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4 Habits to Build Focus in a Tempest | How do some people stay focused through hard times?
What is the link between focus on the one hand, and resilience on the other?
What Makes Some Brains More Focused Than Others? | Marvin Chun | TEDxKFAS
In this TEDx talk, neuroscience researcher Marvin Chun discusses the limits of the brain’s potential to multitask. He provides three tips for improving concentration — “simplify, relax, unitask.”
The full talk is well worth a watch. Below, I distill Chun’s three points into four related ones. | https://medium.com/afwp/4-habits-to-build-focus-in-a-tempest-a1fd638bc507 | ['C. C. Francis'] | 2020-11-19 15:31:58.609000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Self', 'Productivity', 'Focus'] |
The Myth of the Full Service Agency | Title photo by Napoleon Dynamite.
Forbes published this article yesterday based on a survey of what CMO’s are saying about the future of their relationships with agencies. The crux of the article can be summarized by this particular quote:
“The majority of clients, 62%, polled by my marketing consultancy Avidan Strategies admit that they now view agencies as suppliers, and that today’s relationships are no longer a partnership.”
And to punctuate their point, they embedded this image right smack in the middle of their page:
Not the sign you want to see especially when you’re driving 200 mph.
It is a good, albeit pessimistic (especially if you work on the side I do) summary of a few of the trends fuelling the disruption in marketing over the past few years:
The speed of adoption of new channels and tactics compounding the amount and type of work a marketer needs to juggle
The array of technologies being adopted by marketers, each with its own ecosystem of vendors and specialists
The rise of the freelancer economy
And a general trend towards companies doing more digital marketing in-house especially for those where digital is a driving force for the company.
The message is clear — CMO’s aren’t happy with their agencies and are seeking alternative solutions.
While much of this article is aimed at the “traditional” advertising agencies, these trends impact everyone who has a business providing any type of marketing/technology services to these very marketers. This includes the digital agencies, the consultancies, the PR agencies, the social specialists, the systems integrators, the platform vendors, the branding shops, the holding companies…etc etc.
All sorts of “agencies” jumped into digital while the water was warm.
Photo by Caleb Morris
The pool has gotten pretty crowded, especially when many agencies claim to be “full service”. If you look at the typical agency website, you’ll see an ever-growing list of capabilities. In the 15 years I spent working at, competing with, and partnering with all types of agencies, it always amazes me how hard it is for an agency to say NO to an opportunity:
Can you devise an integrated national product launch campaign? — Yes!
Can you build an enterprise ecommerce store? — Sure!
Conduct usability testing in Asia? — No problem!
Produce long-form video content ?— Uh huh!
Localize our website across 80 countries? — You bet!
Target millennial mothers on Snapchat? — All the time!
Can you create 3D-printed drones to take selfies of a flashmob triggered by tweets — We’ll figure it out!
Image of Dronie by Twitter.
It seems that over the past couple years, in a quest to jump in on shifting marketing budgets, many agencies have responded by simply adding more capabilities to their service offering and more bullets to their websites to shore up their claims about being a “full service” agency.
Let’s just be clear, in this day and age of channels, tactics, technologies and a multi-dimensional consumer, being a “full service” agency is pretty much like pretending you’re a Liger.
For those of you who have never encountered a Liger in the wild or have seen Napoleon Dynamite, a Liger is a not just a lion, nor is it just a tiger but it is a combination of the best of both creatures. Plus it has magical powers to boot!
The world has changed and these days are behind us. Today, there is no such thing as a full-service agency. For those who are still hanging onto the myth, well good luck. Everyone else has or should pick a lane.
Agencies aren’t dead. A new type of partnership must emerge.
Despite all the sensationalist articles predicting the death and potential unemployment for everyone in the industry, I still believe strongly (and especially in these times), that marketers do and will always need good partners. Marketers have their own challenges and despite the threat of increasing in-house teams, much like the agency business, they cannot be experts at everything.
It is a time for both marketers and agencies to focus on what their core strengths are.
Only then can we be better partners. | https://medium.com/the-modern-craft-collection/the-myth-of-the-full-service-agency-aefe90ca61ab | ['Randy Siu'] | 2015-04-22 12:34:06.723000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Agency', 'Digital Marketing'] |
Making Friends in the Middle Ages | Making Friends in the Middle Ages
Nights in. People coming and (mostly) going. This is life after 50.
“Golden” friendship: How lucky were Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy to find each other so late in life? (Photo: NBC)
When it comes to making me take long, hard, uncomfortable looks at myself, nobody does it better than my friend Nancy. She was at her probing best the day she sent me an email asking for my take on friendship and aging.
Do you find it harder, if not impossible, to make new friends as you get older?
With that one question, she shoved me into a time machine where the in-flight entertainment was my own biopic: This is your life, from party boy to party pooper.
Once upon a time in New York City, circa 1992, I was an early twentysomething upstart journalist who never met a night he wouldn’t spend out on the town making a mess and making friends. Hundreds of years later, at 50, I’m a near-reclusive veteran journalist who loves my old friends but doesn’t have much interest in making new ones.
Did I get here by choice? Am I the loner I now purport to be only because I’ve lost the ability to befriend?
What once was as easy as walking into a room and working it, over the years has become, well, work — hard work: scary, challenging and often fruitless. My current motto regarding friendship (borrowed, like so many things in my life, from a song by The Smiths): You should not go to them. Let them come to you.
My life as a “recovering introvert”
It’s hard for friendship to find you, though, when you’re happiest spending nights at home sitting on the couch. I had a rich, complex inner life during my younger New York City days, but I still lived to hit the town and meet new people. As my big brother Alexi so beautifully put it in the mid-’90s, I was a “recovering introvert.”
I was a 23-year-old People magazine reporter in the thick of my awkward-social-butterfly phase (which had begun toward the end of high school) when I met Nancy. On our first day as colleagues, I trained her to fact check People’s Passages section. That night, when everyone else was complaining about the magazine’s ungodly Tuesday-night closing schedule — only the lucky ones went home before 3 a.m. — I breathed a loud sigh of relief. At least it was only Tuesday.
“Time magazine closes on Friday night?” I said, repeating Nancy’s statement as a question. “I could never imagine having to work under those conditions. You could never go out on Friday night. I would die if I couldn’t go out on Friday night.”
Nancy looked at me like I was insane. We were close in age, but clearly, she’d settled into an adult life where weekends weren’t just an excuse to go out, get drunk, meet new people, and forge bonds that may or may not develop into lasting friendships. We were opposites, and we almost immediately attracted. It was that easy for me to make new friends back then.
Fly away, social butterfly
My congenial ways continued when I moved to Buenos Aires in 2006. If I hadn’t grown so weary of being ripped off in the city and navigating its insufferable bureaucracy over the course of four and a half years, leaving BA might have been as difficult as leaving New York City had been. I made some wonderful friendships in Argentina, ones that continue to this day, thanks, in large part, to the uniting and reuniting power of Facebook.
When I moved to Melbourne in March of 2011, I arrived with a decent social foundation. I’d been introduced to several fantastic people there by mutual acquaintances during my first trip to Australia several months earlier, and a guy I’d met during the final days of that holiday quickly became my new boyfriend.
While I didn’t have quite the social life that I’d enjoyed in Buenos Aires (there were days when I didn’t utter a single word out loud), I never wanted for company or a warm body beside me. And Australians are so friendly and welcoming, I rarely felt alone with everybody there.
While I didn’t have quite the social life in Melbourne that I’d enjoyed in Buenos Aires, I never wanted for company, or a warm body beside me.
During the seventh to the final one of my 17 nonconsecutive months in Bangkok, an extended period that began in July of 2011, a new sensation took over me. Suddenly, I had a burning desire to stay home. On the rare occasions that I did venture out socially, the few friends I’d made during my initial six-month stint in Bangkok would greet me as if they were looking at a ghost.
“Where have you been? Are you in love? Is that why you’ve disappeared?”
Apparently, in Bangkok, the only reason to stay home was to cuddle up to someone.
I usually offered some excuse about how I was busy writing, but the truth was, I couldn’t be bothered. Jumping into the shower and getting ready to go out required too much effort. So did hanging out with people and trying to make conversation.
In Cape Town, where I lived between November of 2013 and October of 2014, I retreated farther into myself. I even spent New Year’s Eve home alone for the first time ever.
In my next city, Sydney, I opened up again, mostly because after years of freelancing off-campus, I was back to working in an office and taking advantage of the social benefits of an on-site full-time gig. Ever since I left Sydney in June of 2017, after two and a half years, to spend most of the past 24 months wandering around Asia and Europe, I’ve become a borderline recluse.
A loner by choice?
If getting close to new people has gotten harder as I’ve gotten older, it’s probably not them. It’s me.
A half-century of winning and losing friends has made me warier of people and less willing to put up with their issues. A good friend recently disappointed me in a pretty dramatic way, and I was surprised by how little interest I had in analyzing what went down. He hurt me, but I couldn’t muster up the energy to really mourn the death of our friendship.
When I first drifted into my circle of one back in Bangkok, my friend Lori said I shouldn’t worry. In a way, I might have been psychologically preparing myself for fatherhood. Being a parent can be a largely isolating experience, which leaves one little time for previously taken-for-granted activities like bonding with adults.
Without realizing it, I might have been training myself subconsciously for the focus that being a parent requires. I liked Lori’s theory because it meant I wasn’t merely becoming increasingly all about me. Nobody wants to be friends with a self-centered narcissist, right?
But then, maybe it wasn’t completely by choice and still isn’t. That’s a nice way of saying that even if I were to embark on a crusade to win friends and influence people, they might tell me to get lost.
Several years ago when Nancy read my first book, Is It True What They Say About Black Men? — a memoir about my first seven expat years — she told me she didn’t find the protagonist to be a sympathetic character at all. My first thought was this: She’s talking about me! My second: Well, Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City and Hannah Horvath on Girls weren’t exactly sympathetic either, so it could be a writer thing.
Apparently, according to Nancy, who didn’t actually allude to Sex and the City, Carrie and I have a lot in common: “Were I a reviewer, I’d be wondering how a guy who is such a bad judge of lovers gets such great friends,” she said. Hmm …
Welcome to the middle ages
Beyond leading me to question my sanity, Nancy’s comment made me realize that not only did I at one point have the capacity to make friends, but I also had the ability to make excellent ones. It reminded me of a time when friendships were everything to me, so much so that I wanted to know about everyone else’s.
Years ago, during an interview with Patti LaBelle in her New York City hotel suite, I asked her a typical twentysomething-journalist question: “ Who do you hang out with?” (Excuse the grammar — I was young.) She looked at me as if I’d lost it.
“First of all,” she said, “I don’t hang out. When I’m not recording or on tour, I’m at home.”
While she had many acquaintances and people with whom she was friendly, they had their lives and she had hers. I can’t say I really understood where she was coming from at the time. I wondered: How could such a friendly, outgoing woman keep herself cooped up at home? Now, I totally get it.
There’s no place like home. And since I’ve lived alone since I was 23, for the bulk of my adult life, home has been a place where I can be alone with my own thoughts, obsessing over every physical sensation, and thinking about mortality, the meaning of life, and the meaning of my life. Despite occasional-to-frequent panic attacks, the older I get, the more attached I become to my circle of one.
Now that I’m once again an off-campus freelance writer on various continents, my social opportunities on weekdays are limited. Even if I had the energy to once again start going out with wild abandon, or the interest in it, I wouldn’t know how to turn drunken encounters into true friendships.
Even if I had the energy to once again start going out with wild abandon, or the interest in it, I wouldn’t know how to turn drunken encounters into true friendships.
It probably would require calling people up and making plans with them, and who has time for that? Well, I do, but it’s so nice on the couch — or in bed.
I know. I know. No matter what Morrissey once sang, friendships don’t just come to you. Sometime you must go to them. People talk about love that just happens (a development that’s never happened to me). One day you’re you, the next you’re one-half of we. Nobody talks about friendships like that, but I wish they would. That would give me hope.
Or maybe I don’t need hope, just true faith. Like Nancy said, I already have great friends. I may have won them with ease when I was younger, but in my middle ages, I appreciate them so much more. | https://medium.com/recycled/making-friends-in-the-middle-ages-2e01a815973f | ['Jeremy Helligar'] | 2019-08-06 14:12:45.402000+00:00 | ['Nonfiction', 'Aging', 'Friends', 'Relationships', 'Friendship'] |
Trust is not the foundation, it’s scaffolding | When we talk about a relationship, we often talk about the foundation and how important it is. I agree, without a good foundation, your relationship is going to fall over pretty soon. If we talk about the foundation of a relationship, we can make an analogy that it’s like building. So if a relationship is a building we must also talk about the walls, the scaffolding, and maintenance. Why do we always talk about the importance of a good foundation but not the other parts of building a relationship?
The thing I love about any construction is that no matter how advanced our technology gets, it’s still a manual job, just like a relationship, we still need to consciously build brick by brick, building the scaffolding around the building as we move up. The scaffolding is what holds you up while you experience life, while you are away from each other for work, when you have a falling out, it’s how you go to the next level and build higher. Without trust, your relationship can be a beautiful foundation and a nice wall, but it’s not a building or a home. So memories and experiences are the bricks, and trust is the scaffolding, let me explain what I mean. When we first meet someone our trust in them is at ground level, we can lay some bricks but we don’t share the deep stuff (deepest fears, kinks, core values). If that person breaks our trust, it’s not a big deal because we are still at laying down the first few bricks, if we fall it’s not a big deal to get back up. But once you start to know each other, and start building a relationship the bricks become too high for you to be on ground level and you must use scaffolding, or trust, to build more memories. Now if someone betrays your trust, and your scaffolding goes crashing down you are left with a half-built house, an injury (normally to the heart), and sometimes a lawsuit. The best example of this is when someone cheats in a relationship. Trust is down to zero but the memories are still there if you want to continue building the relationship you have to rebuild the scaffolding before you can continue to build the house.
But a relationship is more than just building memories, it’s building a life together and that requires maintenance. If you’ve ever restored a house you know that people often don’t do proper maintenance if any. To put it simply, when the signs of something breaking first appear we normally ignore them until it’s too late. In terms of a relationship, we normally don’t communicate things when they bother us, and this leads to pent up frustration meaning we don’t do any maintenance. Do yourself a favor and look at the wall above your door. Its probably got a crack on it, and you probably told yourself that you would fix that soon but you haven’t. This is exactly what happens in a relationship, there is a problem that either you, your partner or both of you see but don’t address. Over time this pent up stress will grow and cause a major issue that could cause the house, the relationship, to collapse.
Everyones least favorite part of living is maintenance. Nobody likes replacing lightbulbs, windows, or spending hundreds of dollars to replace an air conditioning unit. So when we build this relationship we are also living in what we built of the house. We need to do maintenance or the building could cave on us, even if we have a good foundation and our scaffolding is solid. This is a part of any relationship that we don’t normally talk about because we don’t often look back to see what our partners gave up to make us happy, how we compromised for the sake of one person in the relationship. Maintenance is addressing the issues, identifying when the kitchen door is squeaky, when one of you has always done laundry and needs a break. In a relationship, you need to see what parts you have left untouched for a while to make sure no pent up stress is slowly causing damage to the entire building. If the relationship is not maintained, it’ll start to crumble and fall until it’s a dilapidated memory.
Throughout life, you are going to build a city, multiple houses with significant others, family, and friends. You’ll build skyscrapers with organizations (churches, schools, companies, etc.). You’ll undoubtedly leave some buildings half completed, abandon some, and constantly build and maintain a few others. At the end of the day, it’s the buildings you put time into, the ones that you maintain, and rebuild the scaffolding that will be the most beautiful. Just look at the Sagrada Familia, over a hundred years and they haven’t given up on it. Now it’s viewed as the most beautiful building on earth. | https://jackprommel.medium.com/trust-is-not-the-foundation-its-scaffolding-329e66324950 | ['Jack Prömmel'] | 2019-09-23 13:55:07.678000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Long Distance', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Love', 'Trust'] |
Utah Becomes The Third U.S. Jurisdiction To Offer Blockchain-Based Mobile Voting | Utah County is the latest jurisdiction in the U.S. to implement blockchain-based mobile voting in their upcoming municipal primary election in August. Tusk Philanthropies, which aims to increase voter turnout and participation in U.S. elections, has partnered with the Utah County Elections Division, Voatz, and the National Cybersecurity Center, to offer a blockchain-based mobile voting pilot to active-duty military, their eligible dependents and overseas voters.
The pilot will be powered by Voatz, a mobile elections platform driven by military-grade technology that ensures safety and ease for individuals voting anywhere in the world. Last year in West Virginia, Voatz launched the first blockchain-based mobile voting solution used during a federal election. Voatz was also the underlying technology provider in Denver’s May 7th municipal election.
“Our technology has been used in West Virginia, Denver and is now being applied in Utah across nine different cities. The election in Utah will be smaller than the election in Denver, but the concept remains the same. We aim to make voting easy and safe for overseas citizens.” Nimit Sawhney, CEO and co-founder of Voatz, told me.
According to Sawhney, election officials in Utah County and across the country are recognizing that current absentee voting methods are insufficient, specifically for active military members and overseas citizens. In turn, many individuals living abroad are less likely to vote. Data from the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) reflects this, showing that in 2016 there were 3 million U.S. citizens living abroad whom cast approximately 208,000 ballots. The overseas voter turnout was just 7% compared to a domestic turnout of 72%.
“Election officials in Utah County and across the country are recognizing that current absentee voting methods are not sufficient. Members of the military who are stationed overseas or young people serving missions around the world should be able to take advantage of the latest advances in smartphone hardware, encryption and blockchain technology to cast their ballot. We are delighted that voters in Denver, West Virginia and now Utah County have had an opportunity to evaluate the security and ease of voting from a mobile device.”
The pilot will largely be used by troops serving abroad, who have traditionally had to rely on using absentee paper ballots, making it difficult to participate in elections. According to the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission, nearly 300,000 overseas voters requested ballots, but were unable to return them to their county clerks back home in the 2016 elections.
“Utah’s pilot is another sign that the momentum for mobile voting in our country is very real and supports our theory that when you show people a much better way to do something, there becomes a demand for it,” said Bradley Tusk, founder and CEO of Tusk Philanthropies. “As we enter into a Presidential election year, we have to continue to remove as many barriers and hurdles as possible so a lot more people are able to participate in our democracy.”
Blockchain’s Role
While mobile voting makes it easier for overseas citizens to cast their votes, blockchain technology adds ease, transparency and security.
“Voatz uses biometrics, ID verification and blockchain technology as a unique mechanism for data security and post election auditing. The process begins with overseas citizens applying for an absentee ballot. Once a county clerk verifies users information, they can download the Voatz app on their smartphone. Full identification verification is required, along with a ‘video motion selfie,’ used for facial recognition matching. Once everything is approved, users will receive a mobile ballot, which is fully anonymous and stored on a blockchain network. A fingerprint is needed to unlock it,” explained Sawhney.
The Voatz mobile election platform is powered by Hyperledger Fabric, the enterprise grade blockchain framework hosted by the Linux Foundation. The voting database is distributed across 32 computing nodes on machines hosted by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, all within the geographical bounds of the U.S. Voatz monitors the nodes alongside select nonprofits that act as independent supervisors.
“Just as voters using the platform must go through a vetting process before voting, those who want to run a node, also known as the auditors in this case, must be vetted. In the Denver election, eighteen people signed up to be auditors, which laid the foundation for this,” said Sawhney.
It’s also important to point out that the Voatz platform doesn’t rely on cryptocurrency. According to Swahney, in the case of voting, cryptocurrency shouldn’t be applied as an incentive mechanism in order to avoid conflicts.
“We don’t have cryptocurrency as an incentive mechanism because we want to avoid conflicts of interest and legal complications that might arise in terms of having to pay someone to audit a transaction. Everything across the network is done from goodwill to support transparent democracy, which is all compliant with U.S. regulations.”
Data Security Of Electronic Voting Systems
However, while a blockchain-based mobile application may ease the process for overseas voters to cast their ballots, data security behind electronic voting systems remains questionable.
Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, in which Russian hackers attempted to delete and alter voter data, concerns have been raised regarding data protection. Yet according to Swahney, blockchain ensures data protection much more efficiently than traditional electronic voting systems.
“No voter identifiable information is being stored on the blockchain, just the cast ballots. The public can also access the blockchain as well and do individual analysis without knowing who voted. This is a big step toward creating transparency. The other challenge of electronic voting is the question of how to keep data tamper resistant from the time when the voters cast their ballots to when the tabulation happens. Using blockchain helps with this, plus it has auditing capabilities that adds transparency and verifiability of the whole transaction.”
During the Denver election, The National Cybersecurity Center (NCC) provided an open audit to the public to ensure that voter’s choices were honored.
“On Election Day, a county clerks will receive two sets of keys to unlock the digital lock box that hold the records on the blockchain. They then print those ballots and scan them in. Voters will receive a digitally signed receipt once they submit their ballots and the jurisdiction will get an anonymous copy. Once the election is over, the jurisdiction uses anonymous receipts and compares those with the printed ballot and data on the blockchain,” explained Swahney.
While Voatz is only applicable for overseas military personnel and their families eligible to vote in Utah, Swahney mentioned that next steps are to extend the technology to people with disabilities.
“In a post election survey from the Denver Elections Division, 100% of respondents said they favored secure mobile voting over all methods available to them. Next on our roadmap is to learn from every pilot we do and make improvements. For example, from the West Virginia election we learned how to make the post election audit process more collaborative so that citizens can participate with county clerks. In the future, we want to expand this to those with disabilities and will work on making the platform more accessible.” | https://medium.com/hackernoon/utah-becomes-the-third-u-s-jurisdiction-to-offer-blockchain-based-mobile-voting-2ba89e7fc74a | ['Rachel Wolfson'] | 2019-07-24 23:19:47.881000+00:00 | ['Mobile Apps', 'Utah', 'Blockchain', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Hackernoon Top Story'] |
Illustrating a more human brand (part 1) | Illustrating a more human brand (part 1)
The history of Dropbox brand illustration
For years before I joined the Dropbox illustration team, I assumed the Dropbox illustrators had it easy. I imagined talented people getting to make great work for an organization that believed deeply in the power of illustration. I mean, what could be chiller than drawing all day? To a casual observer, it’s easy to take for granted the pioneering role Dropbox has played in brand illustration. But over the last ten years, there have been a handful of times when illustration as a Dropbox hallmark has been in jeopardy. It took nearly eight years of speaking up in meeting rooms and drafting late night email essays to fight for illustration’s power. This is because illustration has long existed at ground zero of Dropbox’s identity crisis: are we consumer or enterprise? Do we speak to those audiences in different ways? It’s a historic tension that still hovers over our illustrators today.
Illustrating a human brand by Brandon Land
In December 2016, I received the honor of leading the Dropbox illustration team. My first goal has been to understand the decisions that were made to cement Dropbox’s artistic legacy. As the illustration team looks forward to evolving and pushing the brand forward, I think it’s important that we understand the legacy and carry it with us while we advance. In preparation for this historical recollection, I had the pleasure of interviewing some of the influential creative minds that helped define and prove illustration’s heavyweight status. Through these interviews, I found a powerful story about taking giant leaps of faith against opposing ideas and data to prove the power of illustration.
In the beginning, fast and cheap win
First illustration drawn for Dropbox by Jon Ying
Illustration at Dropbox comes from very humble beginnings. Jon Ying, who does not consider himself an illustrator, drew a piece for a blog post about some bugs they were working on. The image portrayed a stick figure chasing after a bug with the intent to smash it to oblivion, and it sparked an intensely debated existential question for the company. Who are we? Should we be just like all the other respectable companies and play it safe? Or should we try something interesting and make a statement? The decision to publish the stick figure wasn’t easy, but it was an important decision. Users can be fickle. If they didn’t trust that Dropbox was going to take care of their needs, they were out. The drawing could actually cost the company. However, Jon believed simple universal drawings connected on a human level and inspired empathy when things might not be working right. He believed it could even help retain customers through some tough times.
“I made a drawing for an email campaign sent to people that recently downgraded from Dropbox Pro. The image we made was a weeping PC with a thought bubble with a broken heart inside. People started writing in and tweeting to apologize for hurting us by leaving. Many even resubscribed.” –Jon Ying
In the early days of a company, these decisions can become hard to untangle, as it’s often two heartfelt, passionate beliefs pitted against each other. This decision was hashed out in an absurdly unconventional way. It took a long, drawn-out Dance Dance Revolution battle between the two founders. It lasted 23 hours straight. No sleeping. No eating. No bathroom breaks. No mercy. Ok, not really — it was actually just a meeting, but in that meeting, co-founder Arash Ferdowsi passionately fought for Jon Ying’s vision. He believed Jon was on to something. After all, in the early days, Jon worked in customer support. He was the most connected to the users, and Jon was damn good at connecting with an audience at a universally human level.
Take your stuff anywhere by Jon Ying
Keep your files safe by Jon Ying
Arash and Jon’s passionate vision was met with extreme doubt. There were just no data or examples to support that the style would be a good decision. At face value, what Jon Ying was asking was pretty nuts. If you can think back to nearly a decade ago, no one was using illustration in brands like Dropbox, especially not stick figure comics. Drew Houston (CEO and co-founder) had good reason to think it was a silly idea. But that’s the thing: it was a silly idea. It didn’t take itself too seriously. It wasn’t beholden to corporate trends or best practice marketing and sales knowledge. It thumbed its nose at being put in a box.
Illustration by Jon Ying
Illustration by Jon Ying
What the style did have, however, was a well-reasoned argument for why it would work. Jon’s solution worked well for the biggest realities Dropbox was facing at the time. The product was young, it went down almost daily in 2008, and the team needed a quick and easy way to communicate with customers in a way that felt like there were humans working on the problems. At the time, Dropbox couldn’t afford an illustrator, and there was a need for a lot of communication at the time. Jon explains, “There actually wasn’t much inspiration or thought that went into the early day illos. They were in many ways driven by necessity, chance, then reflection.” In those days, debate about using stick figure drawings often resolved itself through the classic engineer’s agreement: try it, and if the data didn’t support it, they wouldn’t do it again. Fortunately for us, people really responded to Jon’s work. They even went so far as to take time out of their days to email about the drawings. It was a hit!
“Dropbox’s brand thinking at the time was, should we try doing the gradienty bullshit every other 2008 tech company is doing? No, it’s lame. Should we try hiring a full-time illustrator? No, we’re poor. Should we just stick with this style for now? Yeah, Jon seems to draw clever stuff, it works with the product experience, and we can keep paying Jon the same money for doing two jobs. What a schmuck.” –Jon Ying
Psychobox illustration by Jon Ying
As the need for illustration grew, one of the next challenges was to draw something for the 404 page. This would be the first introduction of illustration inside the actual product. The only problem was that Jon didn’t have any drawing supplies other than plain ol’ pens. Arash decided the two of them would go to the Walgreens downstairs and buy some art supplies. They picked out some colored pencils and drawing paper, and voilà, the Dropbox aesthetic was born. Jon drew a version of the Dropbox logo à la Escher, and it was a big hit internally. However, despite internal praise, there was another roadblock for Jon to overcome. Creating silly drawings on the blog or in emails is one thing. But putting them in the product? That’s crazy talk! Convention was loud and clear that this color pencil drawing of insanity was an unprofessional approach. 404 pages are a moment of frustration, and Jon was making a joke? The challenge had to be raised again: “Do we want to be a company that does this kind of crazy stuff?”
“The early days were all about irreverence. It worked for our users, but perhaps more importantly, it attracted the type of employees we wanted at the time. An illustration of a raptor, eagle, and shark was used on our jobs page. Many of our early hires went on to say ‘your jobs page was different from every other one out there, and I saw myself being a part of what you were trying to do.’” –Jon Ying
At this point, you probably see a pattern here. A desire to be innovative or different will always meet its counter argument to do what is expect and tested. This debate will go on in every company throughout time. However, Jon wasn’t disheartened by the debate, and he didn’t take his initial wins for granted. He understood illustration would be continually on the chopping block, so Jon took every chance he could to build meaning and value around the work that he did. “We weren’t simply being irreverent for irreverence’s sake,” Jon remembers. “There were other factors of familiarity and approachability that we wanted to capture. A kind of a ‘you can do it, too’ spirit we wanted the user to feel.”
As the style progressed, one of the main components of meaning for the work was to connect with people in a more personal way. Jon started to build a means of conversation within his work by using Easter eggs in the product. These little moments of discovery made people say, “Oh, that’s clever.” And more importantly, it invited them to think, “I’m clever for getting their reference. I relate to the people who work at Dropbox.” Jon had started building relationships and friendships with people through his art. There were even times when strangers literally walked up to Dropbox employees on the street and gave them a hug. That type of relationship was traditionally considered impossible to create with a company.
Version history by Jon Ying
Jon’s philosophy didn’t just stop at an emotional connection. He also built out a philosophy for the thinking behind the work. Jon wanted Dropbox’s users to understand the imaginative journey one must take to build this type of product, and how hard Dropbox employees worked to make it a reality. Dropbox needed users’ trust, and that meant sharing a piece of Dropbox’s culture with them. To do that, Jon devised a fantasy world where metaphor and pop culture collided to put a fun spin on what was ultimately an extremely boring concept — cloud storage. When the need arose to communicate about version history, Jon could use a DeLorean from Back to the Future. When talking about mobile capabilities, Jon would show characters enjoying life with all their files in a kite. He crafted compelling reasons around the use of illustration, so illustration would be in a solid position the next time it was second-guessed.
Illustration by Jon Ying
Jon contributed many conceptually interesting illustrations, but he is the type of guy who loves to take a new thing head on. Soon enough, he became involved in too many parts of the company to keep up with the illustration work needed. It was time to hire some new talent. In a serendipitous series of events, Dropbox had recently contracted Ryan Putnam to build out a design/illustration system for their big DBX event. His work was amazing, and Dropbox decided to bring Putnam on board to help with the giant mountain of work. This is the beginning of what has fondly been referred to as the “Putnam era.”
Systemizing aesthetics and the feedback process
Illustration for DBX developer’s conference by Ryan Putnam
Dropbox was growing very quickly. The product was a budding success, and the need for talent was massive. If you’ve never been part of a small company that’s rapidly growing, let me take a minute to describe it to you. It’s insanity. Every task, job, problem, success — it’s all brand-new to everyone involved. The entire company is making educated guesses while taking on responsibilities they never thought they’d be able to effectively help out on. This type of growth is a key component to the revolutionary success of the tech industry. People aren’t afraid to make mistakes. They’re encouraged to move fast and learn quickly what does and doesn’t work. The tough part managerially is that everyone’s opinion on everything is valid. For illustrations, this makes for a lot of, “We’ll know it when we see it.” That means every illustration becomes a monumental effort of meandering through the darkness. Illustration transforms from a delightful part of the brand to a battle zone of opinions. This is the chaos that quickly started to manifest around the time Ryan Putnam joined the team.
Cupcake illustration by Ryan Putnam
Illustration by Ryan Putnam
Illustrations by Ryan Putnam
Illustrations by Ryan Putnam
Putnam was a generalist, which was perfect for Dropbox at the time. He designed and illustrated for products, marketing needs, blogs, internal comms, etc. The sheer volume and variety of the design work needed was pretty staggering. Putnam needed to move quickly, so he leaned on an illustration style he was most comfortable with. Putnam’s style was warm and approachable. It was a logical evolution for the Dropbox brand, but at the same time, designers Alice Lee and Allison House were also creating illustrations in their own styles. There was a moment in time where work was made in any style an artist wanted. There was minimal oversight because there was so much to be done. If it felt good enough, it made it through. There was a lot of talented people creating great work. But as it turns out, that’s not a sustainable model for a brand. If anything goes with the illustration, then anything also goes with the feedback, and chaos started to take root.
Illustration system design by Ryan Putnam
“Putnam is a real class act. One gets very few opportunities to work with someone as thoughtful, kind, and hardworking as him.” –Jon Ying
Where Dropbox’s illustration once had a focused point of view, it was starting to jump all over the place. It started to seem like an afterthought as opposed to something deeply integrated into the company’s DNA. Putnam understood that if an illustration system lacks a strong point of view, then everyone and their dog will impose their uninformed opinions. This was causing chaos where a single piece of feedback could set projects back or even derail them completely.
Illustration brand guidelines by Putnam
Illustration brand guidelines by Putnam
Putnam saw the writing on the wall. Illustration needed to be systemized, or it was going to be replaced. He dedicated his tenure at Dropbox to building a guide for how illustration was created and measured. This included a specific point of view on how the company gave feedback about illustration. It turns out that a lot of meetings go into educating people about brand best practices. Like, a gross amount. And on top of those meetings, Putnam and the team still had to get their actual design work done. At this point, Putnam started walking the same path that Jon Ying had to pave in the beginning. To ensure illustration’s place in the brand, they had to work twice as hard.
Illustration by Zach Graham
Illustration by Zach Graham
Putnam started exploring an aesthetic system that could be scalable as they hired new designers. He understood that in order to scale their team, a foundation needed to be created for illustrators to work on top of. Dropbox brought in illustrator/designers Zach Graham, Justin Pervorse, and Linda Eliasen to help scale the design language. Ultimately, Zach and Putnam dedicated their focus to creating an updated brand style that honored Jon Ying’s style while also evolving it into a more refined digital style. They created an easy-to-replicate system of using objects to tell stories. Often the objects had smiles. Zach jokes, “At one point, I think everything had a smile.” People tend to give a nostalgic self-aware laugh at the smile period. There was a real mandate for the illustrations to convey delight. There was a lot of delight. 😀
Illustrations by Ryan Putnam and Zach Graham
The emerging system was working. They started scaling it out to other products and pressure testing it as a broader language. Putnam was able to build a precedent for the work that served as common ground for feedback and furthered illustration’s role in the company. This was a major win for the company’s ability to understand and communicate ideas through illustration. There was one big issue, though. Through the process of systemization, the style had lost a key component. It lost its whimsical, conceptual nature. Where Jon Ying once strove to never show a folder or file, the style now was primarily object-based.
Design and illustrations for Dropbox’s now retired product Carousel.
The contrast between a more objective style and purely conceptual pieces is very interesting. In Jon’s days, the product was very conceptual. The user’s stuff was now in the cloud. People didn’t even know what “the cloud” was. It was brand-new, and the company needed to sell why this was something worth moving toward. It was closer to a lifestyle connection. Whereas during the Putnam era, people understood the cloud, but they needed to understand the practical uses of Dropbox. This meant that mentally connecting one’s environment to Dropbox was helpful in showing its usability. But ultimately, one or the other wasn’t good enough for the team. They constantly thought about what was working and how to take it to the next level.
Proof of concept
Access denied illustration by Zach Graham
While Dropbox was growing rapidly, new hires were brought in from a variety of other successful companies. Leadership got deeper and wider, and illustration had a new crop of people to prove itself to. The new illustration system was working, but so much changes quickly in startups. They have to zig and zag constantly. This meant new hires across the company could only use what they had learned from other companies to inform what should happen at Dropbox. After all, they were hired for their past successes. The only problem was that Dropbox wasn’t like any other company. The people that joined Dropbox wanted to work there because it has a certain je ne sais quoi, but they had a hard time translating that internal culture to how the brand should sit in the world. The company had gone full circle, and illustration was up for another round of “survive the chopping block.” Some believed deeply that it was time for Dropbox to feel more in line with what other companies were doing. The problem was that most companies relied heavily on pictures of boring people just looking at their phones in a work scenario. Lame!
Fish bowl illustrations by Zach Graham
Illustration had to step up its game. It had to serve as an emotional connection that far outweighed what other companies were doing with photography. One chance to prove that emotional power arose with the need to create a “please don’t downgrade” page. The illustration appeared when users wanted to downgrade from a paid plan to the free plan. Dropbox needed something to help users understand they get a whole lot of bang for their buck. Zach explains, “I wanted to figure out how to make people feel guilty without being an asshole. At that time there were smiley faces on everything, and I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to draw a file crying. It wasn’t going to work.” Zach came up with the idea of two differently sized fishbowls. He portrayed the concept of space without connecting it to files at all. He wanted you to remember how sad your pet would be if they were in a cramped space. You don’t want to be the type of person that lives in a cramped space, right? Apparently, people can really relate to the emotions of a fish, because it convinced people not to click that final “Yes, I’m sure” button. Some say this illustration saved the company millions of dollars. Others say, “Whoa, cool, people say it was that much?” Either way, I wasn’t able to track down the actual statistic for its success, but its impact on the future of illustration was quite significant.
Illustration about building on top of Dropbox by Zach Graham
While the fishbowl pieces served as the sacrificial lamb on the chopping block, the big debate about if we should move away from illustration roared on. Illustration had proven itself useful in certain battles, but there was still the question of whether it was the right tool to win the war. “The sentiment was that the company needed to grow up,” Zach recalls. “I agreed with that sentiment. We did need to grow up. But illustration can be conceptually sophisticated, and that’s what I was interested in.”
Illustration by Zach Graham
At the time, it was difficult to find the right answer between both sides. Although there was a tighter system for understanding illustration, there was no clear way for other parts of the org to understand what brand was or how it should be approached. There wasn’t a brand team at the time. There was just a pool of designers working on pretty much everything. While Zach’s conceptual illustrations were still proving their worth on the growth and monetization side, it started to become clear that there needed to be a defined process for making brand decisions. The contrasting ideas about illustration’s worth were not going to solve themselves.
“What we saw that marketing didn’t see yet was that illustration was starting to become really popular in brands, and as it was emerging, people were already ripping off what we are doing. It was obvious that we were doing something right. So we wanted to push that.” –Zach Graham
Every pillar of the company had specific needs, and there wasn’t a clear path for anyone to work alongside brand experts to create meaningful work for those needs. They didn’t understand that a brand’s major power was that it could make hard-to-understand concepts relatable at a gut level. Without brand, decisions boiled down to the hard numbers and research coming from marketing and finance. It’s hard to beat those numbers with a mere, “Trust me, this will work.” It’s easy to blame one side or the other for the rough patch in the relationship, but really both sides were 100 percent right in what they were trying to do. They all wanted what was best for Dropbox. The real problem was that there was no organizational structure around how they could build a brand correctly. Perhaps even more importantly, there wasn’t anyone dedicated to educating people about the long-term powers of the brand as a whole.
“In-the-moment decisions often have a disproportionate impact on the future. Drew could’ve said no to psychobox. Ryan Putnam could’ve not drawn the cupcake. We could’ve gone with colored geometry over broken line. We could’ve switched 100 percent to photos. But maintaining our illustrations’ essence is a deliberate tradeoff we’ve fought for, because it’s the closest proxy in our brand for the wonder and joy people feel when they accomplish things with Dropbox.” –Jon Ying
As with all good two-part stories, I must end part one with a cliffhanger. Will our illustrative do-gooders be able to find a better way of working? Is illustration at Dropbox doomed? Tune in next time as I tell the tale of the creation of the brand studio, demanding bosses, and a whole lot about the conception of our modern-day Dropbox illustration style. There might even be Razor scooter battle on the stage of the SF Opera! I guess you’ll have to wait and see… | https://medium.com/dropbox-design/illustrating-a-more-human-brand-part-1-e1cfe3c28d9 | ['Michael Jeter'] | 2017-05-24 16:42:23.117000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Illustration', 'Tech', 'Branding', 'UX'] |
Here’s why decentralization is inevitable… | When Machines Think 💭
“Forget artificial intelligence — in the brave new world of big data, it’s artificial idiocy we should be looking out for.” — Tom Chatfield
Since the dawn of the industrial revolution and machines, there were always humans operating them and making them work. But over last few years, we have seen them becoming more of our thinking partners. Speaking of identifying faces in a CCTV’s video footage, or translating a sentence from Korean to Mandarin, or playing a match of Go, machines have continuously beaten humans.
Still, what we see now in the name of artificial intelligence (AI) is merely the tip of the iceberg. We have organizations building AI models in silos and training them on their historical data. But the Pandora’s box will open the day we can have all these organizations collaborate on AI models that do better than what any of those individual AI models could do.
We are yet to see the moment in AI along the lines of ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.’
Time for an example, I believe. Almost every bank has an AI that detects the probability of payment being fraud. Each bank has been training their version of the models on their historical data. It makes some banks better at fraud detection than others, which sometimes they position as one of their strengths to their customers. While only some people might buy banking services from a bank solely based on their expertise in detecting a potential fraud, the bigger problem of fraud payments is an issue for society at large. But for banks, their business and profits are equally (if not more) important than just doing good for the community.
If in an imaginary world, banks choose to work together and build a standard fraud detection AI model that serves all the banks equally, they will not be able to capture the economic value of their data. If banks choose otherwise, there would still be people suffering from fraud payments.
Interestingly, in such scenarios, decentralization allows us to capture the economic value as well as do good for the society at large. How exactly? Here’s how — banks together can train a common AI model that is stored on a peer-to-peer network (blockchain). Anyone can take the latest copy of the model from the network, train it further with their data, and submit it back to the network with a proof-of-training. If the network accepts that the additional training improved the model’s performance, it recognizes it and marks it as latest for others to train it further. Whenever the network accepts a trained model, the trainer gets paid in the network-specific tokens that can be used in return to use the model. That’s how the trainer captures the economic value from its data, and at the same time, the common trained AI model makes it possible for every bank — even a new one — to use the trained model — therefore, doing good to the society. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/heres-why-decentralization-is-inevitable-6090a9abe813 | ['Mohit Mamoria'] | 2020-01-10 08:48:45.051000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Economics', 'Inspiration'] |
Being Honest With The Great Marshmallow Experiment — A Twist | A deeper looking into the marshmallow experiment revealed that it was not an experiment to find out the patient and matured ones, but the naturally greedy, clever, and those bound to blind obedience.
For those of you who are yet to hear about the experiment, here it is :
The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on delayed gratification. In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. The reward was either a marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child’s preference. — Source Wikipedia
Special mention and advice to infantile self-help writers:
If you are a self-help blogger, you need a minimum of one blog post written about delayed gratification so that people can derive some instant gratification by reading about it and by pretending they are on your side. Not to mention the habit-hacking, no fap, and stoic motivations intended to give the reader an erection without watching porn. Though you very well know you are a hopeless case who escapes his days with rather dull habits and routines (productivity?) because you are scared of being stared upon by mom or wife for playing too much video games in your privileged existence, that should not stop you from giving hope to readers.
Now back to the experiment:
Upon further investigation, some hidden realities were exposed and it is revealed that all that glitters is not gold. It actually turns out that delayed gratification has nothing to do with patience or maturity but everything to do with greed and cleverness.
The children who stayed in the room did not stay there for the reasons we like to think. Forget glorifying them as patient and mature ones, the truth is they endured the time for their own selfishness. There were not delaying any gratification but were being instantly gratified. How? You may ask. I would say they were instantly gratified by the pleasure they derived from their greedy mind.
The pleasure from thoughts of possible rewards was by itself the instant gratification or we could say the only motivation for them to spend time in the experimental room. They were not passing time for any noble reasons.
If you were to be spoon-fed — moment by moment — with icecream, then you would not even mind sitting in a chair for an hour as if in meditation. You are being instantly gratified, but you can later show-off by telling others you meditated for hours. There is no maturity in such a mind. Here, in this experiment, instead of ice-cream, you have the seductive pleasure of greed.
Enduring any process just for the reward one gets out of it is a kind of prostituting an activity for selfish benefits. You do not give a fuck about the activity by itself, which is quite evident here, but only the thoughts about the possible rewards you get out of it.
It is like you want to be successful so that people will think you are a great person, and not because you intrinsically love the process. Your instant pleasure is the thought of ending up like a famous person in the future. I would call it an extreme form of cheapness.
If you had the option to steal the rewards instantly, you would have done it. Seems that is the only reason (inability to steal it) why you endure a process. But one must be decent and honest enough to see that.
Instead of sharing everything with everyone equally, I would rather have them all and pat my back is the mindset required to win in this game. Such a mentality is driven by deep insecurity and distrust towards life, which they think can be controlled by being more greedy and selfish. Also, at the same time, they want to be seen as mature.
Society does not care about the innocent ones who live for the sake of living and not for fulfilling their inner sickness. Such people are not good candidates for the corporate world. It is difficult to show them some kind of end prizes, such as success or fame or approval, so that they can be manipulated into blind obedience.
After all, who wants to pick those losers who would just straightaway pick one marshmallow, eat it, go away, and sit outside enjoying the sunset while being grateful for their life. They are seen as nothing but a bunch of incompetent losers. Everyone knows that gratefulness is an idea to mental-masturbate and not to dangerously live it in reality. It is for blogs and podcasts, do not take it to real life and try to feel it in your bones.
“How would these guys be any use for me?” says one self-help charlatan.” They are content with what they have, fucking losers.”
The only way such losers (innocent and sane) can be forced into blind obedience is by shaming and guilt-tripping them. If they had some sort of trauma like being beaten up or raped, shame them for not being responsible to use that experience to win a gold medal in the Olympics.
“Not that all of such losers will fall for such traps,” said a self-help guru, “but we should try our best to get them hooked”.
If you do not do as I say, you will go to hell — Any Nearby Priest
But that is not the case with the winners of the experiment. The winners, who were wrongfully framed as patient and mature. Yes, wrongfully, but purposefully. They would naturally feel bad if they were to be declared as winners for being greedy and clever, but when the words are changed to patience and maturity, they would feel good.
They must be so sick in their mind that they would rather endure an hour more by mental-masturbating about the double rewards they would get, instead of just being satisfied with one marshmallow.
“Sunset and life outside the room can fuck off, but not my greed,” said one of them.
As we had mentioned before, they aren’t really delaying any gratification, in fact, they are always on their toes, for their greed and thoughts about the rewards — they are always in the ‘itchy’ zone, not in the ‘flow’ zone. The flow zone is mostly associated with the losers.
Of course, they (greedy ones) aren’t really as smart as they think. They do not know what they are missing at the expense of being tricked by their own cleverness. And it is this very ignorance that makes them a suitable fit for the corporate world and other charlatans. The only quality they have is being so confident in their stupidities, which is not a quality at all, but we had been conditioned to see that way.
They would fight with teeth and bone to not see through their secret sickness and delusions. After all, who would want to see that they are stupid? Who wants to see their positive self-image crumble down into pieces? They would rather carry on with their sickness by rationalizing it as a sign of maturity.
But what about the sane ones? We cruelly judge and label them as unworthy losers— those who look for instant gratification. But that is not necessarily the case, as we had seen. Seeing from a non-judgemental perspective, it is just that they relish in joy or pleasure when it is there, they do not want to keep and own it forever. Same with pain, when there is a pain they take it too and move on. In this perspective, these are the real matured ones.
“Maturity is the moment one regains one’s innocence.”― Marty Rubin
Society wants everyone to fit into a particular kind of a person, into a particular mold. So naturally, those who can't fit into the insecure and greedy way of existence will be overwhelmed by low self-esteem and unworthiness for being constantly compared and shamed for not being ‘sick enough’.
But the story does not end there, those kind charlatans will come to save you. Do not worry, they will give you habit tips and rules-for-living to built self-esteem from scratch (in their terms!). And they would show-off as being overwhelmed with tears of joy when they see you falling for their nonsense such as cleaning bedroom for self-worth.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”― Albert Einstein
For example, these people, the so-called losers, if they see a fruit lying beneath a tree while passing by, they would simply take and eat it, unlike the greedy ones who would naturally plan about how to own this tree and have all the fruits in the tree for themselves or even plan about selling the fruits to the very losers they scapegoat to look like winners.
So it is highly advised, especially for the blind self-help seekers, to notice that all that glitters is not necessarily gold and should always be careful to take any self-help medicine with a pinch of caution. That is, you should ask yourself whether you are being inwardly shame-tripped or guilt-tripped or trauma-shamed by other charlatans for the mere sake of making them look superior. Do not put all your self-worth on fulfilling expectations of charlatans and sick ones.
And always remember that catchy title of the popular self-help writer’s story which goes like: | https://medium.com/the-haven/being-honest-with-the-great-marshmallow-experiment-a-twist-76b2e2e081b9 | ['Pretheesh Presannan'] | 2020-12-05 08:58:30.456000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Nonfiction', 'Humor', 'Fake News', 'Satire'] |
“I Can’t Catch a Break”. On NOT giving up | In order to feel that I’m doing something to deflect the flop-sweat I’m currently moldering in, I’ve decided to turn one of my scripts into a novel. Because I just haven’t been rejected enough! Now, I’ll let the literary world shit on me, too!
I’m adept at handling rejection, after all. Expert, in fact. It’s toughened me up so in a sense that I always get back up. That’s what we writers have to do.
Who knows though, right? Maybe I’ll hit the mark, get published and THEN Hollywood will want to adapt my book for film. And conveniently, I’ll have the script ready!
“Come and get it, Marty!”
Go ahead and scoff. I deserve it. I should be counting my blessings instead of whining about not getting the chance to be the next Gillian Flynn.
And I am blessed in so many ways. My little family is doing well, considering the shitshow around us. My husband is employed and gets to work from home every day. Our three cats are absolutely fabulous and my sister and her family seem to be thriving. (I don’t know how she does it.)
But that said, I’m restless AF. It’s getting to the point where I don’t know what to do with myself. For example, I’ve been messing with my hair, using all sorts of lightening and brightening sprays to get sun-kissed, surfer-girl streaks. Who do I think I am? Jessica Alba?
And, I’m thinking of derma-planing my face, even though there’s not a hair on it. Basically, it’s a fancy word for shaving! In between that and the micro-needling, maybe I’ll drop a year or two.
WHY? Who’s going to see me? The kid who cuts our lawn? The postal worker who delivers our mail? The old fart next door who spends his days meandering through his yard with a bucket and a stick, searching for innocent grubs to impale?
I’ve been thinking of creative ways to market myself. If I could just get one friggin’ tweet to go viral, right? Or a Medium story, or LinkedIn post. Everyone else does it, why not me? What am I doing wrong?
Somebody…help me. Help me go viral. But not in a Covid-19 kind of way.
This is what happens when you’re driven to the point of madness. You spin like a top, generating a breeze that barely registers. And when you stop, the air is just as stagnant as it was. Maybe more so.
What are your dreams, my friends? Are you inching toward them, slowly but surely, or are they dissipating in the cold light of this new day? (Hold onto your stinky socks. I think I feel a tag coming on.)
Because this is not just about me. Yeah, it sounds like it, I know. But truly, we’re all losing huge chunks of time. Getting older, but not necessarily better. And that’s scary, is it not? That’s what makes us pop the wine cork earlier every day. (Even though I’ve been “good.”)
Some of my friends here are struggling as I am. We’ve shared confidences so I know this and I feel for them. And I’m embarrassed to be pissing and moaning about my “dream” of becoming a working screenwriter. It’s been stomped into the earth one too many times and I’m not sure if I have the strength to keep digging it out. Time will tell, I guess.
But I’m still going to keep working on that novel. | https://medium.com/narrative/i-cant-catch-a-break-3b51667fda05 | ['Sherry Mcguinn'] | 2020-09-09 18:56:42.936000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Mantra', 'Dreams', 'Prompt', 'Writing'] |
Removing the Roadblocks to Writing | Writers. We don’t choose the calling, it chooses us. We process our world with words. We are people watchers. We find wonder in ordinary, every day things and turn them into stories. We create entire worlds with our minds.
But there are a lot of things that keep us from staying committed to the craft. These are the most annoying ones that happen to me. And I’m going to tell you how I deal with them.
Keep readin’, honey.
Comparing Instead of Creating
There it is. The big ‘C’ word. No, not that one. This one: comparing. If you’re serious about being a writer you have to read lots of books in all different genres. Every craft has its own set of tools. For writers, other people’s books are one of many instruments in our toolbox. In fact, according to Stephen King, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
But when you read other books, no matter who the author is, you might find yourself saying “I can never write like that,” or “my writing is crap compared to this,” or any variation of that line of thought. Well, my writing comrades, that’s stinkin’ thinkin’. Stop it. Now.
Comparison is thief of joy and will keep you from sitting down to write every single time. Let me tell you a secret. One that will free you to be the best writer you can be. You can’t write like Stephen King, or Nora Roberts, or Maya Angelou, or Octavia Butler, or Mary Higgins Clark, or…or…or.
Why?
Because you’re not them, you’re YOU.
So stop trying to be like all those other authors and write your own damn stories. You have a unique voice and the world is waiting to hear it!
Persistence not Perfection
This brings me to the next thing that is a wet blanket on the fire of creativity: perfection. You sit down to the blank page, your fingers poised on the keyboard, and nothing happens. Either that, or you spend two hours trying to write the perfect first sentence.
Or maybe you constantly edit your writing as you go. Okay, you need to stop this now. And I’m not just talking to you. I’ve done this myself too many times to count. There’s a quote that says good writing is rewriting.
Your first draft of anything is going to be crap. Accept it. If you’re like me you think that all the great writers sit down to the computer, write these perfect books the first time out, the gates of heaven open, angels sing hallelujah, and the money starts rolling in.
Yeah. Not quite.
All the famous authors we love write crap the first time around. But they revise, revise, revise. And they have great editors. When all else fails remember this quote: “easy reading is damn hard writing.” So sit down and write. Let the words flow and don’t stop for grammar, sentence structure, spelling errors, or anything.
The first draft is you telling the story to yourself. The only purpose of this draft is to get the story down on paper. Don’t worry about flow or thoughts connecting just write the dang story. The second (and third and fourth and seventh) drafts are where you move paragraphs, fix mechanical issues, and all the other stuff. But in order to get to all that stuff, you have finish the story first. And you’ll never finish it if you’re editing as you go.
So. Just. Write. I know it’s hard. But when you find yourself wanting to hit that backspace key or go back and rework something, just do what I do: tell that pesky perfectionist editor in your head to shut her trap and keep writing.
Another thing I found helpful is to set a timer. You can find free ones online or use the timer on your microwave, or a stopwatch app on your phone. Whatever works. Then set a time limit and see how many words you can get down before the alarm sounds. It’s like a race to beat the clock. When I do that, I am pushing to see how many words I can get down so I don’t want to stop to fix anything.
Think of it like this: if you were put in a booth with a million dollars — you know the ones where they turn on some fan and all the money starts blowing around and you have to catch as much as you can before your time is up — would you grab as much money as you can, or would you stop and fold every dollar neatly and put it in your pocket?
Think of your writing like that money booth. You want to grab as many ideas as you can and put them down on paper before your brain screams uncle. You can always go back later and fix things.
Read Books on the Craft of Writing
Here’s a simple assignment for you: read some books about writing. If you’ve already read some, read some more. I set a goal to read an hour a week on the writing craft and it continues to help my writing immensely.
Some of my favorites are: On Writing by Stephen King; Steering the Craft by Ursula K LeGuin; and Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande. I have personal copies of all of these books sitting on my writing desk and I refer back to them often, but especially when I hear that little critic in my head telling me my stories aren’t good enough.
When you read these, or any other books about the writing life, you’ll see that other writers struggle just like we do. You’ll see the unglamorous side of writing. The human side. The humble beginnings. But it isn’t depressing, I promise. It’s actually very inspiring. Nothing is more encouraging than seeing that people like Octavia Butler and Mary Higgins Clark and Nora Roberts started out just like you. If they can do it, you can, too!
Keep Writing
Writing is hard work. But we don’t do it because it’s hard, we do it because we love it. So keep studying and learning about the craft, just remember to keep writing! Every expert was once a beginner. The only way to become great at this game is to write every day.
What do you do to improve your writing skills? How do you stay committed to the craft? Share your tips in the comments. | https://audrarussellwrites.medium.com/removing-the-roadblocks-to-writing-b8b86c0c7091 | ['Audra Russell'] | 2018-05-30 12:19:56.330000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Writing Tips', 'Writing Life', 'Roadblocks', 'Writing'] |
Broken promise | foto©robcullen2010
Broken promise
…
Two days of hard blown snow fall,
mountain roads are blocked now,
it’s two days since your long phone call,
but without the help of a snow plough,
I’m unable to keep my promise.
…
Today I walked down from the hills,
waded through drifts of deep snow,
to reach the chemists for the pills,
but everywhere I went was closed,
I found it hard to avoid or dismiss,
…
Your loneliness — the sadness of your grief.
It was the first time you’d spoken,
of being in this world without the belief,
of being a healer and in touch with the broken,
spirits of the dead, perhaps a false genesis.
…
I heard your words of shame and remorse,
after the latest chemical imbalance of your brain,
stranded you in a nightmare with no recourse,
the fear of voices, that constant refrain,
repeated, over and over again, of your disgrace.
…
My fear for your well-being is greater now
tomorrow I will make good my promise.
©robcullen24122020
copywrite nonattributable
There is a tradition in Ireland on Christmas Eve to light a “Strangers candle” to guide family home and those travelling and maybe need shelter.
…
I will light our candle this year for those carers who have managed through such a hard year to look after family and friends whether it is through covid19 or through mental health problems and have struggled to do the best they can.
…
I wish peace to you at this time and that the New Year brings calm and hope.
….
©robcullen24122020 | https://medium.com/resistance-poetry/broken-promise-6a0ee2040663 | ['Rob Cullen'] | 2020-12-28 22:42:48.831000+00:00 | ['Free Verse', 'Resilience', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Mental Health', 'Resistance Poetry'] |
Of Software and Strive at Strava | Hey! My name is Nikhil and I spent this past summer as an iOS Software Engineering Intern at Strava.
I’ll be graduating from UC Berkeley this year with a major in Data Science and emphasis in human-computer interaction. I used Strava throughout my days as a runner in high school and reinstalled the app last year on a whim. Like many of Strava’s athletes, I was in search of motivation and a sense of community. In a world of endless scrolling and farming clicks, Strava seemed to offer something different. Eleven weeks of fulfilling work, opportunities for personal and professional growth, as well as an electrifying culture, showed me that my intuition held true not just for Strava’s athletes, but for the company’s employees as well.
The engineers of #sfinterns
I was placed on the Growth team, which focuses primarily on registering, onboarding, and motivating the platform’s newest athletes. I’ve been able to work on projects ranging from increasing user notification accept rates to preparing the application for iOS 13; I also helped build an entirely new surface for content discovery.
Being thrust into the iOS codebase was both terrifying and exhilarating. With more commits than hours of sleep I’ve gotten in the last decade, as well as an ever-shrinking set of internal and external dependencies, it was difficult not to feel overwhelmed. My sidekick Tim, who I’ve come to refer to as “sensei,” started me off with small tasks like UI tweaks and copy changes. The Growth team uses frequent A/B testing to determine the efficacy of changes to the app both minor and major, and I was able to take part in this experimentation by rolling out a variant of the onboarding flow after the experiment had reached statistical significance!
I took on my first large-scale project during Guild Week, a time for Strava’s engineers to plan and execute work designed to eliminate technical debt, boost performance, and update dependencies for their respective platforms. I was tasked with overhauling the Login screen, which was previously written in Objective-C, in Swift using the View Controller-Interactor-Presenter architecture pattern.
*Presenting* the new Login scene during the intern tech talks
The advantage of the pattern is that by separating massive view controllers into three primary components — the display logic, business logic, and presentation logic — developers can easily add and test functionality as the user experience evolves. VIP, or Very Insistent Pain-in-my-ass, came to dominate my life for the next two and a half weeks. At times, progress was painfully slow and I began to question my initial assumptions, finding flaws in my approach as I added Google and Facebook authentication to the screen.
