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How To Implement a Great Onboarding Architecture in Your App | Create an Onboarding Coordinator
Note: This is just a suggestion on how to implement a decent solution to the problems mentioned above.
First, we need to create a singleton to manage your onboarding. You can call it a coordinator, router, manager, service — it doesn’t matter. The point is that this coordinator will be the only object that’s aware of the order of the components. It will also be the only part of your app that holds the logic of what to show next.
The coordinator can have a reference for the navigation controller so it can push the next component when needed.
It’s best practice to create an enum to describe the stages of the onboarding:
The onboarding coordinator needs to hold two values — the list of the stages (actually, the list of the enums) and a pointer that represents the current user position in the onboarding. This value can be persistent for a later restore. | https://medium.com/better-programming/implement-a-great-onboarding-architecture-in-your-app-aa447cba2ef9 | ['Avi Tsadok'] | 2019-08-28 13:03:45.219000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Onboarding', 'Development', 'Programming', 'Architecture'] |
5 Explainable AI (XAI) Frameworks | What is Explainable AI?
Explainable AI (XAI) is one of the hot topics in AI-ML. It refers to the tools and techniques that can be used to make black-box machine learning be be understood by human experts.
Why Explainable AI is Important?
Let’s try to understand why explainable AI is important. Consider you are working for a housing finance or bank client. You are tasked with building a machine learning model to predict loan defaults. So, you built the model and successfully implemented it in production. Now, this model is being used by the end-users and they just tried for one customer and the model prediction comes out as ‘default’. So far so good. This prediction might be 100% correct but how will you explain which features are contributing to making this prediction as ‘default’? This is where explainable AI frameworks help us.
The below diagram give us the complete picture how Explainable AI frameworks useful for everyone from Data Scientists to Consumers.
Model interpretability is critical for the business. We generally tend to focus on model building and deployment but in reality, the focus should be on model interpretability and understanding how machine learning models arrive at their decisions as well. We can see that there has been a lot of research and development going on in the field. So, it is good to see more and more XAI frameworks coming that can help us build trust in the models.
Explainable AI is used in all the industries: finance, health care, banking, medicine, etc. In this article, I highlight 5 explainable AI frameworks that you can start using in your machine learning project.
Explainable AI Frameworks
SHAP stands for SHapley Additive exPlanations. It is based on is a game-theoretic approach to explain the output of any machine learning model and can help us to interpret and explain any machine learning model. It is considered as a unified framework for interpreting the predictions as it helps users to interpret predictions of complex models and also explain how these models are related & when one method is preferred over another.
It works by computing SHAP values and uses different algorithms such as TreeExplainer, DeepExplainer, GradientExplaine, LinearExplainer, and KernelExplainer. For more detailss, refer to these papers. The official tutorials on how to use SHAP can be found here.
Github: https://github.com/slundberg/shap
Stars: 10600
LIME stands for Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations. It is developed by researchers at the University Of Washington. LIME supports both regression and classification tasks and works with text, tabular, image data, etc. You can find the official tutorials here.
Here is a link to the promo video:
Github: https://github.com/marcotcr/lime
Stars: 8000
Skater is another framework used for model interpretation to better explain machine learning predictions. You can find the official tutorials here.
Algorithms supported by Skater for explaining the model predictions:
Github: https://github.com/oracle/Skater
Stars: 942
AIX360 stands for AI Explainability 360 and is developed by IBM. Personally, I liked the documentation of AIX360. Also, they have provided an interactive demo to provide a gentle introduction to the concepts. You can official tutorials here.
Github: https://github.com/Trusted-AI/AIX360
Stars: 701
What-If-Tool provides an easy to use interface to understand machine learning models. It can be used for both classification and regression tasks covering text, tabular, and image data. It works with most of the platforms — Jupyter Notebooks, Colab Notebooks, Cloud AI Notebooks, etc. One can manually or programmatically modify the data and re-run through the model in order to see the results of the changes. It also provides tools for investigating model performance and fairness over subsets of a dataset.
Do you know what is interesting? All this can be done with absolutely no code required. You can explore the demo on the official page here.
Github: https://github.com/pair-code/what-if-tool
Stars: 365
Conclusion
You just went through the most commonly used Explainable AI Frameworks used in the industry. Now you can start using any of these frameworks in your next machine learning project for model interpretability and explanations. | https://chetanambi.medium.com/5-explainable-ai-xai-frameworks-92359b661e33 | ['Chetan Ambi'] | 2020-11-03 14:36:58.593000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
The Case Against Setting Goals for Children | The Case Against Setting Goals for Children
Strategies for success
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
While working with parents of middle school children I realized that most parents wanted their children to be self-driven and goal-oriented. However, their parenting styles commonly fell into two extremes: some went into an overdrive of authority, while others were laissez-faire. Parents often found it hard to straddle the fine line between instilling structure and inculcating independence.
Many times we perpetuate what we learned from our parents. My parents were very function-oriented. If an activity did not serve a useful purpose in their eyes, it was out — we were encouraged to study or help with the housework, and everything else was seen as secondary.
The issue of giving our child the right amount of direction is a life long struggle for some of us. It is especially heightened now in remote learning when the distinction between play and school seems hard to define and even harder to enforce as the morning-evening rhythm is gone, and weekdays-weekends blur.
The first instinct in such situations is to proactively create a structure for children. But, if children rely solely on their parents to define their goals, they will struggle to become independent as they grow.
This brings us to the harder, but much more valuable task: To enable children to build goals and structure for themselves.
Find a balance: Do not Overstructure your child’s time
Once, when I was working with a student who often missed school for weeks, I got frustrated because I was unable to help him improve his attendance. This was despite the fact that I had personally made goals for him, shared them with him, explained my reasons, and provided supports.
Finally, one day I sat with him and asked him what he wanted his goal to be. He chose the goal of improving his attendance, however, to do so he said he would reach late daily. Initially, I was aghast, but once he explained his reasons, I understood why he was the best person to decide his target. He said the biggest deterrent was the amount of time and effort it took him to take two public buses in the morning, sometime in sub-zero temperatures, to reach school in time (8:00 AM). Instead, he could get a ride with his neighbor who passed by the school daily at 8:30 AM. This would save him over an hour.
Our school has a strict lateness policy, wherein students who come late have to take some time out at recess to sit in a quiet area and reflect on their actions and consider how to improve them. Since every time he came late in the past, we took away part of his time to be with friends at lunch, he felt further discouraged to show up. Understanding his individual circumstances, we made an exception for him and he was able to improve his attendance. Yes, he was late daily but at least he came every day.
Case Study: How making our own goals can help us succeed
Jason now feels more successful and is working towards the next goal of coming in time every day.
Why encourage autonomous goal-setting?
Increased awareness of the power of self: Goal setting will instill awareness in children of their own agency. They will be able to understand that they have the power to make decisions that determine what their day looks like. This will show them that their own initiative can bring them fulfillment and will help build a sense of self-confidence. Research has shown that children are more successful when they set their own goals since they feel motivated.
Practice in prioritization: Goal setting will provide them with daily practice with how to prioritize the most important tasks. Learning how to prioritize at a young age will help them live a life of intention and not one of passively letting things happen to them. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/the-case-against-setting-goals-for-children-243a58411542 | ['Primal Dhillon'] | 2020-10-15 04:36:12.168000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Self Improvement', 'Strategy', 'Psychology', 'Education'] |
Framing Data with DataFrames | EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS
Framing Data with DataFrames
Channeling open data into business frameworks
At the outset of any challenge, but especially for the complex and ambiguous ones that data scientists often face, structuring a thought process to approach the fundamental issue is one of the initial tasks. Many industries employ subject matter experts that have domain-specific knowledge, where unique paradigms of thinking are continually developed, taught and enhanced.
A functional organizational structure separates employees with specific skills into departments such as Human Resources, Sales, Marketing, Finance and Engineering, etc. This can produce a silo effect, in which useful information is created, but not necessarily shared. In response, companies assemble cross-functional teams to facilitate sharing and learning across the organization.
These teams can increase overall company effectiveness because they strengthen the firm’s interdependent internal network. For example, strategic decisions can be improved by incorporating, say, information and insights inferred by data scientists. So let’s take a look at how rapidly growing data can be channeled into intuitive frameworks that are familiar to business leaders.
Exploratory Data Analysis
Business strategists and consultants often explore an industry by performing a Situation Analysis,¹ which considers the 5C’s (Context, Consumer, Company, Competition and Collaboration). The Growth-Share Matrix, commonly known as The BCG Matrix, was introduced by the Boston Consulting Group in 1970 and is a popular business framework for visualizing a market analysis.
The Growth-Share Matrix a.k.a. The BCG Matrix. Image: A. Ovans²
The BCG Matrix evaluates a market based on constituent growth rates and market share, creating four quadrants called Dogs, Question Marks, Stars and Cash Cows. Diversified companies have business lines in mature, high-share markets that generate excess cash flow as well as market segments with high-growth opportunities that often require significant cash investments.
Dogs refer to low-growth, low-share markets that typically struggle to break-even. The conventional wisdom of analysts is to liquidate business in this area.
Question Marks are high-growth, low-share markets that have both potential and risk. New businesses target this area through a select and divest strategy.
Stars are Question Marks that have been widely adopted to become market leaders. Continued growth pushes firms to invest due to high competition.
Cash Cows are mature markets where entrenched players can maintain their position with minimal investment, allowing them to milk reliable cash flows.
Let’s use a real example to see how we can apply the concepts in the BCG Matrix to a specific industry. Moreover, we can take open data that is freely available and organize the information in a meaningful way to populate the chart. Finally, we can use render our market analysis in an interactive, cloud-based visualization that can be queried to access layered information.
The Pet Care Industry
From Anaconda to Python to Pandas, data scientists have an strong affinity for animals. Robbrecht van Amerongen has compiled a list of favorites in the Zoo of Programming Languages.³ As inspiration, we can generate a BCG Matrix by searching for available open data sources for the fast-growing and much-beloved pet care industry (note: market research can cost up to $9,450⁴).
The American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates that the pet care industry will exceed $75 billion in 2019, increasing by 3.9% over the previous year.⁵ Consumer spending categories are led by pet food ($32 billion), veterinary care ($19 billion) and supplies & OTC medicine ($16 billion). Now let’s scan the web for information sources to develop our own market analysis.
New York Neighborhoods
We could search for a dataset on Kaggle, but would only find seven results for pets, although there is a myriad of cat and dog image repositories.⁶ The most authoritative and complete dataset is the NYC Dog Licensing Dataset, which tracks 15 columns and 122k records as part of the NYC Open Data initiative.⁷
The dataset includes Borough and Zip Code information for licensed dogs in New York, which offers the potential to pivot on the data by location, but Borough seems too coarse and Zip Code seems too fine. So let’s refer to the New York State Department of Health’s ZIP Code Definitions of New York City Neighborhoods that subdivides the city into 42 manageable Neighborhoods.⁸
First 10 neighborhoods in New York, mixed format (wide and long). Image: Author
The initial Pandas DataFrame is arranged in a Multi-Hierarchical Index, except for Zip Codes, which are packed into a Wide Format. The goal of this table, though, is to map the Zip Code of each record in the NYC Dog Licensing Dataset to its respective Neighborhood. So the first task is to reshape the table into a Long Format for easier processing, which can be indexed by Zip Code.
First 10 neighborhoods in New York, long format. Image: Author
Competitor Concentration
In addition to the licensed dog data that represents the New York consumer market, we can also gather information about business competition. The Yelp Fusion API has a comprehensive database of various kinds of businesses in New York.⁹ By searching for pet stores and pet services, we can collect 1,502 unique businesses actively catering to the pet care industry in 2019.
First 10 New York pet stores and pet services actively operating in 2019. Image: Author
Market concentration is a fundamental measure of industry competitiveness, where markets can range between perfect and monopolistic competition. Without revenue or client traffic data for each store, we have to make a large and unrealistic assumption that each store is equivalent. Having said that, we can count the number of stores of each chain as a proxy for total market share.
Concentration Ratios aggregate the total market share held by the top firms in the industry.¹⁰ For example, CR4 for our top four firms stands at only 8.9%, while CR8 is 11.9%, indicating a highly distributed market. Alternatively, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index,¹¹ used by the Department of Justice in anti-trust cases,¹² is 31 out of a range of 0 (perfect competition) and 10,000 (monopoly).
Concentration Ratios for the top 8 firms in the New York pet care industry. Image: Author
Similarly, we can group our competitor data by neighborhood and measure geographic concentration or density. We measure CR4 to be 30.6% and CR8 to be 49.9%, meaning that half of all pet stores and services are located in eight neighborhoods. The neighborhood HHI of 448, which is the sum of the squares of all neighborhood shares, is still considered to be unconcentrated.
Concentration Ratios for the top 8 neighborhoods in the New York pet care industry. Image: Author
Market Size
NYC Open Data conveniently lets us download the entire NYC Dog Licensing Dataset as a CSV file, which we can import into a Pandas DataFrame. We notice that it has the License Issued Year as well as the License Expired Year, allowing us to count the number of actively licensed dogs in a given year. This metric is very similar to the Monthly Active Users (MAU) in digital marketing.¹³
First 10 of 121,713 New York licensed dogs from 2014–2022. Image: Author
Now that we have gathered our neighborhood, pet business and licensed dog datasets, we can insert them into a SQL database and join them in a single DataFrame through some powerful queries. By selecting only the active dog licenses in every calendar year, we can calculate the 5-Year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)¹⁴ from 2014 to 2019 for each neighborhood.
Market share and growth rate (2014–2019) of pet care industry for first 10 neighborhoods in New York. Image: Author
Now that we have calculated the market share and growth rate of licensed dogs in each New York neighborhood, we can render our analysis as a BCG Matrix in a data visualization engine such as Plotly.¹⁵ We can add richness to the graph by sizing the data points as the number of pet businesses in each neighborhood and shading them by the number of licensed dogs per store.
The Growth-Share Matrix of Licensed Dogs in New York exhibits a striking pattern of neighborhoods that follow a trajectory from starting out as Dogs, progressing to Question Marks, becoming Stars and maturing into Cash Cows. We can readily see that four neighborhoods enjoy high market share and two of them present opportunities since they are underserved by pet businesses.
Growth-Share Matrix of licensed dogs in New York. Source: Author¹⁶
The source code written for this analysis is available on GitHub,¹⁷ which includes gathering the datasets from Yelp and NYC Open Data, wrangling the data in Python, Pandas and SQL, and rendering the BCG Matrix in Plotly. The entire Plotly code is short and can be automatically uploaded and hosted by Plotly, which provides a dashboard for modifications and embeddable links.
Visualizing the BCG Growth-Share Matrix with Plotly. Source: Author¹⁸
Mind the Gap
The market share of pet businesses is only calculated by the number of physical store locations held by a business or a within a given neighborhood, which could be improved with revenue or foot traffic data.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation estimates that only 20% of dogs are licensed in New York, so it is important to note that the NYC Licensed Dog Dataset is only a sample of the entire dog population.
The Dog Dataset began tracking data in 2014, so there is a noticeable spike in registrations in the subsequent years. This growth in registrations should not be confused with the growth of the actual dog population.
The Dog Dataset was last updated in 2017, so recently issued licenses are not captured, while ongoing expirations sunset the dog population by 2022. This gap in data can affect the CAGR rate depending on years considered.
Given the limitations with any dataset, we should now feel confident that we can collect open data sources, perform a market analysis and visualize the BCG Matrix so that our data can be easily relatable to business leaders.
References | https://towardsdatascience.com/framing-data-with-dataframes-d9b7ce012be5 | ['Adam C Dick'] | 2020-12-20 03:24:39.271000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Technology', 'Machine Learning'] |
10 Amazing mobile apps built using Flutter framework | Top apps made with flutter framework
Being a feature-rich and new SDK, Flutter helped build several modern apps like Google Ads, Xianyu by Alibaba and Hamilton. The benefits provided by Flutter can help boost the development of any app.
Developers who haven’t tried Flutter yet are surprised with what others have accomplished with it and how Flutter can optimize and streamline the mobile app development process for anyone.
Below are ten of the popular apps made entirely using Flutter or switched to Flutter recently —
1. Google Ads
Developed by Google using Flutter and available on Android and iOS
Google Ads is an essential tool for anyone looking to manage their ad campaigns on the go. It can help you create ad campaigns for your business so that you can market your services better and increase your customer base without the hassle. Featuring a stunning design, it presents the users with a host of information within a tap’s reach.
With Google Ads, you can view your ad campaign stats like impressions, clicks, conversions, manage your bids on campaigns, get real-time alerts and information and get direct support from Google.
Google Play Link | App Store link
2. Xianyu by Alibaba
Alibaba, the Chinese multinational eCommerce giant that owns the world’s largest eCommerce platform, leveraged the power of Flutter into its shopping platform. Flutter helped Alibaba create something fast, smooth and ridiculously easy to use and they came up with Xianyu.
Xianyu is being used by more than 50+ million users regularly to buy and sell millions of products from an enormous number of categories of products. It helped connect consumers, making the buying and selling process more natural.
3. Reflectly
Reflectly is an exciting take on a journal app that helps you store your daily thoughts at one place in an orderly manner. Reflectly tries to give you an overview of your past days and how you’ve improved yourself over time.
Originally built using React Native, Reflectly adopted Flutter once they realized they could code once for Android and iOS, reducing the build delivery time by almost half and overcoming the problems faced with its React Native counterpart.
Reflectly’s first build on Flutter took its fair share of time, but it was worth the wait and hugely helped them cope with the ever-increasing user base.
Google Play link | App Store Link
Check out How Reflectly Works—
4. Watermaniac
Made by Artur Rymarz, Watermaniac is an Android app that helps you keep track of your daily water intake. Using the app, you can set daily goals, know your water intake in the past and be alerted when its time to take the next sip with a notification.
Because of flutter, it is very lightweight. The developer updates the app promptly based on user feedback to enhance the overall user experience.
Google Play link
5. PostMuse
PostMuse is a story editing app for Instagram providing users with loads of stunning templates to choose from a broad collection of typography, frames and more. Available on Android and iOS, users can unleash their creativity and truly customize their stories.
Flutter helped build PostMuse quickly with limited resources, allowing them to enter the app market soon after development. Flutter enhanced the usability and design of the app with no compromises on the performance.
Google Play link | App Store link
6. Hamilton
Hamilton is the official app for the hit American Broadway musical, showcasing everything related to Hamilton. The app provides all the latest updates about Hamilton, videos, bits of information, daily trivia, fun stickers for chat, access to merchandise and also gives access to its lottery section for its three cities and tour locations.
Flutter’s ability to code once for Android and iOS helped Hamilton do more in less, letting them focus on improving the quality and consistency of their app. Hamilton is glad they picked Flutter as their framework of choice, and they’re excited and positive about Flutter’s future.
Google Play link | App Store link
7. SpaceX Go!
SpaceX Go is an unofficial app for staying updated on Tesla’s space division. The app provides all the information about SpaceX’s past, current and upcoming events including information launches, vehicles, ships and about Tesla. The app features a very simplistic yet clean and distraction-free design that is easy to navigate and a pleasure to use.
SpaceX Go! is being regularly enhanced with updates by its developer with the current version for Android being 2.8.3.
Google Play link
8. Toughest
Toughest prepares you for your interviews with a variety of questions, including the ones most commonly asked and new ones. Using the app, you can plan how you can control the flow of your interview with unique answers to the questions asked.
The app has loads of questions carefully curated to match with the current trend. You can also share your favorite questions with your friends, helping them improve their interview skills as well.
Google Play Link
9. inKino
inKino is an unofficial app for Android and iOS showcasing movie timings and local theatres for Finland’s biggest cinema chain, Finnkino. inKino lets users browse through a list of now showing and upcoming movies in their local cinemas, reserve and buy movie tickets, find out showtimes, watch movie trailers and know more about their favorite movies. The app features a minimalistic interface with cleanly shown information.
Flutter allowed its creator to build the app within weeks. Flutter’s ability of hot reloads and quicker reiteration proved crucial for its short delivery time and time to market.
Google Play link | App Store link
10. KlasterMe
Klaster Me labeled as the first social media platform built using Flutter. Basically, it is an up-and-coming content sharing platform where users can create their page and share photos, blogs and articles, polls, contests and more. Users can use the platform to share their creations with the world.
KlasterMe features an easy and elegant design that emphasizes on content posted by its users. Currently, a work-in-progress project, users can expect KlasterMe to be completed by the year 2020.
Google Play link | KlasterMe | https://uxplanet.org/10-amazing-mobile-apps-built-using-flutter-framework-17019e38a907 | ['Claire D. Costa'] | 2020-01-25 06:26:29.044000+00:00 | ['Mobile Apps', 'Flutter', 'Android App Development', 'Mobile App Development', 'iOS App Development'] |
“That’s just what I needed to hear, thank you!”: | As a hopeless romantic, I contemplate the idea of love within the context of my generation quite often. Throughout my twenty-two years of life, I have enjoyed attempting to understand the idea of love and how it affects the world on both an individual and holistic basis. I have kept a diary of all my crushes since I could write, I have a list of all the boys I have ever kissed on my phone, and I ask every person I meet how they met their significant other (if they are in a relationship, of course). I feel a rush of excitement when I see a man carrying flowers or when I witness tasteful moments of PDA. I am a true lover of love.
As they have become more widely accepted, I am interested in how dating applications have shifted our ideas about initiation of love and how we navigate romance in an increasingly technological and emotionally isolated world. I live in a town with a population of just over 200 people in the Burren region of County Clare, Ireland. Here, pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Studio Art, I am simultaneously absorbed in the pursuit of my work and filled with emptiness fueled by the absence of people my age — particularly men. Though the college I attend is not an all-girls school, there are currently only women enrolled. Many of us who are single have resorted to Tinder and other dating applications in order to meet other young people within a reasonable radius.
Though I know it provides an avenue of greater opportunity for finding love, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by the lack of romance associated with meeting via a dating app. I would much prefer the serendipitous, fairy-tale, romantic comedy start of a future relationship. I dream about coincidentally sitting next to a cute man on an airplane and sparking up a conversation that turns into a fast-forming adoration or becoming best friends with a guy and slowly realizing we care for each other romantically. Because of my hopes for an interesting personal love story, I have deleted and re-downloaded Tinder several times in the past few years. I have over 2,000 matches, but I have only ever met up with two men I “matched” with through the app. The first experience was odd, slightly uncomfortable, and made me question if I would ever do it again. It happened on the first night of a family trip to New Zealand. He picked me up from the hotel and we broke in to his old university dorm. He pulled a mattress out of an empty bedroom for us to sit on and popped open a bottle of wine. After chatting for an hour, he asked if it was alright if he Snapchatted a picture of me to his friends. I said “sure,” but felt weird about the situation. I counted down the minutes until he was willing and sober enough to drive me home. The second meet-up was too perfect. The guy checked all of my boxes, made me laugh, and treated me kindly. Unfortunately, he either felt differently about the experience or timing has gotten in the way of the relationship becoming something more than a couple of great dates.
As I was contemplating feelings of loneliness and longing for love on an early, misty morning run through my small village, I came up with the idea to ask my Tinder matches what they believe about love. Instead of the generic greeting that a guy may expect from a new match, my matches were greeted with “What do you believe about love?” Despite their response, all who replied received another message from me: “That’s just what I needed to hear, thank you!” Their responses were just what I needed to hear. Some were refreshingly thoughtful, others comical, and a few depressing or vulgar. An overwhelming amount of responses included the phrase “that’s deep” and I’ve received a lovely collection of confused GIFs. I’ve gotten the lyrics of many love songs, which offered great background music as I worked through the documentation process. I received many requests for dates, the reason I am asked such a “personal” question as an opening line, and for my beliefs. I told them that I was trying to figure it out, but I believe love is simultaneously beautiful, tragic, and holding our fragmented world together. As a whole, the responses are intriguing. Over the past month, I’ve documented 500 of them. I am grateful for the honesty and good humor I received through the process of this project and am thankful for the many men who put up with my curiosity. I believe many, if not all, of the responses are worthy of sharing. But, to save you some precious time, I’ve selected some of my favorites. Pardon any grammar errors or typos; these men likely sent these messages using their thumbs.
Ryan, age 24, said “Woah, that’s a unique first question haha. But to answer your question, I believe that love is a constant growing emotion. That it’ll continue until your end. Some people get confused by love and try to run away and end it. When the highs are highs and the lows are lows, two beings just need to be there for each other and allow their love and trust in each other to to grow and mold together. I see it like drawing, you can draw a circle a thousand times, it won’t always be a perfect circle. But it’ll be perfect to you when you get rid of all the defects of it. So in order to love someone, you have to accept their defects and love them for what they are and what they do for you.” As an artist, I appreciated his drawing analogy.
Sam, 23, replied “I believe that love is giving. Not in the since of ‘I gave you a car.’ But in the since I gave, so therefore there is something in you that is me. To me, most other kinds of love are self beneficial and full of self pleasure. Everything has to do with whether or not I am satisfied. Love expands that, it shows in actions and little everyday things. Often times, when one of course, truly loves, they won’t even realize they are. Great question.” I appreciated Sam’s thoughts on love — how it is for oneself and for others.
Lee, who doesn’t share his age on Tinder, said “I believe that despite the huge awful statistics surrounding love, that there are still enough people who truly believe that they will live happily ever after and find the right emotional, physical, mental connection with someone. I’m a firm believer in if someone is your rock, why would you cry on another person’s shoulder. If someone is fun in bed, why would you go to another person’s bed. And if someone is intelligent and exciting, why would you seed another person’s mind. Essay over, haha.” Lee addressed my own fears regarding today’s love statistics, yet affirmed my hope for the possibility of commitment.
Matthew, 25, responded “Well thats an actual question for a change, I appreciate that.
I studied philosophy so you’re getting an in depth answer. Love has many forms, different types of love exist, and most people cannot differentiate the difference between these types in our modern society, love is often misused with lust and usually overused and actual “”love”” is not taken that seriously anymore. I also think you can love everyone, but there are a lot of levels of love in terms of how you connect with people, I love animals, but also love my family and friends, it is a similar love but different none the less. Then there are the deeper types of love which I would only use or describe when with one person at a very intimate level. The problem often with love though is usually only one person is in “”love”” with the other in a relationship, but I think it is possible for both people to be fully in love together if they are able to understand each other fully and both feel a strong connection with one another. Could write more but thats enough for tinder, we can talk more in person if you want, real love cant happen through pixels after all 😉” I didn’t end up meeting up with him, but wouldn’t be opposed to the idea in the future.
One of my favorite responses came from a 28-year-old man named Engin. He gave me a three-point list, “”1. you cannot resist falling in love 2. love is never bidirectional. the one of two loves more. 3. the one loving more feels a lot more pain.” I think anyone who has been in love could relate to this list.
Charlie, 22, made me laugh with his response: “❤That feeling when you crack open a cold one with the baiz.” Stephen, 26, also gave me a good chuckle: “”I believe it kicks me in the balls 🤔.”Oisin, 22, made me smile with his innocent and honest reply. He said, “I believe love is one of the best things you can experience even though I’ve never been in love i do know people who are and when they’re around each other they seem like the happiest people in the world.” Sam, 23, reminded me of my Bible-belted Oklahoma roots: “True Love is Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Love is my mom and dad being there for me no matter what. Love is never being afraid to show your affection. Love is true peace.”Sunil, a yoga instructor from India, said “Hi Perrin Hahahahaha I don’t believe. I do love 😉” He made me want to “do love,” and shift my focus from trying to understand it to making an effort to live in more lovingly.
Did I draw any major conclusions or come up with any fantastic revelations from this project? Probably not. But, I’m not disappointed. Even the men on Tinder have opinions, advice, stories of heartbreak, and perspectives spanning the entire spectrum of beliefs about love. They have dreams of finding love in their futures and many of them will, though I still hope the love story for me and my future partner begins off-screen. | https://medium.com/the-scene-heard/thats-just-what-i-needed-to-hear-thank-you-a-revelation-of-tinder-men-s-beliefs-on-love-901f6f897e41 | [] | 2018-02-26 13:14:46.410000+00:00 | ['Valentines Day', 'Online Dating', 'Scene And Heard', 'Nonfiction', 'Technology'] |
Generating Secure Crypto Wallets and Accounts with Python | In this post we will be going over Algorand wallet security and wallet and account interaction. Specifically we will be looking at the steps and mechanisms involved in:
Generating a wallet
Generating accounts in the wallet
Generating accounts outside of the wallet and importing them into the wallet
Backing up a wallet
Backing up a specific account that is within a wallet
Recovering a wallet
Recovering accounts that were generated within a wallet
Importing multi-signature accounts into a wallet
Please make sure you have an Algorand TestNet node running and make sure that you start the kmd process.
goal kmd start -d [DATA DIR]
This can be a standard node through the binaries on github or it can be a dockerized container bootstrapping from an S3 instance.
Also, please make sure you have the Python SDK installed.
Foundational Concepts
Developers (and crypto users in general) typically think of crypto addresses as some identifier of fixed or arbitrary length that has a corresponding secret key that you use to trigger spending functions from an address. Developers (and the general crypto audience, again) are also likely familiar with the concept of mnemonic phrases that are used as a fail-safe to recover an address (or more specifically, to recover access to funds that are associated with an address) if access to a crypto address is restricted, lost or compromised. For an in-depth security tutorial please read these great series of posts by Sharon Halevi.
What is an Address / Account?
Algorand addresses are unique identifiers for public keys. This applies to single pubkeys where there is only one pubkey involved, as well to multisignature addresses where there exists a series of pubkeys. These pubkeys and their corresponding private keys use Ed25519 high-speed, high-security elliptic-curve signatures- which is the EdDSA signature scheme that using SHA-512 and Curve25519. There is no intention to take a deep dive into the world of cryptography with this post, but just so there is point of relation- Bitcoin uses ECDSA signature scheme.
Ed25519 is interesting because unlike ECDSA signatures, this scheme uses something called foolproof session keys which are signatures that are generated deterministically. This accomplishes pseudorandomness by hashing a long-term secret key together with the input message. The benefit here is that it circumvents the risk of leaking private keys due to a faulty random number generator, which is an inherent risk in the ECDSA signature scheme.
An address wraps an Ed25519 public key, which is a 32-byte array and the string representation is computed by appending a 4-byte checksum (computed by taking the last 4 bytes of a SHA512/256 digest of the public key) to the public key, giving us a 36-byte array.
Algorand addresses are often [erroneously] referred to as public keys. Keep this in mind if you are a developer because you do need to be aware of this distinction.
The term account and address seem to be used interchangeably as there is only so much you can do with enforcing vocabulary, but an Algorand account is technically an address on the blockchain that has specific onchain data associated with it. Most basically, this is a minimum balance (of 0.1 Algos (100,000 microalgos)) and other more intricate properties like whether or not the account is online and/or has earned rewards. Accounts can be generated offline and the network will not know of their existence until they have a minimum balance.
This is a code snippet for generating a standalone account offline.
What is a Wallet?
Wallets on the Algorand network are generated using a process called key management daemon (kmd). Wallets store a collection of accounts. The kmd process stores a collection of wallets and manages the interaction of the accounts within the wallets. Accounts/Addresses can be generated inside of the wallet and non-kmd generated accounts can be imported into a kmd wallet. In the previous sentence I said “accounts/addresses” because the addresses don’t need to have a minimum balance (the network does not need to know about them) to be managed or housed inside of a kmd wallet.
The caveat with this functionality is that if a kmd wallet is restored (instantiated on another device), those non-kmd generated accounts need to be imported again and not simply generated.
This code snippet demonstrates the methods necessary to create a wallet and generate an account within that wallet. You will need some accounts in the your kmd wallet to interact with and run the rest of the code snippets, so comment out the delete method after running this code a few times to have an account in your kmd wallet.
To restore a kmd wallet you need the master derivation key (mdk) of the wallet and subsequently, you need the mnemonic that can be extracted from the mdk.
Once the wallet mnemonic is retrieved, you can use the mnemonic.to_master_derivation_key() method to extract the mdk and run create_wallet() using kmd to instantiate your wallet. The reason why the code is showing you how to extract the mnemonic from the mdk and then extract the mdk back from the mnemonic is that for security and practical purposes, the mnemonic is what users of wallets utilize as a backup.
Now let’s take a look at how to import a standalone account into a kmd wallet. In the following code snippet, we loop through all the wallets that are part of your kmd instance using list_wallets() to expose the wallets metadata and select whichever wallet you are looking for by changing the string it’s being matched against.
if arrayitem.get("name") == "wallet1":
walletid = arrayitem.get("id")
break
We, again, run account.generate_account() as we did in the first code snippet and import the account by passing in the private_key and wallethandle into the import_key method.
One of the most important wallet parameters you will need to work with kmd is the wallethandle . So once you loop through your wallets and find the kmd wallet you are interested in interacting with, part of the metadata of the wallet includes the walletid . This walletid is what needs to be passed into init_wallet_handle() to extract the kmd wallethandle :
walletid = None
wallets = kcl.list_wallets()
for arrayitem in wallets:
if arrayitem.get("name") == "wallet1":
walletid = arrayitem.get("id")
break
print("Wallet ID:", walletid)
wallethandle = kcl.init_wallet_handle(walletid, "testpassword")
print("Wallet Handle:", wallethandle)
This wallet handle is then passed into methods like import_key() for importing stand-alone accounts:
importedaccount = kcl.import_key(wallethandle, private_key)
or generate_key() to generate a kmd-based account
address = kcl.generate_key(wallethandle)
as well as importing multsignature accounts with import_multisig()
imported_multisig = kcl.import_multisig(wallethandle, msig)
and finally, one that we’ve seen a few times now list_keys() to list out the accounts that are a part of the kmd wallet
accounts = kcl.list_keys(wallethandle)
This code snippets demonstrates the methods needed to find a wallet, init the wallet to get the wallethandle using the walletid, generate accounts, create a multisig (msig) object and importing the msig into a kmd wallet using the wallethandle.
The final piece of code I wanted to demonstrate before we sign off is backing up a kmd-account. And that is done by 1) initing the wallet to extract the wallethandle 2) exporting the private_key from the account using export_key() and 3) deriving the mnemonic back up phrase from the private_key using from_private_key() .
All of these code samples can be found on github and with these examples you should have a solid foundation to build on with kmd. | https://medium.com/algorand/generating-secure-crypto-wallets-and-accounts-with-python-b1b5b6cb51c4 | ['Sam Abbassi'] | 2020-02-07 17:49:35.229000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Developer Tools', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Developer', 'Crypto'] |
Cypress — Dec.2/20 | Dr. Jen uses her own experiences, skiing, books, movies, and real people to help curb the pains of life
Follow | https://medium.com/mind-your-madness/cypress-dec-2-20-78c1a497912f | ['Jennifer Hammersmark'] | 2020-12-04 13:03:27.809000+00:00 | ['Outdoors', 'Mountains', 'Skiing', 'Mental Health'] |
10 Ways to Design More Inclusive Products | Without certainty, we can only create designs that are perfect for a blue sky scenario. One in which the user fits exactly into the mold that we’ve used to create the product. This inevitably leaves holes in the experience for the people that don’t fit our typical user.
If we owned a restaurant, we wouldn’t force a customer to eat onions if they didn’t like onions — so why should users be required to have videos autoplay in their feed if they don’t want them to?
We should allow our users to customize how they interact with our product to their liking. Customization is key to not only crafting a more inclusive product, but it’s a core principle for better experiences and usability.
We can achieve this by providing options to customize the design and experience in the settings. I go in-depth about customization in my article, 10 Ways to Make a Fully Personalized UI.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Ability to customize font sizing & styles
Switch to dark mode/light mode or adjust the color theme
Toggle haptic feedback on and off
Adjust notification settings for each type of notification
Customize gestures or keyboard shortcuts for common actions
8. Avoid industry literacy
Everyone reading this article lives in some kind of bubble. Whether you’re a fisherman or a product manager — industry terms have become second nature to you after time in that bubble. When designing a product, we need to audit the language that we use to ensure we aren’t excluding anyone from our product.
For example, if we’re at a fancy restaurant and one of the menu items says, “Gravlax with hovmästar sauce and lemon.” It would take some Googling to find out that this is a Swedish cured salmon dish. If you’re from Sweden or a foodie, then you may be familiar with the dish — anyone who isn’t is out of luck.
Due to the range of expertise that our customers may or may not have, we should use language and create products that better reflect the needs of both novices and experts.
If our product caters to both doctors and patients, then it’s important that our search capability accepts a wide range of queries. The formal name for “TIA” or “transient ischemic attack” is what most people would call a “mini-stroke.” If the website only had TIA listed, then it wouldn’t be inclusive to those without this level of expertise.
If you’ve ever run a user test, you’re familiar with the jargon that we techies have become accustomed to. Hearing users interact with our products and calling the loading indicator a “spinny thing” or the hamburger menu “the stack of lines” is an indication of how far entrenched in the tech world we are.
9. Design for left and right-handed users
As mentioned previously, when we design for one set of users, we solve for many. A good example is the experience of using products for right vs. left-handed users.
About 10% of the population is left-handed (approx 700 million). If we can solve usability issues for that 10% of users, we will also improve the experience for a person with one arm or a temporary arm injury.
If there is an important action in our application that is done repeatedly — liking a post, for instance, then why not give the user the ability to decide where that action is placed that’s most comfortable for them?
Provide an option to customize the placement of important actions in the settings. Or better yet, place actions in a neutral position so users can tap where they’d like.
If the designer is right-handed, then the product may favor right-handed users. Let some lefties try it out and see what their feedback is.
10. Don’t break conventions | https://uxdesign.cc/10-ways-to-design-more-inclusive-products-12aa2e15fc8b | ['Danny Sapio'] | 2020-12-10 14:10:21.234000+00:00 | ['Design', 'UX', 'Product Design', 'UI', 'Visual Design'] |
You’re Not Alone: All 20-Somethings Are Just As Confused | You’re twenty-years-old, and you want to take the year off of college, but people will go on without you. You feel left behind.
You’re twenty-one, and you see people moving into apartments, but you’re still at home. You feel like you’re not growing.
You’re twenty-two, and people are graduating from college, but you still don’t know what to do with your life. You feel like you’re lagging.
You feel lost. Confused. Stressed. Conflicted.
You feel like you’re not enough. Like you’re not doing enough.
You feel like you won’t figure this out. Like everyone will move on without you.
You’re not alone. All twenty-somethings feel this way. We just don’t talk about it. And maybe someone needs to start that conversation. | https://itxylopez.medium.com/youre-not-alone-all-20-somethings-are-just-as-confused-e7ac28c53f9 | ['Itxy Lopez'] | 2019-07-22 02:25:30.377000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Advice', 'Life Lessons', 'Life', 'Self'] |
Inclusive Design Principles | That’s one kind of exclusion.
At Microsoft, our CEO Satya Nadella has given us a very strong mission statement: Empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more. If we’re going to do that, we need to think hard about the “every” in that statement. Building for every person means we can’t just let our instincts run unchallenged. We’re humans, which means we bring our biases to everything we do. If we don’t realize that, we’ll automatically create exclusion in everything we build. There’s someone out there, with a different set of abilities from yours, who wouldn’t be able to use or enjoy your product the way you would. Who is that person, and what would you do to even the playing field for them? That’s the first principle of Inclusive Design: Recognize Exclusion. It means examining what you build, and recognizing who would be excluded from using it.
Gaming, for example can require fine motor skills to compete, or even to get going on a new game. But what if you have limited mobility? Or if you’re brand new to video games? The Xbox engineering team came up with a new “co-pilot” feature that allows two controllers to work together, so that two people can control the same character, or car, or whatever’s featured in the game. Now a more advanced or skilled player can play alongside someone who might need more assistance. It opens up gaming to all kinds of people, including folks with disabilities or temporary injuries, newbies, kids, and people who just want to play together without competing against each other. The Xbox team recognized who was being excluded, and found a way to help bring them into gaming.
This is not an easy process, and sometimes the hardest part is realizing that exclusion just happens when we don’t pay attention to our biases. When we do pay attention, we can turn exclusion into a weapon for good. If we know those points of exclusion are out there, we can hunt them down, use research and testing to understand them, and use them to fire up our creativity.
There’s a beauty in recognizing exclusion. It calls on our humanity and our powers of empathy. And when we answer that call, beautiful things happen for our products, our customers, and us.
So let’s hear from you, what’s your story of exclusion? And did something meaningful come out of it? Let us know in the comments below. | https://medium.com/microsoft-design/inclusive-design-principles-77f7c5f639da | ['Inclusive Design'] | 2019-08-27 17:23:29.450000+00:00 | ['Microsoft', 'UX Design', 'Design', 'Bias', 'Inclusive Design'] |
Kellyanne Conway Is Proving That Conflict Hurts Kids, Not Divorce | Kellyanne Conway Is Proving That Conflict Hurts Kids, Not Divorce
No one ever researches the damage that intact married couples such as George and Kellyanne Conway do to their family
In a surprise message Sunday, Kellyanne Conway — one of Trump’s longest-serving advisors — announced that she was leaving the White House to focus on her family. She also made known that her husband, George — a conservative lawyer and outspoken critic of the president who co-founded the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans devoted to defeating Trump in November — would also be making changes to put their family first.
In a statement, she said:
“I will be transitioning from the White House at the end of this month. George is also making changes. We disagree about plenty but we are united on what matters most: the kids. Our four children are teens and ‘tweens starting a new academic year, in middle school and high school, remotely from home for at least a few months. As millions of parents nationwide know, kids ‘doing school from home’ requires a level of attention and vigilance that is as unusual as these times. This is completely my choice and my voice. In time, I will announce future plans. For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama.”
I am no fan of Kellayanne, who has lied for Trump and made “alternative facts” become a distressing reality. But the reaction to her decision illustrates yet again the gendered view many have about family and ambition.
Of the Conways four children, their 15-year-old daughter, Claudia, has earned a huge following on social media for her outspoken views against her parents, especially her mother, and recently indicated that she was seeking emancipation.
What parent wouldn’t reassess things given that?
Yet, Kellyanne is being seen as the one who needs to take control of their family. As comedy writer Nick Jack Pappas tweeted:
For those expressing empathy for KellyAnne Conway — don’t. She chose fame and fortune over family for three and a half years. She cared more about keeping Trump happy than her daughter.
What career-minded woman hasn’t heard something along those lines? You want to put your career before your family? How dare you! You’re a selfish woman whose priorities are wrong. What career-minded man has heard that? I can’t think of one. Can you?
Most people who work, whether it includes a desire for fame or not, are caring for their family. Not just in a financial way — although being able to feed, clothe, educate and house your children is important — but caring for them emotionally. Yet we tend to see the emotional support of children as being a mother’s job, whether she works outside the home or not. And we always see the emotional support of a marriage as being the wife’s job as well.
The Conways have a complicated marriage, at least since Kellyanne became such a promoter — and liar — for Trump, and many wondered how they could remain a happy, healthy family, especially after Kellyanne defended her boss over her husband after Trump called George a “loser” and a “husband from hell.”
As marital historian Stephanie Coontz writes:
Perhaps the couple is playing a competitive political game, with neither caring enough about the real-world impact of the actions they so strenuously defend or condemn to erode their love for each other. But that’s still a dangerous script for a marriage. And either way, it sends an even more dangerous message to their four children about prioritizing power, fame and money over shared core values in their future relationships.
Conservatives hate divorce and often point to it as the reason society has frayed. And yet, the Conways are a very married — and very Republican conservative couple— who are proving, for all to see, that conflict is the destroyer of families. Conflict isn’t just the domain of the divorced; it occurs in intact families, too.
And while researchers love to focus on the repercussions of the divorced, no one knows the extent of damage caused by so-called “normal” families such as the Conways. That said, we can clearly see how at least one of their children feels, and it’s heartbreaking. That’s the real-world impact of their actions.
The Conways are finally doing the right thing for their family, but let’s be clear: it’s not solely Kellyanne’s— or any woman’s — job to keep their children happy or to prioritize family over career. That said, prioritizing family will mean little if they don’t find a way to deal with conflict in a healthier way.
Want to have a marriage that minimizes conflict (Of course you do!) Read The New I Do: Reshaping Marriage for Skeptics, Realists and Rebels (Seal Press). You can support your local indie bookstore (please do) or order it on Amazon. And we’re now on Audible. | https://omgchronicles.medium.com/kellyanne-conway-is-proving-that-conflict-hurts-kids-not-divorce-23ecbfcf174e | ['Vicki Larson'] | 2020-08-24 17:11:05.342000+00:00 | ['Marriage', 'Kellyanne Conway', 'Divorce', 'Family', 'Conflict'] |
Data-driven design: Providing optimal user experience | What is data-driven design?
The process of design is backed by the findings from the data we accumulated. It’s a process on which our design decisions are based on the reflection from the data and user behaviour. A well-crafted user experience designing process involves in measuring the experience itself. This valuable insight can only be reflected in the data. The behaviour and reaction that the users take help us, product designers, to validate our findings, hypothesis and measure the outcomes.
“What’s measured gets managed. Numbers have an important story to tell.”
— Peter Drucker.
These data help product teams to understand their target users, reveals information about users’ pain-points, unearths new trends, supports data-driven design, and assures teams that their work is on right track. User data can lead directly to improved business outcomes. UX methods incorporate data-driven design, which has proven, tangible outcomes.
Why data-driven design?
We designers design products with research, findings and observation from our users. There is no other way to validate our hypothesis that we have decided and made during the process of designing the products. The only way that validate these assumptions is data. If we are relying on the instinct or best practices to make decisions without performing any data-driven investigation, you risk wasting money on changes to design choices that are ineffective or worth not a penny.
The right use, validation, and interpretation of these data help in improving the performance of the product usage as well which also can be measured in figures. Even the best designers in the world cannot predict what users want. It’s the process of learning from our users, which ensures that users problem is solved and their needs is premier to our product’s success and this all needs to be iterative.
Data-driven vs data-informed design
These terms are used and described in the book Designing with Data by Rochelle King, Elizabeth Churchill and Caitlin Tan which helps us to understand and articulate the different terms data-driven design, and contrast it with data-informed and data-aware design.
Data-driven and data-informed represent two different approaches. Both of these approaches uses data as its foundation, and every decision product team takes is evaluated and driven by data. Being data-driven focuses on optimization and efficiencies along the way.
Data-informed means we are not necessarily on one narrow path and that we are working with input beyond quantitative data. A/B testing different experiences or structured usability tests may fall in this category.
Being data-aware means we understand the wide range, and limitations, of data collection and make decisions on which methodology is best on a problem by problem basis. Data-aware teams might find equal value in making decisions based on output from a stakeholder workshop, user interviews, or even statistically significant results from an A/B test.
Research by MIT’s Center for Digital Business found that “companies in the top third of their industry in the use of data-driven decision making were, on average, 5 percent more productive and 6 percent more profitable than their competitors.”
One of the things we discovered is that increasing the number of things that you measure or improving the fidelity of your measurements often actually doesn’t result in certainty. It doesn’t actually result in something that is crisp as this one is better than that. It just reveals a deeper complexity that there are actually more things involved. Then it really becomes a balance. We still have to have an intuition. We still have to make a judgment about what’s important and what isn’t.
— Jon Wiley, Director of Immersive Design at Google
How can we collect data?
Visual data for smart UX
There are many ways on how we can collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Many UX practitioners believe that the data means numbers, but this is a misunderstanding which is a myth. For driving our design with data we need both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data will tell you what actions users take when using our product, while qualitative data will tell you why they do it and, even more important, how they feel about the overall experience. So, we need to incorporate these two techniques in shaping our design decisions.
Quantitative data collection method
The type of data which are numbers and shows who, what, when and where. This type of data shows scale. What quantitative data doesn't tell you is why. We obtain much quantitative data regarding the usage of a Web site or application from Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Optimize and other measuring tools (eg: Hotjar, Crazy Egg, Optimizely, Usertesting).
A/B Testing
A/B testing is also known as split testing. Hubspot defines A/B testing as:
“… [an] experiment wherein you ‘split’ your audience to test a number of variations of a campaign and determine which performs better. In other words, you can show version A… to one half of your audience, and version B to another.”
When performing an A/B test, it is important to ensure that only one variable is changed (whenever possible), and that the control and experimental groups are similar in size — you can show version A to one half of our audience, and version B to the other. The major goal of the test is to measure the level of comparison.
Analytics
With the analytics we can tell who came to our website and how they got there, how long they have stayed there and what they have clicked. Such data can help in collecting valuable metrics such as average length of the user session, bounce rate, etc. If you want to optimize a conversion rate on our app or website, it’s recommended to start with highly trafficked areas because they will help you gather valuable data faster.
We can also use eye-tracking tools such as heat maps. Heat maps use eye tracking to understand where users are looking on a screen. If heat maps from multiple users indicate a pattern, this could prove valuable when re-organizing content assets or redesigning our website or app.
Survey
UX surveys are a key source of both quantitative and qualitative data in UX research.
A good survey need to have well-designed questions — ensure that our questions are not leading and that the purpose of the question is clear. We should also try to limit the number of questions (no more than 10 to 15) so that users don’t abandon the survey halfway through.
Qualitative data collection method
The type of data that demonstrates why and how. Why does a certain group of users take one action, while another take a different one? Why does one piece of content keep visitors on our Web site longer than another? Qualitative data offers perspective and helps us understand not just what happened, but why and how it happened. We often communicate qualitative data through personas, journey maps or empathy maps.
With good data, we can create a better user experience and influence user behavior more effectively.
User Journey/Flows
Creating a model of how the users use our product can be really helpful in conceptualizing the user are interacting with our product. The information you gather from your user flow can help you identify potential weak areas, providing a starting point for further investigation through A/B testing or user interviews.
Competitor Analysis
It would be a plus point in identifying the weakness of the competitors. The competitor analysis involves examining another company’s product to identify any comparative strengths, weaknesses, or areas for improvement.
It is important to tread carefully when doing a competitor analysis. Simply imitating competitors is not always an effective solution. Instead, it is best to use competitor analyses as a means of gaining inspiration, with this understanding we can improve and their weakness can be our advantage.
Interviews
Interviews are a great way to gather qualitative data from users. It’s a good way to approach the questions with open-ended and close-ended questions. We also might limit the number of interview subjects, the insights gathered through a phone or in-person conversation will be more in-depth than what we could get from a survey alone.
Social media and user feedback
Social media reflects on what expectations users bring to an experience. By exploring common user complaints, you will be able to prioritize product requirements. This activity will also help you get a more relevant in understand their words and reactions to the product offering. | https://uxdesign.cc/data-driven-design-providing-optimal-user-experience-4fdd31d51a00 | ['Ishan Manandhar'] | 2020-10-30 04:54:38.044000+00:00 | ['Design', 'User Experience Design', 'User Experience', 'User Research', 'Designer'] |
The Possible Long-Term Economic Benefits of a Deadly Epidemic | Stocks are crashing, productivity is falling, people are stopping their consumption of goods and transportation, and the economy is generally going to go to shit. This is a pretty big deal. But there are some very interesting things to look out for on the horizon, positive things, that may come of the coronavirus epidemic. Add them up and it could mean a trillion dollars worth of indirect economic stimulus over the following decade. Read on to find out how.
I apologize in advance for the brutal rationalist nature of this article, and don’t mean to make light of anyone’s death, or unemployment, or financial strain, but these are interesting things worth monitoring.
End of the Office
One huge response to this outbreak, that many companies are jumping on, is telecommuting. Telecommuting is an obvious increase in efficiency, but has been resisted by Baby Boomer upper management types for years because it doesn’t fit their mental model of how to do business. They like to manage by walking up and down the cube farm and making sure everyone looks busy, and don’t understand how they could manage that way if their company was most or all telecommuters. According to The Atlantic, approximately 34 million people telecommuted in 2011, but that half of all jobs could telecommute if their companies allowed it. They just don’t. Now they basically must allow it, if they can, provided they want any work to be done at all. Suck it Baby Boomer bosses.
Imagine the economic stimulus if this jumps to 15% or higher
According to Statista, there are 158 million people employed in the United States. According to multiple sources, employees (or employers) could save between $2,000 and $7,000 per year by working from home. Let’s use $4,000 as our number, because it’s commonly cited. If half the jobs in the United States can telecommute, and do so, that’s a net savings of 316 billion dollars annually. Even if only a tenth of businesses pivoted, that would be a net savings (a.k.a. stimulus) over a decade of 632 billion dollars. Certainly that will cause great pains to C.B. Richard Ellis’s office space management business, but you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
Healthcare Costs
Good gracious, how on earth could a deadly epidemic decrease healthcare costs? The idea is asinine. Until, that is, it isn’t.
Dying is expensive. There have been lots of media pieces and academic studies on the cost of dying, and a recent study in July 2017 by Eric French and others pulled the numbers apart for us to use. In the United States, the last three years of someone’s life cost about $160,000 per capita, and by per capita, we mean per death.
Mean per capita medical expenditure (in 2014 US dollars) in 9 countries in the last 3 calendar years of life, by category
These are averages across the entire sample set of dead people. My wife’s death of stage four colon cancer cost a bit more than this. A person who gets hit by a bus costs zero. If some horrible twisted space fairy were to descend from the Andromeda Galaxy, use her space magic to predict future death, and hit all people who are going to die in three years with a magic space bus, that would amount to a cost savings (a.k.a. financial stimulus) equal to over 2% of the United States’ entire GDP. It would double the usual economic growth rate.
Health care spending in 9 countries as a percentage of GDP overall and for the last 3 calendar years and last 12 months of life
Thankfully, no such Andromedian Magic Space Death Bus Fairy exists, as far as we’re aware, but the potential impacts of COVID-19 are curiously similar to a smaller population group.
COVID-19 is expected by most health statisticians to infect between 40% and 70% of the United States population by the time it’s done. It kills in a matter of weeks, when it does kill. How many dead people are we talking about here? It’s hard to say, but here’s a snapshot of what it looks like as of a few days ago.
There’s a lot of variation in the case fatality rate, and the variation probably has two origins. The United States high CFR probably owes itself to poor testing, currently. We probably have a lot more actual cases than are being used in this calculation, so if we divided the number of deaths by our actual cases, our (current) CFR probably goes down. Italy’s numbers are probably high because their hospitals are overloaded. China’s numbers are probably some blend of these two effects. South Korea’s numbers look a lot like China’s from February on, and China’s in provinces outside Wuhan, but those are also held down by some pretty extreme quarantining effects that we aren’t likely to be able to implement here in the United States, because we have too many single moms and two income parents to be able to hunker down as well.
In the end, our numbers are probably going to be around 2%. Higher earlier when our hospitals are strained or overloaded, lower later once a lot of folks have beaten their infection and are no longer spreading the disease. But because we aren’t going to be able to quarantine as well as an autocratic communist dictatorship or a monolithic small intelligent Asian country who already beat SARS, our infection rate is probably going to be at the high end. Let’s look at that case.
70% of the country infected at a 2% death rate, means 1.4% of the country gets hit by the Magic Space Fairy Death Bus. How many of those deaths will be older people who have already aged out of useful economic contribution? Probably around 60% if we believe this graph:
Back of the envelope math says this will amount to around 0.84% of the population, or 2.7 million people, or 440 billion dollars saved in end-of-life healthcare outlays.
That’s a pretty gruesome and disgusting and not-at-all-nice form of indirect economic stimulus, that again would be realized over a time scale of about a decade post-outbreak.
Student Loan Debt
To understand the positive student loan benefits of the potential upcoming epidemic, we need to look closely at the problem itself. The millennials are going to remain screwed, and they should be angry. Here’s a top-level view at how they were screwed by the systems of taxation, education, and politics, how those systems are going to become unraveled in the next few years, and how the virus will likely amplify the market effects which will rescue the post-millennials from the fate of their older siblings, while cratering the modern American university system.
The idea of federally backed student loans originates in 1965, but the current beast wasn’t really developed until the 1990s. Instead of being limited in scope and tied to treasury bonds, as it was for prior decades, the 1990s saw a shift to the federal government backing private lenders, vastly expanding the scope of these loans, and basically giving them out to anybody.
Prior to the 1990s, when you went to college, you either had a scholarship or your parents sent you to college with their own money, possibly taking out a loan to send you, but the loan was backed by their own personal collateral. There were some poor people who could have graduated from college, but couldn’t attend, because their parents didn’t have this avenue. College was at least in part a privilege of wealth, which became self-reinforcing generationally. This was not only a problem of entrenched classism, it was a net drag on the economy itself. You want to get those poor smart people online, contributing at their maximum potential to the overall economy.
The economic justification was simple. College educated jobs earn more than high school jobs, therefore anyone who takes out a loan to go to college will be able to pay the loan back. It was a simple idea, which seemed right, and everyone voted for it. It was very obviously wrong in retrospect. The expansion of federally backed student loans did nothing to change the job profile in the United States. We still need the same number of baristas and plumbers and garbage men that we always did. It’s just that now, those baristas and plumbers and garbage men have college degrees. And debt.
The reason college jobs paid more in the 1980s wasn’t because college was necessary to perform them. It was because the college degree was used as a hiring signal to differentiate between people who were smart and worked hard, and people who weren’t and didn’t. It wasn’t a great signal, because it left out the poor who could perform, but people without college degrees in the 1980s still had an alternate path to generate that signal — just go to work and prove you were smart and could work hard. Nobody paid any attention to your degree after the first few years on the job anyway.
To be sure, certain degrees do train for a profession. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants. But these do not make up the bulk of college degrees today, nor did they then. The rest of the degrees were simply a piece of paper that provided employers evidence of your general competency.
I have a lot of close personal Generation X friends who make comfortable six figure salaries with only a high school degree, simply because they’re smart and know how to use Excel or similar. They were the last generation to have this option, because of the federally backed student loan program. It shut the door on getting a good job without a degree, because as the degrees flooded the market, employers defaulted to prior hiring practices and still trusted that hiring signal.
The federally backed student loan program did achieve its goal. It did provide a route for the poor people capable of becoming doctors, lawyers, accountants, or engineers to get those good, college educated jobs. But the cost was that everyone got a degree, and debt. Those poor who made it professionally through federally backed student loans did so on the backs of the other indebted poor.
The millennials are justifiably angry. They need to be angry at their guidance counsellors. They were told “go get a degree, it doesn’t matter what it’s in, it will pay for itself,” and they were too young to realize this was bad advice. The guidance counselors gave that bad advice because of our systems of taxation and public schooling. School rankings are based, largely, on the ratio of their high school graduates who go on to attend college. The higher this ratio gets, the higher the school ranking. But in our voucher-less, choiceless system, the home values within a district are tied to how highly the school is ranked. Further, the resources available to a school are based on the property taxes collected within the school district. This is a self-reinforcing system. A higher college attendance ratio means a higher school rank which means higher property values which means more money for the school. The system, and therefore the guidance counsellors themselves, are effectively paid to inflate college entrance rates by any means necessary. From this system emerges “go get a degree, doesn’t matter what it’s in, it will pay for itself.” And the degrees in (fillintheblank) “Studies” of no useful commercial value skyrocket, and along with those degrees, the student loan debt.
Colleges began to adapt to this system in the 1990s. For decades the dorms were bunk beds, the classrooms were brick, the labs were dingy, the library dusty, and the life of a college student was generally poor. But when suddenly everyone has all the money they need to go to wherever they’d like to go (“we promise it will pay for itself”) the colleges begin competing for attendance with huge capital outlays. Dorms like upscale condos. Athletic facilities like health clubs. They also ballooned their enrollments, and instituted new academic policies based not on weeding out the bad students, but keeping them enrolled as long as possible so they can extract more money (debt) from them. The academic standards themselves changed. I saw this first-hand, when I taught as an adjunct and was prohibited from failing students I caught cheating.
And everyone spends a quarter million dollars’ worth of debt for a piece of paper they’ll be paying off until they’re forty.
But remember the college is fundamentally just a hiring signal for your first job. That’s it. Whenever a comparable hiring signal appears in the marketplace that employers will accept, which is obtainable on the cheap, the next generation is going to bail on the university system completely and those behemoth colleges are going to become bankrupt ghost towns.
The first inkling of this, in my mind, was Georgia Tech’s online Masters of Information Systems. When it was piloted, there were other top tier universities who would allow you to attend classes online, but not for a degree. When GT decided “fuck it, let’s sell the degrees too” it was the first top shelf university I’m aware of to make the pivot. Now they have a dozen such programs, and other universities are following suit. The unfortunate truth about college education is that in-person lectures are only about 10% to 20% more effective at educating your students than lectures on YouTube. They’re definitely more effective, but the cost isn’t worth the difference.
But weren’t we talking about coronavirus? This is an article about coronavirus, right?
The process of online-ify-ing college was inevitable, and probably going to take a long time to complete, turning the behemoth universities into ghost towns over a decade or more. COVID-19 is forcing them all to innovate immediately. Classes which weren’t online have become instantly online, and everyone from the top down is going to see first-hand how outmoded the current educational business model is. The time clock for the death of college is no longer decades, it’s years. At UC Berkeley Physics, it’s now. Ham Radio Engage:
The millennials will still be stuck with their debt. The post-millennials, however, are going to end up with the option to avoid it almost entirely. Going forward, this is going to be a tremendous boon to the economy. Student loan borrowers between the ages of 25 and 34 hold almost half a trillion dollars of debt, which is basically economically useless. Not accruing this debt is an economic boon very similar to a half a trillion-dollar stimulus over a decade that Generation Z is going to realize and capitalize on. Thanks, COVID-19.
Add It Up
Some of these sorts of trends I’m outlying in this article were probably destined to happen regardless, albeit on longer time scales. COVID-19 is forcing everyone’s hand at once, forcing change to react to environmental stimuli that didn’t exist before. If we add these up, we get $632B + $440B + $500B = 1.5 trillion dollars of stimulus effect over the decade following the coronavirus epidemic, should it play out like we think it may. This is almost ten times the size of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, following the mortgage backed securities crash. It would be like getting a new version of that law hit the economy once per year, every year for a decade. And many of these benefits will play out even if the epidemic doesn’t turn out to be that bad. For the “death of brick and mortar universities” benefit and the “telecommuting” benefit, we only really needed the fear of epidemic to drive them. Further, some of these effects would be much more effective, overall, at stimulating the economy because they are directly related to making the economy more efficient, instead of simply throwing money at the current system.
Am I over-stating this? Quite possibly. This is just some back of the envelope math on a Friday morning while I juggle my schedule to deal with school closures. But even if you go back and correct it with the most conservative assumptions possible, the conclusions are similar. It’s undeniable that the economy is going to take a huge hit from lack of productivity while we hunker down during this thing, but the efficiencies and benefits coming out the back end of it are likely going to be palatable, if difficult to measure directly. | https://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/the-long-term-economic-benefits-of-a-deadly-epidemic-dea1606ac68e | ['Bj Campbell'] | 2020-03-13 15:18:06.402000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Co Vid 19', 'Economics', 'Forecasting', 'Random'] |
Gay Husband, Straight Wife: Can It Work? | LGBTQIA/Relationships/Family
Gay Husband, Straight Wife: Can It Work?
Perhaps some people can contain their same-sex attractions, but at what cost?
Photo: Stetsic/25051445/DepositPhoto.com
Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people come out years after they have been married to an opposite-sex heterosexual wife or husband.
Often enough people have asked me with some skepticism, “How could you not know you were gay?” I used to wonder that myself. Then there’s the follow-up question, “Weren’t you hiding behind your wife?”
I guess you could say I was in a “mixed-orientation relationship” (MOR) for eighteen years. But neither my wife nor I knew that we were. When my wife and I divorced, we were homo-naive. I don’t remember others talking about MORs until much more recently.
Some people don’t believe a person can be gay and remain in a heterosexual marriage. Or they ask, “Why would you?” Others condemn those in MORs for promulgating the idea that gay men and women can change.
My story about the loneliness gay men feel in MORs prompted this comment:
If these so called “Mature” men had BALLS!!! They wouldn’t have found themselves in the situation. LOSERS, thats what they are & selfish. They hurt other people because their dishonesty with themselves & others.
I’ve grown inured to it.
People who make these comments can’t imagine the culture of the 1950–60s. Men and women (especially men), even if only accused of being “homosexual,” could be sent to a state mental institution “to remain until cured.”
In medical school, I studied “homosexuality” as a “pathologic deviancy.” We feared being locked up or thrown out of a profession on a morals charge.
As difficult as it is for young gay people to imagine that world, it is equally difficult for me to visualize today’s world. It is difficult, for example, for older gay people to understand that medical students put “he/him,” “she/her,” and “they/them” on their name tags to remind people of their gender pronouns.
I’m not proud that I lied about being gay, but it is evident to me now why I lied, even to myself. I know I hurt people in the process, people I loved and still love. Like many gay people, I didn’t want to want what I wanted.
One of the biggest hurdles I needed to leap was my mother’s belief that I would go to hell. She was a woman of strong faith, and her minister counseled her that she would not see me in heaven.
But the threats I felt are not an anachronism. I hear from so many men who feel threatened; some are convinced that acting on same-sex attraction could lead to their deaths. It happens in Falluja and Baghdad but also in Iowa and Utah. Even in progressive urban environments, people struggle with these fears.
Some ask, “Why don’t you leave then?” Most of them want to. For many, it is impossible. For others, it means giving up the life they have known for one they can’t conceive. Those with a strong religious faith fear eternal damnation. Suspending the values you’ve been taught isn’t without pain.
One wrote, “Don’t I have a right to want what everyone else wants?” Many of these gay people ache for just one person in their life with whom they can be genuine and authentic. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/gay-husband-straight-wife-can-it-work-f310fd5fabc6 | ['Loren A Olson Md'] | 2020-12-18 16:00:04.697000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Equality', 'Religion', 'Family', 'Psychology'] |
If Bats Perish, Where Does That Leave Us? | If Bats Perish, Where Does That Leave Us?
