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Tesla’s Achilles Heel? | Tesla’s Achilles Heel?
Photo by Charlie Deets on Unsplash
When Tesla was selling into a small, cult-like customer base, it provided a personalised customer service experience. As Tesla has become more mainstream it has suffered from increasing customer dissatisfaction. Poor customer service, quality and servicing are not random events — they derive from an unprofitable business model.
Tesla wants to make its consumers reliant on its services. This monopoly servicing model is best highlighted by Tesla’s partnership with Bios-Groep, a taxi company operating out of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Bios-Groep brought 72 Model S Teslas for €5.7 million with support from the Dutch government. After Bios experienced multiple problems with the vehicles, Tesla agreed to exchange 64 of them for 70 Model X Teslas at a cost of €7.9 million. The Model Xs were delivered in November 2017 and by 2019, the number of defects repaired in the fleet had risen to 60. The defects were not trivial: dead power steering, broken driveshafts, and broken suspension wishbones. 20 of the vehicles have been removed from the fleet altogether.
Originally, Tesla provided a personalised service with a single contact point for Bios’s customer complaints. This was then downgraded to going through an anonymous “front office” with multiple complaints not being answered. Complaints are now dealt with through an online service request portal. Moreover, only two of Bios’s vehicles can be in for repair at a time. Bios is now suing Tesla for €1.3 million. In a consensus society like Holland, this is a rare step — Bios has never had to sue another supplier. To add salt to the wound, Bios has just bought 5 Audi E-Trons. Why? Because “[t]he phone will be answered there.”
Tesla’s customer service problems are a classic example of the cobra effect — incentives designed to solve a problem end up rewarding people for making it worse.
Tesla’s disruptive business model circumvents the traditional dealership model. Competition between traditional car-dealerships is fierce and money from new-sales is low. Conversely, conventional dealerships make their money from used-car sales and servicing.
The opposite is true for Tesla, it sells its cars at a premium price and loses money on its servicing operations. Losing money in this area means Tesla’s first-order incentive is to cut costs — even at the risk of displeasing customers. Naturally, Tesla would not do this if its servicing operations were subject to competition. However, Tesla doesn’t need to worry about this because it has famously made it impossible for anyone else to service their cars or obtain spare parts.
It would be reasonable to assume that Tesla would still want to provide high-quality servicing as the after-sales service is essential to its sales of new carts. But Tesla is under financial pressure — it has never made an annual profit in its 17-year history, has continuously had to raise money to cover its negative cash flow and is forced to show hope of profitability to justify its astronomical share price. Tesla is not thinking of the long-term and growth. Instead, it is pumping up its short-term financial performance and cash flow by skimping on service. The problem for Tesla owners is compounded by the fact that Tesla is a monopoly supplier of service and parts to a much greater extent than other manufacturers. | https://medium.com/@sjm-patterson/teslas-achilles-heel-bee68cff78dc | ['Sarah Patterson'] | 2020-12-05 08:44:30.311000+00:00 | ['Tesla', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Electric Car', 'Elon Musk', 'Weakness'] |
Necessity to reflect on aspirations | Hello all :)
Missed me? :P Well, I am back again, after a break :)
Stability is something everybody needs in life, but it’s very difficult for me to come to terms with it. A lot has been happening in my life and I had to take a break to reflect on my choices and make a decision. I am glad that I finally did something.
I graduated as an electrical engineer but started working for an IT firm. It’s one of the top MNCs and I am really glad I got placed there. I will tell you why.
Where am I ? ( Source: http://cio.org.vn/16/en/digital-revolution-changes-role-of-cio/ )
It was 2015 August when I was trained in C++ and UNIX for three months and then bagged a project which used PLSQL. I worked in the telecom domain and kind of created a niche for myself in it. I was a developer initially and then slowly explored Testing and quality assurance.
In the course of my tenure in the project, I got an opportunity to research on automation Testing for the application I worked in. The research got me interested in analysis and gave me another break to become an offshore business analyst.
Life was almost getting interesting when I moved to a different project and presented an application based on the research on AI and ML but suddenly got thrashed with degrading work assignments that got me frustrated and made me ask for a release from the project.
I finally got into another project now, after almost six sessions of interviews for the role and I am finally working as a business analyst, in insurance domain (YAY!). I was thrilled at the diversity I had in my work life, in a span of three years.
I know that many of you have also been through these role changes and yearn to have no regrets when it comes to finding peace in the work that you do everyday. No harm in that and I am pretty sure it is the right thing to do.
Why am I speaking about all this now? Maybe because I want my readers to know that these situations are quite common and they aren’t alone in this. It’s very important to create an identity for ourselves in the dynamic IT industry analogous to creating a brand for ourselves in our writing.
Today, I just want to highlight the facts that I considered in making decisions that were right for me. They are universal in nature and applies to everyone who would like to take some time out to dwell on their professional life.
1. Do my personality traits match my job profile?
Who am I? ( Source: https://www.tlnt.com/3-surprising-personality-traits-to-look-for-in-a-job-candidate/ )
I am a soft spoken, nerdy, quirky, smart working, passionate and a creative individual. I love to talk about things that interest me and try to be very diplomatic when people talk to me about things I do not have opinions about. I am humourous and optimistic. I have good reviews on my communication skills as well and hence, my personality traits match a job profile that helps me collaborate with people, discuss problem statements and try to simplify complex things. So I will be happy to work with a job designation closest to these characteristics, for a very very long time.
2. What about my personal life?
We are flexible if we can get accustomed to any type of work and also take up work at odd hours of time in unexpected kinds of places. At times, we do not like to work on things that aren’t our cup of tea; making us rigid. That is completely natural and we should choose what is best for us based on our personal life.
3. Career ladder and risk analysis?
This is one of the deciding factors that helps in taking a firm stance. I am still three years experienced and I personally feel I have a lot to explore in terms of job profiles, before settling with one type of work. I still do not know a lot about my potential in different profiles and I want to experiment on them to understand myself better. There might be a few compromises I will have to make (we might get lucky as well, but we never know!) and I am ready for it.
So yeah. Analyze and hold on to these thoughts because there’s definitely a part 2 for this post ( and that kind of makes me happy, because this is my first post with plans of further continuation ! :D )
Until next time! :) | https://medium.com/maice/necessity-to-reflect-on-aspirations-9c68e26a3e71 | ['Mohitha B G'] | 2018-10-02 16:41:07.127000+00:00 | ['Change', 'Self Reflection', 'Personality', 'Job Hunting', 'Information Technology'] |
Building a Machine Learning Recommendation Model from Scratch | In this tutorial, we build a regression model using the cruise_ship_info.csv dataset for recommending the crew size for potential cruise ship buyers. This tutorial will highlight important data science and machine learning concepts such as:
a) data preprocessing and variable selection
b) basic regression model building
c) hyperparameters tuning
b) model evaluation
d) techniques for dimensionality reduction
The code for building this recommender system can be found on GitHub.
1. Import necessary libraries
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
2. Read dataset and display columns
df=pd.read_csv("cruise_ship_info.csv")
df.head()
3. Calculate basic summary statistics for the dataset
df.describe()
4. Generate scatter pair plot
cols = ['Age', 'Tonnage', 'passengers', 'length', 'cabins','passenger_density','crew']
sns.pairplot(df[cols], size=2.0)
Observations from part 4:
1) We observe that variables are on different scales, for sample the Age variable ranges from about 16 years to 48 years, while the Tonnage variable ranges from 2 to 220. It is therefore important that when a regression model is built using these variables, variables be brought to the same scale either by standardizing or normalizing the data.
2) We also observe that the target variable ‘crew’ correlates well with 4 predictor variables, namely, ‘Tonnage’, ‘passengers’, ‘length’, and ‘cabins’.
5. Variable selection for predicting “crew” size
5a. Calculation of covariance matrix
cols = ['Age', 'Tonnage', 'passengers', 'length', 'cabins','passenger_density','crew']
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
stdsc = StandardScaler()
X_std = stdsc.fit_transform(df[cols].iloc[:,range(0,7)].values) cov_mat =np.cov(X_std.T)
plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
sns.set(font_scale=1.5)
hm = sns.heatmap(cov_mat,
cbar=True,
annot=True,
square=True,
fmt='.2f',
annot_kws={'size': 12},
yticklabels=cols,
xticklabels=cols)
plt.title('Covariance matrix showing correlation coefficients')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()
5b. Selecting predictor and target variables
From the covariance matrix plot above, we see that the “crew” variable correlates strongly with 4 predictor variables: “Tonnage”, “passengers”, “length, and “cabins”.
cols_selected = ['Tonnage', 'passengers', 'length', 'cabins','crew'] df[cols_selected].head()
X = df[cols_selected].iloc[:,0:4].values # features matrix
y = df[cols_selected]['crew'].values # target variable
6. Data partitioning into training and testing sets
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
X = df[cols_selected].iloc[:,0:4].values
y = df[cols_selected]['crew']
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split( X, y, test_size=0.4, random_state=0)
7. Building a multi-regression model
Our machine learning regression model for predicting a ship’s “crew” size can be expressed as:
from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression
slr = LinearRegression() slr.fit(X_train, y_train)
y_train_pred = slr.predict(X_train)
y_test_pred = slr.predict(X_test) plt.scatter(y_train_pred, y_train_pred - y_train,
c='steelblue', marker='o', edgecolor='white',
label='Training data')
plt.scatter(y_test_pred, y_test_pred - y_test,
c='limegreen', marker='s', edgecolor='white',
label='Test data')
plt.xlabel('Predicted values')
plt.ylabel('Residuals')
plt.legend(loc='upper left')
plt.hlines(y=0, xmin=-10, xmax=50, color='black', lw=2)
plt.xlim([-10, 50])
plt.tight_layout()
plt.legend(loc='lower right')
plt.show()
7a. Evaluation of regression model
from sklearn.metrics import r2_score
from sklearn.metrics import mean_squared_error print('MSE train: %.3f, test: %.3f' % (
mean_squared_error(y_train, y_train_pred),
mean_squared_error(y_test, y_test_pred)))
print('R^2 train: %.3f, test: %.3f' % (
r2_score(y_train, y_train_pred),
r2_score(y_test, y_test_pred))) MSE train: 0.955, test: 0.889
R^2 train: 0.920, test: 0.928
7b. Regression coefficients
slr.fit(X_train, y_train).intercept_ -0.7525074496158393 slr.fit(X_train, y_train).coef_ array([ 0.01902703, -0.15001099, 0.37876395, 0.77613801])
8. Feature Standardization, Cross-Validation, and Hyperparameter Tuning
from sklearn.metrics import r2_score
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
X = df[cols_selected].iloc[:,0:4].values
y = df[cols_selected]['crew']
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
sc_y = StandardScaler()
sc_x = StandardScaler()
y_std = sc_y.fit_transform(y_train[:, np.newaxis]).flatten() train_score = []
test_score = [] for i in range(10):
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split( X, y, test_size=0.4, random_state=i)
y_train_std = sc_y.fit_transform(y_train[:, np.newaxis]).flatten()
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
from sklearn.decomposition import PCA
from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression
from sklearn.pipeline import Pipeline
pipe_lr = Pipeline([('scl', StandardScaler()),('pca', PCA(n_components=4)),('slr', LinearRegression())])
pipe_lr.fit(X_train, y_train_std)
y_train_pred_std=pipe_lr.predict(X_train)
y_test_pred_std=pipe_lr.predict(X_test)
y_train_pred=sc_y.inverse_transform(y_train_pred_std)
y_test_pred=sc_y.inverse_transform(y_test_pred_std)
train_score = np.append(train_score, r2_score(y_train, y_train_pred))
test_score = np.append(test_score, r2_score(y_test, y_test_pred))
9. Techniques of Dimensionality Reduction
9a. Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
train_score = []
test_score = []
cum_variance = [] for i in range(1,5):
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split( X, y, test_size=0.4, random_state=0)
y_train_std = sc_y.fit_transform(y_train[:, np.newaxis]).flatten()
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
from sklearn.decomposition import PCA
from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression
from sklearn.pipeline import Pipeline
pipe_lr = Pipeline([('scl', StandardScaler()),('pca', PCA(n_components=i)),('slr', LinearRegression())])
pipe_lr.fit(X_train, y_train_std)
y_train_pred_std=pipe_lr.predict(X_train)
y_test_pred_std=pipe_lr.predict(X_test)
y_train_pred=sc_y.inverse_transform(y_train_pred_std)
y_test_pred=sc_y.inverse_transform(y_test_pred_std)
train_score = np.append(train_score, r2_score(y_train, y_train_pred))
test_score = np.append(test_score, r2_score(y_test, y_test_pred))
cum_variance = np.append(cum_variance, np.sum(pipe_lr.fit(X_train, y_train).named_steps['pca'].explained_variance_ratio_)) plt.scatter(cum_variance,train_score, label = 'train_score')
plt.plot(cum_variance, train_score)
plt.scatter(cum_variance,test_score, label = 'test_score')
plt.plot(cum_variance, test_score)
plt.xlabel('cumulative variance')
plt.ylabel('R2_score')
plt.legend()
plt.show()
Observations from part 9a:
We observe that by increasing the number of principal components from 1 to 4, the train and test scores improve. This is because, with fewer components, there is a high bias error in the model, since the model is overly simplified. As we increase the number of principal components, the bias error will reduce, but complexity in the model increases.