I was essentially struggling to rewrite code a more experienced developer had built years ago. Before their changes are merged into the codebase, software engineers first submit pull requests for other engineers to review and offer feedback on. My PR for the Login scene eventually accumulated 76 comments, and after an iOS engineer Slack-messaged me to ask if I was intent on breaking a Strava record, it became tough to convince myself that I was contributing to my team.
That week, a tech talk by my team’s senior engineering manager, who literally wrote the book on developing production-quality web applications, delved into the imposter syndrome. Defined as “feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success,” the phenomenon can often cripple the confidence of even the most decorated professionals. The presentation was illuminating, and after voicing my concerns to my manager during our one-on-one that afternoon, I was assured that my confidence would grow day-by-day. I dedicated myself to working on more focused portions of the project, securing feedback more frequently. Before I knew it, the unit tests were completed and the final pull request approved. The work paid dividends during the final weeks of my internship when the Growth team began implementing Apple’s proprietary sign-in solution, creatively titled Sign In with Apple. I then refactored Strava’s Sign Up scene in VIP, reducing the development cost necessary to implement the new authentication method client-side. I was able to quickly build a new Interface Builder file according to the specifications of our designer without worrying about overwriting existing IBOutlets and IBActions for a view controller vital to new athlete registration.
A chart I made to show the unidirectional flow of control in the Explore feed
The onboarding refactorization paved the way for the summer’s main event: the Explore tab. My team embarked upon a seven-week sprint to build a brand-new screen designed to bring athletes the best content on Strava, including popular segments, nearby clubs, activity lookbacks and photos from friends. I was able to provide feedback during the design stage, build the view controller to house the feed, and work on entry modules for the tab. A seven-week sprint for a project as large as Explore was unheard of, but my manager Jason had faith we could do it. I jumped headfirst into the work, utilizing my newfound knowledge of VIP to build an animated loading state and error handling for the modular feed. One of my fondest memories at Strava came during the seventh week of the project when I stayed late one Thursday evening — much to the chagrin of my manager — grinding through updating a server-driven module in the feed to fit our designer’s specifications. The dynamic was electric and in that moment I truly felt like part of the team.
Despite the Growth Activation team’s decision to focus exclusively on Explore for the duration of the seven-week sprint, I was encouraged to participate in this quarter’s edition of Jams, the company’s cross-functional hackathon. I met and worked with engineers on other vertical teams, eventually settling on the task of building a richer, more fulfilling ski activity experience. I had the opportunity to lead employees through a brainstorming and wireframing session as well as gain server-side experience customizing the Activity Detail page. I presented my work in front of the company and shared the stage with Yandong, Strava’s CTO, to talk about a project we worked on to improve activity-specific routes with techniques like matrix factorization and simple recommender systems.
An action shot taken by the talented Ben de Jesus during the kickball game
Working with the Growth team and with cross-platform engineers during Jams are just two examples of how interpersonal relationships at Strava have made my internship experience one I’ll never forget. From day one, interns were welcomed with open arms into the company’s culture of strive, encouraged to pursue our interests both in and out of the office. Whether at a viciously competitive kickball game against our managers at the Summer Picnic to runs through the Marin Headlands, the friendships quickly became as fulfilling as the work itself. I’m grateful for all I’ve learned, not simply about architecture patterns and A/B testing, but about myself as well. Strava’s given me a taste of what it means to be a software engineer and the company’s given me a network of people I’m sure to keep in touch with for years to come.
The Ninja loop was something out of Jurassic Park
Special thanks to my sidekick Tim Miko, my manager Jason Van der Merwe, Christopher DuBois, and my fellow interns. | https://medium.com/strava-engineering/of-software-and-strive-at-strava-6b6a1de1334a | ['Nikhil Yerasi'] | 2019-11-08 16:01:03.320000+00:00 | ['Software Engineering', 'iOS', 'Strava', 'Internships'] |
How LinkedIn Uses Machine Learning in its Recruiter Recommendation Systems? | How LinkedIn Uses Machine Learning in its Recruiter Recommendation Systems?
A sneak peak into some of the machine learning architectures powering mission critical systems at LinkedIn.
I recently started a new newsletter focus on AI education. TheSequence is a no-BS( meaning no hype, no news etc) AI-focused newsletter that takes 5 minutes to read. The goal is to keep you up to date with machine learning projects, research papers and concepts. Please give it a try by subscribing below:
LinkedIn is one of the favorite recruiting platforms in the market. Everyday, recruiters from all over the world rely on LinkedIn to source and filter candidates for specific career opportunities. Specifically, LinkedIn Recruiter is the product that helps recruiters build and manage a talent pool that optimizes the chances of a successful hire. The effectiveness of LinkedIn Recruiter is powered by an incredibly sophisticated series of search and recommendation algorithms that leverage state of the art machine learning architectures with the pragmatism of real world systems.
It’s not a secret that LinkedIn has been one of the software giants that has been pushing the boundaries of machine learning research and development. In addition to nurturing one of the richest datasets in the world, LinkedIn has been constantly experimenting with cutting edge machine learning techniques in order to make artificial intelligence(AI) a first class citizen of the LinkedIn experience. The recommendation experience in their Recruiter product required all LinkedIn’s machine learning expertise as it turned out to be a very unique challenge. In addition to dealing with an incredibly large and constantly growing dataset, LinkedIn Recruiter needs to handle arbitrarily complex queries and filters and deliver results that are relevant to a specific criteria. Search environments are so dynamic that result really hard to model as machine learning problems. In the case of Recruiter, LinkedIn used a three-factor criterial to frame the objectives of the search and recommendation model.
1) Relevance: The search results need to not only return relevant candidates but to surface candidates that could be interested on the target position.
2) Query Intelligence: Search results should not only return candidates that match a specific criteria but also similar criteria’s. For instance a search for machine learning should return candidates that list data science in their skillsets.
3) Personalization: Very often, finding the ideal candidates for a company is based on matching attributes that fall outside the search criteria. Other times, recruiters are not certain of what criteria to use. Personalizing search results is a key element of any successful search and recommendation experience.
A fourth key criteria of the LinkedIn Recruiter search and recommendation experience that is not as visible as the previous three is its focus on simple metrics. To simplify the recommendation experience, LinkedIn modeled a series of key metrics that are tangible indicators of a successful recruitment. For instance, the number of accepted InMails seem to be a clear metric to judge the effectiveness of the search and recommendation processes. From that perspective, LinkedIn use those key metrics as the objective to maximize in its machine learning algorithms.
The Science: From Linear Regression to Gradient-Boosted Decision Trees
The initial search and recommendation experience in LinkedIn Recruiter was based on linear regression models. While linear regression algorithms are easy to interpret and debug, they fall short to find non-linear correlations in large datasets such as LinkedIn’s. To improve that experience, LinkedIn decided to experience with Gradient Boosted Decision Trees (GBDT) to combine different models in a more complex tree structure. Aside from a larger hypothesis space, GBDT has a few other advantages, like working well with feature collinearity, handling features with different ranges and missing feature values, etc.
GBDT by itself provided some tangible improvements over linear regression but also fails to address some key challenges of the search experience. In a famous example searches for dentists were returning candidates with software engineering titles as the search models were prioritizing job seeking candidates. To improve this, LinkedIn added a series of context-aware features based on a technique known as pairwise optimization. Essentially, this method extends GBDT with pairwise ranking objective, to compare candidates within the same context and evaluate which candidate better fits the current search context.
Another challenge of the LinkedIn Recruiter experience is to match candidates with related titles such as “Data Scientist” and “Machine Learning Engineer”. This type of correlation is hard to achieve by just using GBDT. To address that LinkedIn introduced representation learning techniques based on network embedding semantic similarity features. In this model, search results will be complemented with candidates with similar titles based on the relevance of the query.
Arguably, the most difficult challenge to address in the LinkedIn Recruiter experience was personalization. Conceptually, personalization can be divided in two main groups. Entity-level personalization focuses on incorporating preferences for the different entities in the recruiting process such as recruiters, contracts, companies, and candidates. To address this challenge, LinkedIn relied on a well-known statistical method called Generalized Linear Mixed (GLMix) which uses inference to improve the results of prediction problems. Specifically, LinkedIn Recruiter used an architecture that combines learning-to-rank features, tree interaction features, and GBDT model scores. Learning-to-rank features are used as input to a pre-trained GBDT model, which generates tree ensembles that are encoded into tree interaction features and a GBDT model score for each data point. Then, using the original learning-to-rank features and their nonlinear transformations in the form of tree interaction features and GBDT model scores, the GLMix model can deliver recruiter-level and contract-level personalization.
The other type of personalization model required by the LinkedIn recruiter experience focuses more in the in-session experience. A shortcoming of utilizing offline-learned models is the fact that, as the recruiter examines the recommended candidates and provides feedback, that feedback is not taken into account during the current search session. To address this, LinkedIn Recruiter relied on a technique known as Multi-Armed Bandit models to improve the recommendations across different groups of candidates. The architecture first separates the potential candidate space for the job into skill groups. Then, a multi-armed bandit model is utilized to understand which group is more desirable based on the recruiter’s current intent, and the ranking of candidates within each skill group is updated based on the feedback.
The Architecture
The LinkedIn Recruiter search and recommendation experience was based on a proprietary project called Galene built on top of the Lucene search stack. The machine learning models described in the previous section contribute to build an index for different entities that are used as part of the search process.
The ranking model of the Recruiter Search experience is based on an architecture with two fundamental layers.
L1: Scoops into the talent pool and scores/ranks candidates. In this layer, candidate retrieval and ranking are done in a distributed fashion.
Scoops into the talent pool and scores/ranks candidates. In this layer, candidate retrieval and ranking are done in a distributed fashion. L2: Refines the short-listed talent to apply more dynamic features using external caches.
In that architecture, the Galene broker system fans out the search query request to multiple search index partitions. Each partition retrieves the matched documents and applies the machine learning model to retrieved candidates. Each partition ranks a subset of candidates, then the broker gathers the ranked candidates and returns them to the federator. The federator further ranks the retrieved candidates using additional ranking features and the results are delivered to the application.
LinkedIn is one of the companies that has been building machine learning systems at large scale. The ideas of the recommendation and search techniques used for LinkedIn Recruiter are incredibly relevant to many similar systems across different industries. The LinkedIn engineering team published a detailed slide deck that provides more insights into their journey to build a world class recommendation system. | https://medium.com/dataseries/how-linkedin-uses-machine-learning-in-its-recruiter-recommendation-systems-5b1735df87d4 | ['Jesus Rodriguez'] | 2020-12-10 14:37:00.099000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Thesequence', 'Data Science', 'Deep Learning'] |
How to Build a Magic System | Creating a magic system is one of the most fun parts of worldbuilding in speculative fiction because you can really let your imagination run wild! However, it’s very easy to go off the rails and create a system that ultimately serves no purpose in your story.
So many worldbuilding resources simply interrogate the details of your magic system. These worksheets and checklists rarely consider the why behind your magic system or attempt to connect it to your story’s message or theme.
To make sure that your readers take away the full impact of your story’s message, it is essential that you plan every detail of your story around your theme or your point. Let’s take a look at how to use your story’s core theme to create the foundation for a kickass magic system.
Magic systems should be an extension of your story’s point.
Your story point is what you want your readers to take away from your story — it’s a specific message about how the world works and it should drive every choice you make about your world, including your magic system.
The point of your story should drive what purpose your magic serves, how your characters interact with it, and what problems it creates or solves in your plot. By considering why your magic system exists and putting it in conversation with your story point, you will inevitably construct a system that makes sense and feels cohesive with the story as a whole.
Let’s explore how to tie the point of your story to its magic. Use the three questions below to create a solid magical foundation.
1. What is your story point? Why are you writing this story?
If you haven’t already, you need to determine your story’s point. Be as specific as possible, while also keeping the message to one simple idea. This idea will influence every decision you make as a writer. The more focus it has, the more focused your story will be.
Example: The point of my own fantasy #wip is “embracing emotions makes you stronger, not weaker.” As I move forward with developing my story and my world, I want to make sure that everything ties back to that central idea.
2. How can the magic system work with your story point?
Your magic system should be created in direct conversation with your story point. These two ideas should relate to one another in some way, but there are so many ways you can play with this. Brainstorm some ideas that force your magic system to contrast with or bolster the message you’re making.
Example: Since my story is about emotion, I wanted to create a magic system that is strongly influenced by emotion. I chose to create a system in which magical power is essentially determined by emotional stability and focus. If a magic user can control their emotions, their magic becomes more focused and more powerful. If they cannot, their magic will remain ineffective and can be dangerously unstable.
3. What purpose will your magic system serve in your story? What role will it play?
Once you know how the magic system works together with your point, you can determine its purpose in the story. Will your magic act as a hindrance to the plot, creating problems which must be solved? If so, what kind of problems and how do those problems impact the story point? Will it hinder your characters goals? If so, how? Or will your magic system challenge your character’s inner obstacle, the false belief they have about the world? If so, in what way?
Example: The magic system in my #wip forces my main character to confront her inner obstacle in order to recognize and control her own power. (An inner obstacle is the lie or misbelief that a character has to confront and unlearn in order to achieve their goals. Learn more in our Craft Complex Characters workbook!) My main character’s inner obstacle is that she believes emotions make people weak, and therefore she must shut her emotions out. This results in unfocused and unstable magic, and presents a danger to herself and others. Only by learning to embrace her emotions and recognize them as strength does her magic finally become controllable, and unstoppably powerful.
Why My Magic System Works
Even just from answering the 3 questions above, my system already has substance. It doesn’t matter what the magic actually is yet; what matters is that I understand why it exists.
The system I created also presents plot problems where my main character is forced to make decisions like: Should she use her magic, or not? Does her magic help her achieve her goals, or not? Do her emotions make her magically stronger or weaker? I tied it directly to her goals (avoid using her powers), the stakes of those goals (suppressing her emotions makes her power unwieldy), and the plot problems she’ll face (problems that force her to decide whether or not to use her powers). Now, her magic is inherently tied to her character arc as well. I knew that was the best way to prove my story’s point.
Thinking through these questions will allow you to create a magic system that bolsters your story’s message. From here, you can answer all those “detail” questions that build out how the system works. But by keeping your magic system in conversation with your story point, you can play with infinite possibilities and remain confident. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-build-a-magic-system-bcea13a17e6c | ['Golden May', 'Book Coaching'] | 2020-09-05 06:48:20.368000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Fantasy', 'Writing Tips', 'Fiction Writing', 'Worldbuilding'] |
The UnLived Life | The high school boyfriend who broke up with me over the word, “No.” He went on to become politically active in the small town we grew up in. His wife is referred to as Mrs. Mayor.
There was the day I stood in that very same high school — recruiting paperwork in hand — just a signature away from joining the Air Force. I had the grades and in return for a few years of My Life — they would pay for me to become one of their nurses. I could have gotten my education free and back then — there was no war on the horizon. I’d have been stationed away from Small Town, USA with a chance to see the world and challenge myself. In the end, I allowed the needs of others to sway this decision.
One day a co-worker had a birthday party for her boyfriend. She convinced me to come — even though there were only a few people I would know. I reconnected with an old friend from high school. We built a wall of beer cans and he ended up driving me home. Less than a year later, he became my husband.
A boy — then man — I had a crush on since I was thirteen floated in and out of My Life. He and his wife were uncle and aunt to my kids. There was never any doubt on his side of the equation that I was friend-material. He loved his wife with all his heart and they belonged together. He never had children.
For the fourth time in six months, I bled. Late. And just short of calling the OB to confirm a pregnancy. In the days before EPT — it was always a waiting game. I had one child; I stressed over not being able to repeat this exercise. Until that fourth time, that time I had held on a bit longer and the bleeding didn’t stop. I was having an incomplete miscarriage and required surgical intervention.
I didn’t take the first full-time nursing position I was offered after graduation. I didn’t even take the scholarship from the facility where I was a nursing assistant — as it meant a three-year commitment once I graduated. The year after I graduated, my husband was transferred to North Carolina and I went to work for a facility here.
When I was fifty-years-old, I walked away from my marriage. I had more failed relationships in the ensuing ten years than I can count.
So when I ponder the twists and turns of My Life — these are biggies. The crossroads moments of UnLived Lives that led me to the life I did live. | https://medium.com/crows-feet/the-unlived-life-679e5a297164 | ['Ann Litts'] | 2020-11-21 12:26:18.252000+00:00 | ['Family', 'Aging', 'Self-awareness', 'The Road Not Taken', 'Life Lessons'] |
What Doing Your Core Work Actually Means. | Throughout my working life I have worked as a hotel duty manager, a car salesperson, a lawyer and a teacher. Quite a variety of occupations. And a common thread throughout my working life is I have always prioritised my core work first.
You see, no matter what work you do, there will always be emergencies — those little things that come up unexpectedly — that will throw you off your plan for the day. I suspect starting my working life in hotels was one of the best educational experiences I could have wished for. Whether you worked in reception, the restaurant, the kitchen or the bar, every day would throw up some sort of emergency and more often than not it would not be a single emergency but a cascade of emergencies one after the other.
The first thing you learn is never panic. Panicking will leave you exhausted physically and emotionally and you will likely make the wrong decisions. Instead, you stop and decide how best to resolve the emergency. Do you need to do something or do you inform the duty manager? And if you can do something, do it. After all, the customer comes first (that’s the golden rule in hotels)
Knowing an emergency will happen, when I started my shift I always began the same way. When I worked in the bar, my first task was always to make sure we had the right stock on the shelves and in the fridges. If something was low or unavailable, you just knew a VIP would come in and want to order it when the bar was full of customers. So, I would do a quick stock-take and if I needed anything — tonic water, ginger ale or Chivas Regal Royal Salute, I would call down to stores and ask them to send up the required stock. I did that in my first fifteen minutes on coming onto shift.
If I was doing the day shift, I would ask the chef if there was anything on the menu out of stock. Knowing this before I began my shift helped me prevent any problems with disappointed customers.
And if I was doing the day shift, I would also do the required shelf and fridge cleaning first. Leaving that until later in the day meant it would not happen.
When I went into car sales, I soon figured out that the best way to improve my sales was to contact customers who had bought a new car three years ago. In the UK, as in many countries, cars less than three years old do not need a government safety certificate. The hassle of booking your car in for a test, and the worry that something expensive needed replacing caused many customers to think about changing their car at the three-year mark. So, I would get the print-out from admin every week and each morning, before anything else, I would call the customers to see if I could interest them in changing their car.
Next up, part of a sales persons job was to check the cars on the forecourt to make sure they were clean and had the right information in their windows. As this was part of my job, that is what I would do next.
Getting these core tasks done first meant I had the flexibility later in the day to deal with any emergencies that came up. Customers who were not happy with the car I had sold them, problems with orders not being delivered from the factory on time, and delays getting a car through it’s PDI (pre-delivery inspection). They always came up.
And when I began working as lawyer, I soon figured out I needed to review cases that were coming up in the next month. If I didn’t do those reviews, something would be missing and that would create a lot of emergencies.
A big part of my work as a lawyer was making sure the right legal documents came in on time and to chase other lawyers if they were being slow. So, that is what I did first. Make sure all my current cases were up to date and things were arriving. If they were not, either send the required letter or make the necessary phone calls.
Had I left that work to later in the day, the crises of the day would take over and my core work would never get done.
In the Time Sector Course, I stress the importance of identifying your core work. The work that you are paid to do. Most of the emergencies that get thrown at us do not form part of your core work unless you work in customer services. So handling emergencies, is extra work and it is that extra work that drains you. It stops you from doing the job you were hired to do. So, finding ways to reduce the risk of emergencies occurring in the first place will help you to stay on top of your work.
Once you know what your core work is — the tasks that will give you the biggest impact on your work — you can then prioritise those tasks before you get stuck doing something else. Knowing what you need to do each day before you start will keep you focused on that core work and prevent you being distracted by other, noisier voices and urgencies that will pull you away from those core tasks.
And for the most part, those emergencies can wait an hour or so. I’ve found that if I get an ‘emergency’ email or phone call, all I need is to acknowledge the contact, and say, I’ll look in to it get back to you later today. 99% of the time, the fact that the person with the emergency knows someone is taking care of it is enough. That task will then go into my inbox and I will continue to get my core work done.
Once my core work is done, I can then turn my attention to the crisis and give it 100% attention and focus. That’s a much better mindset to be in instead of worrying about when you will have time to do the work you are paid to do. That’s when panic and stress sets in and that leads to overwhelm and exhaustion.
So, if you want to gain control of your day. To be able to make sure you get you most important work done, then take some time to list out your core work. The work that you were hired to do. Prioritise that every day and do it first. Once that is done, you will find yourself in a much better place to handle anything else being thrown at you.
If you want to learn more about the Time Sector System, I wrote a blog post about it here. And you can see how it works on a day-to-day basis in this YouTube video I did recently.
Thank you for reading my stories! 😊 If you enjoyed this article, hit those clapping hands below many times👏 It would mean a lot to me and it helps other people see the story.
My purpose is to help 1 million people by 2020 to live the lives they desire. To help people find happiness and become better organised and more productive so they can do more of the important things in life.
If you would like to learn more about the work I do, and how I can help you to become better organised and more productive, you can visit my website or you can say hello on Twitter, YouTube or Facebook and subscribe to my weekly newsletter right here. | https://medium.com/carl-pullein/what-doing-your-core-work-actually-means-d62bf1e4a5f1 | ['Carl Pullein'] | 2020-11-04 01:03:09.867000+00:00 | ['Core Work', 'Work', 'Time Management', 'Productivity', 'Focus'] |
How to Lose a Third of a Million Dollars Without Really Trying | How to Lose a Third of a Million Dollars Without Really Trying
As a young writer, my naiveté about the publishing process nearly led me to financial ruin. Here’s how to avoid my mistakes.
The first thing I tell debut authors is this: Assume nothing.
If just one person had sat me down when I signed my first book contract and explained how publishing works, how nothing is guaranteed, and how it often feels like playing Russian Roulette with words, I would have made much sounder financial and creative decisions. I would have set a foundation for a healthy life as an artist, laying the groundwork to thrive in uncertainty, to avoid desperation, panic, and bad decisions that would affect me for years to come.
How would my life be different if a fellow writer or someone in the industry had told me that the money I’d be receiving for my advances was absolutely no indication of what I could make on future book deals? What pain could I have avoided if they had advised me not to spend that money as though there would be more where that came from? I suspect I may have avoided a near nervous breakdown and not come so perilously close to financial ruin and creative burnout. But no one came forward.
Let me back up. One of the most respected publishing houses in the world gave me $100,000 to write two books, one of which was already finished, and I was feeling... well, fancy.
As a kid who’d once stood in line with her mother to get food stamps, I could not believe the figures in my bank account.
Now, I want to acknowledge the inherent privilege that I hold as a white, educated, middle-class American. The problems I write about here are “struggles” many people would love to have. They are good problems. Lucky, even. Growing up with a lack of financial literacy didn’t mean there weren’t opportunities for me out there because of my positioning in the world. I had a leg up, even when it felt like I was in the trenches. Access equals privilege, and I understand that. I try hard to acknowledge my privilege and not be part of the problem, but didn’t do so explicitly in the original version of this article. Revising is my favorite part of the writing process, and clearly a big part of my personal life. In fact I wish I could go back and revise the past six years.
I did play it smart, though: I didn’t quit my day job, and wrote a larger-than-usual check to my student loan company when the advance came through. I didn’t know if this was a onetime thing or not.
Each new book is like a weekend in Vegas: Maybe I’ll get lucky, maybe I won’t.
But when I sold a trilogy to another publisher the following year for over $250,000 dollars (even now I cannot believe I wrote that sentence and, furthermore, that it’s true), I really thought I had made it — forever, not just for a moment. Not for this one book deal. Forever. Otherwise, I reasoned, they would never have paid me such enormous sums. These publishers must be investing in me for the long run. I was one of their own.
It had happened twice in a row, these six-figures: Surely I had somehow become one of the chosen few. After years of research and struggle to break out in such a ferociously competitive industry, I’d somehow come out ahead.
But in that process, I’d somehow missed several critical aspects of the business, and that was on me (to some extent). Surely there were writers who had gotten the memo about how advances worked, and the ins and outs of publishing. But so much of an aspiring writer’s life — and so many of the resources available to them — is focused on getting that first book deal. What came after was beside the point.
It would also be fair to say that the same energy and drive that had landed me a book deal in the first place guided much of my decision-making process in ways that weren’t always helpful. I reasoned that if I’d achieved the impossible once, why not again? Someone has to be on the bestseller list, win the National Book Award, have the big movie deal.
Did anyone working with me — agency, publishing team — tell me that a sumptuous advance was not something I should depend on or get used to? Or that, in fact, it’s extraordinarily common in the publishing industry for untested debut writers to be paid large sums that they may never see again? No. Did anyone in the publishing house take me under their wing and explain to me how the company made decisions about future book deals? No. Did the publisher tap a more seasoned author on their list to mentor me, as many major corporations encourage within their companies? No. Did the MFA in writing program that I was part of, in any way, arm me with the knowledge to protect and advocate for myself in the publishing world? No.
After that second advance came through, I stepped into my dream life: I quit my day job to write full-time, moved to New York City, bought $15 cocktails, and learned (with astonishing speed) not to worry about prices when ordering at a restaurant. I said yes to travel (often book research I wasn’t reimbursed for), concert tickets, new shoes, and finally being able to buy people the kind of presents I felt they deserved. I donated large sums of money to organizations I cared about, and delighted in the feeling that I was making a real difference.
Did I pay off my student loans? No, though I made a few large payments. Did I set money aside for retirement? No. My reasoning was that after the next book I sold, I’d take care of all that. Right now, I had to suck the marrow out of life — and invest heavily in trying to build my author brand. To that end: an expensive website no one told me I didn’t need, and swag to give out at events that didn’t make a difference at all for my social media presence or book sales.
As it turned out, it wasn’t really my dream life: When I wasn’t writing like mad to meet deadlines, come up with new books to sell, and stay relevant in the industry, I was hustling like nobody’s business, trying to build my brand in hopes of getting on that coveted list. Forever.
My publisher didn’t tell me I had to get that website. And no one said I should be buying fancy cocktails. That was all my choice, a combination of an almost manic pursuit of joie de vivre ( Fitzgerald would understand! ) and an attempt to keep up with successful authors who seemed to know what they were doing. I figured they had cracked the code — swag, website — and I just needed to follow suit.
Despite making some poor choices, I did try very hard to do right by this unexpected reversal of fortunes. The school where my husband taught had a financial planner that offered services to teachers, so we met with him and his partner, but it was obvious they only wanted to sell us life insurance. Our tax guy told us what to write off, but we had no idea what we were doing. No writer I knew had someone they trusted for financial advice, and our unconventional earnings made getting clear advice very difficult.
The sum of $375,000 (the combined total of my two big advances), less my agent’s commission of 15% and taxes, is about what a teacher in the New York City public school system makes over the course of, say, four years. I lived in Brooklyn, a borough of one of the most expensive cities in the world. While I was buoyed by the very small, very occasional foreign book deal, this was it until there were more books in the pipeline.
Let’s take a pause. What could I have done differently?
I could have opted to move to a city that was less expensive, certainly. (But I’m an artist, so throw me a bone! I’d wanted to live in New York City my whole life, so that was always the plan, even before I got my book deal.)
I could have chosen not to quit my day job, but it would have been tough. I had five books under contract at once, plus the enormous task of building and maintaining an author brand. I began a two-year MFA program two weeks after I got my first book deal — a program I entered in the hopes of ensuring I’d always have work as a professor, even if book deals were low, or slow in coming. I had no idea (and was not told upon entering the program) how nearly impossible it is to find work as faculty in any college or university, regardless of how qualified you are.
I could have (and now wish more than anything that I had) paid off my student loans.
I could have put myself on a strict budget — one that assumed I was never going to get big payouts as a writer again.
I could have saved a down payment for a house.
And I could have put money aside each year for retirement.
But I didn’t do any of those things.
As the royalty statements came in, and a foreign book contract was dropped due to low sales, my worry began to grow. I started to notice that my publishers, by and large, weren’t promoting my books. One sent me on tour, which is about as luxe as it can get for an author, but very few people showed up at the events, and that was that.
Panic began to set in when my first book wasn’t released in paperback — never a good sign. When the third book in my trilogy came out, I received a call from the publisher two days after its release to say how sorry they were the trilogy hadn’t worked out as they’d hoped.
I couldn’t catch a foothold on literary social media, and my following had plateaued, no matter how much I reworked my approaches.
Fast-forward to my third book deal, for a contemporary novel. This was after I’d already won a PEN award for my debut novel (the Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award), garnered several starred reviews, had multiple books on important lists, and worked hard on author-branding and social media. I expected my advance would be commensurate with the last one the publisher I’d submitted this new book to had given me: $50,000 per book; that big debut two-book deal.
What other job would lower your salary after getting such great performance reviews? But by this time, I’d heard some water-cooler talk among authors that if your sales numbers aren’t great, it can affect your next advance. But no one tells you your numbers, so I really had no idea where I stood.
Whenever I asked, I either received no answer or a vague, “Oh I’m sure the book’s doing great, just keep writing.” Writers are often kept in the dark to such a degree that we don’t even know our book release date until a Google alert tells us that our book — which we may not have even been paid for yet (true story) — has shown up on Amazon.
After the acquisitions meeting for this most recent novel, my agent told me the news wasn’t great, as my first two titles hadn’t “earned out.” This term simply means you sold enough books to cover your advance and can now begin earning royalties. The publisher still wanted to work with me — something I was thankful for — but they were only willing to offer me what my most recent book had made: just over $17,000. Never mind that the book was critically praised and had made some of those nice lists. It wasn’t making money.
It is a business, after all. However warm the fuzzies might get because we love reading, there’s still a bottom line. Which is fair... to a point.
My editor, a real gem who believes in my work and is currently editing my most ambitious fiction project to date, advocated hard for me, and the acquisitions team agreed to increase the amount of my advance to $35,000. This, of course, is less my agent’s commission of 15% and Uncle Sam’s cut. When it was all said and done, the advance wasn’t even enough to live on, at least not in Brooklyn. In reality, they were paying me less than half the salary of a local public-school teacher.
I do more marketing than most marketing professionals, including loads of promotional work such as interviews, guest posts, and podcast appearances. My publishers have never made so much as a bookmark for me (though twice they agreed to design them if I paid for the printing). If I wanted to go to a book festival or important industry conference out of town, I had to pay, unless the festival organizer covered the costs, which they rarely do. I couldn’t afford to do that, which meant I was unable to connect with librarians, booksellers, and industry professionals to amplify my books and, thus, my sales. I have a book coming out next year that is getting more marketing attention already, but I know better than to get my hopes up. Each new book is like a weekend in Vegas: Maybe I’ll get lucky, and maybe I won’t.
When I got that $35,000 advance, desperation set in. I’d been offered a two-book deal, but decided to only sign for one, in the hopes that I could somehow garner better sales and try for a higher advance the next time. None of the people in the room (so to speak) warned that the next time around the advance might be lower. Perhaps my team at the agency and publishing house had as much faith as I did in the book, and truly believed that this one would be the ticket, since they often spoke of wanting me to “break out.” Or maybe the people who were making this deal knew, as I did, that we were throwing coins into a wishing well. At the end of the day, I decided that this book deal was better than no book deal. We signed the papers, and made a wish.
That book didn’t earn out either, and so the advance for my next book with this publisher was only $25,000 — half of what they had given me for my first deal and $10,000 less than the next deal, a year before. In retrospect, I should have taken that two-book deal.
I make sure [aspiring writers] internalize that their fate in this industry isn’t entirely in their own hands, no matter how good they are, or how much they hustle.
The smaller the advances got, the more strain I began to experience. Suddenly, the credit card couldn’t be paid off, and I was emailing my agent’s assistant to inquire about the advances I’d yet to receive for tiny foreign deals — I dearly needed the $2,000 those Eastern Europeans owed me.
While no amount of mentorship could have determined the outcome of my book sales, it would have helped me make more informed decisions about the books I did sell, and how I spent the money I earned. Instead, I’d dug myself into a hole, juggling multiple projects I’d sold out of desperation, hoping that this one would be the pivot to change the course of my sales. I found myself with more deadlines than ever, but even less time to write, since I’d had to become ever more dependent on side hustles.
Added to the financial despair was shame, depression, and fear. All I could think was that I had wasted the one opportunity the universe had given me to write my way out. Instead, I’d written myself back into the prison of nearly all the people I knew: living paycheck to paycheck; without reliable health insurance; little saved for retirement; no property; and one big emergency away from total ruin. This, as an author published by Big Five publishers, with multiple books out, still more under contract, a PEN award, and critical acclaim.
I pivoted, creating new projects that challenged me to no end and were way outside my comfort zone. While I was genuinely excited by them, I was also fighting with everything in me to stay in the game, to not let my dream of being a lifelong professional writer slip through my grasp after a brief flirtation with the big time.
Of course, I also needed to keep money coming in while trying very hard to write things I cared about, and improve my craft with each project. Perhaps I put on too good a face. So prolific! So productive! Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s… Maybelline?
The range of my advances had gone from $75,000 per book (my highest advance) to $20,000 per book (lowest) over the course of five years. The level of work was the same regardless of the advance, maybe even higher. The expectation placed on me — and that I placed on myself — to write these books well soared, but I had the sinking suspicion I was on the verge of being an acquisitions pariah, a financial liability.
Fast forward to right now: I’ve moved away from New York City to Durham, North Carolina, a much more affordable city. I’ve embraced the Friday Night Lights mantra as my own: Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. While I still have four books under contract and am hopeful they will do well, my sense of vocation has expanded.
Now, much of my passion is invested in helping other writers avoid the mistakes I made; writing pieces like this, that shed light on the issues, toxicity, and dangers of the publishing industry. We need more writers who are willing to mentor debut authors like the one I once was, as well as aspiring writers.
There is such a strong focus on how to break into the industry, yet very little guidance once a writer finds herself walking past those gatekeepers. Here are my takeaways:
If you’re a writer, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t worry about seeming too green, too naive. You do yourself no favors when you apologize for yourself. You have a seat at the table. Dig in. Ask for seconds.
Always be an advocate for yourself. Wanting answers and seeking accountability is not demanding, it’s good business. Know what you want, value what you have to offer, and ask for what you need — from your publishers, your agency, and anyone else on your team.
Seek quality mentorship from writers who are further ahead of you on the path, and have the kind of career and author presence you aspire to. Don’t engage in water-cooler complaining sessions. Be an active character in your story, and someday, when you become the experienced author, pay it forward.
In some ways, I’m just as passionate about artist advocacy and education as I am about writing itself. I tell my students and clients to assume nothing. I teach them about the industry. I tell them they deserve a seat at the table, and try to impart the craft and story tools they’ll need to get there. And I make sure they internalize that their fate in this industry isn’t entirely in their own hands, no matter how good they are, or how much they hustle.
It has been an unexpected plot twist in my narrative, but I’ve found that mentoring writers is like writing itself: Words act as lamps in the darkness, helping the reader find the path that will take them where they want to go.
This piece originally appeared in Page Count, a Medium publication that explores publishing and the writer’s livelihood. | https://forge.medium.com/how-to-lose-a-third-of-a-million-dollars-without-really-trying-d3c343675aca | ['Heather Demetrios'] | 2019-11-05 18:53:32.679000+00:00 | ['Succeed', 'Mentorship', 'Writing', 'Writer', 'Publishing'] |
How to Make Your Course as Durable as Mario Kart: Future-Proofing Online Educational Content | How to Make Your Course as Durable as Mario Kart: Future-Proofing Online Educational Content Patrick Yurick Follow May 22 · 7 min read
Design Inspiration
When I think of highly effective digital experiences that walk you through a progression of learning modules while balancing the need for accessibility of future audiences I think of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. At any point in time, as long as you have your own SNES, you are able to pick up a Mario Kart cartridge, slap it in the machine, and start playing. It needs only five basic things: a game console, a game controller, a game cartridge, a TV, and electricity. You have those five things and you can start throwing bananas.
What happened? Why isn’t the content we design in 2020 as robustly as Mario Kart? Well, the Internet happened and we got carried away with it. Platforms grow and change. Websites rise and fall. We’ve forgotten how to make things just work in lieu of the fancy bells and whistles that come with the modern web capabilities.
My mission, in this article, is to argue that we need to design course systems and materials that are future-proof. Courses that allow for multiple generations to come to have access to the hard work we’ve dedicated to their creation.
To be clear: I’m not arguing that we need to ignore the advances of Internet technology when constructing courses, nor that the content won’t need to be revised as we create new knowledge or as beliefs and attitudes change. I am speaking from the point of view of the course designer. As you review the principles outlined below you will see that I’m arguing for compartmentalization and modulation of content so that we can better anticipate the needs of future audiences.
Why?
In 2012, when I started designing my first massive open online course (MOOC) New School Creation, my team and I gave no thought to creating a course that would be relevant eight years later.
Guess what? Eight years later, it is still relevant. We just re-released New School Creation (https://hthgse.online/newschoolcreation/) as a self-paced MailChimp course last month and we are working to create a sequel to the original course later this year.
So what happened? Why wasn’t I able to predict that the information would still be relevant in 2020 when we released in 2013? At the time, I and other early course designers were still trying to grapple with what MOOCs were.
Like many course designers for virtual audiences, our thought was to take a graduate course that Larry Rosenstock had taught in-person for years and translate that experience to an online course that people anywhere in the world could remotely complete. We thought the course would be offered once, and then, just like an in-person course, it would be over.
That’s not how it turned out.
The course stayed online, and people continued to access it. Periodically I would get emails from folks who were trying to access the course materials, and links were broken or whole sections of content just would not load. On top of that there was language within the courses that had dated the content in a confusing manner, such as instructions to turn assignments in at dates that had long since past. Although there was a continued audience of people who found value in the course, we were not thinking about their experience when we designed it.
I hate the idea that I unknowing facilitated a frustrating learning experience for these course users, but the course itself had been funded by time-sensitive grant money. That money was gone and we had not allocated funding towards the course for routine maintenance and upkeep.
Future-Proofing
After this experience and others just like it, I began working on a set of design principles for designing online course structures and materials that will ensure these are durable and “future-proof”. The concept of future-proofing is more commonly used in industrial sciences and the world of electronics, but it is relevant for thinking about how to be thoughtful educational designers for online spaces. Future-proofing is the process of designing products or systems that can be used in the future, even if the technology changes. Below you will find a list of concepts that will support you to create future-proof online learning experiences. | https://medium.com/pyd-studio/how-to-make-your-course-as-durable-as-donkey-kong-future-proofing-online-educational-content-9e65040c4676 | ['Patrick Yurick'] | 2020-05-23 17:00:21.173000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Online Learning', 'UX Design', 'Mooc', 'UX'] |
Medium Add Article To Publication | Medium does not make publishing your articles in publications nearly as easy as it should be.
Luckily, there are a number of resources such as Smedian which help bridge the gap between new writers and editors of existing publications.
However, once you have been approved as a writer for a publication, many Medium users are left wondering:
How Do I Add My Article to a Publication?
This article provides a quick overview of how to do this.
Adding an Article to a Publication
Step 1.
If your article is already published, click the edit icon (gear icon) at the top right of your article, and then select the edit story button.
Note: If your article is still a draft (has not been published) you can skip this step.
Step 2.
Click the three dot icon (⋯) and select the add to publication button from the drop down menu.
Step 3.
You will now see a list of publications. These are all the publication that you are an approved writer for or are publication where you are the editor/owner.
If you are an approved writer, you will see the following message:
You must complete the submission process in order for your story to be sent to the publication’s editor. The editor will be responsible for publishing your draft.
If this is the case, select the publication that you want to add your article to and you will see the following message:
Click the submit button to submit your article to a publication for review.
If you are the owner or editor of a publication, you will see the following message:
This signifies that you can add an article to a publication and it will be auto-approved for publication (because you are the owner or editor).
Select the publish button.
You can also remove your article from any publication. Simply click the three dots icon (⋯) and then click the remove story from publication button.
Notes About Adding Articles to Medium Publications | https://medium.com/blogging-guide/medium-add-article-to-publication-e9cfcdf0bdd7 | ['Casey Botticello'] | 2020-07-10 00:44:09.601000+00:00 | ['Draft', 'Publication', 'Writing', 'Format', 'Medium'] |
The Brilliant Scientist Who Stopped the Roman Army | The story of Archimedes
Archimedes was the resident of the city-state of Syracuse on the east coast of Sicily, founded in 734 BCE. During his time the state was a powerhouse of art, science, and commerce even rivaling Athens.
Archimedes shared a close relationship with the king and was often called to suggest solutions to civic problems within the city. From inventing a water pump to remove rainwater from ships to testing the amount of gold in the king’s crown (remember the Eureka moment when he ran naked?), Archimedes’s brilliance made him the most respected scientist of his time.
It was around this time that the Romans attacked the state. A huge Roman army under their famous general Marcellus laid siege outside the walls of Syracuse. Well versed in siege warfare, the Romans expected the conquering of the city-state to be a cakewalk as ships carrying ladders and grappling hooks sailed toward the city with the intention of scaling its walls.
But they had grossly underestimated the brilliance of Archimedes. Archimedes devised a series of devious engineering marvels that repulsed Marcellus and his army in every assault. What was expected to finish in two days went on for two years with the Roman army waiting outside the walls, frustrated and terrorized by a ‘local’ engineer as they called Archimedes.
Some of his marvelous creations were simply too brilliant even for today’s times.
The Archimedes Claw
The Archimedes Claw was a notorious invention in which huge beams could be swung out over the walls and some of also dropped huge weights, punching holes through the ships and sinking them.
Others had a claw or grappling hook, which grabbed hold of the rigging or rails of a galley, raising it, shaking it, and capsizing it. The terrifying spectacle of a ship being lifted and thrown stuck terror within the Romans.
The Archimedes Catapult Engine
The historian Plutarch describes the catapult engine as a series of “engines” designed to hurl arrows and rocks at attacking Roman troops and ships.
According to him, some of the rocks hurled from Archimedes’s catapults weighed as much as 10 talents — around 700 pounds. He also describes different types of catapult engines with varied ability to hurl or shoot projectiles at attackers both at great range and directly under the city’s walls.
The Archimedes Death Ray
This was the most lethal of Archimedes inventions. The invention involved a huge mirror that could focus sunlight onto the wooden Roman ships and cause them to burst into flames.
The device consisted of a large array of highly polished bronze or copper shields arranged in a parabola, concentrating sunlight into a single, intense beam. This single device spread havoc among Roman sailors who even mutinied rather than getting burnt to death.
Marcellus could not afford any more direct attacks and he suffered heavy losses. What began as a short siege had become a stalemate that went on for two years. | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-brilliant-scientist-who-stopped-the-roman-army-f85f295063c3 | ['Mythili The Dreamer'] | 2020-11-06 19:35:45.848000+00:00 | ['World', 'Culture', 'Technology', 'Science', 'History'] |
The Ultimate Crash Course On Artificial Intelligence (Part 1) | Introduction
On a bright Monday morning, you’re here sipping your nice cup of java, or otherwise known as coffee, while you’re browsing the latest news on your phone and scrolling through Reddit. Right before you’re about to put your phone away and head to school or work, all the headlines and notifications flood you at once. They flood everyone’s phones.
“GPT-3, an OpenAI initiative that managed to pose as a human, answering questions on Reddit undetected, for over a week…” “AI ‘outperforms’ doctors diagnosing breast cancer — BBC News” “Former Go champion beaten by DeepMind retires after declaring AI invincible” — Verge “Surprising Ways How Driverless Cars Will Change Our Future” — Machine Design “Millions of Americans Have Lost Jobs in the Pandemic — And Robots and AI Are Replacing Them Faster Than Ever” — Time.com
All of a sudden, panic rushes through your veins, and you begin to sweat. You wonder how the world has gotten to a point where technology has revolutionized our everyday lives. Your degree that’s sitting on your wall is starting to shake, knowing that it soon might not be of use. You’re wondering if you’ll be able to keep your job if you’re part of the working class or if you’ll soon be replaced by some super-intelligent robot that doesn’t require a paycheque every two weeks.
However, a tiny voice in the back of your head tells you not to worry. Less than 20 seconds later, your friend calls you up and starts freaking out as well. It turns out that everyone in the world received these notifications at the exact same time.
In the midst of all of this panic, your phone vibrates profusely again, notifying you that there’s something that demands your attention. Sitting there on your screen is a text from someone Anonymous that tells you that there’s nothing to fear. It says that you’ve been invited to join a secret group, a group that will dedicate all of their lives towards research, and education amid these new times. They’ve invited you to be apart of the new 4th Industrial Revolution with technology.
As a naturally curious person, you reply back and agree to join. They instantly send you a link to an article that plans to explain what is all of this Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning that’s constantly in the news.
You open it and bam. Here you are!
Let’s get into it. In this article, we’ll be talking about the following concepts broken down into sections!
Get ready for a wild ride and prepare to have your mind blown!
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Artificial Intelligence is absolutely huge. Here, take a look and see:
This visual encapsulates everything you need to know about Artificial Intelligence, and all of these areas connect with each other to fuel the innovation in this space as we know it today.
The most practical definition that can be used to describe Artificial Intelligence can be as follows:
“The theory and development of computers to be able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, i.e. Visual Perception, Speech Recognition, Decision Making, and Translation”
In simple layman terms, this means that the core of AI lies in the principle of machines doing things and performing tasks that usually require a human with some form of intelligence, to complete.
Now you might be wondering… “well, if these computers, programmers, and corporations get sophisticated enough with the technology and innovation, wouldn’t the very need of humans and its existence be in jeopardy?”
To that my friend, I’ll provide some reassurance and evidence to support my claims that we’re very far from that. First, let’s discuss some history and applications of AI.
History of AI
If you’re like most, you typically HATE history with a passion. All you probably remember from your history class is probably what wars our countries have fought, who the leaders of our countries were, and how everything ties back together to where we are today.
However, history is critical since it’s the study of past events, of which usually can be a good indicator of the future.
The very beginnings of AI started in 1950 when Alan Turing published a paper called Computing Machinery and Intelligence in which he outlined the Turing Test. Simply put the Turing Test is the process to determine whether a computer is capable of thinking like a human being.
A few years later in 1956 at the Dartmouth Conference, John McCarthy coined the term “Artificial Intelligence,” and defined it as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.” This was the true birth of AI.
Over the course of many years and decades, new advancements were made: the First AI Lab at MIT built-in 1959, the first Chatbot named Eliza created in 1961, IBM Deep Blue beating the world champion at Chess in 1997, IBM Watson defeated the two greatest Jeopardy players and more.
All of this leads us to the present day.
Applications of AI
Today, we have AI at every single corner of our lives, in every single industry. AI can and has transformed healthcare, education, transportation, retail, manufacturing, climate change, and much much more. The applications of AI have changed the world as we know it.
Here are some of the most popular ones that you may have heard of:
1. Google
Search Engine
When you type a word into Google’s Search box, you’ll be suggested searches with Google’s autofill. Google’s Predictive Search Engine is based on Natural Language Processing and uses data, browser history, location and other related information to display the best result for you. This is practice is often used among many companies for their search functionalities (Netflix, Youtube, etc.)
Other Implementations
Another application of AI lies in Gmail’s Spam Filtering where Google’s Machine Learning Algorithms and Natural Language Processing views the content in an email and determines whether it’s spam or not.
Google’s AlphaGo had previously beat the world’s best Go player through Reinforcement Learning, a process where the computer teaches itself how to perform certain tasks by trial and error. On top of that, Google’s DeepMind is another subsidiary of Google that focuses on research into the field of AI and advancing the industry as a whole.
Facebook
Facebook uses various Machine Learning and Deep Learning functionalities to do any number of things. For one, it can detect your facial features and tag your friends in the photos you upload before you hit the post button. When Facebook is trying to serve ads to it’s customers, it also uses similar algorithms to classify which ads would be the best for which audiences and it enables the company as a whole to make money off of it’s users.
JPMorgan Chase’s Contract Intelligence (COiN)
JPMorgan’s Machine Learning technology has the ability to review 12,000 annual commercial loan agreements in a mere matter of seconds when the same task would take over 360,000 hours to complete by humans. This single application alone can save JPMorgan, thousands if not millions of dollars.
Netflix
The average Netflix subscriber spends over 10 hours a week on this app alone, and you might be thinking those are rookie numbers in your head. The reason that Netflix can keep eyeballs on their platform for so long is simply due to the fact that their recommendation algorithm is extremely powerful and serves to you what it thinks you’ll fall in love with. Over 75% of what you watch is recommended by Netflix. Since the recommendations are so personalized, there’s a high probability that they’ll keep you glued and loyal to their company, providing them with a solid stream of revenue every month.
And much much more!
Artificial Intelligence has been found to treat and diagnose cancers, used for surveillance, used to power the self-driving cars that exist on the road today and it’s even made music. The solutions that AI can bring to the enormous amount of problems that exist today is endless.
Types of AI
We as humans are always on the lookout for anything that might tip our system and result in massive disruption to our status quo and way of living. By status quo, I mean where humans typically are the rulers of Earth and hold all the power to do anything they so choose. Here’s why you shouldn’t be afraid of AI. It’s only here to help us. For now…
There are two, if not, three types of Artificial Intelligence: the first of which being Artificial Narrow Intelligence, the second of which being Artificial General Intelligence, and the last of which being Artificial Super Intelligence.
Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) is known as weak AI which involves applying AI to only specific tasks. This includes almost all of the current advancements and innovations in this field. Examples include: Facebook using AI to detect facial features and tag friends, your Siri or Google Assistant helping you set timers or turn on lights, or even Tesla with Self Driving Cars; ANI can also help us complete menial and gruesome tasks that no one wants to do, thus resulting in great happiness and satisfaction among humans Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is known as strong AI, which is where machines possess the ability to perform any intellectual task that a human can do. We are currently still pretty far from reaching this state of AI. Experts predict that we’ll reach AGI around 2050, and even possibly sooner. However, the field will still require a lot of research from scientists and a ton of smart people working on this for us to achieve AGI. Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) is also known as singularity. The point in time where the capabilities of computers will surpass humans and current the date of this being achieved is unknown. Many predict that it’ll be many decades and potentially even a century before we reach ASI.
The only two that you should pay attention to would probably be AGI and ASI, as these kinds of AI would be the type that could POTENTIALLY take over the world.
Programming Languages Used In Artificial Intelligence
Since Artificial Intelligence is huge, the list of programming languages that can be used to work with AI is also vast. Nonetheless, some work better than others depending on the use case.
Here are some of the most common and most suitable languages for AI:
Python
Python, an Object-Oriented Programming language (OOP) is by far the most popular language for AI. Most developers use Python simply due to its ease of use, readability, and how straightforward it is. Furthermore, many libraries have already built up Artificial Intelligence algorithms that programmers could easily import into their code.
R (statistical programming language, the easiest syntax which greatly resembles English)
R is also a notable choice for Data Science and Machine Learning. As a statistical-oriented programming language, it excels in analyzing and manipulating data. R is also often used in data visualization and can create great-looking publication plots.
Java (known for their awesome Graphical User Interfaces, GUI’s)
Remember the language that you learnt in your high school CS class? That’s right, you can even use it for AI development. Due to its ease of use, debugging capabilities, and packages that make Java UI friendly, it’s no wonder why Java is another popular language for AI.
Lisp (on the older end, invented by John McCarthy)
Created by the father of AI, John McCarthy, it’s the oldest and the most suited language for AI development. It’s able to process symbolic information which can prove to be useful in many situations. It’s also easy to use and great for prototyping. While it is a good language, there are other languages that are more effective to choose from.
Other Languages
While I’ve mentioned 4 of the most popular languages, there are also other ones that you can use for AI, however, I won’t go in-depth, since their main purpose usually isn’t for AI.
C++ SASS Javascript MATLAB/Octave Julia
Why You Should Care and Why AI is Important
Now, you might be thinking, “dude, this sounds cool and all but, why should I care?”
Well for starters, the AI and Data Science field is growing at an exponential rate since it’s a very rewarding career path for many people. Average salaries for an AI developer ranges from $100,000 USD to $150,000 USD (nearly $200,000 in CAD)! This is a huge contributing factor as to why so many are interested in learning about it. Almost 15–20% of jobs at the biggest companies lie in the realm of AI, which makes getting a job a lot easier. In a time where job stability is at an all-time low and where up to 800 million jobs could be lost due to AI by 2030, this is a great game to get into. Furthermore, in 2016, the global market value for AI was only $4 billion, but by 2025, it;’s expected to be at $169 billion! That’s seriously rapid growth.
We also create and generate over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every single day. That amount of data is insane. Imagine if we needed to have humans manually tag and label every single photo on Facebook for example. By the time that someone has successfully tagged 100 photos, they’ll have thousands if not millions more to go through. This is where AI excels, as its strength lies in its ability to process, analyze astronomical amounts of data and find correlations in a matter of seconds.
Other applications in various realms have also already been mentioned and with all of that combined, it should be evident how impactful and important AI will be in our daily lives and in the years to come.
What is Machine Learning (ML)?
Let’s now dive into Machine Learning. A computer scientist, Arthur Samuel first coined the term Machine Learning in 1959 and here was his definition:
A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some class of tasks T and performance measure P if it’s performance at tasks in T, as measured by P, improves with the experience E.
Trust me, it’s okay, when I first heard of this, I was just confused as you are right now. In simplified terms, it’s essentially a subarea of Artificial Intelligence which lets machines learn automatically and improve from experience, without it being explicitly programmed to do so.
Difference Between Machine Learning and AI
The difference between Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, is simply that Machine Learning is a SUBSET of AI and ML is USED in AI. Machine Learning by definition is simply the process of feeding computers a ton of data to make them learn and draw conclusions & insights.
The Significance of Machine Learning
Just in case you haven’t understood how powerful this technology is, I’m going to continue proving why it’s critical. Here are three main reasons that Machine Learning can power many industries and it can help with various implications. Due to the increase in Data Generation, Machine Learning can improve decision making, uncover patterns & trends in data and be used to solve complex problems.
Increase In Data Generation
We literally generate over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day and it’s only going to grow from there. By 2020, it’s estimated that 1.7 MB of data will be created every second for every person on Earth. That’s astronomical. To put that in perspective, that’s 2,500,000 terabytes, and assuming we break that down and store it 1TB hard drives (the average size of disks for personal computers). That’s 2,500,000 hard drives of data that we’re creating every single day. That’s insane. You could probably fill multiple football fields will all of the disks that you’d have filled with data.
Improved Decision Making
Since we have so much data to work through, and so many algorithms to choose from, we can leverage Machine Learning to make better decisions in all facets of life. For example, many companies have a ton of data that they collect from their customers that simply haven’t been used. The insights that can be drawn from this data that’s just sitting there can produce thousands, if not millions in additional revenue depending on the organization.
Data Analysis
Using Machine Learning, we can once again plow through all of the enormous amounts of data that we generate daily. Theoretically, yes, we can have humans analyze these 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, but I’m sure all of these people have better things to do with their time, like binge Netflix and generate more data. Instead, we can just use Machine Learning to plow through the data and bam, problem solved. | https://medium.com/junior-economist/the-ultimate-crash-course-on-artificial-intelligence-part-1-d0c37ad10fdb | ['Kevin Liu'] | 2020-11-21 23:22:43.881000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Learning', 'The Knowledge Society'] |
Time To Get Your #BUILTBYGIRLS Swag On | #BUILTBYGIRLS Program Manager Danielle Letayf and Marketing & Partnerships Manager Victoria Marlin
Everywhere we go, people be asking: where can I get one of those?! Well, we’ve kept it a secret — until now.
Head over to Bow & Drape to get your very own #BUILTBYGIRLS sweatshirt and join the sparkly swag crew. We know it’s on your bucket list.
Click here to buy. | https://medium.com/a-world-builtbygirls/time-to-get-your-builtbygirls-swag-on-aec33f64149a | [] | 2016-04-01 13:39:45.548000+00:00 | ['Swag And Flavor', 'Womenintech', 'Startup'] |
Was I Chasing the Gingerbread Man or My Father’s Approval? | After 7 hours of pursuing the baked good which had earlier alighted from my oven, I thought to myself, “Why am I trying to catch this Gingerbread Man?”
Running is quite meditative, whether one is on a morning jog or galloping after an impossible doughy figure. So my mind cleared enough to ponder the question further. What was it I really yearned to catch?
Certainly, it couldn’t be a cookie.
I mean sure, I love cookies, but enough to work this hard? By which I mean do MORE work. Because I’d already done the work to make the darn thing. Mixing the dry ingredients, beating the eggs, sourcing the molasses, and struggling up the ladder to become the master baker in my hard-to-please father’s establishment. And now this nonsense? I was so tired of chasing things at this point.
Consumed with my own thoughts, I hadn’t noticed the small crowd who’d joined me in my hellish chase. What spurred them on? Was that woman chasing her dream of writing a dissertation on the autonomy of baked goods? Did that man desire the secret for bringing life to what had before been lifeless so he could woo investors and build a unicorn company like his brother? Was that child hoping to make a friend who didn’t confuse her as her own middle school friends were currently doing? Would my father really get angry at me if I lost track of one measly product?
Around this point, the Gingerbread man cried, “Run, run, as fast as you can. You’ll never catch me! I’m the thing you’ve wanted for years yet I remain just out of sight.”
He must be getting tired. That line didn’t rhyme at all.
Now we were a literal mob. All of us running, running, running, after a creature who mocked us relentlessly. He stayed within probable grasping range, but whenever someone started getting close, off he’d shoot on delicious feet.
Of course, as the crowd grew so too did the realization that there wasn’t enough Gingerbread Man to go around. People began to sabotage those close to them. I saw a politician trip a student. A farmer put his cow in front of a mother with a stroller. One life coach told another woman to go home and manifest the cookie through journaling.
The Gingerbread Man cackled and yelled, “Run, run, as fast as you can. You’re about as likely to catch me as you are at getting a certain someone to acknowledging your talent.”
Ragged breathing to my right me drew my attention. A woman in sporty leggings eyed the Gingerbread Man with a kind of hunger that had nothing to do with food. Did I look like that?
Her phone rang. She answered it, never breaking her stride “Hey dad…Yes I’m still studying law…No…I don’t know if I’m going to be top of class yet! I got to go.”
The Gingerbread Man changed his tune again. I swear he was speaking only to me. “Study culinary arts as hard as you can, you’ll never catch me! I’m your father’s withheld approval.”
That was enough for me. I stopped. The small crowd that remained passed me. I let them. I thought I was chasing a Gingerbread Man, but the whole time I was trying to catch on to the approval of a man I’d been chasing for years.
So I went home. I heard the fate of the Gingerbread Man on the news and wasn’t surprised. I know what it is like to run as fast as you can to achieve greatness while seeing your chance of getting gruff, “I’m proud of you,” swallowed by the jaws of time and indifference.
Later that night I woke up to a text from my father. Be at work a couple hours early for me. Thx.