Scientists scramble as a fatal fungus finally reaches a major bat sanctuary
Credit: Purestock/Getty Images
Everyone is worried about the bats. There are so many species with so many characteristics, and yet one disease is killing so many of them. It’s called white-nose syndrome, so named because it leads to the appearance of a white fungus — Pseudogymnoascus destructans (PD) — around a bat’s little nostrils. North American bats are dying in droves — so many, in fact, that scientists don’t have an exact number. In 2012, an estimated 6.7 million bats had died from white-nose syndrome. It’s undoubtedly much worse than that now.
Across the country, scientists decontaminate their gear in an attempt to keep it from spreading. In the winter, when the bats hibernate, these researchers sneak into their caves and stretch long, sterilized swabs — highly technical Q-tips — up toward their soft bodies. Gently, they rub the swabs on the bats’ faces and wings as the animals sleep. Then, the scientists take the swabs back to the lab for a genetic analysis, and if they’re religious, they pray.
They’ve carried out this grim ritual in Texas since 2012. For a few years, as the disease spread from New York down the Eastern Seaboard and eventually westward, the Texas bats were safe. But in 2017, a test finally came back positive in the Texas panhandle. Since then, the fungus everyone fears has jumped around. What was six infected counties in 2017 became 10 in 2018. The number now sits at 21.
Nonprofit Bat Conservation International now reports that early signs of the fungus have been detected at Bracken Cave near San Antonio, the largest bat colony in the world and home to some 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats.
Credit: Jonathan Mays, Wildlife Biologist, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
“It is one of the most major conservation crises in North America,” says Winifred Frick, the chief scientist for Bat Conservation International. “I usually just emphasize ‘millions,’ as that is about the level of precision we have and is impressive even if imprecise,” Frick says. Scientists have not released a new estimate of American bats lost since 2012.
“Worst-case scenario is that we’re in a Typhoid Mary situation.”
The spread to Texas in particular is concerning because it’s a pivotal location where bats from Eastern North America and Western North America meet. “The Southeast has the highest species richness of bats,” she says. “We’re quite concerned about the kind of impact [white-nose syndrome’s] presence in Texas could have.”
The news of PD fungus reaching Bracken Cave is concerning mainly because Texas has the highest diversity of bats of any state. Thirty-three of the 47 North American bat species live in Texas, and Bracken Cave is a home for Mexican free-tailed bats, which do not hibernate. But they do travel as far south as Chile and far north in Canada. What is already an epidemic could be heightened by the fungus’s presence here. The bats could pick up PD in Bracken and spread it elsewhere.
“Worst-case scenario is that we’re in a Typhoid Mary situation,” says Jonah Evans, mammalogist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. | https://onezero.medium.com/the-end-of-bats-could-be-closer-than-you-think-787697348425 | ['Kelsey Mckinney'] | 2019-05-22 16:03:55.086000+00:00 | ['Bats', 'Nature', 'Ecosystem', 'Science And Medicine', 'Environment'] |
Linear Regression — Basics that every ML enthusiast should know | Even after the development of more complex and powerful ML algorithms in recent times, linear regression is still hard to beat because of its versatility, robustness, and simplicity.
Linear regression was originally developed in the field of statistics and is studied as a model for understanding the relationship between input and output numerical variables, but has been borrowed by ML. Now, it is classified both as a statistical algorithm and a machine learning algorithm.
When there is a single input variable, the model is called simple linear regression and when there are multiple input variables, the method is known as multiple linear regression.
Linear Regression Graph ( Source: http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/BS/R/R5_Correlation-Regression/R5_Correlation-Regression_print.html)
Representation
Linear regression is represented by a linear equation that combines a set of input values (x) to the predicted output for that set of input values (y) where both x and y are numeric. (OBVIOUSLY!) This linear equation assigns a factor to each input value, known as coefficient (B). One coefficient is also added to give the line an additional degree of freedom (e.g. moving up and down on a two-dimensional plot) and is known as the bias coefficient.
In a simple regression model, the representation would be:
y = B0 + B1*x
It represents a simple line. But in higher dimensions when we have more than one input values, this line is called a plane represented by:
y=B0 + B1*x1+B2*x2+B3*x3
y is also called dependent variable whereas x’s are known as independent variables.
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)
In linear regression, you need to find the equation of the line that best fits your data. But now the question is “HOW?”
The best-fit line can be attained by minimizing the sum of the squared difference between the data points and the regression line. This is called Ordinary Least Squares (OLS).
That means, we need to
find the values for B0 and B1 that minimizes the sum of squared errors where squared error for observation i can be calculated by using the given formula:
(yi - (B0 + B1*xi))^2
And the sum of squared error is just the sum of
(yi - (B0 + B1*xi))^2 for all observations.
This approach treats the data as a matrix and uses linear algebra operations to estimate the optimal values for the coefficients. It means that all of the data must be available and you must have enough memory to fit the data and perform matrix operations.
Gradient Descent
When there are one or more inputs, we can use a process of optimizing the values of the coefficients by iteratively minimizing the error on the training data. This operation is called Gradient Descent.
In this, we start with random values for each coefficient and then the sum of the squared errors is calculated for each pair of input and output values. A learning rate is used as a scale factor and the coefficients are updated in the direction towards minimizing the error. The process is repeated until a minimum sum squared error is achieved or no further improvement is possible. When using this method, a learning rate (alpha) parameter is selected that determines the size of the improvement step to take on each iteration.
Regularization
Regularization minimizes the sum of the squared error of the model on the training data and also reduces the complexity of the model (like the number or absolute size of the sum of all coefficients in the model).
Two popular examples of regularization procedures for linear regression are:
Lasso Regression: where Ordinary Least Squares is modified to also minimize the absolute sum of the coefficients (called L1 regularization).
Ridge Regression: where Ordinary Least Squares is modified to also minimize the squared absolute sum of the coefficients (called L2 regularization).
These methods are effective to use when there is collinearity in your input values and ordinary least squares would overfit the training data.
Outliers and Influential Observations
After a regression line has been computed for a group of data, a point which lies far from the line is known as an outlier. Such points may represent erroneous data, or may indicate a poorly fitting regression line.
If a point lies far from the other data in the horizontal direction, it is known as an influential observation. The reason for this distinction is that these points have may have a significant impact on the slope of the regression line.
Metrics for model evaluation
R-Squared value
This value ranges from 0 to 1. Value ‘1’ indicates predictor perfectly accounts for all the variation in y. Value ‘0’ indicates that predictor ‘x’ accounts for no variation in ‘y’.
R^2 = 1 - (residual sum of squares / total sum of squares)
1. Regression sum of squares (SSR)
This gives information about how far estimated regression line is from the horizontal ‘no relationship’ line (average of actual output).
2. Sum of Squared error (SSE)
This tells us about how much the target value varies around the regression line .
3. Total sum of squares (SSTO)
This tells how much the data point move around the mean.
Conclusion
Linear Regression is the easy to understand and easiest to pick up algorithm. We have Ordinary Least Mean Square, Gradient descent and regularization techniques to find the line that best fits our data. We also discussed various metrics that are used in linear regression. | https://medium.com/ai-in-plain-english/linear-regression-basics-that-every-ml-enthusiast-should-know-a3ecb6070d99 | ['Aditi Mittal'] | 2020-12-26 09:23:47.331000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Linear Regression', 'Mathematics', 'Statistics', 'AI'] |
5 Ways to Make Your Life Better (Inspired by Queer Eye) | Make a change to your wardrobe.
“I couldn’t give a sh*t about fashion. Style is dressing the way that you feel confident and what is appropriate for you, your age, body type.” — Tan France
As much as I wish I had Tan France picking out styles for me and telling me how much more confident I look in them, I instead have a Pinterest board, online shopping, and myself.
Tan’s approach to style in the show is to take inspiration both from what the hero currently wears and they’re fashion icon. He then uses his fashion know-how to find simple pieces that blend together and fit nicely on the hero. I combined Tan’s approach with a minimalist approach.
In terms of sorting out my wardrobe, I didn’t want an entirely new one. That would be expensive and it wouldn’t be a ‘make better’, it would be a ‘makeover’. Instead, I sorted my clothes into three piles; what I wear day-to-day, what I love wearing but need to replace (because it’s damaged or old), and what I don’t wear (which can be given away to a charity shop). Of course, there are some items that I need to keep as they’re for specific activities — namely interview clothing and snowboarding gear. Overall, I managed to halve my wardrobe using this technique.
Creating a Pinterest board to understand what kind of style I like (and using the board for inspiration) has been a lifesaver for me. Well, maybe that’s a bit of an extreme statement: it’s been beyond helpful to understand what kind of clothing and styles I would like to achieve going forward. It has helped me to hone my style so that I now look more put-together day-to-day.
If you want to change up your wardrobe, I highly recommend giving your current one a clear-out and in the meanwhile start pinning outfits that you like so that you can be more intentional with what you buy in the future. I may be a tomboy at heart but I have been thoroughly enjoying the fashion side of this ‘Queer Eyeing’ project! | https://medium.com/the-ascent/5-ways-to-make-your-life-better-inspired-by-queer-eye-418819095bde | ['Katie Sheps'] | 2020-11-01 22:02:15.584000+00:00 | ['Queer Eye', 'Mental Health', 'Inspiration', 'TV Shows', 'Self Improvement'] |
An Ode to the Fish Markets of the World | An Ode to the Fish Markets of the World
Fish markets are the noisy, colorful, exiting, authentic and lively centers of any coastal city, the place where mongers and customers, tourists and workers, auctioneers and bidders go to trade in the bounty of the sea. This week we celebrate the allure of such places of commerce and connection, and their place in history and modern life.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Wherever I go, I am drawn to fish markets. Whether they be street stalls, neighborhood stores, city markets, or even the counters at supermarkets, I am inevitably attracted by the actuality of such places, the variety, color, and strangeness of the species, and the special beauty of life, lost life, and life enhanced by gifts from the sea.
Markets are typically animated by fishmongers, often immigrants, who bring to the place a social vitality derived from the old country: recipes, customs, and a certain animation and colorful exchange between workers, customers, and tourists. It amazes me how markets are so lively, even as surrounded by catch that is not really dead, but paused in waiting to serve us with life in a wonderful circle of natural reciprocity. Markets also evince the authenticity of work, hard work, dangerous work, by people often far away in places as foreign as the fish themselves. There is truth there, a challenge by a world so stark and different from the gloss and ease and normality of our privileged lives, so separated and protected from such distant reality. Markets are foreign, nurturing, exciting, connecting — this latter is their very purpose, to connect the world though the beneficence of marine life.
Hong Kong
I was for twenty years the surrogate landlord for the Fulton Fish Market in New York City. As president of the South Street Seaport Museum and Development Corporation, the first line relationship between the market and city government passed through me and required that I work daily with the wholesalers and distributors, loaders and unloaders, to maintain the operational efficiency of a market that was itself an historical artifact, both in its overnight iteration and its business practice. I lived in the Seaport District and the market was right outside my door. My children would pass through it in the early morning on their way to school. I would sometimes walk out into the market in the after-midnight hours to experience it and try to understand how it worked and what it meant for the welfare of a vast urban community that consumed fish in enormous amounts, harvested and distributed from all around the world. I would meet the market leaders at Carmine’s, the local bar that catered to their nighttime hours, to discuss problems and changes. It was the end of their workday, and I shared with them eggs and rye, their dinner, my breakfast.
In the past year I have visited markets in Lisbon, Portugal; Santiago, Chile; Nuuk, Greenland, and Tokyo, Japan, among others. The new Toyusu Market in Tokyo, a modern replacement of the very colorful Tsukiji Market that had served that city, that international exchange, forever, was designed to maximize access, operational utility, and working conditions with new systems, distribution structures, and health conditions. What the old facility lacked in organization, condition, color, and historical romance is now transcended by cleanliness, efficiency, and economy.
Tokyo, Japan
But still, when you attend the auctions, the old ways are evident: the mysterious hand gestures of the bidders, the frantic speed of transaction, and the understood accountability for each transaction. The individual stalls of buyers and sellers are still there, the ancient methods of cutting the fish remain, the perfect beauty of skilled hand and long knife cutting a tuna into perfect, deep red, small sculptural sections. The presentation of products has been dramatically modernized with vacuum packaging and aerated containers to protect the freshness and transportation beyond — whether to the sushi restaurant next door or the market 3,000 miles away.
Recently in my market here in Maine, I found a container of smoked mussels from Japan. Even though we have a similar product here, I bought these to discover extraordinary quality: plump meat, lightly smoked, sweetly brined. The same company also offered a package of tiny minnow fish, perfectly salted and dried. There is a saying that when a Japanese looks into a bowl of rice, she sees the shadow of each grain. Every grain among thousands. Think about those single mussels and single minnows among millions. Where did they come from? How were they caught and processed? How did they find their way from Asian catch to an Atlantic table? Each was perfect in itself; like the clarity of those grains of rice, each was once free, only to find its way to my dinner last night.
It is, by all explanation, inexplicable that one small fish taken from so far away is there to serve me, to sustain me, to share with me all the implications of engagement with the sea. Truth is in each single fish everywhere. It is a gift to us all through an ocean of giving.
PETER NEILL is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory and is author of The Once and Future Ocean: Notes Toward a New Hydraulic Society. He is also the host of World Ocean Radio upon which this blog is inspired. | https://thew2o.medium.com/an-ode-to-the-fish-markets-of-the-world-df207eab817b | ['World Ocean Observatory'] | 2019-11-19 17:13:19.803000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Fisheries', 'Commerce', 'Oceans', 'Environment'] |
My manager experience about remote work | Working from home has some drawbacks but a lot of benefits for you… and your company!
A bit of context
In less than one year we grew from 30 to more than 60 people in R&D with 5 full-time remote workers and the rest of the R&D being able to work remotely as much as they want.
If you join our teams, you can be in one of these two modes:
either you are a full-remote worker
or you work at the office
If you are a full-remote worker
It means that you are an engineer living at home. You come at the office once a month, two to three days, to meet with the rest of the team. Of course the company pays for your travel and hotel.
If you work at the office
When you work in our buildings, you can enjoy as many remote days as you need or want every week. You don’t need to explain why. You just have to fill a remote day in the administrative tool linked with our calendars so that everybody knows where to join you. Most likely via Slack then ;-)
The Remote only Manifesto
We use principles coming from the Remote only Manifesto.
They are written in the same way as the Agile Manifesto so the same golden rule applies which is:
don’t forget that the right part after the over (or instead) keyword, it’s important enough to be written down.
In the following, we will not necessarily browse the principles from the manifesto in order but we are going to do some poking around.
Overall organization in a remote friendly company
The first principle that got our attention was “Hiring and working from all over the world instead of from a central location”.
It is maybe the hardest principle to execute when you come from a company where the whole team was collocated in one single building. But as time passes we are proud to receive more and more people in the team who are full-time remote workers.
Software for collaboration
They work from home everyday so we use basic tools such as Slack, Jira, Google Meet, Confluence… to ensure that every important communication is written down and that you can find it again later, refer to it and discuss it again.
Direct communication that benefits from seeing the other person is done through video calls.
Asynchronous communication
We’re used to asynchronous communication as well as recommended by the third principle “Writing down and recording knowledge over oral explanations” and the seventh “Asynchronous communication over synchronous communication”.
In some cases it could be very useful. Imagine a team composed of people working in different time zones, in this case we will capture the prominent information of our daily scrum meetings in a Slack channel dedicated to this project (and team) so that we ensure everyone can get the knowledge of the day.
Maybe we can still improve ourselves on the recording part. For now we’d rather like to replay the event in person for those who missed it but it’s maybe working thanks to our quite little scale.
Our Slack channels
As Slack is our communication tool for all direct and group conversations we defined some conventions to share meaningful information depending on who you are and what you do in the company.
For example, we have some channels dedicated to some roles (e.g., a channel for front-end discussions), some channels dedicated to a process or a precise topic (e.g., a channel about hiring) but also channels with a general topic shared by almost everyone (e.g., a “funtime” channel to share everything that is funny through the company).
Equipment for communication
Good appliances are a must have for good communication between team mates that are not in the same place.
We chose this kind of equipment that fulfill our needs of having a good sound and a good video for pleasant discussions.
Here are some the appliances that we use with remote people and their use case:
Jabra speakers used for instance for standup meetings.
used for instance for standup meetings. Logitech Conference Cameras used for longer meetings such as for instance Sprint Planning meetings and retrospectives. This is helpful to see people faces hence non verbal communication when you look for solving problems.
used for longer meetings such as for instance Sprint Planning meetings and retrospectives. This is helpful to see people faces hence non verbal communication when you look for solving problems. a Catchbox and bookshelf speakers used when a lot of people run into a meeting for instance for our demos every two weeks where the whole R&D (more than 50 people) attend.
Our own Catchbox
Our ritual of having full-time remote workers come home
Full-time remote workers will come monthly two to three days at the office to meet the team. For us it is healthy to keep a sense of belonging to the team and to create strong synergies and relationships between people.
Of course we ensure that these “onsite” days are useful to people and that they will enjoy seeing others because they will work on same stuff together so that it makes full sense to meet.
Also having the remote guys coming once a month allows us to enjoy hangouts and after works together as well which is a very strong way of bonding a team.
Flexible working hours
The Remote work Manifesto recommends a lot of other things such as having “flexible working hours over set working hours”.
This one is pretty obvious to us.
If you trust your people to work remotely, you should trust them whatever hours they choose to work as well.
Of course this could be mitigated by the need to meet with the team at predefined hours so when it occurs you adapt to this needs. But for the rest of the time the flexibility brought to us by remote work allows everyone to adapt their working hours as needed. This is particularly helpful for everyone.
The most important principle and why it works for us
“The results of work over the hours put in” is the most important principle for us. This is not something that we wait to think after setting remote work but something we truly believe in our day to day work.
Don’t bother people with how many hours they are working, just define together clear expectations and agree on them. This way only results count, not the way you achieve them.
This way of thinking is what I recommend to every manager, this is not only to apply when you set remote work options, this is the way to go as a manager. This is is a key factor to succeed your projects and get your teams thriving plus enjoying their days at work.
Maybe some drawbacks
The real drawback behind remote work is that a few of us notice they work more than less. It’s necessary to define strong rules when you work from home as you will soon be tempted to work all day long. So you need more than never to define your own balance between private and professional life. One of our engineers, Christophe, wrote an excellent article about how to keep an healthy way of working as a remote and avoid overheat.
Of course if you skip some rules, tools or best practices you can suffer from having people in different places and get poor communication and lack of productivity in the end. That’s why I still have a few advice to give that can help managers to build a good framework for remote work to work well below.
Let’s use them with the best practices mentioned previously to thrive with your remote working!
A few advice for managers
If you are a manager and your people want to take remote days, here are some personal advice that I can share:
Trust your people
As I like to say, trust is the gift you should offer first without any critical reasoning. Most of the time, people want to work from home because this is more convenient for them. This could be more convenient for many reasons that I don’t mind but there is one for sure: this allows them to work at most efficiency.
Strengthen your management skills
Managing full-remote workers or people having only a few days working from home will help you answer questions as to your management style, the way you foster relationships, how you create and maintain them, how you build trust and rapport with your team mates, ensure you set together measurable goals… This is all good to improve your management skills.
Communicate the framework
The framework consists of all the rules that will allow your company to work properly with remote workers.
You will probably not define it yourself and it will mostly come from a shared vision with your team. But in the end, this is your role to ensure that the framework is known by everybody in the team, everybody who joins the company, and that the rules are updated each time we find that a new way of doing things is a good solution for our current lifetime.
Take time to do 1:1 with your full-time remote workers
Even if your full-time remote workers are not your direct reports but skip levels, I would advise you to take time to see them in one on ones regularly.
This is very important to foster the relationship between them and you (and the company) but a lot of articles are specialized on the topic and I won’t detail here.
Continuous learning is key everywhere, hence here as well
Continuous learning, Plan Do Check Act,… and the whole mindset around applies here as they apply in the rest of your work.
It’s always a good thing when you add a new way of working with your remote workers to test it for a short period, assess it with the team and adapt it as needed and so fort…
Our “Work from anywhere” week
This year we also did what we called a “Work from anywhere week”. It was a whole company event that aimed at improving our way of working together whichever the conditions.
The goals of the week were written like so:
“We want to keep asking how to be better, keep listening to each other, keep acknowledging our weak spots and improving them while we play to our strengths…”
So we got engineers working from everywhere! While one was in Sicilia, another one was in Russia, another one in Norway… some of them rent a home together somewhere else in France. That made more complex our abilities to work together because for the first time we got almost all people alone and somewhere in a different location.
The result was great though and most of the teams loved it! To ensure that it works well, we prepared it a bit more than a regular week. Each team sets themselves KPI on what they wanted to achieve during this week. That was really helpful because it gave the whole company a rhythm and a possibility to see what changed on a daily basis.
In the end we even felt that we sometimes achieved more than in a regular week! | https://medium.com/synthesio-engineering/my-manager-experience-about-remote-work-10997f6aece | [] | 2020-11-29 17:30:58.113000+00:00 | ['Culture Change', 'Remote Working', 'Software Engineering', 'Remote Work', 'Engineering Culture'] |
Can we talk about this UX writing thing? | Can we talk about this UX writing thing?
Not all design teams are talking about it. Maybe we should be.
If you work in design, you have probably noticed the tide of ‘UX writing’ jobs in the last couple of years. Google, Dropbox, Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and the list goes on.
Every tech giant on the planet is hiring, and it’s been that way for a while. There’s been lots written about this over the last year or two that effectively answers the question “So what is it?”
That’s not what this is about.
This is about the rest of us. The people, and teams, on the other side. Those that work for companies like banks, telcos, consumer products, retailers, the government.
Places where the skillset is crucial, but nobody is really talking about it. It’s not technically a job.
What should designers think?
How can we make it work?
But we have a writer!
Marketing vs. Product — why it’s different
Content can mean anything. In the business world is most often used to describe marketing materials: copy for campaign pages, content marketing blogs, videos, white papers, social media, editorial content, and so on. If you have worked as a copywriter long enough, at some point or another you’ve probably done it all.
UX-driven product writing is NOT marketing copy. I’m talking about interface content. Interaction flows, native apps, product tours, self-serve dashboards, error states, notifications, menus, navigational elements, labels, buttons, links, chatbots….you know, all the little parts of digital product design that have words. And they matter. The shift in the industry is proof of that.
The thought process for these kinds of things is different. If the person providing copy for these interactions doesn’t have a very solid understanding of UX, or doesn’t take the time to think about how and why a system behaves in the way it does, the end result will fall flat.
Trust me, there is nothing more humbling than going through user testing and watching the words you thought were infinitely clear go right over somebody’s head.
Or not get seen at all.
Or not even address the right use case.
Writers are communicators. We like to think that’s our forte. Not always that simple.
There is not a business on the planet without some sort of interactive experience or transaction. All of it requires language to communicate with users. This is, de facto, ‘UX writing’, and it’s nothing new.
It makes sense that large tech companies can specifically build teams dedicated to this intersection of technology and communication and design.
OK…so what about the rest of us?
I’m Canadian. There aren’t a lot of ‘UX writing’ teams around yet. But there are experiences, and products, and they all need content. So companies hire writers. I was this person for a long time.
There are a few major problems I see pretty consistently…
1. Writers aren’t taught the right things
One of the first things you learn as a copywriter is that insights and ideas are your currency. It’s still a paramount principle for product.
There’s also a lot more to it.
In retrospect, I was ill-equipped when I first started working with product. I would attend daily scrums and nod politely, then head back to my desk and quietly Google whatever had just been discussed. I armed myself with knowledge, devouring books and blogs about usability, interaction design, and e-commerce. I started working on UX teams. Every design review, every critique, every round of user testing, every iteration: all of it was beneficial.
Most writers aren’t taught this stuff. That’s a huge miss.
2. Content means everything
Being the token “word person” often means there is a mountain of writing-related work that lands on your plate. I spend a lot of time doing things that have nothing at all to do with copywriting or experiences or products. It’s inevitable. I don’t mind to a point.
But too much noise dulls creativity.
I see it happen all the time. Nobody pushes for better. Standards get low.
3. Language comes last
I’m very used to receiving a design or product that’s done with a request to “do the copy” or “make it sound better.” This is normal.
Of course you can take control of your own work, front-ending yourself in the right projects, building relationships, proving your value. As one person, it only takes you so far.
It’s infinitely easier if you work as part of a design team, or when writers and designers have the same creative lead. Sounds obvious, but it’s not always the way things are done.
For reasons that are political, or process-driven, or personality clashes, or simply due to a lack of resources, content is an afterthought. | https://uxdesign.cc/can-we-talk-about-this-ux-writing-thing-96e9dcce3e76 | ['Christina Bruce'] | 2019-01-11 23:55:18.499000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Design', 'Ux Writing', 'User Experience', 'UX'] |
Five Projects That Will Give You a Good Grasp on Computer Vision | Five Projects That Will Give You a Good Grasp on Computer Vision
Complete python tutorials that will help cement some of the most important CV concepts if you go through them
Photo by Matt Noble on Unsplash
Hello Internet! In this article, I’ve collated five computer vision online tutorials that anyone can easily follow through and learn from. I personally think that learning theoretical knowledge is sometimes too mundane and building mini side projects can be a great way to supplement one’s learning.
Many online tutorials or projects that I’ve gone through often only teach a portion of the entire project and you’ll often have to reference other materials to make the project work as a whole. That’s why, the following few tutorials I’ve collated are all suitable for beginners as each project will work in its entirety.
That being said, please feel free to leave a comment here (or in their original articles) if you run into problems and want some extra help! :) | https://towardsdatascience.com/five-projects-that-will-give-you-a-good-grasp-on-computer-vision-247c81f3575a | ['Ran', 'Reine'] | 2020-12-27 04:30:10.460000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Software Development', 'Computer Vision', 'Deep Learning'] |
Museum of Natural History Moves Forward on $325 Million Expansion | Museum of Natural History Moves Forward on $325 Million Expansion
Landmarks commission approves hotly contested plan for construction.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved Tuesday a $325 million proposal for The American Museum of Natural History to remake its Columbus Avenue wing.
When plans for the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation were first announced in 2014, community members expressed passionate concern that the neighboring Theodore Roosevelt Park would be compromised. Studio Gang, the design team headed by Jeanne Gang, responded by collaborating with local residents to limit intrusion on the green space. The revised proposal calls for the demolition of three existing, non-historic buildings with the intent of limiting 80 percent of the expansion’s footprint to current museum land.
Museum President Ellen Futter advocated for the Gilder Center as a valuable source of STEM education for the city’s students. “Science education in our country is in crisis,” she said.
Mike Novaceck, provost of science for the museum, echoed this sentiment and explained that the demands of science and education have changed greatly since the museum was founded 150 years ago. The Gilder Center, he hopes, will provide a jolt of modernity to the mostly Victorian complex. Along with educational facilities, the new building will house many of the museum’s 33 million specimens and provide workspace for hundreds of resident research scientists.
While the Gilder Center departs markedly from the architecture of the 1874 master plan, it does complete the system of corridors as initially envisioned. Today’s visitors often find themselves trapped in bewildering and frustrating dead-ends, the result of incremental expansions that failed to unite the building.
For all that would be gained, the museum made no secret of what would be lost: a quarter of an acre and seven trees from one of the city’s oldest and most beloved parks.
Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer blessed the project while expressing sympathy with the dissenters. “I’m a tree hugger,” she said. “You all know me. I like old bricks and old buildings.” In the end, though, Brewer endorsed what she called a “sensitive and considerate end product.”
Members of the Defenders of Teddy Roosevelt Park and the Community United to Protect Theodore Roosevelt Park acknowledged that progress had been made but felt that more could be done to protect the public grounds. Stuart Blumin of the Defenders insisted the project be thought of as a “museum within a park” and lamented the building’s imposing facade. Others commented on the architectural execution and questioned the appropriateness of certain materials when executed at scale.
Blessing from the Landmarks Commission comes on the heels of approval from Community Board 7, which represents the interests of Upper West Side residents and institutions. The museum’s next major hurdle will come in 2017 with a Parks Department hearing centered on the center’s environmental impact.
If all goes according to plan, the expansion will break ground next year with an expected completion date of 2020. | https://medium.com/upstartcity/museum-of-natural-history-moves-forward-on-325-million-expansion-285a524a3249 | ['James Thorne'] | 2016-10-13 19:01:02.168000+00:00 | ['Architecture', 'Science', 'Breaking News', 'Museums', 'New York City'] |
How To Use Infographics To Get A 10X Return On Your Content Marketing Strategy | After all, what about all the people that prefer reading the content of a text slowly and carefully while turning around and claiming that their comprehension is deeper? What about the auditory or kinesthetic learners, are they just chopped liver
As it turns out, there’s a body of reliable proof around this phenomenon of visual aids and their impact and role in mediating quick and comprehensive understanding for readers.
There is a wide body of research that suggests that the use of attractive and interesting visual aids has significant benefits towards our ability to retrieve information from our memory as well as to remember new information in the first place.
This partially has to do with the way that the brain allocates its resources. Which is to say that the brain’s sensory cortex is dedicated and optimized to interpret information around your environment using vision more than it utilizes or prioritizes information from other major senses.
Because of this, images are considered more concrete pieces of information while storing and comprehending words is a more abstract process when communicating those pieces of information to our brain.
Making Use of Infographics
Previously, we’ve just made some observations on the importance of visual aids and their supporting role in mediating comprehension for many people. The rationale behind utilizing infographics follows from the same logic above.
Because people are more likely to retain and remember information that they are shown visually, that implies that making an interesting infographic that summarizes the main points of the text will benefit the interests and retention of the reader significantly.
Further, it is doubly important because blocks of texts that are too long are discouraging if the reader is not a visual learner or if they lose attention easily if there is nothing to grab their visual attention or focus.
The loss of attention stems from the nature of the brain to favor concrete visual information rather than more abstract symbolic information such as words.
The use of infographics resolves this problem because it allows visitors to switch between concrete and abstract modes.
This means that visitors will ideally read content, have their attention drift, refocus on an infographic to guide their understanding, and then return to the content for more details.
The above rationale justifies a basic approach to have an infographic might be designed to improve customer retention and comprehension.
Brief Review of Methods to Create Infographics
Here’s the main point: people are wired as visual learners and infographics fulfill that end in how they help hold the attention of individuals spending time on a site.
So, given the benefits of infographics, how can we capitalize on this format and create successful infographics.
A good place to start is with the use of a number of free tools that are available through any simple Google search.
Entrepreneur has compiled three of the most intuitive (and free!) infographic softwares in order to really help you get a hang of it. These programs will offer you basic insight into the backstage work that’s put into the graphic design of many infographics you see online. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-use-infographics-to-get-a-10x-return-on-your-content-marketing-strategy-aee44b3464bd | ['Richard K. Yu'] | 2018-07-07 00:28:39.040000+00:00 | ['Infographics', 'Marketing', 'Blogging', 'Learning', 'Education'] |
5+ Ways to Rediscover Light After a Loved One Chooses to Leave Life | Early morning September 14, 2016 my 61-year-old brother drove his car to a spot he loved. Nobody knows precisely how he spent his final hours. But we do know that he parked his Kia near the bridge at Bowness Park in Calgary. Evidence suggests he laid back for a while in his reclined seat. Likely contemplating…and struggling.
His diagnosis years before had been Bi-Polar with some Psychosis. Depression and chronic insomnia also plagued him.
As he laid there, he would have watched the night sky fade to light. He would have seen the lush green park against the blue sky.
That last trip to his favourite park had to have been shrouded by darkness. Before the sun rose and shone on him. Before he trudged up to the bridge…climbed up on the rail…
Rachel Pruchno, Ph.D, says “suicide is a scar that doesn’t heal”. (Psychology Today)
But don’t despair. While there is no way to avoid the initial shock, sorrow, guilt — and other emotions we’re bound to feel, there are ways to move beyond them. And to feel happy again.
The Family’s Initial Shock
My family members and I each responded differently. We grieved (and still do) in our own private ways.
My sisters went into automatic pilot as they dealt with the legalities. Closing his bank account, paying bills, moving, cleaning, and selling his car…I heard mainly about their stress associated with those tasks in the weeks following.
Our parents were living in separate Senior Care Facilities. Mom went to be with Dad, who was in final stage dementia, when she heard the news. They just held each other and sobbed.
Then Mom just closed down…didn’t address her grief. She repeatedly said Duane was in a better place. That he was released from pain.
Our dad reacted with deep sorrow followed by anger and confusion. By the sixth week, however, something remarkable happened. He reached out to each of his daughters. Gently he asked how we were coping with the loss of our brother. He took initiative to see that we three daughters were alright. He said repeatedly, “we’ll get through this as a family”.
The primary emotion that washed over me was guilt. A tremendous sense of guilt for not reaching out to my troubled brother more.
Above all, sadness was the common denominator among our surviving family members. And all of us except Dad felt a certain relief for Duane. That he was finally at peace…freed from pain.
Dad just couldn’t accept that his son took his life. He could barely think or feel anything beyond deep sadness and confusion.
Remember the Good Times
It sounds cliche, but this sagely advice can greatly contribute to your healing.
Honour your late loved one by reliving happy moments you shared with him or her. Or even those moments that you didn’t experience, but heard about your loved one experiencing.
The first memory that came to mind after Duane died was of our childhood Christmas Eves.
Duane would let me sleep in his bedroom. Then we got up together before dawn on Christmas morning. Tiptoed to the tree to discover together what Santa had left.
I had to sleep on his floor those nights. Even so, I felt privileged to be with my big brother! Thrilled that he even let me in his room at all!
What I remembered most about those times was how Duane rigged up a contraption to flick the light switch on and off while laying in bed.
He simply tied one end of a long piece of string to the switch and placed the opposite end by his bed. To my young mind it was a brilliant invention…by my big brother, the genius inventor.
5 Plus Ways to Kickstart Your Healing
In the early days of your loss, every moment seems cloaked in darkness. But the darkness eventually lifts to make way for the light again. If you or someone you know is stuck in the darkness, try one or more of these strategies.
• Laughter — Try to recall comic, fun, or simply pleasant times together.
• Photographs — Look at old photos. Ask family and friends to send photos you don’t have. I still keep a picture of my brother when he was happy on my fridge 6 months after he took his life.
• Create Meaningful Objects — Some people make quilts with clothes that belonged to their late loved one.
• Write — The process of writing can be cathartic. Stories, journals, and letters written to your loved one can facilitate your healing.
• Physical Activity — This could be by way of yoga, dancing, martial arts, working out at the gym, or simply vigorous walking.
I’ve discovered something else that helps me. I keep a highly valued possession of his close to me.
Duane played guitar, piano…and harmonica. In fact, he seldom went anywhere without one of the dozen or so harmonicas he owned. He played it so passionately it became his voice.
So when my sister mailed me one of these — complete with finger print smudges and lint in every nook and cranny — I felt part of him was back.
It was in my favourite coat pocket for at least a year. Finally I created a small shrine for Duane and dad in my home office. The harmonica sits there by my brother’s photo. Sounds far fetched, but when I wrap my fingers around that harmonica, he is there with me.
Finally, be patient. Try one or more of these 5+ kickstarters. And know you can rediscover light after your loved one chooses to leave this life. | https://medium.com/illumination/5-ways-to-rediscover-light-after-a-loved-one-chooses-to-leave-life-84d024f50f77 | ['Lee Nourse'] | 2020-07-11 10:51:40.733000+00:00 | ['Suicide', 'Relationships', 'Mental Health', 'Happiness', 'Grief And Loss'] |
Top 8 web design trends | I've collected everything that surprised me over the year in the visual web design landscape, summarized it, and ambitiously listed as “Top 8 web design trends”. Some of the trends have been kicking all over the internet for quite a long time, some — just dipping it’s toe to the water, and some, I think, will preserve their vogue in 2021 and later.
1. Emotions everywhere 😌
From our daily messaging platforms emojis successfully transmitted to user interfaces. Highly used in buttons, modals, feedback reviews, or replacing icons, emojis can evoke a sense of familiarity, positive emotions, and can raise the spirits.
If you are bored of using the same photo profile pictures on your team web page — try a fun way to represent yourself, your team, or your user persona — generate a custom cartoon avatar. It looks appealing and may help connect with your audience instantly. Try iPhone memoji generator or bitmoji for that purpose.
If you need a particular animoji or emoji from different platforms, you can find them all in a comprehensive emoji library — emojipedia. | https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/top-8-web-design-trends-14fb90101426 | [] | 2020-10-09 22:59:42.664000+00:00 | ['UI', 'Design', 'Web', 'Trends', 'Graphic Design'] |
6 Incredible Self-Care Tips You Can Apply Quickly | I started this year on a high. With some incredible plans ahead of me, I could only see a year full of possibilities and potential.
However, the pandemic hit India in March. Since then, all of us have been more or less shut inside our homes, with nothing to stare at all day long except the four walls.
In such a situation, I found it challenging to take care of my day job, my studies, and my writing. On several days, I felt burned out, so exhausted, that I had to drag myself out from my chair, collapse on the bed, and fall into a disturbed sleep.
It was a struggle, but I survived.
If there is one lesson I have learned from the tough times, it is this: hustling for your goals is essential, but caring for your mind and body is more important than anything else.
I am fortunate that I learned this lesson sooner and saved hundreds of hours I might have stumbled on and on for, without achieving significant results.
The outcome has been encouraging. I find myself in a better, more positive mood on most days. I have been told that my optimism is infectious, and I have been inadvertently spreading joy and positivity to the people around me. By aligning my self-care routine with my goals, I have also been able to achieve better results both at work and in my studies and writing.
After introspecting on the growth I have achieved in the personal front, I have come up with six incredibly simple acts of self-care that you can incorporate in your daily life. If you apply these daily, you will not only be more cheerful and jovial but also start seeing fantastic results in your work and side hustle. | https://medium.com/publishous/6-incredible-self-care-tips-you-can-apply-quickly-beb8a76c1657 | ['Anangsha Alammyan'] | 2020-09-07 12:58:27.196000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Mental Health', 'Ideas', 'Self Improvement', 'Self Care'] |
What does Brexit Mean for UK’s Digital Marketing Industry? | Let’s take a closer look at Brexit with its opportunities and challenges for the digital marketing industry.
As of December 31, 2020, the transition period will end. The government continues to work to ease the pain of the process. One of the areas that will be affected by this transition is the UK’s digital marketing industry, which we will examine in detail below.
Although leaving the European Union is a much-debated radical decision, we will not dwell on it here. Of course, this will have both positive and negative effects on the sectors. However, what matters is how much we can benefit from positive effects and how much we can turn negative effects on opportunities. Let’s examine the effects and opportunities of Brexit on the digital marketing industry under different headings.
Budgets
The IPA’s long-running Bellwether report shows that after 6 years of growth, marketing budgets have been further cut in recent years. Uncertainty has brought consumer confidence to a low level, which means they spend less. Marketers are also losing confidence in the British economy and withdrawing their spending. Do you think this is the right strategy?
Marketing is an easy budget to cut when businesses are concerned about the future. This is actually a mistake as spending money on marketing is the key to long-term growth. If you choose to remain inactive, you run the risk of losing customers you already have if the economy goes into a downturn. This creates a vicious circle where investment in growth becomes increasingly difficult.
The opportunity here is to see the competition that will weaken for the potential customers you are trying to attract while your competitors tighten their belts on marketing. Brexit marks a time to spend more, not less, on marketing. Otherwise, there will be no reason for your existing customers not to prefer your competitor who does not cut the budget. Finally, managing customer expectations and protecting them from exchange rate fluctuations by providing them with value-for-money products and services can have a long-lasting effect on building their trust in your brand. Another view as an opportunity is that if the pound continues to fall with the Brexit against the dollar and euro, more visitors will come to the UK. This will lead to an increase in advertising budgets with growing tourism and spending, and the digital marketing industry is expected to continue to grow despite the pessimistic approach to the issue.
The Falling Pound and Rising Cost
The Pound has been losing value against the Euro and Dollar since the moment Brexit started to be talked about. Increasing costs inevitably arise in the digital marketing industry as in many other areas. There are many US-based digital marketing tools such as Mailchimp, Hootsuite, Hubspot, and Adobe; based on the depreciation of the Pound against the Dollar and Euro, the monthly/annual subscription prices paid by companies for these services increased. Costs in the supply chain have also seen an increase, making marketing more expensive to offer in the UK.
The opportunity should be to support local initiatives against the increasing costs of US-based marketing tools. This approach, which will allow you to use your marketing budget more effectively, will also strengthen UK-based startups on the way to globalization.
Recruiting
Many sectors in the UK have benefited from the free movement of workers from EU countries. Following Brexit, it may not be that easy to hire from abroad, and this could affect companies managing an in-house marketing team more than those who don’t. Nowadays, most working people who are not British citizens have started to return to their countries. This situation creates an employment shortage in the United Kingdom. At the same time, the decrease in the number of qualified employees started to make companies difficult.
What can be done: To maintain an in-house team, you may need to spread out your network for the required expertise or invest heavily to scale up your team. Besides, you can outsource some works in order not to disrupt the workflow.
Investment
Despite the Brexit uncertainty, it has been buoyant for the UK economy since 2016. The decrease of the pound making the country an attractive market for inward investment. If the pound continues to depreciate relative to the dollar and euro after Brexit, this appeal will continue, especially when combined with inward investment incentives such as corporate tax reductions.
The opportunity: UK businesses may find it easier than before to acquire new customers in the EU, US, and elsewhere; Another reason to consider maintaining your marketing spending and exploring alternative markets.
GDPR and Data-Flows
The UK and the EU will continue to stay in a very close alignment for the foreseeable future, particularly in terms of regulation and recognition of goods. There will also be continuity in data transfer and marketing, as all the UK and EU countries will continue to be governed by the GDPR legislation that came into effect in 2018.
Relationship Management
Many businesses rely on a core customer group, so understanding how Brexit impacts your big customers and their customers is an important strategy. As part of your marketing, make sure you understand the impact of Brexit on your customers and reflect it on your marketing.
The UK government’s Yellowhammer report recently outlined several areas that could face disruption, including transportation, fuel, medicine, and food. So if one of your customers is working in a related industry, or if you anticipate problems with the supply chain, it’s important to think about how to alleviate these problems now.
Digital Marketing Presence
Brexit can lead to companies being denied opportunities to access international markets, and the same can be said of international competitors entering the UK market. Being optimized in local SEO will become crucial in capturing potential customers in your local area while focusing on jobs in the UK.
Future of Marketing
Aside from all the pains brought by Brexit, marketing will contribute to the growth of companies. Marketers are increasingly responsible for delivering a clear brand message, understanding the changing needs of the market, and keeping customer trust under control. When you start planning for 2021, there are many things you need to change, from consumer attitudes to brand psychology, and don’t ignore Brexit. | https://medium.com/digital-diplomacy/what-does-brexit-mean-for-uks-digital-marketing-industry-1718feb13c1b | ['Yigit Erol'] | 2020-11-13 11:33:05.919000+00:00 | ['Brexit', 'Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'UK', 'Social Media'] |
Machine Learning Algorithms from Start to Finish in Python: Linear Regression | Machine Learning Algorithms from Start to Finish in Python: Linear Regression
Learn, Understand and implement the most important and fundamental algorithm in all of Data Science and Machine Learning.
Photo by Julian Ebert on Unsplash
Probably one of the most common algorithms around, Linear Regression is a must know for Machine Learning Practitioners. This is usually a beginner’s first exposure to a real Machine Learning algorithm, and knowing how it operates on a deeper level is crucial to gain a better understanding of it.
So, briefly, let’s break down the real question; What really is Linear Regression?
Linear Regression Definition
Linear Regression is a supervised learning algorithm that aims at taking a linear approach at modelling the relation between a dependent variable and an independent variable. In other words, It aims to fit a linear trendline that best captures the relationship of the data, and, from this line, it can predict what the target values may be.
Photo by Wikipedia
Great, I know the definition, but how does it really work? Great question! In order to answer the question, let’s run through a step by step process of how Linear Regression really operates:
A trendline is fit to the data(as illustrated above). The distance between the points(the red dots on the figure being the points, and the green line being the distance) is calculated, and then squared, before they are summed(The values are squared to ensure that negative values do not produce an incorrect value and hinder the calculation). This is the error of the algorithm, or better knows as the residual The residual for the iteration is stored Based on an optimisation algorithm, the line is slightly “shifted” so that the line may fit the data better. Steps 2–4 are repeated until a desirable result is reached, or the residual error has decreased to zero.
This method of fitting a line is known as Least Squares.
The math behind Linear Regression
Note: Feel free to skip this part, as it unfortunately does contain some bizarre-looking LaTeX. However, if you want to really understand what is going on, I suggest to risk it for a biscuit and continue reading!
Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash
The Linear Regression algorithm is the following:
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Which can be shortened to:
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The following algorithm will basically do the following:
Take in a Y vector(the labels of your data,(house price, stock price, etc..))
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This is your target vector and will be used to later evaluate your data(more on that later).
2. Take in a matrix X(the features of the data):
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This is your data’s features, i.e Age, Gender, Sex, Height, etc. This is the data that the algorithm will actually use to make predictions. Note how there is a feature x0. This is called your intercept term and is always equal to 1.
3. Take is a vector of weights, and transpose them:
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This is the magic bit of the algorithm. All your feature vectors will get multiplied by these weights. This is known as a dot product. Essentially, you will be trying to find the best combination of these values for a given dataset. This is known as optimisation.
4. And get a vector of outputs:
Photo By Author
This is the prediction vector that is outputted from your data. You can then use this to evaluate your model’s performance by using a cost function. | https://towardsdatascience.com/machine-learning-algorithms-from-start-to-finish-in-python-linear-regression-aa8c1d6b1169 | ['Vagif Aliyev'] | 2020-10-24 09:36:23.461000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Visualization', 'Algorithms'] |
Querying real time video with serverless ML on Google Cloud | Capturing Webcam Footage with Cloud Functions
With a maximum run time of only 540 seconds, cloud functions automatically spin up and down a resource in order to execute a script. Cloud functions are run almost exactly as they are triggered making them very useful when running in real time. For my solution I used 3 separate cloud functions. One for downloading an image from a webcam and doing basic quality checks like background subtraction and measuring blurriness with a Laplacian kernel, one for downloading a 540 second video from a webcam and a final high memory function to run OpenCV/Tensorflow on the captured images.
Cloud Functions are priced according to how long your function runs, how many times it’s invoked and how many resources you provision for the function. The invocation cost was insignificant with a cost of $0.40 per million calls. Inbound Data is free so it doesn’t cost anything to read thousands of GBs from each web camera. Outbound data to the same region is also free so I chose to use a global storage bucket.
After running one function per camera I used Cloud Trace to decipher the cost per day for both the recording of an image and for that of a video.
Cloud trace for image capture cloud functions
Costs per camera for the recording of an image and quality checks
(30000ms/100ms)* $0.000000231 = $0.00007
Costs per camera for a 540 second video recording
( 540000ms / 100ms ) * $0.000000925 = $0.005
In conclusion, cloud functions are a useful tool for recording webcams and used scarcely should not be too expensive. | https://medium.com/weareservian/querying-real-time-video-with-serverless-ml-1066c91c9c44 | ['Paddy Green'] | 2020-11-18 15:44:25.248000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'TensorFlow', 'Computer Vision', 'Google Cloud', 'Google Cloud Platform'] |
Best Open Source Annotation Tools for Computer Vision | If you are a Data Scientist working in Computer Vision, you also probably realized that you need a fast and simple labeling tool for at least one of these two reasons:
to create your datasets for PoC or R&D experiments
for PoC or R&D experiments to ensure the quality of your data so that it won’t affect the performance of your Deep Learning algorithms
I dug far into the world of computer vision labeling and realized that it is filled with quite an impressive number of tools (see these three awesome-lists here, here and there, or this blog post). I spent quite some time comparing the most promising (and active) projects to learn that most of these tools were designed to reach only one among three targets:
If you want to open a business in labeling and you need:
- advanced project management features
- tons of features so any task can be done
- automation tools to increase efficiency If you belong to a startup you probably require:
- APIs or at least, simple ways to connect the labeling tool to private APIs
- An intuitive user experience (UX) so each annotator you are temporarily hiring can start working instantly If you are working on your own and you:
- don’t care about APIs / project management
- just want to start tagging as fast as you can!
Here is a quick list of my favorite tools which allow annotating bounding boxes (detection) and polygons (segmentation) for computer vision applications.
If you find out these tools do not work as expected, try to run them in Chrome! | https://medium.com/sicara/best-open-source-annotation-tools-in-computer-vision-4b9f6a18f911 | ['Laurent Montier'] | 2020-01-30 13:22:22.278000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Annotation Tools', 'Computer Vision', 'Labelling', 'Data Visualization'] |
RIP Jim Lehrer. Just Don’t Take Your Style of Journalism With You. | Jim Lehrer got to be the kind of journalist we all should want, and most of us say we want, and many of us really don’t want.
Jim Lehrer on the ‘NewsHour.’
Jim Lehrer died Thursday, age 85, after a career mostly defined by 36 years as host or cohost of the various incarnations of the MacNeil-Lehrer Report, which in 1983 became PBS’s nightly news show.
Lehrer stepped down as host of what had become the PBS NewsHour in 2011, though he continued as a periodic contributor and as recently as last month guested on CNN to talk about the state of the media.
He was optimistic, which is not a unanimous view these days, but is consistent with what he said in a 2011 interview as he was stepping down from the NewsHour.
“It’s one thing to have access to unlimited news,” he said then, “and another to have it made available in a trustworthy, digestible form.
“Most people don’t want to sit in front of a computer screen all day. So there will always be an audience for aggregation like the NewsHour. It just has to be done by someone they trust.”
Lehrer began his career as a print journalist with the Dallas Morning News, crossed the street to the Dallas Times Herald, and then jumped over to public television at Dallas’s KERA. In 1973, he and his old colleague Robert MacNeil anchored nightly PBS coverage of the Watergate hearings, which was so popular that two years later PBS teamed them up for the first version of what would soon become the MacNeil-Lehrer Report.
Choosing PBS isn’t the way to get rich in broadcast journalism, and the prolific Lehrer supplemented his income by writing 20 novels, three memoirs and numerous other side projects.
PBS had irresistible upsides, though, Lehrer said in 2011, like being able to practice old-style journalism — the kind of inclusive reporting he had learned back in the newspaper game.
“You want all the information,” he said. “What are all the facts? What does the left think? What does the right think? Robert MacNeil always said to always err on the side of giving people too much information, not too little.”
Working for PBS, Lehrer said, also enabled him to focus on stories that had real importance, not just superficial glamour. He often noted that MacNeil-Lehrer covered O.J. Simpson’s arrest and the verdict at the end of his trial, skipping the daily courtroom drama that dominated other print and television coverage.
While he pointedly did not criticize other media or audiences, he noted the unbalanced news diet wherein channels on the right and left often seem to function primarily as cheerleaders for their side.
Popular and perhaps comforting as they are, their viewers don’t get the full context of important stories, Lehrer warned — “and without an informed public, you don’t have a democracy.”
A corollary problem, he added, is that as mainstream media shrinks and “does a lot of experimenting,” young journalist have fewer and fewer places to learn the craft.
“You need a place to come up,” he said. “It used to be you would start at a small newspaper and work your way up the chain. That’s harder today. It’s hard to find that first job. That’s why some young people start with blogs.”
It’s just difficult to learn actual reporting, he added, “when you’re sitting there with a laptop.”
Actual reporting, he suggested, requires an insatiable appetite for information — all information, not just whatever reinforces a pre-formed viewpoint.
“It’s a little like being a fireman,” he said. “You hear the siren and you wonder where the fire truck is going. If you don’t care, get out of journalism.”
Lehrer himself stayed in the game, full-time, until he was 77.
“It was a very quick 36 years,” he said, reflecting on MacNeil-Lehrer and NewsHour. “You look up, it’s Saturday, it’s Monday, it’s the ’90s, it’s Two Thousand and something.”
He wasn’t filling the time inconsequentially. He moderated 12 presidential debates. He interviewed the likes of President Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Yasser Arafat.
On the air, he was known for a calm, measured tone that he traced in part to covering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.
“One lone guy fired three shots and changed history,” Lehrer said. “No day has gone by since when I haven’t thought, ‘That could happen today.’ It’s part of what I am, that sense of just how fragile everything is.”
He finally decided to step back on his own terms, he said, and that was, in a sense, one final perc of having chosen the PBS route.
“I haven’t had to follow anyone else’s career or path,” he said. “I’ve been able to do my work the way I thought it should be done.
“I still hear the fire engine.” | https://dhinckley.medium.com/rip-jim-lehrer-just-dont-take-your-style-of-journalism-with-you-e46ae6c23350 | ['David Hinckley'] | 2020-01-24 06:03:51.158000+00:00 | ['Jim Lehrer', 'Pbs Newshour', 'Journalism', 'Pbs', 'Tv News'] |
Is Watch-First The New Mobile First? | Is Watch-First The New Mobile First?
The prospects of a Billion Dollar Watch App
After the iPhone was released in 2007, it took about 4 years for a billion dollar mobile first company to emerge. Although the initial reviews have downplayed the hype, the Apple Watch has the potential to unleash a new wave of business opportunities that could match that of the iPhone. This article will examine what it will take for a new design methodology to develop around the Apple Watch, as well as the prospect of a billion dollar business to result from the new medium.
A mobile first approach is characterized by designing an app for a mobile device and then expanding it to larger screens. This concept helps designers focus on the core use case of the app instead of trying to fit a desktop app or website on a mobile display. Starting with mobile and expanding the design to the desktop is typically easier than going the other direction because the designer begins with constraints that focus the process.
The mobile first approach was translated into a business concept when it became apparent that people preferred using mobile devices for functions that were once subjugated to the PC. Many traditional tech companies struggled with this paradigm shift and lost marketshare to new entrants. Billion dollar mobile first companies were minted a few years after the release of the iPhone including Instagram, Uber, Lyft, and Snapchat. During the same time almost every consumer internet company began employing a mobile first approach in one form or another.
Replacing mobile first with a watch-first strategy is a little contradictory in terms because wearable devices are in fact mobile (and technically all mobile devices are PCs). However, the mobile first idea is rooted in designing for smart phones. In order for a watch-first strategy to be successful it must embody the form factor, technologies, and use case of the watch and then expand the design to mobile devices (smart phones), PCs, etc.
Just an accessory or a game changer?
The current incarnation of the Apple Watch is more or less thought of as a companion to the iPhone. The prospect of a watch-first success seems a little ridiculous considering the role the iPhone has in the control, storage, and access of the watch. The watch isn’t going to replace the need for the iPhone like mobile devices replaced, expanded, and reduced many of the functions of PCs.
A watch-first design process needs to be rooted in the relationship between the phone and watch. This could change as the capabilities of the watch increase. The watch could become a storage hub, with inexpensive bluetooth enabled devices at the user’s disposal, or interfaces could become primarily accessed through voice or thought.
Instagram, Uber, Lyft, and Snapchat are all mobile first businesses. However, they are closer to mobile only because the primary use case is accesed on the phone. The companies wouldn’t have been successful without mobile devices because their value is enabled by the capabilities of the smart phone, like geolocation, high-resolution camera, etc.
If a billion dollar watch-first business comes into being it will will result from the expanded possibilities the watch enables.
The capabilities of the Apple Watch may give birth to new billion dollar tech giants, expand the market of existing businesses, or fade in relevance if wearables don’t live up to the hype.
Here is an incomplete list of opportunities the Apple Watch enables. Please provide your own.
1. Personal Communication
Communication is quick and focused on the Apple Watch. It allows a new level of intimacy at the same time as reducing conversation to a set of canned responses. Also, voice dictation is surprisingly good and will only get better, resulting in increased authenticity.
2. Unconscious Monitoring
The beauty of the Apple Watch is that it can track things your iPhone can’t — like your heartbeat. It is not farfetched to envision an app that can passively track your mood, health, and overall wellbeing. The data could be presented in a series of reports, or even a diary that users can expand on with writing and multimedia.
3. Fitness
Fitness apps are an obvious extension of the Apple Watch. Competition will be strongest in this category, and Nike is already miles ahead with their learnings from the Fuel Band. There will be many niche opportunities, and perhaps the watch will enable new ways of exercise.
4. On-Demand Economy
The on-demand economy will be expanded by the Apple Watch. Imagine an app that has anything you desire at the sound of your voice. Perhaps an app that aggregates all the on-demand services will develop.
What else?
After the iPhone was released it took about 4 years for a billion dollar mobile first company to emerge. It is July 2015. Do you think a billion dollar watch-first company will appear before 2020? | https://uxdesign.cc/is-watch-first-the-5ad3990078f | ['Andrew Coyle'] | 2017-05-21 23:33:58.437000+00:00 | ['Apple Watch', 'Startup', 'Product Design', 'Mobile First'] |
Why You Need to Build Great Systems, Not Goals | Why You Need to Build Great Systems, Not Goals
5 things to consider for long-term progress
Photo by Roman Bozhko on Unsplash
For you to reach your desires and dreams — your unique version of success — the typical advice you’d get is to set meaningful goals. Whether that’s improving your fitness, stepping up a level in your field or industry, or dedicating more time to your relationships, you need goals.
And in fact, this is what I firmly believed for years. Goals are destinations, and we all need to have something to aim for, right?
It’s the same approach you and I use for everything.
Do you need to get your morning coffee? Make a goal to get out of bed and head into the kitchen.
Want to lift more weights in the gym? Set a goal to attend the gym more often and lift more weight.
Want to be a better writer (my goal)? Create a goal to write more often and improve over time.
I’ve set hundreds of significant goals during my life. I did reach a lot of them, but many of them I also didn’t. I didn’t like the consistency of this, but I wasn’t sure on how to correct and improve this.
But recently, I learned one of the most important things to consider about achieving what I wanted. A podcast show including Brian Moran, co-author of The 12 Week Year, highlighted that to get the big goals we want, we need to build systems around them.
One of my core values is that you and I should dedicate our time each day or week to self-reflection. Because being able to understand who we are today, to then take actionable steps to innovate and improve ourselves is one of the best things we can do. And the way to do that is through systems.
This fact made me realise to lead my goals with one thing. Not motivation. Not desire. Not even the reward at the end. The system I put in place for myself to achieve what I want.
It made so much sense.
Systems are objective-based. They aren’t influenced by how you feel each day.
They aren’t influenced by how you feel each day. Systems are results-focused. There are always reasons why you couldn’t reach your goal. But at the end of the day, you either completed it, or you didn’t.
There are always reasons why you couldn’t reach your goal. But at the end of the day, you either completed it, or you didn’t. Systems keep you going, whether you feel like it or not. Following a system is like a missile following a laser-guided target, if set correctly, you’ll get a result no matter what.
So, a question for you: If I asked you to set a goal, then completely forget about it, focusing only on building a system around it. For example, your goal is to squat 100 kilograms, but you ignore that goal and spend 100% of your thoughts and efforts on training every day. Do you think you’d reach that goal?
Of course you would!
Most people spend too much time on what’s at the end of the tunnel, not how to get through it. You’re then poorly prepared for the inevitable problems on the way, such as loss, defeat, criticism, fear, and knocks in confidence.
Systems create answers to those problems. And there are a few points you need to consider once you create your own.
Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash
Set your standards.
Standards are what keep you active each day. It’s a daily minimum of something you do that you must follow no matter what. How to do that? Set a daily minimum of something you’ll want in the long term and stick to it no matter what. There’s nothing you’ll enjoy 24/7. So, you’ll have to pick something.
The problem with goal setting is that it makes you care only about the end. You end up looking at the success only and the gleaming triumph you’ll feel for reaching it.
You quickly forget about the hard work, smart decisions, resilience, and patience, to name a few, that allow your systems to be efficient and help you along the way.
I was like this. I set the goal to be a writer, but I felt so attracted to the idea of being an influential writer who engages with tens of thousands and makes a very healthy living off it. But I forgot about the critical steps of how I was going to get there.
It’s like jumping off a diving board and belly-flopping into the water because you didn’t learn how to enter it safely and effectively.
What you set can be as simple as ten push-ups or a one-mile walk by the end of the day. It needs to be small and easy at first. That’s how you form the habit. I use this with everyone I coach in fitness training.
Build the habits and systems in your mind to commit to a minimum amount of work each day. And you’ll eventually be doing it with minimal exertion. Once that starts to happen, then you can raise the bar.
Don’t fall victim to survivorship bias.
What is survivorship bias? Well, I’m glad you asked (you probably didn’t).
This one’s important. Goals have one unique disadvantage over systems. Imagine explaining your new goals to a friend, compared to your new systems. Which one do you think they’ll find more exciting?
One sounds more boring than the other, but that’s precisely it.
Survivorship bias makes you only value what you do see and ignore what you don’t.
It’s like the iceberg effect; you forget that an iceberg is humongous because around 80% of it is underwater. That’s survivorship bias; seeing surface-level results and thinking that’s all there is to it.
Think of celebrities or famous athletes. You see the money, the fame, the fact that they can wake up each day anywhere they want, with no clue about what to do, or they have an assistant tell them instead.
You then hear their advice on success, and it’s usually something cliché like “never give up” or “strive for your dreams”. But what you don’t see is the years they spent failing, doubting themselves and being ignored and criticised.
What you also don’t see, is the other 99% of people that had the same start as them but didn’t make it. You see Lewis Hamilton, for example, making his way from the bottom to the top of Formula 1, but you forget about the tens of thousands of kids who didn’t.
Goal success is more glamourous than systems, and that’s the problem. But it takes an effective system that nobody else can see to reach and exceed your goal in the first place.
Let the goal be and focus on what others don’t see because that’s what matters and makes the difference to your success. As James Clear once said, winners and losers have one thing in common: “they have the same goals”, not the same system.
Goals hold you back more than you might realise.
Focusing on the goal alone is very narrow-minded thinking. Say you want to write 100 articles a year — In fact, this is what I did — that equates to 25 articles every quarter (three months).
Now imagine you instead set yourself a standard to write one article a day at least. Without thinking about it, that’s already a minimum of 365 pieces per year. You could even do 25, 50, or even 100 articles each quarter because you’re not focused on hitting just 100 a year.
Goals can be limiting. They don’t beg the question “but what if I have more potential than this?” whereas systems are limitless. They don’t just have the end in mind; they look at improving yourself physically, mentally and spiritually too.
If your goal is to drink more water, but your system is drinking 2 litres minimum per day. Your system guarantees that not only do you reach your goal, but you now retain a healthy habit which improves your skin, energy levels, happiness and many other benefits.
Goals are great for clarity and having a clear vision of what you want, but systems guarantee how you’re going to get there.
Goals don’t tell you what to do next.
Why do fitness enthusiasts work so hard, for weeks, towards their goal of losing weight or building muscle, only to return to their original self once completed?
It’s is a common problem that many people struggle with as they sign up for fitness programs or workout classes to lose weight, only either give up or reach their goal and have no drive to carry on. It’s because they hit a “now what?” phase. They failed to build a system of useful habits that retained their behaviours without needing much effort.
The reason that systems are much more compelling is that they turn “now what?” into “now”.
“Now I will…”
“Now I can…”
“Now I should…”
Goals-focused people use motivation and rewards as their primary driver. In that mindset, you only picture the end that’s what excites you.
System-focused people use their processes as their primary source of fuel. With that, you’re now focusing on what you’re doing today. You know your actions today will give you that 1% minimum improvement because daily improvements add up and compound. You’re driven by the process and the challenges, not hitting the target once and leaving it there.
Goals tell you where to go. But systems tell you where to go, how to get there and what to do next.
Learn to love the process.
This point is my favourite because it’s the most important.
You and I need goals the same way we need a purpose in life. But we just use goals in the wrong way. They are not things to impress your friends, so it looks like you’ve got a lot coming for you, and they aren’t merely to make you feel like you’re doing something. They’re for one reason: clarity.
Systems are beautiful works of art. They shape you to become a powerful individual who lives by virtue and constant growth.
Don’t get me wrong; goals are useful in the short term. You don’t need a masterplan system to take a shower every morning. But for long-term results and consistent results in your life. Please invest in your systems. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/why-you-need-to-build-great-systems-not-goals-e0541f952421 | [] | 2020-05-24 15:08:04.186000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Self Improvement', 'Self', 'Goals', 'Psychology'] |
Understanding Monte Carlo Simulation through Basketball | Using Monte Carlo in Basketball
Gif by the author on Giphy
To provide you with a better perspective on what I’ve explained and to have some fun, I’m going to demonstrate how it works through a specific scenario that can happen at the end of a game of basketball.
Basketball is a complex sport (isn’t it just about putting a ball in a basket?!). It has many constraints and conditions that are constantly being analysed to make the best decision. Players and coaches are always watching for the right position on the court, time on the clock, the number of fouls, timeouts left and more. There are a lot of variables that come into play, literally.
It’s often compared to Chess as some characteristics are similar, for example, each player/piece has its role and function, a lot of both games are about opening lines and creating space, misleading. ‘fakes’ are also key. Both games make extensive use of set plays that explore these aspects.
The most crucial part of the game, without a doubt, is the end when scores are closed, within two or three points difference, for example. A team can win or lose in a blink of an eye, hence forcing players and coaches to get the most creative.
A common situation is: A team is down by three points, with 30 seconds left on the clock — is it better to try to take the three (a longer, hence more difficult shot) to tie and go to overtime, OR to try a quick two (usually shorter, easier shot), try to intentionally foul a bad free throw shooter in next possession — hoping that he/she misses one-shot or both — and go for another quick easier two and possibly win the game, or go to overtime?
Salman Khan, from Khan Academy, addressed exactly this situation [2]. It was a question by Lebron James, for which Salman Khan answered and demonstrated the best decision using Monte Carlo simulation.
Monte Carlo Simulation to Answer LeBron’s Question
In this post I’ll do the same, but with one minor difference. I’m going to take into account that according to NBA rules, a player can’t simply intentionally foul ANY player from the other team with under two minutes left in the game. It has to be the one with the ball. Otherwise, there are consequences.
