raw materials, and the latter are rare-earth elements. These elements and materials are crucial for the energy transition (e.g., electric mobility & renewable energy creation). What does this mean? Basically, we are changing our exploitation system from some raw materials to others. Now, if we enter a philosophical Machiavellian line of thought, this is ok. The means justify the end. With the energy transition, the means are exploiting, contaminating, and polluting ecosystems and landscapes, and the end entails a “zero-emission” system such as a wind turbine, solar panel battery, and an electric car.
As much interest as I have in Machiavelli, that does not work for sustainability. We are moving towards a greenwash transition; selling it as sustainable, and continuing with business as usual in other geographical areas with new materials instead of our daily use of fossil fuels.
The industry must be transparent with us. It is unfair that the only ones who know about this greenwash are engineers, industrial workers, experts, and geoscience students. It is also a necessity to move from one economic system to another; young communities, environmentalists, and societies have raised concerns regarding the extended use of fossil fuels for our everyday life.
If we are moving worldwide to different energy sources, here’s the deal:
Engineers must find ways to extract materials in the least damaging way possible (We still need energy, readers. So either way, we need to exploit somewhere.) Designers must learn how to incorporate circular models in our new electric modes of production (e.g., upcycling elements in the technical system) Researchers must evaluate and inform the people regarding the impacts of these new technologies, as well as their effect on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. These energy systems must not be in the West exclusively. That’s crap. If there is the possibility of a sustainable transition, countries need collective thought to fight global issues together. The energy crisis is coming! We are too many on this planet and we need to learn how to store energy for every single one of us (sorry, the crisis doesn't exclude the 1% ) People must inform themselves! Don’t let the system fool you. Let's educate each other on the realities and prospects of our current technological developments.
That’s all I ask for, is it too much? (lol)
In any case, I wrote this, for you. To provide some knowledge and insights on this topic. What do you think? Are we being brainwashed or is there truly a sustainable transition? Leave your comment below, would love to read your take on it.
My take: I think we have hope, but designers, engineers, educators, writers, and every human have a role to play to provide a rightful system change. | https://medium.com/climate-conscious/the-transition-to-green-energy-a-brainwash-or-a-reality-726947d535c5 | ['Isabella Madrid Malo'] | 2020-10-07 19:39:39.278000+00:00 | ['Renewable Energy', 'Sustainability', 'Greenwashing', 'Climate Action', 'Energy'] | Title Transition Green Energy Brainwash RealityContent Today walking Rotterdam couldn’t help see recent lowcarbon transport development electric scooter electric carsharing apps mobility Netherlands evolving transitioning unimaginable rate excited wasnt green electric transition sold u fantastic economic environmental transformation kind Thinking decreasing fossil fuel dependency mobility industry gamechanger Since industrial revolution possible understand fossil fuel truly work longterm unsustainable damage recent year greener solution building past year Western society see everyday life awesome though never thought recently new green “zeroemission” energy come seemed abstract honest didn’t even cross mind thing sustainability make many effort towards sustainability humanity need connected soil sea food energy cosmetic water come something something earth connection appeared Lithium nickel cobalt dysprosium neodymium terbium former critical raw material latter rareearth element element material crucial energy transition eg electric mobility renewable energy creation mean Basically changing exploitation system raw material others enter philosophical Machiavellian line thought ok mean justify end energy transition mean exploiting contaminating polluting ecosystem landscape end entail “zeroemission” system wind turbine solar panel battery electric car much interest Machiavelli work sustainability moving towards greenwash transition selling sustainable continuing business usual geographical area new material instead daily use fossil fuel industry must transparent u unfair one know greenwash engineer industrial worker expert geoscience student also necessity move one economic system another young community environmentalist society raised concern regarding extended use fossil fuel everyday life moving worldwide different energy source here’s deal Engineers must find way extract material least damaging way possible still need energy reader either way need exploit somewhere Designers must learn incorporate circular model new electric mode production eg upcycling element technical system Researchers must evaluate inform people regarding impact new technology well effect reduction greenhouse gas emission energy system must West exclusively That’s crap possibility sustainable transition country need collective thought fight global issue together energy crisis coming many planet need learn store energy every single one u sorry crisis doesnt exclude 1 People must inform Don’t let system fool Lets educate reality prospect current technological development That’s ask much lol case wrote provide knowledge insight topic think brainwashed truly sustainable transition Leave comment would love read take take think hope designer engineer educator writer every human role play provide rightful system changeTags Renewable Energy Sustainability Greenwashing Climate Action Energy |
3,122 | Top List of Quick Pandas Methods | Let me begin by creating a dataset that I will edit in many different ways
df = [
['001', 101, 2000, 'red'],
['002', 99, 2080, 'blue'],
['003', 94, 1980, 'yellow'],
['004', 107, 2020, 'red'],
]
df import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame(df)
df
Editing Column Headings
Unfortunately, the columns are simply stored as 0, 1, 2, 3. In order to edit the headings, I will use the following line of code:
df.columns = ['id', 'radius', 'weight', 'color']
I am passing the columns as a list to change the headings.
Adding index
By default, the DataFrame has a numerical index. However, you might want to change it according to your needs.
df.index = df['id']
df.pop('id')
df
One very common practical application where you might want to use indexes are time-series. When training LSTM neural networks, you have to drop the time stamp of the dataset. However, instead of dropping it, you can add it as an index.
Editing the entire Dataset
This is in absolute my favorite function. With an apply and lambda function, I can edit all the information in the dataset according to my instructions.
For example, I want to add twice the value of weights to the radius column.
df['radius'] = df['weight'].apply(lambda x : x+df['radius'])
df
Deleting n row
df = df.drop(df.index[[0]])
df
Transforming Series into DataFrame
What it may seem like an impractical use of Pandas its automatic setting of transforming one column into a Series.
row = df['radius']
row
Now, all the settings and methods I could have applied to a DataFrame are not valid, because it is essentially behaving like a NumPy Array.
row = pd.DataFrame(df['radius'])
row
As you can see, you can convert a single column (Series) back into a DataFrame.
Making a copy of the dataset
One wrong assumption you can make is that by defining another variable you can simply copy the dataset:
a = df
a
I will no modify an element of a:
a['color'][0] = 'black'
a
However, if we look at df, that WE HAVE NOT EDITED DIRECTLY:
df
We can see that both dataset have been modified. This is because Pandas works by assigning references to new variables.
To solve this problem:
a = df.copy()
If we perform the same experiment, you will see that only will be modified.
Only maintaining rows with a certain value
Let me now assume that I only want to conserve the rows which have a weight value higher than 2000. | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/top-list-of-quick-pandas-methods-eef778a82bb1 | ['Michelangiolo Mazzeschi'] | 2020-06-28 18:01:01.073000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Pandas', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] | Title Top List Quick Pandas MethodsContent Let begin creating dataset edit many different way df 001 101 2000 red 002 99 2080 blue 003 94 1980 yellow 004 107 2020 red df import panda pd df pdDataFramedf df Editing Column Headings Unfortunately column simply stored 0 1 2 3 order edit heading use following line code dfcolumns id radius weight color passing column list change heading Adding index default DataFrame numerical index However might want change according need dfindex dfid dfpopid df One common practical application might want use index timeseries training LSTM neural network drop time stamp dataset However instead dropping add index Editing entire Dataset absolute favorite function apply lambda function edit information dataset according instruction example want add twice value weight radius column dfradius dfweightapplylambda x xdfradius df Deleting n row df dfdropdfindex0 df Transforming Series DataFrame may seem like impractical use Pandas automatic setting transforming one column Series row dfradius row setting method could applied DataFrame valid essentially behaving like NumPy Array row pdDataFramedfradius row see convert single column Series back DataFrame Making copy dataset One wrong assumption make defining another variable simply copy dataset df modify element acolor0 black However look df EDITED DIRECTLY df see dataset modified Pandas work assigning reference new variable solve problem dfcopy perform experiment see modified maintaining row certain value Let assume want conserve row weight value higher 2000Tags Big Data Artificial Intelligence Pandas Data Science Machine Learning |
3,123 | Get More With Less Effort By Applying The 80/20 Rule | Get More With Less Effort By Applying The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 Rule (a.k.a. Pareto Principle) will change your whole life if you apply it wisely.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
It will surely not have escaped your attention that the majority of what you get or succeed in getting actually comes from a minority of the things you do. Thus, in a company, we observe that the majority of sales often come from a small subset of the product catalogue. Very often, this ratio is in the order of 20 to 80%.
The 80/20 Rule Is An Empirical Phenomenon
As an entrepreneur, you will also be able to see that 80% of the income you generate comes from 20% of your customers, for example. As an individual, you will finally notice that 80% of the results you obtain come from 20% of the efforts you make.
This empirical phenomenon is called the 80/20 Rule or Pareto Principle. In practice, you may observe that this ratio may be even more pronounced in some cases where it can be as high as 99/1 or more moderate in other cases with a 60/40 ratio.
In any case, the key is to understand that there is a non-linear relationship between inputs and outputs. Thus, the efforts produced and the results obtained are not always proportional. Released in the early 2000s, Richard Koch’s book “The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less” is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the 80/20 Rule and then applying it for get more with less effort.
Feedback Loops Produce An Imbalance
The British inventor Sir Isaac Pitman discovered that about 1% of the words in the English language represent more than 80% of what we say every day. Why is this unbalanced relationship happening? It appears that feedback loops generate this type of disproportion.
Richard Koch explains in his book “The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less” that many goldfish still grow in very different sizes even if they live in the same pond. Why is nature made this way? At first, some fish were slightly larger than others. This gave them a small advantage and allowed them to catch more food and eventually grow faster than other small fish.
This cycle will increase with each iteration with a difference in size and growth rate that will increase. All this leads to a substantially different size between fish. Some people tend to consider these imbalances to be unfair.
This example can thus be applied to the distribution of wealth, which is an even more famous example. Everyone knows that 1% of the world’s population has more than the combined wealth of 99% of the rest of the world’s population. This clearly seems unfair.
People wrongly believe that work and the associated reward should have a fair ratio of 1:1. This is a utopia because the laws of nature do not work that way.
How To Apply The 80/20 Rule To Get More With Less Effort
You have to face the facts and keep in mind that if 20% of your work represents 80% of your results, it means that 80% of what you do is terribly inefficient. You should therefore analyze what you do differently during that 20% of your time when you are most effective in order to apply it regularly. This would increase your results.
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
If 20% of the efforts produce 80% of the results, we have to make a ratio of 4, which means that if you extrapolate from 20% to 100% efficiency for your efforts, you will get a result of 400%. This sounds huge but it is even possible that it is higher since there could also be feedback loops that increase this disproportion.
A typical example of the application of the 80/20 Rule is the peak in productivity that tends to occur when people approach the deadline for the submission of a project or work.
You could identify what makes the first phases of your project less productive. It could be overthinking or procrastinating. By ensuring that you reorganize your process to avoid these errors, you will significantly increase your productivity.
The 80/20 Rule In Companies
If you want to optimize your work in the company with the Pareto Principle, the first thing to do is to identify the products that provide you with the greatest source of income. These are the famous 20%.
The second step is to focus on these products and reach their full potential. This can mean doubling production until the profit ratio falls to normal. Richard Koch told the management of an electronics company that their only goal should be to double the sales of their 3 best products, even if it means ignoring everything else.
Reduce Complexity By Focusing On The Essentials And Economy Of Scale
A study of 39 medium-sized companies found that the least complex companies were in fact the most successful. By selling a narrower range of products with fewer suppliers, they could focus more effectively on their profitable products, allowing them to make higher profits.
Most people think that more generates more and more. Thus, a larger company with a wider range of products should have more profits. This is not always true because it turns out that there are many hidden costs due to complexity.
A wider range of products will require more complex logistics, more training for salespeople and much more administrative work. If these expenses are equal to or even greater than the money that these additional products bring in, these additional products actually have no interest!
Often, a company can do better by focusing on a few important products and acquiring a thorough knowledge of them. This simplifies administrative work and can also lead to significant economies of scale by reducing production costs and thus increased profitability.
The 80/20 Rule Can Be Applied To Everything
Richard Koch points out that the 80/20 Rule is incredibly versatile. It is thus possible to apply it to almost anything. Let us take the example of negotiations. When you negotiate something, instead of trying to defend all the points, you should identify and then target those that matter most to the company and then focus on them rather than defend all the points in a sterile way. Getting the focus on these key points is probably more relevant to you and your company.
Marketing is another good target for the Pareto Principle. Focusing on 20% of the customers who generate 80% of your revenue could significantly increase your revenue. Being more loyal to these profitable customers will improve your service offering and allow you to offer them more targeted and relevant customer service.
For Nicholas Barsan, known as one of the best real estate brokers in the U.S., a group of clients selling their homes earn more than one-third of the $1 million he earns in personal commissions each year. Clearly, its strategy focused on these clients is a cost-effective strategy.
This example is just one of many examples of people getting more by focusing on the 20% of what pays the most.
Learn To Think In A Non-Linear Way
To fully benefit from the 80/20 Rule, you must first change your way of thinking. We tend to think in a linear way, assuming that causes and inputs are of equal importance. This is the conventional way of thinking. Children are taught that all their friends are equally important.
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash
Rather, in this scenario, we should, without diminishing anyone’s inherent value, affirm that not all relationships have the same value. A subset of your friends will thus produce the greatest “value” for you. These are, for example, those who bring you the most joy or help you achieve your goals by inspiring and motivating you.
This type of 80/20 thinking is applicable to many areas of your life and can help you go further. It is therefore essential to stop thinking only in a linear way.
Focus Your Efforts On Essential Tasks Is The Key
Instead of adopting a traditional management approach based on time management techniques, it is better to focus on the important things.
When you have identified the 20% that give you the most results, you will already have reached 80% of your results. All you have to do now is reorganize your priorities to target that 20% and always start with the important things. Then, if you have time left, and only if you have time left, you can take care of the remaining tasks.
Thus, you will be able to take benefits from the 80/20 Rule for getting more with less effort in all the domains. | https://medium.com/swlh/get-more-with-less-effort-by-applying-the-80-20-rule-19c2fa72d8bb | ['Sylvain Saurel'] | 2020-07-08 11:39:30.663000+00:00 | ['Time Management', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Life', 'Self', 'Productivity'] | Title Get Less Effort Applying 8020 RuleContent Get Less Effort Applying 8020 Rule 8020 Rule aka Pareto Principle change whole life apply wisely Photo Austin Distel Unsplash surely escaped attention majority get succeed getting actually come minority thing Thus company observe majority sale often come small subset product catalogue often ratio order 20 80 8020 Rule Empirical Phenomenon entrepreneur also able see 80 income generate come 20 customer example individual finally notice 80 result obtain come 20 effort make empirical phenomenon called 8020 Rule Pareto Principle practice may observe ratio may even pronounced case high 991 moderate case 6040 ratio case key understand nonlinear relationship input output Thus effort produced result obtained always proportional Released early 2000s Richard Koch’s book “The 8020 Principle Secret Success Achieving Less” mustread anyone want understand 8020 Rule applying get le effort Feedback Loops Produce Imbalance British inventor Sir Isaac Pitman discovered 1 word English language represent 80 say every day unbalanced relationship happening appears feedback loop generate type disproportion Richard Koch explains book “The 8020 Principle Secret Success Achieving Less” many goldfish still grow different size even live pond nature made way first fish slightly larger others gave small advantage allowed catch food eventually grow faster small fish cycle increase iteration difference size growth rate increase lead substantially different size fish people tend consider imbalance unfair example thus applied distribution wealth even famous example Everyone know 1 world’s population combined wealth 99 rest world’s population clearly seems unfair People wrongly believe work associated reward fair ratio 11 utopia law nature work way Apply 8020 Rule Get Less Effort face fact keep mind 20 work represents 80 result mean 80 terribly inefficient therefore analyze differently 20 time effective order apply regularly would increase result Photo Carl Heyerdahl Unsplash 20 effort produce 80 result make ratio 4 mean extrapolate 20 100 efficiency effort get result 400 sound huge even possible higher since could also feedback loop increase disproportion typical example application 8020 Rule peak productivity tends occur people approach deadline submission project work could identify make first phase project le productive could overthinking procrastinating ensuring reorganize process avoid error significantly increase productivity 8020 Rule Companies want optimize work company Pareto Principle first thing identify product provide greatest source income famous 20 second step focus product reach full potential mean doubling production profit ratio fall normal Richard Koch told management electronics company goal double sale 3 best product even mean ignoring everything else Reduce Complexity Focusing Essentials Economy Scale study 39 mediumsized company found least complex company fact successful selling narrower range product fewer supplier could focus effectively profitable product allowing make higher profit people think generates Thus larger company wider range product profit always true turn many hidden cost due complexity wider range product require complex logistics training salesperson much administrative work expense equal even greater money additional product bring additional product actually interest Often company better focusing important product acquiring thorough knowledge simplifies administrative work also lead significant economy scale reducing production cost thus increased profitability 8020 Rule Applied Everything Richard Koch point 8020 Rule incredibly versatile thus possible apply almost anything Let u take example negotiation negotiate something instead trying defend point identify target matter company focus rather defend point sterile way Getting focus key point probably relevant company Marketing another good target Pareto Principle Focusing 20 customer generate 80 revenue could significantly increase revenue loyal profitable customer improve service offering allow offer targeted relevant customer service Nicholas Barsan known one best real estate broker US group client selling home earn onethird 1 million earns personal commission year Clearly strategy focused client costeffective strategy example one many example people getting focusing 20 pay Learn Think NonLinear Way fully benefit 8020 Rule must first change way thinking tend think linear way assuming cause input equal importance conventional way thinking Children taught friend equally important Photo Tim Gouw Unsplash Rather scenario without diminishing anyone’s inherent value affirm relationship value subset friend thus produce greatest “value” example bring joy help achieve goal inspiring motivating type 8020 thinking applicable many area life help go therefore essential stop thinking linear way Focus Efforts Essential Tasks Key Instead adopting traditional management approach based time management technique better focus important thing identified 20 give result already reached 80 result reorganize priority target 20 always start important thing time left time left take care remaining task Thus able take benefit 8020 Rule getting le effort domainsTags Time Management Entrepreneurship Life Self Productivity |
3,124 | How to publish with the UX Collective? | How to publish with the UX Collective?
Publishing your story with the largest design publication on Medium and speaking to an audience of more than 390,000 designers worldwide.
What is the UX Collective?
We are an independent design publication made by designers for designers. We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers, so we’ve decided to curate the UX, Product, and Visual Design stories we’ve always wanted to read. Make sure to check out our newsletter as well.
Why should I publish with UX Collective?
We have been editing and curating content for 13+years and we truly believe that knowledge sharing can make our design community stronger. If you decide to publish your article with us, you will:
Publish with the largest design publication on Medium, reaching an audience of 380,000+ followers. We define our audience as ‘people who make products’ (designers, researchers, developers, and product managers), not Startup entrepreneurs or businesspeople.
Be seen by our Twitter and Linkedin followers (130,000), and Newsletter subscribers (135,000).
Top stories are featured on our Homepage, which gets high exposure.
As official Medium partners, we elevate the best stories to be distributed across Medium’s properties (website, app, newsletters).
Your story can be seen by senior designers/hiring managers of major tech companies, as well as product makers all over the world.
Be part of a community that values purpose and impartiality.
By publishing your story with us, US$1 will be donated to an initiative that supports diversity in the design industry. This month’s organization is Bay Area Black Designers, a professional development community for Black people who are digital designers and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
You will remain the only owner of your work and will be able to edit or delete your story at any moment, even after published.
What type of content does UX Collective publish?
Stories that aim to provoke change — in topics like Design, User Experience, Usability, UI Design, Branding, Visual Design, Motion Design, UX Research, Prototyping, Product Design, Diversity in Design, Design Thinking, Design for Social Change, and other topics that relate to designing and building digital products.
We prioritize in-depth stories with references and links supported by existing research.
We don’t publish portfolio pieces (e.g. case studies). You can turn the learnings from your project into a separate story that has a clear takeaway for readers. More here.
Posts that are not trying to sell anything — whether it’s a tool, a book, a training course, tickets to an event, an app, a design studio, a website that profits from views and ads, or your professional services. For this reason, we also do not publish articles coming from brands or business profiles.
How do I submit my article?
Check this guide on how to structure a great article. Google the topic you’re writing about. Find references. Respect the work of other authors who have been writing about that topic for years. Link to them. Give them credit. This will only make your argument stronger. Email [email protected] a link to your Medium draft or published article with a one-sentence description. We don’t accept submissions in other formats or through other channels. We will review all submissions and if your article is a good fit for our publication, we will get back to you within 2 business days. We rarely take longer than that to respond, but if we do, please forgive us — we’re just having a hectic week. The best articles are not time-sensitive, so this shouldn’t be an issue. After being accepted and reviewed, your article is added to the queue to be published. Once your article is published with us, we ask you to keep it in our publication for at least 1 year.
What will you edit before publishing my article?
The title, lede, and cover image to match our editorial style guide.
Typos, formatting style, and minor copy edits.
In case we want to propose more structural changes to your article, we will leave private notes.
We will remove any affiliate program links or promotional links that are not related to the article.
My article has been featured by Medium. Can I add it to the UX Collective as well?
Absolutely yes. When you add your story to a publication, you are adding a whole new audience to it (that publication’s followers). Your story will still be promoted by Medium on its homepage and topic pages, in addition to the publication and the publication’s social channels.
Can I add my article to two publications?
Medium only allows articles to be published to one publication at a time. If your article has been published with a different publication, we are not allowed to accept it.
I have an idea, but it’s not exactly an article…
We love experimenting with different mediums and formats, like longer-form essays, special series, or reports. Maybe your content is made of several short videos. Maybe you are creating a satirical piece. Or writing an open letter. Share it with us: we are always open to different formats, channels, and styles.
Is my article going to sit behind a paywall?
Medium has recently launched a Partner Program that authors can join if they are interested in earning money from their content. That’s optional. You can continue to publish your content for free, for everyone to access for free. Ultimately, this decision is made by you, the author, and we are not allowed to change your settings.
My company has recently started to post content about design and I think your readers would really benefit from it — can we publish our articles with you?
No.
Who’s behind the UX Collective?
Fabricio Teixeira and Caio Braga. A big part of what we learned in UX comes from online reading: articles, tutorials, resources, blogs. It’s all available out there — but there’s a lot. The UX Collective is our attempt at curating some of that content and giving it back to the community in a more structured and digestible way.
What is this polar bear about?
The polar bear illustration is a reference to “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web”, one of the most famous books on UX. | https://uxdesign.cc/why-and-how-to-publish-with-the-ux-collective-8c8d1dd018a7 | ['Ux Collective Editors'] | 2020-10-11 01:12:28.057000+00:00 | ['UX', 'Product Design', 'User Experience', 'Startup', 'Design'] | Title publish UX CollectiveContent publish UX Collective Publishing story largest design publication Medium speaking audience 390000 designer worldwide UX Collective independent design publication made designer designer believe designer thinker much maker we’ve decided curate UX Product Visual Design story we’ve always wanted read Make sure check newsletter well publish UX Collective editing curating content 13years truly believe knowledge sharing make design community stronger decide publish article u Publish largest design publication Medium reaching audience 380000 follower define audience ‘people make products’ designer researcher developer product manager Startup entrepreneur businesspeople seen Twitter Linkedin follower 130000 Newsletter subscriber 135000 Top story featured Homepage get high exposure official Medium partner elevate best story distributed across Medium’s property website app newsletter story seen senior designershiring manager major tech company well product maker world part community value purpose impartiality publishing story u US1 donated initiative support diversity design industry month’s organization Bay Area Black Designers professional development community Black people digital designer researcher San Francisco Bay Area remain owner work able edit delete story moment even published type content UX Collective publish Stories aim provoke change — topic like Design User Experience Usability UI Design Branding Visual Design Motion Design UX Research Prototyping Product Design Diversity Design Design Thinking Design Social Change topic relate designing building digital product prioritize indepth story reference link supported existing research don’t publish portfolio piece eg case study turn learning project separate story clear takeaway reader Posts trying sell anything — whether it’s tool book training course ticket event app design studio website profit view ad professional service reason also publish article coming brand business profile submit article Check guide structure great article Google topic you’re writing Find reference Respect work author writing topic year Link Give credit make argument stronger Email hellouxdesigncc link Medium draft published article onesentence description don’t accept submission format channel review submission article good fit publication get back within 2 business day rarely take longer respond please forgive u — we’re hectic week best article timesensitive shouldn’t issue accepted reviewed article added queue published article published u ask keep publication least 1 year edit publishing article title lede cover image match editorial style guide Typos formatting style minor copy edits case want propose structural change article leave private note remove affiliate program link promotional link related article article featured Medium add UX Collective well Absolutely yes add story publication adding whole new audience publication’s follower story still promoted Medium homepage topic page addition publication publication’s social channel add article two publication Medium allows article published one publication time article published different publication allowed accept idea it’s exactly article… love experimenting different medium format like longerform essay special series report Maybe content made several short video Maybe creating satirical piece writing open letter Share u always open different format channel style article going sit behind paywall Medium recently launched Partner Program author join interested earning money content That’s optional continue publish content free everyone access free Ultimately decision made author allowed change setting company recently started post content design think reader would really benefit — publish article Who’s behind UX Collective Fabricio Teixeira Caio Braga big part learned UX come online reading article tutorial resource blog It’s available — there’s lot UX Collective attempt curating content giving back community structured digestible way polar bear polar bear illustration reference “Information Architecture World Wide Web” one famous book UXTags UX Product Design User Experience Startup Design |
3,125 | For the love of Fiction | Books, Audiobooks, and writing
For the love of Fiction
A personal perspective
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Ever since I was a young girl I loved living in an imaginary world. Anything could happen if you let your mind open up and run free and I did. Much to my Mother’s annoyance.
I was born hard of hearing but would go nearly a decade before diagnoses. Before that, I was often yelled at for not paying attention and my head in the clouds all the time.
It is true. My head was in the clouds. The moment I turned my back sounds would blend together. Becoming a blurred hum buried underwater.
The perfect medium to fall into worlds swirling around in my head. I could and still can get lost in my own thoughts.
Books have always been a huge part of my life. I read at least one book a week. To be honest with the increase in popularity of audiobooks, I go through even more books than that in a week.
I love books. Audiobooks bring it to another level.
Shocking, for a person who relies on hearing aids to understand people. My love of Audiobooks started when I went from being a mom of one for eleven years to a mom of six in the span of six years.
During those days of raising many younger children and working full time, my love of books was set aside. Shelved, for a day when I could sit down once again with a book in my hands and fall into the world of words.
I still squeezed in a book or two throughout the years but most of the time I lived in stories inside my head. I always wrote down ideas and poems on scraps of paper and lined notebooks. To this day I still get the excitement of holding a fresh new book in my hands. Relish turning the cover over and pressing a pen to paper. It’s a thrill that never gets old. The window opening up to release the universe alive in my head.
Where did they come from? Where did they go? It’s enticing to sit and let it flow. A life of its own. Most often the story leads in a direction I had no idea of when I started.
I wrote my first novel when I was fourteen years old and by the time I was fifteen I had written two. Were they good? Probably not, but it doesn’t matter I loved it. Just as much as reading books.
I missed my books during that time of life when reality needed me focused on the here and now. I missed it, that is until I took the plunge and listened to my first audiobook.
I fought it. Audiobooks. I didn’t consider it “reading.” I finally caved when a book came that I wanted to read and didn’t know how I was going to fit it in with my busy schedule. How could I justify sitting down and reading for hours when I had a mountain of laundry to wash and fold away? Never mind the constant meals to cook and cleaning that never ended and all before I had to go to work. Yet, I wanted to read this book I was hearing all about.
The book was The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
And so began my love of audiobooks.
If you have ever had doubts about audiobooks. I recommend this one. I didn’t know it at the time but it was “the” audiobook to listen to when I decided to take my plunge. What a wonderful treat. A new discovery. A brand new outlet to enjoy the stories told by others.
I couldn’t stop listening. I am not the person who can tell Alexa to play my recent audiobook. No, I need to have earbuds in and drown out everything around me. For me to fully absorb the words I need them played directly in my ears. So I strapped on a fanny pack plugged in my earbuds to my phone and listened.
The funny part is I started to fold clothes and move through the mundane chores I had to do. Dare I say it. I even searched for things to do because I didn’t want to stop listening.
That one audiobook helped me get through the stuff I hated. To this day I rely on audiobooks to get crap done.
I decluttered. I painted my entire house. Reinvented my space. I helped others do the same including where I worked. All the while listening to suspense thrillers and young adult dystopian novels.
Each book brought my love of writing back. The emptiness of writer’s block that seemed stamped in my head began to fill back up.
I wanted to press the pen against paper again. Let the words flow. So I did and here I am. Writing about the things I love. Fiction.
Writing fiction for a living is not one that is a realistic dream to chase after. It’s the hardest genre to crack. I have no illusions about it and yet, I can’t stop writing it.
Poetry is my therapy. Fiction is the moving videos in my brain wanting me to pump it out fast onto paper before I lose it. It makes me feel happy. My true self. I have to do it. Is it good? Anything good or bad is in the eye of the beholder. Will I be able to quit my day job? Probably not. Will I stop? No. Even if I am told I am not good. I will still write. I will keep trying. Keep learning. Keep growing. Even if it gives me nothing else.
I love fiction novels. I will never get enough of them. If I could listen to audiobooks all day for a living I would in a heartbeat.
I am still that little girl. Head in the clouds. Mind focused on stories, mine, or others. Fiction. Love it. One of my greatest joys in life. | https://medium.com/illumination/for-the-love-of-fiction-6b9de76d2701 | ['Deena Thomson'] | 2020-12-20 00:40:41.431000+00:00 | ['Fiction', 'Audiobooks', 'Writing', 'Fiction Writing', 'Books'] | Title love FictionContent Books Audiobooks writing love Fiction personal perspective Photo Andrea Piacquadio Pexels Ever since young girl loved living imaginary world Anything could happen let mind open run free Much Mother’s annoyance born hard hearing would go nearly decade diagnosis often yelled paying attention head cloud time true head cloud moment turned back sound would blend together Becoming blurred hum buried underwater perfect medium fall world swirling around head could still get lost thought Books always huge part life read least one book week honest increase popularity audiobooks go even book week love book Audiobooks bring another level Shocking person relies hearing aid understand people love Audiobooks started went mom one eleven year mom six span six year day raising many younger child working full time love book set aside Shelved day could sit book hand fall world word still squeezed book two throughout year time lived story inside head always wrote idea poem scrap paper lined notebook day still get excitement holding fresh new book hand Relish turning cover pressing pen paper It’s thrill never get old window opening release universe alive head come go It’s enticing sit let flow life often story lead direction idea started wrote first novel fourteen year old time fifteen written two good Probably doesn’t matter loved much reading book missed book time life reality needed focused missed took plunge listened first audiobook fought Audiobooks didn’t consider “reading” finally caved book came wanted read didn’t know going fit busy schedule could justify sitting reading hour mountain laundry wash fold away Never mind constant meal cook cleaning never ended go work Yet wanted read book hearing book Help Kathryn Stockett began love audiobooks ever doubt audiobooks recommend one didn’t know time “the” audiobook listen decided take plunge wonderful treat new discovery brand new outlet enjoy story told others couldn’t stop listening person tell Alexa play recent audiobook need earbuds drown everything around fully absorb word need played directly ear strapped fanny pack plugged earbuds phone listened funny part started fold clothes move mundane chore Dare say even searched thing didn’t want stop listening one audiobook helped get stuff hated day rely audiobooks get crap done decluttered painted entire house Reinvented space helped others including worked listening suspense thriller young adult dystopian novel book brought love writing back emptiness writer’s block seemed stamped head began fill back wanted press pen paper Let word flow Writing thing love Fiction Writing fiction living one realistic dream chase It’s hardest genre crack illusion yet can’t stop writing Poetry therapy Fiction moving video brain wanting pump fast onto paper lose make feel happy true self good Anything good bad eye beholder able quit day job Probably stop Even told good still write keep trying Keep learning Keep growing Even give nothing else love fiction novel never get enough could listen audiobooks day living would heartbeat still little girl Head cloud Mind focused story mine others Fiction Love One greatest joy lifeTags Fiction Audiobooks Writing Fiction Writing Books |
3,126 | Get My New Book On Amazon | I’m happy to announce that my debut work, The Woods Are Dark & Full Of Terrors (A Collection Of Short Horror Stories) is live on Amazon and available for purchase in eBook format through the Kindle store (just $2.99). Kindle Unlimited members can borrow and read free of charge.
If you don’t have a Kindle, fear not, you can read via the Kindle app or on a regular computer with the Cloud Reader.
Please consider purchasing a copy, your support would mean the world to me as a new author trying to make his way in the independent publishing world. Every sale and review matters so if you can spare the three dollars, I would be eternally grateful.
Click here to purchase.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Sincerely,
Tom | https://medium.com/tom-thoughts/buy-my-new-book-on-amazon-24a767aefce7 | ['Tom Belskie'] | 2019-06-25 20:47:34.865000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Horror', 'Writing', 'Books'] | Title Get New Book AmazonContent I’m happy announce debut work Woods Dark Full Terrors Collection Short Horror Stories live Amazon available purchase eBook format Kindle store 299 Kindle Unlimited member borrow read free charge don’t Kindle fear read via Kindle app regular computer Cloud Reader Please consider purchasing copy support would mean world new author trying make way independent publishing world Every sale review matter spare three dollar would eternally grateful Click purchase Thank advance support Sincerely TomTags Short Story Fiction Horror Writing Books |
3,127 | Lesson Learned: | Lesson Learned:
Take care of YOURself. Work for YOURself.
Life is too short for frustrations. Work on being proactive instead of reactive, it helps with stress.
Work life balance is very important.
Plug: Episode 3 of #IGOTASTORYTOTELL Podcast coming soon. This next individual is perfect, and will have you laughing every moment.
B.O.B. is going to continue to deliver amazing content for minority entrepreneurs. | https://medium.com/but-first-coffee/take-care-of-yourself-work-for-yourself-db30db9d4c7c | ['Krystopher', 'Dash'] | 2017-09-13 13:26:04.629000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Personal Development', 'Personal Growth', 'Entrepreneurship'] | Title Lesson LearnedContent Lesson Learned Take care Work Life short frustration Work proactive instead reactive help stress Work life balance important Plug Episode 3 IGOTASTORYTOTELL Podcast coming soon next individual perfect laughing every moment BOB going continue deliver amazing content minority entrepreneursTags Selfawareness Personal Development Personal Growth Entrepreneurship |
3,128 | How to Structure a Go Command-Line Project | I was recently restructuring one of my early Go side projects. As I was changing the project layout, I was reminded there are many recommendations out there but no set standard for structuring Golang projects.
In other programming languages such as Java, there is a typical project layout that most programmers follow inherently. In Python, the framework used (i.e., Django or Flask) will define how the project is structured. However, Go is still at a point where the community hasn’t settled on a defacto standard.
There are, however, some strong recommendations, but as I was going through those recommendations, I found they didn’t wholly work for my project.
This article will discuss how I ultimately structured my project (which isn’t too different from general recommendations) and standard best practices.
Make your code modular with well-designed packages
The first best practice to mention is any code within your application that can be re-used should be a package. How to structure packages and best practices around packages could be an article in itself. I have a talk that discusses this very topic. Rather than repeating that talk here, I’d suggest looking at the slides for that talk.
I will say, though, that breaking code out into packages holds more benefits than just re-use. From a project structure perspective, it helps to group code with a common purpose together. It makes it easier for others to find and contribute, an important attribute, especially for Open Source projects. Packages also often make code easier to test. By isolating functionality into a package, we can then test that functionality with fewer dependencies.
When I start a new project or start restructuring an existing project, I will usually first write down the different packages I need. Sometimes, I even go ahead and create the base package structure before writing any other code and refactor/add code as I go.
Split Entry-Point code from Application code
Another best practice that I’ve seen across most project layout recommendations is to separate application code from entry-point code. What I mean by entry-point code is the main package and main() function.
With Go, like other languages, the entry-point for an application is the main() function. When an application starts, this is the first function executed, and it is very tempting to put all of the core application functionality within this function. Rather than dumping all of the runtime code into the main package, the better practice is to create a app package.
There are several advantages to placing core application logic within its own package. My personal favorite is how it makes testing easier. A common pattern would be to create both Start() and Stop() or Shutdown() functions for this app package. When creating tests, having the ability to start and stop the core application functionality makes it a lot easier to write tests that execute against the core logic.
Below is an example structure for an app package.
The above is an excellent recommendation when creating a command-line project that is both a server and a command-line interface (CLI) client. By having the application code in a shared package, both the server and the CLI client can share this core app package.
However, this recommendation isn’t as relevant to simple command-line utilities. These utilities tend to start, perform an action, and stop. But even for these types of applications, I like following the app package recommendation. It makes it easier to group runtime logic, which lowers others' barriers to understand the codebase.
So what does go into the main package?
With all of our application core in the app package, it makes sense to wonder what we would put in the main package. The answer is simple, very little.
In general, I restrict the main package to the code that interacts with users of the resulting binary. For example, if I am working on a project that has both a CLI client and a server, I will often put command-line argument parsing in the main package. The reason is both the server and the CLI client binaries will have different main packages (more on this later). By parsing arguments in the main package, I can easily create unique options for a CLI client that don't apply to the server, and vice versa.
Anything that the command-line utility’s user interacts with is something I tend to put into the main package. A few examples of this would include:
Command-line argument parsing
User input (if it’s simple and not part of the core application logic)
Config file parsing
Exit codes
Signal Traps
The below code snippet is an example of the main() function from my side project; from this example, we can see how little goes into this package.
A recommended directory structure
One of the most common project structure recommendations is one that uses the following directory structure.
internal/app - Place the core application logic in this app package.
- Place the core application logic in this package. internal/pkg/ - Place any internal-only packages here (not app though).
- Place any internal-only packages here (not though). pkg/ - Place any externally shareable packages here.
- Place any externally shareable packages here. cmd/<app_name> - Place the main package here under a directory with the application name
A big part of this recommendation is splitting the application core into internal/app and the entry-point code into a cmd/<app_name> directory. As discussed earlier, this layout is excellent for projects with multiple binaries to build (i.e., server and CLI client). A cmd/<app_name> directory could contain a main package for creating a CLI client, and a cmd/<app_name>-server directory could contain a different main package unique for creating a server. But both of these can leverage the shared internal/app package.
Overall this is a pretty good structure, but I found it doesn’t exactly work for my side project. So what did I do differently?
I put packages in a different location.
The first thing I do a bit different than the recommendation above is where I put packages. I am not a fan of application projects (it’s different for stand-alone packages) with many sub-directory layers. In my opinion, having a lot of sub-directories makes it very difficult to find where functionality belongs.
For substantial projects with a lot of code, having a structure like this may be necessary, but I feel it’s overkill for small to medium projects.
Instead, I like to place all of my packages at the top-level directory of the project. For example, if I have a Parser package, it would be located within parser/ , an SSH package within ssh/ , and of course, the app package is within the app/ directory.
This practice makes it very easy to find packages and functionality as they are all in the top-level directory. Again, this only works for projects with a limited number of packages. If the project grows into many packages, it may be cleaner to place them into a pkg/ directory.
I ignored the Internal vs. Pkg directory approach.
Another recommendation that I’m not a fan of is splitting packages into internal/ vs. pkg/ directories. The main reason is that this recommendation is for in-app packages, and when dealing with in-app packages, I don't see a clear line between internal and external packages. In the name of internal-only packages, I've seen many developers skip best practices because "no one else is going to use it...".
I also don’t accept that developers will maintain packages within pkg/ like a stand-alone package. In reality, these packages' interfaces are very likely to change as they are packages within an application. If they were genuinely stand-alone, they would be an independent project.
For me, it makes more sense to put all of my in-app packages in the same general location. Either at the top-level of the project or within a pkg/ directory.
I didn’t use the cmd/ directory.
While I am a fan of using the cmd/ directory, I had a problem with this recommendation for my side-project.
My project is a simple command-line utility that will always be just a CLI tool. One of the things I want to do is make it easy for my users to install this utility. The easiest and fastest way is to let users install via the go get command, as shown below.
$ go get -u github.com/madflojo/efs2
When users install my command-line tool via the command above, I want them to reference the repository URL only. The problem with the above recommendation is that my users would have to add /cmd/<app_name> to the URL like the below example.
$ go get -u github.com/madflojo/efs2/cmd/efs2
This URL format isn’t the end of the world, but it’s a bit messy; users must know my project structure to install my application. I want my layout to make it easier for people to install, not harder.
Rather than placing my minimal main package in the cmd/ directory. I put my main.go file in the top-level directory of my project. This change allows my users to run the go get command with the primary project path while still allowing me to follow the practice of keeping this code minimal with the core application functionality in a app package.
Summary
With the above patterns and practices, the result has my side-project using the following structure.
Overall I am happy with it. New contributors can quickly identify which packages perform different functions. This visibility is there when someone looks at the directory names and when using the Go Reference documentation.
I’ve also found that breaking out my application core into a package has helped me improve my code coverage. While it may be uncommon, I’ve yet to see any downfalls to putting my minimal main package in the top-level directory.
As some read this article, I expect they may not like some of the changes I’ve made over the recommended standards. But this is what I’ve found works for me, it may work for others, or it may not. | https://madflojo.medium.com/how-to-structure-a-go-command-line-project-788c318a1d8c | ['Benjamin Cane'] | 2020-12-29 19:44:02.271000+00:00 | ['Software Engineering', 'Programming', 'Development', 'Golang'] | Title Structure Go CommandLine ProjectContent recently restructuring one early Go side project changing project layout reminded many recommendation set standard structuring Golang project programming language Java typical project layout programmer follow inherently Python framework used ie Django Flask define project structured However Go still point community hasn’t settled defacto standard however strong recommendation going recommendation found didn’t wholly work project article discus ultimately structured project isn’t different general recommendation standard best practice Make code modular welldesigned package first best practice mention code within application reused package structure package best practice around package could article talk discus topic Rather repeating talk I’d suggest looking slide talk say though breaking code package hold benefit reuse project structure perspective help group code common purpose together make easier others find contribute important attribute especially Open Source project Packages also often make code easier test isolating functionality package test functionality fewer dependency start new project start restructuring existing project usually first write different package need Sometimes even go ahead create base package structure writing code refactoradd code go Split EntryPoint code Application code Another best practice I’ve seen across project layout recommendation separate application code entrypoint code mean entrypoint code main package main function Go like language entrypoint application main function application start first function executed tempting put core application functionality within function Rather dumping runtime code main package better practice create app package several advantage placing core application logic within package personal favorite make testing easier common pattern would create Start Stop Shutdown function app package creating test ability start stop core application functionality make lot easier write test execute core logic example structure app package excellent recommendation creating commandline project server commandline interface CLI client application code shared package server CLI client share core app package However recommendation isn’t relevant simple commandline utility utility tend start perform action stop even type application like following app package recommendation make easier group runtime logic lower others barrier understand codebase go main package application core app package make sense wonder would put main package answer simple little general restrict main package code interacts user resulting binary example working project CLI client server often put commandline argument parsing main package reason server CLI client binary different main package later parsing argument main package easily create unique option CLI client dont apply server vice versa Anything commandline utility’s user interacts something tend put main package example would include Commandline argument parsing User input it’s simple part core application logic Config file parsing Exit code Signal Traps code snippet example main function side project example see little go package recommended directory structure One common project structure recommendation one us following directory structure internalapp Place core application logic app package Place core application logic package internalpkg Place internalonly package app though Place internalonly package though pkg Place externally shareable package Place externally shareable package cmdappname Place main package directory application name big part recommendation splitting application core internalapp entrypoint code cmdappname directory discussed earlier layout excellent project multiple binary build ie server CLI client cmdappname directory could contain main package creating CLI client cmdappnameserver directory could contain different main package unique creating server leverage shared internalapp package Overall pretty good structure found doesn’t exactly work side project differently put package different location first thing bit different recommendation put package fan application project it’s different standalone package many subdirectory layer opinion lot subdirectory make difficult find functionality belongs substantial project lot code structure like may necessary feel it’s overkill small medium project Instead like place package toplevel directory project example Parser package would located within parser SSH package within ssh course app package within app directory practice make easy find package functionality toplevel directory work project limited number package project grows many package may cleaner place pkg directory ignored Internal v Pkg directory approach Another recommendation I’m fan splitting package internal v pkg directory main reason recommendation inapp package dealing inapp package dont see clear line internal external package name internalonly package Ive seen many developer skip best practice one else going use also don’t accept developer maintain package within pkg like standalone package reality package interface likely change package within application genuinely standalone would independent project make sense put inapp package general location Either toplevel project within pkg directory didn’t use cmd directory fan using cmd directory problem recommendation sideproject project simple commandline utility always CLI tool One thing want make easy user install utility easiest fastest way let user install via go get command shown go get u githubcommadflojoefs2 user install commandline tool via command want reference repository URL problem recommendation user would add cmdappname URL like example go get u githubcommadflojoefs2cmdefs2 URL format isn’t end world it’s bit messy user must know project structure install application want layout make easier people install harder Rather placing minimal main package cmd directory put maingo file toplevel directory project change allows user run go get command primary project path still allowing follow practice keeping code minimal core application functionality app package Summary pattern practice result sideproject using following structure Overall happy New contributor quickly identify package perform different function visibility someone look directory name using Go Reference documentation I’ve also found breaking application core package helped improve code coverage may uncommon I’ve yet see downfall putting minimal main package toplevel directory read article expect may like change I’ve made recommended standard I’ve found work may work others may notTags Software Engineering Programming Development Golang |
3,129 | How I Make Imposter Syndrome My Superpower | How I Make Imposter Syndrome My Superpower
We all deal with imposter syndrome to some extent. Here’s how I leverage it
photo by @stereo.phototyp on unsplash.
A Twitch streamer I watch, cuppcaake, recently tweeted about constantly feeling like her success was due to people pitying her. Over the past four years, I have watched her play video games, break up with her long-term boyfriend, be betrayed by her closest friend, fall in love, and build a community of people who genuinely like each other and her. I have seen her rage, cry out of sadness, laugh until she cried, and show a wide spectrum of true and genuine emotions that, to me, screams authenticity. As a long-time viewer, it was shocking to me that someone so unabashedly herself on stream almost every day would feel like a fraud.
But reading her post reminded me that imposter syndrome can lurk just beneath the surface of any person, including myself. It’s hard to take a step back and think, “I have imposter syndrome.” After all, I am a confident and decisive product manager. I have led dozens of initiatives and products, and I don’t obviously suffer from the effects of self-doubt.
I have been in tech for 12 years. For the majority of my career, I felt the need to be ten times as prepared as other people, did promotion-like jobs for more than a year before asking for a promotion, and thought I needed to be an expert in everything I did. When a developer or manager says a word I am not familiar with or explains something in a way I don’t understand, I get a panicked feeling in my chest like my whole world is about to come crashing down — as if not understanding one specific thing the moment I hear it will expose me as a fraud who completely lucked into my career.
This is most likely due to a mixture of circumstances: I am a linguistics major who chose a career path that requires a great deal of technical knowledge and acumen, I am a woman of color in an industry dominated by white males, and I was raised to internally praise myself for not being over-confident and to constantly practice humility.
Imposter syndrome, however, is a good trait/habit turned up to 11: It’s humility loud enough to blow your eardrums.
One of the reasons I learned to program was so that I could feel like the engineers I work with don’t look down on me or think I am stupid because I didn’t go to school for computer science. Despite moving up, shipping successful products, and getting positive reviews from managers for years, I still feel like I’m going to be found out as a fraud — even though I am probably one of the most knowledgeable product managers in my field.
It’s something that maybe never goes away, but I’ve found a few coping mechanisms to help deal with it. | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-i-make-imposter-syndrome-my-super-power-978b30118f3f | ['Mel De Leon'] | 2020-12-08 16:27:38.289000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Women In Tech', 'Startup', 'Mental Health', 'Work'] | Title Make Imposter Syndrome SuperpowerContent Make Imposter Syndrome Superpower deal imposter syndrome extent Here’s leverage photo stereophototyp unsplash Twitch streamer watch cuppcaake recently tweeted constantly feeling like success due people pitying past four year watched play video game break longterm boyfriend betrayed closest friend fall love build community people genuinely like seen rage cry sadness laugh cried show wide spectrum true genuine emotion scream authenticity longtime viewer shocking someone unabashedly stream almost every day would feel like fraud reading post reminded imposter syndrome lurk beneath surface person including It’s hard take step back think “I imposter syndrome” confident decisive product manager led dozen initiative product don’t obviously suffer effect selfdoubt tech 12 year majority career felt need ten time prepared people promotionlike job year asking promotion thought needed expert everything developer manager say word familiar explains something way don’t understand get panicked feeling chest like whole world come crashing — understanding one specific thing moment hear expose fraud completely lucked career likely due mixture circumstance linguistics major chose career path requires great deal technical knowledge acumen woman color industry dominated white male raised internally praise overconfident constantly practice humility Imposter syndrome however good traithabit turned 11 It’s humility loud enough blow eardrum One reason learned program could feel like engineer work don’t look think stupid didn’t go school computer science Despite moving shipping successful product getting positive review manager year still feel like I’m going found fraud — even though probably one knowledgeable product manager field It’s something maybe never go away I’ve found coping mechanism help deal itTags Programming Women Tech Startup Mental Health Work |
3,130 | How to Become a Better Programmer by Discovering Your Strengths | BECOME A BETTER PROGRAMMER
How to Become a Better Programmer by Discovering Your Strengths
You can be a better developer by knowing yourself and leaning into your strengths
My ex-boss was a so-called natural achiever. He had a constant need for accomplishments. By the end of every day, he had to have something tangible to feel good about himself. And by “every day” I mean every single day — workdays, weekends, and vacations. A vacation was no fun for him unless he was climbing the highest mountain or doing something he could measure.
My friend Nika loves to learn. She’s drawn to the process of learning — more than the content or the result, it’s the process that’s especially exciting for her. She is energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence.
My colleague Miha likes to talk, he values relationships more than anything. Miha wants to understand other people's feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and he wants them to understand his. He is a “relator.”
What about you? You might be one of those people who like to think everything through. You might say things like, “Prove it. How can we do this? Show me that what you’re claiming is true.” It’s not that you necessarily want to destroy other people’s ideas, but you insist that their theories be sound. You see yourself as the objective one. You like data because data has no agenda. Armed with data, you search for patterns and connections.
Some of us are natural activators. Once a decision is made we must act. Others may worry that “there are still some things we don’t know,” but this doesn’t slow us down. If the decision has been made to go, we know that the fastest way to get there is to go stoplight to stoplight.
Most developers do not know what their strengths are. When you ask them, they look at you with a blank stare.
I know you’re in the quarantine right now but think of your co-workers or the people you used to work with. Have you ever worked with someone:
Who has great attention to detail and patience?
Who doesn’t solve a problem with just the code? They believe software products aren’t just the code you write, they’re much more.
With the willingness to keep learning?
Who’s a great listener and can explain concepts in a clear and simple manner?
Who loves to work in a team, who is a pleasure to work with and is adaptable?
Who writes elegant code that can be easily maintained?
A team leader who inspires and motivates their team?
Who has a constant drive to be better, to do better?
Who is super analytical and understands solutions on multiple levels? Who sees the pros and cons of every approach?
Who pushes to get the job done?
Everyone has their own strengths. One person's strength lies in strategic thinking, another excels in relationship building. Some people are natural-born influencers and others are best at executing and achieving. Finding your strengths can help you in the long run. | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-to-become-a-better-programmer-by-discovering-your-strengths-fc8f78e86628 | ['Jana Bergant'] | 2020-04-25 18:23:27.794000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Startup', 'Books', 'Advice', 'Programming'] | Title Become Better Programmer Discovering StrengthsContent BECOME BETTER PROGRAMMER Become Better Programmer Discovering Strengths better developer knowing leaning strength exboss socalled natural achiever constant need accomplishment end every day something tangible feel good “every day” mean every single day — workday weekend vacation vacation fun unless climbing highest mountain something could measure friend Nika love learn She’s drawn process learning — content result it’s process that’s especially exciting energized steady deliberate journey ignorance competence colleague Miha like talk value relationship anything Miha want understand people feeling goal fear dream want understand “relator” might one people like think everything might say thing like “Prove Show you’re claiming true” It’s necessarily want destroy people’s idea insist theory sound see objective one like data data agenda Armed data search pattern connection u natural activator decision made must act Others may worry “there still thing don’t know” doesn’t slow u decision made go know fastest way get go stoplight stoplight developer know strength ask look blank stare know you’re quarantine right think coworkers people used work ever worked someone great attention detail patience doesn’t solve problem code believe software product aren’t code write they’re much willingness keep learning Who’s great listener explain concept clear simple manner love work team pleasure work adaptable writes elegant code easily maintained team leader inspires motivates team constant drive better better super analytical understands solution multiple level see pro con every approach push get job done Everyone strength One person strength lie strategic thinking another excels relationship building people naturalborn influencers others best executing achieving Finding strength help long runTags Personal Development Startup Books Advice Programming |
3,131 | Why We Should Never Stop Innovating | Humans are capable of incredible creations and remixes of those creations. We have a detailed track record that includes electricity founded by Thomas Edison and airplanes developed under The Wright Brothers, which have allowed for further design and development of new technologies such as Radium's discovery by Madame Marie Curie and the personal computer by Steve Jobs.
These discoveries have reshaped society many times over, impacting all edges of the world. And at the forefront of each technological advancement is an idea.
Ideas can stem from nature or one’s problems.
In a 2012 study, Researcher David Strayer and his colleagues showed that hikers on a four-day backpacking trip could solve significantly more puzzles requiring creativity when compared to a control group of people waiting to take the same hike — in fact, 47 percent more.¹
Exposure to nature tends to spark creativity bursts, fueling imagination and the creation of ideas. Such ideas, if cultivated, can lead to extraordinary discoveries that revolutionize the world.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
The value of an idea lies in the using of it — Thomas Edison
What is Innovation?
According to Baregheh et al.:
Innovation is the multi-stage process whereby organizations transform ideas into new/improved products, service or processes, in order to advance, compete, and differentiate themselves successfully in their marketplace.²
The conception of ideas is fundamentally a concoction of experiences, tastes, and influences that frame how a product or movement exists. Innovation comes into play beyond the birth of the product.
A similar definition by the software industry defines innovation as:
Production or adoption, assimilation, and exploitation of a value-added novelty in economic and social spheres; renewal and enlargement of products, services, and markets; development of new methods of production; and the establishment of new management systems. It is both a process and an outcome.³
Products are introduced in the marketplace and then analyzed over months or years, depending on the distribution goals. Depending on the market history of the product, an opportunity may present itself.
Product teams review the historical data gathered from the users and begin to make inferences on how the product can be modified further. This step is on the latter portion of the product’s life-cycle management program. Innovative product transformation allow companies to:
Remain competitive in a dynamic environment
Satisfy existing needs efficiently the second time around
Meet new trends and communities among the customer base
The alteration of once proved solutions is not an invention, however. Creating a solution from scratch is an invention, something translated from an idea or concept into living existence.
For product sustainability, innovation is crucial for maintaining a presence in the market.
How does innovation play a role in the world?
Innovation is a driver for growth in businesses, markets, and the economy. The aggregation of new and old ideas contributes to economic growth; New ideas and technologies developed can provide for an environment of continual production. More technological advancements may lead to an increased product pipeline being introduced into the marketplace, thus expanding its market share.
Maradana et. Al. Found “several indicators linked to economic growth” within companies which include⁴:
Patents-residents
Patents-non-residents
Research and development expenditure
Researchers in research and development activities
High technology exports
Scientific and technical journal articles
These factors demonstrate a crucial relationship between capital economic growth and innovation but also inventions. A patent is filed to protect the intellectual property of a company’s ideas and designs. This governing document gives the owner full rights to do anything with that invention. Innovations are similar to inventions with a different spin on their use requirements.
The researchers also found a “presence of both unidirectional and bidirectional causality between innovation and per capita growth,” meaning the two are mutually linked. For capital growth to grow, innovation must grow alongside it.
Innovation activities do not only directly influence economy-wide productivity, but also promote economic growth through spurring new business formation, which further promotes employment growth and other outputs.⁵
Further improvement on existing products generate more action in the economy. This allows companies to continue to grow their portfolio, sending widespread changes throughout the organization and industry. In a sense, improvements keep the product visible in the marketplace and can even excite customers to the launch of a rejuvenated product.
Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash
For example, Apple’s latest iPhone release did not shock the world. Hardly, any technological announcements do today. However, what did catch a lot of people’s attention was the addition of MagSafe and the transition of Apple’s Intel-based Macs to their in-house Silicon chips. It’s fair to say that Apple will have another successful year with these two releases despite recent hiccups.
To reiterate, innovation is contagious, widespread, and exhibits and promotes higher economic growth.
Based on a sample of 58 countries for the period 1980–2003, our empirical results indicate that countries hosting firms with higher quality patents also have higher economic growth.⁵
I think you get the picture — more innovation tends to be beneficial not just for the companies leading the front but also the hosting countries’ economy.
Now let’s talk about the influence of innovation within a company.
What Does Innovation Mean For a Company?
Innovation is at the forefront of the company, meaning to innovate to succeed in the future. For example, Pfizer aims to use clinical design to “enhance and transform clinical trials and the development of new medicines.”
And if you haven’t recently heard, Pfizer has been in the news quite a bit.
Enhancement of existing products provides an additional funnel of success for the company. Modernization strategies are at the core of various companies today.
Bristol Myers Squibb, another Bio-pharmaceutical giant, uses a similar message in their mission statement:
To discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.
One of their core values is Innovation, which reads:
We pursue disruptive and bold solutions for patients. We commit to scientific excellence and investment in bio-pharmaceutical research and development to prove de innovative, high-quality medicines that address the unmet medical needs of patients with serious diseases.
The commitment to innovation is apparent through a company’s core values. These are just two examples of companies willing to dedicate efforts towards the development of new technologies. To exemplify this, I’ve included two tables below which show R&D expenditures in 2018.
Top 10 Companies based on their R&D Spending in 2018
AMAZON.COM: US$22.62bn ALPHABET: US$16.225bn VOLKSWAGEN: US$15.772bn SAMSUNG: US$15.311bn MICROSOFT: US$14.735bn HUAWEI: US$13.601bn INTEL: US$13.098bn APPLE: US$11.581bn ROCHE: US$10.804bn JOHNSON & JOHNSON: US$10.554bn
And the list goes on to the Top 100 R&D Spenders of that year. Further information can be found here as well.
Now, taking a broader look at each industry shows the following:
How much each industry spent on R&D in 2018
Technology: US$268.8bn — 31.3% Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology: US$160.7bn — 18.7% Automobiles and Components: US$143.9bn — 16.8% Industrials: US$46.8bn — 5.4% Telco: US$38.8bn — 4.5% Electronic & Electrical Equipment: US$33.2bn — 3.9% Aerospace & Defence: US$24.9bn — 2.9% Chemicals: US$23.5bn — 2.7% Healthcare: US$20.7bn — 2.4% Household Durables: US$20.6bn — 2.4% Finance: US$16bn — 1.9% Construction, Real Estate & Engineering: US$14.6bn — 1.7% Energy & Utilities: US$14.1bn — 1.6% Consumables: US$9bn — 1% Food & Beverage: US$6.9bn — 0.8% Metals & Mining: US$6.3bn — 0.7% Transportation: US$1.8bn — 0.2% Media: US$1.8bn — 0.2% Tobacco: US$1.5bn — 0.2% Retail: US$1.3bn — 0.2% Support Services: US$1.3bn — 0.1% Apparel & Luxury: US$1.2bn — 0.1% Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure: US$0.9bn — 0.1% Forestry & Paper: US$0.3bn — 0% Grand Total: US$858.8bn — 100%
Taking the Technology sector, we see that Samsung, Intel, Microsoft, Google, and Apple have increased their R&D spending from 2005 to 2014, which has been apparent to each of their recent developments in the past decade. In contrast, HP and IBM remained stagnant in that period. A total of $858.8bn of expenses were towards R&D development in 2018. More than 30% of R&D expenditures come from the Technology sector.
Creating a Culture of Innovation
To innovate, companies create innovation strategies that promote this behavior. These strategies act as a commitment to the improvement and advancement of existing and future products and services. An innovation strategy includes the following:
Innovation objectives and goals
Scope of plan
Supporting functions required (such as Marketing, Operations, R&D)
Align strategy with business goals (both should work in conjunction)
Measure and analyze progress
An example of an innovation strategy comes from Bristol Myers-Squibb’s shift from “traditional organic chemistry” towards biotechnology:
About 10 years ago Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), as part of a broad strategic repositioning, decided to emphasize cancer as a key part of its pharmaceutical business. Recognizing that biotechnology-derived drugs such as monoclonal antibodies were likely to be a fruitful approach to combating cancer, BMS decided to shift its repertoire of technological capabilities from its traditional organic-chemistry base toward biotechnology. The new business strategy (emphasizing the cancer market) required a new innovation strategy (shifting technological capabilities toward biologics).
Developing a good strategy involves the identification of the objectives and goals to which the system is intended to do, the scope of the plan, which departments or groups of personnel are required, thus ensuring the strategy aligns or works in synergy with the business strategy of the organization and developing important methods of feedback and analysis to ensure effectiveness.
Google’s innovation strategy aims to provide a similar approach. Susan Wojcicki, at the time the article was written, was known as the Lead of Ads and Engineering and is now the CEO of Youtube, wrote an article explaining what she calls the 8 Pillars of Innovation:
Have a mission that matters
Think big but start small
Strive for continual innovation, not instant perfection
Look for ideas everywhere.
Share everything
Spark with imagination, fuel with data
Be a platform
Never fail to fail
Notice the overlapping methodologies with the previously discussed strategy.
A mission is synonymous with an overlying objective that determines the purpose of the plan. This mission is broken down into digestible pieces or goals that allow the organization to “think big but allowing them to start smaller.” As the innovation process is developed, consistent and applied effort must ensure the mission is carried out.
Ways to continue the effort can be found anywhere, “allowing for imagination to spark newer ideas that can be collaborated and expanded upon.” As I mentioned earlier, a key factor to a successful innovation strategy is the proper utilization of data. By utilizing a data feedback loop, the team can learn what works, what doesn’t and improve it.
These insights are crucial to the implementation and success of the plan.
Lastly, by adopting an innovation strategy, Susan Wojcicki reminds us to “become a platform” and “never fail to fail,” which is also essential.
The ability to produce new ideas without recognition for failure eliminates the bounds of self-judgment, allowing for continual imagination to roam, thus fueling innovation further.
Why Should We Keep Innovating
If it isn’t evident by now, especially after almost 1800 words, we should always strive for innovation. In essence, design keeps ideas brand new. These developments are formed through a mixture of other ideas; however, the end product and by-products are new-ish.
It’s similar to getting new rims on an older car. The car isn’t new, but the latest addition makes it all more exciting to ride.
Apart from the new ideas created, several benefits arise from the modernization of new products:
Economic growth¹
Creation of new ideas and technologies
Potential increases in revenue⁴
Continual improvement of products to meet market needs.
Potential to be bought out by larger companies
A few ways to facilitate innovation include:
Creating an innovation strategy
Aligning innovation strategy with business goals
Investing in Research and Development
Researching new fields can expand a company's knowledge in niche markets and enhance new features of an existing product. This gives companies an advantage in their disciplines since other companies might not replicate the technology for some time or ever.
Successful product launches by smaller start-ups that tie into larger company goals can be bought-out or merged, often ending in large payouts for the entrepreneurs.
Another benefit to investing in research and development is the amount of marketability and advertising that newer technologies can produce. These discoveries can attract large audiences, partners, and investors willing to buy in on the idea. Working at a smaller company myself, this is currently happening for us. It acts as a driver for productivity fueled by the excitement of future collaborations that can lead to extraordinary ideas and innovative products.
Of course, implementing strategies to increase innovation does not come without some setbacks.
Risks of Innovation
Innovation deployment within a company must first understand associated obstacles when planning to modernize products in the marketplace.
Upfront cost of R&D that may not lead to products⁶
Inherent risk of failure involved
Company closure due to failure to innovate
The benefits of innovation take time.
To innovate, you need to spend a lot. A study published this year by Wouters et al. found that “the mean cost of developing a new drug lies between an estimated range of $314 million to $2.8 billion⁶”. The average cost of development is estimated at around $1.3 billion.² The inherent risk of failure is apparent in the success rate of research and development programs in the Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology industries reside at a mere 14% for just passing Phase I trials³.
Also, Wong et al. studied success rates between each clinical phase trial and overall success percentages against different therapeutic areas.
Notable mentions include: a decrease in probability of success from Phase Trial to Phase Trial for Oncology, Metabolic/Endocrinology, Cardiovascular, Central Nervous System, and a few others. Overall percentages of success range from a high 34% to a low 3.4% at best. This shows that the window for successful clinical trials is small, and there is an inherent risk of failure when bringing drugs from benchtop to bedside.
On a related note, let’s briefly discuss how long a typical product development process takes from drug discovery to production.
Calls from the public to loosen FDA regulations to facilitate more rapid approval of drugs and devices have been countered by the occurrence of patient harm and deaths after some approved drugs have reached the marketplace.⁸
The duration of medical device and treatment approvals from the FDA takes several years. There have been steps to mitigate this; recently, it has led to distrust in the system.
New drug and device approval in the United States take an average of 12 and 7 years, respectively, from pre-clinical testing to approval. Costs for the development of medical devices run into millions of dollars, and a recent study suggests that the entire cost for a new drug is in excess of $1 billion.⁸
Device and drug approvals take an average of 12 and 7 years, respectively. Factors that govern the development of therapeutics and medical devices include long-term investment, probability of success, and commercialization duration. These are necessary risks that companies are willing to endure to create the next generation of disease treatments and cures.
The brighter side of things
We shouldn’t lose sight of the incredible discoveries and reinventions that humanity has found in the last century.
Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
To innovate is to fit the same shape but different colored puzzle piece, into another domain.
Solutions that were once created to solve one problem can be adopted into another discipline and iterated upon, forming new connections and ideologies that allow for next generational technologies to be discovered.
In the words of Anthony J. D’Angelo:
Don’t reinvent the wheel, just realign it.
Innovating can save time during the design and development process. By leveraging existing technologies and solutions, more effort can be placed on areas that require detail and attention, such as manufacturing, marketing, etc.
Your team is only as strong as the weakest link. And habits are as good as the system governing them. Solidifying an innovation strategy sets the company against its competitors, incentivizes customers, and expands its product lines. An approach to an innovation strategy should include:
Innovation objectives and goals
Scope
Supporting functions required (such as Marketing, Operations, R&D)
Align strategy with business goals (both should work in conjunction)
Measure and analyze
Not to mention, companies achieve productivity and financial gains.¹ More positives to innovation include:
Economic growth¹
Creation of new ideas and technologies
Potential increases in revenue⁴
Continual improvement of products to meet market needs.
Potential to be bought out by larger companies
I don’t believe humanity will ever stop innovating. But we should not allow innovation efforts to be threatened. We would not have been able to experience such revolutionary and innovative ideas, inventions, and solutions.