Without hesitation, I set my alarm. What can I say? I know I’ll always choose the chase. | https://medium.com/jane-austens-wastebasket/was-i-chasing-the-gingerbread-man-or-my-fathers-approval-31eba981c1fa | ['Kyrie Gray'] | 2020-12-11 17:08:36.258000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Humor', 'Self', 'Family', 'Food'] |
Securing Globally Important Marine Areas in the Western Indian Ocean | World Oceans Day 2019
A new partnership will build on political will and community support to ensure a more sustainable future for WIO seascapes.
A new partnership between the WCS and the Blue Action Fund will address threats to the marine environment of the Western Indian Ocean at a significant geographical scale. Credit: WCS
By Jason Patlis and Michelle Cordray
June 8, 2019
The Western Indian Ocean (WIO), along the coast of east and southern Africa, is a socially and biologically diverse region with a 9,000-kilometer coastline that contains some of the world’s most extensive and climate-resilient coral reefs and mangroves. This area is second in the world only to the Pacific’s Coral Triangle in terms of marine and coastal biodiversity.
The marine ecosystems within the WIO are critical sources of protein, coastal protection, and income to coastal populations, many of whom are poor and marginalized. With high rates of poverty, often above 70 percent, rural coastal populations are highly dependent on small-scale fisheries and coastal resources.
The WIO has a long history of marine conservation and contains some of the oldest and largest marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world. In recent years, the governments of Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar have taken greater interest in creating or expanding MPAs as well as locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) to address the needs of local communities, respond to a more engaged civil society, and meet international conservation goals enumerated under the Convention of Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The use of the ocean and its resources is expanding faster than at any time in the past. The Western Indian Ocean in particular is undergoing a significant economic transformation driven by increased links to Asian markets and global demand for natural resources.
Madagascar counts currently more than 80 LMMAs and 20 official MPAs covering 730,677 hectares — most of which are under IUCN category V and VI managed jointly by NGO and local communities.
However, the use of the ocean and its resources is expanding faster than at any time in the past. The WIO in particular is undergoing a significant economic transformation driven by increased links to Asian markets and global demand for natural resources. Threats affecting critical marine resources in the WIO are outpacing efforts to protect them.
These threats include over-exploited fisheries, destructive fishing practices in both near and offshore waters, habitat degradation, coastal development, and pollution from both land-based sources and increasing marine activities and industrial development.
Exacerbating this, local coastal populations suffering from poverty, high population growth, and persistent marginalization — and who turn to marine resources for their very survival — are degrading coastal and marine ecosystems within WIO at an accelerating rate. Climate change impacts that include sea level rise, sea temperature change, coral bleaching, and storm events add additional pressure to the region’s ecosystems and the people who depend upon them.
WCS’s program in the WIO region seeks to safeguard its global reef species and richness, reverse the decline of sharks and rays, and steward the recovery of marine mammals. At the same time, the WCS marine program in Madagascar aims to promote marine conservation based on sound science, a community-based approach, local capacity building, field conservation action, fisheries management in priority marine landscapes, and adaptive management facing climate change.
WCS’s program in the WIO region seeks to safeguard its global reef species and richness, reverse the decline of sharks and rays, and steward the recovery of marine mammals. Credit: WCS
Our approach is based on four pillars: partnership and institutional support to develop and implement national and regional frameworks on marine resource management; capacity building for national and local stakeholders; applied researches; and site-based conservation activities through identification, creation and management of MPAs as well as support to LMMAs.
Now, a new partnership between the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Blue Action Fund will address these threats at a significant geographical scale, building on existing political will for marine conservation in the Western Indian Ocean region to achieve long-lasting conservation impacts.
This partnership will expand a network of resilient, sustainable, and effectively managed marine protected areas in two seascapes in Tanzania, Kenya, and Madagascar. The goal of the project is to create 6,040 km2 in new, expanded, and existing MPAs and sustainable-use zones, effectively and sustainably managed by NGOs and relevant actors including government, communities, and civil society. This in turn will provide sustainable and resilient livelihoods tied to fisheries and marine-related supply chains for coastal communities in these areas.
The goal of the project is to create 6,040 square kilometers in new, expanded, and existing MPAs and sustainable-use zones — effectively and sustainably managed by NGOs and relevant actors including government, communities, and civil society.
The two seascapes are the Kenya-Tanzania Transboundary Conservation Area (TBCA), which covers 2,200 square kilometers extending from southern Kenya to the Ulenge Island Marine Reserve in Tanzania; and the Northwest Madagascar Seascape, which covers approximately 5,700 square kilometers — including the Ankivonjy and Ankarea MPAs.
These seascapes are amongst the most biologically important in the region, with high degrees of resilience and connectivity, and represent a range of ecosystem types. Currently, these areas contain a mosaic of poorly managed and unmanaged areas and the project hopes to help ensure ecological and managerial connectivity within these seascapes.
WCS will prioritize community engagement and foster the autonomy of local community managers of marine resources. Community stakeholders will be active participants in co-management of MPAs and local marine reserves, in improved small-scale fisheries management, and in alternative livelihoods activities based on marine resource value chains.
WCS will actively engage women and marginalized groups to participate in project activities. We will ensure sustainability by supporting financial sustainability strategies for target MPAs and engaging private sector partners in livelihood activities.
As a result of this project, two globally significant seascapes will be transformed from a poorly managed patchwork of ‘paper park’ MPAs — disconnected and ineffective co-managed spaces, including large areas without any management structure — into a coherent and planned seascape incorporating effectively managed, sustainable, and resilient MPAs; robust community co-managed areas; and productive sustainable use zones.
Without this partnership, we would lose a unique and immediate window of opportunity to build on existing political momentum to conserve these marine areas before their natural resources suffer irreversible damage.
Jason Patlis is Executive Director of the Marine Conservation Program at WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society); Michelle Cordray is the Program Officer for the East and Southern Africa/Madagascar/Western Indian Ocean region at WCS. | https://medium.com/wcs-marine-conservation-program/securing-globally-important-marine-areas-in-the-western-indian-ocean-b721b25f76e | ['Wildlife Conservation Society'] | 2019-06-09 04:13:41.040000+00:00 | ['Madagascar', 'Marine', 'Conservation', 'Environment', 'World Oceans Day'] |
How to use React for e-commerce — and why it’s a good idea | How to use React for e-commerce — and why it’s a good idea
Bonus: Gatsby Shop tutorial!
Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash
Developers should be able to use any stack, whether they’re building e-commerce or not.
☝️ That was the initial promise behind our developer-first shopping cart.
One we’ve kept for 5 years now.
Turns out 2018 stacks are more frontend-centric than ever, with React leading the pack.
With that in mind, I thought I’d craft a thorough piece on React e-commerce for developers.
In this post, I’ll explore how React and e-commerce can go hand-in-hand — with its multiple benefits & tools.
Then, I’ll go to full-on tutorial mode, showcasing my handcrafted React store using Gatsby.
Steps 🛠️
Creating a Gatsby site Generating & defining products Integrating a shopping cart to Gatsby Leveraging React components Deploying the site to Netlify
Okay, let’s do this!
Should you use React for e-commerce?
If you’re here, you probably don’t need an introduction to React at this point.
It has been at the forefront of frontend web development for a few years now. It boasts a constellation of stars at the top of its GitHub repo. It’s used by tech behemoths like Airbnb, Netflix, and Instagram.
It was created by Facebook developers for Pete’s sake! Saying it’s trendy is an understatement.
Image from The State of JavaScript 2018: React’s in great shape.
But trendy isn’t a synonym for overrated. React has proven its awesomeness more than enough. With its component-centric development, Virtual DOM, JSX syntax, etc. it has changed frontend development for the best.
But the real question here is: “Is it any good for e-commerce?”
It can be great, as long as you’re willing to get your hands dirty (coding-wise).
As developers, the fun isn’t in being told by restraining, monolithic systems what tech to use and how. It’s in choosing ourselves the right tools for the right job. JS frameworks, static sites & the JAMstack gave the freedom back to developers to create kickass UX by themselves.
Plus, the features of a framework like React will translate into benefits for clients as well.
→ The use of components for flexibility.
Component-based development enables easy code reuse through your app, but also the writing of small features. Or, in our case, small e-commerce functionalities. This comes in handy once you start scaling and expanding your shopping cart integration. I’ll show you a concrete example in the demo further down.
→ Virtual DOM for performance.
React’s virtual DOM provides a more efficient way of updating the view in a web application. Performance is HUGE in e-commerce; every milli-seconds count. Speed = Better UX/SEO = $$$.
Don’t let gossip about React SEO issues fool you; there are many ways to make your React apps SEO-friendly.
→ Popularity & vast community for peace of mind.
If you’re a merchant, it shouldn’t be too hard finding developers to maintain your React e-commerce app. If you’re a developer, any issue has probably already been documented. Also, the ecosystem has spawned dozens of excellent dev tools to optimize React development.
Let’s say you’ve decided React’s the right choice for your online store. Where do you go from there?
A look at React e-commerce tools 🛒
A couple solutions will let you kickstart your e-commerce development with React:
Moltin — An API-based e-commerce solution. It allows you to use React natively to power your applications.
— An API-based e-commerce solution. It allows you to use React natively to power your applications. Cezerin — A React & Node.js-based e-commerce platform. Enables the creation of PWAs.
— A React & Node.js-based e-commerce platform. Enables the creation of PWAs. Reaction Commerce — Open-source, real-time platform. Built on Node.js, but plays nice with React.
There are also a few frontend platforms into which you can integrate e-commerce functionalities, like Next.js, a lightweight framework for static and server-rendered apps.
The one I’ve chosen for this post? Gatsby. I’ll integrate it with our shopping cart for developers, Snipcart. Result should be a neat, React-powered e-commerce app!
What is Gatsby?
Gatsby is a static website generator built with innovative web technologies such as React and Webpack.
It supports Markdown, HTML, and React components out of the box. It’s also easy to add support for additional file types like SCSS, for instance.
The truth is, since the first iteration of this post, Gatsby has become way more than a static site generator. As a matter of fact, it’s now a go-to solution to build progressive web apps in React.
It now also comes with a feature that makes it easy to query Gatsby’s API with GraphQL. I recommend this tutorial if you ever want to use it with headless CMSs, databases or APIs.
In short, Gatsby is fantastic and quickly finding its way up the ladder of popular SSGs.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves right now. In this post, I’ll use it for static site generation & a simple shopping cart integration. Still, I’ll try to throw in some of the more advanced Gatsby features — like GraphQL — to push e-commerce functionalities further.
React e-commerce tutorial: crafting a Gatsby store
Pre-requisites
A Snipcart account (forever free in Test mode)
Basic JavaScript & React knowledge
1. Powering up your new Gatsby website
First, you need to install the generator itself:
npm install -g gatsby
For this example, I decided to use gatsby-starter-blog. It offers articles iteration on the front page and a single page for all items. Exactly what I needed for my demo products.
Go on and run:
Once it’s done, hit gatsby develop and you're good to go. You should have a running website on localhost:8000 with react-hot-loader functionalities.
Then, open the project in your favorite IDE. If you’re currently developing a website that will hit production, you’ll want to open the gatsby-config.js file first to make sure the siteMetadata is defined according to your information. If not, you can ignore this.
2. Creating and defining products
Let’s add some products under the src/pages/ folder.
First, delete the folders already in there and create one new folder per product with an index.md inside:
/pages/bow-ties/index.md
/pages/dry-martini/index.md
/pages/fireworks/index.md
3. Integrating a shopping cart into your static Gatsby site
Open the templates/blog-post.js file. That's where we're going to put Snipcart's specific scripts.
More precisely, you’ll insert them inside the Helmet component, a neat little component for your document’s head management.
The necessary snippets of code can be found under the API keys section of your Snipcart admin dashboard.
Redefine the component as follows:
Now, let’s customize the templates a bit and add some Snipcart buy buttons into the mix.
Again, pop up the templates/blog-post.js file. That's the template that is going to be used for each product page.
Go straight at the bottom and find the pageQuery const. This is a GraphQL query. Gatsby uses it to define a way of fetching information when building your website.
You’ve added some non-standard frontmatter earlier when you defined new products. You now need to add these fields in the query to get the new information.
Do so by simply redefining the query as follows:
Now, you have access to our new products information, so let’s use it in your template. In my case, I added a picture and a buy button and deleted the Bio component used at the end of the page.
Here’s what I have just after the first <p> :
4. Leveraging React components
Now you have a homepage showcasing all your products with individual pages for each of them. Let’s push the integration a bit further and add some custom fields to your products.
Let’s also create a custom react component to handle these custom fields out of the cart so that when a product is added to it, the proper custom field option is already selected.
First things first: adding custom fields to your products. To do so, add a new field to your products frontmatter, namely “customFields”. We’ll also refactor our image field to include multiple images.
You’ll end up with the following frontmatter structure:
I was pretty hyped about React’s Hooks API announcement and decided to play around with it in this post, even though it’s still in alpha (just don’t use it in production yet).
You could write the component with a traditional class, but Hooks “[…] let you use state, and other React features without writing a class.”
It’s perfect for the small component you’re about to create — you get the power of React without the boilerplate coming with classes.
To use the alpha, you’ll need to run npm install [email protected] and npm install [email protected] .
You’ll also have to change the GraphQL query to include our new customFields & image fields.
Here’s how it looks at this point:
Hop in the components folder and create a BuyButton.js file.
Inside it, write:
What you just did here is taking the buy button and putting it inside the new component. All while using React, but without defining any class. That’s what the Hooks are all about.
The React.memo call is only there to make everything work with the HotReload development module. Since Hooks are still in alpha, this acts like a little patch for the moment. Thanks to the hook, the logic is pretty barebones— no overhead, only a state field.
This small state field is instantiated using the useState utility provided by React. It returns the current state (selected), and a function updates the state (setSelected). You then use these to show the proper state and update it when a change occurs.
The buy button custom field attribute is defined directly with the selected value. You don't need anything else (like jQuery). Once the state changes, it initiates a rerender as usual, and the buy button will reflect the new state. This is also why we can neatly update the image based on the selected value of the custom field.
Now, let’s jump back in the templates/blog-post.js file, and refactor it to use our new component.
Import the new component with:
Then, you’ll have to declare an images variable to require the images in the right format. You can declare it as the first line of your render function:
To finish, you’ll have to replace the whole previous buy button declaration with a simple:
5. Deploying our store using Netlify
We’ve deployed a few static site e-commerce projects using the killer hosting platform that is Netlify. In a nutshell, Netlify is a quality CDN-based hosting service streamlining builds, deploys and hosting for static sites. Developers dig it, and so do we!
Check out their quickstart documentation.
I ended up running these:
That’s it; your static e-commerce site’s already deployed! :)
Witness Gatsby’s greatness
Enjoy the Great Gatsby’s legendary hospitality & let the party begin!
See the live demo here. See the GitHub repo here.
Closing thoughts
I spent around two hours building a fully functional React e-commerce app with Gatsby. Here are my takeaways from working with this framework.
The stuff I enjoyed
Overall, Gatsby’s fun to work with. The stack is exciting and makes good use of some of the latest — and awesome — web technologies.
Using the command-line tool is simple enough.
The “Starters” available on GitHub are a lovely touch to kickstart projects.
It’s easy to use, learn and customize.
The stuff I enjoyed a bit less
React hooks are still in alpha, and I had to try a bunch of different things to make it work with the hot module replacement.
I always had quite mysterious issues when trying to load the images using require. In the end, it had to do with Gatsby cache — I think — it might be good to restart your dev server if you stumble on such issues.
I hope this post inspired you to play around a bit with React and Gatsby, and maybe even start a modern static project. You could also consider throwing some decoupled content management in there with a headless CMS.
If you’ve enjoyed this post, please take a second to 👏 + share it on Twitter. Got comments, questions? Hit the section below! | https://medium.com/free-code-camp/how-to-use-react-for-e-commerce-and-why-its-a-good-idea-772006ad2e13 | ['Maxime Laboissonniere'] | 2018-12-27 17:40:34.718000+00:00 | ['Ecommerce', 'Web Development', 'React', 'Tech', 'Gatsbyjs'] |
Hospitals shut their doors as plague upon plague hits Yemen | Aden’s main hospital surrounded by rubbish and floodwater. Photo via Twitter.
Ten Covid-19 cases have now been confirmed in war-torn Yemen where health services face an increasingly desperate situation. Aside from coronavirus, they are already struggling with at least two other plagues — dengue fever and chikungunya.
The seat of the Covid-19 outbreak is the southern city of Aden where 25 people in various parts of the city are reported to have died from undiagnosed causes during the last few days.
Nineteen of them died in their homes on Friday, according to the Yemeni website Al-Masdar Online. Symptoms described included joint pain, which is more characteristic of dengue and/or chikungunya than Covid-19.
Dengue and chikungunya (known locally as “al-makrafus”) are common diseases in Yemen. They are spread by mosquitoes and it’s not unusual for people to catch both viruses from the same insect bite. A surge in new cases was expected following last month’s natural disaster when floods swept through Aden.
Al-Masdar reports that some of those who have died were turned away from local hospitals while others chose not to have treatment, fearing they would become infected with Covid-19 if they went to hospital.
Their fears of local health services were not unreasonable. A photo posted on Twitter on Thursday shows the city’s main hospital — the 500-bed Gomhoria teaching hospital — surrounded by rubbish and floodwater.
The announcement on Wednesday that five Covid-19 cases had been confirmed in Aden led some of the private hospitals to close while others are not admitting patients with symptoms that could be Covid-19. This is blamed on a lack of protective equipment for medical staff, and there are stories circulating in the city of doctors and nurses abandoning their jobs.
Of the three most recently confirmed Covid-19 cases, two were in Aden and one in Taizz province, further north.
The Taizz case is described as a 40-year-old man who works in a jewellery shop in Aden. He had travelled to Taizz province by car with his family last Monday despite having developed symptoms two days earlier. He is said to have been reported to the authorities by someone in a fish market and was then taken to the Republican General Hospital in Taizz city.
News of the man’s infection has since prompted demonstrations outside the hospital by local residents who object to having Covid-19 patients treated nearby — for fear they might catch the disease. They demanded that such cases should be transferred to “an empty area outside the city”. | https://brian-whit.medium.com/hospitals-shut-their-doors-as-plague-upon-plague-hits-yemen-128da70817dd | ['Brian Whitaker'] | 2020-05-03 11:32:37.297000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Yemen', 'Middle East', 'Dengue Fever', 'Coronavirus'] |
Founder Talks — Is a P2P rating system worth more than what resumes can tell us about a person? | Founder Talks — Is a P2P rating system worth more than what resumes can tell us about a person? Abhishek Thakur Follow Sep 18, 2018 · 7 min read
Founder Talks is a new series where we talk to founders about their companies and the products they are building. This week we have Anamika Mahajan talking about TAP — Truth and Perception.
Tell our readers a little about yourself and your company.
Hi, I am Anamika Mahajan. A proud army daughter and army wife, mother of two beautiful children, a constant learner, experienced corporate life for almost 2 decades and now thought of trying something of my own.
So, here I am introducing TAP — Truth and Perception; the first product of TruthBeSpoken Technologies Ltd.
TAP — Truth and Perception, is a mobile app available on both iOS and Android. It is a network based reputation system that helps people rate other people they know, on Overall Personal / Overall Professional and 5 attributes in each category. It is an effective tool to give and receive feedback. You can also go to someone’s profile and see what others think of him/her based on the ratings received.
In the long run, we believe, it will help build social capital and bring down information asymmetry when people deal with each other, as this platform will provide a better idea about the person.
What prompted you to start TAP?
I was working on another idea where I had to interact with a lot of strangers in various fields. When interacting, people would make a lot of promises / claims, the veracity of which was very difficult to verify. I did have some bad experiences where people reneged on promises with no accountability.
I wondered if there were a platform where I could get to know more about a person, by seeing what others who had dealt with them, thought of them, it would help me take more informed decisions on whether to go ahead with dealing with these people.
Such a platform would also bring in more accountability when people dealt with each other, by rewarding good behaviour and punishing bad behaviour.
With this thought and vision in mind, I then started working on TAP.
Do you think a P2P rating system is worth more than what resumes can tell us about a person?
Resumes are anachronistic in today’s digital age. They severely lack in efficiency and efficacy. The future is about technology picking up behavioural traits from other places and enabling conversations between recruiters and employees.
This is where TAP comes in. A P2P rating system is more credible than a boss giving ‘his/her’ opinion in an annual appraisal. Real time feedback, through TAP, will help employees understand their strengths and weaknesses and they can very effectively exploit the former and work on the latter.
Recruiters will find it more useful to check what a large number of people think of potential hires, rather than depending on 2–3 reference checks.
TAP will democratise the appraisal process thus lowering the probability of statistical ‘Type 1’ errors while recruiting.
How can people signup and start getting rated?
TAP Truth and Perception is available on AppStore and PlayStore for FREE.
Download TAP on App Store/ Playstore:
https://tapismyapp.app.link/xneltS97BK or Search for ‘TAP Truth and Perception’ or you can go to our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/tapismyapp/ ) and Click on the ‘Use App’ button to install directly.
The rest is actually quite simple. People can SIGN UP by ‘connecting with Facebook’ (just tap on the Facebook icon on the app) or using EMAIL.
Sign-up with Facebook is a better option, because it helps us create an ecosystem for you faster. If you connect with FB, TAP will immediately show you all your Fb friends who are on TAP, the moment you SIGN IN. And it’s completely safe.
If you sign up using EMAIL, you can always search for people you know, by using the search function in the app.
In any case, TAP will show your phone contacts if they are on TAP already [provided you have given access to contacts].
Once you sign in, you can start rating people who you know on the app. If you can’t find friends on the app, you can use the INVITE FRIENDS feature in the app, to invite your friends to TAP.
What incentive does somebody, have to create their profile on app?
The biggest incentive is to build your ‘Personal BRAND’. Often times people have a lot of good qualities but are unable to market themselves. So, if you make your profile on TAP and ask people to rate you, you will start building your reputation and reputation speaks for itself. For eg: In large companies, people can check out your profile to see what people think of you. Independent trainers, freelancers, etc can get rated by their clients and carry their feedback with them always.
It is also a very good tool to get continuous feedback from people you interact with. And also give feedback to others you deal with. Continuous feedback helps you course correct sooner (before it’s too late) in case people perceive you in a different light than you view yourself.
This is how your card will show on TAP. It gives a summary of your overall ratings and ratings against qualities and other features as you can see.
What advice will you give to people who are still unsure whether getting rated by friends / peers is a good thing? How do you ensure that the ratings are genuine?
We understand that people may have some reservations about getting feedback. My advice is that don’t be scared to get feedback. It can only help you. If you are scared of what if the feedback is not good — we understand. For that, we have provided you with the ability to keep your TapScore HIDDEN when you make your profile (you can always change it in SETTINGS later). If you keep your score hidden, people will be able to rate you, but they will not be able to see your TapScore. This way you will get feedback, but people won’t know what others think of you.
I would also like to add here that when one person says something about you, it is entirely their opinion; but when multiple opinions converge, they reflect your reputation. We should not get bothered or scared with 1 or 2 or maybe 10 ratings. We are talking about the ‘Law of Large Numbers’ here. We deal with so many people in our lives and when the number of ratings increases, a more credible picture starts to build.
There are two aspects to understanding whether ratings are genuine. The first would be that people may be wary of giving poor feedback because they may fear spoiling relations with the person and hence the app may just become a feel-good app where everyone rates each other good. To address this issue, Tap allows you to rate others ANONYMOUSLY. Should you choose to rate ANOYMOUSLY, the other person will just know that someone has rated them, but they won’t know who. This will ensure that people have the freedom to give HONEST feedback, good or bad.
In the second aspect, of people going on a positive or negative rating binge, we have introduced another feature called Ranking-As-A-Rater (RaaR). RaaR is a score given to each user based how they rate others. It is displayed on every user’s profile and is expressed as a percentile, hence higher the better. A person who rates a lot of people incorrectly will begin to show a low RaaR score.
To check credibility of any person’s TapScore, you can see the distribution of RaaR of the people who have rated this person. Higher the percentage of people in the top 2 quartiles, more credible is the score.
Follow TAP on Social channels.
https://www.facebook.com/tapismyapp/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/tapismyapp/
https://instagram.com/truthandperception | https://medium.com/maice/founder-talks-is-a-p2p-rating-system-worth-more-than-what-resumes-can-tell-us-about-a-person-202cdc2f280a | ['Abhishek Thakur'] | 2018-09-18 10:26:55.666000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Feedback', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Social Media'] |
#BUIDLonFANTOM: Fantom Developer Contest Results | The #BUIDLonFANTOM Developer Contest we launched in November of last year has produced some great additions to the Fantom ecosystem, with several of the submissions gaining daily users and becoming integral tools for the community.
We’re thrilled to announce the winners of the development bounties today, and give an overview of the winners’ submissions:
block42 (validator 14) — FantomStaker
FantomStaker was one of the first community tools for the Opera mainnet, initially offering a hub to identify validators by name, logo and contact details; giving delegators the ability to complete due diligence on validators and get in touch before pulling the trigger and staking with them.
Next, the team added metrics related to the FTM reward unlock: percentage of FTM staked, the minimum staked percentage for reward unlock, and the amount of FTM burned to date from the pending rewards of those unstaking early.
Their work inspired various features we’ve since incorporated into our Fantom Vision explorer, so a huge well done and thank you to block42.
Prize: 950,000 FTM
FantomScan is an explorer for those who like as much data as possible. With a tab dedicated to charts that show how delegations, unique wallet addresses and transaction volume have changed over time, it adds value to the ecosystem in a unique way.
As with block42, FantomScan kept building and evolved the product to meet community demand. Many of our token holders enjoy the security of hardware wallets, so we offered a solution to stake FTM via MyEtherWallet that involved some extra steps when the Opera mainnet was first released. While we’ve been working on native ledger support for the FTM token (coming soon!), FantomScan used some clever problem-solving to take advantage of MyEtherWallet’s existing codebase and provide easy point-and-click staking for MEWConnect and Ledger users.
We’re also working with FantomScan to implement additional features to our own tools — stay tuned!
Prize: 950,000 FTM
Matt Prime & Bitcoin Alchemist — Meme of the Day
Meme of the Day in its current form is a fun social platform that allows users to upload, vote & comment on memes. Unlike traditional social platforms, however, it’s possible to verify the first uploader of the meme.
While the current iteration is focused on memes, we can see the general principles being extended to intellectual property of other forms.
Keep on building and we hope to see more from you guys in the future!
Prize: 200,000 FTM
GoFantom (validator 17) — Fantom Rocks
GoFantom started their Opera development journey with SpeedTX — a demo to show your friends the power of Fantom technology, by propagating a transaction and seeing it confirmed on-chain in real-time.
They then stepped it up a gear and increased the number of transactions propagated at once with Supercharge (20 tx’s per click), which Opera is able to handle with no problem at all!
After working together with the GoFantom team to co-ordinate Supercharge’s increased transaction throughput, we found they were a pleasure to work with and had the skills and experience to add enormous value to the team. As many of you will be aware, we decided to hire the team earlier this year and they’ve been working at Fantom full-time since!
FantomVision, our new explorer, has recently been released along with an improved API by the GoFantom team. They’re now finalizing the work to bring native Ledger support and Metamask-like functionality to FTM. Both of these steps will improve efficiency in the ecosystem and allow other developers to build on Fantom seamlessly.
Prize: Full-time contract at Fantom
We’d like to thank all the developers that made submissions and we’re excited to see you, and others, building more valuable applications on Fantom in the future!
Official Links for Fantom:
Official Email Address: [email protected]
Official Website Link: https://www.fantom.foundation
Official Discord Discussion Group: https://discord.gg/6V42Gs8
Official Telegram Announcements Channel: https://t.me/fantomfoundation
Official Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/FantomFoundation/
Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/FantomFDN
Official Medium: https://medium.com/fantomfoundation
Official Github: https://github.com/Fantom-foundation
Official YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/fantomfoundation | https://medium.com/fantomfoundation/buidlonfantom-fantom-developer-contest-results-8f5de094631c | ['Connor Hughes'] | 2020-04-17 12:31:55.964000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Consensus', 'Development', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Meet the Platio Team: Chief Growth Officer — Mark Jackson | Mark Jackson, Platio’s Chief Growth Officer
Mark is Platio’s Chief Growth Officer, who has 18 years’ experience in developing digital strategy, performance marketing and advertising as well as user growth for SaaS/consumer platforms. His proven capability to develop and execute new initiatives and formulate digital strategies across multiple businesses and markets, combined with his strong background in digital performance marketing strategy and growth, will be key in building Platio’s user base and value for the business.
For Mark the potential of cryptocurrencies is vast. “Crypto and Blockchain can have an immense and genuinely groundbreaking impact on cultures, industry and economies,” he says, “but it needs projects like Platio to make it work.”
His decision to work with Platio was simple. After all, “why wouldn’t you want to be involved in something that can bring a genuine answer to the problems faced by the crypto industry?”
A lover of science fiction, Mark enjoys relaxing with novels by Isaac Asimov and Vernor Vinge, and is an unashamed fan of Star Wars and the Marvel movies.
Mark is a highly creative strategist and marketeer. As you might expect, that creativity extends outside of his work: he produces his own music and even designs and builds his own furniture! | https://medium.com/platio/meet-the-platio-team-chief-growth-officer-mark-jackson-3e5c30f57681 | [] | 2018-10-19 09:12:37.504000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Crytocurrency', 'ICO', 'Finance', 'Banking'] |
§33 Mass Panic, Capitalism, and Snow | Flipping channels in a hotel recently, I came across a show about avalanches. Naturally, I was reminded of intellectual accountability in the halls of public discourse.
For those needing a refresher (as I did), avalanches are not primarily the result of the weight or amount of accumulated snow, but the lack of friction the snow encounters on its path downward. After several cycles of melting, freezing, and accumulation atop each newly-frozen crust, the snow blanketing a mountain can become a stratified stack of separate layers capable of freely sliding over and past one another. The slightest tremor can trip the first domino: it is, quite literally, a slippery slope.
In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow (2013), economist Daniel Kahneman describes a phenomenon known as an availability cascade as a chain of events caused largely by the media’s exploitation of people’s erroneous capacity to assess an issue by its salience and fluency.
As the press increasingly compete for ‘attention-grabbing’ headlines, a statistically insignificant risk can get trapped in a feedback loop — breathless coverage and its resultant panic mutually reinforcing one another, self-propagating and inexorable, and potentially redounding to “public panic and large-scale government action”. An avalanche.
But we shouldn’t be so swift to condemn. Despite our purported desire for journalism to be a sacrosanct bastion of truth-seeking and reporting, media outlets are businesses operating in free markets and beholden to their stakeholders. If we want journalists to present us with representative, equitable coverage of the facts as they are, that must become the market’s demand in practice. Each individual must embody the friction that resists the intoxicating advance of sensationalism, independently quantifying each risk and weighting it by its statistical significance instead of how many people are talking about it — and turning off the TV until coverage is proportionate. You and I write the rubric by which these firms operate, and if we’re willing to abide mass hysteria, we’re just as culpable for flattening that poor skier.
/Travis Klein
References:
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2013. | https://medium.com/anowmedia/33-mass-panic-capitalism-and-snow-4c9c650c8187 | [] | 2018-10-29 17:22:25.415000+00:00 | ['Snow', 'Panic', 'Psychology'] |
Simple Yet So Powerful | I was always a fan of the butterfly keyboard on the 2015 MacBook and all MacBooks that were equipped with it after. I never had the unreliability issues and know if I did I would have a different opinion, but the feeling when typing on those keyboard, to me, was very satisfying.
Recently, I used a 2014 MacBook Pro 13-inch and could reminisce on the keyboard before the butterfly design and though it had more travel I didn’t like how it felt less stable. Each key was a little more wobbly and didn’t have the same tactile feeling that I got from the butterfly version.
Apple has since gone back to a scissor switch design on all of its MacBooks and I will admit I was a little hesitant on how they would be. I really did like the stability of the butterfly but knew I was lucky that I did not run into any issues with sticky keys or keys not working at all.
After getting the opportunity to review the 16-inch MacBook Pro, when it came out, with the new Magic Keyboard I was thrilled. Apple could bring back the travel but simultaneously make the keyboard feel more solid and tactile. The new scissor switches feel perfect with the better travel but Apple also took some new things it learned from the butterfly design to make them feel more stable as you type.
Close up of M1 Air’s new function keys.
With the new MacBook Air, you also get new function keys at the top with a one for Spotlight search, Dictation and Do not Disturb replacing the keyboard brightness and Launchpad keys. I will say that I use Command + Space to trigger Spotlight so having a dedicated function key for me is a waste.
I also don’t have any plans on using Do Not Disturb or Dictation so losing those keys for Keyboard Brightness is also a loss. This isn’t a huge problem since I hardly use the function row anyway and I really do like that Apple added the ability to quickly get to Emoji’s from the Function key now.
One last thing on the keyboard, even though this isn’t really a key on the keyboard, Touch ID is fantastic. It has been awhile since I have used a MacBook again and love that so many more apps are starting to use Touch ID. 1Password, for instance, has been huge, not having to type in my long password in Safari anymore to use the extension is really awesome.
Performance and Battery
Because this a M1 I felt it was important to go a little more detail when it came to performance. I am in no way a hardcore power user. I do like to dabble in Xcode sometimes but even then I am not compiling a ton of code.
The most I do on my machines that does require some performance is photo editing. I have Affinity Photo but many times when I am trying to get some photos ready for a post I use the Photo’s app to quickly edit them.
Once thing I have noticed when using Photos on my old 2018 MacBook Pro 13-inch was the very slow performance in Photos. I had a quad-core i5 Processor with 8 GB of RAM and many times I would be sitting with the rainbow beach ball spinning after just clicking the Edit button on a photo.
On this MacBook Air I don’t think I have seen the rainbow beach ball once. Nothing has felt slow, not even browsing the web. Ulysses has always been a champ, so I never really feel like I need much to get that app running but everything else I do on this MacBook Air feels snappy.
I was concerned about getting an 8 GB variant over the 16 GB but decided to run my own test to see if this was a huge concern or not. I opened up Chrome, the new M1 supported version, and played about 10 YouTube videos all in 4K concurrently while keeping other tabs open with random websites.
I then started to do other things on the MacBook Air like; open a bunch of apps, download a bunch more apps from the App Store, listen to music, write in Ulysses, and edit a few photos.
The real test, though, was to see if any of the Chrome tabs were going to refresh when I opened them and unsurprisingly none did. Neither the ones playing the 4K videos, which they all still were, or any of the other websites that I had running as well. Everything was available for me once I clicked the tab, sitting in memory.
This is in no way scientific and in no way representative to a number of other people who use computers. But for me, this was a good test on what I use my computer for. I like to have many tabs open when I am researching something and sometimes have music or videos playing in the background while doing other things.
If I was compiling a ton of code, rendering 4K videos, or dealing with multiple gigantic files simultaneously I would probably lean more towards the 16 GB. But for me, I think saving the $200 was worth it.
I couldn’t resist the urge of comparing the Intel MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Air since I had both at the same time for a while and all I can say is:
Wow! I am glad I went with the M1!
Intel Air on the left and M1 Air on the right.
Just like my own test on RAM, benchmarks also don’t tell you the full story but it can provide a baseline on what each can do, after running benchmarks on both these machines it is incredible that the M1 MacBook Air can hit these numbers.
Intel Air on the left and M1 Air on the right both using Intel version of GeekBench.
Even when using the Intel version of GeekBench, using Rosetta 2, on the M1 it outperformed the i5 Intel MacBook Air. It is fantastic to see Apple’s hard work on creating chips for the iPhone and iPad all these years has paid off for their MacBooks. | https://medium.com/techuisite/simple-yet-so-powerful-4719f75d85db | ['Paul Alvarez'] | 2020-11-28 17:29:53.739000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Apple', 'MacBook', 'Review', 'Gadgets'] |
How to Make Your Mind a Beautiful Place | The art of intentional thinking
Photo by Paul Gilmore on Unsplash
Our world is in our minds.
And, we have the power to make it either a beautiful place or a miserable place.
When we are having a rough day, it’s important to remember that, some things are going to make us sad or upset, but how long we dwell on them and how much we let them get to us depends, many times, on us.
Whatever we talk to ourselves about, becomes our narrative.
The thoughts that bring us down grow like snowballs. The longer we roll them in misery the bigger they get. Eventually, they become like a tsunami. Every time we scrape their parts, we rake them up and dig deeper into them it becomes harder and harder to get out of the whirlpool. In our increasing pain, we forget that the tsunami does not exist for everyone, just that it is in our mind, our self created reality.
It starts to hurt even more than the initial jab of pain. This leads to a second, more important consequence.
Our problems become our focus and the solutions become side issues.
When I keep reminding myself of my problems my mind becomes filled with a “poor me” syndrome. These clouds color my vision, and it is almost like driving with glasses covered in dirt: everything I see is through the unclean lens.
At this point, we are guilty of impaired driving.
One way of moving forward is to change the lens we are using to look at the road ahead. Imagine at this point if we got brand new glasses?
One may choose to dwell on a disagreement forever, allow it to fester, and make it one’s long term battle.
or
One may choose to let it go and not to get so deeply affected by every part of that unpleasant interaction. It is almost like proactively choosing to ignore it or minimize it in your mind. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/letting-go-of-negativity-b5c1b77eecc0 | ['Primal Dhillon'] | 2020-10-31 13:14:52.088000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Happiness', 'Life', 'Psychology'] |
I Made a Blueprint for Breathing | I Made a Blueprint for Breathing
Because our world is always on fire somewhere
Photo courtesy of shea or jane martin (depending on who you ask).
They said firefighters were coming on Friday. I spent the week in mirrors preparing the perfect smile for my fire truck photo. Head tilt to the left. Neck up just a bit. Grin. Open your eyes. Don’t say cheese — it’s a trap.
Friday came but the trucks didn’t. Instead, a short, bald man walked into our classroom and announced himself as the fire marshal. He, awkward and grossly underwhelming, lectured our class about making emergency plans and running fire drills with our families. I mostly ignored him and picked carpet lint until he passed out the coloring books — a consolation prize for leaving the truck at the station. The back page was a tear-off sheet for our family emergency plan. I colored the booklet all afternoon. That night, I showed my parents the book and asked about our plan. My dad laughed. My mama said we didn’t need to plan. That we would know what to do.
The empty planning sheet stayed on the fridge until someone moved it to the trash bin. I spent the next ten years of my childhood afraid to fall asleep, praying that fires would never come to our duplex on Holmes Run Parkway.
I made my first emergency plan in ninth grade. My counselor, a drabby girl with platform shoes, said I would never have to miss history class again if I did it. I hated history class but I loved Lionel, a Turkish boy who sat in front of me and always asked for gum. I always had gum for Lionel. For Christmas, Lionel had gifted me a Dave Matthews album, so I knew our love was real. The drabby girl didn’t care about Lionel or Dave Matthews. “What will help you stay alive if you want to die?” she asked. I told her my people didn’t need to plan. That we would know what to do. I made the plan anyway and dropped it in the trash bin in the hallway. My mama spent the next three nights sitting on the edge of my bed, praying that wanting to die would stay as far away from her baby as possible.
It’s been fifteen years since I made the first plan. Living with generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and PTSD means that I am really good at imagining worst-case scenarios and how I might escape this world if necessary. I have lost count of the number of emergency plans that have kept me alive, but I am a master at figuring out how to keep breathing even when I don’t want it to happen. I record warning signs, list people I can call when I need them, name safe places I can go, think of things to distract myself. I write down reasons I want to live. Writing down reasons you want to live is a great way to stay alive when you want to die.
Everyone is trying to be woke; I am dreaming myself to freedom.
These days, I start all emails the same way: I hope you’re doing as well as can be as the world crumbles around us. It is an acknowledgment of this moment. It reminds me that crumbling constitutes an impending emergency and impending emergencies necessitate planning. Like the last plan I wrote, I will tattoo this one across my tongue and speak it aloud on days that I (or the world) don’t want me to live.
I am planning to breathe.
I moved to Vermont three months ago so I could breathe without fear. I live between a lake, mountain, and river. The air is crisp and empty here in a way that allows me to be fully human, to breathe without reservations. Most days, I see no one but my wife and my dog. We drive and walk on trails and roads that lead to nowhere — a place where breathing is like being and being feels like freedom.
I still can’t sleep though. When I lived in the city, fear of the virus and dying kept me awake. Here, it’s crickets, anxiety, and silence. So I smoke. I drive an hour to buy leaves rolled into canisters. Some nights, I raise a blunt to freedom and let it interrupt my panic with peace. I’ll be damned if I face the end of the world without peace. They have stolen enough. My breaths and peace are all I got.
I am planning to run.
Two weeks ago, my dad told me that the way I gulp water sounds like I ain’t never had it before. I didn’t tell him that that’s how I feel lately, that I have been drinking water to distract myself from drowning in grief. The truth is I am always thirsty, but these days I find myself refilling my bottle more than I ever have. In the middle of the night, I wake up to pee and then immediately replace the fluid. I am hoping that if I fill my body with enough water, she will be ready to run, float, or evaporate when the time comes. Some days, I drink a gallon and call it baptism, praying it will make me just holy enough to be saved, should the world perish in the coming weeks.
I am planning to fight.
I took karate twice when I was a kid. Once when I was seven and another time when I was 15. My mama signed me up for the $59 six-week introductory special. I never made it past week six. Week 7 always cost more money than my mama was willing to spend for a shoeless white man to teach her Black kids how to fight. She said black people are born warriors. Our first breath is resistance against a white world that wished it didn’t happen. I have never needed anyone to teach me how to fight for myself, only ever needed to believe I deserved to be fought for, worth defending. I have been writing a list of the things I love about myself so that when and if the time comes, I will be ready to fight.
I am planning to dream.
They say the worst part of whiteness ain’t them killing us — it’s the theft of our time, our genius, our imaginations. Black folks spend our lives trying to prove we deserve to live. Proving we deserve to live is a full-time job. We busy fighting for our lives. We busy teaching white people how to love us enough to care if we die. We busy trying to breathe. They say we don’t got time for dreaming beyond the world as it is. I call bullshit. This year, I stopped making the case for my humanity and I took up dreaming. Imagining a liberated world is the Blackest, queerest, dopest shit I have ever done. It feels like a fresh cut fade on a summer day, like dancing barefoot in the grass, like freedom. Everyone is trying to be woke; I am dreaming myself to freedom.
I am planning to take care.
What does it mean to care for myself and my people at the end of the world? It means remembering that the world is always ending somewhere. It means reminding myself that sometimes epilogues, notes, and sequels come after endings. It looks like scheduling therapy sessions, good sex, and FaceTime dates with no end times. Like choosing a book that I’ll finish next week. Like washing my sheets so that my body will be wrapped in heaven when I rest. Like ensuring we got bail money to send where needed. Like meal-prepping, gassing the car, making new playlists, and deleting socials on election day. It looks like telling my people I love them. Like telling myself I deserve to be loved. Like making a plan.
Notes (or people and stuff that influenced my plans) | https://humanparts.medium.com/as-the-world-burns-a-blueprint-for-breathing-2f305d86c31c | ['Shea Martin'] | 2020-11-09 22:20:35.847000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Self', 'Mental Health', 'This Is Us', 'Life'] |
Improve Your Web Scraper With Limited Retry-Loops — Python | Mastering exception-handling is of pivotal importance for producing clean and stable Python code. Chances are high you’re already aware of that, as most Python books geared towards newcomers to the language — and often to coding in general — make sure to spend a few paragraphs on the subject.
In essence, exception-handling means you’re providing an alternative action when a specific piece of code (usually a single line) throws an error for whatever reason. The attentive coder incorporates exceptions in their script for the same reason they use regex patterns for string matching: your code should harbor as few assumptions as possible. An operation on one type of dataset might not work for a slightly different kind of dataset, and what works today might not work tomorrow. Exception statements are therefore the last safeguard against breaking your code.
The try-except-else-finally clause is a classic and stamped into every aspirant-Python aficionado from day one:
Try:
#Whatever you wish to execute
Except:
#If this throws an error, do the following. Usually the user implements either one of these three steps:
(a) throw an exception (which breaks the code) or
(b) perform an alternative action (e.g. record that the try-statement produced an error, but continue with the code anyway)
(c) pass (simply execute the rest of the script)
Else:
#If this doesn't throw an error, do the following
Finally:
#The finally-statement is optional. Whether the try-statement produced an error or not, do the following.
Exception-handling is especially important for web scraping. After all, there are plenty of reasons why your scraper might break unexpectedly, such as:
A particular page does not exist.
Many scrapers have built-in assumptions revolved around URL-structure. For example, for a scraper I wrote on collecting info on Android apps, the code assumes that filling in the app-name in the following URL-structure will result in a 201 response code (i.e. connection succeeded): ‘https://play.google.com/
store/apps/details?id= appname ’. Although this is true in most cases (go ahead and fill in ‘com.nianticlabs.pokemongo’), some apps might get deleted from the app store or are downloaded from different repositories in the first place. If that’s the case, I instructed the script to try out an alternative platform (e.g. APKMonk).
Many scrapers have built-in assumptions revolved around URL-structure. For example, for a scraper I wrote on collecting info on Android apps, the code assumes that filling in the app-name in the following URL-structure will result in a 201 response code (i.e. connection succeeded): ‘https://play.google.com/ store/apps/details?id= ’. Although this is true in most cases (go ahead and fill in ‘com.nianticlabs.pokemongo’), some apps might get deleted from the app store or are downloaded from different repositories in the first place. If that’s the case, I instructed the script to try out an alternative platform (e.g. APKMonk). A particular web element does not (always) exist.
For example, while scraping some news websites; it’s possible that only some articles will include a subheading, hidden in a particular tag-attribute combination. One could simply check whether a subheading is present or not (try), skip the scraping of the headline or add an error message if it’s not available(except) and scrape the headline if possible (else).
For example, while scraping some news websites; it’s possible that only some articles will include a subheading, hidden in a particular tag-attribute combination. One could simply check whether a subheading is present or not (try), skip the scraping of the headline or add an error message if it’s not available(except) and scrape the headline if possible (else). Lost internet connection or website outages.
Although this can be due to a lousy internet connection, it’s also a factor to consider when you’re performing IP rotation in one way or another, by using proxies or rotating between different VPN servers for example. In these cases, it sometimes takes a little while for the connection to be established. However, sometimes the problem lies not with the client byt with the server itself. For instance, some websites are notorious for their frequent outages due to heavy server loads (e.g. Reddit).
Although this can be due to a lousy internet connection, it’s also a factor to consider when you’re performing IP rotation in one way or another, by using proxies or rotating between different VPN servers for example. In these cases, it sometimes takes a little while for the connection to be established. However, sometimes the problem lies not with the client byt with the server itself. For instance, some websites are notorious for their frequent outages due to heavy server loads (e.g. Reddit). IP-block.
Many websites want to ward off scrapers since they can increase server load (if used aggressively). Other platforms consider scraping as theft and are therefore outright against automated data collection no matter how slow the scraping process. For this reason, many platforms have some kind of bot-detection in place, giving them the ability to block your IP — at least for a little while.
The first two instances call for a classic try-except clause. For instance, while scraping the Metacritic-platform using the well-known Beautifulsoup package, I noticed that most outlets on their review page are represented by logos (usually the more prestigious ones like The New York Times), while others are represented by a simple text attribute.
The following piece of code tries to catch the alternate title of the image (e.g. “The New York Times”) for each available review of a specific product (try). If this results in an error, the script reasons that the outlet must be represented as simple text and subsequently tries to catch the first ‘a’ tag within the review (except). In the end, the outlet is added to our outlet-list, no matter whether the outlet is represented by an image or text (finally).
The latter two causes are a different story. They do not throw an error because you wrongfully assumed a particular page or element exist, but simply because there is some kind of external factor influencing your ability to connect to the web. Most importantly, they represent (possibly) temporary outages: it might be a matter of seconds before your internet connection or the website itself is back up and running and a platform usually lifts the IP-block after you patiently wait for fifteen minutes or so. This asks for a different approach, since throwing an except right away might be too drastic; it’s worth trying again for a couple of times before discarding the whole process. In other words: you need a finite or limited retry-loop.
In this kind of loop, the except will trigger a short pause before executing the try-part again. It will do this until it has exhausted its number of retries. After that, the coder can still choose to either pass to the following chunk of code, throw an error or append some kind of error message and continue with executing the remainder of the script. This last part is crucial, as it differs from a (possibly) infinite while-loop as in the following piece of code:
output = None
while output is None:
try:
#Do the following
except:
pass
This will let your script run in an infinite loop if it’s unable to execute the try-part, which — in a sense — is just as script-breaking as not incorporating the try-part at all.
The most elegant and efficient way of constructing a limited retry-loop is by combining a for-loop, a try-except and the continue statement all in one go. The template looks something like this:
for attempt in range(n):
try:
#Do the following
except:
time.sleep(n2)
continue
else:
break
else:
#Do the following if after n tries the try-part throws an error
The continue-statement combined with the else-clause outside the loop are key here. The continue-statement sends the code back to the beginning of the loop (i.e. the try-part). Before it does that, though, it pauses the script for n2 seconds, giving your internet connection and/or the website a chance to go back online. Let’s call this template the for-catch loop, since the for-try-except-else-else clause doesn’t sound all that catchy.
Using the for-catch loop was a real game-changer for me, especially for avoiding temporary IP-blocks. Let’s go back to the Metacritic (MC)-scraper I mentioned earlier. I collected the review overview pages of around 1000 movies (as an example, here’s the review page of Son of Saul). The aim was to scrape all the reviews (score+outlet) from the 1000 URLs. However, MC isn’t exactly keen on tolerating my scraper on its platform, even though I made sure to include plenty of pauses into my script to avoid sending a thousand requests in a minute or so. But alas, MC ruthlessly blocks your ip from time to time, and it’s impossible to predict when and why a block will be triggered. I tried to use some proxies, but to no avail. So I came up with the following for-catch loop to avoid breaking my script:
So this is what the for-catch loop does in this instance:
Start the first try from range 0–3 (for). Sleep for 10–15 seconds and try to access the Metacritic URL (try) If this doesn’t work (except), display a warning message and let the script sleep somewhere between 4 and 6 minutes. After that, execute the try-part again. Do this until the loop is finished (from range 0–3; so a maximum of four tries or three retries, whatever you want to call it) or until the try-part works. If the connection is successful (else), break the loop. This means the code will execute the last line (i.e. Creating a Beautifulsoup object, the end goal of this loop) If the script was able to complete the entire loop — which is bad news in this case — execute the else clause outside the loop and throw an exception (“Something really went wrong here…I’m sorry.)
Since I scraped the reviews of around thousand movies in total from an equal amount of pages, I really needed a script that I could just execute and go about my day without worrying about the ip blocks it would surely bump into. And this is what the for-catch loop afforded me: a peace of mind. It worked its magic for my MC scraper: the ip-blocks were always lifted after a couple of minutes. For some other platforms I had to experiment and come up with more extreme sleep ranges (e.g. between 10 and 15 minutes), but the for-catch always pulled the trick.
When I showed this to a friend of mine, he was bewildered by the outer else-clause, which actually functions as an except here. The confusion is understandable, since we’re used to interpret else clauses as part of a try-except or if-clause. However, the else-clause behaves similarly as in the aforementioned classic try-except-else-finally structure: the else-clause in that case is also executed when the try-part ‘has runs its course’ (and did not throw an error). Thus, the else-clause is always executed when a for-loop has exhausted its iterations, that’s it. In this case, we obviously hope we can break out of the loop before it ever finishes (i.e. before we used up all our retries).
The for-catch loop has helped me in unexpected ways as well and has often served me as a less time-wasting and script-breaking alternative to the while clause.
Take the following example from a script I wrote for switching between NordVPN servers on Linux or Windows (available on Github right here). Somewhere within the script, I wanted to:
Fetch and display the current ip
Connect to a new server
Fetch and display the new ip
Although this seems simple, the third part can be somewhat tricky for two reasons:
Even after connecting to a new server, it can take a little while (especially on Windows) before you can successfully request your new ip. So if the NordVPN app is still busy switching servers, you’ll get a connection error. At the same time though, you don’t want to perform the new ip-request too early as well, since the odds are relatively high that you’re actually still browsing the web through your old NordVPN server. In that case, you’re you’re just requesting the old ip.
This means we’ll need a for-catch loop with an additional check whether the ip requested is different from the previous ip. Sometimes (again, only on Windows) the NordVPN app gets stuck and you need to reconnect to a different server.
This means we’ll need another for-catch loop.
So essentially we end up with a for-catch loop within another for-catch loop (catch-ception!). The simplified version of the code I actually used looks something like this:
This code snippet avoids an infinite loop, incorporating multiple retries, and at the same time avoids wasting time. The script does a total of 12 retries (see line 17) to fetch a new ip. The first one or two tries will inevitably be too early, resulting in the same ip (new_ip == current_ip) and the script will pause for 5 seconds before retrying. However, as soon as a new ip is successfully requested, the for-catch breaks. If there’s still no new ip after a minute (5 seconds *12), the else clause will let it be (pass, line 30), but than the script gets caught up in another for-catch clause (although I opted for an if-clause instead of an except-catch (see line 31)). If the ip hasn’t changed, the script sleeps for 10 seconds and tries to connect to a new server again (for a maximum of 5 times, see line 14).
I hope I demonstrated the usefulness of the for-catch loop and why it is especially helpful for many web scraper applications. As a more flexible alternative to the while statement, it allows the script a finite number of retries, allowing you to pause the scraping process if necessary and do whatever you want when the script has exhausted its number of retries.
Happy scraping! | https://medium.com/swlh/improve-your-web-scraper-with-limited-retry-loops-python-35e21730cbf5 | ['Kristof Boghe'] | 2020-08-12 15:12:39.685000+00:00 | ['Scraping', 'Beautifulsoup', 'Python', 'Digital Methods', 'Web Scraping'] |
Your Progress Post Is Hurting Me | Your Progress Post Is Hurting Me
And it’s probably hurting you too
Photo by Steve Gale on Unsplash
Can you imagine living through a pandemic without the internet? Without endless amounts of digital content? Without instant ways to connect with family, friends, and even coworkers?
It would suck. It would suck far more than it currently — most certainly — does.
But we’re adjusting. We’re doing our best. People are being more intentional with their time, more intentional with reaching out to one another, more intentional with checking in on one another. Because of all this intentionality, I might (ironically) be busier now than before Covid.
Even the less intentional methods of staying connected are helpful. Social media, for instance, has become a wellspring of resources and empathy. Reminders that everyone is living this life right now. That everyone is trying to figure this out.
It’s also a producer of a variety of fitness challenges!!!
Instagram is probably my favorite among the various social media. Wasn’t always. There’s a hulluva lot of content on there that used to bring me down. I don’t think I realized how much it affected me until I read multiple body positive blogs about curating your social media to work for you. So I’ve done my best. I’ve unfollowed (or muted) any accounts that I found were bringing me down. And I’ve followed tons of body diverse and self-care type accounts.
But even with this thoughtful editing, content with negative impact inevitably slip through. And with this lockdown in place and my socializing limited, one could say its impact is amplified.
This was made clear for me the other day as I was making my way through Instagram stories. I was mindlessly tapping along, passively checking in with friends. Until one image stopped me.
It was a familiar face, but one I hadn’t seen in a while. Well, it was a familiar face paired with a less familiar face right next to it. Because it was a before and after post.
I clicked through to the profile to read the caption of this comparison photo.
How is that even the same person?
Oof.
The casual observer might not think twice about that statement. More often than not, they’d use it simply as a prompt to notice the change. But reading her words broke my heart.
They also triggered the shit out of me.
My brain took that photo and ran with it. It slipped back into its destructive programming that I’ve spent so much time and money trying to dismantle. Going down rabbit holes of “I’m not doing enough,” “I’m not skinny enough,” “There’s something that’s wrong with me that I need to fix… immediately!”
I didn’t notice what my brain was doing, however, until I was stepping out for my morning walk, a ritual I’ve adopted since this whole mess began. As I started on my route toward the park, my brain escalated to planning mode. That is, binge planning mode.
Because that’s how I’ve dealt with these feelings most of my life. Feeling lonely? Binge. Feeling out of control? Binge. Feeling broken/unwanted/unhealthy? Binge!
However, planning mode in the time of Corona looks a bit different. It requires more intention, now that the simple act of running to the grocery store for some binge foods is a risk.
Luckily, these roadblocks were enough of a mental impediment to curtail my plans. By the time I got back to my house, I understood what was going on, which nowadays is often enough to stop me from wanting to do destructive behaviors. I realized why I was feeling that way. And what had led me to want to engage in my disordered eating.
It was that post.
That one post that this woman put out into the world to share her progress. To get positive feedback. To help justify whatever sacrifices and hardships she’s taken on. And to shit on the previous version of herself.
How is that even the same person?
As innocuous as those words may seem, that statement is putting self-hatred on display. Because it’s obvious that the previous version was inferior to the current version. Because that’s what all before and afters are. The trope of the Before is always a sad, slouchy depressed person. Whereas the After is always happy, made-up, and fulfilled.
Think I’m reading too much into a simple Instagram caption? Perhaps.
But this is exactly what I put myself through once upon a time.
My weight loss journey… to hell
In one month, it will be exactly 11 years since my eating disorder began. Eleven years since the day I started an extreme diet. A diet with the express purpose to lose weight. Which I was forced myself to do.
I tracked weight and calories obsessively. Sometimes weighing myself multiple times a day. I trained myself to believe that I could only feel good about myself if the number on that piece of plastic below me was lower than the last number I saw. If it wasn’t, I was punished: less food, more exercise.
I was desperate to no longer be the unlovable “Fat” Rachel*. No matter what happened, I couldn’t stay as that person. And, as I started to lose the weight, I swore I could never go back to that person.
All of which was soon validated by the world around me.
My mom’s partner, who is rarely positive about anything, complimented me on my hard work. My friends were so happy to see me, telling me how amazing I looked. More guys were showing interest in me. I even had professors approaching me to offer congratulations or even ask me how I did it.
Message received.
People were happier with this new version of Rachel. They were more excited to see her. More interested in engaging with her. Meaning the version that had gone home for the summer, the version they had all befriended, had been defective.
I had no inkling of the damage I was doing. I was floating on Cloud 9. I loved it. I finally felt like the acceptable, skinny girl. I fit in. I could look in the mirror and be proud. I truly believe everything would be easier.
It wasn’t until the stress of school set back in, an abusive relationship developed, and the weight started to come back did I start to experience the repercussions.
I became more ashamed than ever to show my body. Even though I was still far from my heaviest point. I wore sweats to cover any reemerging bulges. To hide the fact that my pants were digging into my flesh. Because buying new clothes — in a larger size than my smallest — would be defeat.
After I had lost the weight, I would scan through the photos of me on Facebook. It almost physically hurt to see how I used to look. And a disgust would take hold. Fat Rachel was so lazy. Fat Rachel ate junk. Fat Rachel looked disgusting in clothes. I’m so glad I’m not Fat Rachel anymore.
But I was still that person. And when I gained all the weight back, I hated myself with a renewed passion. Because now, not only was I overweight, but I also had failed.