With under two minutes left in the game (and from 2016, at the end of any quarter), if a player fouls another player that is away from the ball, the team is awarded one free throw and retains the possession of the ball, there is no opportunity for the rebound. It’s crucial to emphasize that the TEAM is awarded one free throw — this means that the team can select any player on the floor to attempt the shot (most likely a high percentage free throw shooter) [3]. | https://towardsdatascience.com/understading-monte-carlo-simulation-through-basketball-implementation-in-python-37505257dfc6 | ['Vinicius Monteiro'] | 2020-12-06 14:24:26.420000+00:00 | ['Monte Carlo', 'Monte Carlo Method', 'Python', 'Basketball'] |
Stop validating with your users | I have been in this game for a looong time, and I have experienced first hand the emergence and maturation of the modern UX discipline as it applies to digital experiences.
We (the UX community) have fought hard to prove the value of UX — to product management, engineering and businesses executives. We have have convinced those groups that we can reduce the risk associated with projects if only we can spend time up front validating our designs and our assumptions and we tend to do that by putting paper sketches, wireframes and prototypes in front of real users to understand whether our solutions are meeting their needs.
Well I’m here to tell you that we need to STOP spending so much time VALIDATING with users!
OK, so before folks freak out and I am stripped of my official UX membership card, let me explain what Im talking about.
Victims of our own success
So, there is no question that our design discipline has come a long way in the past 20 years. In the past we often had to fight tooth and nail in order to be able to do a little bit of research, or testing, and now our design teams are becoming autonomous and have gained the freedom to do all the research and validation that need.
“with great power comes great responsibility…”
Now that many of us have the power to do what we want… we need to make sure we are doing the right things and not leaning too much on validation to the point of becoming counter productive.
The value of UX
Anne Hjortshoj — one of my very smart colleagues — always says… “UX is all about reducing risk, and revealing value.” We want to help our product teams ensure we are choosing the right problems to solve, and then make sure we are solving them in the right way. One way we set out to reduce risk is to validate our designs with users so that we figure things out “on paper” vs spending expensive development resources building it.
Now this all sounds great but there are a couple things I think we should keep in mind.
#1 — Risk vs Reward
When you have the freedom to validate anything you want, it can become really easy to just start validating everything! Sometimes it can even become a crutch where the designer simply stops making smart, justifiable decisions because they can always just “take it to the users.” The problem with this approach is that at the end of the day we need to serve the business as well as our users and it can be really easy to slow the overall progress of a team if every decision gets validated before building it.
One of the things my teams are starting to consider is the idea of risk vs reward. Whenever we feel the urge to validate with users, we first think about the amount of risk represented by the design at hand. How much will it hurt if we get this thing wrong? Is it hours, days or months of lost effort? How much risk can we tolerate? Asking these questions often helps understand whether we should just make a smart design decision and validate when its built, or do we spend the time to test it immediately.
#2 — Seek learning, not validation
I think that we need to shift the way we think about design validation. The idea of validation is often flawed because it can be about affirmation rather than what it really should be, which is to try and Invalidate our ideas.
Rather than thinking about it as validation, I believe it needs to be framed as learning. We should always have a question that needs to be answered, or a hypothesis that needs to be tested and then we can create an experiment that accomplishes those things.
#3 — Always be shipping
Our product teams are currently embracing the idea of “always shipping.” As a result, we are starting to look at our projects as having two phases.
Phase 1 is value discovery, which is all about identifying the actual needs of the user and figuring out how to satisfy them. The idea of shipping in this case is about rapid experimentation where we put utility into the hands of a customer (not a prototype) and measure whether that utility provides them value. Its important to note that value only exists if it can be measured, and so whenever we plan to build something, we also plan to measure it.
In value discovery we are not focussed on perfecting the experience but rather just getting the basics nailed down. These experiments — which are run with a small handful of users — reveal what provides the most value and it often points to what will be required for a minimum viable product (ie something we can push to all our users) and once we know that, then we can shift to the next phase.
Phase 2 is value optimization, which is all about revealing as much of the value as possible and this is where we focus on the experience. This is where we care very much about the usability of the solution. We want to ensure its discoverable and frictionless. This is also where we apply the level of polish associated with something that will go out to our entire user base. Measuring value remains important here and so we will ensure we define success metrics that can be measured at scale when deployed to all our customers.
The most important thing about the idea of shipping quickly and often is that it allows us to learn in the most effective and accurate way by putting real utility into customers hands that they can USE rather than simply pretend to use.
Aiming to ship utility every couple weeks during even the most complex project forces the team to focus on small slices that represent the highest priority capabilities and getting them right.
There are always dependencies
It should be noted that working this way requires that a few other things are in place within the organization:
the PM and Eng teams are willing and able to work in a lean and agile way.
You have access to users/customers that you can work with to iterate.
Wrapping it up
So, back to my initial statement about not validating with users, this is what I meant: | https://medium.com/cisco-design-community/stop-validating-with-your-users-91f50884aaaa | ['Jason Cyr'] | 2018-04-30 16:24:58.477000+00:00 | ['UX', 'Design', 'UX Research', 'Design Process', 'Design Thinking'] |
street-sense | I learned in this life
how to cling to the bottom rung
lift my feet before dragging
climbing up’s for better-fit
boots will catch you topside
best mind your place
if someone wants you to have
they will give it to you
my father’s legacy
dog-paddled frustration
set of unequal measures
a hand offered pulls back
when you’re too suspicious
expecting to get slapped
street sense is self-fulfilling prophecy
that life isn’t meant for the rest of us | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/street-sense-cd61a63d7e43 | ['Deb Ewing'] | 2020-12-14 11:02:57.985000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Poverty', 'Homelessness', 'Poetry', 'A Cornered Gurl'] |
Infinite Love | love.
entangled in his arms
&
lost to his soft lips.
wishes dreams and aspirations
no longer just for me.
desire, my new favourite drug.
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
she brought me to life
&
gave me hers.
can mere words entail
the love i bear for the woman i call
Amma.
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
when my emotions fail me
&
i lose faith in who looks back
in the mirror
Appa’s little words and gestures
set the flames of hope to my soul.
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
i walk past her nervously
&
yet again my heart skipped a beat.
maybe she knows how i look at her or maybe she doesn’t
tell me which is worse
i just want to see her smile.
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
the grand entrance with a grand smile
&
spoilings with infinite gifts
the grey hair never tainted the spirit
with endless woven tales of their time
endless tireless love for us all.
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
Unfazed she has stood, to share my tears
&
joys,
as we explore the dalliance of adolescence together
the untold promise of a friend
to be by each other's side. forever and ever.
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
imperfections
&
flaws, so vivid in the mirror.
beauty never took me into his embrace
i just don’t care anymore
for i know that im beautiful
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
when the sky wears the colours of my flag
&
pride swells my chest
grateful i am to my motherland.
and those who serve her with
blood and sweat.
if this isn’t love
tell me what is.
so much love for all of us
and so much more. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/infinite-love-e96d5d3b55c3 | [] | 2019-10-28 23:10:35.291000+00:00 | ['Love', 'Poetry', 'Aninjusticeprompt', 'Nonfiction', 'Hope'] |
SXSW 2019 Ultimate Guide to the Panels, Popups and Parties | SXSW 2019 Ultimate Guide to the Panels, Popups and Parties
Blow your mind with 400 of the most epic events including Mark Cuban, Priscilla Chan, Winklevii, Jon Hamm, Seth Rogen, Shia LaBeouf, Anna Kendrick, Mindy Kaling, Dakota Johnson, Elle Fanning, Jason Sudeikis, Jordan Peele, Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth Moss, Max Minghella, Matthew McConaughey, Garry Kasparov, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kevin Systrom, Billie Eilish, Lukas Nelson, Car Seat Headrest, Broken Social Scene, Andrew WK, Lance Bass, Beastie Boys, Joan Jett, SNL Stars, CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall, Martha Stewart BBQ, Neil Gaiman Zombie Apocalypse, Bishop Briggs Meditation, Viceland’s Biggie Smalls Roller Rink, Jodie Foster Master Class, Fonzie, Karate Kid, Salt Lick, Torchy’s, aaaaahhhh!!!
The iconic tech arts music festival, South by Southwest (SXSW), is nearly upon us with more than one hundred thousand influencers about to descend upon the ten day bacchanal that takes place in Austin, March 8 through March 17.
It’s a star-studded spectacle unlike any other with thousands of events offered around the clock featuring tech visionaries, presidential hopefuls and rock stars mixing it up among big brand activations. This year’s line up includes:
Celebrities: Amanda Palmer, Anna Kendrick, Baron Vaughn, Ben Masters, Brooklyn Decker, Charlize Theron, Dakota Johnson, David Fincher, Elisabeth Moss, Elizabeth Banks, Elle Fanning, Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Henry Winkler, Jason Blum, Jason Sudeikis, Jodie Foster, Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, Kathy Griffin, Kevin Costner, Kumail Nanjiani, Matt Besser, Matthew McConaughey, Max Minghella, Mike Judge, Mindy Kaling, Neil Gaiman, Olivia Wilde, Open Mike Eagle, Padma Lakshmi, Ralph Macchio, Richard Pryor (in memoriam), Robert Rodriguez, Seth Rogen, Shia LaBeouf, SNL Aidy Bryant, NBC Late Night Amber Ruffin & Jenny Hagel, Simpsons Al Jean & Stephanie Gillis, Trevor Noah, Will Forte, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana
Amanda Palmer, Anna Kendrick, Baron Vaughn, Ben Masters, Brooklyn Decker, Charlize Theron, Dakota Johnson, David Fincher, Elisabeth Moss, Elizabeth Banks, Elle Fanning, Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Henry Winkler, Jason Blum, Jason Sudeikis, Jodie Foster, Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, Kathy Griffin, Kevin Costner, Kumail Nanjiani, Matt Besser, Matthew McConaughey, Max Minghella, Mike Judge, Mindy Kaling, Neil Gaiman, Olivia Wilde, Open Mike Eagle, Padma Lakshmi, Ralph Macchio, Richard Pryor (in memoriam), Robert Rodriguez, Seth Rogen, Shia LaBeouf, SNL Aidy Bryant, NBC Late Night Amber Ruffin & Jenny Hagel, Simpsons Al Jean & Stephanie Gillis, Trevor Noah, Will Forte, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana Bands: ABBA, Andrew Bird, Andrew WK, A$AP Rocky, Beastie Boys, Billie Eilish, Bishop Briggs, Brandy Carlile, Broken Social Scene, Cautious Clay, Chvrches, David Byrne, De La Soul, Deerhunter, Dungeon Family/Big Boi, Elderbrook, Flora Cash, Garbage , Head and the Heart, IKON, Japanese Breakfast, Joan Jett, Judah & The Lion, Khalid, Lance Bass, Lil Peep (in memoriam), Lukas Nelson, Mansionair, Mavis Staples, Miguel, Mr. Eaazi, Myles Hendrik, Nile Rodgers, Oh Sees, Questlove, Rick Rubin, Sir Sly, Strumbellas, TLC, Toro y Moi, Virgil Abloh, White Denim, Wyclef Jean
ABBA, Andrew Bird, Andrew WK, A$AP Rocky, Beastie Boys, Billie Eilish, Bishop Briggs, Brandy Carlile, Broken Social Scene, Cautious Clay, Chvrches, David Byrne, De La Soul, Deerhunter, Dungeon Family/Big Boi, Elderbrook, Flora Cash, Garbage , Head and the Heart, IKON, Japanese Breakfast, Joan Jett, Judah & The Lion, Khalid, Lance Bass, Lil Peep (in memoriam), Lukas Nelson, Mansionair, Mavis Staples, Miguel, Mr. Eaazi, Myles Hendrik, Nile Rodgers, Oh Sees, Questlove, Rick Rubin, Sir Sly, Strumbellas, TLC, Toro y Moi, Virgil Abloh, White Denim, Wyclef Jean Tech and media visionaries: Arlan Hamilton, Bozoma Saint John, Brian Solis, Cameron & Tyler Winkelvoss, Chip Conley, Christina Tosi, Craig Newmark, Dennis Crowley, Dominique Crenn, Garry Kasparov, George Hotz, Guy Kawasaki, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Howard Schultz, Jack Conte, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jimmy Song, Joe Lubin, Kevin Reilly, Kevin Systrom, Mark Cuban, Martha Stewart, Meg Whitman, Michael Acton Smith, Michael Pollan, Mike Kreiger, Neha Narula, Priscilla Chan, Roger McNamee, Tim Ferris, Travis VanderZanden, Vivan Schiller
Arlan Hamilton, Bozoma Saint John, Brian Solis, Cameron & Tyler Winkelvoss, Chip Conley, Christina Tosi, Craig Newmark, Dennis Crowley, Dominique Crenn, Garry Kasparov, George Hotz, Guy Kawasaki, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Howard Schultz, Jack Conte, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jimmy Song, Joe Lubin, Kevin Reilly, Kevin Systrom, Mark Cuban, Martha Stewart, Meg Whitman, Michael Acton Smith, Michael Pollan, Mike Kreiger, Neha Narula, Priscilla Chan, Roger McNamee, Tim Ferris, Travis VanderZanden, Vivan Schiller Politicos: Amy Klobuchar, Amy Vilela, Andrew Yang, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Beto O’Rourke, Cori Bush, Elizabeth Warren, John Boehner, John Kasich, John Delaney, Mazie Hirono, Paula Jean Swearengin, Pete Buttigieg, Stacey Abrams, Tulsi Gabbard, Will Hurd, HRH Mary Crown Princess of Denmark
Amy Klobuchar, Amy Vilela, Andrew Yang, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Beto O’Rourke, Cori Bush, Elizabeth Warren, John Boehner, John Kasich, John Delaney, Mazie Hirono, Paula Jean Swearengin, Pete Buttigieg, Stacey Abrams, Tulsi Gabbard, Will Hurd, HRH Mary Crown Princess of Denmark Press: Jean Ellen Cowgill (Bloomberg) , Sarah Silverstein (Business Insider) , Jeff Zucker, Dana Bash, David Allan, Jake Tapper & Poppy Harlow (CNN), Jonah Peretti & Jill Abramson (BuzzFeed), Catherine Clifford (CNBC), Teal Newland (Conde Nast), Kerry Flynn (Digiday), Shana Naomi Krochmal (Entertainment Weekly), Stephanie Mehta, Jill Bernstein & Paul Smalera (Fast Company), Rachel Wolfson (Forbes), Terri Schwartz (IGN), Norman Pearlstine (LA Times), Rachel Heine & Dan Casey (Nerdist), Liza Donnelly (New Yorker), Susan Fowler, Sam Dolnick & Ken Druckerman (New York Times), Tim Fernholz & Emily Withrow (Quartz), Kara Swisher & Peter Kafka (Recode), Nick Cohen & Hazel Baker (Reuters), Josh Constine (TechCrunch), Martine Paris (The FinTech Times), Nicholas Thompson & Wonbo Woo (Wired), JP Mangalindan (Yahoo! Finance), Gordon Young & Fergus Gregory (The Drum) , Joe Pompeo (Vanity Fair), Jim Bankoff & Liz Plank (Vox), Veronica Dagher (WSJ), Elite Truong (Washington Post), Ana Marie Cox, Dan Rather, Katie Couric, Maria Shriver, Malcolm Gladwell, Shira Lazar, Soledad O’Brien
Jean Ellen Cowgill (Bloomberg) Sarah Silverstein (Business Insider) Jeff Zucker, Dana Bash, David Allan, Jake Tapper & Poppy Harlow (CNN), Jonah Peretti & Jill Abramson (BuzzFeed), Catherine Clifford (CNBC), Teal Newland (Conde Nast), Kerry Flynn (Digiday), Shana Naomi Krochmal (Entertainment Weekly), Stephanie Mehta, Jill Bernstein & Paul Smalera (Fast Company), Rachel Wolfson (Forbes), Terri Schwartz (IGN), Norman Pearlstine (LA Times), Rachel Heine & Dan Casey (Nerdist), Liza Donnelly (New Yorker), Susan Fowler, Sam Dolnick & Ken Druckerman (New York Times), Tim Fernholz & Emily Withrow (Quartz), Kara Swisher & Peter Kafka (Recode), Nick Cohen & Hazel Baker (Reuters), Josh Constine (TechCrunch), Martine Paris (The FinTech Times), Nicholas Thompson & Wonbo Woo (Wired), JP Mangalindan (Yahoo! Finance), Gordon Young & Fergus Gregory (The Drum) Joe Pompeo (Vanity Fair), Jim Bankoff & Liz Plank (Vox), Veronica Dagher (WSJ), Elite Truong (Washington Post), Ana Marie Cox, Dan Rather, Katie Couric, Maria Shriver, Malcolm Gladwell, Shira Lazar, Soledad O’Brien Possible surprise appearances: Anderson .Paak, Cameron Crowe, Elijah Wood, Fred Armisen, Janeane Garofalo, Jeb Bush, John Lithgow, Logic, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep, Mira Sorvino, Nick Offerman, Reggie Watts, Richard Linklater, Snoop Dog, SNL Kate McKinnon & Sasheer Zamata, Sons Of An Illustrious Father, Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind), Taylor Swift, Zac Efron
Instagrammable activations you won’t want to miss:
Audible’s Heads Will Roll Night Realm Tavern , An SNL Kate McKinnon production, Javelina, 69 Rainey, March 8, 12–8pm, Experience the medieval fantasy world of the star-studded audio at The Night Realm Tavern, where guests can revel like royalty, indulge in medieval food and drink, and sample scenes from this Audible Original, feat performances by Meryl Streep, Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage, Aidy Bryant, Esther Perel.
, An SNL Kate McKinnon production, Javelina, 69 Rainey, March 8, 12–8pm, Experience the medieval fantasy world of the star-studded audio at The Night Realm Tavern, where guests can revel like royalty, indulge in medieval food and drink, and sample scenes from this Audible Original, feat performances by Meryl Streep, Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage, Aidy Bryant, Esther Perel. HBO’s Bleed For the Throne , Fair Market, 1100 East 5th, March 7, 12–7:15pm, March 8–9, 12-5:15pm, a Westeros experience where fans donate blood to the American Red Cross while interacting with Game of Thrones plotlines and characters. Final season premieres April 14. http://bleedforthethrone.com
, Fair Market, 1100 East 5th, March 7, 12–7:15pm, March 8–9, 12-5:15pm, a Westeros experience where fans donate blood to the American Red Cross while interacting with Game of Thrones plotlines and characters. Final season premieres April 14. http://bleedforthethrone.com Lululemon House , Clive Bar, 609 Davis/Rainey, March 8, 8–5pm, 10pm-2am invite only afterparty, March 9, 8am-5pm, 8pm-2am Sweatlife House Party, March 10, 8am-5pm, Relax, recharge and connect through daily digitally enhanced sound meditation and multi-sensory yoga classes in a dome. http://thesweatlifehouse.eventbrite.com
, Clive Bar, 609 Davis/Rainey, March 8, 8–5pm, 10pm-2am invite only afterparty, March 9, 8am-5pm, 8pm-2am Sweatlife House Party, March 10, 8am-5pm, Relax, recharge and connect through daily digitally enhanced sound meditation and multi-sensory yoga classes in a dome. http://thesweatlifehouse.eventbrite.com Land O Lakes’ Copernicus Project , Trinity Hall, 311 E 5, March 8, 12–8pm, March 9, 12–7pm, March 10, 12–5:30pm, in the 1532 CE, Copernicus discovered we weren’t the center of the universe, now jounrey through time in his shoes through a multisensory food experience to understand that the future of society is on our dinner plate, https://features.landolakesinc.com/the-copernicus-project
, Trinity Hall, 311 E 5, March 8, 12–8pm, March 9, 12–7pm, March 10, 12–5:30pm, in the 1532 CE, Copernicus discovered we weren’t the center of the universe, now jounrey through time in his shoes through a multisensory food experience to understand that the future of society is on our dinner plate, https://features.landolakesinc.com/the-copernicus-project Amazon Prime Video’s Good Omens, Garden Of Earthly Delights , 604 Driskill, March 8, 12–9pm, March 9–10, 12–6pm, March 11, 12–9pm. On the night of Friday, March 8 watch for angels, demons, and the Four Horsemen ringing in the apocalypse and beckoning fans to escape doom at the massive 19,000 square foot oasis at Rainey and Driskill. Dine on prophetic apples, wine, beeer, BBQ and sushi. Activities include the Hellhound Puppy Pen (Puppies!), a bookshop with perhaps surprise appearances by Neil Gaiman, Jon Hamm, Benedict Cumberbatch (guessing!), magicians, sword swallowers, fire breathers, tarot card readers, and a Queen cover band to party like it’s the end of the world. Appearances by Michael Sheen and David Tennant. Site of the EW and Buzzfeed parties. https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38851
, 604 Driskill, March 8, 12–9pm, March 9–10, 12–6pm, March 11, 12–9pm. On the night of Friday, March 8 watch for angels, demons, and the Four Horsemen ringing in the apocalypse and beckoning fans to escape doom at the massive 19,000 square foot oasis at Rainey and Driskill. Dine on prophetic apples, wine, beeer, BBQ and sushi. Activities include the Hellhound Puppy Pen (Puppies!), a bookshop with perhaps surprise appearances by Neil Gaiman, Jon Hamm, Benedict Cumberbatch (guessing!), magicians, sword swallowers, fire breathers, tarot card readers, and a Queen cover band to party like it’s the end of the world. Appearances by Michael Sheen and David Tennant. Site of the EW and Buzzfeed parties. https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38851 Uber Eats Walk-Up Window , 600 E 6th, March 8–16, food from The Peached Tortilla, East Side King, Tamale House and Juice Austin + watch for surprise drops while waiting in long panel and party lines. Uber Eats House , 612 W 4th, March 14–16. On March 16, 10pm enjoy concerts by Billie Eilish paired with curated vegan menu by CHLOE, March 15, Virgil Abloh paired with Milk Bar (yum!) and March 14, Khalid paired with McD, https://www.uber.com/newsroom/uber-eats-feeding-your-sxsw-experience
, 600 E 6th, March 8–16, food from The Peached Tortilla, East Side King, Tamale House and Juice Austin + watch for surprise drops while waiting in long panel and party lines. , 612 W 4th, March 14–16. On March 16, 10pm enjoy concerts by paired with curated vegan menu by CHLOE, March 15, Virgil Abloh paired with Milk Bar (yum!) and March 14, Khalid paired with McD, https://www.uber.com/newsroom/uber-eats-feeding-your-sxsw-experience Japan House-WAYGU! J-POP! PACHINKO! 800 Congress, March 9, 12-10pm, Immerse yourself in all things Japan! From singing Karaoke-style, watching Japanese parade floats to participating in traditional dance; Try a hand at the Pachinko machine and play games, games, games! Schmooze with authentic Buddhist priests to gaming geeks. Listen to Japanese court music, Japanese ballads and J-Pop! Enjoy the beauty of Japanese woodblock prints and read poetic haikus. Eat and drink to your heart’s delight — sushi, wagyu beef, ramen, rice wine, and more! From traditional to pop to high tech, your experience will be a mind-boggling variety! https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38254
800 Congress, March 9, 12-10pm, Immerse yourself in all things Japan! From singing Karaoke-style, watching Japanese parade floats to participating in traditional dance; Try a hand at the Pachinko machine and play games, games, games! Schmooze with authentic Buddhist priests to gaming geeks. Listen to Japanese court music, Japanese ballads and J-Pop! Enjoy the beauty of Japanese woodblock prints and read poetic haikus. Eat and drink to your heart’s delight — sushi, wagyu beef, ramen, rice wine, and more! From traditional to pop to high tech, your experience will be a mind-boggling variety! https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38254 Rent the Runway and West Elm’s Popup Closet , 1011 W 5th, March 9, 3–9pm, March 10, 11–6pm, Rent the Runway will provide a first look at the upcoming Rent the Runway x West Elm home partnership collection. Fans will enjoy cosmic readings, DIY bag station, hair and makeup styling, professional portrait sessions, selfies in a bedroom aerial photo booth, light bites, craft beer, designer espresso, live music + rent from RTR’s Living Closet with $80 off first two months of RTR Unlimited + $5 off Bird scooters from the Four Seasons Austin, use code RTRxWestElm.
, 1011 W 5th, March 9, 3–9pm, March 10, 11–6pm, Rent the Runway will provide a first look at the upcoming Rent the Runway x West Elm home partnership collection. Fans will enjoy cosmic readings, DIY bag station, hair and makeup styling, professional portrait sessions, selfies in a bedroom aerial photo booth, light bites, craft beer, designer espresso, live music + rent from RTR’s Living Closet with $80 off first two months of RTR Unlimited + $5 off Bird scooters from the Four Seasons Austin, use code RTRxWestElm. Miraval’s Wellness Expo , Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road, March 9–10, 11am–6pm, 150 exhibitors offering free self-care activities plus Yoga with Adrienne! https://www.sxsw.com/exhibitions/sxsw-wellness-expo
, Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road, March 9–10, 11am–6pm, 150 exhibitors offering free self-care activities plus Yoga with Adrienne! https://www.sxsw.com/exhibitions/sxsw-wellness-expo Bloomberg’s Tic Toc News Lab , 3rd/Colorado-Congress>Brazos/4–5th, March 9–11, 10–6pm, pedicab will give rides and juice shots when you take the onboard quiz about how you consume news. https://www.bloombergmedia.com/press/detox-news-diet-tictoc-news-lab-sxsw-tictoc-bloomberg-sxsw
, 3rd/Colorado-Congress>Brazos/4–5th, March 9–11, 10–6pm, pedicab will give rides and juice shots when you take the onboard quiz about how you consume news. https://www.bloombergmedia.com/press/detox-news-diet-tictoc-news-lab-sxsw-tictoc-bloomberg-sxsw Comedy Central’s Presidential Twitter Library, Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos, March 9, 11am-10pm, March 10–11th, 10am–10pm, critically-acclaimed and award-winning Presidential Twitter Library makes its debut at SXSW after having previously travelled to Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City. It will be open from Saturday, March 9 through Monday, March 11 On opening day only (Saturday), event hours are 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. CT; Sunday and Monday the Library will be open from 10:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. CT.
Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos, March 9, 11am-10pm, March 10–11th, 10am–10pm, critically-acclaimed and award-winning Presidential Twitter Library makes its debut at SXSW after having previously travelled to Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City. It will be open from Saturday, March 9 through Monday, March 11 On opening day only (Saturday), event hours are 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. CT; Sunday and Monday the Library will be open from 10:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. CT. Sony WOW Studio , 90 Trinity, March 9–12, 12–8pm, explore haptics demos in the cave without light and AI music composition showcases, speakers include legendary chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, AI pioneer, Jurgen Schmidhuber, and roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, March 10, 12:15–1:15pm. https://www.sony.net/brand/event/sxsw
, 90 Trinity, March 9–12, 12–8pm, explore haptics demos in the cave without light and AI music composition showcases, speakers include legendary chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, AI pioneer, Jurgen Schmidhuber, and roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, March 10, 12:15–1:15pm. https://www.sony.net/brand/event/sxsw Vice’s Skateland , Carmelo’s Lot, 504 E 5th/Red River, next to Convention Center enroute to Rainey Street, March 9–12, 1–5pm (18y+), 6–9pm (21y+). Get ready to BOUNCE, ROLL…get your retro rollerskates on! Watch for the Viceland bus, merch, and bar with Biggie Smalls tribute featuring DJ Bluntler, Trauma, Scram Jones, Whoo Kid and Phonte (Little Brother & Foreign Exchange + Vice Live with Zack Fox. https://www.sxsw.com/news/2019/vice-hosting-4-day-pop-up-rollerskating-party-with-djs-vice-live-and-more
, Carmelo’s Lot, 504 E 5th/Red River, next to Convention Center enroute to Rainey Street, March 9–12, 1–5pm (18y+), 6–9pm (21y+). Get ready to BOUNCE, ROLL…get your retro rollerskates on! Watch for the Viceland bus, merch, and bar with Biggie Smalls tribute featuring DJ Bluntler, Trauma, Scram Jones, Whoo Kid and Phonte (Little Brother & Foreign Exchange + Vice Live with Zack Fox. https://www.sxsw.com/news/2019/vice-hosting-4-day-pop-up-rollerskating-party-with-djs-vice-live-and-more Michelob’s Pure Golden Hour Meditation with Bishop Briggs, Cautious Clay and Miguel , Long Center, 701 W Riverside Drive, March 10, 5–7pm, enjoy organic beer, bites, beats and calm as headliners invite fans to tune into themselves in this group meditaiton, https://www.michelobultra.com/sxsw, https://michelob-ultra-sxsw.n.events, https://2019.do512.com/pureholdenhour2019
, Long Center, 701 W Riverside Drive, March 10, 5–7pm, enjoy organic beer, bites, beats and calm as headliners invite fans to tune into themselves in this group meditaiton, https://www.michelobultra.com/sxsw, https://michelob-ultra-sxsw.n.events, https://2019.do512.com/pureholdenhour2019 Facebook Art House , The Native Hostel, 807 E 4, March 9–11, 11–10pm, Stories workshops, mimosas, art giveaways, appearances by Mikey Alfred, Kasey Elise & Andrea Ellsworth. Lucy’s Fried Chicken backyard feast community dinner (March 9, 8–10pm). performances by Toro y Moi, Madeline Kenney, Chulita Vinyl Club (March 10, 7–10pm). Toro y Moi Chaz Bear Screenprinting Workshop (March 11, 12–2pm). http://facebookarthousesxsw.splashthat.com
, The Native Hostel, 807 E 4, March 9–11, 11–10pm, Stories workshops, mimosas, art giveaways, appearances by Mikey Alfred, Kasey Elise & Andrea Ellsworth. Lucy’s Fried Chicken backyard feast community dinner (March 9, 8–10pm). performances by Toro y Moi, Madeline Kenney, Chulita Vinyl Club (March 10, 7–10pm). Toro y Moi Chaz Bear Screenprinting Workshop (March 11, 12–2pm). http://facebookarthousesxsw.splashthat.com ComcastNBCU Lounge , 90 Rainey, March 9, 11–9pm, March 10, 11–7pm, March 11, 11–2pm, The Office and Project Runway selfies, Jordan Peele’s US fan art gallery, How To Train Your Dragon VR Tour, Xfinity gaming lounge, coloring between the lines + puppies! https://comcastsnbcuhousersvp.splashthat.com
, 90 Rainey, March 9, 11–9pm, March 10, 11–7pm, March 11, 11–2pm, The Office and Project Runway selfies, Jordan Peele’s US fan art gallery, How To Train Your Dragon VR Tour, Xfinity gaming lounge, coloring between the lines + puppies! https://comcastsnbcuhousersvp.splashthat.com Netflix’s The Highwaymen House , Bangers Basement, 81 1/2 Rainey, March 9, March 11–12th, 5pm-Midnight, step into a 1934 speakeasy for cowboy cocktails and join the hunt to help the Texas Rangers wrangle up Bonnie and Clyde. Fans get a character name and RFID wristband to unlock experiences, play games and earn points to redeem at the swag store. Brand yourself an outlaw by selfie-ing with the getaway car and wanted sign. Live music performances by Jessica Pratt on March 9, Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real on March 11, and Durand Jones & The Indications on March 12. Film premieres at SXSW on March 10 with red carpet appearances by Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson and Kathy Bates, and releases on Netflix March 29. https://culturecollide.com/event/sxsw-2019-the-highwaymen-house-bangers-basement, http://www.the-highwaymen.com
, Bangers Basement, 81 1/2 Rainey, March 9, March 11–12th, 5pm-Midnight, step into a 1934 speakeasy for cowboy cocktails and join the hunt to help the Texas Rangers wrangle up Bonnie and Clyde. Fans get a character name and RFID wristband to unlock experiences, play games and earn points to redeem at the swag store. Brand yourself an outlaw by selfie-ing with the getaway car and wanted sign. Live music performances by Jessica Pratt on March 9, Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real on March 11, and Durand Jones & The Indications on March 12. Film premieres at SXSW on March 10 with red carpet appearances by Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson and Kathy Bates, and releases on Netflix March 29. https://culturecollide.com/event/sxsw-2019-the-highwaymen-house-bangers-basement, http://www.the-highwaymen.com FX’s What We Do In The Shadows, El Naranjo (85 Rainey Street), Bat Bar (218 E 6th Street) Iron Works BBQ (100 Red River Street), March 9–12, find the secret vampire libraries for free books and cash prizes. https://deadline.com/2019/02/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-fx-sxsw-jemaine-clement-taika-waititi-1202565020
El Naranjo (85 Rainey Street), Bat Bar (218 E 6th Street) Iron Works BBQ (100 Red River Street), March 9–12, find the secret vampire libraries for free books and cash prizes. https://deadline.com/2019/02/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-fx-sxsw-jemaine-clement-taika-waititi-1202565020 Showtime House , Clive Bar, 609 Davis/Rainey. March 11 , 2–6pm-late, music trivia games, a Wu-Tang Clan name generator photobooth, concert concession stand snacks and DJ sets, evening party featuring Rick Rubin tribute. March 12 , appearances by Paul Scheer (Black Monday) and Jacob Latimore (The Chi).. 90 minute black and white art battle Secret Walls competition, performances by Latimore, Mavis Staples and Spinderella. March 13, Shameless carnival, big top attractions, quickdraw photobooth, face painting, classic games and carnival acts. Showtime gift cards to first 100 guests each day. https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE39222
, Clive Bar, 609 Davis/Rainey. , 2–6pm-late, music trivia games, a Wu-Tang Clan name generator photobooth, concert concession stand snacks and DJ sets, evening party featuring Rick Rubin tribute. , appearances by Paul Scheer (Black Monday) and Jacob Latimore (The Chi).. 90 minute black and white art battle Secret Walls competition, performances by Latimore, Mavis Staples and Spinderella. Shameless carnival, big top attractions, quickdraw photobooth, face painting, classic games and carnival acts. Showtime gift cards to first 100 guests each day. https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE39222 SXSW Outdoor Stage at Lady Bird Lake , First Street Bridge across from Palmer Events Center, March 14–16, Dungeon Family ft Big Boi, Andrew Bird, free concerts for the public and picnicking http://2019.do512.com/sxswoutdoorstage
, First Street Bridge across from Palmer Events Center, March 14–16, Dungeon Family ft Big Boi, Andrew Bird, free concerts for the public and picnicking http://2019.do512.com/sxswoutdoorstage Rachael Ray’s Moxie Made Pop-Up Shop , March 14–17, 11–7pm (til 2pm on Sunday), 1224 S Congress across from the I Love You So Much mural at Buble Hive, Jo’s Coffee, 242 W 2nd —shop features new and vintage apparel. https://www.austin360.com/entertainmentlife/20190304/rachael-ray-brings-back-her-moxie-made-pop-up-shop-for-four-days-during-sxsw
, March 14–17, 11–7pm (til 2pm on Sunday), 1224 S Congress across from the I Love You So Much mural at Buble Hive, Jo’s Coffee, 242 W 2nd —shop features new and vintage apparel. https://www.austin360.com/entertainmentlife/20190304/rachael-ray-brings-back-her-moxie-made-pop-up-shop-for-four-days-during-sxsw Patreon House of Creativity, 86 Rainey, March 11–13, 7pm-1am, March 11, 10pm Amanda Palmer, 11pm Zola Jesus, Midnight, Cautious Clay, March 12, Midnight White Denim, https://events.patreon.com/sxsw
Houses that won’t let your mind or body go hungry:
Deep End by Vox , The Belmont, March 8–10, 11am, March 8, 4pm Kara Swisher, Arlan Hamilton, Wendy Davis, March 9, 2pm, Liz Plank, Olivia Wilde, Katie Silberman, 3pm, Peter Kafka, Mark Cuban, March 10, 12pm, Pete Buttigieg, 1:30pm Vergecast Niley Patel, Dieter Bohn, Casey Newton, 3:30pm Craig Newmark, 4pm Black Pumas + Polygon Arcade, Eater treats, Curbed decor. http://voxmediaevents.com/sxsw
, The Belmont, March 8–10, 11am, March 8, 4pm Kara Swisher, Arlan Hamilton, Wendy Davis, March 9, 2pm, Liz Plank, Olivia Wilde, Katie Silberman, 3pm, Peter Kafka, Mark Cuban, March 10, 12pm, Pete Buttigieg, 1:30pm Vergecast Niley Patel, Dieter Bohn, Casey Newton, 3:30pm Craig Newmark, 4pm Black Pumas + Polygon Arcade, Eater treats, Curbed decor. http://voxmediaevents.com/sxsw Wired ADP Break The Glass Ceiling Experience , Empire Control Room, 606 E 7th, March 8–10, 12–6pm, choose one of four work barriers (ex. Work Life Balance) that are holding back businesses / employee success, be filmed physically breaking through the barrier for sharing. https://www.sxsw.com/news/2019/top-5-things-you-wont-want-to-miss-this-years-future-workplace-track-sxsw/
, Empire Control Room, 606 E 7th, March 8–10, 12–6pm, choose one of four work barriers (ex. Work Life Balance) that are holding back businesses / employee success, be filmed physically breaking through the barrier for sharing. https://www.sxsw.com/news/2019/top-5-things-you-wont-want-to-miss-this-years-future-workplace-track-sxsw/ Fast Company Grill , Cedar Door, 201 Brazos, March 8–11, 10:30–4:30pm(6pm, March 8), stellar lineup, lunch, open bar, swag, editors, https://fastcompany.swoogo.com/FCGrill19/schedule, March 8, 1:10pm Jeff Weiser, Shopify, 2pm, MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, Academy Award-Winning Actor and Founder, just keep livin Foundation; and MICHAEL ACTON SMITH, Cofounder and Co-CEO, Calm, STEPHANIE MEHTA, editor-in-chief, Fast Company, March 9, 1:10–1:50pm Kendra Scott, March 10, 11–11:30am, Christina Tosi, Milk Bar, 2:30pm Will Hurd, March 11, 2pm TLC Live
, Cedar Door, 201 Brazos, March 8–11, 10:30–4:30pm(6pm, March 8), stellar lineup, lunch, open bar, swag, editors, https://fastcompany.swoogo.com/FCGrill19/schedule, March 8, 1:10pm Jeff Weiser, Shopify, 2pm, MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, Academy Award-Winning Actor and Founder, just keep livin Foundation; and MICHAEL ACTON SMITH, Cofounder and Co-CEO, Calm, STEPHANIE MEHTA, editor-in-chief, Fast Company, March 9, 1:10–1:50pm Kendra Scott, March 10, 11–11:30am, Christina Tosi, Milk Bar, 2:30pm Will Hurd, March 11, 2pm TLC Live Female Quotient Lounge , Palm Door on Sabine, 401 Sabine, March 8–10, 8am–8pm, 25 panels that include a performance by rapper Ivy Sole, Saturday 6pm. Sponsored by NBCU, Facebook, Google, L’Oreal, JPMC, Deloitte, Viacom, HP, Twitter, Shopify, New York Times and more.
, Palm Door on Sabine, 401 Sabine, March 8–10, 8am–8pm, 25 panels that include a performance by rapper Ivy Sole, Saturday 6pm. Sponsored by NBCU, Facebook, Google, L’Oreal, JPMC, Deloitte, Viacom, HP, Twitter, Shopify, New York Times and more. Mercedes Media Lounge , Austin Convention Center, Room 17AB, March 8–12, hosted by Stephanie Agresta, Brian Solis and Guy Kawasaki, it’s like a mini-SXSW. All the top speakers from the sold out sessions drop in to speak to a more intimate audience. Best place to get your tech selfies! Schedule is posted at the door daily. http://mercedesmedialounge.splashthat.com
, Austin Convention Center, Room 17AB, March 8–12, hosted by Stephanie Agresta, Brian Solis and Guy Kawasaki, it’s like a mini-SXSW. All the top speakers from the sold out sessions drop in to speak to a more intimate audience. Best place to get your tech selfies! Schedule is posted at the door daily. http://mercedesmedialounge.splashthat.com Scandinavia House , Fareground, 111 Congress, March 8–13, 8am-11pm, will feed you like royalty! From a Scandinavian breakfast daily at 8am to a Nine Course Pop Up Restaurant 7–11pm with guests appearances by ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and HRH Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, and special events like Empty the Fridge Lonely Planet lunch March 12, 11:30am, Travel wallet happy hour on March 13 5pm, you won’t go hungry with this international destination. https://scandinaviantraveler.com/en/houseofscandinavia/theprogram,
https://scandinaviantraveler.com/en/houseofscandinavia/popup-booking
, Fareground, 111 Congress, March 8–13, 8am-11pm, will feed you like royalty! From a Scandinavian breakfast daily at 8am to a Nine Course Pop Up Restaurant 7–11pm with guests appearances by ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and HRH Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, and special events like Empty the Fridge Lonely Planet lunch March 12, 11:30am, Travel wallet happy hour on March 13 5pm, you won’t go hungry with this international destination. https://scandinaviantraveler.com/en/houseofscandinavia/theprogram, https://scandinaviantraveler.com/en/houseofscandinavia/popup-booking Google Fiber : Food & Tech, March 12, 10am-5pm, Is that salad brought to you by an algorithm? The Refresh Working Group, Google, and Swell Creative Group host a day of food activations, discussions, and cooking demonstrations. Explore how AI is transforming the entire food system, https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38243.
: Food & Tech, March 12, 10am-5pm, Is that salad brought to you by an algorithm? The Refresh Working Group, Google, and Swell Creative Group host a day of food activations, discussions, and cooking demonstrations. Explore how AI is transforming the entire food system, https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38243. Abbey Road Takeover, Austin Convention Center Trade Show Floor, March 10–13, British Music Embassy, Latitude 30, 512 San Jacinto, March 12, 12–4pm, first time the legendary Beatles studio will be at SXSW sharing details on their music tech incubator, https://www.abbeyroad.com/news/abbey-road-studios-comes-to-sxsw-2527
If you’re new to SXSW, check out my podcast with industry veteran Brian Zisk where we share top tips for making this your best show ever. Advice includes:
Picking up your badge the night before as registration is open late — Ballroom B and on busiest days Exhibit Hall 1
Skipping the lines with SXXpress passes via the SXSW GO app
Building in extra time to get to venues with this handy map
Bringing an umbrella, swimsuit and layers as weather varies widely
Eating healthy and enjoying the free yoga, self-care and meditation classes
Remembering SXSW is about seredipty and stamina, if you miss half of what you planned, it might open the door to epic celebrity encounters
Below are my top picks and I’ll be adding as more are announced. Follow me @contentnow for all of the shenanigans!
THURSDAY, MARCH 7
WHAT: PARTY — Pre-game Happy Hour
WHEN: Thursday, March 8, 5:30pm–7:30pm
WHERE: The Ginger Man, 301 Lavaca
DETAILS: https://sxswpregame.splashthat.com
WHAT: PARTY — Loly.io Launch Party hosted by Adryenn Ashley!
WHEN: Thursday, March 7, 6pm-2am
WHERE: CryptoVixens Lounge, The Venue, 516 E 6th, Unit B
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cryptovixens-opening-night-arty-by-lolyip-tickets-57764880312
Kickoff your SXSW adventure at the launch party for the Loly dating app!
WHAT: PARTY — BerlinSaloon Opening Night Party
WHEN: Thursday, March 7, 9pm-11pm
WHERE: Buffalo Billiards, 201 East 6th
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/berlinsaloon-sxsw-2019-18555941671
FRIDAY, MARCH 8
WHAT: BUMBLE POPUP-free breakfast, tacos, coffee
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 7am-6pm
WHERE: Jo’s, 242 W 2nd
DETAILS: http://www.bumble.com/sxsw
Spend International Women’s Day with Bumble! As an social networking app that revolves around women making the first move, take the initiative and stop by the Hive for one-on-one mentoring from the Bumble team. Have an idea for a startup, but don’t quite know where to start? Or maybe you’re dealing with a difficult situation at work and need some advice. Head back to the Hive in the evening for a special musical performance!
7AM — 9AM: Free breakfast tacos and coffee
12PM — 4PM: Speed mentoring with Bumble
6PM — 9PM: Hive closed
9PM — 11PM: International Women’s Day performance
WHAT: BREAKFAST
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 7am-6pm
WHERE: Cooper’s BBQ, 217 Congress
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-health-community-kickoff-breakfast-at-sxsw-2019-tickets-56751833261
Come get to know us and the Austin health and medtech innovation community on Friday March 8! There will be breakfast tacos and salsas, gluten-free granola, fresh fruit, oatmeal, dried fruit, coconut mil quinoa, bagels and accouterments. A full-service espresso bar will be on site, as well as well as coffee drinks by Picnik Austin and Chameleon.
WHAT: PANEL-Priscilla Chan
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am–12pm
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4, 6FL, Salon H
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102391
A former teacher and pediatrician, Priscilla Chan will describe how the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative aims to pair technologists with people on the frontlines — like scientists focusing on disease prevention, prosecutors working to make the criminal justice system more fair, and teachers struggling to meet the unique needs of every student.
WHAT: PANEL-Buzzfeed Jonah Peretti, Jill Abramson
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am–12pm
WHERE: Fairmont, 101 Red River, 5FL, Manchester CD
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102389
A conversation between Jonah Peretti, co-founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, and Jill Abramson, author of Merchants of Truth. Join them as they discuss building a media empire and the business of news today.
WHAT: PANEL-New Yorker Liza Donnelly
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am–12pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2nd, 3rd Floor, Salon D
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP81805
A New Yorker editorial cartoonist and writer for decades, Liza will explore satire in the Age Of Trump and examine humor’s role in disrupting- now and in the past- and what can be learned from anger. Using her new form of digital storytelling, called visual journalism, she will explain what it is, and walk the audience through how the unique skills of a cartoonist can become useful tools for all. Throughout the talk she will draw digitally onstage, in real time and transmitting to screen, allowing for understanding of the power of the act of drawing and cartooning. Liza will exlore how creative innovativation can help us be more human; and globally change the world through humor.
WHAT: WORKSHOP-Mindful Self Care
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am–12pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2nd, 2nd Floor, Room 201–202
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP84745
Over a million people miss work daily due to burnout and unmitigated stress. Through facilitator-led conversation, group participation, and hands-on demonstrations, this session explores how mindfulness-based self-care can be an antidote to burnout. In this session, we’ll explore why “feeling stressed” differs from “being burned out.” Together, we’ll unpack the mental, physical, financial, health, personal, and professional impacts caused by burnout. This session also examines how our resistance to self-care is often enmeshed with our desire to rescue others before rescuing ourselves. Participants will learn how adopting easy-to-learn daily rituals for mindful self-care can shift mindsets, enhance moods, and create happy, healthy workplaces.
WHAT: AWARDS BRUNCH-Women In Tech
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am–2pm
WHERE: CryptoVixens Lounge, TBD
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-technology-brunch-and-awards-tickets-56385390220
The Women in Technology Awards is #CryptoVixens first annual celebration of women and diversity in the technology industry. Nominations are open until February 25 at noon. Voting begins February 26. You can nominate your favorite woman in technology (or yourself) here: https://form.jotform.com/90427879297172
WHAT: PANEL-Kara Swisher, Arlan Hamilton, Olivia Wilde
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am-5pm
WHERE: Vox Deep End, The Belmont, 305 W 6th
DETAILS: http://voxmediaevents.com/sxsw
Join The Verge, SB Nation, Eater, Polygon, Vox, Curbed, and Recode to see what your favorite podcast hosts actually look like, rediscover your passion for video games, experience the depth of emotion that comes from being a true sports fan, challenge your thinking through participation in unscripted conversations, sub networking for connecting, and eat your way through Austin and other cities.
WHAT: WORKSHOP-Make Your Own Hippie Fashion Dolls
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am–1pm
WHERE: Westin, 310 E 5th, 3rd Floor, Continental 1
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103104
Fashion Artist, Stephanie Jimenez Schiller will teach you the ins and outs of sketching your own Hippie inspired Paper Doll. From bell bottoms to flower crowns, the simple to follow Live Tutorials make it a breeze for all skill levels to sketch along. So put on your best hippie inspired outfit and get ready to sketch, design and learn how Fashion is intertwined with the era it shares space with.
WHAT: HOUSE-Sprinklr
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11am–9pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, OP Italian, 110 E 2nd
DETAILS: https://sxsw.sprinklr.com
Enjoy some great food, learn why experience is the new brand, and see why the platform vs. point solutions debate is over.
WHAT: MIXER-Salt Lick BBQ with FFVC, Twilio, SendGrid
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11:45am
WHERE: Bus departs for Salt Lick from Republic Square, 4th & Guadalupe
DETAILS:https://meatandgreet2019vip.splashthat.com Invite only
WHAT: PANEL-Maria Shriver on Alzheimer’s
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, L4 18ABCD
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101172
Maria Shriver hosts a candid conversation about women’s brain health and the mind-blowing implications for us all. Joining her are Dr. Farida Sohrabji, founder and director of the Women’s Health in Neuroscience Program at the Texas A&M College of Medicine and advocate for the inclusion of gender/sex differences in biomedical research, and actress Alexandra Socha, an Advocate with the Alzheimer’s Association. Hundreds of thousands of women are losing their minds to Alzheimer’s each year, and no one knows why. Of the minds that develop Alzheimer’s, 2/3rds of them belong to women. Women are at the center of this global health crisis, but they may also hold the key to unlocking a cure for everyone.
WHAT: PANEL-Reuters Nick Cohen, Hazel Baker
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2nd, 3rd Floor, Salon D
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP89712
A startlingly realistic new breed of AI-driven faked videos is starting to emerge, circulated by propagandists and other shadowy actors via social platforms. These videos appear to show news events, or public figures speaking, and seem to be published by legitimate news outlets. However, they are in fact highly sophisticated AI-driven video forgeries. This session explores what strategies and technologies news outlets and consumers should be adopting to defend themselves against this frightening new development.
WHAT: POPUP-Whiskey Tasting
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 2pm, 3pm, 6pm
WHERE: Ft Worth House, Bungalow, 92 Rainey
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38417
Join the Head Distiller, Whiskey Scientist and Master Mixologist of Texas’ largest artisanal whiskey brand for a three-part course showcasing how their unique approach to environmental exploration, sensory science and flavor fusion is taking whiskey to new horizons. Experience and taste how their innovative methods are pushing boundaries and changing the status quo.
WHAT: PANEL-Matthew McConaughey, Michael Acton Smith
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 2pm–3pm
WHERE: Fast Company Grill, Cedar Door, 201 Brazos
DETAILS: https://fastcompany.swoogo.com/FCGrill19/schedule
includes lunch and happy hour
WHAT: PANEL-Recode Peter Kafka with Kevin Reilly
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 2pm–3pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center L4 16AB
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103071
Kevin Reilly is the legendary President of TBS & TNT, Chief Creative Officer Turner Entertainment and Warner Media Direct-to-Consumer. In addition to leading the top-rated TNT and TBS networks, Reilly was also recently appointed to oversee content strategy for the new WarnerMedia streaming service. Peter Kafka is the executive editor at Recode, the business and technology network from Vox Media; host of Recode Media, the weekly podcast dedicated to the future of media and technology; and co-executive producer of the Code Conference. He has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Together they’ll be looking at the future of television, and whether Prime Time will ever really go away.
WHAT: PANEL-Etsy, Barneys, Poshmark
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 3:30–4:30pm
WHERE: Four Seasons, 98 San Jacinto, Ground Floor, Ballroom AB
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP82040
Join industry experts for an inside look at how online marketplaces have allowed entrepreneurs to find success on their own terms, regardless of gender, age, or education. Barneys set the standard for highlighting independent designers in the ’80s, and in today’s world of e-commerce, new leaders like Etsy and Poshmark are propelling the next generation of creative entrepreneurs, and especially women. Hear Barneys Creative Ambassador Simon Doonan, Etsy’s Trend Expert Dayna Isom Johnson, Designer Reuben Reuel of DEMESTIK, and Poshmark’s Tracy Sun speak to how these marketplaces are far ahead of curve on creating a successful platform for diverse entrepreneurs.
WHAT: PANEL-Meg Whitman & Jeffrey Katzenberg
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 2pm–3pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center L4 Ballroom D
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101554
The Next Form of Storytelling: The Future of Technology-Enabled Entertainment. Quibi Founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman explore the market trends that have opened the gates to a new form of storytelling delivered through a technology platform optimized for easy, on-the-go mobile viewing. They will discuss how they are bringing together the best of Hollywood and Silicon Valley to create the future of entertainment.
WHAT: PANEL-George Hotz
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 3:30pm–4:30pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center L4 18ABCD
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102411
We are in a simulation. Has it occurred to you that means God is real? By drawing parallels to worlds we have created, we ask, from inside our simulator, what actions do we have available? Can we get out?
WHAT: POPUP-Intelligent future panel with basketball, design jeans
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 3:30pm–4:30pm
WHERE: SAP House, Cafe Blue, 340 E 2nd at Trinity
DETAILS: https://events.sap.com/us/south-by-southwest/en/home
What is human? What is the future? Only the rest of our lives. When we look at it from that angle, we start to ask some tough questions. How do we want it to be? Who decides? Why is it always “Man vs Machine”? Can we work with technology instead of fearing it? Yes, we can. Science fiction is fast becoming science fact as mankind achieves seemingly superhuman feats like industrializing space and controlling machines with a thought. Amidst this era of startling change, one lesson becomes clear. Stability is no longer the byword for success. What drives innovation is its opposite, the evolution of man and machine in tandem.
WHAT: WORKSHOP-Yoga for the Wounded Heart
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 3:30pm–5pm
WHERE: Westin, 310 E 5, 2nd Floor, Paramount 1
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP91499
Join philosopher, seasoned yoga instructor, and award-winning author Tatiana Forero Puerta in this two-hour workshop based on her book, Yoga for the Wounded Heart. Emotional wounds can profoundly affect our daily lives, as well as our ability to forge connections with others and experience genuine freedom. This workshop will utilize movement, lecture, group work, and concentration techniques to explore the theory and practical application of yogic tools that have the power to heal hearts.
WHAT: PANEL-Kara Swisher, Wendy Davis, Arlan Hamilton
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 4pm
WHERE: VOX Deep End, The Belmont, 305 W 6th
DETAILS: http://voxmediaevents.com/sxsw
Less than four years ago, Arlan Hamilton was homeless. Now, she’s the founder of a venture capital firm that invests exclusively in companies founded by women, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQ. At 19 years old, Wendy Davis was living in a trailer park with a baby daughter, holding down two jobs. She went on to become a Texas State Senator and, among many accomplishments, lead a 13 hour filibuster to protect women’s reproductive rights. On Recode Decode, Kara hosts conversations with tech and media’s key players about their big ideas and how they’re changing our world. In this special episode, she’ll talk with Arlan and Wendy about being underestimated, drive, and defying the odds.
WHAT: PARTY-Fast Company
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 4pm–6pm
WHERE: Fast Company Grill, Cedar Door, 201 Brazos
DETAILS: https://events.grill.fastcompany.com
Join Fast Company and INTRINSIC on Friday March 8th from 4:00 to 6:00pm for an evening of networking, red wine, and lite bites.
WHAT: PARTY-Goldie Chan + Happy Hour DJ + cocktails
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 4pm–6:30pm
WHERE: LinkedIn Studio, 204 E 4
DETAILS: https://linkedinstudio.splashthat.com
WHAT: PARTY-Startup Crawl
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 4pm–8pm
WHERE: Capitol Factory, 700 San Jacinto
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sxsw-startup-crawl-2019-tickets-51100382620
Tour the latest and greatest of Austin’s startup community. You’ll take the shuttle from stop to stop for a free beverage, to drop off a resume, see office space or explore Austin’s startup scene.
WHAT: PANEL-Cameron & Tyler Winkevoss
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–6pm
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4, 6FL, Salon H
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103025
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss believe the cryptocurrency revolution has the potential to re-architect trade, the financial system, the Internet, and the future of money as we know it. But they also know it won’t be easy and will require a thoughtful, rules-based approach. A lot has changed since Cameron and Tyler first got involved with bitcoin in 2012 and Gemini cryptocurrency exchange they launched in 2015. In this session they will discuss what’s on the horizon for Gemini and the crypto industry in 2019, and why they believe the current ‘crypto winter’ will be a time of lasting innovation.
WHAT: PANEL-Presidential candidate Andrew Yang
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–6pm
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4, 4th Floor, Salon A
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP89764
Today, dignity and value are so tied to our work that it’s hard to imagine a world where that isn’t true. However, as automation makes more human labor obsolete, we need to think differently. Is Universal Basic Income the solution? Join Andrew Yang for a rational discussion on the future of work, the merits of UBI, and why we need to shift to a human-centered form of capitalism.
WHAT: PANEL-Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, The Guardian, RogerEbert.com preview SXSW Film Festival
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–6pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, L4 Room 16AB
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103033
Get insider tips, strategies and advice you can use to maximize your time at the SXSW Film Fest and a sneak preview of SXSW’s most anticipated screenings, conference sessions and movie-related happenings. Critics will share insider news about surprise screenings that are off the radar of the general public.
WHAT: PANEL-New York Times Sam Dolnick with Ken Druckerman
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–6pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, 500 E Cesar Chavez, L4 18ABCD
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103098
“The Weekly,” coming soon to FX and Hulu, brings The New York Times to the screen for the first time, allowing viewers to see the world through 1,550 journalists. 160 countries. 2,500 stories a week. Learn more about the new series from Sam Dolnick, assistant managing editor at The New York Times, Ken Druckerman, executive producer of “The Weekly” and the co-founder and co-president of LEFT/RIGHT.
WHAT: PODCAST-Maria Shriver
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–6pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2nd, L2 Brazos Room
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102915
Maria Shriver shares insights into love, pain, forgiveness, gratitude, family, faith, connection, loneliness, and the art of self-reinvention to inspire meaningful conversations.
WHAT: PANEL-Color Factory, Burning Man, Brooklyn Museum
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–6pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, L4 Ballroom G
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP86163
Pop-Ups are the fastest growing segment in the consumer space to test innovative concepts and products with an experience driven generation, playing an integral part in connecting people to brands through unique hands on environments. Pop-Up Museums are drawing hundreds of thousands of fans to their attractions annually by marrying music, art, VR and more. Explore creating an emotional journey in 12 rooms or less, elements of designing a successful experience with space, location, and content, and marketing tactics to draw attendees and incorporate brand partners.
WHAT: PANEL-Quartz Tim Fernholz - How Sci-Fi Influences Tech
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–6pm
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4th, Salon F
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP86251
What does it mean when many of the richest and most powerful people on the planet — like Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Jeff Bezos — think how they think and do what they do in large part because of the science fiction they read and watched when they were 12? What were the key sci-fi authors and ideas that most inspired them, and continue to influence them and Silicon Valley more broadly? Is that influence ultimately a good thing or a bad thing? And what can we all learn about innovation from science fiction? Join bestselling sci-fi authors Malka Older (“Infomocracy”) and Eliot Peper (“Bandwidth”) along with journalist Tim Fernholz (“Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race”) as they examine the tech industry’s long-running relationship with fictional futures.
WHAT: PARTY-Harvest HQ @ SXSW with Cheddar and Miracle-Gro
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–8pm
WHERE: 78 Rainey
DETAILS: https://harvesthqparty.splashthat.com/ Invite only
Food and drinks by TORCHY’S TACOS!!!
WHAT: PARTY-Smart Home VIP Cocktail Party
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5pm–8pm
WHERE: Yonomi Austin HQ, 720 Brazos, 8FL, Suite 810
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sxsw-2019-smart-home-vip-cocktail-party-by-yonomi-schlage-resideo-gentex-and-stacey-on-iot-tickets-55579045421
Drinks, hors d’oeuvres and discussion of trends shaping the smart home industry in 2019 and beyond.
WHAT: FILM-The Wall Of Mexico (Mariel Hemingway)
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 5:30pm–7:20pm
WHERE: Stateside Theatre, 719 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2009135
Don, a young handyman, is hired by the Aristas, a wealthy Mexican-American family with two outrageously decadent daughters. The source of the Aristas’ wealth is a mystery to Don. Living in nearby Winfield, he soon learns tensions are high between the Aristas and the poor white townspeople, and that this has something to do with the Aristas’ well, which Don is asked to guard at night. People are superstitious about the well. Don learns the Aristas are selling wellwater at alarming prices. Don becomes infatuated with the younger daughter, Tania. As the water level drops, possibly from theft, the situation comes to a boil, and the Aristas decide to build a massive wall.
WHAT: PARTY-Inc Founders House Opening Night Party
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 6pm–8pm
WHERE: La Volpe, 201 Brazos, Bldg B
DETAILS: https://inc.swoogo.com/incfoundershouse
networking lounge for founders with complimentary drinks and snacks
WHAT: MEETUP-Techstars Comcast NBCU LIFT Labs Accelerator
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 6pm–8:30pm
WHERE: Moonshine Grill, 303 Red River
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-the-comcast-nbcuniversal-lift-labs-techstars-teams-in-austin-registration-54557598245
WHAT: PARTY-PRSA TrendKite at Nite
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 6pm–10pm
WHERE: Seven Grand, 405 E 7th
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trendkite-at-nite-tickets-56599116481
Drinks, bites, beats, swag + Dan Quinn Band, invitation only
WHAT: PARTY-Carver Museum Opening Night
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 6pm–10pm
WHERE: Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina
DETAILS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sxsw-opening-reception-the-carver-tickets-55857109117
DJ Kay Cali will provide the soundtrack for the evening with just the right mix to get your evening started right. Appetizers and beverages.
WHAT: FILM-The Infiltrators
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 6:15pm–7:45pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar D, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2011193
A young Mexican man walks into a Border Patrol station in Florida. He seems disoriented and he admits that he recently crossed the border illegally. The stunned Border Patrol agent handcuffs the man and sends him to a detention center for immigrants facing deportation. However, once behind bars, we learn a few things about the young man. His name is Marco and he’s looking for someone…another detainee…and Marco has a plan…The Infiltrators is a suspenseful telling of an incredible true story, a little-known chapter in American activism, and a rare insider experience of a for-profit immigrant detention center — an institution that is rapidly expanding across the American landscape.
WHAT: FILM-Us (Jordan Peele, Elisabeth Moss)
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 6:30pm–8:30pm
WHERE: Paramount, 713 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008369
Us, from Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jordan Peele (Get Out), stars Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson, a woman returning to her beachside childhood home with her husband (Winston Duke), and their children for a summer getaway. Haunted by an unexplainable trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family. After a day with friends (Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker), the Wilsons return to their vacation home to discover the silhouettes of four figures standing in their driveway. Us pits an ordinary American family against a terrifying opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.
WHAT: FILM-Romantic Comedy
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 6:45pm–8:03pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar E, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008824
Romantic Comedy is a documentary that goes beneath the surface of our favourite films, seeking to better understand the way we view love, relationships and romance. From It Happened One Night to Runaway Bride, from clumsy meet cutes to rain-soaked declarations of love, these films reflect our experiences but are often just as problematic as they are comforting.
They’re hugely successful and deeply loved by many, but — being frequently dismissed as guilty pleasures — they have often avoided critical analysis. Helped by a chorus of critics, actors and filmmakers, and original songs by her band Summer Camp, director Elizabeth Sankey embarks on a journey of investigation and self-discovery.
WHAT: COMEDY-Daily Show Live!
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8pm
WHERE: Esthers Follies, 525 E 6th Street
DETAILS: https://press.cc.com/press-release/2019/02/22/press-sxsw-announcements
Standup with the World’s Fakest News Team: Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Dulcé Sloan, Roy Wood, Jr. and Jaboukie Young-White
WHAT: FILM-Mr. Jimmy
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8pm–10:50pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar B, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008852
In snowbound Tokamachi, Japan, teenaged Akio Sakurai took refuge in his room, escaping to another world with a pair of headphones and a pile of Led Zeppelin records. Moving to Tokyo, Akio worked as a kimono salesman by day, but by night became “Mr. Jimmy,” adopting the guitar chops and persona of Jimmy Page. For 35 years, Akio recreated vintage Zeppelin concerts note-for-note in small Tokyo clubs, until the “real” Jimmy Page stopped by one night, and Akio’s life changed forever. Inspired by Mr. Page’s ovation, Akio quits his “salary man” job, leaving behind his family to move to Los Angeles and join “Led Zepagain.” Soon cultures clash, and Akio’s idyllic vision of America meets with reality.
WHAT: PARTY-TechSet SXSW Kickoff Party!
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8pm–11pm
WHERE: The Eleanor, 307 W 5th, Unit A
DETAILS: https://techsetsx2019.splashthat.com
Celebrate International Women’s Day with Brian Solis and Stephanie Agresta, hosts of hte Mercedes Lounge with Guy Kawasaki!
WHAT: PARTY-TechTribe Shabbat
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8pm–11pm
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4th St
DETAILS: https://www.facebook.com/events/281655515878739
WHAT: PARTY-SXSWi Opening Night Party
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8pm–11pm
WHERE: Speakeasy, 412 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38994
Come dance in the MOONlight at the official SXSW Interactive Opening Party! Hosted by MOON Selfie, this party is taking over all three levels at Speakeasy and will feature two DJs, body painting, open bar, rooftop dancing, and a VIP lounge. Kick off SXSW right by lighting up the night with MOON. Get your groove on at this glow-in-the-dark dance party.
WHAT: CONCERT-BISHOP BRIGGS!
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8pm-Midnight
WHERE: Antone’s, 305 E 5th
DETAILS: https://2019.do512.com/capitalonehouse-dayone2019
8 DJ Manny, 9 Duncan Fellows, 10 Mt Joy, 11 Bishop Briggs
WHAT: FILM-Texas Shorts
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8:15pm–10:03pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, L1, Atom’s Theater
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010810
Caught among toxic masculinity, a sequin dress and a teenage crush, a teen skater, growing up in rural Texas, will have sex for the first time in the back of their dad’s truck. I am Mackenzie is a short coming of age drama about adolescence and the feeling of not belonging; the feeling of being an alien to your home, your peers, your body, your gender. It is a story about rushing towards love, and making mistakes; a story about finding the courage to look honestly at yourself.
WHAT: FILM-The Hottest August
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 8:45pm–10:19pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar A, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010839
A complex portrait of a city and its inhabitants, The Hottest August gives us a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City and its outer boroughs during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place? The Hottest August offers a mirror onto a society on the verge of catastrophe.