We’re truly living in exciting times. | https://medium.com/swlh/why-we-should-never-stop-innovating-f43638443c12 | ['Henry Cabral'] | 2020-12-18 16:26:34.190000+00:00 | ['Advice', 'Innovation', 'Design', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Life'] | Title Never Stop InnovatingContent Humans capable incredible creation remixes creation detailed track record includes electricity founded Thomas Edison airplane developed Wright Brothers allowed design development new technology Radiums discovery Madame Marie Curie personal computer Steve Jobs discovery reshaped society many time impacting edge world forefront technological advancement idea Ideas stem nature one’s problem 2012 study Researcher David Strayer colleague showed hiker fourday backpacking trip could solve significantly puzzle requiring creativity compared control group people waiting take hike — fact 47 percent more¹ Exposure nature tends spark creativity burst fueling imagination creation idea idea cultivated lead extraordinary discovery revolutionize world Photo Nick Fewings Unsplash value idea lie using — Thomas Edison Innovation According Baregheh et al Innovation multistage process whereby organization transform idea newimproved product service process order advance compete differentiate successfully marketplace² conception idea fundamentally concoction experience taste influence frame product movement exists Innovation come play beyond birth product similar definition software industry defines innovation Production adoption assimilation exploitation valueadded novelty economic social sphere renewal enlargement product service market development new method production establishment new management system process outcome³ Products introduced marketplace analyzed month year depending distribution goal Depending market history product opportunity may present Product team review historical data gathered user begin make inference product modified step latter portion product’s lifecycle management program Innovative product transformation allow company Remain competitive dynamic environment Satisfy existing need efficiently second time around Meet new trend community among customer base alteration proved solution invention however Creating solution scratch invention something translated idea concept living existence product sustainability innovation crucial maintaining presence market innovation play role world Innovation driver growth business market economy aggregation new old idea contributes economic growth New idea technology developed provide environment continual production technological advancement may lead increased product pipeline introduced marketplace thus expanding market share Maradana et Al Found “several indicator linked economic growth” within company include⁴ Patentsresidents Patentsnonresidents Research development expenditure Researchers research development activity High technology export Scientific technical journal article factor demonstrate crucial relationship capital economic growth innovation also invention patent filed protect intellectual property company’s idea design governing document give owner full right anything invention Innovations similar invention different spin use requirement researcher also found “presence unidirectional bidirectional causality innovation per caput growth” meaning two mutually linked capital growth grow innovation must grow alongside Innovation activity directly influence economywide productivity also promote economic growth spurring new business formation promotes employment growth outputs⁵ improvement existing product generate action economy allows company continue grow portfolio sending widespread change throughout organization industry sense improvement keep product visible marketplace even excite customer launch rejuvenated product Photo Daniel Romero Unsplash example Apple’s latest iPhone release shock world Hardly technological announcement today However catch lot people’s attention addition MagSafe transition Apple’s Intelbased Macs inhouse Silicon chip It’s fair say Apple another successful year two release despite recent hiccup reiterate innovation contagious widespread exhibit promotes higher economic growth Based sample 58 country period 1980–2003 empirical result indicate country hosting firm higher quality patent also higher economic growth⁵ think get picture — innovation tends beneficial company leading front also hosting countries’ economy let’s talk influence innovation within company Innovation Mean Company Innovation forefront company meaning innovate succeed future example Pfizer aim use clinical design “enhance transform clinical trial development new medicines” haven’t recently heard Pfizer news quite bit Enhancement existing product provides additional funnel success company Modernization strategy core various company today Bristol Myers Squibb another Biopharmaceutical giant us similar message mission statement discover develop deliver innovative medicine help patient prevail serious disease One core value Innovation read pursue disruptive bold solution patient commit scientific excellence investment biopharmaceutical research development prove de innovative highquality medicine address unmet medical need patient serious disease commitment innovation apparent company’s core value two example company willing dedicate effort towards development new technology exemplify I’ve included two table show RD expenditure 2018 Top 10 Companies based RD Spending 2018 AMAZONCOM US2262bn ALPHABET US16225bn VOLKSWAGEN US15772bn SAMSUNG US15311bn MICROSOFT US14735bn HUAWEI US13601bn INTEL US13098bn APPLE US11581bn ROCHE US10804bn JOHNSON JOHNSON US10554bn list go Top 100 RD Spenders year information found well taking broader look industry show following much industry spent RD 2018 Technology US2688bn — 313 Pharmaceuticals Biotechnology US1607bn — 187 Automobiles Components US1439bn — 168 Industrials US468bn — 54 Telco US388bn — 45 Electronic Electrical Equipment US332bn — 39 Aerospace Defence US249bn — 29 Chemicals US235bn — 27 Healthcare US207bn — 24 Household Durables US206bn — 24 Finance US16bn — 19 Construction Real Estate Engineering US146bn — 17 Energy Utilities US141bn — 16 Consumables US9bn — 1 Food Beverage US69bn — 08 Metals Mining US63bn — 07 Transportation US18bn — 02 Media US18bn — 02 Tobacco US15bn — 02 Retail US13bn — 02 Support Services US13bn — 01 Apparel Luxury US12bn — 01 Hotels Restaurants Leisure US09bn — 01 Forestry Paper US03bn — 0 Grand Total US8588bn — 100 Taking Technology sector see Samsung Intel Microsoft Google Apple increased RD spending 2005 2014 apparent recent development past decade contrast HP IBM remained stagnant period total 8588bn expense towards RD development 2018 30 RD expenditure come Technology sector Creating Culture Innovation innovate company create innovation strategy promote behavior strategy act commitment improvement advancement existing future product service innovation strategy includes following Innovation objective goal Scope plan Supporting function required Marketing Operations RD Align strategy business goal work conjunction Measure analyze progress example innovation strategy come Bristol MyersSquibb’s shift “traditional organic chemistry” towards biotechnology 10 year ago BristolMyers Squibb BMS part broad strategic repositioning decided emphasize cancer key part pharmaceutical business Recognizing biotechnologyderived drug monoclonal antibody likely fruitful approach combating cancer BMS decided shift repertoire technological capability traditional organicchemistry base toward biotechnology new business strategy emphasizing cancer market required new innovation strategy shifting technological capability toward biologics Developing good strategy involves identification objective goal system intended scope plan department group personnel required thus ensuring strategy aligns work synergy business strategy organization developing important method feedback analysis ensure effectiveness Google’s innovation strategy aim provide similar approach Susan Wojcicki time article written known Lead Ads Engineering CEO Youtube wrote article explaining call 8 Pillars Innovation mission matter Think big start small Strive continual innovation instant perfection Look idea everywhere Share everything Spark imagination fuel data platform Never fail fail Notice overlapping methodology previously discussed strategy mission synonymous overlying objective determines purpose plan mission broken digestible piece goal allow organization “think big allowing start smaller” innovation process developed consistent applied effort must ensure mission carried Ways continue effort found anywhere “allowing imagination spark newer idea collaborated expanded upon” mentioned earlier key factor successful innovation strategy proper utilization data utilizing data feedback loop team learn work doesn’t improve insight crucial implementation success plan Lastly adopting innovation strategy Susan Wojcicki reminds u “become platform” “never fail fail” also essential ability produce new idea without recognition failure eliminates bound selfjudgment allowing continual imagination roam thus fueling innovation Keep Innovating isn’t evident especially almost 1800 word always strive innovation essence design keep idea brand new development formed mixture idea however end product byproduct newish It’s similar getting new rim older car car isn’t new latest addition make exciting ride Apart new idea created several benefit arise modernization new product Economic growth¹ Creation new idea technology Potential increase revenue⁴ Continual improvement product meet market need Potential bought larger company way facilitate innovation include Creating innovation strategy Aligning innovation strategy business goal Investing Research Development Researching new field expand company knowledge niche market enhance new feature existing product give company advantage discipline since company might replicate technology time ever Successful product launch smaller startup tie larger company goal boughtout merged often ending large payouts entrepreneur Another benefit investing research development amount marketability advertising newer technology produce discovery attract large audience partner investor willing buy idea Working smaller company currently happening u act driver productivity fueled excitement future collaboration lead extraordinary idea innovative product course implementing strategy increase innovation come without setback Risks Innovation Innovation deployment within company must first understand associated obstacle planning modernize product marketplace Upfront cost RD may lead products⁶ Inherent risk failure involved Company closure due failure innovate benefit innovation take time innovate need spend lot study published year Wouters et al found “the mean cost developing new drug lie estimated range 314 million 28 billion⁶” average cost development estimated around 13 billion² inherent risk failure apparent success rate research development program PharmaceuticalBiotechnology industry reside mere 14 passing Phase trials³ Also Wong et al studied success rate clinical phase trial overall success percentage different therapeutic area Notable mention include decrease probability success Phase Trial Phase Trial Oncology MetabolicEndocrinology Cardiovascular Central Nervous System others Overall percentage success range high 34 low 34 best show window successful clinical trial small inherent risk failure bringing drug benchtop bedside related note let’s briefly discus long typical product development process take drug discovery production Calls public loosen FDA regulation facilitate rapid approval drug device countered occurrence patient harm death approved drug reached marketplace⁸ duration medical device treatment approval FDA take several year step mitigate recently led distrust system New drug device approval United States take average 12 7 year respectively preclinical testing approval Costs development medical device run million dollar recent study suggests entire cost new drug excess 1 billion⁸ Device drug approval take average 12 7 year respectively Factors govern development therapeutic medical device include longterm investment probability success commercialization duration necessary risk company willing endure create next generation disease treatment cure brighter side thing shouldn’t lose sight incredible discovery reinventions humanity found last century Photo Ryoji Iwata Unsplash innovate fit shape different colored puzzle piece another domain Solutions created solve one problem adopted another discipline iterated upon forming new connection ideology allow next generational technology discovered word Anthony J D’Angelo Don’t reinvent wheel realign Innovating save time design development process leveraging existing technology solution effort placed area require detail attention manufacturing marketing etc team strong weakest link habit good system governing Solidifying innovation strategy set company competitor incentivizes customer expands product line approach innovation strategy include Innovation objective goal Scope Supporting function required Marketing Operations RD Align strategy business goal work conjunction Measure analyze mention company achieve productivity financial gains¹ positive innovation include Economic growth¹ Creation new idea technology Potential increase revenue⁴ Continual improvement product meet market need Potential bought larger company don’t believe humanity ever stop innovating allow innovation effort threatened would able experience revolutionary innovative idea invention solution We’re truly living exciting timesTags Advice Innovation Design Entrepreneurship Life |
3,132 | Willpower Is Not a Limited Resource | Willpower Is Not a Limited Resource
And the belief that it is can be damaging
Photo: ULTRA F/DigitalVision/Getty Images
You come home after a long day of work and immediately curl up on the couch for a few episodes of the latest Netflix craze. As you watch, you’re simultaneously scrolling through Twitter on your phone and digging into a bag of potato chips, even though your resolution was to eat healthier. You look around and see that the garbage needs to be taken out, the laundry needs to be folded, and your child’s toys are strewn across the living room floor. The list of productive things you could be doing seem endless, yet you can’t seem to find the willpower to get started.
Sound familiar? This is called ego depletion, the theory that willpower is connected to a limited reserve of mental energy, and once you run out of that energy, you’re more likely to lose self-control.
Ego depletion would seem to explain your post-work defeat — after focusing all day, you’re just tapped out. But some research suggests that we’ve been thinking about willpower all wrong, and the theory of ego depletion isn’t true. Even worse, holding onto the idea that willpower is a finite resource can actually be bad for you, making you more likely to lose control and act against your better judgment.
The evidence against ego depletion comes from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in which Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and her team wanted to see how people reacted when they were fatigued. After putting participants through a demanding task, the researchers asked them to drink sugary lemonade for an energy boost, and then evaluated how they reacted. And while the sugar did give a boost to the people who believed their willpower had been exhausted, it had no effect on those who didn’t see willpower as a finite resource.
If Dweck’s conclusions are correct, that means that ego depletion is essentially caused by self-defeating thoughts and not by any biological limitation. It’s an idea that makes us less likely to accomplish our goals by providing a rationale to quit when we could otherwise persist.
Other research illustrates the power of this effect. A study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that individuals who believed they were powerless to fight their alcohol cravings were much more likely to drink again. Studies of cigarette smokers found that those who believed they were powerless to resist were most likely to fall off the wagon after they quit. And the same theory could be applied to other things as well, such as working out, dieting, or self-control in a relationship.
A new decision-making tool
Michael Inzlicht, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and the principal investigator at the Toronto Laboratory for Social Neuroscience, offers an alternative view to Dweck’s conclusions. Inzlicht believes that willpower is not a finite resource but instead acts like an emotion. Just as we don’t “run out” of joy or anger, willpower ebbs and flows based on what’s happening to us and how we feel.
Seeing willpower through this lens has profound implications on the way we focus our attention. For one, if mental energy is more like an emotion than fuel in a tank, it can be managed and utilized as such. For example, a toddler might throw a temper tantrum when a toy is taken away, but will, over time, gain self-control and learn to ride out bad feelings. Similarly, when we need to perform a difficult task, it’s more productive and healthy to believe a lack of motivation is temporary than it is to tell ourselves we’re spent and need a break.
But sometimes a lack of motivation isn’t temporary. Feelings are our bodies’ way of conveying information our conscious minds might miss. When a lack of mental energy is chronic, we should listen to our willpower just as we should listen to our emotions, using it as a tool that provides us with insight about what we should and shouldn’t be spending our time on. When we treat willpower as a helpful decision-making assistant, working in tandem with our logical capabilities, we can find new paths that may not require us to do things we fundamentally don’t want to do.
What we say to ourselves is vitally important. Believing you have poor self-control is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Rather than telling ourselves we failed because we’re somehow deficient, we should offer self-compassion by speaking to ourselves with kindness when we experience setbacks.
This article originally appeared on NirAndFar.com. | https://forge.medium.com/this-is-what-most-people-get-wrong-about-willpower-72deab39fa59 | ['Nir Eyal'] | 2020-02-10 18:42:48.042000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Growth Hacking', 'Psychology', 'Willpower', 'Self'] | Title Willpower Limited ResourceContent Willpower Limited Resource belief damaging Photo ULTRA FDigitalVisionGetty Images come home long day work immediately curl couch episode latest Netflix craze watch you’re simultaneously scrolling Twitter phone digging bag potato chip even though resolution eat healthier look around see garbage need taken laundry need folded child’s toy strewn across living room floor list productive thing could seem endless yet can’t seem find willpower get started Sound familiar called ego depletion theory willpower connected limited reserve mental energy run energy you’re likely lose selfcontrol Ego depletion would seem explain postwork defeat — focusing day you’re tapped research suggests we’ve thinking willpower wrong theory ego depletion isn’t true Even worse holding onto idea willpower finite resource actually bad making likely lose control act better judgment evidence ego depletion come study published Proceedings National Academy Sciences Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck team wanted see people reacted fatigued putting participant demanding task researcher asked drink sugary lemonade energy boost evaluated reacted sugar give boost people believed willpower exhausted effect didn’t see willpower finite resource Dweck’s conclusion correct mean ego depletion essentially caused selfdefeating thought biological limitation It’s idea make u le likely accomplish goal providing rationale quit could otherwise persist research illustrates power effect study published Journal Studies Alcohol Drugs found individual believed powerless fight alcohol craving much likely drink Studies cigarette smoker found believed powerless resist likely fall wagon quit theory could applied thing well working dieting selfcontrol relationship new decisionmaking tool Michael Inzlicht professor psychology University Toronto principal investigator Toronto Laboratory Social Neuroscience offer alternative view Dweck’s conclusion Inzlicht belief willpower finite resource instead act like emotion don’t “run out” joy anger willpower ebb flow based what’s happening u feel Seeing willpower lens profound implication way focus attention one mental energy like emotion fuel tank managed utilized example toddler might throw temper tantrum toy taken away time gain selfcontrol learn ride bad feeling Similarly need perform difficult task it’s productive healthy believe lack motivation temporary tell we’re spent need break sometimes lack motivation isn’t temporary Feelings bodies’ way conveying information conscious mind might miss lack mental energy chronic listen willpower listen emotion using tool provides u insight shouldn’t spending time treat willpower helpful decisionmaking assistant working tandem logical capability find new path may require u thing fundamentally don’t want say vitally important Believing poor selfcontrol selffulfilling prophecy Rather telling failed we’re somehow deficient offer selfcompassion speaking kindness experience setback article originally appeared NirAndFarcomTags Productivity Growth Hacking Psychology Willpower Self |
3,133 | List of Awesome MacOS Menubar Apps 2018 👨🏻💻 | So you liked the last list? Awesome, I have a new list of MenuBar apps for MacOS users. I know how much you guys love Menubar apps, so why not right. Best thing is, all the apps in this list are either open source or free. So let’s get started 🏃🏻♂️
1. Itsycal 📆
🔗 Github Link: Itsycal
This app is my personal favorite. Simple yet does everything you need to do with a calendar app. You add, edit or view any event and link it with your calendar. It’s Design is customizable. It also has a Dark theme. Btw if you are in to productivity, highly recommend you to check my latest article on morning routines
2. Katana ✂️
🔗 Github Link: Katana
Such a powerful tool but not that popular, we have Katana on our list next. If you take a lot of screenshots and your desktop is always full of screenshots check Katana out. It automatically uploads the screenshot and copies the link on your clipboard. No More Clustered Desktop.
3. CoinBar 💵
🔗 Github Link: CoinBar
Yup! Small nifty tool for tracking the price of crypto coins. It has list of all the coins and you can create your own list also. It supports 33 base currencies conversions. Also, the menu bar icon flashes when new data is available. It’s cool, check it out if you are into Crypto Currencies.
4. Dat Weather Doe 🌦
🔗 Github Link: DatWeatherDoe
This apps helps you see the current weather in your menubar. It has very cool icons, to represent current weather, that supports both dark and light theme. You can choose location by gps or zipcode. Every handy. | https://medium.com/skynox/list-of-awesome-macos-menubar-apps-2018-87421b8234e0 | ['Sarthak Sharma'] | 2019-09-11 08:52:38.419000+00:00 | ['Mac', 'Lifehacks', 'Tech', 'Apple', 'Productivity'] | Title List Awesome MacOS Menubar Apps 2018 👨🏻💻Content liked last list Awesome new list MenuBar apps MacOS user know much guy love Menubar apps right Best thing apps list either open source free let’s get started 🏃🏻♂️ 1 Itsycal 📆 🔗 Github Link Itsycal app personal favorite Simple yet everything need calendar app add edit view event link calendar It’s Design customizable also Dark theme Btw productivity highly recommend check latest article morning routine 2 Katana ✂️ 🔗 Github Link Katana powerful tool popular Katana list next take lot screenshots desktop always full screenshots check Katana automatically uploads screenshot copy link clipboard Clustered Desktop 3 CoinBar 💵 🔗 Github Link CoinBar Yup Small nifty tool tracking price crypto coin list coin create list also support 33 base currency conversion Also menu bar icon flash new data available It’s cool check Crypto Currencies 4 Dat Weather Doe 🌦 🔗 Github Link DatWeatherDoe apps help see current weather menubar cool icon represent current weather support dark light theme choose location gps zipcode Every handyTags Mac Lifehacks Tech Apple Productivity |
3,134 | Does User-Experience Design confirm the Paradox of Choice? | Understanding consumer decisions and the design of experiences to contemplate if choices are good for business.
‘Looking for shoes?’ Try Amazon, they said — after an hour of scrolling up and down, next thing I know I have about a zillion shoes in my wishlist, but exit from the app with zero shoes heading my way. Has this ever happened to you with online shopping? Overwhelmed with the various sub-types and different colors/patterns of the same product which make you discard your actual need for the product in question? If you have, then psychologist Barry Schwartz termed this exact feeling of yours as the paradox of choice. In a nutshell — more choices lead to fewer sales.
Digital experiences aim at making consumer lives easier but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Not very long ago, a consumer report by Smartassistant revealed that 42% of digital shoppers abandoned their transactions because there was too much choice. Is choice paralysis being induced with too many options presented by online retailers?
It all began with Jam!
Almost two decades ago, Sheena Iyenger, a professor at Columbia Business School, performed a consumer study with an experiment using two different jam displays: one with six flavors and the other with 24. The result? Although the table with 24 flavors had a high footfall, the conversion rate was only 4% in comparison to 30% for the counter with fewer options. This experiment set the path for Barry Schwartz to talk extensively about this choice paralysis in his book “Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less”. A large number of options leads to anxiety in users making it counterproductive to the actual underlying objective of providing choices.
So why are there still so many options for the same thing? — Neo-classical economics or love for colors?
Even with this oddity of many choices leading to fewer conversions, e-commerce sites still see a display of 10 different colors of the same product! Why so? The phenomenon of choice overload was shot down by quite a few people. Financial Times journalist Tim Hartford posed the question that if this were to be true, then retailers and food chains like Starbucks wouldn’t offer a plethora of options of basically the same thing. Research scientist, Benjamin Scheibehenne, echoed this point with an empirical twist after conducting around ten experiments to study choice overload and concluded that lots of choices made no significant difference. This is synonymous to the traditional economic theory of consumer behavior where more is always better.
Also, the jam experiment suffers from something called the replication crisis — when tried to repeat the experiment with the exact same parameters, the study did not come up with the same conclusion. That can mean only one thing. (uh-oh, choices are good!)
But then again, in case of online consumer activity, we see conversions happen when there are fewer fields to fill for forms or fewer social sharing buttons. Along with reports of abandoned digital carts, these tilt the scales to the other side. Psychological wisdom implies choices create fatigue in human minds which directly affect consumer decision-making.
But wait, there’s something called Single-Option Aversion as well!
If choices were bad for business, retailers would stock only unique products and brands would eliminate all variants. But, that’s not the case as Daniel Mochon writes about in the Journal of Consumer Research. According to his study, in one experiment, consumers were asked to buy a DVD player, one group had an option of a Sony DVD player, a second group a Phillips one, and the third one had both options. As the notion of single option aversion suggests, the third group made the most purchase.
Conventional Wisdom or Jam Flavors? — and why Choices are not Decisions
So we’re back at the debate, myth or fact? For a consumer, are choices to a product a good thing or bad? A wise man, and marketing guru, Seth Godin shared his wisdom: ‘in a world where we have too many choices, and too little time, the obvious thing to do is just ignore stuff.’ So, when it comes to choice overload, a lot of it lies with the consumer and the underlying purchase decision.
Researchers at Kellogg business school also revealed a few cases which can be called the factors of the overload in question.
What came first? –A Stanford GSB study suggests that every decision can ideally swing two ways. Firstly, if the initial decision is definitely buying the product, then various alternative options would confuse the buyer. However, if the decision about which product to buy isn’t clear, then options might be conducive.
Personal loans or Home loans or Car loans? –Options presented are either not comparable, or inadequate information on each of them, or the mere way of being organized can lead to confusion in the consumer mind.
Is that what I want? — Imagine you want to invest in mutual funds for the very first time, and you have absolutely no idea about them. And you’re shown several fund types (equity, mid-cap, open-ended, index, sectoral to name a few), along with the separate risk associated with each — would you still have clarity on your preference?
It’s the decision that matters–dating sites vs picking ice-cream: Options in Tinder would require time and consideration whereas choosing at Baskin Robbins is something usually done quickly. It’s those comparatively trivial and instantaneous decisions that need fewer options to avoid overload.
In the end, it’s all about Design and the Choice Architecture
Although, with the various studies and experiments done by researchers to counter the paradox over the years, Scheibehenne confers from his meta-analysis that both cases actually hold true. Sometimes choices are good for consumers, and sometimes they aren’t. Coming back to the great Seth Godin again, he is of the opinion that the trick in getting the balance lies in storytelling — it’s the responsibility of the brand or marketer to choose the right story behind each of the choices that they want to present to their customers.
The key to finding the optimum between too many choices (that drive customers away) and no options (that creep customers away) is to find the right way to present those variants so that consumers don’t feel anxiety and are able to make the right choice. And, as Godin infers choices aren’t decisions: the ‘overload’ that businesses need to worry about should be information, not product variants.
The experience, digital or otherwise, needs to be so designed that the consumers enjoy the choices and feels empowered by comparing their selections to the alternatives. The story should include all possible extremes of intended emotions, and the consumer then chooses the one with the most resonance. As Godin observes, marketers have been doing this forever. When David Ogilvy and his team first started making ads in the 1950s, they figured a hole in the market and filled that gap with features — the mantra was all about positioning. Potato chips: healthy organic, crispy, traditional satisfying — emotions that sell.
The question no longer lies in numbers — less is more or more is better. It’s crucial to figure out when to give choices and when not to by understanding the consumer psyche. Brands, marketers, and retailers need to build the arc of the consumer path in a way that guides customers to the path of a definite goal with or without choices.
That’s exactly what I was looking for!: Brands like Amazon, Spotify, and Netflix are doing great when it comes to presenting options. There are close to 15000 titles on Netflix including movies, television shows, and original content. If people sort through that every time on a movie night, nobody would ever get around to watching anything. To avoid overwhelming users with too many choices, personalization is one of the tools brands seem to be adopting. Through product recommendations based on user behavior and preference history, giving the user exactly what they want saves the anxiety of having to look at multiple choices.
Superheroes or Sitcoms?: There can be 5000 T-shirts on an e-commerce site — but browsing through all of them in the hope of a better one would definitely leave users disoriented. Instead, if they were sorted into various categories, customers could just browse through their desired group.
What exactly is that?!: Remember the mutual funds’ example — in most cases, especially for financial services, users get stressed out by technical jargon, and lack proper conceptual understanding. Retailers and brands need to condition their users to complexity. Make their offerings easily comprehensible and then expose customers to options. Simplifying web experiences keeping minimalistic interfaces leads to higher conversions — maybe unique CTAs or fewer social media sharing buttons.
Not too long ago, a report revealed that consumers value honest and personal advice as an important service from retailers and brands. Expert advice on products and brands could mitigate the existing paralysis from choice proliferation.
Looks like choices are here to stay in a consumer’s life. But with a better design in building those choices, a better choosing experience can be crafted.
References:
‘This is Marketing’ by Seth Godin
‘Can There Ever Be Too Many Options? A Meta-Analytic Review of Choice Overload’ by Benjamin Schiebehenne, Rainer Greifeneder, Peter Todd | https://medium.com/moonraft-musings/does-user-experience-design-confirm-the-paradox-of-choice-a1eeb8804640 | ['Sarba Basu'] | 2019-04-17 08:51:06.195000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'Psychology', 'Marketing', 'Customer Experience'] | Title UserExperience Design confirm Paradox ChoiceContent Understanding consumer decision design experience contemplate choice good business ‘Looking shoes’ Try Amazon said — hour scrolling next thing know zillion shoe wishlist exit app zero shoe heading way ever happened online shopping Overwhelmed various subtypes different colorspatterns product make discard actual need product question psychologist Barry Schwartz termed exact feeling paradox choice nutshell — choice lead fewer sale Digital experience aim making consumer life easier doesn’t seem case long ago consumer report Smartassistant revealed 42 digital shopper abandoned transaction much choice choice paralysis induced many option presented online retailer began Jam Almost two decade ago Sheena Iyenger professor Columbia Business School performed consumer study experiment using two different jam display one six flavor 24 result Although table 24 flavor high footfall conversion rate 4 comparison 30 counter fewer option experiment set path Barry Schwartz talk extensively choice paralysis book “Paradox Choice Less” large number option lead anxiety user making counterproductive actual underlying objective providing choice still many option thing — Neoclassical economics love color Even oddity many choice leading fewer conversion ecommerce site still see display 10 different color product phenomenon choice overload shot quite people Financial Times journalist Tim Hartford posed question true retailer food chain like Starbucks wouldn’t offer plethora option basically thing Research scientist Benjamin Scheibehenne echoed point empirical twist conducting around ten experiment study choice overload concluded lot choice made significant difference synonymous traditional economic theory consumer behavior always better Also jam experiment suffers something called replication crisis — tried repeat experiment exact parameter study come conclusion mean one thing uhoh choice good case online consumer activity see conversion happen fewer field fill form fewer social sharing button Along report abandoned digital cart tilt scale side Psychological wisdom implies choice create fatigue human mind directly affect consumer decisionmaking wait there’s something called SingleOption Aversion well choice bad business retailer would stock unique product brand would eliminate variant that’s case Daniel Mochon writes Journal Consumer Research According study one experiment consumer asked buy DVD player one group option Sony DVD player second group Phillips one third one option notion single option aversion suggests third group made purchase Conventional Wisdom Jam Flavors — Choices Decisions we’re back debate myth fact consumer choice product good thing bad wise man marketing guru Seth Godin shared wisdom ‘in world many choice little time obvious thing ignore stuff’ come choice overload lot lie consumer underlying purchase decision Researchers Kellogg business school also revealed case called factor overload question came first –A Stanford GSB study suggests every decision ideally swing two way Firstly initial decision definitely buying product various alternative option would confuse buyer However decision product buy isn’t clear option might conducive Personal loan Home loan Car loan –Options presented either comparable inadequate information mere way organized lead confusion consumer mind want — Imagine want invest mutual fund first time absolutely idea you’re shown several fund type equity midcap openended index sectoral name along separate risk associated — would still clarity preference It’s decision matters–dating site v picking icecream Options Tinder would require time consideration whereas choosing Baskin Robbins something usually done quickly It’s comparatively trivial instantaneous decision need fewer option avoid overload end it’s Design Choice Architecture Although various study experiment done researcher counter paradox year Scheibehenne confers metaanalysis case actually hold true Sometimes choice good consumer sometimes aren’t Coming back great Seth Godin opinion trick getting balance lie storytelling — it’s responsibility brand marketer choose right story behind choice want present customer key finding optimum many choice drive customer away option creep customer away find right way present variant consumer don’t feel anxiety able make right choice Godin infers choice aren’t decision ‘overload’ business need worry information product variant experience digital otherwise need designed consumer enjoy choice feel empowered comparing selection alternative story include possible extreme intended emotion consumer chooses one resonance Godin observes marketer forever David Ogilvy team first started making ad 1950s figured hole market filled gap feature — mantra positioning Potato chip healthy organic crispy traditional satisfying — emotion sell question longer lie number — le better It’s crucial figure give choice understanding consumer psyche Brands marketer retailer need build arc consumer path way guide customer path definite goal without choice That’s exactly looking Brands like Amazon Spotify Netflix great come presenting option close 15000 title Netflix including movie television show original content people sort every time movie night nobody would ever get around watching anything avoid overwhelming user many choice personalization one tool brand seem adopting product recommendation based user behavior preference history giving user exactly want save anxiety look multiple choice Superheroes Sitcoms 5000 Tshirts ecommerce site — browsing hope better one would definitely leave user disoriented Instead sorted various category customer could browse desired group exactly Remember mutual funds’ example — case especially financial service user get stressed technical jargon lack proper conceptual understanding Retailers brand need condition user complexity Make offering easily comprehensible expose customer option Simplifying web experience keeping minimalistic interface lead higher conversion — maybe unique CTAs fewer social medium sharing button long ago report revealed consumer value honest personal advice important service retailer brand Expert advice product brand could mitigate existing paralysis choice proliferation Looks like choice stay consumer’s life better design building choice better choosing experience crafted References ‘This Marketing’ Seth Godin ‘Can Ever Many Options MetaAnalytic Review Choice Overload’ Benjamin Schiebehenne Rainer Greifeneder Peter ToddTags UX Design Psychology Marketing Customer Experience |
3,135 | How bad data is weakening the study of big data | Gify
In a 2013 New York Times post, 2012 is the Big Data breakout year. The big data promise was appealing, digital web data too large for conventional data processing was collected, new software innovations were applied for mining, and infinite problems could be solved. Big data has a record of progress since 2012. Since then. By 2017 Gartner Research reported a failure rate of nearly 85% in large data projects. Another 2018 Gartner study found that 91 percent were not transformational market intelligence levels from the 196 firms interviewed for big data and analysis.
Big Data
A major problem facing many Big Data is that it is unstructured, often incomplete, and of poor quality. It is difficult to find evidence that demonstrates what it is meant by the proliferation of choices. Success can be deriving from fresh clean, privacy-friendliness, accuracy and direct customer responses sources of specific quality data.
While many were grappling with the Big Data Revolution, an ancient assertion was ignored: GIGO, waste in waste. It seemed that quality was not so important as quantity with all new technological resources for collecting, processing and analyzing the ever rising volume of digital data.
Today, the volume of data is high. In the last 2 years, it is estimated that 90% of the worldwide data has been produced. Data science and machine learning disciplines in worldwide business analysis are driven by exponential data development. Although mathematics is the only basis for each aspect and discipline that corresponds with data science, statistics and probability are both applicable sciences. In particular Big Data Applications, each of these “hard-science” will find digital data of highest value.
Don’t become a Data Scientist | Prerequisite for Data Science: It’s Not What You Think It Is💯🔥🔥
For example, a number of popular Big Data AI applications prefer applications relying on device data to predict processes governed by specified standards. Self-correcting, face recognition, chat bots, optical character recognition, medical diagnosis assistance and robotic applications, such as e-mail spam filtering. Each of these applications analyzes objects or images inanimately.
More possibly, the use of an anonymous survey method in the direct questioning of people would allow people to better understand and interpret human behavior. If the data is representative, it becomes more factual and not more likely to be invalid in the context of observed/monitor clicks because it comes “straight from the mouth of the horse.”
Real Talk with Data Scientist
We have completed one of the most painful years in history. A year in which Covid 19 and the consumer’s reaction disrupted all markets. There are also numerous predictive models that have been created by analyzing and predicting history data.
However, performance has fallen behind in respect of big data IA for humans and their actions, behaviors and ambitions, many guided by unconscious pulses that cannot be calculated by random digital clicks. The majority of businesses often strive to find broad data value by mining and analysing consumer and customer data transactions.
For starters, transaction details cannot identify why a consumer has purchased or whether it is a gift to someone. Customer data files contain incorrect details from individuals who travel, die, are married, separated or changed e-mail addresses and are replaced by incomplete, duplicate or mispelled data files.
The sectors of marketing/advertising and investment/hedge funds are two examples of how big data is not analogous to real-world customer behaviours.
Data Science Project’s
Digital ad spending currently constitutes the largest advertising sector in the United States for marketers/advertisers. Despite this haste for marketers to concentrate on digitally, advertisers’ highly profile lawsuits have covered the precision and effectiveness of automated targeting models. Also, numerous research studies have established the shortcomings of the ad targeting model Big Data. A 2018 research paper in Marketing Science Frontiers detailed how online browsing targeting models created and sold by Data Brokers and DMP’s are not only inaccurate but also unprecise.
When additional parameters are applied, reliability gets worse. Dr. Augustine Fou’s latest Forbes article points out that these models are poor because they are all derived from data obtained from behind-the-scene data without users’ awareness or approval. Moreover, there are plenty of these bot data sets.
Big Data
Also under the AKA of Alternative Dates, the investment community in particular hedge funds, was keen to embrace big data. Alternative data is distinct from conventional Wall Street data such as business financial statements or SEC notices. Credit card, social networking, satellite imagery, web browse etc can be used to provide alternative data.
The most successful and first firm to employ Alternative Data is a hedge Fund named Renaissance Technologies founded by Jim Simons. The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched a Quant Revolution is a book that describes how for the past 30 years Renaissance has delivered a 39% return to investors.
Privacy laws such as GDPR and MFID II have affected alternative data sources and consumers of Hedge Fund have many of the same issues that advertisers currently face with their data collection. Hedge funds risk: Threats for:
Risks of data origin. Can the data be collected from the originator of the information according to the relevant conditions? Scraping data-related websites can violate e-commerce data terms. Risks in terms of accuracy/validity. It is difficult to verify the accuracy of the data set and can lead to more unverifiable conclusions about the data. Risks to privacy. Users must be careful how the data is produced. Can the privacy regulation be breached by individual web purchases or by user browsing behaviour?
Bloomberg recently reported that models and returns to Renaissance technologies for their three main funds by October 2020 decreased from –20% to –27%. Some experts suggest that “sources” depend on models that do not represent the present climate. Historical data trains the models. Poor data again, bad data. Bad data again.
What to do. In order for data sets to be used as an input, data scientists first must consider the reliable, true representative and privacy enforcement. Bad data can hardly be accurately analyzed. Also agree that not all data is the same. Human beings are more than just a single click, and consumer data sources need to expand the distance between digital and consumers’ realities beyond surveillance techniques.
Unplash
If data consistency and validity are a task, the results should improve. It follows. Data scientists can move beyond the 85 percent failure rate for large data projects by paying more attention to accuracy, consistency and validity of the data at the beginning of ML projects.
Note: I am not a data scientist, but a data contractor who built several hundred customer data sets, helping to allow predictive analytics over the last three years. These data contributions have contributed over $1 billion in sales to some of the biggest and most recognized brands worldwide. My aim is to focus on the use of accurate and real-world quality data inputs, particularly in human behaviours. When a Big Data Project begins.
Prosper worked together with AWS to make their data accessible through AWS DataExchange to see how a quality and reliable data set can be applied to target marketing models and time series prediction. A number of US indications, leading indicators, predictive analytics and advanced models of marketing compliant with privacy for the US and China are included in the data:
My advice to you is to be open-minded and think outside of the box while you are looking for a career in data science. It will give you a competitive edge in your career in data science.
Bio: Shaik Sameeruddin I help businesses drive growth using Analytics & Data Science | Public speaker | Uplifting students in the field of tech and personal growth | Pursuing b-tech 3rd year in Computer Science and Engineering(Specialisation in Data Analytics) from “VELLORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY(V.I.T)”
Career Guide and roadmap for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence &and National & International Internship’s, please refer :
More articles for your data science journey: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/how-bad-data-is-weakening-the-study-of-big-data-9e4f23ab88d1 | ['Shaik Sameeruddin'] | 2020-12-28 16:39:00.380000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Big Data', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence'] | Title bad data weakening study big dataContent Gify 2013 New York Times post 2012 Big Data breakout year big data promise appealing digital web data large conventional data processing collected new software innovation applied mining infinite problem could solved Big data record progress since 2012 Since 2017 Gartner Research reported failure rate nearly 85 large data project Another 2018 Gartner study found 91 percent transformational market intelligence level 196 firm interviewed big data analysis Big Data major problem facing many Big Data unstructured often incomplete poor quality difficult find evidence demonstrates meant proliferation choice Success deriving fresh clean privacyfriendliness accuracy direct customer response source specific quality data many grappling Big Data Revolution ancient assertion ignored GIGO waste waste seemed quality important quantity new technological resource collecting processing analyzing ever rising volume digital data Today volume data high last 2 year estimated 90 worldwide data produced Data science machine learning discipline worldwide business analysis driven exponential data development Although mathematics basis aspect discipline corresponds data science statistic probability applicable science particular Big Data Applications “hardscience” find digital data highest value Don’t become Data Scientist Prerequisite Data Science It’s Think Is💯🔥🔥 example number popular Big Data AI application prefer application relying device data predict process governed specified standard Selfcorrecting face recognition chat bot optical character recognition medical diagnosis assistance robotic application email spam filtering application analyzes object image inanimately possibly use anonymous survey method direct questioning people would allow people better understand interpret human behavior data representative becomes factual likely invalid context observedmonitor click come “straight mouth horse” Real Talk Data Scientist completed one painful year history year Covid 19 consumer’s reaction disrupted market also numerous predictive model created analyzing predicting history data However performance fallen behind respect big data IA human action behavior ambition many guided unconscious pulse cannot calculated random digital click majority business often strive find broad data value mining analysing consumer customer data transaction starter transaction detail cannot identify consumer purchased whether gift someone Customer data file contain incorrect detail individual travel die married separated changed email address replaced incomplete duplicate mispelled data file sector marketingadvertising investmenthedge fund two example big data analogous realworld customer behaviour Data Science Project’s Digital ad spending currently constitutes largest advertising sector United States marketersadvertisers Despite haste marketer concentrate digitally advertisers’ highly profile lawsuit covered precision effectiveness automated targeting model Also numerous research study established shortcoming ad targeting model Big Data 2018 research paper Marketing Science Frontiers detailed online browsing targeting model created sold Data Brokers DMP’s inaccurate also unprecise additional parameter applied reliability get worse Dr Augustine Fou’s latest Forbes article point model poor derived data obtained behindthescene data without users’ awareness approval Moreover plenty bot data set Big Data Also AKA Alternative Dates investment community particular hedge fund keen embrace big data Alternative data distinct conventional Wall Street data business financial statement SEC notice Credit card social networking satellite imagery web browse etc used provide alternative data successful first firm employ Alternative Data hedge Fund named Renaissance Technologies founded Jim Simons Man Solved Market Jim Simons Launched Quant Revolution book describes past 30 year Renaissance delivered 39 return investor Privacy law GDPR MFID II affected alternative data source consumer Hedge Fund many issue advertiser currently face data collection Hedge fund risk Threats Risks data origin data collected originator information according relevant condition Scraping datarelated website violate ecommerce data term Risks term accuracyvalidity difficult verify accuracy data set lead unverifiable conclusion data Risks privacy Users must careful data produced privacy regulation breached individual web purchase user browsing behaviour Bloomberg recently reported model return Renaissance technology three main fund October 2020 decreased –20 –27 expert suggest “sources” depend model represent present climate Historical data train model Poor data bad data Bad data order data set used input data scientist first must consider reliable true representative privacy enforcement Bad data hardly accurately analyzed Also agree data Human being single click consumer data source need expand distance digital consumers’ reality beyond surveillance technique Unplash data consistency validity task result improve follows Data scientist move beyond 85 percent failure rate large data project paying attention accuracy consistency validity data beginning ML project Note data scientist data contractor built several hundred customer data set helping allow predictive analytics last three year data contribution contributed 1 billion sale biggest recognized brand worldwide aim focus use accurate realworld quality data input particularly human behaviour Big Data Project begin Prosper worked together AWS make data accessible AWS DataExchange see quality reliable data set applied target marketing model time series prediction number US indication leading indicator predictive analytics advanced model marketing compliant privacy US China included data advice openminded think outside box looking career data science give competitive edge career data science Bio Shaik Sameeruddin help business drive growth using Analytics Data Science Public speaker Uplifting student field tech personal growth Pursuing btech 3rd year Computer Science EngineeringSpecialisation Data Analytics “VELLORE INSTITUTE TECHNOLOGYVIT” Career Guide roadmap Data Science Artificial Intelligence National International Internship’s please refer article data science journeyTags Technology Big Data Data Science Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence |
3,136 | 6 Ways School Is Stopping Your Creativity | School Hates Failures, Life is About Failures:
You know the story of Walt Disney . Before he started the Disney business, he was fired by a newspaper editor because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”(source-Biography.com)
Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school for three times because of his poor grades and dyslexia disorder (source ft.com). Henry Ford want bankrupt for 5 times before establishing ford as a successful company. So, if you want to succeed you have to fail. But school bullies and demotivates failure. So you have to fight until you get succeed.
School Bribes You to Study, Life Gives You Nothing:
School tells you to get a good grade then go to a good university and take a job and work until 60. Most of the people never listen to there heart the just go with the flow. Remember, Only dead fish go with the flow.
Bill Gates dropped out of university to make a software company. He could have follow the dots that is followed by thousands. But most people always choose the wrong path. So always believe that wrong path can often lead you to success.
Always follow your heart
School is Not About Competition, Life is About Cooperation:
At school, you are forced to make good marks then others. But there is a saying goes that “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together”
You must need to know how to grow together as a community. To succeed in life you must need to know how to built teams how be a team player and how to make friends.(source-skillsyouneed.com)
School Teaches You Then Takes Test, Life Tests You Then Teaches:
In school, teachers first teaches and then takes tests. But in real world when you face tough time that when you start understanding the thinks. You go through hell before finally getting to heaven and this is the best way to learn.
So, you will learn how to deal with pressure and pain. On the other hand, school is quite a nice and sound place you won’t feel the real world before getting out of high school.(source-Pinterest Quote)
School Doesn’t Support Creativity, Life Is All About Creatives:
At school you are always told to follow the custom path made by society. On a survey it was found out that kids in junior grade are more creative then the seniors.
Creative Mind vs Dead Mind
Because school have always teaches the same book to everybody. But not all of them has the same capability. So, if you try something new or think out of the box people will laugh at you. Because they have always followed the same path that is followed by thousands.
School Preaches Obedience; life Is All About Disobedience:
There are rules like: put on school dress everyday, don’t talk in class, systematic setting arrangements etc which makes you obedient(source-mangoosh.com). You might have heard the story of a donkey, who have a carrot dangling in-front of it and the donkey follows the carrot . Same thing is happening at school you can never follow your heart if you are not disobedient to school system.
Success have no easy path- Unsplash
Success only goes to those who walks against the crowed. You must follow the tough path to get to success and there is now shortcut way of success. So if you are dreaming creating something changing something then just be the change. If you want to achieve something you have to choose the hard way. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/6-ways-school-is-destroying-you-d38d767caf89 | [] | 2020-11-21 02:56:45.354000+00:00 | ['Thinking', 'Motivation', 'Success', 'Education', 'Productivity'] | Title 6 Ways School Stopping CreativityContent School Hates Failures Life Failures know story Walt Disney started Disney business fired newspaper editor “lacked imagination good ideas”sourceBiographycom Steven Spielberg rejected film school three time poor grade dyslexia disorder source ftcom Henry Ford want bankrupt 5 time establishing ford successful company want succeed fail school bully demotivates failure fight get succeed School Bribes Study Life Gives Nothing School tell get good grade go good university take job work 60 people never listen heart go flow Remember dead fish go flow Bill Gates dropped university make software company could follow dot followed thousand people always choose wrong path always believe wrong path often lead success Always follow heart School Competition Life Cooperation school forced make good mark others saying go “If want go fast go alone want go far go together” must need know grow together community succeed life must need know built team team player make friendssourceskillsyouneedcom School Teaches Takes Test Life Tests Teaches school teacher first teach take test real world face tough time start understanding think go hell finally getting heaven best way learn learn deal pressure pain hand school quite nice sound place won’t feel real world getting high schoolsourcePinterest Quote School Doesn’t Support Creativity Life Creatives school always told follow custom path made society survey found kid junior grade creative senior Creative Mind v Dead Mind school always teach book everybody capability try something new think box people laugh always followed path followed thousand School Preaches Obedience life Disobedience rule like put school dress everyday don’t talk class systematic setting arrangement etc make obedientsourcemangooshcom might heard story donkey carrot dangling infront donkey follows carrot thing happening school never follow heart disobedient school system Success easy path Unsplash Success go walk crowed must follow tough path get success shortcut way success dreaming creating something changing something change want achieve something choose hard wayTags Thinking Motivation Success Education Productivity |
3,137 | Review: ‘Architects After Architecture: Alternative Pathways for Practice’ | Drawing from an alternative reading of architectural history, a tangled dotted line from Charlotte Perriand to Google via Frank Duffy and Forensic Architecture, this brilliantly engaging book may actually be one of the first to describe and discuss what might be architecture’s true value at this pivotal point in our own history: seeing that everything is connected, and artfully hosting that complexity, before constructively plotting routes towards clarity, pinned up on broad civic, ethical foundations.
So Architects after Architecture, as the title suggests, is not about buildings. Or at least not always, not directly. Buildings are simply one of the ways that this complex yet constructive sensibility might exert itself, but they are certainly not the only way, nor are they always the most potent – as muf’s Liza Fior makes clear here, when she says “the answer to a brief is not necessarily a building.”
Of course, buildings are usually part of the answer—they are hard to avoid, after all, despite claims to the contrary, and for good pragmatic reasons. Yet more important than those practicalities, architecture is cultural production, and so buildings and spaces are tangible articulations of cultures. This means that they can be truly potent indeed.
Buildings make concrete what we stand for, what we believe in, whether we mean to or not, for good or ill. The process of construction, or intentional shaping of space and environment, forces us to understand, discuss and decide what we might share in our collective identities. It is a brutally honest practice. There are few more revealing, if we recognise that the sheer difficulty of building—its intransigence, permanence and incompleteness—speaks volumes about us. Understanding architecture as an actor in the shared production of space lends it a particular power, synthesising numerous otherwise slippery aspects of everyday life. It speaks in systems, and performs unique balancing acts: of permanence and evanescence, decisiveness and incompleteness, of intimacy and commonality, of technology and culture, artificial and natural, public and private, infinite space and finite mutual exclusivity.
So as the editors of this new book suggest, buildings, and the practices of architecture that produce them, are at their most meaningful if we understand them as embodying “the messy space between politics, economics, culture, and spatial thinking”. Via a richly diverse and extensive set of interviews, this book conjures imaginary maps of those messy spaces.
Architects After Architecture starts with a powerfully generative quote by Charlotte Perriand:
“If I abandon the ‘profession of architecture’ in order to focus on problems more directly connected with life, it is to be able to see more clearly into these problems.”
Perriand’s apparently easy fluidity and facility across various media and formats is echoed by many here, including Jane Hall of Assemble, whose practice looks to create “a strong infrastructure within which different things can happen”, based around that similar sense of ‘multidisciplinarity’.
Architecture’s higher-order abilities for ‘making different things happen’ is now finding a home well outside of buildings. Google’s Matt Jones describes architects as “the translators”, moving between and across boundaries, specialisms, and perspectives, revelling in the space where “different forms of knowledge collide … a brilliant nest to bring the shiny things from other fields back to.”
In this sense, architecture’s sheer breadth could be unparalleled, from framing questions at ‘stage minus one’ though to managing the process of transforming ideas into things and places and models for living with. This hugely rewarding and engaging pattern book outlines the range of perspectives, formats, and approaches that are latent within an inquisitive and engaged reading of what architecture can be.
So when Miriam Bellard, art director at Rockstar Games says here, “I don’t think conventional architecture could offer me anything close to this level of innovation and creativity”, this book shows how this is a positive statement, by placing it amidst other voices describing possible futures for architecture, all running across numerous formats yet sharing this sense that a deliberately unconventional architecture is more open, diverse, and meaningful. It may indeed be that Bellard’s architecture for video games — a truly digital architecture—is indeed one of the brightest, most intriguing of these futures for the discipline, but this collection’s value is in showing it is by far from the only one. Those futures will not be uncovered by preserving the limiting aspects of architecture’s past in buildings, although key foundational principles persist, but in addressing the discipline’s blind spots: the futures of culture and nature, as played out in value and values, politics and polities, and the interplay of biodiversities and technologies.
As the premise of this book makes clear, covering work by architects inside and outside of traditional architecture, the discipline’s unique capability may be in working directly with ideas themselves as forms of cultural imagination irrespective of their materialisation, before guiding the transformation of those ideas into environments. This last part—the stewardship involved in actually making something—is key to not only being accountable for the results, but also in terms of better understanding how to frame the question next time. Making is perhaps the most powerful form of learning, and architecture’s motive force is productively oriented in that direction, most of the time at least.
So far so good. Yet Architects after Architecture is also a necessary kick up the arse. All too often, instead of grasping and embodying the potential outlined in depth in the book, architecture has either unthinkingly followed or cravenly served the power dynamics of the last few decades, backing itself into a cul-de-sac, often unable to make truly positive impact, largely undervalued, and increasingly subservient. So this book is a salvo across the bows of the architecture’s traditionalists and preservationists, not least those professional bodies and academies complicit in the discipline ending up in this position, often attempting to preserve in aspic those aspects of architectural practice which reinforce various abusive relationships, most of all with the property development and construction industries or private finance sector.
Every shot here hits home. Justine Clark, Liza Fior, and Andres Jacque lend vivid descriptions of an unconscionable systemic lack of representation, inclusion and deeper participation in practice. See also the self-serving virtue-signalling airport-building architects skewered in Jeremy Till’s powerful piece, which ends with the clear-sighted hope he sees in his students, as his school works to “distribute the pockets of hope of the next generation.”
Such a redistribution is hopeful indeed. The next decades, as global population growth tails off, undercutting the need for new building and many of those prognoses about new cities, may see the dust settles instead on an age of the Slowdown, rather than the Great Acceleration that has influenced so much recent discourse. In that context, and perhaps not before time, architecture may be largely concerned with un-building, re-building and not-building.
As many of the case studies and essays here thrillingly make clear, architecture may have even more to offer in this mode, after all. In their excellent introduction, the editors write:
“Through the accumulation of these stories, we hope to illustrate a version of architecture where the limits are no longer fixed, but able to be designed and redesigned, making the most out of the unique form of intelligence that architecture can offer … It is our hope that these stories of architects as collaborators, as integrators, as enablers and listeners can stand as a powerful alternative to the stubbornly resilient image of the architect as a singular hero. It is by charting these many alternate path- ways that we can begin to reset this perception, and discover the unrealised potential of architects after architecture.”
This book is a powerful wake-up call, providing multiple signposts and pathways forward into numerous richly-populated spaces of possibility and purpose. Full of ideas, stories, histories, and futures, Architects After Architecture is intensely motivating, for anyone working in and around architecture, as well as for those simply interested in practices that can collide and shape diverse ideas, perspectives, and places.
There’s a lovely line in Liza Fior’s interview here, when she says:
“If you get into the room, wedge the door open for others.”
This book suggests a doorstop—almost literally, given its breadth and depth—for precisely this act, wedging open a door to an entirely different vista for architecture. | https://medium.com/dark-matter-and-trojan-horses/review-architects-after-architecture-9d7c57285b24 | ['Dan Hill'] | 2020-12-28 12:04:49.991000+00:00 | ['Architecture', 'Books', 'Design', 'Review'] | Title Review ‘Architects Architecture Alternative Pathways Practice’Content Drawing alternative reading architectural history tangled dotted line Charlotte Perriand Google via Frank Duffy Forensic Architecture brilliantly engaging book may actually one first describe discus might architecture’s true value pivotal point history seeing everything connected artfully hosting complexity constructively plotting route towards clarity pinned broad civic ethical foundation Architects Architecture title suggests building least always directly Buildings simply one way complex yet constructive sensibility might exert certainly way always potent – muf’s Liza Fior make clear say “the answer brief necessarily building” course building usually part answer—they hard avoid despite claim contrary good pragmatic reason Yet important practicality architecture cultural production building space tangible articulation culture mean truly potent indeed Buildings make concrete stand believe whether mean good ill process construction intentional shaping space environment force u understand discus decide might share collective identity brutally honest practice revealing recognise sheer difficulty building—its intransigence permanence incompleteness—speaks volume u Understanding architecture actor shared production space lends particular power synthesising numerous otherwise slippery aspect everyday life speaks system performs unique balancing act permanence evanescence decisiveness incompleteness intimacy commonality technology culture artificial natural public private infinite space finite mutual exclusivity editor new book suggest building practice architecture produce meaningful understand embodying “the messy space politics economics culture spatial thinking” Via richly diverse extensive set interview book conjures imaginary map messy space Architects Architecture start powerfully generative quote Charlotte Perriand “If abandon ‘profession architecture’ order focus problem directly connected life able see clearly problems” Perriand’s apparently easy fluidity facility across various medium format echoed many including Jane Hall Assemble whose practice look create “a strong infrastructure within different thing happen” based around similar sense ‘multidisciplinarity’ Architecture’s higherorder ability ‘making different thing happen’ finding home well outside building Google’s Matt Jones describes architect “the translators” moving across boundary specialism perspective revelling space “different form knowledge collide … brilliant nest bring shiny thing field back to” sense architecture’s sheer breadth could unparalleled framing question ‘stage minus one’ though managing process transforming idea thing place model living hugely rewarding engaging pattern book outline range perspective format approach latent within inquisitive engaged reading architecture Miriam Bellard art director Rockstar Games say “I don’t think conventional architecture could offer anything close level innovation creativity” book show positive statement placing amidst voice describing possible future architecture running across numerous format yet sharing sense deliberately unconventional architecture open diverse meaningful may indeed Bellard’s architecture video game — truly digital architecture—is indeed one brightest intriguing future discipline collection’s value showing far one future uncovered preserving limiting aspect architecture’s past building although key foundational principle persist addressing discipline’s blind spot future culture nature played value value politics polity interplay biodiversity technology premise book make clear covering work architect inside outside traditional architecture discipline’s unique capability may working directly idea form cultural imagination irrespective materialisation guiding transformation idea environment last part—the stewardship involved actually making something—is key accountable result also term better understanding frame question next time Making perhaps powerful form learning architecture’s motive force productively oriented direction time least far good Yet Architects Architecture also necessary kick arse often instead grasping embodying potential outlined depth book architecture either unthinkingly followed cravenly served power dynamic last decade backing culdesac often unable make truly positive impact largely undervalued increasingly subservient book salvo across bow architecture’s traditionalist preservationist least professional body academy complicit discipline ending position often attempting preserve aspic aspect architectural practice reinforce various abusive relationship property development construction industry private finance sector Every shot hit home Justine Clark Liza Fior Andres Jacque lend vivid description unconscionable systemic lack representation inclusion deeper participation practice See also selfserving virtuesignalling airportbuilding architect skewered Jeremy Till’s powerful piece end clearsighted hope see student school work “distribute pocket hope next generation” redistribution hopeful indeed next decade global population growth tail undercutting need new building many prognosis new city may see dust settle instead age Slowdown rather Great Acceleration influenced much recent discourse context perhaps time architecture may largely concerned unbuilding rebuilding notbuilding many case study essay thrillingly make clear architecture may even offer mode excellent introduction editor write “Through accumulation story hope illustrate version architecture limit longer fixed able designed redesigned making unique form intelligence architecture offer … hope story architect collaborator integrator enablers listener stand powerful alternative stubbornly resilient image architect singular hero charting many alternate path way begin reset perception discover unrealised potential architect architecture” book powerful wakeup call providing multiple signpost pathway forward numerous richlypopulated space possibility purpose Full idea story history future Architects Architecture intensely motivating anyone working around architecture well simply interested practice collide shape diverse idea perspective place There’s lovely line Liza Fior’s interview say “If get room wedge door open others” book suggests doorstop—almost literally given breadth depth—for precisely act wedging open door entirely different vista architectureTags Architecture Books Design Review |
3,138 | Python for Daily Life Productivity | 1. Python for automating emails
Sending e-mails is a major part of any person’s daily activity. You read them, you write them, you spend way too much time on them.
So, Python to the rescue! Let’s take a look at how to send e-mails with Python so that you can automate at least some part of your daily e-mail tasks:
Steps
Set up an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server and login to your account:
import smtplib
from string import Template
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText MY_ADDRESS = "[email protected]"
PWD = "My_SUpEr_SeCReT_PAsSWoRD!@#$" s = smtplib.SMTP(host='your host', port="your port number")
s.starttls()
s.login(MY_ADDRESS, PWD)
For the host and port number, you have to check which applies to your e-mail type. Here is a good source to solve that.
2. Define the parameters of your message
msg = MIMEMultipart()
email = " name = "Lucas"email = " y [email protected]" msg['From']=MY_ADDRESS
msg['To']=email
msg['Subject']="Python rules!!!"
3. Insert the message on your e-mail
msg.attach(MIMEText(message, 'plain'))
4. Send the message using the server that you set up and terminate the SMTP session
s.send_message(msg)
del msg
That’s it! You just sent an e-mail with Python! Ideas for how to take this to another level can be found here on two of my favorite sources on this subject:
2. Python for checking the news
Ok, so far we have learned how to send e-mails with Python. How about informing ourselves about what is going on with the world?
First, we must define exactly what this means. In this context it would be: Knowing the main topics in the news on a given day.
The benefit of using Python is that we can get information summarized in one place so that we don’t have to go around opening dozens of websites and pages to know what is going on. To do this, I will use a very interesting library I heard about here on medium on this nice post by Farhad Malik:
Steps
1. Instantiate the GoogleNews() class
from pygooglenews import GoogleNews gn = GoogleNews()
2. Get the top news of the day
top_news = gn.top_news()["entries"] print("TOP NEWS")
for news in top_news:
print(news["title"])
Output:
TOP NEWS Steve Bannon, three others charged with fraud in border wall fundraising campaign - CNN
Trump Pennsylvania speech to attack Biden on trade, energy, immigration - Fox News
Trump Must Turn Over Tax Returns to D.A., Judge Rules - The New York Times
California wildfires more than double in size, force, and degrade air quality; tens of thousands to evacuate - The Washington Post
Alexei Navalny, Voice Of Russia's Opposition, Is Hospitalized In Possible Poisoning - NPR
New York Will Allow Voters to Cast Mail-In Ballots - The New York Times
Flint Settlement Would Provide $600 Million To Resolve Claims - NPR
Fauci out of surgery for vocal cord polyp - CNN
3 States Will Start Paying $400 Extra In Weekly Unemployment Benefits, Not $300 - Forbes
...
3. Get the top news per topic of interest
tech_news = gn.topic_headlines("technology")["entries"] print("TOP NEWS IN TECH")
for news in tech_news:
print(news["title"])
Output:
TOP NEWS IN TECH
Exclusive: Is this the first sign of a budget Samsung foldable phone? - SamMobile
Xbox Series X - Official Next Gen UI Features Trailer - IGN
Demon's Souls On PS5 Could Be Launching Soon, Suggests South Korean Rating - GameSpot
YouTube Music is rolling out lyrics on the web client - Android Police
PS5 developers explain how the DualSense controller changes gameplay - Engadget
Razer’s Pro Click wireless mouse puts ergonomics ahead of gaming features - The Verge
Apple appears to post Sept. 10 stream details for 5G iPhone event on YouTube - CNET
Report: Apple quietly acquired Israel’s Camerai, formerly Tipit, a specialist in AR and camera tech - TechCrunch
Why are People Selling 'Fortnite' iPhones for Thousands of Dollars? - Lifehacker
Zombie BlackBerrys! QWERTY BlackBerry Android phones are coming back - Ars Technica
12 Microsoft Flight Simulator tips and tricks guide - Polygon
Gmail down for hours as Google services suffered major outage - New York Post
Google Maps is tracking the spread of America's wildfires hour by hour - Engadget
5 Fortnite alternative mobile games you can try - The Indian Express
Zoom Wants to Be Everywhere - Motley Fool
First Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War promo art released ahead of reveal event - GamesRadar+
Here’s your best look yet at ZTE’s first smartphone with an under-display camera - The Verge
Wireless Android Auto works on all Android 11 devices with 5GHz Wi-Fi - XDA Developers
Speed Test G: Pixel 4a vs Pixel 3a (The Snapdragon 730G advantage) - Android Authority
Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing may rocket past 200 mph - CNET
....
4. Get the top news per geographic location
lisbon_news = gn.geo_headlines("Lisbon")["entries"] print("TOP NEWS IN LISBON")
for news in lisbon_news:
print(news["title"])
Output:
TOP NEWS IN LISBON Rick Steves’s rules for Lisbon: Stay up late and immerse yourself in the fado scene - Washington Post
Lisbon’s High-End Prices Have Jumped 98% in a Decade - Barron's
Struggling live-event workers protest in Lisbon to save pandemic-hit sector - Reuters
Heineken® 'Painted' Portugal Green to launch the UEFA Champions League action in Lisbon - PRNewswire
Lisbon Airbnb: Portugal Pushes Affordable Housing Plan - Bloomberg
'Racism kills': hundreds protest after Black actor shot dead in Lisbon - Reuters
Lisbon's startup ecosystem at a glance - EU-Startups
Portugal Keeps Lisbon Under Stricter COVID Curbs Until End-August - U.S. News & World Report
Qatar Airways resumes Lisbon route - STAT Times
Lisbon's back-alley fado legends – photo essay | Art and design - The Guardian
FC Barcelona players arrive in Lisbon ahead of Bayern match - Yahoo Sports
Lisbon's partial reconfinement extended until end of July - The Brussels Times
Lisbon might have solved its Airbnb problem - The Real Deal
Overrun risk underlined after third similar EasyJet take-off incident at Lisbon - Flightglobal
....
5. Get the news that mentions a specific search query (over the last 3 months)
search_news = gn.search('Data Science', when = '3m')["entries"] print("TOP NEWS ABOUT DATA SCIENCE")
for news in search_news:
print(news["title"])
Output:
TOP NEWS ABOUT DATA SCIENCE 3M Still Can't Make America Enough N95 Masks | Marker - Marker
Insider Selling: 3M Co (NYSE:MMM) SVP Sells 2228 Shares of Stock - MarketBeat
Polyvinylidene Difluoride Membrane Market Statistics and Research Analysis Released in Latest Industry Report 2020 | Coronavirus-
...
That’s it! Now you are all caught up on the main headlines and it only took a few lines of code! I highly recommend you check out the GitHub on this library from where I took the code for their quickstart tutorial:
3. Python for research
Academia is not an exception when it comes to Python automation. We can use the scholarly library that you can find here to search for papers and the author’s information.
Steps
1. Search for author’s information
from scholarly import scholarly author_data = scholarly.search_author(“Author's name”)
author_info = next(author_data).fill()
print(author_info)
2. Get the titles of the author’s publications
print([pub.bib[‘title’] for pub in author_info.publications])
3. Search papers by keyword
search_query = scholarly.search_keyword('KEYWORD')
print(next(search_query))
I recommend you check their documentation to have some fun with the capabilities of the library. Note the potential of using Python for optimizing your research by considering libraries that allow you to automate part of the search process.
Conclusion
There are countless tools Python offers to optimize so many aspects of our digital routines. Therefore, take these ideas as inspiration to automate whatever is relevant to you to help your workflow. | https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/python-for-daily-life-productivity-part-ii-6be1562e59b0 | ['Lucas Soares'] | 2020-08-24 13:06:58.640000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Python', 'Learning', 'Learning To Code', 'Productivity'] | Title Python Daily Life ProductivityContent 1 Python automating email Sending email major part person’s daily activity read write spend way much time Python rescue Let’s take look send email Python automate least part daily email task Steps Set SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol server login account import smtplib string import Template emailmimemultipart import MIMEMultipart emailmimetext import MIMEText MYADDRESS myemailminecom PWD MySUpErSeCReTPAsSWoRD smtplibSMTPhostyour host portyour port number sstarttls sloginMYADDRESS PWD host port number check applies email type good source solve 2 Define parameter message msg MIMEMultipart email name Lucasemail ouremailpythonrulescom msgFromMYADDRESS msgToemail msgSubjectPython rule 3 Insert message email msgattachMIMETextmessage plain 4 Send message using server set terminate SMTP session ssendmessagemsg del msg That’s sent email Python Ideas take another level found two favorite source subject 2 Python checking news Ok far learned send email Python informing going world First must define exactly mean context would Knowing main topic news given day benefit using Python get information summarized one place don’t go around opening dozen website page know going use interesting library heard medium nice post Farhad Malik Steps 1 Instantiate GoogleNews class pygooglenews import GoogleNews gn GoogleNews 2 Get top news day topnews gntopnewsentries printTOP NEWS news topnews printnewstitle Output TOP NEWS Steve Bannon three others charged fraud border wall fundraising campaign CNN Trump Pennsylvania speech attack Biden trade energy immigration Fox News Trump Must Turn Tax Returns DA Judge Rules New York Times California wildfire double size force degrade air quality ten thousand evacuate Washington Post Alexei Navalny Voice Russias Opposition Hospitalized Possible Poisoning NPR New York Allow Voters Cast MailIn Ballots New York Times Flint Settlement Would Provide 600 Million Resolve Claims NPR Fauci surgery vocal cord polyp CNN 3 States Start Paying 400 Extra Weekly Unemployment Benefits 300 Forbes 3 Get top news per topic interest technews gntopicheadlinestechnologyentries printTOP NEWS TECH news technews printnewstitle Output TOP NEWS TECH Exclusive first sign budget Samsung foldable phone SamMobile Xbox Series X Official Next Gen UI Features Trailer IGN Demons Souls PS5 Could Launching Soon Suggests South Korean Rating GameSpot YouTube Music rolling lyric web client Android Police PS5 developer explain DualSense controller change gameplay Engadget Razer’s Pro Click wireless mouse put ergonomics ahead gaming feature Verge Apple appears post Sept 10 stream detail 5G iPhone event YouTube CNET Report Apple quietly acquired Israel’s Camerai formerly Tipit specialist AR camera tech TechCrunch People Selling Fortnite iPhones Thousands Dollars Lifehacker Zombie BlackBerrys QWERTY BlackBerry Android phone coming back Ars Technica 12 Microsoft Flight Simulator tip trick guide Polygon Gmail hour Google service suffered major outage New York Post Google Maps tracking spread Americas wildfire hour hour Engadget 5 Fortnite alternative mobile game try Indian Express Zoom Wants Everywhere Motley Fool First Call Duty Black Ops Cold War promo art released ahead reveal event GamesRadar Here’s best look yet ZTE’s first smartphone underdisplay camera Verge Wireless Android Auto work Android 11 device 5GHz WiFi XDA Developers Speed Test G Pixel 4a v Pixel 3a Snapdragon 730G advantage Android Authority Cadillac CT5V Blackwing may rocket past 200 mph CNET 4 Get top news per geographic location lisbonnews gngeoheadlinesLisbonentries printTOP NEWS LISBON news lisbonnews printnewstitle Output TOP NEWS LISBON Rick Steves’s rule Lisbon Stay late immerse fado scene Washington Post Lisbon’s HighEnd Prices Jumped 98 Decade Barrons Struggling liveevent worker protest Lisbon save pandemichit sector Reuters Heineken® Painted Portugal Green launch UEFA Champions League action Lisbon PRNewswire Lisbon Airbnb Portugal Pushes Affordable Housing Plan Bloomberg Racism kill hundred protest Black actor shot dead Lisbon Reuters Lisbons startup ecosystem glance EUStartups Portugal Keeps Lisbon Stricter COVID Curbs EndAugust US News World Report Qatar Airways resume Lisbon route STAT Times Lisbons backalley fado legend – photo essay Art design Guardian FC Barcelona player arrive Lisbon ahead Bayern match Yahoo Sports Lisbons partial reconfinement extended end July Brussels Times Lisbon might solved Airbnb problem Real Deal Overrun risk underlined third similar EasyJet takeoff incident Lisbon Flightglobal 5 Get news mention specific search query last 3 month searchnews gnsearchData Science 3mentries printTOP NEWS DATA SCIENCE news searchnews printnewstitle Output TOP NEWS DATA SCIENCE 3M Still Cant Make America Enough N95 Masks Marker Marker Insider Selling 3M Co NYSEMMM SVP Sells 2228 Shares Stock MarketBeat Polyvinylidene Difluoride Membrane Market Statistics Research Analysis Released Latest Industry Report 2020 Coronavirus That’s caught main headline took line code highly recommend check GitHub library took code quickstart tutorial 3 Python research Academia exception come Python automation use scholarly library find search paper author’s information Steps 1 Search author’s information scholarly import scholarly authordata scholarlysearchauthor“Authors name” authorinfo nextauthordatafill printauthorinfo 2 Get title author’s publication printpubbib‘title’ pub authorinfopublications 3 Search paper keyword searchquery scholarlysearchkeywordKEYWORD printnextsearchquery recommend check documentation fun capability library Note potential using Python optimizing research considering library allow automate part search process Conclusion countless tool Python offer optimize many aspect digital routine Therefore take idea inspiration automate whatever relevant help workflowTags Programming Python Learning Learning Code Productivity |
3,139 | Ask yourself: What is Medium’s plan for you | The journey, analysis, and findings
As I mentioned before, in my early days on Medium, I was writing on multiple topics with a focus on Arabic culture, money, and finance. My stories were never curated.
In mid-July 2020, I submitted a story to a relatively small publication on Medium. My story was accepted, published, and immediately curated. The curation happened 1–2 minutes after the story was published, which made me believe that this small publication's editors could curate stories independently.
After my first curation, I submitted further stories to this small publication. All of my submissions to this publication got curated immediately, and after three posts, I got my first top writer status. I asked the editors of the publication if they can curate on their own. They confirmed my previous suspicions — Some publications, big or small, can curate stories independently.
My fourth submission to this publication got rejected. I went on and self-published the story anyway, and it got curated after hours from publishing.
I started thinking to myself — Does the top writer status affect my curation rate? I went on and tested this hypothesis, and the results surprised me. My self-published posts in this niche were always curated, which made me think that Medium now considers me a reliable source in this niche. Its algorithm will curate me as long as my posts are in-line with Medium’s curation guidelines.
I continued writing on multiple topics, and I got curated in relationship, parenting, energy, future, tech, finance, money, among others. However, not all of my stories on these topics are curated; actually, most are not curated.
I went to my 100% curation niche and took a look at my tags. Among the tags were social media and technology. I thought to myself: Let’s focus on these two topics for now and see what will happen.
After nine posts on technology or social media, I can confirm that my curation rate is 89%. Only one story in these topics was not curated. I wrote one sentence in Arabic in this uncurated story. I believe that the curation algorithm rejected the story because, in Medium’s curation guidelines, only stories in English can be curated. And yes, now I have earned top writer status in both of these topics.
So far, the Medium Gods trust me in three topics; gaming, technology, and social media. Since I had two curated stories with money and technology in the tags, I thought to myself; maybe it's time to start recycling my older posts on money and finance. And surprise surprise, the re-written stories are getting curated now.
Actually, when I publish a story directly to my own publication about money, it doesn’t get curated. Still, if I self-published a story, it gets curated — Maybe Medium does not think my publication is a reliable source yet. For now, I self-publish my stories on finance and once curated, I add them to my publication — I believe doing this will increase the algorithm’s trust in my publication.
Disclaimer: I completely rewrite my recycled posts about finance and money. The quality of my writings is better than how it was three months ago. This might be the reason for the increased curation rate. However, The curation happens within 1–3 hours (Previous curations in finance or money happened after a day or two), making me believe that I’m currently graded as a more reliable writer.
From the previous analytics, Now it's time to give you, in a clear manner, the 5 takeaways from my analytics and findings. | https://medium.com/the-money-plot/ask-yourself-what-is-mediums-plan-for-you-2fbfc0e1d8d7 | ['Walid Ao'] | 2020-11-18 06:18:07.453000+00:00 | ['Analytics', 'Writing', 'Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'Social Media'] | Title Ask Medium’s plan youContent journey analysis finding mentioned early day Medium writing multiple topic focus Arabic culture money finance story never curated midJuly 2020 submitted story relatively small publication Medium story accepted published immediately curated curation happened 1–2 minute story published made believe small publication editor could curate story independently first curation submitted story small publication submission publication got curated immediately three post got first top writer status asked editor publication curate confirmed previous suspicion — publication big small curate story independently fourth submission publication got rejected went selfpublished story anyway got curated hour publishing started thinking — top writer status affect curation rate went tested hypothesis result surprised selfpublished post niche always curated made think Medium considers reliable source niche algorithm curate long post inline Medium’s curation guideline continued writing multiple topic got curated relationship parenting energy future tech finance money among others However story topic curated actually curated went 100 curation niche took look tag Among tag social medium technology thought Let’s focus two topic see happen nine post technology social medium confirm curation rate 89 one story topic curated wrote one sentence Arabic uncurated story believe curation algorithm rejected story Medium’s curation guideline story English curated yes earned top writer status topic far Medium Gods trust three topic gaming technology social medium Since two curated story money technology tag thought maybe time start recycling older post money finance surprise surprise rewritten story getting curated Actually publish story directly publication money doesn’t get curated Still selfpublished story get curated — Maybe Medium think publication reliable source yet selfpublish story finance curated add publication — believe increase algorithm’s trust publication Disclaimer completely rewrite recycled post finance money quality writing better three month ago might reason increased curation rate However curation happens within 1–3 hour Previous curations finance money happened day two making believe I’m currently graded reliable writer previous analytics time give clear manner 5 takeaway analytics findingsTags Analytics Writing Marketing Digital Marketing Social Media |
3,140 | Do Facial Expressions Accurately Represent Feelings? | Paul Ekman’s Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA) Stimulus
Facial recognition technology is about to get an upgrade that could change the way we measure the impact of advertising. And of course it’s coming from Facebook.