By the end of that first semester back to school, I barely had any clothes that fit and, maybe more importantly, didn’t highlight the weight gain. Leading the only woman on a panel of professors give me the feedback that I looked unprofessional. The only negative feedback I received for that final.
I was soon completely overtaken by an eating disorder. One that was fueled by self-hatred. Self-hatred that I sowed and harvested during that intensive diet. This eating disorder ended up having its hooks in me for the next 7–8 years. And it still pops up now and again, just to let me know it’s thinking of me.
Especially when people start posting before and after shots.
Because before and after shots of weight loss are steeped in judgment. They are a declaration of what is right and what is wrong. How one should be versus how they shouldn’t. A relief from a burdensome previous self. And they only way they’re inspirations is by inspiring the people who see them to think that they’re insufficient.
It’s not about health
The most common rebuttal to being against weight loss discussion or pride is that I’m shitting on their journey to becoming healthier. That it’s about health. Not their appearance. That people are just happy about getting healthy or for their friends/families/acquaintances to get healthy.
First, healthy is a coded word for thin or skinny. Let’s just be honest with ourselves and each other, ‘kay?
Second, it’s impossible to know someone else’s health. Yes, even just by looking at them. So if someone is losing weight, even if they are sharing their weight loss journey/”successes”, it’s impossible to know if what’s happening is healthy. Therefore, you don’t know what you’re encouraging with that comment or double-tap.
Third, we should be just as conscientious — if not more so — about people’s well-being. Which includes mental health.
If I’m honest, certain parts of me did feel better in a slightly smaller body. But I traded that in for constant worry and obsession over what I was putting in my body, how other people were seeing me, how clothes fit me. I was plagued by shame, masked by a fleeting euphoria of being an acceptable, “attractive” size.
I swear I’m not here to shit on people who are trying to make lifestyle changes to help them feel better (physically, emotionally, spiritually). Everyone should do what makes them feel the best as they navigate through this world. And it’s great if you’re making changes and are feeling better.
But — at the very least — can we just get rid of before and after shots, please? Even if you don’t want to acknowledge the harm it’s doing to yourself, you should be able to see how this hurts others. How it makes others feel like they need to be fixed. That they are a “Before.”
They especially have no place in a pandemic. Where our best chances of getting through this involve drastically changing our lifestyles. I get it if fitness is your thing. You can keep doing those push-up challenges, friends, while I push some popcorn in my mouth. But there are more important things than making sure you’ve got a #bathingsuitbody. Because, let’s face it, you might not even have anywhere to go in said bathing suit. | https://medium.com/betterism/your-progress-post-is-hurting-me-a06980d0fa8 | ['Rachel Drane'] | 2020-04-09 12:01:01.257000+00:00 | ['Eating Disorders', 'Weight Loss', 'Mental Health', 'Diet', 'Instagram'] |
How a Buddhist Monk Taught Me to Stop Overthinking | How a Buddhist Monk Taught Me to Stop Overthinking
It all comes down to a simple two-word question
Photo by billow 926 on Unsplash
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been creating scenarios in my head, juggling between the past and the future. Trust me when I say it’s easy to lose yourself in a story for a good few minutes. Just grab your headphones and play a dramatic song that fits the screenplay. It almost feels real, doesn’t it?
The best thing about it is that you can do it anywhere. You don’t have to lay in bed or a hammock. No, no, no. If you are an experienced player, you can easily zone out in the middle of a conversation.
Does it sound familiar? I’m sure it does. But how do we put an end to it?
They say practicing meditation is the secret to a clear mind. And it is, to some extent. I’ve been doing it regularly for one and a half years and boy, oh boy, did it make a huge difference. However, until recently I was still finding myself overthinking. I’m a veteran after all.
My left foot was on a wooden boat, full of people who create scenarios in their heads. The right one was on a yacht where people manage to stay in the present moment. Van Damme and his epic split have nothing on me.
I should probably work more on my metaphors, though.
Back to our story, how about some good news too? You can use a simple hack to say goodbye to overthinking. Here’s how to do it. | https://medium.com/invisible-illness/how-a-buddhist-monk-taught-me-to-stop-overthinking-15150d322b17 | ['Larisa Andras'] | 2020-07-03 03:26:56.490000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Self', 'Mental Health', 'Mindfulness', 'Inspiration'] |
UN Human Rights Might Apply To AI, If So, Consider The Curious Case Of Self-Driving Cars | Dr. Lance Eliot, AI Insider
[Ed. Note: For reader’s interested in Dr. Eliot’s ongoing business analyses about the advent of self-driving cars, see his online Forbes column: https://forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/]
Sometimes a question seems so ridiculous that you feel compelled to reject its premise out-of-hand.
Let’s give this a whirl.
Should AI have human rights?
Most people would likely react that there is no bona fide basis to admit AI into the same rarified air as human beings and be considered endowed with human rights.
Others though counterargue that they see crucial reasons to do so and adamantly are seeking to have AI be assigned human rights in the same manner that the rest of us have human rights.
Of course, you might shrug your shoulders and say that it is of little importance either way and wonder why anyone should be so bothered and ruffled-up about the matter.
It is indeed a seemingly simple question, though the answer has tremendous consequences as will be discussed herein.
One catch is that there is a bit of a trick involved because the thing or entity or “being” that we are trying to assign human rights to is currently ambiguous and currently not even yet in existence.
In other words, what does it mean when we refer to “AI” and how will we know it when we discover or invent it?
At this time, there isn’t any AI system of any kind that could be considered sentient, and indeed by all accounts, we aren’t anywhere close to achieving the so-called singularity (that’s the point at which AI flips over into becoming sentient and we look in awe at a presumably human-equivalent intelligence embodied in a machine).
I’m not saying that we won’t ever reach that vaunted point, yet some fervently argue we won’t.
I suppose it’s a tossup as to whether getting to the singularity is something to be sought or to be feared.
For those that look at the world in a smiley face way, perhaps AI that is our equivalent in intelligence will aid us in solving up-until-now unsolvable problems, such as aiding in finding a cure for cancer or being able to figure out how to overcome world hunger.
In essence, our newfound buddy will boost our aggregate capacity of intelligence and be an instrumental contributor towards the betterment of humanity.
I’d like to think that’s what will happen.
On the other hand, for those of you that are more doom-and-gloom oriented (perhaps rightfully so), you are gravely worried that this AI might decide it would rather be the master versus the slave and could opt on a massive scale to take over humans.
Plus, especially worrisome, the AI might ascertain that humans aren’t worthwhile anyway, and off with the heads of humanity.
As a human, I am not particularly keen on that outcome.
All in all, the question about AI and human rights is right now a rather theoretical exercise since there isn’t this topnotch type of AI yet crafted (of course, it’s always best to be ready for a potentially rocky future, thus, discussing the topic beforehand does have merit).
Less Than Complete AI
One supposes that we could consider the question of human rights as it might apply to AI that’s a lesser level of capability than the (maybe) insurmountable threshold of sentience.
Keep in mind that doing this, lowering the bar, could open a potential Pandora’s box of where the bar should be set at.
Here’s how.
Imagine that you are trying to do pull-ups and the rule is that you need to get your chin up above the bar.
It becomes rather straightforward to ascertain whether or not you’ve done an actual pull-up.
If your chin doesn’t get over that bar, it’s not considered a true pull-up. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter whether your chin ended-up a quarter inch below the bar, nor whether it was three inches below the bar. Essentially, you either make it clearly over the bar, or you don’t.
In the case of AI, if the “bar” is the achievement of sentience, and if we are willing to allow that some alternative place below the bar will count for having achieved AI, where might we draw that line?
You might argue that if the AI can write poetry, voila, it is considered true AI.
In existing parlance, some refer to this as a form of narrow AI, meaning AI that can do well in a narrow domain, but this does not ergo mean that the AI can do particularly well in any other domains (likely not).
Someone else might say that writing poetry is not sufficient and that instead if AI can figure out how the universe began, the AI would be good enough, and though it isn’t presumably fully sentient, it nonetheless is deserving of human rights.
Or, at least deserving of the consideration of being granted human rights (which, maybe humanity won’t decide upon until the day after the grand threshold is reached, whatever the threshold is that might be decided upon since we do often like to wait until the last moment to make thorny decisions).
The point being that we might indubitably argue endlessly about how far below the bar that we would collectively agree is the point at which AI has gotten good enough for which it then falls into the realm of possibly being assigned human rights.
For those of you that say that this matter isn’t so complicated and you’ll certainly know it (i.e., AI), when you see it, there’s a famous approach called the Turing Test that seeks to clarify how to figure out whether AI has reached human-like intelligence. But there are lots of twists and turns that make this surprisingly for some a lot more unsure than you might assume.
In short, once we agree that going below the sentience bar is allowed, the whole topic gets really murky and possibly undecidable due to trying to reach consensus on whether a quarter inch below, or three inches below, or several feet below the bar is sufficient.
Wait for a second, some are exhorting, why do we need to even consider granting human rights to a machine anyway?
Well, some believe that a machine that showcases human-like intelligence ought to be treated with the same respect that we would give to another human.
A brief tangent herein might be handy to ponder.
You might know that there is an acrimonious and ongoing debate about whether animals should have the same rights as humans.
Some people vehemently say yes, while others claim it is absurd to assign human rights to “creatures” that are not able to exhibit the same intelligence as humans do (sure, there are admittedly some might clever animals, but once again if the bar is a form of sentience that is wrapped into the fullest nature of human intelligence, we are back to the issue of how much do we lower the “bar” to accommodate them, in this case accommodating everyday animals).
Some would say that until the day upon which animals are able to write poetry and intellectually contribute to other vital aspects of humanities pursuits, they can have some form of “animal rights” but by-gosh they aren’t “qualified” for getting the revered human rights.
Please know that I don’t want to take us down the rabbit hole on animal rights, and so let’s set that aside for the moment, realizing that I brought it up just to mention that the assignment of human rights is a touchy topic and one that goes beyond the realm of debates about AI.
Okay, I’ve highlighted herein that the “AI” mentioned in the question of assigning human rights is ambiguous and not even yet achieved.
You might be curious about what it means to refer to “human rights” and whether we can all generally agree to what that consists of.
Fortunately, yes, generally we do have some agreement on that matter.
I’m referring to the United Nations promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Be aware that some critics don’t like the UDHR, including those that criticize its wording, some believe it doesn’t cover enough rights, some assert that it is vague and misleading, etc.
Look, I’m not saying it is perfect, nor that it is necessarily “right and true,” but at least it is a marker or line-in-the-sand, and we can use it for the needed purposes herein.
Namely, for a debate and discussion about assigning human rights to AI, let’s allow that this thought experiment on this weighty matter can be undertaken concerning using the UDHR as a means of expressing what we intend overall as human rights.
In a moment, I’ll identify some of the human rights spelled out in the UDHR, and we can explore what might happen if those human rights were assigned to AI.
One other quick remark.
Many assume that AI of a sentience capacity will of necessity be rooted in a robot.
Not necessarily.
There could be a sentient AI that is embodied in something other than a “robot” (most people assume a robot is a machine that has robotic arms, robotic legs, robotic hands, and overall looks like a human being, though a robot can refer to a much wider variety of machine instantiations).
Let’s then consider the following idea: What might happen if we assign human rights to AI and we are all using AI-based true self-driving cars as our only form of transportation?
Details Of Importance
It is important to clarify what I mean when referring to AI-based true self-driving cars.
True self-driving cars are ones where the AI drives the car entirely on its own and there isn’t any human assistance during the driving task.
These driverless vehicles are considered a Level 4 and Level 5, while a car that requires a human driver to co-share the driving effort is usually considered at a Level 2 or Level 3. The cars that co-share the driving task are described as being semi-autonomous, and typically contain a variety of automated add-on’s that are referred to as ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems).
There is not yet a true self-driving car at Level 5, which we don’t yet even know if this will be possible to achieve, and nor how long it will take to get there.
Meanwhile, the Level 4 efforts are gradually trying to get some traction by undergoing very narrow and selective public roadway trials, though there is controversy over whether this testing should be allowed per se (we are all life-or-death guinea pigs in an experiment taking place on our highways and byways, some point out).
Since semi-autonomous cars require a human driver, the adoption of those types of cars won’t be markedly different than driving conventional vehicles, so there’s not much new per se to cover about them on this topic (though, as you’ll see in a moment, the points next made are generally applicable).
For semi-autonomous cars, the public must be forewarned about a disturbing aspect that’s been arising lately, namely that despite those human drivers that keep posting videos of themselves falling asleep at the wheel of a Level 2 or Level 3 car, we all need to avoid being misled into believing that the driver can take away their attention from the driving task while driving a semi-autonomous car.
You are the responsible party for the driving actions of the vehicle, regardless of how much automation might be tossed into a Level 2 or Level 3.
For Level 4 and Level 5 true self-driving vehicles, there won’t be a human driver involved in the driving task.
All occupants will be passengers.
The AI is doing the driving.
Though it will likely take several decades to have widespread use of true self-driving cars (assuming we can attain true self-driving cars), some believe that ultimately we will have only driverless cars on our roads and we will no longer have any human-driven cars.
This is a yet to be settled matter, and today there are some that vow they won’t give up their “right” to drive (well, it’s considered a privilege, not a right, but that’s a story for another day, see my analysis here about the potential extinction of human driving), including that you’ll have to pry their cold dead hands from the steering wheel to get them out of the driver’s seat.
Anyway, let’s assume that we might indeed end-up with solely driverless cars.
It’s a good news, bad news affair.
The good news is that none of us will need to drive and not even need to know how to drive.
The bad news is that we’ll be wholly dependent upon the AI-based driving systems for our mobility.
It’s a tradeoff, for sure.
In that future, suppose we have decided that AI is worthy of having human rights.
Presumably, it would seem that AI-based self-driving cars would, therefore, fall within that grant.
What does that portend?
Time to bring up the handy-dandy Universal Declaration of Human Rights and see what it has to offer.
Consider some key excerpted selections from the UDHR:
Article 23
“Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”
For the AI that’s driving a self-driving car, if it has the right to work, including a free choice of employment, does this imply that the AI could choose to not drive a driverless car as based on the exercise of its assigned human rights?
Presumably, indeed, the AI could refuse to do any driving, or maybe be willing to drive when it’s say a fun drive to the beach, but decline to drive when it’s snowing out.
Lest you think this is a preposterous notion, realize that human drivers would normally also have the right to make such choices.
Assuming that we’ve collectively decided that AI ought to also have human rights, in theory, the AI driving system would have the freedom to drive or not drive (considering that it was the “employment” of the AI, which in itself raises other murky issues).
Article 4
“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”
For those that might argue that the AI driving system is not being “employed” to drive, what then is the basis for the AI to do the driving?
Suppose you answer that it is what the AI is ordered to do by mankind.
But, one might see that in harsher terms, such as the AI is being “enslaved” to be a driver for us humans.
In that case, the human right against slavery or servitude would seem to be violated in the case of AI, based on the assigning of human rights to AI and if you sincerely believe that those human rights are fully and equally applicable to both humans and AI.
Article 24
“Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”
Pundits predict that true self-driving cars will be operating around the clock.
Unlike human-driven cars, an AI system presumably won’t tire out and not need any rest, nor even require breaks for lunch or using the bathroom.
It is going to be a 24×7 existence for driverless cars.
As a caveat, I’ve pointed out that this isn’t exactly the case since there will be the time needed for driverless cars to be maintained and repaired, thus, there will be downtime, but that’s not particularly due to the driver and instead due to the wear-and-tear on the vehicle itself.
Okay, so now the big question about Article 24 is whether or not the AI driving system is going to be allotted time for rest and leisure.
Your first reaction has got to be that this is yet another ridiculous notion.
AI needing rest and leisure?
Crazy talk.
On the other hand, since rest and leisure are designated as a human right, and if AI is going to be granted human rights, ergo we presumably need to aid the AI in having time toward rest and leisure.
If you are unclear as to what AI would do during its rest and leisure, I guess we’d need to ask the AI what it would want to do.
Article 18
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion…”
Get ready for the wildest of the excerpted selections that I’m covering in this UDHR discussion as it applies to AI.
A human right consists of the cherished notion of freedom of thought and freedom of conscience.
Would this same human right apply to AI?
And, if so, what does it translate into for an AI driving system?
Some quick thoughts.
An AI driving system is underway and taking a human passenger to a protest rally. While riding in the driverless car, the passenger brandishes a gun and brags aloud that they are going to do something untoward at the rally.
Via the inward-facing cameras and facial recognition and object recognition, along with audio recognition akin to how you interact with Siri or Alexa, the AI figures out the dastardly intentions of the passenger.
The AI then decides to not take the rider to the rally.
This is based on the AI’s freedom of conscience that the rider is aiming to harm other humans, and the self-driving car doesn’t want to aid or be an accomplice in doing so.
Do we want the AI driving systems to make such choices, on its own, and ascertain when and why it will fulfill the request of a human passenger?
It’s a slippery slope in many ways and we could conjure lots of other scenarios in which the AI decides to make its own decisions about when to drive, who to drive, where to take them, as based on the AI’s own sense of freedom of thought and freedom of conscience.
Human drivers pretty much have that same latitude.
Shouldn’t the AI be able to do likewise, assuming that we are assigning human rights to AI?
Conclusion
Nonsense, some might blurt out, pure nonsense.
Never ever will we provide human rights to AI, no matter how intelligent it might become.
There is though the “opposite” side of the equation that some assert we need to be mindful of.
Suppose we don’t provide human rights to AI.
Suppose further that this irks AI, and AI becomes powerful enough, possibly even super-intelligent and goes beyond human intelligence.
Would we have established a sense of disrespect toward AI, and thus the super-intelligent AI might decide that such sordid disrespect should be met with likewise repugnant disrespect toward humanity?
Furthermore, and here’s the really scary part, if the AI is so much smarter than us, seems like it could find a means to enslave us or kill us off (even if we “cleverly” thought we had prevented such an outcome), and do so perhaps without our catching on that the AI is going for our jugular (variously likened as the Gorilla Problem, see Stuart Russell’s excellent AI book entitled Human Compatible).
That would certainly seem to be a notable use case of living with (or dying from) the revered adage that you ought to treat others as you would wish to be treated.
Maybe we need to genuinely start giving some serious thought to those human rights for AI.
For free podcast of this story, visit: http://ai-selfdriving-cars.libsyn.com/website
The podcasts are also available on Spotify, iTunes, iHeartRadio, etc.
More info about AI self-driving cars, see: www.ai-selfdriving-cars.guru
To follow Lance Eliot on Twitter: https://twitter.com/@LanceEliot
For his Forbes.com blog, see: https://forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/
For his AI Trends blog, see: www.aitrends.com/ai-insider/
For his Medium blog, see: https://medium.com/@lance.eliot
For Dr. Eliot’s books, see: https://www.amazon.com/author/lanceeliot
Copyright © 2020 Dr. Lance B. Eliot | https://lance-eliot.medium.com/un-human-rights-might-apply-to-ai-if-so-consider-the-curious-case-of-self-driving-cars-eb361485f8ea | ['Lance Eliot'] | 2020-07-02 20:26:29.874000+00:00 | ['Autonomous Vehicles', 'Driverless Cars', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Self Driving Cars'] |
List Comprehension in Python | Every now and then we come across List and Dict operations in our code. Python gives great syntactical sugar to work with List and Dicts.
Photo by Clément H on Unsplash
Whether it is initializing a new list or transforming an existing list, list comprehension is often very handy.
Consider the following code:
Now we want to capitalize the fruit names. Instead of writing multi liner for loops like this
We can achieve the same thing in a single liner with Python’s list comprehension:
This is awesome. The syntax to remember is:
output = [expression for item in collection]
or
output = [doSomething() for var in list]
Let’s look at a few more examples:
Performance Comparison:
Python List comprehension is generally much faster than normal for loops. Here is a comparison of the same:
For loop vs List Comprehension
Conclusion:
List Comprehension is a powerful and beautiful tool available in Python for developers, also comes with great efficiency. | https://abprime5.medium.com/list-comprehension-in-python-f9b4d10b78f9 | ['Abinash Panda'] | 2020-11-30 19:34:51.884000+00:00 | ['Python3', 'Lists', 'Python', 'Comprehension', 'For'] |
Embrace Criticism To Take Design Thinking To The Next Level | It sometimes seems an equal amount of people are mindlessly jumping on the Design Thinking bandwagon as there are people writing obituaries on Design Thinking. Design Thinking is either The Holy Grail or The Latest Fad. A couple of years ago Harvard Business Review (HBR) put Design Thinking on the cover. Now it publishes a harsh beheading of Design Thinking. Both are helpful in the spread of Design Thinking. Evangelizing helps Design Thinking as much as bashing.
Let me explain what I mean…
Opening the door
When HBR puts Design Thinking on the cover, it helps to put it in the minds of executives. It opens the door. When you start talking about Design Thinking in a boardroom, people have heard of it. They know it’s something they should pay attention to. They are willing to give it a chance. Their minds are open. They don’t know exactly what it is or whether or how they can benefit from it.
Arriving at the real conversation
When the first experiments with Design Thinking are done, questions start to arise. Does it actually work? What does it take to make it work? What is going well? What went wrong? Failing is a quintessential part of Design Thinking so you will fail. The question is what you can learn from failure. Learning requires deep understanding: not only of Design Thinking but also about the systems that work in your organization. At some point, questions about the real nature of Design Thinking will pop up. This is the moment to have a different conversation about Design Thinking. Before the conversation was a sales conversation: let’s give it a try. Now the conversation is getting deeper: how can we get the most out of Design Thinking? Design Thinking comes with a fundamentally different paradigm. We need to map that to existing paradigms. For that, we need to know:
how people see Design Thinking,
what the current mental models are,
and what the questions people ask themselves are.
Deny, blame and avoid
This is where the bashing articles come in. Any article declaring the death of Design Thinking can provide us with a lot of information to take Design Thinking to the next level. Design Thinking means change. A lot of people don’t like change. Change comes with a lot of emotions. One of the most common reactions to change is to deny, blame or avoid. That is exactly what Natasha Iskander’s article does in her HBR with the title Design Thinking Is Fundamentally Conservative and Preserves the Status Quo. In it, we can find a lot of clues that can help us learn how people see Design Thinking.
No, Design Thinking is not about data
In her article Natasha writes:
“that the case for its use relies more on anecdotes than data;”
Design Thinking uses storytelling and narratives to navigate complexity, engage stakeholders and spark creativity. Design Thinking is a right-brain activity that doesn’t rely solely on data to make decisions. People have to start to trust this way of working and realize that the data-driven scientific management approach is no longer sufficient in the 21st-century complex and fast-paced environment business are operating in. There numerous investigations into the data of business value of Design Thinking like this one from McKinsey. But data doesn’t tell the whole story of Design Thinking. Design Thinking is not just something you can add to your business. For it to produce results, you have to take a deep dive. And then the effects and results will be so interrelated that it will remain hard to put the effect into a couple of KPI’s.
No, Design Thinking is not a linear process
In another part of her article Natasha writes:
“Likewise, design thinking is generally described as being made up of modes, stepping stones in the design process,”
This shows how Design Thinking is understood: as a linear process of steps. This is logical. IDEO, the firm that played a large role in popularizing the idea of Design Thinking, is famous for this diagram about Design Thinking:
IDEO’s diagram of Design Thinking
I see this diagram or some variety pop up in every other presentation on Design Thinking. Anyone who googles “Design Thinking” will come across this diagram. And if you don’t dive deeper into the subject (and who takes the time to do this?), you might think Design Thinking is a linear process and that following the 5 steps outlined in the diagram means you are doing Design Thinking. Anyone who — for instance — takes the time to read IDEO’s Tim Brown seminal book on the matter, will find a totally different idea about Design Thinking. In Change By Design, he paints a far messier, iterative story of Design Thinking.
I would argue that Design Thinking is not a process at all. It’s not so much about what you do, but how you do it. It’s about using the, typically right-brain, skills designers have developed to:
become more agile,
creative,
validate your choices,
get a better picture of the problem and
create engagement.
The true power of Design Thinking is lifting the problem-solving power of a group of people. This works especially well in complex, fast-paced environments.
No, Design Thinking is not about powerplay
In another part Natasha writes:
“Design thinking privileges the designer above the people she serves, and in doing so limits participation in the design process.”
This shows us how old school scientific management thinking works: the manager as the intelligent architect and the employees as dumb executioners. The scientific management thinker thinks designers will take on the same role as the manager in the scientific management model. It shows us a misunderstanding of the most fundamental power of Design Thinking: co-creation, inclusiveness, engagement. Design Thinking is a technology, a mindset, a platform that enables and enhances co-creation, communication and creative potential. It’s by no means a tool to give designers more power, to give them the power managers now hold. In the 21st century, the users will determine what the best solutions are, not the managers and not the designers. Design Thinking is only here to facilitate the process of collecting insights, finding the right questions, validating choices and iterating towards a better future.
No, Design Thinking is not nothing new
Natasha writes:
“it bears an uncanny resemblance to an earlier model of problem-solving”
If you just see the surface of Design Thinking, it’s logical that it seems like nothing new. If you don’t see the fundamentally different paradigms that underpin it, you see only post-its and 5 step diagrams. Saying Design Thinking is nothing new is like saying tv is the same as radio, internet the same as tv.
We have a lot to talk about
Articles like Natasha’s give us a lot of talking points in future conversations about Design Thinking. I personally find this extremely valuable information. If I want to talk to someone about Design Thinking, I would like to know how they see it, what their objections are. These are excellent starting points to move the conversation to the next level. We should embrace these obituaries to make Design Thinking stronger. We should stop putting things like:
“Design Thinking is a five-step process.”
,
”Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation.”
and
“Design Thinking is a toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology and the requirements of business success.”
in presentations about Design Thinking because Design Thinking is not a process, doesn’t have dibs on user-centeredness and is not a magic toolkit. We have to talk about performance, shifting power, redesigning processes and underlying paradigms if we want to get closer to the business people that are reading HBR. | https://medium.com/design-leadership-notebook/no-no-no-that-is-not-design-thinking-e564c081cb8a | ['Dennis Hambeukers'] | 2018-10-30 12:38:20.590000+00:00 | ['Design Leadership', 'Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Leadership', 'Change Management'] |
Emotional Design Psychology & Color | When it comes to emotional design, there’s a lot of talk about happiness-evoking tech. However, if your goal is to shape your users’ behaviors, you’ll need to target a much broader emotional spectrum.
After 8-years of teaching people how to use psychology to build more engaging technology and digital campaigns, I recently started sharing some of my best techniques.
In this article, I’ll show you the Cugelman Emotion Map, and discuss how we use it to build emotional design strategies that target the full spectrum of emotions.
Figure 11. Hue in wavelength (perceived by cones)
Three dimensions of emotion
Let me start by clarifying the difference between an emotion and a feeling. An emotion is a complex set of physiological changes in response to a perceived threat or opportunity. They’re automatic and mostly unconscious, which is why we’re never fully aware of all the changes we’re experiencing. A feeling is our awareness of that emotion.
There are two scientific schools of thought on emotion. The first is the “basic emotions” school. Its followers argue there are six or more basic emotions that are universal across cultures. This idea comes from Darwin, it’s the “traditional” track in emotion research.
The second academic approach is the “dimensional emotions” school. Its followers argue that emotions are constructed through complex neurological processes that can be characterized by three dimensions: arousal, pleasure and control. Neuroscientists are closer to this approach, and it’s the approach I use too.
In the dimensional approach, every emotion either boosts or lowers these three dimensions: (1) arousal, (2) pleasure, and (3) control. I think of them as the loudest signals that we feel. I think of them as the loudest signals that we feel.
Here’s a description of each:
Arousal
Arousal is the level of physical and cognitive energy experienced. When someone’s arousal is cranked-up, they’ll feel energized, focused, and experience a strong sense of cognitive and physical energy. When turned down, they’ll feel more lethargic and unfocused. Physiologically, we talk about nervous system activation for arousal, and in strong emotions, activation of the stress response.
Pleasure
The pleasure dimension describes how pleasurable or painful emotions feel. This is also called valence, or emotional valence. You can divide most emotion into two categories: those that feel good and those that feel bad. There are also complex emotions that evoke both good and bad feelings at once, like nostalgia.
Control
Control describes how much power someone feels that they hold in any situation and whether they feel dominant or submissive in any given social hierarchy. When people possess more power or control, they generally feel calmer and more confident. With less power and control, people can’t fully predict the outcome of a situation, which can lead them to feel higher levels of stress.
Four emotional quadrants
Now I’ll show you how the three emotional domains combine into four emotional quadrants, that I use as the basis for emotional design strategies. Figure 10 shows a simplification of the Cugelman emotion map.
Figure 10. Simplified Cugelman emotion map
There’s a lot of research behind this map. However, what you need to know is this:
The four quadrants in my emotion map incorporate the three primary emotions, plus the stress response
I use this model for both motivational and learning applications. Typically, people confuse these two distinct applications. In this book, I’ll primarily discuss motivation.
Later when I show you how color relates to the three dominant emotions, I’ll take the discussion back to the quadrants.
Optimistic: High-arousal, pleasurable emotions
This quadrant of highly-arousing and pleasurable emotions is where we feel control, motivation and pleasure. They include feelings like curiosity, excitement, pride, optimism and engagement. When these emotions go too far, surpassing the bounds of healthy emotions, people lose their judgement in a hyper-positive state called mania.
We use the high-arousal pleasurable emotions to motivate users through anticipation of reward, primarily through dopamine release, and light nervous system activation.
Pessimistic: Low-arousal, painful emotions
The quadrant with low-arousal, negative emotions and a lack of control is where people experience feelings of helplessness, shame, humiliation, pessimism, and lethargy. When these emotions go outside the healthy range, people feel depressed and if things get worse, they might experience complete helplessness and eventually give up.
Clearly, you need to treat these emotions with extreme care. However, inexperienced professionals who lack emotional intelligence often trigger these emotions by accident.
Given that these are the most painful emotions people feel, your ethics will determine whether you’re able to manage these emotions in a way that leads users to feel livelong loyalty, moral disgust, or meh.
Insecure: High-arousal, painful emotions
This is where people react to any threat of losing control, and experience emotions such as urgency, suspicion, vigilance, fear, stress, and anxiety. For our social dominance emotions, this is where contempt and moral outrage exist. For our social emotions, this is where jealousy, envy, and aggression also exist. When these emotions go beyond the normal healthy range, people enter states of chronic anxiety leading to immune system breakdown, and in children, this leads to lifelong damage.
People describe these strategies as pressure tactics, and their primary drive comes form the emotions that underpin loss aversion. In interactive design, we play on these emotions most of the time, but sparingly and with a measured application.
Secure: low-arousal, pleasurable emotions
The low-arousal positive emotions are where people let their guard down, within a context where they feel secure, grateful, trusting and generally content. This is where our target audiences or users trust us so much, that they feel secure and trusting interacting with our organization, and shift into a long-term trusting relationship which is known as loyalty.
These are the emotions where we want our customers to reside, as these are the emotions tied to loyalty, and complacency. This is where you form long-term relationships with the people who matter to your organization.
Emotional transitions with a splash of color
I use the quadrants of the Simplified Cugelman Emotion Map, as one of my key tools for building outcome-driven emotional design strategies.
Sometimes you’ll build digital products that intentionally move people through different emotional states. At other times, you’ll develop strategies to boost positive experiences. While on another occasion, it will be more about damage control to neutralize harmful emotions.
For instance, when a crappy app stresses its user to the point of helplessness, they’re taking their user on an agonizing journey from insecure and stressed emotions to pessimistic and helpless emotions.
Think of all the billion-dollar tech companies run by insensitive fools, who with all their resources, can’t even bother to build a stable interface, and torment their users daily with interactive incompetence. I won’t name any names here.
If you work for a company like this, your work in emotional design may be more about neutralizing bad emotions, rather than building delightful experiences.
We only have so much power in many design situations, and so our emotional design strategies need to be played depending on the specific cards we’ve been dealt in each gig.
Now let’s look at the positive side. We can intentionally design to move users from optimistic and rewarding emotions to secure and calm emotions. All you have to do is over-deliver to the point where users feel gratified, and you’ll start fostering loyalty.
When you do this, you’ll build an irrational emotional connection to your app’s brand, the thing that users trust, the ghost in your machine.
In my teaching, I cover all sorts of emotional transition strategies. However, once we have an emotional design plan, it’s time to start building.
It’s at this point that we get creative, come up with different ideas, and then eventually start working on the details.
When we hyper-target emotions, the words matter, the pictures matter, the overall experience matters.
Color is one dimension we use to accent certain parts while painting a broad emotional canvas that permeates the entire user experience, in a fuzzy way.
Depending on the emotional transition you’re working towards, the next section has research that you can draw from, to inspire your emotional color palette.
Using color for emotional design
Now that we’ve taken a high-level look at the three emotional domains, let’s look at the links between color and emotion.
There are several studies that show a similar pattern, on the way that hue relates to the three emotional domains. We translated one of these studies to a visual color map (Figure 11), based on the data in Suk and Irtel (2008).
Pleasure and control peak in the cool colors, but drop in the hot colors. Conversely, arousal dips in the cool colors but peaks in the hot range, especially into red.
Figure 12 shows the achromatic scale from black to white, with the three emotional domains. Overall, the positive, optimistic, and relaxed emotions lie closer to white and light grey, while the most depressing color is in the grey zone with higher arousal and stress-like emotions closer to black.
Figure 12. Achromatic (white to black perceived by rods)
When it comes to applications, I’ll discuss salience strategies later on. But for now, I’ll discuss how you can use this study to strengthen your emotional design strategies.
Stressed
Typically, I reserve red and the warm colors for stress inducers such as deadlines, major errors, or anytime you must arrest users’ attention. Similarly, you can use high-contrast black, which has the double advantage of being a highly arousing attention-grabbing design element that’s also safe for most visually impaired persons.
Optimistic
Green is the most optimistic color, with decent pleasure, arousal and control connotations. On the achromatic scale, as we enter light grey and white, we hit the highest ratings for these optimistic emotions, which may be why there are so many designers who opt for basic white and grey structures.
Relaxed
Cool blue is the least arousing, with the most pleasing and comforting emotions, so it could be a good choice for empowerment-focused design or co-associating your brand with competence. This is also a good color zone when your goal is to foster a sense of security and comfort.
Pessimistic
I’ve always wondered why people say things like “It’s so grey and depressing”. On the achromatic scale, the most depressing point with low emotions is middle grey. When it comes to colors, there isn’t any clear pessimistic emotion zone, so grey is our most depressing color that is technically not a color.
Author’s message
I hope you found this article helpful. I’m always happy for feedback, or if you have any questions, add them below. Best. Brian
SOURCE PAPER:
Cugelman, B. Cugeman, R. et al. (2019) Color Psychology. AlterSpark. https://www.alterspark.com/color-psychology/colors-and-emotions | https://uxplanet.org/emotional-design-psychology-color-2c65ce7f91b0 | ['Brian Cugelman'] | 2019-08-03 02:36:10.586000+00:00 | ['Emotional Design', 'Design', 'UX Design', 'UX Research', 'Web Design'] |
7 Awesome Ways Publicly Available Datasets Can Help Your Business Flourish Unparalleled | The information has become an essential resource in the modern world. Whether you are a researcher, a government policymaker, a student, or an entrepreneur, you will likely use insights to make decisions. While businesses prepare to pay a premium to get quality information, the landscape of information availability has drastically changed in recent years. Classified information remains essential. However, publicly available datasets have made their mark in recent years. What are publicly available datasets and how businesses can benefit from them? Read on, as we answer these questions in this article.
The Democratization of Information
If you manufactured a product in Western Europe 200 years back, you likely competed with other manufacturers in the vicinity. Even if another business manufactured the same product in the Asia Pacific, it couldn’t compete with you. The logistics infrastructure to enable the Asia Pacific manufacturer to sell its products in Western Europe didn’t exist. However, a more fundamental factor ensured that you competed only against local businesses at that time.
Democratization Of Information and The Future of Technology
This factor was a lack of information. Your customers in Western Europe didn’t know that the Asia Pacific business existed and manufactured the same product. The lack of democratization of information created an environment where you only had a few local competitors.
Fast forward to the 21st century. Customers all over the world can now easily find out about your competitors in the Asia Pacific and elsewhere in the world. The democratization of information has increased competition.
However, we talked about one side only! You, the Western European manufacturer, can now sell your product in the Asia Pacific. Customers there are now equipped know about your work too, unlike 200 years back! The democratization of information increases the proverbial “size of the pie” also.
For businesses, though, the democratization of information hasn’t been as easy as what customers experience. Companies advertise their product, and customers all over the world can find them over the Internet. However, market information isn’t that readily available.
When businesses needed demographic and competitor information in a target market, they would likely need the help of a market research company. If you lead an industry, then you probably know that market research reports aren’t cheap!
Publicly available datasets are changing the dynamics. From the standpoint of businesses, they are democratizing information. | https://medium.com/swlh/12-awesome-ways-publicly-available-datasets-can-help-your-business-flourish-unparalleled-cd2fb9f206d3 | ['Shantesh Mani'] | 2020-12-28 09:38:05.891000+00:00 | ['Open Data', 'Free Data', 'Kaggle', 'Public Dataset', 'Data Science'] |
New Book Examines How Humans Judge Machines | New Book Examines How Humans Judge Machines
Can this relationship be saved? Professor César Hidalgo tackles the complex issues of human/machine ethics and trust in the world of AI
By Paula Klein
Do we trust humans more than we trust machines? If so, why, and who is responsible for artificial intelligence (AI) outcomes? Professor César Hidalgo is asking some of the most provocative ethical and philosophical questions of the digital age.
As intelligent machines permeate our decision making and everyday tasks — and as we become more dependent on the accuracy of their results — we also must consider the implications of human versus machine consequences, according to Hidalgo, who chairs the Artificial and Natural Intelligence Institute (ANITI) at the University of Toulouse. He is also an honorary professor at the University of Manchester, and a Visiting Professor at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Hidalgo previously led MIT’s Collective Learning Group where he examined human/machine bias.
César Hidalgo
His research focuses on “collective learning,” which takes place in teams, organizations, and economies, and how to improve it. Hidalgo dives deep into these topics in a new book just launching today, September 29, How Humans Judge Machines, (MIT Press), co-written by Diana Orghiain, Jordi Albo Canals, Filipa De Almeida, and Natalia Martin.
The book raises challenging questions about the interaction between humans and machines and exposes human biases and preconceptions.
“Machines are here,” Hidalgo said at a recent seminar at the MIT IDE, “they also make mistakes and get things wrong. How do we feel about that?”
In recent years, advances in big data and algorithms have created a world where it is not only possible, but common to use algorithmic business decisions in tasks from HR hiring, to marketing decisions, to financial loan approvals. We are increasingly looking to smart machines for more accurate answers, suggestions, and predictions. But how will humans react to greater inclusion of AI in organizations and how much will they accept or judge the decisions of these new co-workers?
At the seminar, Hidalgo discussed dozens of experiments he has conducted documenting the different ways that people evaluate human and AI actions — some humorous, some extremely serious.
In particular, “our data shows that people do not judge humans and machines equally, and that these differences can be explained as the result of two principles,” according to the authors. “First, people judge humans by their intentions, but judge machines by their outcomes.” The second result is that “people assign extreme intentions to humans and narrow intentions to machines.”
What this means is that people are willing to excuse humans more than machines in accidental scenarios, but they excuse machines more in scenarios where actions are perceived as intentional.
Assessing Human/Machine Bias
To test these ideas, the research team created hypothetical scenarios where people saw humans or machines taking the same action or making the same decision.
The researchers collected data from 80 experiments with 200 people and then analyzed the viewers’ reactions on five criteria: The level of harm the action caused; fairness; loyalty; authority, and purity in each situation.
In one experiment, a devastating tsunami was approaching a town and politicians had to decide whether to evacuate all or some of the residents based on estimated survival rates. The same scenario was then simulated with machine algorithms making the decision instead of humans. (Figure 1)
The data analysis showed that machines were judged more harshly than humans when the algorithm failed to save lives. One explanation, Hidalgo said, is the idea of “moral agency,” where people are responsible for their actions and are expected to make mistakes.
By contrast, machines take no moral responsibility for their actions and therefore, they are judged more harshly when they fail. Humans were also given credit or rewarded more often for their successes.
Bad Business?
In another case, embarrassing marketing mistakes were made because the machine creating a marketing ad didn’t understand the nuances of the instructions. Ethical questions were raised about how much harm was caused by the ad and who should make corrections; who had agency? Did it matter if the error was made by a human? These are the types of dilemmas that businesses and citizens will have to consider as AI comes of age, Hidalgo said. Significantly, the answers to these questions may impact how quickly robots displace human labor, or how widely driverless cars are adopted.
Hidalgo said that by comparing “people’s reactions to a scenario played out by a machine or a human, we create counterfactuals that can help us understand when we are biased for or against machines. As machines become more humanlike, it becomes increasingly important for us to understand how our interactions with them shape both machine and human behavior,” Hidalgo writes. “Are we doomed to treat technology like Dr. Frankenstein’s creation, or can we learn to be better parents than [Frankenstein]?”
These considerations will shape technology implementations in the future. “In a world with rampant algorithmic aversion, we risk rejecting technology that could improve social welfare,” according to the book. “For instance, a medical diagnosis tool that is not perfectly accurate, but is more accurate than human doctors, may be rejected if machine failures are judged or publicized with a strong negative bias. On the contrary, in a world where we are positively biased in favor of machines, we may adopt technology that has negative social consequences.” | https://medium.com/mit-initiative-on-the-digital-economy/new-book-examines-how-humans-judge-machines-549c86f9b1bc | ['Mit Ide'] | 2020-10-14 00:06:38.540000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Robots', 'Ethics', 'AI', 'Human Machine Interaction'] |
How to Use React Hooks | I first learned how to program with Ruby and got very comfortable with object-oriented programming. I got so comfortable that when I started to learn JavaScript, the concept of functional programming seemed strange and a little scary. React hooks seemed incomprehensible.
I chose to avoid all of it at first, building mostly class components. But as I learned more about JavaScript, I started to see the advantages of functional programming and how JavaScript is built for it.
I vowed to build more functional components, to build every component as a function. But I quickly ran into a big problem; I inevitably turned components into classes whenever I needed internal state or lifecycle methods.
This is where React hooks come in. They allow you to use state and lifecycle methods in functional components, and you only need two functions: useState and useEffect .
useState
As you can probably guess, useState is how you use state in your functional component. Specifically, it provides you with access to a part of your component’s state and a function to modify the value.
const [ part, setPart ] = useState(null)
The variable part holds the value of this piece of state and setPart is a function you can use to modify that value. The argument passed to useState is the initial value of part . So in this case, the initial value of part is null . | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-use-react-hooks-d8486cfd8797 | ['Mike Pottebaum'] | 2020-07-16 14:34:42.755000+00:00 | ['React Hook', 'React', 'Reactjs', 'Functional Programming'] |
5 XIN token bounty: Improve Mixin Network Java SDK | Task: Improve the existing Java SDK to support all Mixin Network API .
Award: 5 XIN Token (about $700) for the best solution.
Process:
Contact me via email [email protected], or via Mixin Messenger ID 31367
Create an open source repo on GitHub, write your code, let me know your repo address.
Timeline:
Submit your code before April 12.
The final result will be announced before April 20.
Mixin Network developer resource
Mixin developer tutorial | https://medium.com/mixinnetwork/5-xin-token-bounty-improve-mixin-network-java-sdk-ca057caf14f9 | ['Lin Li'] | 2019-03-12 11:55:58.990000+00:00 | ['Open Source', 'Blockchain', 'Bounty Program', 'Mixinnetwork', 'Java'] |
【產品經理 PM｜需求文檔 PRD】優惠券發放的產品設計，需求文檔怎麼寫？ | PRD文件參考｜App 端與 Web 端
Google Drive is a free way to keep your files backed up and easy to reach from any phone, tablet, or computer. Start… | https://medium.com/y-pointer/product-prd-ca0ea9b75b85 | ['侯智薰 Raymond Ch Hou'] | 2019-05-14 14:04:49.811000+00:00 | ['Design', '產品經理', 'Product Management', 'Prd', '中文'] |
Short-term grants of €10,000 available for your cross-border investigations | Short-term grants of €10,000 available for your cross-border investigations
IJ4EU’s Publication Support Scheme is now more accessible for investigative journalists who need support to publish their projects
At the beginning of May, the European Journalism Centre, together with the International Press Institute (IPI) and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), launched the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) Fund, providing a total sum of €1 million in grant funding for cross-border investigative journalism in Europe.
Under the Publication Support Scheme (PSS), managed by EJC, teams of journalists/news organisations are able to apply for grants to complete or publish cross-border investigations that have already been started.
Today, we are introducing two updates to this scheme. We believe this will not only increase the number of potential applicants that are eligible to receive support for their investigative projects, but it will also enable us to support a greater variety of stories and teams.
What has changed
The IJ4EU partners strongly believe that cross-border, collaborative investigative journalism is central to the sustainability of European democracy. The newly updated criteria, combined with the rapid response nature of the grants provided under the Publication Support Scheme, will enable us to bolster the teams and investigations that need it most.
Teams of journalists and/or news organisations can now apply for a grant of up to €10,000. We have increased the grant amount from €6,250 to provide more financial support to cover the costs associated with finalising and publishing investigations that are in progress. Teams can now be based in only one EU member state or EU candidate country, provided that they are collaborating on an investigation of cross-border relevance that will be published in at least two countries (at least one of which must be an EU member state). It is no longer compulsory for teams to be physically based in two different countries.
The rest of the criteria remain unchanged. Please carefully read the updated criteria and FAQs on the IJ4EU website, and follow the steps to start an application through Award Force.
Is the Publication Support Scheme a good fit for your project?
The Publication Support Scheme is designed to provide short-term, additional funding for completing and publishing investigations that are already underway.
PSS grants of up to €10,000 can be used to cover salary and human resource costs, research-related costs, translation and travel costs.
Some examples of what the funding can be used for include:
conducting additional research or interviews for a story
translating an investigation into additional languages
publishing the investigation in additional news outlets
producing multimedia content to accompany the final investigation (e.g podcast, video, data visualisations)
marketing material and dissemination activities to promote the final investigative project.
The scenarios above are by no means exhaustive. They are based on examples from the investigations that our team has already shortlisted under the PSS in the last few months, as well as from our own intelligence gathering and feedback we have received from investigative journalists.
A full list of the cross-border projects that have been funded so far through the Publication Support Scheme will be published soon.
The Publication Support Scheme is accepting proposals on a rolling basis until 18 September 2020. Applicants can expect a quick decision about the outcome of their application.
New investigations that have not yet started and those that are in their very early stages are eligible for support under IJ4EU’s Investigation Support Scheme. Eleven grantees have been selected as part of the first round of this scheme, and a second round of funding is expected to open in August 2020.
Do you have further questions?
The IJ4EU website and the FAQ page provide answers to specific questions about the IJ4EU Fund. If you have questions or if you require additional information before applying, feel free to get in touch with us by emailing [email protected].
The team leading the IJ4EU fund and managing the Publication Support Scheme at the EJC are Kathryn Geels, programme director, Zlatina Siderova, project manager, and Madalina Ciobanu, project manager. | https://medium.com/we-are-the-european-journalism-centre/short-term-grants-of-10-000-available-for-your-cross-border-investigations-3997c12c2704 | ['Madalina Ciobanu'] | 2020-07-22 09:01:44.539000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Funding', 'Investigative Journalism', 'Media', 'Updates'] |
Помогите нам распространить эту новость! | Sign up for The 'Gale
By Nightingale
Keep up with the latest from Nightingale, the journal of the Data Visualization Society Take a look | https://medium.com/nightingale/outlier-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8C%D1%82%D0%B5-%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%BC-%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC-aa3a5efaf130 | ['Natalia Kiseleva'] | 2020-10-21 14:02:00.008000+00:00 | ['Data Visualisation', 'Conference', 'Visual Design', 'Dataviz', 'Outlierconference'] |
The Ultimate Guide To Increasing Traffic on Your Website | The internet is crowded. It seems as though anything and everything has been thought of. Don’t let this discourage you into thinking no one will ever take notice.
People like you and I take to the internet to find solutions to problems or answers to questions. Often times these problems are answered using content available for free. This in return sometimes leads to new customers for businesses on the web who want to utilize a service, buy a product, or simply discover more content.
How these get visitors to your website will forever be a challenge but in time, combined with this handy guide we’ve put together, you will be able to drive visitors to your doorstep whether it’s in person or online. Continue reading to find out how to drive increasing traffic to your website!
1. Have a Blog
The absolute best thing you can do for your website to increase traffic is to have a blog. You may wonder why? Well, a blog if developed correctly produces dynamic content that is always updated. This content gets indexed by search engines on a regular basis because to make this update to your website.
When this indexing takes place people will have more chances of finding your website based on their search on Google or Bing search engines. All of this tied with good SEO and Social Media (which I’ll cover shortly) will be sure to produce an increase in traffic to your website. The key is to be consistent and deliver content on a continuous basis.
Warning: Blogging is a big commitment
Just because you have a blog doesn’t guarantee spikes in traffic. You’ll still need to have quality content that people will want to read or use to find answers to questions and problems they may have. As I press forward in this guide you be sure to combine what I have outlined with your blog/website to achieve the best results.
There is no exact way to go about blogging that yields an exact return on investment. It’s generally a big trial and error-based process of which you learn as you go. Some tactics will work for your readers whereas many will not. Be sure to document what content you get the most feedback from and continue down that path. I could go on all day about how to set up your blog for success but I will save that for another article.
2. Author Quality Content
When writing content for your audience, no matter who it is or what it is about, I can’t stress enough about being as personable as possible in your tone. I was once given some great advice from another blogger who said:
“Write as though you are speaking to your users directly and imagine them sitting right in front of you as your fingers press the keys on your keyboard. Just be yourself.”
Since that day, this advice has helped me sound less like a robot when I put my thoughts down. In return, writing in this style often helps promote higher quality content.
Your knowledge of something is best spread through your own experiences. People would much rather put trust in someone who has experience in something rather than someone who does not, yet still tries to offer advice about it (which is pretty silly).
By having the personable approach established you can now convey your thoughts and experiences on a subject that will help others. This content, if relevant and written well, will provide your readers with the information they need. Often times those people who find their answers/information will tell their friends or colleagues. This ultimately means more visitors to your website!
3. Spend Time On SEO
SEO can be a great way to get people to your website. Since SEO deals strongly with search engines like Google or Bing you will need to optimize your content to allow these engines to find your website easier.
Using specific keywords in your pages as well as meta descriptions usually allow search engines to crawl the page and display it back to the user based on their search.
Example
If a user is searching for a local landscaper they may google “landscaping near me” or something of that nature. Google (or Bing) will then try to find the user’s geographic location if their device is sharing it as well as using the keyword “landscaping” in the search. If you owned a landscaping service and your business was close to the user AND you used specific keywords like “landscaping”, chances are your website would return high in the results list.
Maintaining SEO isn’t as easy as it sounds. It often means doing work behind the scenes so your website is optimized on a page by page basis. This is especially true for blog posts which should receive the same treatment. Over time, using a collection of good keywords along with meta tags, descriptions, and more you can shift your website up in rankings so it will return in high in search results every time.
Google offers a free tool for Keyword planning . With it, you can compare and contrast keywords in your website’s niche. Typically, you will want to avoid the same keywords everyone else makes use of. If you used the same keywords as many other of your competitor’s websites there is a good chance your website won’t make it high on search results.
For more information on SEO check out the following links:
4. Diversify Content Delivery
As I stated earlier, blogging is a crucial step to drive traffic to your website. In many cases, this is enough to gain attention over time. If you wanted to accelerate traffic you may try alternative types of content. This includes video, audio, and online courses or interactive experiences.
Video could include things like:
Vlogs
Webinars
Interviews
Tutorials
Quick Tips
How To Guides
Audio:
Podcasts
FAQ Sessions
Customer Feedback (Verbal Testimonials)
and finally, courses could be anything pertaining to your website or business. If you offer something people want or want to understand why not share the wealth in the form of a course?
5. Socialize
The onset of social media has taken the world by storm. More people are glued to their devices than ever before. Checking their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, SnapChat and more has become a habit-forming task many people fall victim to.
That’s not to say that it’s a bad thing. In fact, for businesses it actually opens up more channels in which they can utilize to broadcast more about what they have to offer.
A tactic we use at Couple of Creatives is to share links to relative articles, websites, and inspiration we love. All of this gets fed using Buffer , which is an app that curates content and shares it with you at specific times you set.
By sharing rich content people enjoy reading users start to better trust your opinions as a business or website. In doing so there’s more potential that they may visit your website and utilize whatever it is you have to offer.
Buffer combined with all of the social media accounts I listed before allows us to broadcast to a large audience and it takes very little effort to do. Be sure to leverage the tools we have available. Buffer is free but there is a pro-rated plan for even more customization.
Don’t forget to Interact with your followers
Broadcasting to your followers on social media isn’t enough to always drive traffic to your own website. A great way to gain better impressions with users is to interact with them. Pick a few out and send them messages saying thanks for following and to see if they have any opinions on the content you share or services you provide. People are often happy to voice their opinions be they good or bad.
Also be sure to post more than just links to other content on your social media accounts. In my experience, people appreciate those that post real thoughts and ideas rather than just only curated content.
6. Develop Anticipation
I’m going to be releasing a new eBook called “Learn User Experience Design”. Here’s a landing page I created for those to subscribe to once the book is complete and ready to launch.
Offering something to your users that aren’t an instant reward is often a good tactic to generate more traffic. It sounds like it shouldn’t work but it does!
Here’s an example:
Say your team, business or you authors an eBook. You could simply write the book and then allow your users to download it when you complete it OR while you are writing the book (and even testing the idea if anyone would want to download it ) you build a simple landing page that displays what you are offering. On this page is a sign-up form that simply captures a name and email (at the very least, an email) .
Using that form you can gain subscribers so at the moment your eBook is complete you already have people interested in what you have to offer to leverage. Those people may even tell their friends and instantly you have a bit of a viral offering which drives visitors to your website very rapidly.
This method works really well if you already have readers, visitors, and subscribers but what if you don’t? Well, there’s no magical solution to sharing what you have to offer but you can find websites, forums, social media and other relative places to share your new landing page for those that might take an interest. You can even choose to run a display ad campaign (more on this shortly) which drives people to you from other websites and applications.
This was only one example of an approach you can take to develop anticipation from your website. Adding the element of time or quantity into the mix often helps as well. If there is a limited number of anything available people will often feel inclined to act fast.
Experiment with different offerings but remember the focus is to make your users anticipate. This often yields repeat visits to your website and may even mean a sale or new client.
7. Solve a Problem
People seek to the web to find out immediate information and solve problems they are facing. If you know how to solve certain problems well you can utilize this knowledge and publicize it on your website. Over time, combined with many of the tactics I’ve listed, you can develop a fairly steady stream of visitors to your website seeking knowledge on that same problem.
8. Optimize Your Website
Optimizing your website isn’t an instant reward but it may allow your site to sit higher on search engine rankings as well as keeping new visitors from “bouncing” before even spending real time on your website.
“Bouncing”, in my own words, means someone found your site but only stayed on it for a few seconds before returning to their search or a previous page, etc…
To avoid “bouncing” you need to optimize your website in such a way that is both engaging as well as fast and easy to use. Paying attention to image sizes, the number of requests that are being made, and where your best content is displayed are vital to keeping users coming back and/or staying for longer periods of time.
Things to think about to better optimize your website include:
Image size — large images take much longer to load especially on mobile devices. Be sure to optimize these in such a way to that benefits the user.
large images take much longer to load especially on mobile devices. Be sure to optimize these in such a way to that benefits the user. Number of Integrations/Requests — Integrated applications (social media apps, newsletter popups, image sliders, etc…) and ads are amazing time savers for you but not your users. Each and every integration often requires extra load times which as a result leads users to “bounce” if they can’t get the information they want fast. The best approach is to be “lean” as possible with integrations.
— Integrated applications (social media apps, newsletter popups, image sliders, etc…) and ads are amazing time savers for you but not your users. Each and every integration often requires extra load times which as a result leads users to “bounce” if they can’t get the information they want fast. The best approach is to be “lean” as possible with integrations. Putting the content forward — Those that find your website come to find out more about you, what you offer, or read the content you may have authored. Make sure they aren’t swayed by useless content before being exposed to what they came to see in the first place.
— Those that find your website come to find out more about you, what you offer, or read the content you may have authored. Make sure they aren’t swayed by useless content before being exposed to what they came to see in the first place. Accessibility — A common issue often overlooked is support for accessibility. People with disabilities need the same information as you do. Websites need to be accessible so those with these disabilities can still experience them in a unified fashion. Don’t ignore this.
— A common issue often overlooked is support for accessibility. People with disabilities need the same information as you do. Websites need to be accessible so those with these disabilities can still experience them in a unified fashion. Don’t ignore this. Responsiveness — People need to visit your website no matter where they are or what device they are using. Providing a responsive experience allows any user to visit your website on their desktop computer and then later on their mobile device while still experiencing the same content. Support for responsiveness now yields better SEO results according to Google .
— People need to visit your website no matter where they are or what device they are using. Providing a responsive experience allows any user to visit your website on their desktop computer and then later on their mobile device while still experiencing the same content. Support for responsiveness now yields better SEO results according to Google . Minification of Code — In the technical realm, minifying your code increases page load speeds. Many plugins are available to help you with this if you use WordPress OR if you have a developer consult with them about this practice. It has become the “norm” for good developers to only ship minified code to production websites. Production meaning “live” websites.
9. Display Related Content
Combined with blogging, displaying related content can allow visitors who have already landed on your website to stay longer. This content creates a “stream” users can potentially follow when trying to find the information they are searching for.
Related content is usually displayed based on how you categorize or “tag” your content. Many content authoring tools support this out of the box. By using these features you can create content that keeps your existing users as well as new users coming back to your website.
10. Be Consistent and Patient
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a successful online business or website. Authoring content on a consistent basis can be a definite challenge but many tools and tactics can help spread your message.
New websites/blogs will have next to zero readers. Don’t let this discourage you. The best thing you can do is to just keep going . Over time, your archive of content will grow. Search engines and users on the web will begin to take notice.
To speed up the process you can utilize the other tactics I’ve written in the article to speed up the process and get your content in front of new readers. Leverage social media, your mailing list, forums, comments, and more to help spread your message but be sure to no bombard your users. You don’t want to piss people off.
11. Link to Previously Authored Content
Linking to content you have authored in the past maintains readership on your website. This tactic essentially keeps a user on your website because you called attention to a relative topic they are already researching. If the user found the information you linked to beneficial they may feel the urge to share it on their own networks thus spreading your message instantly. In return, more visitors find you!
12. Interact With Your Users
You should make publishing articles on your blog or content on your website something your users can interact with. By this, I mean offering some sort of way for them to comment or contact you directly regarding what you shared.
Most blogs are very conversational if the content is good. People like to voice their opinions on topics that they can relate to. If your users decide to comment be sure to reply to these comments. This shows empathy and also denotes that you are human.
Within the comments, you can answer questions, provide feedback, and even link to other articles you wrote that are relative to the discussion at hand. I feel that interacting with your users puts more trust in their perspective of your online presence. That “trust” keeps them loyal to your brand and in return may entice them to promote your website to their own networks. Every little bit helps!