WHAT: PARTY-Vox Future of Music
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9pm
WHERE: The Belmont, 305 W 6th
DETAILS: http://www.voxmediaevents.com/thefutureofmusic
by invite only — performances by DJ Dani Deahl, Laura Escude, Herizen, Emily King
WHAT: FILM-X & Y
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9pm–10:52pm
WHERE: Alamo Ritz 2, 320 E 6
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008880
Swedish director and visual artist, Anna Odell (The Reunion), conducts a social experiment in which she aims to challenge the gender roles that men and women have in the society of today. In a purpose-build warehouse set she confronts herself with the Swedish actor and masculine icon Mikael Persbrandt, and invites seven other top Scandinavian actors to live with them and act as alter egos of herself and Mikael. The group embarks on a game without rules, which leads to real conflicts and funny, absurd and emotional situations since Trine Dyrholm, Jens Albinus, Vera Vitali, Shanti Roney, Sofie Gråbøl and Thure Lindhardt for many weeks will have to “stay in their roles” at all times.
WHAT: FILM-Yes, God, Yes
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9pm–10:17pm
WHERE: Stateside Theatre, 719 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008724
In the Midwest in the early 00s, sixteen-year-old Alice has always been a good Catholic girl. But when an AOL chat turns racy, she discovers masturbation and becomes guilt-ridden. Seeking redemption, she attends a mysterious religious retreat to try and suppress her urges, but it isn’t easy, especially after a cute boy starts flirting with her. Alice’s sense of shame is spiraling when she uncovers a shocking truth about the retreat’s most devout. Desperate and confused, she flees and meets an unlikely ally who offers an alternative view of what it means to be good. For the first time, Alice realizes she can decide for herself what to believe and finally gets the release she needs.
WHAT: CONCERT-Bumble Hive
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9pm–11pm
WHERE: Jo’s, 242 W 2nd
DETAILS: http://www.bumble.com/sxsw
WHAT: PARTY-MashBash
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9pm-2am
WHERE: Irene’s, 506 West Avenue
DETAILS: https://mashable.com/MashBash
From SpaceX to Ariana Grande’s “NASA”,Mashable has always held a space in its heart for outer space. We toast to pop culture representations of space, explore the future of space travel, and are excited by the potential of life beyond Earth. So to honor the 50th anniversary of the NASA’s lunar moon landing, Apollo 11 Mission, come aboard as we embark on a journey through the galaxy. This year’s MashBash will be ‘out-of-this-world!’
WHAT: FILM-Greener Grass
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9:15pm–10:56pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar D, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010860
A deliciously twisted comedy set in a demented, timeless suburbia where every adult wears braces on their straight teeth, couples coordinate meticulously pressed outfits, and coveted family members are swapped in more ways than one in this competition for acceptance.
WHAT: FILM-Sword of Trust
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9:15pm–10:43pm
WHERE: Zach Theatre, 202 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008776
When Cynthia & Mary (Jillian Bell & Michaela Watkins) show up to collect Cynthia’s inheritance from her deceased grandfather, the only item she’s received is an antique sword that was believed by her grandfather to be proof that the South won the Civil War. The two attempt to unload the object to a curmudgeonly pawnshop owner (Marc Maron) & his man-child sidekick Nathaniel (Jon Bass). When Mel and Nathaniel discover there’s a black market for the relic, the two pairs reluctantly join forces to sell this rarefied ‘prover item’ to the highest bidder. The adventure that ensues takes the four of them on a wild journey into the depths of conspiracy theory and and Southern disillusionment.
WHAT: FILM-What We Do In The Shadows
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 9:15pm–10:43pm
WHERE: Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2009323
Set in Staten Island, “What We Do in the Shadows” follows four vampires who have been roommates for hundreds and hundreds of years. The screening will be followed by an extended Q&A with select cast and crew.
WHAT: PARTY-SXSW Film Opening Night Party — CW Dare to Defy
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 10pm–1am
WHERE: Maggie Mae’s, 323 E 6th
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE39054
WHAT: FILM-Body at Brighton Rock
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11:30pm–12:57am
WHERE: Alamo Ritz 1, 320 E 6
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010841
Wendy, a part-time summer employee at a mountainous state park, takes on a rough trail assignment at the end of the season, trying to prove to her friends that she’s capable enough to do the job. When she takes a wrong turn and ends up deep in the backcountry, she stumbles upon what might be a potential crime scene. Stuck with no communication after losing her radio and with orders to guard the site, Wendy must fight the urge to run and do the harder job of staying put — spending the night deep in the wilderness, facing down her worst fears and proving to everyone — including herself — that she’s made of stronger stuff than they think she is.
WHAT: FILM-Boyz In The Wood
WHEN: Friday, March 8, 11:55pm–1:22am
WHERE: Stateside Theatre, 719 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010863
Set deep in the Scottish Highlands, Boyz In The Wood is an anarchic cocktail of generational politics, hip-hop loving farmers, and hallucinogenic rabbit shites.
SATURDAY, MARCH 9
WHAT: BUMBLE HIVE-free breakfast, tacos, coffee
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 7am-5pm
WHERE: Jo’s, 242 W 2nd
DETAILS: http://www.bumble.com/sxsw
Stats show that pets are ultra important to our users, so who wouldn’t want to spend their Saturday with the cute pups from Austin Animal Center? Stop by to play with, pet, and even get photos with Austin’s cutest four-legged friends.
7AM — 9AM: Free breakfast tacos
11AM — 2PM: Profile doctoring
2PM — 5PM: Dog party with Austin Animal Center
WHAT: PANEL-Starbucks Howard Schultz
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 9:30am–10:30am
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, L4 Ballroom D
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101168
Howard Schultz, Starbucks founder, grew up in the public housing projects of Brooklyn. His only inheritance washis mother’s belief that he could create a better life for myself. He became the first in his family to go to college, and went on to live the American Dream.
WHAT: PANEL-Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Axios, Hot Pod media panel
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 9:30am–10:30am
WHERE: JW Marriott, Salon E
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP87079
The ways in which we consume content continue to change rapidly and are fragmented across multiple platforms. Consumers now want immediate access to content via various formats: video, newsletter, podcast, social feeds, voice, linear-TV and more. How are media companies evolving in the face of these realities as modern media consumption lives at the intersection of these formats? This session will explore innovative strategies in content distribution across new formats. Featuring Jean Ellen Cowgill, Bloomberg, Casia Cieplak-Mayr Von Baldegg, The Atlantic, Sarah Fischer, Axios, Nick Quah, Hot Pod.
WHAT: PANEL-Guy Kawasaki
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 9:30am–10:30am
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, 3rd Floor, Room 9ABC
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101986
Guy Kawasaki will be sharing insights from his latest book, WISE GUY, his life story and lessons on humility, values, finding the balance between living well and living responsibly, and how to launch and run a great business.
WHAT: PANEL-Foursquare Dennis Crowley
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 9:30am–10:30am
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4, 6FL, Salon H
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102387
Ten years ago, Dennis Crowley launched Foursquare at SXSW, blowing the lid off the tech scene with the “check in.” Much has changed since then. These days we all share our location in ways that are clear (Instagram tagging, Snap maps) and others that are less obvious, with location collection in the background of our apps and phones. What does this mean for the future? For our personal privacy? What can we do with all the location data and the tech that powers its collection?
WHAT: PANEL Future of Sports Season Tickets
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 9:30am–10:30am
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2, 4th Floor, Salon 3
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP82881
The season ticket market is valued at 10 billion annually and growing nationwide. When compared to daily fantasy, valued at 7 billion, and esports valued at less than a billion, why is the season ticket thought to be “dead”? Season tickets allow teams to build new stadiums, secure media rights, drive sponsorship revenue and seen as a benchmark for business performance by owners and leagues executives alike. This session will bring together thought leaders from teams in the NFL, NBA, MLS as well as startups providing technology to the season ticket market to unpack the narrative that season tickets are dead. Speakers will provide data and use cases to illustrate why the season ticket is alive and well with fans and what smart teams are doing to address this underserved revenue channel.
WHAT: WORKSHOP-Yoga
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 9:30am–10:30am
WHERE: Fairmont, 101 Red River, 4th Floor, Wisteria Room
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP81195
Drums and other ancient music instruments looped LiVE during your yoga session.
WHAT: POPUP-free lunch, tacos, hip hop happy hour
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 10am–6pm
WHERE: Ft Worth House, Bungalow, 92 Rainey
DETAILS: http://www.FortWorth.com/SXSW
Hang out with the musicians, culinary artists, filmmakers and innovators who call Fort Worth home. Experience the future of air travel. Ride with Mayor Betsy Price and meet Chef Tim Love. Hip Hop Happy Hour with Lou Charles. Music from DJ Sober, Danni & Kris, Abraham Alexander, DJ Jason Fairies of Neon Indian and more. Hourly whiskey mixology. Film and travel meet-ups. Hot salsa challenges. Free taco lunch Saturday. Closing night queso party with Quaker City Night Hawks! Presented by Visit Fort Worth.
WHAT: POPUP-festival tickets giveaway
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 10am–6:30pm
WHERE: Bose House, Half Step, 75 Rainey
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38517
The #BoseFrames pop-up has been touring the U.S. and has finally landed in Austin. Come check out our debut sunglasses collection with built-in Bose speakers for an immersive audio experience unlike any other. Feeling Lucky? Stop by to enter the #BoseFramesSweeps for a chance to win tickets to a music festival of your choice.
WHAT: POPUP-cosmetic makeovers
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 10am–8pm
WHERE: RealSelf House, 84 Rainey
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38244
Part spa, part gallery, part boutique focused on removing the mystery from cosmetic treatments and procedures so that women can make smart, confident decisions about their beauty needs.
WHAT: HOUSE-Sprinklr
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 10am–10pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, OP Italian, 110 E 2nd
DETAILS: https://sxsw.sprinklr.com
Enjoy some great food, learn why experience is the new brand, and see why the platform vs. point solutions debate is over.
WHAT: PANEL-Vox Jim Bankoff with Soledad O’Brien
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12pm
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4, 6FL, Salon H
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102450
Vox Media’s Chairman & CEO Jim Bankoff sits down with CBS’ Soledad O’Brien for a conversation on what’s next for media and entertainment.
WHAT: PANEL-LA Times Norman Pearlstine
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2, 3rd Floor, Salon D
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP89545
Why women aren’t adequately represented in newsroom leadership from a male perspective.
WHAT: PANEL-Presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar with Kara Swisher
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12pm
WHERE: ACL Live at Moody Theater, 310 Willie Nelson Blvd
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103038
WHAT: PANEL-Planetarium Afterhours: Do It In A Dome
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, L4 Ballroom G
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP90751
By day, they’re known for their stunning views of the universe. By night, they transform into unique, intimate, and immersive spaces that blend art, music, and technology in unexpected ways. In Boston, and around the world, modern digital domes are inviting artists and innovators into their spaces to envision new possibilities and create powerful shared experiences that are unmatched by traditional stage venues. This panel, consisting of producers, artists, and leaders working in the Planetarium industry, will share concepts and processes from past events and discuss how these incredible venues can push creatives from all realms to think about their work in new ways, resulting in transcendental experiences for audiences and transforming perceptions of what a modern Planetarium can be.
WHAT: FILM-Autonomy (Malcolm Gladwell)
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12:20pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, Atom Theatre
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008779
Celebrated journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell leads the first comprehensive documentary look at self-driving cars in Autonomy. The film is a cinematic exploration of the world of automated vehicles — from their technical history to the personal narratives of those affected by them to the many unanswered questions about how this technology will affect modern society. Autonomy features interviews with industry pioneers and scenes with cutting-edge “AVs” in action around the world. Inspired by a special issue of Car and Driver, Autonomy reinforces the context of where the “car” meets the coming revolution in mobility, presenting an essential primer on the subject and how it will affect you.
WHAT: FILM-Mickey and the Bear
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12:27pm
WHERE: Stateside Theatre, 719 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008714
It’s April in Anaconda, Montana, and headstrong teenager Mickey Peck (Camila Morrone) is doing what she can to keep her single, veteran father (James Badge Dale) afloat, navigating his mercurial moods, opioid addiction, and grief over the loss of his wife. Secretly, Mickey fantasizes of going to college on the west coast and finally living life on her own terms. When Hank’s controlling, jealous behavior turns destructive, Mickey must decide between familial obligation and personal fulfillment as she puts everything on the line to claim her own independence.
WHAT: MENTOR-David Allan, CNN
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12:46pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2, 4th Floor, Salon 8
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101993
WHAT: FILM-Come As You Are (Janeane Garofalo)
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–12:46pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar D, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008761
Inspired by a true story — three young men with disabilities (Grant Rosenmeyer, Hayden Szeto, Ravi Patel) flee their overbearing parents for a road trip to a brothel in Montreal that caters to people with special needs, in order to lose their virginity and embrace their independence. Gabourey Sidibe stars as their nurse driver, Janeane Garofalo and C.S. Lee also star as concerned parents hot on their trail. A remake of the award winning, critically acclaimed 2011 Belgian film HASTA LA VISTA.
WHAT: PARTY-Fenwick, Lightspeed & GIPHY
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–2pm
WHERE: Stubbs, 801 Red River
DETAILS: Invite only
BBQ + tunes
WHAT: WORKSHOP-free yoga, self-care, meditation
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11am–6pm
WHERE: Wellness Expo, Palmer Center, 900 Barton Springs, Hall 1-2
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38266
WHAT: FILM-Running with Beto
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11:30am–1:04pm
WHERE: Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008805
This behind-the-scenes documentary follows Beto O’Rourke’s rise from virtual unknown to national political sensation through his bold attempt to unseat Ted Cruz in the US Senate. Embedded with Beto for the final twelve months of his campaign, the film follows his journey in real time through intimate access to Beto, his family, and a team of political newcomers who champion a new way of getting to know a candidate — one Texas county at a time. The film reveals the challenges and triumphs of an unconventional campaign as Beto navigates an onslaught of negative advertising, inevitable strain on his family, and the pressure of delivering for legions of supporters.
WHAT: FILM-Shorts Program I
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 11:45am–1:27pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar E, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010818
Little Grey Bubbles Kim and Marlon were best friends, despite the fact they’d never actually met. The unlikely pair, her a young woman thriving in New York City and him an older married man in a small town in Canada, communicated exclusively online. Just before he died, he sent her a message that said he had something really important to tell her. He never got the chance. In an effort to find out what it was, and to get a deeper sense of the friend she lost, she travels to his small-town home to attend his funeral. May When Randolph is approached in the park by a middle-aged white woman who introduces herself as Genevieve, he realizes she’s the person he’s been waiting for. After some small talk, Randolph instructs Genevieve to act like they know each other before leading her across the park and into a parking garage elevator to sell her some weed. Struck by the interaction and Randolph’s confident demeanor, Genevieve invites him to smoke with her. On Genevieve’s back patio, they share a blunt and slowly begin to open up to each other, realizing they are now connected in more ways than one. Nice Talking to You Two strangers — both hearing persons — form an instant connection at an American Sign Language (ASL) event, talking exclusively in ASL. They spend the night together, strolling through NYC, enjoying a newfound attraction without a spoken word uttered between them. But, part way through, they both realize that they’re each hearing persons. Out of convenience, they shift to verbal communication, and, as they do, they quickly lose their romantic spark. Virgins4Lyfe It’s the last night of Astrid’s (14) and Issi’s (14) holiday by the beach. The mission is clear, especially for Issi: to find a guy and hopefully lose her virginity before the holidays are over. This is their last chance. During the evening they meet Samuel and Rashid, who take the girls to a bar. But the friendship between the girls are put to the test when Astrid and Samuel hits it off, and Astrid seems to get what Issi was chasing so desperately.
WHAT: FILM-Jezebel
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12pm–1:28pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar C, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008813
In the last days of her mother’s life, 19 year old Tiffany crashes with five family members in a Las Vegas studio apartment. In order to make ends meet, her older sister, a phone sex operator, introduces her to the world of internet fetish cam girls. Tiffany becomes popular as the only “live black model” at the new adult site and soon becomes too close to one of her frequent callers. Dynamics shift in the sister relationship as each woman explores and exploits their sexuality, using their created fantasy worlds as an escape from the realities of their challenging real life circumstances. This bizarre coming of age story depicts sisterhood in a most unusual way.
WHAT: FILM-Pink Wall (Jay Duplass)
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12pm–1:25pm
WHERE: 800 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008772
Six scenes. Six years. Six moments that shaped the relationship of Jenna and Leon. Pink Wall examines what defines us, the pressures of gender expectations, and our perpetual struggle between life and ambition.
WHAT: WELLNESS EXPO-Reshaping Body Image
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12pm–1:30pm
WHERE: Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs, Wellness Circles
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38502
Our body can bring us pleasure and wisdom, yet for so many the body is a never ending improvement project. Body image can shape our identity if we solely focus on how we are seen by others in our daily interactions and on social media. Getting away from screens and listening to the body’s inner workings is a vital pursuit. Through creative and somatic exercises, this circle will guide you and connect you.
WHAT: EVENT-SXSW Innovation Awards Showcase
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12pm–6pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, Hall 1
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38280
65 finalists across all 13 competition categories will be on hand to demo their innovative projects for SXSW attendees, who will have the chance to vote for their choice to win the People’s Choice Award.
WHAT: POPUP-Free Waygu, J-Pop, Pachinko
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12pm–10pm
WHERE: Japan House, 800 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38254
Immerse yourself in all things Japan! From singing Karaoke-style, watching Japanese parade floats to participating in traditional dance; Try a hand at the Pachinko machine and play games, games, games! Schmooze with authentic Buddhist priests to gaming geeks. Listen to Japanese court music, Japanese ballads and J-Pop! Enjoy the beauty of Japanese woodblock prints and read poetic haikus. Eat and drink to your heart’s delight — sushi, wagyu beef, ramen, rice wine, and more! From traditional to pop to high tech, your experience will be a mind-boggling variety!
WHAT: PANEL-Mindy Kaling!
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: LinkedIn Studio, 204 E 4
DETAILS: https://thelinkedinstudio.splashthat.com
LinkedIn’s Rosanna Durruthy and Mindy will be discussing diversity in the workplace, career achievements, and how she’s looking to unlock new opportunities.
WHAT: PANEL-Garry Kasparov
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: Fairmont, 101 Red River, 5FL, Manchester EFG
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP84586
Since Garry Kasparov’s legendary chess matches against IBM Deep Blue in the 1990s, he has been engaged with human-machine interaction, and human rights. As a Soviet citizen, he has seen up close how governments misuse their control of information. At SXSW, he and Ondrej Vlcek, Avast EVP & CTO, will discuss the rise of intelligent technologies, the questions of ethics, and the right to privacy in our connected world. Vlcek has driven AI in security since its early days. As IoT and AI-based technologies enter our lives, they provide new opportunities for privacy violations and surveillance for cybercriminals, and governments. Kasparov and Vlcek will discuss new challenges we face, and what regulators and industry leaders can do to protect people’s privacy and uphold ethical standards.
WHAT: PANEL-New York Times, Axios, CNN, Buzzfeed
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2, 3FL, Salon D
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP93220
As the industry continues to change rapidly, media companies are experimenting with new distribution and business models, including producing premium programming, developing unique and far-reaching content sharing strategies, and establishing membership programs, subscription models, and paywalls. As the “Pivot to Video” and over-reliance on platforms is left behind, what’s next for digital media and monetization? Hear from leaders at BuzzFeed News, The New York Times, and CNN as they discuss how they’re managing to thrive in this crowded media environment in this session moderated by Axios media reporter Sara Fischer.
WHAT: PANEL-Ike Barinholtz, Amber Heard, Padma Lakshmi
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: Hilton, 500 E 4, 6FL, Salon H
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP92380
Pop culture is a powerful mechanism to make social activism cool and accessible. Actors, comedians, musicians, athletes and other entertainers and influencers use their platform and visibility to bring attention to important issues, and fans and consumers increasingly expect their favorite artists to speak out against oppression and injustice. As pop culture’s success in shifting public sentiment rapidly grows and becomes more powerful, how do celebrities craft their strategies and tactics in pushing for social change? How do artists decide when and how to get involved with organizations and issues and what does that process look like? What does a successful relationship look like? How do they convince people to care about the issues they hold so dear and encourage more people to use their platforms for good?
WHAT: PANEL-Daily Show Trevor Noah, CNN Jake Tapper
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: TBD
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101670
CNN Anchor & Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper sits down with Daily Show host Trevor Noah and correspondents Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan, Roy Wood Jr. and Jaboukie Young-White to panel harder than anyone has ever paneled before. They’ll discuss how today’s fast-paced media cycle has changed (and keeps changing!) the late-night comedy landscape. The Daily Show team will offer an inside look at how they tackle politics, race and social issues on the show. And they’ll also dive into how both their digital team and Emmy Award-winning series “Between the Scenes” lend a fresh perspective to the larger conversation that happens with their audience.
WHAT: EVENT-Female Founder Meetup
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: Fairmont, 101 Red River, Wisteria
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP82820
A networking event to meet likeminded entrepreneurs, share successes + setbacks, and encourage collaboration. Hosted by an attorney for female founders will share insights on how to grow their businesses.
WHAT: PANEL-Rent the Runway, West Elm
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: Four Seasons, 98 San Jacinto, Ground Floor, Ballroom AB
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102619
Can we live a “fully rented life” in today’s sharing economy? Is it more environmentally, economically and emotionally empowering to live a life where our clothes, homes, cars, music, entertainment, bikes, and more are rented? Can we simplify our daily lives while being more selective about what we choose to own? Two industry leaders, Rent the Runway and West Elm, explore how to influence consumer behavior and shape the future of what it means to participate in today’s sharing economy.
WHAT: MENTOR-Nadav Aharony, Uber
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2, 4th Floor, Salon 8
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101008
WHAT: PANEL-Sundance Insitute, Tribeca Film Institute, ITVS
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: Stephen F Austin, 701 Congress, Ballroom B
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP101816
Round Table Sessions allow attendees to learn from the industry experts that sit at each of the three tables in this session and from their peers as well. This session will be on funding and artist support.
WHAT: PANEL-John Kasich
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: ACL Live at Moody Theater, 310 Willie Nelson Blvd
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103109
WHAT: PANEL-Ana Marie Cox with Pete Buttigieg
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–1:30pm
WHERE: ACL Live at Moody Theater, 310 Willie Nelson Blvd
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103111
WHAT: WORKSHOP-Screenwriting with WGN PURE
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 12:30pm–2:30pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, L3 Room 8ABC
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102209
Join Michael Amo (Creator, Writer and Executive Producer) and David MacLeod (Executive Producer) of WGN America’s PURE for an inside look at the unique ways to develop a script into a series in this ever-changing television landscape. From creating a riveting storyline, to casting and production, to the various network and streaming distribution options, Michael and David detail their road from script-to screen with their latest project, PURE — the Mennonite drug-trafficking crime drama.
WHAT: POPUP-Whiskey Tasting
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 1:30pm–4:30pm
WHERE: Ft Worth House, Bungalow, 92 Rainey
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38418
Join the Head Distiller, Whiskey Scientist and Master Mixologist of Texas’ largest artisanal whiskey brand for a three-part course showcasing how their unique approach to environmental exploration, sensory science and flavor fusion is taking whiskey to new horizons. Experience and taste how their innovative methods are pushing boundaries and changing the status quo.
WHAT: FILM-Breakthrough (Woody Harrelson)
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 1:45pm–3:15pm
WHERE: Austin Convention Center, Atom Theater
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008783
Breakthrough tells the astonishing story of a renegade scientist’s visionary quest to find a cure for cancer, the disease that killed his mother. Today, Texan Jim Allison is a 2018 Nobel Prize winner for discovering how to prompt a cancer patient’s own immune system into defeating their disease, but for decades he waged an often-lonely struggle against the painful skepticism of the medical establishment. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, and featuring music by Willie Nelson, Mickey Raphael, and a powerful score by Mark Orton, Breakthrough tells Jim’s story in a way that is inspiring, informative and highly entertaining.
WHAT: PANEL-Liz Plank, Olivia Wilde
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm
WHERE: VOX Deep End, The Belmont, 305 W 6th
DETAILS: http://voxmediaevents.com/sxsw
Despite years of debate and discussion about diversity in Hollywood, the number of female directors in 2018 actually dropped. Only 8% of the 250 highest grossing films were directed by women. Vox’s Liz Plank discusses the chronic issues of underrepresentation of women in Hollywood, with Olivia Wilde and Katie Silberman, ahead of the premiere of their new film “Booksmart”. We know the issue exists, so the question is where do we go from here, and how do we mobilize the industry beyond talk, to action.
WHAT: PANEL-Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–3pm
WHERE: ACL Live at Moody Theater, 310 Willie Nelson Blvd
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103110
WHAT: WELLNESS EXPO-Yoga With Adrienne
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–3pm
WHERE: Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs, Wellness Circles
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38165
From high-profile philanthropic initiatives to offering a platform that drives human connection, to building a brand centered on advancing health and wellness, this panel of female entrepreneurs and executives — who are in the business of making people feel good — will delve deeper into what, why, and how creating positive, feel-good initiatives within a for-profit business model not only increases your bottom line but yields long-lasting results for employees, consumers, and shareholders.
WHAT: PODCAST-Forever 35
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–3pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2, L2 Brazos Room
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP81649
In just six months, Forever35 has become one of the leading podcasts for women. Kate Spencer and Doree Shafrir will share tips from skincare to fashion to self-care for entrepreneurs.
WHAT: MENTOR-Maureen Hoch, Harvard Business Review
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–3:15pm
WHERE: JW Marriott, 110 E 2, 4FL, Salon 8
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP103053
WHAT: WELLNESS EXPO-Getting To Know Your Authentic Self
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–3:30pm
WHERE: Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs, Wellness Circles
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38580
Every one of us has within us a power, a gift. It’s more than a job or even a skill. It’s a quality of being that is unique to us and that makes us come alive to share with the world. Join this intimate circle to reconnect with the essence of your authentic self. Share stories and feel into this quality of being with other amazing inspired humans. Come explore how we can all live this version of ourselves more fully, day-to-day.
WHAT: FILM-Go Back To China
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–3:37pm
WHERE: Stateside Theatre, 719 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008712
The semi-autobiographical film follows spoiled rich girl Sasha Li (Anna Akana), who after blowing through most of her trust fund, is forced by her father (Richard Ng) to go back to China and work for the family toy business. What begins simply as a way to regain financial support soon develops into a life altering journey of self discovery, as Sasha discovers her passion for toy designing and learns to reconnect with her estranged family. A bittersweet portrait of a fractured family, the film also offers an honest look at the human cost of things that are made in China.
WHAT: FILM-A Man Dies A Million Times
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–3:37pm
WHERE: Alamo Ritz 2, 320 E 6
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008817
A true story, set in the future.
About seeds and genetic diversity, about growth and decay, about love and war, about hunger of all kinds. About what it means to be human, even when all your humanity is stripped away. Caught in the grip of a war-torn Russian winter, the city is starving to death. Despite their hunger, Alyssa and Maksim heroically work to preserve the treasures of the world’s most important seed bank — treasures that hold the key to the future of their country’s food supply — even though its sustenance could mean their survival.
WHAT: PARTY-VIP Brand Summit Sports & Tech
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2pm–5pm
WHERE: WeWork, 600 Congress
DETAILS: https://sxswbrandsummit2019.splashthat.com
WHAT: WELLNESS EXPO-Breathwork
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2:30pm–3:30pm
WHERE: Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton, Conscious Conversations
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/OE38504
Breath Facilitator, Nicole Rager, will teach you how your breath is directly related to what is happening for you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. She’ll lead you through guided breathwork exercises to help you increase insight, energy, and release stored emotions and negative beliefs.
WHAT: FILM-Little Monsters
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2:45pm–4:15pm
WHERE: Paramount Thetre, 713 Congress
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010918
Dave, a washed-up musician, volunteers to chaperone his nephew’s Kindergarten field trip after taking a shine to the plucky schoolteacher, Miss Caroline. Dave’s intentions are complicated by the presence of world famous child entertainer and competitor for Miss Caroline’s affections, Teddy McGiggle. One thing none of them bargained for, however, is a sudden zombie outbreak, from which Dave and Miss Caroline must protect the children.
WHAT: FILM-Sakawa
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2:45pm–4:06pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar C, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008826
What human story lies behind the phenomenon of ‘internet fraud’? In Sakawa we meet three Ghanaian youngsters who, out of desperation, turn to internet scamming with the help of black magic. ‘Ama’ is a young mother and a newcomer on the scene. ‘OneDollar’ tries to save the money to travel to Italy. Francis, who is the most experienced of them all, learns the others the tricks of the trade. What is viewed in the West as fraud, is seen by the Sakawa-boys as the exploitation of available resources. These resources come in the form of electronic waste, dumped in Ghana by the West.
WHAT: FILM-Vision Portraits
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 2:45pm–4:03pm
WHERE: Alamo Ritz 1, 320 E 6
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008742
Vision Portraits is the personal story of filmmaker Rodney Evans (Brother To Brother) as he embarks on a scientific and artistic journey, questioning how his loss of vision might impact his creative future. Through illuminating portraits of three artists: a photographer, a dancer and a writer, the film looks at the ways each artist was affected by the loss of their vision and the ways in which their creative process has changed or adapted.
WHAT: PANEL-Mark Cuban, Peter Kafka
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 3pm
WHERE: VOX Deep End, The Belmont, 305 W 6th
DETAILS: http://voxmediaevents.com/sxsw
Recode Media Live hosted by Peter Kafka, Executive Editor of Recode, featuring serial entrepreneur and investor, Mark Cuban.
WHAT: FILM-Villians (Kyra Sedgwick)
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 3pm–4:28pm
WHERE: Zach Theatre, 202 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2008895
Mickey and Jules are lovers on the run, headed southbound for a fresh start in the Sunshine State. When their car dies after a gas station robbery, they break into a nearby house looking for a new set of wheels. What they find instead is a dark secret, and a sweet-as-pie pair of homeowners who will do anything to keep it from getting out.
WHAT: FILM-Shorts Program 2
WHEN: Saturday, March 9, 3pm–4:43pm
WHERE: Alamo Lamar E, 1120 S Lamar
DETAILS: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/films/2010817
Framework A mysterious man exits the freeway and drives out into the French rural landscape. Just as he is about to make a u-turn, he crosses paths with a group of teenage boys hanging out at the local soccer field. After a few beers and common experiences shared, the man invites the boys to follow him to an unknown destination. Can they really trust this charismatic stranger? Bodega With his daughter’s wedding quickly approaching, a Syrian deli owner, Amir, is struggling to let go. He distracts himself by joking and bickering with his employee, Ali, while they work the night shift. Down the street, a high school girl, Iris, lies to her father on the phone and prepares for a night of partying. When Ir | https://medium.com/hackernoon/sxsw-2019-ultimate-guide-to-the-panels-parties-performances-9c1c9f25c599 | ['Martine Paris'] | 2019-03-06 23:10:25.025000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'SXSW', 'Business', 'Music', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
The Polls Are Like Crack: Read More, Need More — the Less You Trust Any of Them? | Joe Biden confirmed 2020 public polling was all wrong (again) when he announced a last-minute, end-of-campaign trip to Minnesota.
It had been 48 years since a Republican presidential candidate won Minnesota, the home of Democrat stars Ilhan Omar, Amy Klobuchar, Walter Mondale, and Hubert Humphrey. Biden shouldn’t need to campaign there.
But Donald Trump almost won Minnesota in 2016 when he won upsets in neighboring Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa.
The daily 2020 polls predicting a blue wave, including a big Biden win in the Midwest, were discredited by Biden’s trip to Minnesota. One day earlier, an ABC-Washington Post poll claimed Biden would win neighboring Wisconsin by 17 percentage points, 57–40. FiveThirtyEight claimed Trump had just an 11 percent chance of winning. The Economist gave Trump a 4 percent chance.
Why is Biden in Democrat Minnesota instead of stealing GOP Texas, a place pollsters called ripe for a pickup? Because the polls and the stories about a wave flipping Red States blue were as wrong as the polls in 2016 and 2018.
“I hate to acknowledge it because that’s my industry — at least partially — but the public will have no faith. No confidence. Right now, the biggest issue is the trust deficit,” Frank Luntz told Fox News. “Pollsters did not do a good job in 2016. So, if Donald Trump surprises people, if Joe Biden had a 5- or 6-point lead, my profession is done.”
Jim Lee of Susquehanna Polling and Research complained about “garbage polls” showing a double-digit lead for Biden in Pennsylvania, adding, “I called on the American Association of Public Opinion Research to crack down on egregious polling to tighten standards for firms that clearly don’t understand the landscape of Pennsylvania.”
Minnesota, which elected wrestler-turned-independent Jesse Ventura governor in 1998, has been ground zero for the campaign's biggest issues: the George Floyd police brutality case, months of riots, calls for defunding police, anxiety over losing jobs, changing political norms, and the pandemic.
All the top issues add up to concerns about security. Republicans think they can win Minnesota for Trump and upset incumbent Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), yet another pickup that was not predicted in months of polling.
This all harkens back to 1948: Dewey defeats Truman?
A smiling former President Harry S. Truman (left) holds a copy of the famous Chicago Daily Tribune paper declaring “Dewey Defeats Truman.” Public domain image courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration and Wikimedia Commons.
Gallup was so certain Republican Tom Dewey would defeat Democrat Harry Truman in 1948 that the firm stopped conducting polls.
Democrats had held the White House for 16 years, Republicans had taken back Congress two years earlier, Democrats were sharply divided, and all the experts assumed Truman was toast.
The experts who are often wrong were so sure Truman was finished that they missed the story, the crowds coming to see “give ’em hell Harry’’ campaigning across the nation. Simultaneously, Republican Dewey took it easy (a second Democrat, South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond, was dividing the Democrat vote and won much of the South).
The Chicago Tribune ran an infamous page one headline in its early edition, saying, “Dewey defeats Truman.’’ Truman won with 49.6 percent of the vote and 303 electoral votes in a three-way race. Being the sitting president in the White House helped a great deal.
The number of polls has exploded — but most are wrong…
Many polls follow the Real Clear Politics “poll of polls,’’ which averages all of them every day. We read polls daily as news shifts from a focus on what is happening now to an ever-anxious fretting about what might happen in the future.
Polls are like crack: you read one (it seems like news), and you want more. But the more you read, the less satisfying they are. Twelve polls were released today, eight the day before. All year, they’ve predicted a Biden win and a blue wave. Biden largely stopped campaigning.
But the few pollsters who were most accurate in 2016 and 2018 (predicting Republican wins) are again predicting a Trump win. And when pollsters ask the historically more reliable questions of “who do you think will win,’’ “who do your neighbors support,’’ and “are you better off today than you were four years ago,’’ Trump again wins.
Yet, the public polls and pundits keep talking about a Biden win as conventional wisdom. Even Fox News conservative stalwarts like Sean Hannity say it will be “an upset’’ if Trump wins re-election.
When you don’t trust polls (does anyone?), test these alternatives
The Incumbency Rule
In the past 100 years, seven incumbent presidents have run for and won a second term. Just three (Herbert Hoover, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter) ran for and lost re-election.
Just one of the seven presidents winning re-election won fewer votes the second time than the first (Barack Obama). All others were more popular the second time they ran than the first, and Franklin Roosevelt won a record four times.
Incumbents win nearly all elections at all levels year after year, decade after decade. It’s a huge advantage.
The historical challenge of the vice presidency
In the early years of America, several vice presidents rose to the presidency, but that streak halted nearly 180 years ago, with Martin Van Buren, the eighth president (and vice president for Andrew Jackson).
After that, vice presidents tended to only rise to the presidency through death or resignation. Vice President John Nance Garner declared, “the vice presidency is not worth a bucket of warm spit.”
Many vice presidents ran for the presidency but most lost, including Al Gore and Walter Mondale. The biggest problem with the vice presidency: once Americans see you as №2, it’s harder to imagine you in the top role.
The two exceptions: Richard Nixon (vice president under Dwight Eisenhower) became his party’s nominee in 1960 and won in 1968. George H.W. Bush (vice president to Ronald Reagan) won on his own in 1988 but lost in 1992.
Real numbers
TV ratings and betting markets are an indicator of what people are actually doing. The betting markets favor Biden, but the TV ratings favor Trump.
Over the past four years, MSNBC won rating races only on days when Trump seemed to be in crisis, but Trump-friendly Fox News has set new records throughout 2020, as has Rush Limbaugh.
Biden (like Hillary Clinton) should win based on the “who spent more money’’ yardstick of traditional campaigns. But Trump negates that “rule’’ by his massive amount of TV coverage via news events, interviews, town halls, and rallies.
The Halloween mask and cookie buying data
Since 1972, whichever candidate inspires more sales of Halloween masks has won. Donald Trump is beating Biden in Halloween costume sales by a 66 percent to 34 percent margin.
Similarly, bakeries from battleground Pennsylvania to Texas have conducted “cookie polls’’ where voters can buy cookies named after their favorite candidate. Trump is similarly, winning each of the cookie sales polls.
Enthusiasm, yard signs, events — and “on the street’’ reporting
All polling shows Trump voters more enthusiastic than Biden backers, and we have consistently seen bigger crowds at Trump rallies than at Biden events.
MSNBC this week asked 50 Arizona voters who they had supported in early voting (Democrats have a clear advantage in early voting and absentee voting) and found 49 of 50 saying they voted for Trump.
Travel schedules, ground game, tell us what internal data says
The presidential campaigns arrange their travel schedules based on their own internal research (polling, people in the states).
Want to know where the race is close? Look at where they travel. Trump is going to every state he won narrowly in 2016 and congressional districts he narrowly lost in 2016 (in places like Minnesota and New Hampshire).
Biden’s trip to Georgia (a state Democrats haven’t won since Bill Clinton) looked like a clue that Biden might be heading to a big win (expanding the map), that the public polling might be accurate. But the trip to Minnesota was a red flag showing he is playing defense in places Democrats win routinely.
“I think we’re going to win Michigan. I think we’re going to win Wisconsin. I think we’re going to win Minnesota,’’ Biden said October 26. “I think we have a fighting chance in Ohio. I think we have a fighting chance in North Carolina. We have a fighting chance in Georgia. A fighting chance in Iowa.’’
But just four days later, Biden was going to the places he said he “would win” rather than the ones where he said he had “a fighting chance.’’ | https://medium.com/narrative/the-polls-are-like-crack-read-more-need-more-the-less-you-trust-any-of-them-8f8db7ae5d93 | ['Joseph Serwach'] | 2020-10-30 13:20:17.119000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Trump', 'Journalism', 'Life Lessons', '2020'] |
The Quiet Semi-Supervised Revolution | The Quiet Semi-Supervised Revolution
Time to dust off that unlabeled data?
One of the most familiar settings for a machine learning engineer is having access to a lot of data, but modest resources to annotate it. Everyone in that predicament eventually goes through the logical steps of asking themselves what to do when they have limited supervised data, but lots of unlabeled data, and the literature appears to have a ready answer: semi-supervised learning.
And that’s usually when things go wrong.
Historically, semi-supervised learning has been one of those rabbit holes that every engineer goes through as a rite of passage only to discover a newfound appreciation for plain old data labeling. The details are unique to every problem, but in broad strokes, they can often be depicted as follows:
In low data regimes, semi-supervised training does indeed tend to improve performance. But in a practical setting, you often go from ‘terrible and unusable’ levels of performance to ‘less terrible but still completely unusable.’ Essentially, when you are in a data regime where semi-supervised learning actually helps, it means you’re also in a regime where your classifier is just plain bad and of no practical use.
In addition, semi-supervision generally doesn’t come for free, and a method which uses semi-supervised learning very often doesn’t provide you with the same asymptotic properties that supervised learning does in high-data regimes — unlabeled data may introduce bias, for instance. See e.g. Section 4. A very popular method of semi-supervised learning in the early days of deep learning was to first learn an auto-encoder on unlabeled data, followed by fine-tuning on labeled data. Hardly anyone does this any more because representations learned via auto-encoding tend to empirically limit the asymptotic performance of fine-tuning. Interestingly, even vastly improved modern generative methods haven’t improved that picture much, probably because what makes a good generative model isn’t necessarily what makes a good classifier. As a result, when you see engineers fine-tuning models today, it’s generally starting from representations that were learned on supervised data — and yes, I consider text to be self-supervised data for the purpose of language modeling. Wherever practical, transfer learning from other pre-trained models is a much stronger starting point, which semi-supervised approaches have difficulty outperforming.
So a typical machine learning engineer’s journey through the swamps of semi-supervised learning goes like this:
1: Everything is terrible, let’s try semi-supervised learning! (After all, that’s engineering work, much more interesting than labeling data …)
2: Look, numbers go up! Still terrible, though. Looks like we’ll have to label data after all …
3: More data is better, yay, but have you tried what happens if you discard your semi-supervised machinery?
4: Hey, what do you know, it’s actually simpler and better. We could have saved time and a whole lot of technical debt by skipping 2 and 3 altogether.
If you’re very lucky, your problem may also admittedly have a performance characteristic shaped like this instead:
In that case, there is a narrow data regime where semi-supervised is non-terrible and also improves data efficiency. In my experience, it’s very rare to hit that sweet spot. Factoring in the cost of the extra complexity, the fact that the gap in the amount of labelled data is typically not orders of magnitude better, and the diminishing returns, it’s rarely worth the trouble, unless you’re competing on an academic benchmark.
But wait, isn’t this piece titled ‘The Quiet Semi-Supervised Revolution’?
One fascinating trend is that the landscape of semi-supervised learning may be changing to something that looks more like this:
And that would change everything. First, these curves match one’s mental model of what semi-supervised approaches should do: more data should always be better. The gap between semi-supervised and supervised should be strictly positive even for data regimes where supervised learning does well. And increasingly this is happening at no cost and remarkably little additional complexity. The ‘magic zone’ starts lower, and equally importantly, it isn’t bounded in high data regimes.
What’s new? Lots of things: many clever ways to self-label the data and express losses in such a way that they are compatible with the noise and potential biases of self-labeling. Two recent works exemplify recent progress and point to the relevant literature: MixMatch: A Holistic Approach to Semi-Supervised Learning and Unsupervised Data Augmentation.
Another fundamental shift in the world of semi-supervised learning is the realization that it may have a very important role to play in machine learning privacy. For example, the PATE approach (Semi-supervised Knowledge Transfer for Deep Learning from Private Training Data, Scalable Private Learning with PATE,) whereby the supervised data is presumed private, and a student model with strong privacy guarantees is trained using only unlabeled (presumed public) data. Privacy-sensitive methods for distilling knowledge are becoming one of the key enablers of Federated Learning, which offers the promise of efficient distributed learning that doesn’t rely on the model having access to user data, with strong mathematical privacy guarantees.
It’s an exciting time to be revisiting the value of semi-supervised learning in practical settings. Seeing one’s long-held assumptions challenged is a great indicator of the amazing progress happening in the field. This trend is all very recent, and we’ll have to see if these methods stand the test of time, but the potential for a fundamental shift in the architecture of machine learning tools that could result from these advances is very intriguing. | https://towardsdatascience.com/the-quiet-semi-supervised-revolution-edec1e9ad8c | ['Vincent Vanhoucke'] | 2019-05-15 20:35:32.812000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Semi Supervised Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning'] |
Pre-Thinking Your Short Story | Novels give you a lot of latitude. Think about it: you have time to develop characters, describe places, elaborate on plots and subplots, and explore philosophical questions. There’s a lot of luxury there: luxury of time, luxury of space.
Generally when you’re writing a novel, you’re not aware of the luxury you’re experiencing. It comes home to you, though, when you start thinking about writing shorter fiction. Suddenly you have to telescope everything: plot, drama, characters, background … and still make it sound good!
There are plenty of directions online for how to write a short story, some of them better than others. I’ll leave you to sort through them. In the meantime, though, here are some things to think about before you start writing:
What is the point? Short stories have this in common with other pieces of writing — the eternal question is, so what? You may have great characters and a fabulous story arc, but unless there’s a compelling point, some sort of moral imperative, a point the reader will take away, the story won’t work.
Short stories have this in common with other pieces of writing — the eternal question is, so what? You may have great characters and a fabulous story arc, but unless there’s a compelling point, some sort of moral imperative, a point the reader will take away, the story won’t work. Focus on your opening line(s). Readers are less invested at the beginning of a short story — and are far more easily distracted — than they are once they’ve committed to a novel, so you need to grab them right away with a really riveting opening line.
Readers are less invested at the beginning of a short story — and are far more easily distracted — than they are once they’ve committed to a novel, so you need to grab them right away with a really riveting opening line. POV: Don’t commit too soon. Choose a point of view you think will work, but as you write, you’ll figure out whether your choice is in fact what works best for this story. Be flexible and ready to rewrite if your characters tell you they need a change.
Choose a point of view you think will work, but as you write, you’ll figure out whether your choice is in fact what works best for this story. Be flexible and ready to rewrite if your characters tell you they need a change. Don’t forget conflict . It’s even more important in the short story than it is in a full-length novel; otherwise the story seems pointless. Often, the conflict is what will answer the so what? question. A story arc may even be more important here than in a full-length piece.
. It’s even more important in the short story than it is in a full-length novel; otherwise the story seems pointless. Often, the conflict is what will answer the so what? question. A story arc may even be more important here than in a full-length piece. Editing is critical. Pare your story down to the barest of bare bones. Try and shorten it by at least a third from your first draft. Be concise, be succinct, be clear. Sometimes a mere suggestion is as powerful — or more so — than a long description. Trust your reader to read between the lines.
At the end of the day, remember it’s always about the reader. In many ways, short stories demand far more of the reader than do other genres. In some ways, they demand more of the reader than they do of the writer! There’s a whole lot of trust required: I’m going to plunge you directly into an environment you don’t know, surrounded by characters you haven’t met, and make you think about things you don’t expect. And all of it in the space of five minutes.
If you don’t believe me, try it. Put together a stack of short stories. Read three or four of them in a row. Exhausted yet? It’s tricky to plunge into a reading story and then, just as you start to feel comfortable inside it, find that it’s over. Be good to your reader, and don’t make them work any harder than the genre already requires!
This article was originally published at Jeannette de Beauvoir. Jeannette helps writers figure out, among other things, the right length for their stories! | https://jeannettedebeauvoir.medium.com/pre-thinking-your-short-story-8c7beaa09449 | [] | 2019-05-16 21:56:01.761000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing'] |
Threat Hunter Playbook ⚔ + Mordor Datasets 📜 + BinderHub 🌎 = Open Infrastructure 🏗 for Open Hunts 🏹 💜 | It has been almost three years since I started documenting detections publicly, and I always wondered “How could I share detections in a more practical and interactive way so that anyone in the world can access, run and validate each analytic all from the same place?”
I did not just want to share a static document with rules or queries that anyone can just copy and paste. I wanted to provide a way to encourage collaboration and allow others to be able to even query the datasets that I was using during the development of the analytic. Also, I figured that if I found a way for others to test detections without the need of building an analytic platform on their own, it would actually help those that do not even have an infrastructure or the resources or the skills to do so around the world.
In this post, I will show you how I was able to integrate detections from the Threat Hunter Playbook initiative and pre-recorded datasets from Mordor with the amazing BinderHub project to empower the community and allow others all over the world to interactively run each detection and produce the same results in a public computing environment all from a web-browser.
I believe that before jumping into the technical aspects of how I accomplished this, it is important to first understand what each project besides BinderHub provides. There is a lot of documentation for each of them so I will provide a short summary and links for you to read more about them.
What is the Mordor project?
The Mordor project provides pre-recorded security events generated by simulated adversarial techniques in the form of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) files for easy consumption. The pre-recorded data is categorized by platforms, adversary groups, tactics and techniques defined by the Mitre ATT&CK Framework. Its official Twitter handle is @Mordor_Project.
This project is part of the Threat Hunters Forge community, and started as a way for me to share datasets with my brother Jose Luis Rodriguez while doing research together. We realized that each of us was spending too much time simulating the same adversary technique variation while generating the same security events from a behavior perspective.
For example, what happens when an adversary queries the values of a Windows registry key? Either if it is done via PowerShell or C#, an adversary will trigger several of the same events shown below from a Windows Security event perspective. Of course, only if the right access-control-entry (ACE) is set in the system-access-control-list (SACL) of the registry object 😉
We figured that if we can standardize our simulation environment and document the telemetry enabled, one of us can run the simulation, collect the data and share it with the other one for further analysis. Then, we started thinking about others having similar constraints or not being able to even simulate the technique in the first place, so we decided to start sharing every single dataset with the world and thats how the Mordor repository was born 😈📜 For more information about how we take snapshots of the data while simulating the adversarial technique or how we consume the pre-recorded dataset, you can go to the project’s Wiki or watch the following video:
What is the Threat Hunter Playbook project?
The Threat Hunter Playbook is another initiative from the Threat Hunters Forge community to share hunting strategies and inspire new detections. Its official twitter handle is @HunterPlaybook, and I use it to share a detection notebook every other week. It provides specific chains of security events that you can use to develop data analytics in your preferred tool or query format. This project also follows the structure of the MITRE ATT&CK framework categorizing post-compromise adversary behavior in tactical groups.
In addition, the project documents detection strategies in the form of interactive notebooks to provide an easy and flexible way to save, replicate, and visualize the analytics and expected output.
What is a Notebook?
Think of a notebook as a document that you can access via a web interface that allows you to save input (i.e live code) and output (i.e code execution results / evaluated code output) of interactive sessions as well as important notes needed to explain the methodology and steps taken to perform specific tasks (i.e data analysis).
Also, each notebook comes with links to pre-recorded datasets from the Mordor project to validate the detection of the specific adversarial technique being analyzed. This is very helpful because I feel that this feature provides additional context to the analytic being shared.
Mordor Datasets and the Threat Hunter Playbook?
I decided to start adding Mordor datasets links to each detection. I hope it encourages others to take a look at the dataset being used and potentially help me to improve the detection logic. There are several events that I might have not even considered when creating a detection (always! 😆).
For example, for the notebook “Remote Interactive Task Manager LSASS Dump”, I consider the following data sources useful to develop an analytic
However, if I take a look at the metadata provided by the Mordor dataset used for this detection, there are some other events that might be interesting to explore to enhance the detection or create additional analytics 😉
What am I trying to solve then?
So far, I believe and I hope that sharing detections via notebooks and providing links to the the pre-recorded datasets used during the development of the analytic is helpful. While some people might just want to copy and paste the analytic provided, others might want to run some validation tests and go deeper into the analytic from a data perspective. I believe this also helps researchers that are just starting in the industry and might want to jump straight to the analysis of data and use the analytics provided as references or examples for future detections development.
Even though this sounds great ( I hope!) , it takes the following steps to be able to fully utilize the notebook and Mordor dataset approach.
Clone https://github.com/hunters-forge/ThreatHunter-Playbook repo
Stand up a Jupyter Notebook Server to host all the notebooks provided by the Threat Hunter Playbook project.
Install Python libraries such as PySpark and OpenHunt in your Jupyter Notebook server to run the data analytics in the notebooks.
Clone the https://github.com/hunters-forge/mordor repo inside of the notebooks directory or download each dataset interactively while you run each analytic.
Decompress every mordor dataset (they are .tar.gz files)
For those familiarized with Docker containers, all of the steps above can be put together in a Docker file (Dockerfile) and 💥 💥. However, even though it might very easy for you to deploy a docker container in your computer, not everyone has the same skills to do it. Therefore, I started to look for ways to automate the deployment, but I could not find an easy one to be able to share my research without some basic knowledge about Docker or vagrant or packer or AWS CloudFormation or any other way to deploy something either locally or via a cloud provider. I was looking for a one-click approach. This was true until I read about the Binder project and its product BinderHub 😍
Enter Binder project
The Binder Project is an open community that makes it possible to create sharable, interactive, reproducible environments. The main technical product that the community creates is called BinderHub, and one deployment of a BinderHub exists at mybinder.org . This website is run by the Binder Project as a public service to make it easy for others to share their work.
What is BinderHub?
The primary goal of BinderHub is creating custom computing environments that can be used by many remote users. BinderHub enables an end user to easily specify a desired computing environment from a Git repo. BinderHub then serves the custom computing environment at a URL which users can access remotely.
How does BinderHub work?
According to BinderHub docs, it connects several services together to provide on-the-fly creation and registry of Docker images.
BinderHub ties together:
JupyterHub to provide a scalable system for authenticating users and spawning single user Jupyter Notebook servers.
Repo2Docker which generates a Docker image using a Git repository hosted online.
It utilizes the following services:
A cloud provider such Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and others
such Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and others Kubernetes to manage resources on the cloud
to manage resources on the cloud Helm to configure and control Kubernetes
to configure and control Kubernetes Docker to use containers that standardize computing environments
to use containers that standardize computing environments A BinderHub UI that users can access to specify Git repos they want built BinderHub to generate Docker images using the URL of a Git repository
that users can access to specify Git repos they want built BinderHub to generate Docker images using the URL of a Git repository A Docker registry (such as gcr.io) that hosts container images
(such as gcr.io) that hosts container images JupyterHub to deploy temporary containers for users
Do I need to create my own BinderHub?
You can create your own BinderHub deployment and run code in the cloud if you want to, but the Binder team has already done that for you and has a BinderHub server running at mybinder.org as a public service (free!). If you browse to that site, you just need to provide the name or URL of the repository hosting a Binder repository.
You can host your Binder repository in Github, GitLab, etc as shown below
A Binder Repository?
According to Binder docs, a Binder (also called a Binder-ready repository) is a code repository that contains at least two things:
Code or content that you’d like people to run (i.e Jupyter Notebooks) Configuration files for your environment (i.e Dockerfile)
What are “Configuration files” ?
These are files used by Binder to build the environment needed to run your code. For example, if I want to build a Jupyter Notebook server, I have to tell Binder how to do it. For a list of all configuration files available to create an environment, see the Configuration Files page . In addition, there are several ways to do it and you can see some examples of Binder repositories in here.
I use Docker containers to build Jupyter Notebooks so I decided to create one to be able to share my notebooks and research with others. I also have a whole project around Jupyter Notebooks and Docker containers named Notebooks Forge , a project dedicated to build and provide Notebooks servers for Defensive and Offensive operators (purple post on this coming soon.. 😉)
A Binder Repository for the Threat Hunter Playbook Environment via Docker
If you want to use Docker for your own Binder repository, make sure you read the Binder docs and take care of all the requirements specified in the docs.
As I mentioned before, I build Jupyter Notebooks servers via Docker files from the project Notebooks Forge and I keep built docker images in my own public Docker registry. You can just download the images and use them right away.
For my Binder configuration file, I take that Docker image named jupyter-pyspark from my public docker registry, and use it as a base to take care of all the steps needed to integrate the Threat Hunter Playbook and Mordor projects with the specific requirements needed to work with the BinderHub deployment. You can read the contents of the Dockerfile here.
I create the Docker file (Dockerfile file) and place it at the root of the Threat Hunter Playbook GitHub repository as shown below:
How does BinderHub build the Threat Hunter Playbook environment?
There are several steps that happen in the backend, but all I need to do is go to the https://mybinder.org/ site, and fill out the required information as shown below. If you notice, once I type the URL of my GitHub repo, it gives me the following Binder link https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/hunters-forge/ThreatHunter-Playbook/master to share with others right away.
Also, when I click on the drop-down triangle at the bottom of the page, I get information about a binder badge that I could use for my Threat hunter Playbook README file. This can help automate the initial steps.
Finally, all I have to do is click on the orange Launch button and BinderHub starts building the Jupyter Notebook environment from the Dockerfile that I created at the root of the repo including all the notebooks from the Threat Hunter Playbook and pre-recorded datasets from the Mordor project.
With the Binder badge available, I now automate the steps for anyone accessing the repo. All you have to do is click on “launch binder” and 💥.
But, What happens in the backend?
After clicking on the Binder badge, BinderHub resolves the link and the following happens in the backend:
BinderHub checks if the Docker image already exists in its Docker Registry.
If it does not exists (first time building it), BinderHub creates a Kubernetes build pod that uses Repo2Docker to turn the GitHub repository into a Jupyter enabled Docker Image. It takes the Dockerfile in the repo, builds the image, pushes it to the BinderHub’s Docker registry, and saves the registry information for future reference.
in the repo, builds the image, pushes it to the BinderHub’s Docker registry, and saves the registry information for future reference. If the image exists, it checks if it is up to date. If it is not up to date, it uses again Repo2Docker to create a new image and update the one in its Docker Registry.
If the Docker image exists and it is up to date, BinderHub sends the Docker image registry to JupyterHub
JupyterHub creates a Kubernetes pod for the Jupyter Notebook image
JupyterHub monitors the user’s pod for activity, and destroys it after a short period of inactivity.
In the meantime you will see the following screen
Once all that happens, you will be presented with a Jupyter Notebook menu interface. There you will see one folder which contains markdown files and Jupyter notebooks from the Threat Hunter Playbook project.
If you want to access Windows detections as notebooks, you can go to the following path content/notebooks/windows
For example, you can double-click on the “Remote Interactive Task Manager LSASS Dump” notebook, and you will be able to interactively run every single input cell. The first ones are just markdown text.
If you go back to the main notebook menu and click on the Running tab, you can see that the notebook is actually running and it is not a static view.
You can run every single notebook cell by simply pressing [SHIFT] + [ENTER] on your keyboard. The ones in the image below do the following:
Import python libraries
Start a Spark session
Read the contents of the specific Mordor file and returns a DataFrame
Expose the DataFrame as a Spark SQL temporary view to run SQL-like queries on the top of it.
This notebook was created to contribute to CAR-2019–08–001 , so I decided to validate the provided analytic against the Mordor dataset as shown below:
CAR Analytic Pseudocode
files = search File:Create
lsass_dump = filter files where (
file_name = "lsass*.dmp" and
image_path = "C:\Windows\*\taskmgr.exe")
output lsass_dump
Threat Hunter Playbook SQL Query
FROM mordor_file
WHERE channel = "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational"
AND event_id = 11
AND Image LIKE "%taskmgr.exe"
AND lower(TargetFilename) RLIKE ".*lsass.*\.dmp" SELECT ` @timestamp `, computer_name, Image, TargetFilename, ProcessGuidFROM mordor_fileWHERE channel = "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational"AND event_id = 11AND Image LIKE "%taskmgr.exe"AND lower(TargetFilename) RLIKE ".*lsass.*\.dmp"
I then decided to add other potential detections and started joining Sysmon events to add more context to an initial analytic.
FROM mordor_file o
INNER JOIN (
SELECT computer_name,SourceProcessGUID
FROM mordor_file
WHERE channel = "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational"
AND event_id = 10
AND lower(TargetImage) LIKE "%lsass.exe"
AND (lower(CallTrace) RLIKE ".*dbgcore\.dll.*" OR lower(CallTrace) RLIKE ".*dbghelp\.dll.*")
) a
ON o.ProcessGuid = a.SourceProcessGUID
WHERE o.channel = "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational"
AND o.event_id = 1 SELECT o.` @timestamp `, o.computer_name, o.Image, o.LogonId, o.ProcessGuid, a.SourceProcessGUID, o.CommandLineFROM mordor_file oINNER JOIN (SELECT computer_name,SourceProcessGUIDFROM mordor_fileWHERE channel = "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational"AND event_id = 10AND lower(TargetImage) LIKE "%lsass.exe"AND (lower(CallTrace) RLIKE ".*dbgcore\.dll.*" OR lower(CallTrace) RLIKE ".*dbghelp\.dll.*")) aON o.ProcessGuid = a.SourceProcessGUIDWHERE o.channel = "Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational"AND o.event_id = 1
I also like to show how you can join data sources (i.e Sysmon and Windows Security events). and perform join statements on common fields with unique values. In this notebook, I show how to join the results of the first Sysmon join I performed in the image above with Windows Security event 4778: : A session was reconnected to a Window Station on the LogonId values. The detection goes from a local to a remote interactive behavior via RDP.
That’s it! I can now share datasets and detection notebooks and allow others to access, run and validate each analytic all from the same place! 💜
What does it actually look like?
If you want to see the one-click process via a browser live before you giving it a try, I put together a video showing you how easy it is for anyone in the world to access detection notebooks and pre-recorded datasets and be able to interactively run every single analytic via a web browser and an open computing environment by leveraging the awesomeness of BinderHub.
UPDATE 12/18/19: The folder structure in the video is out of date. However, the concept is the same and I believe it is still valuable to see how it works.
I shared the same video as part the ATT&CKcon 2.0 talk Jose Luis Rodriguez and I put together along with the slides of our presentation below:
Binder Usage Guidelines
Even though the Binder provides a public BinderHub service for anyone to use, there are certain guidelines that one should follow. You can read more about it here
The Threat Hunter Playbook can be subject to a temporary banning at any time if it presents some undesired behavior defined by the Binder team. I see the project as a proof of concept, and a way to demo and share detection notebooks as a result of public open research.
The Binder team does not want a single repository to dominate all of the traffic to Binder, so they have set a maximum limit of concurrent user sessions that point to the same Binder link. The maximum number of simultaneous users for a given repo is 100.
If you have additional questions, you can start by taking a look at the “Frequently Asked Questions” section of the Binder docs. Very helpful!
Empowering The Community 🌎 🌍 🌏
I have not seen this technology being used before for these type of use cases in the Infosec community, and I am very happy that the Threat Hunter Playbook is the first public project in our industry leveraging BinderHub to share detections with others around the world and allow anyone with a web-browser to reproduce research via notebooks and pre-recorded datasets 🍻
Future Work | https://medium.com/threat-hunters-forge/threat-hunter-playbook-mordor-datasets-binderhub-open-infrastructure-for-open-8c8aee3d8b4 | ['Roberto Rodriguez'] | 2019-12-18 15:32:15.866000+00:00 | ['Threat Hunting', 'Cybersecurity', 'Jupyter Notebook', 'Docker', 'Security Analytics'] |
A Framework for Configuring Cross-Account Access in AWS | Photo by Joseph Chan on Unsplash
For the most part you probably keep most of your AWS infrastructure under the ownership of a single account. However there are situations where you may need to grant a resource or a user, in a different account, access to one or more of your resources. This might be because an external client or vendor needs direct access to your infrastructure or because your company has infrastructure deployed across different accounts. Indeed, AWS recommends using multiple accounts, as best practice for scaling your cloud environment. As it provides billing and security isolation, and allows flexibility.
Still, granting access cross account can be tricky. It certainly took me a while to grok the pattern I needed to follow, to consistently set up a trust relationship between AWS accounts.
In this article I’m going to explain a simple recipe that you can follow, to make sure you set up the correct permissions to allow cross account access to your AWS resources. The bulk of the example will be in CloudFormation, but the principle applies whether you use the AWS console directly or utilise Infrastructure as Code, using CloudFormation or Terraform. | https://medium.com/swlh/a-framework-for-configuring-cross-account-access-in-aws-3b94daea1063 | ['Camin Mccluskey'] | 2020-11-22 14:01:47.763000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'AWS', 'Programming', 'Software Development', 'Infrastructure As Code'] |
Pocket Camp Is a UX Nightmare | Pocket Camp Is a UX Nightmare
My UX mindset doesn’t miss a chance to criticize and learn from my favorite apps.
Fig.1 — Animal Crossing official logo. Image from Nintendo
When I downloaded Animal Crossing Pocket Camp this Summer, I got almost immediately addicted. Since then, I’ve spent hours fishing, growing flowers, and crafting furniture. It’s a lot of fun. However, I can’t help but feel frustrated with some recurrent issues.
As a UX Designer, I try to keep in mind every mistake is a learning opportunity. I am not responsible for Pocket Camp design, but understanding its faults is valuable knowledge for me, as a UX professional. Therefore, I decided to list some insights about my personal experience with this game and what I learned from it.
The pressure to make micro-transactions
Fig.5 — Leaf tickets icon. Image from Pocket Camp Wiki.
Pocket Camp works with two different currencies:
Bells : in-game currency that can be earned when accomplishing most of game’s goals. These can be used to upgrade the player’s camper, purchase items, etc.
: in-game currency that can be earned when accomplishing most of game’s goals. These can be used to upgrade the player’s camper, purchase items, etc. Leaf Tickets: the premium currency that can be purchased with real money or obtained through regular gameplay. These can be used to speed up every facet of the game and acquire special items.
Long-time gamers have been complaining about the pressure to buy leaf tickets because when the app was launched, the number of paid items was much smaller, which led users to create the expectation they didn’t need to invest to have everything.
As a recent user, I don’t share this feeling. However, I do feel annoyed by useless features that merely exist to encourage spending leaf tickets (I will get to this in detail in next sections).
Lesson learned: Design should attempt to increase positive emotions such as happiness and pleasure, and decrease negative effects, such as anger and frustration. It’s the designer’s responsibility to take users feel into consideration and acknowledge long time players who, in this case, feel betrayed by the micro-transaction incentives.
Limitation of 10 help requests to access shovelstrike quarry at once
The quarry is a place where players can break rocks to find rare minerals and gems, which are then converted into prizes.
To access the quarry, users must choose one of the following options:
Request and receive help from at least 5 friends (available once a day);
Spend 20 Leaf Tickets;
Every day I try to get help from 5 friends to enter the quarry. My frustration with this process is a system limitation that only allows up to 10 help requests at once. Since I have more than 60 friends, I have to repeat the sending request process more than 6 times to reach all my contacts.
Fig.2 — Screenshot of the error message displayed when trying to ask for help of more than 10 friends at once
Lesson learned: Avoid redundant tasks that make users waste time repeating efforts.
Lloid’s help is useless
A Gardening Event is a bug-catching event in which players plant seeds and capture insects.
Players can capture insects themselves, or ask Lloid to help by spending some leaf tickets. The advantage of relying on him is because he never misses, so the catch is certain.
Fig.3 — Lloid’s help illustration. Image from Perfectly Nintendo
The thing is I never felt the need to turn to Lloid to capture bugs. When I do it myself, some bugs inevitably escape, but I know eventually I will get all the ones I need to reach the event’s goals. Leaf tickets are hard to get, so I tend to be very careful on how to spend them. I asked myself:
Why would anyone recur to Lloid’s help?