In May, the US patent office approved two new Facebook patents for technologies that analyze the facial expressions of it’s users so that it can have a better understanding of their emotional response to content. Facebook will then use that data to serve up more relevant content.
News coverage of the patents focused on the changes that could come to the user experience on Facebook, like the the ability to like and dislike content with an expression, but there’s another application of this technology that could have significant implications on the advertising industry: the use of facial expressions to measure the creative impact of advertising.
Hypothetically, Facebook could use the facial data it’s already collecting to tell it’s advertisers how people are reacting to ads. Facebook hasn’t claimed any plans to use the technology this way but it would make sense if they did, given their growing investment in measurement and transparency.
And there’s precedent for the use of facial expressions in ad testing; Affectiva and Imotions are two relatively new companies that record and analyze facial expressions as people watch ads to measure emotional response, and consequently an ad’s creative impact. Ali Goldsmith wrote a great piece on this technology last June.
Why are research companies so hot on facial recognition right now?
The first reason that facial recognition is on the rise is that advertisers are starting to realize that emotion is a better predictor of advertising’s business impact than classic metrics like ad recall and awareness. The 2013 IPA paper “The Long and Short of It” famously showed that emotional campaigns perform better than rational campaigns. This is a massive subject that we’ve covered before, and it’s worth diving into the topic if it’s new to you.
The second reason is that advertisers are starting to doubt the accuracy of self-reported metrics, like the ones you find on most market research surveys, and they’re looking for more passive ways to measure consumer response to advertising. The concern with self-reported surveys is two fold:
People aren’t always consciously aware of advertising’s impact and therefore have a hard time recording it in a survey. Research has shown that people tend to remember rational messages more than emotional messages because emotional messages are processed at an almost subconscious level. Robert Heath’s book Seducing the Subconscious, provides a great explanation of the theory behind this behavior. People tend to give answers that researchers want to hear even if they’re not true. In a 2014 study of church attendance, the Public Religion Research Institute found that people who were surveyed in-person tended to exaggerate how often they go to church more than people who were surveyed online because people are generally more compelled to give socially-acceptable answers, even false ones, when talking to real people.
Can the expression on your face actually predict the success of an ad?
The evidence is far from definitive but a new book by Lisa Feldman Barrett, an author and psychology professor at Northeastern University, is casting doubt on the reliability of facial expression data. “How Emotions Are Made” puts forward a controversial new theory that emotions aren’t basic universal things we’re born with, rather they are mental constructs made from a more basic set of sensations (arousal, calmness, unpleasantness and pleasantness) and our cultural understanding of the world around us.
This theory, called the “Theory of Constructed Emotion,” contradicts the classic model of emotion that was outlined by Psychologist Paul Ekman forty years ago. His theory claims that all of us are born with six basic emotions that are hard wired into our brains (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise).
To come to this conclusion, Ekman conducted a study where he showed pictures of different facial expressions to cultures around the world to find out if they were universal signifiers of basic emotions. He found that they were, and built something called the Facial Action Coding System to categorize human expressions according to emotion. He’s been seen as a leader in the science of emotion ever since, and was even used as a consultant on the Disney movie about emotions, “Inside Out.”
But Barrett’s book highlights a methodological flaw in Ekman’s study: he wasn’t just showing pictures of faces, he was describing western emotions to participants prior to showing the facial stimulus, and then providing context around what happened to cause the facial expression they were seeing.
Barrett reproduced the study, without the flaw, with a remote tribe in Namibia, Africa, called the Himba, who have had almost no exposure to western culture. She found that participants described behaviors when they were shown the facial stimulus, not emotions. Even when they were asked to categorize photos by emotion.
“Smiling faces were not ‘happy’ (ohange) but ‘laughing’ (ondjora). Wide eyed faces were not ‘fearful’ (okutira) but ‘looking’ (tarera).”
Barrett goes on to explain that the brain uses more than just a facial expression to understand how others are feeling. We use context — what happened before and what’s going on around the face — and past experiences to create a mental categorization of the emotions people are feeling. Without context and a cultural knowledge of what that context could lead to, we can’t accurately tell what emotions people are experiencing by the expression on their face.
“In every waking moment, your brain uses past experience, organized as concepts, to guide your actions and give your sensations meaning. When the concepts involved are emotion concepts, your brain constructs instances of emotion.”
The two pictures below illustrate this dynamic well. If you only look at the picture on the left, you might think that the woman it shows is angry or terrified. But when you look at the same face with more context, you realize it’s an elated Serena Williams, who just beat her sister in the 2008 US Open. And you use your cultural knowledge of sports to understand this, even if you don’t realize it.
Serena Williams Celebrating Her 2008 US Open Win
Barrett’s research is still very fresh, so companies like Affectiva aren’t going to go out of business tomorrow. But her argument is compelling. And it could create a problem for Facebook if they look to commercialize the technology as a stand-alone solution.
Facial scanning technology is usually used in tandem with other measurement tools like self-reported surveys, because it’s still new and unproven; market research giant Millward Brown has a partnership with Affectiva where they bundle facial scanning technology with an array of standard surveys. I expect Barrett’s book to reinforce that doubt and help keep facial scanning in it’s place: as a supplement to more established methodologies. | https://medium.com/comms-planning/do-facial-expressions-accurately-reflect-feelings-83185ccac0ce | ['Brian Brydon'] | 2017-08-14 13:56:03.577000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Advertising', 'Emotions', 'Measurement', 'Marketing'] | Title Facial Expressions Accurately Represent FeelingsContent Paul Ekman’s Pictures Facial Affect POFA Stimulus Facial recognition technology get upgrade could change way measure impact advertising course it’s coming Facebook May US patent office approved two new Facebook patent technology analyze facial expression it’s user better understanding emotional response content Facebook use data serve relevant content News coverage patent focused change could come user experience Facebook like ability like dislike content expression there’s another application technology could significant implication advertising industry use facial expression measure creative impact advertising Hypothetically Facebook could use facial data it’s already collecting tell it’s advertiser people reacting ad Facebook hasn’t claimed plan use technology way would make sense given growing investment measurement transparency there’s precedent use facial expression ad testing Affectiva Imotions two relatively new company record analyze facial expression people watch ad measure emotional response consequently ad’s creative impact Ali Goldsmith wrote great piece technology last June research company hot facial recognition right first reason facial recognition rise advertiser starting realize emotion better predictor advertising’s business impact classic metric like ad recall awareness 2013 IPA paper “The Long Short It” famously showed emotional campaign perform better rational campaign massive subject we’ve covered it’s worth diving topic it’s new second reason advertiser starting doubt accuracy selfreported metric like one find market research survey they’re looking passive way measure consumer response advertising concern selfreported survey two fold People aren’t always consciously aware advertising’s impact therefore hard time recording survey Research shown people tend remember rational message emotional message emotional message processed almost subconscious level Robert Heath’s book Seducing Subconscious provides great explanation theory behind behavior People tend give answer researcher want hear even they’re true 2014 study church attendance Public Religion Research Institute found people surveyed inperson tended exaggerate often go church people surveyed online people generally compelled give sociallyacceptable answer even false one talking real people expression face actually predict success ad evidence far definitive new book Lisa Feldman Barrett author psychology professor Northeastern University casting doubt reliability facial expression data “How Emotions Made” put forward controversial new theory emotion aren’t basic universal thing we’re born rather mental construct made basic set sensation arousal calmness unpleasantness pleasantness cultural understanding world around u theory called “Theory Constructed Emotion” contradicts classic model emotion outlined Psychologist Paul Ekman forty year ago theory claim u born six basic emotion hard wired brain anger disgust fear happiness sadness surprise come conclusion Ekman conducted study showed picture different facial expression culture around world find universal signifier basic emotion found built something called Facial Action Coding System categorize human expression according emotion He’s seen leader science emotion ever since even used consultant Disney movie emotion “Inside Out” Barrett’s book highlight methodological flaw Ekman’s study wasn’t showing picture face describing western emotion participant prior showing facial stimulus providing context around happened cause facial expression seeing Barrett reproduced study without flaw remote tribe Namibia Africa called Himba almost exposure western culture found participant described behavior shown facial stimulus emotion Even asked categorize photo emotion “Smiling face ‘happy’ ohange ‘laughing’ ondjora Wide eyed face ‘fearful’ okutira ‘looking’ tarera” Barrett go explain brain us facial expression understand others feeling use context — happened what’s going around face — past experience create mental categorization emotion people feeling Without context cultural knowledge context could lead can’t accurately tell emotion people experiencing expression face “In every waking moment brain us past experience organized concept guide action give sensation meaning concept involved emotion concept brain construct instance emotion” two picture illustrate dynamic well look picture left might think woman show angry terrified look face context realize it’s elated Serena Williams beat sister 2008 US Open use cultural knowledge sport understand even don’t realize Serena Williams Celebrating 2008 US Open Win Barrett’s research still fresh company like Affectiva aren’t going go business tomorrow argument compelling could create problem Facebook look commercialize technology standalone solution Facial scanning technology usually used tandem measurement tool like selfreported survey it’s still new unproven market research giant Millward Brown partnership Affectiva bundle facial scanning technology array standard survey expect Barrett’s book reinforce doubt help keep facial scanning it’s place supplement established methodologiesTags Psychology Advertising Emotions Measurement Marketing |
3,141 | Listening To The World | This feature story is a personal retrospect of the extraordinary career and life of Dr. Christopher W. Clark, one of the world’s leading marine acoustics experts. He is the Chief Marine Scientist at Planet OS with 30 years of experience in the field.
In 1992, the first time I tried to listen to a singing blue whale in very deep water all I heard was a giant hum. I was convinced that my recording equipment was broken. I checked all the cable connections, all the dial settings; everything was working. I knew some singers were out there because I could see their voiceprints on the Navy displays. And then it hit me — of course I couldn’t hear the whales because my ears and mind were not tuned to perceive the pitch or rhythms of their songs. The pitch was below my threshold of hearing, a single note lasted 20 seconds, and a single phrase lasted almost 2 minutes! But I knew how to solve this problem. I had to play back the recording at a much higher speed, and when I did — voila, I heard the whales singing!
And to my joyful surprise it was not just one singer, but an entire chorus, and as I listened longer it was not just one chorus, but the entire ocean!
I grew up on Bound Brook Island in the town of Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We were surrounded by pristine wilderness. Our home and those of my grandparents were always filled with music, poetry and literature books. I happened to have a very good ear and a cherubic voice, so when I was nine years old, my mother drove me to New York City to audition for the boy’s choir at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.
I passed my audition, was accepted with a scholarship, and between ages 9 and 13, I attended the cathedral’s choir school as a boy soprano. Alec Wyton, a brilliant musician and phenomenal teacher from Kings College, England, was our Master of Choristers. We had choir practice and sang in the cathedral twice a day six days a week.
At the cathedral choir school I was trained to think in sound. I learned how to read music; transcribing its oddly but methodically shaped symbols of time, pitch, and intensity into song. I learned how to contribute my voice into the complexities of a choral arrangement in which mine was but one of 40 soprano voices inside an arrangement that included 30 alto, tenor, and bass voices. And from that I learned how to invert the process; how to dissect complex musical scenes into component parts. I was taught and learned an entirely new “language” — the language of music, song and sound. All of this permeated not just the way I listened, but also the way I sensed the world and my existence. In a very abstract way, and similar to the way we each have a “mind’s eye”, I acquired a “mind’s ear”. It was an absolutely amazing experience that has served as a foundation throughout my life.
As I grew up and up it never occurred to me that others had not acquired the same skills or did not possess the same level of auditory sensitivity. I saw in sound. Maybe I was predisposed to this, I don’t know, but it’s a core part of who I am. Just as there are some who can do mathematical metaphorical somersaults, I do the same — only in the universe of sound. | https://medium.com/planet-os/listening-to-the-world-b2f44d12cf61 | ['Planet Os'] | 2017-03-09 16:59:32.639000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Life', 'Oceans', 'Environment', 'Technology'] | Title Listening WorldContent feature story personal retrospect extraordinary career life Dr Christopher W Clark one world’s leading marine acoustic expert Chief Marine Scientist Planet OS 30 year experience field 1992 first time tried listen singing blue whale deep water heard giant hum convinced recording equipment broken checked cable connection dial setting everything working knew singer could see voiceprint Navy display hit — course couldn’t hear whale ear mind tuned perceive pitch rhythm song pitch threshold hearing single note lasted 20 second single phrase lasted almost 2 minute knew solve problem play back recording much higher speed — voila heard whale singing joyful surprise one singer entire chorus listened longer one chorus entire ocean grew Bound Brook Island town Wellfleet Cape Cod Massachusetts surrounded pristine wilderness home grandparent always filled music poetry literature book happened good ear cherubic voice nine year old mother drove New York City audition boy’s choir Cathedral Saint John Divine passed audition accepted scholarship age 9 13 attended cathedral’s choir school boy soprano Alec Wyton brilliant musician phenomenal teacher Kings College England Master Choristers choir practice sang cathedral twice day six day week cathedral choir school trained think sound learned read music transcribing oddly methodically shaped symbol time pitch intensity song learned contribute voice complexity choral arrangement mine one 40 soprano voice inside arrangement included 30 alto tenor bass voice learned invert process dissect complex musical scene component part taught learned entirely new “language” — language music song sound permeated way listened also way sensed world existence abstract way similar way “mind’s eye” acquired “mind’s ear” absolutely amazing experience served foundation throughout life grew never occurred others acquired skill posse level auditory sensitivity saw sound Maybe predisposed don’t know it’s core part mathematical metaphorical somersault — universe soundTags Big Data Life Oceans Environment Technology |
3,142 | Gympass front-end architecture redesign | Other than these 3 main problems, we also have a lot of legacy code that has a lot of code smell and bad practices. We also have a HUGE boilerplate to create anything, be it new page routes or API routes on our integrated BFF. Having the BFF and the SSR engine on the same server also means that we have coupled them and there’s a single deploy pipeline for them both.
Also, having these problems really discourages us as engineers on creating new front-end services and that made our current repositories turn into little monolith applications with multiple contexts inside of it.
And since we did not have the habit of documenting things, we have a pretty bad documentation of the current stack.
The solution
Let’s solve our problems one by one, shall we? The first problem is that it is very difficult to create a new service. To solve that our SRE creates an inside tool that we call Josie.
Josie takes a template as a parameter and generates a new service from scratch, creating production and homologation environments with just a simple command.
That’s it. We now have a simple app running on production with a single command. There are still some config’s that we have to do manually, but this CLI simplified our life a lot.
Now all we had to do was to create the template. We thought about it and reached the conclusion that we can be more productive using an existing framework, with an dedicated team working solely on the SSR engine, then trying to give maintenance to an in-house engine WHILE creating new user experiences (we may change this vision on the future, when our team grows and our platform gets more robust and that’s absolutely normal). That’s why we’ve chosen Next.js.
Gympass + Next.js = ❤
We proceeded to create the template with everything that we thought would be necessary to develop our future features. We then got to the next problem: what if we wanted to change something to all the services that use this template?
To circumvent this problem we created an internal package to be used on the template, with everything that we thought was core for our application. Configurations, helpers, components, you name it, we have it all inside this package.
When we change something, all you need to do is bump the package version on your package.json and get the latest code. We reached this final infrastructure:
Final service structure
We still have the last problem to solve, which is multiple BFF’s with the same API’s. This was probably the biggest change in our developer mindset. To power our current native app (iOS and Android, written in react-native), we developed a GraphQL BFF which was being used only for the app. We were not using it on the web because as explained before, changing the core on our legacy code base was pretty hard.
We took the opportunity to create this interface with it for the front-end applications too, allowing us to keep the same logic in a single, concise, place. Now features that exist both on the app and the web can use the same queries to build the interfaces. This is a dream come true.
Our example, following this new structure would look like this:
Our legacy application uses Redux to manage the state of the application, now we only rely on Apollo to do that (that’s why this was a big mindset change).
Although this change is pretty nice, we didn’t want to force it, that’s why we made the Apollo provider optional through a higher order component, which also comes from our core package. This is an example of the final result:
With this current stack we also solved the other problems that we had, with a new and better code and less to none boilerplates. | https://medium.com/gympass/gympass-front-end-architecture-redesign-6d3231812a02 | ['Kaic Bastidas'] | 2020-03-24 20:40:33.872000+00:00 | ['Front End Development', 'Nextjs', 'Kubernetes', 'React'] | Title Gympass frontend architecture redesignContent 3 main problem also lot legacy code lot code smell bad practice also HUGE boilerplate create anything new page route API route integrated BFF BFF SSR engine server also mean coupled there’s single deploy pipeline Also problem really discourages u engineer creating new frontend service made current repository turn little monolith application multiple context inside since habit documenting thing pretty bad documentation current stack solution Let’s solve problem one one shall first problem difficult create new service solve SRE creates inside tool call Josie Josie take template parameter generates new service scratch creating production homologation environment simple command That’s simple app running production single command still config’s manually CLI simplified life lot create template thought reached conclusion productive using existing framework dedicated team working solely SSR engine trying give maintenance inhouse engine creating new user experience may change vision future team grows platform get robust that’s absolutely normal That’s we’ve chosen Nextjs Gympass Nextjs ❤ proceeded create template everything thought would necessary develop future feature got next problem wanted change something service use template circumvent problem created internal package used template everything thought core application Configurations helper component name inside package change something need bump package version packagejson get latest code reached final infrastructure Final service structure still last problem solve multiple BFF’s API’s probably biggest change developer mindset power current native app iOS Android written reactnative developed GraphQL BFF used app using web explained changing core legacy code base pretty hard took opportunity create interface frontend application allowing u keep logic single concise place feature exist app web use query build interface dream come true example following new structure would look like legacy application us Redux manage state application rely Apollo that’s big mindset change Although change pretty nice didn’t want force that’s made Apollo provider optional higher order component also come core package example final result current stack also solved problem new better code le none boilerplatesTags Front End Development Nextjs Kubernetes React |
3,143 | Litany of the Grounded | Litany of the Grounded
Mental health poem.
Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash
Something’s Shifted
Something has changed
My mind’s broken
Addled…deranged
Where angel feathers
Once fell with grace
Is now just gray
Joy erased
Dust in the air
Churches quiet
As my mind summons
Endless riots
Broken chairs meet
Splintered wood
All for not doing
What I should
To maintain form
Not scare the world
Chalkboard on nails
As chaos unfurls
At the wicked creature
You wish not pass
Threatening to flee
Break through the glass
Slice through guards
Cut across the pale
Reeking of blood
Unleashing a wail
“I’m free of this place”
Chains now unbound
Soaring upwards
Off the ground
To the heavens I’ll fly
With no one to judge
Should I then meet God
Still I won’t budge. | https://medium.com/scribe/litany-of-the-grounded-79206a36d11e | ['Joseph Coco'] | 2019-09-17 06:33:50.228000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Religion', 'Self', 'Poetry', 'Storytelling'] | Title Litany GroundedContent Litany Grounded Mental health poem Photo Cristian Newman Unsplash Something’s Shifted Something changed mind’s broken Addled…deranged angel feather fell grace gray Joy erased Dust air Churches quiet mind summons Endless riot Broken chair meet Splintered wood maintain form scare world Chalkboard nail chaos unfurls wicked creature wish pas Threatening flee Break glass Slice guard Cut across pale Reeking blood Unleashing wail “I’m free place” Chains unbound Soaring upwards ground heaven I’ll fly one judge meet God Still won’t budgeTags Mental Health Religion Self Poetry Storytelling |
3,144 | What are the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia and Other Mental Illnesses? | Photo by Caleb Minear on Unsplash
What are the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia and Other Mental Illnesses?
From a clinical perspective, “negative” isn’t what you think
When we study schizophrenia, my students often confuse the negative and positive symptoms of the illness. That’s something that’s easy to do; we’re so used to using the word “negative” in the vernacular, we may automatically think of it as meaning “bad.” That’s not its clinical meaning though.
From a clinical perspective, negative means “absent” or “lacking.” There’s no connotation of desirability or value. That’s why being HIV-negative is not a bad thing.
When considering whether symptoms are negative or positive, it might be useful to relate them to negative and positive numbers. Positive numbers are above the baseline of zero; negative numbers are below it. Being under the baseline doesn’t mean that negative numbers are bad (unless you’re looking at them in your checking account). It only means they are less than zero.
In the same way, negative symptoms are less than normal. Normal behaviors, moods, cognitions, and attitudes in mental health provide a baseline just as zero provides a baseline in math. Anything above the line of normality is a positive symptom; anything below it is negative.
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
When we study arithmetic, we learn about the positive or “counting” numbers first because they seem less abstract to most of us. Similarly, it’s the positive symptoms — the hallucinations and delusions — that first come to mind when we think about schizophrenia.
How can we call such dreadful symptoms positive? Remember, we’re using the term in the clinical sense, not in its everyday meaning. Hallucinations aren’t “good” but they are present over the baseline of normality. People who hallucinate are seeing more than people normally see. They’re hearing more than people normally hear.
Delusions are less sensory than hallucinations, but they still have that “above the baseline” quality. People who experience delusions make more out of a situation than reality would suggest. They may hear the same voice on the radio that people normally hear, the baseline, but may believe they have also picked up on a secret message aimed directly at them.
That’s not good. But it’s positive.
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia
Most negative symptoms begin with the prefix “a,” meaning “not” or “without.” Here’s a list of some common ones that follow that a-first guideline.
Apathy — without pathos or passion. You may have seen people who have schizophrenia preaching on the streets or wildly waving their arms around. That is a stereotypical image of the illness, and while sometimes accurate, it doesn’t capture the range of emotion that marks the disorder.
It’s just as likely that someone with schizophrenia will lack the normal passion for life than that they will experience an abundance of it. They’ll be below the line.
They may sit in a corner for hours without engaging with the world. They may lack interest in pursuing normal activities and relationships. They may be devoid of passion, apathetic. That’s a common negative symptom of schizophrenia.
Asociality — not social. Apathy toward relationships in particular is known as asociality. We often characterize people who are asocial as being antisocial but that is a misuse of the term.
Just as the prefix “a” means “not,” the prefix “anti” means “against.” People who are truly antisocial in the clinical sense may be at ease with social life but they act out against it. They are destructive.
Ted Bundy, the quintessential lady killer in both senses of the word, is a good example of an antisocial person. In contrast, a person with schizophrenia who sticks to herself and avoids crowds is exhibiting asociality, a negative symptom of the illness.
Avolition — without volition or determination. Schizophrenia can crush the ability to formulate goals and pursue them. As a result, it has a huge impact on life achievements.
It can be difficult for people who have schizophrenia to finish school, find a job, raise a family, or volunteer. The initiative to pursue these goals is lacking or less than normal. Avolition is therefore a negative symptom.
Alogia — not logical; alternatively, a reference to poverty of speech (not wordy). The word “alogia” descends from the Greek “logos,” which can be used to refer to both reason and speech. The two are intricately related; we can best guess what people are thinking based on what they say. Someone with schizophrenia may answer our questions with monosyllables or not at all, giving us the impression that there isn’t much going on “up there.”
We may think of alogia as a problem with the mental processing of language. These disruptions to language processing are just as often seen in positive symptoms. They may be present as overproductive, tangential speech or as the “word salad” of utterances that don’t stick together well enough to form an expression of thought.
But alogia as a negative symptom refers to the poverty of speech in either its amount or its content. Every question may be answered with a single word, for example, or speech may be so vague as to be meaningless.
In any case, a conversation with someone who is experiencing alogia, whether due to depression, dementia, or schizophrenia, gives the impression that little rational thought is going into the words. Not much substance is being conveyed. Since speech characterized by alogia results in less than the exchange of ideas we expect from normal conversations, it is a negative symptom.
Anhedonia — not hedonic. People with schizophrenia often lack a normal ability to feel happy or content. Just imagine what it must be like to hear frightening voices, to believe others are out to get you, to lack the desire to form relationships and the initiative to pursue meaningful goals. It’s no wonder that schizophrenia is highly comorbid with depressive disorders or that the suicide rate for the illness is so high.
A life that oscillates between too much and not enough is not a happy life. And since the passionless life is less than the norm of one that is reasonably satisfying, anhedonia is a negative symptom.
Anosognosia — without awareness of the disease. People who have schizophrenia rarely understand that they have the disorder. They don’t believe they are having hallucinations; they believe a voice is really speaking to them. They don’t think they are delusional; they think the government is really spying on them.
At our baseline of normal, we aren’t without our problems, but we know when something is wrong with us, and we can put it into words. We may say, “I’m too sensitive,” or “I have social anxiety,” or “I have a phobia of snakes,” or “I have trouble trusting other people.”
People with schizophrenia rarely have that self-awareness, and its lack impedes their ability to seek care and follow a treatment plan. After all, why go to the doctor if there is nothing wrong with you? Why would you take a pill you’re given if people are trying to poison you?
Anosognosia marks many mental illnesses but none so much as schizophrenia. Clinicians distinguish anosognosia from the denial that so often accompanies substance use disorders because the latter can be diminished through experience. Insight into the effects of addiction can and do occur.
But while denial can be broken through, anosognosia is the product of a broken brain. As such, it’s more impervious to change. Efforts to convince someone with schizophrenia that the voices they are hearing are not real are unlikely to have an effect. No matter how solid the arguments against delusional ideas, insight into problems is less available to a person with schizophrenia than it is to other people. Anosognosia is therefore a negative symptom.
And now for those that don’t start with an “A”
We can’t always count on the prefix “a” to alert us to negative symptoms. But we can still think in terms of above or below the line of average or normal to determine which adjective fits.
Diminished emotional expression
You may sometimes hear this referred to as “flat affect” meaning the face is an expressionless mask. But diminished emotional expression can be a full-body symptom.
Just think of all the ways we convey emotion. We lean in and maintain eye contact when we listen. We gesture and emote when we speak.
That is, we do unless we have schizophrenia or another mental illness, such as depression, that subdues our spirit and cuts us off from life. Since the expression of emotions is normal at baseline, its diminishment is a negative symptom.
Catatonia
Catatonia refers to an unnatural decrease in responsiveness to the environment. It is (usually) a negative symptom of schizophrenia and of other mental and physical disorders. It can also occur on its own unrelated to other conditions.
My first experience of catatonia occurred in my internship at a detention center. The mental health department was called by a deputy to assess an inmate who was lying motionless on the floor of his cell. His eyes stared unblinkingly at the ceiling.
Several of us responded, including my supervisor who took the man’s arm, held it above his head, and let go. The arm fell with a soft thud on the man’s face.
“Waxy flexibility,” my supervisor labeled this phenomenon for the interns. “And a case of true catatonia. When people are faking, they won’t let their arm hit them in the face like that.”
Today, I question the ethics of such an assessment, but it made an impression on me that has lasted for decades — the motionless man, the flaccid arm muscles, the unseeing eyes, the lack of responsiveness to our voices and touch. Catatonia often takes this form.
The DSM lumps catatonia into a general category called “Grossly Disorganized or Abnormal Motor Behavior (Including Catatonia).” This symptom is frequently seen in all psychotic disorders including schizophrenia.
But just as in problems with language processing, abnormal motor behavior may be a positive or a negative symptom. It can present as overactivity of movement such as the wild waving of arms referred to above.
However, the inmate lying motionless on the floor of his cell was engaged in motor behavior that was less than normal. As such, his catatonia was a negative symptom.
Symptom set for schizophrenia
These are the symptoms of schizophrenia as they are listed in the fifth edition of the DSM. See if you can identify each one as positive or negative.
Hallucinations Delusions Disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence). Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior. Negative symptoms (i.e., diminished emotional expression or avolition).
I hope you said that the first 2 are positive. They always refer to symptoms that are over the baseline of normal.
The disorganized speech referred to in criterion 3 is also. Speech that is disorganized may be incomprehensible. It may be circumferential, going around and around in circles without ever getting to the point. There may be a flight of ideas, where speech bounces from one topic to another that may be only tangentially related to the one that preceded it if it is related at all.
Number 4, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior could be either positive or negative, right? And the 5th criterion, negative symptoms, I hope you knew the answer to that one. And if you can give me some examples, congratulations! You passed the class. | https://medium.com/mental-health-and-addictions-community/what-are-the-negative-symptoms-of-schizophrenia-and-other-mental-illnesses-fd79b531f663 | ['K M Brown'] | 2020-11-08 23:22:40.062000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Negative Symptoms', 'Schizophrenia', 'Positive Symptoms', 'Psychology'] | Title Negative Symptoms Schizophrenia Mental IllnessesContent Photo Caleb Minear Unsplash Negative Symptoms Schizophrenia Mental Illnesses clinical perspective “negative” isn’t think study schizophrenia student often confuse negative positive symptom illness That’s something that’s easy we’re used using word “negative” vernacular may automatically think meaning “bad” That’s clinical meaning though clinical perspective negative mean “absent” “lacking” There’s connotation desirability value That’s HIVnegative bad thing considering whether symptom negative positive might useful relate negative positive number Positive number baseline zero negative number baseline doesn’t mean negative number bad unless you’re looking checking account mean le zero way negative symptom le normal Normal behavior mood cognition attitude mental health provide baseline zero provides baseline math Anything line normality positive symptom anything negative Positive symptom schizophrenia study arithmetic learn positive “counting” number first seem le abstract u Similarly it’s positive symptom — hallucination delusion — first come mind think schizophrenia call dreadful symptom positive Remember we’re using term clinical sense everyday meaning Hallucinations aren’t “good” present baseline normality People hallucinate seeing people normally see They’re hearing people normally hear Delusions le sensory hallucination still “above baseline” quality People experience delusion make situation reality would suggest may hear voice radio people normally hear baseline may believe also picked secret message aimed directly That’s good it’s positive Negative symptom schizophrenia negative symptom begin prefix “a” meaning “not” “without” Here’s list common one follow afirst guideline Apathy — without pathos passion may seen people schizophrenia preaching street wildly waving arm around stereotypical image illness sometimes accurate doesn’t capture range emotion mark disorder It’s likely someone schizophrenia lack normal passion life experience abundance They’ll line may sit corner hour without engaging world may lack interest pursuing normal activity relationship may devoid passion apathetic That’s common negative symptom schizophrenia Asociality — social Apathy toward relationship particular known asociality often characterize people asocial antisocial misuse term prefix “a” mean “not” prefix “anti” mean “against” People truly antisocial clinical sense may ease social life act destructive Ted Bundy quintessential lady killer sens word good example antisocial person contrast person schizophrenia stick avoids crowd exhibiting asociality negative symptom illness Avolition — without volition determination Schizophrenia crush ability formulate goal pursue result huge impact life achievement difficult people schizophrenia finish school find job raise family volunteer initiative pursue goal lacking le normal Avolition therefore negative symptom Alogia — logical alternatively reference poverty speech wordy word “alogia” descends Greek “logos” used refer reason speech two intricately related best guess people thinking based say Someone schizophrenia may answer question monosyllable giving u impression isn’t much going “up there” may think alogia problem mental processing language disruption language processing often seen positive symptom may present overproductive tangential speech “word salad” utterance don’t stick together well enough form expression thought alogia negative symptom refers poverty speech either amount content Every question may answered single word example speech may vague meaningless case conversation someone experiencing alogia whether due depression dementia schizophrenia give impression little rational thought going word much substance conveyed Since speech characterized alogia result le exchange idea expect normal conversation negative symptom Anhedonia — hedonic People schizophrenia often lack normal ability feel happy content imagine must like hear frightening voice believe others get lack desire form relationship initiative pursue meaningful goal It’s wonder schizophrenia highly comorbid depressive disorder suicide rate illness high life oscillates much enough happy life since passionless life le norm one reasonably satisfying anhedonia negative symptom Anosognosia — without awareness disease People schizophrenia rarely understand disorder don’t believe hallucination believe voice really speaking don’t think delusional think government really spying baseline normal aren’t without problem know something wrong u put word may say “I’m sensitive” “I social anxiety” “I phobia snakes” “I trouble trusting people” People schizophrenia rarely selfawareness lack impedes ability seek care follow treatment plan go doctor nothing wrong would take pill you’re given people trying poison Anosognosia mark many mental illness none much schizophrenia Clinicians distinguish anosognosia denial often accompanies substance use disorder latter diminished experience Insight effect addiction occur denial broken anosognosia product broken brain it’s impervious change Efforts convince someone schizophrenia voice hearing real unlikely effect matter solid argument delusional idea insight problem le available person schizophrenia people Anosognosia therefore negative symptom don’t start “A” can’t always count prefix “a” alert u negative symptom still think term line average normal determine adjective fit Diminished emotional expression may sometimes hear referred “flat affect” meaning face expressionless mask diminished emotional expression fullbody symptom think way convey emotion lean maintain eye contact listen gesture emote speak unless schizophrenia another mental illness depression subdues spirit cut u life Since expression emotion normal baseline diminishment negative symptom Catatonia Catatonia refers unnatural decrease responsiveness environment usually negative symptom schizophrenia mental physical disorder also occur unrelated condition first experience catatonia occurred internship detention center mental health department called deputy ass inmate lying motionless floor cell eye stared unblinkingly ceiling Several u responded including supervisor took man’s arm held head let go arm fell soft thud man’s face “Waxy flexibility” supervisor labeled phenomenon intern “And case true catatonia people faking won’t let arm hit face like that” Today question ethic assessment made impression lasted decade — motionless man flaccid arm muscle unseeing eye lack responsiveness voice touch Catatonia often take form DSM lump catatonia general category called “Grossly Disorganized Abnormal Motor Behavior Including Catatonia” symptom frequently seen psychotic disorder including schizophrenia problem language processing abnormal motor behavior may positive negative symptom present overactivity movement wild waving arm referred However inmate lying motionless floor cell engaged motor behavior le normal catatonia negative symptom Symptom set schizophrenia symptom schizophrenia listed fifth edition DSM See identify one positive negative Hallucinations Delusions Disorganized speech eg frequent derailment incoherence Grossly disorganized catatonic behavior Negative symptom ie diminished emotional expression avolition hope said first 2 positive always refer symptom baseline normal disorganized speech referred criterion 3 also Speech disorganized may incomprehensible may circumferential going around around circle without ever getting point may flight idea speech bounce one topic another may tangentially related one preceded related Number 4 grossly disorganized catatonic behavior could either positive negative right 5th criterion negative symptom hope knew answer one give example congratulation passed classTags Mental Health Negative Symptoms Schizophrenia Positive Symptoms Psychology |
3,145 | Were 21% of New York City residents really infected with the novel coronavirus? | Were 21% of New York City residents really infected with the novel coronavirus?
It’s time to learn about bias the hard way!
Here’s the audio version of the article, read for you by the author.
The moment I saw yesterday’s Business Insider headline, I knew it would be a perfect case study for a lesson about statistical bias. “A statewide antibody study estimates that 21% of New York City residents have had the coronavirus, Cuomo says.”
I couldn’t have asked for a better one.
COVID-19 is no laughing matter and as a New York City resident who spent her birthday this year battling pneumonia that almost killed her, I’m painfully aware of that. However, the creative ways people find to misinterpret data is an eternal source of hilarity for statisticians like myself—I’ll take my laughs where I can get them these days. Image: meme template source info.
Someone is about to get criticized… but who? Grab your schadenfreudean popcorn while I crack my knuckles. Ready? Let’s begin.
What is bias?
Depends where you’re hearing the word. I’ve made a tongue-in-cheek laundry list of various bias usages for your amusement, but in this article, we’ll focus on the statistical species of bias.
In statistics, bias is all about systematic lopsidedness.
If lopsided results are misleading, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they were born out of the intent to mislead. Perhaps they were, perhaps they weren’t. Statistical bias can come about through negligence, ignorance, expediancy, or shenanigans.
Let’s talk about conclusions that are off-the-mark, shall we? Image: SOURCE.
Statisticians may use the word bias to refer to:
Our technical definition—to be revealed in a moment. Misadventures in randomization. Skewed conclusions. Any of the other definitions of bias. (Some of us are human.)
We’ll look at our little case study from each of these (overlapping) perspectives.
Great expectations
In statistics, bias is the difference between the expected value of an estimator and its estimand.
That’s awfully technical, so allow me to translate. Bias refers to results that are systematically off the mark. Think archery where your bow is sighted incorrectly.
Bias refers to results that are systematically off the mark.
High bias doesn’t mean you’re shooting all over the place (that’s high variance), but may cause a perfect archer hit below the bullseye all the time.
The headline says the study estimates that 21% of New York City residents have had the coronavirus. My guess is that this number is biased upwards.
21%? I suspect the real number is lower.
Why? I smell the pungent odor of randomization issues with how the data were obtained, which brings me to statistical subdefinition #2.
Selection bias
A special way to trigger results that are systematically off the mark is to collect your data in a problematic manner. For statisticians who love having things to be grumpy about, selection bias is a cherished frenemy. It visits so often!
Selection bias occurs when different members of your population of interest have different probabilities of arriving in your sample.
In other words, you’re making conclusions from your sample as if it were drawn randomly while it was drawn, er, “randomly” instead.
Image: meme template source info.
In that case, your sample isn’t representative of your population… which makes your conclusions untrustworthy.
If your population of interest is all New York City residents, then you don’t have a random sample (SRS) unless every single New York City resident has equal probability of being included. Is that requirement met by the NY antibody study? Definitely not.
The study did not represent everyone equally.
Before I even opened the article, I was thinking, “Yeah, right. What clever thing did they do to collect data from people who stay indoors?” As it turns out, no clever thing. What’s the probability the study measured someone who is fully self-quarantined? Zero. How many NYC residents are keeping themselves entirely to themselves? We don’t know.
Undercoverage bias: When your approach can’t cover the whole thing, so some uncovered parts are left out. Image: SOURCE.
This type of selection bias is called undercoverage bias. Your sample cannot cover your population if some parts have no chance of being sampled. One pragmatic quick fix for undercoverage bias is to settle for a less ambitious population definition. Instead of trying to make inferences about “all NYC residents” you could choose instead to talk about “all NYC residents who go outside” — problem solved!
Not quite. It gets worse.
What if we have more interesting sampling biases? What if the nonzero probabilities are systematically messed up too? What if there’s something special that made some outside-goers more likely to be tested than others?
New Yorkers shopping for pandemic groceries. Image used with permission.
Let’s see how the data were gathered. The study tested people “at grocery and big-box stores.” If you’d like increase your probability of exposure, where do you go? To places with a higher density of people, like grocery and big-box stores. Where was the study done? Yup.
People who take bigger risks with the virus had a higher probability of winding up in the antibody study.
How about if you really, really, really want to get the virus? You might go to grocery and big-box stores frequently… more frequently than someone who’s trying to reduce their probability of infection. Of these two kinds of people, which kind of person would be more likely to have COVID-19 antibodies? Which do you think would be more likely to be in the right place at the right time to participate in the study? Hello, selection bias!
Because there’s no difference between a person who thinks this is a good idea and everyone else. Image: SOURCE.
In fact, the design of this study is a bingo sheet for the various breeds of selection bias — sampling bias, undercoverage bias, self-selection bias, convenience bias, volunteer bias, and others. If you’d like me to write a follow-up article that takes you on a tour of those (plus tips for how to battle them), retweets are my favorite motivation.
Biased archers have it easy — if you keep hitting the target above the center, at least you can see it and make adjustments. Researchers with selection bias aren’t so lucky. Selection bias means all your results are wrong and you don’t know how wrong.
Selection bias means all your results are wrong and you don’t know how wrong.
Does that scare you? It should scare you! All I can do is guess that the results are biased upwards by the sampling procedure, but there’s no way to know what the real number is. But wait, there’s more! It gets even worse.
Biased conclusions
What if unequal representation isn’t the only thing messing with our ability to make sane conclusions? There’s a whole cornucopia of other biases that might impair your statistical conclusions.
What if the antibody tests themselves have problems that the researchers are unaware of?
For example, information bias occurs when measurements are systematically incorrect. What if the antibody tests themselves have problems that the researchers are unaware of? What if they only detect antibodies above a strict threshold to avoid false alarms? Then those tests will miss virus cases, so they’ll bias the estimate downward.
If information bias and selection bias pull invisibly in opposite directions, is the estimate too high or too low? Impossible to know. What do we know for sure? Some people at grocery and big box stores got an exciting readout from something called an antibody test. What do we know about NYC residents’ actual exposure rate? *shrug*
Reporting bias and confirmation bias
Among the many other ways that humans might use the word “bias” are several interdisciplinary ones that statisticians find especially relevant to our favorite way of making conversation: pointing out that someone is wrong about something. I’ll only mention confirmation bias and reporting bias here.
To be fair to Business Insider, I think they did a pretty good job of reporting. They even called the results “preliminary” and mentioned some of the same sampling issues I talked about. Kudos! These are the same properly-cautious noises originally made by the governor of NY and the team who ran the study. I have no beef with them either. Instead, my complaint is with the broken telephone game that the rest of the internet is playing.
This sloth didn’t read the article. Just like some of the folks who will comment after only looking at the title. We see you. Image: SOURCE.
Some people won’t take the time to read the whole article. Fine, I get it, you’re busy. Alas, instead of applying appropriate lol-did-not-read humility, some folks treat that title as if it’s the whole story. When they share what they’ve “learned” with others, they’ll be creating a textbook example of reporting bias.
Reporting bias occurs when people come to a conclusion other than the one they would have made if given all the information their source had.
Whenever people transmit only the most extreme or “juicy” bits of information and leave behind the boring bits that weaken their conclusions, expect reporting bias. You’ll find it wherever people have incentives to:
Make pithy summaries of complicated things (e.g. to squeeze everything into a 280 character tweet).
Prevent readers’ eyes from glazing over (e.g. journalists editorializing scientific publications).
Persuade someone through trickery (e.g. conveniently “forgetting” to mention studies that cast doubt on the arguments you’re hoping to make).
Feel better about their opinions (e.g. when they’re suffering from confirmation bias).
Whatever the intent behind reporting bias, its presence decapitates the validity of your conclusions.
Does everyone who’s guilty of it know that they’re doing it? Not if they’ve fallen prey to confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias tampers with your ability to perceive/notice/remember evidence that disagrees with your opinion.
Bringing up this cognitive bias moves us from the realm of statistics to the jungle of psychology, so I’ll be brief.
Confirmation bias is a problem of perception, attention, and memory. To put it in the simplest terms, whether or not a piece of evidence “sticks” for you is influenced by the opinion you have beforehand. If you’re not careful, you’ll mostly notice and remember information that confirms what you already believe. If you can’t see all sides of a story, you might not even know you’ve only reported your favorite, infecting the people who trust you with falsehoods.
Is the study worthless?
I’m guessing there are plenty of folks who will wind up concluding unsupported nonsense thanks to this NY antibodies study. As usual, the least data-literate readers will “learn” the most from it.
Does this mean that the study is worthless? No, but it’s only as good as the assumptions you’ll make about it. Since there’s very little that we know for sure from its data, the only way to make inferences beyond the facts is to bridge the gap with assumptions. That’s all statistics is. Assumptions, not magic.
The study is only as good as the assumptions you’ll make about it.
Unfortunately, we’re not all equally qualified to make good assumptions that lead to useful conclusions. For example, while I am a statistician with plenty of real-world data collection experience, I’m not an expert in antibody tests, so you shouldn’t trust me to make wise assumptions about their accuracy. Excellent! I don’t trust me either, so I’ll end up learning nothing about the virus exposure rate of NYC. The study is worthless in my hands.
We’re not all equally qualified to make good assumptions that unlock useful conclusions.
I can suspect whatever I like about selection bias causing an overestimate, but all I know is that the results are probably wrong and we don’t know how wrong. If you tell your friends that I said the number is below 21%, you’ve just shown us a prime demo of reporting bias.
But when experts who have been studying viruses their whole lives team up with medical professionals and psychologists who are well-versed in the behavior of New Yorkers… and join forces with those who know all the practical details about what actually happened during the development and deployment of those antibody tests to grocery stores, well, perhaps those folks are sitting pretty to make the assumptions that unlock the nutritional goodness of the tasty data collected.
In their competent hands, the study might be very valuable indeed.
In competent hands, the study might be very valuable indeed.
Perhaps the rest of us should be quiet and let the grown-ups get on with their jobs.
Thanks for reading! Liked the author?
If you’re keen to read more of my writing, most of the links in this article take you to my other musings. Can’t choose? Try this one: | https://towardsdatascience.com/were-21-of-new-york-city-residents-really-infected-with-covid-19-aab6ebefda0 | ['Cassie Kozyrkov'] | 2020-08-22 17:29:12.637000+00:00 | ['Statistics', 'Psychology', 'Data Science', 'Coronavirus', 'Towards Data Science'] | Title 21 New York City resident really infected novel coronavirusContent 21 New York City resident really infected novel coronavirus It’s time learn bias hard way Here’s audio version article read author moment saw yesterday’s Business Insider headline knew would perfect case study lesson statistical bias “A statewide antibody study estimate 21 New York City resident coronavirus Cuomo says” couldn’t asked better one COVID19 laughing matter New York City resident spent birthday year battling pneumonia almost killed I’m painfully aware However creative way people find misinterpret data eternal source hilarity statistician like myself—I’ll take laugh get day Image meme template source info Someone get criticized… Grab schadenfreudean popcorn crack knuckle Ready Let’s begin bias Depends you’re hearing word I’ve made tongueincheek laundry list various bias usage amusement article we’ll focus statistical specie bias statistic bias systematic lopsidedness lopsided result misleading doesn’t necessarily mean born intent mislead Perhaps perhaps weren’t Statistical bias come negligence ignorance expediancy shenanigan Let’s talk conclusion offthemark shall Image SOURCE Statisticians may use word bias refer technical definition—to revealed moment Misadventures randomization Skewed conclusion definition bias u human We’ll look little case study overlapping perspective Great expectation statistic bias difference expected value estimator estimand That’s awfully technical allow translate Bias refers result systematically mark Think archery bow sighted incorrectly Bias refers result systematically mark High bias doesn’t mean you’re shooting place that’s high variance may cause perfect archer hit bullseye time headline say study estimate 21 New York City resident coronavirus guess number biased upwards 21 suspect real number lower smell pungent odor randomization issue data obtained brings statistical subdefinition 2 Selection bias special way trigger result systematically mark collect data problematic manner statistician love thing grumpy selection bias cherished frenemy visit often Selection bias occurs different member population interest different probability arriving sample word you’re making conclusion sample drawn randomly drawn er “randomly” instead Image meme template source info case sample isn’t representative population… make conclusion untrustworthy population interest New York City resident don’t random sample SRS unless every single New York City resident equal probability included requirement met NY antibody study Definitely study represent everyone equally even opened article thinking “Yeah right clever thing collect data people stay indoors” turn clever thing What’s probability study measured someone fully selfquarantined Zero many NYC resident keeping entirely don’t know Undercoverage bias approach can’t cover whole thing uncovered part left Image SOURCE type selection bias called undercoverage bias sample cannot cover population part chance sampled One pragmatic quick fix undercoverage bias settle le ambitious population definition Instead trying make inference “all NYC residents” could choose instead talk “all NYC resident go outside” — problem solved quite get worse interesting sampling bias nonzero probability systematically messed there’s something special made outsidegoers likely tested others New Yorkers shopping pandemic grocery Image used permission Let’s see data gathered study tested people “at grocery bigbox stores” you’d like increase probability exposure go place higher density people like grocery bigbox store study done Yup People take bigger risk virus higher probability winding antibody study really really really want get virus might go grocery bigbox store frequently… frequently someone who’s trying reduce probability infection two kind people kind person would likely COVID19 antibody think would likely right place right time participate study Hello selection bias there’s difference person think good idea everyone else Image SOURCE fact design study bingo sheet various breed selection bias — sampling bias undercoverage bias selfselection bias convenience bias volunteer bias others you’d like write followup article take tour plus tip battle retweets favorite motivation Biased archer easy — keep hitting target center least see make adjustment Researchers selection bias aren’t lucky Selection bias mean result wrong don’t know wrong Selection bias mean result wrong don’t know wrong scare scare guess result biased upwards sampling procedure there’s way know real number wait there’s get even worse Biased conclusion unequal representation isn’t thing messing ability make sane conclusion There’s whole cornucopia bias might impair statistical conclusion antibody test problem researcher unaware example information bias occurs measurement systematically incorrect antibody test problem researcher unaware detect antibody strict threshold avoid false alarm test miss virus case they’ll bias estimate downward information bias selection bias pull invisibly opposite direction estimate high low Impossible know know sure people grocery big box store got exciting readout something called antibody test know NYC residents’ actual exposure rate shrug Reporting bias confirmation bias Among many way human might use word “bias” several interdisciplinary one statistician find especially relevant favorite way making conversation pointing someone wrong something I’ll mention confirmation bias reporting bias fair Business Insider think pretty good job reporting even called result “preliminary” mentioned sampling issue talked Kudos properlycautious noise originally made governor NY team ran study beef either Instead complaint broken telephone game rest internet playing sloth didn’t read article like folk comment looking title see Image SOURCE people won’t take time read whole article Fine get you’re busy Alas instead applying appropriate loldidnotread humility folk treat title it’s whole story share they’ve “learned” others they’ll creating textbook example reporting bias Reporting bias occurs people come conclusion one would made given information source Whenever people transmit extreme “juicy” bit information leave behind boring bit weaken conclusion expect reporting bias You’ll find wherever people incentive Make pithy summary complicated thing eg squeeze everything 280 character tweet Prevent readers’ eye glazing eg journalist editorializing scientific publication Persuade someone trickery eg conveniently “forgetting” mention study cast doubt argument you’re hoping make Feel better opinion eg they’re suffering confirmation bias Whatever intent behind reporting bias presence decapitates validity conclusion everyone who’s guilty know they’re they’ve fallen prey confirmation bias Confirmation bias tamper ability perceivenoticeremember evidence disagrees opinion Bringing cognitive bias move u realm statistic jungle psychology I’ll brief Confirmation bias problem perception attention memory put simplest term whether piece evidence “sticks” influenced opinion beforehand you’re careful you’ll mostly notice remember information confirms already believe can’t see side story might even know you’ve reported favorite infecting people trust falsehood study worthless I’m guessing plenty folk wind concluding unsupported nonsense thanks NY antibody study usual least dataliterate reader “learn” mean study worthless it’s good assumption you’ll make Since there’s little know sure data way make inference beyond fact bridge gap assumption That’s statistic Assumptions magic study good assumption you’ll make Unfortunately we’re equally qualified make good assumption lead useful conclusion example statistician plenty realworld data collection experience I’m expert antibody test shouldn’t trust make wise assumption accuracy Excellent don’t trust either I’ll end learning nothing virus exposure rate NYC study worthless hand We’re equally qualified make good assumption unlock useful conclusion suspect whatever like selection bias causing overestimate know result probably wrong don’t know wrong tell friend said number 21 you’ve shown u prime demo reporting bias expert studying virus whole life team medical professional psychologist wellversed behavior New Yorkers… join force know practical detail actually happened development deployment antibody test grocery store well perhaps folk sitting pretty make assumption unlock nutritional goodness tasty data collected competent hand study might valuable indeed competent hand study might valuable indeed Perhaps rest u quiet let grownup get job Thanks reading Liked author you’re keen read writing link article take musing Can’t choose Try oneTags Statistics Psychology Data Science Coronavirus Towards Data Science |
3,146 | How I’m using Writing to Begin a Healing Process | Recently I wrote here about how I use writing to reveal, feel and heal. Well, now I am in the thick of doing exactly that. So, can I write about what’s up for me and at the same time, write about writing about what’s up for me?
Once a month I attend a workshop led by a dear friend I’ll call Cindy. I’ve been attending, along with a core of dedicated others for ten years.
This work/playshop is one of the highlights of my month. I adore Cindy. As a fabulous, self-taught artist she inspires us to take our artistic pursuits more seriously and to set aside precious time for creative play.
Here’s what happened last time.
When I got there, made my coffee and settled in to start, Cindy was upset. With me, it turned out, though I didn’t get that at first. She was upset because we’re not able to start on time. We’re not able to start on time because I am usually late.
Well, we probed that, because she could have started without me, but she wasn’t sure she really could. So she waited — all the time seething while figuring out what to trim from the intro she had prepared, given our late start. Meanwhile, I’m operating off of an informal understanding that we just start once everyone arrives.
Only she never mentioned it out loud — or at least not in a way that it registered that it’s something I need to fix. She doesn’t think she should even have to mention it. Everyone knows we start at ten.
So that’s the scenario.
It helps me to spell it out in as much detail as possible while it is still fresh in my mind. While I am still burning from the shock and hurt.
It makes sense to write as soon as I can get into a space to do so. In this case, it’s a day later. If I’d tried to write last night, it would have been a big mess. And it’s okay either way. I might need to rant and rave and that is healing too.
That rant might look like this:
How dare she come at me with such venom! Especially when she never told me it was a problem for her. Am I supposed to read her mind?
She went on and on and on. The more she spoke, the madder she got. I’ve never seen her like this. It scared me. Even though I was helping her process. Even though I apologized profusely. I explained as best I could since she seemed to need that, without trying to excuse my behavior.
Why did she not say anything if this has gone on for so long and is eating away at her so deeply? Ouch! It hurts and it’s not fair.
How this affected me…
After this discussion, I had a hard time staying present to the art-making. My skin was flushed and my heart was beating fast. I was distracted and unable to think straight.
I only made one piece, whereas I usually make three or four. I wanted to leave early, but I made myself stay.
What buttons got pushed?
This incident reminds me of times as a kid when I was shamed by teachers in front of other kids. Or by my dad at the dinner table during the Vietnam war for wanting peace. My reaction may mean I got triggered even if those memories weren’t conscious yesterday.
And finally, throw some compassion into the mix…
Cindy is under a huge amount of pressure over another issue in her life. She’s let this build-up for a long time so no wonder it came out so strongly. I’m guessing that a lot of what she dumped on me was from what she’s been dumping on herself.
And compassion for me…
I was totally blindsided and caught off guard. It hurts to be spoken to so bluntly and pointedly non-stop for an hour. It’s not fair to me to not tell me and let it build for so long.
So are there some lessons here?
Duh! Make a point of being on time or even early. Communicate when I can’t. Ask if I don’t know. Ask open-ended questions from time to time, like — is this still working for you? How can we make it better? What do you need from us? (Those might have revealed her concerns before they got this blown up.)
Through Cindy’s experience: If something is bothering me as much as this was for her, speak up! Tell my truth and ask for support in the way I need or want it. Don’t assume folks can read my mind or can get it via common sense or “everybody knows.” Factor human differences into the mix.
Where in my life have I been like Cindy — not speaking up and letting stuff build up into a huge resentment? Oh, I get it — which is a clue to the meaning of this for me…In my church work where I am super responsible, but rarely speak up when things bother me. Maybe that’s why this happened — so I can finally get it.
What if anything, do I want to do?
Make a point of being on time or early. Call if I’m late. Give Cindy a call and see how she’s doing, if she doesn’t call me first.
I’ll apologize again and consider sharing how the experience was for me. Consider asking to talk to her with a third person so we can get back on track. It’s too precious a relationship to risk. I know I value it immensely and don’t want to feel this on Jan 4th.
Pray about it. Pray for Cindy, for me, for our relationship, and for the group to succeed. Then turn it all over to God. Let it be. Don’t obsess about it. That never helps. Get help if need be. And take a deep breath.
Writing this helps me release tension in my body and get a deeper perspective. For this reason, I strongly encourage making it a regular practice. While it doesn’t change outer events per se, it’s a way to honor ourselves, our feelings, our experiences. This cracking open of the hard shell of ego is the key to healing. | https://medium.com/writing-heals/how-im-using-writing-to-begin-a-healing-process-cd1427b66dc3 | ['Marilyn Flower'] | 2020-01-05 22:06:49.616000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Mental Health', 'Writing', 'Life', 'Anger'] | Title I’m using Writing Begin Healing ProcessContent Recently wrote use writing reveal feel heal Well thick exactly write what’s time write writing what’s month attend workshop led dear friend I’ll call Cindy I’ve attending along core dedicated others ten year workplayshop one highlight month adore Cindy fabulous selftaught artist inspires u take artistic pursuit seriously set aside precious time creative play Here’s happened last time got made coffee settled start Cindy upset turned though didn’t get first upset we’re able start time We’re able start time usually late Well probed could started without wasn’t sure really could waited — time seething figuring trim intro prepared given late start Meanwhile I’m operating informal understanding start everyone arrives never mentioned loud — least way registered it’s something need fix doesn’t think even mention Everyone know start ten that’s scenario help spell much detail possible still fresh mind still burning shock hurt make sense write soon get space case it’s day later I’d tried write last night would big mess it’s okay either way might need rant rave healing rant might look like dare come venom Especially never told problem supposed read mind went spoke madder got I’ve never seen like scared Even though helping process Even though apologized profusely explained best could since seemed need without trying excuse behavior say anything gone long eating away deeply Ouch hurt it’s fair affected me… discussion hard time staying present artmaking skin flushed heart beating fast distracted unable think straight made one piece whereas usually make three four wanted leave early made stay button got pushed incident reminds time kid shamed teacher front kid dad dinner table Vietnam war wanting peace reaction may mean got triggered even memory weren’t conscious yesterday finally throw compassion mix… Cindy huge amount pressure another issue life She’s let buildup long time wonder came strongly I’m guessing lot dumped she’s dumping compassion me… totally blindsided caught guard hurt spoken bluntly pointedly nonstop hour It’s fair tell let build long lesson Duh Make point time even early Communicate can’t Ask don’t know Ask openended question time time like — still working make better need u might revealed concern got blown Cindy’s experience something bothering much speak Tell truth ask support way need want Don’t assume folk read mind get via common sense “everybody knows” Factor human difference mix life like Cindy — speaking letting stuff build huge resentment Oh get — clue meaning me…In church work super responsible rarely speak thing bother Maybe that’s happened — finally get anything want Make point time early Call I’m late Give Cindy call see she’s doesn’t call first I’ll apologize consider sharing experience Consider asking talk third person get back track It’s precious relationship risk know value immensely don’t want feel Jan 4th Pray Pray Cindy relationship group succeed turn God Let Don’t ob never help Get help need take deep breath Writing help release tension body get deeper perspective reason strongly encourage making regular practice doesn’t change outer event per se it’s way honor feeling experience cracking open hard shell ego key healingTags Life Lessons Mental Health Writing Life Anger |
3,147 | 7 Things I Learned During My 2 Years in an AI Startup | 1. Be genuinely excited and let it radiate
Read that again, with the keyword being ‘genuinely.’ Everyone claims to be excited when they join a new job. But few genuinely are and continue to be. And it makes a huge difference.
As I joined the team, I started sharing the same dream and vision of the Startup. I was fascinated by how big of an impact this small team could create. I started putting in extra effort and time to learn and improve myself because I wanted to learn more and grow faster. I was genuinely excited to complement my team and solve real-world business problems using AI. And the thought of it still excites me. I had always tried hard to control my excitement, but I would fail terribly.
During these 2 years, I started handling clients, got promoted to a Machine Learning Engineer, and finally started leading the data science team's projects. I was genuinely excited about every single opportunity that came my way, and I let it radiate. I grew, and the startup grew.
So here’s my secret, if you’re joining a startup (or any organization), be genuinely excited about the work they do, and don’t hide your excitement; let it radiate because career growth is more that way. You’ll realize this sooner or later. | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/7-things-i-learned-during-my-2-years-in-an-ai-startup-4a638e2ceacd | ['Arunn Thevapalan'] | 2020-12-05 18:01:12.909000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Startup', 'Learning', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] | Title 7 Things Learned 2 Years AI StartupContent 1 genuinely excited let radiate Read keyword ‘genuinely’ Everyone claim excited join new job genuinely continue make huge difference joined team started sharing dream vision Startup fascinated big impact small team could create started putting extra effort time learn improve wanted learn grow faster genuinely excited complement team solve realworld business problem using AI thought still excites always tried hard control excitement would fail terribly 2 year started handling client got promoted Machine Learning Engineer finally started leading data science team project genuinely excited every single opportunity came way let radiate grew startup grew here’s secret you’re joining startup organization genuinely excited work don’t hide excitement let radiate career growth way You’ll realize sooner laterTags Artificial Intelligence Startup Learning Data Science Machine Learning |
3,148 | Life as a Writer with ADHD | Life as a Writer with ADHD
If you are living with ADHD, it may be easy to dismiss the idea of writing.
Whether you have ADHD or not, I want to reiterate something: not all ADHD brains are the same — so my experience might not be the same as yours even if we share similar traits.
Managing ADHD is an ongoing process and it’s definitely not as easy as swallowing a pill. Nope, it takes work.
There are things we always have to work harder at, like improving our short-term memory retention. Sometimes we can’t even remember simple things, like whether we turned left or right.
Perhaps that sounds familiar to you, which is why you have decided to hear my experiences. Or perhaps you know somebody who has been diagnosed with ADHD. Whatever the case may be, I am delighted to share how I manage my headspace. | https://medium.com/narrative/life-as-a-writer-with-adhd-8417a80b8aaa | ['Katy Velvet'] | 2020-12-24 09:29:02.453000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Writing', 'Adhd', 'Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement'] | Title Life Writer ADHDContent Life Writer ADHD living ADHD may easy dismiss idea writing Whether ADHD want reiterate something ADHD brain — experience might even share similar trait Managing ADHD ongoing process it’s definitely easy swallowing pill Nope take work thing always work harder like improving shortterm memory retention Sometimes can’t even remember simple thing like whether turned left right Perhaps sound familiar decided hear experience perhaps know somebody diagnosed ADHD Whatever case may delighted share manage headspaceTags Mental Health Writing Adhd Life Lessons Self Improvement |
3,149 | Equity crowdsale: what’s next? | Equity crowdsale: what’s next?
Here’s a breakdown of next steps and what to expect.
In case you missed the big news from the weekend: the BABB equity crowdsale closed at 11:59pm on Saturday 18 August, with total investment coming in at just over £1,550,000 from 1,452 investors.
We’re delighted to have been successfully funded and are very grateful to all of our new shareholders for their support.
What’s next?
There is a lot happening over the next few weeks. Here’s everything you need to know if you invested in the equity crowdsale.
Follow-up info
There now follows a seven-day period in which Crowdcube will send out additional information, including articles of association. This is an official document which outlines BABB’s responsibilities as a business to you as a shareholder. Please read it carefully and get in touch if you have any questions.
Confirming your ID
Crowdcube might also contact you to submit ID for KYC and AML checks. In most cases they perform these checks automatically but some investors will need to supply additional documentation.
If you’re in any doubt about whether you need to submit any documentation, we advise logging into your Crowdcube account or contacting the customer support team.
We’re also on hand to help if you need us; you can chat to the team in the dedicated equity crowdsale telegram group or email us at [email protected].
Making the payment
If you pledged via credit or debit card, your investment will be taken automatically early next week.
If you pledged to invest via bank transfer, Crowdcube will contact you about arranging the payment. You can also refer to our previous blog post for further instructions.
Receiving your shares
Once you have passed KYC and made your investment, your shares will be automatically distributed to your Crowdcube account within 2–3 weeks. You will be able to view and manage your portfolio through your account on the Crowdcube website.
You will also receive an official share certificate confirming you as a shareholder in BABB Group Ltd. Please enjoy it and keep it safe!
BAX bonus and airdrop
Once Crowdcube has confirmed payment from all investors, we will receive email addresses for all participants. We will then be able to get in touch directly regarding claiming the BAX bonus and airdrop.
If you already have an account on getbabb.com (from the token sale), you will automatically receive your BAX bonus and airdrop into this account. Please note that if the email address linked to your Crowdcube account is different to the one linked to your BABB account, you will need to let us know.
If you don’t have a BABB account, we will contact you directly with instructions to open an account on getbabb.com. You will need to open this account in order to claim the BAX bonus and airdrop.
The BAX bonus is payable to all equity crowdsale investors and is dependent on the amount invested. The BAX airdrop is distributed to all those who participated in the BABB token sale as as well as all those who invested in the equity crowdsale. All recipients will recieve the same number of tokens in the airdrop and we’ll contact you nearer the time to confirm the airdrop amount.
Sharehodler merch competition
We recently selected the winners of our sharehodler merch competition and everyone who took part in the competition has received an email letting them know whether or not they were among the winners.
The last of the merch orders is due to arrive this week (following a delay; thanks for bearing with us) so we’ll distribute the prizes to the winners as soon as we can.
Perks and rewards
Speaking of merch — we will also contact investors in the coming weeks about claiming the perks they’re eligible for as a result of their invested amount.
All investors are eligible to get early access to the alpha app (subject to a waiting list) and we’re also offering t-shirts, access to events and other perks to those who invested higher amounts. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.
Banking license update
As you probably know, the funds raised in the equity crowdsale will be used to meet the minimum capital requirements of banking licenses which BABB is currently in the process of applying for. Look out for an update from Paul coming this Thursday about our progress with these applications. | https://medium.com/babb/equity-crowdsale-whats-next-5cea62a0b045 | [] | 2018-08-20 12:44:55.807000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Updates', 'Fintech'] | Title Equity crowdsale what’s nextContent Equity crowdsale what’s next Here’s breakdown next step expect case missed big news weekend BABB equity crowdsale closed 1159pm Saturday 18 August total investment coming £1550000 1452 investor We’re delighted successfully funded grateful new shareholder support What’s next lot happening next week Here’s everything need know invested equity crowdsale Followup info follows sevenday period Crowdcube send additional information including article association official document outline BABB’s responsibility business shareholder Please read carefully get touch question Confirming ID Crowdcube might also contact submit ID KYC AML check case perform check automatically investor need supply additional documentation you’re doubt whether need submit documentation advise logging Crowdcube account contacting customer support team We’re also hand help need u chat team dedicated equity crowdsale telegram group email u crowdsalegetbabbcom Making payment pledged via credit debit card investment taken automatically early next week pledged invest via bank transfer Crowdcube contact arranging payment also refer previous blog post instruction Receiving share passed KYC made investment share automatically distributed Crowdcube account within 2–3 week able view manage portfolio account Crowdcube website also receive official share certificate confirming shareholder BABB Group Ltd Please enjoy keep safe BAX bonus airdrop Crowdcube confirmed payment investor receive email address participant able get touch directly regarding claiming BAX bonus airdrop already account getbabbcom token sale automatically receive BAX bonus airdrop account Please note email address linked Crowdcube account different one linked BABB account need let u know don’t BABB account contact directly instruction open account getbabbcom need open account order claim BAX bonus airdrop BAX bonus payable equity crowdsale investor dependent amount invested BAX airdrop distributed participated BABB token sale well invested equity crowdsale recipient recieve number token airdrop we’ll contact nearer time confirm airdrop amount Sharehodler merch competition recently selected winner sharehodler merch competition everyone took part competition received email letting know whether among winner last merch order due arrive week following delay thanks bearing u we’ll distribute prize winner soon Perks reward Speaking merch — also contact investor coming week claiming perk they’re eligible result invested amount investor eligible get early access alpha app subject waiting list we’re also offering tshirts access event perk invested higher amount Stay tuned detail coming soon Banking license update probably know fund raised equity crowdsale used meet minimum capital requirement banking license BABB currently process applying Look update Paul coming Thursday progress applicationsTags Blockchain Entrepreneurship Startup Updates Fintech |
3,150 | Will The Real Experts Stand Up? | Tell me about you. Give me the highlights reels of your career. Where you started and how you ended up to where you are now. (Note: I love how Krista used bullets, which is something I would totally do)
Krista Elvey: My brain works best in list-form, so here’s a point form breakdown of how I got here!
Earlier in my career, I worked in several environmental non-profits while working as a freelance designer on the side.
I took a leap of faith and studied design in Rome for a year.
After coming back to the US for a few years, I traveled the world for a year while working remotely and have worked remotely ever since!
I’m both an American and Canadian permanent resident, but work mostly with US-based clients out of my Toronto home.
I’ve lived really big, I’ve worked really hard, and all of those perspectives help shape the person and professional I am today. I bring all of those experiences and insights into my work, and I like to think it shows.
What are you doing right now as a product or service provider?
KE: I’m a multidisciplinary designer and illustrator. I specialize in brand identity design, but I also design websites, packaging, and more. I’m in the early stages of building a product-based company so I can make things and create experiences that I wish were more common in the world today!
How long have you been doing what you do?
KE: I’ve been doing design work for almost a decade, picking up new skills and challenges along the way. I just celebrated my 3rd anniversary of working full-time for myself, and I’m just getting started!
Who do you do it for? What audience (s) do you serve. Tell me about them and why you settled on this particular audience.
KE: I know this goes against all industry “best practices,” but I don’t only design for a specific niche of clients because I thrive in a world of variety. I’ve always done what works for me, because I believe that authenticity and quality comes from being honest with yourself and what you’re passionate about creating.
But in a more general sense, I work with medium to large businesses and entrepreneurs. They tend to fall in the Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, and Food/Beverage industries. It’s also very important to me to have at least a couple of nonprofits in my client roster (to which I offer special rates), because it aligns with my core belief of Doing Good in the world. If I can say I’ve been doing good work for good causes, I can be satisfied with where I’m at in life.
Why do you do it? What’s your WHY?
KE: Design is how I understand the world; it’s the language that all my senses and perspectives are filtered through. So on a very literal level, I’m a designer because it’s how I best communicate with the world around me. (Is it cheesy to say it’s my Love Language? Because it kind of totally is.)
My big WHY is simple: I like to help people. Always have, always will. Service is compassion in action; it’s where empathy becomes a thing you DO rather than a thing you feel. I also love problem solving, so my career lets me engage all these core parts of myself at once. I use design to help others solve their problems!
Let’s get into the weeds. Everyone’s role is multifaceted and multi-dimensional. But pick one part of what you do. It could be a deliverable for a client or how you put together an event — focus on one aspect of the million things you do every day. Now, go into detail as if you’re explaining this to someone who’s never heard of what you do. Feel free to include:
Any mindsets, habits and routines People, process, technology/resources Any aspect of the how that sets you apart from the pack
KE: Logo Design
People often conflate Logo Design with Brand Identity, but a logo is just one component of a full Brand Identity. A Brand Identity refers to all of the components that make up a brand, such as colors, typography, design systems, marketing materials, and brand voice & tone.
Most of the time, when someone comes to me for a logo they are also looking for me to create more components of a brand identity than just a logo, like a full brand guide and assets such as marketing materials, brand illustrations, packaging, and more. Every client is different and therefore has specific needs, so I tailor my services to provide only what makes the most sense for each situation and budget.
A logo is such an important part of a brand identity. It has a tremendous amount of value because it often is tasked with providing the first impression to your business.
Client Brief : I always start with a brief to get a sense of the scope of the project. Why do they need a logo now? Where will this logo live and how will it be used? What’s the intended lifetime of this brand?
: I always start with a brief to get a sense of the scope of the project. Why do they need a logo now? Where will this logo live and how will it be used? What’s the intended lifetime of this brand? Discovery and Getting to Know the Client : My goals for Discovery are to learn as much as I can about the brand, customers, and client. This is where I ask a LOT of questions. This process also provides a lot of value to the client because it helps them to get really clear on their goals, priorities, and helps them to think more about the audience they are serving.