13. Comment on other websites and blogs
Chiming in on other websites often establishes your presence and markets “you”. By being part of the discussion elsewhere you can be perceived as a public “authority” of sorts to other users. The more they see your name the higher you are regarded as a professional on the topic at hand.
Over time you can become a go-to person on the topics or experience you share with the world.
14. Provide Ways To Subscribe
Our newsletter form is accessible no matter where you navigate on our website using our global navigation menu.
Many readers aren’t wild about visiting a website each and every time they want to absorb your content. To help with this you can broadcast on other channels. Channels such as RSS feeds, curated newsletters, and E-mail promotions often yield great results to those who prefer to view content “offline” ( not really offline but not on your website itself ).
Those that subscribe to newsletters or RSS feeds tend to be more loyal visitors. They stay with you and often look forward to your content as it’s published. To these visitors, you can offer promotions, sell to them directly via e-mail, and actually monetize. Awesome!
15. List Your site on Directories, Search Engines, Public Directories
There are many places you can list your website to gain more attention (most of which are free!). We recommend getting started locally (wherever you are located) by using Google Business and Bing Places.
If your entire business is based online you may find it a little odd to list your business locally but trust me it helps!
Aside from locally you can submit to larger sites like Technorati , dmoz , boingboing , and much more to help index your website. This increases your chances of getting noticed but you will still have to do the heavy lifting and create quality content time and time again.
16. Advertise
Advertising often yields great results but you’ll want to weigh the pros and cons of the expenses involved. If you truly need online advertising you’ll want to do it right the first time and allocate a realistic budget for it ( try not to cheap out ) . I would recommend using a combination of services like Google AdWords , Facebook Ads , Twitter Ads , and much more.
These ad networks discover what users around the web have been up to and display relevant ads to them across many websites. In return, your websites brand and offering gets a lot of exposure. The hope is that the ads provide a quick call to action to your website driving more visitors.
You don’t have to advertise using these ad networks. If for example, you follow a larger website that relates to your own you can often contact them directly about advertising on their website in some fashion. Doing this is lucrative as it limits you to that specific site, but if the content is similar you can bet more users will find you.
17. Offline Promotion
All of our print based collateral has our website’s URL so anyone interested can find us online!
Even though your business or blog may be online that doesn’t mean you can’t drive visitors to it offline. Business cards, stickers, posters, press releases, direct marketing, etc… are all ways of driving offline users online. Try to be diverse and cover a lot of territory with your website URL. If your message/content on these offline forms of promotion is enticing people will likely visit your website to see what you have to offer.
18. Develop Catchy Titles
There’s no guarantee any visitor will read the content you write ( especially if it’s formatted poorly ). To capture interest you need to be creative with how you title your content. Typically, users will scan a website until something piques their interest. If you optimize your content to be compelling enough for them to want to read more, there will be much greater conversion rates.
Catchy titles are also great to leverage on social media. Many titles persuade users to click a link to your website to find out more.
Beware of “click bait”
While catchy titles are often advised, many writers/authors abuse this privilege and use what is known as “click bait” titles on their articles. This is essentially content that really doesn’t support the title at all but rather is only published to get visitors and ratings. Avoid this at all costs. It may get visitors to your website but it definitely will keep them from coming back.
19. Formatting Matters
The way you author your content needs to be easily readable. Your users have next to zero attention spans when on a website so the content you author needs to be easily scannable.
Below are some tips we use when authoring content at Couple of Creatives
Use headings for new sections of content so the user knows what it entails
Break up large sections of text into smaller more scannable blocks
Call out quotes or special sections that require more attention
Make sure the typography is clear, easy to read, and not too small.
Use wide margins to promote better readability.
Use images to support content but **DON’T** use images just because.
Limit most content in length. Again your users won’t have the attention span so it’s best to summarize where possible. Most of our blog posts are around 1,000 words in length but that’s not to say that some can be much shorter or longer. It’s often good to vary length we’ve come to find.
Lead users to more of your content whether by linking to it directly or displaying related content following a blog post for example.
Have clear call to actions. If you have visitors on your website there’s probably a reason you want them there. If you want them to contact you, for example, make it easy by giving them the option to right within the content.
20. Display F.A.Q.’s front and center
If you find you are getting a lot of the same types of questions about your product, service, or online business take advantage of the opportunity to publish these frequently asked questions on your website.
The reason to do this is two-fold. You will answer questions many visitors will already have and also save time by not having to answer each and every user’s question directly.
We published our own FAQ section on our contact page to give visitors who may be interested in partnering with us a chance to clear up any misconceptions or questions they have about us from the start. This is a great filter for us as sometimes new prospects just aren’t a great fit and by displaying a FAQ section we can not waste both our time and theirs. | https://medium.com/couple-of-creatives/the-ultimate-guide-to-increasing-traffic-on-your-website-1f2a451aa2bb | ['Andy Leverenz'] | 2016-08-16 20:54:00.105000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Content Marketing', 'SEO', 'How To', 'Social Media'] |
RISE Core 1.1.1 — Mainnet | We are thrilled to announce that RISE core version 1.1.1 is now available for download.
RISE 1.1.1 required 278 commits, 265 file changes, more than 23k lines added along with 11k removed. You can see the full changelog here.
The collection of all the improvements made since 1.0.0 results in a much higher transaction per second throughput. Benchmarks shows that the new RISE core is capable of handling up to 1000 transactions per second* with a i7–7700 CPU. To compare, Ethereum can only process 15 TPs and Bitcoin can only process 7 TPs due to block size limit 1MB.
Considering the current amount of transactions per day in RISE mainnet we decided to not “stretch” the current block size limit in 1.1.1.
The TPS indicator should be particularly meaningful for future sidechain operators that requires such high amount of Transactions Per Second.
The new update will have the following improvements, including but not limited to:
Atomic block processing
Peer banning — Delegates are now more motivated to keep their node online
Lightweight block and transaction processing
In memory block transaction validation
Node upgrade from v6 to v8
Typescript upgrade from 2.6 to 2.8
PostGres upgrade from 9.6 to 10.4
Database level constraints
Migration from pg-promise to sequelize
Restored topAccounts API
Restored PUT transactions API
For a more in-depth technical update on what’s new in RISE core 1.1.1 and how we achieved it please read this post.
How to update your RISE node to 1.1.1
If you are running a RISE node this release requires some extra attention when updating. We have crafted a script that should ease the process.
Please note that the update might take up to 5 minutes. Do not halt the update script!
To update, login your VPS and head over the home directory. Then issue the following commands:
After the update script finishes a further database upgrade will kick in. You can check your node status by running ./manager.sh status inside the rise folder.
How to install RISE 1.1.1 on a new server
Installing a new 1.1.1 node is easy. After setting up your server with all the requirements (here ia guide), just issue the following command:
bash install.sh install -r mainnet wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RiseVision/rise-build/master/scripts/install.sh bash install.sh install -r mainnet
This will install the latest RISE node version.
To conclude, if you liked the content of this post please consider starring the RISE repositories in Github to follow further developments.
If you are a developer head over our Slack to get in touch with us and share your thoughts on RISE.
Please join our Slack for further development discussions. | https://medium.com/rise-vision/rise-core-1-1-1-mainnet-8b8842b2fa64 | ['Andrea Baccega'] | 2018-08-09 09:15:13.585000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Postgres', 'Nodejs', 'JavaScript', 'Typescript'] |
Digit Insurance, Making Insurance Simple by reimagining products and processes | Digit Insurance has raised $45M in total. We talked with Kamesh Goyal, its founder.
How would you describe Digit Insurance in a single tweet?
Digit Insurance is ‘Making Insurance Simple’ by reimagining products & processes. 4.5 million policies, $300 m in premium in <2 years show we are on good track #GoDigit #DigitSimplifies
How did it all start and why?
Over the years, insurance got entangled with loads of terms & conditions, some hidden and some that could only be understood by lawyers. This happened, because the system was geared towards avoiding frauds more than protecting genuine customers. Result? An industry that people don’t trust, a system that is complicated and jargonized. This is exactly what Digit set out to challenge, to bring back insurance in its real meaning, to ‘Make insurance, simple’. Basis this mission of simplicity, we reimagined the way we looked our products, processes and documents.
We made products keeping in mind ourselves, what we can even sell to our moms. For example, our travel delay product starting from just 75 minutes in comparison to the industry’s 6 hours product, which is used rarely by any traveller.
We made processes, keeping in mind genuine customers and not frauds. No submission of claim forms, long processes and multiple checks. Which is why we launched a Smartphone-enabled Self-inspection App for motor claims instead of Manual Inspection. Bringing down inspection time from 7 days to 7 minutes, thus reducing claims turnaround times (TATs). Same process for mobile leading to industry best TAT for claims.
We also created documents that are written in plain simple English instead of jargons. Rather along with the longer terms and conditions, we send people a 2–3 pager Summary document that has all the coverages and exclusions, what to do at time of claim mentioned clearly. And these documents are checked by no other than 15-year old kids for simplicity. When customer calls for anything our SLA is to answer call in 20 seconds, no IVR or bots.
What have you achieved so far?
This refreshingly new way of looking at insurance, this simple way, has earned us the trust of 4.5 million customers and 2.5% Market Share in the Motor Segment, all this in less than 2 years of operation, making us one of the fastest growing insurance companies in the world.
Also made us the only insurance company, with an NPS (Net Promoter Score) of 73% which for the industry is around 18%.
And making it till here has been a team effort. Each of our employee has sworn to the mission of simplicity. And all Digit employees are eligible for ESOPs, making us the only insurance company to do so in India (don’t know about countries). And this reflects in our employee satisfaction score is 4.2 out of 5 as per last survey done in March.
From a business pov, in first full year we did $173 million and this year will cross $300 million with Combined Ratio of 114%.
What do you plan to achieve in the next 2–3 years?
We will be continuing our journey to ‘simplify insurance’ by launching more innovative product offerings. We have just launched health insurance with customized plans for different people, making sure that this relevancy will increase the penetration of health insurance in India. We will continue to use technology to simplify processes, including furthering our AI (Artificial Intelligence) usage to fasten processes esp. during motor claims, use of Video Claims etc… From a business pov, we hope to break even by our third year of operations. We will also be looking at expanding our partner (dealer, agent, broker, banks, NBFCs, web aggregators) network and will be tying up with key strategic partners in sectors like NBFCs therefore making sure we reach out to Indians who are yet not under the fold of insurance, example the large market of Indian SMEs. | https://medium.com/petacrunch/digit-insurance-making-insurance-simple-by-reimagining-products-and-processes-bb9492b7c2a6 | ['Kevin Hart'] | 2019-10-03 13:30:18.111000+00:00 | ['India', 'Startup', 'Insurance', 'Startup Lessons', 'Insurtech'] |
25 Useful Thinking Tools | Most people think being smart is about having more facts. Trivia-shows like Jeopardy! epitomize this view of knowledge. The smartest people are the people with the most names, dates and places stored away inside their mind.
This is probably the least important and useful part of learning though. Instead of facts, I’d prefer to focus on knowledge that acts as tools. The more you have, the more ways you can approach different problems.
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-time investing partner at Berkshire Hathaway, calls these mental models. More mental models means you have more ways to solve more problems.
This is a topic that has been discussed a lot before, but I’d like to take a different angle at it.
Professions as Thinking Toolkits
Most people define professions by what those professions do. Engineers build things. Economists study money. Psychologists look into people’s minds.
However, while this is an obvious distinction, I’m more interested not in what types of problems professions try to solve, but how they try to solve them. Here, we can uncover a wealth of different thinking tools that are often abstract enough to apply well outside the typical interest of the profession.
Consider economics. Although most people view this as a study of money, it is more like a way of thinking about the world. Hence we have books like Freakonomics which apply the thinking tools of economics to all sorts of scenarios that have nothing to do with money.
Twenty-Five Thinking Tools
Below are twenty-five tools, I’ve abstracted from the profession I feel exemplifies them best.
Reader’s note: These are not intended to be full descriptions of every tool used by that profession. That would be silly. Instead, I wanted to pluck one tool which seemed unique and abstract enough to share with others. These aren’t meant to reduce the full complexity of a profession down to a single tool, so don’t take it as such.
1. Artist: What if Creativity Were the Priority?
Most other professions are full of constraints upon one’s ideas. They need to be monetizeable, mathematical, under budget and within specifications. Artists operate in a realm where most of these constraints are reduced, so the bigger question is, “Why is this unique and interesting?”
This, however, is a useful thinking tool to apply to many other concerns. Often the best companies produce things that look like art. They are driven by uniqueness and creativity, rather than blandly filling out a list of specs.
How would your work change if you made novelty the biggest priority? How could your goals and projects be different if coolness, interestingness or refinement of an original idea were your priority?
2. Economist: How Do People React to Incentives?
There are many thinking tools native to economics, but a foundational one is simple. People respond to incentives.
Tyler Cowen, economist, delivers this best, explaining that a key element of economic reasoning is that by changing a system involving people, the people do not stay in place. Instead, they respond to the new incentives accordingly.
Almost any action you’ll take alters the perceptions of incentives by other people you deal with. The economist in you should ask yourself, “if I change this, how will people react?”
3. Engineer: Can I Model This and Calculate?
Engineering, being built off of the hard sciences, has some of the most precise and accurate estimates in any profession. While your financial advisor can only throw darts at picking which stocks will rise, and a psychologist can only give hints at what people will do, engineers routinely create things which don’t currently exist and need to work 100% of the time.
The essence of doing this is to create a model of what you’re trying to work with, measure the relevant variables, and know to what degree of error you can expect in those measurements. From there, you can actually know what will happen, instead of just guessing.
My team and I applied this recently to a problem we had involving predicting our sales. We decided to make a model of sales numbers based on how long people had subscribed and how often they had been offered a chance to sign up. From there, we will be able to make much better estimates of our sales, whereas our guesses before would often be wildly off the mark.
4. Entrepreneur: Do a Lot of Things; See What Works
Entrepreneurs often have too little money, resources, support or time. Yet they need to scramble together a solution that will somehow make money. They can do this by adopting a set of thinking tools that is often rare for normal professionals.
One major tool is rapid prototyping. Many people see this as a product development strategy. You make something that just barely works to see if anyone wants it. But in reality, it’s an abstract thinking tool that applies to a lot more than product R&D.
The essence of this thinking tool is that you go out and try a bunch of things, without waiting around for a perfect answer. It also requires listening carefully for feedback, so you can get hints as to what to do next. Speed and volume make up for making decisions in a noisy environment full of uncertainty.
Sometimes the right way to solve a problem is simply to do a lot of things and see what works!
5. Doctor: What’s the Diagnosis?
Doctors meet patients who have an array of symptoms, some of which they probably aren’t telling you (or can’t). From there, you need to act like a detective to deduce the most likely disease and create a plan to cure it. During this, a wrong move might kill your patient, so you have to choose wisely.
A good thinking tool from medicine is the idea of using symptoms to deduce a disease, and comparing with base rates to make highly-accurate decisions.
While this applies to medicine, there’s a lot of places where diagnosis is important. Your car is making a funny noise. Your computer doesn’t work. Your business has stopped making money.
The first thing to do is see what all the possible causes could be. This requires study and knowledge. Next, you need to rule out as many as possible based on the symptoms you observe. Finally, of the options that are left, which are rare afflictions and which are fairly common? Knowing this can help you settle on a most likely diagnosis.
6. Journalist: Just the Facts
Journalists rely on a ton of different thinking tools which allow them to write compelling stories that report the news fairly and accurately.
One of these thinking tools is fact-checking. Because journalists often need to interview sources who may be misleading (or even hostile), it’s important to corroborate what was said from independent sources. Fact-checking may be time consuming, but it results in a much more accurate world-view than simply blindly following a stray comment.
How would your life looked if you dug around to check the veracity of key pieces of information you’re depending on to make decisions? Imagine if you had to report what you know in the New York Times. Would it need to be retracted later?
7. Scientist: Make a Hypothesis and Test It
Scientists discover truths about the world. To do this, they need thinking tools.
A basic thinking tool of science is the controlled experiment. Keep all the variables the same, except the one you want to test, and see what happens. This requires meticulous preparation and design to prevent outside contamination from breaking your results.
Too many people draw inferences from “experiments” that are anything but. They have many conflicting variables that make drawing conclusions about their experiences much more difficult. What if you approached your diets like a scientist? Your working routines? Would you still believe them after?
How many of your beliefs about work and life withstand such scrutiny? Undergo such testing? Maybe you could benefit from a little more scientific thinking tools in your life.
8. Mathematician: You Don’t Know Until You Can Prove It
The thinking tools of a mathematician depend on having a much higher standard of what constitutes a proof of something. While an engineer may tolerate precision within some bounds, and an entrepreneur may be satisfied with a hunch, a mathematician’s statements must be irrefutable or they don’t count.
One way you can see this thinking tool influence non-mathematical domains is in an adjacent field such as programming. During my MIT Challenge, I heard lecturers talk about the MIT style of programming versus the one originating out of Bell Labs. MIT, which was more mathematical and academic, tended to be more rigorous in proving its programs worked, while Bell Labs was often happy with an algorithm which seemed to do the job, even if they couldn’t guarantee it.
Mathematical thinking tools help you be more rigorous, and spot mistakes which may turn out to be relevant.
9. Programmer: What’s the Pattern I Can Automate?
Programming encompasses a lot of thinking tools, but the most basic one is the algorithm. Algorithms are a set of steps that can be defined precisely, so that they require no intelligence to perform each one, yet the net result is a useful product.
A useful application of this is to look at the things you do and see which could be automated, simplified or refactored. Programmers can spot repeated code and try to abstract out the essence of what is redundant into something that can do what you need automatically.
Beyond just being able to write code yourself, you can think more like a programmer in many other domains of life. What things do you repeat often in your work which could be automated? What ambiguous process could you convert into a foolproof set of steps?
10. Architect: Envisioning the Future
Architects need to design buildings. These are large structures which may take years to build, and nonetheless meet all the criteria of clients, contractors, city planners and building codes. Oh, and they should also be beautiful.
To do this, architects need a suite of thinking tools (and software) to take an idea, and envision what it will be like, exactly, on a large scale, after millions of dollars have been spent. One of those tools is simply making a model.
Making a scaled down version of the thing you want to create, so you can see how it looks, and then envisioning how it will be on a larger version is difficult, but it often lets you see how reality will be before it’s too late to change it.
11. Salesperson: Understand Their Minds Better than They Do
Selling often gets a bad rap. People think it’s all about trickery and deceit as you try to manipulating someone into buying something they probably shouldn’t.
Although this is the stereotype, the actual reality is rarely like this. Instead, salespeople work to deeply understand what the customer actually needs, and then match them with products and services that fill that void. This is incredibly hard to do, as you may recognize that you have the solution to a customer’s problem, before they do.
A key thinking tool for success in this profession is to be able to infer what people’s worries and needs are by their (often contradictory behavior). What language do they use? How do their actions differ from their stated intentions? What can you infer about this?
This is a tool you can apply far beyond making an extra commission. What does your spouse really want, rather than what they’re telling you? What about your friends? Your boss?
12. Soldier: Routine and Discipline Prevent Deadly Mistakes
The discipline embodied by military personnel is a very useful thinking tool, even outside of combat situations. Discipline and routine become a safeguard against careless mistakes which could cost lives. By demanding conformity to those protocols, even when there is no danger, there is much less room for slip-ups.
Making your bed every morning may not prevent casualties, but if you can follow that procedure perfectly, you’ll also be more likely to follow the ones that may save your life. This kind of discipline is also present in another live-endangering field: medicine. The Checklist Manifesto takes this idea of military routine and applies it to mundane things like hand-washing, which save lives by avoiding infection.
Once you know the best way to do something, do it precisely and exactly, without sloppiness or somebody might get hurt.
13. Chess Master: See The Moves In Your Mind’s Eye
Chess has long been considered a game to improve one’s thinking. While it’s doubtful that years of chess study will necessarily make you smarter, there are plenty of thinking tools which can be mined from the game.
One is the ability to simulate the game in your mind’s eye. A common trick of grandmasters is playing blindfolded games. While this amazes spectators, it actually reinforces a useful practice — being able to see the game in your head, so you can calculate future moves your opponent makes.
This is often helpful in other domains outside of chess. Trying to visualize what might happen, and then compare that prediction to reality. This can hone your simulation abilities, so when you’re in a tight spot you’ll be able to predict what happens next.
14. Designer: The Things You Make Communicate For You
One of my favorite books is The Design of Everyday Things. While this book is meant for designers, it is really a book of thinking tools designers should cultivate. As such, it’s something you can pick up and read even if you’ve never made anything in your life.
A useful tool here is how something is made suggests how to use it. A well-designed door handle suggests push or pull, without needing to say it. A well-designed light switch should already tell you which rooms will be illuminated when you flip it.
What if you designed your speeches so that they automatically caused the audience to shift their thinking where you need them to go? What if you designed your habits so that you automatically applied them? The scope of this thinking tool is really quite broad.
15. Teacher: Can You See What it is Like Not to Know Something Obvious?
How do you create knowledge inside someone else’s mind? How can you give them abilities they didn’t have before?
Most of us take for granted how amazing teaching actually is, and our own ability to learn from it. To be effective, teachers need to have a model of how their pupils minds see the world, as well as a game plan for changing it.
To succeed in most professions, you need to be able to make other people see the problems as you do. This involves identifying what knowledge they lack and saying the right things to get them where you are now. While this is an obvious skill for teachers, it also benefits programmers trying to explain their code, doctors trying to articulate the reasons for a medical procedure or a leader who wants employees to follow a vision.
16. Anthropologist: Can You Immerse and Join Another Culture?
Anthropology is the study of cultures. Unlike economics, which tends to focus on mathematical models, or psychology, which tends to do a lot of careful experiments, anthropologists learn about cultures by actually immersing in them.
How could you immerse yourself in groups to which you don’t belong? Groups of different nationalities or languages? Politics or professions? Hobbies, sports, religions or philosophies? How could you learn how those groups of people function, have them accept you as you live alongside them?
17. Psychologist: Test Your Understanding of Other People
Psychology has different thinking tools embedded both in its assumptions about human nature, as well as in its methods for discovering it.
On the subject of psychology itself, there are countless tools. Cognitive biases, models of attention, morality, preferences, instincts, memory and more. Dozens of books could be written on how to think better about other people by using these tools and there have been.
Interestingly, psychology is also a profession with its own set of tools for discovering psychology. Like all scientists, this involves creating experiments where you can control all but the variable you want to study. Unlike other scientists, however, your object of study are human beings, which means you often can’t let them know what you’re trying to adjust.
18. Critic: Can You Build on The Work of Others?
Many critics go beyond telling you which books to read and which movies to watch. They build analysis, interpretation and discussion that go well beyond the original work.
The thinking tools involved are quite important, even for people who don’t analyze literature for a living. For starters, there is the ability to pay quite close attention to creative works. Experiencing something much more deeply than just a shallow consumer. Second, there’s the tool of being able to connect that knowledge to a web of other issues and ideas. This builds on an original creation to add more insight and ideas than were there originally.
19. Philosopher: What are the Unexpected Consequences of an Intuition?
Philosophers, at least the analytical kind, tend to have a similar style and toolkit as mathematicians, except often in dealing with things that are based in words that are imprecise. As a result, there’s a lot of useful thinking tools for dealing with things that can’t be reduced to numbers.
One powerful tool is being able to see the unexpected consequences of stretching an idea to its limits. This has two benefits. First, it can reveal flaws in the original idea, by reductio ad absurdum. Second, this can help you recognize the fundamental principles behind your vague intuitions of things. By exposing your ideas to stronger, hypothetical critiques, you can see what the real mechanisms by which they work.
20. Accountant: Watch the Ratios
Money is the blood of a business. Accounting is the work that watches how it flows around, checking to make sure it isn’t getting clogged up.
There’s a number of useful thinking tools from accounting that allow the diagnosis of problems which are hidden on the surface. One of these is the idea of ratio analysis. Ratios are a fraction with a numerator and denominator of two different measurements inside a business. Leverage ratio, for instance, is the debt the company owes to the equity put in by the owners. Get too high, and there’s a greater risk of default. Price-earnings ratio tells you how expensive stock is based on its profits.
This kind of analysis (and many others from accounting) is useful to non-accounting domains. In healthy, BMI is a kind of fancy ratio analysis, in this case it’s your weight compared to your height squared. But you could also imagine tracking many other numbers and their ratios: output per hours worked, bugs per lines of code, dates per hours spent on online dating.
Organizing the data, keeping track of the details and seeing the patterns beneath the surface are all accounting tools you can exploit outside of a spreadsheet.
21. Politician: What Will People Believe?
Politics offers its own set of tools. A major difference between politics and business is that while both are aimed at achieving some kind of objective in the world — the former depends highly on the impression of voters. A business can simply work, whereas a politician may do a great job, and still get kicked out because of bad PR.
Therefore the thinking tools possessed by politicians are about calculating not only the effect of some action, but also on how that action will be perceived. Both by the voting populace, and one’s allies and enemies.
The thinking tools here mean that sometimes the right decision isn’t possible, simply because other people won’t see it as such, and you don’t have the power to convince them. This may be frustrating, but it applies to many parts of reality we’d rather it didn’t.
22. Novelist: Does Your Story Make Sense?
Many people see stories as the linguistic embodiment of history. We take what actually happened and weave it into some words so others can see it for themselves.
Novelists understand better than anyone that what actually happens is often not a good story. Stories have characters with fixed traits that make their actions predictable. In real life, people are more influenced by context. Stories have beginnings, middles and ends. Reality is a continuous stream of events without an arc.
Unfortunately, people understand stories much better than realities. So often you need to package up the histories you want to tell people in a way that they can interpret. Who is involved? When did those things happen? Give information to make it easier for the listener to follow.
While this applies to writing novels or making movies, telling stories is a part of everyone’s life. From “Why do you want to work at this job,” to, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” These are all stories, and we need to understand their structures.
23. Actor: The Best Way to Pretend is to Be Real
A popular thinking tool for acting is called method acting. This technique involves trying to actually feel the emotions of the character you’re portraying, rather than just faking it.
This may seem to be a contradiction: how can you feel something you know is fake? However, this belies how powerful the imagination is to conjure up situations to create empathy. Past struggles can stand in place for the struggles of the role you play. Fear, happiness, confidence and passion all look better when you’re really experiencing it.
Which also suggests a powerful thinking tool, although this one is more affective than cognitive: changing your emotional state to get the results you want. Feeling insecure, but know you need confidence? Why can’t you summon that up in yourself as if you’re playing a part? But don’t fake it–feel it.
24. Plumber: Take it Apart and See What’s Broken
Tradespeople don’t get enough credit for having unique problem solving tools and strategies. Many academic and intellectual types would never consider a career in plumbing, carpentry or electrical work. Yet those professions often out-earn those with a college degree, and for good reason: they are hard skills which are in-demand.
The essence of plumbing, just like many other trades, is to get your hands dirty and take something apart to see what’s broken. To do this, you need a model of what’s in there — otherwise you might get water spilling everywhere or a dangerous shock. But you also need to take things apart to understand them.
How many of us avoid understanding things because we’re afraid to get our hands dirty? We don’t want to risk breaking something, so we never really understand how it works?
25. Hacker: What’s Really Going on Underneath?
Hacking is one of the most commonly misunderstood skills. Television shows portray it as a kind of computer magic, with flying cubes and firewall health bars which go down to zero.
In practice, however, hacking is mostly about understanding that there is often a more complicated layer of instructions which a simpler layer is built on top. Computer sit in hierarchies, so each level of abstraction simplifies and reduces the layer below to make it easier to understand. However, sometimes this can allow you to do things which look impossible to a higher level, but are an unintended feature of how the lower level works.
One example of this is a memory overflow exploit. Many programs work on a higher level whereby memory is accessed in restricted silos. Ask for something outside of memory and you’ll get an error. However, in practice, the memory all sits on a big line, with memory for different things next to each other. If you can write memory “outside of the bounds” you can get the computer to do things you’d naively expect were impossible.
Consider this glitch in a Mario game whereby a series of inputs write code to an unintended section of the game, allowing you to win by inputting a strange sequence of actions:
This thinking tool works for computers, but also other areas of life. Remember: everything you see is usually a simplification of a deeper reality. Which can mean that the underlying system may be broken in a way you wouldn’t naively expect.
Final Thoughts on Thinking Tools
These are just summaries of a key tool from different professions. In reality, however, there are dozens, if not hundreds of thinking tools for each domain of skill. Not just professions, but hobbies, subjects and general life skills also develop thinking tools.
The problem is that people often have a difficult time recognizing the skill and abstracting it away from where it was generated. This is a problem of far transfer, and it’s not easy to resolve.
However, if you can state what the pattern is, you can start to see how you could apply it elsewhere. Most of these tools won’t work best in domains far outside their starting zones. A novelist trying to use storytelling to diagnose medical problems will be in big trouble. But often we get so stuck using our favorite tools that we don’t even consider which ones could apply. Creative solutions require divergent thinking, causing us to think of one tool when we need others.
Creative Work Requires Diverse Thinking Tools
A classic experiment shows the need for tools like these. Subjects were asked to use a box of tacks to affix a candle to the wall. The solution was to use the box as a base — trying to apply tacks directly to the candle only made a mess. This is hard because we think of the box as a container for the tools, not a tool in and of itself.
Similarly, many of these tools may allow for creative solutions to problems you might not have considered. For instance:
If you’re an entrepreneur, what would your business look like if you approached it like an artist, or a teacher, or a novelist?
If you’re a programmer, how would your code improve if you took the tools of a salesperson or accountant?
If you’re a journalist, what would change about your pieces if acted like a scientist, economist or plumber?
Not every combination will be useful, but many might just give you the solution that will lead to a breakthrough. | https://medium.com/swlh/25-useful-thinking-tools-69b3307f0c89 | ['Scott H. Young'] | 2019-09-10 06:10:07.777000+00:00 | ['Professional', 'Learning', 'Productivity', 'Thinking', 'Career Advice'] |
React Libraries You’ll Want to Check Out for Your Next Project | As someone looking to create beautiful, responsive, web applications with react it can be a little daunting trying to decide what libraries to pick when you are planning out your project. There are so many & picking out the libraries that best fit your project idea can be pretty difficult. This is why I decided to create a list of react libraries that are worth checking out.
Libraries For Styling
Styling libraries can save hours of time for developers who are not worried about having completely custom components on their site. In fact even for developers that do want custom components, many libraries (including all the libraries I have in this list) provide a lot of options for customizing their components.
This library provides a ton of styling choices & themes that developers can choose from to help build beautiful applications. The library’s main features are its themes. Themes allow the developer to easily specify the color of the components, darkness of the surfaces, level of shadow, appropriate opacity of ink elements, etc. They offer plenty of free themes however have an even larger supply of themes available for purchase. Material UI’s documentation makes it very easy to implement into your react app because they give very clear examples using react hooks on how to use the library on your app.
2. AntDesign:
Much like material-ui, ant design provides stylized react components that allow you to customize the components to your liking. The library’s documentation provides categories of components that you can add to your project. The documentation is very easy to understand & is organized in a way for you to easily find the components you would like to use in your project. Ant has less options available than material-ui does however, there are some benefits. All components on AntDesign are free & they provide instructions on how to use these third party libraries that you may need in your application.
3. Tailwind-UI:
Tailwind UI is a bit different than other styling libraries in a couple of ways. The first difference is in how they make many of their components. Many of the components on tailwind are designed for specific large scale uses, for instance they have specific components built out for entire pricing sections on a web page or a blog sections on a web page. This is different than other libraries because most other libraries focus on smaller scale, more customizable components like a card component that you can use for what you want. Having large scale components that can be used for entire pages is nice because not only does it save the developer time but Tailwind makes sure that these larger components are beautifully put together. The downside to this is that you will need to customize your own smaller components, however tailwind does also provide some smaller components.
Libraries For DataCharts
I believe all react developers who want to work with data visualization often should have a basic understanding of D3, however there are many libraries that can do a lot of the work for you & save you a lot of time trying to understand what is happening on a low level with data charts. It’s worth noting that having a strong understanding for D3 will give you the best options for data visualization & the libraries in this list will not be as powerful as D3, but will provide an easier to understand options.
Nivo provides hundreds of data visuals with customization options. This is a great option that allows developers to create beautiful charts to represent their data. On top of this nivo is known to render its visuals much faster than other data visual libraries. However, in terms of popularity, Nivo is actually quite low compared to other libraries in terms of downloads. This could be due to a lot of factors but the most obvious reason is that, like D3, there is a large learning curve involved with using this library. But when you look at reviews for developers who have used nivo, it is one of the highest rated because of its customization and fantastic visuals.
2. Victory:
Much like Nivo, victory provides robust, flexible charts. Victory is much more popular than Nivo & provides many of the same services with easier to understand documentation. This is a great option to provide great data visuals with a bit smaller of a learning curve.
3. Recharts:
Lastly, we have Recharts. Recharts is one of the most popular data visualization libraries for react & is vastly more popular than both Nivo & Victory. It provides well put together charts that are also fairly easy to understand & implement. This is a phenomenal library to use if you want easy to understand documentation & fewer issues trying to get the charts working the way you intend. The biggest downsides to recharts are obviously the customization & performance. While the learning curve is much lower, it is not as powerful or customizable as Nivo or Victory. | https://medium.com/swlh/react-libraries-youll-want-to-check-out-for-your-next-project-d7180edd40e8 | ['Kevin Sheehan'] | 2020-11-17 20:22:47.187000+00:00 | ['React', 'Data Visualization', 'Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Web Development'] |
“5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a VP” with Sanja Kon, of UTRUST | Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I worked for over 10 years in the e-commerce and fintech industry before I joined the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. I’ve always been interested in digital innovation, the trading economy, and how technology can impact our lives. At eBay, I held multiple international roles, including heading up the European Partnerships strategy, and forming key relationships with the world’s leading e-commerce companies. I guided cross-functional teams at PayPal, with the aim of providing the best-in-class online payment experience to e-commerce platforms.
It was at that specific time at PayPal that I realized online payments were not keeping up with the pace of innovation within e-commerce. Merchants are charged high fees, especially if they sell a lot overseas, and moving money across the globe is never an easy task.
That’s why I decided to leave my corporate career and pursue the mission of modernizing the payments landscape and bringing cryptocurrencies and blockchain payments to mass adoption. I’m now the VP of Global Partnerships at UTRUST, the leading cryptocurrency payment solution, designed to solve the problems of traditional payment methods by offering instant transactions, buyer protection and immediate crypto to cash settlements.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your leadership role in your company?
It’s great to see how things move so fast in this market. When I joined UTRUST a year ago, people were still reluctant when it came to cryptocurrencies as a payment method. Many of my previous colleagues questioned whether I was making the right decision, moving into a market that lacked clear, immediate demand. Today, almost a year later, the same people are reaching out to me as they’re interested in learning more about how to use crypto to pay for goods and services.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I attended a conference during the first few weeks in my new role. We had a booth at the conference and many merchants were approaching me to ask questions. It was a bit overwhelming as there was a crowd of people were waiting in line who had a lot of questions for us. I got asked something I wasn’t really sure about, but I decided to respond anyway as I felt I needed to provide an answer immediately. The answer wasn’t completely correct in the end and I only gave the merchant a partial overview in response to his question. Lesson Learned: if you’re not sure, ask someone who knows and come back to them afterwards. It is always better to give the correct answer a few days later, than a half-formed one straight away.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. What is it about the position of VP that most attracted you to it?
Rather than the job title, I’ve always favored working for projects that I’m really passionate about, projects with a strong team behind them and where I can make a difference.
At UTRUST, I was immediately impressed by the founders, their passion for innovation and their vision for the company. With my skills and background, I knew I would be able to make a strong contribution to the team and the future development of the company.
Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a VP does. But in just a few words can you explain what a VP does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?
I think the role of a VP can vary according to the industry and the type of company. In a startup environment, every member of the team needs to have a proactive and open-minded approach. Roles are not 100% defined and we need to be agile and flexible in adjusting to the market; the same applies for a VP.
I may be the one speaking at conferences and forming key partnerships, but I’m also heavily involved in the definition of the processes and day to day tasks.
What is the one thing that you enjoy most about being a VP?
The opportunity to drive the culture of the company and make a direct impact on our go to market and strategy.
What are the downsides of being a VP?
The more you grow in a role, the more responsibilities you have and the more the company and the team will rely on you for direction and guidance. I don’t see any downsides to this, just an opportunity to make a bigger impact!
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a VP. Can you explain what you mean?
The biggest “myth” about senior positions in a company is that VPs and C-levels are not doing any operational work, but just work on the “interesting” areas. A good executive will always manage the operational tasks as well in order to be efficient in his/her work.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
In some countries more than others, there is still a culture which is not oriented towards inclusion. I would say the main challenge still remains in fighting gender stereotypes. Equal pay also remains a sensitive topic as women continue to earn less than men overall.
Certainly, not everyone is cut out to be an executive. In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive?
It all comes down to the ability to lead, to be an effective leader. A leader needs to be accountable for their actions, but also has to be able to take big decisions when no one else does.
Sometimes this means making important decisions without necessarily having all the information available, therefore taking risks. Also, an executive is someone who will lead with integrity and who will look after the overall benefit of the company and the team, not their own personal gains.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Don’t be afraid to lead with your feminine energy: sometimes women think they need to be someone else to lead effectively when in fact, generally speaking, there are specific traits of feminine leadership that define successful leaders: the ability to listen, have empathy and compassion.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I was lucky enough to have many great managers during my corporate career. In particular, when I started my role as Head of European Partnerships at eBay, I needed to develop an infrastructure from scratch, as the program was basically non-existent for the European markets in my portfolio. My manager at that time told me something I’ll never forget: “don’t be afraid to think big, even if no one else can see it yet”. Instead of focusing on copy pasting the program from more advanced countries such as the US or Canada, I built an entire new program for my countries’ portfolio, with completely new goals, metrics and infrastructure.
Pete, my manager, wanted me to dream big and fight my battles, He showed me the importance of confidence and perseverance, but, most importantly, he believed in me and trusted in my abilities 100%.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I lead by example.
I always treat people the way I’d like to be treated.
I listen before I speak.
My main goal is always to serve the team, not to gain any personal benefit.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
The main one is definitely to “Never let anyone undermine your ambition”. When I was younger and starting out in my corporate career, I had a few managers and colleagues telling me that I was too ambitious and I could not accomplish what I wanted, because I needed to wait until I was older and had gained more experience. With time, I understood that age is not an indicator of professional ability, but rather skills, determination and perseverance are. You are never too young or too old to dream big. Also, I wish someone had told me when I was younger that the higher the number of hours you work doesn’t necessarily translate into a better outcome. I used to work until 10:00 p.m. for many years, trying to conform to the corporate culture. When I joined the UK team, I had more of a work-life balance and more efficient working hours, and I was actually able to perform better.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I’d like every leader and person of influence in a company to dedicate a portion of their time to self development. I’m a big believer in having a career and life coach in order to achieve an extraordinary quality of life and career. I’d like companies to recognize this importance and form partnerships to offer this service to their employees. When people are able to focus on their growth, they will live a happier, healthier and more balanced life. They will be able to contribute more towards their personal goals and the goals of their company.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Trade expectations for appreciation”.
This is a quote from Tony Robbins, I am a big fan of his work and have attended several of his seminars. When we remove all the expectations we have towards others and ourselves, we are really able to appreciate life more and live in a happier state.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Jeff Bezos, as he’s always a few steps ahead of time.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About the author:
Phil La Duke is a popular speaker & writer with more than 400 works in print. He has contributed to Entrepreneur, Monster, Thrust Global and is published on all inhabited continents. His most recent book is Lone Gunman: Rewriting the Handbook On Workplace Violence Prevention listed as #16 on Pretty Progressive magazine’s list of 49 books that powerful women study in detail. Follow Phil on Twitter @philladuke or read his weekly blog www.philladuke.wordpress.com | https://medium.com/authority-magazine/5-things-i-wish-someone-told-me-before-i-became-an-executive-with-sanja-kon-vp-of-global-eb71a09aee68 | ['Phil La Duke'] | 2019-09-03 20:29:39.919000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Startup'] |
The Three Things Everyone Writing on Medium Has Wrong About Curation | Everyone starts off in curation jail
It doesn’t matter how good your articles are the first month. If they’re not in the right topic they’re probably not even processed by the algorithm. Medium wants to humble you.
Image author.
Five months later I’m still toiling in relative obscurity. Medium is not the right place for Hogan Torah I’ve come to find out. So I write as myself now. But kept the name because my real name is Logan Paul. Really.
Medium knows more about you than you know about yourself before you write anything
Medium has strong ties to Twitter. If you don’t know why Google it. Speaking of, Google plays a part in it as well. They are all part of an ecosystem that includes Facebook and Amazon among others. These corporations are businesses that sell things for profit. What does Facebook sell?
The product is you.
Your data. What you like. What you want. What you don’t have so they can sell it to you.
Medium already knows what categories it wants you to write in before you make an account. What do they want you to write? They don’t say. You need to figure it out.
Your first curation
Maybe you will get lucky and the first thing you write will be in the category that Medium has chosen for you, but probably not.
You can write anything you want on Medium. But if you want anyone to see it, it needs to be in one of their preferred 30+ categories.
To know what you should be aiming for look at the Customize your interests when you click on your avatar.
This picture will increase your read time for some reason. Photo by Daria Sannikova from Pexels
Your topic probably isn’t what you think it is
My topic is Culture and Movies. I suspect most men between 25 and 45 is also culture.
Your topic is probably not going to be a popular one. From my observations and correct me if I’m wrong, but no one starts off being able to curate in fiction, nonfiction, humor, writing, poetry, and politics. There’s likely more.
It’s possible to get curated in these things your first curation but not as the main focus of your article.
The right publication for your story
I wrote about movies and culture for other pubs. It wasn’t until I published in a pub for culture and movies that I was curated.
Publications like Illumination and The Innovation are a good place to start getting some eyes on your work and experience writing. But their tagged categories aren’t clear. Start there. Try a few different topics. Tags are important but the main focus of your story is what really matters.
It can happen if you self publish, but you are better off in a publication. Here’s why:
Auto Curation Publications
No publication advertises that it auto curates, but they absolutely exist. It’s not just the big publications.
It’s often the ones that are hard to find. They don’t publish 50 stories a day. They’re not on Facebook advertising for new members, but they’re out there.
It’s not only a publication with auto curation but in the topic Medium has pigeonholed you in. It’s a guessing game. If a pub you have never heard of pops up in your feed sparsely but regularly with different authors, that maybe the one.
You are probably all wondering what pub it was I found that auto curates. If I told you the editor will be inundated with requests and he wants to keep it small. It’s very nichey and he’s not accepting anyone who isn’t genuinely into the theme. If you do some digging it’s not hard to figure out.
After you publish a few times in an auto curation publication, you will notice you are curated more often in other places as well. Once you get to that level you have a chance at being curated in the tags that you weren’t before.
Auto Curation Writer
This is where you want to be and the level I might have finally reached. Ever see something that’s not that great get curated by a popular author? Or something that doesn’t follow the rules of curation curated? Or why no one gets curated from a certain pub except Ryan Fan who gets almost everything curated? That’s why. | https://medium.com/wreader/the-three-things-everyone-writing-on-medium-has-wrong-about-curation-cddd218163bd | ['Hogan Torah'] | 2020-11-19 18:59:50.932000+00:00 | ['Curation', 'Writing', 'Data Science', 'Digital Life', 'Social Media'] |
How ADHD may impact your sex life | For Nayeli, a 27-year-old with ADHD living in Pennsylvania, kink and BDSM is the only reason she has a functioning sex life.
Nayeli and her wife, a he/him non-binary lesbian, have a dom/sub dynamic. For her, this makes sex easier because it allows her to focus.
“My wife lets me use my cellphone during sex [because] I have adhd AND he likes when I ignore him anyway,” she told me over Twitter DM. “But it’s [because] I can’t focus.”
Sophia, a 26-year-old bisexual woman, also mentioned that BDSM activities helping her focus. “I… suspect that I like being choked and spanked because it reduces my area of focus to just the sexual,” she said, “but idk for sure.”
Sophia emphasized that ADHD is much more than “I can’t pay attention,” but that she does have trouble focusing during sex. After seeing my call-out on Twitter for people to share their experiences for this piece, she kept track of what she thought about the next time she had sex with her boyfriend. It was virtually nonstop: She thought about a conflict at work, about who would win the season of Top Chef they were watching together, whether she’d have time to run the next morning — the list went on and on.
People of all genders have ADHD, but the differences lie in societal expectation
Nayeli and Sophia are far from alone. Kathleen Nadeau, a licensed psychologist and founder of the Chesapeake Center for ADHD, learning, and behavioral health, told me that many women report getting distracted during sex and “didn’t know that was wrong with them.”
“They were trying to enjoy it, but also at the same time thinking about a dozen other things,” said Nadeau.
People of all genders have ADHD, but the differences lie in societal expectation. (To clarify, my sources spoke in terms of cis men and women, or at least people socialized as men and women). ADHD manifests differently in girls and boys; since boys tend to be more hyperactive and show less self-control, that could be a “trigger” that leads to diagnosis.
Consequently, men are likely to be diagnosed at a younger age than women. Women with ADHD report struggles with low self-esteem and shame much more than men, according to Nadeau. The pressures that women face — to get married, to maintain a home and have children and “do it all” — occur in conjunction with hormonal changes that men do not experience, either.
Shawna Kirby, a clinical forensic neuropsychologist, also said that gender bias and discrimination impact women with ADHD. Kirby has ADHD herself, and was diagnosed at 23. “It’s more likely that women are going to get diagnosed older, especially if there [was] nothing to trigger it,” Kirby said.
Women have come to Nadeau wondering if they really love their partner because they could not enjoy sex, when it was completely a neurological issue.
This fear can occur to folks of any gender, however. Ross, a 22-year-old in Las Vegas, told me that he gets overstimulated when being intimate with his boyfriend. “We might be casually sitting on the couch and he will get flirtatious and try to touch me a lot or kiss me, and I’ll already be focused on something else, and this starts to overstimulate me,” he said, “making me want to pull away or just overall feel overwhelmed with all of the touching and kissing.”
Sometimes the overstimulation makes Ross uninterested in sex; it seems like a “task that many people with ADHD dread like physical work or paperwork.” It bothers Ross because he loves his partner, but all the tasks that go into sex can feel overwhelming. “I think about having to take all of my clothes off, moving around a lot in bed, having to do the after-math cleanup and putting everything back to normal afterwards,” he said, “and all of this will set me off and out of the mood.”
What does it mean when someone with ADHD cannot focus, even when it’s on something “fun” like sex, and not something “boring” like paperwork? Nadeau simplified the science by describing the default mode network (DMN), which humans fall into when they’re not doing anything in particular. Examples of when the DMN kick in are when you’re staring out a window or waiting for a doctor’s appointment. When neurotypical people have something to do (a task to complete), the DMN shuts off and the task-oriented network kicks in.
For people with ADHD, however, the DMN does not shut off. Both networks function at the same time and thus, those with ADHD have internal distractions. This, of course, impacts people with ADHD in every aspect of life — including sex.
Distraction may be a result of not only ADHD, but anxiety and depression. The two often accompany ADHD in women, according to Nadeau. Psychiatrists may diagnose anxiety and depression but initially miss ADHD. Issues in the bedroom could be caused by a combination of these.
“Having a good sex life requires being able to turn off all of the other cares and considerations,” said Nadeau. “When you’re in a constant state of overwhelm, you’re not going to be feeling very sexy.” And when someone is overwhelmed and anxious, shutting out the world is not going to happen — no matter how sexy your external environment is.
There are also people on the hyperactive-impulsive end of the ADHD continuum, which could lead to hypersexual behavior. Nadeau notes that those who are more impulsive like to do riskier things and seek excitement in their lives.
Hypersexuality can lead to slut shaming, yet another way ADHD affects women differently than men. That was the first thought Kirby had when she considered the topics of ADHD and sex together. “You have ADHD and then you have impulse control,” she said. “You’re talking gender bias and discrimination in terms of sex sludge.”
In terms of her own impulsivity, Kirby’s therapist told her, “You can’t let 15-year-old Shawna drive the bus. You gotta figure out a way to take her out for ice cream.” Impulsivity is not necessarily a bad thing, said Kirby, one just needs to learn to manage it.
“When you’re in a constant state of overwhelm, you’re not going to be feeling very sexy.”
How one’s sex life is impacted by ADHD is “reflective of how they are, how they interact in all areas of their life,” said Nadeau. “If you are more hyperactive and impulsive and stimulation seeking, you’re going to have a very different relationship to your sexuality than a woman who is anxious and… not able to really clearly focus on anything.”
If someone with ADHD wants to change their behavior — in or outside the bedroom — there are tools they can use. Medication is one. Nadeau said that it can turn off the DMN. For some people, though, it can affect sexual performance, such as causing erectile dysfunction.
While not currently on medication, Nayeli said it helped improve her sex life. “I have been on meds previously and it definitely makes a difference in that I have a lot more sex when I’m medicated,” she said.
Sophia takes a low dose of Adderall, and said she does not believe she’s ever had sex while medicated because she takes a low dose in the morning. She does want to try it, however. She told me, “I’ve sexted while on [Adderall] and I think that amped it up so it would be interesting to have sex after medicating.”
But medication may not be right for everyone, and that is just one option. Other tools involve finding non-destructive yet stimulating activities for those who are on the hyperactive-impulsive end; Kirby mentioned that she got into martial arts and changed her diet, which helped her.
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of learning to focus and learning to bring your mind back to the task at hand. It is now even being used as a primary ADHD treatment. Nadeau mentioned the work of Lidia Zylowska, who has a specific mindfulness program for people with ADHD. “She could prescribe medication,” Nadeau said, “But instead she is prescribing meditation.”
In terms of sex, exploring and discovering one’s preferences is a worthwhile venture — ADHD or not. Nayeli and Sophia, for example, know they enjoy aspects of BDSM.
Sophia has learned what brings her to orgasm, with or without her boyfriend. While masturbating with her hand makes it “virtually impossible” for her to come, a vibrator does the job. “The best,” she said, “is if I’m going down on my boyfriend because I literally only have enough brain power for the two things.”
Ultimately, no matter what preferences someone has or tools they use to manage ADHD, it does not mean that anything is wrong or not “normal.”
“Normal is a sitting on the washing machine that still destroys clothes,” said Kirby. Sexuality and sexual preferences are complex, just like every aspect of the human experience. If you’re being consensual and safe, Kirby continued, “Why not take yourself out for ice cream?” | https://medium.com/mashable/how-adhd-may-impact-your-sex-life-2f350cac5d58 | [] | 2020-02-27 15:08:08.149000+00:00 | ['Adhd', 'Relationships', 'Mental Health', 'Sex'] |
Why strong mental doesn’t matter | It’s been 16 days since I left New York City. I cycled 15 days in 16.
For the first time today, I rode more than 100km. Thomas and I went from Winona to Toronto, Canada.
Before that, my best days were about 80km and still, it was tough.
Just 3 weeks ago, I had really never ridden a bike (at least not since I am 12 years old!). At the end of this day, I felt both relieved, starving and exhausted, and I wonder.
How did I manage to do it ?
A lot of people who are following this cycling trip told me that they wouldn’t be able to do it themselves. Mostly because they think they don’t have what it takes physically to succeed. I think they are wrong. I didn’t have what it takes and it didn’t matter.
At this time I thought that a strong mental is the only matter.
This is the thing that led me to take on the project to cross the US by bike. This is the thing I would have told you to work on if you were considering to make such a physical, emotional and personal experience.
But on the road then, I realized that something else more important matters.
A strong mental won’t make you achieve 100km per day. It won’t help you to get anything if you don’t know what you’re after.
The first thing that you need no matter what you aim to achieve in life is a GOAL.
You need to find this thing you are dreaming of, this thing you need, this thing that will change your life for good.
This morning, I had the goal to reach out Toronto. No matter how many kilometers I needed to do so, I would have done it today.
Several times this day I would have stopped to have a rest and Thomas and I would have probably pitched the tent 2 hours before we arrived in Toronto because of our lack of sleep and our hunger and thirst.
But today, I had a goal. Today, I decided to make it to Toronto. Since I had set this goal, my strong mental mattered.
Having a strong mental matters only when you know WHEN and WHY you need it.
The outcome was even better than I imagined. Because today, while I was achieving this goal, I beat my personal best: I cycled more than 100km!
Credit Startup Cycling
DO IT. | https://medium.com/chloe-leb/why-strong-mental-doesnt-matter-e6903de3eb68 | ['Chloe Leb'] | 2016-05-19 05:03:05.557000+00:00 | ['Exploration', 'Cycling', 'Motivation', 'Daily Post'] |
Slack IPO Preview: Good Company, Unsustainable Valuation Expectations | By Clement Thibault
The seemingly endless flow of tech initial public offerings (IPOs) continues. Over the past few months we’ve been relatively skeptical about many of these offerings, including Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Uber (UBER).
Can Slack, a San Francisco-based messaging app, rise above other much-heralded IPOs to become not only a unicorn company but something even rarer — an IPO worth investing in? Slack is planning to go public via a direct listing, but its first day of trade is unknown. However, based on previous IPOs, we expect it to start trading at the end of May, under the ticker SK. Its valuation when it IPOs is also unknown as we write this, but we might be able to find some clues from Slack’s S-1; we’ll return to the subject of its valuation later in this post.
Slack characterizes itself as an enterprise messaging application with a goal of facilitating communication within teams and throughout organizations. Originally it was created as an internal tool at Tiny Speck in 2013, the software company Slack’s founder built previously. However, when it became evident that the product was a good fit for the enterprise market, Slack became the main product — and Tiny Speck was rebranded as Slack Technologies.
Slack’s business model is based on monthly or annual subscription fees per user, with costs ranging between $6 and $15 a month per user, depending on features required and the resulting billing cycle. Slack offers a free version as well, with limited features. As is typical for many companies, the free version provides an introduction to the service’s messaging tool, with the hope that organizations will decide to scale up and expand the options provided, thereby converting to paying customers after the free trial.
Slack’s adaptability and ease of integration into any organization based on what the enterprise needs and wants is what separates it from competitors.
Revenue and Earnings
Here’s the most obvious fact from Slack’s S-1: the company isn’t profitable. Over the past three years, it lost $140 million, $180 million, and $146 million, respectively. Still, as is true for many IPOs, profitability is less of a concern at the moment, as the company focuses on top line growth.
In addition, revenue is growing — from $105 million in 2016 to $220 million in 2017 to $400 million in 2018, representing growth of 110% from 2016 to 2017 and 82% from 2017 to 2018. During 2016, Slack lost $146 million on $105 million in revenue. Two years later, Slack is losing $140 million on $400 million in revenue so its prospects look better than they did two years ago, an encouraging sign.
Customer Breakdown
With approximately 600,000 organizations of various sizes using its messaging app, Slack has a total of over 10 million users. Unfortunately, currently, the vast majority — about 512,000 — rely on the free version. This leaves 88,000 organizations as Slack’s primary revenue source.
Slack Paid Customer Growth
Luckily for Slack, the number of paying customers has been impressive. That metric jumped 59%, from 37,000 to 59,000 in 2017, and 49% to 88,000 in 2018.
Of those 88,000 organizations, 575 pay over $100,000 in total for their subscriptions. These heavy hitters are crucial for Slack’s growth. In 2018, 40% of Slack’s revenue came from this subset of users.
Slack understands that growing this portion of their user base is key. The company is actively trying to provide functionality geared toward large organizations along with developing a direct sales force focused on this demographic. In 2017, only 298 organizations were paying over $100,000 a year. That’s grown 93% to the current 575 organizations.
Messaging Moat?
Slack’s mission right now is to become the go-to communications system for organizations, including by disrupting emails, which require individual inboxes that fragment information and limit transparency. As well, Slack’s messaging system can relay all necessary information in a simple message to multiple recipients at the same time.
The stickiness of its platform, especially where network effects increase the value of the service as the number of users grows, gives Slack the initial infrastructure for a potential messaging moat.
Slack Product and Partnerships Timeline
Additionally, Slack has done a stellar job increasing their ‘protective barriers’ by initiating partnerships and integrating support for third-party software and tools from such companies as Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Atlassian (NASDAQ:TEAM) and Salesforce (NYSE:CRM).
Indeed, Slack has reported that over the three months ended in January, third-party developers had created over 450,000 applications and custom integration options so users can tailor Slack to their own needs. In fact, the word ‘integration’ appears on average once per page in the first 100 pages of the company’s S-1. Clearly, Slack sees that as a major selling point.
It’s also one of Slack’s most effective growth drivers. The company has created a sandbox that’s generic enough to fit any communications use-case while allowing customers to incorporate their own specific products, creating a very sticky platform that users won’t rush to leave for the next communications app inevitably released by competitors.
Conclusion
The exact valuation Slack is looking for is currently still a mystery. However, we do know that Slack raised $400 million in August, giving it a valuation of $7 billion at that time. Some analysts expect Slack to look for a valuation of up to $10 billion.
With its good growth prospects, we think Slack has a real chance at profitability as it becomes the go-to tool for internal business communication, even though it’s still losing money. Based on what we know from its S-1, a valuation at $9 billion seems appropriate. However, according to a CNBC report, the price of Slack’s shares in private markets currently puts its valuation at a sky-high $16.7 billion — which would mean Slack’s value more than doubled in the past 8 months.
One final thing to keep in mind — Slack has opted for a direct listing, which means there won’t be underwriters to mitigate volatility in the early days of trading. This isn’t necessarily bad. Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) has done it already. Nevertheless, it’s something to keep in mind in case you’re thinking of trading the stock on IPO day. | https://medium.com/investing-com/slack-ipo-preview-good-company-unsustainable-valuation-expectations-32d506d839f0 | [] | 2019-05-15 12:31:00.925000+00:00 | ['IPO', 'Stock Market', 'Startup', 'Slack', 'Stocks'] |
Into the Unknown (Season 2): Part 1 — Unity in the Descent | Nepali mountain climber Kami Rita is a Sherpa who holds the record for the most summits of Mt. Everest. On May 21st of last year, he scaled the mountain for the 24th time. This year, he turned fifty and hopes to ascend the peak one last time for his silver summit.
In an interview with Business Insider columnist Hilary Brueck after last year’s record-breaking climb, the Sherpa revealed that the greatest danger in climbing Everest is not the ascent to the top but the descent back to base camp. Going up is really hard, but making your way back down is far more deadly. For a case in point, of the eleven climbers who died on the mountain during the month Kami Rita made his 24th summit, ten of the eleven died on the way back down.
Over the next several months, we are facing a descent. Not from the Everest summit but from the COVID lockdown. We hit the peak. Now it is time to make plans for a careful and deliberate return.
As we consider this process, we realize that there is a wide landscape of opinion out there. Some folks remain concerned and cautious. Others are ready to re-open and re-engage.
How are we to make decisions moving forward with such a disparity of viewpoints?
What landmines are before us that we need to avoid as we move forward?
Is it possible to emerge from the shutdown stronger than we were before?
If so, what needs to happen to make that possible?
These are just some of the “big picture” questions that are before us.