9b. Regularized Regression: Lasso
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split( X, y, test_size=0.4, random_state=0)
y_train_std = sc_y.fit_transform(y_train[:, np.newaxis]).flatten()
X_train_std = sc_x.fit_transform(X_train)
X_test_std = sc_x.transform(X_test) alpha = np.linspace(0.01,0.4,10) #lasso parameters from sklearn.linear_model import Lasso
lasso = Lasso(alpha=0.7) r2_train=[]
r2_test=[]
norm = []
for i in range(10):
lasso = Lasso(alpha=alpha[i])
lasso.fit(X_train_std,y_train_std)
y_train_std=lasso.predict(X_train_std)
y_test_std=lasso.predict(X_test_std)
r2_train=np.append(r2_train,r2_score(y_train,sc_y.inverse_transform(y_train_std)))
r2_test=np.append(r2_test,r2_score(y_test,sc_y.inverse_transform(y_test_std)))
norm= np.append(norm,np.linalg.norm(lasso.coef_)) plt.scatter(alpha,r2_train,label='r2_train')
plt.plot(alpha,r2_train)
plt.scatter(alpha,r2_test,label='r2_test')
plt.plot(alpha,r2_test)
plt.scatter(alpha,norm,label = 'norm')
plt.plot(alpha,norm)
plt.ylim(-0.1,1)
plt.xlim(0,.43)
plt.xlabel('alpha')
plt.ylabel('R2_score')
plt.legend()
plt.show()
Observations from part 9b:
We observe that as the regularization parameter alpha increases, the norm of the regression coefficients become smaller and smaller. This means more regression coefficients are forced to zero, which intend to increases bias error (oversimplification). The best value to balance bias-variance tradeoff is when alpha is kept low, say alpha = 0.1 or less.
Summary
In summary, we’ve shown how a simple regression model can be built using the cruise_ship_info.csv dataset for predicting the crew size for potential ship buyers. The code for this recommendation system can be found on GitHub.
References | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/machine-learning-model-for-recommending-the-crew-size-for-cruise-ship-buyers-6dd478ad9900 | ['Benjamin Obi Tayo Ph.D.'] | 2019-07-01 18:52:08.754000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Featured', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science'] |
Best Weight Loss Advice You’ve Never Heard | Best Weight Loss Advice You’ve Never Heard
Diet & Weight Management
Weight Loss & Obesity
Feature Stories
Best Weight Loss Advice You’ve Never Heard
You’re ready to lose some weight. But you’re tired of listening to all that stale, tried-and-true weight loss advice, like eating more vegetables, limiting portions, and exercising more.
Maybe what you need is a fresh idea or two. So WebMD asked diet experts to come up with some lesser-known diet tips that could make the most jaded dieter drop that cookie and vow, “Oh wow! I’ll try that today.”
Here are nine diet tips you may not have not heard yet. Some involve different ways to eat, or adding certain foods to your diet. Others
Tip №1 : Drink plenty of water or other calorie-free beverages.
Before you tear into that bag of potato chips, drink a glass of water first. People sometimes confuse thirst with hunger, so you can end up eating extra calories when an ice-cold glass of water is really all you needed. If plain water doesn’t cut it, try drinking flavored sparkling water or brewing a cup of fruit-infused herbal tea.
Keep a food and weight diary
Self-monitoring is a critical factor in successfully losing weight. People can use a paper diary, mobile app, or dedicated website to record every item of food that they consume each day. They can also measure their progress by recording their weight on a weekly basis.
Those who can track their success in small increments and identify physical changes are much more likely to stick to a weight loss regimen.
People can also keep track of their body mass index (BMI) using a BMI calculator.
Engage in regular physical activity and exercise
Share on Pinterest Regular physical activity can help a person lose weight.
Regular exercise is vital for both physical and mental health. Increasing the frequency of physical activity in a disciplined and purposeful way is often crucial for successful weight loss.
One hour of moderate-intensity activity per day, such as brisk walking, is ideal. If one hour per day is not possible, the Mayo Clinic suggests that a person should aim for a minimum of 150 minutes every week.
People who are not usually physically active should slowly increase the amount of exercise that they do and gradually increase its intensity. This approach is the most sustainable way to ensure that regular exercise becomes a part of their lifestyle.
Learn How I Lost 97lbs in 2 weeks with this method of Fat Loss
In the same way that recording meals can psychologically help with weight loss, people may also benefit from keeping track of their physical activity. Many free mobile apps are available that track a person’s calorie balance after they log their food intake and exercise.
If the thought of a full workout seems intimidating to someone who is new to exercise, they can begin by doing the following activities to increase their exercise levels:
taking the stairs
raking leaves
walking a dog
gardening
dancing
playing outdoor games
parking farther away from a building entrance
Individuals who have a low risk of coronary heart disease are unlikely to require medical assessment ahead of starting an exercise regimen.
However, prior medical evaluation may be advisable for some people, including those with diabetes. Anyone who is unsure about safe levels of exercise should speak to a healthcare professional.
Eliminate liquid calories
It is possible to consume hundreds of calories a day by drinking sugar-sweetened soda, tea, juice, or alcohol. These are known as “empty calories” because they provide extra energy content without offering any nutritional benefits.
Unless a person is consuming a smoothie to replace a meal, they should aim to stick to water or unsweetened tea and coffee. Adding a splash of fresh lemon or orange to water can provide flavor.
Avoid mistaking dehydration for hunger. An individual can often satisfy feelings of hunger between scheduled meal times with a drink of water.
Measure servings and control portions
Eating too much of any food, even low-calorie vegetables, can result in weight gain.
Therefore, people should avoid estimating a serving size or eating food directly from the packet. It is better to use measuring cups and serving size guides. Guessing leads to overestimating and the likelihood of eating a larger-than-necessary portion.
The following size comparisons can be useful for monitoring food intake when dining out:
three-fourths of a cup is a golf ball
one-half of a cup is a tennis ball
1 cup is a baseball
1 ounce (oz) of nuts is a loose handful
1 teaspoon is 1 playing die
1 tablespoon is a thumb tip
3 oz of meat is a deck of cards
1 slice is a DVD
These sizes are not exact, but they can help a person moderate their food intake when the correct tools are not available.
Keep a food journal.
People who log everything they eat — especially those who log while they’re eating — are more likely to lose weight and keep it off for the long haul, studies consistently indicate. The habit also takes less than 15 minutes per day on average when you do it regularly, according to a 2019 study published in Obesity.
Start tracking on an app like MyFitnessPal or use a regular notebook. It’ll help you stay accountable for what you’ve eaten. Plus, you can easily identify areas that could use a little improvement when it’s written out in front of you.
Take a walk!
Exercising at any time is good for you, but evening activity may be particularly beneficial because many people’s metabolism slows down toward the end of the day. Thirty minutes of aerobic activity before dinner increases your metabolic rate and may keep it elevated for another two or three hours, even after you’ve stopped moving. Plus, it’ll help you relax post-meal so you won’t be tempted by stress-induced grazing that can rack up calories.
Ignore the gimmicks.
At any given time, there are dozens of weight-loss hypes in the marketplace that claim to take off 10 pounds in 10 days or more . Desperation can tempt us to try anything — from “clean eating” to cutting out food groups entirely. Keep in mind: Just because an avocado-kale-salad dripping in coconut oil is deemed “clean” by a so-called “expert” on your Instagram feed does not make it an unlimited food. Moral of the story? Avoid fads, eat real food, watch some Netflix, and unwind (perhaps with a glass of wine in hand). Now that’s my kind of detox.
Weight Loss Tip- Downsize Your Dinnerware
Experts say they’ve seen it again and again: The larger your plate, the more you’re likely to put on it. So serving your meals on smaller plates can help you eat less.
But don’t throw out those dinner plates, Blake suggests. Use the smaller, lunch-size plates to serve dinner, and use the dinner plates for salads.
Weight Loss Tip №8: Go Out for Treats
If you’re the type who overdoes it on sweets and snacks, Jackson Blatner suggests, make yourself work a little for your favorite indulgences. Don’t keep them in the house, but give yourself permission to go out and get them when you really need to.
Want a brownie? You have to go to the bakery. Craving a frozen yogurt? You must find the nearest frozen yogurt shop.
“The more hassle tasty treats are, the less likely you are to eat them,” says Jackson Blatner, who does this herself and finds her sweets consumption has declined without making her feel deprived.
Weight Loss Tip — Try on Your Skinny Jeans Every Friday
Find a pair of pants that is tight, but not impossible to zip, Blake suggests to her weight loss patients. “Every Friday morning, try them on,” she says.
Why Friday? Weekends are typically a tougher time to stay on diets, she says. And the Friday morning try-on will motivate you to watch your eating during the weekend.
“If they are loose, you will say to yourself ‘I am making progress, I am staying on track during the weekend,’’’ she says.
And if they’re snug? That will provide motivation to stick to your diet so they’ll fit better next week, she says.
Overview
Maintaining weight loss involves a commitment to a healthful lifestyle, from which there is no “vacation.” Although people should feel free to enjoy a special meal out, a birthday celebration, or a joyful holiday feast without feeling guilty, they should try not to stray too far from the path of healthful eating and frequent physical activity.