: My goals for Discovery are to learn as much as I can about the brand, customers, and client. This is where I ask a LOT of questions. This process also provides a lot of value to the client because it helps them to get really clear on their goals, priorities, and helps them to think more about the audience they are serving. Research & Tone Setting: Before I start sketching, I provide the client with a series of mood boards Even if I’m only creating a logo and not a full brand identity, I still provide moodboards to help establish a tone and direction for the logo design. Something else that’s really important is that I aim to help the client separate their own personal tastes from what will make sense for the brand. It’s so important that your logo be industry-appropriate and speak to the customers you serve, rather than reflect your own aesthetic preferences. It’s a hard habit to break!
I also conduct research into my client’s industry so we can review what their competitors are doing. This is helpful to know how to stand out from the crowd.
Furthermore, this part of the process helps break down the really big decision of deciding on a logo into a series of smaller decisions. For instance, if we can make some general decisions on goals, tone, colors, typography before we even get to the point of reviewing options, choosing a design feels more like the logical final step rather than a big scary decision.
First Drafts : I sketch dozens of options before settling on 2–3 concepts to show the client. The number of variations isn’t set in stone because I only want to share options that I feel 100% confident that will be a great choice for the brand. I share the first concepts as stand alone logos, as well as on an application like a postcard, so the client can get a feel for how their logo will look in the wild.
: I sketch dozens of options before settling on 2–3 concepts to show the client. The number of variations isn’t set in stone because I only want to share options that I feel 100% confident that will be a great choice for the brand. I share the first concepts as stand alone logos, as well as on an application like a postcard, so the client can get a feel for how their logo will look in the wild. Revisions : I have a set number of revisions (3) because it helps lead to a final decision. Design is an iterative process, and occasionally a logo concept is chosen at the first draft and then polished into a final version. But usually, we have a couple of rounds of edits to land on the chosen design.
: I have a set number of revisions (3) because it helps lead to a final decision. Design is an iterative process, and occasionally a logo concept is chosen at the first draft and then polished into a final version. But usually, we have a couple of rounds of edits to land on the chosen design. Finalize: After the final concept is chosen, I will provide the logo (or begin the additional deliverables as applicable). On delivery, I present the logo in all necessary formats and file types needed to use it wherever needed. I also provide some education on how to use each of the file types.
One last thing about my process: I’ve been working remotely with clients for over 6 years, and I value great communication and building/earning trust. Also, I’m proud to say I’ve never missed a single deadline.
Trust is earned, and I do my best to always earn their trust. It’s a big leap of faith to allow someone else to collaborate in your business, so it’s very important to me that each client feels like I’m both dependable and that I provide a ton of value for their business.
Are there any points in the process that you’ve tweaked or altered over time? Why?
KE: I used to offer standard design packages for my clients, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution for companies across all the sizes and industries I tend to work with. So now I have a project minimum, but I tailor my packages to suit each client’s needs. It’s more labor-intensive of my end, but it brings greater value to the client and offers that level of focus and care that is a core part of myself and my brand.
On that same note, I used to have project management software where I onboarded each client to set expectations and be really clear on deadlines. It turns out, nobody has time to learn a new program just to communicate with their designer. Now I tailor my project management to match whatever software the client currently uses, and communicate my process through their workflow.
Finally, I hold personal post mortems after each project and make small adjustments to anything that isn’t working in my process. Design is iterative, and I want my relationship with each client to reflect that.
Anything else you want to share?
KE: There are hundreds of advantages to working for yourself, but one I really struggled with was teaching myself to rest. When you’re your own boss, it can be hard to tell yourself to take a break or shift into a lower gear. Without a team nearby to gauge yourself against, it can be easy to miss the signs of burnout. And when you start to view your day-to-day actions in terms of money you are (or aren’t) making, it becomes hard to justify taking time to yourself. But it’s the most important lesson in the world, so start learning it as soon as you can.
Balance is everything.
Speaking of balance, I’ve come to embrace a “one for them, one for me” mentality. The struggle between chasing your wildest, weirdest creative impulses and paying your bills is very real. So I always try to balance every case of high-intensity client-led work with a project that pays next to nothing, but is dictated entirely by me, for me. (FS Note: I love this!!!)
Working for myself means I’m working for all sides of myself, not just the part that makes money. Otherwise, what’s the point of working for ourselves if we’re going to import the same work-life imbalances that made a lot of us want to go solo to begin with? I try to be the balance I want to see in the world, and I know you can too. | https://medium.com/falling-into-freelancing/will-the-real-experts-stand-up-bb87a9b41df1 | ['Felicia C. Sullivan'] | 2020-12-16 19:21:51.311000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Branding', 'Freelancing', 'Design', 'Marketing'] | Title Real Experts Stand UpContent Tell Give highlight reel career started ended Note love Krista used bullet something would totally Krista Elvey brain work best listform here’s point form breakdown got Earlier career worked several environmental nonprofit working freelance designer side took leap faith studied design Rome year coming back US year traveled world year working remotely worked remotely ever since I’m American Canadian permanent resident work mostly USbased client Toronto home I’ve lived really big I’ve worked really hard perspective help shape person professional today bring experience insight work like think show right product service provider KE I’m multidisciplinary designer illustrator specialize brand identity design also design website packaging I’m early stage building productbased company make thing create experience wish common world today long KE I’ve design work almost decade picking new skill challenge along way celebrated 3rd anniversary working fulltime I’m getting started audience serve Tell settled particular audience KE know go industry “best practices” don’t design specific niche client thrive world variety I’ve always done work believe authenticity quality come honest you’re passionate creating general sense work medium large business entrepreneur tend fall Health Wellness Lifestyle FoodBeverage industry It’s also important least couple nonprofit client roster offer special rate aligns core belief Good world say I’ve good work good cause satisfied I’m life What’s KE Design understand world it’s language sens perspective filtered literal level I’m designer it’s best communicate world around cheesy say it’s Love Language kind totally big simple like help people Always always Service compassion action it’s empathy becomes thing rather thing feel also love problem solving career let engage core part use design help others solve problem Let’s get weed Everyone’s role multifaceted multidimensional pick one part could deliverable client put together event — focus one aspect million thing every day go detail you’re explaining someone who’s never heard Feel free include mindset habit routine People process technologyresources aspect set apart pack KE Logo Design People often conflate Logo Design Brand Identity logo one component full Brand Identity Brand Identity refers component make brand color typography design system marketing material brand voice tone time someone come logo also looking create component brand identity logo like full brand guide asset marketing material brand illustration packaging Every client different therefore specific need tailor service provide make sense situation budget logo important part brand identity tremendous amount value often tasked providing first impression business Client Brief always start brief get sense scope project need logo logo live used What’s intended lifetime brand always start brief get sense scope project need logo logo live used What’s intended lifetime brand Discovery Getting Know Client goal Discovery learn much brand customer client ask LOT question process also provides lot value client help get really clear goal priority help think audience serving goal Discovery learn much brand customer client ask LOT question process also provides lot value client help get really clear goal priority help think audience serving Research Tone Setting start sketching provide client series mood board Even I’m creating logo full brand identity still provide moodboards help establish tone direction logo design Something else that’s really important aim help client separate personal taste make sense brand It’s important logo industryappropriate speak customer serve rather reflect aesthetic preference It’s hard habit break also conduct research client’s industry review competitor helpful know stand crowd Furthermore part process help break really big decision deciding logo series smaller decision instance make general decision goal tone color typography even get point reviewing option choosing design feel like logical final step rather big scary decision First Drafts sketch dozen option settling 2–3 concept show client number variation isn’t set stone want share option feel 100 confident great choice brand share first concept stand alone logo well application like postcard client get feel logo look wild sketch dozen option settling 2–3 concept show client number variation isn’t set stone want share option feel 100 confident great choice brand share first concept stand alone logo well application like postcard client get feel logo look wild Revisions set number revision 3 help lead final decision Design iterative process occasionally logo concept chosen first draft polished final version usually couple round edits land chosen design set number revision 3 help lead final decision Design iterative process occasionally logo concept chosen first draft polished final version usually couple round edits land chosen design Finalize final concept chosen provide logo begin additional deliverable applicable delivery present logo necessary format file type needed use wherever needed also provide education use file type One last thing process I’ve working remotely client 6 year value great communication buildingearning trust Also I’m proud say I’ve never missed single deadline Trust earned best always earn trust It’s big leap faith allow someone else collaborate business it’s important client feel like I’m dependable provide ton value business point process you’ve tweaked altered time KE used offer standard design package client onesizefitsall solution company across size industry tend work project minimum tailor package suit client’s need It’s laborintensive end brings greater value client offer level focus care core part brand note used project management software onboarded client set expectation really clear deadline turn nobody time learn new program communicate designer tailor project management match whatever software client currently us communicate process workflow Finally hold personal post mortems project make small adjustment anything isn’t working process Design iterative want relationship client reflect Anything else want share KE hundred advantage working one really struggled teaching rest you’re bos hard tell take break shift lower gear Without team nearby gauge easy miss sign burnout start view daytoday action term money aren’t making becomes hard justify taking time it’s important lesson world start learning soon Balance everything Speaking balance I’ve come embrace “one one me” mentality struggle chasing wildest weirdest creative impulse paying bill real always try balance every case highintensity clientled work project pay next nothing dictated entirely FS Note love Working mean I’m working side part make money Otherwise what’s point working we’re going import worklife imbalance made lot u want go solo begin try balance want see world know tooTags Work Branding Freelancing Design Marketing |
3,151 | Rotate, Remove, and Rearrange PDF Pages Easily with WPF PDF Viewer | Usually, PDF files created from scanning physical papers will require rotating, rearranging, and the removal of redundant pages. The Syncfusion WPF PDF Viewer is a single-stop shop for performing these operations in a PDF document quickly and easily.
The support for multiple-page selection and miniature previews (thumbnails) in the PDF Viewer will help you review, select, and organize the pages in large PDF files in a matter of seconds. In this blog, we will explore how to perform the following operations interactively and with code examples:
Rotate pages in a PDF.
Remove pages in a PDF.
Rearrange pages in a PDF.
Getting started
First things first:
Create a new WPF project and install the PDF Viewer NuGet package. Include the following code in your XAML page to add the PDF Viewer as a child to window.
<Window x:Class=”PdfViewer.MainWindow” xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:pdfviewer=”clr-namespace:Syncfusion.Windows.PdfViewer;assembly=Syncfusion.PdfViewer.WPF”
Title=”PDF Viewer”>
<pdfviewer:PdfViewerControl x:Name=”pdfViewer”/>
</Window>
How to rotate pages in a PDF
If you need to rotate pages that are displayed upside down or with incorrect orientation, you can do this in the PDF Viewer:
Open the PDF file in PDF Viewer using the open button. Click the organize pages icon
in the left toolbar to display the thumbnails of PDF pages.
3. Select the page you want to rotate. To select multiple pages, hold down the Ctrl key and click them all.
4. Click the counterclockwise icon
or clockwise icon
in the toolbar to rotate the selected pages 90 degrees with respect to the current page position.
5. After performing the operation, close the organizing pages view.
Rotating pages of a PDF
You can also rotate the pages from the application level using the built-in APIs. The following code example elaborates on how to rotate specific PDF pages to a specific angle and direction.
To rotate the pages to a specific angle
private void RotatePages()
{
int[] pageIndexes = new int[] { 0, 2, 6 };
// Rotates the PDF pages 90 degrees regardless of its current rotation angle.
pdfViewer.PageOrganizer.Rotate(pageIndexes, PdfPageRotateAngle.RotateAngle90);
}
To rotate specific pages clockwise
private void RotatePagesClockwise()
{
int[] pageIndexes = new int[] { 0, 2, 6 };
// Rotates the PDF pages 90 degrees clockwise with respect to the current rotation angle. pdfViewer.PageOrganizer.RotateClockwise(pageIndexes);
}
To rotate specific pages counterclockwise
private void RotatePagesCounterclockwise()
{
int[] pageIndexes = new int[] { 0, 2, 6 };
// Rotates the PDF pages to 90 degrees in counterclockwise direction with respect to the current rotation angle. pdfViewer.PageOrganizer.RotateCounterclockwise(pageIndexes);
}
Note: You can rotate PDF pages 90, 180, 270, and 360 degrees only.
How to remove pages in a PDF
To remove pages in a PDF document, follow these steps:
Open the input PDF file in PDF Viewer. Click the organize pages icon
in the left toolbar to display the thumbnails of the PDF pages.
3. Select the page you want to remove. To select multiple pages, hold down the Ctrl key and select them all.
4. Click the delete icon
in the toolbar to remove the selected pages.
5. Once the operation is performed, close the organizing pages view.
Remove pages in a PDF
You can also remove pages at the application level using the built-in APIs. The following code example elaborates on how to remove specific pages in a PDF file.
To remove a page at a specific index
private void RemovePage()
{
// Removes a page at a specific index.
pdfViewer.PageOrganizer.RemoveAt(2);
}
To remove specific pages
private void RemovePages()
{
int[] pageIndexes = new int[] { 0, 2, 6 };
// Removes specific pages in a PDF file.
pdfViewer.PageOrganizer.RemovePages(pageIndexes);
}
Note: You cannot remove all the pages in a PDF file. You need to retain at least one page.
How to rearrange pages in a PDF
To rearrange the pages in a PDF document, follow these steps:
Open the PDF file in PDF Viewer. Click the organize pages icon
in the left toolbar to display the thumbnails of the PDF pages.
3. Select the page you want to reorder. To select multiple pages, hold down the Ctrl key and select them all.
4. Drag the selected pages to the location to which you need to move them. This will rearrange the pages automatically.
5. Once you’ve performed the operation, close the organizing pages view for further processing.
Rearrange pages in a PDF
You can also rearrange the pages at the application level using the built-in APIs. The following code example elaborates on how to rearrange the pages in a PDF file with the expected page order.
private void RearrangePages()
{
int[] expectedOrder = new int[] { 1, 0, 2 };
// Rearranges the pages in a PDF file with 3 pages in the expected order.
pdfViewer.PageOrganizer.ReArrange(expectedOrder);
}
Note: The length of the expected order should be equal to the original page count.
Resources
You can download the samples from the following GitHub repositories:
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this blog. I hope that this information helps you organize your PDF file into a professional-looking document. You can find demos of other PDF Viewer features in this GitHub repository.
Feel free to share your feedback or questions in the comments section below. You can also contact us through our support forums, Direct-Trac, or feedback portal. We are always happy to assist you!
See also
[Blog] Top 10 Features of Syncfusion WPF PDF Viewer
[Blog] Problems Applying Right-to-Left Rendering in WPF PDF Viewer?
[Blog] PDF to Image Conversion is Made Easy with WPF PDF Viewer
[Blog] Inking PDF Documents with Essential PDF Viewer | https://medium.com/syncfusion/rotate-remove-and-rearrange-pdf-pages-easily-with-wpf-pdf-viewer-867f205b93bc | ['Rajeshwari Pandinagarajan'] | 2020-12-19 15:22:36.362000+00:00 | ['Wpf', 'Application Development', 'Csharp', 'Pdf', 'Productivity'] | Title Rotate Remove Rearrange PDF Pages Easily WPF PDF ViewerContent Usually PDF file created scanning physical paper require rotating rearranging removal redundant page Syncfusion WPF PDF Viewer singlestop shop performing operation PDF document quickly easily support multiplepage selection miniature preview thumbnail PDF Viewer help review select organize page large PDF file matter second blog explore perform following operation interactively code example Rotate page PDF Remove page PDF Rearrange page PDF Getting started First thing first Create new WPF project install PDF Viewer NuGet package Include following code XAML page add PDF Viewer child window Window xClass”PdfViewerMainWindow” xmlns”httpschemasmicrosoftcomwinfx2006xamlpresentation xmlnsx”httpschemasmicrosoftcomwinfx2006xaml xmlnspdfviewer”clrnamespaceSyncfusionWindowsPdfViewerassemblySyncfusionPdfViewerWPF” Title”PDF Viewer” pdfviewerPdfViewerControl xName”pdfViewer” Window rotate page PDF need rotate page displayed upside incorrect orientation PDF Viewer Open PDF file PDF Viewer using open button Click organize page icon left toolbar display thumbnail PDF page 3 Select page want rotate select multiple page hold Ctrl key click 4 Click counterclockwise icon clockwise icon toolbar rotate selected page 90 degree respect current page position 5 performing operation close organizing page view Rotating page PDF also rotate page application level using builtin APIs following code example elaborates rotate specific PDF page specific angle direction rotate page specific angle private void RotatePages int pageIndexes new int 0 2 6 Rotates PDF page 90 degree regardless current rotation angle pdfViewerPageOrganizerRotatepageIndexes PdfPageRotateAngleRotateAngle90 rotate specific page clockwise private void RotatePagesClockwise int pageIndexes new int 0 2 6 Rotates PDF page 90 degree clockwise respect current rotation angle pdfViewerPageOrganizerRotateClockwisepageIndexes rotate specific page counterclockwise private void RotatePagesCounterclockwise int pageIndexes new int 0 2 6 Rotates PDF page 90 degree counterclockwise direction respect current rotation angle pdfViewerPageOrganizerRotateCounterclockwisepageIndexes Note rotate PDF page 90 180 270 360 degree remove page PDF remove page PDF document follow step Open input PDF file PDF Viewer Click organize page icon left toolbar display thumbnail PDF page 3 Select page want remove select multiple page hold Ctrl key select 4 Click delete icon toolbar remove selected page 5 operation performed close organizing page view Remove page PDF also remove page application level using builtin APIs following code example elaborates remove specific page PDF file remove page specific index private void RemovePage Removes page specific index pdfViewerPageOrganizerRemoveAt2 remove specific page private void RemovePages int pageIndexes new int 0 2 6 Removes specific page PDF file pdfViewerPageOrganizerRemovePagespageIndexes Note cannot remove page PDF file need retain least one page rearrange page PDF rearrange page PDF document follow step Open PDF file PDF Viewer Click organize page icon left toolbar display thumbnail PDF page 3 Select page want reorder select multiple page hold Ctrl key select 4 Drag selected page location need move rearrange page automatically 5 you’ve performed operation close organizing page view processing Rearrange page PDF also rearrange page application level using builtin APIs following code example elaborates rearrange page PDF file expected page order private void RearrangePages int expectedOrder new int 1 0 2 Rearranges page PDF file 3 page expected order pdfViewerPageOrganizerReArrangeexpectedOrder Note length expected order equal original page count Resources download sample following GitHub repository Conclusion Thank reading blog hope information help organize PDF file professionallooking document find demo PDF Viewer feature GitHub repository Feel free share feedback question comment section also contact u support forum DirectTrac feedback portal always happy assist See also Blog Top 10 Features Syncfusion WPF PDF Viewer Blog Problems Applying RighttoLeft Rendering WPF PDF Viewer Blog PDF Image Conversion Made Easy WPF PDF Viewer Blog Inking PDF Documents Essential PDF ViewerTags Wpf Application Development Csharp Pdf Productivity |
3,152 | How to Bridge the Gap Between What You Want and What You Need | In late 2015, I had one thing on my mind.
I was a teacher’s assistant working under a burned out teacher who couldn’t stand me. The anxiety was so bad, I literally had hives. I hated my job and I desperately needed a way out of it.
I also needed the income, as terrible as it was. I couldn’t just quit. I had to find something else, first. So I started throwing everything I could think of at the wall, hoping something would stick.
I interviewed for new positions at the school district and got a job at a different school, which helped but wasn’t enough. I wanted something completely different.
Two things happened at the same time: I decided my best bet for making enough money to quit working all together was to write and sell another novel. And I decided to blog about it.
I had a little blog that earned a couple of hundred dollars a month. When my posts about writing my novel did well, I thought maybe if I started a blog just about writing then I’d make another couple of hundred and that would help.
I did that in February 2015. And that little blog became Ninja Writers — a six-figure business that is honestly the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
You Can’t Get What You Don’t Reach For
When I stared Ninja Writers, I didn’t know a lot about online business. Or being an entrepreneur.
If I had, I might not have even tried. It’s a lot of work. And a lot of it is done blind. I had no idea what I was doing, and that in the end that was good, I think.
Not because it wouldn’t have helped to have some clue — it would have.
But because I didn’t know enough to be scared. I didn’t worry about it. I just dived in and did the work.
I just reached.
And it turns out, if you don’t reach for a thing, you’ll never get it.
Humans have a habit of self-limitation. If we set expectations for ourselves, they become ceilings. Like the elephant who doesn’t need the chain around its ankle anymore, we bump up against that non-existing ceiling and just stay there.
Goals vs. Dreams
I think there’s a distinction between goals and dreams.
A goal is concrete. My goal was to quit my job. To do that, all I needed was the replace the income. I didn’t care where that money came from, as long as it was less miserable than how I was making money at the time.
As a result, I didn’t apply for jobs that earned a lot more than the one I had. I didn’t apply for jobs I didn’t think I could get.
A dream is more ethereal. My dream was to quit my job and be a writer.
What made a life-changing difference to me was when my goal (get out of my job) and my dream (quit my job and just be a writer) collided.
I didn’t do it on purpose, but I found the intersection. For me, it was teaching and writing.
What’s your intersection? The place where your goals and your dreams collide. There’s magic there.
Find the Gap Between Here and There
For me, that intersection was between teaching and writing.
I loved teaching. I hated working for the school district. It was such a bad fit that it literally made me sick.
I loved writing, but if I spent all my time and creativity doing it for other people, I didn’t have any left for writing I wanted to do.
When I started teaching other people what I knew about writing, suddenly things opened up. Teaching gave me the income to quit my job. Writing for Ninja Writers actually fed my creativity.
I ended up writing and selling two more books in the next few years. And becoming a successful blogger. And writing classes that really helped people.
My gap was between what I thought I had to do (teaching) and what I wanted to do (writing.)
What’s your gap? Look for the place where the intersection between your dreams and goals comes close, but doesn’t quite meet.
Bridge It
Once you understand your intersection and have identified your gap, you can figure out a bridge.
Forget about your expectations. Don’t worry about whether or not you’ll be successful. In fact, consider that success is just closing that gap a little bit.
If your feet are pointed in the right direction, every step builds that bridge, because it brings you closer.
It takes faith, of course, to take that step and trust that there will be something under you to catch your foot. What if you fail? What if you try and nothing happens? What if the first thing you try doesn’t bridge that gap? What if the tenth thing doesn’t?
The truth is that even failures bridge the gap.
Trying to manage your expectations limits you. Think big, act small. Those small actions, completed with consistency, are the building blocks to your bridge. | https://medium.com/the-write-brain/how-to-bridge-the-gap-between-what-you-want-and-what-you-need-2a58dea7466b | ['Shaunta Grimes'] | 2020-08-31 14:01:47.913000+00:00 | ['Ninjabyob', 'Habits', 'Writing', 'Work', 'Entrepreneurship'] | Title Bridge Gap Want NeedContent late 2015 one thing mind teacher’s assistant working burned teacher couldn’t stand anxiety bad literally hive hated job desperately needed way also needed income terrible couldn’t quit find something else first started throwing everything could think wall hoping something would stick interviewed new position school district got job different school helped wasn’t enough wanted something completely different Two thing happened time decided best bet making enough money quit working together write sell another novel decided blog little blog earned couple hundred dollar month post writing novel well thought maybe started blog writing I’d make another couple hundred would help February 2015 little blog became Ninja Writers — sixfigure business honestly coolest thing I’ve ever done Can’t Get Don’t Reach stared Ninja Writers didn’t know lot online business entrepreneur might even tried It’s lot work lot done blind idea end good think wouldn’t helped clue — would didn’t know enough scared didn’t worry dived work reached turn don’t reach thing you’ll never get Humans habit selflimitation set expectation become ceiling Like elephant doesn’t need chain around ankle anymore bump nonexisting ceiling stay Goals v Dreams think there’s distinction goal dream goal concrete goal quit job needed replace income didn’t care money came long le miserable making money time result didn’t apply job earned lot one didn’t apply job didn’t think could get dream ethereal dream quit job writer made lifechanging difference goal get job dream quit job writer collided didn’t purpose found intersection teaching writing What’s intersection place goal dream collide There’s magic Find Gap intersection teaching writing loved teaching hated working school district bad fit literally made sick loved writing spent time creativity people didn’t left writing wanted started teaching people knew writing suddenly thing opened Teaching gave income quit job Writing Ninja Writers actually fed creativity ended writing selling two book next year becoming successful blogger writing class really helped people gap thought teaching wanted writing What’s gap Look place intersection dream goal come close doesn’t quite meet Bridge understand intersection identified gap figure bridge Forget expectation Don’t worry whether you’ll successful fact consider success closing gap little bit foot pointed right direction every step build bridge brings closer take faith course take step trust something catch foot fail try nothing happens first thing try doesn’t bridge gap tenth thing doesn’t truth even failure bridge gap Trying manage expectation limit Think big act small small action completed consistency building block bridgeTags Ninjabyob Habits Writing Work Entrepreneurship |
3,153 | 10 Useful ML Practices For Python Developers | → ML in production series
Come join Maxpool — A Data Science community to discuss real ML problems!
Sometimes as a data scientist we forget what are we paid for. We are primarily developers, then researchers and then maybe mathematicians. Our first responsibility is to quickly develop solutions which are bug-free.
Just because we can make models doesn’t mean we are gods. It doesn’t give us the freedom to write crap code.
Since my start, I have made tremendous mistakes and thought of sharing what I see to be the most common skills for ML engineering. In my opinion, it’s also the most lacking skill in the industry right now.
I call them software-illiterate data scientists because a lot of them are non-CS Coursera baptised engineers. And, I myself have been that 😅
If it came to hiring between a great data scientist and a great ML engineer, I will hire the later.
Let's get started.
1. Learn to write abstract classes
Once you start writing abstract classes, you will know how much clarity it can bring to your codebase. They enforce the same methods and method names. If many people are working on the same project, everyone starts making different methods. This can create unproductive chaos. | https://medium.com/modern-nlp/10-great-ml-practices-for-python-developers-b089eefc18fc | ['Pratik Bhavsar'] | 2020-09-13 06:13:45.670000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] | Title 10 Useful ML Practices Python DevelopersContent → ML production series Come join Maxpool — Data Science community discus real ML problem Sometimes data scientist forget paid primarily developer researcher maybe mathematician first responsibility quickly develop solution bugfree make model doesn’t mean god doesn’t give u freedom write crap code Since start made tremendous mistake thought sharing see common skill ML engineering opinion it’s also lacking skill industry right call softwareilliterate data scientist lot nonCS Coursera baptised engineer 😅 came hiring great data scientist great ML engineer hire later Lets get started 1 Learn write abstract class start writing abstract class know much clarity bring codebase enforce method method name many people working project everyone start making different method create unproductive chaosTags Programming Artificial Intelligence Python Data Science Machine Learning |
3,154 | 25 lesser-known Java libraries you should try in 2020 | 1. RxJava
Reactive Extensions (ReactiveX) is a popular software development paradigm to deal with asynchronous and event-driven programming. RxJava is the Java VM implementations of the Reactive Extensions by using Observables. It extends the Observer Pattern to support event-driven programming by adding composable operators on a sequence of events/data in a declarative way. It also hides the low-level complexities like threading, thread-safety, synchronization, and concurrent data structure.
If you want to do reactive programming in Java, it is a must-have library.
Link:
2. OkHttp
HTTP is by far the most used Application layer protocol. There are many excellent Java-based HTTP client libraries out there. But OkHttp is the simplest yet powerful HTTP client library in the JVM. It offers fluent and clean API to develop HTTP client in Java.
It also supports some advanced features: Connection pooling, GZIP shrink, response caching, modern TLS features, and many more.
Link:
3. MyBatis
In most Software development projects, we need to store data. Although there are many types of data storage, SQL is still the most used data storage type. As a Java developer, we need to match our Java object to the SQL table. One way to achieve the mapping is to use ORM (e.g., Hibernate). But there are many use cases when you want to have full control over the Object-Table mapping (e.g., Performance). In those cases, you can directly use JDBC and write the SQL query. The other way is to use MyBatis to map Java Object to Stored Procedure or SQL statements. It offers both annotation-based or XML descriptor based mapping.
I prefer MyBatis over plain JDBC, especially in larger projects, as it improves the separation of concerns.
Link:
4. HikariCP
HikariCP is the second library in this list related to Database. Establishing a JDBC connection is resource expensive. If you create a new connection every time you access the Database and close it once you are done, it can severely impact your application performance. Not to mention that failure to close the connection properly or allowing limitless database connection can crash your application.
Using Connection Pooling means connections are reused rather than created each time a connection is requested. HikariCP is a very fast yet lightweight Database connection pooling in JVM. It is also very reliable and a “zero-overhead” JDBC connection pool.
Link:
5. Lombok
In modern days, Java is often criticized as a verbose and bloated programming language. Compared to other popular languages (JavaScript, Python, Scala, Kotlin), a developer needs to write lots of boilerplate code in Java. Although Java has introduced Records in JDK 15 to reduce boilerplate code in Java, it is not an LTS release. Fortunately, a library can already reduce your boilerplate code in Java significantly: Project Lombok. You can generate getters, setters, hashcode, equals, toString, Builder classes by adding a few annotations. Additionally, it offers null pointer check, logger, and many more.
Link:
6. VAVR
Java finally released the much-awaited functional programming via Lambda and Streaming in version 8. If you are used to functional programming or want to dive deep into functional programming, you may find Java’s functional programming wanting. Compared to many other functional programming languages (Haskell, Scala), Java is pale. VAVR is a library that can fill the gap of the functional programming features in Java. It provides persistent collections, functional abstractions for error handling, concurrent programming, pattern matching, and much more.
Link:
7. Gson
Over the years, JSON has become the de-facto data exchange format. In Java, there also exist several excellent libraries to deal with JSON. One of them is Jackson, which I have covered in my previous article. The other excellent library is Google’s Gson. Unlike Jackson, it is a minimalistic library and only supports JSON. It offers Data Binding, extensive Generic support, flexible customization. One of the major advantage (or disadvantage depending on your liking) of Gson is that it does not need annotation.
Link:
8. jsoup
If you are developing your application in Java and need to deal with HTML, you should use jsoup. It is a Java library to work with real-world HTML. It provides a very convenient API for fetching URLs and extracting and manipulating data. It implements the WHATWG HTML5 specification and parses HTML using the best of HTML5 DOM methods. It supports parsing HTML from URL/string, find and extract data, manipulate the HTML elements, clean HTML, output HTML.
Link:
9. JIB
If you are working on an enterprise-grade application, it should be at least Cloud-ready. The first step to make your application cloud-ready is to containerize your application, i.e., put your artifactory binary into Docker image. Dockerizing a Java application is a bit tedious work: you need to have deep knowledge of Docker, you need to create a Dockerfile, and you will need Docker Daemon. Fortunately for the Java developers, Google has created an Open-source Java containerizer using already existing tools. You can use JIB as a Java library to build an optimized Docker and OCI image.
Link
10. Tink
Tink is yet another handy Java library in this list from Google. Cryptography and security are becoming increasingly more important in Software Development. Cryptographic techniques are used to secure user data. Implementing cryptography correctly requires a lot of expertise and effort. A group of Cryptographers and security engineers in Google has written the multi-language cryptographic library Tink. It offers easy-to-use but hard to misuse security API. Tink offers cryptographic functionalities via different primitives. It provides symmetric key encryption, streaming symmetric key encryption, deterministic symmetric key encryption, digital signature, hybrid encryption, and many other encryption functionalities.
Link:
11. Webmagic
If you work on Web crawling, you can write your own crawler, which is time-consuming and tedious. In Java, Webmagic is an excellent Web crawler library that covers the complete life-cycle of crawler: downloading, URL management, content extraction, persistence. It offers a simple yet flexible core, Annotation support, multi-threaded, and easy-to-use API.
Link:
12. ANTLR 4
If you work on parsing and processing data, then the ANTLR library could be handy. It is a powerful parser generator for reading, processing, executing, or translating structured text or binary files. It does this by giving us access to language processing primitives like lexers, grammars, parsers, and the runtime to process text against them.
It’s often used to build tools and frameworks.
Link:
13. Caffeine
If your application is read-heavy, then caching can dramatically improve your application’s data access performance. Java has many great caching libraries. Caffeine is the best among the lot. It is a high-performance, near-optimal caching library based on Java. It offers a fluent caching API and some advanced features like asynchronous loading of entries, asynchronous refresh, weak referenced keys, etc.
Link:
14. Metrics
Once your Java application runs into production, you will want to have insight into your application's critical components. Metrics from the Dropwizard framework is a simple yet compelling Java library that provides insight into your application and JVMs KPI, e.g., rate of events, pending jobs, service health check, and more. It is modular and offers modules for other libraries/frameworks.
Link:
15. gRPC-Java
Google has created gRPC as a modern Remote Procedure Call system in 2015. Since then, gRPC became extremely popular and one of the most used RPC system in modern software development. The library gRPC-Java is the Java implementation of the gRPC client. If you want to use gRPC in Java, then this library can be handy for you.
Link:
16. Java WebSocket
Traditional Client-Server communications unidirectional. WebSocket is a bi-directional communication protocol over a single TCP connection. Java WebSocket is a barebone WebSocket server and client implementation in Java. If you are a Java developer and want to work with WebSocket, this library is highly recommended.
Link:
17. JJWT
JSON Web Token (JWT) is the de-facto Authorization and secure Information exchange format in modern software development. Whether you are using a simple session-based Authorization or highly advanced OAuth2 based Authorization, you will probably use JWT. JJWT is a simple Java library for creating and verifying JWT in Java and JVM landscape. It is fully RFC specification compliant on all implemented functionality. It supports readable and convenient fluent API.
Link:
18. Swagger-Core
OpenAPI is the specification for machine-readable interface files for describing, producing, consuming, and visualizing RESTful web services. Swagger-Core is the Java implementation of the OpenAPI specification. If you are exposing REST API in your Java/JavaEE application, you can automatically provide and expose your API definitions using Swagger-Core.
Link:
19. Async Http Client
Asynchronous programming is becoming increasingly popular of late because of its non-blocking nature. Most of the popular Java HTTP client libraries offer limited to no asynchronous HTTP response processing. Async Http Client is a popular Java library that offers asynchronous HTTP response processing. As a bonus feature, this library also supports the WebSocket protocol.
Link:
20. Liquibase
As a software developer, we all know the importance of version control, DevOps, and CI/CD of our code. In a blog post: Evolutionary Database Design, the great Martin Fowler argued that we also need version control and CI/CD of our code. Liquibase is a tool that supports tracking, version controlling, and deployment of SQL database changes in Java Applications. If you are working with an SQL database where the database is evolving, this tool can greatly simplify your database migration.
Link:
21. Springfox
I have already listed Swagger-Core in this list, which can automatically generate REST API documentation for vanilla Java or Java EE application. In enterprise application development, Spring MVC has surpassed Java EE as the number one application development platform. In Spring-based Java applications, the Springfox library can automatically generate REST API documentation from the source code.
Link:
22. JavaCV
OpenCV is a computer vision and machine learning software library. It is open-source and was built to provide a common infrastructure for computer vision applications. JavaCV is a wrapper on OpenCV and many other popular libraries (FFmpeg, libdc 1394, PGR FlyCapture) in the field of computer vision. JavaCV also comes with hardware accelerated full-screen image display, easy-to-use methods to execute code in parallel on multiple cores, user-friendly geometric and the color calibration of cameras and projectors, detection and matching of feature points, and many other features.
Link:
23. Joda Time
Java had a poor date and time functionalities in the pre-Java8 core library. Java8 released much needed advanced date and time functionalities in its java.time package. If you are working with an older version of Java (pre Java8), Joda time can provide you the advanced date and time functionalities. However, if you are working in a newer version of Java, you may not need this library.
Link:
24. Wiremock
HTTP is the most preferred transport protocol in modern application development, whereas REST is the de-facto communication protocol in Micro-service based application development. During the writing Unit test, it is best to focus on SUT (System Under Test) and mock the services used in the SUT. Wiremock is a simulator for REST API and enables developers to write code against an API that does not exist or incomplete. In microservice-based software development, Wiremock can significantly boost development velocity.
Link:
25. MapStruct
In Java application development, you often need to convert one type of POJO to another type of POJO. One way to achieve this POJO or Bean conversion is to explicitly code the transformation, which is tedious. The smart way is to use a library that is specifically developed to transform POJO/Bean. MapStruct is a code generator that implements mapping between POJO/Bean on a convention over configuration approach. The generated mapping code uses plain method invocations and thus is fast, type-safe, and easy to understand.
Link:
Conclusion
In this article, I have listed 25 Java libraries that can help your Software Development Job by leveraging the common tasks to the tested libraries. These libraries are not domain-specific and can help you whether you are developing Software for Business applications, Robotics, Android Apps or Personal projects. Please note that for a large and wide eco-system like Java, this list is not conclusive. There are many excellent Java libraries that I have not listed here but worth a try. But this list of libraries can provide a quick peek into the world of the Java eco-system. | https://towardsdatascience.com/25-lesser-known-java-libraries-you-should-try-ff8abd354a94 | ['Md Kamaruzzaman'] | 2020-12-08 10:04:38.548000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Java', 'Tdd', 'JVM', 'Productivity'] | Title 25 lesserknown Java library try 2020Content 1 RxJava Reactive Extensions ReactiveX popular software development paradigm deal asynchronous eventdriven programming RxJava Java VM implementation Reactive Extensions using Observables extends Observer Pattern support eventdriven programming adding composable operator sequence eventsdata declarative way also hide lowlevel complexity like threading threadsafety synchronization concurrent data structure want reactive programming Java musthave library Link 2 OkHttp HTTP far used Application layer protocol many excellent Javabased HTTP client library OkHttp simplest yet powerful HTTP client library JVM offer fluent clean API develop HTTP client Java also support advanced feature Connection pooling GZIP shrink response caching modern TLS feature many Link 3 MyBatis Software development project need store data Although many type data storage SQL still used data storage type Java developer need match Java object SQL table One way achieve mapping use ORM eg Hibernate many use case want full control ObjectTable mapping eg Performance case directly use JDBC write SQL query way use MyBatis map Java Object Stored Procedure SQL statement offer annotationbased XML descriptor based mapping prefer MyBatis plain JDBC especially larger project improves separation concern Link 4 HikariCP HikariCP second library list related Database Establishing JDBC connection resource expensive create new connection every time access Database close done severely impact application performance mention failure close connection properly allowing limitless database connection crash application Using Connection Pooling mean connection reused rather created time connection requested HikariCP fast yet lightweight Database connection pooling JVM also reliable “zerooverhead” JDBC connection pool Link 5 Lombok modern day Java often criticized verbose bloated programming language Compared popular language JavaScript Python Scala Kotlin developer need write lot boilerplate code Java Although Java introduced Records JDK 15 reduce boilerplate code Java LTS release Fortunately library already reduce boilerplate code Java significantly Project Lombok generate getters setter hashcode equal toString Builder class adding annotation Additionally offer null pointer check logger many Link 6 VAVR Java finally released muchawaited functional programming via Lambda Streaming version 8 used functional programming want dive deep functional programming may find Java’s functional programming wanting Compared many functional programming language Haskell Scala Java pale VAVR library fill gap functional programming feature Java provides persistent collection functional abstraction error handling concurrent programming pattern matching much Link 7 Gson year JSON become defacto data exchange format Java also exist several excellent library deal JSON One Jackson covered previous article excellent library Google’s Gson Unlike Jackson minimalistic library support JSON offer Data Binding extensive Generic support flexible customization One major advantage disadvantage depending liking Gson need annotation Link 8 jsoup developing application Java need deal HTML use jsoup Java library work realworld HTML provides convenient API fetching URLs extracting manipulating data implement WHATWG HTML5 specification par HTML using best HTML5 DOM method support parsing HTML URLstring find extract data manipulate HTML element clean HTML output HTML Link 9 JIB working enterprisegrade application least Cloudready first step make application cloudready containerize application ie put artifactory binary Docker image Dockerizing Java application bit tedious work need deep knowledge Docker need create Dockerfile need Docker Daemon Fortunately Java developer Google created Opensource Java containerizer using already existing tool use JIB Java library build optimized Docker OCI image Link 10 Tink Tink yet another handy Java library list Google Cryptography security becoming increasingly important Software Development Cryptographic technique used secure user data Implementing cryptography correctly requires lot expertise effort group Cryptographers security engineer Google written multilanguage cryptographic library Tink offer easytouse hard misuse security API Tink offer cryptographic functionality via different primitive provides symmetric key encryption streaming symmetric key encryption deterministic symmetric key encryption digital signature hybrid encryption many encryption functionality Link 11 Webmagic work Web crawling write crawler timeconsuming tedious Java Webmagic excellent Web crawler library cover complete lifecycle crawler downloading URL management content extraction persistence offer simple yet flexible core Annotation support multithreaded easytouse API Link 12 ANTLR 4 work parsing processing data ANTLR library could handy powerful parser generator reading processing executing translating structured text binary file giving u access language processing primitive like lexers grammar parser runtime process text It’s often used build tool framework Link 13 Caffeine application readheavy caching dramatically improve application’s data access performance Java many great caching library Caffeine best among lot highperformance nearoptimal caching library based Java offer fluent caching API advanced feature like asynchronous loading entry asynchronous refresh weak referenced key etc Link 14 Metrics Java application run production want insight application critical component Metrics Dropwizard framework simple yet compelling Java library provides insight application JVMs KPI eg rate event pending job service health check modular offer module librariesframeworks Link 15 gRPCJava Google created gRPC modern Remote Procedure Call system 2015 Since gRPC became extremely popular one used RPC system modern software development library gRPCJava Java implementation gRPC client want use gRPC Java library handy Link 16 Java WebSocket Traditional ClientServer communication unidirectional WebSocket bidirectional communication protocol single TCP connection Java WebSocket barebone WebSocket server client implementation Java Java developer want work WebSocket library highly recommended Link 17 JJWT JSON Web Token JWT defacto Authorization secure Information exchange format modern software development Whether using simple sessionbased Authorization highly advanced OAuth2 based Authorization probably use JWT JJWT simple Java library creating verifying JWT Java JVM landscape fully RFC specification compliant implemented functionality support readable convenient fluent API Link 18 SwaggerCore OpenAPI specification machinereadable interface file describing producing consuming visualizing RESTful web service SwaggerCore Java implementation OpenAPI specification exposing REST API JavaJavaEE application automatically provide expose API definition using SwaggerCore Link 19 Async Http Client Asynchronous programming becoming increasingly popular late nonblocking nature popular Java HTTP client library offer limited asynchronous HTTP response processing Async Http Client popular Java library offer asynchronous HTTP response processing bonus feature library also support WebSocket protocol Link 20 Liquibase software developer know importance version control DevOps CICD code blog post Evolutionary Database Design great Martin Fowler argued also need version control CICD code Liquibase tool support tracking version controlling deployment SQL database change Java Applications working SQL database database evolving tool greatly simplify database migration Link 21 Springfox already listed SwaggerCore list automatically generate REST API documentation vanilla Java Java EE application enterprise application development Spring MVC surpassed Java EE number one application development platform Springbased Java application Springfox library automatically generate REST API documentation source code Link 22 JavaCV OpenCV computer vision machine learning software library opensource built provide common infrastructure computer vision application JavaCV wrapper OpenCV many popular library FFmpeg libdc 1394 PGR FlyCapture field computer vision JavaCV also come hardware accelerated fullscreen image display easytouse method execute code parallel multiple core userfriendly geometric color calibration camera projector detection matching feature point many feature Link 23 Joda Time Java poor date time functionality preJava8 core library Java8 released much needed advanced date time functionality javatime package working older version Java pre Java8 Joda time provide advanced date time functionality However working newer version Java may need library Link 24 Wiremock HTTP preferred transport protocol modern application development whereas REST defacto communication protocol Microservice based application development writing Unit test best focus SUT System Test mock service used SUT Wiremock simulator REST API enables developer write code API exist incomplete microservicebased software development Wiremock significantly boost development velocity Link 25 MapStruct Java application development often need convert one type POJO another type POJO One way achieve POJO Bean conversion explicitly code transformation tedious smart way use library specifically developed transform POJOBean MapStruct code generator implement mapping POJOBean convention configuration approach generated mapping code us plain method invocation thus fast typesafe easy understand Link Conclusion article listed 25 Java library help Software Development Job leveraging common task tested library library domainspecific help whether developing Software Business application Robotics Android Apps Personal project Please note large wide ecosystem like Java list conclusive many excellent Java library listed worth try list library provide quick peek world Java ecosystemTags Programming Java Tdd JVM Productivity |
3,155 | 7 tips to find great nonfiction books: | Photo by Alfons Morales on Unsplash
Okay, but first, let me tell you: I like ALL kinds of books.
In fact, I have a book review blog — The Ardent Reader — which I have kept for nearly a decade, through marriage, divorce, kids, new beginnings, changing jobs, life, and love. I review fiction and nonfiction books on my blog.
But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, a long time ago, I stuck to fiction almost exclusively. This choice wasn’t intentional — I just didn’t know what I was missing.
Slowly, I intentionally began to broaden my scope and slide into some of the areas of the library I hadn’t yet explored. I already knew I loved history, but I quickly added memoirs and biographies to the list. I also developed interests in science, sociology, anthropology, civil rights, creative expression, and politics. For me, that list will continue to grow throughout my lifetime.
I’m well aware that I’m addicted to books. Truth be told, if you set me loose in a bookstore, I could empty my bank accounts and max out all my credit cards in one day. When I go into a bookstore, I want it all. And not just books with words in them, either. I want empty journals, book lights, DIY magazines, activity books, and coffee-table books filled with photos of nature or mosaics or the peculiar art of Paul Cézanne. I am a woman of many passions, and like Johnny Number 5, I require input.
A few years ago, I realized that my bookshelf (and my home, for that matter) can only hold so many books. And disappointing as it may seem, I eventually came to grips with the reality that I will be able to read a finite number of books in my lifetime. I could probably read two books a week, providing they’re less than 300 pages apiece, if I really focus. But I’m more likely to finish one every two weeks. At that rate, if I live another 40 years, I have time to read just over 1,000 books. So I’d better choose good ones.
But how can I choose? How could I make one single selection (or two) from so many beautiful, word-filled volumes with colorful covers and the author’s photo pleading, “Read me!” from the inside cover? The horror! The idea!
I started thinking about how I found some of the best nonfiction books I’ve read. What is my system? Do I have prerequisites? How do I decide which books I’m going to read and which I will set aside? What topics interest me?
I sat down and thought about it, and after digging through my brain, I wrote this article.
Here are 7 ways I’ve consistently found great nonfiction books:
Look up people and events that pique your interest while you’re reading or watching the news.
Chances are, any icon or event—past or contemporary — is going to be the subject of a book sooner or later. James Comey wrote A Higher Loyalty after being ousted from his job as FBI Director. Barack Obama wrote The Audacity of Hope before he was elected president. I reserved a copy of Gloria Steinem’s book My Life on the Road after I saw her participate in a women’s rally, and I realized: I call myself a feminist, but I know nothing about Gloria Steinem.
2. Zip through the “documentary” section of Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, or another internet TV provider. Write down people or topics that interest you.
I don’t have a lot of time to watch TV, but I can listen to audio books in my car or at work. If I find a documentary that I’d really like to watch, I can be pretty confident that a book has been written on the topic. You may be surprised how many books have been written on one topic — the story of Emmitt Till comes to mind. Also, you saw a biopic that wasn’t so great (I think of A Beautiful Mind and Running with Scissors), then search out the printed equivalent.
3. Review the recommendations that Amazon sends your way.
This may sound like a lazy recommendation, but there’s something to those algorithms that seem to dig up some real beauts for me. I found Born Survivors by Wendy Holden that way, along with other gems.
4. Ask a [trusted] friend for a recommendation.
Besides the fact that it’s good conversation, you can get some solid recommendations from people you like and with whom you share chemistry. Among her many recommendations, my best friend Liz introduced me to Mary Roach, an author who dives headfirst into the scientific idiosyncrasies of space, death, sex, digestion, and a host of other topics. Her writing is informative and her delivery makes me laugh until my stomach hurts. (If you value your year-end holidays, be careful accepting book recommendations from family, especially in-laws.)
5. Write down your interests and go on the hunt for their equivalents in your local library. (When in doubt, ask a librarian.)
When I was actively reading a book a week for a year on The Ardent Reader, I found myself constantly being drawn back to specific sections in the library. My interests included history, sociology, biographies, crafts, and personal development. If you find a topic that piques your interest, select a couple of books from different authors. Everybody has a different style of writing, and one may bore you to death, while another will keep you wildly entertained.
6. Physically go to the library and look at the “New Books — Nonfiction” section.
Like everything in the library, new books (both fiction and nonfiction) have their appointed place. More than likely, recently published nonfiction books will be sitting up front. You’ll recognize their freshly wrapped covers, which look distinctly unbattered when they’re next to older library books. I found the audio versions of A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston and Bossypants by Tina Fey that way… they nearly jumped off the shelf at me.
7. Don’t assume an 800-page nonfiction book is better than a 150-pager.
Just the first volume of Mark Twain’s autobiography — which was released with great fanfare a century after his death — is 736 pages and weighs almost four pounds. As a much younger, dumber adult, I paid $60 for that first book. It was so narcissistic that I refused to finish it. Now I keep it on hand to flatten curled-up watercolor paintings and press flowers. In contrast, a smaller book like Night by Elie Weisel is a true account that is formidable in its simplicity. If you try, you can finish it in a day. (And it’s life-changing.)
Are all of these tips going to work all the time? No. But this is what I do to find nonfiction reading material when there are too many choices. Which is always.
For me, one last rule always applies to any book I choose — whether it is fiction or nonfiction: If a book doesn’t hook me in the first two chapters, I set it aside and move on. You should set your own standards and parameters, but do set them. I probably begin four times as many books as I finish for this reason. Maybe you think this is a waste, but I only have 40 years left, remember? And that’s if I exercise every day and take care of myself. I have no time to waste on books that don’t interest me.
Well, there you have it: 7 tips that can help you find great nonfiction books. Feel free to let me know if these tips work for you!
P.S. — these are some of the best nonfiction books I’ve read!
My Song by Harry Belafonte — Easily one of the most fascinating books I’ve ever picked up , and full of surprising anecdotes about famous people, like Eleanor Roosevelt
The Innocent Man by John Grisham — a true story of a miscarriage of justice that resulted in a dead man walking
The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch — the memoir that helped me better understand some of the more obsessive compulsive tendencies of my partner
Wild by Cheryl Strayed — this book made me want to hike some mountains… immediately
Alex & Me by Irene Pepperberg — the story of an African Grey parrot who lived just long enough to put everything we thought we knew about parrots to shame
Who thought this was a good idea? And other questions you should have answers to when you work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco — When I saw the cover of this book, I had to pick it up. When you see it, you’ll understand.
Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance — Is there anyone left on Earth who hasn’t read this incredible book?
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik — The much easier-to-digest version of her life story. (I had started RBG’s own [sort of] biography My Own Words but the legalese was overwhelming)
The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs — A man tries to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in a year, and the experience is hilarious. Don’t read this if you have to pee, because you will laugh so hard you will pee on your seat.
White Rage by Carol Anderson — A must-read if you want to very quickly brush up on your African-American history. (It’s disturbing, by the way.)
Happy reading! | https://estherhofknechtcurtis.medium.com/7-tips-to-find-great-nonfiction-books-a0d11c5f9eb8 | ['Esther Hofknecht Curtis'] | 2019-07-14 20:01:11.028000+00:00 | ['Libraries', 'Interests', 'Nonfiction', 'Reading', 'Books'] | Title 7 tip find great nonfiction booksContent Photo Alfons Morales Unsplash Okay first let tell like kind book fact book review blog — Ardent Reader — kept nearly decade marriage divorce kid new beginning changing job life love review fiction nonfiction book blog wasn’t always case fact long time ago stuck fiction almost exclusively choice wasn’t intentional — didn’t know missing Slowly intentionally began broaden scope slide area library hadn’t yet explored already knew loved history quickly added memoir biography list also developed interest science sociology anthropology civil right creative expression politics list continue grow throughout lifetime I’m well aware I’m addicted book Truth told set loose bookstore could empty bank account max credit card one day go bookstore want book word either want empty journal book light DIY magazine activity book coffeetable book filled photo nature mosaic peculiar art Paul Cézanne woman many passion like Johnny Number 5 require input year ago realized bookshelf home matter hold many book disappointing may seem eventually came grip reality able read finite number book lifetime could probably read two book week providing they’re le 300 page apiece really focus I’m likely finish one every two week rate live another 40 year time read 1000 book I’d better choose good one choose could make one single selection two many beautiful wordfilled volume colorful cover author’s photo pleading “Read me” inside cover horror idea started thinking found best nonfiction book I’ve read system prerequisite decide book I’m going read set aside topic interest sat thought digging brain wrote article 7 way I’ve consistently found great nonfiction book Look people event pique interest you’re reading watching news Chances icon event—past contemporary — going subject book sooner later James Comey wrote Higher Loyalty ousted job FBI Director Barack Obama wrote Audacity Hope elected president reserved copy Gloria Steinem’s book Life Road saw participate women’s rally realized call feminist know nothing Gloria Steinem 2 Zip “documentary” section Amazon Prime Video Netflix another internet TV provider Write people topic interest don’t lot time watch TV listen audio book car work find documentary I’d really like watch pretty confident book written topic may surprised many book written one topic — story Emmitt Till come mind Also saw biopic wasn’t great think Beautiful Mind Running Scissors search printed equivalent 3 Review recommendation Amazon sends way may sound like lazy recommendation there’s something algorithm seem dig real beaut found Born Survivors Wendy Holden way along gem 4 Ask trusted friend recommendation Besides fact it’s good conversation get solid recommendation people like share chemistry Among many recommendation best friend Liz introduced Mary Roach author dive headfirst scientific idiosyncrasy space death sex digestion host topic writing informative delivery make laugh stomach hurt value yearend holiday careful accepting book recommendation family especially inlaws 5 Write interest go hunt equivalent local library doubt ask librarian actively reading book week year Ardent Reader found constantly drawn back specific section library interest included history sociology biography craft personal development find topic pique interest select couple book different author Everybody different style writing one may bore death another keep wildly entertained 6 Physically go library look “New Books — Nonfiction” section Like everything library new book fiction nonfiction appointed place likely recently published nonfiction book sitting front You’ll recognize freshly wrapped cover look distinctly unbattered they’re next older library book found audio version Life Parts Bryan Cranston Bossypants Tina Fey way… nearly jumped shelf 7 Don’t assume 800page nonfiction book better 150pager first volume Mark Twain’s autobiography — released great fanfare century death — 736 page weighs almost four pound much younger dumber adult paid 60 first book narcissistic refused finish keep hand flatten curledup watercolor painting press flower contrast smaller book like Night Elie Weisel true account formidable simplicity try finish day it’s lifechanging tip going work time find nonfiction reading material many choice always one last rule always applies book choose — whether fiction nonfiction book doesn’t hook first two chapter set aside move set standard parameter set probably begin four time many book finish reason Maybe think waste 40 year left remember that’s exercise every day take care time waste book don’t interest Well 7 tip help find great nonfiction book Feel free let know tip work PS — best nonfiction book I’ve read Song Harry Belafonte — Easily one fascinating book I’ve ever picked full surprising anecdote famous people like Eleanor Roosevelt Innocent Man John Grisham — true story miscarriage justice resulted dead man walking Journal Best Practices David Finch — memoir helped better understand obsessive compulsive tendency partner Wild Cheryl Strayed — book made want hike mountains… immediately Alex Irene Pepperberg — story African Grey parrot lived long enough put everything thought knew parrot shame thought good idea question answer work White House Alyssa Mastromonaco — saw cover book pick see you’ll understand Hillbilly Elegy memoir Family Culture Crisis J Vance — anyone left Earth hasn’t read incredible book Notorious RBG Life Times Ruth Bader Ginsburg Irin Carmon Shana Knizhnik — much easiertodigest version life story started RBG’s sort biography Words legalese overwhelming KnowItAll AJ Jacobs — man try read entire Encyclopedia Britannica year experience hilarious Don’t read pee laugh hard pee seat White Rage Carol Anderson — mustread want quickly brush AfricanAmerican history It’s disturbing way Happy readingTags Libraries Interests Nonfiction Reading Books |
3,156 | Thoughts on the Corporate World and Burnout Culture | Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash
When I was younger and still in school my mom and I would take mental health days once every month or two. Instead of going to school or work, we would spend the day out together doing things we enjoyed and exploring new and inspiring places. I got my work as a student done, and nobody bit her head off at work. To this day I feel like those breaks and those boundaries and experiences really helped me figure out what was important. I never felt like those days were bad, and I certainly never felt guilty for taking them. They refreshed me in much the same way a bright inspirational strike of writing motivation does. I worked hard in the time between mental health days because I had something to look back on and forward to that was positive and healthy and all around fantastic for my brain, my emotional state, and my relationship with my mom. Now, in a job where breaks like you get in school are virtually nonexistent, I miss those days and can feel the difference in myself and her when we don’t have them. The trouble, in part, is that we’re both good at what we do and have a lot more demands on us now than we did when I was in school.
Enjoying your job doesn’t always save you from getting burnt out on it. Neither does being good at it. The idea of “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” is idealistic. It may be true for some, but on the whole it seems little more than a pipe dream. Where I work right now, I watch people who are good at their jobs and love what they do get so stressed out it feels like their brains are melting under the pressure of deadlines and workloads. Because they are good, they get more responsibilities. With more responsibility comes more pressure, and less of a feeling like taking a break is a good thing. I know several people who leave work at a reasonable hour and/or go home on the weekends feeling guilty because they have so much to do they feel like any time not spent trying to catch up is a bad thing. But then when they do work the endless grinding hours, they feel guilty for not spending time away from it. It’s a solid no-win situation.
I am fortunate enough to be fairly low-level in that I don’t have an immense amount of constant pressure on me to get things done under constant deadlines. I can leave work and go home to spend my time doing what I love without feeling someone is going to bite my head off. It’s part of why I have the job I do. I’m good at it, get recognized for my work, and can leave and still have at least part of the day left for myself. It pays the bills, usually without burning me out mentally and short-circuiting my creative brain.
There are lots of different kinds of stress. There’s the kind we can benefit from that keeps our brains and our drives to do the things we care about in good working condition. For me, this is usually the stress of a writing deadline, if only because it motivates the muse to come and strike me with a new angle or idea I hadn’t thought of before. As yet, I don’t write professionally. That is, I don’t get paid and don’t have really hard and fast deadlines imposed on me by other people. That’s what the day job is for. All my writing deadlines are self-imposed. I’ve been working particularly hard to stick to them because the act of writing and having people read and interact with what I have to say fulfills me in a way little else does. Nothing makes me feel more myself than making and talking about art of any kind. But sometimes even the pressure of a mountain of ideas, none of them particularly fully formed, can press my brain to the point of blankness. The longer I go without writing, the guiltier I feel about it. Then, flash, an idea or piece of art that makes me feel something so deeply I have to release it comes along, and a weight is lifted. I feel like a whole new person. Less depressed, more engaged with the world around me. That’s the cycle of writing. And that’s the — mostly — good stress.
The more detrimental kind is what I see most often in the day job, particularly with people in higher positions who have a lot of responsibility and not a lot of quality help. Because they have to take on roles that go outside the scope of their job description, and because they do this work well, they get buried under pressure from outside and in to push themselves until they complete the work of multiple people in a relatively short period of time all by themselves. The most paradoxical phenomenon I’ve seen is the rewarding of your longevity with the company with more leave time (which is probably standard) but feeling like you can’t use the leave time because there’s so much to do and not enough people to do it. Or having to give up leave time because too much unused has built up and must be forfeited. The healthy work-life balance everyone is told to strive for is virtually unachievable under the pressure to be successful at work.
It’s one thing for me, living in an apartment with minimal expenses in my 20s with time enough to pursue my own interests and not a lot of high stakes pressure on me to say, “take a break from work, leave it here” and another thing altogether for it to happen. I’m watching people I care about crack at the edges under corporate pressure and the only way to relieve it is to do the thing. The decision to leave work at work, to enforce the boundary between work and home or creative life is a personal one, yes, but it helps to have some support from the outside. To say all companies of any kind need to enforce a policy for mental health days so their employees can take breaks without feeling like the world is going to end while they’re away or when they return is little more than a shout into the unfeeling void of capitalist society, but it’s the truth. Healthy and successful employees come from environments where they are taken care of and listened to, not where they’re pushed to the brink of exhaustion at every turn. | https://katelynwrites.medium.com/thoughts-on-the-corporate-world-and-burnout-culture-a129ebe6f94 | ['Katelyn Nelson'] | 2019-07-11 01:30:26.592000+00:00 | ['Corporate Culture', 'Mental Health', 'Productivity'] | Title Thoughts Corporate World Burnout CultureContent Photo Kinga Cichewicz Unsplash younger still school mom would take mental health day every month two Instead going school work would spend day together thing enjoyed exploring new inspiring place got work student done nobody bit head work day feel like break boundary experience really helped figure important never felt like day bad certainly never felt guilty taking refreshed much way bright inspirational strike writing motivation worked hard time mental health day something look back forward positive healthy around fantastic brain emotional state relationship mom job break like get school virtually nonexistent miss day feel difference don’t trouble part we’re good lot demand u school Enjoying job doesn’t always save getting burnt Neither good idea “do love you’ll never work day life” idealistic may true whole seems little pipe dream work right watch people good job love get stressed feel like brain melting pressure deadline workload good get responsibility responsibility come pressure le feeling like taking break good thing know several people leave work reasonable hour andor go home weekend feeling guilty much feel like time spent trying catch bad thing work endless grinding hour feel guilty spending time away It’s solid nowin situation fortunate enough fairly lowlevel don’t immense amount constant pressure get thing done constant deadline leave work go home spend time love without feeling someone going bite head It’s part job I’m good get recognized work leave still least part day left pay bill usually without burning mentally shortcircuiting creative brain lot different kind stress There’s kind benefit keep brain drive thing care good working condition usually stress writing deadline motivates muse come strike new angle idea hadn’t thought yet don’t write professionally don’t get paid don’t really hard fast deadline imposed people That’s day job writing deadline selfimposed I’ve working particularly hard stick act writing people read interact say fulfills way little else Nothing make feel making talking art kind sometimes even pressure mountain idea none particularly fully formed press brain point blankness longer go without writing guiltier feel flash idea piece art make feel something deeply release come along weight lifted feel like whole new person Less depressed engaged world around That’s cycle writing that’s — mostly — good stress detrimental kind see often day job particularly people higher position lot responsibility lot quality help take role go outside scope job description work well get buried pressure outside push complete work multiple people relatively short period time paradoxical phenomenon I’ve seen rewarding longevity company leave time probably standard feeling like can’t use leave time there’s much enough people give leave time much unused built must forfeited healthy worklife balance everyone told strive virtually unachievable pressure successful work It’s one thing living apartment minimal expense 20 time enough pursue interest lot high stake pressure say “take break work leave here” another thing altogether happen I’m watching people care crack edge corporate pressure way relieve thing decision leave work work enforce boundary work home creative life personal one yes help support outside say company kind need enforce policy mental health day employee take break without feeling like world going end they’re away return little shout unfeeling void capitalist society it’s truth Healthy successful employee come environment taken care listened they’re pushed brink exhaustion every turnTags Corporate Culture Mental Health Productivity |
3,157 | Does your product work?. Randomized controlled trials, imperfect… | Does your product work?
Randomized controlled trials, imperfect compliance, and the counterfactual time machine
We build software to solve human problems. But human problems can be messy, and sometimes it’s not terribly clear whether or not we’ve actually solved them.
Snapchat might tell they’re successful if they see 50% of regular users check out their new dog filter, and Facebook could say they’ve shattered their growth milestones by showing they’ve achieved more than 2.3 billion monthly active users.
But what’s your acceptance criteria when your app is designed to help members cope with anxiety? What metric can you monitor when your software was built to cultivate mindfulness?
Or, in the case of my company—Even — how can we tell if we’re making any impact on the financial health of our members?
We have high engagement with our mobile app, we’ve sent our members more than a billion dollars’ worth of their earned wages, and we’re automatically saving millions for them in rainy day accounts. These are things worth celebrating.
But they aren’t enough.
We’re more directly concerned with if our members’ lives are materially improved because of our product. As a data scientist working to understand our efficacy, that’s basically all I care about.
This is where you go from metric optimization to something more like scientific experimentation. What I need to understand is our Average Treatment Effect — that is, the expected value of the impact we cause in our users’ lives.
To explain how I might do that, I’m going to dive deep into a kind of causal analysis broken down by Judea Pearl in his fantastic book and in this paper (co-written with Alexander Balke).
This analysis is highly relevant for performing experiments involving a product’s effects on its users, provided that you’re part of a data-driven organization where it’s relatively easy to track app usage patterns. Even so, I’ve yet to see even the most academic of studies in tech use the sort of thinking I’m about to dig into.
Quick word of warning: the deep dive is going to involve a bit of scientific method, a lot of probability theory, a bit of Python, and a dash of linear programming. You don’t need to be an expert in any of these topics to understand what I’ll be covering, but it will almost certainly require some time, effort, and maybe a bit of background reading.
I promise you, though, this is cool enough to be worth the challenge.
Let’s start with a science refresher: randomized controlled trials.
Randomized Controlled Trials
Correlation isn’t causation — and what we’re interested in is causation. We want to cause an improvement in our members’ lives. It’s useful to define what “causality” even is before I get all evangelical about it, though. The counterfactual definition is one I personally find to be clearest:
Event A “causes” Event B if and only if, were we to delete Event A from history, Event B would not happen.
To be a cause is to be the domino that sets off the chain reaction, the fuse that blows the dynamite. If you remove the cause, whatever would have come to pass no longer does.
To study causality, then, we can remove something we think is causal and see if its effects still arrive, everything else being equal. This is what a “controlled trial” is trying to do.
We naturally do controlled trials all the time. Think about the last time you tried setting up a new lamp, only to find that it didn’t work. How did you go about solving the problem?
You might’ve had a couple of ideas for what went wrong. The lightbulb could’ve been burnt out. Or maybe the outlet you plugged it into was a dud.
Let’s take one of those ideas and formally call it our hypothesis.
Hypothesis: the outlet is nonfunctional, which means no power can get to the lightbulb, and it can’t light up.
How do we test that hypothesis? Well, we have one trial under our belt where we tried the current outlet, Outlet A. This is our Treatment trial — where we’re treating our system with an input we think caused our ultimate dark and dreary state.
Now we need a Control trial — where we swap out Outlet A with an outlet we know works: Outlet B, which has been faithfully charging our phone for months. Everything in the system has been kept the same except the outlets.
Before we run this trial, let’s frame this experiment as formally as we can. What we’re looking for is the Average Treatment Effect (ATE) of Outlet A on our room’s illumination.
Treatment Effect = The probability of a non-functional lamp given that we use Outlet A, minus the probability of a non-functional lamp given that we use Outlet B.
We already know that P(Darkness|Outlet A) = 1. If it turns out that the room’s still dark when we swap out Outlet A with Outlet B, then P(Darkness|Outlet B) = 1 too and thus ATE = 0. That would mean the outlet was 0% the cause of our problem.
However, if the light instantly turns on when we plug the lamp into Outlet B, then P(Darkness|Outlet B) = 0, and our ATE = 1. Or in other words, Outlet A was 100% the cause of our problem!
So, let’s go ahead and plug the lamp into Outlet B. Bam:
…Surprise! We were talking about a lava lamp this whole time. Now the living room of your imagination is just a tiny bit more whimsical. Source: Warisan Lighting
The lamp lights up; Outlet A was the cause of the darkness.
Problem solved.
Like I said, we do this kind of thing all the time. The complication when it comes to doing a controlled trial on the folks who use our software is that there’s a particularly tricky variable involved: people.
While home appliances are (usually) completely deterministic, people are not. No one person is the same, and the way they use your product and respond to it will often surprise you. Some of them will download it and forget about it, some will log in every day. Some of your members might be helped by the product, but — and this is a scary but necessary thought — there are many of them who might be hurt by it.
How do you do controlled trials of your product when one of the inputs to your experiment can be so variable?
This is where statistics gets involved. We can no longer do a single Control trial and a single Treatment trial like we can with deterministic systems. We need to do hundreds of trials. Thousands.
Each trial will be on a different person. What’s important to enforce is that the criteria for assigning a person to a Control or Treatment condition is completely random. This ensures that the samples of experimental participants in each condition will more or less be identical in aggregate: they’ll have the same proportion of people from each gender, height, income level, disposition, etc. The effect of factors that aren’t the one under scrutiny should sort of just cancel each other out.
We’ve put quite a few pieces together by this point: we’re controlling for a single explanatory variable, and randomizing to mitigate the effect of a bunch of exogenous variables we aren’t studying. We now have a randomized controlled trial (or “RCT”, as the cool kids say)— the gold standard for studying what causes what.
But the story isn’t over yet. We can assign people to the Treatment condition (people assigned to use your product) and Control condition (people who don’t get to use your product), but who’s to say that your participants will actually comply with your assignments?
Who’s to say the participants in your Treatment group will actually download your software and use it, or that people in your Control group won’t find it on the app store and give it a whirl?
You can’t make causal attributions when you don’t know if participants actually got your treatment. So. How do we do that?
Dealing With Imperfect Compliance
Let’s recap our RCT set-up.
We randomly assign participants to either a Treatment or a Control group. They may decide to comply with their assignment, depending on some set of unobservable factors. They’ll respond in some way to your product (or the lack of it), depending on whether they took the treatment, plus some set of unobservable factors.
We can describe how these events interplay with a Bayesian Network, as we do below.
Bayesian Network description of an RCT: This diagram describes conditional dependences of the events we’d expect to see. Z is completely independent of anything else, since it’s done via random coin-flip. U is a catch-all variable for the whole universe of unknowns that affect X and Y, and is also conditionally independent from other variables. X would be conditionally dependent on Z and U. Y would be conditionally dependent on X and U.
We’ll use the Z, X, Y, and U symbols as shorthand for what random variables they represent in this diagram. For example, when we refer to Y, we’re talking about the Outcome variable participants may realize (either a Good outcome or Bad outcome). Using the lowercase, y, refers to an actual realization of that random variable (Good, for example).
This kind of diagram is just a convenient way to describe how we might compute the probability of some joint Z, X, Y, U configuration (for example, “Z=Treatment, X=True, Y=Good, U=some latent factor value” is one such state). In symbolic terms, the diagram is saying that:
Here are some intuitive things you might be able to say based on the diagram/expression:
Knowing X=x changes the probability that Y equals a particular y. Knowing Z=z and/or U=u changes the probability that X is a specific x. Knowing Z=z doesn’t give me any additional information about what u value U might be.
All we’re doing is capturing conditional dependencies here.
Our eventual goal, though, is to be able to calculate an Average Treatment Effect, which is written as:
i.e: The probability of having a good outcome given that we force a participant to take the treatment, vs. the probability of a good outcome given that we force them not to take the treatment. This difference is the ‘goodness’ directly attributable to our intervention
Pay attention to that do() operator, there. It’s saying that we want to know what the probability of a Good outcome is when we force X into a particular state — rather than just passively observing it.
The problem is, we never actually force anyone to do anything in an RCT. We give participants access to the product and then they do whatever they want with it. All we can do is passively observe!
Given this, a naive approach may be to declare that:
But this is a fatal mistake.