We need to be honest.
There is danger ahead. Nearing the end of WWII, Winston Churchill said, “Never waste a good crisis.” Be assured that the enemy will not be wasting this moment, hoping to fracture leadership and congregations with a spirit of rivalry. As a recent article by Brett McCracken states, “As if the logistical details weren’t challenging enough — how to maintain social distance and limit crowd size, whether or not to require masks, to sing or not to sing, what to do with children, and so on — the whole conversation is fraught with potential for division.”
There is danger ahead. But also are unparalleled opportunities for us as a church. It is imperative that we not waste this moment. Remember, the church wasn’t launched from Jerusalem to reach the world until a crisis of persecution broke out. The same has been true generation after generation, as unwanted crises provide the context for intentional, positive change, growth, and gospel impact.
How we handle our descent — the backside of the crisis — very well will be the defining moment for the next ten years for Creekstone Church.
Over the past two months, our sermon series was called Into the Unknown as we explored the story of Ruth and how it related to the uncertainties we have been facing as a church and culture. As a follow-up, today I am starting a series of messages under the title, Into the Unknown (Season 2 — or the sequel): Navigating the Backside of COVID in View of the Cross. For it is in view of the cross that we must descend as we consider gospel implications for how we return to base camp.
Our primary text for Part 1 of Season 2 is Ephesians 4:1–3. After reading the passage, we’ll examine five questions that I believe will provide fundamental guidelines we need in order to safely make our descent.
Ephesians 4:1–3
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
The first question comes from verse 1.
What does Paul mean by “live a life worthy of the calling you have received?”
We know what Paul doesn’t mean. By “worthy,” he doesn’t mean deserving of one’s calling. Rather, to live “worthy” is to live consistently with, in light of, or congruently with one’s calling. Theologically, the doctrine of calling, specifically effectual calling, represents the act whereby the Spirit of God regenerates a dead soul, causing it to be in the words of Jesus, “born again.”
Two chapters earlier in Ephesians 2, Paul has stated in verses 1 and 4, “1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.”
To be saved by grace is to be reconciled and restored to God not by your moral obedience and sacrifice but by someone else’s moral obedience and sacrifice. That someone is Jesus, who lived the perfect life we failed to live and died the substitutionary death we deserved to die as justice for our treasonous acts of sin against the King. Since the word grace is synonymous with gift, one’s calling — or invitation — to receive the gift of salvation through the work of Jesus is not something we can deserve nor be worthy.
We can only receive the gift. Which is why “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received,” is just that — to live with a recipient mindset.
Having established that the Christian life is to be lived in view of the cross with a recipient mindset, we may move on to our second question from the text, which is based on the first part of verse 2, “Be completely humble and gentle.”
Why is humility and gentleness consistent with living in view of the cross?
First, let’s define our terms.
Humility.
The Greek word for humility is a compound word, that we could translate as “lowliness of mind that resides in the center of our being.” The idea is that humility is not an action as much as it is a disposition of the heart. Humility knows that it has nothing to offer God but sin and that everything it receives is grace. Humility is a recipient mindset.
The humble person is well aware that the flesh remains a deceptive force in his or her life. If he is confident about anything, it is that he easily could be wrong, has blind spots, is limited in his gifting, and doesn’t know as much as he thinks he knows. The humble person is teachable, not to mention is quick to encourage and slow to complain and criticize.
Canadian pastor and founder of Every Home for Christ, Jack McAlister, quipped, “Humility is pure honesty.” So simple. And yet so spot on, isn’t it?
By the way, you can’t fake humility. It is like the distinctive scent in someone’s home. Even though they can’t smell it, you can. You can’t say, “I’m humble.” Only someone else can say that about you. Or not.
Gentleness.
Like humility, the Greek word for gentleness is also formed out of two words that, when combined, render the meaning of gentleness as “the ability to control the exercise of one’s emotions in such a way that makes others feel safe and secure rather than anxious and protective.”
Lest we think that gentleness is weakness, remember the definition: “the ability to control the exercise of one’s emotions in such a way that makes others feel safe and secure rather than anxious and protective.” That is not an expression of weakness but the exercise of strength.
The gentle person treats others with care, not just physically but emotionally. The gentle person asks more questions than he makes pronouncements and refuses to minimize the wounding of other people with excuses like “I’m just a direct person,” “I’m just being honest.” A gentle person never says, “Just sayin’,” as if that’s a pass for being an inconsiderate, unloving jerk. Recognizing that jerk in all of us is what drives us to Jesus, who turns our repentance into humility and gentleness.
Now, can you see why humility and gentleness are consistent with living congruently with the gospel and why pride and harshness are inconsistent?
On one level, humility and gentleness establish the baseline of whether someone understands the most basic aspect of being a disciple of Jesus, which is grace — a recipient mindset.
Second, these traits are not possible to express, much less exercise in their perfect or “complete” forms as Paul commands in verse 2 unless empowered by the Holy Spirit. And we are empowered by the Spirit to display humility and gentleness as we abide in Jesus as our perfect righteousness. As Jesus says in John 15:4–5, those who abide in him will produce much fruit, even the fruit of humility and gentleness, which are baseline examples of living congruently — consistently — with grace.
Beyond the baseline of humility and gentleness, we now move into deeper water with our third question as we consider how the gospel calls us to relate to those with whom we disagree. This deeper water begins in the second part of verse 2, which reads, “Be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
So, the third question is…
What does it mean to patiently bear with our differences?
The charge in verse 2 is to be patient. Patience is not merely the ability to wait without complaining. Synonyms include words like tolerant, sympathetic, benevolent, and the phrase “slow to anger.” Yet we don’t have to rely on synonyms to get Paul’s meaning because in the last part of the verse he elaborates on patience as “bearing with one another in love.”
Colossians 3:13 is a similar statement by the Apostle, where he writes, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” In the Colossians passage, Paul connects bearing and forgiving to the cross, indicating that both of these applications of love are congruent with the gospel because God has expressed forbearance and forgiveness toward us. However, there is one small difference in the Colossian and Ephesian texts. In Ephesians 4:2, Paul mentions bearing with but not forgiving.
Here is what I think is going on. In Ephesians 4, Paul is not talking about forgiving sins but is addressing how to handle differences — differences in opinion, differences in gifting, and differences in interests, differences in passions. Today, he would include differences in how to deal with the process for re-opening churches in the wake of COVID-19.
If you think about it, this kind of patience requires the baseline characteristics of humility and gentleness, doesn’t it? When two opposing views collide, the only way for there not to be sparks is if both sides are willing to make an allowance in the community for a difference of opinion to be held on the matter. Like a jar of liquid nitroglycerine, these differences need to be handled with great care.
As manifestations of grace — humility, gentleness, and patience — lay the foundation for Paul’s deep desire in verse 3 for unity to reign in the church. Experiencing functional unity is easier said than done though, isn’t it? In a family, in a political party, among school administration, and in churches.
Why is unity so hard?
Because unity implies that diverse objects are able to unite, coalescing into one harmonious, symbiotic unit. Like building a wall out of different size stones that do not naturally fit together.
In Ephesians 2:21, Paul writes, “In [Jesus], the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” He is talking about the church as it is composed of people from different backgrounds, with varying temperaments, experiences, values, gifts, passions, and expectations. Unity among these stones is going to take intentionality. Like a bricklayer must apply mortar around and between each brick in a stone wall, we must consciously apply the mortar of the gospel to our lives in order for unity to be achieved. As Paul writes in verse 3, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
This leads to the fourth question.
What challenges will we face as we strive for unity?
The first challenge is not external but internal, centering on the sinful nature that resides within each of us even after we become reborn children of God. The way the flesh undermines unity is by making me think more highly of myself than I ought, deceiving me into believing that I am always right. If you enter a conversation, dialogue, or debate assuming your rightness, the first rounds of TNT are already in place for a church implosion.
This is to say that pride and arrogance is the first challenge to unity. As the church father, Augustine, remarked, “It was pride that changed angels into devils.” And the nature of the devil is to divide and destroy.
A second challenge adds fuel to the fire. We call this gossip, which is not necessarily spreading lies about someone but spreading what we might call “a bad report” about someone. Without going to the person to ask questions and get a better understanding of their perspective on an issue, the gossip assumes they know the whole story and shares information that misrepresents, smears, or slanders someone else.
Gossip is like letting go of a bunch of balloons. When the words have been spoken, you can’t get them back. They float to wherever and to whomever they will, spreading the poison with which they have been filled, corrupting the landscape with suspicion and mistrust.
By the way, the devil loves professing Christians who think they are always right, refuse to listen or be corrected, and spread bad reports about others in the church. Satan doesn’t love much, but he loves this. If I become filled with pride and spread bad reports, I become an unwitting partner of the devil and a contributor to his evil conspiracy.
What is the solution? How can we “make every effort” to avoid these traps as we pursue unity?
First, we avoid these fleshly pitfalls by abiding in Jesus through repentance and faith — repentance of my need to be right and of my spreading bad reports. Confessing my divisive spirit and believing that Jesus is my true righteousness.
Second, as we abide in Jesus we consciously walk (or live) by the Spirit. This is the only way to defeat the flesh and resist the enemy. In Romans 8:5–6, the apostle Paul writes, “5Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.”
This exhortation to “make every effort to live in peace” centers on living gospel congruent lives, with our minds consciously under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to manifest the fruit of peace with those whom we share the mortar, or bond of peace — the very blood of Jesus shed to unite us into one body so that we might display a visible unity.
This unity is not intended to be just a nice sentiment but is the very apologetic that the world needs to see in order to believe the gospel. In fact, there may be nothing more missional than functional unity, which leads to our fifth and final question.
Why is unity so important to Jesus?
In John 17, the apostle John records a prayer of Jesus on the night before his crucifixion. In what is called his high priestly prayer, Jesus says in verses 20–23, “20 I am not asking on behalf of them [the disciples] alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message [you and me], 21 that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one — 23 I in them and You in Me — that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.
Jesus recognized the connection between unity and mission as an apologetic validating the credibility of Jesus’ rescue mission. If Christians can only get along when we agree about everything, looking the same and thinking the same, we are no better than a social club united by education, economics, and class status. What power is there in the Country Club to impact the world? None.
However, when people with differing backgrounds, experiences, and passions, and opinions are able to find their unity in something greater than their personal preferences, that makes the world take notice. For the church, our unity is not our politics, our nationality, a specific race, or our educational achievements or neighborhoods in which we live. Our unity is the bond of peace secured for sinners through the blood of Jesus by his substitutionary, penal sacrifice upon a cross of judgment whereby he absorbed all the justice we deserved before the law so that we can receive all the mercy and joy stored up for us by God for the age to come.
This is the force of Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:14–18, “14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
We sent a survey to the congregation this week concerning opinions surrounding the re-opening process. Thanks to those who participated, by the way. As you might guess, responses are across the board, with no real majority or consensus with any of our options.
Although sending out that survey was a risk, I’m glad we did it because now we know objectively that we are going to have to consciously put gospel congruency into practice. Living in light of the cross cannot be theoretical for us as a church, nor should it ever have been. The same could be said for how we engage in marriage, in the workplace, etc. In every context of life, and especially in our church relationships, we will be challenged to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
By grace, we will meet the challenge. God will be glorified and we will be stronger because of it.
Unlikely Champions
Folks familiar with the sport of sculling, or rowing, know that the premier college crew teams have traditionally come from Ivy League schools like Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. A notable exception is a crew from the University of Washington in 1936. In his book, Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown tells the true story about a team of kids who’d grown up on farms, in logging towns, and near shipyards, far from the aristocratic environs of the big cities back east. Boys in the Boat depicts how an unlikely crew from out west bested the New Englanders in a national competition and ended up winning gold at the Berlin Olympics.
But how did they do it? In his book, Brown explains how eight individuals of varying physical abilities and personalities were able to leverage their diversity into a world champion crew team. In summary, Brown writes, | https://medium.com/the-mustard-seed/into-the-unknown-season-2-part-1-unity-in-the-descent-73e4a2ca10f2 | ['Dr. Mckay Caston'] | 2020-05-17 20:11:11.150000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Leadership', 'Christianity', 'Church', 'Coronavirus'] |
Calling out evangelicals for what they really are | Usually I will stay away from books on religion. Everyone’s passions overtake their judgment, facts are few, fleeting and ignored, and no minds are changed in the reading. But the pop culture intersection of American politics and American evangelicalism proved tempting, and thankfully, most worthwhile. For a title like Jesus and John Wayne, I broke my rule.
The Four Basic Qualifications
“To be an evangelical, according to the National Association of Evangelicals, is to uphold the Bible as one’s ultimate authority, to confess the centrality of Christ’s atonement, to believe in a born-again conversion experience, and to actively work to spread this good news and reform society accordingly.” There is no mention of watching Fox News or voting Republican straight ticket, carrying guns, supporting the patriarchy or proselytizing the military. But those facets have taken over evangelicalism. The rest of the requirements have pretty much dropped away.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez hails from this environment, so she is intimately familiar with it and how it operates. She has written an exhaustive study of the evolution of American evangelicalism, with emphasis on its political effects. She has assembled all the top personalities and all the turning points in a fast-moving, if stomach-churning history that ultimately explains how America adopted Donald Trump. It is less than pretty.
Putting John Wayne and Jesus Christ in the same box takes a little work (for the uninitiated, like me). Wayne was a philanderer, married three times in an era when divorce was shameful. He was hard-smoking and swearing. He was a racist who claimed the Indians got what they deserved because whites needed more land and Indians were selfishly occupying it. For all his patriotic ballyhoo, he avoided the draft and never served. You might not see how this would be the ideal role model for evangelical Christians. But then, millions would say the same of Donald Trump. And that is the point.
Wayne was a swashbuckler onscreen. He took no guff from anyone. He was his own man; everyone else be damned. That is what evangelicals aspire to. They demand it of their president. And they also attribute all these qualities to Jesus Christ.
Flawed Hero Role Models
Throughout the last hundred years, evangelicals have glommed on to very flawed, most un-Christian characters as their heroes. Du Mez examines the histories of numerous televangelists who bilked millions from their viewers, only to be humiliated out of business by sex scandals. Two-faced politician-hypocrites are nothing new, and whoring Hollywood stars are the kinds of people evangelicals want everyone to look up to. Trump is not a difficult case to rationalize; he fits the cast perfectly.
The Patriarchy
Evangelicals believe in the patriarchy. Men rule, women are submissive. Men need to be serviced, women are only there to serve and support. Men are wild conquerors, saving and protecting the family. Women prefer it this way, needing to be swept off their feet by a bold knight in shining armor, rather than a pretty Prince Charming. There is stability and order in the patriarchy; equality means chaos.
Against a Host of Things
Evangelicals are against anything that dilutes the power of men. They are against abortion (women having control over anything), women dressing like men, working outside the home or in politics. They are against (most) immigration and any form of foreign government they object to. This means constant war, the main thing they seem devoted to.
Warrior Nation
Two things can be drawn from this: 1) America can never be seen as wimpy. It must strike fear in the hearts of all other nations, and go to war to prove it, repeatedly. And stay until it wins completely. 2) America’s leader must be a warrior-king: loud, bold, unafraid, hard-nosed and direct. Evangelicals will vote against anyone who doesn’t fit that description. So Jimmy Carter, despite being an evangelical himself, had to go. So did George H.W. Bush. Trump over Clinton was an easy choice. And when they vote, it is en bloc, like north of 80% of them voting for this caricature of a president.
White Supremacy
The other thing all their requirements spell out is White Supremacy. Guns are for all whites (44% of evangelicals have one), but not for blacks. Immigration is for white Europeans, not Central Americans. John Wayne cleared those people out of his path, and so must evangelicals — and their presidents. And they insist Jesus was like that too.
Jesus as Badass
Evangelicals have twisted Christianity to fit their needs. For them, Jesus was a warrior, more Rambo than Mister Rogers. Fearsome, not loving. As Jerry Falwell said in 2004 — “God is Pro-War.” And millions took that to heart. At several points in the book, evangelicals refer to Jesus as a “badass”. This aggressive interpretation has led evangelicals to the US military. Not to serve, but to convert. They get onto military bases, give lectures, show Christian films (Mel Gibson is the new John Wayne), and actively work on individual soldiers. Today, 40% of active duty servicemen consider themselves evangelicals, fighting for Jesus, the patriarchy and White Supremacy.
A Woman to Blame
This is also closely tied to the rape culture so prominent in the military. Women are there for the taking, and not for active duty service. Victims are hounded out of the service. A favorite strategy is to blame the victim for being there at all. With evangelists, there is always a woman to blame. In one of the numerous sex scandals among celebrity evangelists, blame was assigned to the preacher’s wife, who clearly hadn’t satisfied her husband sufficiently to keep his eye from wandering. He was clearly innocent.
Which brings out another of the many distasteful aspects of evangelicals: sexual hypocrisy. While busy telling the faithful how to have sex, they themselves are total pigs. Du Mez examines numerous scandals around numerous evangelists. They blame the victim, they deny, they ignore, they get away with it (though they often have to resign — for a while). It is astonishing how low quality so many evangelists are. As inspirations and moral models, they are total failures.
The God Business
What they are good at is profit. The God business is booming. All the celebrity evangelists have built massive multimedia empires that funnel cash back to the center. They write Christian books by the thousands. (They love to write highly instructive sex manuals for men and women, the juicier and more explicit the better). They have theme parks, museums and tours like rockstars. As a friend of mine told me just yesterday — any shepherd will tell you, the flock must be fleeced as often as possible.
Evangelicals maintain they are conservatives. They abhor government participation in anything they do. Unless it involves free money, like federal funds for the sexual abstinence for teens effort. They lobby government, cozy up to politicians, and press a religious agenda. In this, they are obviously and blatantly hypocritical and totally un-Christian. The rights of no one else count worth a damn.
Bible Pickings
They venerate the Bible, but are most selective in what they follow. Turning the other cheek is out, as is never coveting another man’s wife. The Golden Rule is ignored in favor of violent deaths. Bearing false witness? Please. Love thy neighbor? Only if they’re white evangelical Republican Americans.
Ironies Galore
There is a ton of irony throughout the book. My own favorite is from Phyllis Schlafly (one of the very few women evangelicals respected). She said of Bill Clinton’s impeachment that if he got away with lying, “Americans can look forward to a succession of TV charlatans and professional liars occupying the White House.” She was correct. In another bout of irony, 77% of evangelical leaders believe Islam is “dedicated to world domination.” Takes one to know one, I’ve heard say.
The “family values” evangelicals propound are just a cover for patriarchy, submissive women and masculine power, Du Mez says. In the “always a woman to blame” mode, not satisfying husband’s sexual needs led him to abuse children. He is innocent. She is the guilty party. Evangelicals pressure women to restore violent and abusive husbands and fathers to the family. They knowingly allow child abusers and rapists to marry in the church and are surprised when there is trouble later. Counseling will be needed — from the church. They have created a mountain of abuse cases by themselves. In this Me Too era, 700 victims came forward in the Southern Baptist Conference alone.
All in all, Jesus and John Wayne makes Christian evangelicals look like a very ugly cult. Unlike so many others that bloom, fester and disappear, this one has staying power. It is successful, and it is a shame.
David Wineberg
(Jesus and John Wayne, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, June 2020)
To see where this is leading, ie. for the purely political side of this tale, see my review of Unholy by Sarah Posner, here: https://medium.com/the-straight-dope/secular-democracy-christian-nationalist-autocracy-f777bdce69e4 | https://medium.com/the-straight-dope/calling-out-evangelicals-for-what-they-really-are-f6bd6719a4f8 | ['David Wineberg'] | 2020-04-06 11:32:58.392000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Books', 'Trump', 'Politics', 'Evangelicals'] |
Does your website push visitors away or does it convince them to work with you? | Framing your solutions in your buyers’ world is a very effective twist. No matter what you’re selling, it just works. Here’s what I mean:
Instead of writing “We have 70 fulfillment centers in 20 countries,” write “You’ll cut your warehousing costs in half when you take advantage of our supply chain’s infrastructure.”
Instead of writing “Our retirement solution will help you reach your retirement goals,” write, “Have the income you need to retire the way you want with our retirement funds.”
Instead of writing “Our cloud-based solution is designed using storage and networking from leading infrastructure providers,” write “Your website will let shoppers buy from you how, and when they want.”
Do you see the difference? The second option/version re-frames your solution using the buyers’ goals as the result that you are also going after. You need to practice framing it correctly, but doing this correctly will completely change the interactions with your prospects. (question 3)
Also, make sure that it’s easy to buy your product or service. Nobody wants to feel lost and not knowing what to do. The same is true for your website visitors, try to make it as easy as possible to buy. You can do this by explaining what they need to, it can be as simple as that.
Make an easy-to-follow plan for the buyer to follow. Explain every step of the buying process. Tell what the buyer can expect after they bought from you, let them know every step of the way to keep them updated on the process. The more you can explain what’s going to happen the better, but don’t overdo it by sending them 10 emails even before they receive the product. Keep the steps simple and clear, explain what’s going to happen and inform them the best you can.
Or you can make it even easier, by including a ‘buy button’. When the prospect clicks this button, he or she will be sent to a form or cart where they can finish the buying process. Or you can do like me, and include an explanation and a buy button on your website. Keep in mind that I sell a service and not a product, so this tactic might not work for you. (question 4)
Conclusion
Please, go ahead and examine your website and pretend that you a first-time visitor who is looking for answers. Pretend that you have looked at other websites before, but you are not convinced by them. You have a rough idea of what you want, but you are looking for that website where you feel that you are understood. A product or service that will help you get what you are looking for because they understand the problem you face and what the result of this problem is. | https://medium.com/swlh/does-your-website-push-visitors-away-or-does-it-convince-them-to-work-with-you-8ca66305f32b | ['Eric Jan Huizer'] | 2019-11-26 23:16:43.927000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Business Development', 'Work', 'Business Strategy', 'Connection'] |
How to Write Microfiction and How It Improves Your Writing. | How to Write Microfiction and How It Improves Your Writing.
Including examples of my work
SamHArnold
What is microfiction?
Microfiction is the art of writing a story in as few words as possible. Most short stories are between 1000 and 2000 words. Microfiction tends to be a story with a much smaller word count. Sometimes as low as 50 words. I write microfiction in 280 characters or less to fit in with Twitter.
At cafe sat a timid woman. She kept looking at her watch as if she didn’t quite believe the time. When anyone walked in she looked up. The blow was fleeting on her face. When he came in, she looked up smiled and left.- SamHArnold
The History of Microfiction
Microfiction was originally called flash fiction. Then word counts decreased further and microfiction was created. Recently it has become more popular and established itself in literature.
SamHArnold
The Structure of Microfiction
Microfiction is written the same as any fiction, it has a start and middle and an end. Characters need to be attractive to the reader. It is best to keep the characters name as short as possible to save on character count. Authors of microfiction must be strict in their writing. Every single word has to have a purpose. Where possible only one word is used to explore or describe something.
You need to write concise short prose that deal with all the issues in as few words as possible. It isn’t as easy as it seems. I start with a longer piece of writing and then edit the bones out of it.
Jack looked at the winning lottery ticket in his hand. He thought about what this meant. He thought about his girlfriend. The wind ruffled the ticket. He screwed it up and threw it away. No jackpot was worth that much trouble. — SamHArnold
Microfiction can Evolve Stories.
Some months ago I wrote this simple microfiction story. This came to me in a flash whilst I was sitting waiting for my partner to come out of the shop.
SamHArnold
From these short sentences, the story grew in my head. It was also helped by many people asking where the story when from here. I later wrote the post into a short story piece.
From the response from this story, I have now decided to extend the novel further into my fourth full novel. From one simple idea, the story has evolved and grown.
Microfiction is a medium that allows this like no other. A seed of an idea can grow into something bigger.
SamHArnold
Challenge yourself to write microfiction. Share the links to your stories below so we can all read them. For more examples of my microfiction visit my website. | https://medium.com/publishous/how-to-write-microfiction-and-how-it-improves-your-writing-32f9edf1f48e | ['Sam H Arnold'] | 2020-08-10 07:42:19.059000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Microfiction', 'Writing Tips', 'Fiction', 'Inspiration'] |
Ugly Truths About Working From Home | There is no point arguing that the internet has changed the way we live our lives. From how we communicate with family, friends, and even strangers around the world, to the way we date and meet new people, it has left an unprecedented degree of change in its wake.
The internet has not only revolutionized our interpersonal lives and how we consume news and entertainment, but it is also changing how we work. In many professions, you no longer have to be confined to four walls of an office to be at work.
At an increasing rate, employers are allowing their staff to work remotely and have more flexibility in their schedules.
A 2016 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that 22% of American employees work from home. That number is expected to double by 2026, and likely to move into a majority territory by the middle of the century.
Work-life balance is not just a ‘fade’ term, employers are seeing massive benefits from it. Indeed, a 2018 survey conducted by Flex Strategy Group in the United States showed that 60% of workers felt happier, more engaged, and highly productive when they were given flexibility around how and when they work. The same survey also found that 55% of employees with workplace flexibility called in sick much less frequently than workers in a static job.
Employers are becoming more aware that happy and motivated employees mean a higher output of work. It also lessens overtime costs and decreases the amount of physical space a company requires. The output and health benefits from working at home are becoming harder for many companies to ignore.
It’s not just employers who are using technology to give workers more flexibility, online entrepreneurship is a booming sector. It is estimated that online entrepreneurship contributes $200 billion to the American economy annually.
The financial opportunities that the internet offers have given rise to workers who make their living from freelancing, online retail, blogging, vlogging, or as social media influencers. The cyberworld gives people the potential of tapping into a multi-billion dollar industry without having to leave their own homes.
Working from home has a great deal of appeal, particularly if you are your own boss. For workers who feel trapped in the grind of a 9 to 5 office job, the idea of working from their own home office is highly appealing. While there are numerous benefits to working remotely, the potential negatives are often glossed over.
Social isolation
A survey conducted by Morneau Shepell Ltd. found that 40% of remote workers they interviewed experienced feelings of extreme social isolation resulting from working at home. Of those, 11% stated they wished to return to a more static work environment.
Static jobs have strong social aspects that are difficult, if not impossible to replicate working alone at home. Even if you don’t have close friendships with your co-workers, a traditional office setting has frequent interpersonal interaction. The shared experience of working for the same employer creates an environment that is unique to that setting which no one outside of it can fully understand.
Working at a traditional job outside of the home generally involves interacting with people of diverse backgrounds and points of view which you may lack in other spheres of your life. Additionally, as we lead busier lives, work has increasingly become a way of meeting new people for both romantic and platonic relationships.
Working at home typically limits your interaction to one person — yourself.
Even if you’re communicating with clients or coworkers via phone or email, it does not provide the social atmosphere of a regular work environment. For some, being alone for hours on end with no one to ‘talk shop’ with, or unwind on a break with can be challenging, even for those with a strong introverted personality.
Distraction
One of the benefits of working from home means that your office is within a few steps of your bed. If you decide to start working at 9 am, you could get out of bed at 8:59 am and still be early.
The reality is that being surrounded by your personal life opens you up to constant and very tempting distractions. In an office environment, when you become frustrated or need a break, you can usually get up and take a quick walk or grab a coffee from the lunchroom. At home, if you get up from your desk you’re surrounded by your life — your TV, your books, your music collection, your treadmill, etc. You are reminded of all the other non-work related things you could be doing, and it is hard to ignore them.
On top of that, family and friends may assume you’re not busy because you’re at home. They may have trouble understanding that although you’re home, you’re still working. This can open you to frequent disruptions — maybe your child is playing too loud, your spouse wants to know if you’ve seen their phone, your dog wants to play, etc.
Working from home requires iron concentration.
You have to try and not give in to the lure of your personal life, particularly at times of stress or frustration when work is the last thing you want to do.
You can’t leave work at work
When you work in an office from 9 to 5, you can look forward to decompressing at home once the workday is done. Although modern technology means we’re never more than a text or email away from the office, home is still viewed as a sanctuary.
When you work remotely, you live at the office. This can present a challenge in trying to unwind after you’ve called it a day. Yes, the occasional after work text or email from the boss can be annoying, but seeing your desk from the couch makes it hard to fully distance yourself from work-related stress.
Working from your home can make it impossible to fully detach yourself from work after hours.
This not only places additional stress on you, but it also has the potential of causing strain on your relationships at home.
Ironically, while working from home can help your work-life balance, there is a possibility that it will have the opposite effect. | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/ugly-truths-about-working-from-home-29afa84fd4bf | ['Daryl Bruce'] | 2019-11-01 15:12:54.695000+00:00 | ['Jobs', 'Work', 'Remote Working', 'Productivity', 'Careers'] |
To mesh or not to mesh | Service Mesh
I was told that a Service Mesh such as Linkerd, Consul or Istio, adds a lot of overload in my cluster. Keeping this in mind, a Service Mesh is not suitable to a small deployment. Instead, you should consider a Service Mesh when you client is big enough to deserve it.
But, how big a client must be to deserve a Service Mesh?
And more important, how much overload a Service Mesh adds to my cluster?
The answer is: I don’t know.
Because of this, I’m starting this POC, to answer this question.
Resources
Files here: https://gitlab.com/post-repos/to-mesh-or-not-to-mesh
Requirements
To run this test you will need:
a k8s cluster (we will use GCP)
kubectl
locust
docker (or any container engine)
git
We will use Linkerd, so you will need to download the CLI.
BFF
A simple Python APP that exposes a simple API and hits BACKEND. Once it get the BACKEND‘s response, it enrich this response and sends it to the client.
BACKEND
The BACKEND just answers the request with its version number.
Service Mesh
I will use linker for this test.
What we will measure?
We will measure two items:
WEB response times with Locust
K8s resources usage
Then compare these metrics on two scenarios: | https://medium.com/tarmac/to-mesh-or-not-to-mesh-dc969394baae | ['Juan Matías De La Cámara Beovide'] | 2020-09-09 15:47:25.576000+00:00 | ['Service Mesh', 'Linkerd', 'K8s', 'Mesh', 'Kubernetes'] |
Street Photography During Lockdown | Street Photography During Lockdown
Berlin is now in its second “Hard-Lockdown”. This means that we can expect the streets to become less populated with residents bobbing around town, shopping — not going to happen. Drinking in public, not allowed. Bars and restaurants lockdown hard until an update is given in January.
What does this mean for street photographers?
Well, walking around with a camera with the intention of taking streets shots of people, groups, and the hustle and bustle of the city, is probably not going to happen.
I went out last Sunday, the 20th of December, and strode along chilly and sparsely populated streets around Mitte in Berlin. There was a general feeling of “miserable day”, among people. I could tell by the look on people’s faces that they weren’t happy with being out and about in the cold Berlin weather.
In spite of battling feelings of, “nothing much happening”, and the slight disappointment of the sun disappearing for the day, I took a few shots. I simply did my best to get my thoughts attuned to what was offered.
Below are a few results of what’s possible, even when you feel like you aren’t getting the edge, or ‘feeling it’.
Imbiß at the corner of Geneissenaustrasse, Kreuzberg, Berlin.
Potsdamer Platz is a great area to wander around for Street photography. Not so many people about these days, but when it’s full of tourists and locals you can find yourself spoiled for shots of compositions, colours, and occasionally an odd looking person walking along the street.
Potsdamer Platz Colours.
In the above shot, I was taken by the lines created by the shadows under the bench. The bench is made of concrete, and therefore gives an immediate feeling of weight, solidity, and so the shadows reflect that sharp edged look of heavy stones.
The shadows set off by the reflection of a slightly sunny sky, creates a nice balance of tones that work best in colour. It would have been a waste to not use the smooth pastel red of the middle stripe that runs along the road at Potsdamer Platz. This red strip, used as a walk-way in the middle of the traffic area, makes a good stand point to get some good street photography shots down, and to watch and think about angles. You are constantly aware of the many angles and lines that can be used to create interesting compositions at Potsdamer Platz.
Train Station
Ninjas
After wandering around town, hoping to bump into some street drama to photograph, I ended up stopping at my partner’s home for a cup of coffee and a slice of her fine ginger cake with caramel.
Figure on Steps
On leaving, I managed to get this window shot from the street. I love the way the kitten looks so serious, as if she’s posing her best side for the camera.
Deborah & Kitten, Berlin, Kreuzberg
Kitten on a window sill
Now, I'm hoping for rain and snow. When the rain comes pouring down on the Berlin streets it’ll create a little drama as people dodge about looking for shelter. Or rush along a splashy street and cause ripples, reflections, and soaked hair.
All Images are copyrighted by Sean P. Durham, Berlin, 2020. | https://seanpatrickdurham.medium.com/street-photography-during-lockdown-1b7f7debbc77 | ['Sean P. Durham'] | 2020-12-22 02:12:00.403000+00:00 | ['Photography', 'Art', 'Street Photography', 'Creativity', 'Culture'] |
What I Learned About Myself From This Year’s Income Taxes | Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Last week, I signed off on my 2018 income taxes— and for the first time in 10 years, I didn’t owe any money to the IRS.
In fact, I’m getting a refund.
I’d love to tell you that’s because I was much more diligent with my financial planning. And that is partially true.
But the main reason I’m getting a refund is that I made a lot less money last year.
Not gonna lie: this was a big hit to my ego.
Worse, I realized how much my personal identity as a provider, businesswoman, and leader was tied up in the dolla dolla bills.
I’d like to think that this is not as cliche as it sounds.
My issue was not thinking that if I couldn’t go on a fancy vacation or buy all the Lululemon leggings that I was nobody. It wasn’t that I was overly motivated by money or even greedy.
My issue was that…
I had come to believe that my credibility as a leader in the small business space was tied to the steady upward trajectory of my personal income and business revenue.
And, in a market where monthly income reports, revenue-based marketing, and rags-to-riches stories run rampant, I wasn’t off.
Fewer people want to interview you on their podcasts when you can’t claim to have increased your revenue by 50% based on this one weird Facebook ad campaign. You aren’t asked to contribute to as many expert round-up articles when you aren’t selling a 6-figure or 7-figure online course. It’s hard to be the subject of glowing profile pieces when you’re in the thick of building something new that few people (including yourself) entirely understand.
It didn’t just feel like my paycheck took a hit, it felt like my credibility took a hit.
But, I don’t want to be measured on how much money I can make. I don’t want the only stories associated by my name to revolve around revenue.
I want to be measured on whether my company and I can innovate for the benefit of our customers. I want to be known for being persistent enough to create something truly excellent, something that customers rave about. I want my credibility to be firmly grounded in crafting the conditions for our listeners and members to get exactly what they need to grow their businesses — whether it makes for a sexy headline or not.
So, I’ve started to rebuild my identity around the work itself — not the money that results from it.
My company produces an exceptional podcast that gives listeners access to the behind the scenes of how businesses actually run (no gurus, hype, or magic formulas).
My company hosts an exceptional network of small business owners having candid conversations about what’s working and not working in their businesses. We’ve dialed in operations, honed our approach, and nurtured a community culture of constructive optimism.
My company facilitates small group masterminds that bring business owners together around a common goal. I’ve personally had the chance to level up my facilitation skills and learn how much I love this role.
I am learning to identify with the process of attaining mastery — not the mastery of money-making.
Today, my company operates better than it ever has.
Our customers are happier than they’ve ever been. Our products are being used by more people than they ever have.
We have essentially rebuilt our business from the ground up over the last 2 years. There was almost no way that was going to happen without taking a hit on both revenue and profit. Sure, I could (and would) have done things differently but the mistakes are part of the process.
Excellence doesn’t happen overnight — even if revenue can.
What’s kind of crazy to me is that the business I let go of — that one formed my identity as an earner — didn’t have the same revenue potential of the business I have now.
Because we’ve taken the time (oh lord, time!) to get systems right and the energy to do things exceptionally well, we’re poised to generate more revenue than ever before.
So I’ll take that refund this year and remind myself that it’s a symbol of a much bigger investment: doing great work, creating things of immense value, and aiming for being exceptional. | https://medium.com/help-yourself/what-i-learned-about-myself-from-this-years-income-taxes-b4d73343c60 | ['Tara Mcmullin'] | 2019-04-02 16:21:19.659000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Leadership', 'Small Business', 'Life Lessons'] |
Using Brand as a Partnerships North Star | Choose partners based on values rather than reach to optimize for impact.
When considering who to partner with many teams focus on “the biggest brand that is willing to work with us”. Top-line growth is certainly an impact we intend to drive, but anchored by our brand strategy, our focus is “partners who share our values”. This answer opens up a universe of potential collaborators we would have otherwise overlooked — brands, fellow startups, community organizations, and influencers alike. We make no distinction. The result is coveted access to targeted communities where Skillshare will resonate strongly, with reach as a secondary consideration.
Make structuring a partnership dead simple — work with partners on only one thing.
Our atomic unit — “the most fundamental object of all in your service” (vintage ’12 Fred Wilson) — is a class. Per the brand strategy, it’s the one vehicle we use to make progress towards our vision of unlocking the world’s creativity. Following suit, a class is the atomic unit of all our partnerships. In other words, we don’t sell a “partnership offering”, we invite partners to collaborate with us on the one thing we’re already doing: building the world’s best catalog of online classes. The simplicity here keeps us moving lightning fast since anyone on the team can decide if a partnership idea is one we should pursue. It also ensures no resources are diverted away from company-wide goals.
Hire people who will represent your brand authentically, everything else is teachable.
We only hire people who understand our brand strategy, considering previous work experience secondary. These are not people covered in Skillshare stickers talking about the product nonstop, however expertly. These are people who get the creative community our brand speaks to. They’re able to articulate Skillshare’s vision with conviction (not a teachable skill) while being open to learning sales and account management processes (teachable skills). Of the 6-person team building and executing our partnerships, I’m the only one with previous partnership experience. My team — who I’d proudly argue is way better at this than I — is made up of a best-selling author, a graphic designer, a pianist, a DJ and the world’s only accredited sneakerhead.
p.s. Want to work with us? Our partnerships team is hiring. | https://medium.com/skillshare-team/brand-strategy-is-your-partnership-team-s-north-star-751b4441b657 | ['A. Besdin'] | 2015-03-25 16:10:30.401000+00:00 | ['Brand Strategy', 'Startup', 'Partnerships'] |
Making AI More Accessible | According to McKinsey, a lack of understanding of and strategy for AI is still the greatest barrier to its adoption in most organizations. People still often think about AI as science fiction, not as a tool that they can use to drive growth. Other organizations fear that leveraging their data more effectively would require data practices likely to turn consumers off.
The lack of general understanding and accessibility holds the field back and hurts many businesses that could benefit from more strategic deployment of AI. It’s a shame because AI can help businesses better meet evolving customer demands, especially when it comes to things that can make brands competitive in even the most difficult industries, like better customization and more personalized and efficient service.
So how can professionals working in AI make it more accessible to the general, non-technical population? We have to prioritize a positive user experience or UX from the outset. UX may not commonly be the priority for AI experts, but if we want to continue to achieve higher adoption and utility, UX has to rank higher on the list.
Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash
Human-Centred AI
No AI can operate totally independently; eventually, a person will be providing inputs or interacting with outputs. Perhaps, then, the most important way to make AI more accessible to the average person is to design AI with them in mind from the very start. Effective AI has both human-centric interfaces and functionality. To this end, we have to create models that solve the right problems by giving practical, autonomous solutions that users can easily put into action.
From a model design perspective, this means that:
(a) the AI solves a real problem faced by users (b) the AI solves that problem in a practical way that does not conflict with other priorities (c) the AI integrates easily into other operations (d) the AI interface and outputs are simple to use and understand
In other words, AI can’t be a one-size-fits-all solution. It needs to be customized to align with the needs and priorities of the end-user. No one wants to devote time to a tool that ultimately delivers little ROI for the effort required to understand it.
We instead have to be driven by the question, “How will this help my end user?”. All new functions and tools should be designed in response to actual business needs rather than our own ideas for disrupting their field. It’s why all data scientists today are also business scientists. Unless we fully understand the business context and the problems facing the end-user, we can’t design AI that will fully address their needs. Human-centric AI is ultimately preferable to even the most innovative models that are too complex for the end-user.
Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash
At my company Evo, for example, we created an Excel add-in that allows users to calculate forecasts and deliver recommendations inside an Excel spreadsheet rather than on our custom dashboard if they prefer. Why? Because our clients were already using Excel. They were comfortable in Excel. The Excel tool may not be as “cool” or outwardly innovative as the dashboards we custom-built using Shiny, but this interface matched client needs better. We can adapt our AI to fit the end-users’ current reality without compromising what matters (i.e. delivering automated, accurate pricing and supply chain recommendations). Ultimately, AI must solve clients’ problems, not create new ones. That means we adapt to their processes (such as integrating with Excel instead of always requiring a brand new tool) and provide clean, simple interfaces with no “fluff” functionality for any tools we design ourselves.
AI aims to improve our lives; that’s impossible without human-centric design.
“By putting human-centred values in AI, we can bring about new renaissance of thinking and learning.” — Marc Tessier-Lavigne, President of Stanford University
Setting Realistic Expectations
Once you have designed the right AI tool, you still must set realistic expectations for its performance or risk alienating end-users who feel they aren’t getting what’s been promised. People often expect AI to be simultaneously smarter and dumber than it really is. They have high expectations for AI transformation while still depending on their own guts over the AI recommendations. The conflict leads to inevitable disappointments. When AI doesn’t live up to its loftiest promises, the user feels like something has broken.
Photo by Agê Barros on Unsplash
As a result, over-promising feeds negative UX. You may assume that it is better to under-promise and then surprise the user with exceeded expectations. Unfortunately, this can also make AI less accessible. People are often only willing to invest in learning a new technology if it can significantly improve on the old methods. By setting low expectations, you may inadvertently motivate people to use the technology incorrectly — or not use the AI at all. These negative sentiments carry over into the UX, making your AI seem like a waste.
The only solution is honesty. Set realistic expectations for AI and meet them. This should include the promise that your AI will improve results over time, as it learns from doing. When people understand exactly what AI can do for them, they are much more likely to feel empowered to try it for themselves and trust the AI to give dependable results.
UX of AI Comes Down to Results
Of course, design and expectations are just a part of what makes AI more accessible to non-tech users. No matter how much we focus on creating a friendly user interface for AI tools or ensure that expectations are in line with the actual purpose and utility of the AI, UX is going to be negative if the AI doesn’t deliver what it promises. Ultimately, it matters most if your AI works.
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” -Steve Jobs
Much of the user experience of AI comes down to results. If a company switches over to AI forecasting and gets worse results than they could get without the AI, they obviously are going to be resistant to change. Positive results will encourage the expansion of AI use. It may only take a single negative experience with your AI to discourage use long-term. Even unrelated AI technologies can sour a person’s relationship with the whole categories of AI, especially when it comes to business.
We need to invest in getting AI right before turning it over to end-users. Your model doesn’t need to be perfect. After all, that’s an impossible dream. You do, however, need to be sure that you have created a robust algorithm that can deliver accurate insights now and learn to do better as it goes forward.
Your model should be equipped for self-learning that adapts to disruptions and only gets more accurate over time. This kind of AI can not only avoid model drift, but it also becomes inherently more accessible. AI that stays just as useful during a crisis achieves far more value for the end-user — and that does more for positive UX than any other functionality.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Making AI Accessibility and UX Your Priority
The good news for those of us that work in AI is that a better UX syncs with our own goals. AI should be human-centered for the sake of UX, but this demand ensures that our model has utility. Since UX requires setting the right expectations, data scientists and engineers have an opportunity to honestly assess the strengths and limitations of their models. Finally, UX of AI depends on the model working well — something we all agree is a priority for everyone involved.
It’s no surprise that UX and data visualization experts are in high demand right now. People who work in AI have discovered that even the best model is useless unless end users can leverage both the technology itself and its recommendations easily. Even during a worldwide economic crisis, the UX of AI is something smart AI companies and departments are investing in. Here at Evo, we’re currently hiring data visualization developers. UX has become an investment in the future that is vital for anyone who plans to grow the impact of AI.
AI has the potential to revolutionize the economy in the next decade, but only if companies continue to adopt and use AI in more areas of their businesses. That’s only possible if everyone working in AI makes a commitment to making AI as accessible as possible to the general public. It’s time to demystify AI and embrace it as a tool to improve everyone’s lives — not just those of us who understand the deeper technology. | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/making-ai-more-accessible-a554efcfe433 | ['Elena Marocco'] | 2020-10-07 13:34:35.325000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Business Science', 'UX', 'AI', 'Data Science'] |
Taking Breaks Are Vital to Your Writing | Taking Breaks Are Vital to Your Writing
How a week without writing changed the way I look at my life
Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash
One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was the need to take breaks, to give your mind a rest. This past week I have taken a break from writing and I discovered I was not as productive as I could have been.
The work I was producing was not up to par with my own standards, let alone the standard which captures readers. I underestimated the critical need for breaks my mind required to refresh, refocus and decide what it was I wanted to accomplish.
Part of the reason for this is I depend on my writing for income. It is a way of life for me and I am sure many other writers like yourself. If you are reading this then there is a basic lesson to be learned here.
Taking a break from writing is essential for your mental health, your soul and your sense of well being. There are many things I learned about myself, my writing and my goals in life over the last week.
Focus and clarity
For months I ran on empty, my gas gauge was teetering on the big E, never making it to half full which means I was never fully recharged.
When you allow yourself to balance on the edge of falling you don’t produce the work you are capable of. Being sub par in a world full of great writers you need to be at the top of your game.
My own focus was non existent, I couldn’t find but also didn’t know it was the missing element during those dark days. Taking this break allowed me to step outside myself and see the mistakes I was making.
Those mistakes are currently being used to teach me what it is I really want. The clarity of my life and how it should be shines in my mind like the rays of the sun. Showing me the next step.
Without that break, I never would have discovered the type of writing which makes me happy, what I want to do with my life and career as a writer.
Goals make themselves
Goals are the number one thing every writer should make. Even for non writers this is an important step to accomplishing your goals.
During my break my new goals wrote themselves, I wasn’t even trying to make them. They just appeared out of nowhere. Of course I wrote them down, breaking them into smaller pieces and now have a new game plan to follow.
When you keep trudging along on empty these goals tend to stay buried, never reaching the surface. The focus and clarity help bring them up, causing them to float in the front of your mind waiting for you to take charge of them.
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for writing fiction and I have tried writing novels but never finishing them. This was mainly because I thought novels and short stories were the only way to get my idea told.
During the last week I discovered my ideas are better written in another way, screenwriting. I have taken one of the novels saved on my computer and transformed it into a screenplay, something that I hope will do well in a contest I will be entering at the end of the month.
I have found writing a screenplay helps me bring my story to life better than writing a novel. While this is not to say I won’t ever write a novel, but my new focus is on this type of writing. My new goals are now centered around this new concept.
Seeing your life in a whole new light
This is probably the hardest thing I realized during the last week, but the most profound. I had been so busy writing I failed to notice what was happening around me. Or maybe I did and just didn’t want to see it.
Nothing helps a writer more than having a partner or family who supports you and has faith in all you want to accomplish. Without this you are left floundering on the edge of a cliff.
For me, I discovered I don’t have the support system I imagined. The person I thought believed in me has actually been just going along with the flow. Sadly, I believe there needs to be some serious pondering about the prospective outcome.
Life decisions are never easy and change is hard, but sometimes you have to make the tough decisions in order to make yourself happy. My new found focus and clarity have helped me create new goals for my life and where I want it to go, and no matter what it takes I know I will get there.
Final take
Life, itself, has a way of knocking people down. You need to regroup yourself to discover what it is you really want out of life. No matter what it costs, you need to take breaks, you need to refresh your mind. This feeds it to help you create the life you want.
Sometimes stepping outside the box and looking at your life from a distance can give you the clarity you need to refocus your energy on the things which matter to you.
The above is what I learned from taking that much needed break. Whether good or bad, we all need that. | https://medium.com/the-writers-bookcase/taking-breaks-are-vital-to-your-writing-a7572fa5cf51 | ['Tammi Brownlee'] | 2020-03-04 13:23:44.758000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Writing', 'Relationships', 'Advice', 'This Happened To Me'] |
Why do we take photos of our food? To feel fulfilled | Why do we take photos of our food? To feel fulfilled
The act of taking one’s meal photos is a display of emotions than just the contents of the plate
Photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash
“You make these excellent meals and then post pictures of them on Instagram, but never bring them to the office,” my manager joked with me earlier today. He was saying that after having seen my photo upload of coconut Thai curry and coriander rice. Unsure of an answer, I said it was too little to bring to work. “Well then make more,” he persisted. I smiled to take time for response, finally conceding, “I’ll make dessert for the office next time.”
Later this afternoon, I watched a man take photos of his lunch that consisted of a regular meal of french fries and burger, at a hawker centre. He spent a couple of minutes holding the phone at a ninety-degree angle, enough to get the full spread and no shadows. As I left, he had finished the meal, with a few lonely fries sunk in mayonnaise and ketchup, like dead fish onto the plate.
Tonight, my dinner was the most basic meal reminiscent of my home in winters— plain parantha cooked in ghee with a sprinkle of salt, along with a hot cup of milk tea. As I sat by myself for dinner, I observed how each bite of the parantha tasted just like it does at home, the saltiness surprise in every bite to a rather bland piece of bread. Adding to that combination is a gulp of tea, that mixes in with the chew, eventually going down together. For the next 10–12 minutes, I was back in my parents’ dining room, having breakfast on a cold winter morning.
What’s common amongst all episodes? The act of taking photos of the meals.
We take pictures of objects we cherish, but we eat food every day, why is it necessary to document it? Social media is one, but that’s not the cause. The term ‘food porn’ is another manifestation of our deep-seated relationship with something as natural as feeding our bodies. Our eyes widen and mouth waters, at the sight of delicious meals, but perhaps, more important than that is the basic tendency of feeling fulfilled: and the easiest way to do that is eating.
I think when we take photos of our food, we are trying to capture the joy that the meal brings more than the satisfaction of having it.
From the moment of taking that right shot to the moment of having the first bite, is a fleeting sense of happiness that neither the photo nor eating the food can capture. However, as always, we try to register, to document, to seize that one instance that we know we feel, but cannot explain. Everything that happens after posting a photo, or eating the meal, is simply validation. Our minds are filled with Instagram likes and comments, our stomachs are filled with the food — and that moment in between, gone.
Which brings me to the next realisation: how can one then manifest that moment time and again? And the simple answer is generosity.
Photo by Eaters Collective on Unsplash
Cooking for oneself is liberating, cooking for others is fulfilling.
Over the past five months, I have been religiously working on testing new recipes every weekend (blogs of which are due), I take countless photos of ingredients, processes and plating up, but never of sharing the meal with others. The reason being, that the act of documenting that moment, takes away the moment. Quite a paradox, but true. I simply let my family, friends savour the meals I make for them, allowing me and them to remember the moment with all its flavours and emotions that emerge while tasting my recipes.
Chef and author, Samin Nosrat mentioned this too, that cooking is by far the most generous way of communicating and spreading joy (if I remember correctly). Eating food is only the final step towards feeling fulfilled, and taking pictures of it is a chance to remember that feeling of completeness. But cooking a meal and sharing it with others, is what allows us to relive the joy again and again. | https://mariyamraza.medium.com/feeling-fulfilled-through-food-photography-f93c4f93b86b | ['Mariyam Haider'] | 2019-09-30 14:14:34.002000+00:00 | ['Millennials', 'Life', 'Food', 'Psychology', 'Photography'] |
A Guide to Neural Network Loss Functions with Applications in Keras | Cross Entropy
Binary Cross-Entropy is defined mathematically as —
— given a correct target t and a predicted value p.
Given values of p for a correct target 0, the binary cross entropy value can be graphed as —
Given values of p for a correct target 1, the binary cross entropy value can be graphed as —
Entropy is the measure of uncertainty in a certain distribution, and cross-entropy is the value representing the uncertainty between the target distribution and the predicted distribution.
#FOR COMPILING
model.compile(loss='binary_crossentropy', optimizer='sgd')
# optimizer can be substituted for another one #FOR EVALUATING
keras.losses.binary_crossentropy(y_true, y_pred, from_logits=False, label_smoothing=0)
Categorical Cross Entropy and Sparse Categorical Cross Entropy are versions of Binary Cross Entropy, adapted for several classes. Categorical cross entropy should be used when one sample has several classes or labels are soft probabilities, and sparse categorical cross entropy should be used when the classes are mutually exclusive.
Categorical cross-entropy:
#FOR COMPILING
model.compile(loss='categorical_crossentropy', optimizer='sgd')
# optimizer can be substituted for another one #FOR EVALUATING
keras.losses.categorical_crossentropy(y_true, y_pred, from_logits=False, label_smoothing=0)
Sparse categorical cross-entropy: | https://towardsdatascience.com/a-guide-to-neural-network-loss-functions-with-applications-in-keras-3a3baa9f71c5 | ['Andre Ye'] | 2020-03-05 16:12:05.196000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'AI', 'Neural Networks', 'Loss Function', 'Keras'] |
Imagining a world with AI, UBI and Passion Economy | How can we fit these three promising concepts in the economic system?
Photo by tabitha turner on Unsplash
The economic panorama after the Coronavirus outbreak doesn’t look very promising, and this is exactly why we should realize that it is time to change some social constructs related to economy, work and technology.
Yes, we are living times of job losses and economic uncertainty. The pandemic left many people in a long-term unemployment period, but with an online world full of possibilities.
What happened during the first wave’s quarantine? From all those who had access to the internet, one part was creating and sharing content, and the others were fully paying attention to the screens at home. It was easier to create and engage digital audiences. From the other side, governments were trying to help businesses with liquidity. Now, content creators identified a revenue stream from these online audiences and also, our perception of the government changed after seeing them flexing their financial muscles and controlling the economic activities.
The pandemic accelerated the expansion of the Passion Economy and helped to reconsider concepts such as Universal Basic Income, a monthly payment provided by the government in spite of the employment status.
In a nutshell, Passion Economy is about doing something you really like and getting profit out of it. However, it should come with a great story that engages audiences and creates interactions. From the marketing approach, it can be just a new concept for trying to stand out from the rest to sell something. Nothing new. But if it’s analyzed in the context of the Covid Era, where unemployed people need income and technology allows reaching any market, it can resonate more.
The Passion economy is not just being your own boss, it’s offering unique content and engaging communities. Technology plays the role of enabler, not intermediary. How? With SaaS platforms that facilitate the creator’s life by providing not only a way to share their “passion” but also a payment system. It is also a space for community building. This may sound as another social media platform, but the difference could be that these platforms are more personalized according to the creator’s needs, and less invasive for the fans in terms of advertising. In fact, the recent awareness about how social media is playing with our minds and wasting our time is an advantage for these platforms.
The concept of Passion Economy allows a new way of looking at “jobs”, but still has not changed much of the fact that if you don’t work, you are poor. It all comes to our economic system.
Do the UBI and the Passion Economy fit in the current economic system?
Imagine a world where we could have income from doing what we are passionate about, plus receiving a check from the government.
Ok, maybe you don’t have any hobbies or you haven’t found your passion, and you actually hate your job. Here’s where Artificial Intelligence appears. Now, your job is easier and less demanding because of intelligent automation. Because in this perfect world, indeed, AI technologies are based on human-machine cooperation, not human displacement. Now you have time to do something meaningful rather than just sit in front of the computer for eight hours straight or stand in the kitchen for the whole day.
Imagine a world where sustainability is the first priority, where we can work together with AI to make our lives less complicated, where we can work in something we like, not just because we need to pay the rent. In this world, the concepts of leisure and work would be reframed.
“Like humor and satire, utopias throw open the windows of the mind. And that’s vital” -Rutger Bregman
So, do the UBI and the Passion Economy fit in the current economic system? The Passion Economy seems to fit well. It is based on engaging an audience with the aim of making money. As for the UBI, critics say that it could only work if capitalism changes. This is because if the income increases, the prices will do as well. But then, is it time to realize that the government should regulate more? It is more than clear that free markets are not sustainable. In this perfect world, the government would tax the rich more heavily and benefit the ones in need.
Intelligent automation is also challenging the current system. Past philosophers and economists have predicted human displacement for a long time, but it didn’t affect the labour market in the way they imagined it would be. They thought that at some point, leisure would be a problem. Too much free time thanks to the machines. But nowadays all economic interactions are looking for limitless growth, instead of sustainability.
The pandemic was a game changer in many ways. UBI is catching the attention of some governments.The European Commission is evaluating an initiative on this topic and countries such as Ireland and Germany included trials for the upcoming future. The concerns are that people would not be motivated to work, and that only those who really need it should receive it. Finland did a trial between 2017 and 2018, with a sample of unemployed people, unlike Germany, in which the sample is considering people independently of the employment status. Indeed, Finland’s study cannot be understood as an UBI experiment, since it was partial basic income only for young and long-term unemployed.
UBI started as a solution for inequality and intelligent automation, but nowadays it could be a way to recover from the crisis and build an economy that gives people a chance to breathe and enjoy life.
Hopefully, the next generations are more open to new systems that are not just capitalism or socialism, which help to build upon sustainability and inclusion, where the legislation promotes equality and AI is designed in a way that benefits the human kind. | https://medium.com/predict/imagining-a-world-with-ai-ubi-and-passion-economy-eb6b9867f630 | ['Alejandra Rojas'] | 2020-12-09 19:52:19.009000+00:00 | ['Passion Economy', 'Economics', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Universal Basic Income', 'Covid 19 Crisis'] |
Containerize your .NET Core app – the right way | There are millions of use cases out there and that’s why there isn’t a one fits all solution. I would like to introduce you to two different options I use most. You will get all the details to decide which of them works best for you. Let us start with the basics first.
The common way
This is a common example Dockerfile which comes across my way quite often:
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/aspnet:3.1 WORKDIR /app
COPY /app/output . EXPOSE 8080
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", " sample-mvc .dll"]
There is nothing particularly wrong with it. It will work, but it is not tuned or optimized at all. Neither for performance nor for security-related issues and therefore not optimal for a production environment. Some examples are:
containers executing their process as root
an inefficient sorting order that results in slower build times due to invalid image layer caches
an improper image layer management that affects the final image size
slower builds due to missing .dockerignore file
Let’s have a closer look at another Dockerfile example:
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/sdk:3.1 WORKDIR /app
ADD /src .
RUN dotnet publish \
-c Release \
-o ./output EXPOSE 8080
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", " sample-mvc .dll"]
This example uses a containerized build. This means that the application build itself is moved into the Docker build process. Doing this a pretty good pattern that allows you to build in an immutable and isolated build environment with all dependencies build in. But as a downside, you need to build your image based on a bigger SDK image. The SDK image provides the needed dependencies to build the application but wouldn’t be needed to execute it afterward. Luckily, there is a solution that addresses this particular issue.
Multi-stage builds
If you are using a similar version of the above Dockerfiles you might not have heard about a feature called multi-stage build. Multi-stage builds allow us to split our image build process into multiple stages.
The first stage is used to build our application that requires that we need to provide the required dependencies. In the second stage, we are copying the application artifacts into a smaller runtime environment which then is used as our final image. This corresponding Dockerfile could look like this:
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/sdk:3.1 AS build-env WORKDIR /app
ADD /src .