Those who do may find that they lose focus. Gaining back lost weight is easier than losing it.
Achieving and maintaining weight loss is possible when people adopt lifestyle changes in the long term.
Regardless of any specific methods that help a person lose weight, individuals who are conscious of how and what they eat and engage in daily physical activity or regular exercise will be successful both in losing and keeping off excess weight. | https://medium.com/@modelangelinadikosta/best-weight-loss-advice-youve-never-heard-715a6d2a157b | ['Angelina Dikosta'] | 2020-12-27 06:06:57.488000+00:00 | ['Lose Weight', 'Lose Weight Fast', 'Weight Loss'] |
7 Questions With… Patrick | Meet Patrick — our AI Ventures Incubator Community Success Manager! Based in Brisbane and a Griffith University alumnus, Patrick is passionate about making a change to the world. His motivation towards achieving great things in life stems from his peers and his loved ones, which has been shown through his contributions to our incubator program.
Patrick is a soccer player of 15 years, a PC gaming enthusiast, and a COVID-19 cocktail bartender. You’d be surprised at his collection of spirits that he’s built over the past year! Today, we had a chat with Patrick about life and all the little things in between. Thanks for your time Patrick, it was a pleasure! | https://medium.com/@aiventures/7-questions-with-patrick-f03a90456af7 | ['Ai Ventures'] | 2020-12-21 02:48:03.625000+00:00 | ['Fun', 'Interview', 'Questions', 'Incubator', 'Aiventures'] |
PGP Encryption and Decryption in Mule 4 | Author: Prathamesh P. Kulkarni
What is PGP?
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption is used for encrypting, signing, and decrypting data like emails, text, files, directories, and whole disk partitions. It also increases the security of email communication and can be used to authenticate digital certificates. Public and private keys play a vital role in PGP to encrypt and decrypt the data. Generally, a public key is used to encrypt the data and it is always shared with end-users. The private key is used to decrypt the data and it is never shared with anyone.
How to create Public key and Private Key.
We create keys with the use of tools Kleopatra and Git Bash. Here we are going to use Kleopatra.
Kleopatra is freely available and you can download it from the below URL https://www.gpg4win.org/download.html
Now, let us see how to create key in Kleopatra,
To create a new you need to go to File. Click on the new key pair, one message will pop up saying which format you want to use. As this is for my personal use I will go with Personal OpenPGP key pair
Once you click on next, it will ask you for Name and Email after that click on create,
After that it will ask you to create a Passphrase.
Passphrase is a password which is used while creating a secret key and also for decrypting message.
Save fingerprint somewhere as we will need this in mule and click on the finish button.
You will be able to see your key in Kleopatra.
Now, right-click on the name and click export, this will be your public key which you will be using for encryption.
Save it with gpg extension.
Similarly save the secret key but for that you need to enter the passphrase which you created earlier.
Now we have both public key and private key. Lets us proceed with the demonstration.
How to Encrypt payload in Mule
Open the Anypoint Studio, Create a project and get the module Crypto in the mule Palette, if it is not available then add it from exchange.
I have created a simple flow here where I am encrypting the message and writing it in a file for the demo purpose.
The configuration for the pgp encryption is shown in the below screenshot.
Here I am using the BLOWFISH algorithm. You can use default also.
You need to give the keyid, you can give any name to keyid. Here I am using test and the filename I have given as a stream.
In the public keyring, you need to specify the path of the public key which you exported. As this key is present in my main/src/resources so I have given the above path.
I have kept a private keyring as I am not decrypting the message here also I have given the same keyid name which I gave earlier and the 16 digit fingerprint which I have saved.
Passphrase we don’t need here as I mentioned we are decrypting the message here.
The message I am going to encrypt is in the transform message.
Now I will run this flow.
You can see the message has been encrypted. You can see it in file also.
How to Decrypt payload in Mule
Now I have encrypted the message and now I want to decrypt it.
For that I have created another project and I am posting this encrypted message to requester and decrypting.
And the decryption flow looks like below one
For the decryption you would need the pgp decrypt module that you will get in mule Palette.
The configuration for pgp decrypt is
You can also see I have added a private key here in resources.
File name is stream. I have used the same for the encryption purpose
Here you would need only a private keyring and passphrase as you are going to decrypt the message. Rest all things are the same for key id and fingerprint.
Let us see the demo of this. I will run both projects at the same time.
You can see from the logs that the message is decrypted and we got the original payload.
Conclusion
This is how you can do PGP Encryption and Decryption in mule 4 | https://medium.com/@apisero/pgp-encryption-and-decryption-in-mule-4-4090bd3e5006 | [] | 2021-01-21 18:34:09.197000+00:00 | ['Salesforce', 'Pgp', 'Encryption', 'Mulesoft'] |
Economically-Friendly Wedding Event Decorations | First of all you require to be conscious regarding the amount of people would attend your wedding event. Second of all you require to consider the budget plan for the occasion. You need to make sure that you select a place that you and also your partner like and after that it would certainly assist in making your occasion a lot more special and also significant. When you consider these things after that you would have the ability to decide if the place fits perfectly for the event or not.
If you seem like intending your wedding is eating your life (as well as I can practically guarantee that your groom believes it is!), you need to create a realistic method to obtain your life back in equilibrium. For bride-to-bes that are planning large or challenging wedding celebrations, their best option is mosting likely to https://zandersrww749.skyrock.com/3326023972-Cake-Search-Trying-To-Find-Vancouver-Wedding-Event-Cakes.html be hiring expert assistance. Let the wedding planner invest all day on the phone finding the baker who made that must-have cake you saw in Martha Stewart Weddings 3 years back. It will certainly release you as much as manage the extra personal information, like selecting the perfect bridesmaid jewelry presents for your assistants.
If they've bought a brand-new residence and are in the middle of makeover, take into consideration a gift card to a regional home improvement store. If you're close sufficient to them to recognize they're functioning with service providers, speak to the contractor regarding getting component of the redesigning tab. Possibly you can speak with an indoor designer regarding tips for embellishing the entire house or a room or more.
The very first step in putting together a wedding budget is finding out on the whole just how much you agree to invest on the wedding event. This needs to be an all-encompassing expense. Create a figure that is something you can pay for, something you can borrow, or something you can place on your credit card. It has to be a number that you fit with, that will not put you in as well large a financial opening, that, rather truthfully, you are ready to invest, without regrets.
As soon as you have looked after the significant information, you can carry on to the smaller details. You should also obtain your family members and also close friends associated with the preparation. Sharing the tasks can make this procedure less difficult for the new bride.
Purge - Go through all the pamphlets, flyers, information, etc as well as remove the one's you do not need. You can deal with any kind of promotions that more than, anything that's beyond your cost array, anything you just do not like, or anything that is not in close to or in your designated location.
The wedding event is a way to freely celebrate the love you two share. You feel intoxicated with the happiness but the stress of preparing a wedding celebration can damage you if you are not aggressive regarding just how you are going to prepare the event. There are wedding celebration applications for choosing whatever from the kind of table as well as chairs to wedding celebration rings as well as honeymoon resort plans.
But God bless 'em, those ladies try to show their males a little refinement. Michelle attempts to show future husband Jared the "correct" method to eat soup, with foreseeable outcomes. Soup spilling, wine chugging as well as making steak a finger food ensues in the five-star dining establishment, despite the residence lessons the ladies prepared the evening before. At least as soon as they reached the restaurant, there was no farting at the table, yet the, will we say, healthy lack of regard for etiquette policies appeared, specifically with Jared. Offered the appearances he was obtaining from Michelle, there may not be a wedding in the future if he keeps this up. | https://medium.com/@tucanecj3b/economically-friendly-wedding-event-decorations-f7334901d362 | [] | 2019-09-14 17:11:30.217000+00:00 | ['Weddings'] |
Don’t Sell Your Dreams With the Hope of Buying Them Back Later | I played music throughout my twenties and thirties. The bands I was in never amounted to much, which is ironic considering we often hypothetically toyed with the idea of “selling out.”
Selling out means abandoning artistic expression in favor of commercial success.
Usually – at least in the pre-internet days of music – this was in the form of a big record label deal.
Selling out was seen as the number one sin of musicians.
For some reason, it was thought everyone had to make it on their own, or at least get signed to a label on their terms, with zero compromises.
Today, I haven’t played music for nearly 10 years, but selling out is still a concept I identify with. It’s been ground into me, not only by music but by my years of corporate work where I really did sell out.
Anyone can sell out. All you have to do is sell your dreams to the highest bidder.
You want to be a writer but that lawyer job sure pays well.
You want to be an artist but that finance job means a nice house and car.
You want to run your own business but paid employment means a pension.
Shiny objects often win over artistic expression. So does eating and having a roof over the head, to be fair.
Therefore, most of us sell out. We make a compromise.
We push art and creativity aside in a gamble to buy them back later with the filthy lucre made from our time in the employment trenches.
This is a mistake.
I don’t know who said it, but I saw this written down the other day:
Repression causes depression and the cure is expression.
Selling out is repression.
It’s pushing down your dreams and expressive needs and taking money for the displeasure.
And lo! You get depressed. | https://medium.com/be-unique/dont-sell-your-dreams-with-the-hope-of-buying-them-back-later-f8a624f0fcff | ['Jamie Jackson'] | 2020-12-25 10:50:56.932000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Advice', 'Life Lessons', 'Self', 'Authenticity'] |
For cord-cutters, Channels DVR is what Plex might have been | Action is the foundational key to all success (Pablo Picasso) | https://medium.com/@carrie09987643/for-cord-cutters-channels-dvr-is-what-plex-might-have-been-7be22f401bee | [] | 2020-12-23 21:47:38.341000+00:00 | ['Internet', 'Services', 'Chromecast'] |
Recipe 245: The Best Getaway | Recipe 245: The Best Getaway
This AirBnB was exactly what we needed
This is one of the many recipes that Aaron and I want to share with you. We are overjoyed for you to come with us on our journey as we put together different concoctions and laugh together (all while hoping to not burn our house down). Please enjoy these recipes as much as we have. We welcome you to a small, but intentional, part of our lives.
If you would like to read the post that accompanies this recipe, check it out here. | https://medium.com/cooking-with-sarah/recipe-245-the-best-getaway-dbe0e7feb68c | ['Sarah Charles'] | 2020-12-05 22:02:37.697000+00:00 | ['Recipe', 'Marriage', 'Airbnb', 'Cooking', 'Louisville'] |
Seconds | I remember the second it happened
The moment I realized what was about to occur
Do you know what that’s like?
To look into the eyes of someone who is about to ruin years of laughter and innocence
I remember the second it happened
With his hands on my hips and my eyes closed tightly
Do you know what that’s like?
For someone to take control of you and put their hands on your body as if they own it?
I remember the second it happened
I begged for him to stop and slow down, he smiled as he pushed into me harder
Do you know what that’s like?
To be manipulated into trusting something with something as simple as a drink?
I remember the second it happened
As I stumbled into a strangers bathroom, only wearing a bra falling onto the cold tile
Do you know what that’s like?
To physically be incapable to hold a phone to call your mother and beg for help?
I remember the second it happened
I grabbed the sink to support me up, just to look down and see my blood on the floor
Do you know what that’s like?