I decided to ask other Pocket Camp gamers to find my answers.
Fig.4 — Reddit Poll results about Lloid’s help utility
According to Fig.4, less than 4% of users have used Lloid’s help and the main reason for using its help was:
It was a mistake.
The results indicate this feature is useless and only exists to make users spend leaf tickets by accident.
Lesson learned: A good UX Design will be able to convert visitors into customers by their own will and do not make them feel pressured either betrayed during that process.
Note: In my research, one gamer mentioned Lottie’s advice feature, in Happy Homeroom, which is similar to Lloid’s help in its uselessness. Later, I also thought about the golden rod. I don’t have statistics to defend my hypothesis, but I believe all these features are unnecessary. Curiously they have something in common: they can only be bought through Leaf Tickets.
The mailbox inconsistency
Fig.6 — Screenshot of my mailbox contents
Items received as gifts are received in the mailbox. The user needs to check out his mailbox regularly to collect these items and manually add them to his storage.
What I can’t understand is Pocket Camp’s definition of “received item”. Both items received from other players, namely friend power, and Sholvelstrike Quarry rewards are sent to the mailbox. On the other hand, gifts from villagers and Gulliver’s Ship rewards are added directly to the storage.
This inconsistency in the mailbox feature makes me confused. Sometimes I earn something and want to use it right away but I can’t find it my storage. I end up finding that item in my mailbox. Therefore, the mailbox is an extra step in the game flow with inconsistent functionality, which makes the user frustrated when his expectations aren’t met.
Lesson learned: Take user’s mental models into consideration to develop designs that will make sense to them.
Poor dialogs for furniture requests
Sometimes, villagers ask what furniture to give to another villager as a request, giving the player three options to choose from. The challenge of this request is to determine which of the options the villager would like to receive.
Fig.7 — Screenshot of Freya asking for help to choose a gift for Naomi
In Fig.7 we can read Freya’s dialog asking for help to choose a gift for Naomi and the three options I can choose from — regal sofa, rococo chair, or hearth. In this case, I have all the data I need to choose the best furniture piece for Naomi: I just have to take Naomi’s personality and preferences into consideration. This is a good example of a request dialog.
Fig.8 — Screenshot of Bianca asking for help to choose a gift
In Fig.8, we can read the dialog Bianca used for a similar purpose. This time, however, she mentioned the name of the villager she intends to please earlier and the final dialog does not include it. In consequence, when she presents me with the options, I already forgot the villager she mentioned and have no clue how to make my choice.
In spite of knowing this is not the user’s fault, I can’t help but feel frustrated for not being able to memorize the information I needed to complete the task accordingly.
Lesson learned: Relevant information to the current activity must be always available.
Final remarks
UX Design is an interactive process. There is always room for improvement in any application or service.
I identified key pain points I regularly come across when I play Pocket Camp to learn from them and incorporate that knowledge into my projects.
Despite having some faults, Animal Crossing is a very fun game and I will continue to play it. If you also play Pocket Camp, please add me! My ID is 4780 6371 211 — I promise to water your plants!
Fig.9 — A screenshot of my proud avatar | https://uxplanet.org/pocket-camp-is-a-ux-nightmare-c7969ca03d2e | ['Mariana Vargas'] | 2020-09-23 17:08:30.881000+00:00 | ['Animal Crossing', 'Design', 'Games', 'Visual Design', 'UX'] |
How to Install Scala and Apache Spark on MacOS | Here is a Step by Step guide to installing Scala and Apache Spark on MacOS.
Step 1: Get Homebrew
Homebrew makes your life a lot easier when it comes to installing applications and languages on a Mac OS. You can get Homebrew by following the instructions on it’s website.
Which basically just tells you to open your terminal and type:
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
There are more detailed instructions on installing on the project’s GitHub page. Installing everything through Homebrew should automatically add all the appropriate PATH settings to your profile.
Step 2: Installing xcode-select
In order to install Java, Scala, and Spark through the command line we will probably need to install xcode-select and command line developer tools. Go to you terminal and type:
xcode-select --install
You will get a prompt that looks something like this:
Go ahead and select install.
Step 3: Use Homebrew to install Java
Scala is dependent on Java, you may or may not need to install it. The easiest way to install it is to just use HomeBrew:
In your terminal type:
brew cask install java
You may need to enter your password at some point to complete the java installation. After running this Homebrew should have taken care of the Java install. Now we can move on to Scala.
Step 4: Use Homebrew to install Scala
Now with Homebrew installed go to your terminal and type:
brew install scala
Step 5: Use Homebrew to install Apache Spark
Now with Scala installed go to your terminal and type:
brew install apache-spark
Homebrew will now download and install Apache Spark, it may take some time depending on your internet connection.
Step 5: Start the Spark Shell
Now try this command:
spark-shell
You should see a flood of text and warnings but eventually see something like this:
Welcome to
____ __
/ __/__ ___ _____/ /__
_\ \/ _ \/ _ `/ __/ '_/
/___/ .__/\_,_/_/ /_/\_\ version 2.0.1
/_/ Using Scala version 2.11.8 (Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM, Java 1.8.0_102)
Type in expressions to have them evaluated.
Type :help for more information. scala>
You can confirm that it is working by typing the scala code:
val s = "hello world"
Congratulations! You’re all set up!
Common Issue: Setting PATH in bash.
Homebrew should have taken care of all of this, but in case you need to add spark to your PATH, you’ll want to use:
export SPARK_HOME=/usr/local/Cellar/apache-spark/2.0.1/libexec
export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/Cellar/apache-spark/2.0.1/libexec/python/:$PYTHONP$
Just type that straight into your terminal. | https://medium.com/free-code-camp/installing-scala-and-apache-spark-on-mac-os-837ae57d283f | ['Jose Marcial Portilla'] | 2017-10-01 19:53:06.921000+00:00 | ['Spark', 'Scala', 'Big Data', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
Python: if __name__ == “__main__” | If you have been programming in Python for a bit it is probable you came across the code if __name__ == “__main__” and that you, like me and many others before, had no clue of what it means. Below a short explanation of how I understood it. Hope it helps!
The main function is essentially where any Python program starts. The Python interpreter (= program, which reads and executes code) sequentially reads the source file (= module) and executes the code. Remember, the main function can only be processed if the interpreter reads it as a Python program! Otherwise, it is ignored.
This is why the following code will not return anything:
def main():
print(2+2)
It is seen as a module and hence skipped! Essentially, the function is just defined, and not yet called.
Solutions:
In Python 3 (or later) an easy solution would be to easily call the main function at the end of the code for the function:
def main():
print(2+2)
main()
This calls the main function and executes the code.
Another solution is to call the code in the main function we want to run if the “special” variable (see below) __name__ is equal to “__main__”:
def main():
print(2+2) if __name__ == “__main__”:
main()
Why does this work? Before executing code, the Python interpreter reads the source file and defines a few “special” variables. The variable __name__ is one of these and evaluates the name of the current module.
If the Python interpreter is running that module (the source file) as the main program, it sets the special __name__ variable to have a value “__main__”. The if statement allows checking whether a function is run from the current script or if it has been imported from another one.
If it is imported from another module, __name__, will be set to that script’s name! | https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/python-if-name-main-c6c4381d86c9 | ['Fabio Motta'] | 2020-06-21 20:48:17.177000+00:00 | ['Python3', 'Coding', 'Software Development', 'Python', 'Programming'] |
Parable: Story’s debt to Confusion | Parable: Story’s debt to Confusion
An origin story
Have you ever wondered where story came from? Draw close to my campfire, and I’ll tell you how. Once upon a time… in the Kingdom of the Mind, a magnificent ball was held to launch a Festival of Change.
Clarity
Clarity attended. When she entered the ballroom, she walked effortlessly in her seamless gown and simple shoes, perfect for dancing. Her gown was exquisite, not a single detail overdone. Guests could not help themselves; Clarity was riveting.
But she was also approachable. This quality made her rare, notable and, above all, memorable.
Up close, her face was serene, her breath even, her eyes clear, her voice warm, confiding, kind. No one’s composure at such a festive event matched Clarity’s. In her presence, people felt immediately at ease.
Anyone — man, woman or child — would have been honoured to dance with Clarity. The room was filled with anticipation as the orchestra struck its first bar. Who would she choose?
Confusion
Clarity chose Confusion. Onlookers gasped, their revels quelled, they stared at a pair they thought unlikely, improbable, doomed even.
On the dance floor the duo danced, bodies pressed and eyes locked. Something in their chemistry pinned the guests to the walls: ready as they were to dance, this was a time to watch and listen. Anticipation grew into expectancy, as the guests started to breathe in unison with the music and the dancing couple melted into one. Clarity and Confusion were a couple, inseparable, potent.
The silence after the song ended was momentary, like the suspension of a pendulum at the peak of its arc, reversing into applause.
A bond was forged on the ballroom floor. Later that bond — between Clarity and Confusion — was sealed. The promises they exchanged were eternal. The Kingdom of the Mind knew this union was rock-solid. Trusting the couple, the Kingdom’s consensus was that they should lead Change. Under their auspices, Change would continue on an ongoing basis. No longer a Festival, but a Constant.
Their twins: Structure and Attention
Leading Change was a big job, and took a great deal of their energy and creativity. Yet the pair maintained time for family. In time, their children were born. They were twins: Structure and Attention.
Photograph by Yu-chuan Hsu on Unsplash
Structure’s temperament was dual. A cruel person might say he was two-faced.
Structure’s objective side was logical. But he could be a tease. Prone to hurt feelings and other strong negative emotions, Structure liked to withhold information, and like his father Confusion, mix up the order of things. Only in his case, the mix ups were intentional.
Photograph by Breno Machado on Unsplash
Attention too was a complicated soul.
Her laser-like focus made her good at learning, but also oblivious to others’ feelings. So she practiced roaming, and learned to notice things that were unconnected. She found her brother was very good at connecting them up.
Together, the siblings could make sense of the world.
The twins grew. They were skilled at making sense, and now they were ready to make meaning. However, the meanings they would make needed to be relevant to the family business. Otherwise, how would they earn their keep?Handmade Change was slow and hard to scale. This much was obvious. With the inventiveness of youth, the twins were determine to disrupt the Change traditions. They invented a meaning tool to help with Change. The tool was Story. We still use this tool today.
An influential family
Without Structure and Attention, we could form no stories.
Likewise Structure and Attention depend on a blend of Clarity and Confusion.
Photograph by Ståle Grut from Unsplash
The family Clarity and Confusion founded became influential in the Kingdom of the Mind. Their descendants invented Education, the Natural Sciences and later the Experimental Sciences, Travel, Trade and Industry.
Such is our debt to Clarity and Confusion that to me, my presence here today is inconceivable without them. I too may be their kin. And you? | https://medium.com/semiostories/parable-story-s-debt-to-clarity-and-confusion-3927fce46f02 | ['Kate Hammer'] | 2019-11-14 12:57:57.839000+00:00 | ['Change', 'Storytelling', 'Storyteller'] |
Why I Write, Why I Fight | Pushing Catholics Out the Door
A note from the outset. This post has nothing to do with Catholic Church teaching. It has everything to do with the Catholics who believe it, though.
I once knew a priest who put a sign at all the exits of his church that said “Judas left the Mass early too.”
For those of you who don’t know, that’s called being a wolf.
Jesus once told a parable about sheep who wandered away. The point of the story was that they were worth braving the wolves and going after, not that we should shame them as they go. Catholics have never been afraid of guilt. But shaming others should terrify us.
Today the Supreme Court heard arguments surrounding California’s Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage. All over social media, everyone has been quick to take a side. I can only speak for my tribe, and I have to say, Catholics, it wasn’t pretty. In the rush to stand for morality, it became clear there was an us, and a them. Like if you’re with us. Want to comment that you disagree? You must be for incest and beastiality too! Baha! We have logic!
We’re still working on love.
Jesus once told his disciples to be as clever as serpents. I think that’s what the priest with his signs thought he was doing. Toss out a quip, and maybe people will rethink things. It also helps if you can make them look ridiculous in the process. That’s what I saw most people trying to do on Facebook today. We forget that when Jesus said that though, he said the reason was because he was sending us out in the midst of wolves. Why? To rescue the sheep that had wandered away.
I have a friend named Max who is gay. He grew up at the parish I attend. Not feeling very welcomed there because he was gay, he stopped going to church and stopped calling himself Catholic because people told him he no longer was. I was humbled and inspired when he decided that, for Lent, he was going to try being Catholic again. Follow the teachings. Go to Mass. Start praying again.
I cringed when I started seeing the debate and quips and memes being shared and liked around social media today, because I knew Max would be seeing it all too. With there being only days left in Lent, what effect would it have on him? I asked how he was taking it all. His response was simple.
I probably won’t be around [our church] much when I get back from studying abroad. But that was something I was considering anyway. I might try another Catholic Church where nobody knows me and maybe I can still find a community with some solid half-brothers and half-sisters from there who will edify me rather than turn me away. But I can’t put myself in the building itself with so much disillusionment from my mentors, etc. This is the important thing I need my fellow Christians to hear. You may think the most loving thing for you to do is to rebuke someone in truth on Facebook, but it’s not. I get sucked into it all the time. The desire to debate, to be right, to win one for God, is so damn tempting. We become convinced that the only way people will see their sin is if we point it out to them.
I asked Max what he meant by disillusioned with his mentors.
Throughout my time there at church, I confided in a lot of people I considered mentors. People whose advice I trusted. It’s really easy when you are younger in your faith, you put those who are older in their faith on a pedestal. You think they have such a grasp on truth but moreover you feel like maybe you mean enough to them that no matter what, they would never do anything to hurt you. They’ve heard you out before, so you assume that they are the type of person that will always be ready to listen and receive you with open arms. With the whole Church backdrop, you assume they are more virtuous and expect some sort of unconditional love or acceptance. You assume that they would be this way in general, not just when you are a troubled teen coming to them for help and not just out of a temporary obligation. In essence, you see them as a Christ figure because of some good done for you through them by God. Disillusionment is when you realize that your expectations were unrealistic. That these people are fallen just like you, and that the damage they do to you when God isn’t working through them tarnishes your memory of the times that He does. In a sense, it is a rude awakening that you cannot rely on people, but God alone. And once you experience it with one mentor or someone you would consider a brother or sister, it makes you fear the rest. The more it continues to happen, the greater the fear. Fearing the people that are supposed to make up the Mystical Body of Christ makes the relationship with God difficult.
There is so much that breaks my heart about that, I don’t even know where to begin. Most of it speaks for itself.
But here’s what I want you to hear. I have no doubt that the people who talked to Max through the years thought that if they were unflinching and articulate and used the phrase love the sinner, hate the sin enough, that it was indeed the most loving thing they could do. But did it work? I have yet to see a time that phrase ever did. (By the way, Ghandi said it, not Jesus.)
I suppose the thing that has upset me most about all of this is the joy with which people seem to be taking in the debate. It feels good to show that there are good guys and bad guys, and know you’re on the team wearing white. I know. I do it. I just get worked up over stuff like immigration and war and more than same-sex marriage.
At the end of the day, it is not a matter of who can win an argument. It is about who cares that there are gay Catholics out there seeing what you are posting on Facebook and everywhere else, and they feel like all you are doing is telling them they’re not welcome in our Church. At all. And, if you’re not posting your clever quotes and creative memes for them, then what are you posting them for? Just to congratulate yourself for being right? And if you are posting for those that disagree with you, then ask yourself, is it honestly going to help them, or just remind them that you still think there is an us and a them?
As for me, I’ve learned that sometimes the best thing you can do is just shut up and say I love you.
Should Catholics leave Mass early? Nope. Have I? Yep. So what are you going to do? Insult me as I go, or go after me? Right now, all I can think of is my friend who wanted to try and become Catholic again by Easter, but when Holy Week came, he felt like the Catholics from our parish came and pushed him back out the door. If he decides that’s where he is going to stay, that would make him a sheep separated from the flock. The question is, when you find him, are you going to be a shepherd or a wolf?
Originally published in March of 2013 | https://medium.com/reaching-out/why-i-write-why-i-fight-7d351b00b740 | ['Patrick Flores'] | 2018-01-28 16:01:02.320000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Life', 'Faithfullylgbt', 'Reaching Out', 'Storytelling'] |
This smart AI creates pictures of people who do not exist | Have you heard of Generative Adversarial Networks, the hottest development in machine learning right now?
GANs are made up of two competing neural networks: a generator that tries to create an image, and a discriminator that tries to detect which images are real and which images are fakes created by the generator.
Both networks compete with each other during training, until eventually the generator becomes smart enough to create spectacular images that fool the discriminator every time.
You can use GANs to create virtually any kind of image…
Like for example these stunning pictures of people:
All these pictures were generated by a machine learning app hosted at NVIDIA, the company famous for its high-performance graphics cards.
But none of these people actually exist!
The GAN is simply conjuring up new images, based on what it has learned about human faces. And after millions of training iterations, the generator has become so good at drawing faces that it manages to fool the discriminator every time!
NVIDIA has now opened up their GAN to the public. Just click the link below, and you’ll be rewarded with a new face every time:
https://thispersondoesnotexist.com
See if you can find mistakes in the generated faces. Can you do a better job than the discriminator?
So if you’re super excited right now and want to experiment with GANs in C# yourself, I totally understand.
And guess what? It’s actually very easy.
I wrote a small C# app that runs a GAN to generate pictures of frogs. Here’s what that looks like, this is the code that sets up the convolutional- and deconvolutional parts of the GAN: | https://medium.com/machinelearningadvantage/this-smart-ai-creates-pictures-of-people-who-do-not-exist-14d92e6f2fb1 | ['Mark Farragher'] | 2019-03-14 21:27:58.900000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Nvidia', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning'] |
Is Sports Sponsorship Right for Your Business? | Who wouldn’t want their brand featured court-side of an NBA Finals game or placed on the shoulder of a golfer who is about to win The Masters? Professional sports are driven by two things: advertisements and the fans who absorb said advertisements.
We often hear athletes utter the phrase “it’s a business” when talking about contract negotiations. Truth be told, sports is a business in all aspects. And the advertising space in arenas, stadiums, and the players themselves is one of the biggest businesses within the professional sports ecosystem.
If you own a business or are part of a company's advertising team, you’re probably wondering if it is time to take that leap and align your brand with a certain team, league, or athlete. This can be a lengthy and costly decision.
If you execute this correctly, the return on investment (ROI) is abundantly valuable for business.
But if you do not hit your key performance indicators (KPIs) or do not reach your target audience, then you are in for a world of trouble. Finically the cost of the sponsorship, time traveling to venues, and negotiating contracts with teams or leagues could leave your pockets empty and hurting.
Today we will look at some of the key ways to avoid a painful experience when shopping for sports sponsorships.
Always Know Your Target Audience
This is advertising 101. It is imperative that you are familiar with who your customer is before trying to sell to them. But it goes beyond knowing the age, gender, and income of your target audience.
You must take it a step further and put yourself in their shoes. What are their interests, and how do those interests align with your product or service? Would the target audience be reached through sponsorship of a sporting event or professional athlete?
There is a good chance your target audience is a part of a fan base for a particular sport. Sometimes even multiple sports, or multiple sports within one city.
If your target audience is linked to sports then it would be wise to explore the opportunities a sports sponsorship has to offer. Sponsorship of professional teams and athletes forces your audience to subliminally take in your brand’s name and even some content associated with the brand.
Fans — especially millennials and Gen Z — disengage from sporting events during commercial breaks by looking at their phones. So having your brand front-and-center of the in-game action will force your audience to see your brand and absorb it.
Is Your Brand Ready for the Traffic?
If your brand is featured during a professional sporting event, you better believe there will be some form of traffic being filtered your business’ website. Fans — if intrigued by your brand — can find your company on their phones as soon as the commercial break hits.
A piece of advice: remember to connect your brand with social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Social media has become a search engine in some capacity and a way for people to verify if a brand is legitimate.
Being connected to your brand’s audience and producing content for them is so pivotal if you are looking to expand into sports sponsorships. No one wants their customer to land on an empty Instagram page or a poorly updated Facebook page. That alone has the potential to immediately zap your credibility and makes it seem like you are not in tune with the consumer.
Can You Afford a Sports Sponsorship Package?
This is always a deciding factor for any brand looking to break into the sports sponsorship ecosystem. Can you afford to dump money into the sponsorship, the research, travel, and legal fees for contract negotiations?
The traditional sponsorship acquisition process can take months upon months just to secure a long-term deal with one team or athlete. What if the team flops? What if the athlete gets injured or retires early? What are you left with at the end of the day?
A bad deal…
Instant Sponsor, could be the solution to brands who are on the fence about committing their marketing budgets to sponsorships. Instant Sponsor’s Campaign Consultant feature takes your target audience and matches your brand with that with sponsorship opportunities that will reach your target demographic.
The Instant Sponsor platform allows brands to customize campaigns that may be comprised of short or long-term sponsorship opportunities. Saving a company from over-spending on a sponsorship opportunity, while also cutting down the time of acquisition.
Brands and rights holders can create a digital smart contract on Instant Sponsor’s blockchain-powered platform and transfer the appropriate assets (currency, information, logos, etc) nearly instantaneously.
Where Does this Leave Your Brand?
After assessing these key aspects of sports sponsorships, you can accurately tell if your brand will benefit from a sports sponsorship. The process can certainly be grueling but if the ROI is substantial enough then the decision should be a no-brainer.
If you can see sports sponsorships benefiting your brand in 2019, then you should allow Instant Sponsor’s platform to be your guide through the process, as it will open numerous doors in the world of professional sports. | https://medium.com/instant-sponsor/is-sports-sponsorship-right-for-your-business-bd57ba4f9edb | ['Mike Murphy'] | 2018-12-26 18:13:25.773000+00:00 | ['Sports', 'Blockchain', 'Sponsorship', 'Marketing', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
A Government that Can Imagine, Try, and Scale | If “possibility government” and “public entrepreneurship” are not to be the oxymorons skeptics make them out to be, we have to be effective in their practice. This requires public leaders to do at least three things: generate new ideas, try them, and ultimately scale these efforts up to make a large and lasting difference.
Sourcing Ideas
Cast a wide net for ideas. Bring in traditional experts, non-experts, and experts from other domains.
Look to the crowd: leverage challenges, competitions, and contests.
Engage residents. Look for their workarounds. “Nothing about them without them.”
Be most interested in the quality of the best idea that crosses your desk, not the average quality of all the ideas. More ideas + different ideas = better ideas.
Don’t settle for “best practices” when “best” isn’t good enough.
Experimenting
Maximize learning while minimizing the waste of resources and time. Follow five steps (↗️ Detailed worksheet at the bottom here):
Envision: Set a vision, translate to a falsifiable hypothesis. o BUILD: Develop a “minimum viable product” — i.e. the smallest set of features or activities needed to test a hypothesis.
Measure: Run tests, using the real service with the real users. o LEARN: Was your hypothesis validated or not?
Decide: Persevere, pivot, or perish?
Experiment with the public, not on them.
Promise learning, not success.
Consider portfolios of experiments, then aim high so the “wins” cover the losses.
Scaling
Think about how you can use government as a platform: a way to bring individuals together in ways that create value for other individuals — and for the broader public.
Work to generate positive network effects, where user two makes user one better off. Look to mitigate negative network effects, where users make each other worse off (e.g., congestion, fraud, etc.).
Use four sets of tools to make your platforms function well: rules, process, software, and hardware.
Generate and preserve trust in the platforms.
Organize for Probability and Possibility; Craft an Ambidetrious Response
Possibility is fraught in public organizations. Expectations are high. Risk aversion abounds. Trying things that will only possibly work cannot and should not be the sole strategy. Public leaders must keep an eye on the present and the future; on doing what they already do well, and looking for new things worth trying. The crisis response should combine possibility and probability approaches. “Ambidextrous” leaders can perform this mental balancing act. They can also separate these approaches somewhat within their teams’ operations so that innovation streams canbenefit from “cross-fertilization” with other parts of the organization, but neither approach suffers from “cross-contamination” by the other.
Pursuing new — and therefore risky — efforts is difficult in public life and especially difficult in a crisis. But innovation can not simply be left to the private sector or philanthropy. Both can play key roles in catalyzing new efforts, but they cannot effectively solve public problems without the co-participation of governments. Governments are often better positioned to do this work, and they can lead meaningfully (as they have before) in the pursuit of novel approaches. | https://medium.com/covid-19-public-sector-resources/a-government-that-can-imagine-try-and-scale-7afc2c4e750d | ['Harvard Ash Center'] | 2020-05-01 20:47:19.433000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Leadership', 'Crisis Management', 'Cities', 'Coronavirus'] |
9 Ways to Avoid the Remote Meeting Death Spiral | Everyone who works in tech has been stuck at one time or another in the dreaded Remote Meeting Death Spiral. That’s when the people in your meeting disengage and start answering email, doing other work, getting on social media, writing snarky Medium articles, etc. instead of focusing on what’s being said. Whether or not they SHOULD be disengaging doesn’t matter at this point, because once enough people have disengaged, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy — your meeting has become useless and you’re wasting everyone’s time.
The Death Spiral has two main causes:
Cause 1: The meeting didn’t need to happen
This happens when you are addressing something that doesn’t require a meeting. Either you’re trying to tackle an issue that’s “too big” and needs to be broken into small chunks to discuss productively, or you’re addressing something “too small” that doesn’t require everyone’s time.
Big remote meetings should be the exception, not the rule.
With modern communication tools, unless you are holding an active discussion that requires fluid input from every person on the call, you probably don’t need the meeting. If asynchronous communication would work, do that instead. If you only need feedback from 3 people, don’t invite 8 to the call. Also, if it’s a big important issue that you really need 8 people’s full attention for, if at all possible get them in the same room.
Cause 2: The meeting is not being facilitated well
Meme Morpheus is harsh, but fair
This happens waaaayyy more frequently. It’s an easy trap to fall into — not everyone’s connected to the call, so you awkwardly wait and then someone starts talking about their weekend, then someone else has problems connecting, and before too long, you’re 15 minutes into the meeting and absolutely nothing of value is getting done. This is a facilitation problem and it is fixable — but you might have to step outside of your comfort zone to make it happen.
Here’s how:
1. Start and end on time — Once in my teaching career, we were in a long “vision and culture” meeting being led by a new principal. The principal had charged us with creating norms based on our values that we would use to interact with each other. Different groups put up norms like: “We respect each other,” “We value everyone’s contributions,” “We are a community,” etc. My suggested norm was: “We start and end meetings on time.” The principal frowned at that (since the workshop had started late and was clearly going to run over), but that norm garnered far more votes from the attendees than any other. Because frankly, if you can’t start and end on time, you’re not showing respect or valuing other people —and it’s often a symptom of a larger culture/communication problem.
What to do (start): Send out meeting details and info well ahead of time (not 1 minute prior). If possible, designate someone as the “cat-herder” to ping people and troubleshoot any connection issues. Sign yourself in early and start the meeting no later than 5 minutes past the posted time. If you truly need to delay b/c of a key person who isn’t there, wait up to 10 minutes and then just re-schedule.
What to do (end): Time-check 15 minutes prior to the end of the meeting so you have time to address important issues. If you’re in danger of running over (~5 minutes left), ask to schedule a follow-up (which may just be an extension of the meeting time if the key people are available right then).
2. Ask directed questions — Without visual cues, everyone is reluctant to respond to an open question for fear that someone else is about to speak. Every question you ask should include a person’s name. Any question that starts with “Can somebody…?” or “Can anyone…?” is going to land like a lead balloon. If you can’t attach a name to your question, you probably shouldn’t ask it.
Practice these stems: “[Olaf], can you speak to this?”, “[Beatrice], is this something you can handle?” Otherwise, you’re asking for a ton of dead air (or for the most domineering person on the call to take over.)
Even Hollywood’s most boring teacher ever figured this technique out.
3. Explicitly structure participation— I was on a daily standup call where time and time again, the leader would say: “Let’s go around the circle and give our status.” In person that would be fine, but remote, there’s no circle! No one knows when to talk! Same thing when having discussions — tell people what kind of participation you want from them at the outset.
What to do: Just like the previous tip, use names. Work from an attendee list and call people out by name: “[Klaus], what are you working on today?” When asking for feedback, be explicit: “I’d like to hear from [these people] first, then [these other people]” or “I’d like to hear from someone who agrees with [X] first, then from those that disagree.” Once the discussion starts, you can step back and let people talk fluidly, but it’s your job to kick things off right by giving people explicit cues.
4. If you’re using new tech, do a dry run prior to the meeting — Call your mom to try out your new join.me account if you need to— don’t make the CEO and 10 other people watch you try to figure out how to share your screen or remember your password.
Likewise, if you’re using a collaborative tool like Gdocs, Mural.ly, Trello, Invision, etc., give everyone a task to do PRIOR TO the meeting— that way you can troubleshoot problems with them individually instead of having someone feel embarrassed in front of the whole meeting if they can’t connect or find the right feature. If you do wind up having to onboard people in the call, prepare and share an “onboarding” document ahead of time (with screenshots). If you must do it in real-time, share your screen and walk people through it, but plan for that to take at least double the amount of time you would think.
5. Have a concrete plan — Send SOMETHING out ahead of time: A written agenda, a bulleted list of goals, even a one-sentence description in the meeting invite. Then remind people of the purpose once the call starts — If it’s 10 minutes in and you haven’t articulated the purpose of the meeting, everyone will be on twitter/facebook/reddit/ESPN. Start the call with “Here’s why we’re having this meeting,” followed immediately by “Here’s what we need to have accomplished by the end of this call.” Re-state as necessary if people go off-topic.
6. Take visible notes — Google Docs, InVision, Trello, screen sharing a Word doc, whatever. Take notes during the meeting in such a way that everyone can see them and if appropriate, add to them. This insures that you are accurately representing what was said and provides you a document to go off of when you summarize the meeting. If this proves too challenging (and it can be), have a designated note-taker do this for you. If it’s distracting to have the notes constantly visible, only display them at the end. But do display them at some point — this gives people the opportunity to address anything you haven’t interpreted correctly.
7. Don’t let people just ramble on — This can be awkward because interrupting is “rude” and there’s no good way to be smooth about it over a call. But while it’s rude to cut someone off, it’s worse to force 8 people to sit and listen to something they really shouldn’t have to. At the beginning of the call, say: “During the meeting, I may have to interrupt and ask people to take certain issues offline (see #8). I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to make sure we hit our goals (see #4) and respect everyone’s time. I hope that’s okay.” Trust me, it will be okay.
Everyone knows the person that just won’t stop talking — that’s why this is the most quoted bit of any Adam Sandler movie (lots of reasons, actually)
8. Use a Parking Lot — The Parking Lot is a semi-mythical place where complex, thorny, or irrelevant issues go. “Let’s put that in the Parking Lot,” or “Is that a Parking Lot issue?” or “That’s a really important issue! Can we schedule a call specifically to discuss it?” are good things to say when someone brings up something that threatens to sideline the actual purpose of the meeting. Keep a written record of anything that gets sent to the Parking Lot (see #6) and follow up if appropriate. While it’s okay to let irrelevant issues “die on the vine” so to speak, if you do that too often (or with issues that people actually care about), you’re setting yourself up for massive derailment in future meetings.
9. End the call with a summary and concrete next steps — Re-state the purpose of the meeting and whether or not it was achieved. Review 1–5 key takeaways. Talk about what happens next, which could be follow-up actions, a date to expect deliverables, or (horrors!) another meeting. It’s best to do this on the call (using your notes from #6) , or someone might drop off and miss something they’re supposed to be doing. Add task items to Trello (or whatever) right then and there. Then, send an actual email with this same information out afterwards.
… and there you have it
None of this is complex or particularly hard, but you have be intentional, plan ahead, and consistently apply these principles. Otherwise you’ll find yourself sitting in front of your computer, rambling on to fill the dead air, and wondering why no one else on the line seems to care about the project.
If that happens once or twice, maybe your team was having a bad day, or their connections kept dropping, or you made the mistake of scheduling a meeting during March Madness, but if it keeps happening over and over, take a good look in the mirror and think hard about what you can do to fix it.
Thanks for reading! If you made it this far, please recommend so others can see it as well. You can see more about how we do things at purposeux.com, email me directly at [email protected], or follow me on twitter, where I’m much less verbose. | https://uxdesign.cc/9-ways-to-avoid-the-remote-meeting-death-spiral-5b40ded24e | ['Erik Johnson'] | 2017-07-09 20:45:30.323000+00:00 | ['Remote Working', 'Management', 'Management And Leadership', 'Meetings', 'Productivity'] |
More Books! | Well, the 2020 list has proven to be something of a hit (by my standards, anyway), so I figured I’d share my 2019 list with you as well. In case you didn’t read the 2020 list, the story behind it is that for nearly 23 years, I’ve been keeping a list of every book I read. I try to read at least one a week.
I started keeping the list mostly because I forget titles and I wanted to keep track. When my mother (z”l) was still alive, I’d type up the list every December and give it to her, and she’d share it with her friends and book club. After her Parkinson’s worsened, around 2015, she lost her ability to concentrate and I stopped making the list. But then a friend asked me if I’d give a talk about books at her Rotary Club meeting a few weeks before Christmas. The talk (and the list) proved to be a hit, and I’ve been doing both for the past five years.
This is the list I compiled for the 2019 meeting. Some of the books were published in 2019, some before. (My goal isn’t to read all new books, it’s to read good books.)
Some of the good books I’ve read
Enjoy!
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro. Another page-turner by one of my favorite writers, this one about what happens when the Ancestry.com DNA test that Shapiro takes shows that she’s not who she thinks she is. On her quest to get to the truth, she discovers that her beloved father, to whom she was always more close than to her mother, is not biologically related to her.
The Widower’s Notebook by Jonathan Santlofer. Memoir by an artist whose wife of 40 years dies, completely unexpectedly, in his arms a day after routine knee surgery. He writes eloquently about being a widower and includes drawings that really enhance the story. Sounds like it could be depressing, but it’s beautiful and uplifting.
The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything that Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams. If you are moved by stories of people who overcome tremendous odds and are able to look at the cup half full without sounding like Pollyanna, this is the book for you. Yip-Williams barely survived being born blind in post-war Vietnam. Her family managed to emigrate to the United States, and there, despite her vision problems, she thrived. Then, at age 37, when she was happier than she ever thought she’d be, married with two children and building a successful legal career, she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. This is her story, and it’s beautifully written and philosophical, but also gritty.
Bad Blood: Secrets & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyou. This is a pot-boiler that will also make your blood boil, if you’re the kind of person whose blood boils when reading about a narcissist who had a good idea but let her ego get in the way of it. Wall Street Journal reporter Carreyou digs into the story of Elizabeth Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford at age 22 to start a company, Theranos, that she claimed would change the face of health care by making it possible to diagnose and treat illnesses based on a drop of blood. She did not. The company has since folded and she’s most likely headed to jail.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb. Excellent memoir by a woman who has had several impressive careers (development person at NBC TV in the era of Friends and ER, Stanford medical student, successful therapist) in her relatively short life, and really knows how to tell a story. She gives you lots to think about, and tells fascinating stories about herself and her patients — though I did find myself wondering how much of her patient details were true and how much were conflated for anonymity.
Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl. Another terrific memoir, fun and easy to read, by the renowned foodie. This one is about her tenure at Gourmet. I wish it (the book, her tenure) had been twice as long.
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur. It’s hard to make this one sound palatable, but trust me, it’s way less salacious than it sounds: when Adrienne (now in her mid-fifties) was 14, her mother, Malabar, embarked on an affair with Adrienne’s stepfather’s best friend (i.e., Malabar’s second husband’s best friend). This would have been bad enough, but Malabar turned Adrienne into her willing confidante and co-conspirator. It took years for Adrienne to acknowledge and accept how wrong that was. She could have written a Mommie-Dearest-hate-fest, but this page-turner of a memoir is filled with grace and empathy.
And His Lovely Wife by Connie Schultz. In this gem for political animals of all stripes, Pulitzer Prize-winning (former) Cleveland Daily News columnist Schultz gives readers a look at what life was like on the campaign trail when her husband, Sherrod Brown, was running his successful campaign for the US Senate and she was, for the first time in her life, on the other side of the microphone.
Demi Moore: Inside Out by Demi Moore. Surprisingly relatable memoir in which Demi reveals her massively dysfunctional childhood as the daughter of two people who could be the poster children for the Don’t-Let-Them-Become-Parents movement (if such a movement ever comes into being, that is.) It certainly provides insight into all the Demi-is-making-a-mess-of-her-life headlines we’ve been treated to over the years. Given her upbringing, it’s amazing her life wasn’t more of a mess. Hats off to New Yorker scribe Ariel Levy for helping Demi to craft this compelling book.
Cujo: The Untold Story of My Life On and Off the Ice by Curtis Joseph, written with Kirstie McLellan Day. The former Oilers’ goaltender has a backstory that’s more interesting than his hockey history: he grew up in a group home for mentally ill adults that was run by his adoptive mother, who was abusive and an addict. Because he was a good athlete and had people in his life who did care about him, he made a success of his life. (One thing I found odd: there was no mention at all of his first wife, who was with him through high school, college, and beyond, though he does acknowledge that his children were not thrilled when he brought home Wife #2, a former Playboy Playmate.) Hockey fans will no doubt love this book, as it is filled with hockey insight and trivia.
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood. Collection of essays about food, family and life by a terrific writer (and avid knitter) who also includes recipes. A very enjoyable read that you can pick up and put down (in between your knitting and cooking).
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown. Very funny, inventive look at a pretty icky, selfish, sad, imperious, pathetic woman, making you wonder if her life would have been better or worse had she been born a commoner. Best part: the chapter where Brown tells the same anecdote 25 different ways, including statistically, alliteratively, and as an index, limerick, nursery rhyme, haiku, and news article.
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. Excellent story about the University of Washington crew that won the 1936 Olympic gold medal in 8-oar rowing. It reads like a race: it starts out slowly and picks up speed until you can’t put it down. Evocative and full of fascinating history.
After Perfect: A Daughter’s Memoir by Christina McDowell. This one is interesting more because of what McDowell experienced than because of how she tells it: it’s well-written but a little heavy on the flashbacks and name-dropping. Still, there’s no question her story is riveting: when she’s in her first year of college, her life of opulence comes to an end when her dad is sent to prison (for what turns out to be the first of two stints) for Wolf-of-Wall-Street-type fraud. No more private planes, summers on Nantucket, $2000 Tiffany watches and BMW birthday gifts. On her journey from gross privilege to poverty to acceptance, she tries acting (an early Hollywood friend/rival, Emma, turns out to be Emma Stone) and teaching writing to people who, like her, have been involved at some level with the penal system.
Maid by Stephanie Land. This memoir made it on to a bunch of best-of lists, in part because of its up-from-the-bootstraps theme. Land was a homeless single mother who basically cleaned (and then wrote) her way out of poverty. Her character studies of her clients, based on their messes and detritus, may have you sterilizing your own domicile before the cleaning help show up — or opting to DIY. Her observations about the working poor aren’t quite as compelling, but there is a tutorial early on about how to clean a house (in case you decide you’d rather DIY than be judged by your cleaning lady).
The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million and Bucked the Medical Establishment in a Quest to Save His Children by Geeta Anand. Winner of this list’s longest-title award, this is a terrific human interest story about a dad with two very sick children who does everything within his Harvard MBA power to save them, alternately alienating and mostly impressing everyone he meets along the way. (In 2010 the book was made into a movie, “Extraordinary Measures,” starring Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford.)
Fiction
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo. Excellent family saga about the Sorensons, Marilyn and David, and their four adult daughters, and what happens when a family secret stumbles back into their lives. Lombardo moves back and forth between the present and the past, starting 40 years earlier when Marilyn and David met, courted, and started their family. Terrific read!
The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger. Squirmingly realistic chronicle about a collection of insufferable Type A helicopter parents who are so overly involved and invested in their children’s lives that they compromise relationships with their friends, acquaintances, and children (and their children’s friends and acquaintances) in an attempt to one-up everyone.
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez. A sixty-something never-married writer pines for a friend who has died and left her to care for his dog. In 224 pages, Nunez explores grief, suicide, canine companionship, love, unrequited love, friendship, and the writing life. It took me a while to get sucked in but once I did I could not put it down. One of my favorite passages: “Your whole house smells of dog, says someone who comes to visit. I say I’ll take care of it. Which I do by never inviting that person to visit again.”
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman. A Holocaust novel with a twist: what happens when a desperate Jewish mother decides to make a golem to watch over her daughter and keep her safe and out of a concentration camp. This one has a lot of parallels to modern day conflicts and, as befits an Alice Hoffman novel, it’s terrific.
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. Wash Black is an 11-year-old slave in the Barbados when this saga begins in the early 19th century, caught between the sadist who runs the plantation where he lives, and the sadist’s much more humane brother. By the time the story ends 15 years later, Wash’s life has changed dramatically, but believably. This is a beautifully written, engrossing story that is full of hope.
Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson. Marnie MacGraw is dumped at the altar by her everyone-else-but-she-could-see-this-coming fiance. The good news is, his nutty aunt has taken a shine to Marnie and bequeaths her a brownstone in Park Slope. Love and merriment ensue in this frothy, fun rom-com.
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner. A sister saga about family, love, sacrifice, trauma, mothering, and daughtering, as told through the eyes of two Jewish baby boomer sisters growing up and apart in 1950s and 60s Detroit. A very satisfying (albeit somewhat drawn-out-in-places) novel. (Plus, the title is great.)
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi. This one is a challenge — the structure is clever, upending the typical chronological-linear novel formula. It’s set in an arts school in an unnamed southern US city (possibly Houston) in the 1990s, with all the quirky characters and politics that entails. The characters are not uniformly likeable and the story is jarring, but Choi certainly gives a reader plenty to contemplate.
Normal People by Sally Rooney. Kind of like When Harry Met Sally, but instead of neurotic New Yorkers who are clearly meant for each other, the main characters are disaffected Irish millennials who are so emotionally and physically battered they’re incapable of happiness. Class differences, immaturity, and insecurity keep Connell and Marianne apart, but their worlds collide nonetheless. It is telling that three days after I finished reading this highly acclaimed novel I could not remember how it ended or if Connell and Marianne wound up together. I include it on this list because it made a bunch of Best-Of lists, and I wanted you all to know that I am nothing if not au courant.
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. Very interesting story about what happens to four baby boomer siblings from New York City who, at ages 7, 9, 11, and 13 visit a fortune teller who tells them all the date that they will die. It raises interesting questions about how you live if you know your expiry date. Quite a memorable read. (i.e., unlike Normal People, this one stayed with me.)
The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. Excellent novel about friendship, class, and female empowerment as seen through the eyes of marginalized seniors Bhima and Parvati, twentysomething college student Maya, and thirtysomething lesbian couple Chitra and Su. A thoroughly engrossing tale of life in present-day Mumbai.
Daisy Johnson and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Jenkins Reid is a music journalist and her training comes through in this terrifically inventive novel, told as an oral history, about a wildly successful 70s rock band (think Fleetwood Mac) and all the personnel involved. It’s so well written it’s hard to believe it’s not true. Also has some unexpected twists. A very satisfying read.
Young adult and children
To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer. A 21st century take on The Parent Trap, told in emails back and forth between two 12-year-old girls whose fathers have fallen in love and are plotting to send them to summer camp to meet. Very funny, clever, and full of twists — a fast and entertaining read.
Recommendations from Debby’s kid-lit writer friends:
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands. (MG)
When Master Benedict chooses orphan Christopher Rowe as his apothecary assistant, Christopher has no idea what he’s in store for — or the dire circumstances under which he will soon be required to complete his master’s secret work.
No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen. (MG)
Felix is losing hope of ever having a real home until he learns that a game show, which he excels at, is holding a local contest. Felix begins to dare that he might save himself and his mother from a life of homelessness in the cold, decrepit camper van that they only sort-of own.
Watch Out by Alison Hughes. (YA)
Accessible to reluctant teen readers, Watch Out focuses on a teenage boy who must piece together the culprit in a spate of local break-ins. Inspired by Hitchcock’s movie, Rear Window, Charlie’s story will appeal to everyone’s inner detective.
Just Three by Lorna Schultz Nicholson. (MG)
Following their mother’s death, twins Jillian and Rory are just starting to venture forth into the real world again. Their first project is to find their father a suitable companion and, despite his resistance, they talk him into going on just three dates.
Rescue in the Rockies by Rita Feutl. Part time-travel, part mystery, part dip-into-Banff-and-area-history AND part-Christmas-story, this novel is for teens aged 12 and up. It covers the “discovery” of the Banff Cave and Basin by three railroad workers, which led to the creation of Canada’s first national park.
The germ of the book was Rita’s discovery of the site of a World War I internment camp near Castle Mountain. As she was riding along Highway 1A one day, a historical plaque caught her eye. It commemorated a site where immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been held during the First World War. Given her own European background, Rita was hooked. Her teenaged main characters need to figure out why they’re disappearing into the past and World War I history before things change for the worse. In the present day, the novel takes place at the Banff Springs Hotel in the days leading up to Christmas.
Picture books highly recommended by my 16-month-old great-niece:
The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson
The Pout Pout Fish, by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna
Llama Llama Red Pajama, by Anna Dewdney
The Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman | https://medium.com/curious/more-books-83a8784c2a18 | [] | 2020-12-25 23:08:49.833000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Book Recommendations', 'Book Club'] |
10 sources of profitable orders for the aspiring copywriter. No exchanges! | 10 sources of profitable orders
The rule of the moment of force
Usually, a copywriter doesn’t need to know physics. But I want you to know this useful rule: it will come in handy more than once in life. It’s very simple. The same effort can produce different results. The question is, what are you making these efforts for? By choosing the right point of application of force, you get the best result.
Let’s look at this idea with an example. Let’s say I need to write the text “About the company”. If I received an order on the stock exchange, I would be paid for it at best $1. But I know where to apply force, so I get at least $100 for such a text (100 times more). In this case, the efforts and time in both cases are spent the same. See the difference? Find the right point of application of the force and you will have a more tangible effect.
10 sources of orders and points of power for them
Now we will consider with you 10 sources of orders that a novice copywriter can get.
1. Your own customer
The simplest and at the same time the most difficult source. On the one hand, a copywriter will never be left without a piece of bread. For at least 3 reasons.
He can sell his services through his texts.
He can sell other people’s goods and services with the help of his texts.
He can launch his content project.
The first two methods allow you to get money quickly. The main thing in this business is to understand that the text itself will not sell from scratch. In addition to the text, you need an audience, attracting which is a separate issue.
In the first case, you are selling yourself as a specialist. Everything is simple and clear here: we created the text, brought the audience, and are waiting for orders. In the second case, the system is more complicated but more interesting. It can be broken down into 4 easy steps.
Step # 1: Choose a niche that you are well versed in.
Step # 2: Create a sales copy or sales page.
Step # 3: Accept applications (warm potential customers).
Step # 4: Sell applications to those who do business in your chosen niche.
This technique is called “selling leads”. Alternatively, you can simply rent out the page. If it generates targeted applications, then any real business will gladly rent it from you.
The third way will take time. And strength. In my observation, 8 out of 10 copywriters who create their own content project fail because of faded enthusiasm. When I created this blog, I lost my hands not one, not two, or even five times. And much more. It helped me that in those days I worked as an engineer and could switch between projects.
It’s good to generate orders for yourself. However, most novice copywriters have difficulty with this: they have not yet formed their marketing thinking, and it is unusual to work in this format. Again, basic sales skills are needed here. However, even if you don’t have them yet, it doesn’t matter. There are at least 9 alternative sources of orders.
2. SEO studios
In 95% of cases, SEO companies need content. Nice, helpful, and high quality. Adapted to your needs. If you can offer them such content and know the basics of search engine promotion, then your services will be in great demand. Of course, you need to offer these services.
A separate plus — if you are well versed in some kind of commercial niche. Even now, when dumping is flourishing everywhere, such specialists are highly valued and always in demand. Of course, SEO studios will not give you stars from the sky, but it is quite possible to earn $ 3–5 per 1000 signs there, especially if you specialize in some area. Another plus of companies, although not all of them, is a conditional career growth with an increase in the size of payment (it is also often called the grading system, or the gradation of authors).
The disadvantages of this source of orders include the fact that you will not be allowed to develop as a real copywriter here. However, if you specialize in SEO content, then pump your skills to the fullest.
Important: When offering services to SEO companies, remember their interest. They are interested in effectively promoting their clients’ sites at a minimal cost. Therefore, in the offer, focus on compliance with the terms of reference, possession of SEO copywriting skills at an above-average level, and knowledge of the specifics of in-demand niches.
3. Single optimizers and webmasters
As practice shows, you most likely will not work for an SEO studio for a long time. Of course, if you are a good content producer. The fact is that SEO-specialists, as a rule, have their own projects, and they willingly lure good authors to themselves, providing them with a large amount of work.
If we abstract from SEO companies, then single optimizers and webmasters can be found on thematic optimization forums (searchengines.ru, webmasters.ru, cy-pr.com, etc.), as well as on forums of various affiliate programs, where these webmasters earn money (forum.profit-partner.ru, etc.).
The practice of receiving an order is, as a rule, the same everywhere: you perform a test task, receive positive feedback from an old-timer with a high rating, and then you are loaded with work in full.
Disadvantages similar to the previous point: sharpening for the article format, at least a commercial component. When making an offer to SEOs, remember: they are interested in getting good content at the lowest price. If you want to make more money, add value in the form of advanced search engine optimization knowledge, a perfect match of technical specifications, or expertise in a specific niche.
4. Corporate sites
This is a bottomless source of orders, which for some reason few people use.
And there are most of such sites requiring text processing. There are hundreds of thousands of them. All you need to do is offer your services to the owners of these sites and redesign the texts so that they work for sales.
Please note: here you are already working in the corporate (B2B) segment. The main value: the maximum result for the money invested. Also, please note that most companies prefer to pay by bank transfer, so if you have a sole proprietorship or limited liability company, this will be an additional plus.
When offering services in the corporate segment, focus on attracting additional customers and additional sales, rather than on texts. Then the value of your proposal will be an order of magnitude higher, and along with the value — and payment.
The main advantage of the corporate segment is that you can offer it a lot: a selling page, texts on the site, content marketing, email marketing, and a lot of other tools. If the proposal is submitted in the right way, then one order may be enough for a month of work. The most profitable option is to agree on the provision of services with a monthly fee.
5. Infobusinessmen
Another gold mine if you know how to write sales texts. Tens of thousands of people are now entering the info business. And they all need sales copy for their products. All you need to do is find an info business person who is interested in your services. As a rule, they inhabit thematic forums (eg info-forum.ru) and conferences.
I know copywriters who worked for only one customer, information business and were provided with work (and money, respectively) to the eyeballs. Such copywriters are also called personal.
When making an offer to information businessmen, remember that they are primarily interested in the sales volume of their product. Place the right accents and you will receive your order.
6. Information sites and mailing lists (magazines)
There are tons of thematic magazines out there that need quality articles. If you feel the inclinations of a journalist in yourself, then it’s a sin not to try to make money on it. An indisputable plus of working in thematic magazines and portals is that you choose the topic that interests you, and work not only for money but also for pleasure. An alternative to thematic magazines is the increasingly popular email newsletter
Few people know, but in my student years, I also moonlighted as a journalist at one game portal. In those years I was fascinated by the topic of the gaming industry, and the work itself aroused keen interest, and the payment for it was a pleasant addition.
When you offer the services of a journalist, remember that for the owner of the publication (or the editor-in-chief), the most important thing is the audience. She should be interested in your materials, and as long as you satisfy her information hunger, you will have a job.
7. IT companies
Companies working in the field of information technology are constantly releasing new services and programs. All of these products require datasheets and manuals. Authors who create such content are called technical writers and are greatly appreciated.
The main value for IT companies is the attractiveness and competitiveness of the product. By creating quality white papers and manuals, you improve the product, making it accessible and understandable for the end-user.
The problem with most IT companies is that they are full of techies. They are great at solving technical problems, but making a description for them is difficult. And here you will be very useful to them. By the way, the IT industry is one of the most profitable, so a good technical writer starts at $ 1000.
8. Video studios and game developers
A profitable source of orders for creative people with well-developed abstract thinking. The task is to create scripts and descriptions of staged scenes. Kind of a variation on the duties of a technical writer, but with a more creative twist.
This job requires good writing skills (which, by the way, develop through reading fiction). The key factor here is the detailed study of the little things and the creation of an atmosphere of maximum viewer involvement. The requirements for scriptwriters are high, but their pay is more than decent. At the very least, it’s worth a try if you are confident in your abilities. To get this job you will need sample scripts or, better yet, case studies.
There are studios, the main direction of which is the creation of selling videos and promotional videos (video presentations). For such work, you need the skills of creating selling texts and knowledge of the main selling models.
9. Creative and marketing agencies
The main difference between this source of orders and SEO companies is that marketing agencies work not only to attract traffic but also to increase sales. The effect is achieved with the help of selling pages and a customized advertising campaign. If you know how to create selling texts for landing pages, then your services will be in great demand.
Creative and branding agencies create image advertising (outdoor advertising, banners, signs, slogans, etc.). If you manage to sell yourself to them (and for this you need to correctly place accents), they can delegate some of the work to you. Although, I must admit that such companies prefer to keep copywriters on the staff, but what the hell is not kidding. Be prepared to be asked to complete a test task.
10. Groups in social networks
Social media marketing is at its peak right now. Groups with a lot of subscribers always need new content. If you can provide such content, offer your services to the group administrator.
As in the case of journalism, you are free to choose those groups to which you have a heart. As a rule, the administration of groups is interested in high-quality content from people who are interested in the topics of the community.
By the way, social networks are another good source of orders, if used correctly. So, for example, I quite often receive various offers of cooperation from the LinkedIn network.
+1 bonus source of orders
There is another way to get orders — a resume. The principle is simple: you create a resume, post it on HeadHunter, and wait for employers to find you. The main thing is to write your resume correctly.
In some cases, you may be invited for an interview and offered a job on the state. Look here for the situation and possibilities. Working in the state deprives you of your freedom (to some extent), but gives you a lot of invaluable experience, having received which you very quickly (after 3–6 months) will no longer be a beginner.
You can combine different sources until you either find your way or until you get a surplus of orders that you physically cannot fulfill. For you, this will mean an increase in the level and will become an occasion to think about organizing a workflow or raising prices.
The reverse way of finding orders is also fair: go through the list of copywriting jobs and offer your services to those who need them. If you want to stay out of state, focus on solving the problem, and use arguments:
Saving at the workplace (additional savings on office equipment and room rental).
Savings on taxes and contributions to the pension fund.
Savings on vacation and sick leave payments, etc.
Work on weekends
The ability to be online at a specified time to interact with employees, etc.
In this article, we’ve covered 10 sources of ordering for aspiring copywriters. I deliberately did not list content exchanges and freelance exchanges among them, since they are overwhelmed with competition and dumping. Customers actively use this, and it is almost impossible for a beginner to get a normal order with good payment.
For the future, remember: when you sell your services yourself, you can sell them at an order of magnitude more expensive than when the customer chooses you from a dozen other performers.
And let you have as many orders as you need. Plus another 10%. | https://medium.com/marketing-laboratory/10-sources-of-profitable-orders-for-the-aspiring-copywriter-no-exchanges-21d0fa928fda | ['Alex Koma'] | 2020-09-05 17:36:01.870000+00:00 | ['Copywriting', 'Writing', 'Blogging', 'Writer', 'Writing Tips'] |
Why it’s time to unghost my mother | Why it’s time to unghost my mother Marcilaughlin Follow Dec 24 · 7 min read
Photo by Anna Hecker on Unsplash
Butterflies invaded my stomach the first time I learned the name of my biological mother: Cecilia. A name suddenly made her real. It somehow elevated her beyond a mere concept in my mind — “biological mother.” Beyond a vague notion of an unwed 18-year-old who gave twins up for adoption five months into her odyssey of motherhood.
For weeks after learning her name from Mark, my newly discovered biological father, the Simon & Garfunkel song invaded my brain and played incessantly.
Celia, you’re breaking my heart
You’re shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees
I’m begging you please to come home
How many times has Cecilia had people sing this lyric to her? Does she hate the song? Or maybe she’s always gone by the name Cece, so she doesn’t have to endure the inevitable serenade.
Cece is what Mark calls her when he shares stories of their days together, back in ’67 and ’68. In the era when Mark was attending junior college in L.A. and Cecilia was a senior in high school. In the days of innocence, when they smoked joints together and attended protests of the Vietnam War. These were the days before Cecilia got pregnant and before Mark moved back to Minnesota, ending the relationship. Before Cecilia ever suspected she would be giving up twin girls for adoption, later to be named Kristi Michelle and Marci Lynn Laughlin.
Cecilia. Cece. I find myself uttering her name in my mind, and on occasion saying it aloud. For some reason I prefer Cecilia to Cece. It has more gravitas.
At 11 months Kristi and I were adopted, and armed with just a few facts on which to build a lifetime of imagination. But perhaps I have an underdeveloped imagination, because my mind didn’t rush to fill in all the details. Or at least not overtly. My sister and I grew up knowing we were adopted, knowing that Cecilia was only 18 when we were born. The only other detail we knew was that Cecilia asked that we be raised Catholic when she put us up for adoption.
When I asked Mark about this little detail, shortly after we connected through Ancestry last December, he was rather surprised. He didn’t remember Cecilia being particularly Catholic and quipped, “I can’t remember the subject of religion ever coming up between us — -not even accidentally!”
Was Catholicism something important for her parents? Was it some kind of concession?
And what drove her to give us up for adoption after 5 months? I can’t imagine such a thing. I’ve never been a mother, so I really can’t even pretend to know what that feels like. I only know that, growing up, I always felt sympathy for this person I carried around on the periphery of my imagination, who took on the shroud of an underdog. A young girl given way too much to cope with at a critical age. A girl who was possibly shamed for being a pregnant unwed teen. Did she carry guilt or regret for her choices? Did this event taint the rest of her life? Or was she able to move on gracefully, letting go of the memory of twin girls, able to trust in life and her choices?
I think I stifled my interest in Cecilia decades ago when I was led to believe from an intuitive reading that she had likely perished due to drug overdose. (I wrote about this in another blog. After that I think an air of futility seeped in. Why indulge in inquiry about a mother who was no longer alive?
Or perhaps it felt safer to NOT know. While I’d never indulged in fantasies of what my biological mother might be like, the intuitive reading made me quite aware of what I didn’t want her to be: a drug addict. Someone down and out. Someone deeply unhappy. Someone whose life was scarred by having to give up twin daughters.
But then Mark made his debut in my life, and pronounced her name: Cecilia. On the first day of meeting Mark, he told me that Cece had Mediterranean blue eyes. Like mine. And had unforgettable dimples. Like mine. And was possessed of a keen and curious mind. Like mine.
And now this “biological mother” was no longer a ghost in my mind. I could almost feel her breath on my shoulder. What if she were still alive, after all?
In the week of Mark’s inaugural visit to me in California, he indulged me with as many details as he could remember about Cecilia. But let’s face it. Fifty years takes its toll on memory. Maybe her dimples weren’t as pronounced as he remembers. Maybe her eyes were more gray than blue? Did she have a sense of humor? Did she take life too seriously? Was she ambitious? These questions didn’t have an answer.
When Mark provided me with her last name, which is not very common, I eagerly did a google search. But it yielded nothing.
Then I put Cecilia on the back burner again. Because I was reveling in this sudden entry of a new father into my life, I didn’t feel an urgency to track down my mother. Wasn’t ONE miracle enough for a while? Did I really need to seek out Cecilia? Wouldn’t that be looking a gift horse in the mouth?
So for many weeks I was thinking that I might go happily to my grave without making a move to unghost my mother. I was happy settling for Simon and Garfunkel’s version of Cecilia and indulging myself here and there with google escapades that told me that Cecilia is a name of Latin origin meaning “blind”. And that the most famous person named Cecilia was Saint Cecilia, one of the most famous Catholic martyrs and patron saint of musicians. (According to the revered Wikipedia, despite her vow of virginity, Saint Cecilia was forced by her parents to marry a pagan nobleman named Valerian. But she earned her title as patron saint of music because during their wedding, Cecilia sat apart singing to God in her heart.)
Hopefully Cecilia’s fate has been kinder than that of Saint Cecilia, who was beheaded by sword at age 30. Clearly my Cecilia didn’t share the martyr’s vows. But did she ever sing to God in her heart? Or maybe she has a fiery, rebellious spirit and has spent more time blaspheming God than singing to him? I think I’d like that version.
But I’m waking up to the realization that I don’t want to make up versions, or stories in my mind anymore about who Cecilia was or wasn’t. Or rather, who she is or isn’t. And part of this awakening is due to the words of Eleonora, my Italian oracle, which have been rolling around in my head the last couple months. It is Eleonora that I credit for the manifestation of Mark in my life. It was Eleonora who prompted me, through her tarot reading during my trip to Tuscany, to go in search of my roots last fall.
When I came to live with Mark and his wife in February, I texted Eleonora on WhatsApp to tell her how grateful I was for her contribution to this unfolding miracle. She replied that she was thrilled for the re-birth that was underway for me. And she shared the following (my translation from Italian):
Soon, you will also have to dust off the figure of your mother. You must discover who Cecilia is. Then you will be able close an important circle.
I didn’t tell you much about her because your fears related to the maternal relationship were blocking the tarot reading. Focus on Mark, ok, but also think about reviving your relationship to maternity, as this is important for a woman. I know that you block this because your subconscious does it automatically to protect you. But you must force yourself to overcome this step as it will liberate you.
Her words surprised me. I was not aware of the fears she mentioned. In my response, I asked her how to close or complete the circle — especially if Cecilia is no longer alive. She explained that this did not necessarily mean that I had to have a relationship with Cecilia. “Just knowing the history of your maternal side, even if only through stories and words is fundamental,” she wrote. She added:
Nobody can substitute that. It can happen in the imagination, but that won’t bring your rebirth to completion. Reality is a different thing — you can’t deny it; to do so would be to continue suffocating the part of you that is seeking to be reborn and grow and live in freedom. But the choice is yours. No one can interfere with what you will decide to be in this last chapter of your life.
It felt a little jarring to read the phrase “your last chapter.” Hopefully it won’t be a short one. But more importantly, who will I decide to be in this chapter? My mind doesn’t have immediate answers in this moment. But at least I know who I don’t want to be: someone who stood in the way of her rebirth. Someone who was too afraid to confront reality, and complete the circle.
As I sit with this question, the words play again in my head….Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees. I’m begging you please to come home.
Come on home. | https://medium.com/an-idea/why-its-time-to-unghost-my-mother-4c89546085fb | [] | 2020-12-29 08:36:18.671000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Life Lessons', 'Parenting', 'Adoption', 'Identity'] |
Introduction to Keras & Transfer Learning for Self Driving Cars | GoogleNet
In 2014, Google published its own network in the ImageNet competition and in homage to Yann LeCun and LeNet, Google named their network, GoogLeNet. It’s spelled like GoogleNet but it’s pronounced GoogLeNet. In the ImageNet competition, GoogLeNet performed even a little better than VGG: 6.7% compared to 7.3% percent, although at that level, it kind of feels like we’re splitting hairs. GoogLeNet’s great advantage is that it runs really fast. The team that developed GoogLeNet developed a clever concept called an Inception module, which trains really well and is efficiently deployable.
Do you remember inception?
It’s called an inception module. It’s going to look a little more complicated. The idea is that at each layer of your ConvNet, we can make a choice, have a pooling operation, have a convolution and then we need to decide, is it the one by one convolution or a three by three or five by five. All of these are actually beneficial to the modeling power of our network. So why choose? Let’s use them all. Here’s what an inception module looks like.
The Naive Inception Module. (Source: Inception v1)
Instead of having a single convolution, we have a composition of average pooling followed by one by one, then a one by one convolution, then a one by one followed by a three by three, then a one by one followed by a five by five and at the top we simply concatenate the output of each of them. It looks complicated but what’s interesting is that we can choose these parameters in such a way that the total number of parameters in our model is very small, yet the model performs better than if we had a simple convolution. The inception modules create a situation in which the total number of parameters is very small. This is why GoogLeNet runs almost as fast as AlexNet. And of course GoogLeNet has great accuracy. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s ImageNet error was only 7%. GoogLeNet is a great choice to investigate if we need to run our network in real time, like maybe in a self-driving car. | https://medium.com/swlh/introduction-to-keras-transfer-learning-for-self-driving-cars-684df7eae0e | ['Prateek Sawhney'] | 2020-12-05 08:29:30.959000+00:00 | ['Self Driving Cars', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
The Plastic Lifecycle: An ecological and human health catastrophe | About 1.15 to 2.41 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year from rivers, according to research by Laurent Lebreton, an oceanographer for The Ocean Cleanup. The massive deposit of non-recycled plastic has led to the formation of a 1.6 million square kilometers plastic island, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). Twice the size of Texas, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a visual representation of the destructive impact that humans have on the Earth. Most people tend to focus on society’s failure to properly dispose of plastic; however, the primary focus should be on the devastating impact the creation of plastic through fossil fuels has on the environment and detrimental nature of a product that contains toxic chemicals.
Ninety-nine percent of plastic derives from fossil fuels with a growing percentage of oil and gas derived from fracking, as per the Center for International Environmental Law. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fracking consumes 1.5 million gallons of water per well each year, and only a limited amount of the wastewater produced is recycled. Considerable amounts of resources could go to people in need of clean drinking water but are instead being wasted to manufacture a product that is currently destroying many ecosystems.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Lauren Patterson, a policy associate at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, discovered that 2 to 16 percent of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells spill chemicals each year — potentially entering water supplies. Max Post van der Burg, Chief Research Ecologist with the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, indicates that the high salinity, often associated with drilling wastewater spills, will kill most plant life and will reduce the soil’s permeability so new plants cannot take root. The creation of plastic hinders plant growth and consumes excessive amounts of essential resources. The end result creates a devastating plastic build up in many environments that will be virtually impossible to stop.