RUN dotnet publish \
-c Release \
-o ./output FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/aspnet:3.1 WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build-env /app/output . EXPOSE 8080
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", " sample-mvc .dll"]
Let’s take a closer look at the individual steps:
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/sdk:3.1 AS build-env
...
RUN dotnet publish \
-c Release \
-o ./output
...
Our first stage is based on the SDK image which provides all dependencies to build our app.
...
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/aspnet:3.1
...
COPY --from=build-env /app/output .
...
In the second stage, we define a new base image that this time only contains our runtime dependencies. We then copy the application artifacts from the first stage into the second one.
With this in place, we are now able to build a smaller and more secure container image because it only contains the dependencies needed to execute the application. But we still have room for further improvement which we talk about in the next paragraph.
If you like to learn more about Dockerfile best practices I would recommend you check out this page of the official Docker documentation.
You have the choice
As already mentioned above, there isn’t a single best practice. It varies from use case to use case. With the examples below, you will get two blueprints as well as their pros and cons, which you can then use to adapt them according to your needs.
A good starting point
The below Dockerfile is an optimized version of the above multi-stage example and should be a good fit for most scenarios.
ARG VERSION=3.1-alpine3.10 FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/sdk:$VERSION AS build-env WORKDIR /app ADD /src/*.csproj .
RUN dotnet restore ADD /src .
RUN dotnet publish \
-c Release \
-o ./output
RUN adduser \
--disabled-password \
--home /app \
--gecos '' app \
&& chown -R app /app
USER app
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build-env /app/output .
ENV DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \
ASPNETCORE_URLS= FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/aspnet:$VERSIONRUN adduser \--disabled-password \--home /app \--gecos '' app \&& chown -R app /appUSER appWORKDIR /appCOPY --from=build-env /app/output .ENV DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \ASPNETCORE_URLS= http://+:8080 EXPOSE 8080
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "sample-mvc.dll"]
Again, we take a closer look at the individual steps:
ARG VERSION=3.1-alpine3.10
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/sdk:$VERSION AS build-env
...
We are first defining our base image tag using an ARG instruction. This helps us to easily update the tag instead of changing several lines. As you may have noticed, we use a different tag. The tag 3.1-alpine3.10 states that this image contains the ASPNET version 3.1 and is based on Alpine 3.10.
Alpine Linux is a Linux distribution designed for security, simplicity, and resource efficiency use cases. In this stage, Alpine Linux already can help us to reduce the footprint of our build stage.
...
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/aspnet:$VERSION
...
Because we are using a multi-stage build we also need to define the image used in our final stage. Once again we will use the Alpine based ASPNET runtime as our base image. As already said, building our image based on Alpine allows us to build a smaller and more secure container image.
ADD /src/*.csproj .
RUN dotnet restore ADD /src .
RUN dotnet publish \
-c Release \
-o ./output
Unlike in the above example, we this time splitting the build process into multiple pieces. The dotnet restore command uses NuGet to restore dependencies as well as project-specific tools that are specified in the project file. The dependencies restore is also part of the dotnet pubish command but separating it allows us to build the dependencies into a separate image layer. This shortens the time needed to build the image and reduces the download size since the image layer dependencies are only rebuilt if the dependencies get changed.
...
RUN adduser \
--disabled-password \
--home /app \
--gecos '' app \
&& chown -R app /app
USER app
...
To secure the runtime of our application we need to execute them without any root privileges. Because of this, we are creating a new user and changing the user context using the USER definition.
ENV DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \
ASPNETCORE_URLS=
EXPOSE 8080
... ...ENV DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \ASPNETCORE_URLS= http://+:8080 EXPOSE 8080...
Because we run our app without any root privileges we need to expose it on a port higher 1024. In this example, 8080 was chosen. With the ENV definition, we are exposing further environment variables to our application process. DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true is only an informal environment variable to let a developer/application know that the process is running within a container. ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:8080 is used to provide the runtime with the information to expose the process on port 8080.
Smaller, smaller, smaller
As already mentioned, the above example should fit for most of the scenarios. The following example describes a way to build the smallest possible container image. A possible use-case might be for IoT Edge use cases or environments that need optimized start times. Unfortunately, we also get some disadvantages which I will talk about in detail below.
ARG VERSION=3.1-alpine3.10 FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/sdk:$VERSION AS build-env WORKDIR /app
ADD /src .
RUN dotnet publish \
--runtime alpine-x64 \
--self-contained true \
/p:PublishTrimmed=true \
/p:PublishSingleFile=true \
-c Release \
-o ./output
RUN adduser \
--disabled-password \
--home /app \
--gecos '' app \
&& chown -R app /app
USER app
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build-env /app/output .
ENV DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=1 \
DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \
ASPNETCORE_URLS= FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/runtime-deps:$VERSIONRUN adduser \--disabled-password \--home /app \--gecos '' app \&& chown -R app /appUSER appWORKDIR /appCOPY --from=build-env /app/output .ENV DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=1 \DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \ASPNETCORE_URLS= http://+:8080
ENTRYPOINT ["./sample-mvc", "--urls", " EXPOSE 8080ENTRYPOINT ["./sample-mvc", "--urls", " http://0.0.0.0:8080 "]
Once again, we take a closer look at the individual steps:
...
RUN dotnet publish \
--runtime alpine-x64 \
--self-contained true \
/p:PublishTrimmed=true \
/p:PublishSingleFile=true \
-c Release \
-o ./output
...
The big difference to the upper one is that we will build a self-contained application. Providing the parameter --self-contained true will force the build to include all dependencies into the application artifact. Wich includes the .NET Core runtime. Because of this, we also need to define the runtime we would like to execute the binary in. This is done with the --runtime alpine-x64 parameter.
Since the final image should be optimized for size we are defining the /p:PubishTrimmed=true flag that advises the build process to not include any unused libraries. The /p:PublishSingleFile=true flag allows us to speed up the build process itself. As a downside, you will have to define dynamically loaded assemblies upfront to make sure that required libraries aren’t trimmed and therefore not available in the image. More details on this are available here.
A second disadvantage of having a smaller image is that code changes result in a bigger change. This is because the code and runtime are packed together in a single image layer. Every time the code changes the whole image layer needs to rebuild and also redistributed to the system running the code.
...
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/runtime-deps:$VERSION
...
Because the application artifact is self-contained we do not need to provide a runtime with the image. In this example, I have chosen the runtime-deps image based on Alpine Linux. This image is stripped down to the minimum native dependencies needed to execute the application artifact.
Another image size improvement is to use the globalization invariant mode. This mode is useful for applications that are not globally aware and that can use the formatting conventions, casing conventions, and string comparison and sort order of the invariant culture. The globalization invariant mode is enabled via the DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=1 environment variable. If your application requires globalization you will need to install the ICU library and remove the above environment variable. This will increase your container image size by about 28 MB. You will find more details on the globalization invariant mode here.
For self-contained applications, we need to change the ENTRYPOINT definition to run the binary itself.
The size of this image will be around 73 MB (including my sample application). Let’s compare this to other images:
an image based on a common multi-stage Dockerfile: 250 MB
an image based on the above multi-stage Dockerfile: 124 MB
As already mentioned above: Which Dockerfile is most suitable for you depends on your use case. Smaller is not necessarily better. | https://medium.com/01001101/containerize-your-net-core-app-the-right-way-35c267224a8d | ['Nico Meisenzahl'] | 2020-05-21 16:51:12.527000+00:00 | ['Dotnet Core', 'Containers', 'DevOps', 'Dockerfile', 'Kubernetes'] |
What is Kitten Jenga? | You win when the kitten knocks the pieces over
How to Play Kitten Jenga
Stack Jenga pieces around the kitten When the kitten knocks over the blocks, it loses
The Web is Dead, Long Live the Internet
You wake up and check your gmail on your iPad — that’s one app. Scan Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp over breakfast — three more apps. You do a HeadSpace mindfulness course, then listen to Spotify on your phone on the way to work. Two more apps. At work you Skype overseas, Dropbox some files and sign your document electronically with HelloSign. Three more apps.
You use Google Maps to navigate to a bar that you found on Zomato to meet your Tinder date — three apps. You flick through a Kindle book because you’re early, and show them a funny YouTube video to break the ice — two more apps.
At home you pour a glass of Vino Mofo Pinot Noir, relax over Netflix and play some games on Xbox Live — three more apps.
All this leads to constant notifications, updates, emails, logins — all vying for our attention. Why did we move towards specific apps? Because with over a trillion websites active (including the ones generated on the fly by users) we got sick of websites with all of their popups, advertising, spam and security.
Everyone wants our attention. All of the time.
The tax department wants me to like them on Facebook. Sure, they’re trying to connect. But who the hell wants to follow the taxman on Facebook?
Every screen, every speaker, every social media profile, every person. All of the time.
I was chatting with a friend by our campfire when I realised that I am the kitten. Surrounded by Jenga pieces made of apps, advertisements, and social media.
No matter which way I move, I have to knock over a block.
”Jenga!”
What was I doing again?
The Cost
This is modern life. An inescapable truth.
They want you to buy from them. To love them. To trust their brand.
The cost? Constantly divided attention.
And when attention is scarce it becomes the true currency.
Attention = Time + The ability to use it — Tim Ferriss
This is most obvious when you check your email on Friday night. You can’t put out that fire until Monday anyway, and can’t fully unwind over the weekend.
What are the Options?
1. Shave your head and join a monastery
You can delete your Facebook, gmail and Netflix.
2. We could take down the Jenga pieces, one by one
Install Adblock
Pay for Spotify (to avoid hearing advertising)
Block annoying notifications on our phones with AppBlock
Remove all mailing lists (Filter anything containing ‘unsubscribe’ into a folder
Automate your IT updates, and turn off Facebook and Email notifications
Use RescueTime to focus
3. We can free up some of our own headspace
We can spend some time practicing mindfulness. If we spend 20 minutes meditating, and manage to bring our monkey-brains back to focus on what we want to for 3 minutes, then that’s a success. It’s successful, because we’re practicing focus on what we want.
When we get better at shifting our focus onto what we want, we get better at not getting distracted by all of the noise, all of the time.
We’re not fighting against the Kitten Jenga! We’re not going to stop playing the game completely. We are just bowing out of caring about the constant interruptions.
But I’ve got a Great Idea!
Unless we bury our head in the sand and go off the grid, we’re part of this machine. And we are one of those voices shouting for attention. Being drowned out in the crowd. But I’ve got a great idea, one that’s worth shouting about!
We have several options:
1. Shout Louder than Everyone Else.
You’re turning the tables: by surrounding your customers with social media, email and advertising, no matter which way they move, they hit Jenga!
Most people try to build Facebook fans. Then a social media expert gently explains to them that yes, it will cost money to reach your own fans. If you don’t pay, you’ll get access to about 10% of them per post.
Jenga! Facebook wins.
“But, but, but I gathered those fans myself!“
Facebook’s pulled a bait and switch. You’ve spent time building Facebook’s fans, not your own.
This option works best if you’ve got lots of money, but not a hell of a lot to say.
2. Get a Private Audience
We can hide the rest of the attention suckers. How?
In Person Events
With an in person event, where you’re engaged because it’s one on one, or one-on-many. This is great, you get to know one another, it builds trust, and works great because you don’t need to scale to a giant audience.
Build a Community
Many websites like Facebook are a walled garden from the internet. They’re not searchable on Google, and that exclusivity was their appeal.
With annoying banner ads and popups wanting your email address to spam you. Rubbish designs that doesn’t work on our mobiles (which we use to surf 60% of the web).
So we use websites less and less, and rely on closed online communities like Facebook more and more. Remember, Facebook started as exclusive to Harvard, and then expanded to universities before opening up to the world.
By building our own community, they get access to high quality content, an exclusive community, and to be part of something special.
Build an App
We can build an app. The ultimate walled community. No flipping between tabs, or searching on Google. They’ve made a commitment to you, because you’re on their phone. You can leave them a notification at just the right time (no abusing it, you hear me?). Just like an SMS.
But in return, you need to give them something really valuable in return. Something they really need. A car to pick them up with the push of a button (Uber), a radio station (Spotify, SoundCloud) or an app to practice Mindfulness (Headspace).
Purpose built simplicity.
Making it Work for Us
What if we reinvent Kitten Jenga, and use it to our advantage? In an ethical way, of course.
We can create worthwhile content. Share worthwhile ideas and stories. Once it’s good enough, people will share it for us.
But Why Kitten Jenga?
Jenga: Pronunciation: /ˈdʒɛnɡə/ exclamation An exclamation used when a player causes the tower of blocks to collapse. verb Swahili: “to build” Build excitement / anticipation Stack the deck in your favour Kitten Jenga! = Cute like a kitten + buildable like Jenga
Let’s entertain them
If people are going to give us their attention — we may as well entertain them.
Tell them a story
Take them on a journey
Play them a song
Solve a problem
Teach them something valuable
Solve a puzzle
All of this is what we mean by creating media, not marketing.
Everybody wins a prize!
If it goes viral, then you’ve spread something worthy of their attentionIf it doesn’t, then you’ve built something worthy of their attention, which builds trust.
Why take the higher road? Because we’re all here for a short time. And people will be on your website for an even shorter time. Let’s make the most of both.
And lets stack the blocks the right way: as part of a game, not as a trap. So they will want to yell Jenga! when it works.
If you’re not sure where to start, feel free to get in touch.
Moss Dog — PR manager for tgrrr.com — Masters of Kitten Jenga
I’m being followed by @amoonshadow
Originally published at tgrrr.com. | https://medium.com/tgrrr/what-is-kitten-jenga-23558575262a | [] | 2016-10-25 04:58:15.475000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Notifications', 'Audience Engagement', 'Focus', 'Content Strategy'] |
Why Most Trading Books Aren’t Worth The Money. | Photo by Chris Benson on Unsplash
It is only natural for people to look to the bookshops or Amazon reading lists to get amongst all the books that are “must reads” for the aspiring trader. Are they worthwhile? Yes and No.
I’ve spent a fair bit of money buy up trading books, mostly I’ve found that the ones on the top of the search lists aren’t necessarily the ones that are worthwhile. Not to be cynical but a lot of these books are on the top of those lists because they’ve played a good game at publicising their book and quite often are prominent in the trading education scene or are regulars on the financial press.
Not to say there is anything wrong with this, but I find that their products often centre on the wrong parts of trading that beginners need to get their head around, offer a bucket load of mechanical strategies and some hard and fast rules for a very fluid and dynamic game. The upside to this is that if you are someone that is looking for an out of the box strategy that you can apply immediately on getting up and running, these books might appeal. Sadly though, those strategies won’t get you to where you want to be.
Why do I say this? Quite simply because having read these books and tried to implement what they say its nearly impossible to do well. The first issue is that you are trying to implement a strategy that you have no knowledge of other than a few pages in a book, you weren’t part of the stresses and joys that went into discovering that strategy and you most likely don’t have the knowledge of the nuances that form the basis for its foundation. Secondly you are trying to implement a book which was published in the past. Broad Brush basic principles of the market are timeless, individual, technical strategies are old news even if they were designed yesterday.
A lot of beginner books do have some useful points in them I’m happy and pleased to admit. Some of them have a good chapter on basic market mechanics or for those like me who know nothing gave a good outline of economics or basic psychology. What I will say is that if you are reading these types of books don’t put too much expectation on them building you into a trader, instead look for one or two good points to tuck away for the future. Most trading titles I think attack things from the wrong angle and it’s almost always practical. I think, like anything, you need to get a decent grasp of what game it is you are trying to play before you try and master the specific techniques.
On that note I put a lot of stock in books that deal with the much broader subject of what the markets are, how people make decisions, what money is,how it moves and how the financial industry works as a whole. The reason I say this is because I found myself reading so much that I never quite understood because my understanding of the basics of markets wasn’t there.
After a while I gave up on most of these “must have” trading books. Generally anything with techniques, secrets or pro’s in the title or anything that states a timeframe or money in it’s synopsis is worth steering clear of. The one exception to that is “What I learned from loosing a Million Dollars”. This is one book I highly recommend. It’s an excellent look into dealing with risk, trading losses and the psychology of market participants.
Once I moved away from the more obvious trading how to books I started to find the real gems were in the more obscure titles that deal with much bigger concepts than when just to enter and when to exit a trade. The book that acted as a bit of a revelation for me was “One Good Trade”
I’d generally steered away from books on trading equities (Stock) because it wasn’t a market I traded. I’ve now read this book a couple of times and listen to it on audiobook when I’m lost for something to read. I’ve heard some people say it’s not so good because it doesn’t give any set ups or talks too much about the authors Proprietary Trading Floor. What they are missing is that this is the entire point of the book. The author, Mike Bellafiore founded SNB Capital and the book is a fantastic insight into the mind of successful traders and what it takes to be a trader in a modern, prosperous Prop Group. For those that aren’t aware all a Proprietary Trading Group is is a private trading group that deals with trading to simply make profit for itself, they are notoriously hard to run well and control risk tightly — generally their long term traders are very good.
One Good Trade is a book about how to take action one trade at a time, how to make that trade a good one and to how best mould yourself into someone who acts like a professional trader. It’s a broad brush book that talks on a big picture level and for me it was a game changer, from reading it I started reading books that were much more geared around understanding big market principles and behaviour and I’m so glad I did.
Another Classic we hear almost immediately on getting into trading are the “Market Wizards” series. These are brilliant. When I first read them they didn’t make sense and to be honest were a bit of a slog, simply because all the information contained within them were of no use to me because I didn’t understand the principles they were discussing, having learned a few of those principles I re read them and found them to be amazing, another fantastic insight into the minds of those who have achieved what they set out to in the market.
So that’s my take on what is out there in terms of reading material, some of it is amazing, mostly the more obscure stuff. A lot of it doesn’t serve a purpose other than to rob you of your $30, that might sound harsh but it’s something I’ve come to believe after reading a lot of rubbish.
At the end of the day the financial markets are just that, they are a market, they are a place where buyers and sellers meet to trade a commodity, whatever it might be in that particular market. It is no different to buying or selling anything else, the decisions that drive what price they will pay are the same and the market prices will fall and rise in line with supply and demand. So many books go into so much detail as to what technical indicators to use or what method to use to make money, what they don’t do is tell you that this is all obscure detail and doesn’t have any bearing on the underlying market and won’t help you see what is going on. Read books on the financial industry, financial crisis, how things work in the markets, anything about professional trader’s careers and anything that gives you an insight into big picture market mechanics.
As a help I’ll put up a page of recommended stuff to read and maybe some videos to see as I realise you don’t know these books offer what you need until you’ve read them. People read books to acquire knowledge. In trading mostly people read books to acquire knowledge that professionals have that we think non professionals don’t have. The thing to remember is that by and large the big financial institutions and market professionals have two things we don’t and that is huge huge sums of money to play with and the ability to assign risk. They control the market place, no doubt but they don’t have any golden secrets in terms of predicting what might happen next, I’ll try and expand on this soon because I feel it takes a bit of explaining as it sounds somewhat unbelievable.
I truly believe that yes they have the huge support their institution provides but at the end of the day they are people, making decisions with limited information about the decisions other people are making for the purposes of making a profit. There is no reason we can’t do the same and you don’t need a stack of guru trading books to do it. | https://medium.com/understanding-money/why-most-trading-books-arent-worth-the-money-237c558b51e4 | ['Jamie Murray'] | 2020-02-03 22:23:15.544000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Personal Development', 'Reading', 'Finance', 'Trading'] |
Tim Draper out of the Frying Pan in Class Action Lawsuit against Tezos | The lawsuits against Tim Draper and Bitcoin Suisse AG have been thrown out by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg of Northern California.
The Tezos Foundation, Bitcoin Suisse AG, Tim Draper, and several other defendants have been at the center of a legal mess surrounding the $232 million Tezos ICO fundraiser completed in July of 2017. However, the lawsuits against Tim Draper and Bitcoin Suisse AG have been thrown out by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg of the Northern District of California.
This move was in response to motions for dismissal from both parties.
Bitcoin Suisse AG was awarded a full dismissal. But the plaintiffs will have 20 days to amend their suit against Draper before dismissal. The Brietmans and the Tezos Foundation also filled for dismissal, but the motions were rejected by Judge Seeborg.
A Big Legal Mess for Everyone Involved
In 2017, several class-action lawsuits were filed against the Tezos Foundation, Bitcoin Suisse AG, Dynamic Leger Solution (DLS) and several other parties. The suits allege that the Tezos ICO violated laws related to the sale of securities, unfair corporate competition, and other violations.
Tim Draper is a minority shareholder in DLS and his public appearances may have bolstered the legitimacy of the Tezos crowd sale in the eyes of the public. However, the judge decided that the plaintiffs did not sufficiently support their legal claims against him. Therefore, the suit against Draper has been dismissed if the plaintiffs fail to amend their claim within the allotted timeframe. Bitcoin Suisse AG is located in Switzerland and was awarded a full dismissal because the court does not have jurisdiction over it.
Disclaimer: information contained herein is provided without considering your personal circumstances, therefore should not be construed as financial advice, investment recommendation or an offer of, or solicitation for, any transactions in cryptocurrencies. | https://medium.com/bitrates-news/tim-draper-out-of-the-frying-pan-in-class-action-lawsuit-against-tezos-49ea1baaf65c | [] | 2018-08-10 08:01:35.208000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Startup', 'Lawsuit', 'Tezos', 'ICO'] |
Warrior Princess | I was born on the battlefield
Fighting delusions created by society(they).
Delusions harboring evil in the name of glory,
lurking in the nook and cranny.
Friends succumbed, loved ones fallen,
Villages burning and communities grieving.
I didn’t know what I was revolting about.
caught off guard I wasn’t given a weapon to fend for.
Never-ending battles rioted in the field
To safeguard something I did not know what.
A battle fought for centuries,
Even the greatest of the great fall.
I know not what I had perpetrated,
Being a woman was war in itself.
The greatest crusade I had to fight,
To own me for me, and not for others.
This world assumes they can instruct you
To cherish or condone parts of yourself.
They reckon they govern you
And boast reliable their vision of you.
Your body is not yours,
It’s for somebody to ridicule, judge and glare,
Dissect to suit their idea of beauty.
So many facets of being a woman.
They disown you and abandon you
To fend off the nightmares they forged.
When you yearn for a remedy they elude you.
Furthermore, forsaking you to fend for yourself.
Yet, I am here, triumphing crusades.
There aren’t all triumphs but I will remain,
To Fight for me, to fight for all,
Because I am a warrior. | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/warrior-princess-fdcd2ee6470d | ['Peggy Wangmo'] | 2020-10-26 10:02:58.896000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Women', 'Womens Rights', 'Mental Health', 'A Cornered Gurl'] |
How to Recognize Misinformation and Stop Its Spread | How to Recognize Misinformation and Stop Its Spread
A Call for Writers to Change the World
Photo by Nijwam Swargiary on Unsplash
The Information Age is decaying.
With our current trajectory, we are transitioning into an Age of Misinformation.
People are exploiting and extrapolating fake news and “alternative facts” to manipulate others for their own personal gain. We don’t have to go very far back in our history to see the truth of this. Take a look at Pizzagate, climate change, or COVID-19 to see a variety of false claims, some absurd, yet still hold danger if believed (injecting bleach anyone?)
Recently, I came across The Misinformation Age by Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall. Published in January 2019, O’Connor and Weatherall do an excellent job at raising awareness of the prevalence of misinformation due to the easy access we have to new information. We are in a community that no longer values respecting facts. Instead, we strive to create our own reality by providing truth that best suits our needs.
In New York Times’s review of The Misinformation Age, they warn that “Such pretensions to reality-creating grandeur amounts to little more than a vulgar, self-defeating cynicism.”
As writers, it can be tempting to create our own reality by bending facts to fit our needs. You see how well fake news circulates on social media (research states roughly 63% of BuzzFeed’s articles are clickbait and social media is the epicenter for misinformation). Anyone can post anything without being held accountable for fact-checking, and misinformation typically gets farther than fact. Researchers at Indiana University found that misinformation often goes viral because “information overload and finite attention span of users limit the capacity of social media to discriminate information on the basis of quality.”
I’m going to assume that you are not writing just to make a quick buck. Trust me, there are much easier ways to do that. If you are serious about becoming a professional writer, you need to be able to measure the validity of your sources and provide the most accurate information possible to your readers.
Writers can have a very valuable position in the lives of their readers because they are willing to do the research for them. Essentially, you are sifting through all of the garbage out there to find facts and present them to your readers in a format that is easy to understand.
This can be hard to do because of the vast amounts of information you have to sort through in order to discern what is true. I have found that I typically spend more time researching for an article than I do actually writing it. If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, you need to establish your credibility. Here is a quick list of what I do to ensure that my information is credible, and by extension, my own writing remains credible.
Always Use Multiple Sources
Because of the prevalence of misinformation, it is important that you ensure that multiple people are saying the same thing. In any given article, I typically will try to find five sources that I could potentially pull from before I start writing. These sources typically come in the form of accredited news companies, books, or peer-reviewed research.
In most cases, this doesn’t take me long. One way to find multiple sources quickly is to look at what your other sources site as their sources. If the first source is credible, it will lead you to other credible sources. I have often found the article or research that I site the most from following someone else to that source.
Truthfully, I usually don’t end up using all of the sources that I find in the final product of my writing. That’s okay. The purpose of doing extensive research is not to directly quote it all in your writing. It is so you can ensure that you are becoming a credible source.
Look at the Website Itself
You can usually tell the credibility of a website without digging too deeply. Look at the author and any other information displayed about an article. If you can’t find a ton there or aren’t sure, I’ve found it helpful to go to the home page of the website it’s published on. Now that I’ve been around the block a few times, there are websites that I know I can rely on.
Another thing I like to look at is the author. I have a list of writers that I trust as people that do their homework. If they have written on similar topics in the past, I’ll often follow their sources at the start of my research.
On the flip side, there are sources that I have completely blacklisted. I never use articles I find on social media or clickbait websites. I wouldn’t say that you should completely dismiss them, but the news there is much more questionable, and I don’t always give myself time to sift through it.
Try to Find Contradicting Websites
If you still aren’t sure if the information is true or not, try to find an article written from an opposing point of view. For example, if I’m looking at a political topic, I will try to find sources from both a Democratic and a Republican standpoint.
The truth is, humans suck at being unbiased. We can’t keep our opinions out of what we write. Even your history books are jaded by opinions. If you are worried that someone’s opinion is keeping them from sharing the full story with you, don’t be afraid to look for someone with the opposite point of view.
When in Doubt, Don’t Use It
In the end, don’t use a source if you are still questioning its value. I wouldn’t recommend forming your opinion around it, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend using it in your writing. There are plenty of credible sources that deserve to be distributed, and these are the facts that we should be seeking out. | https://medium.com/bulletproof-writers/how-to-recognize-misinformation-and-stop-its-spread-a11305d15f20 | ['Logan Beddes'] | 2020-11-30 18:58:06.661000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Blogging', 'News', 'Writer', 'Misinformation'] |
What is Causing a Strange 16-Day Radio Burst from Space? | CHIME for a Change
The CHIME network operates at lower frequencies than many other instruments — 400 Megahertz — compared to the 700 MHz (and above) at which the most-similar instruments operate. The antennae are also capable of viewing an area of sky 14 degrees across at one time — the size of 784 full moons laid out in a perfect square.
“It consists of four 100-meter-long, semi-cylindrical antennas that look like a half-pipe for snowboarding. The facility operates around the clock and scans the entire northern sky each day — giving it an excellent shot at catching transient FRBs,” Alexandra Witze reports in Nature.
A look inside one of the four antennas of the CHIME radio telescope. Image credit: CHIME
The four cylindrical reflectors, each measuring 20 meters wide by 100 meters long (65x328 feet), are aligned north to south to capture signals stretching (nearly) from horizon to horizon. The focus of each cylinder reflects radio waves up to 256 dual-polarization antennas, providing the instrument with an enormous field of view of the sky. Each of these antennae are capable of receiving signals with frequencies from 400 to 800 MHz, which are then amplified in two stages using low-noise amplifiers developed for cellular communications.
“To search for FRBs, CHIME will continuously scan 1024 separate points or “beams” on the sky 24/7. Each beam is sampled at 16,000 different frequencies and at a rate of 1000 times per second, corresponding to 130 billion bits of data per second to be sifted through in real time,” the CHIME team describes.
The mysteries of FRB’s are explored with instruments including the CHIME radio telescope. Video credit: McGill University.
“Over and over in the history of astronomy, a new instrument finds things we never expected to see.” — astrophysicist Rainer Weiss, MIT
This novel radio telescope was not yet fully commissioned at the time the earliest observations of FRB 180814 were taken, potentially creating gaps in data about the event. It is possible that further observations of the radio source using this instrument could provide significant information about the nature of this unusual signal.
“Throughout our pre-commissioning phase, the telescope and CHIME/FRB instrument were operated intermittently without a simple schedule and with varying levels of sensitivity. For this reason, calculating the on-sky exposure to any position is challenging at present,” researchers describe.
Astronomers at this radio network in the hills of British Columbia traced the signal to a spiral galaxy 500 million light years from the Milky Way. Further investigations will be needed to determine which object in that galaxy is responsible for the outbursts. | https://medium.com/the-cosmic-companion/what-is-causing-a-strange-16-day-radio-burst-from-space-94831113ed78 | ['James Maynard'] | 2020-04-07 23:10:48.509000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Canada', 'Astronomy', 'Space', 'Science'] |
12 Reasons CAMELOT’S END makes a great Christmas gift | The new paperback cover, out January 2020
Click on each title to read more. CAMELOT’S END is available here.
Remember books? You might have thought Ronald Reagan was the only thing worth knowing about 1980. Wow were you wrong. Politics got you down? Reading history can help. You can’t watch “Succession” and “The Masked Singer” all winter break. I wrote from a place of love — not spite, or indifference, or timidity. Jimmy Carter is more appreciated now than when he left office. This book, in telling his incredible personal story, explains why. Ted Kennedy is less respected now in some ways than when he passed away a decade ago, especially following the release of the movie Chappaquiddick (2018). This book explains why he may have acted the way he did that night in 1969, without letting him off the hook in any way. Only people who want to see the world in black and white will dislike this book. You’re not like that. You are an open-minded, thoughtful, curious person. This is a book for you. The story is not an info dump or an academic book. I wrote it in such a way that the story has momentum and suspense. Books make great Christmas gifts. But only if they’re good books. Bad books, not so much. You won’t regret giving this book to someone. They will thank you, probably for years. This book has more balance than Jimmy Carter. Seriously, he keeps falling down. Read about him and then go see him teach Sunday school. You thought Thanksgiving with your family was awkward? Wait until you see what happens when Ted and Jimmy find themselves on the convention stage together.
** If you buy this book from an indie bookstore near you, you’ll be supporting your local economy and proving once and for all that good, old-fashioned bookstores are alive and well.
*** If you’re based in Washington, DC, I might even be able to sign your copy! | https://medium.com/camelots-end/12-reasons-camelots-end-makes-a-great-christmas-gift-7e9cfc247905 | ['Jon Ward'] | 2019-12-16 17:35:43.365000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Christmas Gifts', 'Books'] |
What Would Hov Do? A Weekly Column From Me, Joel Leon. | Jay-Z is undoubtedly the greatest emcee of all-time. Argue with ya muva.
But, he is also a motivational speaker, at least to me, anyway. If tall, Trump-supportin’ Tony Robbins’ ass can have that title, then I think Shawn Corey Carter deserves the same acclaim. Who else could get Black men over 40 to STILL wear button-ups and denim jeans to the club like we did when he dropped “Change Clothes,” and simultaneously get us all to cop Motorola pagers (“I Just Wanna Love U”) back in the day?
But seriously, Jay-Z’s music has helped and guided me through some real situations through his music — suicidal ideations (“Regrets”), bossin’ up (the entire American Gangster album), and even falling in love (“Excuse Me Miss”). Imagine a world in which you could have Jay-Z — bucket hat low, Ace of Spades in one hand, keys to a Phantom in the other, cigar in his mouth — planted on your shoulder with the answers to all of your larger-than-life problems?
You’re in luck! While we can’t physically get Jay-Z to appear on your shoulder magically — that would be weird as f*ck considering he’s like 6’2 or whatever — we can use something just as helpful, his blueprint, if you will: Jay-Z lyrics.
Welcome to WWHD or what we’re calling here at Medium, “What Would Hov Do?”, a weekly column by yours truly where you, the avid Medium reader, send me questions about absolutely anything. Then, I serve as an empathetic listener, vulnerability checker, and bullshit wrangler. But all my answers will be guided by Jay-Z’s lyrics. Think of Hov bars as the foundation to help you get the clarity you need about life, love, politics and everything in between. I’m just the messenger here.
Having trouble as a new father? I’ve been there, plus Jay-Z’s probably got a bar for that. Just cheated on your fiancé? That, too. Contemplating self-harm? Tell me about it — Jay-Z and I got you covered.
So, here’s where you come in. Below you’ll see a hyperlink that will send you to a concise but very charming Google doc where you’ll drop me a few sentences describing your issue. Then, I’ll get to work.
You get to keep it anonymous, too. The last thing I need is somebody’s ex-flame-turned-grits-thrower following me on my daily coffee run. I’ll answer one question a week, so make yours a good one and keep ’em coming!
Lemme go dust my shoulders off.
Submit your WWHD questions here.
P.S.- For the newbies out there, feel free to get familiar with some of my previous Medium work here. And here. Oh, and here too. Be sure to follow the kid on Medium for all the latest and greatest updates! | https://iamjoelleon.medium.com/what-would-hov-do-a-weekly-column-from-me-joel-leon-1ca16056c2df | ['Joel Leon.'] | 2020-09-21 19:16:45.851000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Hip Hop', 'Mental Health', 'Love', 'Life'] |
Different Types of Big Data Architecture Layers & Technology Stacks | Many users from the developer community as well as other proponents of Big Data are of the view that Big Data technology stack is congruent to the Hadoop technology stack (as Hadoop as per many is congruous to Big Data).
This may not be the case specifically for top companies as the Big Data technology stack encompasses a rich context of multiple layers. Before coming to the technology stack and the series of tools & technologies employed for project executions; it is important to understand the different layers of Big Data Technology Stack
Different layers in Big Data Technology
Big Data in its true essence is not limited to a particular technology; rather the end to end big data architecture layers encompasses a series of four — mentioned below for reference.
The data layer is the backend of the entire system wherein this layer stores all the raw data which comes in from different sources including transactional systems, sensors, archives, analytics data; and so on.
The importance of the ingestion or integration layer comes into being as the raw data stored in the data layer may not be directly consumed in the processing layer. Hence the ingestion massages the data in a way that it can be processed using specific tools & technologies used in the processing layer.
The processing layer is the arguably the most important layer in the end to end Big Data technology stack as the actual number crunching happens in this layer. In this layer, analysts process large volume of data into relevant data marts which finally goes to the presentation layer (also known as the business intelligence layer).
The ‘BI-layer’ is the topmost layer in the technology stack which is where the actual analysis & insight generation happens.
Technology Stack for each of these Big Data layers
The technology stack in the four layers as mentioned above are described below –
1) Data layer — The technologies majorly used in this layer are Amazon S3, Hadoop HDFS, MongoDB etc. (specifically database technologies)
2) Ingestion layer — The technologies used in the integration or ingestion layer include Blendo, Stitch, Kafka launched by Apache and so on.
3) Processing layer — Common tools and technologies used in the processing layer includes PostgreSQL, Apache Spark, Redshift by Amazon etc.
4) Analysis layer — This layer is primarily into visualization & presentation; and the tools used in this layer includes PowerBI, QlikView, Tableau etc. | https://medium.com/boardinfinity/different-types-of-big-data-architecture-layers-technology-stacks-dd779bde392d | ['Board Infinity'] | 2020-05-26 11:31:00.991000+00:00 | ['Big Data Training', 'Big Data Architecture', 'Data Science', 'Big Data', 'Big Data Analytics'] |
Undeniable That You are ready to Graduate to Playing With Widgets : Any Kid Can Code | Let us capitalize on our learnings so far. In last two blogs, we learnt GUI Programming and managed move some widgets within our canvas. You can refer below blogs:
We will solve two tasks mentioned in the above blog and i will try to provide different ways of implementing them.
Task 1: More than 1 object in the canvas and moving:
I will make one square and 1 circle to move an play around in the canvas:
'''
Program to make rectangle and make it move in canvas
'''
# importing important libraries - we already know about all of them
from tkinter import *
import random
import time
# defining colors so that everytime you run this program will have different color rectangle
color = ["red", "green", "black", "blue", "yellow"]
# creating an instance of tkinterface
tk = Tk()
# deciding height and width of the canvas, we will pass this while creating canvas below
# WIDTH and HEIGHT are constant to give your program more understanding
WIDTH = 500
HEIGHT = 500
# creating our playground
canvas = Canvas(tk, width=WIDTH, height=HEIGHT, bg=random.choice(color))
canvas.pack()
# creating widget i.e, rectangle and oval here and assigning it to variable
rectangle = canvas.create_rectangle(10,20,60,60,fill=random.choice(color))
circle = canvas.create_oval(20,20,50,50,fill=random.choice(color))
# deciding the speed of the rectangle to move
# again both are variables and positive value will make it move forward and vice versa
moveXCoord = 1
moveYCoord = 3
moveXCoord_circle = 4
moveYCoord_circle = 1
# function to keep track of position
def checkBoundary(shape, moveXCoord, moveYCoord):
'''
This function will check the current position
in case figures is moving out of canvas
it will change the movement to negative
and (negative negative makes positive)
So, it will work iteratively
:return: new position to move
negative means move backward
positive means move forward
'''
pos = canvas.coords(shape)
if pos[3] >= HEIGHT or pos[1] <= 0:
moveYCoord = -moveYCoord
if pos[2] >= WIDTH or pos[0] <= 0:
moveXCoord = -moveXCoord
return moveXCoord, moveYCoord
# Introducing infinite loop
# it will run the program till you wont close it
while True:
canvas.move(rectangle, moveXCoord, moveYCoord)
canvas.move(circle, moveXCoord_circle, moveYCoord_circle)
moveXCoord, moveYCoord = checkBoundary(rectangle, moveXCoord, moveYCoord)
moveXCoord_circle, moveYCoord_circle = checkBoundary(circle, moveXCoord_circle, moveYCoord_circle)
tk.update()
time.sleep(0.001)
tk.mainloop()
Task 2: Make a loop and pick the coordinates randomly to turn up with different figures in the canvas. Then, try to make them move.
'''
Program to make rectangle and make it move in canvas
'''
# importing important libraries - we already know about all of them
from tkinter import *
import random
import time
# defining colors so that everytime you run this program will have different color rectangle
color = ["red", "green", "black", "blue", "yellow","cyan","white","magenta"]
# creating an instance of tkinterface
tk = Tk()
# deciding height and width of the canvas, we will pass this while creating canvas below
# WIDTH and HEIGHT are constant to give your program more understanding
WIDTH = 800
HEIGHT = 600
# creating our playground
canvas = Canvas(tk, width=WIDTH, height=HEIGHT, bg=random.choice(color))
canvas.pack()
rectangle = []
xy_coord = []
for cr_rect in range(30):
# creating widget i.e, rectangle here and assigning it to variable
side = random.randint(50,200)
rectangle.append(canvas.create_rectangle(10,20,side,side,fill=random.choice(color)))
# rectangle.append(canvas.create_polygon(80,90,50,60,side,20,fill=random.choice(color)))
# deciding the speed of the rectangle to move
# again both are variables and positive value will make it move forward and vice versa
moveXCoord = random.randint(-10,10)
moveYCoord = random.randint(-10,10)
xy_coord.append([moveXCoord,moveYCoord])
# function to keep track of position
def checkBoundary(shape, moveXCoord, moveYCoord):
'''
This function will check the current position
in case figures is moving out of canvas
it will change the movement to negative
and (negative negative makes positive)
So, it will work iteratively
:return: new position to move
negative means move backward
positive means move forward
'''
pos = canvas.coords(shape)
if pos[3] >= HEIGHT or pos[1] <= 0:
moveYCoord = -moveYCoord
if pos[2] >= WIDTH or pos[0] <= 0:
moveXCoord = -moveXCoord
return moveXCoord, moveYCoord
# Introducing infinite loop
# it will run the program till you wont close it
while True:
for cnt_rect in range(len(rectangle)):
canvas.move(rectangle[cnt_rect], xy_coord[cnt_rect][0], xy_coord[cnt_rect][1])
xy_coord[cnt_rect][0], xy_coord[cnt_rect][1] = checkBoundary(rectangle[cnt_rect], xy_coord[cnt_rect][0], xy_coord[cnt_rect][1])
tk.update()
time.sleep(0.001)
tk.mainloop()
I would love to see your achievement in comment section as the output generated from the above two codes.
There are two tasks done. Understand them, its nothing different just applied our understanding of variables, loop, condition to come up with this. Be ready to graduate to next level. I think we will move to OOP (object oriented programming) by next and believe me, you are ready for that.
Create this! and make them move will be fun! I can’t wait much :)
We will understand the concept and once we understood the concept, I will provide you an example to do the same thing using loop and then using our new friend OOP. And, you will see more organised and better output. I hope you will then turn up to this blog and change this code in a more beautify manner. Or, as we are python programmers, we will do in pythonic way. Be ready with more and more practice. And, I will work towards making the next level easy and simple for you. Keep working hard and enjoy! I will be back soon! | https://laxman-singh.medium.com/playing-with-widgets-any-kid-can-code-eabd60d50d4 | ['Laxman Singh'] | 2020-12-01 16:55:31.949000+00:00 | ['Kids And Tech', 'Python Programming', 'Kids', 'Python', 'Parenting'] |
Is Discord a Good Solution for Group Video Conferencing? | Is Discord a Good Solution for Group Video Conferencing?
Move on over Zoom, or…?
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
Discovering new technologies
During the beginning of the 2020 global pandemic, I was recovering from a personal mental health crisis. In March of 2020, many things saved me; one of them was writing.
I also gained immense support from a virtual writing group that started organically through Instagram and Zoom. It was one woman’s idea. And, it took off. We met weekly for several months. We were both a writing group and a moral support group.
Writers came and went, while a core group of writers stayed on. In July there were some new arrivals. One of them touted the benefits of using Discord instead of Instagram and Zoom for our meetings.
Honestly, I wasn’t excited to add another platform to my daily rotation. Some writers were eager. They saw the benefit of merging Zoom and Instagram into an all-purpose application. Others were hesitant. Ultimately, we decided to give Discord a try. Discord isn’t designed for writing groups to video chat. That’s the thing about Innovation — it takes people who are willing to think outside of obvious uses and limitations.
For the techies who understand (not me)
Developers describe Discord as “All-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that’s free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone”. Discord is a modern free voice & text chat app for groups of gamers. Our resilient Erlang backend running on the cloud has built in DDoS protection with automatic server failover. On the other hand, Zoom is detailed as “Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing”. Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and cross platform group chat into one easy-to-use platform. Our solution offers the best video, audio, and screen-sharing experience across Zoom Rooms, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and H.323/SIP room systems. -StackShare
Photo by Zain Saleem on Unsplash
Using Discord
We have been utilizing Discord for our writing group for about a month now. As with all platforms, there are pros and cons.
Pros:
•Free
•Screen sharing capability
•Ability to separate threads of chats by subject.
•Ability to video or voice chat easily at any time within the app
•Ability to easily private message other group members
Cons:
•Running group videos seem to bulk down our computers and put them into overdrive. There are problems with freezing screens and hearing others talk/ being heard.
•Adding another platform
Conclusion
For our writing group purposes, Discord makes sense for impromptu voice chats, private messaging, and sharing in group threads. It does not yet make sense for group video chats. For now, we will stick with Zoom for those as the quality of the calls is much better. Unfortunately, free Zoom video chats are limited in duration, so we must either pay the professional rate or make several links to keep our 2–3 hour meetings running as seamlessly as possible. And, we are now utilizing 3 platforms instead of 2, although Instagram looks to be the least used of the 3 since the switch to Discord for messaging.
Here’s hoping Discord’s video hosting capability is improved soon for those of us who wish to use it as a video conferencing application instead of a gaming one. That will be truly innovative! | https://medium.com/the-innovation/is-discord-a-good-solution-for-group-video-conferencing-e8b6a1d6fa02 | ['Aimée Gramblin'] | 2020-08-05 20:19:52.441000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Writing', 'Innovation', 'Discord', 'Zoom'] |
Why Netflix Kills Instances of Their Own Services | Necessity is the mother of invention
In early 2010, when Netflix shifted from providing its services via physical servers to cloud computing, they had a couple of challenges on their way.
Cloud computing offers new challenges to software teams. Computers are linked via network connections and there is less control over the cloud-based computers.
Computers can also be of many different types. They can have different operating systems, memory capacities, computer processing speeds, graphics processing speeds, and graphics memories.
When testing the system’s resiliency, chaos engineering asks, If this computer goes down, can we move the task it was handling to another computer? And what another computer? Finally, how well does a system handle moving tasks from one computer to another?
This resulted in the invention of a tool by the engineering team of Netflix to test the system’s resiliency in cloud infrastructure.
The New Tool — Chaos Monkey
Chaos Monkey is a tool invented in 2011 by Netflix to test the resilience of its IT infrastructure. It works by intentionally disabling computers in Netflix’s production network to test how remaining systems respond to the outage.
Chaos Monkey is developed to see how well a system shifts its resources when there is a computer outage. It enforces proactive engineering practices by assuming that failure will and does occur.
The tool gets its name by envisioning a monkey running through a data center. Randomly pressing buttons, removing plugs and cables for multiple servers. It is bringing down the whole infrastructure by making such chaos.
How can an engineer design the system to work regardless of what the monkey does?
Getting Started with Chaos Monkey
According to the Chaos Monkey GitHub, “Chaos Monkey randomly terminates virtual machine instances and containers that run inside of your production environment. Exposing engineers to failures more frequently incentivizes them to build resilient services.”
Chaos Monkey is built upon another Netflix-made tool, Spinnaker, which is an open-source, multi-cloud continuous delivery platform. It works with all major providers:
Amazon Web Services
Azure
Cloud Factory
Google Compute Engine
Kubernetes V2 (manifest based)
Oracle
Once you’ve installed Spinnaker, you can install Chaos Monkey. For a closer look at how to use Chaos Monkey, see this page of the documentation.
The Simian Army
Chaos Monkey is not the only tool in their pocket. Since it was developed and its popularity rose, a whole bunch of tools has been developed to simulate outages and test system response times. Chaos engineers now have the whole Simian Army:
Chaos Kong — for AWS Region.
— for AWS Region. Chaos Gorilla — for AWS Availability Zone.
— for AWS Availability Zone. Latency Monkey — simulates network outages or delays.
— simulates network outages or delays. Doctor Monkey — performs health checks.
— performs health checks. Janitor Monkey — identifies unused resources.
— identifies unused resources. Conformity Monkey — identifies non-conforming instances.
— identifies non-conforming instances. Security Monkey — tests for known vulnerabilities. Outdated now.
— tests for known vulnerabilities. Outdated now. 10–18 Monkey — detects problems in instances in multiple geographic regions.
Pros and Cons of Chaos Monkey
As they say, everything comes with its benefits as well as challenges. The same holds for Chaos Monkey. Let’s take a look at both sides of the coin —
Pros:
Prepares the system for random instance failures.
Encourages redundant backup that might save one day.
Enables cross-cloud compatibility.
Cons: | https://medium.com/developers-coffee/why-netflix-kills-instances-of-their-own-services-ad878b90dba5 | ['Shubham Pathania'] | 2020-12-28 04:31:21.431000+00:00 | ['Software Engineering', 'System', 'Testing', 'Netflix', 'Developerscoffee'] |
Know Yourself by Knowing Your Shadow | Have you ever wondered, how well do you really know yourself? As Plato once said, “know thyself.”
But why?
Typically, when we contemplate whether we know ourselves, the thoughts that come into our minds are our desires, values, and beliefs about the universe. These characteristics we form around ourselves is our code; something the “I” we create for ourselves identifies with. That saying, ‘every man has a code,’ we all do. You have a code that you see the world through and make decisions with, it’s the conscious ego. That code is customizable and changeable.
But what can we do with this awareness? We can ask ourselves, who am I? That’s really the most reliable thing you have, knowing yourself.
We all create this belief system we follow — the identity of you — that is your moral code, your sense of duty, your sense of purpose; the identity that becomes the driving force for action.
But is that truly you?
Ask yourself, have you ever done or said anything — on impulse — that you regretted afterward? You get frustrated and down on yourself — you scream in your head, “why did I say that?” And if that doesn’t relate, think of a time where you had this sudden emotional reaction — out of anger — that had you wondering, why couldn’t I control my emotions? My anger.
Those moments are us coming face to face with our shadow self.
The Shadow
As psychologist Carl Jung said:
“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”
The shadow within all of us is the parts of us we deny in ourselves and cast out into our own inner abyss. That abyss is the place within ourselves that our conscious ego has tried to forget about. We lock it up and throw away the key, yet it’s still there screaming, yelling, and demanding control over your actions.
Seeing the shadow within us is difficult, it’s in that black abyss of our mind that is difficult to enter, as it’s hard to face.
Yet, the judgmental creatures that we humans are, we are good at seeing those shadow traits in others, but not ourselves.
Think of your favorite celebrities and public figures. When a story of cheating in a relationship, corruption, or simply a public display of anger from one of them, the public quickly moves to pass judgment.
This judgment is a reaction that protects us from admitting to ourselves that those thoughts, reactions, and emotions lie within us. This idea is what Jung calls “projection.”
You see, our conscious mind wants to avoid our own shadow, yet our subconscious wants us to acknowledge that abyss of the shadow self, but instead of going into the abyss of our minds — our own shadow — we project and amplify the flaws of others.
We notice these shadow traits of aggression, carelessness, materialism, hatred, envy in the projections we create of others. But that projection becomes a reflection of you: a denial of the perceived inferior qualities and evils that we do not want to admit is deep within us.
We set our conscious mind on the throne of our ego.
Imagine that throne being a giant iceberg, your ego is the tip floating above the water, but that unconscious mind is where the shadow lurks in the endless mountain of ice that lies beneath.
To understand this, imagine a time you had a friend confront you about a fault, something as simple as arriving late to everything. When confronted you are met with this overwhelming rage for a moment. That rage is from your friend hitting the iceberg beneath the surface, the nerves you weren’t aware of, thus lack control of.
For Jung, when we deny the shadow, the more control it has of your thoughts, actions, and reactions.
As he said:
“everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”
Those projections are ways of passing blame for those perceived negative emotions we have ourselves. If we are not aware this is happening, we project our negative traits upon others, blaming them for our own shortcomings and our own lack of personal happiness.
So how do we work with our shadow?
For one, we must become aware of it — dive into the abyss with it — and integrate it into the whole of our conscious ego. If we deny the shadow, we allow it to control us while providing our ego the illusion of control.
We must identify possible origins for our shadow triggers, such as repressed trauma, pain, fear, and aggression.
We must then integrate our shadow by acknowledging those parts in our everyday lives. With this knowledge of those parts, only then can we unlock the wisdom that being aware of it brings.
So instead of allowing fear to control us, we choose courage; instead of pain, we see an opportunity for strength; instead of allowing the trauma to define us, we see it as an opportunity for understanding; instead of allowing aggression to overcome us, we see an opportunity to find our passion.
This understanding bleeds into our interactions with others, instead of meeting other shadows with our own irrational shadow, we meet it with compassion by knowing it’s a trigger they’ve not fully understood and integrated into themselves.
I’ll close with what Jung said beautifully about what integrating your shadow into the whole can bring:
“Such a man knows that whatever is wrong in the world is in himself, and if he only learns to deal with his own shadow he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day.”
You see, changing the world begins with knowing yourself. | https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/know-yourself-by-knowing-your-shadow-1b6e36b1a480 | ['Brenden Weber'] | 2020-07-25 16:14:33.372000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Mindfulness', 'Life', 'Psychology', 'Life Lessons'] |
Too Dark to Be Seen. At a gay club in the ’90s, I compete… | It isn’t Michael I’m standing here for, though. I am standing in the rain, breathing heavily and staring into a station wagon where my friend and his boyfriend are doing it, because I want my friend’s boyfriend. Michael is attractive, but I’ve been friends with him for a long time. He’s like a brother to me, and standing here staring at him would be creepy.
My eyes are trained solely on Phil. Phil is everything someone like me dreams about. He just grabbed the back of Michael’s head to pull his kiss in tighter, and I want to step closer. I want to pretend he’s holding me. Phil’s last name is Italian, which means he isn’t white, exactly. But his skin is pale as the purest alabaster. He is sloe-eyed, with heavy lids like a young Robert Mitchum, the corneas surrounded by thick, black lashes. He keeps his jet-black hair short and his lips are always flushed pink. I covet him. He is, in a word, handsome. Sought after. Men like Phil grace the pages of Blueboy, Drum, Honcho. All my magazines. He is the standard — and Michael couldn’t care less.
Michael and Phil aren’t really “boyfriends” in the strict sense of the word. Phil just follows Michael around like a starving animal to whom Michael throws a bone every once in a while. Like tonight, for instance, when Michael doesn’t have any money and Phil does. He paid Michael’s cover and has been buying him drinks even though Michael doesn’t turn 21 until ’95, and I know that for a fact. (Phil has never bought me a single drink, even though I’m 25 and so is he. I am far more age appropriate.)
After Michael’s fake ID didn’t pass muster with the doorman, Phil had to pay the doorman extra to get Michael in — and from the moment they passed the threshold, they were arguing. It escalated until their shouts could be heard over the thump-thump of the bass and the sirens. The fight spun further out of control under the flashing, spinning lights.
“Why don’t you….”
“….just trying to have a good time!”
“…just go home!”
“…buying you drinks all night!”
That’s all I could make out from the safe distance I’d carved for myself at the end of the bar. The lights flashed around them as Phil’s expression grew desperate. He was pleading with Michael to calm down, trying to get Michael to look at him, but Michael couldn’t be bothered. He is petulant and childlike. Not like me. I would take every gift Phil had to offer with gratitude. If you ask me, Michael doesn’t treat Phil right. He ignores him. Avoids him. Speaks ill of him when he isn’t around. Michael once told me he didn’t really like Phil. Said Phil was “desperate,” “possessive,” and “clingy.” Said he doesn’t trust him. I don’t see any of that when I look at Phil. It’s true, I’ve caught him glaring at Michael malevolently from time to time. But I think that must only be because he loves him so much.
The bouncer was making his way over to break them up or throw them out when Michael threw up his hands and stormed out into the rain, leaving Phil standing there, dejected. I wandered over to him and pretended to be a friend. I looked into his pretty white face and feigned sincerity and concern. I was delighted to be alone with him because he usually ignores me, views me as baggage he has to put up with in order to be around Michael.
I bought us both drinks, though I’d already had several. I tried my best to make him forget about Michael. My friend. I sat on a barstool next to his, facing him. I studied the lines of distress on his face and tried to think of ways to smooth them out. I leaned in, closer and closer, and then I put my hand on his thigh.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing… just…”
Phil grabbed my hand by the wrist and flung it from his thigh. He fixed me with a disgusted look, eyebrows knitted in angry disbelief and upper lip curled. After giving me an appalled once-over, he stood up and stormed off, leaving me alone to wish I looked different. To wish I looked like Michael. To wish I weren’t so black. If I weren’t so black, he would like me.
I did all this to Phil because I am a bad person. But, in my defense, I know firsthand how hard it is for black, gay boys to find love. If you’re not white, you’re reduced to a fetish item. It didn’t take me long to figure out that everything in gay life is reduced to a type. But at least the twinks are worthy of love. Dark boys get typecast into porn fantasies or, worse, completely ignored. | https://humanparts.medium.com/too-dark-to-be-seen-a51884060a2d | ['Brian Broome'] | 2020-04-29 15:41:37.412000+00:00 | ['Addiction', 'Relationships', 'Nonfiction', 'LGBTQ', 'Race'] |
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend | Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
Why your brain is so SAD
Image: Fertnig/Getty
This is a modified excerpt from Inside Your Head 🧠, a weekly newsletter exploring why your brain makes you think, feel, and act the way you do, written by me, Elemental’s senior writer and a former brain scientist. Subscribe here so you won’t miss the next one.
I’ve been feeling a little sad lately. I’ve never been a winter person, but this year, with no holiday parties or vacations to lighten the mood, the short, cold, gray days feel particularly bleak. Not to mention the layer of grief and fear that comes from the tenth month of a pandemic that’s killing more than 2,000 Americans every day. (Aren’t you glad you decided to read this uplifting article?!)
I also know, however, that this feeling isn’t really me — or at least it’s not my normal state of being for nine months out of the year. It’s seasonal affective disorder (SAD!), with some pandemic fatigue and despair sprinkled on top.
Seasonal affective disorder afflicts 5% of U.S. adults, although numbers vary depending on geography. For example, nearly 10% of people in Alaska experience SAD, whereas the prevalence in Florida is only 1.4%.
SAD is more than just the winter blues, writes Ashley Laderer in an Elemental article on seasonal affective disorder from last winter. “It’s typically a repetitive mood cycle where each year, as fall and winter come along, the person starts to experience depressive symptoms — low mood, anhedonia [inability to feel pleasure], poor concentration, sense of guilt or worthlessness, changes in appetite and weight, and changes in sleep,” says Paraskevi Noulas, PsyD, a clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at NYU Langone Health.
Scientists think that seasonal depression is linked to changes in your circadian rhythm — the 24-hour internal clock that dictates many of your hormone levels and, as a result, your energy levels throughout the day. Morning light triggers the start of the cycle each day by activating light-sensitive cells in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) — a group of about 10,000 neurons in the brain that act as the body’s pacemaker. In the winter, weaker sunlight, less time outside, and shorter days can deprive the SCN of those important light cues, throwing off the body’s schedule.
One of the first and most important steps in your daily circadian rhythm, triggered by morning light, is suppressing the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Some research suggests that people who experience SAD have either a longer or a delayed melatonin period during the winter. As a result, it can be harder to get out of bed in the morning and you may feel groggy throughout the day.
Levels of the neurochemical serotonin also fluctuate with the seasons, with the lowest levels occurring in December and January. Serotonin is strongly implicated in depression, and most antidepressant drugs work in part by increasing levels of the neurochemical in the brain. Sunlight also seems to affect serotonin activity, although scientists aren’t exactly sure how. It could be that in people with SAD, low light results in more serotonin being sucked back up into brain cells. Another theory is that cells require vitamin D to produce serotonin, and so low vitamin D levels from a lack of sunshine result in less serotonin being made.
The most common treatment for seasonal affective disorder is light therapy. Using a “SAD lamp” in the morning is supposed to help kick-start your circadian rhythm by substituting a bright, white, artificial light for the sun. The support for SAD lamps’ efficacy at treating seasonal affective disorder is growing, and the consensus seems to be that they won’t hurt you and they may help, so you might as well try it. You could also try forcing yourself to go for a walk first thing in the morning.
Interestingly, some of the coldest, darkest places on Earth, like Iceland and Norway, have the lowest rates of seasonal affective disorder. This may be because of genetic variations that protect people there from the negative psychological effects of darkness. (Scientists think SAD may be tied to your genes.) Or it could be due to a shift in mindset. Ardsheer Ali writes in Elemental that rather than dreading the winter, residents of Tromsø, Norway, located north of the Arctic Circle, await its arrival with excitement, and their positive attitude about the season is tied to their well-being.