We have to keep in mind that different latent factors, represented by U, drove the cases where the participant took treatment vs. when they didn’t. That same U could very well have affected the probability of them having a good outcome, which would muddy our story for how effective the treatment was.
For example, in Even’s case, members who choose to regularly use the app may just be inherently more financially well-off than those who don’t (or vice-versa). In that case we’d see a high ATE, but that says nothing about the effect Even is having on people — it’s just a spurious result of selection bias!
What we want is to be able to compare the chance of a good outcome given treatment vs. the chance of a good outcome without treatment, where all other factors are fixed. That would look more like this:
Here we’re making sure that we’re only capturing the difference in P(Y = Good) between the treated (X = True) and untreated (X = False) groups given the same unobserved condition (the same u), for all possible unobserved conditions (all u ∈ U)
Alright, we’re kind of getting somewhere. We have an expression for how to turn experimental observations into an ATE… but the expression is useless unless we find some way to understand what u states are elements of U, so we can properly control for those states.
But U is this inscrutable random variable that’s supposed to capture the whole universe of unobserved factors that influence why a human being decides to try a product and how they might respond.
How can you even begin to break that down?
Let’s make the problem as simple as possible. We don’t need to model people’s neurophysiology, or the weather, or the stock market, or any of the infinite factors that can influence decision-making on the day-to-day.
Let’s just consider what things can affect the result of our experiment. We know U influences X and Y — i.e, U encompasses peoples’ Compliance behavior (did they use the product or not) as well as their Response behavior (did they get better or not).
We can roll up the myriad factors of the unobserved universe into a few broad types, then: archetypes that determine a participant’s Compliance and Response behaviors.
I enumerate a scheme like this below:
Compliance behavior types
always takers — they manage to access the product no matter how we assign them. compliers — they comply with the group assignment. Folks in the Treatment download the product and use it, folks in the Control do not. deniers — they do the opposite of what they were assigned to do. Folks in the Control find a way to use the product, people in the Treatment group never use it. never takers — they never access the product, regardless of assignment.
Response behavior types
always better — they would have a good outcome regardless of using the product. helped — they would have a good outcome if they use the product. hurt — they get a bad outcome if they use the product, but would’ve been fine without it. never better — they would never have a good outcome, regardless of their use of our product.
All participants in the experiment must have exactly one Compliance behavior type and one Response behavior type, because they’re defined as being mutually exclusive. So you can describe every single person as belonging to one (Compliance, Response) behavior pair, giving us exactly 16 archetypes that a person could possibly be.
I guess it’s kind of like Myers-Briggs — except this framework is actually useful for doing science.
It’s like a horoscope! Except it sorts people into groups that aren’t hot garbage
Great, now we know that U can take on a u value like (Always Taker, Helped) or (Never Taker, Never Better). The reasons why a participant might be of a particular u is unimportant for our analysis — we just need to know what u is. If we know the distribution of U we can actually formulate a far simpler expression for an ATE:
We’re marginalizing the compliance behaviors in this expression — P(U=helped) is actually a union of all P(U=u) where u has a ‘helped’ response type, for example.
But how can we know the distribution of U?
…Ok, so here’s the thing: we’ll never know what that distribution is. That’s impossible to do. How could you ever tell if someone would be “Never Better” in some experimental scenario? That barely even makes sense.
At this point you might be yelling at me through your computer for wasting your time. Why did we just go through all that troublesome deliberation, just to wind up stuck? A lot of studies take shortcuts that don’t involve U or X or anything as complicated as the diagram we’ve set up at all!
For example, a pretty standard practice in medical studies is to formulate an ATE as the following, instead:
This is called an intention-to-treat analysis, and it recognizes its own flaw right there in its name: it’s measuring the effect of an intention to give someone a treatment (an assignment to Treatment or Control), rather than if they actually took it.
You can kind of already tell why I’m not a fan of intention-to-treat, but to make my displeasure truly visceral, I’m going to simulate an experiment for you. Follow along in this notebook:
That was a lot of work we just simulated— we recruited some participants, got informed consent, followed them for some time, measured outcomes, queried our production database to get compliance figures, did some aggregation, etc. etc. At the end we got those 8 beautiful values: P(X,Y|Z=z) for each z in Z (Treatment and Control, in this case).
You know how in documentaries about spider silk and its amazing properties, the narrators will keep mentioning how they had to painstakingly milk 14,000 righteously indignant spiders for three months just to get an ounce of silk?
The true cost of scientific progress. Base image source: Pexels.com.
Our P(X,Y|Z) values are that ounce of silk. They are precious.
Intention-to-treat immediately obliterates them and rolls them up into two coarse numbers: P(Y=Good|Z=Treatment) and P(Y=Good|Z=Control).
What a waste of useful information! It’s like setting our ounce of spider-silk on fire and then also systematically slapping each of our 14,000 already-distressed spiders in the face.
How could you do this
Here is this tragedy of information annihilation in action:
There has to be some use for that rich P(X,Y|Z) information. Right?
The Counterfactual Time Machine
While we can’t ever know what the distribution of U in our participant population is, we do know that P(X,Y|Z) changes conditional on U. Or in other words there is some function U → P(X,Y|Z).
The function is maybe one-to-one or many-to-one — but in either case, knowing what P(X,Y|Z) is should be able to shed light on what U could have possibly been.
Unless it’s a trapdoor function, in which case we’d be hosed.
It’s not though! In fact, U → P(X,Y|Z) is a simple linear function, which you’ll be able to intuit yourself shortly. Let’s think this through:
Take the quantity P(X=True, Y=Good | Z=Treatment). This probability gives us the proportion of people in the Treatment condition who took the treatment and had a good outcome.
But another way we could get that value, assuming we had knowledge of the distribution over U, is by adding up the proportions of people who we know always take the treatment and get better, as well as the proportion who would comply with the treatment assignment and get better.
This lets us assert the following linear relationship:
As it turns out, every single P(X,Y|Z) value we have is a union of some set of P(U=u) values like in the example above, meaning that U is constrained by the data that we can readily observe!
And those aren’t the only constraints. We also have the rules of probability at play: each P(U=u) must lie in the [0,1] interval, and the sum of all P(U=u) must equal 1, as well.
On top of these constraints, we also have an expression involving U we want to learn about: the ATE, our holy grail. Here it is again:
Again, we’re marginalizing over the compliance behaviors in this expression — P(U=hurt) is actually a union of all P(U=u) where u has a ‘hurt’ response type
While we don’t have the tools to solve for exactly what the distribution of U is — what we do have are all the right ingredients for a linear optimization problem.
We can range over the constrained space of what U could have possibly been, and pull out the absolute best and worst-case ATEs. This gives us hard bounds on what the true ATE value actually was.
I set up these constraints and performed this optimization using PuLP, a Python library that lets you frame these kinds of linear programming problems with super readable symbolic expressions:
Pay close attention to what we just did. Using a few assumptions and the structure of our diagram, we were able to go back in time and see what would have happened if we’d lived in the happiest timeline we can imagine, with the highest possible ATE.
Using the same reasoning, we could also go back in time to explore the darkest timeline (if we minimize instead of maximize).
The darkest timeline. Source: Community.
If you were following closely, you might’ve also noticed something pretty alarming.
The intention-to-treat analysis — standard practice for analyzing most experimental results with human participants, remember — declared that our treatment had an ATE of 45%, a moderate positive effect on participant outcomes.
But when we take the treatment variable X into account, we see that the highest possible ATE is -15%.
The treatment hurts people.
Model-driven vs. data-driven thinking
Thinking in terms of a causal model rather than taking the data itself as gospel is the key to unlocking reasoning like this.
Instead of getting stuck with the set of 8 probabilities spat out by the RCT, we were able to reason that something was responsible for how our experimental participants took our treatment and responded to it. With that in mind, we could work out what the results might have been in a different set of circumstances.
I need to level with you here: in most cases, this analysis will get you the same directional results as an intention-to-treat study. I purposefully used a contrived example in which their results were divergent. But it’s important to realize that such a divergence can happen in the first place, and that it can be so dramatic.
I think a lot of people working in applied statistics get used to taking the data we see and throwing it into one of our many ancient and established machines. Or at least, I do. It’s a bad habit.
Contingency table? Throw it in a Chi-squared test and turn the crank. A 2x2 table and super low sample sizes? Throw that into a Fisher’s Exact test and turn the crank. A matrix of features mapping onto a continuous label? Throw it into a linear regression and
Turn.
That.
Crank.
It’s easy to forget that the reduction of data isn’t the end-all be-all of analysis. Understanding and making a mental model of the process that created that data unlocks a whole new set of powers. Powers you might have never realized you had.
Some of those powers let you do causal inference without needing to run an experiment at all.
But that’s a post for later.
For now, I hope I’ve added a sweet new tool to your toolbox — and better, a new way to think about your problems. | https://towardsdatascience.com/does-your-product-actually-work-5fe8134c5144 | ['Naim Kabir'] | 2019-10-23 18:52:52.302000+00:00 | ['Product', 'Statistics', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Science'] | Title product work Randomized controlled trial imperfect…Content product work Randomized controlled trial imperfect compliance counterfactual time machine build software solve human problem human problem messy sometimes it’s terribly clear whether we’ve actually solved Snapchat might tell they’re successful see 50 regular user check new dog filter Facebook could say they’ve shattered growth milestone showing they’ve achieved 23 billion monthly active user what’s acceptance criterion app designed help member cope anxiety metric monitor software built cultivate mindfulness case company—Even — tell we’re making impact financial health member high engagement mobile app we’ve sent member billion dollars’ worth earned wage we’re automatically saving million rainy day account thing worth celebrating aren’t enough We’re directly concerned members’ life materially improved product data scientist working understand efficacy that’s basically care go metric optimization something like scientific experimentation need understand Average Treatment Effect — expected value impact cause users’ life explain might I’m going dive deep kind causal analysis broken Judea Pearl fantastic book paper cowritten Alexander Balke analysis highly relevant performing experiment involving product’s effect user provided you’re part datadriven organization it’s relatively easy track app usage pattern Even I’ve yet see even academic study tech use sort thinking I’m dig Quick word warning deep dive going involve bit scientific method lot probability theory bit Python dash linear programming don’t need expert topic understand I’ll covering almost certainly require time effort maybe bit background reading promise though cool enough worth challenge Let’s start science refresher randomized controlled trial Randomized Controlled Trials Correlation isn’t causation — we’re interested causation want cause improvement members’ life It’s useful define “causality” even get evangelical though counterfactual definition one personally find clearest Event “causes” Event B delete Event history Event B would happen cause domino set chain reaction fuse blow dynamite remove cause whatever would come pas longer study causality remove something think causal see effect still arrive everything else equal “controlled trial” trying naturally controlled trial time Think last time tried setting new lamp find didn’t work go solving problem might’ve couple idea went wrong lightbulb could’ve burnt maybe outlet plugged dud Let’s take one idea formally call hypothesis Hypothesis outlet nonfunctional mean power get lightbulb can’t light test hypothesis Well one trial belt tried current outlet Outlet Treatment trial — we’re treating system input think caused ultimate dark dreary state need Control trial — swap Outlet outlet know work Outlet B faithfully charging phone month Everything system kept except outlet run trial let’s frame experiment formally we’re looking Average Treatment Effect ATE Outlet room’s illumination Treatment Effect probability nonfunctional lamp given use Outlet minus probability nonfunctional lamp given use Outlet B already know PDarknessOutlet 1 turn room’s still dark swap Outlet Outlet B PDarknessOutlet B 1 thus ATE 0 would mean outlet 0 cause problem However light instantly turn plug lamp Outlet B PDarknessOutlet B 0 ATE 1 word Outlet 100 cause problem let’s go ahead plug lamp Outlet B Bam …Surprise talking lava lamp whole time living room imagination tiny bit whimsical Source Warisan Lighting lamp light Outlet cause darkness Problem solved Like said kind thing time complication come controlled trial folk use software there’s particularly tricky variable involved people home appliance usually completely deterministic people one person way use product respond often surprise download forget log every day member might helped product — scary necessary thought — many might hurt controlled trial product one input experiment variable statistic get involved longer single Control trial single Treatment trial like deterministic system need hundred trial Thousands trial different person What’s important enforce criterion assigning person Control Treatment condition completely random ensures sample experimental participant condition le identical aggregate they’ll proportion people gender height income level disposition etc effect factor aren’t one scrutiny sort cancel We’ve put quite piece together point we’re controlling single explanatory variable randomizing mitigate effect bunch exogenous variable aren’t studying randomized controlled trial “RCT” cool kid say— gold standard studying cause story isn’t yet assign people Treatment condition people assigned use product Control condition people don’t get use product who’s say participant actually comply assignment Who’s say participant Treatment group actually download software use people Control group won’t find app store give whirl can’t make causal attribution don’t know participant actually got treatment Dealing Imperfect Compliance Let’s recap RCT setup randomly assign participant either Treatment Control group may decide comply assignment depending set unobservable factor They’ll respond way product lack depending whether took treatment plus set unobservable factor describe event interplay Bayesian Network Bayesian Network description RCT diagram describes conditional dependence event we’d expect see Z completely independent anything else since it’s done via random coinflip U catchall variable whole universe unknown affect X also conditionally independent variable X would conditionally dependent Z U would conditionally dependent X U We’ll use Z X U symbol shorthand random variable represent diagram example refer we’re talking Outcome variable participant may realize either Good outcome Bad outcome Using lowercase refers actual realization random variable Good example kind diagram convenient way describe might compute probability joint Z X U configuration example “ZTreatment XTrue YGood Usome latent factor value” one state symbolic term diagram saying intuitive thing might able say based diagramexpression Knowing Xx change probability equal particular Knowing Zz andor Uu change probability X specific x Knowing Zz doesn’t give additional information u value U might we’re capturing conditional dependency eventual goal though able calculate Average Treatment Effect written ie probability good outcome given force participant take treatment v probability good outcome given force take treatment difference ‘goodness’ directly attributable intervention Pay attention operator It’s saying want know probability Good outcome force X particular state — rather passively observing problem never actually force anyone anything RCT give participant access product whatever want passively observe Given naive approach may declare fatal mistake keep mind different latent factor represented U drove case participant took treatment v didn’t U could well affected probability good outcome would muddy story effective treatment example Even’s case member choose regularly use app may inherently financially welloff don’t viceversa case we’d see high ATE say nothing effect Even people — it’s spurious result selection bias want able compare chance good outcome given treatment v chance good outcome without treatment factor fixed would look like we’re making sure we’re capturing difference PY Good treated X True untreated X False group given unobserved condition u possible unobserved condition u ∈ U Alright we’re kind getting somewhere expression turn experimental observation ATE… expression useless unless find way understand u state element U properly control state U inscrutable random variable that’s supposed capture whole universe unobserved factor influence human decides try product might respond even begin break Let’s make problem simple possible don’t need model people’s neurophysiology weather stock market infinite factor influence decisionmaking daytoday Let’s consider thing affect result experiment know U influence X — ie U encompasses peoples’ Compliance behavior use product well Response behavior get better roll myriad factor unobserved universe broad type archetype determine participant’s Compliance Response behavior enumerate scheme like Compliance behavior type always taker — manage access product matter assign compliers — comply group assignment Folks Treatment download product use folk Control denier — opposite assigned Folks Control find way use product people Treatment group never use never taker — never access product regardless assignment Response behavior type always better — would good outcome regardless using product helped — would good outcome use product hurt — get bad outcome use product would’ve fine without never better — would never good outcome regardless use product participant experiment must exactly one Compliance behavior type one Response behavior type they’re defined mutually exclusive describe every single person belonging one Compliance Response behavior pair giving u exactly 16 archetype person could possibly guess it’s kind like MyersBriggs — except framework actually useful science It’s like horoscope Except sort people group aren’t hot garbage Great know U take u value like Always Taker Helped Never Taker Never Better reason participant might particular u unimportant analysis — need know u know distribution U actually formulate far simpler expression ATE We’re marginalizing compliance behavior expression — PUhelped actually union PUu u ‘helped’ response type example know distribution U …Ok here’s thing we’ll never know distribution That’s impossible could ever tell someone would “Never Better” experimental scenario barely even make sense point might yelling computer wasting time go troublesome deliberation wind stuck lot study take shortcut don’t involve U X anything complicated diagram we’ve set example pretty standard practice medical study formulate ATE following instead called intentiontotreat analysis recognizes flaw right name it’s measuring effect intention give someone treatment assignment Treatment Control rather actually took kind already tell I’m fan intentiontotreat make displeasure truly visceral I’m going simulate experiment Follow along notebook lot work simulated— recruited participant got informed consent followed time measured outcome queried production database get compliance figure aggregation etc etc end got 8 beautiful value PXYZz z Z Treatment Control case know documentary spider silk amazing property narrator keep mentioning painstakingly milk 14000 righteously indignant spider three month get ounce silk true cost scientific progress Base image source Pexelscom PXYZ value ounce silk precious Intentiontotreat immediately obliterates roll two coarse number PYGoodZTreatment PYGoodZControl waste useful information It’s like setting ounce spidersilk fire also systematically slapping 14000 alreadydistressed spider face could tragedy information annihilation action use rich PXYZ information Right Counterfactual Time Machine can’t ever know distribution U participant population know PXYZ change conditional U word function U → PXYZ function maybe onetoone manytoone — either case knowing PXYZ able shed light U could possibly Unless it’s trapdoor function case we’d hosed It’s though fact U → PXYZ simple linear function you’ll able intuit shortly Let’s think Take quantity PXTrue YGood ZTreatment probability give u proportion people Treatment condition took treatment good outcome another way could get value assuming knowledge distribution U adding proportion people know always take treatment get better well proportion would comply treatment assignment get better let u assert following linear relationship turn every single PXYZ value union set PUu value like example meaning U constrained data readily observe aren’t constraint also rule probability play PUu must lie 01 interval sum PUu must equal 1 well top constraint also expression involving U want learn ATE holy grail we’re marginalizing compliance behavior expression — PUhurt actually union PUu u ‘hurt’ response type don’t tool solve exactly distribution U — right ingredient linear optimization problem range constrained space U could possibly pull absolute best worstcase ATEs give u hard bound true ATE value actually set constraint performed optimization using PuLP Python library let frame kind linear programming problem super readable symbolic expression Pay close attention Using assumption structure diagram able go back time see would happened we’d lived happiest timeline imagine highest possible ATE Using reasoning could also go back time explore darkest timeline minimize instead maximize darkest timeline Source Community following closely might’ve also noticed something pretty alarming intentiontotreat analysis — standard practice analyzing experimental result human participant remember — declared treatment ATE 45 moderate positive effect participant outcome take treatment variable X account see highest possible ATE 15 treatment hurt people Modeldriven v datadriven thinking Thinking term causal model rather taking data gospel key unlocking reasoning like Instead getting stuck set 8 probability spat RCT able reason something responsible experimental participant took treatment responded mind could work result might different set circumstance need level case analysis get directional result intentiontotreat study purposefully used contrived example result divergent it’s important realize divergence happen first place dramatic think lot people working applied statistic get used taking data see throwing one many ancient established machine least It’s bad habit Contingency table Throw Chisquared test turn crank 2x2 table super low sample size Throw Fisher’s Exact test turn crank matrix feature mapping onto continuous label Throw linear regression Turn Crank It’s easy forget reduction data isn’t endall beall analysis Understanding making mental model process created data unlocks whole new set power Powers might never realized power let causal inference without needing run experiment that’s post later hope I’ve added sweet new tool toolbox — better new way think problemsTags Product Statistics Python Data Science Science |
3,158 | Men’s Mental Health Challenges in the COVID-19 Era | Men’s Mental Health Challenges in the COVID-19 Era
“Will I get it? Will someone I love get it? Will one of us die? When will it end?”
Photo credit: Shutterstock
By Jed Diamond Ph.D
I’m guessing that few people in the world had ever heard about COVID-19 until a few months ago. Now everyone has heard and most of us are scared. We ask ourselves, “Will I get it? Will someone I love get it? Will one of us die? When will it end?”
There really are two pandemics we’re dealing with. First, is the spread of the virus and its impact on our physical health. Second, is the spread of the fear and panic and its impact on our mental health. For me, both of these fears are up close and personal. I’m in the high-risk group for getting the virus, getting sick, and dying:
I’m older (age 76).
I’ve had chronic lung problems most of my life.
I’m a man.
I’m also in the high-risk group for having mental and emotional problems associated with COVID-19.
I’ve suffered from depression all my life.
I worry a lot and suffer from anxiety.
When I get stressed, I get angry, which often pushes away those I need for emotional support.
Let me say at the outset that we can’t separate physical health from mental health. When I’m down with the flu, I’m also often sad and depressed. When I’m dealing with anxiety, anger, and depression, my physical health suffers as well.
In addressing the risks associated with COVID-19, most people are aware that older people and those with other health problems are more likely to become sicker and die if they contract the virus. However, fewer people seem to be aware that being male seems to put us at higher risk.
White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx recently pointed out this “concerning trend” after looking at statistics in Italy, where footage of hospital intensive care units showed bed after bed of older men breathing with the help of ventilators. “The mortality in males seems to be twice that of females in every age group,” said Dr. Birx.
When Italy recently offered statistics on deaths, they noted that 28% of the deaths were female, while 72% of those who had died were men, according to a report by the BBC. One study put the number even higher, with men making up 80% of people who had died of COVID-19 in Italy.
I’ve been helping men improve their mental health for fifty years now. Well, even longer when I remember my father who took an overdose of sleeping pills when I was five years old when his depression intensified because he was unable to make a living supporting this family. Here were the words he wrote in his journal just days prior to overdosing and being committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital, north of our home in Los Angeles.
October 30th: Faster, faster, faster, I walk. I plug away looking for work, anything to support my family. I try, try, try, try, try. I always try and never stop. November 2nd: A hundred failures, an endless number of failures, until now, my confidence, my hope, my belief in myself, has run completely out. Middle aged, I stand and gaze ahead, numb, confused, and desperately worried. All around me I see the young in spirit, the young in heart, with ten times my confidence, twice my youth, ten times my fervor, twice my education. I see them all, a whole army of them, battering at the same doors I’m battering, trying in the same field I’m trying. Yes, on a Sunday morning in early November, my hope and my life stream are both running desperately low, so low, so stagnant, that I hold my breath in fear, believing that the dark, blank curtain is about to descend.
In addition to being depressed, my father was also angry. His anger pushed my mother away emotionally and he kept his pain bottled up inside. He survived the suicide attempt, but our lives were never the same. I went with my uncle every week to visit my father, but he got worse and worse. I’m sure my decision to dedicate my life to helping men and their families deal with these issues began during the months I visited my father and was unable to help him.
We know now that the suicide rate for men is 3 to 18 times higher than it is for women and it increases with age. The current crisis not only impacts men’s physical and emotional health but it interferes with men’s ability to work and to love, the two cornerstones, I believe, of men’s physical and emotional health.
There is hope on the horizon. The bad news is that the COVID-19 virus has spread throughout the world. The good news is that there are millions of men and women that are working to develop a vaccine and find treatments that can help those who get sick. There are also more and more programs dedicated to helping men and the families who love them.
Here are some things I’ve found to be important in addressing men’s mental health.
1. Men have an aversion anything “mental.”
I grew up with all the stereotypes of people who had “mental problems:”
Nuts
Psycho
Looney tunes
Weird
Freak
Although the stereotypes impact women and men, men are particularly sensitive to anything that implies they are “less than a man” or have a problem they can’t control.
Solution: I’ve learned that “mental problems” are as common and treatable as physical problems. It’s manly to acknowledge what’s going on inside me. I felt free when I began talking about my own depression and anxiety. And so have millions of other men including Dwayne “the rock” Johnson, Trevor Noah, Brad Pitt, Bruce Springsteen, and Terry Bradshaw, to name a few. Talk about your feelings. The truth will set you free.
2. Men are taught we must be tough and never show weakness.
This is part of the “man-box” culture so many of us grew up in and I discuss in my new book, 12 Rules for Good Men. We are taught that real men don’t acknowledge pain, physical or mental. I remember a cartoon. A man and woman are sitting across from each other. The woman sticks a fork into the bridge of the man’s nose. He sits impassively as though nothing has happened. The caption reads, “That’s what I like about you Louie, you’re tough.”
Solution: Denying our pain and being unfeeling when we are hurt or afraid is not a sign of manly strength. It’s a kind of masochism where strength is measured by how much pain we can carry without acknowledging it. Pain is a signal that something is wrong. Let it out. Tell the truth. Be kind to ourselves.
3. When men are depressed, we often cover our unhappiness with irritability and anger.
There’s a quote by comedian Elayne Boosler who captures a truth about men’s health. “When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping,” she says. “Men invade another country.” I might add, or they yell at their wives and children or engage in risky and harmful behaviors that hurt themselves.
Solution: Don’t let anger harm yourself and your family. I realized I was angry all my life and a lot of the anger came out when I was really stressed, depressed, and unhappy. I finally learned to deal with my anger more effectively, learned to help others, and wrote a best-selling book, The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression. If this is an issue for you or a family member, check it out.
If you found this article helpful, please visit me here to read more helpful articles. This work is my calling. Your feedback and comments help me know what is most helpful to you.
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This story was originally published on Men Alive and republished on The Good Men Project. | https://goodmenproject.medium.com/mens-mental-health-challenges-in-the-covid-19-era-ceee2824817e | ['The Good Men Project'] | 2020-04-17 03:01:00.873000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Men', 'Anxiety', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavirus'] | Title Men’s Mental Health Challenges COVID19 EraContent Men’s Mental Health Challenges COVID19 Era “Will get someone love get one u die end” Photo credit Shutterstock Jed Diamond PhD I’m guessing people world ever heard COVID19 month ago everyone heard u scared ask “Will get someone love get one u die end” really two pandemic we’re dealing First spread virus impact physical health Second spread fear panic impact mental health fear close personal I’m highrisk group getting virus getting sick dying I’m older age 76 I’ve chronic lung problem life I’m man I’m also highrisk group mental emotional problem associated COVID19 I’ve suffered depression life worry lot suffer anxiety get stressed get angry often push away need emotional support Let say outset can’t separate physical health mental health I’m flu I’m also often sad depressed I’m dealing anxiety anger depression physical health suffers well addressing risk associated COVID19 people aware older people health problem likely become sicker die contract virus However fewer people seem aware male seems put u higher risk White House coronavirus coordinator Dr Deborah Birx recently pointed “concerning trend” looking statistic Italy footage hospital intensive care unit showed bed bed older men breathing help ventilator “The mortality male seems twice female every age group” said Dr Birx Italy recently offered statistic death noted 28 death female 72 died men according report BBC One study put number even higher men making 80 people died COVID19 Italy I’ve helping men improve mental health fifty year Well even longer remember father took overdose sleeping pill five year old depression intensified unable make living supporting family word wrote journal day prior overdosing committed Camarillo State Mental Hospital north home Los Angeles October 30th Faster faster faster walk plug away looking work anything support family try try try try try always try never stop November 2nd hundred failure endless number failure confidence hope belief run completely Middle aged stand gaze ahead numb confused desperately worried around see young spirit young heart ten time confidence twice youth ten time fervor twice education see whole army battering door I’m battering trying field I’m trying Yes Sunday morning early November hope life stream running desperately low low stagnant hold breath fear believing dark blank curtain descend addition depressed father also angry anger pushed mother away emotionally kept pain bottled inside survived suicide attempt life never went uncle every week visit father got worse worse I’m sure decision dedicate life helping men family deal issue began month visited father unable help know suicide rate men 3 18 time higher woman increase age current crisis impact men’s physical emotional health interferes men’s ability work love two cornerstone believe men’s physical emotional health hope horizon bad news COVID19 virus spread throughout world good news million men woman working develop vaccine find treatment help get sick also program dedicated helping men family love thing I’ve found important addressing men’s mental health 1 Men aversion anything “mental” grew stereotype people “mental problems” Nuts Psycho Looney tune Weird Freak Although stereotype impact woman men men particularly sensitive anything implies “less man” problem can’t control Solution I’ve learned “mental problems” common treatable physical problem It’s manly acknowledge what’s going inside felt free began talking depression anxiety million men including Dwayne “the rock” Johnson Trevor Noah Brad Pitt Bruce Springsteen Terry Bradshaw name Talk feeling truth set free 2 Men taught must tough never show weakness part “manbox” culture many u grew discus new book 12 Rules Good Men taught real men don’t acknowledge pain physical mental remember cartoon man woman sitting across woman stick fork bridge man’s nose sits impassively though nothing happened caption read “That’s like Louie you’re tough” Solution Denying pain unfeeling hurt afraid sign manly strength It’s kind masochism strength measured much pain carry without acknowledging Pain signal something wrong Let Tell truth kind 3 men depressed often cover unhappiness irritability anger There’s quote comedian Elayne Boosler capture truth men’s health “When woman depressed eat go shopping” say “Men invade another country” might add yell wife child engage risky harmful behavior hurt Solution Don’t let anger harm family realized angry life lot anger came really stressed depressed unhappy finally learned deal anger effectively learned help others wrote bestselling book Irritable Male Syndrome Understanding Managing 4 Key Causes Depression Aggression issue family member check found article helpful please visit read helpful article work calling feedback comment help know helpful — story originally published Men Alive republished Good Men ProjectTags Mental Health Men Anxiety Covid 19 Coronavirus |
3,159 | Your Share of the US GDP Awaits | Money Quote Tuesday Nov. 28 2017
Your Share of the US GDP Awaits
Forget Bitcoin. Sam Altman asks: Why not share the entire US economy equally with all citizens?
There is So. Much. To. Read! So here are some of the more noteworthy stories I’ve been reading these past two days:
Sam Altman explores an idea with historical roots but radical implications. Money quote: “Countries that concentrate wealth in a small number of families do worse over the long term — if we don’t take a radical step toward a fair, inclusive system, we will not be the leading country in the world for much longer. This would harm all Americans more than most realize.”
I wrote extensively on this today here. Money quote: ““Despite their enormous size and influence, the biggest privately held technology companies eschew some basic corporate governance standards, blocking outside voices, limiting decision making to small groups of mostly white men and holding back on public disclosures.”
I own a small number of bitcoins and other crypto currencies. I bought them to understand them. Now I am flummoxed by what to do with them. Hold? Sell? Cover? Ignore? I honestly have no idea. Does anyone? Money quote: “But current investors see that after all the previous popped bubbles — and there have been several — the price eventually returned to its old high and then vaulted past it. The price of a Bitcoin is now more than seven times the high it reached in 2013.”
About time the voice of the consumer, and transparency in labeling, started to impact behemoth lobbying vehicles. Money quote: “When the Food and Drug Administration unveiled its update for the Nutrition Facts label in 2014 with a new requirement to list “added sugars” for the first time, plenty of food companies were furious, arguing that it wasn’t based in science and would confuse consumers. But others, including Nestlé and Mars, accepted the idea, concluding it was what consumers wanted or would be good for their business, or both…GMA’s members were so divided over the policy that the association submitted split comments to the regulator, with minority and majority opinions that argued the pros and cons of added sugars labeling, a public division that no one could recall happening in the past.”
Short answer (according to VF): Yes. Money quote: “The shift is being driven, in part, by a newfound focus on revenue over scale. For years, the private market shielded tech companies from painful reckonings with the deficiencies in their business models. The venture-capital boom and the optimism of the early and mid 2010s led to the creation of more than 100 privately held tech companies valued at $1 billion or more. Now some of the biggest, like Uber, are facing questions not only about their business models but also about their company culture.”
Good “out of the bubble” read on the “rest of the world” as it relates to issues we often obsess over. Money quote: “Emerging markets also offer a cautionary tale concerning the downside of the on-demand economy. They have some of the highest levels of inequality in the world. The world’s 50 most unequal economies are in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, with South Africa taking the prize for the highest income inequality.”
A very old, but very telling, smoking gun. Money quote: “When it seemed to be pointing to the fact that sucrose consumption could be linked to heart disease and bladder cancer, the SRF (which had changed its name in 1968 to the International Sugar Research Foundation, or ISRF) ended the project and didn’t publish the results.”
The Missouri AG is making a national name for himself. Money quote: “It is our firm belief and, I think, Google’s too, that no company in the history of the world has collected more personal information about its users than Google has, so beginning there, I think, makes a good deal of sense. That said, I do hope that one of the effects of our effort will be to spark a broad conversation about just how much personal data a consumer is expected to trade in order to interact with these internet-based platforms.”
This case is seminal. Or could be, anyway. Money quote: “The harder question is: What rules should govern the relationship between law enforcement and the public, and who should write them? Even if the Supreme Court decides, as it ought to, that the police needed a warrant to vacuum up four months of Mr. Carpenter’s whereabouts, it can’t resolve more fine-grained questions about how to balance personal privacy against public safety…That’s a job for lawmakers.”
My take? Because WeWork’s way better than Facebook as a home for MeetUp. Just my take. Money quote: “Inadvertently, Meetup’s contrarian approach to melding the physical and the digital may house the solution to this problem of emotional and intellectual disconnect that everyone is racing to solve.”
“Try” is the operative word here. Money quote: “Several investors have said privately that they would be unlikely to sell at such a rate.” But then again, $48 billion is nothing to sniff at. | https://medium.com/newco/your-share-of-the-us-gdp-awaits-1922ab8f8a73 | ['John Battelle'] | 2017-11-28 23:42:08.756000+00:00 | ['Economics', 'Politics', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Tech'] | Title Share US GDP AwaitsContent Money Quote Tuesday Nov 28 2017 Share US GDP Awaits Forget Bitcoin Sam Altman asks share entire US economy equally citizen Much Read noteworthy story I’ve reading past two day Sam Altman explores idea historical root radical implication Money quote “Countries concentrate wealth small number family worse long term — don’t take radical step toward fair inclusive system leading country world much longer would harm Americans realize” wrote extensively today Money quote ““Despite enormous size influence biggest privately held technology company eschew basic corporate governance standard blocking outside voice limiting decision making small group mostly white men holding back public disclosures” small number bitcoins crypto currency bought understand flummoxed Hold Sell Cover Ignore honestly idea anyone Money quote “But current investor see previous popped bubble — several — price eventually returned old high vaulted past price Bitcoin seven time high reached 2013” time voice consumer transparency labeling started impact behemoth lobbying vehicle Money quote “When Food Drug Administration unveiled update Nutrition Facts label 2014 new requirement list “added sugars” first time plenty food company furious arguing wasn’t based science would confuse consumer others including Nestlé Mars accepted idea concluding consumer wanted would good business both…GMA’s member divided policy association submitted split comment regulator minority majority opinion argued pro con added sugar labeling public division one could recall happening past” Short answer according VF Yes Money quote “The shift driven part newfound focus revenue scale year private market shielded tech company painful reckoning deficiency business model venturecapital boom optimism early mid 2010s led creation 100 privately held tech company valued 1 billion biggest like Uber facing question business model also company culture” Good “out bubble” read “rest world” relates issue often ob Money quote “Emerging market also offer cautionary tale concerning downside ondemand economy highest level inequality world world’s 50 unequal economy SubSaharan Africa Latin America South Africa taking prize highest income inequality” old telling smoking gun Money quote “When seemed pointing fact sucrose consumption could linked heart disease bladder cancer SRF changed name 1968 International Sugar Research Foundation ISRF ended project didn’t publish results” Missouri AG making national name Money quote “It firm belief think Google’s company history world collected personal information user Google beginning think make good deal sense said hope one effect effort spark broad conversation much personal data consumer expected trade order interact internetbased platforms” case seminal could anyway Money quote “The harder question rule govern relationship law enforcement public write Even Supreme Court decides ought police needed warrant vacuum four month Mr Carpenter’s whereabouts can’t resolve finegrained question balance personal privacy public safety…That’s job lawmakers” take WeWork’s way better Facebook home MeetUp take Money quote “Inadvertently Meetup’s contrarian approach melding physical digital may house solution problem emotional intellectual disconnect everyone racing solve” “Try” operative word Money quote “Several investor said privately would unlikely sell rate” 48 billion nothing sniff atTags Economics Politics Entrepreneurship Startup Tech |
3,160 | Spring Boot: how to design efficient search REST API? ( with Live Demo ) | A few of the most important features for consuming an API are:
Filtering — to narrow down the query results by specific parameters, eg. creation date, or country
Sorting — basically allows sorting the results ascending or descending by a chosen parameter or parameters, eg. by date
Paging — uses “size” to narrow down the number of results shown to a specific number, and “offset” to specify which part of the results range to be shown — this is important in cases where the number of total results is greater than the one presented, this works like pagination you may encounter on many websites
Usually, these features are used by adding a so-called query parameter to the endpoint that is being called. These may look as follows:
Filtering:
GET /cars?country=USA
GET /cars?createDate=2019–11–11
Sorting:
GET /cars?sort=createDate,asc
GET /cars?sort=createDate,desc
Paging:
GET /cars?size=100&offset=2
All together:
GET /cars?country=USA&sort=createDate:desc&size=100&offset=2
(this query should result in the list of 100 cars from the USA, sorted descending by the creation date, and the presented records are on the second page, which means are from a 101–200 record number range).
Let’s practice
Let’s assume that we have a legacy code: car API management. The principle of the existing code defines basic CRUD actions: create, read/retrieve, update, and delete. We want to filter cars by manufacturer and model as well as their type. All filters are optional.
With Spring Data it is straightforward to create Repositories with custom search methods. Then we can use this repository in your controller.
We have to manually manage request parameters to determine the appropriate repository method. While it is not a big problem for a single request parameter, this approach becomes unacceptable when there are more variables (5 fields in Car.java). So This is not an acceptable approach.
Don’t work hard, work smarter
Fortunately, there is an existing solution to these problems. The following article reveals the magic formula: using Spring Data and Specification Argument Resolver.
We can receive a considerable benefit from these components:
First of all, we have not to guess all possible methods in the repository nor to verify if the filtering value is available for each field or no. Thanks to the interface Specification of Spring Data who can deduct which Predicate is selected.
On another side, we do not need to check the query para manually. Specification Argument Resolver asserts this task.
As a result, we reduce code complexity (no repository method explosion, no tedious code in the controller)
Step 1: Add dependency
Step 2: Override the method addArgumentResolvers that implements WebMvcConfigurer
Step 3: Implement the CarController class
Step 4: Implement the CarService class
The project code source is available in Github.
Let’s test it
Notice that with one method we can use it for several cases:
case 1: get all car list
case 2: get all paginated car list
We fix the parameter page-size in there request header at 5 and page-number to 0. So we retrieve page number 0 and with 5 elements:
In the header response, we have the total number of pages which is 19 pages (where each page has 5 elements ):
case 3: get all sorted car list
case 4: get filtered car list
If you look for American cars:
case 5: get filtered paginated car list
For you search 5 German cars by page
Globally there are 9 German cars in 2 pages.
case 6: get filtered sorted car list
Let’s assume that we search for Japonais cars that are created between 30/07/1959 and 1/11/1966 displayed in ascending order.
case 7: get filtered sorted and paginated car list
let’s search for American cars with type small sorted by created date in descending order.
There are 8 cars in 2 pages of size 5. | https://medium.com/quick-code/spring-boot-how-to-design-efficient-search-rest-api-c3a678b693a0 | ['Raouf Makhlouf'] | 2020-09-06 17:02:43.970000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Design', 'API', 'Rest', 'Spring'] | Title Spring Boot design efficient search REST API Live Demo Content important feature consuming API Filtering — narrow query result specific parameter eg creation date country Sorting — basically allows sorting result ascending descending chosen parameter parameter eg date Paging — us “size” narrow number result shown specific number “offset” specify part result range shown — important case number total result greater one presented work like pagination may encounter many website Usually feature used adding socalled query parameter endpoint called may look follows Filtering GET carscountryUSA GET carscreateDate2019–11–11 Sorting GET carssortcreateDateasc GET carssortcreateDatedesc Paging GET carssize100offset2 together GET carscountryUSAsortcreateDatedescsize100offset2 query result list 100 car USA sorted descending creation date presented record second page mean 101–200 record number range Let’s practice Let’s assume legacy code car API management principle existing code defines basic CRUD action create readretrieve update delete want filter car manufacturer model well type filter optional Spring Data straightforward create Repositories custom search method use repository controller manually manage request parameter determine appropriate repository method big problem single request parameter approach becomes unacceptable variable 5 field Carjava acceptable approach Don’t work hard work smarter Fortunately existing solution problem following article reveals magic formula using Spring Data Specification Argument Resolver receive considerable benefit component First guess possible method repository verify filtering value available field Thanks interface Specification Spring Data deduct Predicate selected another side need check query para manually Specification Argument Resolver asserts task result reduce code complexity repository method explosion tedious code controller Step 1 Add dependency Step 2 Override method addArgumentResolvers implement WebMvcConfigurer Step 3 Implement CarController class Step 4 Implement CarService class project code source available Github Let’s test Notice one method use several case case 1 get car list case 2 get paginated car list fix parameter pagesize request header 5 pagenumber 0 retrieve page number 0 5 element header response total number page 19 page page 5 element case 3 get sorted car list case 4 get filtered car list look American car case 5 get filtered paginated car list search 5 German car page Globally 9 German car 2 page case 6 get filtered sorted car list Let’s assume search Japonais car created 30071959 1111966 displayed ascending order case 7 get filtered sorted paginated car list let’s search American car type small sorted created date descending order 8 car 2 page size 5Tags Java Design API Rest Spring |
3,161 | You May Never Go Plastic-Free and That’s Okay | You May Never Go Plastic-Free and That’s Okay
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing
Photo by Silvestri Matteo on Unsplash
I’m writing this at the top of an aqueduct in France, and while it may seem like a weird place to start writing a piece about plastic-free living, looking out over all of the tourists and the absolute beauty of a park, it got my creativity flowing. Seeing just how efficient and inefficient things are here in France got me thinking about plastics, garbage, and everything going green.
It’s hard when you’re traveling to be sustainable. Extremely hard. But, I’ve noticed my habits changing (and those around me) each time I leave for a trip. It’s also taken me a long time to get to this imperfect spot. There are so many other travel bloggers out there who are way better at living a more eco-friendly life than I am, and of course, I’m doing better than others. What we all have in common is that we’re trying.
From an outsider looking in, and definitely through most of my instagram-feed, my house may look like a blissful little plastic-free oasis. But, it’s not. While my house doesn’t have any plastic wrap, a feat that was beyond hard to get to and kept having me reach for more, I still end up using ziplocs. Mainly, it’s because I’ve so many. And, because I like to freeze veggies from the garden so I can use them all year-round.
Rarely will I use a plastic fork, unless I’ve forgotten to say that I don’t need one. Then, I stop worrying about the fact that I’ve a plastic fork and just use the damn thing; what’s done is done and wasting it isn’t going to help anyone.
I only use a plastic straw when I’ve a migraine (and thus a reusable doesn’t work the same. Perhaps a silicone one will work once I’ve run out of my hoard of plastic straws) or I become so used to most restaurants not giving them out, I forget to ask for none.
We only use bamboo toothbrushes unless we’re given a plastic one for Christmas. I will reject the free toothbrush at the dentist’s office solely because it’s made from plastic, now. Something that is weirdly a struggle, because FREE.
I use mainly bar soap for everything, but I still have a plastic bottle for my conditioner, one liquid soap dispenser and dish soap, even though I also use a dish washing block, something that is proving to be a little harder to switch to than I imagined. I use soap nuts/berries bought at Bulk Barn in a reusable bag and make my own liquid soap.
I’ve started buying candies and treats and easy things from Bulk Barn and keeping them in jars, getting rid of the whole need for plastic packaging. Do I still buy treats that are palm oil free in plastic bags? Absolutely. Do I still buy chips or pretzels that have no other option but the bag they come in? Yes.
I didn’t lay out the list above to brag, but to point out that we are doing A LOT to cut down on waste, be it plastic or otherwise, and yes our recycling is taking longer and longer to build up than it used to, but it’s still there, we’re still creating waste.
Getting to this point didn’t happen over night and it definitely didn’t happen in a month. I didn’t push myself to a breaking point in order to go plastic-free for a month, limiting myself to a single mason jar of garbage. Instead, I implemented new habits every time I realized how much plastic I was using.
This took over a year. And, I’m still not perfect. Far from it.
The above are things that I do in order to cut down on plastic. But, I still buy bottled drinks every so often even though I carry a reusable water bottle. I still get take-out containers from time to time. I still buy berries in plastic containers. Maybe, eventually, once my trees and bushes grow I’ll just have to dip into the freezer instead of the grocery section. Maybe by that time I’ll have enough reuseable freezer bags and containers I won’t use any ziplocs to store them. For now, I’ll continue buying berries from time to time giving my body the antioxidants it so craves.
Plastic-free living is trending all over the place and it’s great. It’s getting people to think more about how much plastic they bring into their house and throw away and it’s getting companies to take another look at their brand and how they want to be known.
But, it can also be extremely stressful to the everyday person. The obsession with going completely plastic-free, even with toys and furniture, has gone over to the deep end. There are countless plastic items that, yes, are made of plastic, but which have stood the test of time. If you take care of something, it’ll last (or, at least, it used to when it was made better). Just because it’s plastic doesn’t mean it’s 100% evil. If you’ve a plastic toy from your childhood that you’re now giving your child, is it wasteful? Of course not.
Instead of stressing out about trying to do it all so perfectly all the time, do things imperfectly. Do what you can and keep building. Stop using single-use plastics, but don’t beat yourself up over it if you end up using a straw by accident, or forgot to tell the restaurant you didn’t need plastic cutlery. It’s okay. Eventually, these changes will become habits and the habits will stick and soon you’ll wonder why you even used plastic wrap in the first place.
It’s been months since I’ve had plastic wrap in my house and I don’t miss it, but it took me months to stop missing it. It was hard to cut down on something you so readily used for years. It’s why I always advise keeping whatever you’re getting rid of on hand while you make the switch. Eventually, it’ll become normal not to use it.
So, next time you end up with a plastic grocery bag instead of your reuseable one, or you forget to check out the type of take-out containers an establishment uses, relax. The fact that you’re even thinking about it is great. Let’s all be a little less judgmental (hard for me, I know) while we change our habits to better our planet. | https://medium.com/the-green-leaf/you-may-never-go-plastic-free-and-thats-okay-d3f623d0ae09 | ['Michelle Lee-Ann'] | 2020-04-13 11:55:44.850000+00:00 | ['Environmental Issues', 'Sustainability', 'Plastic', 'Environment', 'Eco Friendly'] | Title May Never Go PlasticFree That’s OkayContent May Never Go PlasticFree That’s Okay doesn’t nothing Photo Silvestri Matteo Unsplash I’m writing top aqueduct France may seem like weird place start writing piece plasticfree living looking tourist absolute beauty park got creativity flowing Seeing efficient inefficient thing France got thinking plastic garbage everything going green It’s hard you’re traveling sustainable Extremely hard I’ve noticed habit changing around time leave trip It’s also taken long time get imperfect spot many travel blogger way better living ecofriendly life course I’m better others common we’re trying outsider looking definitely instagramfeed house may look like blissful little plasticfree oasis it’s house doesn’t plastic wrap feat beyond hard get kept reach still end using ziplocs Mainly it’s I’ve many like freeze veggie garden use yearround Rarely use plastic fork unless I’ve forgotten say don’t need one stop worrying fact I’ve plastic fork use damn thing what’s done done wasting isn’t going help anyone use plastic straw I’ve migraine thus reusable doesn’t work Perhaps silicone one work I’ve run hoard plastic straw become used restaurant giving forget ask none use bamboo toothbrush unless we’re given plastic one Christmas reject free toothbrush dentist’s office solely it’s made plastic Something weirdly struggle FREE use mainly bar soap everything still plastic bottle conditioner one liquid soap dispenser dish soap even though also use dish washing block something proving little harder switch imagined use soap nutsberries bought Bulk Barn reusable bag make liquid soap I’ve started buying candy treat easy thing Bulk Barn keeping jar getting rid whole need plastic packaging still buy treat palm oil free plastic bag Absolutely still buy chip pretzel option bag come Yes didn’t lay list brag point LOT cut waste plastic otherwise yes recycling taking longer longer build used it’s still we’re still creating waste Getting point didn’t happen night definitely didn’t happen month didn’t push breaking point order go plasticfree month limiting single mason jar garbage Instead implemented new habit every time realized much plastic using took year I’m still perfect Far thing order cut plastic still buy bottled drink every often even though carry reusable water bottle still get takeout container time time still buy berry plastic container Maybe eventually tree bush grow I’ll dip freezer instead grocery section Maybe time I’ll enough reuseable freezer bag container won’t use ziplocs store I’ll continue buying berry time time giving body antioxidant craves Plasticfree living trending place it’s great It’s getting people think much plastic bring house throw away it’s getting company take another look brand want known also extremely stressful everyday person obsession going completely plasticfree even toy furniture gone deep end countless plastic item yes made plastic stood test time take care something it’ll last least used made better it’s plastic doesn’t mean it’s 100 evil you’ve plastic toy childhood you’re giving child wasteful course Instead stressing trying perfectly time thing imperfectly keep building Stop using singleuse plastic don’t beat end using straw accident forgot tell restaurant didn’t need plastic cutlery It’s okay Eventually change become habit habit stick soon you’ll wonder even used plastic wrap first place It’s month since I’ve plastic wrap house don’t miss took month stop missing hard cut something readily used year It’s always advise keeping whatever you’re getting rid hand make switch Eventually it’ll become normal use next time end plastic grocery bag instead reuseable one forget check type takeout container establishment us relax fact you’re even thinking great Let’s little le judgmental hard know change habit better planetTags Environmental Issues Sustainability Plastic Environment Eco Friendly |
3,162 | How To Instantly Add 30% To Your Freelance Writing Income | How To Instantly Add 30% To Your Freelance Writing Income
5 Ways Simple Things That Will Make You More Money
Photo by Joe Caione on Unsplash
What if you could make a lot more money — with the clients you already have, and with the content you’re already writing?
You can!
In this article, I’ll share 5 smart ways to make more money — without writing more articles. I’ll show you how to:
Add value to the content you’re writing — without writing more!
Save your clients time and money (they will love you for it!)
Earn MORE MONEY with the content you’re already writing!
Ready? Let’s go!
First: let’s talk about socks, baby!
What, socks? Yes, socks!
Photo by Nick Page on Unsplash
Have you ever worked in a clothing store? If you have, you’ll know it’s waaay easier to sell a pair of socks to someone who’s already buying a suit than to someone who’s not buying anything.
Now, why is this? It’s because once we’ve committed to one purchase, our guard is down, and we’re happy to keep spending. This is basic sales psychology, and luckily, it applies to writing clients as well! (In marketing and sales lingo, this is called cross-selling.)
One of the most efficient ways to quickly boost your income is by selling more to the clients you already have.
Since you already have a relationship with the client, the process is super simple. No need for time-consuming introductions or relationship-building. You just shoot them an email or give them a call, offering an additional service that complements your current agreement. If they find it useful (and they will!), you add it to your next invoice. Ka-ching!
All you need to do is offer the right “pair of socks”, and it will be a done deal. So let’s move on and have a look at some “freelance writing-socks”, shall we?
Let’s get started!
1. Provide Selected Images
Add the perfect images to your content — and save your client time and money.
Offering images with your blog posts is a fun and easy way to add value to your work. Every blog post needs an image, right? Many editors are more than happy to pay the writer extra to pick out the perfect one.
I know what you’re thinking now: “but I’m no photographer!”. The good news is, you don’t have to be. All you have to do is find a suitable free stock image online and submit it together with your text.
Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash
So, where to find images?
Many websites offer royalty-free stock images that you can use. For photography, I would highly recommend Unsplash or Pexels, and for illustrations, you can head to sites like Mixcit. If you need to edit your images, but don’t know how — check out Canva. It’s a super intuitive online design tool that makes editing and design easy-peasy for anyone, even if you feel clueless.
Now, I know it may feel counterintuitive that you’re charging for something you’ve downloaded for free. But what you’re actually charging for is not the image. It’s the time and effort it takes to find the image. And, of course, your impeccable taste ;)
2. Write Social Media Captions
If you’re writing blog posts for your clients, chances are they’ll want to share them in social media. But doing so takes time, and each social media post’s success depends a lot on the copy in the captions.
By offering your social media clients captions to go with your content, you’re not only saving them time — you’re increasing the chances of your content becoming popular and performing well. Talk about a win-win!
Photo by Merakist on Unsplash
Here are the most common social media channels that you can offer to write captions for:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Snapchat
Tik-Tok
They all have their own vibe and regulations, so you’ll need to adapt both the number of characters and the tonality to each platform.
Bonus tips: If your client doesn’t have a style guide for social media content, offer to write one for them! A document specifying tonality, imagery and messaging for every channel is something every company should have. This will make you come across as an expert, and will be nice extra money for you as well :) And once you’ve done one — it will take you little time to offer the same service to other clients. Go get ’em, tiger!
2. Provide Metadata
If you’re writing for the web, this one is a no-brainer. Because if you’re not providing metadata, it means your client will need to write it themselves. So offering to write optimized metadata is usually highly appreciated!
Photo by Rajeshwar Bachu on Unsplash
What is metadata?
Metadata is little snippets of information about your text, written to help Google find it. It’s the information that shows up in the Google search results, and usually include:
SEO title
Meta description
Image Alt Texts
Think about it. You’ve already written the blog post. So you know what it’s about, and you know the keywords. That means you can knock out metadata in no-time!
And the great thing is that if you offer to include texts for SEO, you can not only charge an extra fee for that– your clients will love you for doing so. It will save them time and make you money.
4. Create Custom Data Charts
A super-quick and really cool way to level up your content game is to offer custom data charts as an add-on. This is something I’ve only started to do recently myself, and let me tell you: clients love it!
Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
Original graphic design, even in its simplest form, will make your article much more valuable. And don’t worry, you don’t need to be a savvy statistician to pull this off!
All you need to do is pull some relevant numbers from your article and visualize them in an image. It can be a simple pie chart, Venn diagram, or histogram, highlighting what you’re writing about. Including original graphic content like data charts makes readers more likely to share it and link to it, and it helps position your client as a thought leader.
5. Offer Content Tune-ups
Offer to go through your clients’ older content and update, improve, and optimize it. Doing so is great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because Google prefers content that has been recently updated.
Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash
Here are some examples of what you can include in your offer:
Adding more internal links in the content, to newer content written after it was initially published.
Optimizing headlines with the relevant keyword.
Turning shorter content into longer and more informative articles.
Going through and optimizing metadata.
Update the article with new and relevant information
Linking to new and relevant research
That’s it for today! I hope you found these tips helpful and that you’ll try out at least one of the tactics with your clients. | https://medium.com/freelancers-pharmacy/how-to-instantly-add-30-to-your-freelance-writing-income-4d0c3f621aed | ['Nina Quist'] | 2020-10-30 13:03:38.807000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Writing', 'Freelance Writing', 'Copywriting', 'Writing Tips'] | Title Instantly Add 30 Freelance Writing IncomeContent Instantly Add 30 Freelance Writing Income 5 Ways Simple Things Make Money Photo Joe Caione Unsplash could make lot money — client already content you’re already writing article I’ll share 5 smart way make money — without writing article I’ll show Add value content you’re writing — without writing Save client time money love Earn MONEY content you’re already writing Ready Let’s go First let’s talk sock baby sock Yes sock Photo Nick Page Unsplash ever worked clothing store you’ll know it’s waaay easier sell pair sock someone who’s already buying suit someone who’s buying anything It’s we’ve committed one purchase guard we’re happy keep spending basic sale psychology luckily applies writing client well marketing sale lingo called crossselling One efficient way quickly boost income selling client already Since already relationship client process super simple need timeconsuming introduction relationshipbuilding shoot email give call offering additional service complement current agreement find useful add next invoice Kaching need offer right “pair socks” done deal let’s move look “freelance writingsocks” shall Let’s get started 1 Provide Selected Images Add perfect image content — save client time money Offering image blog post fun easy way add value work Every blog post need image right Many editor happy pay writer extra pick perfect one know you’re thinking “but I’m photographer” good news don’t find suitable free stock image online submit together text Photo Dan Gold Unsplash find image Many website offer royaltyfree stock image use photography would highly recommend Unsplash Pexels illustration head site like Mixcit need edit image don’t know — check Canva It’s super intuitive online design tool make editing design easypeasy anyone even feel clueless know may feel counterintuitive you’re charging something you’ve downloaded free you’re actually charging image It’s time effort take find image course impeccable taste 2 Write Social Media Captions you’re writing blog post client chance they’ll want share social medium take time social medium post’s success depends lot copy caption offering social medium client caption go content you’re saving time — you’re increasing chance content becoming popular performing well Talk winwin Photo Merakist Unsplash common social medium channel offer write caption Instagram Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Snapchat TikTok vibe regulation you’ll need adapt number character tonality platform Bonus tip client doesn’t style guide social medium content offer write one document specifying tonality imagery messaging every channel something every company make come across expert nice extra money well you’ve done one — take little time offer service client Go get ’em tiger 2 Provide Metadata you’re writing web one nobrainer you’re providing metadata mean client need write offering write optimized metadata usually highly appreciated Photo Rajeshwar Bachu Unsplash metadata Metadata little snippet information text written help Google find It’s information show Google search result usually include SEO title Meta description Image Alt Texts Think You’ve already written blog post know it’s know keywords mean knock metadata notime great thing offer include text SEO charge extra fee that– client love save time make money 4 Create Custom Data Charts superquick really cool way level content game offer custom data chart addon something I’ve started recently let tell client love Photo Lukas Blazek Unsplash Original graphic design even simplest form make article much valuable don’t worry don’t need savvy statistician pull need pull relevant number article visualize image simple pie chart Venn diagram histogram highlighting you’re writing Including original graphic content like data chart make reader likely share link help position client thought leader 5 Offer Content Tuneups Offer go clients’ older content update improve optimize great SEO Search Engine Optimization Google prefers content recently updated Photo Corinne Kutz Unsplash example include offer Adding internal link content newer content written initially published Optimizing headline relevant keyword Turning shorter content longer informative article Going optimizing metadata Update article new relevant information Linking new relevant research That’s today hope found tip helpful you’ll try least one tactic clientsTags Entrepreneurship Writing Freelance Writing Copywriting Writing Tips |
3,163 | How can I make my article better? | How can I make my article better?
Tips to improve your article’s structure, formatting, takeaway — and increase the chances your message will resonate with your audience.
We have been editing and curating content for 13+years and we truly believe that knowledge sharing can make our design community stronger. If you decide to publish your article with us, you will:
Be part of a community that values purpose and impartiality
Reach an audience of 380k+ followers on Medium
Great stories are featured on our Homepage, which gets high exposure
Best stories are also featured on our Twitter, Linkedin, and Newsletter
Publishing your first article with us
Review this checklist. Email [email protected] a link to your Medium draft or published article with a one-sentence description. We don’t accept articles in other formats or through other channels. We will review all submissions and if your article is a good fit for our publication, we will get back to you within 2 business days. We rarely take longer than that to respond, but if we do, please forgive us — we’re just having a hectic week. The best articles are not time-sensitive, so this shouldn’t be an issue. After being accepted and reviewed, your article is added to the queue to be published. Once your article is published with us, we ask you to keep it in our publication for at least 6 months.
Make sure the article is a good fit
We publish articles, lists, opinions, tutorials and essays on User Experience Design, Usability, Interaction Design, Prototyping, Product Design, Branding, Visual Design, Research, Diversity in Design, and any other topic that directly relates to designing and building digital products.
articles, lists, opinions, tutorials and essays on User Experience Design, Usability, Interaction Design, Prototyping, Product Design, Branding, Visual Design, Research, Diversity in Design, and any other topic that directly relates to designing and building digital products. We don’t publish articles strictly focused on business and coding.
articles strictly focused on business and coding. We don’t publish portfolio pieces or case studies without a strong case behind it and/or based just on the author’s experience;
portfolio pieces or case studies without a strong case behind it and/or based just on the author’s experience; We don’t publish reviews of a product’s UX without a deep analysis; we don’t publish destructive feedback or articles that promote fear.
reviews of a product’s UX without a deep analysis; we don’t publish destructive feedback or articles that promote fear. We don’t publish content marketing pieces; articles with affiliate links. Articles not submitted by the original author; articles focused on anything other than adding value to the UX community.
content marketing pieces; articles with affiliate links. Articles not submitted by the original author; articles focused on anything other than adding value to the UX community. Need inspiration? Not sure if it’s a good fit? Check our top stories to see the types of articles we prioritize.
Provide references and examples
Before you start writing your article, search extensively on our platform and on the web about the topic you are writing about. It’s very likely that someone has written about this topic before, and giving them credit will help you validate your ideas and make your argument stronger.
about the topic you are writing about. It’s very likely that someone has written about this topic before, and giving them credit will help you validate your ideas and make your argument stronger. Link to all sources found in your research and used in your article. It’s extremely important to acknowledge and reference to all sources, whether it is simply to give credit to the author or to provide a counterargument to one of their thoughts.
found in your research and used in your article. It’s extremely important to acknowledge and reference to all sources, whether it is simply to give credit to the author or to provide a counterargument to one of their thoughts. Use different sources . This is crucial to make your argument valid and to build a solid article, making sure you highlight different perspectives.
. This is crucial to make your argument valid and to build a solid article, making sure you highlight different perspectives. Do not include links from affiliate programs or that are promoting a specific product or service.
Follow a cohesive structure
Use Medium’s formatting tools for the title, subtitle, and headings. Don’t use bold, italic or all-caps for headings. Titles should be sentence-case.
Don’t use bold, italic or all-caps for headings. Titles should be sentence-case. Give your article a good title and subtitle. Make them short and compelling. The beginning of the article is really what’s going to make people decide to continue to read or not.
Make them short and compelling. The beginning of the article is really what’s going to make people decide to continue to read or not. Break the article into sections. Use headings between sections and keep paragraphs short — clear headings help readers a lot.
Use headings between sections and keep paragraphs short — clear headings help readers a lot. Don’t break your content in several articles (Part 1, Part 2, etc.). Each article should work as a standalone piece.
Write clearly and thoroughly
Proofread before submitting it. Run your article by services such as Grammarly or Google Docs to fix spelling and grammar errors.
Run your article by services such as Grammarly or Google Docs to fix spelling and grammar errors. If your article has less than 5 minutes of reading time: are you sure you covered everything your readership expects? Remember that you’re talking to professional product makers (designers, developers, product managers), and there’s a chance they are looking for something deeper.
are you sure you covered everything your readership expects? Remember that you’re talking to professional product makers (designers, developers, product managers), and there’s a chance they are looking for something deeper. Act professionally. Don’t overuse emojis, GIFs, memes. Remember we’re talking to a global audience, so not everyone knows about American TV series. Don’t use more than 2 exclamation marks in your entire article.
Give credit where credit is due
Google the topic you’re writing about before you start. Chances are that other people have written about this topic before. When you don’t take time to add links and references to other people, you are essentially erasing their work — as well as positioning yourself as someone who doesn’t usually research things / don’t value about other people’s work.
Chances are that other people have written about this topic before. When you don’t take time to add links and references to other people, you are essentially erasing their work — as well as positioning yourself as someone who doesn’t usually research things / don’t value about other people’s work. Add notes, credits, and links, including inspiration and references. If you did your homework and researched the topic properly, you will have at least a few links to add throughout your article.
including inspiration and references. If you did your homework and researched the topic properly, you will have at least a few links to add throughout your article. Give credit to the author of the image. Even if the image/illustration is free or CreativeCommons.
Re-read your story from another perspective
Challenge every sentence you wrote. Distance yourself from the writing for a moment, and read your story another time imagining you are a reader who has no idea what the article is about. How would someone challenge your argument after every sentence?
Distance yourself from the writing for a moment, and read your story another time imagining you are a reader who has no idea what the article is about. How would someone challenge your argument after every sentence? Read the story aloud. Make changes. Read the story aloud again. You’ll notice areas where your writing flows and where it clashes. Your story will improve. It will become clearer, the structure will improve, and new ideas will surface.
Make changes. Read the story aloud again. You’ll notice areas where your writing flows and where it clashes. Your story will improve. It will become clearer, the structure will improve, and new ideas will surface. Share your story with a peer. Find someone you can share your story with, and someone who is willing to give you brutally honest feedback. Ask them 1. how they would define your story in one sentence, and 2. what was their main takeaway. Compare their answer with what you’re actually trying to convey.
Find someone you can share your story with, and someone who is willing to give you brutally honest feedback. Ask them 1. how they would define your story in one sentence, and 2. what was their main takeaway. Compare their answer with what you’re actually trying to convey. For more tips like this, check out this article by Medium: How to Hear What Your Story Is Actually Saying
Add images (and alt text)
Add at least one image . Your article must have at least one good quality image that will be used as the cover image. If you don’t have a custom image to add, try free stock photo websites like Unsplash, Pexels, Burst, The Stocks, or Pixabay.
. Your article must have at least one good quality image that will be used as the cover image. If you don’t have a custom image to add, try free stock photo websites like Unsplash, Pexels, Burst, The Stocks, or Pixabay. Don’t add content to the image. We strongly recommend images to be simple, merely supportive (without text or dense information on it).
We strongly recommend images to be simple, merely supportive (without text or dense information on it). Add alt text to all your images. This will ensure your image is understandable by screen readers, making your story accessible for users with visual impairments. To add an alt text, click on an image and on “Alt text”, then type a one-sentence description of what your image contains.
Do not ask for claps
You don’t have to beg for claps. Great content sells itself. If people like what they read, they will naturally clap, comment, and share your story with their peers.
Great content sells itself. If people like what they read, they will naturally clap, comment, and share your story with their peers. Medium has recently changed its algorithm to prioritize reading time instead of number of claps when deciding which story to promote to other users.
Remove promotional content
Remove any paragraph about you or links to personal sites. Use your Medium bio for any personal link or information.
Use your Medium bio for any personal link or information. Remove any affiliate links or links with paywalls (including email paywalls).
Have a clear purpose
Is the theme a good fit for our publication?
What’s the takeaway for our readers? Is it clear?
Does it provide enough examples and references to validate the point?
Is it adding value to the UX community? Is it a new perspective? Is it a current theme or is it too saturated?
Is it promoting a healthier design community?
Be nice and give back to the community
We love publishing articles from all sort of authors — new designers, experienced ones, professionals from different fields, backgrounds, locations. We want to create a place for all voices and audiences about UX. | https://uxdesign.cc/how-can-i-make-my-article-better-88c40a74e9dc | ['Ux Collective Editors'] | 2020-08-31 17:59:08.692000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'User Experience', 'Startup', 'Design', 'Product Management'] | Title make article betterContent make article better Tips improve article’s structure formatting takeaway — increase chance message resonate audience editing curating content 13years truly believe knowledge sharing make design community stronger decide publish article u part community value purpose impartiality Reach audience 380k follower Medium Great story featured Homepage get high exposure Best story also featured Twitter Linkedin Newsletter Publishing first article u Review checklist Email hellouxdesigncc link Medium draft published article onesentence description don’t accept article format channel review submission article good fit publication get back within 2 business day rarely take longer respond please forgive u — we’re hectic week best article timesensitive shouldn’t issue accepted reviewed article added queue published article published u ask keep publication least 6 month Make sure article good fit publish article list opinion tutorial essay User Experience Design Usability Interaction Design Prototyping Product Design Branding Visual Design Research Diversity Design topic directly relates designing building digital product article list opinion tutorial essay User Experience Design Usability Interaction Design Prototyping Product Design Branding Visual Design Research Diversity Design topic directly relates designing building digital product don’t publish article strictly focused business coding article strictly focused business coding don’t publish portfolio piece case study without strong case behind andor based author’s experience portfolio piece case study without strong case behind andor based author’s experience don’t publish review product’s UX without deep analysis don’t publish destructive feedback article promote fear review product’s UX without deep analysis don’t publish destructive feedback article promote fear don’t publish content marketing piece article affiliate link Articles submitted original author article focused anything adding value UX community content marketing piece article affiliate link Articles submitted original author article focused anything adding value UX community Need inspiration sure it’s good fit Check top story see type article prioritize Provide reference example start writing article search extensively platform web topic writing It’s likely someone written topic giving credit help validate idea make argument stronger topic writing It’s likely someone written topic giving credit help validate idea make argument stronger Link source found research used article It’s extremely important acknowledge reference source whether simply give credit author provide counterargument one thought found research used article It’s extremely important acknowledge reference source whether simply give credit author provide counterargument one thought Use different source crucial make argument valid build solid article making sure highlight different perspective crucial make argument valid build solid article making sure highlight different perspective include link affiliate program promoting specific product service Follow cohesive structure Use Medium’s formatting tool title subtitle heading Don’t use bold italic allcaps heading Titles sentencecase Don’t use bold italic allcaps heading Titles sentencecase Give article good title subtitle Make short compelling beginning article really what’s going make people decide continue read Make short compelling beginning article really what’s going make people decide continue read Break article section Use heading section keep paragraph short — clear heading help reader lot Use heading section keep paragraph short — clear heading help reader lot Don’t break content several article Part 1 Part 2 etc article work standalone piece Write clearly thoroughly Proofread submitting Run article service Grammarly Google Docs fix spelling grammar error Run article service Grammarly Google Docs fix spelling grammar error article le 5 minute reading time sure covered everything readership expects Remember you’re talking professional product maker designer developer product manager there’s chance looking something deeper sure covered everything readership expects Remember you’re talking professional product maker designer developer product manager there’s chance looking something deeper Act professionally Don’t overuse emojis GIFs meme Remember we’re talking global audience everyone know American TV series Don’t use 2 exclamation mark entire article Give credit credit due Google topic you’re writing start Chances people written topic don’t take time add link reference people essentially erasing work — well positioning someone doesn’t usually research thing don’t value people’s work Chances people written topic don’t take time add link reference people essentially erasing work — well positioning someone doesn’t usually research thing don’t value people’s work Add note credit link including inspiration reference homework researched topic properly least link add throughout article including inspiration reference homework researched topic properly least link add throughout article Give credit author image Even imageillustration free CreativeCommons Reread story another perspective Challenge every sentence wrote Distance writing moment read story another time imagining reader idea article would someone challenge argument every sentence Distance writing moment read story another time imagining reader idea article would someone challenge argument every sentence Read story aloud Make change Read story aloud You’ll notice area writing flow clash story improve become clearer structure improve new idea surface Make change Read story aloud You’ll notice area writing flow clash story improve become clearer structure improve new idea surface Share story peer Find someone share story someone willing give brutally honest feedback Ask 1 would define story one sentence 2 main takeaway Compare answer you’re actually trying convey Find someone share story someone willing give brutally honest feedback Ask 1 would define story one sentence 2 main takeaway Compare answer you’re actually trying convey tip like check article Medium Hear Story Actually Saying Add image alt text Add least one image article must least one good quality image used cover image don’t custom image add try free stock photo website like Unsplash Pexels Burst Stocks Pixabay article must least one good quality image used cover image don’t custom image add try free stock photo website like Unsplash Pexels Burst Stocks Pixabay Don’t add content image strongly recommend image simple merely supportive without text dense information strongly recommend image simple merely supportive without text dense information Add alt text image ensure image understandable screen reader making story accessible user visual impairment add alt text click image “Alt text” type onesentence description image contains ask clap don’t beg clap Great content sell people like read naturally clap comment share story peer Great content sell people like read naturally clap comment share story peer Medium recently changed algorithm prioritize reading time instead number clap deciding story promote user Remove promotional content Remove paragraph link personal site Use Medium bio personal link information Use Medium bio personal link information Remove affiliate link link paywalls including email paywalls clear purpose theme good fit publication What’s takeaway reader clear provide enough example reference validate point adding value UX community new perspective current theme saturated promoting healthier design community nice give back community love publishing article sort author — new designer experienced one professional different field background location want create place voice audience UXTags Product Design User Experience Startup Design Product Management |
3,164 | How to Actually Slow Down or Speed Up Time | The warp speed of adulthood
Eventually, I grew up to realize that all those 30-somethings weren’t so old after all. It wasn’t until my late twenties and early thirties that time started to really accelerate for me.