To be hurt so bad, and still be confused on what’s happening?
I remember the second it happened
When he whispered in my ear that it will be okay
I remember the second my scariest secret began | https://medium.com/@jacquelinespoetry/seconds-3cd9843908 | ['Jacqueline Franklin'] | 2020-11-15 18:45:10.170000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Trigger Warning', 'Sexual Assault', 'Metoo', 'Poetry'] |
Is a Pop-Tart a Sandwich? A Philosophical Investigation | By Eliza Melville
As you may have overheard, seen, or tweeted about, Pop-Tarts are at the jelly center of an increasingly popular debate. Is the Pop-Tart, which features a filling wedged between two conjoined pieces of pastry, a sandwich?
Naturally answers to this question depend on how one defines a sandwich. As some have argued, sandwiches are culinary objects composed of two pieces of bread or bread-like substance with different contents inside. Under this scandalously loose definition, a Pop-Tart could be a sandwich, and probably so could ravioli. As others have argued, Pop-Tarts most certainly cannot be sandwiches, since sandwiches must include two separate (not joined together) pieces of bread, in a classic sandwich shape, with layered substances inside. Of course, this definition conflicts with New York State’s own definition (for tax purposes), which categorizes a hot dog, and it’s conjoined pieces of bun as a sandwich.
Things have gotten serious enough that we now need visual aids, like the Sandwich Alignment chart found here which plots sandwich definitions along a spectrum from the Lawful Good definitions (the sandwich purists) to the Chaotic Evil definitions (Pop-Tarts are sandwiches!). But in the many layered taxonomy of stuffed carbohydrates, there are also lots of other categories into which Pop-Tarts could fit: pastries, flattened pie, stuffed toast, or some other monstrous thing entirely.
Luckily for us, there’s an entire science of classification that can help us sort this problem out. It’s called taxonomy. Unfortunately for us, this science of classification isn’t nearly as orderly as we might like.
While the intensity of Pop-Tart debate may seem a bit bizarre, it actually goes all the way back to Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Diogenes the Cynic, and other Greeks. Not that Plato was writing about shelf-stable foods, but he and his fellow philosophers liked incessantly arguing about how to label things, much like internet-dwellers love to argue that Pop-Tarts are, in fact, a kind of ravioli.
Plato believed the world was composed of groups of things with shared essential traits (traits that are essential to who they are). But for Plato and all future taxonomists, it’s important to accurately track and come up with the most valid, demonstrable, and real groups possible. Rather than hacking up the world into categories like, “things that are cerulean blue’” and “historical events after season 1 of The Bachelor,” which seem pretty arbitrary and unscientific, Plato famously suggested that documenting and categorizing the world was more like “carving nature at its joints.” This rather grotesque phrase became the way of speaking about the relation between nature and taxonomy: as if something called “nature” had natural and obvious joints, like bones in a body that connect but are distinct. All we have to do is recognize these clear boundaries and hack away. Easy-peasy.
Except, as it turns out, defining and categorizing things is incredibly hard. Inevitably and pretty much always, there will be at least one (but probably more) things that lie at the edge of your definition, fall outside or between categories, or don’t get included when they should. The Pop-Tart/sandwich debate is only a small part of the confusing world of food taxonomy. Is macaroni and cheese really just a casserole? Are eggplants fruit?
Another messy field is genre, as the divide between sci-fi and fantasy, for instance, can sometimes blur. But where we might view genre as something open for interpretation, and therefore messy classifications, we wouldn’t say the same of the sciences. We don’t typically understand scientific categories as flexible and open — though maybe we should.
In the life sciences, we typically take for granted the categories we use to describe and think about our surroundings. Not much thought is put into what constitutes a bacteria or a mammal. But occasionally, along waddles a furry, egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed creature from Australia — that makes us rethink how accurate, transcendental, or valid our categories really are.
But this is what happened when eighteenth century European taxonomists first encountered the platypus. Since Carl Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy, first coined the class term mammalia (which refers to all species whose adult women lactate), mammals were defined as being warm-blooded vertebrates who have hair or fur, feed their children milk, and give live birth (instead of laying eggs). Then up popped the platypus, which checked most of those boxes except the live birth — it laid eggs. Famously, this taxonomic rebel so confounded scientists that they thought it was a practical joke, a Frankensteinian creature stitched together from different animals.
The platypus might have meant the end of Linnaeus’s taxonomy of life. But instead, and after much debate, the platypus precipitated a shift in the definition of a mammal, which now includes the fact that mammals typically, though not always, have live birth. Which might seem like a cop-out. Do sandwiches typically, but not always, contain two pieces of a carbohydrate embracing its inner deliciousness?
Exceptions to our categories require us to reevaluate both our definitions and the inflexibility of our categories. Sometimes exceptions can be accounted for, but sometimes things get a little more drastic.
Like the platypus debate, the Pop-Tart-as-sandwich debate is really a debate about how useful taxonomies really are: it’s about how we define things and how strictly we think those definitions and categories should be applied. Taxonomies of life are useful. They’re like a shorthand that allows scientists to put things into sensible, easily studied groups without having to reinvent the wheel every time they encounter a new creature.
Naturally, food taxonomies work just like other kinds of taxonomies: they strive to provide definitions of different kinds of things and to organize them into increasingly specific subgroups according to fairly stable shared traits, so that each object has its proper place. As a consumer of food, this is useful. One is, or isn’t, in the mood for a sandwich. A menu would be generally useless if it just listened ingredients — say, flour, water, salt, vegetables, olive oil. Instead we need taxonomic assistance in determining if this combination of flour, water, salt, vegetables and oil will sate our desires. “A panini,” you might have to explain to a confused boomer, “is just a grilled sandwich.”
It’s a fact of all creaturely life — from cells to spiders, humans to humpbacks — that identifying patterns, establishing similarities, and grouping things together helps us predict things about the world that allow us to thrive. The big questions — and I mean monumentally huge — are: How fixed and stable are these categories really? And are these categories reflections of the way the world really is, or simply pragmatically useful distinctions?
If we understand plants as a category of living things that make their own food, what should we make of the ones that also catch their own meat? What do we do with the whole mess of slime beings and mushrooms that are closer to animals than plants (did you know humans share a common ancestor with fungi?) and whom nobody knows quite what to do with? And don’t even get me started down the microbial rabbit hole, because those little organisms are confounding all sorts of fairly established categories, from the way reproduction works, to how genes get transferred, to the way evolution works, to even what we mean by a biological individual.
And speaking of biological individuals, like you or me or my dog, Mona, exploring this concept is a great way to understand how things can exist between categories.
One would think that the concept of an individual is a pretty basic and unassailable fact of the universe. But one would be wrong, or at least partly wrong.
While it’s true that individuals do exist, it turns out the world and its creatures are too complex for a single conception of the biological individual to suffice. This has resulted in a labyrinth of definitions of what counts as a biological individual. Some of these definitions even contradict one another. You’ve got your genetic definitions (each individual has a unique genetic blueprint), your distinct boundaries definition (distinct in space), your immunological definition (which refers to whatever your body and immune system recognize as you), and the list goes on. If it seems wild that even such a seemingly simple concept would cost scientists thousands of hours of debate, welcome to the head-spinning world of taxonomy.
It may seem these definitions could tag-team without much conflict, but considering the following. By the immunological definition, it seems microbes become part of you as an individual even though they are separate species. And for that matter, the tongue-eating louse, a crustacean who eats out the tongue of a fish and functionally integrates into its body, would also count as an individual with its now tongueless fish (so there’s some biologically bizarre material for your nightmares).
And what do we do about clones, who are genetically identical but separate in space? The Portuguese man o’war is a particularly intriguing example because they are technically not biological individuals at all, but colonies (called siphonophores). A man o’war is a group of genetically identical beings (clones, actually) who are technically distinct, each performing their own function, but, just like a biological individual, they share a digestive tract, are functionally integrated, and cannot survive without one another.
It probably seems like we’ve gotten a bit afield of Pop-Tarts, but we haven’t really. Just like platypuses, portuguese man o’war, and tongue-eating crustaceans disrupt our clean-cut categories, it seems that Pop-Tarts and other tough-to-categorize foods might be lingering between otherwise pretty strictly defined categories. So potentially, as the sandwich alignment chart suggests, we might just need lots of sandwich definitions, even if many of them conflict with one another, if we want to be able to properly categorize all possible stuffed, glutinous, handhelds and finally get some sleep again.
In addition to the problem of things falling between or outside of categories, there’s another common problem with taxonomies. Definitions of a particular kind of thing (say, sandwiches or birds) typically rely on essential traits or groups of traits. In biology these groups of traits are often called property clusters. Yet most individual traits (bread with fillings, or beaks and egg-laying) are shared with entities outside the designated kind.
Take, for example, Diogenes’s retort to Plato in The Phaedrus. When the character Socrates claims that humans are “featherless bipeds,” Diogenes — who is pretty much the original troll — brings a plucked chicken and proclaims, “Behold! Plato’s human!” This is a trite example, but it exposed the limits of Plato’s claim that one could claim that such a broad and shared trait was definitive only of humans.
This is why the platypus initially posed a problem at the level of class — it combined traits that otherwise belonged to supposedly separate classes.
But the classification of food isn’t just for bored internet purveyors. It’s also a topic of real concern for lawmakers. In the famous tomato-gate of 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court formally declared that the tomato was to be considered a vegetable rather than a fruit. Technically, according to botanists and biologists, despite its striking (mostly culinary) similarities to vegetables, the tomato is a fruit because it is a seed-bearing entity developed from the ovary of a flowering plant. But according to the Tariff Act of 1883, tomatoes are categorized as vegetables, per their dominant culinary usage. Whether or not a tomato should count towards your daily serving of vegetables, we’ll leave to the nutritionists.
Probably the most famous example of the problems with taxonomy is what is commonly called “the species problem.” When you think of the basic units of biology, species is probably right up there with cells, DNA, and reproduction. But the definition of species you learned in middle school, called the biological definition (the one about sexual reproduction, gene transfer, and fertile offspring), is only one of many functional and widely used definitions. And, as you can probably by now guess, different definitions often conflict, making it very hard to treat species boundaries as fixed in the ways we once thought they were. Microbes, for example, more or less completely ignore the middle-school definition of species, and promiscuously exchange genes and traits all over the place, making typical species definitions pretty much useless.
So if we can’t even settle on a definition of a biological individual or fruit, let alone Pop-Tarts, it prompts the question: does the world really have carvable joints?
This is the question that has haunted philosophers for millennia. Instead of a unified resolution, there tend to be two major camps. First, there’s the camp that believes taxonomic categories are ontologically real, which is a fancy way of saying they believe categories refer to and capture different natural kinds who really are out there in the world and not just in our minds. “Mammal” isn’t just a category some guy made up because he liked pointing out mammae (breasts) wherever he could find them or because it sounded cool in Latin, but because there are actual essential traits that fundamentally connect all the beings now called mammals.
But when you treat categories as ontologically real and distinct, you end up with some problems. What do you do with entities that fall between groups? What happens when your definition doesn’t cover entities it obviously should, or when it includes entities it shouldn’t? And most importantly, what do you do with the definitions that conflict with yours? What does one do with the twenty five other definitions of biological individuals? If all of these definitions refer to real groups, things get a little clogged and chaotic, not to mention you’d end up with quite a few contradictions.