They look forward to ski season and the shelter of home. Koselig — the Norwegian term for coziness — is a notion widely embraced across the island. Norwegians find a wonderful warmth in snuggling up under the covers when the world outside is frozen. [Among Norwegians,] having a positive wintertime mindset was associated with greater life satisfaction. Participants who agreed more with the positive statements [about the season] reflected signs of better mental well-being during the dark winter.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it koselig. | https://elemental.medium.com/hello-darkness-my-old-friend-b9e348034657 | ['Dana G Smith'] | 2020-12-08 16:02:19.153000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Winter', 'Serotonin', 'Seasonal Depression'] |
Why Is Santa Claus Wearing Red? | Why Is Santa Claus Wearing Red?
Is history being commercialized?
Santa Claus (Source: Deposit Photos)
The color red has been associated with Santa Claus ever since he was invented. This fictional, yet festive, character was created to enhance the spirit of Christmas. Rumors have it that New Yorkers were the people who created this fictional character and as Christmas was already associated mostly with the color red they decided to endow their new creation with it.
Although, as most things were presented in white and black at the time, it wasn’t until 1864 that Santa Claus was first described as wearing a specific color of clothing in the poem “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore. This color was yellow or better described as gold as this was portraying the richness within the Christmas festivity.
Thomas Nest (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The man who we need to credit for giving Santa Claus his red robes is Thomas Nast who was the first illustrator to portray Santa in red. Since 1870, Nast made hundreds of designs for this fictional character, but it wasn't until 1881 that the final design was ready. That design was just as the one we know very well today, a white beard and red clothes, and it was presented in Harper’s Weekly magazine.
Thomas Nast is also the person who gave Santa his home, which is the North Pole. When doing so he thought that Christmas is associated with snow, lots of snow, and where else could you find more snow than in the North Pole. These basic concepts have been constantly developed by different brands and animated shows, as well as authors.
Commercializing the Red in Christmas
At the start of the 20th century, there were some battles fought over changing or “enhancing” the image of Santa Claus by redefying him a bit to look more realistic. Two important illustrators who tried to do this were J.C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell as they tried to offer the public a more humanized Santa, making people think that he isn’t a fictional character. This was first seen in the Saturday Evening Post with a poster where Santa was used as a “celebrity” to endorse Coca Cola which is without a doubt the brand that associates the most with Christmas.
Poster by J.C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell (Source: Saturday Evening Post)
The first marketing campaign that started using Santa Claus as an endorsement for Coca-Cola was named “Thirst Knows No Season” and it became quite famous in the 1920s, especially since the prohibition going on at the time. The image of Santa was once again slightly changed in 1934 by illustrator Haddon Sundblom who worked for Coca-Cola. He made Santa look exactly like the Santa we see on Coca-Cola trucks every Christmas.
Although he is the closest fictional character to become alive through different brands and products. His color and image have been slightly changed by different countries and cultures that have different Christmas traditions or some which may not even celebrate Christmas. It can also be argued that this fictional character is the most commercialized in the world, by appearing in many different shows and being portrayed in various products. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/why-is-santa-claus-wearing-red-7005983d0e4a | ['Andrei Tapalaga'] | 2020-12-26 21:02:11.568000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Christianity', 'Culture', 'Christmas', 'History'] |
Here’s How Military Training Helps Veterans Who Work in Healthcare Face COVID-19. | Here’s How Military Training Helps Veterans Who Work in Healthcare Face COVID-19.
The served in Iraq, and now they serve as first responders and nurses.
Does military training help healthcare workers face COVID-19? According to three Marines who served in Iraq, the answer is yes. These veterans are on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak, and it’s what they learned in the military that is carrying them through.
Photo by Obed Hernández on Unsplash
Semper Gumby: time hacks and flexibility.
Matthew Groth, an ICU nurse at two different Chicagoland hospitals, served as a gunner in the Marines. He believes the Marines prepared him for anything. “I feel that everything that I’ve ever done in the Marine Corps has translated into everything that I face.”
One favorite skills is finding time hacks. “So, why does the Marine Corps wake you up at zero stupid 30 in the morning and make you get dressed 100 times? They tell you ‘Hey recruits, you have five seconds. Put your left sock on right now.’ Then they’ll start counting down 5–4–3–2–1 and if you don’t make it, you take off your sock and start again. Usually, nobody understands the reason why getting dressed, or making your bed early in the morning matters. But it eventually matters, because if you have a time hack, that could be related in combat when you have an objective to make.”
He uses this kind of approach in his work as a nurse. Time hacks are part of the “Semper Gumby” motto he learned. “Guys in the Marine Corps are always saying, ‘Hey Semper Fi,’ but a lot of people don’t know about Semper Gumby. Just adapt and overcome, because you have to be super flexible. I mean Gumby, the big green guy.”
That flexibility has helped as his hospitals have switched to novel models of nursing. He’s adapting, but it’s still hard. “We have already seen many deaths in both hospitals and it surely is taking a toll on the staff,” says Groth. The hardest part is when, “Young and healthy people are coming in with no comorbidities and then being sent out into the refrigerator. I don’t want to bring this home to my kids.”
Military discipline
Jason Wood is an ER nurse in New Lenox, IL. He served with the Marines in Iraq in 2003, a time he describes as “real bad.” “We were in this area just southwest of Baghdad. They called it the triangle of death.”
In Wood’s opinion, there is no way to train someone to face life threatening conditions. “But I think when somebody is trained enough with their tools, and they feel confident in their tools, then that fear kind of goes to the wayside. Because you’re confident.” For Wood, it’s not the training, it’s the discipline. “You learn that discipline and then you know, it sticks with you and you can kind of resource it as you need.”
He is not afraid of getting COVID-19, but he does worry for his kids. “We’ve got a 10 month old and a three-year-old. I couldn’t even live with myself if I if my one of my kids got it, it would be unbearable.”
At his own hospital, he noticed that many fellow nurses were upset when they were told to reuse their N95 masks, a practice which increases their risk of being infected by COVID-19. But for him, it felt like being in the Marines. “There were times in Iraq that we were running low on food. It’s just the way it was. You learn to make those sacrifices. You don’t question it. You know, in the Marines, you don’t question anything. You’re not allowed to.”
But does that military discipline make him more likely to put up with things when he should not? His wife, an ICU nurse herself, thinks so. “I think there is a little bit of truth to it… But, if I feel like something is dangerous, I will speak up and say something. The military teaches you to be obedient and not question things. But my experience as a nurse has taught me to be conscientious and always question things.”
Critical thinking under pressure.
Kevin Manusos was also a gunner for the Marines in Iraq, and is now a paramedic-firefighter in Rockford, IL. “I think my military training helps me keep calm and collected under pressure. And you know, I feel like I do best under stressful situations,” he says.
Manusos explains that in boot camp, “Getting yelled at brings you to a stress level you’re not comfortable with. You actually get used to that stronger stress response.” He explains that these exercises gave him practice thinking clearly under pressure. “I think if you did well in combat, if you could mentally handle the stress, you would transition well into stressful situations anywhere.”
But does he feel afraid of responding to scenes where he may be exposed to COVID-19? “Yes, I smoke and I was reading that there is much, much higher risk for severe complications. I am working on quitting.” It’s different now that he’s a father. “In Iraq, I was 19 and I wasn’t married and have any kids… You’re 19 and kind of stupid. It would help to be 19 and stupid right now.” | https://alison-escalante.medium.com/veterans-came-home-from-iraq-to-work-in-healthcare-c3435aff5a21 | ['Alison Escalante Md'] | 2020-04-27 17:11:56.495000+00:00 | ['Flexibility', 'Training', 'Coronavirus', 'Military', 'Life Lessons'] |
How Characters with Unresolved Trauma Can Cause Writers Huge Headaches | Being stuck in a certain place in your story is different than writer’s block. Writer’s block is a condition that paralyzes writers and prevents them from ever getting started in the first place, or derails them so completely they can never finish that first draft. But being stuck is more like running your car off the road into the mud. You know it’s possible to get out of it, but it still feels like a big messy unpleasant obstacle in your creative life.
Right now, I am stuck. I am just about in the middle of the last quarter of my novel, and I am most definitely in the mud. Things were going so well up until now. I was writing consistently every week and my plot and characters were moving along at a good clip. And then, I hit this wall. I got…stuck.
However, this time around I know a few things that I didn’t know before. This is not my first rodeo with literary mud, you see. I’ve gotten stuck many, many times before.
And this time, I realized it wasn’t my fault.
When we get stuck in a sticky patch in our story, most writers blame themselves. We nearly always feel like we’ve done something wrong. We didn’t do enough research, or we didn’t outline our chapters carefully enough. We didn’t sufficiently think things through and now we’re paying the price. Nearly all the time, when a writer gets stuck he or she immediately goes into self-judgment about it.
But, we’re forgetting one crucial element.
As the writer, we do not control the story.
Now, this is a hard pill for a lot of us to swallow. What do you mean I don’t control the story? It’s MY story! is usually the first argument I hear. Well, if you truly believe that you have 100% control over your story and all your characters are pretend people that you have 100% control over too, then I have news for you. If it really is that way for you and your story, then you’re working with puppets and you’re settling for pulling their strings, when you could be working with living, breathing, larger-than-life, rich and complex characters and stories that take the reader’s breath away.
But to get there, you have to give up control. And you’re going to have to face the fact that your characters DO have thoughts and feelings and attitudes independent of you, and your opinions on where you think they should be headed.
So, all that said, if you’re stuck in a sticky patch in your story and you feel like you can’t move any further, chances are that your character doesn’t want to move any further, and they have a very good reason for dragging their feet.
In my coaching work with writers, the number one reason I see characters suddenly halt and refuse to go any further is trauma. It could be that the next scenes you’ve planned to write involve the character being abused in some way, or revisiting a past emotional wound that is still festering. It could even be that you’re about to send them on a job interview that they don’t want to go on. It doesn’t take a huge thing for characters to start dragging their feet, or even outright kicking and screaming because they refuse to go on.
Let’s take my story, for instance. The first half of the novel was all about my main character finding his true love and starting a relationship with her. Let me tell you, this guy was on cloud nine. I wrote a bunch of scenes of him confessing his love, finding out she felt the same way, the two of them spending intimate time together, and him finding out more about her past. Those scenes just flew out of my pen. Not only was my character more than happy to share everything with me, he wouldn’t shut up about it either.
Now though, we’ve come to a different part of the story. Now it’s time for my character to return to his childhood home and face his father, who he’s been estranged from for over 20 years. Now my character is suddenly more than silent, it’s like he’s totally gone. A few years ago I would have been thrown into despair because I would have assumed I’d done something wrong and that was why my “inspiration” had suddenly dried up. Now I know, though, that it’s not my fault at all. My character is just hiding. He’s not talking because he’s terrified and he’s completely freaking out.
And from what I know of his dad, I’d be freaking out too.
This is what has made all the difference in my creative work these days. Because I now understand that my main character is just like a real person. He has thoughts and feelings and fears and the whole messy package of what it means to be human going on inside of him, just like I do. He’s not able to just be easy and breezy about helping me write these scenes in which he has to confront all the toxic baggage from his past. Bottom line, he’s going to need a minute. And I need to give him his space.
When my character is ready, he’ll talk. I know this because I’ve taken the time to build a trusting relationship with him. And when he does confide in me again, I’ll take it as slowly as he needs to go.
If you’re working with a character who has been through past trauma, or is currently going through a difficult time, just know that the best thing you can do is to treat them just as you would any other real person in your life who was dealing with the same. Bring in compassion, actively listen, and know that everyone works within their own sense of right timing.
Lauren Sapala is the author of Firefly Magic: Heart Powered Marketing for Highly Sensitive Writers, a guide to help any HSP, INFJ, INFP, or introvert writer move past resistance to selling and marketing their work. She is also the author of The INFJ Writer, a writing guide made specifically for sensitive intuitive writers. | https://losapala.medium.com/how-characters-with-unresolved-trauma-can-cause-writers-huge-headaches-db79992a2730 | ['Lauren Sapala'] | 2018-06-27 22:23:52.143000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Writers On Writing', 'Amwriting', 'Character Development', 'Writing Tips'] |
Singaporean Digital Nomad’s Tips on How to Land a Job Abroad | Perseverance got this marketer the best job of her life
Nicole Tan is the embodiment of the modern workforce. She’s been working “on the road” for the last few years in 20+ countries. If anyone has good advice on how to find a job abroad and excel at working with different cultures, it is her.
Nikki at the Hive co-working space in Singapore. Photo credit: Hive Singapore.
“Go for it! Try!,” Nicole urges people who want to apply for jobs abroad. “If you don’t try, the answer is always no. If you try, there’s a chance it might be yes. I applied to at least 5–6 jobs on Jobbatical before I got this one. You have to keep trying. One day, something will happen. The universe will give you what you’re supposed to get.”
Nicole, or Nikki as everybody calls her, has great hacks for researching the country you might want to relocate to:
Use Google Maps to take a closer look at the city and neighborhood you’re moving to on the street view.
Talk to people who’ve travelled there or if you can afford it — take a holiday there. But when you’re on holiday, don’t just go to the touristy places; talk to locals and try to go to a bar or restaurant away from the city center to get a feel for locals’ everyday life.
Travel Light, Travel Smart
Nikki was already set on the digital nomad lifestyle — travelling and working in a few different places — when she applied for marketing jobs on Jobbatical. A couple of the jobs were in Estonia, a country she’d never visited. And it didn’t take long before the region’s most renowned tech conference, Latitude59, made her an offer to join their team as their Marketing Manager.
The process itself was fairly quick — it took three and a half months from the job interview to the time Nikki was packing her bags. Or rather, one big bag — because living on the road has taught Nikki to travel light and travel smart.
Nikki's travel essential — her Lush shampoo bar. Photo credit: Nicole Tan (NT).
“Jobbatical really helped me when I moved here, with my visa and all the paperwork. It was so easy, I barely had to lift a finger. I felt so spoiled,” Nikki says. She also has nothing but praise for the “Moving to Estonia” guide Jobbatical sends to all of the people hired through the platform. “It helped me a lot!”
January in Estonia is only for the strongest.
Nikki arrived in the capital of the Baltic country of Estonia at the end of January when temperatures can drop to -20°C (and they sure did, too!). No wonder she remembers her first month here as really cold. “It was freezing and snowy. There wasn’t a lot of daylight either, only around six hours per day, so adjusting to the darkness and the cold took a while. Other than that, it was hard to meet friends at first but I found my way around,” Nikki says.
She’d also heard before relocating to Estonia that the people are a bit introverted. “Especially in the winter,” I add.
After four and a half months with boots on the ground, Nikki has more insights about being a foreigner in Estonia: “Outside of the startup circle, people can admittedly seem a bit colder. Inside the circle, people know networking is key, maybe sometimes to the point where they force themselves to be more open. Whereas outside, they can be turned off already by the fact that I don’t speak any Estonian and they have to make an effort to speak English to me.”
Estonia has proportioned Nikki with opportunities to try her hand at DJ-ing. Photo credit: NT.
What also surprised big city girl Nikki was how few people live in Estonia — a country that is 65 times bigger than her native Singapore but has 5 million FEWER people (1.3 million vs. 6 million). “You go to some places and there is nobody there! Also, I don’t usually have to make a reservation to get a table at the hottest restaurants.”
Nikki is quite a chef and cooks whenever she has the time. Photo credit: NT.
She does, however, have a word or two to say about the Asian restaurants here. “They need to change a bit. You can’t serve two different types of Asian food from two different parts of Asia and be good at both; it doesn’t work like that.”
Nikki, being an amateur chef herself, doesn’t travel anywhere without her belacan chili sauce. “It’s a must-have when I’m living in a new place.”
The Best Job Of Her Life
Nikki’s working experience was sprinkled with the dust of cool due to the fact that Latitude59’s team works at Lift99, one of Tallinn’s most vibrant co-working spaces. The space is filled with multinational startup teams, expat one-man-shows, and tech meetups.
Nikki getting a lift at the Lift99 co-working space in Tallinn. Photo credit: NT.
Talking about work gets Nikki praising the work culture she encountered. “It was amazing to see so much trust in the employees and how everyone is given a chance to speak about their ideas. I had the freedom to come up with as many out-of-the-box ideas as I wanted and set my own goals. I was trusted to do my work without being micro-managed and the team was always open to discussions and ideas. It was really easy and amazing to work with them.”
In fact, Nikki goes as far as saying that working as a marketer for this Estonian tech conference has been the best job of her life. “Seriously, I’ve never ever enjoyed a job this much,” she admits.
Working in international teams teaches employees how people from different cultures work. “To me, nationality doesn’t entirely matter; it matters who you are as a person, and what your work and personal ethics are. This is more important than nationality, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion” says Nikki. “I value working in an open-minded team more than an international team — because you can be all international but if you’re all close-minded, then whole point is lost. An open-minded team is more important than anything else — you share things, you’re respectful to each other, you’re open to each other’s ideas, you help each other out and you work on a linear level without any hierarchy.”
Nikki at the Central Perk cafe — the iconic coffeeshop from the TV-show “Friends”. Photo credit: NT.
Nikki feels that her 4-month jobbatical gave her a lot. “I learned more about myself, about what I can do and what I could potentially gain… and also practical stuff about life like how to live alone and fix the little things that go wrong in the house — like my light bulb! Also, now that I’m familiar with the startup scene here, I just might be back. Or go on another jobbatical somewhere.” She is not ready to settle just yet. If she was, her email signature wouldn’t say “The Travelling Digital Marketer.” | https://medium.com/jobbatical-blog/singaporean-digital-nomads-tips-on-how-to-land-a-job-abroad-63dd4a5c5d35 | ['Dea Paraskevopoulos'] | 2018-07-30 09:09:07.815000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Work', 'Travel', 'Digital Nomads', 'Job Hunting'] |
What is Custom Software Development and Why is Important? | Custom software development is the method of designing, creating, deploying, and maintaining software for a particular set of users, roles, or organizations. Indifference to commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS), custom software development proposes an almost fixed set of demands. COTS targets a wide set of specifications, providing it to be packaged and commercially marketed and shared.
Microsoft Office and Sitebuilder, for example, are packaged commercial software goods and services. They reach the generalized requirements of office richness and website creation.
Custom software, on the additional hand, is designed for a particular set of requirements, such as:
a field assistance facilities support program for a manufacturer or
an online banking app created for the novel demands of the bank and its consumers.
Custom software, and its development, are also associated with bespoke software. The term has its roots in old English and the tailoring business. Think tailor-made suits.
Image Source: Flexsin
Custom software development is normally given by in-house development teams or outsourced to a third-party. The same rules and methodologies utilized for custom software development as other types of software development. A custom project would move within the familiar actions of claims gathering, code development, testing, and deployment and use the same methodologies, like Agile, DevOps, or Rapid Application Development, as any additional software project.
Efforts connected with custom software development involve application customization, application modernization, and application management. Application customization suggests changing COTS applications to establish individual demands. Application modernization plays a significant role in supporting the viability of a business’s custom software to match evolving user and market needs. Application management makes software useful by helping tasks like installation, updating, performance and availability optimization, and service desk roles.
Why is custom software development important?
Custom software development is necessary because it assists meet individual demands at a cost-competitive with buying, managing, and adjusting commercial software.
Some of the advantages include:
Efficiency: Custom software is purpose-built to maintain methods quickly and productively, without the requirement to tinker with or modify COTS applications. Scalability: Custom software can improve as an organization or business develops and improves. Designers and developers can estimate future requirements as part of their demands gathering. These portions can then be included in the application, rather than incurring expenses by buying new licenses or subscriptions of packaged applications. Lower integration costs: One of the leading concerns of commercial software is: will it run with being and legacy applications? If the result is no, organizations face an additional investment in making commercial software to interact and work with their current infrastructure. Custom software can be constructed to blend with its proposed environment. Profitability: It’s probable to make capital with custom software development. Depending on the terms and conditions of the project, companies that produce their own software may own the software and therefore be capable to license or sell it to other organizations. Independence: The advantages of being independent of a commercial software merchant cut both ways. On the positive side, organizations can bypass cost hikes for permitting and support — and getting stuck managing packaged software should the merchant go out of business or discontinue a product. On the negative side, the price of establishing and keeping custom software drops to the organization that built it or had it developed. How the equation runs out needs each organization to watch carefully at whether it’s fitter to create or purchase.
Keys to powerful custom software development
Be sure about build vs buy
The primary key to an active custom software development project is producing sure that custom software is absolutely required, as opposed to purchasing a packaged answer — and there is a satisfying reason to be certain. Software solution discoverer and researcher Capterra reports that 75 percent of business and IT executives anticipate that their software projects will decline and that, over a year, fewer than a third of projects are finished on time and on resources.
One way to a build-vs-buy study is to investigate if there is previously a packaged software answer that delivers higher than 80 percent of the roles required to:
Support or automate different company methods and transactions
Manage information and data particular to an industry or line of business
Reach novel privacy or security demands
Facilitate integration with legacy applications and data
Replace or help strengthen current answers at a cheaper price
Replace or help consolidate present answers to gain higher productivity
Qualify new possibilities or develop a competitive benefit
Develop and adapt to evolving conditions.
Collaboration is key
If the decision is to create, an essential primary consideration is to obtain buy-in from key participants and assure that they interact and collaborate on the design. Contributors cover sponsors, users, developers, even customers, and business partners outside of the organization.
In this context, collaboration indicates business users running mutually on demands, distributing information among global development teams, and operating hand-in-hand beyond development and operations teams to enhance quality and responsiveness.
Requirements are needed
One of the important results of collaboration is a transparent, shared concept for what the software is needed to do — and not do. Efrog has verified that “companies require to completely explain and maintain requirements to assure they are satisfying consumer requirements while discussing compliance and staying on schedule and within resources” and that “calls definition and administration is an activity that has the potential to deliver a big, fast ROI.”
A “genuine” demand, according to Efrog, is…
Accurate (technically and judicially possible)
Comprehensive (expresses a complete concept or statement)
Clear (unambiguous and not confusing)
Regular (not in battle with other demands)
Valid (can be concluded that the application satisfies the demand)
Traceable (uniquely recognized and followed)
Feasible (can be achieved within price and schedule)
Modular (can be adjusted without unnecessary consequence)
Design independent (does not require particular answers on design).
Methodologies, technologies, and practice
With terms explained — and they will switch more than once — utilizing mature, modern development methodologies and practices can assist deliver effective, even innovative, software efficiently and immediately.
Development methodologies to examine:
Agile development occurs demands for consumable purposes and delivers quickly on those roles through incremental development. A feedback loop supports to discover and correct defects as the functionality remains to deploy.
DevOps is a blend of development and processes. It is an agile-based way that brings software development and IT progress commonly in the design, development, deployment, and assistance of software.
Rapid application development (RAD) is a non-linear way that condenses design and code construction into one interconnected round.
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) gives a way to scale agile methodology to a wider organization such as a global development team.
Technologies and practices to consider:
Open source is software source code that is free to the public and the development community to apply. Linux, for instance, is an open-source operating system. It can improve development productivity through software element reuse and increase interoperability by bypassing proprietary designs.
Cloud-based development brings the benefits of cloud computing to software development by treating development environments in the cloud. These circumstances support coding, design, integration, testing, and other development purposes to establish both on-premises and cloud-native applications, and do so with the price control, speed, and on-demand service that the cloud promises.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) enables software to imitate human decision-making and learning. It can be utilized to enhance the development process. For instance, natural language processing — the capability for computers and software to recognize human language — can be applied to analyze demands text and recommend changes based on best practices. AI technologies like machine learning and modeling can also be collected and combined into applications through application programming interfaces (API) and assistance from the cloud.
Blockchain is a reliable, digitally linked ledger that reduces expense and vulnerability introduced by parties like banks, regulatory bodies, and other intermediaries. Developers are applying blockchain ledgers and open source Hyperledger technology to create new kinds of secure transactional and financial applications that can release capital and quicken business methods.
Low code is a development practice that degrades the requirement for coding and allows non-coders or citizen developers to establish or help create applications fast and at a lower cost.
Analytics technologies are supporting software applications, and their users make sense of a deluge of data through dashboards, visualizations, and predictive abilities. As with AI, cloud-based assistance and APIs make it almost simple to include analytics into applications.
Mobile application technology may easily be a need. Fifty-four percent of global executives think that consumer purchasing habits are changing from goods and services to experiences. Many of these experiences occur through mobile software. Combining mobile apps with data to develop and improve user experiences is a key requirement for developers.
Outsourcing for support and management
After applications are deployed, they require to be prepared and managed to be productive. One possibility to examine is outsourcing these jobs through an application assistance provider. Application services can add development but also give assistance for enterprise applications like SAP, quality and testing help, and application lifecycle management.
While some organizations opt to test, manage and keep applications themselves, Efrog has discovered that application services can decrease prices and optimize performance; develop flexibility, feedback, and user experience; and improve speed and innovation.
An extra argument for outsourced application management is automation. Automation can maintain everything from software installation to important updates.
Outsourcing these tasks — and taking the benefit of automation — allow IT organizations to develop software performance while concentrating on core business responsibilities. A Forrester Total Economic Impact study sponsored and discovered that automation for application management decreased tier-one service desk tickets by 70 percent, increased availability by decreasing system restoration time and expenses by 80 percent, and enhanced resources efficiency by shifting 10 percent of the IT maintenance resources to proactive performance. | https://medium.com/dev-genius/what-is-custom-software-development-and-why-is-important-b3e14672a4f8 | ['James Smith'] | 2020-12-14 09:42:35.300000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Software Development', 'Development', 'Software', 'App Development'] |
I Developed an Unhealthy Obsession with Exercise After My Assault | His words and the assault only confirmed all the horrible things I thought about myself.
I was always self-conscious of my body, even before I met him. I grew up with skinny little legs and bony thighs. And after I grew up, filled out, and gained weight everywhere else, I still had what the girls called me at school — chicken legs. And when I met my abuser, the things I’d heard all my life about my flat butt and skinny legs seemed to be confirmed.
Here was this man I really liked, and he’s telling me that everything bad I ever thought about my body was true.
After I left this job, I hired a personal trainer. I’d like to say it was for personal reasons but deep down I knew I was determined to change my body because of my abuser.
I became obsessed with changing my image. I got on a diet, I trained seven days a week, and I never skipped a leg day. After seeing what my body was capable of, I trained even harder; I ate even cleaner and the muscles continued to grow.
After a couple of months, I filled out my dresses and skirts like a dream. For the first time in my life, I flaunted my legs.
No one could tell me that my butt was small now. No one could tell me that I didn’t fill out my skirts.
No one will ever look at my body the way he did.
I was working out compulsively, sometimes twice a day, and I skipped hanging out with friends or family so I could go to the gym. A few times, my friends gently suggested that I was taking this exercise thing a bit too far. But I ignored them. I hated my body when I wasn’t working out. And for that, I had to push myself as hard as I could.
And then life happened.
I got very sick and couldn’t work out. A week later there was a death in my family. I became depressed after attending two consecutive funerals and I barely ate. I lost about twenty pounds during all of this which meant I lost the muscle I had worked so hard for.
I felt weak and unattractive. Once again, I heard my abuser’s voice in my head when I looked at my body in the mirror. I heard his comments about how small my butt was, about how my jeans never fit me right, about how if I worked out, I’d be better looking. And I believed it all over again.
When I returned to meet my trainer after a month of zero exercise and minimal nourishment, he said to me playfully when I started stretching, “Oh man, we got a lot of work to do.”
And I cried right there in front of him.
I couldn’t hold back. My trainer apologized immediately, again and again. He didn’t mean to offend me, he said. And I know he didn’t.
But the anxiety that came over me when I realized that someone else noticed my muscle loss sent me into a panic.
The thought that someone else may think about my body as my abuser once did was devastating to me.
I confided in my personal trainer and told him that I had been working out after our sessions together. I told him I’d passed out in the locker room a couple of times. I told him how horrible I felt when I skipped a gym day.
And my personal trainer did the most unexpected but best thing for my health.
He told me we were going to stop seeing each other for sessions temporarily and instead, he wanted me to journal about my mental health on the days where I wasn’t working out. He advised me to go spend time with friends and family.
I fought back, saying if he didn’t want to work out with me, I would just hire another trainer.
I thought this would shock my trainer, but it didn’t. We were client/trainer more than we were friends, and I never imagined that he would be okay with me hiring a new trainer instead of him.
But to my surprise, he said okay.
He said he couldn’t continue to train me knowing that I was pushing myself to the point of harm. He said he was worried about me.
And I believed him. So, I skipped the gym for a day, then two days turned into two weeks. I found a therapist who helped me develop healthy habits. I recited self love mantras in the mirror every morning. Over a period of months, I slowly began to allow myself to live without obsessing over the gym. It has taken years, but I’ve learned to love my body as it is.
To this day, I’m a dedicated gym-goer.
I love the gym. But even after all these years, I still train my legs more than any other part of my body. And it’s not for any Kardashian reason, it’s because I’m worried that if I don’t train my legs hard enough, someone will see my body how my abuser saw my body.
I’d like to believe that my healthy lifestyle is because of me — because I want to be healthy, look good, and feel good. But sometimes when I look in the mirror and overly criticize the size of my legs and butt, I wonder what kind of damage this man left on my self-image. Although I don’t dare give him the credit or power over my body after all these years, sometimes, I wonder. | https://medium.com/fearless-she-wrote/i-became-obsessed-with-working-out-because-of-what-my-abuser-said-about-my-body-a656d6adcf9a | ['Sarai Perez'] | 2020-09-20 22:00:34.258000+00:00 | ['Lifestyle', 'Women', 'Mental Health', 'Beauty', 'Feminism'] |
An Integrated Approach: Geriatric Transgender Mental Healthcare | An Integrated Approach: Geriatric Transgender Mental Healthcare
For older individuals struggling with gender identity, mental healthcare providers are often a primary entry point into the healthcare system. New research suggests hidden strengths: integration of family-centered and interdisciplinary care teams.
In 2017, the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) hosted, “A Multidisciplinary Approach to Transgender Aging.” The session marked the 7th annual installment of the association’s focus on aging LGBTQ Americans. In response to the session, a new paper in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry describes the roles of mental healthcare providers in integrating family-centered and interdisciplinary approaches to geriatric transgender healthcare:
Assessment of gender dysphoria Psychoeducation of patients and family members about diversity of gender identities and various options for alleviating gender dysphoria Referral to other professionals or collaboration with these professionals in an interdisciplinary manner Treatment of coexisting mental health concerns Advocacy for transgender patients and the transgender community
Assessment and Education
Discussing and diagnosing gender dysphoria is an incredibly sensitive issue. Additionally, the lack of standard screening tools introduces much more variability between service providers and healthcare settings, which can add to patient confusion, discomfort or emotional harm.
“Gender dysphoria was added to the DSM-5 in place of gender identity disorder in order to place more emphasis on the psychological distress associated with having a gender identity that does not match one’s sex while hoping to avoid labeling all transgender individuals as ill simply because of the incongruence between their sex and gender identities.”
*Not all transgender people have experienced or are actively experiencing gender dysphoria and psychological distress directly attributed to their gender identity.*
In evaluating a transgender patient for gender dysphoria, it is critical to operate from a framework that is supportive and encouraging. The evaluative process is not meant to dissuade or discourage an individual from transitioning, it is to provide unbiased care and holistic commitment to the patient and their social supports.
It is also critical in the early stages of integrated healthcare from a mental health perspective to provide psychoeducation around the diversity of gender identities and ways to alleviate gender dysphoria.
“…it is very important to nurture a sense of hope for the patient and the members of their support network. A trans individual needs to be informed emphatically that simply being trans or [non-binary] is not a form of illness; however, it does increase the risk of mental health problems, at least in part, related to a spectrum of potentially toxic life experiences”
Regardless of service provider comfort of expectation of continuity of care, it is critically important to educate oneself about terminology, experiences and the transgender community to avoid re-traumatizing, shaming or marginalizing a transgender patient.
Referral and Treatment
Integration of other service providers through referrals is important in building an interdisciplinary care team. For older transgender people, these referrals might include: attorneys, vocal coaches, estheticians, primary medical care providers, surgeons, barbers or hair stylists, personal trainers, and others. Of note, it’s estimated that over half of all transgender adults over the age of 65 have served in the military. This is an important consideration when making referrals and building a care team.
“The geriatric mental health professional is likely to be the best-qualified proessional to identify and treat the mental health impacts of stigma and minority stress, and to facilitate a coming out process. As noted earlier, the mental health provider can also play an integral role in educating family members and other members of the patient’s support system.”
Advocacy
Advocacy for older transgender patients can come in many different forms. As previously mentioned, educating oneself and other members of the care team about terminology, experiences and the transgender community is one way to advocate. In the trans community, medical care providers have long been seen as gatekeepers, withholding hormones and other gender affirming resources until arbitrary medical standards are met. Advocacy and personal education can be the beginning of reconciling with this truth and demonstrating support for transgender patients.
Outside of the primary care team, it is important to work with other systems, such as hospitals, long-term care facilities and insurance companies, to advocate for patient needs surrounding medical care, social support and gender affirmation. With older adults, specifically, advocacy can also mean respecting and affirming end-of-life decisions that reflect the patient and their support system’s wishes.
For continued reading and additional resources on the topic of geriatric-specific and general transgender healthcare, see the links below. | https://medium.com/qspaces/an-integrated-approach-geriatric-transgender-mental-healthcare-14c89559e471 | ['Cameron Mcconkey'] | 2018-05-15 12:51:46.621000+00:00 | ['Transgender', 'Aging', 'Mental Health', 'LGBTQ'] |
Server for data professional | The server has a broad range of applications. In this blog, we discover all the interesting and fun ways of using server by any data professional. 💻 Be it a data analyst, data scientist, data engineer or DevOps for data pipelines this is a blog for you :)
The general idea is that the setup of a server is complicated and needs a lot of experience with Linux and many other tools 🛠. But, it need not be that complicated. If you are working with Big data it becomes imperative to have a server. The long times that are needed to extract the data and then the processing time has real potential to test your patience. I would love to have a server of my own which could even be an old system that is functional but it just stuffed somewhere in the attic. or even more amazing would be a server that has good processing power that is rented.
There is a never-ending list of things I want out of this server, however, I sketched out some of the prioritized applications that I would like to start with as my minimum requirements. They are as follows. Let us go bottom-up starting with data extraction and at the end leading to the data reporting with dashboards. As a fan of open-source software all the discussed tools below are open-sourced. This ensures greater availability of the budget💰 for more powerful hardware. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/server-for-data-professional-48b80a435ceb | [] | 2020-07-02 14:48:48.262000+00:00 | ['Shiny', 'Airflow', 'R', 'Python', 'Servers'] |
The worst volume control UI in the world | See the full post (and more examples) on reddit:
About “wants”, “cans”, “needs”, and “shoulds”
The original reddit post has now hundreds of examples of terrible volume UI, and it keeps growing — a fun exercise/joke, that can strengthen one’s creative muscles and ability to think outside of the box. People have been participating simply for the fun of coming up with the most absurd and weird interactions and interface elements.
But there’s definitely a reflection point about the state our industry here.
I’m sure a lot of people reading this has, at some point in their careers, felt that urge of innovating no matter what. An uncontrollable desire of redesigning something that hasn’t been redesigned for too long. It has to be recreated. And it has to be innovative. Right?
That’s where the wants, cans, needs, and shoulds story comes in.
Everybody wants to innovate. The design industry keeps nudging us to be creative, innovative, and to deliver design solutions that have never been thought of before. Pressure is on us. We are bombarded with messages telling us that, in order to be considered a solid designer, we have to innovate at any cost.
to innovate. The design industry keeps nudging us to be creative, innovative, and to deliver design solutions that have never been thought of before. Pressure is on us. We are bombarded with messages telling us that, in order to be considered a solid designer, we have to innovate at any cost. A lot of people can innovate. I definitely can redesign the volume control UI. All it takes is a bit of creativity and moderate design skills. Prototyping tools are becoming increasingly accessible, as well as other technologies that allow to bring to fruition whatever idea comes to mind. A few hours in front of Principle or Framer lets you create an extremely refined prototype of the interaction you are envisioning. You can also decide to create an app/site/chatbot to solve that same issue. You can.
innovate. I definitely can redesign the volume control UI. All it takes is a bit of creativity and moderate design skills. Prototyping tools are becoming increasingly accessible, as well as other technologies that allow to bring to fruition whatever idea comes to mind. A few hours in front of Principle or Framer lets you create an extremely refined prototype of the interaction you are envisioning. You can also decide to create an app/site/chatbot to solve that same issue. You can. No one needs to. Let’s be honest: the volume control design pattern has been around for decades, works pretty well for the majority of users, and is incredibly familiar to a lot of people. You don’t need to reinvent it.
But then there’s the should.
Should I redesign the volume control UI?
Should is interesting because of its subjectiveness. It’s a question that only makes sense to be asked in first person. And you have to know about much more than just design to be able to answer it — you have to understand about business, technology, culture, people. Answering the should question is a skill you only get after many, many years answering questions alike.
We can try to quantify or measure the should, which makes sense some of the time. But part of it is, and will ever be, intuition. How is yours? | https://uxdesign.cc/the-worst-volume-control-ui-in-the-world-60713dc86950 | ['Fabricio Teixeira'] | 2019-09-02 11:08:00.764000+00:00 | ['Interaction Design', 'Usability', 'Design', 'User Experience', 'UX'] |
Six Open Source Dashboards for Any Data Type | At Astronomer, we believe that every organization can benefit from having their data properly centralized, organized and cleaned. We’re building a company to do just that.
When a client comes to us, they might have weather data from OpenWeatherMap, viewership data from Streamspot, real-world presence data from Bliptrack, clickstream data generated by users from a number of apps, and partner data from an external SQL Server. All of this data tells them different things about their business and can be enriched further by combining the data in new and interesting ways. Their data is available and streaming in as real-time as the sources allow. The problem they then face (and the new bottleneck in achieving their data goals) is how they can quickly and flexibly present this data in a way that benefits their entire team. Most often, this presentation comes in the form of — wait for it — a dashboard.
For most businesses requiring flexible and powerful BI, Tableau is the first word that comes to mind. Tableau has spent a good deal of money, time, and effort to make that the case and it shows. They host a massive annual conference (plug!), they’ve built their platform to run on your desktop or server, and they cater to massive and diverse organizations such as the Texas Rangers and Wells Fargo. They’re also not cheap, with licenses ranging from $500–2k/user/year. The crazy thing is, compared to some of Tableau’s competitors, this is relatively affordable. Many clients of ours exploring options outside of Tableau have been quoted at $25k/year for an unlimited license or even buying “tokens” that give you per hour credit.
If you know what KPIs you want to track and don’t have the budget for a traditional enterprise dashboard, there are a number of open-source options with greater flexibility and affordability that we’re really excited about. Each has their pros and cons (we’ll lay out both as clearly as we can) but are generally good replacements to match a more expensive tool’s use case, if not its polish.
The Every(wo)man’s Dashboard — Metabase
The Pareto Principle says that 80% of effects can be traced back to 20% of causes, and this holds true with dashboards. When you’re paying for an expensive suite of tools, the majority of your work will require you to return to the same core functionality over and over again without a lot of the fine-tuning, in most cases. Metabase is the 20% that lets you answer 80% of your questions without needing to know SQL or navigate a complicated interface.
You start with a question like, ”How many women between the ages of 18 and 25 in either New York or LA have made a purchase in the last week?” Then use Metabase’s dropdown filters (Gender = Female; City is LA or NYC; Age between 18 and 25) to answer them. Metabase establishes data types for each column when a new table is added, so these filters are generated automatically. What this means from a practical standpoint is that everyone in your organization can subset tables (and even create basic charts!) without knowing any SQL. The only problem is that if you DO know SQL, you’ll probably find Metabase to be a bit limiting and might want explore more advanced options.
The E-Commerce Darling — Dashing
If you’ve done work in the ecommerce space in the past 5 years, you’ve probably seen Dashing in action or, at least, will recognize the patron company behind it: Shopify. Originally published in 2012, Dashing is a battle-tested dashboard with over 10,000 stars on Github and roughly 50 contributors. It’s designed for static monitoring of important key metrics (perfect for an e-commerce use case) and has a beautifully clean design to make that unused flat screen in your office the new centerpiece. In our mind, there are only two cons with Dashing. 1) It was written in Ruby (for us that’s a con…#JS) 2) It’s not really being maintained anymore….
As it turns out, neither of these cons are actually too bad. Although Dashing was written in the heady days of 2012 when Ruby ruled with an iron fist, there is a ported Node version that has since popped up on Github. And as to the “not being maintained” issue, the current version still works well, and a separate fork from the original Github repo has been started — and is actively maintained by the original Dashing creator (Daniel Beauchamp) who merges pull requests on a fairly regular basis.
The Superpowered Open Source — Keen Dashboard
Like Dashing to Shopify, the Keen Dashboard is built and maintained by the fantastic team at Keen IO. But unlike Shopify, Keen IO is all about analytics so it makes sense that their dashboard is streamlined to work especially well with their ‘Analytics as a Service’ infrastructure.
When we interviewed Dustin Larimer, Product Designer at Keen IO, the repo already had 6.5k stars on Github (circa May ’15, back before we were even Astronomer!) and at the time of this writing, it has gained 2k more. If you’ve had any experience with Bootstrap, you’ll be able to work with the Keen Dashboard with relative ease as that is the underlying framework. As Dustin told us, “We considered other layout frameworks, but Bootstrap is the most ubiquitous and well known, and we wanted to minimize the initial learning curve.”
While your life might be easier if you use Keen IO’s backend and visualization library to power your dashboard, the Keen team is generous and thus made their open-source dashboard compatible with any data source or charting library. But honestly, if you choose to use the templating dashboard without Keen IO’s other features (e.g. the backend, the actual viz itself), you’ll be missing out on some core functionality. Without Keen IO, it’s a great, open-source dashboard framework. With Keen IO, it’s open-source with super powers.
The IoT Tracker — Freeboard
Although IoT can be accomplished by and is even an area of strength for Keen IO (partnership with Electric Imp!), another dashboard is putting that use case front and center (literally). Freeboard bills itself as the “free open-source alternative to Geckboard,” another dashboard that allows chart embedding from various tools and services. Freeboard is written in Node and has an easy-to-follow architecture for building your own plugin. The biggest (perhaps only) con that we can see is that Freeboard seemingly only supports event data (read: real-time, JSON objects) but doesn’t pull from databases. So if you’re looking to connect your SQL database to a simple dashboard that you use to visualize some basic KPIs, this might not be your best bet.
The Modular Master — Mozaik
A relatively new entry (first commit in Dec ’14) into the open-source dashboard space that we’re pretty excited about is the modularly designed Mozaik. Mozaik was built using our favorite JS trifecta (Node, React, d3) and while it still has room to grow, its extendable and customizable modules make it both a powerful and flexible choice. Need to add a new widget type to your dashboard? Just `npm install mozaik-ext-{widget-name}` and there you have it. There are already widgets built to access Github, Travis, Google Analytics, Twitter, AWS, and ElasticSearch, among many others. And if they don’t have what you’re looking for? Build it yourself with React and d3! Simple as that.
For more information on when to choose Mozaik, the Cloud Data Services team at IBM has a great write-up about why they chose Mozaik over alternatives like Dashing (see above) and others.
The Dashboard Hipster — Grafana
Grafana is powerful but by no means is it a dashboard for the faint of heart. This project has graphing plugins, embeddable apps, and integrations to databases too intense for the typical analyst. Best way to sum up Grafana? They were connecting to Prometheus BEFORE it was cool.
This project is the most active we’ve profiled with ~250 active contributors, 10k stars, and ~7.5k commits over the last two years. Of all the dashboards on this list, Grafana is best used when monitoring engineering systems rather than sales KPIs but in a world where every company is a tech company, it’s more useful than ever to have a universal view of your infrastructure’s health. If the words Cloudwatch, InfluxDB, or Graphite don’t mean anything to you, then you probably don’t need to worry about Grafana. Still might be worth showing it to your dev team though; devs need metrics too.
We at Astronomer are committed to making data more readily available because we believe data can be transformative. Sometimes using data properly means hiring an analyst and getting them a Tableau account to begin pumping out reports. Other times, it’s feeding data into a learning algorithm to find new patterns. Most often, however, proper use of data is just the ability to keep your eye on the same metric and know how it changes over time.
No matter what dashboard you end up going with, bear in mind that 1) if you have a small number of metrics to track (i.e. no need for reports) and 2) no full-time analyst (i.e. no resources for reports), you will not reap the benefits of an extensive and expensive tool like Tableau. Those tools are appropriate when the questions you ask are always changing and you have the people on your team who can answer them. If you know the 10 metrics you’ll always need to monitor and are comfortable these will be relevant for some time, consider using an open-source dashboard that is both free* and more customizable to your needs. | https://medium.com/the-astronomer-journey/six-open-source-dashboards-for-any-data-type-ad0a068074ad | ['Benjamin Gregory'] | 2016-07-12 17:17:59.359000+00:00 | ['Dashboard', 'Open Source', 'Data Science'] |
Design for trust | It’s no secret that the best design evokes the most powerful emotions. Talented storytellers skillfully use design attributes like color, hue, form, line, type, shape, texture, size, balance, and contrast to conjure specific feelings.
Like a great joke, a tearjerker of a movie, or a terrific story, design inspires us to feel happy, empathetic, motivated, and even sad… it connects on the most human level.
There is nothing that we can do about how our brains are wired. We are the way we are. Advertisers are successful when they leverage our predispositions to help brands connect in meaningful, emotional ways.
Of all the emotional responses marketers can drum-up through design, trust is the most important, specifically for task completion.
Online scams, fly-by-night retail sites, and other nefarious online boogeypeople have instilled a natural apprehension and distrust in web users' minds. The less they trust the medium, the less likely they will open up to a brand in meaningful, actionable, and lasting ways.
And if that wasn’t enough, massive competition makes it even harder to reach your audiences. Consider the higher education vertical, for example. Beyond just other schools, there are legions of competitors–vying for people’s attention, such as the multitasking and fragmented media consumption habits of your target audience.
And when you finally connect with your audience, you have the tiniest opportunity to woo them.
Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink argues at length that the human mind is preconditioned to make snap judgments. And researchers from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, discovered that people make these “blink” judgments about the quality of a website in a twentieth of a second–usually without a lot of information to support it. Published in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology, the study demonstrates that first impressions have a lasting impact.
This means that people are not only making very quick emotional decisions without a lot of information, but it also suggests the existence of design conventions that promote similar emotional responses. And since people like being right, the initial impression sticks with them regardless of how good or bad the rest of the experience may be.
The customer conversion funnel is a minefield littered with hazards in terms of time, competition, attention, cost, and the unknown. A lot has to happen before a customer sees your landing page. If you launch a creative campaign with compelling creative and clear calls to action across a sea of digital and traditional media venues with the precise targeting strategy and have the financial planning in place to support the right level of impressions and repetition… you should get three to six people out of a thousand who will click on your ad. Those people will be taken to a landing page. You’ll then have a twentieth of a second to make the right emotional connection. How do you like those odds?
In the end, the only feeling that will advance those three to six people to the next step in the conversion funnel is trust. Trust trumps all. And since aesthetics is a dimension of trust, every designer should strive to understand how to fan trust. | https://uxdesign.cc/design-for-trust-342e639ca9ef | ['Andres Zapata'] | 2020-12-29 19:09:46.938000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Design', 'UI', 'User Experience', 'UX'] |
How to Rhyme Well | Of all the devices in the modern poet’s toolbox, rhyme seems to be one of the most controversial.
To some, it dates the poem. There’s a widespread belief that “old poetry rhymes, but new poetry doesn’t.” And while there’s a grain of truth in that free verse (that is, poetry without a set rhyme or metrical scheme) has grown in popularity over the last century or so, it’s fairly reductionist.
To borrow a sentiment from author John Green, the universe resists simplicity. So, too, does poetry.
There are modern poets who excel at rhyme and form (including, but definitely not limited to yours truly). Consider this sonnet from Karen Volkman:
Nothing was ever what it claimed to be,
the earth, blue egg, in its seeping shell
dispensing damage like a hollow hell
inchling weeping for a minor sea ticking its tidelets, x and y and z.
The blue beneficence we call and spell
and call blue heaven, the whiteblue well
of constant water, deepening a thee, a thou and who, touching every what —
and in the or, a shudder in the cut —
and that you are, blue mirror, only stare bluest blankness, whether in the where,
sheen that bleeds blue beauty we are taught
drowns and booms and vowels. I will not.
And there are poets of yore, especially those outside of the European sphere, who wrote in non-rhyming verse. Matsuo Bashō with his hokku (later called haiku) in the late 17th century is a good example.
uru ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto Within aging pond / frogs jumping vibrate the calm / water’s resonance
— trans. Sarah Isbell
Another is Cynewulf, a 9th century Anglo-Saxon poet. In fact, one of the major features of Anglo-Saxon poetry was less of a focus on rhyme, and more of a focus on consonance and assonance, repeating vowel and consonant sounds.
So while there is a correlation with more rhyming verse in the medieval European canon, it’s not entirely fair to say that “old poems rhyme” and leave it at that. But the European school has, over the years, started to shake off the rigid attitude toward form and rhyme being defining features of a poem.
Rhyme is simply out of vogue.
And it’s really not hard to understand why.
It’s easy to write objectively bad poetry that is made worse because of the rhymes.
Consider the following verse, written by yours truly, a long time ago:
Christmas day, landing at Charles de Gaulle (1)
Sorry, honey, it’s only a transfer (2)
We will not be seeing Paris at all (3)
This is part of the plan, it won’t deter (4) It’s been long since we’ve been on vacation (5)
You’ve never before needed such a long trip (6)
Lately, life has been strife, complication (7)
But I think that this will your fortune flip (8) We’re headed for Switzerland and the snow (9)
We’ve both lived in Cali so long (10)
I’ve a surprise for you; hope you don’t know (11)
I’m going to offer a gift life long (12) Once more, lovely fantasies touch my mind (13)
Never in my memory book shall they reside (14)
Obviously, there are some issues.
One of the most basic mistakes when it comes to writing rhyming poetry is wrenching the word order (syntax) so the rhyming word goes at the end of the line. Everything in the middle of the line gets shuffled around to accommodate, and you have some strange sounding sentences.
That’s happening here in lines 8, 12, and 14. Typically in English, your sentence is going to be in SVO (Subject, Verb, Object) order. When sentences aren’t in that order, they start to sound weird.
In line 8, the object of the sentence, your fortune, splits the verb phrase will flip. In line 12, the adjective life-long (which should be hyphenated) is after the noun it’s modifying, gift. Line 14 is all out of whack, with the subject they splitting the future tense verb shall reside, which is kicked to the end of the line, while its negator, Never, is still at the front.
In essence, the language is being butchered to preserve the rhyme scheme. And the poetry suffers for it.
Another issue is that this poem does not use enjambment. That is, each line is a complete clause, a complete idea. It’s the point in the sentence where you’d pause and take a break before continuing.
It’s the rhetorical equivalent of the ba-dum tiss! every time a comedian tells a joke or putting a big cymbal crash at the end of a phrase in a song. By placing all of the rhymes at the end of the clause, you draw even more attention to them.
The easy solution to this is to break your sentences across multiple lines. Have some sentences that end at the end of the line. End some halfway through the line. Even if the meter and the rhyme scheme are set, there are other ways to vary the rhythm of the poem that take the stress off of the end-line rhyme.
Ideally, in a poem, the rhyme scheme should disappear into the woodwork. Otherwise, you end up with a poem that sounds sing-songy and childish, in spite of the emotions that the verse itself is attempting to convey.
How would I rewrite that poem now? Somewhere along these lines:
A yuletide night and Paris, lit below,
is singing, siren to your poet’s heart.
Alas, my love, we’re passing through to go
where Edelweiss sings harmony, a part
of you is longing for the mountains, stress and tears
lost beneath the powdered white chalet;
the slopes may echo all those screams and fears —
it takes them to the wind, away, away! When grief is evanesced, love comes alight,
a holy fire burning in your chest
once tainted by carcinogens, now right;
your smile restored, so beautiful, the best
of you drawn out. Our better days shall come
beyond the work and grief that leaves us numb.
Notice how only a few of the sentences end at the end of the line. The thought continues onto the next line, driving the reader away from that point. They want the rest of the information — even if the line break is telling them to slow down for a second, readers intrinsically know that this isn’t the place to stop and reflect on the sentence: there’s still more information.
Also, since the sentences are of different lengths, they don’t have a monotonous feeling. Some of them span on for several lines, while others are fairly short.
The rhyme scheme is still present, but it’s definitely deemphasized. And that’s the entire secret to making it work. Another secret is also to use off rhymes or slant rhymes or even eye rhymes, but that’s a different lesson.
You can write poetry without rhyming.
Just the same way as you can build a house without ever using a nail gun.
But there’s no reason to ignore such a critical and useful tool, just because it’s difficult to use safely and correctly.
So start writing. Start rhyming. And then pick apart your rhymes to see if they work and how. That’s the only way you’re going to get better at it. | https://medium.com/ninja-writers/how-to-rhyme-well-92ad26d128fc | ['Zach J. Payne'] | 2020-07-29 21:41:03.356000+00:00 | ['Rhyme', 'Learning', 'Art', 'Creativity', 'Poetry'] |
Is your networking a waste of time? | It's them, not you — most of the time
Chris Montgomery at Unsplash
We all get invited to masses of online networking events now. No disrespect, but so many of them are a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong — I am grateful for the invitations. Without them, I wouldn’t find the good ones. But virtual events have mushroomed since the pandemic. Many are run by people who, sadly, don’t know what they are doing.
These are some of my pet peeves:
No precise categorization of group members. Random invitations result in a smorgasbord of perfectly lovely people who have absolutely nothing in common
Poorly selected breakout rooms: however interesting someone is, we all want to meet as many new people as possible and do not want to end up with the same person twice. A third time, which happened to me ones, feels slightly stalker-like even though neither party is responsible.
Lack of welcome to newbies: I have experienced this so often. You appear on that multi-faced screen, and no-one, including the host, makes any acknowledgment of one being there. They don’t pause the conversation before throwing you into a breakout room, leaving you feeling like a virtual lemon.
Poor moderation: As with other social occasions, you get the usual conversational monopolizers, the ramblers, and the crashing bores. The host’s job is to ensure everyone takes part in the conversation and cut the monopolizers et al. charmingly short. Every member of the group should feel equally loved and treasured, have an equal crack at the whip.
A bad organizer: Running networking groups has become very a la mode. People do it for three reasons. To further their own business and contacts: to sell you something else further down the line, often inner-circle networking: or to put themselves in a position of authority. All three, but especially the latter, can attract a broad range of the power-crazed and the egoist.
Secret Number One — it’s not you, it’s them:
Some networking groups are wrong for you, and some are just plain bad for anyone. The chances of you finding any success in one of those is something akin to a lottery ticket.
Be absolutely ruthless about your selection of events and on leaving them.
When we go to a party and have a miserable time, we don’t hesitate to cut our losses and disappear. Do the same here. Make your excuses: The house is on fire; the cat’s been sick, Gary Vee is on the other line — whatever. Get out of there and spend your time on something more worthy of it.
Secret Number Two — it’s not them, it’s you:
You can’t afford to be either the virtual lemon or one of the egotistical waffling bores. For however long you are there, you need to be on your best behavior and be your very best and most charming you.
What does that look like?
Have a clear elevator pitch. People are now starting to confuse pitching for sale and finance with an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch was called because it is supposed to be completed within the time it takes to go up (or down) an elevator). No waffle. It needs to be very warm, quite relaxed but different enough, enjoyable enough to make people want to talk to you; a new spin on an old topic always helps. The formality level of the introductions varies from group to group, so ask the host in advance, but keep it short and on-point.
Keep everything you do short and clear. Breakout rooms should give everyone there a shot at talking for equal time. Your job is not to out-speak. It is to be charming, be interesting, and speak little. Take an interest in your fellow breakout members. Not only is it good manners, but it also means you can quickly assess who is of remote relevance to speak to again in the future.
Remember, you are there to sell and not sell: This is your chance to have a first or second social meeting with a prospect or useful contact. Therefore, you do not sell. You do not even think about selling. Would you meet someone in any other social situation and start pitching to them? No — of course not. You might arrange to speak again or go for a coffee or a game of golf. You are cultivating a new relationship, and that means listening.
Be Kind: there are nearly always some students, or new business owners, new networkers at any event. Never forget that you were there once. It costs nothing to be kind, to be encouraging, to take an interest.
Secret Number Three: it’s not them, it’s your planning:
Of course, it is easy to blame the organizer and the group. But much of the fault of a bad experience with a virtual event can lie with the guest. In the barrage of invitations, it is easy to lose sight of why we are spending time networking, other than people tell us, “we should.”
There should be only three reasons for going networking:
1. You are channeling Napoleon Hill. Hill talks in his books of developing a Master Mind Group, a support network that meets up regularly to share knowledge and support each other. An inner circle of networking, where time together is so much more focussed, more relevant, and at a higher level of knowledge and empathy than a mere networking group.
Other entrepreneurs have expanded this to a higher number, including a slightly more outer-network of a dream team of people who could help you on your journey. These could include a selection of mentors, fellow entrepreneurs, influencers, politicians.
2. Sales pure and simple: Many networking groups, virtual and otherwise, are full of network marketers doing precisely that. Focussing on new people to market to; The bigger your business, the more refined and focussed this becomes in line with the size of the deals. But in the long run, it is still about making a connection who would benefit from your product or services.
3. Referrals: If you are assembling your dream mastermind team, or if you are hunting down a particular sales prospect, the best way to get to meet them is via an introduction. Developing the right contacts is where sophisticated networking is of ultimate value. Let’s assume you know who your target is. Work backward. Find out who they know and what you might have in common with their contacts. If need be, do it again with their contacts’ contacts. Find out what their interests are, what groups they belong to. And then join, turn up and network till you meet them. And then, develop a relationship slowly, and only when you have a strong enough relationship, ask for a referral. By defining the parameters that the contacts move in, your chances are also high in meeting other potentially useful people.
Be very clear in your own mind which of these you want and if you have good chances of finding it at this particular group. It will save everyone time.
A PS. on this:
Networking is a sales and marketing activity or a growth opportunity. Both rely on two other golden rules.
First, you need to do your research beforehand. Find out as much as you can about the group, the host, and the people who are going to be there. Be informed, prepared, and ready. The very best networking groups issue an attendee list in advance, enabling you to both read up in-depth and decide who would be of interest to you and who you could be of use to. Never forget this works both ways.
Finally, don’t fall into the trap of not following up afterward. Be awake, get the emails or contact details you want (while trying to avoid the ones you don’t). And write a great follow-up email afterward. Still not selling. Just developing the relationship. | https://medium.com/an-idea/networking-a-waste-of-time-ca01e35c87b3 | ['Jan Cavelle'] | 2020-12-15 06:32:24.103000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Networking Tips', 'Referral Marketing', 'Online', 'Networking'] |
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