I don’t remember the exact moment. But, I do remember often thinking, wait, wasn’t it just Christmas last month?
Years flashed by in a blur.
It’s true. Time really does seem to move faster when you’re an adult.
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” — Henry Van Dyke
Psychologists discover why time speeds up
To understand how to manipulate time, we need to first understand why time appears to sometimes change speeds.
As it turns out, this time distortion most likely involves three separate psychological concepts:
Forward telescoping
Proportional theory
Perceptual theory
Forward telescoping
Put simply, forward telescoping is thinking that events happened more recently than they actually occurred. Psychologists believe this may be the reason for the perceived “speeding up” of time.
A good example is movies. Did you realize that the first Harry Potter movie came out in, gasp, 2001? Or that Dumb and Dumber came out in 1994. That’s basically the same period as the ancient Egyptians.
Our brain tricks us into thinking events like birthdays, graduations, or even deaths happened more recently than they did. This perceptual error results in the apparent acceleration of time.
Proportional theory
Time might also “speed up” because of how we perceive time based on our age and the proportion of time we may have left to live. This is the proportional theory, suggested by Paul Jent in 1877 (So, around the time I graduated high school).
Here is how Steve Taylor, Ph.D., describes this phenomenon in his Psychology Today article, Why Does Time Seem to Pass at Different Speeds?:
At the age of one month, a week is a quarter of your whole life, so it’s inevitable that it seems to last forever. At the age of 14, one year constitutes around 7% of your life, which seems to be a large amount of time too. But at the age of 30, a week is only a tiny percentage of your life, and at 50 a year is only 2% of your life, so your subjective sense is that these are insignificant periods of time which pass very quickly.
Perceptual theory
According to a 2013 article in the Journal of Mind and Behavior, the perceptual theory states that time passes faster or slower because of how we perceive our moment-by-moment experience. The impact of aging on time perception might also be a factor.
This theory suggests that time perception is affected by how much information we process at any given moment.
Our intensity of focus and perception, then, is the hidden key to controlling time. | https://medium.com/psychologically/how-to-actually-slow-down-or-speed-up-time-d3dc722307d1 | ['Christopher Kokoski'] | 2020-12-27 03:44:57.723000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement', 'Life', 'Psychology', 'Productivity'] | Title Actually Slow Speed TimeContent warp speed adulthood Eventually grew realize 30somethings weren’t old wasn’t late twenty early thirty time started really accelerate don’t remember exact moment remember often thinking wait wasn’t Christmas last month Years flashed blur It’s true Time really seem move faster you’re adult “Time slow wait swift fear long grieve short rejoice love time eternity” — Henry Van Dyke Psychologists discover time speed understand manipulate time need first understand time appears sometimes change speed turn time distortion likely involves three separate psychological concept Forward telescoping Proportional theory Perceptual theory Forward telescoping Put simply forward telescoping thinking event happened recently actually occurred Psychologists believe may reason perceived “speeding up” time good example movie realize first Harry Potter movie came gasp 2001 Dumb Dumber came 1994 That’s basically period ancient Egyptians brain trick u thinking event like birthday graduation even death happened recently perceptual error result apparent acceleration time Proportional theory Time might also “speed up” perceive time based age proportion time may left live proportional theory suggested Paul Jent 1877 around time graduated high school Steve Taylor PhD describes phenomenon Psychology Today article Time Seem Pass Different Speeds age one month week quarter whole life it’s inevitable seems last forever age 14 one year constitutes around 7 life seems large amount time age 30 week tiny percentage life 50 year 2 life subjective sense insignificant period time pas quickly Perceptual theory According 2013 article Journal Mind Behavior perceptual theory state time pass faster slower perceive momentbymoment experience impact aging time perception might also factor theory suggests time perception affected much information process given moment intensity focus perception hidden key controlling timeTags Life Lessons Self Improvement Life Psychology Productivity |
3,165 | How Self-Reflection Can Start The Path To Healing | How Self-Reflection Can Start The Path To Healing
Healing the consequences of dealing with trauma starts with self-reflection
@simonrae unsplash.com
I’ve never been in the military. I’ve never seen an actual physical battle. I’ve never been to the ER. I’ve never seen blood, broken bones, and had the pressure on me to save people’s lives. But, I’ve been in other intense work environments. I’ve had extensive pressure on me. I’ve felt physical danger from being at work. I’ve experienced extreme bullying and its psychological effects. I’ve experienced gaslighting in many shapes and forms. I’ve fought many wars on the mental health front. I’ve fought many wars on the intellectual front. I’ve fought many wars on the relationship front.
Where ever you come from, whether you want it to or not, your experiences color the way that you relate to people. Often, when we are in the throes of dealing with our problems, we think that people can’t relate at all.
We don’t want to talk about it with people who have never gone through it.
You are right. Your experiences are unique. Even if you are a surgeon who saves lives, the way you experience a surgery failure that cost someone’s life might be very different from another surgeon. The psychological impact it leaves you may be very different from the next person.
This is what I do when I feel like I can’t talk to anyone.
I walk; I run; I climb mountains; I engage in repetitive activities. It is a form of moving meditation. The truth is that not every problem can be solved. After I dealt with my PTSD, I realized that certain things just cannot be unseen in life. Once you have seen it, it’s not even possible to block it out. The memory of it stays with you for a lifetime.
Sometimes, coping mechanisms are the only savior. That is okay.
Coping mechanisms can usually shift my mindset from a negative one to a positive one in a few hours. Often, that shift of a mindset is what saves people from any other forms of self-destruction. Every person has different types of coping mechanisms.
You should choose a coping mechanism that takes your mind off those negative memories with a minimum amount of work.
I met this woman once. She told me that having a pillow fight with her children always made her feel alive. It took her mind off all her single parenting worries from day today. She made it a ritual to have a pillow fight with her children before bedtime each day. When they go to sleep, she can refresh her mind to deal with many worries that creep up.
A surgeon once told me that he uses humor in his operating room to foster team spirit in his team. Even when things are intense in the operating room, he tries to make light of the situation so that every one of his team members can detach from his or her emotions and carry on the work with precision.
When coping mechanisms fail, you choose self-destruction. Recognize your actions. Stop feeling guilty about your choices.
Everyone’s life has ups and downs. Everyone has problems they deal with day to day. The magnitude of these problems is different for everyone. The way you feel about the magnitude of your problems is different from the next person. For people with certain types of mental illnesses, just getting out of bed is a difficult task.
If you are mentally healthy today, after an extensive amount of time spent living a highly stressful life, you might break psychologically, too. Tomorrow, you might be this person who just can’t get out of bed. Your greatest accomplishment for that day might be just to eat a bowl of cereal.
When you let negative feelings take over and act on your self-destructive impulses, recognize the impulses for what they are and the destructions that they cause.
You are a normal person who is under the weight of life. You may have an illness that needs to be taken care of. You may have issues in life that you have to work on. This is why you have chosen to self-destruct. Self-destruction takes many forms.
It could be wasting money. It could be stress-eating. It could be laziness. It could be quitting a job. It could be cheating on your spouse. It could be driving recklessly. It could be failing intentionally. It could be inflicting physical pain on yourself.
When self-destruction happens, just recognize the actions and the consequences will help you see that it’s your negative emotions that are causing you to choose this path.
Recognizing your actions as self-destructive behavior can help you take the first step toward healing.
Sometimes, the path down self-destruction is uncontrollable. But, once you have self-destructed, you have all the time in the world sitting in this dark abyss and stare at your behavior. When I am there, sitting in my hole, this is when I realize that I should talk to someone.
When the pain I have inflicted on myself outways the act of reaching out to someone, I reach out.
When we go through traumatic life events, allow yourself to process the shock. The process might take some time. Give yourself time. During that time, if your shock leads you to negative emotions that force you to act out. That is okay. You are human.
The difficulty lies in living with the consequences and shifting your mindset.
When you realize that negative consequences your self-destructive behavior has caused, you will begin to tackle your internal problems. Often, this is when most people who want to get better reach out for help. Talking to a therapist is a great way to process your traumas when you feel that no one in real life can relate to your circumstances. Writing in a journal is another therapeutic way to reflect on what you have experienced to help you process the events.
The exercise of being my therapist.
I have an exercise that I started years ago when I was dealing with my own PTSD. I use my journal to have an internal dialogue with myself. I play the role of my therapist. In one voice, I write down everything I want to tell my therapist. Then, in another voice, I analyze everything I just wrote and pretend it’s written by a third person.
I call this process “re-parenting” myself. But it is simply an elaborate way to self-reflect on the problems that I have.
Self-reflection is simply a giant hug you give yourself.
People tend to have this critical voice in their head. Their internal therapist is mean and hurtful. That is not the objective of self-reflection. Self-reflection is a “mindset” change process. It helps you to get from a negative mindset to a positive one. That is why self-reflection should be a giant hug you give yourself.
What’s the most yogic self you have? You know that one where you are most detached from your emotions. I picture “Yoda” from Star Wars. “Yoda” is my internal therapist on many of my therapy sessions.
My “Yoda” has pulled me out of many deep dark abysses. My “Yoda” helps me to sit with the consequences of my self-destruction until I can own up to my own mistakes. My “Yoda” helps me to get to the point of motivation where I can fix the consequences of my own mistakes.
Who is your “Yoda”? | https://medium.com/swlh/how-self-reflection-can-start-the-path-to-healing-2b80e65b072e | ['Jun Wu'] | 2019-11-03 18:20:53.493000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Writing', 'Self', 'Trauma', 'Healing'] | Title SelfReflection Start Path HealingContent SelfReflection Start Path Healing Healing consequence dealing trauma start selfreflection simonrae unsplashcom I’ve never military I’ve never seen actual physical battle I’ve never ER I’ve never seen blood broken bone pressure save people’s life I’ve intense work environment I’ve extensive pressure I’ve felt physical danger work I’ve experienced extreme bullying psychological effect I’ve experienced gaslighting many shape form I’ve fought many war mental health front I’ve fought many war intellectual front I’ve fought many war relationship front ever come whether want experience color way relate people Often throe dealing problem think people can’t relate don’t want talk people never gone right experience unique Even surgeon save life way experience surgery failure cost someone’s life might different another surgeon psychological impact leaf may different next person feel like can’t talk anyone walk run climb mountain engage repetitive activity form moving meditation truth every problem solved dealt PTSD realized certain thing cannot unseen life seen it’s even possible block memory stay lifetime Sometimes coping mechanism savior okay Coping mechanism usually shift mindset negative one positive one hour Often shift mindset save people form selfdestruction Every person different type coping mechanism choose coping mechanism take mind negative memory minimum amount work met woman told pillow fight child always made feel alive took mind single parenting worry day today made ritual pillow fight child bedtime day go sleep refresh mind deal many worry creep surgeon told us humor operating room foster team spirit team Even thing intense operating room try make light situation every one team member detach emotion carry work precision coping mechanism fail choose selfdestruction Recognize action Stop feeling guilty choice Everyone’s life ups down Everyone problem deal day day magnitude problem different everyone way feel magnitude problem different next person people certain type mental illness getting bed difficult task mentally healthy today extensive amount time spent living highly stressful life might break psychologically Tomorrow might person can’t get bed greatest accomplishment day might eat bowl cereal let negative feeling take act selfdestructive impulse recognize impulse destruction cause normal person weight life may illness need taken care may issue life work chosen selfdestruct Selfdestruction take many form could wasting money could stresseating could laziness could quitting job could cheating spouse could driving recklessly could failing intentionally could inflicting physical pain selfdestruction happens recognize action consequence help see it’s negative emotion causing choose path Recognizing action selfdestructive behavior help take first step toward healing Sometimes path selfdestruction uncontrollable selfdestructed time world sitting dark abyss stare behavior sitting hole realize talk someone pain inflicted outways act reaching someone reach go traumatic life event allow process shock process might take time Give time time shock lead negative emotion force act okay human difficulty lie living consequence shifting mindset realize negative consequence selfdestructive behavior caused begin tackle internal problem Often people want get better reach help Talking therapist great way process trauma feel one real life relate circumstance Writing journal another therapeutic way reflect experienced help process event exercise therapist exercise started year ago dealing PTSD use journal internal dialogue play role therapist one voice write everything want tell therapist another voice analyze everything wrote pretend it’s written third person call process “reparenting” simply elaborate way selfreflect problem Selfreflection simply giant hug give People tend critical voice head internal therapist mean hurtful objective selfreflection Selfreflection “mindset” change process help get negative mindset positive one selfreflection giant hug give What’s yogic self know one detached emotion picture “Yoda” Star Wars “Yoda” internal therapist many therapy session “Yoda” pulled many deep dark abyss “Yoda” help sit consequence selfdestruction mistake “Yoda” help get point motivation fix consequence mistake “Yoda”Tags Mental Health Writing Self Trauma Healing |
3,166 | How I run my web app using Render | Cloud service that I use to run my weekend project: haiku.pro.
Image by Bethany Drouin from Pixabay
I am not affiliated with Render. I am using it because it is exactly what I need in my weekend project.
Table of Contents
This article will not dive into the implementation details of the web application. However, we will go through the high level design with emphasis on the usage of Render to run the web application. I might consider diving into the implementation details of some of the components involved in my future posts. Stay tuned ;)
Why I built my weekend project: haiku.pro
Before we get started, let’s understand the “why”.
I like to read and write Haikus. I am attracted to the simplicity in reading them and the constraint in writing them. During the Covid period, I’ve started thinking of building a simple web application to write and share Haikus. In other words, this weekend project is yet another Twitter clone but for writing haikus.
Anything that I will learn from this project can be applied to any future projects that I will build. If done right, parts of what I build for haiku.pro can be reused for any future personal projects especially if they are of similar architecture. As you can see in previous blog posts: I am a fan of reusing boilerplate code with templates and I like to share reference architectures so developers can learn from it.
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Product requirements
haiku.pro users should be able to:
Create an account and login with username and password.
Write and post haikus.
Follow other users. They should be able to see posted haikus of users they follow on the authenticated home page.
Like posted haikus.
Share a direct link to a haiku.
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High-level design / architecture
The system design is a simple — a tiered web application with: authentication, static file server, a web frontend, a backend service and a database.
High-level design of haiku.pro
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Looking for cloud service alternatives
Given the above design, I started to look for cloud service providers that I can use. Although I have been using Amazon Web Services at work and for some of my personal projects, I was looking for simpler alternatives where I could achieve the following with minimal work needed. I’ve always had this problem where I build a web application locally but somehow got stuck setting it up or deploying it to a cloud provider and I ended up not continuing.
Here are the requirements from a Cloud Provider that I was looking for:
Setup a build and deployment pipeline with GitHub integration.
Custom domain and DNS configuration.
Setup services using a multi-tiered architecture.
User authentication.We don’t want to handle user data and authentication, leave it to services that specialise in it.
CDN and static file hosting.
I’m aiming for less infrastructure maintenance so I can focus on building the product.
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Why I chose Render
I stumbled upon Render in Indie Hackers. This sentence in their homepage caught my attention:
Render is a unified platform to build and run all your apps and websites with free SSL, a global CDN, private networks and auto deploys from Git.
After scanning their documentation, I realised that they have everything that I need (see list above) except for user authentication.
Their documentation is also easy to follow. I noticed there are few number of steps in their tutorials, usually around or less than 5~ steps. Which makes it a breeze to go through.
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auth0 for my login service
I have tried both AWS Cognito and auth0 before. But auth0 stuck with me because of how I quickly managed get it to work. Their docs feel overwhelming but they make up for it through their dashboard UX and easy to follow Quickstart. I will not go into the details of my setup in auth0 in this post, hopefully that will be for another post.
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haiku.pro’s setup in Render
Services
“Services” in Render can either be a: Web Service, Private Service, Background worker or Cron Job.
I am using Web Service and Private Service for haiku.pro. Setting this up in Render’s dashboard is straightforward. I haven’t tried creating a Background Worker or a Cron Job but I am planning to use them in the future.
Service options in render dashboard.
Creating a service allows you to connect to your GitHub account and choose the repository of the service that you’d like to run. After connecting to GitHub, it will show you the autofilled service Settings. You can modify it according to your needs. It can also detect your Dockerfile and adjust the default settings accordingly.
Service settings.
You can then choose your plan which ranges from $7 to $175 per month. Plans below are for services that need compute resources. However, if your service is hosting a static site then it is free of charge. I am currently hosting my static personal website ardy.me in Render for free.
Plan options.
Advanced settings for auto-deploy for every push to your repo, health check, secrets, environment variables and so on.
Advanced settings.
After successfully creating your service, it will be:
Publicly available from <your-service-name>.onrender.com if it’s a Web Service.
Privately available from <your-service-name>:<port-number> if it’s a Private Service. It will be accessible from within your other services or from the Shell tab in Render.
The service dashboard has these useful functionalities like logging, mounting a disk for storage, adding environment variables and shell interface for debugging your service. There is also an option to create Environment Groups, which are basically a group of environment variables that can be shared across services.
Service dashboard tabs.
Pull Requests tab allows you to preview your changes for your pull requests, it will create a new service instance so you can test your service. Sharing is for giving access to your team and Metrics tab shows you the CPU and memory usage.
In my project haiku.pro, I’m using a Web Service for my Web Frontend and Static Files, and a Private Service for my Web API Backend.
Databases
Render currently supports a fully managed Postgres Database Server. From their docs:
Your database comes with encryption at rest, automated backups, and expandable SSD storage.
Creating a new Database is even simpler than creating a new service with pricing plans similar to their services.
The guide here sums up how simple it is to set it up a database in Render.
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Domain name configuration
haiku.pro domain was purchased from Namecheap. Setting it up in Render was straightforward. It took me a few minutes to follow this guide and see my web app live in haiku.pro.
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Infrastructure as code
Render has its own YAML spec for Infrastructure as Code (IaC). I find this very useful as I don’t have to login to the dashboard and make changes using the web interface. I can have a YAML file that specifies the services I want to run with each of their own configuration.
Another nice feature that I like about using their YAML spec is that it allows me to pass around environment variables. For example, I can specify in my YAML that it should pass the database credentials as environment variables to my Private Service from my Database. That way, I don’t have to worry about copying and pasting my database credentials to the an environment variable in the Render dashboard. More about Render’s IaC here.
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Horizontal scaling
You can also add instances to your Service in render, which is automatically managed by Render’s load balancer. This part is not yet well-documented in Render’s doc but it’s definitely a handy feature.
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A few other nice features worth highlighting
No downtime deploys. Uses the health check URL that you specify for a service to ensure that the service is healthy before it is deployed.
Deploy hooks. Render provides a private hook URL that you can use to trigger a deploy.
Slack Notifications. Useful when you work with a team or if you want to implement alerting via Slack.
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High level design with Cloud Services
There you go, I’m just getting started with Render. I’m quite happy with the results so far. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-i-run-my-web-app-using-render-b8634b5679fb | ['Ardy Dedase'] | 2020-08-11 09:44:37.437000+00:00 | ['Product', 'Software Architecture', 'Software Engineering', 'Startup', 'Web Development'] | Title run web app using RenderContent Cloud service use run weekend project haikupro Image Bethany Drouin Pixabay affiliated Render using exactly need weekend project Table Contents article dive implementation detail web application However go high level design emphasis usage Render run web application might consider diving implementation detail component involved future post Stay tuned built weekend project haikupro get started let’s understand “why” like read write Haikus attracted simplicity reading constraint writing Covid period I’ve started thinking building simple web application write share Haikus word weekend project yet another Twitter clone writing haiku Anything learn project applied future project build done right part build haikupro reused future personal project especially similar architecture see previous blog post fan reusing boilerplate code template like share reference architecture developer learn Back top Product requirement haikupro user able Create account login username password Write post haiku Follow user able see posted haiku user follow authenticated home page Like posted haiku Share direct link haiku Back top Highlevel design architecture system design simple — tiered web application authentication static file server web frontend backend service database Highlevel design haikupro Back top Looking cloud service alternative Given design started look cloud service provider use Although using Amazon Web Services work personal project looking simpler alternative could achieve following minimal work needed I’ve always problem build web application locally somehow got stuck setting deploying cloud provider ended continuing requirement Cloud Provider looking Setup build deployment pipeline GitHub integration Custom domain DNS configuration Setup service using multitiered architecture User authenticationWe don’t want handle user data authentication leave service specialise CDN static file hosting I’m aiming le infrastructure maintenance focus building product Back top chose Render stumbled upon Render Indie Hackers sentence homepage caught attention Render unified platform build run apps website free SSL global CDN private network auto deploys Git scanning documentation realised everything need see list except user authentication documentation also easy follow noticed number step tutorial usually around le 5 step make breeze go Back top auth0 login service tried AWS Cognito auth0 auth0 stuck quickly managed get work doc feel overwhelming make dashboard UX easy follow Quickstart go detail setup auth0 post hopefully another post Back top haikupro’s setup Render Services “Services” Render either Web Service Private Service Background worker Cron Job using Web Service Private Service haikupro Setting Render’s dashboard straightforward haven’t tried creating Background Worker Cron Job planning use future Service option render dashboard Creating service allows connect GitHub account choose repository service you’d like run connecting GitHub show autofilled service Settings modify according need also detect Dockerfile adjust default setting accordingly Service setting choose plan range 7 175 per month Plans service need compute resource However service hosting static site free charge currently hosting static personal website ardyme Render free Plan option Advanced setting autodeploy every push repo health check secret environment variable Advanced setting successfully creating service Publicly available yourservicenameonrendercom it’s Web Service Privately available yourservicenameportnumber it’s Private Service accessible within service Shell tab Render service dashboard useful functionality like logging mounting disk storage adding environment variable shell interface debugging service also option create Environment Groups basically group environment variable shared across service Service dashboard tab Pull Requests tab allows preview change pull request create new service instance test service Sharing giving access team Metrics tab show CPU memory usage project haikupro I’m using Web Service Web Frontend Static Files Private Service Web API Backend Databases Render currently support fully managed Postgres Database Server doc database come encryption rest automated backup expandable SSD storage Creating new Database even simpler creating new service pricing plan similar service guide sum simple set database Render Back top Domain name configuration haikupro domain purchased Namecheap Setting Render straightforward took minute follow guide see web app live haikupro Back top Infrastructure code Render YAML spec Infrastructure Code IaC find useful don’t login dashboard make change using web interface YAML file specifies service want run configuration Another nice feature like using YAML spec allows pas around environment variable example specify YAML pas database credential environment variable Private Service Database way don’t worry copying pasting database credential environment variable Render dashboard Render’s IaC Back top Horizontal scaling also add instance Service render automatically managed Render’s load balancer part yet welldocumented Render’s doc it’s definitely handy feature Back top nice feature worth highlighting downtime deploys Uses health check URL specify service ensure service healthy deployed Deploy hook Render provides private hook URL use trigger deploy Slack Notifications Useful work team want implement alerting via Slack Back top High level design Cloud Services go I’m getting started Render I’m quite happy result farTags Product Software Architecture Software Engineering Startup Web Development |
3,167 | To tell the truth. | About ten years ago, I was sitting on my lounge floor in Brighton, surrounded by post-it notes, index cards, scraps of paper — several years of brain emptied out in front of me. There were notes on improvisation and The Way of The Fool (introduced to me by Floris Koot). And money and identity (courtesy of Peter Koenig). And the creative process (from working with The Kaospilots, Ideo and Matt Weston). And storytelling (from one eternally inspiring one-hour lecture by Ron Donaldson, from my time as features editor at The Face, from collecting the Storyteller book-and-tape series aged six).
And something happened where all these different threads came together. Where I could see how these different theories and different practices wove together into one. That — somehow — they were all pointing at the same thing. I felt it. I knew it to be true. And I had absolutely no way of articulating what it was.
You know when you have something to say and it’s on the tip of your tongue - you can almost physically feel it there? Nearly becoming speech, but the connection from brain to mouth hasn’t quite been made. This was like that, but instead of the unexpressed idea being just a moment away — almost articulated but not quite — I could sense in that same almost physical way that the idea was in there, but about ten miles back. Way, way back in my mind. Like I could see landscapes — neural pathways and hillsides and rivers and streams of consciousness and blue skies obscured by clouds — and way beyond, somewhere near the furthest horizon of thought, just hidden from view, there was the answer.
It was a great relief to feel as if, in some hidden way, I’d managed to make sense of all these disparate parts. Even if I couldn’t put it into words, somewhere a knot had been tied. And it was strange, also, that I knew from that first moment that the answer would make its way towards the front of my mind at its own pace. And that ‘its own pace’ was very, very slow. Like in a film where the camera — unmoving — watches someone walking all the way from the horizon.
I carried on exploring improvisation and money and identity and project design and storytelling. And I started exploring meditation and dharma and what makes a good question and what it means to take the initiative. And I’d check in on that idea in the back of my head and watch its progress towards the front. And it would make me laugh — that it was so intangible and nothing-y to track the progress of an unnamed idea, but at the same time it felt like the essential and persistent factor in the course of my life and my work and my thinking. And it would make me laugh — that I felt so entirely helpless in the face of its uncompromisingly unhurried progress.
“Who has time for that now?
Waiting for a natural path to open up
Only acting when the moment arrives?”
— Poem Fifteen, I thought I was on the way to work, but I was on the way home
And I developed a systematic way to clarify ideas. And I wrote a new version of Lao Tsu’s Tao Te Ching. And I attempted to articulate the fundamental nature of money in a ten minute stand-up talk in Amsterdam. And I spent hundreds of hours unravelling the knots that were stopping people from pursuing their vocation.
And in the end, all of it comes down to this.
In this very moment, there is a next step for me to take that is true.
In this very moment, there is a next step for me to take that is true.
And if I listen inside, with care, without prejudice, I know what it is.
In this very moment, there is a next step for me to take that is true.
And if I listen inside, with care, without prejudice, I know what it is.
And if I take it, then I am being true to myself and to the world I am in.
And if, having taken it, I can look back and say — in that moment I was true to myself and to the world I was in — then there is no space for regret.
Because what more can we ask of ourselves than that — in one moment — we might manage to stay true to ourselves and the world we are in? | https://medium.com/how-to-be-clear/to-tell-the-truth-b33be4dfced5 | ['Charles Davies'] | 2018-08-10 16:55:54.489000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Creative Process', 'Writing', 'Initiative', 'Identity'] | Title tell truthContent ten year ago sitting lounge floor Brighton surrounded postit note index card scrap paper — several year brain emptied front note improvisation Way Fool introduced Floris Koot money identity courtesy Peter Koenig creative process working Kaospilots Ideo Matt Weston storytelling one eternally inspiring onehour lecture Ron Donaldson time feature editor Face collecting Storyteller bookandtape series aged six something happened different thread came together could see different theory different practice wove together one — somehow — pointing thing felt knew true absolutely way articulating know something say it’s tip tongue almost physically feel Nearly becoming speech connection brain mouth hasn’t quite made like instead unexpressed idea moment away — almost articulated quite — could sense almost physical way idea ten mile back Way way back mind Like could see landscape — neural pathway hillside river stream consciousness blue sky obscured cloud — way beyond somewhere near furthest horizon thought hidden view answer great relief feel hidden way I’d managed make sense disparate part Even couldn’t put word somewhere knot tied strange also knew first moment answer would make way towards front mind pace ‘its pace’ slow Like film camera — unmoving — watch someone walking way horizon carried exploring improvisation money identity project design storytelling started exploring meditation dharma make good question mean take initiative I’d check idea back head watch progress towards front would make laugh — intangible nothingy track progress unnamed idea time felt like essential persistent factor course life work thinking would make laugh — felt entirely helpless face uncompromisingly unhurried progress “Who time Waiting natural path open acting moment arrives” — Poem Fifteen thought way work way home developed systematic way clarify idea wrote new version Lao Tsu’s Tao Te Ching attempted articulate fundamental nature money ten minute standup talk Amsterdam spent hundred hour unravelling knot stopping people pursuing vocation end come moment next step take true moment next step take true listen inside care without prejudice know moment next step take true listen inside care without prejudice know take true world taken look back say — moment true world — space regret ask — one moment — might manage stay true world inTags Entrepreneurship Creative Process Writing Initiative Identity |
3,168 | My #1 trick to make writing every day easier | I don’t want to be writing this today. I’m tired. I’m at an out-of-town event with friends. I don’t feel like taking the time, but I made a commitment and I know that I like the person I am when I keep my commitment to write every day.
To overcome this struggle I’m employing my #1 trick to make daily writing easier:
My early wake/daily write routine.
Rising early and writing first thing — often before anyone else is awake — has been the single most successful way to for me to sustain a daily writing habit.
In the morning my mind is fresh and undistracted. The world is quiet.
The simple act of making writing the first item that I cross off my to-do list ensures that I get it done. I’ve found that trying to schedule writing later in the day is far less effective. As the day drags on it becomes harder and harder to pull away from mundane distractions. Even when I do make myself sit down to write it’s hard to say engaged in the task at hand when I’m thinking about everything else I could be doing. It’s simply easier to focus first thing in the morning.
I never considered myself a morning person.
Waking early doesn’t come naturally for me. For years I stayed up late working on projects after younger family members went to bed. My mom would tell me of this magical time called dawn when all was peace and quiet, but I rarely dragged myself out of bed to enjoy it with her.
So what changed my mind about mornings? Giving them a chance. At some point I simply chose to see if I might be more productive in the mornings than at nighttime and when I did I had to admit that mornings were the clear winner. I can’t argue with the results.
Two things I do to make early wake/daily write work.
To set myself up for success the night before:
I decide what my morning writing topic will be.
I go to bed at a reasonable hour.
When I’m really on top of things I have a whole editorial calendar full of writing topics assigned to certain days. In that case all I need to do is look at the schedule in order to know what to write. Doing so the night before allows my subconscious to organize my thoughts on the topic while I sleep. When I wake I’m ready to start writing.
Going to bed at a reasonable hour is often the hardest part of the early wake/daily write routine, but it is also vital to success.
At my current stage of life I’m a mother of a six-month-old. It’s tempting to stay up after her bedtime to try to finally tackle my to-do list, but I have to admit that by evening I’m too exhausted to get any good work done. It’s much more efficient to go to bed early and rise before the child wakes.
Establishing this routine makes it so much easier to accomplish my big goal of writing (and publishing) every day because I’ve set it up in advance. When it comes time to get out of bed I don’t let myself have a choice. I’ve already made the choice to get up early and write on a certain topic so I don’t have to struggle with the decision in a moment of tired, cozy weakness. I don’t have to think about it, I just do it.
🤔 Have you tried waking early and writing first thing? How did it work for you? | https://medium.com/writers-guild/my-1-trick-to-make-writing-every-day-easier-229ec0265858 | ['Jordan Aspen'] | 2019-04-28 17:24:45.226000+00:00 | ['Morning Routines', 'Writing', 'Goals', 'Writing Tips', 'Productivity'] | Title 1 trick make writing every day easierContent don’t want writing today I’m tired I’m outoftown event friend don’t feel like taking time made commitment know like person keep commitment write every day overcome struggle I’m employing 1 trick make daily writing easier early wakedaily write routine Rising early writing first thing — often anyone else awake — single successful way sustain daily writing habit morning mind fresh undistracted world quiet simple act making writing first item cross todo list ensures get done I’ve found trying schedule writing later day far le effective day drag becomes harder harder pull away mundane distraction Even make sit write it’s hard say engaged task hand I’m thinking everything else could It’s simply easier focus first thing morning never considered morning person Waking early doesn’t come naturally year stayed late working project younger family member went bed mom would tell magical time called dawn peace quiet rarely dragged bed enjoy changed mind morning Giving chance point simply chose see might productive morning nighttime admit morning clear winner can’t argue result Two thing make early wakedaily write work set success night decide morning writing topic go bed reasonable hour I’m really top thing whole editorial calendar full writing topic assigned certain day case need look schedule order know write night allows subconscious organize thought topic sleep wake I’m ready start writing Going bed reasonable hour often hardest part early wakedaily write routine also vital success current stage life I’m mother sixmonthold It’s tempting stay bedtime try finally tackle todo list admit evening I’m exhausted get good work done It’s much efficient go bed early rise child wake Establishing routine make much easier accomplish big goal writing publishing every day I’ve set advance come time get bed don’t let choice I’ve already made choice get early write certain topic don’t struggle decision moment tired cozy weakness don’t think 🤔 tried waking early writing first thing work youTags Morning Routines Writing Goals Writing Tips Productivity |
3,169 | For a Happier, Healthier 2021, Ditch These 6 Habits | New year, new page, right?
Time to put the old one firmly to bed — especially if it’s 2020 — and muscle up for a (sort of) fresh start.
After a tough year, plenty of us are amped about turning the page. Trouble is, Covid’s not done with us yet. Which means we’re poised for another year in the holding pen while it sorts itself out.
Perhaps more than any other year in recent history, it’s important we take proactive steps to support our mental health and happiness.
And we can start by ditching — or at least trying to — free ourselves of the things that will hold us back.
For a Happier, Healthier 2021, Ditch These 6 Habits
1. Complaining into the void.
“Someone else is happy with less than what you have.” — Anonymous
To be fair, 2020 gave us plenty of reasons to complain; it started with a whisper then came to rock everything we knew. You’re a rare beast if you didn’t feel a flash of frustration or do a little whining at some point this year. But complaining into the void: moaning (or tweeting) about things you can’t do anything about? What’s up with that? Focus on the things you can change or do something about. It helps you feel in control of at least some aspects of your life. It’s also far better for your mental health.
2. Waiting for someone to give you a break.
“All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination.” — Napoleon Hill
Sorry, not gonna happen. It probably never was, but this year it’s become an even tougher gig. By the time people look after themselves and their families, there’s not a whole lot left over for anyone else. So there’s no point hiding in your room hoping for the Gods of Good Fortune to rain their blessings down on you. You have to go out into the world. You have to make your own luck. You may even have to create your own job. But that’s okay. Know you have plenty to offer. Keep trying. Keep improving. Fling enough mud at the wall and, eventually, something will stick.
3. Trying too hard to do the right thing.
“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Look, we’ve all been kind this year. Actually, no, some people weren’t all that kind; they broke curfew and grabbed toilet paper and wouldn’t wear masks in public and got all abusive when they were told off. So they don’t get a pass mark.
But while it’s a fine and noble thing to act for the Greater Good, you can’t keep everyone happy. Even your best efforts will annoy someone, somewhere. Or they won’t like you. Or approve of you. So don’t try too hard to be the Perfect Person. Just be as decent as you can — and get on with your life.
4. Looking over your shoulder.
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” — Buddha
We all know the past is the past. We can’t grab time back and stuff it in a box under our beds. If only. We can only atone (or apologise) for whatever we’ve done wrong or whoever we’ve hurt. After that, there are no gains in dwelling on it.
The only real time any of us have is now. And what we do with it will define the future we’re stepping into. You don’t have to be mega-productive every day. That’s exhausting to be around — and a little weird. But keep an eye on whether your daily actions are moving you forward or around in circles. And if you feel dizzy, you know you need to change.
5. Purposely eroding your health.
“It is health that is the real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver.” — Mahatma Gandhi
No-one’s perfect: we all have our vices and vulnerabilities, especially when we’re up to our necks in stress. But Excessive Indulgence in Anything will lure you down a dodgy path. Alcohol, substances, porn, sex, gambling, shopping, food, work, gaming, social media and internet trawling, can turn demon on you and quietly erode your health, wellbeing — and relationships. Watch out for the signs they are taking over and, if you clock those signs, acknowledge them and do all you can to take back your power.
6. Chaining yourself to the safe road.
“The doors will be opened to those who are bold enough to knock.” Tony Gaskins
When a pandemic rips across the globe it forces us not just inside, but to rate safety over everything else. Anyone who has a safe job — and related safe income — has every right to feel pretty happy right now.
But it would be sad if safety became our default setting; if it began to govern all our choices. Some of the richest experiences in life come from shrugging off the shackles and doing something bold, even reckless. So if Covid (or any life circumstance) has backed you into a cage, fight to keep the key. Aim to do one thing this year that you wouldn’t normally, that makes you feel brave. And when you do, chalk up a big tick in your Courage box. Because the measure of your Courage will define your life. | https://medium.com/on-the-couch/for-a-happier-healthier-2021-ditch-these-6-habits-f4f0d2aad614 | ['Karen Nimmo'] | 2020-12-29 11:07:52.471000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Inspiration', 'Self Improvement', 'Life', 'Psychology'] | Title Happier Healthier 2021 Ditch 6 HabitsContent New year new page right Time put old one firmly bed — especially it’s 2020 — muscle sort fresh start tough year plenty u amped turning page Trouble Covid’s done u yet mean we’re poised another year holding pen sort Perhaps year recent history it’s important take proactive step support mental health happiness start ditching — least trying — free thing hold u back Happier Healthier 2021 Ditch 6 Habits 1 Complaining void “Someone else happy le have” — Anonymous fair 2020 gave u plenty reason complain started whisper came rock everything knew You’re rare beast didn’t feel flash frustration little whining point year complaining void moaning tweeting thing can’t anything What’s Focus thing change something help feel control least aspect life It’s also far better mental health 2 Waiting someone give break “All break need life wait within imagination” — Napoleon Hill Sorry gonna happen probably never year it’s become even tougher gig time people look family there’s whole lot left anyone else there’s point hiding room hoping Gods Good Fortune rain blessing go world make luck may even create job that’s okay Know plenty offer Keep trying Keep improving Fling enough mud wall eventually something stick 3 Trying hard right thing “You wouldn’t worry much others think realized seldom do” — Eleanor Roosevelt Look we’ve kind year Actually people weren’t kind broke curfew grabbed toilet paper wouldn’t wear mask public got abusive told don’t get pas mark it’s fine noble thing act Greater Good can’t keep everyone happy Even best effort annoy someone somewhere won’t like approve don’t try hard Perfect Person decent — get life 4 Looking shoulder “Do dwell past dream future concentrate mind present moment” — Buddha know past past can’t grab time back stuff box bed atone apologise whatever we’ve done wrong whoever we’ve hurt gain dwelling real time u define future we’re stepping don’t megaproductive every day That’s exhausting around — little weird keep eye whether daily action moving forward around circle feel dizzy know need change 5 Purposely eroding health “It health real wealth piece gold silver” — Mahatma Gandhi Noone’s perfect vice vulnerability especially we’re neck stress Excessive Indulgence Anything lure dodgy path Alcohol substance porn sex gambling shopping food work gaming social medium internet trawling turn demon quietly erode health wellbeing — relationship Watch sign taking clock sign acknowledge take back power 6 Chaining safe road “The door opened bold enough knock” Tony Gaskins pandemic rip across globe force u inside rate safety everything else Anyone safe job — related safe income — every right feel pretty happy right would sad safety became default setting began govern choice richest experience life come shrugging shackle something bold even reckless Covid life circumstance backed cage fight keep key Aim one thing year wouldn’t normally make feel brave chalk big tick Courage box measure Courage define lifeTags Mental Health Inspiration Self Improvement Life Psychology |
3,170 | Please answer all of these questions | Am I the only one who can’t eat and listen to music at the same time?
Am I the only one who counts the number of deodorant strokes to make sure each ‘pit gets exactly 8?
Do you hate-watch TV? Yeah, me neither.
What one word follows you around day and night? For me it is regret. With mediocrity a close second.
Is it wrong to love all of these clown sightings?
Is it OK to see everything as grey? Or is it gray? Is it a defense mechanism or am I a good listener and fair and balanced?
I love flowers, the New York Mets and My Chemical Romance. Weird, huh? | https://medium.com/100-naked-words/please-answer-all-of-these-questions-a4505b9372b3 | ['John Markowski'] | 2016-10-05 21:56:52.268000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement', 'Psychology', 'Questions'] | Title Please answer questionsContent one can’t eat listen music time one count number deodorant stroke make sure ‘pit get exactly 8 hatewatch TV Yeah neither one word follows around day night regret mediocrity close second wrong love clown sighting OK see everything grey gray defense mechanism good listener fair balanced love flower New York Mets Chemical Romance Weird huhTags Selfawareness Life Lessons Self Improvement Psychology Questions |
3,171 | Early Diagnosis of Autism with Microbiome and Machine Learning | Early Diagnosis of Autism with Microbiome and Machine Learning
Building an autism diagnostic with gut microbiome data and machine learning
When I was around 8 years old, my cousin was diagnosed with autism.
I didn’t know much about autism at the time. To me, he was just a normal baby who wore diapers and cried.
However I do remember my parents saying how it was really good that my aunt and uncle “caught it early” — I think it was around his 1st birthday when he got the diagnosis.
I honestly didn’t think much of it when they said it. But recently, I’ve been thinking about it more.
A few things I’ve been thinking about: why was it good that they saw the signs early? What difference does it make? Why is it normally hard to diagnose autism? How can we fix this?
After finding the answers to these questions, I focused on ways to create earlier diagnostics and risk assessments for autism. Ultimately, I ended up making a machine learning algorithm to diagnose autism with gut microbiome data, which I’ll be explaining in this article :)
This article is broken down into 3 main sections:
Autism and Diagnosis The link between autism and the gut microbiome How I used machine learning on gut microbiome data
Autism and Diagnosis
According to the CDC, 1 in 54 children in America have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts how one perceives and interacts with others and the environment, leading to problems in behavior and communication.
Autism is a spectrum
Like most disorders that affect the brain, there’s no one cause. Research suggests that autism develops from a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
These factors can increase the risk that a child will develop autism, which is not the same as the cause. For example, some gene changes associated with autism can also be found in people who don’t have the disorder. And autism affects children’s brains in several different ways — sometimes it’s individual brain cells, while other times it’s whole brain regions.
Given the heterogeneity of the disorder and the fact that it’s exhibited as a spectrum of closely related symptoms, autism can be very hard to accurately diagnose, especially at an early stage.
And it’s very important that autism be diagnosed as early in the child’s life as possible. Early intervention is imperative, largely due to a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections, called synapses, throughout life.
Neuroplasticity is exponentially higher in the early stages of development, which is why toddlers learn so quickly. Synapses aren’t actually significantly pruned, or eliminated, until around 4 years of age.
So, the earlier autism is diagnosed and thus treated, the more effective and long-lasting the effects are. Research has shown that if children get early intervention, it’s more likely that they won’t need intensive support in elementary school and beyond.
Essentially, early diagnosis of autism is a game changer for autistic children and their families. But again, it’s very difficult given its heterogeneity.
This is a problem I wanted to solve, and one place where I found a lot of opportunity was the gut microbiome.
The Link Between the Gut Microbiome and Autism
The gut microbiome is the collection of all of the microbes living in the gastrointestinal tract. Together, there are around 100 trillion (which oddly weigh as much as a mango).
Studies have actually found that gut microbiome composition is significantly correlated with a bunch of different diseases, like irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, diabetes and of interest to me, autism!
Research has shown that children with ASD have a mix of gut microbes that is distinct from that in children without the condition. As more research is conducted on this topic, more evidence bolsters the link between autism and the microbiome.
In fact, it was reported that germ-free mice — mice lacking the typical mix of gut microbes — avoided other mice, shunned new social situations and groomed themselves excessively. A few other notable (and totally mind-blowing) findings include:
Germ-free mice, given gut microbes from people with ASD, had offspring that socialized less and engaged in more repetitive behaviour. These mice also had lower levels of compounds produced by gut bacteria that affect brain function, particularly two metabolites known to increase activity of the brain’s γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. Abnormalities in the GABA system have been noted in children with ASD. When the team gave the two missing metabolites to mice with autism-like symptoms, “they improved core deficits in social interaction and repetitive behaviour.”
These mice also had lower levels of compounds produced by gut bacteria that affect brain function, particularly two metabolites known to increase activity of the brain’s γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. Abnormalities in the GABA system have been noted in children with ASD. When the team gave the two missing metabolites to mice with autism-like symptoms, “they improved core deficits in social interaction and repetitive behaviour.” Roughly 30–50% of all people with autism have chronic gastrointestinal problems, primarily constipation and/or diarrhea
primarily constipation and/or diarrhea In a study, children took a daily dose of microbes from people without ASD for 8 weeks. At two years post-treatment, most of the initial improvements in gut symptoms remained. In addition, parents reported a slow steady reduction of ASD symptoms during treatment and over the next two years. A professional evaluator found a 45% reduction in core ASD symptoms (language, social interaction and behavior) at two years post-treatment compared to before treatment began.
While there’s certainly a correlation, there’s still a lot of research to be done into the exact mechanisms by which gut microbes communicate with the brain, dubbed the microbiome-gut-brain axis.
The microbiome-gut-brain axis is the biochemical communication pathway between microbes in the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system, involving neural, immune and endocrine pathways. The axis is bidirectional, meaning that the brain can also affect gut microbiome composition itself.
Below is a schematic of the major ways by which gut microbes directly and indirectly communicate with the central nervous system:
Microbes interact with immune cells and cause them to release cytokines (signaling proteins secreted by cells of the immune system). The cytokines circulate from the blood to the brain. Microbes interact with enteroendochrine cells of the gut wall that produce neuroactive compounds. These compounds interact with the vagus nerve, the most complex cranial nerve in the human body, which sends signals to the brain. They interact with the vagus nerve via the enteric nervous system, a massive web spread over the entire digestive tract made up of more than 500 million neurons. An estimated 80 to 90 percent of the vagus nerve’s neurons transmit sensory information from the stomach and intestines to the brain. Microbes produce metabolites and neurotransmitters. These molecules circulate to the brain where some are small enough to enter through the blood-brain barrier. While this isn’t a direct pathway of communication, we have actually found human gut bacteria in brain tissue.
Another schematic from a similar study can be seen below:
More comprehensive microbiome-gut-brain axis
The proposed mechanisms by which bacteria access the brain and influence behavior in this diagram include:
Bacterial products that gain access to the brain via the bloodstream and the area postrema
Cytokine release from mucosal immune cells
Release of gut hormones such as serotonin, also known as 5‑hydroxytryptamine (5‑HT), from enteroendochrine cells
Afferent neural pathways, including the vagus nerve
Stress can influence the gut microbiome via the release of hormones and sympathetic neurotransmitters. Hormones like noradrenaline may influence bacterial gene expression or signaling between bacteria, changing gut microbiome composition and activity
When gut bacteria help to digest food, they generate a host of by-products that can affect thinking and behaviour. Clostridia bacterial pathogens, for instance, generate propionic acid in the gut — a short-chain fatty acid known to disrupt the production of neurotransmitters. Propionic acid also causes autism-like symptoms in rats, such as repetitive interests, unusual motor movements and atypical social interactions.
Additionally, when mice with an autism-like condition had lower levels of Bifidobacterium and Blautia gut bacteria, their guts made less tryptophan and bile acid — compounds needed to produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter which plays a role in mood regulation.
Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Diagnosis
Given the link between autism and the microbiome, I wanted to create a machine learning model to diagnose autism using gut microbiome data from subjects with and without ASD. And with the importance of early intervention that I previously discussed, the ultimate goal is to use such an algorithm for early risk assessment of autism.
Using 16S rRNA sequencing, around 150 genera of bacteria were measured in a stool sample from each subject in the dataset (n=40). The numerical abundances of each genera in subjects was found by using the SILVA database.
Principal Component Analysis
Before using machine learning, I wanted to visualize the data using principal component analysis (PCA) given the high-dimensionality of the data.
PCA is a technique used to reduce the dimensionality of data, increasing its interpretability while minimizing information loss. It accomplishes this by creating new, uncorrelated variables that maximize variance in the data.
In other words, it simplifies the complexity of data while retaining trends and patterns within it.
With Scikit-learn, I conducted a 2 component PCA, meaning I reduced the dataset to 2 dimensions. Some of my code can be seen below:
#Importing libraries
from sklearn.decomposition import PCA
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler #Scaling features
features = StandardScaler().fit_transform(features) #PCA
pca = PCA(n_components=2)
principalComponents = pca.fit_transform(features)
principalDf = pd.DataFrame(data=principalComponents, columns = ['Principal Component 1','Principal Component 2'])
Each subject in the dataset now has 2 variables (principal component 1 and principal component 2), which I then plotted:
The result is above. Each blue point is a subject with ASD, while each green point is a control subject. The difference between the groups can be seen clearly.
Random Forest Classifier
Given the smaller size of the dataset and task at hand, it made the most sense to use a random forest classifier (RFC) to predict autism. (Although I did benchmark it against other models like an SVM, neural network and k-nearest neighbors).
Before I go into what a random forest classifier is, we need to gain a basic understanding of decision trees.
At a high-level, decision trees classify data.
The decision tree above determines if a person is fit or unfit based on the particular person’s features. For example, the first node splits the person based on their age. This node is called the root node, although it’s ironically at the top of the tree.
As you can imagine, this decision tree could be organized in a variety of different ways. For example, “Exercises in the morning?” could be put in the position of “Age < 30?”
However, the reason “Age < 30?” is at the top is because it is the feature that splits the data into groups that are the most different from each other, in which the members of each group are the most similar to each other. In other words, it has the lowest Gini impurity.
Gini impurity is one way to assess how well a node separates classes, or how “impure” the node is:
Gini impurity formula
The formula can be seen above, in which (pi) is the probability of class i in a node. The lower the result, the better the node separates the data.
Using this formula, we can create a decision tree based on some data samples and features.
However, decision trees are only good at classifying data they have already seen before (which pretty much defeats the purpose). This is where the power of random forest comes in, combining the simplicity of decision trees with flexibility.
Random forest uses an ensemble of decision trees, therefore being considered a type of ensemble learning. Each decision tree is trained on a random subset of n features (with replacement). Most decision trees are thus not the same.
The most frequent prediction made by the decision trees, also called the mode or aggregate, is what a sample is classified as.
Decision tree vs. random forest
First, a bootstrapped dataset (the same size as the original) is created. To do this, we just randomly select samples from the original dataset (with replacement). Then, n random features from the dataset are selected to train the decision tree, the criterion being the Gini impurity.
This process is repeated until hundreds of decision trees are made, each using a bootstrapped dataset and random subset of features.
After the random forest is made, it can be used to classify samples it has not seen before. Whichever classification is made most often, perhaps “fit” or “unfit,” is the final classification. When we use the aggregate (most frequent classification) and bootstrap the data, it is called bagging, short for bootstrap-aggregation.
I used this technique to diagnose autism with the gut microbiome data, each feature being the relative abundance of all of the genera of bacteria measured. Some of my code can be seen below:
#Splitting data
x_train, x_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(x, y, test_size = 0.2, random_state=42) #Scaling features
sc = StandardScaler()
x_train = sc.fit_transform(x_train)
x_test = sc.transform(x_test) #RFC
rfc = RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators=200)
rfc.fit(x_train, y_train)
pred_rfc = rfc.predict(x_test)
As can be seen above, the random forest I made has 200 decision trees. After hyperparameter tuning (specifically tuning the number of decision trees in the forest, the maximum depth of the trees, and the maximum amount of features), the result can be seen below:
The overall accuracy of the random forest classifier was 88%!
An advantage to using random forest is the interpretability of the model (in comparison to other models like neural networks). I was able to use Scikit-learn to actually print out what one of the decision trees in the forest looks like:
Each node determines the next node that the data will be passed to based on some threshold. For example, the node at the very top (root node) looks at the subject’s abundance of Veillonellaceae. If it is ≤ -0.2, then it will be passed to the left node, but if not, it will be passed to the leaf node on the right. Each leaf node classifies the subject as either autistic or not autistic.
The Future
In the future, I plan on contacting labs to aggregate more data to train machine learning models, as well as research the development of the gut microbiome.
In this way, I can figure out at what point in development it would make the most sense to sequence a baby’s gut microbiome for risk assessment of autism in its earliest stages, and hopefully other diseases as well! | https://medium.com/tribalscale/early-diagnosis-of-autism-with-microbiome-and-machine-learning-2e90abb2437e | ['Mikey Taylor'] | 2020-08-20 16:18:02.979000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Technology', 'Science', 'Machine Learning'] | Title Early Diagnosis Autism Microbiome Machine LearningContent Early Diagnosis Autism Microbiome Machine Learning Building autism diagnostic gut microbiome data machine learning around 8 year old cousin diagnosed autism didn’t know much autism time normal baby wore diaper cried However remember parent saying really good aunt uncle “caught early” — think around 1st birthday got diagnosis honestly didn’t think much said recently I’ve thinking thing I’ve thinking good saw sign early difference make normally hard diagnose autism fix finding answer question focused way create earlier diagnostics risk assessment autism Ultimately ended making machine learning algorithm diagnose autism gut microbiome data I’ll explaining article article broken 3 main section Autism Diagnosis link autism gut microbiome used machine learning gut microbiome data Autism Diagnosis According CDC 1 54 child America autism spectrum disorder ASD Autism neurodevelopmental disorder impact one perceives interacts others environment leading problem behavior communication Autism spectrum Like disorder affect brain there’s one cause Research suggests autism develops combination genetic environmental factor factor increase risk child develop autism cause example gene change associated autism also found people don’t disorder autism affect children’s brain several different way — sometimes it’s individual brain cell time it’s whole brain region Given heterogeneity disorder fact it’s exhibited spectrum closely related symptom autism hard accurately diagnose especially early stage it’s important autism diagnosed early child’s life possible Early intervention imperative largely due phenomenon known neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity brain’s ability reorganize forming new neural connection called synapsis throughout life Neuroplasticity exponentially higher early stage development toddler learn quickly Synapses aren’t actually significantly pruned eliminated around 4 year age earlier autism diagnosed thus treated effective longlasting effect Research shown child get early intervention it’s likely won’t need intensive support elementary school beyond Essentially early diagnosis autism game changer autistic child family it’s difficult given heterogeneity problem wanted solve one place found lot opportunity gut microbiome Link Gut Microbiome Autism gut microbiome collection microbe living gastrointestinal tract Together around 100 trillion oddly weigh much mango Studies actually found gut microbiome composition significantly correlated bunch different disease like irritable bowel syndrome obesity diabetes interest autism Research shown child ASD mix gut microbe distinct child without condition research conducted topic evidence bolster link autism microbiome fact reported germfree mouse — mouse lacking typical mix gut microbe — avoided mouse shunned new social situation groomed excessively notable totally mindblowing finding include Germfree mouse given gut microbe people ASD offspring socialized le engaged repetitive behaviour mouse also lower level compound produced gut bacteria affect brain function particularly two metabolite known increase activity brain’s γaminobutyric acid GABA receptor Abnormalities GABA system noted child ASD team gave two missing metabolite mouse autismlike symptom “they improved core deficit social interaction repetitive behaviour” mouse also lower level compound produced gut bacteria affect brain function particularly two metabolite known increase activity brain’s γaminobutyric acid GABA receptor Abnormalities GABA system noted child ASD team gave two missing metabolite mouse autismlike symptom “they improved core deficit social interaction repetitive behaviour” Roughly 30–50 people autism chronic gastrointestinal problem primarily constipation andor diarrhea primarily constipation andor diarrhea study child took daily dose microbe people without ASD 8 week two year posttreatment initial improvement gut symptom remained addition parent reported slow steady reduction ASD symptom treatment next two year professional evaluator found 45 reduction core ASD symptom language social interaction behavior two year posttreatment compared treatment began there’s certainly correlation there’s still lot research done exact mechanism gut microbe communicate brain dubbed microbiomegutbrain axis microbiomegutbrain axis biochemical communication pathway microbe gastrointestinal tract central nervous system involving neural immune endocrine pathway axis bidirectional meaning brain also affect gut microbiome composition schematic major way gut microbe directly indirectly communicate central nervous system Microbes interact immune cell cause release cytokine signaling protein secreted cell immune system cytokine circulate blood brain Microbes interact enteroendochrine cell gut wall produce neuroactive compound compound interact vagus nerve complex cranial nerve human body sends signal brain interact vagus nerve via enteric nervous system massive web spread entire digestive tract made 500 million neuron estimated 80 90 percent vagus nerve’s neuron transmit sensory information stomach intestine brain Microbes produce metabolite neurotransmitter molecule circulate brain small enough enter bloodbrain barrier isn’t direct pathway communication actually found human gut bacteria brain tissue Another schematic similar study seen comprehensive microbiomegutbrain axis proposed mechanism bacteria access brain influence behavior diagram include Bacterial product gain access brain via bloodstream area postrema Cytokine release mucosal immune cell Release gut hormone serotonin also known 5‑hydroxytryptamine 5‑HT enteroendochrine cell Afferent neural pathway including vagus nerve Stress influence gut microbiome via release hormone sympathetic neurotransmitter Hormones like noradrenaline may influence bacterial gene expression signaling bacteria changing gut microbiome composition activity gut bacteria help digest food generate host byproduct affect thinking behaviour Clostridia bacterial pathogen instance generate propionic acid gut — shortchain fatty acid known disrupt production neurotransmitter Propionic acid also cause autismlike symptom rat repetitive interest unusual motor movement atypical social interaction Additionally mouse autismlike condition lower level Bifidobacterium Blautia gut bacteria gut made le tryptophan bile acid — compound needed produce serotonin neurotransmitter play role mood regulation Machine Learning Data Analysis Diagnosis Given link autism microbiome wanted create machine learning model diagnose autism using gut microbiome data subject without ASD importance early intervention previously discussed ultimate goal use algorithm early risk assessment autism Using 16S rRNA sequencing around 150 genus bacteria measured stool sample subject dataset n40 numerical abundance genus subject found using SILVA database Principal Component Analysis using machine learning wanted visualize data using principal component analysis PCA given highdimensionality data PCA technique used reduce dimensionality data increasing interpretability minimizing information loss accomplishes creating new uncorrelated variable maximize variance data word simplifies complexity data retaining trend pattern within Scikitlearn conducted 2 component PCA meaning reduced dataset 2 dimension code seen Importing library sklearndecomposition import PCA sklearnpreprocessing import StandardScaler Scaling feature feature StandardScalerfittransformfeatures PCA pca PCAncomponents2 principalComponents pcafittransformfeatures principalDf pdDataFramedataprincipalComponents column Principal Component 1Principal Component 2 subject dataset 2 variable principal component 1 principal component 2 plotted result blue point subject ASD green point control subject difference group seen clearly Random Forest Classifier Given smaller size dataset task hand made sense use random forest classifier RFC predict autism Although benchmark model like SVM neural network knearest neighbor go random forest classifier need gain basic understanding decision tree highlevel decision tree classify data decision tree determines person fit unfit based particular person’s feature example first node split person based age node called root node although it’s ironically top tree imagine decision tree could organized variety different way example “Exercises morning” could put position “Age 30” However reason “Age 30” top feature split data group different member group similar word lowest Gini impurity Gini impurity one way ass well node separate class “impure” node Gini impurity formula formula seen pi probability class node lower result better node separate data Using formula create decision tree based data sample feature However decision tree good classifying data already seen pretty much defeat purpose power random forest come combining simplicity decision tree flexibility Random forest us ensemble decision tree therefore considered type ensemble learning decision tree trained random subset n feature replacement decision tree thus frequent prediction made decision tree also called mode aggregate sample classified Decision tree v random forest First bootstrapped dataset size original created randomly select sample original dataset replacement n random feature dataset selected train decision tree criterion Gini impurity process repeated hundred decision tree made using bootstrapped dataset random subset feature random forest made used classify sample seen Whichever classification made often perhaps “fit” “unfit” final classification use aggregate frequent classification bootstrap data called bagging short bootstrapaggregation used technique diagnose autism gut microbiome data feature relative abundance genus bacteria measured code seen Splitting data xtrain xtest ytrain ytest traintestsplitx testsize 02 randomstate42 Scaling feature sc StandardScaler xtrain scfittransformxtrain xtest sctransformxtest RFC rfc RandomForestClassifiernestimators200 rfcfitxtrain ytrain predrfc rfcpredictxtest seen random forest made 200 decision tree hyperparameter tuning specifically tuning number decision tree forest maximum depth tree maximum amount feature result seen overall accuracy random forest classifier 88 advantage using random forest interpretability model comparison model like neural network able use Scikitlearn actually print one decision tree forest look like node determines next node data passed based threshold example node top root node look subject’s abundance Veillonellaceae ≤ 02 passed left node passed leaf node right leaf node classifies subject either autistic autistic Future future plan contacting lab aggregate data train machine learning model well research development gut microbiome way figure point development would make sense sequence baby’s gut microbiome risk assessment autism earliest stage hopefully disease wellTags Artificial Intelligence Data Science Technology Science Machine Learning |
3,172 | 3 Influence Tricks That Will Make You Loved in the Office | Have you ever read How to Win Friends and Influence People? It’s an incredible, timeless bestseller which I believe reveals the only secret you must know about to be the best communicator you can be.
Do you know what this secret is?
What if I told you that it’s something that can turn your personal and business relationships for the better? Or, as you will learn in this article, to show you how to become a respected, loved professional in your office?
It’s the same secret that the author mentions being behind the personal fame of a guy like Roosevelt. Or the economic fortune of the Scottish, king of steel, Andrew Carnegie.
Sculp this secret in your head, read it again and again, as it is the foundation of the principles described later on how you should behave with people working around you.
Ready?
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” — Dale Carnegie
How did that hit you? Don’t you believe that you should call your coworkers friends? That word doesn’t necessarily refer to people you share an affection for, in this case. But human beings you can connect with to establish a prolific relationship, one that can give you advantages in your life and enrich you.
There’s no wrong in using relationships to your advantage, as that means ethically providing good results both for you and your interlocutor. And the best way to that type of effective relationship is to be genuinely interested in others.
“The only way to have a friend is to be one. “ — Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you have this honest feeling of interest towards other people, everything around you will change. An interested person is interesting by definition.
Be interested in other people’s jobs and they will reveal you their secrets and how they do it. Be interested in their stories and they will tell you who they are, and you will learn stuff from their backgrounds.
You still don’t believe me? Let’s see this principle in action through a set of rules that can guide you in your work.
Express Sincere Interest People’s Job and What They Do
I work in the tech field as a software engineer. I have people coming from all disciplines collaborating together with me. And as I believe in these people’s skills, so I am honestly interested in what they do. How they learned it, and what principles they apply.
I remember my attempt trying to learn stuff about designing a website. I was having a hard time understanding the principles behind it. To be honest, I suck at visuals. And I recall how I exposed these problems to a coworker of mine working in the field.
I asked her a couple of questions, and I was exploding with interest in the answers. I will never forget her smiling face, the inner pleasure of having somebody truly interested in what you have to say. Somebody admiring you. I was hanging from her teachings. And they went on and on, and that person helped me more and more. She would even thank me at the end of one of our design talks.
“I feel like you really like this, and I’m happy you listen with so much passion. Feel free to come back to me and ask me anything whenever your need it”.
To this day, I have to recognize that, I’ve learned a lot from those lessons, and without that person, I wouldn’t have the skills I have today. And this is something I still do with people from all departments. Salespeople are great at teaching you influence techniques, accounting was so helpful in revealing to me how a company works and how I could create mine one day.
There is immense value in being interested in a person. As that person will always be better than you at something. The return on knowledge, networking and bonding on a human level is just astonishing.
There’s some weird magic in having someone craving from your words and what you have to say. It makes you like that person immediately. And with this trick, I’m now able to have many mentors who are better than me in my life at something, making me constantly grow. | https://pieroborrellidev.medium.com/3-influence-tricks-that-will-make-you-loved-in-the-office-351ff55298f5 | ['Piero Borrelli'] | 2020-10-26 15:44:59.439000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Communication', 'Office', 'Psychology', 'Productivity'] | Title 3 Influence Tricks Make Loved OfficeContent ever read Win Friends Influence People It’s incredible timeless bestseller believe reveals secret must know best communicator know secret told it’s something turn personal business relationship better learn article show become respected loved professional office It’s secret author mention behind personal fame guy like Roosevelt economic fortune Scottish king steel Andrew Carnegie Sculp secret head read foundation principle described later behave people working around Ready “You make friend two month becoming interested people two year trying get people interested you” — Dale Carnegie hit Don’t believe call coworkers friend word doesn’t necessarily refer people share affection case human being connect establish prolific relationship one give advantage life enrich There’s wrong using relationship advantage mean ethically providing good result interlocutor best way type effective relationship genuinely interested others “The way friend one “ — Ralph Waldo Emerson honest feeling interest towards people everything around change interested person interesting definition interested people’s job reveal secret interested story tell learn stuff background still don’t believe Let’s see principle action set rule guide work Express Sincere Interest People’s Job work tech field software engineer people coming discipline collaborating together believe people’s skill honestly interested learned principle apply remember attempt trying learn stuff designing website hard time understanding principle behind honest suck visuals recall exposed problem coworker mine working field asked couple question exploding interest answer never forget smiling face inner pleasure somebody truly interested say Somebody admiring hanging teaching went person helped would even thank end one design talk “I feel like really like I’m happy listen much passion Feel free come back ask anything whenever need it” day recognize I’ve learned lot lesson without person wouldn’t skill today something still people department Salespeople great teaching influence technique accounting helpful revealing company work could create mine one day immense value interested person person always better something return knowledge networking bonding human level astonishing There’s weird magic someone craving word say make like person immediately trick I’m able many mentor better life something making constantly growTags Work Communication Office Psychology Productivity |
3,173 | Flow — The Psychology of Optimal Experience | Flow — The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Productivity (and happiness) peaks with these 10 factors
In his book, “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identifies the following ten factors as accompanying an experience of flow:
Clear goals—expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one’s skill set and abilities. Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high. Concentrating—a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention. A person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness—the merging of action and awareness. Distorted sense of time—one’s subjective experience of time is altered. Direct and immediate feedback—successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed. Balance between ability level and challenge—the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action. A lack of awareness of bodily needs—to the extent that one can reach a point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it. Absorption into the activity, narrowing of the focus of awareness down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.
Not all are needed for flow to be experienced. | https://medium.com/startup-lesson-learned/flow-759dfef4ea07 | ['Paul Arterburn'] | 2016-11-29 19:15:23.964000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Design Thinking', 'Psychology', 'Thoughts', 'Productivity'] | Title Flow — Psychology Optimal ExperienceContent Flow — Psychology Optimal Experience Productivity happiness peak 10 factor book “Flow Psychology Optimal Experience” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identifies following ten factor accompanying experience flow Clear goals—expectations rule discernible goal attainable align appropriately one’s skill set ability Moreover challenge level skill level high Concentrating—a high degree concentration limited field attention person engaged activity opportunity focus delve deeply loss feeling selfconsciousness—the merging action awareness Distorted sense time—one’s subjective experience time altered Direct immediate feedback—successes failure course activity apparent behavior adjusted needed Balance ability level challenge—the activity neither easy difficult sense personal control situation activity activity intrinsically rewarding effortlessness action lack awareness bodily needs—to extent one reach point great hunger fatigue without realizing Absorption activity narrowing focus awareness activity action awareness merging needed flow experiencedTags Work Design Thinking Psychology Thoughts Productivity |
3,174 | Mastering Difficult Conversations at Work | 🐣 Mastering Difficult Conversations Step-By-Step
Consider this scenario — a colleague made a comment that made you or your teammates feel uncomfortable. The colleague thinks it is amusing, but the comment is simply inappropriate.
Naturally, you need to talk to them about what just happened. But how do you bring it up without making things uncomfortable?
Well, here’s how.
📌 Step 1: Prepare
This step is all about setting the stage. Gather your thoughts and calmly inform the other person, that you would like to discuss the event — don’t bring up the conversation suddenly. This makes conversing less intimidating, more effective, and also shows that you’ve taken the time to reflect on your feelings.
Also, keep a positive tone when you propose this discussion. Be ready with an opening statement and some precise examples of the behavior that you want to change.
Make a plan but definitely don’t write a script. In fact, this should be a general rule for any conversation you ever have, however important it may be. It’s a waste of time to write a script in your head because things will never go word-to-word as you expect them to.
Remember that the purpose of this discussion is to find a solution and not to make the other person feel like they’re in trouble!
📌 Step 2: Listen
Never enter a difficult conversation with a ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ attitude. Go ahead and ask why they did what they did.
Grant them the benefit of the doubt and don’t automatically assume that they intended to hurt someone. Instead, give them the space to express themselves and show them that you heard their reply, without necessarily agreeing with it. Remember that acknowledgment is not the same as agreement.
Most importantly, make sure that your actions reinforce your words.
Saying “I hear you” while fiddling with your phone is 100% insulting and 0% convincing!
📌 Step 3: Express
This step is all about ensuring that you are heard as well. With assertion, you need to tell them the truth about what you think. Burying your feelings won’t allow you to have an authentic conversation.
One tactic that can help you here is to find an overlap in your viewpoints. As the other person is speaking, assess their tone, and listen to their words. Do you find anything even remotely similar to what you want to tell them? Pick up their words and use these words to begin your sentence.
The other person is more likely to listen and agree to what you say if they think your words are chosen from their sentences.
📌 Step 4: Solve
The last step is all about finding a solid, long-term solution to the problem that led to the discussion in the first place. Going through the turmoil of discussing an uncomfortable or sensitive issue is a waste if you don’t end the conversation with a proper conclusion.
However, as you conclude the talk, make sure that the person agrees with you because they are convinced that you are right, not because they feel sympathetic towards you. | https://medium.com/skynox/mastering-difficult-conversations-at-work-62a4ab02db3b | ['Nilohit Kanwar'] | 2020-08-22 11:53:10.418000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Careers', 'Workplace', 'Mental Health', 'Productivity'] | Title Mastering Difficult Conversations WorkContent 🐣 Mastering Difficult Conversations StepByStep Consider scenario — colleague made comment made teammate feel uncomfortable colleague think amusing comment simply inappropriate Naturally need talk happened bring without making thing uncomfortable Well here’s 📌 Step 1 Prepare step setting stage Gather thought calmly inform person would like discus event — don’t bring conversation suddenly make conversing le intimidating effective also show you’ve taken time reflect feeling Also keep positive tone propose discussion ready opening statement precise example behavior want change Make plan definitely don’t write script fact general rule conversation ever however important may It’s waste time write script head thing never go wordtoword expect Remember purpose discussion find solution make person feel like they’re trouble 📌 Step 2 Listen Never enter difficult conversation ‘mywayorthehighway’ attitude Go ahead ask Grant benefit doubt don’t automatically assume intended hurt someone Instead give space express show heard reply without necessarily agreeing Remember acknowledgment agreement importantly make sure action reinforce word Saying “I hear you” fiddling phone 100 insulting 0 convincing 📌 Step 3 Express step ensuring heard well assertion need tell truth think Burying feeling won’t allow authentic conversation One tactic help find overlap viewpoint person speaking ass tone listen word find anything even remotely similar want tell Pick word use word begin sentence person likely listen agree say think word chosen sentence 📌 Step 4 Solve last step finding solid longterm solution problem led discussion first place Going turmoil discussing uncomfortable sensitive issue waste don’t end conversation proper conclusion However conclude talk make sure person agrees convinced right feel sympathetic towards youTags Work Careers Workplace Mental Health Productivity |
3,175 | Customer Journey Analytics will make you more money. | The purpose of this article is to share with fellow sales, marketing professionals and data scientists how to approach quantitative part of customer journey mapping, namely to answer questions:
How many buyer personas do we have? What are their unique characteristics? How can we adapt the marketing strategy concerning buyer personas to increase marketing ROI? How accurately can we predict buyer persona from the first customer purchase transaction?