But instead of throwing the proverbial platypus out with the pond water, the other main camp suggests we see taxonomies as largely epistemological (concerned with knowledge) tools for thinking about and making sense of a world that is really too complex and messy for clean-cut taxonomies. This position understands definitions and taxonomies as crucial for scientific progress, creating experiments, predicting outcomes, etc., but doesn’t necessarily see the groups as actual, separate, essential kinds out there in the world. If we understand taxonomic categories as epistemological aids, useful for producing knowledge, it gets a bit easier to understand, for example, how each of the twenty six definitions of species could be useful at different times and for different reasons, or how Pop-Tarts might be both sandwiches and pastries. The epistemological perspective has the advantage of allowing one to espouse multiple definitions without getting tangled in contradictions. And it recognizes that the categories we use ought to be in the service of understanding a vastly dynamic, intricate, and complex universe, instead of hoping the world will conform to our existing categories.
In case you’re still not convinced that food taxonomies raise important questions, consider that there are even hotter debates raging today than Pop-Tart classification. As more Americans choose to reduce their animal consumption, and as more plant-based alternatives draw consumers, people are asking, “Can plant-based meats use the word ‘meat’?” Can Vegenaise or Just Mayo be called mayo if they don’t use eggs? And how do we classify drinks like soy, almond, and coconut milks, which have many of the same properties as the mammal milk (creamy, white, liquid, filled with protein and vitamins, used in coffee)??
Milk and meat lobbies are spending millions to influence the public and the FDA, in hopes of more strictly defining terms like “milk” and “burger.” Though the political, economic, and ecological stakes of this particular taxonomic debate are a tad higher than the Pop-Tart debate, it also mirrors the Pop-Tart debate in a lot of ways. In fact, that all of the above debates — from species, to Pop-Tarts, milk, and tomatoes — are just a microcosm of much larger questions about how we understand the world, how fractured and divided or continuous and flexible the world is, and how we can go about knowing and living better in it. | https://medium.com/wisecrack/is-a-pop-tart-a-sandwich-a-philosophical-investigation-d00fd804a85b | [] | 2019-08-07 21:58:22.026000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Science', 'Food', 'Poptarts'] |
The Heraclitus Fugue | Heraclitus left a message, in a Grecian urn,
so the people of the future could learn to discern,
and avoid philosophies both fixed and pedantic.
If the truth be told, the universe is dynamic.
We sometimes think we have a wisdom of our own,
but life is a children’s game that now is fully grown.
Like a candle we are lit, we burn down and then out.
we are taught mostly nothing, except to eat like cows.
All matter is now endlessly moving and spinning,
as it always has been, since the very beginning.
We know everything changes and nothing stands still
and no matter what you do to it, it never will.
The universe is fire, not matter, vitality.
Just like a Taoist, he said, all was duality.
Common people stumble blind and uncomprehending,
while the world rolls on and on, without ever ending.
Wake yourself up and listen to the sage’s advice,
know that you can never wade in the same river twice.
Lucky ones may get something like thirty thousand nights,
but then poof you are gone, just like ancient trilobites. | https://medium.com/@ntheorygames/the-heraclitus-fugue-7ab4b0e8ef0b | ['M. A. Nelson'] | 2019-05-10 17:36:03.983000+00:00 | ['Songs', 'Philosophy', 'Poetry', 'Change', 'Life'] |
Art of war | What is the art of war? How people win wars? If you think about it, it’s nothing but knowledge. Yes, you can say mere knowledge will not help anyone to win a war and I agree with that. But in this case, I am not talking about mere knowledge. I am talking about true knowledge. If you think carefully you can understand, that the lack of knowledge is the only source of uncertainty. Ya!! you guessed it right! I am talking about quantum mechanics. It’s the fundamental principle of nature that prevents us from knowing the future but we can predict it, right? If we go back in history, every war was won by true knowledge and wisdom. From military campaigns to legal issues, business to politics, and in every field, you can think of, even in everyday negotiations, if you have more data of the opponent, there is a much more possibility to win. But there is a catch, knowing that anybody can’t always win is a true piece of wisdom.
Let’s take a scenario, consider the history of taxes. I know you are not expecting it but I got a new concept while reading that. In the past, there was no tax in the US or in the UK. In 1874, England made income tax mandatory and in 1913, the US declared permanent income tax. Before that, only at the time of wars, temporary taxes were levied on the citizens. However, when the income tax was announced, it was primarily for rich people. It’s like the Robin hood principle, “Take from the rich and give it to the poor”. But the government doesn’t act as a capitalist system. If you don’t spend money, you will not be allotted the same amount the following year. The government will deduct the budget. As a result, all government officials are trying to spend more money to continue getting funds. That’s why government expenditure is increasing day by day but the government needs to get more to spend more. Then they started to charge income tax from the poor and the middle-class people as well. Now the people who once voted for the tax system became victims themselves. Meanwhile, the rich found the way through taxes, and the middle class became the main taxpayers of a country.
So, why are the middle class and the poor losing? The upper-middle-class consists of the most educated and intellectual citizens in society but why does the rich win? It’s only due to the lack of financial knowledge among the middle class and the poor. In the financial war, you have to understand the dynamics of money. Not only theoretical economics. If it happened so, then the economist would have been the richest people in the world. But that’s certainly not the case. The actual knowledge of money is the only key to win the financial war. But it’s certainly not only the knowledge that helps us to win the war. The weapons also play a significant role. In this case, it’s obviously the money. Rich has both, financial knowledge as well as money. But if someone has only knowledge without enough money, he can’t win this game. But it’s the knowledge that signifies the importance of money. In a nutshell, true financial knowledge encourages a person first to have money and then to use it.
You can also say, what about the actual war? Not only does it involves knowledge, but also all the different kinds of characteristics like courage, confidence, deliberate practice, mental strength, and so on. So, where does the courage comes from? It comes from belief; and where does the belief come from? It comes from trust and trust comes from knowing the truth. That’s where knowledge comes in. By deliberate practice, training, and self-recognition, someone can understand the truth. That’s where real knowledge lies. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. By taking action, he/she learns about their individual capacity. The knowledge of our true potential and the strengths and flaws of the opponent develops trust within ourselves. The trust gained from knowledge over time develops belief, and the belief ignites the fire of courage within someone. This courage accompanied by belief and trust comes out in the form of confidence. And the confidence with persistence builds mental strength over time. So what is the actual backbone of this architecture? True Knowledge. It’s the only fundamental thing behind the “Art of War”. | https://medium.com/@abhimanyubhowmik/art-of-war-1d5ea03f40b5 | ['Abhimanyu Bhowmik'] | 2020-12-27 16:06:07.241000+00:00 | ['Think Different', 'War', 'Art Of War 3', 'Self Improvement', 'Art Of Living'] |
Berry Meringue Roulade 莓果蛋白霜捲食譜 | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/%E8%9B%8B%E7%B3%95%E8%AA%AA%E8%A9%B1%E6%99%82%E5%B1%91%E5%B1%91%E8%AB%8B%E9%96%89%E5%98%B4/berry-meringue-roulade-%E8%8E%93%E6%9E%9C%E8%9B%8B%E7%99%BD%E9%9C%9C%E6%8D%B2%E9%A3%9F%E8%AD%9C-75adc0f4d518 | [] | 2021-01-05 17:58:16.170000+00:00 | ['Recipe', 'Baking', 'Christmas', 'Dessert'] |
Paying with blood! | Paying with blood!
One of the lessons I learnt from childhood is that when something requires your peace of mind and tranquility, it is way too expensive for what you can afford. I have watched scenerios play out in my attempt to make decisions and quickly snap out of it if it keeps me worrying for too long.
I am convinced that as humans, it is toxic to derive some sense of living from nursing what we should let go, instead, we constantly remind ourselves that it is an act of living to sacrifice so much of our peace of mind just so we can say we got what we desired through intense worrying or some work. When you start thinking that there are things you can’t afford to lose, right there is the beginning of many days of unrest to come.
It almost feels like we have been fashioned to deal with problems alone and when we can’t find something that keeps us up at night or constantly worrying, we see that a problem too. I am not against living a life of solution, being a problem solver or some sort of rescue hero, but to think that’s all to do with life is too toxic to be masqueraded as “purpose”.
Sometimes you meet people and the idea of peace or having nothing to worry about is totally strange to them. Their perception of life is “something must kill a man" and they dedicate a large part of their existence acting out that ideology.
Peace is fine and it doesn’t have to make you too unsettled just so you can find some problems to nurse. We hold on to challenges even when their time is up and lessons have been learnt. There are situations, careers, relationships that we are in, beliefs or perceptions that we like and ideologies that make us feel informed but they cost too much than what we can naturally afford. When something takes that much of you, it’s no longer asking for efforts, it is demanding for blood and at that point in time is when you should remember that only one Jesus should live on earth, you are not Jesus and dying to seem like some heroic act just because you love problems so much is a form of weakness and not strength.
There is a quote or motivational statement somewhere right now that looks directed at you and asking you not to give up. Life is a re-occuring battle between what you should let go and what is worth fighting for, but my advice is, whenever you are at that crossroad, let peace of mind be the deciding factor. Everyone is reiterating their problems at every opportunity and you want to really stop and ask yourself if you are totally fine because are not dealing with anything of that sort or category. This is part of the reason why religion and other sham sells, people constantly thinking you must get into life, create as many fuckups or look for some and ask the divine order to solve them for you.
A life of purpose will demand you put effort, discipline and concentration into achieving what you set out to get but that doesn’t translate to living a life that pays with blood and so much of what you can’t afford. This is not a “whatever will happen will happen" post but when you’ve seen life from my angle, you can immediately tell things you are delving into that will cost you sanity.
Relationships take so much, religion does the same, more problems have arisen from holding on just a bit too much and when you find yourself gripping so hard because you don’t want to lose it, at that point you have crossed sanity and will do almost anthing to keep it, that’s when you should let go.
We should all start by looking inwards, there are things we are definitely holding on to that takes too much productive energy but reward us with some sense of “bigger problem” participation, those are the things to let go and no matter how long you’ve been holding on to them, they are the things you should let go.
When I speak to people and we troubleshoot challenges together, I can immediately spot what is necessary but important to them just because it gives them some type of feelings.
We should all stop paying with blood and focus on things that actually count. It doesn’t mean it will end well just because you have convinced yourself that if you give it so much energy, it will someday turn for good. That is a life of torture and that isn’t healthy living. | https://medium.com/@akinoshosamson/paying-with-blood-c6a974d8be36 | ['Akinosho Samson'] | 2020-12-24 07:02:28.396000+00:00 | ['Peace', 'Health', 'Hardwork', 'Peace Of Mind', 'Blood'] |
Pro Lacrosse Merger: From My Perspective | If you’re reading this by now you know there was big news in the lacrosse world. If you’re new to the lacrosse world, I’ll give you the dumbed down version of why everyone and their mother is having heart issues according to their twitter accounts and my perspective on said merger.