Plastic cannot decompose into organic or environmentally safe waste products; instead, the plastic begins to degrade into microplastics. According to Riccardo Pravettoni, Head of Cartography Division at Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, animals on the lowest part of the food chain will digest the microplastics — leading to the animals receiving much less nutritious than normal and negatively effects reproduction. Animals with trace amounts of microplastics are severely affected. Through biomagnification, the concentration of plastic in organisms will increase from ingesting plants or animals carrying plastic. From the National University of Ireland, Alina Wieczorek’s research revealed “a whopping 73% of the fish having ingested the pollutants” and “found high levels of plastic fibers such as those used in Textiles.” The concentrations found in the Mesopelagic fish, like mackerel, are a result of biomagnification from eating small organisms like phytoplankton and zooplankton.
Many scientists worry about how the increases of microplastic in people’s diets will affect human health. According to the EPA, even with low concentrations in environments, PBT plastics — often used for food processing machinery and electrical parts — can lead to toxic effects at higher trophic levels. Humans, being on a high trophic level, can receive many toxins that can have a massive negative impact on human health.
Not only is the plastic creation process wrought with ecologically devastating long-term repercussions, but the end product is also harmful to human health. According to research conducted by Rolf Halden, associate professor at Arizona State University, toxic chemicals can leach out of plastic and are linked to cancers, congenital defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments. Furthermore, research conducted by Paul Brandt-Rauf, a professor at Drexel University, revealed that Polyvinyl chloride, one of the most manufactured plastics in the world, contains vinyl chloride — a well-established animal and human carcinogen. Carol Kwiatkowski, executive director of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, said that “anything that interferes with hormone action potentially affects a very low dose.” Kwiatkowski adds that plastic, no matter the level, could be harmful to the human endocrine system. There is extremely limited research to quantify the exact effects of long term exposure to plastic on human health; however, what is clear is that the toxins in plastic can be found in nearly everyone’s blood and tissue. The negative effects linked to plastic could potentially impact anyone.
Photo courtesy of Alex Fu
Many people turn to recycling, a failing system, to prevent the accumulation of plastic in the environment. According to the EPA, only about 8.4 percent of plastic is recycled. The minuscule amount of plastic recycled is not due to a lack of consumer motivation or access to recycling programs; but rather, the United States and other countries merely do not have the proper infrastructure to recycle all the different types of plastic. According to the BBC, all plastic is recyclable, but recycling is not always economically feasible. Many single-use plastics, like plastic bags, cups and takeout boxes, are rarely recycled. Virtually all single-use plastics will end up invading an ecosystem.
The inadequate infrastructure to reuse plastic is leading to the formation of many trash vortexes like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The GPGP, three times the size of France, blocks sunlight that is necessary for plant survival. Plants’ death ushers the destruction of the food chain, causing the death of marine animals. The increase of carbon from the destruction of the plants (carbon sinks) leads to an alarming rise in global temperatures. According to Lebreton, 46 percent of the GPGP is fishnets. The abundance of fishnets is fostering an environment that allows animals to easily choke on plastic.
Plastic, a standard household product, is praised for its low-cost, durability, malleability and long-lasting quality. However, plastic companies focus on the short-term economic gain and choose to ignore the long-term ramifications of plastic — the negative health effects, the toxins released into the environment and the death of millions of animals. With no solution to decompose safely and no effective recycling program, plastics will forever negatively impact the Earth. Companies will continue to exponentially increase the production of plastic and will manufacture an issue that humans may never be able to combat.
Many recommend converting to a zero-plastic lifestyle, but most products from clothing to food contain plastic. The first step to a zero plastic lifestyle is to stop using single-use plastic — notorious for never being recycled. Simple solutions to limiting plastic consumption include using a fabric grocery bag, avoiding straws and buying products stored in glass containers. As a citizen, people can petition local officials to ban single-use plastic from their community. People can also donate to organizations that are developing innovative technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, like The Ocean Cleanup. Recycling is ineffective, and the only way to combat plastic’s negative impacts is to stop using plastic immediately before the Earth cannot recover from the toxic plastic. | https://medium.com/the-climate-reporter/the-plastic-lifecycle-an-ecological-and-human-health-catastrophe-96438458e788 | ['Ian Babler'] | 2020-07-03 12:01:01.022000+00:00 | ['Climate News', 'Plastic', 'Energy', 'Environment', 'Opinion'] |
K3s Installation in Raspberry Pi k8’s Cluster. | Before starting with Kubernetes installation, let’s do a quick recap about our raspberry pi cluster and hardware architecture.
This article can be applied to any computer cluster, bare-metal, on the cloud, or virtualized with the virtual box or docker in docker.
In my case I decided to create a bare-metal cluster based on Raspberry Pi computational units, you can check how to do it here.
At this moment, we have a 4 node raspberry pi configured and communicating with each other via fixed IPs. We also configured other details like timezone and firewalls to start to install our cluster.
The picture below is a reminder of what we have configured so far, except the NFS part (it will be in a future article).
Install K3s
The only script I used here is the official k3s installation script, found at https://get.k3s.io.
Everything else was configured manually. After learning how to do it manually, it’s easy to automatize the process with one of the several tools available in the market.
Ssh to the primary node (pi-zeus in my case):
$ ssh [email protected]
K3s supports command flags or environment variables for the customizations; I used environment variables to have a “clean” command.
In the master node, the only one needed is the access configurations:
$ export K3S_KUBECONFIG_MODE=”644"
After that, just run the install script via curl, without any additional parameters:
$ curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -
After a few seconds, you will be able to see the first node created:
$ kubectl get nodes -o wide
The master node is up and running, but there is another thing to do before starting with the workers.
To install the nodes, we need 2 pieces of information from the master:
The network address — That’s the IP of the host plus the port 6443. In this case (https://192.168.2.101:6443) The node-token — To get this one, we need to read the file inside k3s installation
$ sudo cat /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/node-token
Take note of this information and start with the worker's installation
After ssh into the node, export the environment variables:
$ export K3S_KUBECONFIG_MODE=”644"
$ export K3S_URL=”https://192.168.2.101:6443"
$ export K3S_TOKEN=”K10db5dc4…6f2b0" (put the entire token value here.)
Then, run the same script you ran into the master node:
$ curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -
After a few seconds, you can see the nodes connected to the master running the kubectl command:
$ kubectl get nodes -o wide
Here are some extra useful commands at this phase:
→ check the status of the master node
$ sudo systemctl status k3s
→ check the status of worker nodes
$ sudo systemctl status k3s-agent
→ uninstall k3s on the master
$ /usr/local/bin/k3s-uninstall.sh
→ uninstall k3s on workers
$ /usr/local/bin/k3s-agent-uninstall.sh | https://medium.com/swlh/yet-another-raspberry-pi-k8s-cluster-part-2-k3s-installation-fc93fb5313a1 | ['Fabio Fernandes'] | 2020-11-28 19:11:12.880000+00:00 | ['Homelab', 'Raspberry Pi', 'Kubernetes', 'K3s', 'Cluster'] |
How much meaning do you gain from your personal network? | At its core, a network is a collection of people. However, is your network meaningful? Does it go beyond saying Hi and Have a nice day?
For Amit Panchal this is no small consideration. The independent digital marketing consultant has invested more than a dozen years of toil and sweat in social media marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing and reputation management. He knows he needs to have a strong network.
During an Africa Tweet Chat, Panchal looked at the finer points of how to create meaningful networks on Twitter.
Among the first steps is to offer helpful information and engage with others whenever possible. A great shortcut is to be active in Twitter chats.
“Build a meaningful network by finding influencers who are already following you on Twitter,” Panchal said. “Use Followerwonk to do the process more effectively.
“Check the followers of your competitor’s Twitter profile, and follow the relevant people,” he said. “You can also give them shoutouts after following on Twitter. Find influencers and thought leaders from your industry. Then follow and engage with them.”
Panchal suggests going to Twitter and searching for topics around the globe for a particular day.
“That makes it easy to follow specific topics rather than users,” he said. “Topic suggestions will appear in your timeline and in searches based on what you tend to look for and already follow.
“You can also use Twitter advanced search to find the latest news and world events faster,” Panchal said. “Locate popular people, hashtags and photos for any topic you can imagine.”
Fresh insights from chatting
Twitter chats help you shape your brand and messages. Things you might not have thought of before can come up in chats and let you devise new ways to address subjects.
“By joining a Twitter chat you can spread the awareness of your expertise among others,” Panchal said. “With that comes knowledge sharing and learning. You’ll see an increase in relevant followers.”
TweetReports lists upcoming chats from which you can select topics related to your niche. Knowing that, Panchal recommends these steps:
Respond to as many tweets as possible.
Retweet other users’ tweets to build personal relationships with them.
“Build relationships first, then have transactions on social media platforms,” Panchal said. “Hashtags are basically a way to make your posts searchable.”
According to a study by TrackMaven, tweets with one hashtag receive 12.6 percent more engagement than tweets with no hashtags.
“If you’re not using hashtags in your tweets, maybe this is the right time to start to gain more visibility and get your tweets in front of more people,” Panchal said. “Explore RiteTag to find the right hashtags to use.”
As with other social media platforms, Twitter can add to brand building.
“Twitter undoubtedly improves brand recognition and expands your business’ online reach,” Panchal said. “If you want to improve brand awareness, you’ve got to make sure your content resonates with your target audience.”
His blog post has Twitter marketing tips for small businesses to boost conversions, improve brand awareness and increase online reach.
Be there, and be aware
The first step in branding is consistency. If you’re all over the place in what you say and do, people won’t know what services you provide and what you stand for.
Panchal has these personal branding tips:
Update your Twitter biography.
Add your website or blog URL.
Share your own content.
Update old posts regularly.
Use two to three hashtags for better engagement.
Join Twitter chats.
Tweet what you’re doing or eating.
He recommends these must-follow Twitter users in the digital marketing sphere:
About The Author
Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/an-idea/how-much-meaning-do-you-gain-from-your-personal-network-c431e8ba21e2 | ['Jim Katzaman - Get Out Of Debt'] | 2020-10-24 07:43:06.455000+00:00 | ['Networking', 'Marketing', 'Twitter', 'Digital Marketing', 'Social Media'] |
The Reading Chair: “Master of Deception” by John-Ivan Palmer | Once upon a time, a small boy sat alone in the back seat of a Hudson Hornet, squeezed between a caged rabbit on one side, caged doves on the other. Outside, a South Dakota blizzard raged. It was an early memory and he can’t exactly remember when, but it was likely the early 1950s, a half-century before Smartphones and GPS, when “miles from nowhere” carried an ominous meaning.
The driver, the boy’s father, Jack Pyle, was a magician who was billed as “The Master of Deception.” One of the best stage magicians in the business, he was due to perform in Fort Pierre, a tiny farming community of around eight hundred souls. He could pull rabbits and doves from his capaciously pocketed and specially tailored black tuxedo coat. But now they were stuck in a ditch and digging the car — and their house, a Travelo trailer — out of rising snowdrifts would take a magic not in his bag of tricks.
The magician told the boy, who was running a fever, and his mother, who was filming the action on her 8MM camera, to take shelter inside the trailer while he unhitched the car and pushed on to Fort Pierre. He always timed the trips between gigs to the mile and minute and, like the post office, regardless of rain, snow, heat or gloom of night, he had to make the date. The Pyles had no home to turn around and go home to. In their world, money went out faster than it came in. And they always had to keep moving because the show always had to go on.
And so Jack Pyle pulled another of his vanishing acts, driving off into the blinding storm, leaving his wife and son behind with a promise he would return soon.
This is only one of many crucial, fiercely observed and intensely uncanny moments in Master of Deception: A Son Searches for His Father in the House of Illusion (Rare Bird Press), a colorful, unique and absorbing showbiz memoir by John-Ivan Palmer, the boy in the backseat who grew up to become a stage hypnotist and well-regarded showbiz historian. While in the genre of The Duke of Deception and other family memoirs, it stands apart as an insider’s story of life among outsiders.
Since the dawn of civilization, entertainment was, first and foremost, live, intimate, in the moment — no screens, analog or digital, separating performers and audiences. Since colonial days, roving troupes of entertainers in the thousands were the only entertainment options for Americans, especially in far-flung rural areas.
They were singers and comedians; magicians and mind-readers; sword swallowers and fire-eaters, contortionists and tumblers. Occasionally, major celebrities — Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill, Oscar Wilde — would headline a show, but most of the rest were “a Sargasso Sea of public unknowns.” A few of the acts were exceptional, some were good, most mediocre and the rest wretched. Their work was ephemeral and most all are forgotten.
To the more refined, live entertainers were sleazy bottom feeders. But to the communities they visited, they were a godsend, their shortcomings forgiven. Even the worst “created enchantment in places where enchantment was hard to come by,” Palmer writes. Whatever refined society thought, live entertainers “no matter how lowly, carried a certain amount of prestige.”
By the time Jack Pyle took the stage as a magician, probably in the late 1930s, the technology that would sweep live acts away hadn’t fully arrived. Movies and radio, though enormously popular, lacked the magical and risky immediacy of live performers. Television was still a buzz on the outskirts of human consciousness and the Internet wasn’t even the dream that would devour everyone’s attention. In the post-World War II boom era, live performers still had the eyes of the world pretty much to themselves in state and county fairs, bars, hotels, restaurants, resorts, corporate conventions and auditoriums all over. Jack Pyle played them all, his wife and son right beside him every mile of the way.
Yet, the enchantment Pyle brought his audiences seemed lost on him. To his son, he remained opaque and remote throughout, a noir figure who, no matter how close you stood, remained a shadow among shadows. Despite his son’s best shovel work, his life before show business is another trick of concealment. “I knew every wave of his hair from behind,” Palmer writes, “the arch of his ears, the stubble of his jaw — but nothing of what was beneath.”
John Paul Pyle was probably born in Rockport, Indiana, in 1909. Though his parents were near-illiterate, his seven siblings were high achievers. Born bowlegged and left-handed, young Jack was the black sheep. His greatest achievement growing up was learning to shoot pool with both hands.
Enchanted by the fancy riverboat gamblers who plied their trade up and down the Ohio River, he fashioned himself into a dandy, concealing his bow-leggedness through clever tailoring. He cruised such nearby towns as Richland, Henderson and Santa Claus, which was a manufacturing hub for Christmas sleighs.
In the 1930s, with one wife and son already behind him, he met Barbara Arsulich an actress-model of Croatian ancestry. How he became a magician isn’t clear, but when he finally took his act on the road, she would join “The Master of Deception” as his “lovely assistant” for, among other gags, switching places with her husband in and out of a locked trunk. While an obstetrician was pulling John “Jacky” Pyle, their only son, into the world in 1945, in Milwaukee, her husband was onstage pulling rabbits from his coat.
Despite the tens of thousands of miles Palmer spent on the road with his parents, he never joined the act. In their nomadic world of uncertainty and grim hardship, a child was an extra piece of luggage where traveling light was essential. Despite the chaotic surface, backstage life was remarkably tight, focused and organized. Among young Jacky’s chores was to put his father’s props away in neat and precise order, keep them under close guard and sweep flies away from the footlights. Otherwise, he was to remain unseen and unheard.
For over thirty years, Jack Pyle zigzagged from coast to coast, from Alaska to Mexico, even venturing to Iceland. To take to the road in the days before the Interstate Highway system spread its tentacles in the late 1950s, was to take risks that seem insane now. With his family quaking at his side, Jack Pyle drove up to fifty hours straight, through rain, wind and snow, to make a show, drowning in sleep deprivation. It was a buyer’s market, the pay so poor, no performer dared to refuse a gig, no matter the location, no matter the distances between. But Jack Pyle never had an accident, never missed a show.
Jack Pyle’s publicity was another sleight-of-hand trick. “ . . . appeared with Frank Sinatra!” declared one of his brochures — true but for a little matter of a four-year time difference. Even so, he did walk the boards with some big entertainers of the postwar era, among them Sophie Tucker. Pyle also appeared with stars from children’s TV, such as Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), Gabby Hayes and Clarabell the Clown, names now only remembered by Boomers.
Young Jacky was forbidden from talking to any of them, though he spent plenty of time shadowing their dressing rooms. Even talking to child performers was prohibited, a rule Palmer broke only once as he illustrates with an anguished encounter with a lonely child aerialist whose mother later died in a fall. For years, Palmer was haunted by the thought that he’d caused the accident simply by talking to her daughter.
Not surprisingly, Palmer grew into a profoundly detached, and eccentric, young man. Luckily for readers though, the world of variety acts was tightly knit and Palmer was an excellent spy, observant and furtive. Forget the famous: it’s the un-famous who took center stage in his life alongside his father’s capering shadow. They provide Master of Deceptionwith much of its color and delight.
Teddy Qualls: Too Good for Bob Hope
And what acts! There was the juggler who ate apples while juggling them and chimps riding bicycles; acrobats who hung by their teeth and a tap dancer with a peg leg. There were talking dogs and alcoholic knife throwers, risqué ventriloquists and “assorted burlesque dancers like the Darling Lovadis and the Human Heat Wave.”
Tom Gary could whip a dime off a bald man’s head. Contortionist Hal Plummer could crawl through a tennis racket and would open his act by unfolding himself from a closed suitcase like a neatly packed shirt. Among the best was black tap dancer and comedian Teddy Squalls, a performer so talented and funny that Bob Hope was forced to fire him from his tour for being too good an act to follow.
Papon, Prince of Pantomine
Most of important of all to Palmer, and likely the closest thing he had to a mentor, was Billy Papon, the “Prince of Pantomime.” Papon wasn’t strictly a pantomimist, but he was possessed of a peculiar array of talents. Among them was playing “Peg o’ My Heart” on a giant harmonica, then repeating the melody on progressively smaller harmonicas until he finally closed on a tiny one which he then swallowed like a lozenge. He might ring down the curtain with a pantomime recitation of the aria from The Barber of Seville.
Papon was also a passionate rock collector and stargazer and Palmer, who stuck close to him them during their frequent encounters on the road, developed lifelong interests in both subjects. When Jacky Pyle took to the stage years later as John-Ivan Palmer, first as a magician, he modeled his appearance on Papon’s.
Papon was one of Jacky’s more reliable tutors. His education was otherwise alarmingly ad hoc, another strange and miraculous trick. His father would simply drop him off at the local school, where he would walk in and asked to be enrolled. Almost no one refused him and child services never fully caught on.
Not surprisingly, Jacky was a rather poor student and a uniquely skilled troublemaker. His father’s professional trickery inspired his own. Even so, thanks to one of the dozens of harried teachers he met during these peripatetic years, he became a passionate literary autodidact.
The Pyles parked their trailer mostly in one of the 12,000 trailer parks that dotted the country. They also camped on county fairgrounds or, when permitted, on farms. They seldom stayed more than two weeks. While Jack was doing a show in Mexico, Jacky’s romper room was the local garbage dump. Not surprisingly, the boy was drawn to other young loners. The encounters were brief, sometimes no more than an hour and must have thoroughly baffled the other children, confronted with the pint-sized stranger in town who would pop up like rabbit out of a hat then vanish like a movie gunslinger, like one of his father’s tricks.
When 1960 came and Jacky was fifteen, his parents committed a shocking act — they moved into a house, one that Jack built with his own hands outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was Jacky’s first experience with indoor plumbing. Up to then, he’d lived in a tiny space on wheels where everything he needed was within arm’s length. Now he had to adapt to a space which, in the early years, lacked even interior walls: “Every footstep, every handling of an object, every word reminded me I was living in a big empty place that never moved.”
The Pyle marriage was never really on firm ground either, especially after that South Dakota snowstorm. By the 1960s, the marriage had ended. Jack Pyle pushed on, crisscrossing the country, his son riding alongside, wondering at the mystery of his father.
Over the years, Palmer learned to become almost ruthlessly independent, a perfect spy and close observer of people in their element. This makes his memoir a rich and fabulous read, a peek into a forgotten world and way of life.
But while Master of Deception has a superb sense of “where,” its “when” is harder to grasp. The Pyles traveled through an ever-shifting parallel universe during the 1950s, similar to two other great road-trippers of the time, Jack Kerouac and Vladimir Nabokov. Unlike those two literary adventurers though, the Pyles were focused on survival. They rarely, if ever, interacted with their times. Jack Pyle’s declining years are dealt with too soon and few dates are given overall. It’s not until Palmer and his father part ways during the mid-1960s, with Palmer facing the twin shadows of the Vietnam War and the draft, that we get a better sense of time.
John-Ivan Palmer never unveils the mystery behind his father but he makes his life of illusion acutely real. Master of Deception is true-life noir, written with eloquence and energy, a strange, incredible story painted in precise vivid colors, boisterous humor and sharp wit. Its portrayal of an often grim and gamy world may ruffle more sensitive readers. But unlike so many similar memoirs, there’s hardly a trace of disillusion or bitterness, not an ounce of self-pity. With no one’s life to compare with his own, John-Ivan Palmer’s life seemed perfectly normal to him.
Though his father and his world are long gone, Palmer tells us, Jack Pyle still strolls into his dreams: “As in real life, I am elated to see him return, his ghostly form carrying a wardrobe bag.”
Thomas Burchfield’s short story “Lucky Day” is in the anthology Berkeley Noir (Akashic Press, May 2020), now available in bookstores everywhere. Another story “What Now, Masked Man?” is in issue #1 of Hello Goodbye Apocalypse. He’s also the author of Butchertown, a ripping, 1920s gangster thriller and the award-winning contemporary vampire novel Dragon’s Ark. His original screenplays Whackers, The Uglies, Now Speaks the Devil and Dracula: Endless Night are available in e-book editions only). Published by Ambler House Publishing, all are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, and other retailers. His reviews and essays have appeared in Swing Time Magazine, Posthoc.com, Bright Lights Film Journal, The Strand Magazine, and Filmfax. He also posts essays on Medium and his own webpage, A Curious Man. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Elizabeth. | https://medium.com/curious/the-reading-chair-master-of-deception-by-john-ivan-palmer-4c45da56b7e0 | ['Thomas Burchfield'] | 2020-08-12 21:44:03.201000+00:00 | ['John Ivan Palmer Author', 'Master Of Deception Book', 'Jack Pyle Magician', 'Books'] |
Why I Write About Sex — Even When it Makes Me Squirm in My Seat | “Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.”
In January 2019, I read the above quote in Fred Rogers’ book called Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way. It’s a beautiful idea and one I wished was true.
Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable.
I love that Mister Rogers believed this, but sadly, my life experience has not been that ‘anything that’s human is mentionable.’ In fact, many of my human experiences are considered too taboo to mention in so-called polite company. Especially the ones related to sex and sexuality.
Being raped is human. Drinking to excess every day for months to ‘forget’ the experience is human. Finding out you’re pregnant is human. Having an abortion is human.
But none of those human experiences were mentionable when I was 20-years-old and experiencing them. At least, not without having to face shaming, blaming, disappointment, and judgement. It was so much easier to stay quiet. Or so it felt at the time.
I don’t doubt that Mister Rogers was correct in the second part of that assertion, that anything that is mentionable is more manageable. But the flipside of that is that everything we feel is not mentionable becomes less manageable. Which was a hard truth I learned several times in my twenties and thirties.
When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.
This sounds so obvious that it must be true. But what happens when we talk about our feelings to a close friend and are shut down with a phrase like, “too much information. I don’t need to know this”?
What about the spouse we confide our feelings to and who tells us to “grow up,” to “get over it,” to “stop being so dramatic”?
What about when we confide in a therapist about our sexual hang-ups, admit that our solution was to encourage our spouse to find sex elsewhere, and are told that in twenty years of counseling they’d never heard such a bad idea?
What about when a hospital psychiatrist, after pumping a teen’s stomach of pills and booze, convinces the youth that she is suicidal even though she knows she’s generally happy and was simply bored and looking for a feeling beyond high school ‘meh’?
Certainly, some of us have the perfect people to share our feelings with. But for those of us who don’t or haven’t had, talking about our feelings can make them more overwhelming, more upsetting, and more scary.
The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.
Unless they can’t. More often than not, having those important talks about my feelings, even with people I trusted, made me feel more alone. The irony is that I knew I was not alone in having the feeling of being alone.
The gift of turning fifty
I’m not sure why this was such a profound milestone, but when I turned 50-years-old it was is if my body and mind gave me the gift of self-compassion. It took about a year to fully unwrap that gift but once I did I released the shame, guilt, embarrassment, and fucks about caring what other people thought of me and my life choices.
While friends bemoaned reaching middle-age, getting old, I felt young for the first time in decades. I embraced the freedom that I decided came with this age — the age of a crone, a wise woman. And I wanted to actively honor her.
So, I started to research and write about the unholy communion of sex, religion, and politics, intending to write a book. My goal is to normalize and point at the causes of all those negative feelings about all the human experiences so many of us feel was can’t talk about, experiences that are overwhelming and upsetting, that make us feel alone.
The book is a work-in-progress that will take years to complete. I decided six months ago that that’s too long — that I want to work to make Mister Rogers’ vision a reality now.
That’s why I started to share the stories I’ve never spoken of or written about before. I made a conscious decision to believe that “anything human is mentionable” because now that my experiences are manageable for me, it feels like it’s my responsibility to help make others’ human experiences more manageable, too.
I share, perhaps over-share sometimes, because the more people who write about experiences and feelings that have been considered unmentionable, the more quickly they will become mainstream and natural to talk about without shame or fear of judgement.
I write about sex, even when it makes me squirm in my seat when I think about people I know reading my stories, because I want to prove Mister Rogers right. | https://medium.com/love-and-stuff/why-i-write-about-sex-even-when-it-makes-me-squirm-in-my-seat-cdc0cbf1b07 | ['Danika Bloom'] | 2020-04-29 17:31:29.866000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Sex', 'Culture', 'Feminism', 'Writing'] |
Vow To Make Each Day Special | Response to Promposity May Challenge
Vow To Make Each Day Special
Decide that you will find at least one small thing that makes each day special that puts you at ease or gives you a sense of freedom even to restore a sense of wonder to your life.
Credit: May Day Central Park by Mauric Pendegrast on Wikimedia Commons (CC0 Public Domain)
There’s no denying it’s been a rough couple of months. Where I live the shelter in place order has been strengthened as the case number and death toll has risen at an ever increasing pace. Thought to have leveled off a few weeks ago, this was shown to be false hope and it seemed the coronavirus was just gathering it’s forces to attack even more fiercely than before.
The pace of new people testing positive for the coronavirus has seemed to have picked up despite the social distancing, quarantine and other protective measures that have been put in place. Police now patrol the streets stopping pedestrians to ensure they are only doing what is necessary, defined as stocking up on food or filling prescriptions they can’t obtain any other way.
I was stopped on my first foray outside my apartment after being ill and again the second time. Even though I was legitimately just going to pick up a few things at the convenience store down the street, the experience of having a police car pull up next to me so they could question my destination and purpose was an unnerving experience.
After it happened the second time I didn’t leave again for more than two weeks. When I did it felt furtive, as if I was in fact, on my way to commit some kind of crime, that being picking up a prescription and some instant coffee.
Though I’ve tried to stay positive, I can’t even say I’m watching life through my window as the streets are empty, there are no more children calling to each other as they get off the school bus and the beach itself has finally become empty of picnickers and birthday parties attendees.
But this morning, upon waking, I realized it’s May Day. Although it’s not something I’ve ever celebrated or even taken notice of, this year looking for anything to mark the progression of time in a positive way, I vowed to find something about the day to make it special. This poem is my response to that effort.
For May Does Bring
Outside my window all shakes off
Polished shower of gypsum white
The cruel formation of winters rage
Which churns the depths to muddy red
The waves atop the rusted stretch
No longer pounds beleaguered shore
Instead the careful blossoms peek
Behind the newfold leaves protect
A few more weeks to find their pluck
To then emerge like blushing cheeks
Like princesses just come of age
First suitors do they entertain
It matters not this year I watch
From window panes which separate
The perfumed scented air to dance
Amidst the warmth so long did wait
For nature’s grace transcends supreme
To travel into false filled breathes
To sanctify with Spring’s delight
And light and loosen tightened chest | https://medium.com/promposity/vow-to-make-each-day-special-7faae298b7af | ['Natalie Frank'] | 2020-05-03 18:37:06.039000+00:00 | ['Writing Prompts', 'Poem', 'Mindset', 'Psychology', 'Spring'] |
Insights from customer ratings on Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal | Thanks to the tremendous response for my previous article on #GoogleNow, I am now motivated to write more and finish off those drafts pending for a long time. Here goes one.
This weekend, I did some research on customer ratings on 3 popular ecommerce websites of India: Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. I wanted to record the ratings and see if I can deduce any interesting patterns. Before starting this research, I did not really have an objective. I was not sure if I would get anything interesting out of this or not. It was more of an experiment than anything else.
Firstly, I could see that electronics and books had the most number of ratings. So, most of my recordings were focussed on these two segments so that I have enough data to validate.
Ratings Pattern
One strikingly interesting thing I observed: For any good electronic product with decent no. of ratings, the shape of the ratings almost always is like this:
Peculiar shape emerged for customer ratings of electronic products from Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal.
For almost every product, no. of 5 star ratings were more than 4 star, followed by 3 and 2 but there is an increase in 1 star ratings.
This kept me thinking… I wanted to plot this data on some graphs.
Electronics: Happy Customers & Pissed off Customers
For each product, lets say,
X5 = No. of 5 star ratings X1 = No. of 1 star ratings t = Total ratings Percentage of really happy customers, C1 = X5 / t Percentage of really pissed off customers, C2= X1 / t
I plotted C1 and C2 of different products across the three websites. | https://medium.com/ux-for-india/online-shopping-insights-from-customer-ratings-in-flipkart-amazon-and-snapdeal-6bd75f1cf8f | ['Raviteja Govindaraju'] | 2015-11-05 18:21:07.901000+00:00 | ['Flipkart', 'Amazon', 'Snapdeal'] |
Crafting Software With Care | Testing Isn’t Optional
Want to hear my two cents on pushing untested code?
Don’t do it.
It physically aches me to approve a PR without tests. In my experience, I’ve seen developers with a decade of experience do it, too. Don’t lower your standards and allow bad practices to creep in.
Imagine you were asked to just write a few features initially and you thought the project was never going to come back, so you delivered a product without tests. Unfortunately, one day, the project did come back. Now, you have no documentation because it was done in a hurry (happens almost all the time) and can’t rely on your memory to remember what the requirements were, so basically you’re in soup.
Tests are the single most effective way of documenting business requirements.
Ideally, your code should be ironclad with tests, including tests that verify the business logic, integration with APIs and persistence layers, and UI/acceptance tests.
You can’t always cover 100% of the codebase with, tests but the least you can do is make sure you add unit tests to cover most of the business logic. When code changes or tests break, you’ll know what changed and be able to rewrite the tests according to new requirements.
Test-driven development is how you can be certain your code is doing what you were asked to do. It can be treated as the official documentation of the codebase. This is also how you save yourself from trouble during long-term maintenance.
If your code has no tests. Get it to a state in which you can write some tests for important logic. | https://medium.com/better-programming/crafting-software-with-care-7fde33c85ab3 | [] | 2020-07-28 16:40:49.387000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Coding', 'Startup', 'Technology', 'Programming'] |
Book Review: The Power Worshipers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism | Book Review: The Power Worshipers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
In her insightful book, Katherine Stewart explores the ways in which religious nationalists are hijacking America’s systems of government and education.
This book had been sitting on my shelf for a while. I’m not sure why I took so long to pick it up and start reading it. Perhaps because, on some level, I was afraid of what I’d read. I tend to get a bit stressed out when I read these kinds of books, because they remind me of how organized the religious right is, and how dangerous they are to me and other queer people.
However, now that I’ve finished it, I have to say that The Power Worshipers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, is one of the most important books published on religion and political life in American in the past 10 years. It’s exhaustively detailed and researched, and yet it was one of those books that I simply couldn’t put down. It’s absolutely necessary reading for anyone interested in learning about the ways in which Christian nationalists — those who wish to see the United States become, in essence, a theocracy governed by biblical literalism — have become increasingly powerful over the last twenty years and why they stand poised to achieve even more success in the years ahead.
Stewart has a key journalistic eye, and she provides exactly the kind of detail that we need to understand how this came to pass. She shows us how the religious right has been enormously successful in energizing their base to “vote their values.” More than that, they have also succeeded in infiltrating almost every level of government, from state houses to the White House. Their goal isn’t, as they commonly like to assert, to guarantee religious freedom. Instead, they want to ensure that their particular religious vision is the one that is imposed on everyone else. It’s precisely this element of their nationalistic agenda that is most troubling, because it makes clear that they are opposed to the possibility of coexisting with those who do not share their faith or their vision of the world.
It certainly helps that the movement is supported by a truly staggering apparatus. Though it is somewhat disjoined in its organization, for the most part there are some key movers and shakers that wield substantial influence. What’s more, they have been very successful building an infrastructure that supports their efforts, ranging from publishers to museums, historians to think tanks. Financially, they are supported by a generous network of wealthy donors who have helped to forge strong connections between religious nationalism and free market economics, a marriage that has, so far, worked out very well indeed for both parties.
Most troubling, I think, are the successful efforts by Christian nationalists to bend the public school system to their whims. The issue of charter schools has largely fallen off of the public radar, but the efforts like those of the current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and members of her family — as well as a number of other individuals — have born fruit. Slowly but surely, they have been able to siphon funds from public schools and poured them into charter schools, most of which are explicitly religious in orientation and instruction. Religious nationalists, predominantly Catholics, have also done an extraordinary job seizing control of significant chunks of the nation’s hospital systems. While in theory this doesn’t seem that sinister, in practice it is often disastrous for the physical health and emotional well-being of both women and queer people, many of whom face severe, sometimes life-threatening, discrimination at these institutions.
And, as Stewart aptly documents, these efforts are not restricted to the United States. Instead, they are part of a worldwide network of religious nationalists who aspire to turn most of the west, and indeed the world, into a patchwork of ethno-religio-nationalist states. The religious right’s admiration of and courting of Putin is not really a secret at this point, but I was genuinely surprised to learn that they have also made in-roads in such countries as the UK, where they’ve been able to exploit the Anglican Church’s decline (particularly among young people) to fill their own pews. Their success in doing so reveals that there is a lot of uncertainty in western liberal democracies, and the religious nationalists are determined to exploit that to the fullest.
Reading this book, one can’t help but admire the efficiency and effectiveness of these groups. It’s been well-documented how essential evangelical Christians were to the success of Donald Trump’s bid for the White House, but so many other of their efforts have largely flown under the radar. I consider myself fairly well-informed about the workings of politics in America, but even I found myself rather taken aback at just how successful they have been. We on the left tend to think that we won the culture war and that demographic shifts mean that the future is ours for the taking, but The Power Worshipers makes it pretty clear that that’s a simplistic, and dangerous, frame of mind. Progressives, moderates, and even some conservatives would do well to read this book and take its lessons to heart.
The Power Worshipers is a timely reminder, given that we are now entering a presidential election year. The religious right doesn’t really care whether or not they are a majority of the country. They long ago realized that all that matters is that they have power and can use it to bludgeon others into doing what they want. Though they rarely say so explicitly, they are also driven by a deep racial bias. It’s no accident that their efforts were in part jumpstarted by the desegregation of schools. Those of us who care deeply about racial justice — as well as justice for women and queer people — would do well to remember that another Trump term will give religious nationalists even more power to enact their agenda. The past four years have been terrible enough. Imagine what they could do with four more.
For all of our sakes, I hope we don’t have to find out. | https://tjwest3.medium.com/book-review-the-power-worshipers-inside-the-dangerous-rise-of-religious-nationalism-c65fcbf4330f | ['Dr. Thomas J. West Iii'] | 2020-08-21 14:45:41.523000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Politics', 'Religion', 'Christianity', 'Election 2020'] |
Enabling Data-Led Communications about Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 | Enabling Data-Led Communications about Preventing the Spread of COVID-19
Exploring knowledge, attitudes, and practices from 67 countries
Co-authored with Marla Shaivitz, Director, Digital Strategy, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs
Counting coronavirus cases and related statistics can tell us where infections are rising. But what if we could use data about COVID-19 prevention behaviors to keep those infections from happening in the first place?
Researchers can analyze data on individual behaviors like mask wearing, handwashing, physical distancing, perceived community norms, and where people get their information, to help policymakers and health communicators more effectively target messages related to perceptions, knowledge, and critical prevention actions. Throughout the past nine months, this kind of information has been challenging to collect at scale; many studies have been limited to a single behavior (like mask wearing) and focused on the United States.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) partnered with MIT, Facebook, the World Health Organization, and GOARN to fill this information gap.
The Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice (KAP) COVID Study
The study team designed a knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) survey and collected data in 67 countries beginning in July 2020. The sampling strategies were developed to yield nationally-representative insights that could be disaggregated by sex, residence (rural/urban), education, and age. In 20 countries, at least eight additional rounds of data collection are being conducted to enable trend analysis.
Map of the 67 countries included in the KAP-COVID Study from the dashboard
Designing a Visualization Approach
The team wanted to make the survey results widely accessible, but the full dataset from the initial 67-country study was massive.
Creating a dashboard with every measure and disaggregation was likely to overwhelm many users. With the more granular data for all questions available on request, the aim of launching the dashboard wasn’t to provide every single data point. Instead, it was to focus on key knowledge, attitude, and practice insights with helpful links to health communication resources that could be used to address gaps in the adoption of prevention behaviors.
To summarize the data, researchers calculated weighted scores by demographic group for 51 different measures, as well as additional variables, to better understand the interaction between behaviors. For example, what share of people who didn’t believe masks were an effective way to prevent COVID reported wearing a mask anyways.
To focus the data visualization efforts, the cross-functional team of researchers, communicators, and data visualization experts prioritized two key audiences who could best use the survey results: country policymakers and health communications experts. Then, the team mapped out critical questions these two audiences would need to answer and narrowed the variables to display those that were most actionable.
Purposeful Design Decisions
The team had two priorities in creating the series of dashboards to explore the KAP COVID data. First, to take a user-centered design approach focused on policymakers and health communicators. Then, to ensure design decisions in the chart selection, layout, and interactivity aligned to data visualization best practices, while keeping those key audiences in mind. Here are three principles the team followed when constructing the dashboards.
1. Create mental models with repeating chart types
On the global view, where users are focused on comparing scores for different countries, the team used jittered dot strip plots with the option to highlight a country of interest. In both cases, using a repeating chart type — interspersed with other visual elements — enables the user to “learn” how to read the chart in the first view and then apply that mental model throughout the dashboard.
Jittered dot strip plot of attitudes towards COVID-19 from 67 countries (KAP COVID Global Dashboard)
On the country dashboard, with disaggregated data by demographic groups, the team selected dumbbell plots to emphasize the difference between values for pairs of demographic groups.
2. Details (and more subject matter expertise) on demand.
In designing the various visualizations, the team followed the mantra of providing the big picture first, then enabling the user to zoom and filter to access more details on demand.
For each view, users can click on a small magnifying glass, which provides insights on how to interpret and apply the data presented. This adds necessary context for users who may find the data interesting, but then think, “so what?”
Self-reported adoption of COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors from 67 countries with expanded ‘how to read this chart’ box at right (KAP COVID Global Dashboard)
3. Enable analysis with benchmarks
Many of the charts allowed users to benchmark their countries’ scores against other countries around the world or in their WHO region. In addition, disaggregated views provided median or country total values to compare with scores for individual groups, such as urban and rural populations. Without baselines for the first round of survey data, these additional benchmarks provide an added point of comparison for users as they look across different demographic groups.
Comparing disaggregated self-reported prevention behaviors, compared to overall totals (KAP COVID Global Dashboard).
In under a month since the dashboard launch, the KAP COVID dashboard has been viewed more than 10,000 times and the team has heard from policymakers who are using the data to inform Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) efforts in India, Indonesia, and the WHO’s Western Pacific region. You can dig into the data and learn more about COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices around the world, including trended analysis over eight survey waves for 23 countries, on the KAP COVID dashboards.
Subscribe to the JHU CCP email newsletter for updates when new releases of the dashboard are released.
Amanda Makulec is the Senior Data Visualization Lead at Excella and holds a Masters of Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health. She worked with data in global health programs for eight years before joining Excella, where she leads teams and develops user-centered data visualization products for federal, non-profit, and private sector clients. Amanda volunteers as the Operations Director for the Data Visualization Society and is a co-organizer for Data Visualization DC. Find her on Twitter at @abmakulec | https://medium.com/nightingale/enabling-data-led-communications-about-preventing-the-spread-of-covid-19-2704efbfd7c9 | ['Amanda Makulec'] | 2020-11-10 14:02:57.770000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Public Health', 'Data Visualization', 'Tableau', 'Covid 19'] |
Rogues’ Gallery | If you defy convention and shatter stereotypes, this publication is for you.
Are you a rebel? A rogue? Someone who refuses to follow the herd and marches to the beat of their own drummer, no matter what?
If so, you are cordially invited to submit your blood, sweat, and tears to our brand-new Medium publication, Rogues’ Gallery.
Essayists. Poets. Journalists. All are welcome. The caveat: You must be unafraid to be your authentic selves. We know: That sounds like bullshit as that phrase has been bandied about for a while now, but we mean it.
Have something on your mind that’s bothering you, either about life, or this platform? Let it out. Do you have a problem you need help with? Tell us about it. Have a funny anecdote that will inspire laughter in a time when we so badly need it? Share, please.
First and foremost, we’re looking for great writing.
Writers who know how to make their copy sing and resonate with the “listener.” Writers who never settle for the expected, or the mundane. Writers who kick ass.
Topics? Sex. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. And everything in between. For now, at least, nothing is sacred.
One thing we won’t tolerate: Intolerance and/or maliciousness. If you’ve read Sherry McGuinn and Kristi Keller, you know the tone we’re looking for. That said, feel free to be respectfully disruptive.
We also ask that you do your best to keep typos and formatting issues to a minimum. We get it: Everyone makes mistakes, but we’d much rather spend our time sharing our work, as opposed to “fixing” it.
So, what do you think? Are you ready to unleash your inner rogue? Then, let’s get started. Let’s break free, together, to entertain, inform and above all, to inspire.
Thanks for reading. We look forward to hearing from you.
How to become a contributor:
Please send an email to [email protected] with Rogues’Gallery in the subject line. Be sure to include your Medium profile and a brief intro on why you’d like to contribute.
Once added, you’ll be notified via email. Then, you can submit your stories — no previously published Medium pieces please — by creating an original draft, and clicking the three dots in the upper right-hand corner. Simply select Rogues’ Gallery and your draft will be reviewed. You Medium vets already know the drill, but newer writers on the platform, may not.
Marion Michele/Unsplash
If, for any reason, your story isn’t accepted, we’ll let you know in as timely a fashion as possible. And, please, don’t take it personally. We’ve all been rejected from our fair share of Medium publications. Hopefully, this will be the exception, rather than the norm. It will take a while to get our “sea legs.”
As always, it’s important to keep Medium curation guidelines in mind:
“Curators are looking for thoughtful, clearly written pieces that tell a compelling story, convey an interesting idea, or share a smart point of view. These can take many forms …We explicitly do not want to distribute misinformation, stories with clickbait headlines, stories that are primarily marketing a product or service, stories that use photos that the author doesn’t have the rights to use, or stories with excessive typos and errors.”
Please refrain from using affiliate links, as well. This isn’t the place for that.
“Zhuzh up” your stories with attention-grabbing pics! Be sure to use royalty-free images. You can find some excellent ones on Unsplash, Pixabay, Flickr.Com and many other sites. Please make sure to credit the photographer! If you don’t, your work will not be published.
Also, tag your story appropriately. This helps readers find your work and helps our editors publish it under the correct tab.
Finally, please be patient. This is a new publication and, as with anything new, it takes time to “get your groove on.” But, we’ll do our best to publish as quickly as possible.
One more thing, (okay, I lied). If you think you’d make a great editor for Rogues’ Gallery, shoot me — Sherry McGuinn — an email.
Thanks so much for reading. We’re looking forward to your submissions!
Sherry | https://medium.com/rogues-gallery/rogues-gallery-1b59d5aa44ca | ['Sherry Mcguinn'] | 2020-02-04 20:19:03.985000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Medium Writers', 'Submission Guidelines', 'Rogue', 'New Publication'] |
3d Game Programming With Java and libGDX — Setting Up a Model With Blender | Step 1 —Delete the un-necessary components
Which is to say pretty much everything :). On the top right of the window, you will see the objects within the ‘Collection’.
From this area, delete the ‘Camera’, the ‘Cube’, and the ‘Light’, as they will not be used, and do not need to be exported. To do this, either:
Right click on each item to get the contextual menu up and select the ‘ Delete ’ option, or,
’ option, or, Just left click and press the ‘X’ key to delete.
Step 2 — Find (or create) a model
The cube is not the most exciting of models, and easily UV unwraps, and consequently doesn’t go through some of the problems that you may come across with other more complex models. So, either create your own model (which is an advanced topic) or download a model from a 3d model site (for example GrabCAD) — but do be careful of licensing restrictions on your model.
The example used here is the Rhombic Dodecahedron which looks like the following:
Rendering of a rhombic dodecahedron
When downloading a model, ensure that it is easily importable into blender — the file formats that are supported:
Collada (.dae)
Alembic (.abc)
Motion Capture (.bvh)
Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)
Stanford (.ply)
Stl (.stl)
FBX (.fbx)
glTF 2.0(.glb/.gltl)
Wavefront (.obj)
X3D Extensible 3D (.x3d/.wrl)
Never fear, if you cannot find a model in any of the above formats, there are free online format converters which will do this for you.
Step 3 — Convert the model (if required)
A lot of the models on GrabCAD models are made with SolidWorks — which are in an .SLDPRT file format. The AnyConv.com site can easily do the conversion from .sldprt to .stl. As a side note, AnyConv supports a wide range of format conversions, all of which are enumerated here.
It is a simple process, all done online, no sign-up needed:
Drag the file onto the box or click on the ‘CHOOSE FILE’ button, Click on the ‘CONVERT’ button Wait for it to finish… Download the converted file
Step 4 — Import the model
Screenshot of blender option to import an .stl file
Once the model has been imported, you will be presented with the following screen: | https://medium.com/swlh/3d-game-programming-with-java-and-libgdx-setting-up-a-model-with-blender-1eadab56d45d | [] | 2020-09-10 23:28:08.448000+00:00 | ['Blender', 'Libgdx', 'Game Development', 'Java'] |
The Sound Nearest to Silence | In near silence
the frost grew
until each crystal wing
profusely became
the sound of joy
inside of belly’s laughter
translating their creative souls
into orbs of pristine profundity
‘til the morning blessed
each crystal infusion
with the rays of seven suns. | https://medium.com/beingwriters/the-sound-nearest-to-silence-2bfff57732e | ['Carolyn Riker'] | 2020-12-09 22:18:52.555000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Winter', 'Nature', 'Silence', 'Poetry'] |
The age of empathy, Slack groups, designing with AI and more UX links this week | The age of empathy, Slack groups, designing with AI and more UX links this week
What’s hot in UX this week.
If you like the links, don’t forget to 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
There’s something I’ve realized lately, that’s making my user interviews go smoother and getting deeper, more nuanced insights. The key is this: relax.
Take a step back, for a moment. What is a user interview? If yours are like mine, it’s essentially sitting down with a complete stranger, asking them quite personal questions about their life, and hoping they’ll answer truthfully and openly enough that you can use what they say to design your product. It’s kind of weird, really.
Essentially, you’re fast-forwarding a relationship in just a few minutes, from first meeting to sharing life truths. How do you get there? How do you get them comfortable enough to talk to you and really share their truth with you?
By Nicola Rushton.
Continue reading → | https://uxdesign.cc/the-age-of-empathy-slack-groups-designing-with-ai-and-more-ux-links-this-week-5e6e9d34b540 | ['Fabricio Teixeira'] | 2017-10-09 03:42:16.318000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'UX Design', 'Design', 'Hot This Week', 'User Experience'] |
Best Open Source Tools For Developing IoT Applications | Internet of things are being embraced by more and more companies. Today we can see that it is growing at a fast pace. For developing IoT applications, availability of open source tools in the market is plenty. A Developer needs the right tools and well-connected infrastructures to use the technology. In this article, you’ll be able to read and compare between the best IoT tools available for developers.
Arduino
This development kit offers both hardware and software to the developers. It is an open-source prototyping platform, which is one of the best platforms. Using the integrated development environment (IDE), the Arduino language has to be coded in by the developers. The biggest advantage of Arduino is that it can be learned and used by the beginners in a short period of time and then they can keep upgrading themselves.
Home Assistant
Google home and Amazon play are slowly becoming a part of our everyday lives. If ou are a developer trying to bring about the next life-changing home assistant product here is all that you need to know. The python-based coding system makes this open source platform work. It can also run on Raspberry Pi and Python 3. Best for developers, who seeks increased connectivity between internet and people. Home assistant can be controlled with desktop browser and mobiles as well. It gets updated after every 2 weeks and easy to setup.
Eclipse IoT Project
Eclipse is a blessing in disguise for the java developes.It allows you to promote and develop the IoT technologies. It helps to manage and connect devices in IoT solution. Many different projects, that revolve around the IoT, has been sponsored by Eclipse such as the projects,Paho, Mihini and Koneki.
Thing Speak
Internet of Things wouldn’t have been where it is today if not for the thing speak tool which is considered as the oldest cloud platform. It is operated by the renowned MathWorks team. It is considered one of the best and the most effective tools for crating magnificent IoT applications. All you need to do to access this great tool is just sign into MathWorks and/or login to start working on your non-commercial projects. If you are also doing a project related to locations, then also thing speak can be of great help. It can work with most of the other open source tools. Like the icing on top of the cake, thing speak also has web services which lets it collect and store data. The data can be stored in the cloud. Thus, making it easier to create IoT applications.
From the above discussion, it is evident that developers who are looking for open source tools for creating IoT applications have a good number of choice. They can choose the one that best suits their need and starts their applications with ease.
Originally published at yugasa.com on October 10, 2018. | https://medium.com/yugasa/best-open-source-tools-for-developing-iot-applications-6332fee383c | ['Yugasa Software Labs'] | 2018-10-10 13:41:06.653000+00:00 | ['IoT', 'Smart Home', 'Internet of Things', 'Android App Development', 'Mobile App Development'] |
What’s New in 2020 Volume 3: Flutter Charts | At Syncfusion, we are continuously reviewing the constructive questions and comments we receive from our customers, which include various feature requests. From these, we handpicked the most widely requested features and made them available in the Essential Studio 2020 Volume 3 release.
In this blog post, I’ll quickly review the new chart types and features included in the Flutter Charts widget for the 2020 Volume 3 release.
Let’s see them!
New chart types
We extended the Syncfusion Flutter Charts widget to support two more chart types:
Box and whisker chart
Waterfall chart
Box and whisker chart
The box and whisker chart is used to visualize a group of numerical data through its quartiles. It is also referred to as a box plot. Box plots may also have lines extending vertically from the boxes (whiskers) indicating variability outside the upper and lower quartiles.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart(
series: <BoxAndWhiskerSeries<ChartData, String>>[
BoxAndWhiskerSeries<ChartData, String>(
dataSource: <ChartData>[
ChartData('Development', [22, 22, 23, 25, 25, 25, 26, 27, 27]), ChartData('HR', [22, 24, 25, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 41]),
//...
],
showMean: true,
xValueMapper: (ChartData data, _) => data.x,
yValueMapper: (ChartData data, _) => data.y
),
]
)
After executing this code example, we will get output like in the following screenshot.
Box and whisker chart
UG link: https://help.syncfusion.com/flutter/cartesian-charts/chart-types#box-and-whisker-chart
SB sample link: https://flutter.syncfusion.com/#/cartesian-charts/chart-types/box-and-whisker/box-and-whisker-chart
Waterfall chart
The waterfall chart shows gradual changes in the quantitative value of an entity that is subjected to changes by increments or decrements. Using the waterfall chart, you can quickly illustrate changes in revenue.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart(
series: <ChartSeries<ChartData, double>>[
WaterfallSeries<ChartData, double>(
dataSource: <ChartData>[
ChartData(2, 10),
ChartData(3, -3),
ChartData(4, 5, true),
//...
ChartData(13, -5, false, true),
],
xValueMapper: (ChartData data, _) => data.x,
yValueMapper: (ChartData data, _) => data.y, intermediateSumPredicate: (ChartData data, _) =>
data.isIntermediate,
totalSumPredicate: (ChartData data, _) => data.isTotal, negativePointsColor: const Color.fromRGBO(229, 101, 144, 1), intermediateSumColor: const Color.fromRGBO(79, 129, 188, 1), totalSumColor: const Color.fromRGBO(79, 129, 188, 1), connectorLineSettings: WaterfallConnectorLineSettings(
width: 2.5,
dashArray: <double>[3, 1]
)
)
]
)
After executing this code example, we will get output like in the following screenshot.
Waterfall chart
UG link: https://help.syncfusion.com/flutter/cartesian-charts/chart-types#waterfall-chart
SB sample link: https://flutter.syncfusion.com/#/cartesian-charts/chart-types/waterfall/default-waterfall-chart
Feature enhancements
Exporting
A rendered chart can be exported and saved locally as a PNG image or PDF document for future use. The following code snippet shows exporting a chart as a PNG image.
[Dart]
dart_ui.Image data = await
_cartesianKey.currentState.toImage(pixelRatio: 3.0);
final bytes = await data.toByteData(format:
dart_ui.ImageByteFormat.png);
if (data != null) {
await Navigator.of(context).push(
MaterialPageRoute(
builder: (BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: Center(
child: Container(
color: Colors.white,
child: Image.memory(bytes.buffer.asUint8List()),
)
)
);
}
)
);
}
UG link — https://help.syncfusion.com/flutter/cartesian-charts/export-cartesian-chart
Trackball features
The trackball has the following new feature enhancements in this release.
Marker for trackball
The newly introduced trackball marker feature helps you indicate an exact data point location. You can also add a shape to adorn each data point when the trackball is visible. The trackball marker can be shown or hidden independently and also displayed based on the series marker’s visibility.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart(
trackballBehavior: TrackballBehavior(
enable: true,
markerSettings: TrackballMarkerSettings(
markerVisibility: TrackballVisibilityMode.visible
)
)
)
Trackball marker
Trackball tooltip overlap
From this Volume 3 release onwards, if there are two or more series data points rendered close to each other, then the trackball tooltips of each data point will not overlap with each other. They will be repositioned automatically. No API is required to enable this feature.
Refer to the following screenshot.
UG link: https://help.syncfusion.com/flutter/cartesian-charts/trackball-crosshair#trackball
SB sample link: https://flutter.syncfusion.com/#/cartesian-charts/user-interactions/trackball/chart-with-trackball
Data label features
The data label feature has the following new enhancements in this release.
Padding for data labels
You can add padding to a data label to move it both vertically and horizontally from its initial position. Logical pixel value is provided as input.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart(
series: <CartesianSeries<ChartData,num>>[
SplineSeries<ChartData, num>(
dataLabelSettings: DataLabelSettings(
isVisible: true,
offset: Offset(0, 30)
)
)
]
)
Refer to the following screenshot.
Data label tap callback
This is a callback event. It will be triggered when you tap on a data label of a data point in the series.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart(
onDatalabelTapped: (DataLabelTapArgs args) {
print(args.seriesIndex);
},
series: <ChartSeries<ChartData, DateTime>>[
LineSeries<ChartData, DateTime>(
dataLabelSettings: DataLabelSettings(
isVisible: true
)
)
]
)
UG link: https://help.syncfusion.com/flutter/cartesian-charts/marker-datalabel#data-label
SB sample link: https://flutter.syncfusion.com/#/cartesian-charts/series-features/data-label/default-data-labels
Animate the series dynamically
You can perform initial rendering animation in an existing series by using this feature. On calling the animate method, a particular series will be animated based on the animationDuration property’s value in the series.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
ChartSeriesController _chartSeriesController;
return Column(
children: <Widget>[
Container(
child: SfCartesianChart(
series: <ChartSeries<ChartData, String>>[
ColumnSeries<ChartData, String>(
animationDuration: 2000,
onRendererCreated: (ChartSeriesController controller) { _chartSeriesController = controller;
}
)
],
)
),
Container(
child: RaisedButton(
onPressed: () {
_chartSeriesController?.animate();
},
child: Text('Animate'),
)
),
);
}
SB sample link : https://flutter.syncfusion.com/#/cartesian-charts/series-features/animation/series-animation
Select the data points dynamically
The data points in a chart can be selected programmatically by passing the point index and series index values to the selectDataPoints method.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart chart;
SelectionBehavior selection; @override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
selection = SelectionBehavior(enable: true);
chart = SfCartesianChart(
series: <CartesianSeries>[
ColumnSeries<ChartData, double>(
selectionBehavior: selection
)
]
); return Scaffold(
body: Column(
children: <Widget>[
FlatButton(
child: Text('Select'),
onPressed: select
),
Container(child: chart)
]
)
);
} void select() {
selection.selectDataPoints(1, 0);
}
SB sample link: https://flutter.syncfusion.com/#/cartesian-charts/user-interactions/selection/dynamic-selection
Anchor range to data points
This new feature is used to determine the value of the axis range, based on the visible data points or based on the overall data points available in the chart. The visible data points can be changed on performing interactions like pinch zooming, selection zooming, and panning, and also on specifying visibleMinimum and visibleMaximum values.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart(
primaryYAxis: NumericAxis(
anchorRangeToVisiblePoints: true
)
)
SB sample link: https://flutter.syncfusion.com/#/cartesian-charts/user-interactions/zooming-and-panning/pinch-zooming
Breaking changes
The selectionSettings property and the SelectionSettings class have been deprecated. Now, you can use the selectionBehavior property and SelectionBehavior class, respectively, instead of them.
Refer to the following code.
[Dart]
SfCartesianChart(
series: <CartesianSeries<ChartData, double>>[
ColumnSeries<ChartData, double>(
selectionBehavior: SelectionBehavior(
// Enables selection
enable: true
)
)
]
);
Conclusion
I hope you now have a clear idea of the various new features and enhancements available for the Syncfusion Flutter Charts widget in the 2020 Volume 3 release. For more details about the bug fixes and other enhancements, check out our release notes.
Browse our documentation to learn more about our Syncfusion Flutter widgets. You can also see Syncfusion’s Flutter app with many examples in this GitHub repo. Don’t miss our demo app in Google Play and the App Store.
If you aren’t a customer yet, you can try our 30-day free trial to check out these features.
Also, if you wish to send us feedback or would like to submit any questions, please feel free to post them in the comments section of this blog post. You can also contact us through our support forum, feedback portal, or Direct-Trac support system. We are always happy to assist you! | https://medium.com/syncfusion/whats-new-in-2020-volume-3-flutter-charts-e105bd6d0c9 | ['Rajeshwari Pandinagarajan'] | 2020-10-20 12:50:50.210000+00:00 | ['Flutter', 'Android App Development', 'Mobile App Development', 'Charts', 'iOS App Development'] |
Killing the Monolith | Setting the stage: it has been three years (and counting) for Check, a startup that was doing OK with its Monolith but we adapted our mindset to new architectures when we became part of Intuit.
Unlike to what you might have imagined, many startups do have monoliths: despite the common belief that they are young, innovative and don’t carry legacy code. Some veteran corporations, which might have decades old code and are called ‘dinosaurs’ or other unflattering metaphors, are actually in the process of or have already undergone a transformation to micro services.
What is a Monolith?
A Monolith is a natural growth of a code project.
It starts with a small piece of code to do some specific work. Sounds simple enough, isn’t it? Then comes new requirements and the obvious solution is to add more and code to the project. The process continues and the once small project has multiple modules, which are all tightly bundled together.
Hence the name: Monolith.
Why would a company want to kill a Monolith?
Monoliths have one trait which makes them very appealing: it offers access to EVERYTHING and the ability to debug, compile and deploy your application to a single machine.
This works great for small teams and companies: every developer can access any part of the system. It’s easy to do end-to-end features without needing the help of external resources. You are the master of your fate and all one small, happy family.
As things get bigger, this advantage comes with significant drawbacks: having the ability to touch anything means any developer might break something you care about. Communication done through non-formal APIs (like DB) is bound to break when a change is introduced.
If you have multiple teams working on the code base, things get worse: a single developer can stop the deployment for all others by breaking the compilation or automation. Teams are prone to know only specific areas of the monolith so they can’t fix other areas and are more bound to break them (but are crippled if any of them is broken).
Another drawback is the inability to integrate with 3rd parties and to extend your product: Monoliths are good with doing a dedicated, narrow task. That’s what they are built for. If you try to open your code/API/functionality to a 3rd party, you will find that even a small change affects many areas in the system, since they are tightly coupled. You would find yourself wasting a lot of time and moving at a very slow velocity.
The bigger the Monolith, the worse it gets.
So why is it bad for a corporation? A corporation is made up of a lot of teams doing a lot of work in various domains. It’s your Monolith problem, magnified 100 fold. You cannot expect all engineers and all teams to know or even care about every piece of the software, so the only way is to break it down to many little self-contained services.
Startups move as a single unit. They have one or very few goals to focus on at every given time. Corporations do a lot of things and have multiple teams, so by definition not all individuals have the same priorities. With Monoliths you can change every bit of your software for any feature you introduce, but you are forced to do a cross sweep every time. This is precisely why Monoliths are good for single purpose startups but don’t scale to larger corporations.
Startups have very little to lose, especially if they don’t move fast enough before their funds run out. Corporations have a lot to lose but they have the funding to keep them floating for longer time. From end-to-end ownership, you get to limit the impact (damage and risk).
From a small family where everything is the business of everyone, to multiple groups which run in parallel and have different goals, that is what the change is about.
How to actually kill it?
Killing Monoliths is hard. Very hard. It involves ripping out major parts of your application, redesigning them and converting them into self sustaining systems. Not only that, in most cases you probably have a live production system which you cannot break during the (quite long) process.
The first thing you have to do is to commit to the change: realize that you can no longer continue with the way things are working right now. Moving from a Monolith to a micro services architecture is a process which takes many months to complete and, once it has started, there is no going back.
Besides the shift in architecture, you have to be prepared for a resource shift, i.e. Organizational Changes. Yes, I know this sounds scary and nobody wants to talk about these changes, but services architecture and mindset has to be backed up with org structure. You want every one of your engineering teams to own self contained pieces of your software to limit the amount of dependencies.
Once you get to the realization and are willing to commit and pull through with the technical and organization changes, the basic prescription is pretty easy:
1. Find a relatively self-sustained module
2. Organize your team to write it as a service
3. Use feature flags to safely migrate to the new code
4. Go back to step 1
One day, if you do this long enough, you would find all Monoliths slain, rewritten, decommissioned and mostly forgotten. You will also find that your organization has gone through a fundamental change: from a tight family pursuing very narrow objectives to many groups working side by side. | https://medium.com/intuit-engineering/moving-from-a-startup-culture-to-a-corporate-killing-the-monolith-95a744ac148 | ['Peter Kogan'] | 2017-12-12 09:55:50.908000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Ai And Data Science', 'Monolith'] |
The Clapping Hour | Thank you to the health care workers putting their lives on the line, and the essential workers whose jobs bringing us food and other services puts them and their families at risk. | https://backgroundnoisecomic.medium.com/the-clapping-hour-f2746d29ccf2 | ['Background Noise Comics'] | 2020-04-14 00:09:15.551000+00:00 | ['Healthcare', 'Humor', 'Gratitude', 'Comics', 'Coronavirus'] |
Weavers and Wishers | I didn’t know her very well. But she left an impression on me. Her stories told around a crackling fire. A lazy breeze toying with cottonwood leaves high above our heads. Inky water lapping against the dock. The way her body fully occupied the wooden log. Her enviable lips, slightly parted as she held our gaze across dancing flames. Sandy swimsuits forgotten, bug bites left half scratched as we stared at her, wondering what words she could possibly form next. Cotton candy spun in the moonlight.
She left me awestruck.
I knew she had a gift and because of her nature, I tucked her image away in that special place in my heart reserved for such people. When I grew up and strangers would ask my name, I would try hers on for size. A verbal pen name, an homage to her craft. Wobbly shoes I prayed one day would fit. A thousand years and a lifetime later it suddenly became urgent that I thank her.
That day.
It could wait no longer. She had to know and I had to tell her. Two phone calls and a Google search later I was on the side of the road, sobbing. I was too late. Everything I wanted to tell her, thank her for. The special place in my heart I held for her. She had given me a gift, the love of story and a deep regard for those who could weave them, and I had never thanked her. Did she know what she meant to me? I slowly banged my forehead against the steering wheel.
Several hours and a panang curry later, my daughter stopped mid-sentence and passed me her napkin. My fortune cookie in two pieces and my hand clasped over my mouth, she didn’t understand why I was crying. I handed her the tiny white slip of paper, took a shaky deep breath and began to tell her the story of the great aunt she’d never met. | https://medium.com/100-naked-words/weavers-and-wishers-14e226270c6 | ['Alicia Mejia'] | 2016-06-15 07:48:17.399000+00:00 | ['Admiration', 'Communication', 'The Message', 'Death', 'Storytelling'] |
#WHHSH: What Happens Here Stays Here | The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s “What Happens Here Stays Here” advertising campaign is much more than a series of TV spots, it’s become a part of the American lexicon. Their longtime ad agency R&R Partners wanted to relaunch the brand on digital and social and partnered with my team at bpg to create a digital 360 campaign based around a hashtag version of their classic ad tagline, “#WHHSH.”
After a series of strategy meetings, and a ton of white-boarding sessions, we dreamed up a metaphor for Las Vegas, and central campaign theme that we could rally around – the “Mystery Box.” Inspired by J.J. Abrams’ TED Talk, where he describes the value of anticipation of not knowing as potentially more vital to generating excitement than actual experience, we searched for ways to make Las Vegas the ultimate Mystery Box.