Dataset
As most of the companies keep data related to customer journeys confidential, the use case will be demonstrated on Google Analytics Sample Dataset.
The sample contains obfuscated Google Analytics 360 data from the Google Merchandise Store, a real e-commerce store. It sells Google-branded merchandise.
The data is typical of what you would see for an e-commerce website. It includes traffic source, content, and transactional data.
How many buyer personas do we have?
It is not an easy question. What are the criteria to segment buyer personas? One approach is to compare customers using RFM analysis answering questions such:
When recently did they buy (Recency)?
How often do they buy (Frequency)?
How much do they spend (Monetary value)?
The clustering algorithm can effectively group similar buyers to clusters which significantly differs from one another. It also suggests what should be the number of clusters (aka buyer personas). | https://alfred-sasko.medium.com/customer-journey-analytics-will-make-you-more-money-ba7a11cda063 | ['Alfred Sasko'] | 2020-01-23 10:42:39.638000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Marketing', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning'] | Title Customer Journey Analytics make moneyContent purpose article share fellow sale marketing professional data scientist approach quantitative part customer journey mapping namely answer question many buyer persona unique characteristic adapt marketing strategy concerning buyer persona increase marketing ROI accurately predict buyer persona first customer purchase transaction Dataset company keep data related customer journey confidential use case demonstrated Google Analytics Sample Dataset sample contains obfuscated Google Analytics 360 data Google Merchandise Store real ecommerce store sell Googlebranded merchandise data typical would see ecommerce website includes traffic source content transactional data many buyer persona easy question criterion segment buyer persona One approach compare customer using RFM analysis answering question recently buy Recency often buy Frequency much spend Monetary value clustering algorithm effectively group similar buyer cluster significantly differs one another also suggests number cluster aka buyer personasTags Data Science Marketing Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning |
3,176 | Planetary Perspectives: Samantha Black | Meet the Planetary team! We’re a team of multidisciplinary designers and developers spread out across 3 times zones and 4 countries. Despite having a dispersed team, we come together and build awesome products while having fun, and we want to share our insights!
Each week, the series Planetary Perspectives will feature an interview with a team member on their experiences of working remotely, building productivity, and maintaining work–life balance.
Art by Lauren Kim
Where are you currently working from right now?
Barbourville, Kentucky, USA.
How long have you been at Planetary and what is your role?
2 years as a Senior Front-end Engineer.
Please share an interesting and unusual fact/hobby about yourself.
I’m an avid homesteader; gardening, raising livestock, gathering wild edibles, and hunting are all staples of my lifestyle. While I rely on technology to lend me a lucrative career, I also strive to get back to my roots.
What’s your secret talent?
Finding out-of-the-box solutions to problems that folks would typically give up on. I’m inventive, and if there’s a way, I will see it.
—
On Working Remotely:
What do you enjoy most about working remotely and what do you find to be challenging?
I find the schedule flexibility to be the most enjoyable, as a mom it’s important to me to be able to work and parent with minimal conflicts. My challenge is overworking almost entirely by accident — it’s easy to do when you love your profession.
What was transitioning into remote work like for you? What did you love, stress over, and learn in those first few weeks?
My transition was different, but I embraced it. I was the most relieved not to have to commute every day! My children were much younger then and I needed to set rules on when to parent during work hours. After a few weeks, it became more comfortable for everyone, and it’s been smooth sailing ever since.
What traits do you think are important for someone who works remotely?
Honesty and dependability are definitely at the top of the list.
“A company which allows its employees to work remotely takes a systematic risk in the employee’s accountability. If you aren’t transparent about where you’re at in your workload, then there’s no way it will work out in the long run.”
How do you create your most productive environment to work in?
I keep the same hours every day. I feel it helps maintain my work ethic and drive when I give myself regular business hours. But I also take full advantage of breaks, daily or vacations, which keeps me from burning out.
What is a common misconception of working remote that you’d like to clear up?
A misconception I had was that I wouldn’t feel like I was a part of a team. It takes all of us sharing a common goal to bring Planetary success, and that can only happen if we work together. I’ve never once felt like I was a lone developer after I started working remotely.
What do you think Planetary does well in regard to having a dispersed team?
Culture-building and communication. While working remotely, it can be easy to feel removed from a team environment. However, at Planetary, it’s a group effort to keep connected and enjoy each other’s collective time online. The annual team retreat is also a huge help too, giving us a chance to meet each other in-person, building our team dynamic and culture.
How do you build rapport if you aren’t meeting someone in person?
Communication. There’s nothing like being utterly transparent with people, and our team does this exceptionally well. Deadlines, project statuses, workloads, hold-ups, and challenges are all discussed with open minds. We trust each other in a way that I haven’t experienced anywhere else.
How has working remotely been advantageous for other aspects of your life? How has it allowed you to achieve things you wouldn’t have if you had to work in a specific place?
For starts, I have the unique opportunity to be a stay at home mom while supporting my family. I’m grateful for the time I get to spend with my children that would otherwise be lost. Next is the ability to live/work from anywhere — which allowed me to purchase a hobby farm in the Appalachians. Remote work has provided not just myself, but my family, opportunities that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
How has living in different places informed or contributed to your role as a designer/developer/project manager?
It’s been great getting to meet developers with a variety of backgrounds.
“While some have gone to school and others are entirely self-taught, we’re all united by a common goal of building excellent products.”
I think we all contribute to each other to strive to do better and to stay motivated to learn new things.
— | https://medium.com/mission-log/planetary-perspectives-samantha-black-220f3b32dfa0 | ['Helen Chen'] | 2018-08-29 11:26:53.224000+00:00 | ['Remote Working', 'Work Life Balance', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Management And Leadership', 'Startup'] | Title Planetary Perspectives Samantha BlackContent Meet Planetary team We’re team multidisciplinary designer developer spread across 3 time zone 4 country Despite dispersed team come together build awesome product fun want share insight week series Planetary Perspectives feature interview team member experience working remotely building productivity maintaining work–life balance Art Lauren Kim currently working right Barbourville Kentucky USA long Planetary role 2 year Senior Frontend Engineer Please share interesting unusual facthobby I’m avid homesteader gardening raising livestock gathering wild edible hunting staple lifestyle rely technology lend lucrative career also strive get back root What’s secret talent Finding outofthebox solution problem folk would typically give I’m inventive there’s way see — Working Remotely enjoy working remotely find challenging find schedule flexibility enjoyable mom it’s important able work parent minimal conflict challenge overworking almost entirely accident — it’s easy love profession transitioning remote work like love stress learn first week transition different embraced relieved commute every day child much younger needed set rule parent work hour week became comfortable everyone it’s smooth sailing ever since trait think important someone work remotely Honesty dependability definitely top list “A company allows employee work remotely take systematic risk employee’s accountability aren’t transparent you’re workload there’s way work long run” create productive environment work keep hour every day feel help maintain work ethic drive give regular business hour also take full advantage break daily vacation keep burning common misconception working remote you’d like clear misconception wouldn’t feel like part team take u sharing common goal bring Planetary success happen work together I’ve never felt like lone developer started working remotely think Planetary well regard dispersed team Culturebuilding communication working remotely easy feel removed team environment However Planetary it’s group effort keep connected enjoy other’s collective time online annual team retreat also huge help giving u chance meet inperson building team dynamic culture build rapport aren’t meeting someone person Communication There’s nothing like utterly transparent people team exceptionally well Deadlines project status workload holdup challenge discussed open mind trust way haven’t experienced anywhere else working remotely advantageous aspect life allowed achieve thing wouldn’t work specific place start unique opportunity stay home mom supporting family I’m grateful time get spend child would otherwise lost Next ability livework anywhere — allowed purchase hobby farm Appalachians Remote work provided family opportunity wouldn’t possible otherwise living different place informed contributed role designerdeveloperproject manager It’s great getting meet developer variety background “While gone school others entirely selftaught we’re united common goal building excellent products” think contribute strive better stay motivated learn new thing —Tags Remote Working Work Life Balance Entrepreneurship Management Leadership Startup |
3,177 | What is ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR? | What is ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR?
I created a new publication to address the current constraints on Medium.
This is an urgent workaround to address the capacity and scalability issues posed by Medium.
I shared our problem, implications and impact on not being able to add editors to ILLUMINATION in these challenging times.
After three days for my urgent support request, Medium finally responded today with a disappointing news.
Medium advises that they don’t allow more than 30 editors in a publication.
My understanding from the Help-desk email, this restriction was decided due to a bug. They want to prevent abuse. I don’t understand what abuse mean in this context.
ILLUMINATION needs more than 30 editors considering the workload created by over 7,000 writers. Even current 42 editors cannot handle the load therefore I asked more help from the community.
As a workaround, I created this mirror publication to give a chance to new editors to help us and share the workload of publication.
Many editors are interested to after my announcement in this story.
I added some of our top writers who wanted to be an editor as interim. I will be adding more editors in upcoming days.
This unexpected workaround situation keeps me very busy now.
I created a model of the publication using ideas from digital twins. To test the model I transferred a few of my recent stories from ILLUMINATION.
I will work hard and accelerate to set-up this new venture and will provide a detailed explanation of the rationale and process soon.
I am not only cloning the publication as new mirror but also now working on cloning Dew Langrial to have more supportive editors for our writers.
Thank you for supporting our publication.
We support our writers and value our readers.
Meet New Editors of ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR
Cristo Lopez, PhD, Dr. Preeti Singh, Holly Kellums, Kristina Segarra, Yohanan Gregorius, The Dozen, Audrey Malone, janny’s heart, Sabana Grande, Jennifer Friebely, Zen Chan
Our current editors
ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION, Editor of Technology Hits, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Tree Langdon, Brian E. Wish, PhD, Dr Ron Pol, Dr Michael Heng, Dr John Rose, Paul Myers MBA, Karen Madej, Joe Luca, Dipti Pande, Kevin Buddaeus, Kate Maxwell, Arthur G. Hernandez, Bill Abbate, Michael Patanella, Aurora Eliam, CMP, René Junge, Geetika Sethi, Ahmed Jamal, Britni Pepper, Selma, Earnest Painter, Dew Langrial, B. A. Cumberlidge. Lanu Pitan, Agnes Laurens, EP McKnight, MEd, CR Mandler MAT, The Maverick Files, Sumera Rizwan, Liam Ireland, Tony Young, Jr., Neha Sandhir S, Desiree Driesenaar, Stuart Englander, Ntathu Allen, Thewriteyard, Haimish Mead, Maria Rattray
How to connect with me
I established three significant publications supporting 7,000+ writers and serving 70,000+ readers on Medium. Join my publications requesting access here. You are welcome to subscribe to my 100K+ mailing list, to collaborate, enhance your network, receive technology and leadership newsletters reflecting my industry experience.
I am on ILLUMINATION Slack Workspace.
Connect with me on News Break.
Connect with me on Vocal Media.
I use Linktree to share my social platforms. | https://medium.com/illuminations-mirror/what-is-illuminations-mirror-19c7cac3f726 | ['Dr Mehmet Yildiz'] | 2020-12-29 12:46:30.495000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Writing', 'Self Improvement', 'Blogging'] | Title ILLUMINATION’S MIRRORContent ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR created new publication address current constraint Medium urgent workaround address capacity scalability issue posed Medium shared problem implication impact able add editor ILLUMINATION challenging time three day urgent support request Medium finally responded today disappointing news Medium advises don’t allow 30 editor publication understanding Helpdesk email restriction decided due bug want prevent abuse don’t understand abuse mean context ILLUMINATION need 30 editor considering workload created 7000 writer Even current 42 editor cannot handle load therefore asked help community workaround created mirror publication give chance new editor help u share workload publication Many editor interested announcement story added top writer wanted editor interim adding editor upcoming day unexpected workaround situation keep busy created model publication using idea digital twin test model transferred recent story ILLUMINATION work hard accelerate setup new venture provide detailed explanation rationale process soon cloning publication new mirror also working cloning Dew Langrial supportive editor writer Thank supporting publication support writer value reader Meet New Editors ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR Cristo Lopez PhD Dr Preeti Singh Holly Kellums Kristina Segarra Yohanan Gregorius Dozen Audrey Malone janny’s heart Sabana Grande Jennifer Friebely Zen Chan current editor ILLUMINATIONCurated ILLUMINATION Editor Technology Hits Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Brian E Wish PhD Dr Ron Pol Dr Michael Heng Dr John Rose Paul Myers MBA Karen Madej Joe Luca Dipti Pande Kevin Buddaeus Kate Maxwell Arthur G Hernandez Bill Abbate Michael Patanella Aurora Eliam CMP René Junge Geetika Sethi Ahmed Jamal Britni Pepper Selma Earnest Painter Dew Langrial B Cumberlidge Lanu Pitan Agnes Laurens EP McKnight MEd CR Mandler MAT Maverick Files Sumera Rizwan Liam Ireland Tony Young Jr Neha Sandhir Desiree Driesenaar Stuart Englander Ntathu Allen Thewriteyard Haimish Mead Maria Rattray connect established three significant publication supporting 7000 writer serving 70000 reader Medium Join publication requesting access welcome subscribe 100K mailing list collaborate enhance network receive technology leadership newsletter reflecting industry experience ILLUMINATION Slack Workspace Connect News Break Connect Vocal Media use Linktree share social platformsTags Freelancing Entrepreneurship Writing Self Improvement Blogging |
3,178 | Neural Network From Scratch: Hidden Layers | Hidden Layers
Why do we need hidden layers? Perceptrons recognize simple patterns, and maybe if we add more learning iteration, they might learn how to recognize more complex patterns? Actually, no. Hidden layers allow for additional transformation of the input values, which allows for solving more complex problems.
Every hidden layer has inputs and outputs. Inputs and outputs have their own weights that go through the activation function and their own derivative calculation.
This is a visual representation of the neural network with hidden layers:
From a math perspective, there’s nothing new happening in hidden layers. You can check all of the formulas in the previous article. We’re using the same calculation of the activation function and the cost function and then updating the weights. The feature of the hidden layer is hidden in the back propagation part.
First, we’ll calculate the output-layer cost of the prediction, and then we’ll use this cost to calculate cost in the hidden layer. Let’s implement it in code. | https://medium.com/better-programming/neural-network-from-scratch-hidden-layers-bb7a9e252e44 | ['Pavel Ilin'] | 2020-12-22 19:38:06.600000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Neural Networks', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Programming'] | Title Neural Network Scratch Hidden LayersContent Hidden Layers need hidden layer Perceptrons recognize simple pattern maybe add learning iteration might learn recognize complex pattern Actually Hidden layer allow additional transformation input value allows solving complex problem Every hidden layer input output Inputs output weight go activation function derivative calculation visual representation neural network hidden layer math perspective there’s nothing new happening hidden layer check formula previous article We’re using calculation activation function cost function updating weight feature hidden layer hidden back propagation part First we’ll calculate outputlayer cost prediction we’ll use cost calculate cost hidden layer Let’s implement codeTags Artificial Intelligence Neural Networks Python Data Science Programming |
3,179 | Pitch Deck Layout for Early-Stage Startups | Once again…
As I’ve already discussed here, a pitch deck is a fundamental corporate document that helps you share your company’s story with the world. This story is specific to you, your company, and your circumstances.
No template or generic structure will ever be a perfect match for you. You’ll have to tweak and adapt them.
This notwithstanding, there are best practices you ought to follow at an early stage to maximise your chances of success.
Without further ado, let’s look at those. | https://medium.com/pitchdecks/pitch-deck-layout-for-early-stage-startups-b008cc7dbf1c | ['Nicolas Carteron'] | 2020-12-14 09:01:08.936000+00:00 | ['Management', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Venture Capital', 'Pitch Deck'] | Title Pitch Deck Layout EarlyStage StartupsContent again… I’ve already discussed pitch deck fundamental corporate document help share company’s story world story specific company circumstance template generic structure ever perfect match You’ll tweak adapt notwithstanding best practice ought follow early stage maximise chance success Without ado let’s look thoseTags Management Entrepreneurship Startup Venture Capital Pitch Deck |
3,180 | How To Develop And Maintain A Flutter Mobile App | The cost to develop a cross-platform mobile application can range between $37,000 to $171,450 and possible to climb up to $500,000 or higher with an average cost of $150 per hour for the developer. But Flutter based mobile apps can cost you much less than these figures as you can hire flutter app developers with the average per hour cost of $18 to $35.
How?
Despite knowing the fact that Flutter has become a hot sensation of the market and has garnered more than 1 million downloads, many of you are in doubt “what exactly it will cost you to develop an app with Flutter?”.
Whether you want to develop a basic app or an enterprise app, the development cost is one of the primary concerns for startups and enterprises. So when it comes to developing an app, there are three most important things that not only affect the performance of your app but also influence the development cost.
App Design: The first thing that attracts the user’s attention is, the app design, but Flutter provides you an advanced Google UI kit that helps developers in creating attractive apps for both iOS and Android platforms. Since Flutter provides you a broad range of free-to-use widget and design tools, therefore developers can easily save their development hours which ultimately reflects in cost reduction.
The first thing that attracts the user’s attention is, the app design, but Flutter provides you an advanced Google UI kit that helps developers in creating attractive apps for both iOS and Android platforms. Since Flutter provides you a broad range of free-to-use widget and design tools, therefore developers can easily save their development hours which ultimately reflects in cost reduction. User’s Experience: No matter how beautiful and amazing applications you have developed, if it has excessive use of animation or bigger images, then it will take a long time to load the page. However, with the stateful widgets of Flutter, and layered architecture of Flutter allows developers to customize the app with full control on-screen pixels to animated graphics without any limits. The wide set of widgets will help you deliver a pixel-perfect experience on both iOS and Android and eliminate the risk of writing the codes from scratch which will cut down the development time and its cost.
No matter how beautiful and amazing applications you have developed, if it has excessive use of animation or bigger images, then it will take a long time to load the page. However, with the stateful widgets of Flutter, and layered architecture of Flutter allows developers to customize the app with full control on-screen pixels to animated graphics without any limits. The wide set of widgets will help you deliver a pixel-perfect experience on both iOS and Android and eliminate the risk of writing the codes from scratch which will cut down the development time and its cost. Development Speed: Flutter is based on Google’s in-house programming language and comes up with a “Hot Reload” feature that helps developers in making instant changes in the backend of the application. By using this feature developers can speed up the development process and help in saving development time.
In addition, here are the few facts and stats that make you understand the costing of the application:
The survey report reveals, with the most common per hour costing of Android/iOS developers ($100/$150) in the US, the medium app development will cost you around $25,275.00 to $171,450.00, which can go up to $727,500.00.
The breakdown of the app development cost and the major factors that can affect the cost of the development.
According to the Clutch 2017 survey report, on average, the minimum app development project is between $5,000 to $10,000 with the MVP.
The average price to develop an enterprise app can be starting from $140,000.
According to the survey, over 80% of mobile apps take up to 3+ months to develop whereas 40% of apps are built-in 6+ months.
In the Nutshell: To wrap up all these statistics and facts of mobile app development cost and time, it is fair enough to conclude there are multiple factors that influence the cost of app development. However, the breakdown of app development hours can be far lesser with Flutter.
Let’s understand what are the best features of flutter that make the entire app development process faster, cheaper, and smoother.
Understanding the Unique Features of Flutter Affecting the Cost of App Development
There are multiple features of Flutter that make it a winning choice over other leading frameworks and help in building modern applications although under budget.
Here’s how these features help in cost-cutting and expediting the development process:
- Free To Use
Being a young framework, 39% of developers are already using flutter for app development as it is based on Dart programming language and an entirely open-source platform. Moreover, it brings you detailed documentation of the platform that helps developers learn it quickly. Flutter is not only easy to learn but also helps you save on license costs.
- Compatibility on Multiple OS (Operating Platform)
One of the best benefits of hiring a flutter app development company is that you don’t need to hire app developers for different operating platforms. Flutter provides you a wide range of widgets which are the part application, not the platform. So there is less chance left for facing any compatibility issues between Android, iOS, and Windows applications developed with Flutter. Moreover, Flutter’s app compatibility translates into fewer app testing requirements and helps you market your app in a real-time.
- Speed Up The App Development Process
The longer your app will take to develop, the higher the cost will be. There are multiple ways that Flutter can speed up the development process and help in delivering projects in less no. of hours.
Here’s how it makes it possible:
Offering platform-specific widgets
Hot Reload functionality for instant corrections
Detailed documentation for quick learning and easy understanding
Single Codebase
With the increasing number of app downloads on both iOS and Android platforms, it is worth launching an app on multiple operating systems to capture a large number of users through different platforms. I know it can be a budget draining task for the startups. But Flutter is an ideal cross-platform app development approach that helps you develop multiple applications by using a single codebase. When developing an app with Flutter, the app developer has to focus on creating a single codebase. One version of the application can be run on Android, iOS, and Windows.
Ensuring High Performance
The mobile applications developed with Flutter always ensure you high performance on any performance as it is based on Dart Programming language that is simple, fast, and easy to compile into native code. Flutter based apps can 60FPS as it does not access OEM widgets owing to having its own widgets. So developing a cross-platform mobile application using Flutter is a good approach to save development time and cost and eliminate the risk of developing separate apps in native code.
Testing Support
While developing an app using Flutter, you can save a great amount of time on testing as developers can perform testing at different levels as a unit. Flutter offers you the best widget testing feature that expedites the UI testing. In addition, Flutter holds a separate package named Flutter driver to perform app testing easily and smoothly. Therefore, time and efforts utilized for app testing can be reduced to a greater extent and turns flutter app development into a cost-effective measure.
In a Nutshell: These are the few reasons that not only make Flutter a second-most loved framework for developing high-end cross-platform applications but indirectly help in reducing app development time and cost. However, the question is still open: how much does a Flutter app will cost you?
Let’s dig deep to find the closest answer…
Flutter Mobile App Development Cost in 2020–21
Determining the exact cost of any app development is one of the most challenging tasks but the key findings suggest that the cost to develop an app ranges from $25,000 to $700,000, based upon various industry survey reports. But we have carried out detailed research on app development cost, which lists estimates based on widely used app features, design complexity, choice of the operating system, software development team, tech stack, and more.
But, with the availability of technology, mobile app development companies, and increasing competition in the market in 2020, the figures have not remained the same. Here are the price estimations of the app development if you choose to hire mobile app developer .
Here are the following elements that help you understand the Flutter app development cost or majorly influencing your app development budget:
1. Native or Cross-Platform
The final cost of app development definitely affects the cost of development. Native applications are developed to suit the specific guidelines of the operating systems, thus you need to opt for Android app development solutions if you are choosing an Android Native app and vise versa. This will ultimately toss your app development budget. In contrast, hybrid apps work with multiple operating systems and allow you to target a large no. of users through various platforms without draining your budget.
But, due to the technical superiority and performance, 75% of startups choose iOS native apps, 61% Android Native Apps and 10% Hybrid apps.
2. App Design
You must have heard that the first impression is the last impression! App design does exactly the same and is the first thing that grabs the attention of the user. But app designing consists of UX (User experience) and UI (User Interface), which help in developing seamless user experience and add a touch of colors and creativity to your app.
If you are also dreaming of becoming the next big app like Uber, then you need to hire UI/UX designers to develop an outstanding look and feel of the app. But, the cost of UI/UX designers is depending upon the design complexity of the app.
3. Backend
The backend is the backbone of the app which manages several aspects of the app like app security, data backup, real-time chatbots, server, and many more. Since the backend is the most integral part of any app, therefore it takes up around 140–190+ hours for the development.
4. Features and Functionalities
A custom-made mobile application with customer-centric features is the need of the hour for any industry. But, it can be the biggest cost influencing element of your app development. The cost of the app development increases based on integrated functionalities which can push your budget from hundred to thousand dollars.
The journey of app development does not end with the final development. It needs regular updates as per the latest trends and new devices or versions of operating systems that adds up a cost to your app development.
Basically app maintenance includes:
App Update: App updates are something that gives users something more advanced user experience. But it depends on the business owner when they want their app to be upgraded.
App updates are something that gives users something more advanced user experience. But it depends on the business owner when they want their app to be upgraded. Bug-Fixes: No matter how superior your app development team is, there is no app that is bug-free at all. And once your app is launched, it becomes tough to fix those bugs so it is important to deeply analyze the app and detect the bugs before its launch.
No matter how superior your app development team is, there is no app that is bug-free at all. And once your app is launched, it becomes tough to fix those bugs so it is important to deeply analyze the app and detect the bugs before its launch. Design Changes: App design is something that actually attracts users but over time it gets out-dated, so it is important to maintain your app and change the design to make it more accessible for the users.
Conclusion
Developing your app with Flutter can be a great choice for entrepreneurs as well as startups because it is equipped with better features which ultimately help in reducing app development cost and make it easier to maintain.
This post has covered all the major features of Flutter and factors that can affect the cost of development and maintenance of the app. Still, if you find yourself in doubt at any point, then it is recommended to collaborate with the software development company for expert solutions. | https://medium.com/quick-code/how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-and-maintain-a-flutter-mobile-app-a350afd1e9fc | ['Sophia Martin'] | 2020-11-20 10:38:18.437000+00:00 | ['Mobile Apps', 'Flutter', 'Startup', 'Mobile App Development', 'Technology'] | Title Develop Maintain Flutter Mobile AppContent cost develop crossplatform mobile application range 37000 171450 possible climb 500000 higher average cost 150 per hour developer Flutter based mobile apps cost much le figure hire flutter app developer average per hour cost 18 35 Despite knowing fact Flutter become hot sensation market garnered 1 million downloads many doubt “what exactly cost develop app Flutter” Whether want develop basic app enterprise app development cost one primary concern startup enterprise come developing app three important thing affect performance app also influence development cost App Design first thing attracts user’s attention app design Flutter provides advanced Google UI kit help developer creating attractive apps iOS Android platform Since Flutter provides broad range freetouse widget design tool therefore developer easily save development hour ultimately reflects cost reduction first thing attracts user’s attention app design Flutter provides advanced Google UI kit help developer creating attractive apps iOS Android platform Since Flutter provides broad range freetouse widget design tool therefore developer easily save development hour ultimately reflects cost reduction User’s Experience matter beautiful amazing application developed excessive use animation bigger image take long time load page However stateful widget Flutter layered architecture Flutter allows developer customize app full control onscreen pixel animated graphic without limit wide set widget help deliver pixelperfect experience iOS Android eliminate risk writing code scratch cut development time cost matter beautiful amazing application developed excessive use animation bigger image take long time load page However stateful widget Flutter layered architecture Flutter allows developer customize app full control onscreen pixel animated graphic without limit wide set widget help deliver pixelperfect experience iOS Android eliminate risk writing code scratch cut development time cost Development Speed Flutter based Google’s inhouse programming language come “Hot Reload” feature help developer making instant change backend application using feature developer speed development process help saving development time addition fact stats make understand costing application survey report reveals common per hour costing AndroidiOS developer 100150 US medium app development cost around 2527500 17145000 go 72750000 breakdown app development cost major factor affect cost development According Clutch 2017 survey report average minimum app development project 5000 10000 MVP average price develop enterprise app starting 140000 According survey 80 mobile apps take 3 month develop whereas 40 apps builtin 6 month Nutshell wrap statistic fact mobile app development cost time fair enough conclude multiple factor influence cost app development However breakdown app development hour far lesser Flutter Let’s understand best feature flutter make entire app development process faster cheaper smoother Understanding Unique Features Flutter Affecting Cost App Development multiple feature Flutter make winning choice leading framework help building modern application although budget Here’s feature help costcutting expediting development process Free Use young framework 39 developer already using flutter app development based Dart programming language entirely opensource platform Moreover brings detailed documentation platform help developer learn quickly Flutter easy learn also help save license cost Compatibility Multiple OS Operating Platform One best benefit hiring flutter app development company don’t need hire app developer different operating platform Flutter provides wide range widget part application platform le chance left facing compatibility issue Android iOS Windows application developed Flutter Moreover Flutter’s app compatibility translates fewer app testing requirement help market app realtime Speed App Development Process longer app take develop higher cost multiple way Flutter speed development process help delivering project le hour Here’s make possible Offering platformspecific widget Hot Reload functionality instant correction Detailed documentation quick learning easy understanding Single Codebase increasing number app downloads iOS Android platform worth launching app multiple operating system capture large number user different platform know budget draining task startup Flutter ideal crossplatform app development approach help develop multiple application using single codebase developing app Flutter app developer focus creating single codebase One version application run Android iOS Windows Ensuring High Performance mobile application developed Flutter always ensure high performance performance based Dart Programming language simple fast easy compile native code Flutter based apps 60FPS access OEM widget owing widget developing crossplatform mobile application using Flutter good approach save development time cost eliminate risk developing separate apps native code Testing Support developing app using Flutter save great amount time testing developer perform testing different level unit Flutter offer best widget testing feature expedites UI testing addition Flutter hold separate package named Flutter driver perform app testing easily smoothly Therefore time effort utilized app testing reduced greater extent turn flutter app development costeffective measure Nutshell reason make Flutter secondmost loved framework developing highend crossplatform application indirectly help reducing app development time cost However question still open much Flutter app cost Let’s dig deep find closest answer… Flutter Mobile App Development Cost 2020–21 Determining exact cost app development one challenging task key finding suggest cost develop app range 25000 700000 based upon various industry survey report carried detailed research app development cost list estimate based widely used app feature design complexity choice operating system software development team tech stack availability technology mobile app development company increasing competition market 2020 figure remained price estimation app development choose hire mobile app developer following element help understand Flutter app development cost majorly influencing app development budget 1 Native CrossPlatform final cost app development definitely affect cost development Native application developed suit specific guideline operating system thus need opt Android app development solution choosing Android Native app vise versa ultimately toss app development budget contrast hybrid apps work multiple operating system allow target large user various platform without draining budget due technical superiority performance 75 startup choose iOS native apps 61 Android Native Apps 10 Hybrid apps 2 App Design must heard first impression last impression App design exactly first thing grab attention user app designing consists UX User experience UI User Interface help developing seamless user experience add touch color creativity app also dreaming becoming next big app like Uber need hire UIUX designer develop outstanding look feel app cost UIUX designer depending upon design complexity app 3 Backend backend backbone app manages several aspect app like app security data backup realtime chatbots server many Since backend integral part app therefore take around 140–190 hour development 4 Features Functionalities custommade mobile application customercentric feature need hour industry biggest cost influencing element app development cost app development increase based integrated functionality push budget hundred thousand dollar journey app development end final development need regular update per latest trend new device version operating system add cost app development Basically app maintenance includes App Update App update something give user something advanced user experience depends business owner want app upgraded App update something give user something advanced user experience depends business owner want app upgraded BugFixes matter superior app development team app bugfree app launched becomes tough fix bug important deeply analyze app detect bug launch matter superior app development team app bugfree app launched becomes tough fix bug important deeply analyze app detect bug launch Design Changes App design something actually attracts user time get outdated important maintain app change design make accessible user Conclusion Developing app Flutter great choice entrepreneur well startup equipped better feature ultimately help reducing app development cost make easier maintain post covered major feature Flutter factor affect cost development maintenance app Still find doubt point recommended collaborate software development company expert solutionsTags Mobile Apps Flutter Startup Mobile App Development Technology |
3,181 | How My App Failed Before Making It to the App Store | Phase 1: Scope Creep
When I was thinking about the project, I’d get excited. Why only me, there must be lots of other people who’d want this, too! And, while I’m learning things, why not learn other things as well? I’ve been meaning to learn Lisp as well: let’s build the server in Lisp.
Warning to future me: The smallest experiment I think I can run is rarely the smallest experiment I can run.
So, now I’m building this blazing fast app that has a server built with Lisp.
My rationalization for the server: HackerNews loves Lisp. So, if I build something with Lisp, it will get more upvotes, which means more people will come to the landing page, and so, more sales. This is hilarious in retrospect.
Through all of this, I already had a design for the app in mind. Swipe left if you don’t remember the card’s answer. Swipe right if you do. Tap to show the answer. On startup, you get this card view.
You can then go to a second screen with a list of cards, a way to add cards, and remove them.
The quickest thing — Revise, hence one-click. The slowest thing — Thinking about new cards to add, hence two-click.
Of course, if there are a server and sync, I’d need a login as well. Oh, and what about export? That gives people confidence that their cards won’t get lost.
And since I’m competing with Anki, a quick import from Anki.
This was daunting, given how little time I had (an hour after work every day — I didn’t want to stop other projects because of this). | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-my-app-failed-even-before-making-it-to-the-appstore-f639c467b185 | ['Neil Kakkar'] | 2020-04-21 00:37:38.456000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Startup', 'Mobile', 'Failure', 'Productivity'] | Title App Failed Making App StoreContent Phase 1 Scope Creep thinking project I’d get excited must lot people who’d want I’m learning thing learn thing well I’ve meaning learn Lisp well let’s build server Lisp Warning future smallest experiment think run rarely smallest experiment run I’m building blazing fast app server built Lisp rationalization server HackerNews love Lisp build something Lisp get upvotes mean people come landing page sale hilarious retrospect already design app mind Swipe left don’t remember card’s answer Swipe right Tap show answer startup get card view go second screen list card way add card remove quickest thing — Revise hence oneclick slowest thing — Thinking new card add hence twoclick course server sync I’d need login well Oh export give people confidence card won’t get lost since I’m competing Anki quick import Anki daunting given little time hour work every day — didn’t want stop project thisTags Programming Startup Mobile Failure Productivity |
3,182 | How a 14-Year-Old’s Speech Captured the Art of Storytelling | This might sound a little cheesy, but the story was riveting coming from a 14-year-old girl who spoke in broken English, barely referring to her notes.
The content or message of Christie’s story was touching. The story was engaging and memorable — and although not extraordinary, in another sense, it was remarkable.
Firstly, it shows remarkable insight for a 14-year-old. You couldn’t accuse Christie of bullying, but she was teasing, and I imagine it didn’t make Nicole feel great. It is well known that bullies lack self-confidence. And Christie recognised that a lack of self-confidence was also behind her more light-hearted teasing.
At age 14, I could imagine reacting defensively to my mother, as Christie initially did. After all, the game wasn’t even Christie’s idea — it was Nicole’s mother’s idea! But I would not have moved beyond this to recognise a larger truth in the way that Christie did. Or if I had, I would not have admitted it!
Secondly, it showed that Christie understood the fundamentals of a good story. It was a simple, personal story, told well. Christie made herself vulnerable. And there was a life lesson for Christie that many of us could take on board.
Let’s look at each of these elements.
A simple personal story
Experiences are the material for stories. Older people have had more experience and more opportunity to process them. Yet Christie showed that even a small daily occurrence could be the basis for a story.
I still find it impressive that Christie recognised the value in her story. So many people think they have nothing important to say. Yet everyone has stories like Christie’s.
Being vulnerable
The story would not have been comfortable for Christie to share. I believe this incident had a big impact on her. She must have spent a lot of time thinking about it. And she was obviously upset about her mother’s reaction. She probably moved through several stages from “that was funny” to “that was harmless — just a bit of fun” to “perhaps I was not very nice.”
When we realise unpleasant truths about ourselves, it is one thing to change the behaviour. But rarely do we share our insights so that others can benefit.
A life lesson
My initial reaction was that her mother had been a little tough on Christie. It was just a game! Yet I could see Christie’s mother’s point. Light-hearted teasing is a step towards more serious bullying. Putting someone else down can make us feel good about ourselves at the expense of the other person. There was an important life lesson for Christie, but also her audience.
Christie could have emphasised the life lesson by directly articulating the connection between teasing and bullying. I am not sure that her classmates would have made that connection. It took me a while.
Her speech was also missing a call to action. She could have finished with something like, “Have you ever said something that made someone else feel bad? Even if you were only joking? Think about why you said it. Did it make you feel better about yourself? The next time you want to tease someone, try saying something nice instead. I bet that it will also make you feel better about yourself. And I bet the feeling will last longer.”
But Christie was only 14 years old. If she was able to tell this story at 14, I am excited to think about what she might achieve when she is older. | https://medium.com/curious/how-a-14-year-olds-speech-captured-the-art-of-storytelling-e25703102713 | ['Catherine Syme'] | 2020-10-30 00:53:29.291000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement', 'Self', 'Storytelling'] | Title 14YearOld’s Speech Captured Art StorytellingContent might sound little cheesy story riveting coming 14yearold girl spoke broken English barely referring note content message Christie’s story touching story engaging memorable — although extraordinary another sense remarkable Firstly show remarkable insight 14yearold couldn’t accuse Christie bullying teasing imagine didn’t make Nicole feel great well known bully lack selfconfidence Christie recognised lack selfconfidence also behind lighthearted teasing age 14 could imagine reacting defensively mother Christie initially game wasn’t even Christie’s idea — Nicole’s mother’s idea would moved beyond recognise larger truth way Christie would admitted Secondly showed Christie understood fundamental good story simple personal story told well Christie made vulnerable life lesson Christie many u could take board Let’s look element simple personal story Experiences material story Older people experience opportunity process Yet Christie showed even small daily occurrence could basis story still find impressive Christie recognised value story many people think nothing important say Yet everyone story like Christie’s vulnerable story would comfortable Christie share believe incident big impact must spent lot time thinking obviously upset mother’s reaction probably moved several stage “that funny” “that harmless — bit fun” “perhaps nice” realise unpleasant truth one thing change behaviour rarely share insight others benefit life lesson initial reaction mother little tough Christie game Yet could see Christie’s mother’s point Lighthearted teasing step towards serious bullying Putting someone else make u feel good expense person important life lesson Christie also audience Christie could emphasised life lesson directly articulating connection teasing bullying sure classmate would made connection took speech also missing call action could finished something like “Have ever said something made someone else feel bad Even joking Think said make feel better next time want tease someone try saying something nice instead bet also make feel better bet feeling last longer” Christie 14 year old able tell story 14 excited think might achieve olderTags Selfawareness Life Lessons Self Improvement Self Storytelling |
3,183 | Is Your Business Using Local Seo Correctly? | Is Your Business Using Local Seo Correctly?
Why is local SEO so important for your small business? Because local consumers are searching online for new products and services daily.
With how important local search has become it’s surprising how many small businesses have no local SEO optimized on their website. 97% of consumers use the internet when researching local products/services and 32% of consumers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a website. If you are not working a local search strategy into your marketing, you are most likely losing potential revenue to your competitors.
Read this list of the most common Local SEO mistakes made by small business owners and start getting listed online the right way today.
1. Unavailable or Inaccurate Business Listing Information
Your Business Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) is a core metric Google uses to rank local businesses in its search results. Not only is it important to have all your business information publicly displayed on your website, but it is also important that this information is correct and consistent. Your business information gets scanned among multiple different listings such as-Google My Business Page,Google reviews, Yelp, Bing, Yellow Pages and local directories. You want to make sure your business is coming up with correct info online. Keep in mind that 76% of local searches end up in a phone call. If people cannot get the information to call or drive to you-you’ll lose every time.
2. Unclaimed Google Business Page
One of the most important things you can do when trying to rank well in local SEO is claim your Google My Business page. You can set up a business page directly with Google. Once you set up it up be sure to include a good description of your business, a local phone number, and business address. You should also upload relevant, high-quality photos.
3. Lack of Online Reviews
Reviews are also considered to be a key local search ranking factor, so the more reviews the better for Local SEO. A recent survey found that 68% of consumers say review sentiment influences the trust they feel in a business. Good ways to get started on this is to reach out to existing client base and friends. Also, reach out to past clients and anyone who has experience with your business and ask them to leave a genuine review. Reviews now count for almost 10 percent of local ranking factors, so getting good reviews is extremely beneficial for your SEO ranking.
4. Outdated Website and Online Presence
It is important to realize that there are negative factors that can take your ranking on a downward spiral. Local SEO is always changing and so are the rules of what will give you positive results and negative. All negative factors can be avoided as long as you stay consistent and keep everything up to date with proper information and technologies. Website plugins and themes go out of date and when they do, they often break certain functions on your website. There can be a number of ways and broken links and unsecured data can jeopardize your search ranking. Keep your site up to date and avoid security hacks and a lower page rank.
Take-away
You can’t deny the importance of ranking online in your communities local search.These searches lead to increased traffic and revenue as well as in-store visits. Make sure your website and content are optimized for local SEO and get your business listed on local review sites with up to date business. Once you start to implement these steps you will be on your way to reaching a whole new audience and consumer base.
This post was originally written for Consonant Marketing.
To read more of Jean’s posts, visit Consonant Marketing’s website! | https://medium.com/consonant-marketing/is-your-business-using-local-seo-correctly-e039001f7965 | ['Jean Templeton'] | 2018-02-25 02:19:18.484000+00:00 | ['Search Engine Marketing', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Online Marketing', 'SEO'] | Title Business Using Local Seo CorrectlyContent Business Using Local Seo Correctly local SEO important small business local consumer searching online new product service daily important local search become it’s surprising many small business local SEO optimized website 97 consumer use internet researching local productsservices 32 consumer likely contact local business website working local search strategy marketing likely losing potential revenue competitor Read list common Local SEO mistake made small business owner start getting listed online right way today 1 Unavailable Inaccurate Business Listing Information Business Name Address Phone Number NAP core metric Google us rank local business search result important business information publicly displayed website also important information correct consistent business information get scanned among multiple different listing asGoogle Business PageGoogle review Yelp Bing Yellow Pages local directory want make sure business coming correct info online Keep mind 76 local search end phone call people cannot get information call drive youyou’ll lose every time 2 Unclaimed Google Business Page One important thing trying rank well local SEO claim Google Business page set business page directly Google set sure include good description business local phone number business address also upload relevant highquality photo 3 Lack Online Reviews Reviews also considered key local search ranking factor review better Local SEO recent survey found 68 consumer say review sentiment influence trust feel business Good way get started reach existing client base friend Also reach past client anyone experience business ask leave genuine review Reviews count almost 10 percent local ranking factor getting good review extremely beneficial SEO ranking 4 Outdated Website Online Presence important realize negative factor take ranking downward spiral Local SEO always changing rule give positive result negative negative factor avoided long stay consistent keep everything date proper information technology Website plugins theme go date often break certain function website number way broken link unsecured data jeopardize search ranking Keep site date avoid security hack lower page rank Takeaway can’t deny importance ranking online community local searchThese search lead increased traffic revenue well instore visit Make sure website content optimized local SEO get business listed local review site date business start implement step way reaching whole new audience consumer base post originally written Consonant Marketing read Jean’s post visit Consonant Marketing’s websiteTags Search Engine Marketing Entrepreneurship Startup Online Marketing SEO |
3,184 | The power of analytics | Analytics are a great way of tracking the sucess of your website and marketing campaigns — but what is the best way to use this data?
This post has moved to https://wool.digital/blog/the-power-of-analytics | https://medium.com/wool-digital/the-power-of-analytics-715df81377b4 | ['Charlotte Rushton'] | 2017-11-02 17:50:07.139000+00:00 | ['Analytics', 'Analysis', 'Marketing', 'Digital', 'Digital Marketing'] | Title power analyticsContent Analytics great way tracking sucess website marketing campaign — best way use data post moved httpswooldigitalblogthepowerofanalyticsTags Analytics Analysis Marketing Digital Digital Marketing |
3,185 | When Mental Illness Becomes a Friend | I have read several articles today composed by writers who seem to be wondering why people who have mental difficulties making them miserable don’t do something about it. It doesn’t come across as intentionally judgmental or critical, but seems more like genuine confusion as to why these individuals don’t appear to want to change things so their lives improve.
In one article, the writer asked about a friend. “They were so competent before, I mean like uber-competent. They have two Masters, a Ph.D. and an M.D. How is it possible that someone like that doesn’t seem able to fold the laundry or clean up? It’s almost like they don’t even realize these things need to be done or maybe like they don’t care anymore.”
In another article the question was, “Do depressed people somehow lose the desire to be happy or do they just not know how to achieve this? It seems like they just aren’t interested in being happy anymore.”
I wanted to try to answer these questions as many people don’t know or understand just how much mental distress affects people. Yet the question about them not wanting to be happy is also an important one to address. There are a few truths to discuss about this matter.
There is a difference between transient symptoms we all have and chronic, more severe symptoms that are part of a mental health condition.
When I teach abnormal psychology, I make the statement that most mental disorders are just more extreme versions of what we all experience in a more moderate way. So we all know what anxiety or depression feels like although for most people it doesn’t reach the level of being considered a disorder. While this is the case, there is a difference between what we all experience and what those with a significant problem in this area experience.
This is because when these things last for a long time or become chronic, they wear people down. This affects their immune system, their beliefs about themselves and the world, the degree to which they can maintain a social support network and whether or not they can take part in activities they once enjoyed. Thoughts that are in line with the disorder also occur when it lasts a long time. For example, people with depression often have thoughts related to worthlessness, hopelessness and pessimism.
The difference between passing symptoms and long term, severe symptoms also occurs because of the person’s mindset. When mental health issues can be associated with a cause such as failing a class, breaking up with a significant other or other similar life events the person usually doesn’t think that the resulting problems will be part of their life permanently.
They understand their altered mental health is the result of something that other people go through and get over and expect to do the same. Those with chronic mental health problems, though, don’t necessarily associate them with any particular life even even when there is one, and while there is always the hope they’ll get better, a big part of them doesn’t really believe it.
The stigma associated with mental illness also lead to difference between milder, transient symptoms and longer duration, mental health issues. The messages that people hear about mental disorders such as they indicate a person is flawed or weak can be internalized by those experiencing more chronic problems and this can lead to a worsening of symptoms. At the same time, even given how distress these problems may be, sometimes the person may feel some reluctance when considering being cured.
Sometimes it can just be too much to do even the simplest of things.
It struck me how much this is the case, when I read an article written by Erika Sauter, called Letters to Friends and the Motherfucking Sad. She describes what it’s like to not be able to do every day activities even when there’s not much to them. For example, she describes the difficulty she has folding laundry.
“I should fold it and put it away. I don’t because I don’t have it in me today, the same as the day before and maybe not tomorrow, either. I turn around, walk back up the stairs and plop myself on the couch.”
It’s not that she isn’t able to do this or doesn’t know how. While people who are depressed due to a life event that will pass may feel down in the dumps while they are doing what they need to do, or maybe leave something for the next day, those with serious depression can’t bring themselves to carry out normal daily activities. Garbage may pile up on counter tops, cleaning may not be done for weeks, packages may remain where they were first put down for months, but although the person knows these things need to be done they just can’t. They tell themselves they’ll do it after a break, tomorrow, when they are feeling better, but days run into weeks which run into months and nothing changes
Often with mental health issues, passions still exist if only for brief periods. The memories of these passions and the dreams that made life exciting are still there even if the same degree of
Sometimes a person with a mental problem may still feel a passion for something but be unable to engage in it.
Often times with mental health problems, an individual no longer has the desire to do things they once enjoyed. Sometimes though, the person still has moments when old passions for certain activities return or at least has very strong memories of what it felt like to have those passions.
When the person tries to engage in the activity they were once passionate about, even during those times when there’s a glimmer of the old desire, they just can’t quite manage it. The inability to do what they once loved, just adds to the problem. There may also be the thought that if the time they’ve wasted when their problem has prevented them from doing much of anything, had been used in pursuing their passion they could have accomplished something remarkable. Instead, they feel even worse about themselves, and may be convinced they’ll never be able to do the activity again.
Is It Always All Misery Though?
I think the answer to this lies in how you define misery. This is because even with everything I said above, that the problem becomes familiar and thus, on some level, safe. When you feel a certain way for a long time, even if it’s not a positive one, it starts to become normal. Even though there is a desire to give it up and have a happier life, at the same time, the thought of doing so can be scary because it is unfamiliar. The problem itself may even be seen in some ways as positive.
In the article mentioned above, the author says:
“My mind suffers from agoraphobia and my body from depression. There’s an unspoken beauty where the calmness meets the chest crushing pain. Sometimes people feel sad because I’m sad, but there’s strength in sadness. Depression does rob me of self worth and life experiences, and the belief that some day I’ll prevail but it also provides the ability to live in the moment. Mindfulness. Depression is the gift of mindfulness. It’s not so bad for me, you know?”
I took this to mean that when those moments of calm arrive they are practically miraculous when compared to what the author calls the “chest crushing pain.” And even though the depression robs her of hope that she’ll ever be free of it, the inability to focus on the future means that she is able to live in the moment, something she perceives as positive. “It’s not so bad for me, you know?”
Sometimes, because of the familiarity and talking themselves into the idea that there are positives to the problem, the person can have a part of them that doesn’t want to give it up. I can remember treating a man with schizophrenia who had an amazing response to medication and therapy. The symptoms disappeared he was able to fully get back into life.
He got a good job and started started participating in social activities and making friends. He rented a nice apartment, off the street for the first time in several years. He continued to improve over the three months that I worked with him and I can remember leaving that rotation thinking he was definitely one of the success stories.
I was stunned to find out only a month later from the intern who had taken my case load for that rotation, that the patient was off his medication and back on the street. There was an outreach team who tried to help the large number of mentally ill homeless people. They took me to where the patient slept and I convinced him to come in to see me for one session.
Though his psychotic symptoms were back he could still explain why it was he had given up all the improvements to his life. He said that he didn’t know exactly how to navigate the “new world” he experienced off of his medication, so even though life on the streets might have been harder it felt more familiar. He added that while “normals” might think that what he referred to as his “psychotic world” might seem chaotic, unpredictable and frightening, it was what he’d known for over 20 years and he missed it when the medication caused it to disappear.
Take Away
It can be hard for people who have never had serious mental health issues to fully understand what it is like for those who have. Even though it may seem like we understand what chronic depression or anxiety feel like because there have been times we felt depressed or anxious, the truth is it is a very different experience for the people who suffer from these types of problems long term. It’s important to recognize that unless we have had to contend with a similar difficulty that wasn’t situational or short term we can’t assume to know what it’s like for those who have a disorder.
It may not make sense to us how a mental problem that prevents someone from taking care of even the smallest of chores or from living in the real world can be viewed as having any positive parts. It may seem counter-intuitive that someone may feel ambivalent about getting better. It’s important to accept those with these types of problems on their own terms and meet them where they are, not where we expect them to be. Doing this in a supportive manner is the best way to help them not have to deal with feeling as if they are isolated from caring others in their life as well.
Thanks to Erika Sauter for inspiring this article. | https://medium.com/invisible-illness/when-mental-illness-becomes-a-friend-f2a4f57289e | ['Natalie Frank'] | 2019-05-23 09:03:59.326000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Mental Health', 'Mental Illness', 'Mindset', 'Psychology'] | Title Mental Illness Becomes FriendContent read several article today composed writer seem wondering people mental difficulty making miserable don’t something doesn’t come across intentionally judgmental critical seems like genuine confusion individual don’t appear want change thing life improve one article writer asked friend “They competent mean like ubercompetent two Masters PhD MD possible someone like doesn’t seem able fold laundry clean It’s almost like don’t even realize thing need done maybe like don’t care anymore” another article question “Do depressed people somehow lose desire happy know achieve seems like aren’t interested happy anymore” wanted try answer question many people don’t know understand much mental distress affect people Yet question wanting happy also important one address truth discus matter difference transient symptom chronic severe symptom part mental health condition teach abnormal psychology make statement mental disorder extreme version experience moderate way know anxiety depression feel like although people doesn’t reach level considered disorder case difference experience significant problem area experience thing last long time become chronic wear people affect immune system belief world degree maintain social support network whether take part activity enjoyed Thoughts line disorder also occur last long time example people depression often thought related worthlessness hopelessness pessimism difference passing symptom long term severe symptom also occurs person’s mindset mental health issue associated cause failing class breaking significant similar life event person usually doesn’t think resulting problem part life permanently understand altered mental health result something people go get expect chronic mental health problem though don’t necessarily associate particular life even even one always hope they’ll get better big part doesn’t really believe stigma associated mental illness also lead difference milder transient symptom longer duration mental health issue message people hear mental disorder indicate person flawed weak internalized experiencing chronic problem lead worsening symptom time even given distress problem may sometimes person may feel reluctance considering cured Sometimes much even simplest thing struck much case read article written Erika Sauter called Letters Friends Motherfucking Sad describes it’s like able every day activity even there’s much example describes difficulty folding laundry “I fold put away don’t don’t today day maybe tomorrow either turn around walk back stair plop couch” It’s isn’t able doesn’t know people depressed due life event pas may feel dump need maybe leave something next day serious depression can’t bring carry normal daily activity Garbage may pile counter top cleaning may done week package may remain first put month although person know thing need done can’t tell they’ll break tomorrow feeling better day run week run month nothing change Often mental health issue passion still exist brief period memory passion dream made life exciting still even degree Sometimes person mental problem may still feel passion something unable engage Often time mental health problem individual longer desire thing enjoyed Sometimes though person still moment old passion certain activity return least strong memory felt like passion person try engage activity passionate even time there’s glimmer old desire can’t quite manage inability loved add problem may also thought time they’ve wasted problem prevented much anything used pursuing passion could accomplished something remarkable Instead feel even worse may convinced they’ll never able activity Always Misery Though think answer lie define misery even everything said problem becomes familiar thus level safe feel certain way long time even it’s positive one start become normal Even though desire give happier life time thought scary unfamiliar problem may even seen way positive article mentioned author say “My mind suffers agoraphobia body depression There’s unspoken beauty calmness meet chest crushing pain Sometimes people feel sad I’m sad there’s strength sadness Depression rob self worth life experience belief day I’ll prevail also provides ability live moment Mindfulness Depression gift mindfulness It’s bad know” took mean moment calm arrive practically miraculous compared author call “chest crushing pain” even though depression robs hope she’ll ever free inability focus future mean able live moment something perceives positive “It’s bad know” Sometimes familiarity talking idea positive problem person part doesn’t want give remember treating man schizophrenia amazing response medication therapy symptom disappeared able fully get back life got good job started started participating social activity making friend rented nice apartment street first time several year continued improve three month worked remember leaving rotation thinking definitely one success story stunned find month later intern taken case load rotation patient medication back street outreach team tried help large number mentally ill homeless people took patient slept convinced come see one session Though psychotic symptom back could still explain given improvement life said didn’t know exactly navigate “new world” experienced medication even though life street might harder felt familiar added “normals” might think referred “psychotic world” might seem chaotic unpredictable frightening he’d known 20 year missed medication caused disappear Take Away hard people never serious mental health issue fully understand like Even though may seem like understand chronic depression anxiety feel like time felt depressed anxious truth different experience people suffer type problem long term It’s important recognize unless contend similar difficulty wasn’t situational short term can’t assume know it’s like disorder may make sense u mental problem prevents someone taking care even smallest chore living real world viewed positive part may seem counterintuitive someone may feel ambivalent getting better It’s important accept type problem term meet expect supportive manner best way help deal feeling isolated caring others life well Thanks Erika Sauter inspiring articleTags Relationships Mental Health Mental Illness Mindset Psychology |
3,186 | Android: Navigation Drawer | Hello guys! This post talks about another commonly used UI pattern namely the “Navigation drawer”. With the navigation drawer one can navigate to many screens or functionalities of the app by clicking on the ‘hamburger’ icon. Swiping from the left is also a way to bring the drawer into view, a screen then slides in, showing many items. You can click on these said items and go to those screens to use that feature of the app. So Let’s get started!
Step 1:
Create a brand new Android Studio project and name it ‘NavigationDrawer’. Choose an ‘Empty Activity’ as your MainActivity as we will be building the screen from ground up. Copy paste this code into your activity_main.xml file.
You might face an error in the 32nd line where we are including the header file. Do not worry we will be creating the header file in the next step and that’ll clear up the error.
We are using the ‘NavigationView’ widget which is a part of the support design library, so please make sure you have the latest gradle dependency in your Build.gradle file(app level) :
compile ‘com.android.support:design:X.X.X’
Remember to replace the ‘Xs’ with the latest version number, if you are not sure a simple google search should do the trick.
Step 2:
Next, we need to create a layout resource file that will serve as the header for the Navigation drawer. Here’s how -
Right-click the res folder → click new →Select Layout resource file. Name the file as ‘nav_header.xml’ and click enter. Copy-paste the following code into the newly created layout file to define the header portion of the navigation drawer
After finishing creating the header we need to create a menu resource file that will hold the items to be displayed in the drawer. Here’s how to create the menu resource file:
Right-click the res folder →Select new →Android resource file →Choose ‘menu’ under the resource type drop-down list.
Name the file as ‘navigation_menu.xml’ and copy-paste the following code into the file.
The above code will create three items for the drawer and you can view them in the preview mode. They look like items in an ‘overflow’ menu but this resource file will be used to populate items in the drawer.
Find out Free courses on Quick Code for various programming languages. Get new updates on Messenger.
Step 3:
In this last and final step, we will write Java code in the MainActivity.java file which will act as the brains and is responsible for the behavior of the Navigation drawer. So copy-paste the following code and I’ll explain what the lines of code mean in the subsequent paragraphs.
Rename the package name to whatever you had chosen in the beginning, you can find the package name in the Manifest.xml file.
In lines 14–16 we declare instance variables required for the navigation drawer and we later find them using the findViewById method inside the onCreate() function. Then we add a ‘setNavigationItemSelectedListener’ on the ‘nv’ variable, which is the navigation view, to listen for any click events on selecting a particular item from the drawer. The code inside ‘onNavigationItemSelected’ method is simply displaying a toast message. You can replace the code with whatever functionality you want to achieve.
Finally, we override the ‘onOptionsItemSelected()’ method which is responsible for responding correctly to the items specified in the menu resource file. I have skipped over a lot of the finer details for the sake of brevity ;)
If you have followed all the steps correctly it should look a little something like this
Navigation Drawer
That’s it guys! you have created a fully functional Navigation drawer so congratulate yourself or go find someone with whom you can share your success with. Click on the link below for a more live coding experience.
I hope you guys enjoyed this and be sure to hit that ‘clap’ button which will encourage me to write even more stuff like this. As always, happy coding:D | https://medium.com/quick-code/android-navigation-drawer-e80f7fc2594f | ['Abdul Kadir'] | 2018-01-31 19:51:16.285000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Material Design', 'Android App Development', 'Java', 'Mobile App Development'] | Title Android Navigation DrawerContent Hello guy post talk another commonly used UI pattern namely “Navigation drawer” navigation drawer one navigate many screen functionality app clicking ‘hamburger’ icon Swiping left also way bring drawer view screen slide showing many item click said item go screen use feature app Let’s get started Step 1 Create brand new Android Studio project name ‘NavigationDrawer’ Choose ‘Empty Activity’ MainActivity building screen ground Copy paste code activitymainxml file might face error 32nd line including header file worry creating header file next step that’ll clear error using ‘NavigationView’ widget part support design library please make sure latest gradle dependency Buildgradle fileapp level compile ‘comandroidsupportdesignXXX’ Remember replace ‘Xs’ latest version number sure simple google search trick Step 2 Next need create layout resource file serve header Navigation drawer Here’s Rightclick re folder → click new →Select Layout resource file Name file ‘navheaderxml’ click enter Copypaste following code newly created layout file define header portion navigation drawer finishing creating header need create menu resource file hold item displayed drawer Here’s create menu resource file Rightclick re folder →Select new →Android resource file →Choose ‘menu’ resource type dropdown list Name file ‘navigationmenuxml’ copypaste following code file code create three item drawer view preview mode look like item ‘overflow’ menu resource file used populate item drawer Find Free course Quick Code various programming language Get new update Messenger Step 3 last final step write Java code MainActivityjava file act brain responsible behavior Navigation drawer copypaste following code I’ll explain line code mean subsequent paragraph Rename package name whatever chosen beginning find package name Manifestxml file line 14–16 declare instance variable required navigation drawer later find using findViewById method inside onCreate function add ‘setNavigationItemSelectedListener’ ‘nv’ variable navigation view listen click event selecting particular item drawer code inside ‘onNavigationItemSelected’ method simply displaying toast message replace code whatever functionality want achieve Finally override ‘onOptionsItemSelected’ method responsible responding correctly item specified menu resource file skipped lot finer detail sake brevity followed step correctly look little something like Navigation Drawer That’s guy created fully functional Navigation drawer congratulate go find someone share success Click link live coding experience hope guy enjoyed sure hit ‘clap’ button encourage write even stuff like always happy codingDTags Android Material Design Android App Development Java Mobile App Development |
3,187 | Intro to Skaffold for easy Kubernetes development | Skaffold is an Open Source project for CI/CD providing a CLI tool for “easy and repeatable Kubernetes development.” Its first alpha version has been released by Google on March 5, 2018, however it has become quite mature already with its first GA release announced this month (November’19).
Skaffold allows developers to focus on writing code while avoiding tedious administering tasks. What makes it so unique? As it turns out, Skaffold has several tricks up its sleeve, which makes it a perfect instrument for developers. Let’s learn more about the project and its features.
NB: By the way, we have already briefly touched Skaffold in our general overview of tools for developers who use Kubernetes.
Theory. Use cases and features
Skaffold helps to automate CI/CD workflow (building, pushing and deploying) by providing rapid feedback to developers, i.e. the ability to promptly see the result of code changes in the form of an updated application running in Kubernetes. In addition, you can run this application in various environments (dev, stage, production…) by defining relevant pipelines in Skaffold.
Skaffold is written in Golang and available under the Apache License 2.0 on GitHub. Let’s explore its features and peculiarities. Its main features are:
Skaffold provides a toolkit for creating CI/CD pipelines.
It monitors changes in the source code, starts an automatic process of building code into container images, pushes these images to the Docker registry, and deploys them to the Kubernetes cluster.
Skaffold synchronizes files in the repository with the working directory in the container.
It automatically validates images with a container-structure-test.
It forwards ports.
Skaffold reads the logs of the application running in the container.
It helps in debugging applications written in Java, Node.js, Python, Go.
And now to the peculiarities:
The Skaffold itself does not have cluster-side components , so you don’t need to configure Kubernetes to use it.
, so you don’t need to configure Kubernetes to use it. Various pipelines for your application. Do you deploy code into local Minikube during development and then proceed to staging or production environment? Skaffold already includes matching profiles, custom configs, environment variables, and flags, which allow you to define different pipelines for the same application.
Do you deploy code into local Minikube during development and then proceed to staging or production environment? Skaffold already includes matching profiles, custom configs, environment variables, and flags, which allow you to define different pipelines for the same application. CLI . Skaffold supports the command line interface only and is configured by the YAML file. There have been reports of attempts to create an experimental GUI, however it looks like there’s not much demand in having a GUI at the moment.
. Skaffold supports the command line interface only and is configured by the YAML file. There have been reports of attempts to create an experimental GUI, however it looks like there’s not much demand in having a GUI at the moment. Support for custom modules. Skaffold isn’t an independent all-in-one tool; it aims to leverage stand-alone plugins or already existing solutions for specific tasks.
Here is a brief illustration of the last point.
During the building stage, you can use:
docker build locally, or in the cluster via kaniko, or in the Google Cloud Build;
locally, or in the cluster via kaniko, or in the Google Cloud Build; Bazel locally;
Jib Maven and Jib Gradle locally or in the Google Cloud Build;
Custom build scripts that are run locally. If you want to run another (more flexible, conventional, etc) solution for building, then you have to describe it in the script, so that Skaffold can use it (an example from the docs). This way, you can use any builder you like, however, make sure that it is callable via a script.
For testing, Skaffold uses previously mentioned container-structure-test.
To deploy applications, Skaffold supports:
kubectl;
Helm;
kustomize.
Thanks to this, you might say that Skaffold is a kind of a framework for implementing CI/CD. Here is an example of a workflow when using it (borrowed from the project documentation):
What is the general pattern of Skaffold’s workflow?
The utility watches the directory with the source code for changes. If files are modified in some way, Skaffold synchronizes them with the application’s pod in the Kubernetes cluster, without rebuilding an image if possible. Otherwise, it builds a new image. Skaffold tests the new image with container-structure-test, tags it, and pushes to the Docker Registry. After that, the image is being deployed to the Kubernetes cluster. If we initiated the entire workflow with the skaffold dev command, then we start to receive application logs, and Skaffold will continue watching for changes to repeat all the steps again.
Various stages of Skaffold’s operation
Practice. Let’s try Skaffold!
To demonstrate the process of using Skaffold, let’s take an official example from the repository of the project on GitHub. By the way, you may find many additional examples for various use cases there. All actions will be performed locally in Minikube. Installation is simple and takes several minutes. Kubectl is required to get started.
Let’s install Skaffold:
curl -Lo skaffold https://storage.googleapis.com/skaffold/releases/latest/skaffold-linux-amd64
chmod +x skaffold
sudo mv skaffold /usr/local/bin
skaffold version
v0.37.1
Clone Skaffold repository with the required examples:
git clone https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold
cd skaffold/examples/microservices
I prefer an example with two pods, each of which contains a small Go application. The first application is the front-end ( leeroy-web ). It redirects requests to the second, back-end application ( leeroy-app ). Here is the tree:
~/skaffold/examples/microservices # tree
.
├── leeroy-app
│ ├── app.go
│ ├── Dockerfile
│ └── kubernetes
│ └── deployment.yaml
├── leeroy-web
│ ├── Dockerfile
│ ├── kubernetes
│ │ └── deployment.yaml
│ └── web.go
├── README.adoc
└── skaffold.yaml
4 directories, 8 files
Leeroy-app and leeroy-web contain Go code and basic Dockerfiles for building this code locally:
~/skaffold/examples/microservices # cat leeroy-app/Dockerfile
FROM golang:1.12.9-alpine3.10 as builder
COPY app.go .
RUN go build -o /app .
FROM alpine:3.10
CMD ["./app"]
COPY --from=builder /app .
No need to list the code itself: you just need to know that leeroy-web receives requests and forwards them to leeroy-app. That’s why the Service for the leeroy-app only is defined in the Deployment.yaml (for internal routing). Also, we will set portForward for leeroy-web’s pod to access the application quickly.
So here goes our skaffold.yaml :
~/skaffold/examples/microservices # cat skaffold.yaml
apiVersion: skaffold/v1beta13
kind: Config
build:
artifacts:
- image: leeroy-web
context: ./leeroy-web/
- image: leeroy-app
context: ./leeroy-app/
deploy:
kubectl:
manifests:
- ./leeroy-web/kubernetes/*
- ./leeroy-app/kubernetes/*
portForward:
- resourceType: deployment
resourceName: leeroy-web
port: 8080
localPort: 9000
You can easily see definitions for all steps mentioned above. In addition to this config, there is a file with global settings, ~/.skaffold/config . You can edit it manually or via CLI, like this:
skaffold config set --global local-cluster true
This command will set the local-cluster global variable to true . As a result, Skaffold will not try to push images to the remote registry. If you develop locally, you can use this command to keep images on the local machine.
Let’s get back to the skaffold.yaml :
At the build stage we prescribe that Skaffold should build and store an image locally. After the process of building is completed for the first time, we will see the following:
// since Minikube creates cluster in a separate virtual machine,
// we have to get into it to list images
# minikube ssh
$ docker images
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
leeroy-app 7d55a50803590b2ff62e47e6f240723451f3ef6f8c89aeb83b34e661aa287d2e 7d55a5080359 4 hours ago 13MB
leeroy-app v0.37.1-171-g0270a0c-dirty 7d55a5080359 4 hours ago 13MB
leeroy-web 5063bfb29d984db1ff70661f17d6efcc5537f2bbe6aa6907004ad1ab38879681 5063bfb29d98 5 hours ago 13.1MB
leeroy-web v0.37.1-171-g0270a0c-dirty 5063bfb29d98 5 hours ago 13.1MB
As you can see, Skaffold has automatically tagged images (by the way, it supports several tagging policies).
The next field in the config file, context: ./leeroy-app/ , defines the context where the image is being built.
, defines the context where the image is being built. The deploy section describes how images are deployed. We prefer to use kubectl and set a file mask for the required manifests.
section describes how images are deployed. We prefer to use kubectl and set a file mask for the required manifests. PortForward : similar to the usual way of port forwarding with kubectl port-forward , we give Skaffold instructions to invoke this command. In this case, the local port 9000 is forwarded to 8080 in the leeroy-web Deployment.
Now the time has come to run skaffold dev . This command will start an ongoing “feedback loop”: it will build and deploy all the necessary components into the cluster, and then will report on the state of the pods, monitor for changes and update pods.
Here is the result of running skaffold dev --port-forward when rebuilding:
First of all, as you can see, Skaffold uses cache. Then it builds, deploys the application, and forwards ports. Since we have added --port-forward , Skaffold would forward the port to leeroy-web (as prescribed in the skaffold.yaml ) and then do the same for leeroy-app by selecting a port at its own discretion (in this case, the nearest empty port). As the last step, Skaffold starts to show application logs.
Let’s check and see if everything works as planned:
~/skaffold/examples/microservices # kubectl get po
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
leeroy-app-6998dfcc95-2nxvf 1/1 Running 0 103s
leeroy-web-69f7d47c9d-5ff77 1/1 Running 0 103s
~/skaffold/examples/microservices # curl localhost:9000
leeroooooy app!!!
Now it is time to make some changes to leeroy-app/app.go — we’ll wait a few seconds, and then:
~/skaffold/examples/microservices # kubectl get po
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
leeroy-app-ffd79d986-l6nwp 1/1 Running 0 11s
leeroy-web-69f7d47c9d-5ff77 1/1 Running 0 4m59s
~/skaffold/examples/microservices # curl localhost:9000
leeroooooy Flant!!!
At the same time, the Skaffold’s output to the console has not changed except for one thing: it has deployed leeroy-app only, not both applications.
Need more practice?
It is worth mentioning that when creating a new project, you can bootstrap Skaffold configs with init command (a very convenient feature). Also, you can define several configs: one config for developing and another — to deploy to the stage environment via the run command (the same workflow as with dev except for, in this case, Skaffold doesn’t monitor for changes).
Katacoda has a guide with a more simplistic example. On the other hand, it provides a fully functional sandbox with Kubernetes, an application, and Skaffold preinstalled to play with. A great choice if you want to try the basics all on your own.
One of the possible use cases for Skaffold is development on a remote cluster. You may be uncomfortable with running Minikube on a local machine, and then having to deploy the application and wait to see if it is working properly. In this case, Skaffold addresses the problem perfectly: Reddit engineers can confirm that.
And in this Weaveworks publication, you can find an example of creating a pipeline for the production environment.
Note on differences between werf and Skaffold
As our regular readers already know, in Flant, we are actively developing werf — our own tool for CI/CD. Should we say that these two instruments are very distinct in the implementation and objectives? The intent behind Skaffold is local development, while werf has its own internal methods for building and deploying applications (anywhere, including the production).
Skaffold doesn’t have internal mechanisms for building/deploying — it provides a kind of framework and uses available third-party tools for these tasks. To quote one of our werf developers, “Skaffold doesn’t bring anything new into these processes if we are not talking about local development specifically; rather, it is an alternative form of writing.”
Werf, on the other hand, was initially conceived as a full-fledged builder tool. As of today, it has a long list of features in this sense and we have added deploying functionality as well (it is based on Helm yet fully integrated into werf). Improving werf for local development needs is our next milestone of the project.