So there was two lacrosse leagues, one being Major League Lacrosse, started back in 2001 in a city based model and which everyone who was good enough to be a pro played in up until the 2019 season. Then came the Premier Lacrosse League started by former MLL MVP Paul Rabil after him and multiple players were tired of many things that the MLL did and didn’t do including low salaries. Many people understandably were not happy about this but lets not shit ourselves, this was a great move for a niche sport to go big time. He took many of the best players from MLL with him and thanks to a great marketing team, social media, a broadcast deal with NBC and a good on-field product it exceeded expectations.
In its inaugural season the PLL blew up and frankly did a better job at staying in the headlines than the MLL good or bad. Anyone knows that even negative headlines are still headlines. I’m not smart enough to know the numbers of how each league did in 2019 but you can scroll endlessly through twitter and Instagram to figure which one did in the court of public opinion.
PLL Co-Founder Paul Rabil. Photo Courtesy: sportspromedia.com
However, in 2020 when both leagues were still going strong and looking forward to great summers with an immaculate amount of talent looking to come out of college and play we were hit by the worst crisis I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I’m only 20 years old, this shit was bad. The COVID-19 pandemic and it altered all things in the world including pro lacrosse. Basically, both had to play their seasons in bubbles , the PLL in Utah with thankfully with no postive tests and the other in my home state of Maryland with some unfortunate positive tests at the end which made me sad that I couldn’t see my hometown Bayhawks repeat as champs. Take that as you will.
But now the time you’ve been waiting for! They merged and now together as the PLL, pro lacrosse will be whole again. My first reaction was two things “Oh shit” as everyone else probably said and then my second one was thank god there will be no more of “the other league” phrase. Now I am grateful for the PLL and the people in their front office, without many of them I would not have the platform I have to write this piece and I own what feels like about every t-shirt they have ever produced but with that being said, I got so sick of hearing “The Other League” when referring to the MLL. Like damn, Rabil made a name for himself in there and there were still great players in that league, they are people too and in this day in age ALL Leagues Matter….
The PLL will keep the seven teams or clubs they had and will bring on the Boston Cannons under their branding of “Cannons LC”. I personally love this and i’ve heard the rumors that it was because of an ownership thing but I think the point we are all missing is that this sets up a great rivalry with Archers LC to see which one can make things go in the air the highest(Insert Michael Scott joke).
Boston Cannons Former Logo. Photo Courtesy : Sportslogos.net
Lyle Thompson will undoubtedly be the first pick in the expansion draft as he is the best player in the world. Slide in my twitter dm’s(jordan_john5) if you want to argue, we have to embrace debate these days. The second needs to be Dillon Ward assuming he is unprotected by Chaos because he gets no love and may damn well be the best goalie of all time when its all said and done. Yes, I said that. Two guys that no one are talking about coming over from MLL are Ben Randall( maybe the best defender in the bubble) and Isaih Davis- Allen, but the second doesn’t surprise me as SSDM’s get no love(peep Pat Harbeson being left off the PLL-Top 50 list). Watch out for these guys to make a big splash.
With all of that being said, you’re probably thinking damn…this guy had some deep childhood trauma but if you know me I’m just out here trying to put a smile on someone’s face. I hope you found this at least somewhat worth you’re time and I look forward to the bright future of pro lacrosse.
Happy Holidays Everyone! | https://medium.com/@jordanjohnson2700/pro-lacrosse-merger-from-my-perspective-2305b80cae47 | ['Jordan Johnson'] | 2020-12-22 17:00:26.399000+00:00 | ['Lacrosse', 'Fun', 'Mergers And Acquisitions', 'Sports', 'Satire'] |
Performance Measurement For Classification | Hi, Everybody. So this is my second post on Data Science and Machine Learning. This post is about Performance Measurement when solving a classification problem using machine learning.
So first, what is a classification problem. Very simple, it is just classifying the dataset into classes of data. Which means we have to predict the class a particular set of inputs belongs to. For example, we are given a set of images which includes cats, dogs and rabbits. The task is to predict which of these animals an input image belongs to.
Performance Measurement is a very crucial step for any problem because this will tell us, how accurate results will the model give. To learn about performance measurement let’s take a classification problem of digit recognition.
Before going ahead I would like to share about the iSrajan community. Other than this blog you can also follow the below platforms -
So let’s begin with our code.
Importing the required libraries numpy, pandas, matplotlib.
>>> import numpy as np
>>> import pandas as pd
>>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
>>> from sklearn.linear_model import SGDClassifier >>> #Cross Validation
>>> from sklearn.base import clone
>>> from sklearn.model_selection import cross_val_score >>> #Confusion Matrix
>>> from sklearn.metrics import confusion_matrix >>> #Precision and Recall
>>> from sklearn.metrics import precision_score, recall_score, f1_score >>> #ROC Curve
>>> from sklearn.metrics import roc_curve, roc_auc_score
The dataset which we have includes two csv files, train.csv and test.csv. Let’s load them into the pandas dataframe.
>>> train = pd.read_csv('train.csv')
>>> test = pd.read_csv('test.csv')
Let’s check the no. of rows and columns in our dataset.
>>> train.shape (42000, 785)
The train dataset has 42000 rows and 785 columns.
>>> test.shape (28000, 784)
The test dataset has 28000 rows and 784 columns. The test dataset one less column than the train dataset because it does not have the label (true values) feature column.
>>> y = train['label']
>>> del(train['label'])
>>> X = train
Now, y contains the ‘label’ values and X contains rest all of the feature columns.
Let’s take a random image from the dataset X and verify if the image represents the true value of the digit.
>>> some_image = X.values[36001]
>>> some_image_reshape = some_image.reshape(28,28) >>> plt.imshow(some_image_reshape)
>>> y.values[36001] 5
So, yes. We can clearly see the digit in the image is 5 and the true value is also 5.
Initializing the Stochastic Gradient Classifier.
>>> clf = SGDClassifier(random_state=42)
Building the model.
>>> clf.fit(X,y) SGDClassifier(alpha=0.0001, average=False, class_weight=None,
early_stopping=False, epsilon=0.1, eta0=0.0, fit_intercept=True,
l1_ratio=0.15, learning_rate='optimal', loss='hinge', max_iter=None,
n_iter=None, n_iter_no_change=5, n_jobs=None, penalty='l2',
power_t=0.5, random_state=42, shuffle=True, tol=None,
validation_fraction=0.1, verbose=0, warm_start=False)
Predicting the results.
>>> y_pred = clf.predict(X)
Let us test any random image.
>>> plt.imshow(X.values[2000].reshape(28,28))
>>> y.values[2000]
Great. Our classifier has done the right prediction.
We can clearly see that the no. in the image is 3 and our model also predicts 3, which is correct. But checking just one value does not tell us anything about the accuracy of the model. Let's take a look at the methods of performance measurement of a classification model.
Cross Validation
In this method, we test the performance of the model by testing the accuracy of the model on subsets of the dataset.
>>> cross_val_score(clf, X, y, cv=3, scoring="accuracy") array([0.86418166, 0.86555222, 0.88841263])
The above array gives the accuracy of the model when it is made to run on three subsets of the dataset.
This performance measurement technique does not give much satisfactory results when the dataset is skewed. If the dataset contains a very highly frequent class then in such cases this performance measurement does not work well.
Let's come to our next performance measurement which is the Confusion Matrix.
Confusion Matrix
Confusion Matrix is a much better way to measure the performance of a classifier. The general idea is to count the number of times the classifier confused the images of class A with class B. Such as in the above problem, for eg. it will count how many times the classifier confused the images of 5's with images of 3's. And to know the count of confusions we will get to 5th row and 3rd column. The value of the cell gives the count.
>>> confusion_matrix(y, y_pred) array([[4075, 0, 2, 6, 12, 10, 14, 1, 3, 9],
[ 0, 4587, 4, 32, 9, 7, 4, 2, 30, 9],
[ 103, 70, 2967, 600, 127, 66, 88, 64, 49, 43],
[ 28, 19, 28, 3995, 16, 125, 10, 19, 15, 96],
[ 17, 17, 1, 3, 3909, 8, 11, 3, 4, 99],
[ 86, 23, 8, 197, 77, 3276, 48, 6, 24, 50],
[ 42, 16, 6, 8, 57, 131, 3870, 1, 4, 2],
[ 24, 17, 26, 33, 131, 15, 2, 3768, 5, 380],
[ 59, 139, 15, 406, 258, 966, 17, 15, 1987, 201],
[ 38, 12, 2, 64, 345, 42, 0, 44, 4, 3637]])
The above codes return a matrix of such counts. Each row in the confusion matrix represents the actual class and each column predicted class.
Let's come to our next performance measurement technique, which is Precision and Recall.
Precision and Recall
Let's understand some basic terminology before studying this.
Let's take an example of a binary classifier which predicts if a digit is 5 or not.
True Positive(TP) - This is the set of inputs which were true (they were 5) and the classifier also did the right prediction(The classifier predicted them to be 5).
True Negative(TN) - This is the set of inputs which were false (they were not 5) but the classifier predicted them to be true(classifier predicted them to be 5).
False Positive(FP) - This is the set of inputs which were true (they were 5) but the classifier predicted them to be false(classifier predicted them to be not 5).
False Negative(FN) - This is the set of inputs which were false (they were not 5) and the classifier also predicted them to be false(classifier predicted them to be not 5).
Precision is defined as: Precision = TP/(TP + FP)
Recall is defined as: Recall = TP/(TP + FN)
>>> precision_score(y, y_pred, average=None) array([0.9112254 , 0.93612245, 0.96992481, 0.74756737, 0.7911354 ,
0.70512269, 0.95226378, 0.96048942, 0.93505882, 0.80357932])
The above function returns precision scores for each class ranging from 0 to 9. The parameter average with value None has to be specified because the problem here is multi-class and by default, the function only works in case of binary classification.
>>> recall_score(y, y_pred, average=None) array([0.98620523, 0.9792912 , 0.71031841, 0.91817973, 0.95997053,
0.86324111, 0.93546048, 0.85616905, 0.4890475 , 0.86843362])
The above function returns recall scores for each class ranging from 0 to 9.
The precision and recall are combined into a single metric called f1 score.
f1 = 2/(1/precision + 1/recall)
>>> f1_score(y, y_pred, average=None) array([0.94723384, 0.95722037, 0.82006633, 0.82413615, 0.86741374,
0.77621135, 0.94378734, 0.90533397, 0.64221073, 0.83474868])
The above function returns f1_scores for each class ranging from 0 to 9.
Let's now take a look at our next Performance Measurement metric which is The ROC Curve.
The ROC Curve (Receiver Operating Characteristic)
The ROC curve method only works for a binary classifier and it plots a curve between true positive rate vs false positive rate.
Since it only works for a binary classifier lets take two lists y_5, which will contain 1 if the corresponding digit in y is 5 and 0 if it is not 5. Similarly, this goes for y_pred_5 which will contain 1 or 0 corresponding to the digit in y_pred if it is 5 or not.