The six-month campaign was divided into three phases: Tease, Reveal and Continuity, all centered around debuting the box, opening it, then revealing at what was inside – everything you can become while shedding your “normal self” when you visit the city. We found power in the idea that Las Vegas, more than any other tourist location, inspires visitors to let go and become a version of themselves they can only be while in the glow of those singular neon lights. | https://medium.com/steveisaacs/whhsh-what-happens-here-stays-here-1037c3ffe32c | ['Steve Isaacs'] | 2018-10-07 03:18:52.573000+00:00 | ['Las Vegas', 'Creative Direction', 'Marketing', 'Portfolio', 'Digital Marketing'] |
4 Reasons I Love Disney Pixar’s SOUL | The movie Inside Out helped get me through 2020. Its themes spilled out into my journal and carried into my therapist’s (virtual) office. Two takeaways from that film that changed my life:
We win by embracing all our emotions. Ignoring emotions makes things worse. Blended emotions make life colorful and beautiful. It’s not only possible, but it often is better to have simultaneous emotions.
Soul is the latest film from Disney Pixar and is now streaming on Disney+. Jaimie Fox is the voice of Joe; Tina Fey is the voice of 22. (Yes, the character’s name is 22. You’ll see!) I was pleasantly surprised to hear the voice of Rachel House, who’s comedic prowess features in several movies, including Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarock.
Pete Docter has his hands all over Soul, both as a writer and director. You may know Doctor from his smaller, lesser-known movies: Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out. You should know what to expect from Docter by now: happy tears. Lots and lots of happy tears.
That’s one of the reasons I love Soul. | https://medium.com/illumination/4-reasons-i-love-disney-pixars-soul-87f018d5168a | ['Ryan Dejonghe'] | 2020-12-26 14:17:47.378000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Mindfulness', 'Movies', 'Disney', 'Mental Health'] |
Marketing in Crypto: When brand? | Crystallize Your Positioning
Simply, anyone should be able to detect what is the specie you are. It is quite far for mass adoption if we can’t speak a real understandable language with an average Joe. But first, give yourself an answer — what do you do and why? It is easy to hit someone with a question "Why do you need a blockchain?" and watch them wither in a labyrinth of explanations. If you can’t find an argument WHY and WHAT — leave it. Freeze it, break it, burn it, kill it. No one said it’s easy. If you have this answer, you’re a winner (joke)!
Next step is to envelope your answer in 1–2 sentences. That will be your positioning which should transform into 1 comprehensive sentence, preferably as shorter as possible. That will be your key message, an essence of god's thought and the only thing that should stay in a memory of your victims (sorry, users).
In the market of uncertainty where near possible role is to be an altcoin (sometimes automatically turns out to be shitcoin tagged), find yourself a bigger cause of existence (I mean, for your cryptocurrency project, but don't forget to take care of yourself too).
Hint: Start from communication strategy if you feel lost. Not that I want to mess up the classical flow of strategy creation (business, marketing, communication, digital, then social media…), but this document is a fundamental guide about what you are going to say. Market, competition, audience, trends and problems analysis will be your analysis base. Gather insights. Look where you fit in. Make a value proposition for the end user. Find the right words to deliver it.
Warn: Don't fool people. If you don't fit the market need masking it with the help of cool words, upgrade your initial product idea first.
Power of Identity
All heil beauty comes in the form of identity! Well, we know communication is not only verbal but visual (and can be broadcasted via any other possible medium of informational exchange).
To my surprise, for many identity and branding are the same thing. This is just wrong. Without identity, actually, you can't proceed with branding. But the main confusion comes from another word — rebranding, which is a marketing strategy in which a new brand identity is created. Identity is a part of rebranding and depicts mental and functional associations with the brand. Wrapping up your assets via the creation of more emotional associations is branding. I like to compare the consonance of words "identity" and "entity", because it is really like creating one: giving a name and sound, shape, color, specific patterns and dedicated visual associations.
Filling up an identity brief once took around 5 hours for me. Basically, it is a great refining and detecting gaps tool. After you have an essential message for the audience, try to clearly define the next points (but not limited to):
What are your brand advantages for users? Find up to 3–5.
What exactly distinguishes your brand from the competition? 3–5 characteristics. If it is possible point to the main.
What are your brand values? Find up to 3–5.
Which words are forming your brand tag cloud? Does it sound like you want to look in ones eyes?
Hint: Semiotics is a science. Strive for scientific approach. You better be aware about the general identity creation process, but let this work for professionals to do. Keep yourself disciplined and independent from your inner hype. It’s not about you to like the final result, but the perception of end users. Handy to check it with focus groups.
Warn: Always check what is hidden beyond semiotics and meaning to avoid misunderstandings. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/marketing-in-crypto-when-brand-54317f0eb6a2 | ['Katoshi'] | 2019-02-10 15:33:03.466000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Marketing', 'Crypto Marketing', 'Branding'] |
On-Demand Handyman App Development Services in Singapore: Cost & Features 2019 | A handyman is a professional who is skilled to perform a wide array of home repair services, both interior, and exterior. Booking a handyman for small jobs is pretty tiring. A lot of times, they are quite negligent in their approach and don’t show up on the scheduled time or just don’t perform their jobs within the designated time frame.
So, if you wish to hire a handyman in Singapore for casual home repairs, you need to spare out some time from your busy schedules to ensure that these professionals work adequately. While the above claim may not be true for every occasion, yet it’s pretty much the complaint of several households around the world.
Thankfully, all this has changed for better since the arrival of digitalization and mobile applications. Today, you can come across many easily accessible on-demand handyman mobile application that offer excellent handyman services. These apps have majorly simplified the process of acquiring handymen services as well as their overall service standards.
On-demand handyman services are certainly the future. If you wish to be a part of this business, now is the time.
In this post, we will understand how a handyman app development service works along with some essential features. Let’s begin.
# How Does an On-demand Handyman Services App Works?
• Step 1- Customer asks for the service
You can request for any kind of service enlisted on the app, for instance, handyman services, electrician or plumber services, etc. Based on the request, you are offered a suitable list of service providers. You can check out the experience, pricing and customer satisfaction index of various service providers before choosing any particular one. After you have selected your preferred provider, you will have to wait for a confirmation from their side of the business.
• Step 2 — Job
After the service provider has accepted your job request, they will reach your specified location along with all the necessary tools to conduct the job. Before beginning the task, they will set a timer which will help to determine their charges for the job. It is important to note that the price charged by these service providers is calculated on an hourly basis. The cost per hour is largely determined by the service provider’s experience and ratings on the app.
• Step 3 — Completion of the job
Upon the completion of the job, the service provider will stop the timer and generate a final bill amount to be paid. All this is a very transparent process that takes place in front of the eyes of the customers. The cost of any spare parts, if used, will also be added to the bill amount.
The above discussion points out the efficiency and simplicity of using these apps to hire professionals for your home. If you are still not convinced, let us look at some significant benefits of using a handyman app service.
· To the customers, a handyman service app offers unparalleled ease. They can easily book the services of their chosen service provider with a few clicks on their mobile phone. This definitely saves them a lot of time and effort. On the other hand, the providers too can take up a job based on their availability and convenience.
· There are no unnecessary issues involving the payment procedure, all the transactions are simple and transparent. Additionally, the customers can opt for their preferred payment mode. They can either pay by means of an online transaction or through normal cash or card method.
· Leveraging the immense potential of these apps, the service providers can easily grow their business and expand their existing base of clientele without much efforts and money involved.
· Apps like handyman come with robust security features to ensure the protection of both the customers and the service providers. The app comes with an emergency button in case of any potential threat to either of the parties. Lastly, the two can be continuously monitored using location-based services to evade the chances of an accident.
# Significant Features of an On-demand Handyman App:
Moving on to the next section, let’s have a look at some of the significant features that must be included in an in-demand handyman app to offer complete ease.
• Choices: The users are offered with a list of service providers located in their area. They can evaluate and compare the ratings and prices of different providers to make an informed decision.
• Payments: If you are planning to build your own on-demand handyman services app, make sure that you integrate various payment options and gateways that are compliant with all the industry-standard safety features. Also, it is important that the payment procedure is simple so even the non-specialists can easily make a payment. Offering various payment options is no more a choice but an obligatory step to make users stick to your app.
• Booking: An on-demand handyman services app should allow the customers to quickly book the services of their chosen service provider. Apart from this, the customers should also be given the facility to pre-schedule or postpone their service timings based on their availability. This will make sure that the users enjoy a smooth booking experience. Therefore, options such as Book Now, Schedule, Check Availability and Book Later must be present.
• Real-time Tracking: This feature will allow the users to find out the location of the service provider in real-time. With the help of this feature, the exact arrival time of the provider can be ascertained by the users. This helps in improving the app’s security.
• Social Login & Signups: This feature allows the customers to quickly signup for your app using existing social media accounts.
• Panic Button (Service Provider & Customer): In an effort to enhance the app’s security, you can add the panic button feature to both — Service Provider & Customer module of the app. This button allows both the parties to quickly contact first responders in case something goes wrong during the job.
• Clear Pricing Options: The on-demand handyman service app you build should have clear pricing options. It should plainly show every small charge, estimate and withdrawal charges to the users before they proceed further with a provider.
Final Words:
It is important to note that app development is extensive as well as an expensive process. However, the final cost of your on-demand handyman app will largely depend upon the type of features and functionalities incorporated into it. The number of features will result in expensive software. Also, the cost differs across the world and each company has set its own rate that primarily depends upon two factors- the quality of work and the location.
We have done fair research and enlisted some of the most popular areas along with their labor costs per hour.
· U.S. based developers: — $50 to $250 per hour
· Eastern Europe based developers: — $30 to $150 per hour
· India based developers: — $10 to $80 per hour
Undoubtedly, India is the most feasible country for application development that offers skilled labour at the most inexpensive prices. But again, there are various other factors that control the cost of development. You can hire your preferred app development company to get an accurate analysis of the cost involved.
How much does it cost to create a Mobile App in Singapore? : Read More… | https://medium.com/hackernoon/on-demand-handyman-app-development-services-in-singapore-cost-features-2019-171058e9c31d | ['Octal Info Solution Pte. Ltd'] | 2019-07-25 06:52:50.542000+00:00 | ['Handyman', 'Handyman App Development', 'Handyman Services', 'Mobile', 'Mobile App Development'] |
3 Main ICO Risks and How to Avoid Them | Image: Unsplash
From January to October 2017 there were more than 200 ICO and startups who managed to attract about $3 billion in total. The reports and news on new ICO records continue to spread. However, despite these successful cases, highlighted in the media, there are many ICO failures, which are less talked about.
Let’s discuss 3 major risks in token sales and find solutions within the Lightcash project.
Legal issues
Despite the ICO madness and its effectiveness in raising capital, it is not always easy to use it in compliance with the different legal regulations. For example, many ICO organizers still prohibit the participation of US citizens.
This is due to the clarifications published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It was ruled that “in some cases” the token placement may be equal to the issue of shares, with appropriate consequences, like the registration of all the participants in the agency. The phrase “in some cases” means that each particular ICO is studied separately by the “Howey test.”
According to this test, the token placed by the company is considered to be a security if it meets three criteria:
A fact of investment. The investment is in a common enterprise. The profit is expected to be raised mainly due to other people’s activities.
Most ICOs are unable to pass this test. If the company, at their own risk, decide to allow citizens to place tokens — some problems may arise. For instance, in December 2017, the SEC blocked the ICO of the Munchee restaurant startup. This company planned to raise $15 million by its own token, MUN.
In its report, the regulator highlighted that the company not only planned to raise money for its own development and business, but it also promised the investors in its white paper that the token value would increase — the same thing the buyers of ordinary shares usually expect. As a result, Munchee was forced to finish the ICO and return all the money raised.
Every company needs to complete serious legal work to avoid getting into the same trouble. The amount of work will also increase if they are going to attract American investors. At the moment, Lightcash collaborates with leading American legal firms, assisting us to prepare all the necessary documentation. As a result, SEC compliance is expensive, but it’s the only way to be fully legally protected.
Security
Legal problems are not the only difficulties for ICO organizers. One of the most serious threats is cyber attacks. According to a study recently published by Ernst & Young, more than 10% of all the money raised by ICO was stolen by cybercriminals. Analysts studied 372 ICOs from 2015 to 2017. The monthly losses resulted from hacker attacks at the ICO were $1.5 million. Besides money, hackers often manage to access investors’ personal information: from their addresses and phones, to payment transaction data.
Hackers can attack ICOs in several ways:
Smart contract bugs : Essentially, it’s just a software, so its code may have bugs. If you fail to discover them — hackers will. Besides, smart contracts themselves stimulate the company to eliminate any bugs before the token sale launch. Otherwise it’s too late.
: Essentially, it’s just a software, so its code may have bugs. If you fail to discover them — hackers will. Besides, smart contracts themselves stimulate the company to eliminate any bugs before the token sale launch. Otherwise it’s too late. Related apps bugs : Beside smart contracts, any ICO may use a lot of other programs and apps. For example, a site where investors buy tokens lacking security, can lead to terrible consequences, even if the smart contract code has been carefully audited.
: Beside smart contracts, any ICO may use a lot of other programs and apps. For example, a site where investors buy tokens lacking security, can lead to terrible consequences, even if the smart contract code has been carefully audited. People are the weakest link: Phishing and social engineering allow attackers to infiltrate the corporate network despite its protection. Indeed, even if you use the most up-to-date tools of cyber protection, but someone from the team clicks on a link in the letter which containing malicious software sent by the hacker — this will bring trouble.
There are no completely secure systems, but it is at least crucial to minimize the risks of an attack during the ICO. First and foremost, an expert’s help is required for a information security audit and for permanent monitoring of the infrastructure. That’s the only way to minimize errors in software and identify bugs relating to hackers activity. For instance, our ICO partner is a Group-IB company. They dramatically increased the overall level of security in the Lightcash infrastructure.
Protecting investors from speculators
Prices movements is a common case on the cryptocurrency and ICO markets (pump and dump). In some cases, traders can collude and buy a certain cryptocurrency. Then they start a coordinated advertising campaign to promote their coin (for example, via Telegram chats). Some early ICO investors do the same. It helps them to raise the token price and then “reset” it on the secondary market. The centralization of large tokens volumes collapse the price and affects project perspectives. Such actions by malicious traders are another risk in the token sale organization.
There are various ways to deal with such schemes. One of them is a restriction on paid token issuing until the end of the ICO. The company can confirm the transaction with the investor by a special code in his account or otherwise. But the company won’t issue his tokens until the end of placement. Thus, the probability of spontaneous secondary market emergence is minimized to a zero level.
In addition, it’s reasonable to divide the issue of tokens into several stages and stimulate their reservation within the project, instead of their quick sale. For instance, in the case of Lightcash ICO, an additional issue of tokens will be carried out within 24 months at regular intervals after the end of token sale. A total of 30 million new tokens will be issued at each new stage. We’ll also provide token deposits with high interest rates.
Conclusion
According to Ernst & Young, the number of ICOs achieving their financial goals is decreasing. In June of last year, 93% of projects were successful, but in November — only 23%. This is due to an increase in the general number of ICOs and also to the risks of legal problems, hacker attacks, and token instability related to the activities of malicious.
To increase the number of successful token placements, the project teams need to pay more attention to the analysis of risks and management. Only a well-considered approach will has a greater potential to avoid these problems. | https://medium.com/lightcash/3-main-ico-risks-and-how-to-avoid-them-725b8c86e603 | ['Viacheslav Vokin'] | 2018-03-02 10:44:37.680000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'ICO', 'Ethereum', 'Startup', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
NANOWRIMO Tips and Tricks (Day Eighteen) | The Hero Loses Everything
This is the day that we are 3/5 of the way through with the novel. You are doing a great job, wherever you are.
Today is also the day where the hero is really close to losing everything. This is the day when he must find his way through a place in the storm and he must be ready to go. The winds are kicking up, the tiny boat is being rocked about in the stormy waves, there is no navigation or sonar anymore, the lights don’t work, the water is cold, there are sharks in the water, and the storm is going to get even worse in a few hours. It already looks terrible, but it is going to get worse.
The hero may even get to a place where he is about ready to commit himself to death. This is not the dark moment, this is not quite the end of the end, it is just the beginning of the worst time in the story for the hero. He can’t seem to get anything right and he is definitely ill-prepared for what is to come even though he (and maybe the audience) thought he was. It is bad news everywhere.
The hero should also become very concerned, so much so, that he might not be able to really know what to do or where to go next. He is forgetting his training with the mentor. He is not remembering what he learned, and he is not even using basic instincts to guide himself and his team through the treacherous dangers. This is terrible news for audience. The audience might even be screaming at the screen or screaming at the book at this point.
The hero is in trouble, big trouble, and nobody can seem to save him. This is a great time for a cliffhanger ending to the chapter where then we cut to the villain making his preparations to totally destroy the hero.
Whatever you do, make it terrible for the hero at this point. It still needs to get worse and it will, but it should signal to the audience that things are going bad…really bad.
At the end of the day, we should be at 30,000 words. This is a huge deal. You are doing great and you are really moving along. I am proud of you! | https://medium.com/nanowrimo/nanowrimo-tips-and-tricks-day-eighteen-f24b816716c7 | ['Chris Price'] | 2017-11-19 14:02:12.381000+00:00 | ['Novel', 'NaNoWriMo', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing'] |
Importance of Sampling in the Era of Big Data | At the same time, George Gallup was able to predict the winner by carefully obtaining a sample of about 50,000 people.
What can we learn from this?
Even if the data that you have is very “big”, it might represent only a part of the population and may not be representative of the whole!
In Literary Digest’s case, their mailing list was derived from telephone directories, magazine subscriber lists, club membership rosters and so on. Well…in the 1930s, telephones were a luxury, the country had been rattled by the Great Depression and economic issues were dominant theme of the campaign for a reason! There was a clear indication of selection bias against the lower income groups.
In machine learning, sampling bias will affect the performance of your model. In the training and testing phases, it’s important to ensure that the data sample reflects the same underlying distribution you’re trying to model.
Throwing computational resources (or money for that matter) at a problem may not always solve the problem
Time and effort spent on choosing appropriate sampling technique was more efficient rather than a brute force data collection of the entire accessible population. The focus should not be on increasing the sample size but reducing the sampling bias or other errors.
Sometimes, less is more!
It’s easier to control the quality of data when you have a limited amount of it. Spending time in getting to know your data and the context in which it has been collected is very important. Visualizing and examining data for outliers or missing values are important before running it through models. Also, its easier to catch errors in misclassification.
Which statistical concepts do you think are even more important in this time as we sit on more and more of data everyday? Feel free to comment below..
References : | https://towardsdatascience.com/importance-of-sampling-in-the-era-of-big-data-d2cf83e06c6a | ['Suraj Thatte'] | 2019-06-03 18:53:48.430000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Analytics', 'Politics', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
The Conscious Choice That Is Happiness | “Some believe in destiny and some believe in fate. I believe that happiness is something we create.” -Sugarland
I’m normally one of the most optimistic and positive people I know. Probably sickeningly so at times — not sorry! It took me a long time to get to where I am, and staying here isn’t always as easy as you might think.
I’ve read a few articles lately about how positivity is overrated— that being positive all the time really isn’t healthy and that we shouldn’t do it; seems many find that positivity is overrated (Some also say it’s not a real word, but that’s an argument for another day).
I actually agree, to a certain degree — we shouldn’t force the happiness, optimism, or positivity when we’re just not feeling it. But at the same time, we shouldn’t feel guilted into stuffing it back down if it comes naturally. Don’t fake having it, but also don’t fake not having it.
That being said, I’m not always positive. Just like anyone else, I have moments when I fall into a rut. A slump. I get really down on myself. Down on life in general. I let the monsters come out from under the bed. I allow fear, sadness, worry — even despair, to take control of me. I wallow. It’s not pretty.
In my teenage years, and up to my early to mid-twenties, I suffered quite a bit with depression. My smile, when present, was very rarely authentic. For a long time, my motto was ‘fake it ’til you make it.’ Well, I got sick and tired of faking it and made a decision: I wasn’t going to live like that anymore.
WAIT! Stop! Don’t go yet!
This is not where I tell you that depression is all in your head. I know first hand — and second and third hand — that it’s not. And I also know that for many, it’s not something that can be cured by simply making a decision. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing and needs to be given the credit it's due.
This is just me saying that it’s how I am (usually) able to kick it.
I’ve had to make it a conscious effort for a really long time. It’s never been easy, and I don’t think it ever will be. To this day, it still stalks me. I often feel the cold tentacles reaching and grabbing at my ankles. Other times, it likes to sneak up on me from out of nowhere, and for no apparent reason. Although I’ve never taken an anti-depressant, some days I feel like if I turn around quickly, I’ll see the little Zoloft bubble bouncing along behind me.
Most times, I can nip it in the bud quickly. But sometimes it’s more difficult and takes the help of a good friend — or even a perfect stranger — to say the right thing at the right time. It takes someone else to flip that switch in my brain — I can’t always reach it myself — back to ‘Happy Edie’ mode. The mode I’m best known for. At least in public.
“It’s okay to not be okay, when even the air you breathe is just too much for your lungs to take.” -Madeline Merlo
Give yourself permission
I think that as much as we want to be happy — as good as we feel when we are — sometimes we just need to allow ourselves to be sad. Embrace the dark for a moment. Tell yourself that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to feel the way you feel. Normal even, in many circumstances. Giving yourself permission might actually help you recover more easily. More quickly, and with fewer battle scars. When we don’t force happiness, and we let the darkness run its course, it might put up less of a fight.
I’ve found that whenever I try to force a positive attitude, it’s almost like I’m putting so much importance on the negative that instead of easing away, I’m inadvertently giving it more power. I get so laser-focused on trying to figure out why I’m not feeling my usual chipper self, that I ultimately give all of my energy to it, and there’s nothing left for the positive vibes to feed on.
All in the family
It’s been proven that people who tend to be prone to depression typically carry a gene that’s been handed down to them through a parent. But that’s not the only way depression is hereditary.
Doctor Michael J Meaney, Ph.D., of the Hope Through Research team, explains how although depression is a mental illness, it might also be a learned condition.
“A child not only inherits genes, he or she inherits a family. Very often families with mental or behavioral disorders are also families in which there exists a considerable amount of dysfunction. That implies the influence of environment as well as genes.” (Read his full article here, from Psychology Today)
When a child grows up seeing their parent in a constant state of despair, they learn to understand this as normal behavior. Children are impressionable creatures. They become what they learn through experience most of the time. We are a product of our environment. Sometimes changing the environment can change the product, but not always. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/the-conscious-choice-that-is-happiness-505a2e4e2783 | ['Edie Tuck'] | 2019-08-27 12:37:42.881000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'Mental Health', 'Mental Illness', 'Ignorance', 'Stigma'] |
Howto reinvent yourself and achieve your dreams | In 2016, a 48-year-old woman from Ethiopia wanted to try something new in her life. She had spent 20 years of her career defending clients as a defense lawyer at a law firm she worked. Lately, her heart had been calling out to her to try something new.
She decided to pursue a new career in cooking.
Nobody stood by her decision. In fact, many of her loved ones thought she was crazy to start something new at her age.
This woman is a mother, a daughter, a sister, and had a career in law. A lot of responsibilities and social pressure stood in her way of achieving her new goals in life. People she knew have never done what she intended to do. If you have a secure job, you keep it. You don’t do something stupid like starting from scratch in another new career.
She deafened her ears to the no-sayers. And started doing the work any new pursuit needs.
Four years later…
She makes the tastiest dishes I’ve ever tasted in my life.
You don’t know this woman. In fact, few people know this woman’s name. But she runs a successful traditional restaurant in Addis Ababa (the capital city of Ethiopia).
This woman is my neighbor.
If you taste one dish from this woman’s cooking, you would think she has been cooking all her life. When you taste her signature palate, something tingles in the middle of your spinal cord. Your mouth waters. Nobody would guess her cooking skills are only 4-years old. But that’s the beauty of reinventing your life at any age. If you have the guts to try something new and work at it, you’ll achieve your dreams.
If you’re not inspired by someone you have never heard of, here’s someone famous to inspire you to try something new…
Remember that guy who graduated from Harvard Medical School who abandoned his residency to pursue writing.
The world knows his name…
Michael Crichton.
He had graduated from Harvard Medical School. He had done a post-doctoral fellowship study at the Salk Institute for Biological studies. He had a lucrative career as a doctor and researcher.
And yet…
He ditched everything for the unpredictable life of an author.
Medicine was not the career he wanted. So, he quit. He did not let pride take away his dreams to become a writer. He didn’t want to be doing something he didn’t enjoy to preserve his pride.
He did not think he was too old to reinvent himself.
Result?
Michael Crichton was a best-selling author, a screenwriter, a film director, and a producer. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films.
Bookshelves would not have Crichton’s best-seller books if he had not dared to try something new in his life.
Your startup. Your dream career. Your new business. Whatever your heart calls out to you. It has a decent shot only if you have the guts to try something new and take a risk. Regardless of a secure job the medical industry could have given him, Crichton wanted something else. And he built it from scratch.
What about you, my friend?
Do you want to try something new? A new career path, perhaps? Or you want to move to another country and start all over again? Or maybe you’ve been thinking of pursuing a creative project? Do you have the guts to walk in a new direction? Do you have dreams that keep you awake at night? Do you get a gut feeling in your stomach that makes you restless? Do you yearn to do work that excites you?
For most of us, we buried our dreams for so long because we could not fight the inertia of life. In my case, I have always wanted to be a writer. But I had too many responsibilities to give writing a shot. I had a job where my boss kept even my weekends busy at work. I had a grandfather who was battling cancer for years to take care of. I had a boyfriend who wanted to spend every minute I had left from work and other responsibilities with him.
In all this business, pursuing something new had no chance.
But something more sinister makes us unwilling to fight the inertia of life. It’s not just that we have responsibilities and life gets in the way that we don’t dare to reinvent ourselves. It’s more complicated than that. We’ve an enemy that stands in our way of trying something new. This enemy does not look like an enemy. This enemy feels safe and puts a warm blanket around our shoulders every day.
We know its name.
It’s called comfort.
If you want to reinvent yourself and have the guts to try something new, you need to throw this warm blanket and get ready to get cold.
Think of a turtle pulling its head inside the shell.
As long as the turtle keeps its head inside its shell, it will never get cold. But this warm blanket will never give us the courage to try something new.
We have to fight this warm feeling.
For some of us, a warm blanket around our shoulders kept us from pursuing something new. We snuggled inside this comfort. This feeling felt satiating and kept us warm. Comfort zone is where you have everything you need and this feeling keeps you numb. Comfortably numb. You’re safe. You’re protected. Your high and fortified walls safeguard you from daring to reinvent yourself.
How nice it is to be so comfortable! Hmm! It feels romantically satiating to be inside your comfort zone, dreaming, hoping, wishing, wanting to reinvent yourself someday in your life.
For some of us, we did not dare to fight the inertia of life because our comfort zone kept us numb.
When you have a nice house and enough money in your bank account to take care of your basic needs, comfort whispers to you to snuggle in your warm blanket. No need to try something new. Why bother throwing your warm blanket when you could stay warm? When your job gives you security, comfort whispers to you to cling to this warm feeling. No need to think about changing your job and try something new. You have a secure job that keeps you warm. Keep it.
Most of us do not see the danger that lurks behind a comfort zone.
The danger of this warm feeling…
As long as you cling to comfort, you’ll never dare to try something new.
Comfort is a dangerous euphemism.
As long as you’re unwilling to walk in a new path, you’ll never know what you could achieve in the new path. As long as you’re unwilling to take a chance on what your heart desires, you’ll never know what you could achieve. As long as you’re unwilling to try something you’ve always wanted, you’ll never know how things might turn out.
The willingness to take risks and try something new starts when we start letting go of our comfort zone. To walk in a new direction, you need to throw away the warm blanket and be ready to get cold.
Why?
Because obstacles and challenges will stand in your new path. And you will feel cold. Really cold. Whether your new path is to start eating healthy, a new relationship, building a business or moving to another country, a thousand screaming arrows will be thrown at you.
That’s part of life.
For example: Let us say you have started eating healthy. A few days into your new habit, you find it hard to keep eating healthy. Or maybe you’re in a new relationship and things are going south with your new partner. Or perhaps you’ve started a new business and customers have not started buying your products.
What will you do when thousand screaming arrows are shot at you in your new path? Do you step forward? Or do you fall back on your comfort zone? Will you keep walking in your new direction or stop fighting to reinvent yourself?
The courage to keep walking in reinventing yourself lives in one place only…
You need to brave the boundaries of your comfort zone.
The woman I talked about at the beginning of my story is courageous and my hero.
She could have given in to comfort and forget about working at something new from scratch. Instead, she braved the boundaries of her comfort zone and started a new career at 48. She could have talked herself out of pursuing new dreams. She could have let her age stop her from pursuing a new path.
She didn’t.
When I met this woman in 2018, something in me woke up. I’m 29 years old. Why can’t I reinvent myself? Why can’t I start pursuing writing professionally? What’s stopping me from walking on a new path?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer. After talking for hours with my hero, I started writing in my spare time. I started cutting my workday short so I would have more time to write. Eventually, I was writing whenever I could find the time. When my friends wanted to hang out with me on weekends, I told them I was at work. My friends did not take my writing seriously, but I did. I started sending drafts to publishers every week and got rejected many times.
With the rejections came tears. Tears that blinded my eyes and urged me to give up on writing. That’s when I would visit my hero and had tea in her garden. This woman has achieved her new dreams at 48 years of age. I can do the same. I told myself every time I visited her.
The next day, I would get up and get back to work. I wrote for one year before a major publisher accepted one of my drafts.
When people see the success of my blog now, they assume I’ve been writing all my life. Nothing is further from the truth. I’ve only been writing since 2018. But I’ve been seriously honing my skills in this short time.
For most of us, the inertia of life holds us back. This is especially true when we’re living a relatively comfortable life.
A comfortable life can be a secure job where you feel safe. No, don’t talk to me about trying something new. I don’t want to know. I feel safe here. The voice inside your head tells you, you have grown to the maximum level. You have seen it all. Heck, you are the maestro. You are living your dream.
This voice does not want you to brave the boundaries of your comfort zone. It convinces you to put your life in a boundary, and you’re not supposed to brave outside of it.
But the thing is…
We need to brave the boundaries of our comfort zone and step outside.
That’s what the woman in my story did. Even though her husband complained she was spending too much time cooking, she never stopped. Even though some of her friends thought she was in a mid-life crisis, she never stopped. Even though the restaurant she opened did not bring customers in her first year, she did not stop. She took lessons on cooking. She got up early before everybody in her family woke up and practiced new dishes.
Despite the obstacles in her way, she kept learning culinary skills.
Most people in her position would let excuses get in the way.
You’re too old to pursue something new. You don’t have any skills. You’re a woman. You’ll never be successful. Even if you do, it’ll take you years to be successful.
Most people in her position would let life get in the way.
Listen to your loved ones when they tell you to stop pursuing your dreams. Your significant other needs you, how dare you spend time pursuing your dreams? Your family relies on you to do your job, how dare you leave your responsibilities?
Many excuses and life’s inertia kept knocking on her door intending to steal her new dreams. But she kept fighting against any obstacle that stood in her way and kept walking towards reinventing herself.
Braving the boundaries of your comfort zone is not just important. We need hunger to grow and thrive.
Hell, a thousand screaming arrows might shoot at you menacingly. But you have to fight them with everything you have got. How else are you going to achieve your new dreams? How else are you going to wake up every day and walk in your new direction? How else are you going to reinvent yourself?
Do you have the courage to start from scratch and reinvent yourself?
“Once I decided I’m going to pursue a new career in cooking, I got up every day and got to work.” I’ve written this statement from my hero in my notebook to remind myself of the work I need to be doing every day.
It’s easy to look at successful people who’ve reinvented themselves and claim that they are destined for success. But that’s not the truth. These successful people we admire fought the inertia of life and took the first step in a new direction they wanted. Then they got to work the next day. And the next. And the next.
It’s hard to work up the guts to try something new.
Nobody wants to feel stupid and start from the beginning all over again. But that’s how you do work that excites you. Be willing to look silly and make lots of mistakes. That’s how you learn.
Without a willingness to make choices and taking action, talent is meaningless. What matters is you choosing to do something different. To reinvent yourself. To pursue your new dreams. To do the work. To choose yourself.
So is pretty much every other goal worth fighting for.
And one more thing to remember…
Reinventing yourself is inconvenient.
You might have to stay at home and work on your creative projects, instead of hanging out with your friends. You might have to leave work early to learn a new skill you want to master. You might have to tell your loved ones you’re leaving your secure job to pursue a career in photography.
The process is inconvenient.
On top of the inconvenience, nobody is going to praise you for having the guts to try something. The people you’re close to might even call you crazy! No one might understand what you’re trying to do. But that’s okay. The only one who needs to understand why you’re reinventing yourself is you. You can be your own champion. | https://medium.com/an-idea/how-to-reinvent-yourself-when-youve-already-done-something-else-for-a-long-time-957c2d32d2f9 | ['Banchiwosen Woldeyesus', 'Blogger Ethiopia'] | 2020-12-22 17:05:08.129000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Life', 'Grit', 'Self', 'Psychology'] |
Unfinished To-Do List Getting You Down? Try This. | Unfinished To-Do List Getting You Down? Try This.
The trick involves moving the goalposts
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Daily to-do list got you down?
You’re not alone.
People approach the day’s tasks in many different ways, but one of the most popular is the simple, laundry-list style to-do list of tasks you’ve set yourself to accomplish by the end of the day. It doesn’t matter much what type of work you do or where. Office employees, freelancers, work-from-home warriors, and retail managers often start their day composing or reviewing their to-do list for the day — and finish the day growling at that same list.
The problem with the daily list
Huh… not everything was checked off, was it? That’s annoying.
This happens to me all too often.
I’m a freelance writer and book designer and am often working on several different projects at once. Many of these projects require updated information or elements from clients, so it’s actually not surprising that I don’t always get to check jobs off as “complete” at the end of the day.
Intellectually, I know I’ll eventually be able to check them off, but emotionally it can be a little disheartening. It gives the impression that, by the end of the day, I’ve not really done much at all.
Then I tried something different.
I got rid of my daily to-do list and replaced it with a weekly plan.
Photo by Renáta-Adrienn on Unsplash
The weekly list
At the start of the week, I list what work I have ahead of me — sometimes adding items as they come in during the week. As each job is completed, I check it off and really only review my productivity at the end of the week.
Where once I had a bunch of relatively short lists with maybe half the items crossed off by the end of the day, I now have a longer weekly list with nearly everything checked off.
By shifting my focus from daily productivity to weekly productivity, I’ve greatly improved my attitude about how much work I’m getting done and feeling better about things overall.
It may seem like a cheap morale booster, but there’s nothing really wrong with that. We could all use a boost at times, and every little bit helps.
The monthly option
If a weekly list is better than a daily one, then a monthly list must be better than a weekly one, right?
Let’s not get carried away. A weekly list is manageable as most people will be able to fit their tasks for a single week on a single page. If you go monthly, you’re just complicating things.
That said, I do feel I can recommend using a monthly planner to supplement your weekly to-do list. I used mine to record more long-term projects. This could include notes regarding jobs that span a couple of weeks to major projects lasting months. It’s an excellent way to get a sort of bird’s eye view of everything you’re doing.
I find it’s also a helpful place to drop in reminders of significant non-work-related tasks such as medical appointments or social events.
Photo by Elena Kloppenburg on Unsplash
Results may vary, so should your approach
Whenever I talk about something productivity-related, I always try to remind the reader that results will vary. My work experience is going to be different from yours. And vice versa.
With that in mind, if you’re finding your to-do list is causing unwelcome anxiety, try the weekly to-do list. Organize it in whatever way best suits your work and your approach to work. The same would go with the monthly calendar option.
There are a lot of planning books and guides out there, but I’ve found a blank notebook works best for me. I can set it up however I want, and I can change it whenever I need to. I use monthly planners with large pages and large spaces to write in.
That’s what works for me.
Be free to explore your options when whatever you’re currently doing isn’t working.
Find what works for you.
Cheers! | https://medium.com/the-innovation/unfinished-to-do-list-getting-you-down-try-this-98da0ac723b5 | ['John Teehan'] | 2020-11-27 16:23:35.694000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Advice', 'To Do List', 'Freelancing', 'Productivity'] |
To Be (On Time) or Not To Be | To Be (On Time) or Not To Be
Don’t let the curtain rise without us! | https://backgroundnoisecomic.medium.com/to-be-on-time-or-not-to-be-b34ba4bbc895 | ['Background Noise Comics'] | 2018-12-18 06:01:07.682000+00:00 | ['New York', 'Humor', 'Theater', 'Cómic', 'Television'] |
What Can Blockchain Projects Learn from Open Source? | What Can Blockchain Projects Learn from Open Source?
I’ve been involved with open source over a decade now. I’ve been part of small projects with innovative ideas which grew into large projects with solid communities. I’ve also witnessed how dysfunctional communities can suck the energy of projects for years. All that thanks to the open source development and collaboration. In recent times, I’m active on the blockchain space as well: reading, writing, and contributing to projects. And I came to the conclusion that blockchain projects are startups with open development and open business models. And to be successful, the first and foremost, blockchain startups have to learn how to build communities the open source way.
Open source code
One of the fundamental premises of blockchain is decentralization and giving control and data back to the user. Such decentralization cannot be achieved without transparency and openness. If the source code is closed, that is no different to the centralized closed systems of today. Without making the code open, there is no way to read and confirm that a system is doing what it is promising to do. There are projects that are trying to avoid it, but even they recognize that the code has to be open to a certain level at a minimum. For example, Hedera Hashgraph (which is technically not a blockchain project, but a similar class of software) has said the code cannot be freely distributed (forked), but it will be open for review. That proves our premise: blockchain projects, first and foremost are open source projects. Whether this can be classified as open source according to “The Open Source Initiative” is not in the scope of this article. The point is, if the source code is not readable/verifiable, there is no point in having something run on a non-trusted blockchain platform.
Open runtime
In addition to the source being open, what differentiates blockchain from non-blockchain open source projects is that fact that for the first the runtime is open as well. An open source project can be developed in the open, but then run and consumed as an open core, as a service, or as part of a closed system. Public blockchain (not looking into private ones here) are permissionless, anyone can join and leave a network, anyone can run a node or two. It represents a trustless and borderless runtime with open governance.
Open data
Another distinct aspect of blockchain is that blockchain projects in addition to the open source code, open runtime, also have open data. Anyone can fork the code (the client application), fork the data (the blockchain history) and start a new network. That ultimately makes blockchain projects the most open software systems ever existed. Open code, open data, open runtime, open business model, ensure openness in multiple dimensions.
Open business model
Blockchain startups are a very unique mix of open source development, and open value capture models, all blended into one at source code level. While a non-blockchain based open source project is typically used for creating value through collaborative development and open adoption, capturing value happens through a separate business model. The business model can be thought in advance or defined later such as SaaS, open core, subscription, etc. With the blockchain projects, the business model is described in a white paper, and the token model capturing value is implemented in the source code in advance. All that makes blockchain projects a unique blend of value creation and instant capture and distribution.
Why be so open?
Most of the blockchain projects are aiming to become some kind of platform or a hub with open standards and protocols that will attract and be adopted by the developers and consumed by users subsequently. The primary way these platforms and protocols attract developers is not through technical superiority over non-blockchain technology, but by the unique decentralization, characteristics achieved through openness in multiple dimensions. These platforms have to be open in order to become more attractive than the existing closed systems which already have all the developers and users on them. Being open is not only a prerequisite for its transparency, but also for its distribution and adoption. That is especially valid for projects which are aimed to be consumed as a platform or protocol by developers rather than end users. Open source is the primary way for developers to explore, learn and start using a project.
Isn’t “open” a weakness?
There was a time when being open source was considered a dangerous act as a competitor could copy and steal the code or the ideas. The recent times proved that being open source is the primary way for developer adoption, especially for developer-centric platforms, tools, and libraries. But as we have seen above, blockchain is also open runtime and open data as well. Which means anybody can fork the code and the data and start a parallel network. That makes a project vulnerable to even more kinds of splits/forks and value grab. And we have seen this happened many times with the forks of the most popular blockchain networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Yet, these projects are performing better than projects which are looking for ways to prevent forking but also lack the ability to attract followers. That is because being open is actually a sign of strength. If a network is so open and has survived forks and attacks, it makes its community only stronger.
We can observe the act of being open not only in projects, but also people and organizations. Today, people and organization rush into sharing and showing off their knowledge through open source code, conference talks, blogging, tweeting, etc. The innovation is happening so fast in certain areas that by the time somebody can understand and copy an idea, the inventor of the idea will have created the next one. And being a copycat in a winner takes all markets has a negative networking effect on community growth. In the journey to conquer the closed and centralized systems, being open is the primary weapon.
Hype is different than a community
I’ve seen many times, how successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) investors measure hype around a project for an early investment. Typically such a measure works only when the early investment is accompanied by an early exit. In practical terms that means identifying the most hyped ICO, and selling all tokens as soon as it hits an exchange. Measuring such a hype is done by simple statistics around Twitter followers, Facebook followers, Reddit subscribers, Telegram users, etc. These metrics have a little value for measuring a community strength for the following reasons:
Metrics are artificially inflated with fake accounts, paid followers, subscribers, etc;
The ICOs themselves run airdrops campaigns and distribute tokens for following, subscribing, joining, etc;
These are the wrong metrics for measuring a developer-centric community;
What I mean by the latter is that an open source project that is going to be used by developers (as a platform, protocol, whatever) should measure developer activity, rather than airdrop hunter activities. None of the actions mentioned above are building stickiness in a project community. In fact, all of these activities are purposefully skewing the community metrics using temporary incentives.
Community over market cap
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is one of the biggest and oldest software foundations, home of hundreds of popular open source projects. And there, we (I’m a member, committer, and PMC there) have a very fundamental belief that says: “Community over Code”. As a software foundation, we are all about code, and wouldn’t have a reason for existing without the code, but this slogan actually codifies how we do things, and how we go about decision making. ASF is first a home for communities rather than a repository for code. The code is the by-product of a good and healthy community. And we first try to grow healthy communities united around projects.
If we look for example how an ASF project measures its quarterly activity and progress, that is by the number of mailing list subscribers, emails sent, issues opened/closed, pull requests created/merged, software releases done, committers and PMCs voted for. The last one is a very important long term indicator for the health of a project measuring the ultimate level of commitment of community members to the success of the projects. If you look at these metrics, these are all about activities performed by technical people rather than temporarily incentivised airdrop hunters. These activities are harder to fake as they require doing something for the project (usually consuming brain power and time) rather than clicking a like/follow button which easier to outsource.
A blockchain project has a more complex ecosystem than an open source project alone. There are developers, but also miners (or their equivalent for running the network), investors, and eventually users. Measuring only the developer activity won’t be indicative enough for the full ecosystem, but focusing on the right metrics would be a good start.
In a similar spirit to the ASF’s “Community over Code”, I think the cryptocurrencies would benefit from “Community over Market Cap”. A healthy community is a far more important long-term measure than a temporary large market cap. The price of a token/coin and its market cap can be artificially manipulated or temporarily affected by a bear market. A strong and healthy community can hodl and survive ups and downs. An unhealthy community, without any stickiness to the project would fall apart anyway.
Building communities the blockchain way
Are there good examples of building stickiness and community around the new blockchain projects? I have seen a few projects that have recognized the importance of the community from the very beginning and approached their token sale completely uniquely. These projects aimed to familiarizing the prospective early investors with the project goals, white paper, mission and not only ask for money. There are definitely more examples, but the projects with unique token sale processes I have seen are the following.
DFINITY project had a registration process that cost close to 10$. Then they gave that money back in the form of a swag and a free t-shirt. But it was a good method to get rid of the people who are there only for the noise and not even willing to commit 10 bucks.
project had a registration process that cost close to 10$. Then they gave that money back in the form of a swag and a free t-shirt. But it was a good method to get rid of the people who are there only for the noise and not even willing to commit 10 bucks. QuarkChain ICO process had quiz with 25 not very simple questions. In order to join the token sale, one had to be part of their telegram channel from early days + have a good score on the quiz + pass the lottery. While the lottery and telegram channel components were already present in other ICOs at the time, the quiz actually forced candidates to find the answers in a short time, and learn about the project (that led to a blackmarket of quiz answers, but it was a nice attempt the least).
ICO process had quiz with 25 not very simple questions. In order to join the token sale, one had to be part of their telegram channel from early days + have a good score on the quiz + pass the lottery. While the lottery and telegram channel components were already present in other ICOs at the time, the quiz actually forced candidates to find the answers in a short time, and learn about the project (that led to a blackmarket of quiz answers, but it was a nice attempt the least). One of the best executions of community building during ICO phase has been of Mainframe. Mainframe run three crowdgift campaigns:
Proof of Being — where tokens where literally physically dropped from the air in certain locations around the world. To get tokens, one had to get to the meetup, meet the team and grab some tokens. Proof of Freedom — where participants had to answer the question why Mainframe mission mattered to them, and submit the answers in any form: tweet, blog post, audio, video, drawing, etc. I also took part in it by writing a blog post. Proof of Heart — where participants were asked to donate Ether which then went to a few non-profit organizations.
We can see how Mainframe used three different methods (each with its pros and cons) to build stickiness, awareness and community around its project and even managed to raise money for non-profit organizations.
Blockchain projects are especially sensitive to Metcalfe’s law and their value is directly proportional to the size of its community. A token not used by anybody is worth nothing. A platform without developers is a zombi platform. Building a community around the crypto project is as important as building the platform itself, if not more. While the crypto world knows how to raise money, the open source world knows how to build communities. They can learn something from each other.
Follow me on twitter for other posts in this space.
A shorter version of this post was originally published on Opensource.com under CC BY-SA 4.0. | https://medium.com/the-capital/what-can-blockchain-projects-learn-from-open-source-5177e36e8b11 | ['Bilgin Ibryam'] | 2018-11-20 09:34:15.587000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Open Source', 'Community', 'Development', 'Programming'] |
Hand-written Digit Recognition Using CNN Classification(Process Explanation) | Artificial Intelligence
“Artificial Intelligence is a branch of science which offers with helping machines discover solutions to complex problems in a greater human-like-fashion” (Sridhar, 2020). In different words, Minsky defines AI as “the science of making machines do things that would require Genius if finished by using men”.
AI is a concerted effort to apprehend the complexity of human ride in the procedure of information. This addresses now not only how to scientifically represent and use complex and incomplete data however additionally how to see (Vision), pass (robotics), conversation (natural language, speech) and apprehend (memory, thought, classification).
Problem Domain
Hand-written digit cognizance is the capacity of a PC system to apprehend hand-written inputs such as digits, characters, etc. from a extensive variety of sources such as emails, documents, images, letters, etc. This has been a problem of lookup for decades. Some areas of lookup consist of verification of signatures, processing of bank checks, interpretation of postal addresses from envelopes and many extra are turn out to be less difficult and extra handy through digit recognition methods. Several classification methods using Machine Learning have been developed and used for this purpose, such as K-Nearest Neighbors, SVM Classifier, Random Forest Classifier, etc., but these methods, whilst having the accuracy of 97%, are not adequate for real-world purposes.
In current years, the research community has been gaining significant interest in deep learning-based strategies to remedy a range of supervised, unsupervised and reinforced getting to know problems. One of the most regularly occurring and broadly used strategies is Convolution neural networks (CNN's), a kind of neural networks which can extract relevant features robotic-ally from enter information. Here, we will learn about the implementation of well-known MNIST facts set to predict and recognize handwritten digits the use of deep gaining knowledge of techniques and Machine Learning algorithms. This is not a new topic and the MNIST information set is nonetheless very common and essential to take a look at and affirm new algorithms after quite a few decades. The project requires a lot of libraries such as primary ML libraries, deep mastering libraries, EDA (Exploratory Data Analysis) and tensor-flow the place tensor-flow is used as back-end with keras at some stage in the development process.
Background
Generally Handwriting Character Recognition (HCR) is categorized into six phases which are acquisition of image, pre-processing of enter image, segmentation, feature extraction, classification and put up processing .
Block Diagram of Handwriting Character Recognition
A. Image Acquisition
The input photo is supplied to the consciousness gadget at the Image Acquisition stage. The input can be either in an photograph layout such as JPEG, BMT, etc., or a scanned image, digital camera, or any other gorgeous digital input machine or can be taken from the canvas on the person interface. B. Pre-Processing
The 2nd method, known as pre-processing, is the entry approach for personality cognizance and is very essential in finding out the focus quality. Preprocessing operates to normalize strokes and also to take away deviations that can minimize the accuracy rate. Preprocessing works usually on distinctive distortions such as irregular textual content size, missing points at some point of pen movement, jitters, left — proper bend and uneven spaces. C. Segmentation
Segmentation is used to transform the enter representation of many characters to the individual characters. The methods used are the segmentation of words, strains and characters. Typically, it is carried out by way of isolating a single persona from a word picture. In addition, the contents are processed in a way that is like a tree. In the initial scenario, the line histogram is used to phase the lines. After that, each level, the characters are retrieved by a approach known as histogram, and subsequently they are retrieved. D. Feature Extraction
The aim of the extraction characteristic is to permit the extraction of the sample that is most important for classification. Some of the Extraction Function techniques such as Principle Component Analysis (PCA), Scale Invariant Feature Extraction (SIFT), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Histogram, Chain Code (CC), Zoning and Gradient-based applied sciences can also be used to get rid of the traits of character characters. All of these functions are used to educate the system. Each of the segmented pictures is taken with a pixel of dimension 28* 28 .
By flattening the array into a vector of 28 * 28 = 784 numbers, the photograph now converges to a minimal bunch of arrays in a quite high-quality structure 784-cell dimension. The photograph now turns into a n dimensional array tensor. E. Classification
Decision-making takes vicinity at some point of the classification process. The extracted attributes are used to become aware of the characters. Different classifiers algorithms are used, such as SVM and Neural Networks. The classifiers sort the precise input function with reserved sample and find the best matching input classification for which Soft Max Regression is being used. Soft Max regression assigns each result with the probability so classification will become easy. This essentially incorporates all the proof this obtains through using components and then transforms it into the conceivable chances . F. Post-Processing
The Post-processing is the last and ultimate phase of persona recognition. It is the procedure whereby herbal language is used to right the misclassified output. It procedures output by means of getting it after a recognition of the shape. If the shape is diagnosed basically then the accuracy can be increased in accordance to language knowledge. For exclusive handwriting inputs, shape recognizers behave differently.
Since 1998, researchers have been learning the hassle of handwritten digit focus with almost all the algorithms developed with the aid of then and even up till now. The rate of test blunders reduced from 12% in 1988 per linear classifier to 0.23% in 2012 through Convolutionary networks, and extra and extra facts scientists and computer studying experts are attempting to increase and validate unsupervised getting to know methods such as auto encoders and deep getting to know models.
The MNIST database consists of 70000 handwritten digitized numerals dispensed in ten different classes. For training purposes, the entire dataset is divided into 60,000 images, and the ultimate ten thousand is reserved for the check collection. In this work in the interval[0,1], the gray level values of every pixel are coded the use of a price of 0 for white pixels and 1 for black pixel.
In the MNIST dataset, the records is already properly prepared: the pics have been founded in a 28x28 picture by computing the core of the pixel mass and translating the picture to role this point at the core of the 28x28 field. The coaching set consists of 30,000 patterns from SD-3 and 30,000 patterns from SD-1 and the take a look at set consisted of 5,000 SD-3 patterns, and 5,000 SD-1 patterns
Sample Dataset
Methodology(Using CNN Classifier)
Handwritten digit identification has come to be a subject of hobby among researchers. A giant variety of papers and articles about this situation are being posted in these days. It is proven in lookup that Deep Learning algorithms such as multilayer CNN the use of Keras with Tensorflow grant the absolute best accuracy compared to the most normally used machine getting to know algorithms such as SVM, KNN & RFC (Siddique et al., 2019). Because of its very best accuracy, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is being used for this project.
One of the earliest rankings was posted with the aid of (Lecun et al., 1998) themselves, which includes references up to 2012 (Baldominos et al., 2019). “It can be effortlessly validated that the early computer getting to know techniques used by way of (Lecun et al., 1998) protected linear classifiers (whose error rate stages from 7.6 to 12%), K-nearest neighbors procedures (K-NN, ranging from 1.1 to 5%), non-linear classifiers (about 3.5%), help vector machines (SVM, from 0.8 to 1.4%), neural networks (NN, from 1.6 to 4.7%) and convolutional neural networks (CNN, from 0.7 to 1.7%)”. It is notable that the additional facts results, are higher carried out through a Convolutionary neural network besides distortion or preprocessing in (Lecun et al., 1998) used to be 0.95% (Baldominos et al., 2019).
CNNs are beneficial mannequin category for both supervised and unsupervised gaining knowledge of paradigms, the place K-NN is used for unsupervised learning, and SVM is used for supervised learning. The supervised getting to know mechanism is the one the place the system enter and outputs (true labels) are identified and a mapping between the two is discovered. In the unsupervised gaining knowledge of mechanism, the proper labels for a given set of inputs are no longer known, and the mannequin ambitions to estimate the underlying distribution of data sample inputs (Khan et al., 2018).
The points of Convolutionary neural networks, together with the capability to extract information from multidimensional sources, provide them with a very useful option for solving laptop vision problems. Since the assignment is about extracting the elements from an photo and is associated to computer imaginative and prescient problems; hence, convolutional neural community is used (Baldominos et al., 2019)
To recognize the handwritten digits, a seven-layered convolutional neural community with one input layer accompanied by hidden layers and two output layer is designed and illustrated below.
CNN Architecture
Algorithm
CNN object classification mannequin takes, analyzed and classifies an enter photo which in our case is digits under a positive category. Deep learning allows CNN fashions to be skilled and tested. photograph is transmitted via a collection of filters (kernels), pooling and Fully connected convolution layers and makes use of Softmax to classify an object with probabilistic values between zero and 1.
A CNN consists of a lot of layers. These layers when used repeatedly, lead to a formation of a Deep Neural Network. The fundamental types of layers used to build a CNN are:
1. Input
This layer holds the uncooked pixel values of photograph and convert it to grayscale pics using 28x28 matrix of pixels.
2. Convolutional Layer
This layer gets the effects of the neuron layer that is linked to the enter regions. The wide variety of filters to be used in this layer is described here. Each filter may additionally be a 5x5 window that slider over the input records and receives the pixel with the most intensity as the output.
3. Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) Layer
This layer applies an thing smart activation function on the picture records and makes use of again propagation techniques. ReLU function is utilized in order to preserve the equal values of the pixels and not being changed by means of the returned propagation.
4. Pooling Layer
Down-sampling operation along the spatial dimensions (width, height), resulting in volume is utilized in this layer.
5. Fully Connected Layer
This layer is used to compute the score instructions that potential which class has the maximum score corresponding to the enter digits. The category label with the largest likelihood is chosen as the ultimate classification from the network and proven in the output.
Implementation
A. Tensorflow
Tensorflow is used as backend in the application of this project. TensorFlow is an brilliant records circulation in the Machine Learning Library made by means of the Google Brain Team and made open supply in 2015. It is designed to ease the use and greatly relevant to each numeric and neural gadget troubles simply like different spaces. TensorFlow is essentially a low-level math-entangled tool that pursuits experts who apprehend what they’re doing to construct exploratory studying structures, play around with them, and turn them into running programs. For the most part, it can be considered as a programming context in which equations can be entitled as graphs. Math things to do are spoken by using nodes in the graph, and the edges include the multidimensional facts clusters (tensors) linked to them. B. Python
Python is used for the duration of the implementation of assignment the place several traces of code had been brought in order to accomplish the assignment requirements. Python is typically used globally, and is a high-level programming language. It was once implemented in particular for application dominance, and its language shape allows software program engineers to carry thoughts in fewer traces of code. Python is a programming language which gives the chance to work shortly and more correctly organize frameworks. C. Anaconda
Anaconda is used as IDE all through the implementation of the project. Anaconda is a free and open-source appropriation of the Python and R programming for logical figuring such as statistics science, AI applications, instruction of large-scale information, prescient investigation, etc. Anaconda accompanies over 1,400 programs just like the Conda package and digital surroundings director, Anaconda Navigator, so it takes the want to determine out how each library can be freely added. D. Keras
Keras is used to build model to arrange the layers in the course of the implementation of this project. Keras is a high-level neural community API written in Python that can run on top of TensorFlow, CNTK, or Theano. It used to be developed with a focal point on allowing for quickly experimentation. The key to doing true lookup is being capable to go from notion to result with the least delay viable.
Keras approves for handy and speedy prototyping (through person friendliness, modularity, and extensibility). Similarly, it supports each convolutional networks and recurrent networks, as properly as combinations of the two and runs seamlessly on CPU and GPU. E. NumPy
NumPy is used for mathematical calculations to print out the predict records in this project. NumPy is the core bundle with Python for scientific computing. It is a versatile sophisticated (broadcasting) with N-dimensional array object characteristic software program for combining C / C++ and Fortran code, advantageous linear algebra, Fourier transform, and random number capabilities. F. Matplotlib
Matplotlib is used to plot model accuracy and loss in a graphical view in this project. Matplotlib is a Python 2D plotting library that produces pleasant figures for the publication throughout platforms in a variety of hardcopy formats and interactive environments. Matplotlib can be used in Python scripts, Python and IPython shells, Jupyter notebook, Web software servers, and four interface toolkits for graphical users.
Achieved Results
At first, required libraries and packages are imported during the implementation of project.
Then, object of the MNIST dataset is created and later loaded through the help of Tensorflow backend using Keras. After that, total number of train along with their dimension and test data set is printed out in order to view total number of elements present in the dataset.
After the dataset is loaded, one of the images from the training dataset is loaded and displayed in gray scale format by using matplotlib library.
Then the training and testing data sets are normalized where image data values are converted in terms of 0 and 1.
After normalizing the data, a CNN model is created using keras library. Then the Flatten layer is added into the model. Then after, input and hidden layer followed by output layers are built using CNN algorithm.
After building the model successfully, model is compiled using Adam optimization algorithm where this algorithm is used for training Deep Neural Networks (DNN).
After compiling the model, model is fit to train data train and training is started using train data set, due to which cross entropy loss and accuracy of the model can be achieved while training the data from dataset.
After the completion of training of the data set, performance of the model is evaluated using test data set, as well as accuracy and loss of data set is achieved.
After evaluation of model, prediction of the model is made using test data set.
Then, predicted data is printed and displayed using the index of the array.
After the test data of the model is predicted, all available test data set (Image) in the trained model is reshaped to width and height of 28 respectively.
After the image is re shaped, one of the images followed with its label from the test data set is displayed using matplotlib library.
Then, graph is plotted to measure accuracy of the built model using train and test dataset.
Then, graph is also plotted to measure loss of the built model using train and test dataset.
After that, image is plotted in gray scale view followed with their predicted label, true label and accuracy. Color is also defined in the class to segregate the expected result outcome.
Since, the data set is too huge, it will be difficult to display the whole data set images. So that, number of rows and columns is assigned to display the limited images from the data sets.
Final Result
Conclusion
The project of the undertaking is just to create a model which can recognize the digits using MNIST datasets however it can be prolonged to letters and then a person’s handwriting. It can be used by countless organization, schools, banks and even for family activities.
Handwritten digit focus will be beneficial for government bodies or any different organization to identify citizenship identification range which helps in automation. Likewise, license card quantity of any individual can be diagnosed thru this system. Similarly, it can be used for academic reason the place student can learn and recognize the real world solution making use of this system. Similarly, postal addresses, bank cheque digit consciousness can be made less complicated thru automation the usage of this system. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/hand-written-digit-recognition-using-cnn-classification-process-explanation-f6d75dcb72bb | ['Anmol Adhikari'] | 2020-08-22 16:23:15.073000+00:00 | ['Digit Recognition', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Convolutional Network'] |
Flutter vs React Native vs Xamarin for Cross Platform Development | Cross platform app development frameworks allow you to run the same code on different operating systems. In this article, we examine why you might choose developing cross platform mobile apps over native development, technologies for cross-platform development, and how these technologies compare to each other.
Namely, we compare Flutter vs React Native vs Xamarin — three of the most popular mobile app cross platform frameworks. We want to consider their structure, tooling, and the kind of applications you can develop with them.
Why choose cross-platform development?
Cross-platform development tends to get a bad rap for a number of reasons. Until very recently, there weren’t any adequate technologies for cross-platform development, and the ones that were available simply weren’t good. They limited developers’ abilities and took a serious toll on application performance — sometimes so much so that the hassles of cross-platform development could no longer be justified.
But despite the drawbacks, people continued choosing cross-platform development over native development because it can offer a number of benefits:
Shortened development cycle. With cross-platform development, it’s possible to share up to 96% of code across several platforms. Naturally, this results in a much shorter development cycle: instead of developing two separate apps you only develop one, then share that code among operating systems, making platform-specific adjustments as necessary.
Cost efficiency. Cross-platform development is undoubtedly cheaper: you pay fewer developers for fewer hours of work, and for many startups that seals the deal.
Smaller team. Cross-platform development requires fewer developers because you don’t need to hire separate teams with iOS and Android-specific knowledge.
Simplified testing process. A smaller code base needs fewer tests and allows QA engineers to spend more time on each element of the application, resulting in higher quality test coverage.
Cross platform mobile development comparison
As you can see, it’s not difficult to explain the need for cross-platform development. Now let’s review the capabilities of Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin.
Xamarin
Xamarin is a cross-platform framework with C# and native platform libraries wrapped in a .NET layer. The technology consists of three main components: Xamarin Platform, Xamarin Cloud, and Xamarin Insights.
Xamarin Platform is considered the most important element of Xamarin, offering APIs, controls, runtime engines, encryption, authentication, virtual machines, and much more. Xamarin Cloud provides an automated testing platform for assuring your product’s quality on a variety of devices. Xamarin Insights is a monitoring tool that helps developers track application crashes and exceptions.
ADVANTAGES
Performance comparable to native apps. C# is a multi-paradigm programming language and a strong contender to the languages normally used in mobile development, allowing Xamarin apps to stand tall alongside applications developed in Objective-C, Swift, Java, or Kotlin.
Hardware consistency. The variety of APIs available to Xamarin developers allows for integration with many native hardware components, improving the user experience.
Xamarin.Forms. This technology allows developers to write UI code that can be shared between Android and iOS applications with a toolset of more than 40 controls and layouts that map to native controls during runtime.
MVC and MVVM architecture compatibility. Xamarin supports implementation of two popular architecture patterns: Model–View–ViewModel (MVVM) and Model–View–Controller (MVC). MVVM is good for creating different processes with the same codebase, while MVC helps separate application logic and presentation, accelerating the development process.
Offline application support. Because of its cloud and data synchronization features, Xamarin allows for applications to work offline — an ability that used to be limited to native apps only.
DISADVANTAGES
Operational overhead. When creating with Xamarin, developers need to link and reference code between several operating systems and .NET frameworks. This negatively affects application startup and download times, making the app experience less pleasant for the end user.
Time-consuming UI development. Although Xamarin.Forms allows sharing of some UI components, there are still some components that have to be developed for each platform individually. Although in some cases it’s better than writing the UI from scratch, the UI development process with Xamarin remains trying and time-consuming.
Complexities with code support. Although there are many professional .NET developers out there, Xamarin also requires additional familiarity with native mobile development, frameworks, and architectures. This is a difficult combination of skills to find, since not very many developers want to learn two very different programming paradigms. As a result, you might have a difficult time finding professional developers to support, fix, update, or further develop your application.
Everything depends on the application. Regardless of how much Xamarin code you can share between platforms, developers will always need to write native code for platform-specific customization. Not only might this be an issue in terms of cost and finding appropriate developers: a combination of Xamarin and native code will also result in large file sizes, which will harm application performance.
React Native
React Native is an open source mobile development framework for cross-platform mobile development. It allows you to develop iOS and Android applications with JavaScript and a handful of native component APIs.
ADVANTAGES
Native UI. Unlike some other cross-platform development frameworks, the React Native framework implements a selection of native UI components. This means that applications will look like native apps. If done correctly, a React Native app is hardly distinguishable from a native app.
Simplified development. Native mobile development implements the imperative programming approach, where developers need to strictly define a sequence of actions that describe how the application works to create a user interface.
With React Native, developers can use declarative programming, outlining only what the program has to do and not how it should be done. Declarative programming makes for simpler code and easier coding, which also means that the end product will be easier to maintain.
Modular architecture. React Native supports architecture modularity, which allows separating application code into several independent blocks. This results in flexible development, making it easy to upgrade and update the end product.
Ready-made solutions and libraries. Because React Native has been around for quite a while, developers have had time to build a variety of tools and libraries to automate and aid most routine processes. There are testing frameworks, tools for type checking, technologies for workflow setup, and so on. This means that developers will have an easier time solving tricky or mundane issues and have more time to spend perfecting the product.
Third-party support. Because the development community has endorsed the benefits of React Native, many third-party services have created APIs and plugins for React Native applications. There’s third-party support for maps, payment systems, graphics, and more.
Hot reloading. When developing a mobile application, it’s useful to look at the actual app often (possibly after every single change made to the code). Hot reloading, a feature present in React Native, allows developers to immediately see changes they make to the code whenever they’re saved.
Great community and ecosystem. There’s a substantial community around React Native, which is an open-source platform. A good community is an advantage because it means that developers are less likely to get stuck since there’s always someone to come to for help.
DISADVANTAGES
Application performance. Because cross-platform applications aren’t fully aligned with the device’s hardware, their performance is worse than that of native apps. The reason is that there’s a JavaScript bridge between the React Native application layer and the hardware components, and each interaction with the device has to pass through that bridge. The more interactions there are, the worse application performance is. To preserve app performance, developers must minimize application-device interactions, which basically means that the app has to remain as simple as possible without any over-the-top hardware interactivity.