Conclusion
Skaffold is an excellent tool for creating pipelines to deploy applications in Kubernetes with developers’ needs in mind. With it, you can easily create a “short” pipeline that takes into account the necessities of developers, while it also allows to create more ambitious workflows. A good example of using Skaffold for CI/CD is this test project consisting of 10 microservices that tap into the capabilities of Kubernetes, gRPC, Istio, and OpenCensus Tracing.
Currently, Skaffold has about 8500 stars on GitHub. It is being developed by Google, is a part of GoogleContainerTools and has recently reached its first GA version. In other words, there are strong reasons to believe that the project will grow and prosper.
This article has been originally written by our engineer Andrey Egorov. Follow our blog to get new excellent content from Flant! | https://medium.com/flant-com/skaffold-kubernetes-development-tool-2897d6903e02 | ['Flant Staff'] | 2019-11-20 14:26:32.988000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Kubernetes', 'Continuous Delivery', 'Skaffold'] | Title Intro Skaffold easy Kubernetes developmentContent Skaffold Open Source project CICD providing CLI tool “easy repeatable Kubernetes development” first alpha version released Google March 5 2018 however become quite mature already first GA release announced month November’19 Skaffold allows developer focus writing code avoiding tedious administering task make unique turn Skaffold several trick sleeve make perfect instrument developer Let’s learn project feature NB way already briefly touched Skaffold general overview tool developer use Kubernetes Theory Use case feature Skaffold help automate CICD workflow building pushing deploying providing rapid feedback developer ie ability promptly see result code change form updated application running Kubernetes addition run application various environment dev stage production… defining relevant pipeline Skaffold Skaffold written Golang available Apache License 20 GitHub Let’s explore feature peculiarity main feature Skaffold provides toolkit creating CICD pipeline monitor change source code start automatic process building code container image push image Docker registry deploys Kubernetes cluster Skaffold synchronizes file repository working directory container automatically validates image containerstructuretest forward port Skaffold read log application running container help debugging application written Java Nodejs Python Go peculiarity Skaffold clusterside component don’t need configure Kubernetes use don’t need configure Kubernetes use Various pipeline application deploy code local Minikube development proceed staging production environment Skaffold already includes matching profile custom configs environment variable flag allow define different pipeline application deploy code local Minikube development proceed staging production environment Skaffold already includes matching profile custom configs environment variable flag allow define different pipeline application CLI Skaffold support command line interface configured YAML file report attempt create experimental GUI however look like there’s much demand GUI moment Skaffold support command line interface configured YAML file report attempt create experimental GUI however look like there’s much demand GUI moment Support custom module Skaffold isn’t independent allinone tool aim leverage standalone plugins already existing solution specific task brief illustration last point building stage use docker build locally cluster via kaniko Google Cloud Build locally cluster via kaniko Google Cloud Build Bazel locally Jib Maven Jib Gradle locally Google Cloud Build Custom build script run locally want run another flexible conventional etc solution building describe script Skaffold use example doc way use builder like however make sure callable via script testing Skaffold us previously mentioned containerstructuretest deploy application Skaffold support kubectl Helm kustomize Thanks might say Skaffold kind framework implementing CICD example workflow using borrowed project documentation general pattern Skaffold’s workflow utility watch directory source code change file modified way Skaffold synchronizes application’s pod Kubernetes cluster without rebuilding image possible Otherwise build new image Skaffold test new image containerstructuretest tag push Docker Registry image deployed Kubernetes cluster initiated entire workflow skaffold dev command start receive application log Skaffold continue watching change repeat step Various stage Skaffold’s operation Practice Let’s try Skaffold demonstrate process using Skaffold let’s take official example repository project GitHub way may find many additional example various use case action performed locally Minikube Installation simple take several minute Kubectl required get started Let’s install Skaffold curl Lo skaffold httpsstoragegoogleapiscomskaffoldreleaseslatestskaffoldlinuxamd64 chmod x skaffold sudo mv skaffold usrlocalbin skaffold version v0371 Clone Skaffold repository required example git clone httpsgithubcomGoogleContainerToolsskaffold cd skaffoldexamplesmicroservices prefer example two pod contains small Go application first application frontend leeroyweb redirects request second backend application leeroyapp tree skaffoldexamplesmicroservices tree ├── leeroyapp │ ├── appgo │ ├── Dockerfile │ └── kubernetes │ └── deploymentyaml ├── leeroyweb │ ├── Dockerfile │ ├── kubernetes │ │ └── deploymentyaml │ └── webgo ├── READMEadoc └── skaffoldyaml 4 directory 8 file Leeroyapp leeroyweb contain Go code basic Dockerfiles building code locally skaffoldexamplesmicroservices cat leeroyappDockerfile golang1129alpine310 builder COPY appgo RUN go build app alpine310 CMD app COPY frombuilder app need list code need know leeroyweb receives request forward leeroyapp That’s Service leeroyapp defined Deploymentyaml internal routing Also set portForward leeroyweb’s pod access application quickly go skaffoldyaml skaffoldexamplesmicroservices cat skaffoldyaml apiVersion skaffoldv1beta13 kind Config build artifact image leeroyweb context leeroyweb image leeroyapp context leeroyapp deploy kubectl manifest leeroywebkubernetes leeroyappkubernetes portForward resourceType deployment resourceName leeroyweb port 8080 localPort 9000 easily see definition step mentioned addition config file global setting skaffoldconfig edit manually via CLI like skaffold config set global localcluster true command set localcluster global variable true result Skaffold try push image remote registry develop locally use command keep image local machine Let’s get back skaffoldyaml build stage prescribe Skaffold build store image locally process building completed first time see following since Minikube creates cluster separate virtual machine get list image minikube ssh docker image REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE leeroyapp 7d55a50803590b2ff62e47e6f240723451f3ef6f8c89aeb83b34e661aa287d2e 7d55a5080359 4 hour ago 13MB leeroyapp v0371171g0270a0cdirty 7d55a5080359 4 hour ago 13MB leeroyweb 5063bfb29d984db1ff70661f17d6efcc5537f2bbe6aa6907004ad1ab38879681 5063bfb29d98 5 hour ago 131MB leeroyweb v0371171g0270a0cdirty 5063bfb29d98 5 hour ago 131MB see Skaffold automatically tagged image way support several tagging policy next field config file context leeroyapp defines context image built defines context image built deploy section describes image deployed prefer use kubectl set file mask required manifest section describes image deployed prefer use kubectl set file mask required manifest PortForward similar usual way port forwarding kubectl portforward give Skaffold instruction invoke command case local port 9000 forwarded 8080 leeroyweb Deployment time come run skaffold dev command start ongoing “feedback loop” build deploy necessary component cluster report state pod monitor change update pod result running skaffold dev portforward rebuilding First see Skaffold us cache build deploys application forward port Since added portforward Skaffold would forward port leeroyweb prescribed skaffoldyaml leeroyapp selecting port discretion case nearest empty port last step Skaffold start show application log Let’s check see everything work planned skaffoldexamplesmicroservices kubectl get po NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE leeroyapp6998dfcc952nxvf 11 Running 0 103s leeroyweb69f7d47c9d5ff77 11 Running 0 103s skaffoldexamplesmicroservices curl localhost9000 leeroooooy app time make change leeroyappappgo — we’ll wait second skaffoldexamplesmicroservices kubectl get po NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE leeroyappffd79d986l6nwp 11 Running 0 11 leeroyweb69f7d47c9d5ff77 11 Running 0 4m59s skaffoldexamplesmicroservices curl localhost9000 leeroooooy Flant time Skaffold’s output console changed except one thing deployed leeroyapp application Need practice worth mentioning creating new project bootstrap Skaffold configs init command convenient feature Also define several configs one config developing another — deploy stage environment via run command workflow dev except case Skaffold doesn’t monitor change Katacoda guide simplistic example hand provides fully functional sandbox Kubernetes application Skaffold preinstalled play great choice want try basic One possible use case Skaffold development remote cluster may uncomfortable running Minikube local machine deploy application wait see working properly case Skaffold address problem perfectly Reddit engineer confirm Weaveworks publication find example creating pipeline production environment Note difference werf Skaffold regular reader already know Flant actively developing werf — tool CICD say two instrument distinct implementation objective intent behind Skaffold local development werf internal method building deploying application anywhere including production Skaffold doesn’t internal mechanism buildingdeploying — provides kind framework us available thirdparty tool task quote one werf developer “Skaffold doesn’t bring anything new process talking local development specifically rather alternative form writing” Werf hand initially conceived fullfledged builder tool today long list feature sense added deploying functionality well based Helm yet fully integrated werf Improving werf local development need next milestone project Conclusion Skaffold excellent tool creating pipeline deploy application Kubernetes developers’ need mind easily create “short” pipeline take account necessity developer also allows create ambitious workflow good example using Skaffold CICD test project consisting 10 microservices tap capability Kubernetes gRPC Istio OpenCensus Tracing Currently Skaffold 8500 star GitHub developed Google part GoogleContainerTools recently reached first GA version word strong reason believe project grow prosper article originally written engineer Andrey Egorov Follow blog get new excellent content FlantTags Development Kubernetes Continuous Delivery Skaffold |
3,188 | 5 Best Android Courses for Beginners to Learn in 2021 | Photo by Tinh Khuong on Unsplash
Hello guys, if you want to learn Android in 2021 and looking for the best Android online courses then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared free Android courses for beginners, and today, I am going to share the absolutely best courses to learn Android in 2021 from Udemy, Pluralsight, and other popular online learning portals.
Java has been very lucky that Android uses it as a programming language. This opened a big door of opportunities for Java developers in Android app development. Many people ask me why Java developers should learn Android?
My simple answer is that good knowledge of Android OS improves your chances of getting a job and making a difference in people’s lives because Android Apps is the direct way to connect billions of people.
Android is without a doubt THE biggest mobile platform in the world, with over 80% market share and over billions of devices running Android.
By creating apps for such a big platform, you have a great opportunity to make a difference and impact lives of millions.
You can also develop for Android on a Windows, Mac or Linux, which means your existing Java development experience will not go wasted.
Similarly, if you are new to Java, it opens another door of opportunity because Java is the most popular programming language and a lot of companies, both big and small uses Java for server-side development.
So, the big question is, how do you learn Android? How to develop both simple and real-world apps for the Android platform?
Well, like many other technologies, books, and online courses are the best way to learn Android. Books provide you comprehensive coverage and courses are best to start with.
We connect better with a new technology when someone else, who is familiar with that technology explains it. Online courses provide an interactive learning opportunity.
You can also learn at your own pace, you don’t need to attend a class or commute to long distances to get classroom training. Instead, you can learn Android from the comfort of your office and home.
5 Best Android Courses to learn in 2021
In this article, I am listing down some of the best courses to learn the Android platform and Android app development. These courses are very comprehensive yet inexpensive. Most of the courses you can get for less than $15 and some of them are free for 10-days, which is good enough time to learn Android, especially if you have some prior experience in Java.
This is one of the best courses to learn Android App Development with Android 7 Nougat by building real-world apps like Uber, Whatsapp, and Instagram.
This course is created by Rob Percival, Mark Stock, and trusted by over 58K students on the Udemy platform, one of the biggest online training platform.
The best part of this course is that you need ZERO programming knowledge. You will learn everything you need to know in this course, hence if you are just starting with programming and considering Android as a go-to platform, this is the best course for you.
This is also one of the most comprehensive courses on practical Android development. You would learn to develop pretty much any Android app you like.
A huge range of technologies is covered, including open source Parse Server, Firebase, Admob, LibGDX (game development), Bluetooth, and a whole lot more. Another thing this course teaches us how to monetize your Android app and make money using AdMob and Google Ads.
As part of the course, you will also build a WhatsApp clone and learn how to market that and make money by doing it. So, if you are looking for a new way to make money, this is the course you should join.
This is one more popular course to learn Android from Udemy and mostly available for $15 after a 90% discount due to their various flash sales which runs quite often. In this course, you will learn how to build and develop Android Applications for smartphones and beyond.
This is probably the most popular course on Android on Udemy with over 96,140 students enrolled in this. It speaks a volume for the credibility of the course and 97K people cannot be wrong.
In this course, you will not only understand the concepts and techniques used in creating applications but also develop Android applications from scratch.
You will learn how to use databases to store data from android applications and deploy self-developed applications on Android devices.
You will also learn how to create games for Android devices using LibGdx, one of the popular frameworks for creating games in Java and most importantly you will learn how to create user interfaces for Android applications, one of the important aspects for creating real-world apps.
I am a big fan of John Sonmez, especially after reading his book on Soft Skills. He has also created a lot of introductory courses on Pluralsight which are great to start with a new technology or skill like Android.
This course covers beginning level Android development from the perspective of a .NET developer, but as a Java developer, I found it equally useful.
In this course, you will learn to create a simple multi-screen Android application that can utilize menus and preferences and learn to deploy that application to the Android marketplace.
The best part of this course is that you can get it for free if you sign-up for a 10-day free trial, which is enough to complete this course and start with Android. | https://medium.com/javarevisited/top-5-courses-to-learn-android-for-java-programmers-667e03d995b4 | [] | 2020-12-13 04:58:22.135000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Java', 'Programming', 'Android App Development', 'Mobile App Development'] | Title 5 Best Android Courses Beginners Learn 2021Content Photo Tinh Khuong Unsplash Hello guy want learn Android 2021 looking best Android online course come right place Earlier shared free Android course beginner today going share absolutely best course learn Android 2021 Udemy Pluralsight popular online learning portal Java lucky Android us programming language opened big door opportunity Java developer Android app development Many people ask Java developer learn Android simple answer good knowledge Android OS improves chance getting job making difference people’s life Android Apps direct way connect billion people Android without doubt biggest mobile platform world 80 market share billion device running Android creating apps big platform great opportunity make difference impact life million also develop Android Windows Mac Linux mean existing Java development experience go wasted Similarly new Java open another door opportunity Java popular programming language lot company big small us Java serverside development big question learn Android develop simple realworld apps Android platform Well like many technology book online course best way learn Android Books provide comprehensive coverage course best start connect better new technology someone else familiar technology explains Online course provide interactive learning opportunity also learn pace don’t need attend class commute long distance get classroom training Instead learn Android comfort office home 5 Best Android Courses learn 2021 article listing best course learn Android platform Android app development course comprehensive yet inexpensive course get le 15 free 10days good enough time learn Android especially prior experience Java one best course learn Android App Development Android 7 Nougat building realworld apps like Uber Whatsapp Instagram course created Rob Percival Mark Stock trusted 58K student Udemy platform one biggest online training platform best part course need ZERO programming knowledge learn everything need know course hence starting programming considering Android goto platform best course also one comprehensive course practical Android development would learn develop pretty much Android app like huge range technology covered including open source Parse Server Firebase Admob LibGDX game development Bluetooth whole lot Another thing course teach u monetize Android app make money using AdMob Google Ads part course also build WhatsApp clone learn market make money looking new way make money course join one popular course learn Android Udemy mostly available 15 90 discount due various flash sale run quite often course learn build develop Android Applications smartphones beyond probably popular course Android Udemy 96140 student enrolled speaks volume credibility course 97K people cannot wrong course understand concept technique used creating application also develop Android application scratch learn use database store data android application deploy selfdeveloped application Android device also learn create game Android device using LibGdx one popular framework creating game Java importantly learn create user interface Android application one important aspect creating realworld apps big fan John Sonmez especially reading book Soft Skills also created lot introductory course Pluralsight great start new technology skill like Android course cover beginning level Android development perspective NET developer Java developer found equally useful course learn create simple multiscreen Android application utilize menu preference learn deploy application Android marketplace best part course get free signup 10day free trial enough complete course start AndroidTags Android Java Programming Android App Development Mobile App Development |
3,189 | Encrypting Kubernetes Secrets With Sealed Secrets | ‘SealedSecret’ Scopes
From the end-user perspective, a SealedSecret is a write-only device.
No one apart from the running controller can decrypt the SealedSecret , not even the author of the Secret .
It’s a general best practice to disallow users to have direct access to read secrets. You can create RBAC rules to forbid low-privilege users from reading Secrets . You can also restrict users to only be able to read Secrets from their namespace.
While the SealedSecrets are designed in a way that it’s impossible to read them directly, users can work around the process and gain access to secrets they’re not allowed to view.
SealedSecret resources provide multiple ways to prevent such misuse. They are namespace-aware by default. Once you generate a SealedSecret using kubeseal for a particular namespace, you can’t use the SealedSecret in another namespace.
For instance, if you create a Secret named foo with a value bar for namespace web , you can’t apply the Secret on the database namespace — even if it requires the same Secret .
It’s by design, as we can’t allow a user who has access to the database namespace to see Secrets from the web namespace by just applying the web namespace’s SealedSecrets on the database namespace. SealedSecrets behave as if every namespace has its own decryption key.
While Sealed Secret’s controller doesn’t use an independent private key for each namespace, it takes into consideration the namespace and name during the encryption process, which achieves the same result.
Another scenario is we might have a user on the web namespace who can only view certain secrets and not all of them. SealedSecrets allow this as well.
When you generate a SealedSecret for a Secret named foo for the web namespace, a user who just has read access to the Secret named bar on the web namespace can’t change the name of the Secret within the SealedSecret manifest to bar and apply it to view the Secret .
While these ways help you prevent people from misusing the Secrets , they may give you a management headache. In the default configuration, you won’t be able to define generic Secrets to be used in multiple namespaces.
You might not have a large team, and your Kubernetes cluster might be accessed and managed only by admins. Therefore, you may not need that level of role-based access control.
You also may want to define SealedSecrets that you can move across namespaces. You don’t want to manage multiple copies of SealedSecrets for the same Secret .
SealedSecrets allow these possibilities using scopes.
There are three scopes you can create your SealedSecrets with:
strict (default): In this case, you need to seal your Secret considering the name and the namespace. You can’t change the name and the namespaces of your SealedSecret once you've created it. If you try to do that, you get a decryption error.
(default): In this case, you need to seal your considering the name and the namespace. You can’t change the name and the namespaces of your once you've created it. If you try to do that, you get a decryption error. namespace-wide : This scope allows you to freely rename the SealedSecret within the namespace for which you’ve sealed the Secret .
: This scope allows you to freely rename the within the namespace for which you’ve sealed the . cluster-wide : This scope allows you to freely move the Secret to any namespace and give it any name you wish.
Apart from the name and namespace, you can rename the secret keys without losing any decryption capabilities.
You can select the scope with the --scope flag while using kubeseal :
$ kubeseal --scope cluster-wide --format yaml <secret.yaml >sealed-secret.yaml
You can also use annotations within your Secret to apply scopes before you pass the configuration to kubeseal :
sealedsecrets.bitnami.com/namespace-wide: "true" for namespace-wide
for sealedsecrets.bitnami.com/cluster-wide: "true" for cluster-wide | https://medium.com/better-programming/encrypting-kubernetes-secrets-with-sealed-secrets-fe363149a211 | ['Gaurav Agarwal'] | 2020-06-15 17:46:30.775000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Engineering', 'Kubernetes', 'DevOps', 'Technology'] | Title Encrypting Kubernetes Secrets Sealed SecretsContent ‘SealedSecret’ Scopes enduser perspective SealedSecret writeonly device one apart running controller decrypt SealedSecret even author Secret It’s general best practice disallow user direct access read secret create RBAC rule forbid lowprivilege user reading Secrets also restrict user able read Secrets namespace SealedSecrets designed way it’s impossible read directly user work around process gain access secret they’re allowed view SealedSecret resource provide multiple way prevent misuse namespaceaware default generate SealedSecret using kubeseal particular namespace can’t use SealedSecret another namespace instance create Secret named foo value bar namespace web can’t apply Secret database namespace — even requires Secret It’s design can’t allow user access database namespace see Secrets web namespace applying web namespace’s SealedSecrets database namespace SealedSecrets behave every namespace decryption key Sealed Secret’s controller doesn’t use independent private key namespace take consideration namespace name encryption process achieves result Another scenario might user web namespace view certain secret SealedSecrets allow well generate SealedSecret Secret named foo web namespace user read access Secret named bar web namespace can’t change name Secret within SealedSecret manifest bar apply view Secret way help prevent people misusing Secrets may give management headache default configuration won’t able define generic Secrets used multiple namespaces might large team Kubernetes cluster might accessed managed admins Therefore may need level rolebased access control also may want define SealedSecrets move across namespaces don’t want manage multiple copy SealedSecrets Secret SealedSecrets allow possibility using scope three scope create SealedSecrets strict default case need seal Secret considering name namespace can’t change name namespaces SealedSecret youve created try get decryption error default case need seal considering name namespace can’t change name namespaces youve created try get decryption error namespacewide scope allows freely rename SealedSecret within namespace you’ve sealed Secret scope allows freely rename within namespace you’ve sealed clusterwide scope allows freely move Secret namespace give name wish Apart name namespace rename secret key without losing decryption capability select scope scope flag using kubeseal kubeseal scope clusterwide format yaml secretyaml sealedsecretyaml also use annotation within Secret apply scope pas configuration kubeseal sealedsecretsbitnamicomnamespacewide true namespacewide sealedsecretsbitnamicomclusterwide true clusterwideTags Programming Software Engineering Kubernetes DevOps Technology |
3,190 | El “viaje del héroe”: las 12 etapas por las que atraviesa un innovador | Former Country Manager at Wayra Peru. Singularity University GSP14 Alumni. Blogger at Semana Económica. MIT Innovator Under 35. www.jaime.pe
Follow | https://medium.com/darwin-digital/el-viaje-del-h%C3%A9roe-las-12-etapas-por-las-que-atraviesa-un-innovador-69b021f7027f | ['Jaime Sotomayor'] | 2017-11-19 19:52:29.050000+00:00 | ['Startup Lessons', 'Startup', 'Tech', 'Storytelling'] | Title El “viaje del héroe” la 12 etapas por la que atraviesa un innovadorContent Former Country Manager Wayra Peru Singularity University GSP14 Alumni Blogger Semana Económica MIT Innovator 35 wwwjaimepe FollowTags Startup Lessons Startup Tech Storytelling |
3,191 | Is Blue The Color of a Gender?. Before Second World War Pink Was The… | Pink Was Masculine Until…
The most popular conditioning applied to color psychology is pink versus blue. These two colors have drawn attention with their advertised line- pink is for girls, blue is for boys.
Old pictures reveal that children wore white or light-colored dresses.
But in 1914, The Sunday Sentinel, an American newspaper, urged mothers to “use pink for the boys and blue for the girls, if you are a follower of convention.” Four years later, Ladies’ Home Journal reiterated it in these words, ‘‘The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart showing sex-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. stores. It went on until the Second World War. Boys who wore pink dresses fought in the Second World War.
As the war ended, the clothing convention changed; now a reversed trend emerged.
The University of Maryland historian and author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls from the Boys in America, Jo B. Paoletti says the colors were not gendered until the 1950s. And pink for-girl, blue for-boy became a norm in the United States and product manufacturers settled on pink for girls and blue for boys.
According to Lise Eliot, the author of Pink Brain, Blue Brain, it is the social conditioning which makes them pick up and internalise gender roles.
As far as I know, no study supports that our brains and genders are wired according to the colors.
Casting Color into a Gender
Brands can work outside gender stereotypes, but it doesn’t always happen. In most instances, they target specific genders to sell their products and services.
The University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen conducted a simple survey in 2012. He asked men and women a direct question–What is your favorite color?
In response to this survey, blue turned out to be the most popular color across the board, followed by green for men and purple for women. This survey showed that blue is men and women’s favorite color. 42% of men picked blue as their favorite color compared to 29% women.
Though, Philip Cohen is not convinced about the results. He thinks these are the outcome of a marketing ploy.
Research by Stephen Palmer at Berkeley also offers the same preference for blue. | https://ajaynet.medium.com/is-blue-the-color-of-a-gender-part-2-50328731b08b | ['Ajay Sharma'] | 2019-12-02 20:33:30.150000+00:00 | ['Gender Equality', 'Colors', 'Advertising', 'Marketing', 'Psychology'] | Title Blue Color Gender Second World War Pink The…Content Pink Masculine Until… popular conditioning applied color psychology pink versus blue two color drawn attention advertised line pink girl blue boy Old picture reveal child wore white lightcolored dress 1914 Sunday Sentinel American newspaper urged mother “use pink boy blue girl follower convention” Four year later Ladies’ Home Journal reiterated word ‘‘The reason pink decided stronger color suitable boy blue delicate dainty prettier girl” 1927 Time magazine printed chart showing sexappropriate color girl boy according leading US store went Second World War Boys wore pink dress fought Second World War war ended clothing convention changed reversed trend emerged University Maryland historian author Pink Blue Telling Girls Boys America Jo B Paoletti say color gendered 1950s pink forgirl blue forboy became norm United States product manufacturer settled pink girl blue boy According Lise Eliot author Pink Brain Blue Brain social conditioning make pick internalise gender role far know study support brain gender wired according color Casting Color Gender Brands work outside gender stereotype doesn’t always happen instance target specific gender sell product service University Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen conducted simple survey 2012 asked men woman direct question–What favorite color response survey blue turned popular color across board followed green men purple woman survey showed blue men women’s favorite color 42 men picked blue favorite color compared 29 woman Though Philip Cohen convinced result think outcome marketing ploy Research Stephen Palmer Berkeley also offer preference blueTags Gender Equality Colors Advertising Marketing Psychology |
3,192 | How High-Performance Marketing Teams Work Together | How High-Performance Marketing Teams Work Together
There are threads of commonality woven through all high-performance teams. Here they are, with a focus on how marketing teams can use them.
These days, it can seem like the term “marketing teams” is somewhat of a misnomer. After all, most advice about marketing strategy tends to come from just a handful of marketing rockstars.
And get this: Most of those marketing rockstars aren’t actually part of teams. They are their own brand, and they’ve mastered the art of marketing themselves as marketers.
It’s a beautiful craft, really.
One that leads us to subscribe to their email list, buy their books, and wouldn’t you know it… guess who will be top-of-mind if ever we even entertain the idea of hiring a marketing consultant?
So here many of us are, then, often trying to improve our humble little marketing teams through learning from someone who doesn’t work as part of a marketing team (and actually may never have… or much has changed since they did).
Sure, some of their advice may have immense application for our marketing teams, but I find this advice is nearly always missing an important perspective: The realities of daily work as part of a modern marketing team.
They’ll teach us all about how to use the greatest new digital marketing tools (that they may or may not be getting paid to endorse) and they’ll show us, you know, 5 Crazy Fast Ways to Fill Your Marketing Funnel.
But what about all the crucial factors of communication, commitment, and collaboration it takes to be a high-performance team? What about this truth?:
A group of individuals who all know the crazy fast ways do not make a tight-knit marketing team.
I won’t mention any names — as their headshots are already buried in our brains and their newsletter is likely awaiting us in our inbox — but it’s an important distinction I want to make:
Why are the same handful of people our go-to source regardless of if we want to learn how to market ourselves as individuals or become a high-performance marketing team?
The former makes total sense, the latter not so much.
A brief history of high-performance teams
The concept of high-performance teams is widely thought to have originated in 1949, when Eric Trist of the Tavistock Institute visited a coal mine in north central England.
What he saw, according to Mark Hanlan, author of High Performance Teams: How To Make Them Work, was:
…self-regulating teams working throughout the mine — the result of cooperation with the workers, managers, and union leaders.”
Trist noted incredible levels of worker satisfaction and productivity, a combination at the time that went against the grain of traditional wisdom. It was thought that productivity and high-output could only be achieved at the expense of employee satisfaction.
From this point forward, new fields of research began to emerge (much of it led by Tavistock) that questioned the prevailing paradigm. In addition to studying what high-performance teams were doing, researchers now looked at how they were doing it.
This helped bend the conversation about workplace productivity from certain mechanics (like shaving seconds off the completion of a given task or even how to use financial incentives to drive more output) to humanistics (like how to create a team culture that embraces participative leadership and has the capacity to manage its own conflicts).
In the 1980’s, when companies like Boeing and General Electric began to take an interest in it, the concept of high-performance teams took off.
Today, the term “high-performance team” is often defined as a team that made a quantum leap in key performance indicators in less than a year.
Vague, I know, but it’s a definition worth holding close. That “in less than a year” timeframe is one many of us think about, especially those of us on a marketing team for a startup.
One year is a timeframe that feels within our grasp; it at once encourages us to believe that our action right now matters, while being far enough away that we can work toward results in quarters rather than days or weeks.
So what are the fundamentals your marketing department should have if it wants to go from good to great? I’m glad you asked!
Here are the threads of commonality that run through high-performance marketing teams. Dive in, and then check out our SlideShare at the end of this article to see what the marketing leaders at HubSpot, Bitly, and Grado Labs had to say.
They place a premium on empathy
High-performance marketing teams place a premium on empathy. They know empathy’s importance as it relates to each other, to their current customers, and to their potential customers. Let me briefly break each of those down:
A high-performance team must care about each other, and I don’t just mean about each other’s performance. A talented group of individuals can grow into a good team, but a great marketing team can’t be built unless the individuals care about each other.
This doesn’t necessarily mean they must all be best friends, but it does mean they occasionally share insights into their lives outside of work. Creating this level of connection can make it far easier to address conflicts as they arise (they will) because teammates, in having built the capacity to care, will be more likely to see their teammate as a complex person rather than as the results they produce.
Additionally, empathy also means each teammate, to the greatest extent possible, will be able to understand the nature of one another’s work. This can ensure that they defer to their teammates when necessary (and regardless of the hierarchy of job titles within the marketing department), and that each individual has a level of respect for the work of each of their teammates, which in turn can play a pivotal role in conflict prevention.
In regards to empathy for current customers, for starters, high-performance marketing teams know a relationship doesn’t end simply because a “lead” becomes a customer. In having empathy for their existing customers, marketing teams can take more pride in the work they create, develop better solutions to their customer’s questions, and feel the larger picture — which can be difficult in this digital age where connections are often many but shallow — of how the work they’re doing has impact on real people.
Lastly, empathy for potential customers, I believe, is the only way to truly provide any content of value. This is especially important if, as has been echoed by many of the marketing rockstars, content marketing is the only marketing left. With hundreds of thousands of articles being posted each day, it’s only in developing a deep understanding of your potential customer’s needs and struggles that you can create anything worth their precious time.
They measure what matters
If you’re reading this, you’ve felt the tug to measure (or at least look at) vanity metrics. The specifics of vanity metrics, of course, depend on what the marketing department’s goals are, but their allure to make the team feel false progress is universal.
High-performance marketing teams cut through this, and before they measure anything they first create a plan for what actually needs to be measured.
This sounds obvious, but many marketing teams, upon establishing the larger goal, move immediately to lining up all the steps they’ll need to take to reach that goal.
It makes sense, but what so often gets lost in that process is this: What, in the steps we’ve all agreed will lead us to our goal, must be measured?
“Must be” can come from a variety of reasons (such as the company’s CEO specifically requested it), but, in general, when high-performance marketing teams measure something it’s because they will take immediate action based on what those measurements show.
This is easier said than done, and is often a continuous process of trial and error, but it’s what the best marketing teams strive for.
They are at once self-directed and committed to the company mission
Much of what the Tavistock research found had to do with the effectiveness of self-directed teams. That is, teams that had a level of autonomy to make decisions without being micromanaged.
For this to work, all members of the marketing team must be fully committed to the larger company mission. If they aren’t aligned — whether it’s because the mission statement isn’t carved out, the company isn’t doing work that aligns with the employee’s values, or the employee simply doesn’t feel their work matters — productivity will drop.
Also key to success of the self-directed team is that they have some basic knowledge of project management methodologies. This doesn’t mean they are project management experts, or even that they strictly use a particular methodology, but it does mean they have a simple project management system worked out for how they complete tasks and projects.
As Robin Kwong, Special Projects Manager at the Financial Times, told us, the key for his team is project clarity right from the beginning:
I find that if I had clearly set out from the beginning why we are doing this project, how we are doing it and what we are doing (and have the team’s agreement on it), then not a lot more has to be done during the course of the project to make sure we stay on track.”
A high-performance team will have this and more, including frequent progress updates and a schedule of the anticipated times each part of a project should be completed.
Lastly, the best marketing teams are able to work as a tight-knit group without overly siphoning themselves off from the larger team they are part of. Again, it’s a matter of balancing team vision alongside overall company mission.
They maintain efficient lines of communication
As any marketing team will tell you, their work is often tightly integrated with various departments and even freelancers. A content creator may hand off the work to the design team, only to find out that the design team received and has been working on a previous draft.
Or, as the marketing team grows, confusion arises over who now makes the final decision regarding certain projects. As Cyrus Molavi wrote in his piece, What’s the Optimal Team Size for Workplace Productivity?, the most productive teams have between 5 and 7 members.
High-performance teams are cognizant of how growth can impact decision making, and when they realize their team’s size is beginning to impact performance, they find a way to split it up.
Efficiency of communication also means marketing teams communicate their efforts (including wins and challenges) with the larger company. When marketing teams have minor wins — like the making of a strategic connection or how an influencer shared their work — they often don’t communicate it with the company.
These are key moments worth sharing, as they not only can boost company morale but they also provide a glimpse under the hood of the often immeasurable but still important aspects of marketing.
They have at least one teammate tasked with seeing the future
I get it. Small and scrappy marketing teams rarely have the time to pull their head out of the weeds to see the larger picture. But here’s the deal, they have to. Or at least one member of the team does.
As Patti Sanchez, Chief Strategy Officer at Duarte Inc., told us:
If you’re feeding the fire, you’re not seeing the future. The easiest way to feel productive is to feed the fire — to address all of the stuff you see piling up right in front of your face — but that comes with a cost. And it’s a kind of cost that money can’t take care of.”
In other words, if your marketing team hasn’t designated someone (and this also means granting them the time) to see the future, it’s going to be awfully difficult to make the “quantum leap” it takes to become a high-performance team.
By “seeing the future” I mean not just positing what the marketing team’s goals are, but actually having the distance away from the daily work towards them to see how best they are reached and what may lie beyond them.
Whoever on the marketing team is tasked with seeing the future can, occasionally, embrace this concept from Andrew Wilkinson’s Lazy Leadership:
…it’s about taking a step back, leaning on your team, and becoming an observer instead of an active participant…”
They respect each other’s focus habits
If this is the first article you’ve read here at Flow, welcome. If not, you likely know by this point that we believe focus — in this age of increasing distractions — is the future.
As such, we believe focus isn’t just what happens in the “flow state,” it’s actually something you need to create team processes for.
If your goal is to become a high-performance marketing team, creating pockets of time to get focused and stay focused is crucial.
As is respecting every teammate’s need to do this.
We recommend creating focus schedules. This can be something as simple as the marketing leader telling his/her team:
Don’t message Jan on Wednesdays. That’s her day to focus on outreach and nurture relationships with those who respond.”
Or it could be developing shared calendars based on which segments of time each teammate will be in focus mode (and therefore should not be asked to do this or that).
The foundational components, of course, are that each member of your marketing team a) knows their focus needs, b) feels in a safe enough space to share those needs, and c) is part of a team that grants those requests when possible.
They foster each other’s learning and growth
This is something all high-performance teams have in common: They all help each other rise as individuals.
Each teammate has a strength, and in not just exhibiting but sharing that strength each teammate can better the other (and often grow their team relationships as a result).
This may mean the marketing team leader tasked with seeing the future can develop the copywriting skills that could lead to them crafting the perfect company mission statement as a result.
It means the teammate who writes content for the blog can learn how to set URL parameters from the teammate with more experience in digital marketing strategy.
This can happen through one teammate simply saying “Hey, can you jump on a call and share your screen so I can see how you did that?”, or it can even happen through a company culture where teammates are always sharing with each other interesting articles they’ve been reading.
Regardless of how it happens, when every teammate helps each other rise, and when they genuinely enjoy the process of doing so, the overall team will rise.
They know this: What fires together, wires together
Now we’re taking a page from neuroscience, where this phrase is often used to describe synaptic transmission — how neurons that repeatedly fire together, through our practices or habits, eventually learn to do so more efficiently.
As much as a high-performance team is one that, within a year, makes a quantum leap, the best teams need time to fire together so they can wire together.
Over time, great marketing teams streamline their communication processes, whatever project management strategies they’re using, their individual and team focus habits, and so many other factors. As they do this, their work begins to sing better together.
They intuitively know what the other wants, and where the other will be. It’s how the sushi chef no longer has to look when his assistant of 40 years hands him a piece of fish, or how a basketball player throws a no-look pass and her teammate is the only one who knows where the ball went.
This kind of mastery isn’t just reserved for individuals; good teams can build a level of team mastery over time. The more a marketing team effectively fires together, the more their efforts will efficiently wire together.
Take these threads of commonality with you, along with the realization that not all marketing teams are created equal, and not all rise to an elite level in similar ways.
In embracing these, in whole or in part, you’re setting your marketing team (and not just the individual rockstars within) on a path to be better. For ease of sharing, here they are:
High-performance marketing teams:
Place a premium on empathy
Measure what matters
Are at once self-directed and committed to the company mission
Maintain efficient lines of communication
Have at least one teammate tasked with seeing the future
Respect each other’s focus habits
Foster each other’s learning and growth
Know what fires together, wires together
And here’s our SlideShare packed with insights from Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of Marketing at HubSpot; Andrew Dumont, VP of Marketing at Bitly; and Jonathan Grado, VP of Marketing at Grado Labs:
***
Illustrations: Bully | https://medium.com/flow/how-high-performance-marketing-teams-work-together-26d09c84be6f | [] | 2017-02-16 22:24:48.951000+00:00 | ['Management', 'Marketing', 'Leadership', 'Productivity'] | Title HighPerformance Marketing Teams Work TogetherContent HighPerformance Marketing Teams Work Together thread commonality woven highperformance team focus marketing team use day seem like term “marketing teams” somewhat misnomer advice marketing strategy tends come handful marketing rockstars get marketing rockstars aren’t actually part team brand they’ve mastered art marketing marketer It’s beautiful craft really One lead u subscribe email list buy book wouldn’t know it… guess topofmind ever even entertain idea hiring marketing consultant many u often trying improve humble little marketing team learning someone doesn’t work part marketing team actually may never have… much changed since Sure advice may immense application marketing team find advice nearly always missing important perspective reality daily work part modern marketing team They’ll teach u use greatest new digital marketing tool may may getting paid endorse they’ll show u know 5 Crazy Fast Ways Fill Marketing Funnel crucial factor communication commitment collaboration take highperformance team truth group individual know crazy fast way make tightknit marketing team won’t mention name — headshot already buried brain newsletter likely awaiting u inbox — it’s important distinction want make handful people goto source regardless want learn market individual become highperformance marketing team former make total sense latter much brief history highperformance team concept highperformance team widely thought originated 1949 Eric Trist Tavistock Institute visited coal mine north central England saw according Mark Hanlan author High Performance Teams Make Work …selfregulating team working throughout mine — result cooperation worker manager union leaders” Trist noted incredible level worker satisfaction productivity combination time went grain traditional wisdom thought productivity highoutput could achieved expense employee satisfaction point forward new field research began emerge much led Tavistock questioned prevailing paradigm addition studying highperformance team researcher looked helped bend conversation workplace productivity certain mechanic like shaving second completion given task even use financial incentive drive output humanistics like create team culture embrace participative leadership capacity manage conflict 1980’s company like Boeing General Electric began take interest concept highperformance team took Today term “highperformance team” often defined team made quantum leap key performance indicator le year Vague know it’s definition worth holding close “in le year” timeframe one many u think especially u marketing team startup One year timeframe feel within grasp encourages u believe action right matter far enough away work toward result quarter rather day week fundamental marketing department want go good great I’m glad asked thread commonality run highperformance marketing team Dive check SlideShare end article see marketing leader HubSpot Bitly Grado Labs say place premium empathy Highperformance marketing team place premium empathy know empathy’s importance relates current customer potential customer Let briefly break highperformance team must care don’t mean other’s performance talented group individual grow good team great marketing team can’t built unless individual care doesn’t necessarily mean must best friend mean occasionally share insight life outside work Creating level connection make far easier address conflict arise teammate built capacity care likely see teammate complex person rather result produce Additionally empathy also mean teammate greatest extent possible able understand nature one another’s work ensure defer teammate necessary regardless hierarchy job title within marketing department individual level respect work teammate turn play pivotal role conflict prevention regard empathy current customer starter highperformance marketing team know relationship doesn’t end simply “lead” becomes customer empathy existing customer marketing team take pride work create develop better solution customer’s question feel larger picture — difficult digital age connection often many shallow — work they’re impact real people Lastly empathy potential customer believe way truly provide content value especially important echoed many marketing rockstars content marketing marketing left hundred thousand article posted day it’s developing deep understanding potential customer’s need struggle create anything worth precious time measure matter you’re reading you’ve felt tug measure least look vanity metric specific vanity metric course depend marketing department’s goal allure make team feel false progress universal Highperformance marketing team cut measure anything first create plan actually need measured sound obvious many marketing team upon establishing larger goal move immediately lining step they’ll need take reach goal make sense often get lost process step we’ve agreed lead u goal must measured “Must be” come variety reason company’s CEO specifically requested general highperformance marketing team measure something it’s take immediate action based measurement show easier said done often continuous process trial error it’s best marketing team strive selfdirected committed company mission Much Tavistock research found effectiveness selfdirected team team level autonomy make decision without micromanaged work member marketing team must fully committed larger company mission aren’t aligned — whether it’s mission statement isn’t carved company isn’t work aligns employee’s value employee simply doesn’t feel work matter — productivity drop Also key success selfdirected team basic knowledge project management methodology doesn’t mean project management expert even strictly use particular methodology mean simple project management system worked complete task project Robin Kwong Special Projects Manager Financial Times told u key team project clarity right beginning find clearly set beginning project team’s agreement lot done course project make sure stay track” highperformance team including frequent progress update schedule anticipated time part project completed Lastly best marketing team able work tightknit group without overly siphoning larger team part it’s matter balancing team vision alongside overall company mission maintain efficient line communication marketing team tell work often tightly integrated various department even freelancer content creator may hand work design team find design team received working previous draft marketing team grows confusion arises make final decision regarding certain project Cyrus Molavi wrote piece What’s Optimal Team Size Workplace Productivity productive team 5 7 member Highperformance team cognizant growth impact decision making realize team’s size beginning impact performance find way split Efficiency communication also mean marketing team communicate effort including win challenge larger company marketing team minor win — like making strategic connection influencer shared work — often don’t communicate company key moment worth sharing boost company morale also provide glimpse hood often immeasurable still important aspect marketing least one teammate tasked seeing future get Small scrappy marketing team rarely time pull head weed see larger picture here’s deal least one member team Patti Sanchez Chief Strategy Officer Duarte Inc told u you’re feeding fire you’re seeing future easiest way feel productive feed fire — address stuff see piling right front face — come cost it’s kind cost money can’t take care of” word marketing team hasn’t designated someone also mean granting time see future it’s going awfully difficult make “quantum leap” take become highperformance team “seeing future” mean positing marketing team’s goal actually distance away daily work towards see best reached may lie beyond Whoever marketing team tasked seeing future occasionally embrace concept Andrew Wilkinson’s Lazy Leadership …it’s taking step back leaning team becoming observer instead active participant…” respect other’s focus habit first article you’ve read Flow welcome likely know point believe focus — age increasing distraction — future believe focus isn’t happens “flow state” it’s actually something need create team process goal become highperformance marketing team creating pocket time get focused stay focused crucial respecting every teammate’s need recommend creating focus schedule something simple marketing leader telling hisher team Don’t message Jan Wednesdays That’s day focus outreach nurture relationship respond” could developing shared calendar based segment time teammate focus mode therefore asked foundational component course member marketing team know focus need b feel safe enough space share need c part team grant request possible foster other’s learning growth something highperformance team common help rise individual teammate strength exhibiting sharing strength teammate better often grow team relationship result may mean marketing team leader tasked seeing future develop copywriting skill could lead crafting perfect company mission statement result mean teammate writes content blog learn set URL parameter teammate experience digital marketing strategy happen one teammate simply saying “Hey jump call share screen see that” even happen company culture teammate always sharing interesting article they’ve reading Regardless happens every teammate help rise genuinely enjoy process overall team rise know fire together wire together we’re taking page neuroscience phrase often used describe synaptic transmission — neuron repeatedly fire together practice habit eventually learn efficiently much highperformance team one within year make quantum leap best team need time fire together wire together time great marketing team streamline communication process whatever project management strategy they’re using individual team focus habit many factor work begin sing better together intuitively know want It’s sushi chef longer look assistant 40 year hand piece fish basketball player throw nolook pas teammate one know ball went kind mastery isn’t reserved individual good team build level team mastery time marketing team effectively fire together effort efficiently wire together Take thread commonality along realization marketing team created equal rise elite level similar way embracing whole part you’re setting marketing team individual rockstars within path better ease sharing Highperformance marketing team Place premium empathy Measure matter selfdirected committed company mission Maintain efficient line communication least one teammate tasked seeing future Respect other’s focus habit Foster other’s learning growth Know fire together wire together here’s SlideShare packed insight Meghan Keaney Anderson VP Marketing HubSpot Andrew Dumont VP Marketing Bitly Jonathan Grado VP Marketing Grado Labs Illustrations BullyTags Management Marketing Leadership Productivity |
3,193 | 5 Useful Tips With Python Dictionaries | 1. Create Dictionaries With Keys Specified
When you write a Python script, you may need to define some global variables. However, when you update these variables in your functions somewhere later, you have to be explicit about these variables being global. A trivial example is shown below:
Global variables
I’m not a big fan of this coding pattern involving the use of the global keyword. When you have multiple global keywords across multiple functions, it’s tedious work. Instead, you can use a dictionary object to capture all related variables. In this case, you can update the dictionary directly because it’ll be located by your interpreter globally. Here’s the modified code:
Dictionary of parameters
As you can notice in the code snippet, I use the fromkeys class method to instantiate a dict object. There are a few advantages to using this instantiation method:
Your code is more readable because it’s clear to the readers what parameters you’re using with this script. In this case, we only have param0 and param1 .
and . When you get the values of these keys of the dictionary using the square bracket, you won’t get the KeyError exception because all of the keys that we specified have the None as their initial values, as shown below: | https://medium.com/better-programming/5-useful-tips-with-python-dictionaries-74747a4fd172 | ['Yong Cui'] | 2020-12-17 17:42:59.398000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Python', 'Machine Learning'] | Title 5 Useful Tips Python DictionariesContent 1 Create Dictionaries Keys Specified write Python script may need define global variable However update variable function somewhere later explicit variable global trivial example shown Global variable I’m big fan coding pattern involving use global keyword multiple global keywords across multiple function it’s tedious work Instead use dictionary object capture related variable case update dictionary directly it’ll located interpreter globally Here’s modified code Dictionary parameter notice code snippet use fromkeys class method instantiate dict object advantage using instantiation method code readable it’s clear reader parameter you’re using script case param0 param1 get value key dictionary using square bracket won’t get KeyError exception key specified None initial value shown belowTags Programming Technology Artificial Intelligence Python Machine Learning |
3,194 | Silken Tofu Is the Secret | Blending silken tofu up in order to create a creamy dessert is one of those things that sounds like only a vegan could love. Tofu, in my dessert? Yes, tofu in everyone’s dessert! It works perfectly, seamlessly every time.
I have long maintained that this is the absolute best, most fool-proof egg replacement in creamy applications. It brings bounce and density, tastes like only what you flavor your mixture with, and it is both cheap and easy, while the end result is incredibly impressive. Silken tofu has historically been my favorite way to make pumpkin pie, but this year I couldn’t find my package, as it was apparently buried in my fridge. Instead, I went with arrowroot starch as my egg replacement and all was well.
Once the silken tofu was retrieved from the chilly depths, though, I wondered what I should do with it, and remembered the recipe for chocolate tofu pudding in Brooks Headley’s 2014 cookbook Fancy Desserts. This was the cookbook inspired by his time as a fine-dining pastry chef, before Superiority Burger became a vegan dream. Veganism and vegetarianism are present throughout the book, though, and with this recipe, Headley fully reaches back into his days as a touring musician with a chocolate tofu pudding dessert inspired by The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook’s heavy-on-the-margarine version that a friend of his used to make as a signature dish.
Headley refines it, though. No one likes the word “refine” when referring to food anymore, but this is a refinement in the most classic sense. Headley simply makes it better. Where the Farm calls for 3 cups of an unspecified tofu, Headley uses silken. Where there are 3 cups of melted margarine in the Farm’s, there’s no fat beyond the melted “bittersweet chocolate (very best quality)” in Fancy Desserts. This results in something smoother and more, well, elegant. Revisiting that recipe led me to other cookbooks on my shelves and many questions for chefs.
That is the tofu pie’s simplicity, adaptability — and yes, its elegance.
Not too long before Fancy Desserts, there was the 2011 Vegan Pie in the Sky installment into the dessert cookbook trio by vegan royalty Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. This was my introduction to creamy vegan pies, where not just silken tofu, but soaked and creamed cashews provided that fatty, creamy base. Here they’re very choosy with where to use tofu, when to use a combination tofu and cashews, and when to forgo tofu for starch and/or agar. It’s such an approachable book, but there’s also such detail in the recipe development. There’s no one size fits all approach to cheesecake here.
Baker Bryn RK tells me that while he was working in Montreal in the early 2000s, the restaurant where he cooked was making a banana-chocolate pie that was incredibly simple: a block of silken tofu, 2 bananas, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla whipped up, then 3 cups of melted chocolate folded in. That is the tofu pie’s simplicity, adaptability — and yes, its elegance. There is a reason it’s been used in cookbooks from the early ’70s to the 2010s: It works!
There are haters, of course, but I wouldn’t listen to them. I would stock up on silken tofu and use it to my heart’s content, for pie from pumpkin to chocolate banana to “blueberry bliss cheesecake” as found in Vegan Pie in the Sky. We all deserve some creamy indulgence, and the vegan way is so quintessentially vegan that it could hurt — if it didn’t taste so good. | https://medium.com/tenderlymag/silken-tofu-is-the-secret-8629fcf82741 | ['Alicia Kennedy'] | 2020-12-07 23:31:51.181000+00:00 | ['Food', 'Life', 'Vegan', 'Dessert', 'Books'] | Title Silken Tofu SecretContent Blending silken tofu order create creamy dessert one thing sound like vegan could love Tofu dessert Yes tofu everyone’s dessert work perfectly seamlessly every time long maintained absolute best foolproof egg replacement creamy application brings bounce density taste like flavor mixture cheap easy end result incredibly impressive Silken tofu historically favorite way make pumpkin pie year couldn’t find package apparently buried fridge Instead went arrowroot starch egg replacement well silken tofu retrieved chilly depth though wondered remembered recipe chocolate tofu pudding Brooks Headley’s 2014 cookbook Fancy Desserts cookbook inspired time finedining pastry chef Superiority Burger became vegan dream Veganism vegetarianism present throughout book though recipe Headley fully reach back day touring musician chocolate tofu pudding dessert inspired Farm Vegetarian Cookbook’s heavyonthemargarine version friend used make signature dish Headley refines though one like word “refine” referring food anymore refinement classic sense Headley simply make better Farm call 3 cup unspecified tofu Headley us silken 3 cup melted margarine Farm’s there’s fat beyond melted “bittersweet chocolate best quality” Fancy Desserts result something smoother well elegant Revisiting recipe led cookbook shelf many question chef tofu pie’s simplicity adaptability — yes elegance long Fancy Desserts 2011 Vegan Pie Sky installment dessert cookbook trio vegan royalty Isa Chandra Moskowitz Terry Hope Romero introduction creamy vegan pie silken tofu soaked creamed cashew provided fatty creamy base they’re choosy use tofu use combination tofu cashew forgo tofu starch andor agar It’s approachable book there’s also detail recipe development There’s one size fit approach cheesecake Baker Bryn RK tell working Montreal early 2000s restaurant cooked making bananachocolate pie incredibly simple block silken tofu 2 banana 1 teaspoon vanilla whipped 3 cup melted chocolate folded tofu pie’s simplicity adaptability — yes elegance reason it’s used cookbook early ’70s 2010s work hater course wouldn’t listen would stock silken tofu use heart’s content pie pumpkin chocolate banana “blueberry bliss cheesecake” found Vegan Pie Sky deserve creamy indulgence vegan way quintessentially vegan could hurt — didn’t taste goodTags Food Life Vegan Dessert Books |
3,195 | Submit to From the Library | Submit to From the Library
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Submit | https://medium.com/from-the-library/submission-guidelines-6c2237849492 | ['Laura Manipura'] | 2020-11-10 14:54:00.623000+00:00 | ['Readinglist', 'Book Review', 'Writing', 'Reading', 'Books'] | Title Submit LibraryContent Submit Library Please join celebrating book writing writer Library celebrates book writer publish article poem writing author book literary topic also inviting book review reading list literary analysis medium author biography andor resume Request Contribute added new writer please request comment Tag lauramanipura get attention link user handle using sign Tag Drafts Please tag draft SubmitTags Readinglist Book Review Writing Reading Books |
3,196 | The Primary School Writing Advice That Helped Me Become a Writer | The Primary School Writing Advice That Helped Me Become a Writer
Without knowing it, a schoolteacher decided my fate in one afternoon
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Back when I read my first Enid Blyton novel, I remember feeling a jolt of wonder and excitement, the thrill of experiencing something new. As I read more books, my mind conjured up more stories of its own, adapting and building on the plots I read weekly.
In primary school, we were read a story which contained a piece of dialogue I really liked. And when the teacher afterwards told us to write a one-page story ourselves, I made sure to include it. But I felt guilty doing that. All the stories swirling around in my head, and the one I’d just penned down, were built on the work of others. I had no talent of my own. I felt like a fraud.
When asked to read out what I’d written, I sheepishly narrated the purloined tale. Sure enough, a girl two columns away raised her hand and complained that I’d stolen the dialogue. What ma’am said next drove away my guilt and, in the long run, guaranteed my becoming a writer:
Most writers draw inspiration from the work of others. Many great works by renowned authors are derived from other stories. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it means you’re using your own creativity to craft new stories from existing literature, and that’s commendable.
I’m paraphrasing, of course. This happened over a decade ago. But the essence of what she said has stayed with me all these years. | https://medium.com/the-brave-writer/the-primary-school-writing-advice-that-helped-me-become-a-writer-b65a65af9362 | ['Chandrayan Gupta'] | 2020-12-29 17:02:34.092000+00:00 | ['Advice', 'This Happened To Me', 'Writing', 'Self Improvement', 'Books'] | Title Primary School Writing Advice Helped Become WriterContent Primary School Writing Advice Helped Become Writer Without knowing schoolteacher decided fate one afternoon Photo Glenn CarstensPeters Unsplash Back read first Enid Blyton novel remember feeling jolt wonder excitement thrill experiencing something new read book mind conjured story adapting building plot read weekly primary school read story contained piece dialogue really liked teacher afterwards told u write onepage story made sure include felt guilty story swirling around head one I’d penned built work others talent felt like fraud asked read I’d written sheepishly narrated purloined tale Sure enough girl two column away raised hand complained I’d stolen dialogue ma’am said next drove away guilt long run guaranteed becoming writer writer draw inspiration work others Many great work renowned author derived story It’s nothing ashamed fact mean you’re using creativity craft new story existing literature that’s commendable I’m paraphrasing course happened decade ago essence said stayed yearsTags Advice Happened Writing Self Improvement Books |
3,197 | Finding the most popular hashtags on Twitter using Spark Streaming | Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Spark Streaming is a component of Apache Spark. It is used to stream data in real-time from different data sources. In this section, we will use Spark Streaming to extract popular hashtags from tweets. The complete code implementation in Scala can be found at my GitHub page here: https://github.com/HritikAttri/big_data
Working of Spark Streaming can be quickly explained as follows:
Streaming Context: It receives stream data as input and produces batches of data. Discretized Stream(DStream): It is a continuous data stream, which the user can analyze. It is represented by a continuous set of RDDs and each RDD represents stream data from a specific time interval. The receiver receives streaming data and converts it into Input DStreams which can be used for processing. Certain transformations can be applied to DStream objects. Output DStreams are used to export data to external databases for storing it. Caching: If the streaming data is to be computed multiple times, it is better to persist it using persist(). It will load this data in memory and by default, data is persisted two times in memory for backup in case of failure. Checkpoints: We create checkpoints at certain intervals to rollback to that point in case of failure in the future.
Let’s begin by importing the libraries:
package com.spark.examples import scala.io.Source
import org.apache.log4j.{Level, Logger}
import org.apache.spark._
import org.apache.spark.SparkContext._
import org.apache.spark.streaming._
import org.apache.spark.streaming.twitter._
import org.apache.spark.streaming.StreamingContext._
Set the log level to print errors only.
def setupLogging() = {
val rootLogger = Logger.getRootLogger()
rootLogger.setLevel(Level.ERROR)
}
We need to set up the twitter configuration file. For this, one needs to have a Twitter Developer Account. Go to https://developer.twitter.com/en/apps . Fill the details, create an app, go to details, then keys and tokens and click on the regenerate button. We need the API key, API secret key, access token, access secret token to connect to Twitter and stream data. Find the twitter text file used here on my Github page. Again, the link is given at the beginning of this post.
def setupTwitter() = {
for(line <- Source.fromFile("C://twitter.txt").getLines) {
val fields = line.split(" ")
if(fields.length == 2) {
System.setProperty("twitter4j.oauth." + fields(0), fields(1))
}
}
}
Creating a StreamingContext which will stream batches of data every one second.
val ssc = new StreamingContext("local[*]", "PopularHashtags", Seconds(1))
Create a DStream object for Twitter streaming.
val tweets = TwitterUtils.createStream(ssc, None)
Extract hashtags from each tweet.
val text = tweets.map(x => x.getText())
val words = text.flatMap(x => x.split(" "))
val hashtags = words.filter(x => x.startsWith("#"))
Now, we will extract hashtags in real-time for 5 minutes, and in a window of 1 second each, we update the count of the hashtags.
val hashtags_values = hashtags.map(x => (x, 1)) val hashtags_count = hashtags_values.reduceByKeyAndWindow((x, y) => x + y, (x, y) => x - y, Seconds(300), Seconds(1))
Sort the results in descending order.
val results = hashtags_count.transform(x => x.sortBy(x => x._2, false))
Set up a checkpoint.
ssc.checkpoint("C://checkpoint") ssc.start() ssc.awaitTermination()
I ran this code in Scala eclipse IDE. After a few minutes, I terminated the process, here are the results.
As you can see, #BTS was the most popular hashtag during the code execution with a count of 86. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/finding-the-most-popular-hashtags-on-twitter-using-spark-streaming-16c3fe09f734 | ['Hritik Attri'] | 2019-11-12 11:49:49.923000+00:00 | ['Spark', 'Big Data', 'API', 'Python', 'Twitter'] | Title Finding popular hashtags Twitter using Spark StreamingContent Photo Markus Spiske Unsplash Spark Streaming component Apache Spark used stream data realtime different data source section use Spark Streaming extract popular hashtags tweet complete code implementation Scala found GitHub page httpsgithubcomHritikAttribigdata Working Spark Streaming quickly explained follows Streaming Context receives stream data input produce batch data Discretized StreamDStream continuous data stream user analyze represented continuous set RDDs RDD represents stream data specific time interval receiver receives streaming data convert Input DStreams used processing Certain transformation applied DStream object Output DStreams used export data external database storing Caching streaming data computed multiple time better persist using persist load data memory default data persisted two time memory backup case failure Checkpoints create checkpoint certain interval rollback point case failure future Let’s begin importing library package comsparkexamples import scalaioSource import orgapachelog4jLevel Logger import orgapachespark import orgapachesparkSparkContext import orgapachesparkstreaming import orgapachesparkstreamingtwitter import orgapachesparkstreamingStreamingContext Set log level print error def setupLogging val rootLogger LoggergetRootLogger rootLoggersetLevelLevelERROR need set twitter configuration file one need Twitter Developer Account Go httpsdevelopertwittercomenapps Fill detail create app go detail key token click regenerate button need API key API secret key access token access secret token connect Twitter stream data Find twitter text file used Github page link given beginning post def setupTwitter forline SourcefromFileCtwittertxtgetLines val field linesplit iffieldslength 2 SystemsetPropertytwitter4joauth fields0 fields1 Creating StreamingContext stream batch data every one second val ssc new StreamingContextlocal PopularHashtags Seconds1 Create DStream object Twitter streaming val tweet TwitterUtilscreateStreamssc None Extract hashtags tweet val text tweetsmapx xgetText val word textflatMapx xsplit val hashtags wordsfilterx xstartsWith extract hashtags realtime 5 minute window 1 second update count hashtags val hashtagsvalues hashtagsmapx x 1 val hashtagscount hashtagsvaluesreduceByKeyAndWindowx x x x Seconds300 Seconds1 Sort result descending order val result hashtagscounttransformx xsortByx x2 false Set checkpoint ssccheckpointCcheckpoint sscstart sscawaitTermination ran code Scala eclipse IDE minute terminated process result see BTS popular hashtag code execution count 86Tags Spark Big Data API Python Twitter |
3,198 | Why Be Mindful? | Why is being mindful all the rage in the self-help world? I can tell you that there is more than one answer, and they are likely all right, and all wrong at the same time.
The concept of mindfulness and being mindful takes in a lot of different approaches. Meditation, psychiatry, self-help and philosophy all apply the idea in order to better ourselves and enrich our lives.
However, often the why doesn’t get explained.
Part of this is because the why is that wonderful paradox of super simple and insanely complex. It gets analyzed and examined ad nauseam, and we dive into the deep-end of the pool to see just how deep it really is.
While listening to Jeremy Irons reading Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist for the umpteenth time, I was struck by the notion of the Emerald Tablet in alchemy. If you are not familiar with this, the Emerald Tablet is the secret of alchemy, a few lines inscribed on the aforementioned emerald.
Yet rather than understand the simple meaning of those lines, scholars write long interpretations, tracts, and encoded, pseudo-scientific research papers on the deeper meaning of those lines. In the story, The Alchemist himself explains that people rejected simple things in the attempt to find shortcuts and better ways.
Mindfulness is along that same line. In the simplest of terms, being mindful is about being aware of ourselves. Mindfulness is being able to know, right now, in this singular moment, what you are thinking, what and how you are feeling, and what you are doing as a result of that.
However, many lack enough self-awareness to be mindful.
Being mindful of the self
Most of the animal kingdom has a very simple existence, relatively speaking. Find food, get shelter, propagate the species, survive and thrive. Humans do this as well…except we can think on a far more abstract level.
Most of the rest of the animal kingdom fears tangibles, like predators, storms, and other natural disasters.
Humans, on the other hand, fear intangibles like am I worthy? do I deserve this? am I good enough? and so on. Because of these abstract intangibles, as well as any number of outside influences, the notion of self gets convoluted, confused, and even lost.
My cats know who they are. They eat, play, sleep, and demand attention on their own terms. With the exception of anticipating that the red dot might be around for a chase or it’s time to wake the thumb-monkeys for treats, they live in this moment alone. They are always mindful of their self.
Humans, however, tend to lose themselves. We get lost in our jobs, our plans for the future, our mistakes of the past, and the impressions made on other people. I would guess that at least ninety-five percent of how we get lost is entirely in our own heads. Thoughts and feelings get all jumbled, and as such actions are often tentative or even subconscious.
I do not know anyone who hasn’t gone through a period of questioning their life in some way or other. Job choices, relationship choices, dietary choices, and other potentially life-altering issues get called to question. In the wake of this, the notion of identity, the self, gets lost.
This is why being mindful of the self matters. We tend to be aware of the world around us, but less so about the world within us.
Being mindful is easier than we think
When we look at the world around us, it is complicated, and blended in a largely disorderly manner. Further, just to add another layer of complexity, people have an unfortunate tendency to take too many things personally. Often-abstract issues become personal affronts, and an off-color joke, which might well be inappropriate, becomes a terrible slight.
I believe that much of this is because we are so caught-up in the idea of being connected to the world around us, that we have lost our connection to ourselves. Being mindful is, put simply, connecting to ourselves. It’s like commenting on your own Facebook post rather than the post a friend or acquaintance put up.
We worry about the future and angst about the past. Instead of being mindful of our own place, we are concerned more about the impression we are making on others. Like any addiction, the longer we stray from being aware of our own selves, the more rehab it takes to be mindful.
Oh, and just to add one more obnoxious twist: being mindful can feel selfish. Self-care, which is utterly necessary to our wellbeing, gets too-easily confused with selfishness. As such, we will frequently put it aside in the interest of making a good impression on our friends, family, coworkers, and random strangers. Why? So that we do not come across as a selfish jerk like that guy (insert random selfish person you know or see on TV here.)
But being mindful is NOT selfish. All being mindful is is being aware of what you are thinking, feeling, and subsequently acting upon. Asking What am I thinking? What am I feeling? How am I feeling? What am I doing? in the here-and-now is simply being mindful, and present. | https://mjblehart.medium.com/why-be-mindful-8bf494048c95 | ['Mj Blehart'] | 2019-02-20 14:33:42.265000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Psychology', 'Self Improvement', 'Self-awareness', 'Mindfulness'] | Title MindfulContent mindful rage selfhelp world tell one answer likely right wrong time concept mindfulness mindful take lot different approach Meditation psychiatry selfhelp philosophy apply idea order better enrich life However often doesn’t get explained Part wonderful paradox super simple insanely complex get analyzed examined ad nauseam dive deepend pool see deep really listening Jeremy Irons reading Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist umpteenth time struck notion Emerald Tablet alchemy familiar Emerald Tablet secret alchemy line inscribed aforementioned emerald Yet rather understand simple meaning line scholar write long interpretation tract encoded pseudoscientific research paper deeper meaning line story Alchemist explains people rejected simple thing attempt find shortcut better way Mindfulness along line simplest term mindful aware Mindfulness able know right singular moment thinking feeling result However many lack enough selfawareness mindful mindful self animal kingdom simple existence relatively speaking Find food get shelter propagate specie survive thrive Humans well…except think far abstract level rest animal kingdom fear tangibles like predator storm natural disaster Humans hand fear intangible like worthy deserve good enough abstract intangible well number outside influence notion self get convoluted confused even lost cat know eat play sleep demand attention term exception anticipating red dot might around chase it’s time wake thumbmonkeys treat live moment alone always mindful self Humans however tend lose get lost job plan future mistake past impression made people would guess least ninetyfive percent get lost entirely head Thoughts feeling get jumbled action often tentative even subconscious know anyone hasn’t gone period questioning life way Job choice relationship choice dietary choice potentially lifealtering issue get called question wake notion identity self get lost mindful self matter tend aware world around u le world within u mindful easier think look world around u complicated blended largely disorderly manner add another layer complexity people unfortunate tendency take many thing personally Oftenabstract issue become personal affront offcolor joke might well inappropriate becomes terrible slight believe much caughtup idea connected world around u lost connection mindful put simply connecting It’s like commenting Facebook post rather post friend acquaintance put worry future angst past Instead mindful place concerned impression making others Like addiction longer stray aware self rehab take mindful Oh add one obnoxious twist mindful feel selfish Selfcare utterly necessary wellbeing get tooeasily confused selfishness frequently put aside interest making good impression friend family coworkers random stranger come across selfish jerk like guy insert random selfish person know see TV mindful selfish mindful aware thinking feeling subsequently acting upon Asking thinking feeling feeling hereandnow simply mindful presentTags Life Lessons Psychology Self Improvement Selfawareness Mindfulness |
3,199 | How to Maintain Structure and Routine During Quarantine | Circadian Rhythms, and Avoiding the Laziness Trap
Do you ever abruptly wake up, only to discover that the time was 2 minutes before your alarm was set for? That is your Circadian Rhythm in full swing.
In a nutshell, this is your internal body clock, and it follows your daily cycle because you have set it to act that way. It tells you when to eat, sleep and exercise. And you set it by waking up early every day for work, eating, exercising and sleeping at the times you do. It’s why you to feel hungry at lunchtime and tired in the evening.
It plays an important biological role in your day to day life. Circadian Rhythms release certain hormones to help you function properly. Melatonin, for example, is released at the right moment, to help you feel sleepy.
The problem is that self-isolation has released you from the cycle of day to day work. You no longer have to wake up early in the morning. If you wanted to, you could completely ignore your Circadian Rhythm. You could stay awake even though you feel tired and stay asleep despite having had sufficient time in bed if you really wanted to.
But I urge you — keep waking up early in the morning in accordance with your internal body clock.
Why? Because by changing your sleeping pattern, you are inadvertently changing your Circadian Rhythm. Whenever you wake you, you are training your body to wake up at that time. Your internal body clock will drastically change with this rhythm, and the correct hormones will start to be released at a completely new and distinct time in accordance with your waking hours.
Before you know it, you don’t start feeling tired until 2 am, and you struggle to wake up at 10 — when only a week ago you were waking up at 6.30 am with ease.
And trust me. From experience — although it’s easy to adjust your Circadian Rhythm from waking up early to later, the same can’t be said for the other way around. It takes weeks, and an unbelievable amount of willpower to retrain your Circadian Rhythm back to early mornings once they are lost.
And this leaves you susceptible to the Laziness Trap.
In his book, “The Laziness Trap,” Pastor Andy Farmer urges you to avoid the above at all costs. It’s a downward spiral into complacency. Once you start exposing yourself to a lazy lifestyle, your body gets used to it. You start getting fatigued and tired by simple day to day tasks — and because of this, it’s almost impossible to break out of it. Before you know it, you have wasted weeks of valuable time that could have been spent elsewhere.
The solution to this problem is simple. Avoid the trap altogether. You can do so by maintaining your Circadian Rythm. It’s as easy as waking up when your body tells you to, eating an early breakfast and keeping your mind active only for as long as your body is telling you it is able.
I implore you to make a conscious effort at this, to ensure you can maximise the days you have at home. | https://medium.com/mind-cafe/how-to-maintain-structure-and-routine-during-quarantine-d8542f60febb | ['Jon Hawkins'] | 2020-05-18 21:39:05.162000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Productivity', 'Mindfulness', 'Self', 'Covid 19'] | Title Maintain Structure Routine QuarantineContent Circadian Rhythms Avoiding Laziness Trap ever abruptly wake discover time 2 minute alarm set Circadian Rhythm full swing nutshell internal body clock follows daily cycle set act way tell eat sleep exercise set waking early every day work eating exercising sleeping time It’s feel hungry lunchtime tired evening play important biological role day day life Circadian Rhythms release certain hormone help function properly Melatonin example released right moment help feel sleepy problem selfisolation released cycle day day work longer wake early morning wanted could completely ignore Circadian Rhythm could stay awake even though feel tired stay asleep despite sufficient time bed really wanted urge — keep waking early morning accordance internal body clock changing sleeping pattern inadvertently changing Circadian Rhythm Whenever wake training body wake time internal body clock drastically change rhythm correct hormone start released completely new distinct time accordance waking hour know don’t start feeling tired 2 struggle wake 10 — week ago waking 630 ease trust experience — although it’s easy adjust Circadian Rhythm waking early later can’t said way around take week unbelievable amount willpower retrain Circadian Rhythm back early morning lost leaf susceptible Laziness Trap book “The Laziness Trap” Pastor Andy Farmer urge avoid cost It’s downward spiral complacency start exposing lazy lifestyle body get used start getting fatigued tired simple day day task — it’s almost impossible break know wasted week valuable time could spent elsewhere solution problem simple Avoid trap altogether maintaining Circadian Rythm It’s easy waking body tell eating early breakfast keeping mind active long body telling able implore make conscious effort ensure maximise day homeTags Psychology Productivity Mindfulness Self Covid 19 |
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