>>> y_5 = []
>>> for a in y:
>>> if a == 5:
>>> y_5.append(0)
>>> else:
>>> y_5.append(1) >>> y_pred_5 = []
>>> for a in y_pred:
>>> if a == 5:
>>> y_pred_5.append(0)
>>> else:
>>> y_pred_5.append(1) >>> fpr, tpr, thresholds = roc_curve(y_5, y_pred_5)
fpr: False Positive Rate
tpr: True Positive Rate
Plotting the FPR vs TPR using Matplotlib
>>> plt.plot(fpr, tpr, label=None)
>>> plt.plot([0,1], [0,1], 'k--')
>>> plt.axis([0,1,0,1])
>>> plt.xlabel('False Positive Rate')
>>> plt.ylabel('True Positive Rate')
>>> plt.show()
The area under the ROC curve gives the accuracy of a classifier. A perfect classifier will have the area equal to 1 and a purely random classifier will have area equal to 0.5 .
>>> roc_auc_score(y_5,y_pred_5) 0.9136909629919309
The ROC AUC score for the above classifier is given above.
Hope you liked the post. Please share your valuable feedback in the comment section below. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/performance-measurement-for-classification-5a4ee24ac654 | ['Srajan Gupta'] | 2020-05-18 16:05:01.790000+00:00 | ['Logistic Regression', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Performance Measurement', 'Classification'] |
Why No One Should Work For A Living | The question then, is how do we pay for this? The more relevant question is how are we paying for it now. Take healthcare as a relevant example. Public healthcare is cheaper and more effective than privatized. Places like Cuba, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka have better healthcare systems than the horrendously expensive and inequitable one in the US. Look at public health — the most basic health measure — and how rich ‘developed’ countries have conclusively shat the bed. Meanwhile poor nations, by pooling their meagre resources, have proved themselves rich in health.
If we can do it for health we can do it for housing, for food, for internet. These things will all be cheaper than the wildly inefficient systems we have now.
But won’t people stop working? Please remember that people raised these same objections to enslavement. If your economy depends on people working certain jobs or they’ll starve, you’re doing it wrong. Maybe clothes should cost more and you should change them less. Maybe eat less meat, I dunno, but your convenience to have people work for you does not give you the right to hold their life in the balance.
Will some people stay home and not work? Yes, and that’s fine. Our moral repugnance towards laziness ends up as blanked punishment upon the poor. What do you think anyone that lives off interest income does? They don’t work. This is fine. If someone wants to live with the basics that’s not for you to judge. Frankly, most artists and prophets would appear this way. Your right to feel superior to someone else is not worth taking away the basic survival rights of everyone.
Most people won’t stop working. I worked shitty jobs (cleaning toilets in almost every single one) for years. Why did I work? For the extras. These are hugely motivating, whereas working for survival is frankly the opposite.
As a teenager I worked for money, for a bit of extra choice. I worked so that instead of my packed lunch I could eat at Taco Bell with my friends (WTF was I thinking, my Amma’s sandwiches were way better). I worked so I could buy Tommy Hilfiger instead of what my mom bought me in one stressful batch at JCPenney. I worked for choice. I was quite motivated by that.
Desire for the extras is entirely enough to power an economy. Behold Apple, Amazon, Netflix — these are all fundamentally extras. For the jobs that really suck, maybe they’ll have to pay people more. Right now we pay bankers and white collar workers obscene amounts for jobs that don’t even suck. Take it from them.
I will close on a simple point, which I hope will undercut all objections. Perhaps you could justify this capitalist jungle as being required to motivate adults. Yet that’s not where the burden falls. Children do not choose their parents, and where they fall in the law of club and fang. How is survival economics even remotely ethical to impose on children?
Why should a baby, fresh out the feds, be unable to get formula because their parents can’t afford it? Perhaps their parents need to taught a lesson (cruel), but what are we teaching the baby? All they’ll know is hunger.
Why should a child, trying to study, be rendered without healthcare because their parent loses a job? Why should teenagers be rendered homeless? Furthermore, why should battered women and children be forced to stay in violent homes because there is no safe place for them to go? These are public needs, served by public good, for the public good.
A system where people are not worried about survival will lead to thrival. We will unlock so much human potential. Human talents are not concentrated in the rich, they are simply suppressed in the poor. Give a poor child the same basic security as a rich one and they’ll blow our minds. They’ll enrich the world. Call it the economy if you want, but I call it something else. This is simply living better than a wild animal. This is civilization.
No one should work for a living. Then we can have life, in abundance. | https://indica.medium.com/why-no-one-should-work-for-a-living-49343d576f9f | ['Indi Samarajiva'] | 2020-10-16 12:57:41.588000+00:00 | ['Capitalism', 'Equality', 'Socialism', 'Work', 'Economics'] |
What is Driving Racial/Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Morbidity and Mortality? | Monica L. Wang, ScD, MS
Image collage created by Monica Wang, ScD
To my parents, who worked tirelessly and selflessly so I could have the best education they could provide, and to my Community Health Sciences family of faculty, staff, and students at the BU School of Public Health, who are social justice and health equity champions alongside me.
As an alumna of Boston’s Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity program (METCO) program (the longest continuously running voluntary school integration program in the nation), I am intimately familiar with neighborhood disparities and health. From elementary through high school, I lived in Roslindale (an ethnically diverse neighborhood of Boston) and commuted 3 hours each school day (school bus in elementary; public transit starting in 8th grade) to attend public school in Belmont, a picturesque suburb that boasts one of the top public schools in the state. One would have to be blind and deaf not to notice the stark differences in demographics, built environment, and economic and educational opportunities (or lack thereof) between the two neighborhoods, spaced less than 10 miles apart.
My Boston neighborhood friends and METCO peers knew not to frequent parks past a certain hour — ever. We witnessed theft and assault and more than occasionally experienced harassment on our long commutes to school. Our walk to and from the public transit stops were inundated with fast food outlets, liquor stores, and corner stores. Sidewalks were in need of repair but available at best; completely lacking at worst.
Most of my classmates in Belmont seemed to live in another world. Many brought colorful lunches packed with fruits and vegetables to school, participated in expensive arts and athletics programs, walked or rode bikes to school, and some even left their back doors unlocked (inconceivable for my neighborhood). It did not escape me, even in elementary school, that key differences in neighborhood characteristics, such as crime, access to healthy food, walkability, and pollution, differentially influenced children and families’ ability to engage in healthy behaviors and prioritize health, depending on one’s zip code. This experience profoundly shaped my dedication to promoting community health and working to address health inequities from a population level.
Fast forward 20 some-odd years. I have a master’s and doctoral degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and am an Associate Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Harvard. I have been conducting research and teaching graduate courses on the social determinants of health, including the underlying drivers of racial/ethnic health disparities, for the past decade.
The other day, one of my former students from Harvard’s Master in Health Care Management Program asked me via Twitter why U.S. cities were experiencing substantial racial disparities in COVID-19 (he knew the answer, or else I would ask him to re-take my race/ethnicity and health module). If I had to condense that lecture into a Twitter feed, this would be it. But it got me thinking beyond Population Health in the Midst of a Pandemic and ultimately writing this piece.
Health disparities or inequities refer to preventable and unjust health differences between groups of people that are closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. In the U.S., racial/ethnic disparities are observed in nearly every single health outcome, with Blacks, Latinx, and Native American/Alaskan Indians suffering disproportionately higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, infectious diseases, preterm births, and higher mortality rates, to name a few. These racial/ethnic disparities are rooted in colonialism, slavery, and systemic or institutionalized racism, the latter of which continues to be perpetuated and practiced between individuals across sectors (e.g., housing, health care, policy, judicial system, education) today. To understand why we see racial disparities in COVID-19 infection and death rates, we have several mechanisms to unpack.
The first mechanism is the contribution of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on health and why both matter, particularly in the U.S. SES refers to a person’s position in a social hierarchy based on prestige and access to resources and is often measured by indicators such as income, education level, occupation, and wealth. In the U.S., race is strongly associated with SES because of institutionalized racism (e.g., Jim Crow laws, redlining), which systemically undermined social and economic opportunities for advancement among people of color.
Because of institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism, people of color have lower income and wealth (despite equivalent levels of education), are over-represented in lower-paying, nonstandard occupations like essential workers, have less job security, and higher rates of being uninsured or under-insured, as insurance is directly tied to occupation in the U.S. This means that people of color, particularly Blacks, Latinx, and Native Americans have poorer access to socioeconomic resources and health care, as well as experience more stressors, constraints, and barriers to achieving health (e.g., lower-income individuals are less able to afford to engage in healthy behaviors, such as join a gym, buy fresh produce, take time off work to see their primary care physicians, and fill prescriptions). During a pandemic, staying at home and practicing social distancing is a privilege that is neither randomly nor equitably distributed across racial and economic lines.
The second mechanism of racial/ethnic health disparities is discrimination (the unjust, prejudicial treatment of people based on characteristics such as the color of their skin). It is well-established that discrimination occurs across multiple domains and sectors in the U.S., including the labor market, judicial system, education, health care, and housing. Studies show that Blacks who experience discrimination based on their race have higher cortisol and blood pressure levels and shorter telomeres (a marker of accelerated aging). This is to say nothing of intersectionality (the “complex, cumulative manner in which effects of different forms of discrimination” such as race, gender, and class combine, overlap, or intersect). Thus, effects of socioeconomic disadvantage and physiological impacts of experiencing discrimination accumulated over the lifecourse and across generations puts communities of color at substantial disadvantage when it comes to health.
The third mechanism is the impact of neighborhoods on health. Practices such as redlining (a racialized system of economic and social investment that denied various services by government (federal and local) and the private sector to minority (most notably Black) communities in the U.S., either directly or through selective pricing) resulted in disinvested communities of color that experience poorer access to healthy food, health care, and green space, excessive access to fast food outlets, liquor stores, targeted marketing of tobacco and alcohol, and higher exposure to pollutants, to name a few. You can check out which neighborhoods were redlined at Mapping Inequality, an interactive site that takes scores of Home Owners Loan Corporation maps and embeds them on a single map of the U.S. The poorer built environment that communities of color were forced into unsurprisingly translates into poorer overall health and higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and respiratory conditions among these populations — the very underlying conditions known to be associated with greater risk of COVID-19 complications, including death.
The fourth mechanism is discrimination in health care. A blinded randomized trial demonstrated that implicit bias exists among some physicians, coloring their diagnosis and treatment plans for patient profiles who presented with the same set of symptoms and demographics, save for the color of their skin. This study and others demonstrate that unconscious or conscious biases in the health care setting contribute in part to racial/ethnic disparities in medical procedures (including COVID-19 testing) and ultimately health outcomes. Discrimination in this setting is not lost on communities of color, where the mistrust of health care providers and health officials runs deep due in part to the egregious and infamous Tuskegee Study.
Let me be clear — health care is not the only setting and providers are not the only players that have the power to exacerbate or mitigate health disparities. The reason why racial/ethnic health disparities are so pervasive and persistent in the U.S. is because racism is systemic — each cog in our system (e.g., housing) operates in conjunction with the other cogs (education, judicial system, health care). By the time patients show up in the hospital or the clinic to be seen, they have already embodied the physiological, psychological, behavioral, and environmental effects of being exposed to discrimination — a chronic stressor amassed over generations and accumulated across the lifecourse. Having worked in a medical setting, working in a career that involves daily interactions with physicians and clinicians (including teaching them), and being married to a physician, I can also say that many are working tirelessly towards reducing and eliminating health disparities in their sector. To make a bigger impact, we need to coordinate such efforts across all sectors.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the underlying drivers of racial/ethnic disparities in health, but these are some of the most critical mechanisms in my view to understand. When you combine hundreds of years of history with multiple levels of discrimination that occur across nearly every sector of influence, it comes as no surprise that we see racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection, morbidity, and mortality rates, as evidenced from early data in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Michigan, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Boston’s map of COVID-19 cases by neighborhood overlaps onto its historically redlined neighborhoods.