Possible need for native developers. React Native is a great cross-platform framework, but it has its limitations. When you encounter one of those limitations and there’s not yet a React Native solution, it’s necessary to involve native developers — sometimes so much so that it becomes impossible to justify using React Native in the first place.
Inability to deal with complexity. React Native is good for simple applications but isn’t so good for apps with many screens, interactions, transitions, and complex animations.
Initialization. React Native applications take longer to start up, even with higher-end devices, because the JavaScript bridge also takes time to initialize.
Native understanding. When looking for React Native developers, you should also be looking for someone who has experience in native development. Otherwise, the already limited possibilities of React Native will become even more evident since the team won’t be able to understand complex solutions to challenges involving native hardware that other developers have already created.
Native platform updates. To stay relevant, Google and Apple have to constantly keep adding new features to their platforms. Although the React Native team has been trying their best to keep up with new hardware features, it still takes a lot more time to develop a React Native app than it would to develop a native solution. Thus, your React Native app is likely to lag behind with each new hardware update.
Flutter
Flutter is considered the best tool for cross platform mobile development. It’s developed and supported by Google. Flutter uses Dart and a collection of native widgets to create stunning cross platform apps.
ADVANTAGES
Application performance. Flutter uses Dart, an ahead-of-time (AOT) compiled language that allows the application to directly communicate with the native platform as opposed to passing through a JavaScript bridge like in React Native. This allows developers to build complex applications without affecting performance and startup times.
Hot reload. This feature allows developers to rebuild the application instantly, as if it were a web page. Moreover, Flutter’s hot reload is stateful, which means that developers don’t need to restart the application every time they change something — it just picks up where it left off. That makes Flutter design visible right away.
A full set of unique widgets. Flutter doesn’t rely on platform-specific UI components. It has widgets of its own. The framework implements Material Design widgets for Android and offers Cupertino widgets for iOS, but you don’t have to be strict with what goes where: Cupertino widgets will look and work amazing on Android and vice versa.
Flutter also implements Skia, an open-source 2D graphics library, for rendering the framework’s built-in UI component library.
Everything is a widget. In Flutter, every single element on the screen is a widget, which greatly simplifies application layout. Each separate widget specifies its own layout model, as opposed to having a single set of rules for all widgets. Because Flutter’s layout is relatively small, it’s easier to optimize, and because every UI element is a widget, the whole application layout becomes easy and comfortable to handle.
Number of packages available. Although Flutter is young, developers all over the world have been really excited about what it brings to the table. Therefore, there are already many packages available for Flutter, including tools for handling images, HTTP requests, WebSocket connections, various net protocol clients, push notifications, and embedded databases as well as for accessing device sensors and cameras.
Device compatibility. Flutter’s native widgets allow applications to remain compatible with operating system versions starting from iOS 8.0 and Android Jelly Bean. Whenever Apple or Google comes up with a new widget, it won’t break your application from the outside because Flutter doesn’t touch native platform widgets.
DISADVANTAGES
Immaturity. The first and largest disadvantage is how young the framework is. Although Flutter was announced ready for production use in May 2018, it needs to mature. There’s no way to know for sure whether the framework is going to succeed, and hence no way of knowing where apps developed with Flutter today will be five years from now.
Third-party support. We mentioned that Flutter already boasts an impressive collection of framework-based tools and libraries. However, there are still many third-party services that haven’t started supporting Flutter, including payment systems, tax automation software, and even Apple and Android TV. Many tools are now being developed and many more are yet to be developed, but it will definitely take time before Flutter catches up with React Native in terms of tooling and package availability.
Application size. Because there’s no bridge between the Flutter app and the device and all UI components belong to the application directly, Flutter apps end up being quite large. The average Flutter application weighs in at about 4.7 MB, which is substantially larger than most native applications. For example, Android native apps start from 1 MB.
Mobile application development platforms comparison
Now that you’re equipped with all the information you need, you can determine the best way to develop cross platform mobile apps in your case. You can choose either Flutter, Xamarin, React Native, or a native mobile app development framework.
Develop a cross-platform application with SteelKiwi
If you want to know how to develop cross platform mobile apps that perform well, you’ve come to the right place. We can give you more insights on Xamarin vs React Native vs Flutter. We’re already developing a number of mobile applications with Flutter and are proud to share our expertise with Flutter mobile development.
Contact one of our sales representatives today to start discussing your application idea. Also, take a look at the SteelKiwi projects page to learn more about the amazing applications we’ve already developed. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/flutter-vs-react-native-vs-xamarin-for-cross-platform-development-5f92cfb178ff | ['Steelkiwi Inc.'] | 2019-04-17 16:51:55.495000+00:00 | ['React Native', 'Flutter', 'Mobile', 'Mobile App Development', 'Xamarin'] |
Case Study: FUTURE READY SCHOOLS — Custom Educational Software | Custom educational software for executive administrators to plan students’ learning environment.
Project Summary
The Future Ready Schools Interactive Planning Dashboard is a reporting & planning tool for our nation’s Superintendents and their teams.
Challenge
With about 30 days notice, hit a hard deadline to deploy an interactive planning tool that:
Automates retrieval of data from a 3rd party survey system API from Verint
Enables administrators to define report logic
Provides administrators a CMS for general website content
Delivers users a sophisticated reporting system that summarizes survey responses
Enables users to create action plans in response to the reports
Solution
With highly focused and organized project management, coordinate a team of 4 developers in an agile process, to build interdependent components of the system in parallel, gluing them together and rapidly refactoring through a series of weekly sprints.
Flex with the client as requirements rapidly evolve… work nights and weekends if you have to… near immediate responsiveness.
Results
A delivery right on the money, of the highly functional system as originally imagined, in time for the initial convention. A warm reception from stakeholders, and many satisfied users.
Interact with Us! → Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
See our latest and most read stories on our new Medium publication, Endertech Insights ! | https://medium.com/endertech-insights/case-study-futrue-ready-schools-custom-educational-software-9ed586875bcd | [] | 2017-10-03 18:37:31.368000+00:00 | ['Content Marketing', 'Development', 'Developer', 'Tech', 'Education'] |
What Works for Achieve Fitness Co-Founders Lauren & Jason Pak: Establishing Authority With Standout Social Media Content | The Nitty Gritty
How Lauren and Jason Pak, cofounders of Achieve Fitness, use their Instagram to educate and inspire their audience — and why they chose Instagram as Achieve Fitness’ main marketing platform
What their weekly social media schedule looks like and how they plan, create, and edit that content
How the first four years of business helped the duo master the day-to-day operations and why they now feel confident to delegate to team members
What their strategy for hiring new team members looks like and how they infuse empathy and kindness into everything they do, including weekly team meetings
Lauren and Jason Pak are the co-founders of Achieve Fitness, a gym based in Boston, Massachusetts. While personal fitness is what they do, their why is even more compelling. This husband-wife team set out to change the industry: they want to make the fitness industry a more approachable and positive place to be.
While the pair got into personal training by accident in 2007, their approach to growing their business is anything but accidental. They’re extremely intentional about their core values and building that into everything they do at Achieve Fitness, from planning and creating Instagram posts to hiring new coaches.
Listen to the entire episode to hear more from the Paks and definitely check out their 5 Year Business Anniversary video on YouTube to see their story in action.
We release new episodes of What Works every week. Subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode.
Translating your core values into your social media content
“It’s our mission not just to change our gym and our area but we really want to change the way that the fitness industry approaches helping people. We felt like, especially on social media, a lot of what happens is trainers trying to show off what they could do in order to impress other people. What was actually happening was they were intimidating other people.” — Lauren Pak
Lauren and Jason were frustrated by the fitness industry. To them, it felt unapproachable and inaccessible — and they saw that same theme extend to social media. The majority of posts that they saw were trainers showing off — and in a way, they felt, making fitness intimidating for others.
When it came to crafting their own social media presence, they decided to do things differently and made it easier for people to feel that being healthy and fit was possible for them.
“We really had to take a step back and say: are we doing this for other coaches? Or are we doing this to make a positive impact on the industry? That means we need to simplify things and make it much more approachable and much more accessible,” Jason said.
Planning a weekly social media strategy
“We’re spending about 15–20 hours on social media creation so it’s pretty much a part-time job. We were only recently able to get involved with it since we were able to develop a really strong team at the gym.” — Jason Pak
For the first four years of business, Jason and Lauren were deep into the day-to-day necessities. But now that they’ve hired out some of those responsibilities, they have more time to translate their vision into Instagram content that attracts a worldwide audience. You can see their entire Instagram feed by clicking here.
At the heart of what they post is the desire to educate people. They schedule in a weekly meeting where they plan the content for the week, including taking photos and videos. Then, they post videos and demos, with a focus on proper form, like how to improve their pull ups or deadlift without hurting their back.
But they don’t just show how to do exercises properly — they also write a long description. “It doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong if you’re doing it this way,” Lauren says, “it’s just that you can tweak it to be better, you can improve your form, and you can hopefully not injure yourself with this type of movement if you do it this way instead.”
Infusing your values during hiring and developing a team
“Our interviews are not: what was your degree, what is your experience with coaching, because we know we have the experience to be able to teach them those things. The questions are more about: who are you as a person? Do you align with our core values? Are you going to be a positive, friendly face when somebody walks in the door? Are you going to be inclusive, supportive person? Those are the questions that we ask in different ways to get a really good sense of who they are at their core so that we know they’re going to be a good fit for the team.” — Lauren Pak
As you’ve read, Lauren and Jason care deeply about helping others. That core value is embedded in everything they do down to how they hire team members. As Lauren shares, they aren’t worried about hiring experienced coaches: instead, they want to find kind people who fit their company ethos and mission.
Today, the Achieve Fitness team consists of four full-time coaches, an office manager, two part-time coaches, and four front desk and Shake bar enthusiasts. And they don’t only hire according to their values — they also develop their team in the same way.
For example, every team meeting begins with feel-good moments from the week. “The first thing is never going to be: here what we need to do better because our numbers are down. It’s more like: what happened this week that made you feel really good?”
And every team meeting ends with a team high five. Together with their team, Jason and Lauren are transforming their local community for the better through their gym, hand in hand.
Hear more from Lauren and Jason Pak on this episode of What Works. | https://medium.com/help-yourself/what-works-for-achieve-fitness-co-founders-lauren-jason-pak-establishing-authority-with-f9c1d323fd5d | ['Tara Mcmullin'] | 2018-06-19 16:23:33.461000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Fitness', 'Small Business', 'Social Media'] |
A Film Lover’s Perspective on Finding Hope, Solace, and Answers during the COVID-19 Times | Some Thoughts on the Power of Film in Normal and Troubled Times and What Can Be Done to Help the Movie Industry in the Future
Photo: Consequence of Sound
It’s no secret that life hasn’t been normal for quite some time. In general, this comes from the presence of the coronavirus and its frightening impact on businesses, social life, and the regular routine of how people used to interact with each other, in general. This virus has radically affected everyone in one way or another. As for everyone else, it’s been pretty difficult for me in several ways.
Without being able to work right now, I’ve resorted to different ways of trying to cope or distract myself from the strange, sometimes incredibly saddening circumstances, including connecting with some friends and loved ones via messaging or Zoom, or finally reading a number of books that aren’t quite complete. While this can be helpful to varying degrees, I can still sometimes feel uneasy. My sleep schedule has seriously been derailed for weeks with me remaining restless in the late night and often not falling to sleep until 3 or 4 AM. Part of the explanation from this might come from me not being able to see my friends and loved ones, some of whom I consider family outside of my biological family, face-to-face. I, of course, haven’t even mentioned the saddening mood brought on by the media in the previous weeks about one report after another describing the rising statistics of those either infected or dead from this virus. The mood from all of this feels like a never-ending sensation of sadness and gloom at times.
While all of this has been quite difficult, I also have to face what this virus has meant for the other part of me and what it means for what I do for passion and gives me something to do, namely the part of me that is a movie lover and a film blogger. Since others have done great jobs of expressing their personal point of view for how the virus scare has affected them, I thought that I might take time today to express what I have noticed and felt about the movie theater/film business in recent times, what movies have meant to me in troubled periods, such as now, and, lastly, a few suggestions on how to possibly help this industry when things start to feel more safe and clear.
Similar to other businesses that took a serious hit from the impact of this virus, the entire theater business had to shut down. Cinemark, AMC, Alamo, and every other theater chain had to inform everyone about shutting off their familiar, bright lights for some time. It’s weird to know how one of the main areas for enjoyment, entertainment, and even temporary escapes from life and stress has closed. I realize that, in recent years, mainstream films have been struggling to find more originality, and many people have been finding more of the stories and entertainment that they desire and speaks to them from television and streaming shows than the local cinema. In all fairness, I completely understand where they’re coming from. A number of the most impactful stories from the past recent years for me have come from shows on TV or streaming sites.
Yet, for me as a film lover, there was always something pretty special about stepping into that colorful, open theater and sitting in front of that gigantic screen, waiting for the previews to roll and the main picture itself to unfold. Regardless of whether the movie turned out to be great or a total disaster, I always appreciated the experience of witnessing that feature with other people around me and hearing the laughs, gasps, or occasional sniffles from what was displayed on screen. Whenever I went to Alamo Drafthouse (my personal favorite theater) or another theater close to me, I loved having that glass of beer in my hand and enjoying the newest animated flick or drama movie or whatever I wanted to see out of interest or for my writing. The local cinema, even one from the best chain, will always have its disadvantages, but getting the opportunity to see it on the big screen, at least for me and other film critics and lovers, will always come across as a huger event by experiencing it with others in that wide, carpeted room as opposed to watching it at home in your familiar space.
In fact, I argue that certain movies are meant to be seen and truly experienced in a theater instead of a smaller screen. For instance, “Dunkirk” is a terrific war movie on its own. With that said, when I saw it in the IMAX theater and found myself literally hearing my heart pressing against my chest as the bullets were drilling on the beach with the soldiers in that movie, early on, I practically felt as though I was one of those soldiers in danger for a moment. Thanks to the incredible way in which the movie was shot and the gigantic screen that made effective use of its extreme close-ups and the size of the action involved, I felt less as though I was simply watching another film about men at war and more as though I was part of an experience that was doing everything in its power to make me feel (to some degree) involved in the peril and danger that these brave soldiers were putting themselves in.
“Avengers: Endgame” is a pretty good movie and a great finale to over a decade of films within its universe. What will always make this film special in my eyes, though, is remembering the act of watching it on opening weekend and the thunder of applause and open enthusiasm that just erupted when that incredible climax and third act began. The incredible emotions and excitement flooding through everyone else in that theater who had followed these beloved characters for years and now got to see this epic conclusion begin made it feel as though I was attending a genuine event .
It’s hard to think anyone who won’t tell you that “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse” is an awesome movie on any screen, big or small, and deserves every bit of praise that it gets. Yet, when I saw it for the first time on the big screen a couple of years ago, my love and appreciation for it felt particularly special because I was seeing amongst a packed crowd with an audience who were laughing at so many of the hilarious parts and stunned with appreciative silence and respect at the serious and heartfelt moments and impressed at the unbelievable speed and beauty of the animation on display. It’s a good movie anywhere, but it just felt so much larger and more impactful to me to see it in the cinema.
One of my greatest joys as a movie lover is being able to share with others that I got to see films for the first time that they were released and received the same unique experience that other audience members and critics got by being there, as well, and starting the discussion for what made it stand out so much in their minds and hearts. Think about all the special experiences and stories that people have shared when they first saw “Star Wars: A New Hope” back in 1977 and how long they waited in line before they got a chance to see this incredibly imaginative, game-changing film. Or, reflect on the experiences that people have shared about the shock and suspense that they felt when first seeing “Jaws” on the big screen or how blown away they were when seeing “2001: A Space Odyssey” when it first came out.
Yes, there will occasionally be films that feel like wasted money when you see them on a bigger screen as well as films that come across as mere attempts to make more money when they should obviously go straight to DVD or a streaming service as a cheaper-quality film. Yet, the power of seeing a movie in a theater can’t be denied. Even if the film isn’t a masterpiece, something neat comes from communing with others in that big room with the large screen to see something that can potentially make you laugh, cry, or feel something that you typically might not elsewhere in your daily life. Seeing films in a theater is essentially a way of society coming together for something, and the wonder that can come from seeing good or, in a few cases, amazing on the big screen is something to treasure in my eyes and shouldn’t be scoffed at.
For others, such as myself, it can be a big escape from the worries and troubles of one’s life, even if it’s for a few hours. In recent years, I’ve been willing to go to a movie theater by myself because I admire the experience so much. So, it makes me sadder when not being able to escape to the theater is something else that has to be put in the backburner for right now as we’re awaiting a solution to this nightmare and a chance to return to something resembling normalcy.
Making it harder is that theaters haven’t been thriving as much in recent years, due to the greater popularity of streaming shows and TV, right now. And, the thought of what might be in store for theaters and their business, following the end of this virus nightmare, remains a bit of a mystery. There is also the reality of countless theater workers and managers not being able to have jobs or work as a result of this scenario, and I deeply sympathize for their hurt. Some smaller and older theaters, such as the arthouse cinemas, have struggled particularly hard, and it remains to be seen what will happen to them in the future. There was an article that I read recently, at the time of writing this, that AMC Theaters might be filing for bankruptcy. It’s a harder time to find a way to experience movies or enjoy them on the level that they normally might by going to see a film in theaters. And, it’s also hard for film periodicals, such as “The Hollywood Reporter” who, at the time of this essay, have had to lay off or furlough employees and hard-working writers, due to the wounded state of journalism and the film industry, right now. I hear stories about editors and writers who have worked for years and produced some incredible work for these periodicals, and I shake my head with hurt to know how they have been sadly let go in this awful time.
In addition to the other parts of the world that are suffering or hurting right now, the film world is suffering hard, too, and it hurts the movie-lover in me in so many painful ways.
However, in a way of keeping the film spirit alive, I still try to see new or old movies at home or through streaming sites. The truth is that, in difficult times, such as these, I will always keep my love for movies alive because they themselves keep me upbeat and keep me going. Similar to many people, I can sometimes seek film as an escape. When one reflects further upon it, many movies are, in their unique ways, gateways to different worlds, whether it’s literally a fantastical universe, a galaxy far, far away, or even a time distant from our own. Many good movies have that ability of briefly taking you away from your worries or place at the present time or, at the very least, effectively distract you from what’s going on in your life. Through my own dilemmas and my own concerns, I find film to be my main diversion from all else. The local cinema practically feels like another home to me because it’s so familiar, and I’ve made so many memories there.
With all of this said, there’s another significant reason for me loving film as much as I do. It’s the reason that I seek them out in troubled times, such as now. Movies, to me, provide ways of finding solace through their strong emotions and ideas to connect to. We can see something along the lines of “The Shawshank Redemption,” for instance, and discover the incredible potential of the human spirit to thrive through hope and a strong enough sense of inner peace. We can watch “Parasite” and see for ourselves the extents to which the economic system leaves both sides of itself, rich and poor, broken and at a loss for knowing how to function with or without each other. Heck, one of my favorite films is “The World’s End,” is, in essence, a goofy (albeit brilliantly executed) British comedy about a group of middle-aged men trying to survive an apocalypse, but, when getting closer to the climax, it actually reveals itself more as a movie about older people struggling to come to grips with how harder life has become in adulthood and the toll that harsher issues, such as alcoholism or mental illness, can take on those who go through it.
Similar to any piece of art, part of the beauty of film comes not just from what the artist might be trying to say but what the audience can feel or reflect on from it. And, in tougher times, I’ve either re-visited movies to give myself higher spirits to find a truth or emotion for a particular time or tried out a new movie said to provide certain emotions and themes a shot to see how well it connects with me. It isn’t always easy, and it can take more time, but there are several times when exploring films in this manner can help me feel better. It’s sometimes downright therapeutic. The late-great critic Roger Ebert once regarded movies as machines that generate empathy, and, whenever I watch certain films to experience some of the strong emotions that are produced from them, I see more and moer of the truth from his words. Movies with fierce, upbeat spirits, such as the 2019 version of “Little Women” or films with hopeful messages of doing what’s right and staying strong against impossible odds, such as “The Secret of NIMH” and “Wonder Woman” have stood out as genuine light for me in harsher times with their powerful stories and dedicated characters. I sometimes cry watching scenes from these films because they affect me so strongly and bring me hope or tell me in their own way that things can be alright as long as you keep fighting and do what is necessary.
Even to this day, movies, such as these and more, provide a warmth and light with the strong emotions and ideas that come from them. And, this proves especially true, now. At a time when public places to socialize or find entertainment are closed, larger social gatherings on a face-to-face basis are pretty much canceled, and millions of people are either fearful, anxious, and unemployed, it can be overwhelming to find where the light may be through all of this. While many methods to distract or find light from this are naturally great and beneficial in their own ways, I still often find myself turning to film the most to not only escape but bring me a beautiful joy through its feelings and what it says to me.
Before I give my suggestions to what one can do to help those that center their businesses around movies, I’ll give examples of two scenes from movies that I’ve seen through this time at home that are terrific examples of how film can help me through tough times, such as this virus, and emotionally help me.
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
One example is the coffee shop scene between Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in “Heat.” On the surface, it’s just an ordinary scene of two men from opposite sides of the law talking to one another and warning each other about what might happen if they cross paths again. Pacino, who plays a hardcore L.A. detective, starts out essentially forbidding DeNiro, a master burglar, from doing his next robbery, or he’s going to have to lethally take him down. Yet, as the conversation continues, it shows these two men being brutally honest with one another and sharing information about their lives that they probably don’t share with anybody else. They discuss their conflicted personal lives and how they both have trouble maintaining relationships with people that they love but don’t do a great job of keeping promises with them or keeping them as involved as they could be. As it turns out, both DeNiro and Pacino also share the same pain of enduring dreadful nightmares that haunt them, based heavily on what they do for a living. An openness and honesty surrounds this quiet, fascinating discussion between two professionals who are vastly different from one another yet probably have more in common with each other than anybody else in their lives.
Yet, what might stick out the most with me about this scene is when Pacino says that DeNiro will risk losing a girlfriend of his and possibly his own life if he continues robbing banks. DeNiro says. “It is what it is. It’s either that, or we both better go doing something else, pal.” Pacino says as plainly as possible. “I don’t know how to do anything else.” DeNiro responds. “Neither do I.” Then, Pacino says. “I don’t much want to, either.” DeNiro says. “Neither do I.”
In a short number of lines, these men make it clear how much they love doing what they do and making the most of their skills and devoted professions, regardless of what consequences they might face in the future. The sheer simplicity to which they voice their dedication to their own paths illustrates a subtle but deep passion to which I have the highest respect for. Beyond that, though, I think I admire this simple exchange as much as I do because there’s a quiet acceptance and willingness to face whatever is in store for their future, whether it’s hopeful or fatal to their own existence. The quiet music and atmosphere in the background appears to echo the sad yet accepting mood surrounding the conversation between these two men.
Often, the vibe and calm acceptance of these characters in this exchange brings me a bit of contentment when I’m uncertain about how something will play out in the future or worried about what will await me from an uneasy event or time. In this time of this virus, for instance, the simple exchange of Pacino and DeNiro expressing their casual way of embracing whatever their time ahead has in store for them, even if it ends up isolating them or puts them near death’s presence, helps me feel a bit at ease or hopeful when I’m anxious about how events will play out after this quarantine is lifted. Pacino and DeNiro express that, sometimes, you can’t rush what happens ahead in the future or try to manipulate how it turns out as some people probably wish that they somehow could. At times, you can prepare your best but, in the end, you simply have to go through the motions, adapt to the best of your ability to what faces you, and accept that what happens will happen and that things will turn out in the way that they’re meant to. Scenes, such as this, instill me with a bunch of peace, and I’m always thankful for that and movies, such as “Heat.”
Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing
Another important movie moment that gives me a bit of joy and contentment comes from a film that is slowly becoming one of my absolute favorites, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” In the scene, Sharon Tate, played by the lovely Margot Robbie, is stopping by a theater in town to see a movie that she performed in. It was one of the last movies that Tate, in real life, starred in called “The Wrecking Crew.” It’s neat to casually watch her walk up to the person from the ticket counter and ask him to take a picture of her standing right next to the poster with her presence within it. There’s a steady pride and love for what she does that is evident in each frame, and it’s still wonderful to see. The joy that she holds and her admiration for how others appreciate her work is even more apparent when she goes inside and sits in the middle of the theater to watch her film on the big screen. The sheer joy on her face as she listens to the eager applause surrounding her makes me grin widely every time that I re-visit it.
On one level, I love the scene so much because the film, on its own, stands as a genuine love letter to movies and the people who work so hard to get them made through, among other elements, a bunch of dedication, hardship, and raw passion. This scene might be the best representation of that in this movie through how Tate savors the joy of listening to others appreciate the work that she and other people put into making this movie.
However, when I re-watch this moment, it speaks to me on a sadder level, too. For those who may be unaware, the real Sharon Tate had her life ended horribly at the age of 26 when members of the Manson family murdered her and four others. And, without giving much away, this film offers an alternate history of sorts with this period of time and events in Tate’s life, yet it does so with a solid amount of respect and bittersweet demeanor to it. Naturally, knowing this information and watching this scene play out makes me feel even more sorry for her tragic death and wonder what the remainder of her career and her life would’ve been like if her life hadn’t been taken away that evening.
Yet, maybe, one of the elements that’s most important about the theater scene is that it reminds me how much shorter life can be and the joy that comes from embracing what’s happening in the positive moments of the present. The glee and playful spirit of Robbie’s performance, added by the quiet respect displayed by all of the other details in the scene, causes me to sometimes reflect on the simple joy of experiencing life’s ups and downs and treasuring what is in front of me.
Similar to others, I’ve lost people and pets that I’ve held deep to my heart for many years. I could get rather sad and angry, and I even experienced legitimate depression from such losses. The pain from losing these loved ones is something that, with the help of some guidance and counseling and even time itself, got better. Yet, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t still occasionally think about them. With all of this said, the truth is, that, for all of the hardness and hurt that came from those events, they did help me re-evaluate death as well as life and how important it is to appreciate what is happening with one’s life, even if the present happens to deal with unpleasant events for that moment.
Life can be complicated and downright cruel at times. It can feel even worse with tragic events, such as this coronavirus, with so many ill people, lost lives, and hurt souls struggling to maintain their mental and emotional spirits. I certainly struggle with what’s been happening. And, that’s why I love moments, such as Tate’s visit to the theater. I love this moment that tries to encourage me to enjoy the present and what I have because there’s no telling what might be in store for the next months or the next year and so on. The positive events, the support and love from people in my life who genuinely care about me, the goodness of what can happen in small or big doses, are what remain important, and it’s good to treasure what is happening now.
I won’t claim that I’m perfect, and I won’t lie and pretend that I don’t forget this at times. I still occasionally struggle hard with my emotions and reflections on the past and the like, and I know that I still have much to improve upon and continue working on those parts, hard as these tasks may be. Depression still haunts me and hits me hard when it strikes, just as it does for millions of other people, and we should never feel guilty about what we feel from this and our own struggles, especially now. The present, as it is at the time of writing this, is a little uneasy for all of us.
Yet, here’s my take on enjoying the time being, especially in regards for what may happen in the future. In last year of 2019, many seriously great events happened in my life. I met a church group that slowly started changing the way that I reflect on Christ and my faith and showed me genuine friendship and selflessness after one of my lowest times. I had started my movie-reviewing blog after tons of friends and people encouraged me to make one and told me what their reviews meant to them. People were reaching out to me more, and I was making the types of friends that I wish I had known since high school. After making some personal changes and visits with specific professionals in my own life, my health slowly started to get better than it had in about a decade in certain areas. As a writer, I was being inspired by such powerful works, including the “Watchmen” mini-series, a work that reminded me why superhero stories are so important and even made me think of the art and thought that goes into making them when they’re at their best. It reminded me of the great art that can result from comic books themselves. And, of course, I had stumbled more upon the 2017 revitalization of the “DuckTales” series, and, odd as it may sound to some people, that show genuinely changed my life for the better. Its stories and presence vastly helped revive my creative spirit and further inspired me to pursue my passions for film and Disney itself. I wanted to tell stories again and write about film even more because of works like these.
So many good events happened to me last year, and, as weird as it is to see that year transition into the misfortune of this one, those past events are a reminder that good events can happen again in the future, even if you don’t always know when or how they will happen. Why do I feel this? Because, at one point in time, all of the events that I just described happened in 2019 were in the present. They’re obviously in the past now, but, if great events can unexpectedly happen at one point from a previous year, that has to mean that good events can happen later on, too, That’s why I remember to occasionally tell myself that it’s good to remember a bit of Tate’s mindset from this scene and appreciate the beauty of what’s happening, right now. Through dark times, such as now, I look at this moment in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and remember to try to appreciate the good from what happens now. Moments, such as these, remind me why I love movies as I do because they can voice a spirit and powerful passion when it’s harder to find it in other places. Movies can sometimes help us make sense of the harsher moments in our existence and voice ideas that aren’t articulated as well in reality. They can give hope and even help us remember certain truths or empower us through our darkest times. And, the little hope and optimism that this scene delivers, regardless of whether it was the filmmaker’s intent to give it or not, is another reminder for me to keep the spirit strong when events feel as sad as they do, right now.
At this point in the essay, some may ask: What can those who love movies do to help an industry that’s not doing too hot from this situation, right now, and the future for when the social distancing restrictions end and normalcy slowly starts to come back?
Well, there are a couple of options.
One option is to donate online to a charity requested by an arthouse theater, theater chain, or part of the movie/theater business that is requesting funds. These can be admittedly tricky to find, especially since some charities have ended the deadlines to their donations, but you can Google “movie theater COVID-19 relief fund” or “movie theater coronavirus charities” and click on the links in some of the articles listed below that should point you in the right direction of which businesses from the theater industry are in need. Some funds that are in need of donations, right now, include the Will Rogers Pioneers Assistance Fund COVID-19 Emergency Grants, the Chicago Cinema Workers Fund, and Art-House America. Also, you can try looking up the theater chain of your choice (ie: Cinemark, Regal Theaters) and see if they have any charities or ways to donate. If you have Twitter and follow a film periodical or film journalist/writer (ie: a writer from the Roger Ebert site), their Twitter page will sometimes contain links to charities or relief funds that you can donate to.
Another option is this: After theaters slowly start to re-open and it is regarded as safe enough to visit them, buy a gift card from the theater of your choice. You save more money for yourself by seeing movies for a while, and you offer some payment to a theater that will greatly need it. And, you’re, of course, showing open support for a part of a business that, similar to others, has been hit pretty hard in the gut by what’s happened.
The third choice is to simply share information or recommendations about movies that you love from streaming sites. Is there an underappreciated gem that you feel that more people should know about, now that there’s more time? Now’s the moment to let them know. Does Netflix or Amazon have a free film or cheap rental that is worth the price to check out that you want to encourage more people to see, now that more time is available for many people? Feel free to inform your friends or relatives of it. The theatrical scene may be placed on “Pause” at this time, but you can still do your part by recommending the movies that you have seen and mean so much to you for others to check out. You can do your part to help keep the spirit of what you love alive, whether it’s film or another form of art that speaks to you, by simply passing on the word about what pieces of art or entertainment ring most powerfully for you.
For those who find that a different form of art speaks to them, whether it’s music or such, continue following that passion and doing what you can to help it as well. Be sure to donate to a relief fund that is related to it in some way (after making sure that it’s a legitimate fund, of course), and spread the word of what pieces of art have spoken to you or others should check out and show their appreciation for from their time at home. Things seem to be improving health-wise in certain areas, including New York, and that’s wonderful to hear. I hope and pray that such positive news slowly enhances and that we all do our parts to ensure that this virus madness slowly starts to come to its end.
My last words are this: We’re all trying to do what we can to make it through this arduous and trying time in history. I’m not sure how the theater scene may fare after all of this is over or starting to end, but I’m willing to do what I can to support the art form that I respect, love, and admire for the help that it has given me through this time and afterwards. Whatever yours may be, embrace it with wisdom and righteous passion. Never stop supporting it or showing your love for it. And, never forget what makes it so important or its power to heal you or even save you.
On top of that, similar to the way that you treasure your passions, never lose sight of the people who love you through this time and afterwards, and do everything in your power to try to stay connected and in touch, even if it’s from afar. In the end, all we have is each other as well as what and who we love to help us get through whatever’s ahead.
So, continue to keep that love and your hope alive, fighting, and never-ending. Please stay safe, healthy, and well. I hope to see all of you again in the cinemas (and elsewhere) at sometime in the future. | https://victordebonis.medium.com/a-film-lovers-perspective-on-finding-hope-solace-and-answers-during-the-covid-19-times-4476f67303a5 | ['Victor Debonis'] | 2020-04-18 21:17:35.262000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Movies', 'Coronavirus', 'Moviemaking', 'Film'] |
Grow Organic Traffic on Your Website with These 10 Tips | Currently, most internet marketing professionals worldwide can agree that organic traffic represents one of the most precious sources of new users, conversions, and sales for online businesses and websites of all types, including those focused on the cryptocurrency and blockchain markets.
To put things into perspective, the ‘organic traffic’ term stands for the number of visitors that access your website after clicking on an unpaid search result, provided after a search engine query.
It’s a valuable source of traffic since it guarantees that all organic users are visiting thanks to their own interest in your particular niche. Therefore, if you offer a solution to their problem, these users will likely convert into sales shortly. Apart from the relevancy and targeting potential of organic traffic, search engine optimization (SEO) is also quite cheap if done correctly.
The purpose of this article is to highlight 10 valuable tips that will make sure to help grow your organic traffic. Without further ado, here they are:
1. Make sure that your website is optimized for mobile use
According to Statista, mobile internet traffic accounted for approximately 51.65% of total web activity internationally in August 2019. This percentage has vigorously increased within the last couple of years, and it certainly isn’t stopping now.
As such, it only makes sense that Google and other search engines tweak their ranking algorithms to make sure that websites which have been optimized for mobile usage are prioritized. However, it isn’t only search engines that you should worry about.
After all, if a non-mobile website is accessed via a smartphone, the user will likely be bothered by the reduced functionalities and choose a competitor. This is especially relevant for crypto-related websites, given the increasing number of companies operating in the sector.
In today’s world, mobile optimization has become mandatory for SEO.
2. Verify the loading speed of your website
This represents yet another important aspect of how search engine ranking works. With this in mind, Google’s algorithms have been trained to positively rank quick-loading pages, while penalizing those which have not upgraded their loading speeds. We’re living in the era of speed — if cryptocurrencies can facilitate instant transactions, websites should be able to ensure top performance and responsiveness.
This Google tool will help you check the loading speed, while also giving you several insights on increasing your website’s overall speed.
3. Create new content
Analysis of search engine ranking algorithms has detected that failure to constantly update your website leads to lower rates of organic traffic. As such, search engines do not like non-updated websites, which are therefore classed as ‘dead’. However, there may be cases when project structures do not allow the creation of new pages.
This is certainly understandable, especially in the case of websites featuring a cryptocurrency or blockchain-based tool. In instances like this, you might want to consider creating a blog, where new content can be easily posted without modifying the overall architecture of your site.
When creating new content, make sure to tackle new topics, rather than recycling past work. Similarly, your SEO output can also be increased by making sure there is no duplicate content featured on your website.
4. Do not rely on keywords only — synonyms work too!
SEO practices dictate that using keywords that are directly linked to your niche is essential. However, recent algorithm updates have made it mandatory for website owners to also include keyword synonyms and other related terms. This aspect is mostly backed by the fact that today’s search engines are getting smarter — they not only read text, but also thrive to understand its meaning.
Additionally, keyword research should not be treated as a one-time effort. With time, relevant keywords may change, so old content must be updated as well. Finding new relevant keywords is mostly easy, thanks to the existence of several keyword research tools.
5. Optimize the meta description for a better CTR
There was a time when meta descriptions were necessary to ensure high rankings on search engines. Today, their importance in ranking has decreased, yet they are actively used as snippets in search results. This means that meta descriptions serve as a user advertisement that outlines the main contents of your website. Based on this, it is important for your website’s meta description to look intriguing, but also more appealing when compared to competitors’ metas.
Speaking of technical optimization, other tips include limiting your redirects, optimizing images and the overall graphics of your site, using browser cache to learn more about your users, using HTTPS, while improving your overall site architecture to ensure easy access to other pages.
6. Improve the quality and length of your old content
Another important tip worth mentioning is to update some of your past content. Doing so isn’t very difficult since you can always add images, videos, and updated sections on old pages and articles. Generally, marketing leaders recommend that content is long-form, in-depth, high-quality and thought-provoking.
Doing so gives your website overall continuity from a quality perspective, while also making your content more engaging. Similarly, quality content can also encourage linking, thus increasing traffic sources.
It is vital to remember that quality content isn’t meant to be read by machines only, so make it human-friendly as well. Do not succumb to the craving of overfilling it with keywords in hopes of improving SERPs.
7. Share all content that is published on your website
Most types of website-based content can be easily shared online via numerous social channels. Consequently, no new blog post, update or article should be posted online without sharing it on social networks, or on online communities like Reddit, BitcoinTalk and other forums.
Sharing leads to an initial boost for all forms of newly-created content, thus also promoting increased rates of organic traffic. If you are part of the crypto-niche, remember that community discussions and public opinion often serve as a judgment on whether a new product or service will be successful.
In case your community consists of close partners or opinion-leaders, asking them for a share may further enhance your marketing efforts
8. Be proactive on forums and Q/A services
Chances are that loads of people are actively seeking out information on the topics that you are writing about. Because of this, it is recommended to constantly check and answer forum threads alongside Q&A platforms like Quora.
This will allow you to organically insert links to your source content, thus improving organic traffic. Do remember that this strategy is bound to be time-consuming, but if done right, you won’t have to answer all questions pertaining to your niche.
It goes without saying that the posted link should offer an actual solution to the problem being discussed.
9. Constantly analyze website performance
Surprisingly, many website owners throughout the world fail to actively check their site’s performance analytics. Doing so is pretty straightforward thanks to Google Analytics, Search Console and other similar tools.
These platforms can be used to learn more about the performance and keyword quality of your content. As such, the newly-obtained data can then be leveraged to improve older articles, thereby warranting higher rankings for the keywords they were already receiving impressions for.
This data will also yield information on how your website is lacking from an SEO standpoint. It is generally recommended to apply solutions to these challenges since doing so will make your online presence friendlier to Google’s web crawlers.
10. Check what your competitors are doing
All crypto and blockchain company owners should keep a close eye on what their competitors are doing. By doing so, you can learn valuable information on how to improve your products, services, and business practice.
Additionally, you can also gain numerous ideas on future content topics and optimization strategies by observing what your competitors are doing. When researching niche-related leaders, ask yourself the following questions: What type of content are they featuring on their websites? What’s their content structure? How do they promote their services by working with social media platforms and social influencers?
A high-yielding and cost-effective marketing strategy can only be built through close observation, critical thinking, and constant corrections. There’s no recipe for success — just variations of what other people are doing.
Bottom line
Based on everything that has been highlighted so far, implementing these tips is destined to guarantee organic traffic improvement. Marketing strategies vary from niche to niche, and from company to company, yet these tips are applicable to most, if not all of the online businesses.
Numerous companies operating in the cryptocurrency and blockchain spheres have used and adapted these tips to their own needs, thus reaching online success which is backed by considerable rates of online traffic.
Last but not least, these guidelines will increase your overall organic traffic, but only if you give them time. SEO does not work overnight — rather, results will be noticed once search engine crawlers scan your website again, thus opting to modify current rankings. Furthermore, consistent work is required since SEO success does not last forever. | https://medium.com/cointraffic/grow-organic-traffic-on-your-website-with-these-10-tips-f3c48afbe46f | [] | 2019-12-05 13:27:48.954000+00:00 | ['Advertising', 'Marketing', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Traffic', 'SEO'] |
ReST API Design: A Beginner’s Guide | Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash
As a developer, chances are you have created, consumed (or both) APIs at some point in your career. If you are a mobile/web/UI developer, you have definitely interacted with APIs because the data to be displayed needs to come from somewhere and if you are a backend developer, you have definitely created APIs to interact with other services (UIs and other backend services alike).
One of the best things available to software engineers especially those that have to build APIs is the availability of an RFC for all things API related: status codes, headers, cookies, request/response bodies etc. With that said the not-so-good part about this is the fact that the RFC is just a spec i.e. teams can choose to follow them or not.
There is nothing that will stop a backend service from running if it sends back a successful response for an app crash. The spec is great when followed but nothing forces teams or frameworks to follow them.
But it is important to note that popular frameworks like Spring do force teams using them to follow some of these standards (e.g.: Cannot specify a request body for a GET request).
Getting back to the RFC, these specifications exist for a reason and creates a standard across all backend services. If I work on creating a backend service “A” that follows the RFC and then move to either creating another service “B” or making calls to third-party APIs, it would be SOOO helpful to have all these services follow a pre-defined spec. It ensures consistency because all services speak the same language.
In this post, I want to touch on how I like to get started with designing APIs. I don’t claim to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination and this post only aims to provide a starting place and not a deep dive. So, with these disclaimers out of the way, here is how I get started with designing APIs:
API Naming
API routes are the entry point to any backend service. Here are a few considerations as far as naming goes:
Identify the resource
If your application has a concept of user accounts and you are creating APIs that capture user login history (let us just assume the application needs this and users love this feature), one way to model the login history API would be to nest login history under users i.e. / users/{userId}/loginHistory. This is a clear and well-defined API that defines the hierarchy of login history. This is important because now you know login history is not its own stand-alone resource instead it is part of the user resource and always belongs to a user (identified by a userId).
Come up with a consistent API naming strategy
There are a few popular ways to name APIs. You can use a hyphen or camel casing (among other options, I am sure).
If we were to use hyphens loginHistory would look like this:
/users/{userId}/login-history
If we were to use camel casing loginHistory would look like this:
/users/{userId}/loginHistory
I am not sure if there is a hard and fast rule here except picking one and sticking to it. Consistency for the win!
Identify the operations
After we have identified a resource that needs to be managed, the next step is to identify what operations can be performed on those resources. Usually this is a subset of CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete).
Sometimes you only want to allow users to create something and not update it (could be you want to force users to delete a resource and re-create it without allowing them to update it).
After the operations have been identified we pick HTTP verbs. So for our example where we want to manage user loginHistory, we could decide we only want to allow the creation and fetching of user loginHistory and not allow updating and deleting.
HTTP Verbs
HTTP verbs tell the consumer of an API what operation the API provides. Most popular ones are:
GET: Read or fetch a resource
PUT: Update or modify a resource
DELETE: Delete a resource
POST: Create a new resource
It is important to use the right verb because that is like the unspoken language of what to expect in the response to an API (For example: A post more often than not returns the newly created resource in the response body with a 201 response status code, where 201 stands for CREATED).
The verbs also tells the user what they may need to provide in the request including if a request body is even allowed (if the RFC is followed). For example GET requests generally do not have a request body (because whatever identifier is needed to uniquely identify and get a resource should be a part of the URI/API route vs in the request body of a GET request).
While on the topic of HTTP verbs, I want to quickly talk about a couple of other not very commonly used HTTP verbs: HEAD and PATCH
HEAD
The HEAD verb is VERY similar to the GET verb except that the HEAD request cannot contain a response body. The HEAD request is used to test is a given URI is available. For example if we want to check if user with userId “123” contains loginHistory, we could make a HEAD request to /users/123/loginHistory and if that came back successful, we could follow up with a GET request to the same URI. This saves bandwidth while making requests to a certain URI especially if the response is huge.
PATCH
The PATCH verb is very similar to the PUT request and is also used to update a resource. The main difference is that a PUT request replaces the entire resource meaning all the fields of the resource whether or not they are being updated need to be passed to the API when using a PUT verb. But when we use a PATCH request we only need to pass instructions that will be used to update the resource including what needs to be done and which field update should be applied to.
In the case of our example, given we have decided to only allow users to create and get their loginHistory our APIs could look as follows:
POST /users/{userId}/loginHistory
GET /users/{userId}/loginHistory
Request Body
The next step is to figure out if there is going to be a request body and if yes, then come up with a schema for what that should look like. According to the RFC, GET requests are not to contain request bodies so we are going to follow that and only create a request body for the post request. So a sample example loginHistory POST request body, in JSON could be:
{
“time”: “1605202745”,
“appVersion”: “5.2.0”
}
The userId has been left out of the request body because it should be fetched from the API route. Also other additional fields required to capture all loginHistory related information can be added to the body above.
Response Status
The response status of a response should convey two things:
Did the operation succeed?
Next steps (if any)?
There are many many status codes available (including RFCs for when and what to use). Because the first thing the response status conveys is whether the operation succeeded or failed I think it goes without saying that using a 2xx (the 200 series status code that indicates a success) when an error occurs is a big no NO.
When it comes to status codes it is important to pass the right sub-status code in the response. For example a 200 means OK meaning everything went well while a 201 is used to indicate that a resource was created successfully. So a 200 would be apt for a GET/PUT request while a 201 would be more appropriate for a POST request (assuming the POST request creates an object). Using a 200 for a POST request would not be a problem mainly because it would convey a success as well. But, a 201 will be better suited because in addition to indicating that the request was received and processed successfully it also indicates that a new resource was created. Along those lines for successful DELETEs it is good to use the 204 (no content) status code indicating to the calling client that while the request was successful, there is no response body that is to be expected (i.e. if there is not going to be a response body).
Success codes when used interchangebly have less far reaching consequences than when failure codes are used interchangeably. For example using a 401 (unauthorized) in place of a 403 (forbidden) would be bad because it gives the wrong indication to the user (or the calling client which could be a UI component). A 401 indicates that the authentication credentials presented do not match the records that the backend compares against. A 403 indicates that the user is trying to access a resource that they do not have access to. A solution to fix a 401 is to change the authentication credentials presented to the application while a solution to a 403 could be as simple as “sorry, nothing to fix here”. More often than not, the right error status code will dictate next steps. So it becomes all the more important to use the right status code especially when there is an error.
In general it is very important to follow the RFC closely while picking status codes because they mean something (and apps/services using your APIs will expect them to be consistent with the RFC because that is the common reference for everyone!) and sometimes it can be easy to get them confused.
Response Body
The next most important step in API design, is settling on a response body. It is very common practice to make sure the response body contains everything that the calling client needs (e.g.: If a web app is making a request to an API to fetch the login history of a user, from the backend we make sure to provide them with all the information the web will need for display purposes). On rare occasions, we might need to more than required information to the calling client, especially if the backend does not leverage any caching, the additional information does not originate from the backend and the backend will need this information to process an incoming request. An example will help right? Absolutely. Let us consider a scenario where a backend makes a call to service provider X to fetch some information and pass that back to the UI as a part of the response though (let us assume) the UI does not use that information at all BUT because the backend does not cache and service X takes a lot of time to response to requests (lets continue with the assumptions), then it will be helpful to have that information passed to the UI and passed back so that the backend can use that information to do whatever it needs to.
Another important consideration I like to make when finalizing APIs is to make sure responses are not bigger than they need to be. A good question to ask if you have very big response bodies is to ask if it might be possible to break up the single API into multiple APIs. For example if you have a messaging app, instead of having a single API that serves up all the information relating to say messages displayed on a page (say we have pagination implemented and we are displaying 20 messages per page). So one option would be to have 20 messages that contain all the message information or 20 messages containing only that information that will need to be displayed on the list of messages page and another API to get more information to be displayed on the page when a user clicks into a message. Deciding between the two may need to consider other factors like bandwidth considerations, processing time, response time etc. But if these considerations can be controlled, it might be a good idea to consider that latter: Making two APIs one for a list of messages with minimal information about the messages(/messages?page=2) and another more specific API to get additional information about a single message (/messages/{messageId}).
When it comes to error scenarios, response bodies must be constructed in such a way that information about what has happened and indications as to what to do to fix errors will be helpful.
Query Parameters vs Path Variables
API developers are free to decide if a certain field needs to be in the query parameter or path variable. Depending on the implementation we can get both of these variations to work just fine. Two rules of thumb that have helped me decide where a certain field goes is:
To think of if the request variable is used to uniquely identify a resource or if the request variable is more like a search criteria.
If the variable used is available to all resources (if we consider login history and say only certain login history resources have a certain field then using that field as a path variable is not advisable because a URI with that variable cannot uniquely identify a login history resource). For example we need a userId to uniquely identify a user but say search parameters like isAccountActive is a search criteria and there is not a way to get a particular user using just this field. But it is important to call out an additional rule I add on top of this. If there are multiple fields that can be used to identify a resource, I prefer to use the one that the end user of the system has no control over. For example if a user can be uniquely identified using the userId and the userName, I would pick the userId because the userName can be changed by the user but not the userId (and that is the way it would need to be the user should not have an option to change the userId).
Conclusion
API designing is a lot of fun because there are specifications and rules around what is universally understood and expected while also allowing some room for creativity. I think the line is thin but following the spec or at least giving it an honest attempt goes a long way in ensuring consistency not just for the application that contains the APIs but also for those that consume it. | https://medium.com/javarevisited/rest-api-design-things-to-consider-96ac8a549aff | ['Janani Subbiah'] | 2020-11-22 15:29:17.384000+00:00 | ['Api Design', 'Programming', 'Development', 'Rest Api', 'Technology'] |
5 core digital marketing trend predictions for businesses in 2017 | As we drift towards the end of 2016, we’ve already seen a substantial change in digital marketing . To help you plan for 2017, we have put together a list of 5 digital marketing trend predictions that we feel will be commonplace in digital marketing throughout 2017.
Live video streaming will see rapid growth
It’s safe to say that live video streaming has seen rapid growth throughout 2016 which has made it much simpler for consumers to engage and interact with brands.
Furthermore, the use of live video streaming has been driven forward with video streaming apps such as Periscope and Facebook Live which has enabled real time streaming to help users to push out their messages across social media and even to promote their streaming videos before they come out!
This trend is likely to continue throughout 2017 given that it is widely estimated that online video will account for over 80% of all internet traffic by 2019. It’s difficult to argue with this and the fact that more and more people are likely to become engrossed in video simulation and crave more live video content.
Mobile will trump desktop
Without a shadow of doubt, 2016 has seen a greater shift towards mobile more so than previous years and continues to see sustained increases in traction.
This has been further stimulated by Google’s Mobilegeddon update back in 2015 and its recent announcement that it will be favouring sites with mobile friendly sites over those that are not.
With that said, it would be foolish to predict that mobile search and mobile optimisation won’t continue to dominate the digital marketing arena throughout 2017.
Augmented reality will continue to flourish
Not many people would have even considered that Pokemon Go would have achieved the success it did initially. Granted it did drop off towards the latter stages however has demonstrated to the digital marketing world that consumers are eager to feel more augmented reality related experiences and that there are plenty of potential wins here for marketers.
Don’t be surprised if you start seeing more AR related products hitting the marketing place throughout 2017.
Unique, specialised content will continue to be desirable
As digital marketers, we have been used to the idea that unique content is still ‘king’ in digital and this isn’t likely to change in 2017.
Being able to make your content stand out will still continue to be key as well as being able to ensure that your content fully engages with the readers you are targeting.
Social influencers will continue to be crucial assets
Being able to gain traction online used to be quite easy as you could build up your followings on both Twitter and Facebook. This has all changed, more and more social media channels have made it much harder for your unique content to get in front of your audience for free.
However, on the other hand bloggers/established influencers have been able to build up a community of loyal followers who are fully engaged with their content. Selecting the right people and you may be able to get to your content through to your target audience and thus help to drive success for your business.
Our Thoughts
With 2017, just round the corner now is the time to take note of what digital marketing trends are emerging from the above and how you can work these into your strategies for next year.
Do you need some digital marketing expertise to help you formulate your digital marketing strategy for next year?
Our dedicated team of digital marketing consultants are on hand to discuss your requirements at great length and work together with you to help drive success for your business. Contact us today or call us on 01392 424300.
FYI: This post was originally published on the Rokk Media blog. | https://medium.com/digital-vault/5-core-digital-marketing-trend-predictions-for-businesses-in-2017-e1c9e54a45b9 | [] | 2016-12-12 18:40:04.913000+00:00 | ['Marketing', '2017', 'Trends', 'Digital Marketing', 'Social Media'] |
These Board Games Make Personal Growth Fun | These Board Games Make Personal Growth Fun
A great new way to set your goals and practise self-care.
Photo by the author
It’s no secret that millennials are shifting away from buying things to buying experiences. A study by Harris Group showed that 72 per cent of young people would rather spend money on an experience than a material item. One direct consequence of this has been an explosion in board game sales. Boardgame nights are acknowledged as being a cool way to spend an evening with friends around a common activity. Games themselves are evolving into works of art — complicated scenarios come with beautiful illustrations, which transport you to new worlds — some bleak, some pretty, and some that make you wonder what amount of drugs was consumed in their conception.
While I’ve been a fan of board games for several years, I only recently found out about a branch of games designed to lead you through self-care and personal growth exercises, gamified to make it fun. Last Sunday, a few friends and I, all of us rolling in the waves of hungover regret, settled around a table for a gaming sess and found ourselves sharing deep personal memories, setting goals for the coming months and naming each other accountability buddies to insure that we kept our promises.
Expressing gratitude, mindfully setting intentions, reviewing our current lives and thinking of how to make it better are all important exercises, but the traditional way of doing them can be time-consuming, monotonous and boring, making it tempting just to skip them. By integrating such exercises into a game, and making them into fun group activities, these games are providing a new way to practise self-care. Here are a few I recommend:
The best for personal growth: Better Me
This is the first game I played in the genre, and the one that inspired me to write this article. You move around the infinity-symbol shaped path by rolling a dice, and draw a card from the category you land on: Heart, Body, Mind, People. The cards resemble journal prompts, and encourage you to share a meaningful memory, or to commit to making a change in your life. Each player walks away with a sheet of intentions, and an accountability buddy assigned to each intention. A good all round personal growth game, that also starts deep conversations with your friends.
Photo by the author
The Best for Mindfulness: The Mindfulness Game
Draw a card and follow the exercise on it! It offers loads of fun ways to engage in mindfulness, meditation and grounding exercises, basically setting in motion a group therapy session that leaves you feeling calm and connected to those around you. It’s a good way to introduce kids and teenagers to meditation in a fun, easy way.
The best for creativity: Dixit
Photo by the author
Dixit is a joy to play because of the beautiful, whimsical illustrations of its cards. Everyone has cards in their hand, and one player says a word or phrase associated with one card, that they place face down on the table. Other plays also place a card that corresponds to that phrase, then everyone votes on which card they think was the original. It gives you insight into other people’s crazy brains and sets your own imagination in action. I always come out feeling inspired and thoughtful.
The best for spreading love: Totem
This game will have you and your friends and family telling each other those things that you most appreciate about each other. Throughout the game, you build a Totem of qualities representing your personality, using animal cards that represent your strengths and quality cards representing your qualities. Other plays pick which ones are for you and explain why. It’s a nice game to play with kids or teenagers to develop their self-esteem, or with any family members to relieve tension and remember your love for each other. | https://starkraving.medium.com/these-board-games-make-personal-growth-fun-693f34af5f9a | ['Stark Raving'] | 2020-12-16 14:36:07.687000+00:00 | ['Board Games', 'Personal Growth', 'Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'Self'] |
Snapsible — Data Visualization Exploration for Foldable Screen Displays | Experience Design Details
User Interface
Snapsible leverages the dual-screen smartphone displays which have the capability of folding into two equal halves. This interface allows users to interact with either one of their rear screens or the entire unfolded display. This device can be used in one hand much like how they currently use their smartphones when it’s in the folded state and with both their hands when they seek to perform more actions by unfolding the display to gain a larger screen real-estate. These multiple states of the display allow users to interact with visualized data in different ways. Each state supports certain types of interaction with both graphs and other users.
Folded and Unfolded states of the device
Characteristics of effective graphical displays
Before describing certain Snapsible interactions and gestures, it is necessary to understand the main qualities of effective graphical displays. Professor Edward Tufte explained that users of information displays are executing particular analytical tasks such as making comparisons. The design principle of the information graphic should support the analytical task.[1] In his 1983 book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte defines ‘graphical displays’ and principles for effective graphical display in the following passage: “Excellence in statistical graphics consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency. Graphical displays should:
Show the data
Make the viewer think and focus on the substance, rather than on methodology, graphic design or technology
Avoid distorting what data really reflects
Present a lot of numbers in a limited space
Make even large data sets coherent
Encourage exploration and comparison of different data pieces
Reveal the data at numerous levels of details, give multiple view perspective
Have fine and structure
Serve a clear and reasonable purpose (description, exploration, decoration, etc.)
Integrate closely with both statistical and verbal description of data
Graphics reveal data. Indeed graphics can be more precise and revealing than conventional statistical computations.”[1] So these characteristics were taken into account while designing Snapsible.
Device Orientations
Unfolding the device to provide a larger screen can have a positive impact on users:
A larger screen real-estate usually means a more immersive experience.
With multi-windows the user can perform multiple tasks at the same time.
With docking, mode users can interact with another user with two rear screens.
Folding and unfolding can change the screen size, density, or ratio.
This is not a new problem and already happens in these non-folding cases:
Phones: switching between portrait and landscape mode.
Chrome OS running in desktop mode: resizing Android apps.
Devices with multiple or additional screens.
Continuity
Folding states of the device
When exploring data on a foldable device, Snapsible can transition from one screen to another automatically.[3] To provide great user experience, it is very important that the current task continues seamlessly after the transition and resumes in the same state and location. Following are the different states a foldable device can fold, such as in or out:
New Screen Ratios
Android 10 (API level 29) and higher support a wider range of aspect ratios.[3] With Snapsible, form factors can vary from super high long and thin screens (such as 21:9 for a folded device) all the way down to 1:1.
Device screen ratios
Multi-window
Being able to run multiple windows is one of the benefits of larger screens. In the past, having two apps side by side was common in some devices. With the advancements in technology; three or more apps can run on the screen at the same time, and also share content between themselves:
Multi-window screen
Resizing Windows
Snapsible ensures that it works in multi-window mode and dynamic resizing.[3] This is achieved by setting resizeableActivity=true which provides maximum compatibility with whatever form factors and environments it might encounter (like foldables, desktop mode, or freeform windows).
With AOSP (Android Open Source Project) emulator providing support for folding devices. To provide the best experience we test Snapsible in their specified folding scenarios.[3] Such as the mentioned 7.3” and 8” emulators below:
Screenshot of Android Virtual Device selection on Android Studio
If we set resizeableActivity=false, this tells the platform it doesn’t support multi-window. Then Snapsible may still resize your app or put it in multi-window mode, but compatibility is implemented by applying the same configuration to all the components in the app (including all of its Activities, Services, and more). In some cases, major changes (like a display size change) might restart the process rather than change the configuration.
Once resizeableActivity=false is set along with a MaxAspectRatio and the device running Snapsible is unfolded, the activity configuration, size, and aspect ratio are maintained by putting Snapsible in compatibility mode.
If we do not set resizeableActivity, or set it to true, the system assumes Snapsible fully supports multi-window and is resizable. | https://medium.com/nyc-design/snapsible-data-visualization-exploration-for-foldable-screen-displays-354042a90ae | ['Mehul Shah'] | 2020-06-16 18:25:58.696000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'New York', 'Interaction Design', 'Foldable Phone', 'UX Research'] |
How fast can a Mercedes Benz car be tested and released? — A Kaggle Competition | Each row has a unique ID, a collection of categorical variables(X0 — X8) and binary/identity variables(X10 — X378) as well as the output ‘y’.
Upon analysis, we came across some columns:
that showed non-variance (same values throughout the column) that were highly skewed (few values occurring most of the time (> 95%)) that were exact duplicates that were linearly related to certain other columns (positively or negatively)
We did not come across any columns with missing values. Hence there was no need for imputation.
Data Preprocessing
The main idea behind preprocessing is to counter the aspects we came across in the data exploration phase. So what did we do? Before asking that let us ask ‘Why do we do it?’
Reduces dimensionality of the problem in hand. Reduces the possibility of over-fitting (the model tends to learn all available features that are redundant, duplicate or unnecessary ). Lesser number of features mean simpler models, lesser memory, reduced training time and faster results.
Now we get back to the question ‘What did we do?’
We removed columns showing no variability, meaning columns that contained only one value throughout. We also removed columns whose values occurred in more than 95% in the entire column. We scanned the data set for duplicate occurrences and retained only one column in each case. Columns that showed high correlation were also removed to reduce over-fitting.
Feature Engineering
A feature is a useful piece of information for prediction. Hence, better features lead to better results.
Actually, features(numerical ones) available in the raw dataset can be used for prediction right away. You however, won’t achieve the desired level of accuracy needed. What if we could create more features and transform them into something the algorithm can understand? By doing so, we are making things simpler for the model to learn by highlighting the underlying problem.
Impact Encoding
Since the data contained categorical variables, our first job was to transform them into a form understandable by the algorithm. We performed impact encoding, where each categorical variable is replaced by the ‘mean’ of the occurrence of that variable in that column. Hence a variable with more ‘mean’ value will have a higher numerical value.
There are many ways of converting categorical variables to numerical ones. This article provides more insights to do so.
Creating new features in categorical variables
We were able to create new features having categorical variables. Here are the first five rows of the train set:
First five rows of the dataframe
Columns X0, X1 and X2 had something in common. They had some variables having two letters (ex: az, ab, bc, etc.) So we thought of creating a new column called X0_club, X1_club and X2_club. Each of these columns would have variables after clubbing those staring with the same letter. For instance: [aa, ab, ac, ……, az] would be clubbed as [a] and [ba, bb, bc, ……, bz] would be clubbed as [b] and so on. The following image shows the dataframe containing the newly created columns:
Notice the three additional columns in the end
New features can be created for numerical variables as well. But since there were plenty of columns already we didn’t create more (big mistake).
Note: A keypoint to remember is that the steps performed on the training dataset MUST be performed on the test dataset as well. So while doing data preprocessing and feature engineering make sure these steps are done for the test data simultaneously.
Building and training the model
Since our problem is one involving regression, we decided to use Random Forest , which is one among the many ensemble methods available. There are many other algorithms to choose from as well.
We used the RandomForestRegressor function available in the sklearn library to perform regression. The different parameters of this function (number of trees, depth of trees, minimum sample to split and number of features) were decided by running a for loop and was validated using cross validation.
Another approach
On visualizing the output variable against the number of observations, we saw that it was highly skewed having a number of outliers as well. We decided to transform this using Box Cox transformation. It transforms a skewed distribution to a normal distribution. We made use of the corresponding function available in scipy for this purpose. However, training the model on the transformed result did not yield an improvement in the validation accuracy
What we could have done?
Here are some techniques/approaches we could have used but did not:
Create new features using those variables that are of high importance from the existing data. The importance of a variable can be found out by observing which variable is most dependent on in determining the outcome. Cross validation can help you out in this case. We thought of performing basic logical operations (AND, XOR and OR), among the binary variables in order to increase the number of features. But since we had a system with 8GB RAM and given the large number of binary variables (~300), it hanged several times :(. In case this step works for you, care must be taken to ensure duplicate and correlated columns are removed. Use AdaBoost algorithm. Though it is sometimes sensitive to noise and outliers, in most cases it outperforms the other ensemble methods. Care must be taken though, as there is a high tendency to overfit. We could have also used the method of regularization in cohesion with regression. The Lasso function in the sklearn library can help you with that.
Ending Note
So now you want the code huh? Well all the relevant code is available on THIS GitHub repository.
Do you have a better way to solve this problem? Or do you any other comments that you would like to share? Please feel free to comment. By the way, this is my first post on Medium.
I am currently participating in another Kaggle competition — Instacart Market Basket Analysis. I will surely write about my experience once I am done. | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-fast-can-a-mercedes-benz-car-be-tested-and-released-a-kaggle-competition-6a1d56ea17a7 | ['Jeru Luke'] | 2017-07-25 03:52:46.513000+00:00 | ['Random Forest', 'Kaggle', 'Competition', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
The Luxury of Sadness | January
The luxury I’m thinking of is to be sad without having to explain — to yourself or to others. To be sad without needing to justify the awareness of a feeling that is always just beneath the surface of other emotions.
Poet Richard Wilbur observed . . .
“When art is morose, we want to know why, but joy requires no reasons.”
And the same is true of everyday life — which is its own kind of art in a way, though we aren’t trained to think of it that way.
So if you seem happy, people rarely ask why. If you seem sad, they will wonder “what’s wrong with you.”
If you seem sad without an obvious reason, and it lasts for more than a day or two, people will begin to suspect that you are “depressed.” And you may begin to worry about that yourself. Depression seems like a dark and slippery slope — easy to slide down, hard to climb up.
If there’s no obvious reason for your sadness, you will likely be alone with it. Socially approved grief is shared, even admired; but unexcused sadness often goes unacknowledged and unrespected.
As with many subtle things, the Japanese have an expression that lends dignity to unexcused sadness: mono no aware. It is sometimes translated as “pathos” or “awareness of impermanence,” but there is no explicit definition, no attribution to a cause. It’s just a quality of feeling that sometimes surfaces, not only in literature but in one’s own sensibility.
The ancient Romans seem to have known such a feeling also. This famous passage from Virgil’s Aeneid has been given many translations, but here is a nearly literal one:
sunt lacrimae rerum
et mentem mortalia tangunt
there are tears of/for ordinary things (rerum)
and human things (mortalia) touch the mind
In part, the passage is about impermanence, the inevitable passing away of all things. So in that sense it is very close to mono no aware. But in the context of the Aeneid , as the protagonist gazes upon the depiction of a historic battle, it is also about the things humans do to one another, in love and in war.
There is much sadness about being human. If you are not grieving something today, that’s lucky — but there’s always tomorrow. And if you don’t grieve something for yourself tomorrow, there’s always the opportunity to share in someone else’s grief.
As Madame de Florac observes in Thackerey’s 1854 novel The Newcomes: | https://medium.com/literally-literary/the-luxury-of-sadness-abfd8c56c2 | ['Cynthia Giles'] | 2020-12-15 05:33:30.298000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Self', 'Philosophy', 'Mental Health', 'Essay'] |
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