What is disgraceful is that it took a pandemic to shine a hard light onto what public health experts and communities of color have known for generations. MA Govenor Baker announced in April of 2020 that race/ethnicity data would be required for COVID-19 reporting moving forward. This is a small but crucial step to documenting health inequities, which will catalyze efforts to eliminate them, as we should always be striving towards. We will have learned nothing if we continue to let history repeat itself. We can and must do better. Now it’s time to get to work. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/what-is-driving-racial-ethnic-disparities-in-covid-19-morbidity-and-mortality-49f31cbcdd3a | ['Monica L. Wang', 'Scd'] | 2020-09-08 02:40:03.411000+00:00 | ['Race', 'Covid 19', 'Society', 'Health'] |
5 Ways Freelancers Stay Healthy | One of the many challenges to working remotely is staying healthy.
Health Tips for Freelancers and Remote Workers
With the global trend towards remote and freelance work showing no signs of slowing down, more and more remote workers are finding that this lifestyle comes with as many risks and challenges as it does benefits.
This operate-from-anywhere workforce is particularly prone to health and psychological issues, so it’s important they practice healthy habits not only to perform better in this environment but also to care for their own well-being. Read on for 5 health tips for freelancers and remote workers to remain healthy.
1. Get Plenty of Air and Sunlight
Many freelancers and remote workers fall victim to “cabin fever,” feeling like they’re locked up all alone and isolated, with no colleagues and only walls around them. Due to this, it’s vital to get air and sunlight.
Take a small walk, or, at the very least, open a window or step out onto a balcony for a few minutes. Afterall, humans are just complex plants with emotions. If they don’t get enough sunlight and water, they simply do not perform as well and face health and psychological risks.
2. Exercise
Even if only simple desk exercises, exercising every day can help reduce the back pain that comes with sitting at a desk or PC all day long. There might also be a nearby gym or a swimming pool worth considering, and if workers can make at least 30 minutes to one hour a day for exercise, they will be much less likely to develop back problems over longer periods of time working from a desk.
3. Find Comfortable Cafes and Co-Working Spaces
The next threat to freelancers’ and remote workers’ health is isolation and feelings of loneliness. Humans need social interaction, and if they don’t get it regularly, they are at risk of developing symptoms of depression and/or social anxiety. This is why it’s important to at the very least find a place to work from outside of the home. Any social interaction is better than none, even if it’s only with the barista for coffee or tea.
4. Connect with Colleagues and Friends
Another way to not feel so isolated when working remotely is to connect with colleagues and friends over the internet or by phone. Use messaging applications, conference calls, or direct lines of communication to avoid feeling out of the loop in the job or simply feeling trapped in a routine. In traditional offices, there’s always colleagues to share a quick chat with at the coffee machine or kitchen, but remote workers need to make time for these healthy micro-interactions on their own.
5. Consider Adopting a Pet
Finally, and while not ideal or feasible for everybody, adopting a pet like a cat or a dog can be a good way to help freelancers and remote workers set and commit to a schedule, improve organizational skills, fitness, and well-being in general.
While potentially a distraction at times, having a pet while working from home can help combat the feelings of loneliness and isolation and lead to an overall more comfortable working environment.
A Healthy Work-Life Balance
Beyond these 5 simple ways to stay healthy on the remote or freelance job, the main idea is to simply create and practice a healthy work-life balance as well as sustainable working habits and routines. When committing long-term to this type of lifestyle, it’s important to take every step to ensure both physical and mental health long into the future. | https://medium.com/@sidekickapp/5-ways-freelancers-stay-healthy-2e836731a219 | [] | 2020-03-03 12:01:01.458000+00:00 | ['Freelance Economy', 'Stay Healthy', 'Remote Work', 'Freelancers', 'Freelance'] |
This or That: The Power of Choice | This or That
As we go about our day, we are making thousands of choices. It starts from the moment we open our eyes to the time we close them to go back to sleep. Even opening our eyes is a choice that we get to make.
The idea of choice seems to be one that many people believe they get to make of their own free will at all times but as I’ve been hearing more and more about the importance of making choices for ourselves, I realized that there are typically three types of choices we make at any given time and it’s the third one that we seem to avoid making…
Unconscious choices-these are the things we tend to do on autopilot. These are the things we choose to do without seemingly thinking about them-they tend to be what we call “habits.” These might include opening our eyes, getting dressed, brushing our teeth, showering/bathing, smoking, drinking coffee every morning, etc. Maybe we started out doing these things because we consciously (I’ll get to this one in a moment) made the choice to do them in the beginning but they have become so habitual that we do them and don’t even realize we keep doing them. I have an example of this: have you ever driven a road so often that you feel like you could drive it with your eyes closed or have you taken the same route so many times that you realize when you get home, you don’t even remember how you got there? Or maybe you follow the same routine every morning as you get ready to start your day. These are examples of unconscious choices where your mind and body just do it because they’ve done it so many times before. Day to day choices-this is the type of choice that might not be completely automatic decisions you might be more aware of making throughout your day. Some examples of this might be: what you want to wear for the day, how you want your hair to look, what you might want to eat for lunch, whether or not to answer the phone when it rings. These are choices that still aren’t considered conscious choices because they might be things that just happen in a moment’s notice and you decide right at that moment what you would like to do or not do. We make these choices each and every day and handle them as they come. Conscious choices-these are the toughies as they usually require some effort on our part or long thought. These are what I would consider choices made in full awareness of making them. Conscious choices usually seem to be made with regard to a future event and often feel like they can weigh you down because if you make a “mistake,” then you will have to make more tough decisions down the road (when in reality life is always full of these choices anyway no matter what you might choose now). Some examples of conscious choice might be: buying a car or a house, marriage, careers, or anything else that has a long term affect on your life and goals. These choices tend to be the ones where you might make a pro/con list to decide what is best. No matter what the decision is, you want decide what you believe to be best for you. The thing about conscious choice is, we still don’t know how it will end or what the future really holds but the truth is, there really is no end even if we made a “bad” choice. Even so, it seems to be a risk that we are still willing to take on a regular basis.
All of life is about making choices and the best part is: WE (you and me) get to make our OWN choices. I would bet that most people don’t like being told what to do and how to do it (I know I don’t!). The thing is, we let other people make choices for us all the time because we tend to flit back and forth between unconscious choices and day to day choices because those are “easy” for us to make for ourselves. Some just come simply out of habit and some are just for fun (choosing to wear those shoes with that pair of pants). It’s really the conscious choices that seem to hold us back and weigh us down. They seem to be the ones we hesitate to make for ourselves because they will determine which direction our life will take in that moment. Most of the time, we avoid making these choices for ourselves because we don’t want to feel the pain of possibly making a mistake or “wrong” choice so we let others decide these things for us. Isn’t it easier to let someone else say, “hey, why don’t you become a lawyer because you like to debate ideas?” or “that car looks like it “fits” you” but never mind you actually had your eye on a different one! Maybe you really have no desire to be a lawyer because you would rather learn how to paint and use your creativity but you end up becoming a lawyer to pay the bills and live the “American Dream.” Maybe you really like that car but you just KNOW the other one is actually better for you and your situation.
Take a look back at some of the choices you made that might look like regret to you. Don’t judge them but look at them in perspective with where they led you. Maybe those tough choices were exactly what you needed to make to get you where you really wanted to go in the first place. Sure they weren’t easy decisions and the grass might have looked greener if you had taken the other path, but without having made those choices on your own, do you really think life would be better if you had made a different choice OR if you had let someone else had made the choices for you?
Let that last question sink in….
Take a look around you. Stop whatever you are doing (even reading this) and REALLY pay attention to where you are. What brought you here? Was it based the decisions YOU made or was it because someone else told you this is where you needed to be? If it’s the latter reason, then I ask you one last question….
Do YOU really want to be here in this moment, right now??
If the answer is a resounding NO, then what choices do YOU need to make going forward to bring you to where you want to be? If the answer is YES, then you made it! Your life isn’t over by any means but you have been able to make conscious choices for yourself in full awareness of what you want and where you want to be in your life. You truly KNOW yourself and know that by making those tough decisions, you are WHO you’re meant to be right here, right now.
Now, go out and make a tough choice for yourself today and see what happens next! Only YOU can live YOUR life like no one else can! | https://medium.com/@monica-444/this-or-that-the-power-of-choice-3a151d6bd39f | ['Monica Bartholomew'] | 2021-02-16 20:12:25.671000+00:00 | ['Consciousness', 'Choices', 'Decisions', 'Thoughts', 'Awareness'] |
Understanding Short-circuit Evaluation in Javascript | Explore about Short-circuiting in Javascript to make your code clean and beautiful.
In short-circuit evaluation, an expression with logical operators ( || and && ) is evaluated from left to right. So, if the condition is met and the rest of the conditions won’t affect the already evaluated result, the expression will short-circuit and return that result.
Logical OR(||) Operator
This operator will return the first true value. So, it won’t even reach the rest of the conditions and return true as the condition is satisfied.
true || false
// true
So how can we use this?
Let’s take an example
var x;
var y = 'Gurseerat';
var z = 'This will not evaluate'; var name = x || y || z;
console.log(name);
// Gurseerat | https://medium.com/khojchakra/understanding-short-circuit-evaluation-in-javascript-31b5770a41f7 | ['Gurseerat Kaur'] | 2020-10-27 16:52:44.201000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Technology', 'Coding', 'ES6'] |
Rx for Bringing American Journalists Back to Life | How to Revive “Freedom of the Press”
As we move into 2021, my hope is that we can restore the prestige and greatness of American journalism.
Why am I concerned?
Political reporters used to be the envy of the journalistic world. When Woodward and Bernstein uncovered the Watergate Scandal, there was no question that American journalism was the “hope” for America.
No matter what our government and elected officials “tried” to get away with — and trust me — they try and get away with a lot, our national journalists would come to our rescue.
But that hope, that last line of defense for democracy is gone. Political reporters in the United States have been reduced to gossip columnists and the lines between news and talk shows no longer exists. Programs like “The Five”, “Rachel Maddow” and “Tucker Carlson” are exactly the same as the news programs and because there is no line — the people are deeply confused about who to believe.
How did this happen?
For one, it has to do with the way that politics is now covered in America. Political reporting and coverage is just “gossip” and devoid of any real news.
Here’s an example of this:
In the 2020 Democratic Debate in Nevada, moderator Lester Holt started the debate with this question:
What hasn’t changed: a majority of Democratic voters still say their top priority is beating President Trump. Senator Sanders, the first question to you. Mayor Bloomberg is pitching himself as a centrist who says he’s best positioned to win in November. Why is your revolution a better bet?
This is a “gossip” question.
Why does Mr. Holt need to ask Senator Sanders about Mayor Bloomberg? Does he not know he’s standing on the stage? This is a subtle and underhanded way of making the debate a “gossip” show and not a national debate for Democratic nominee for President.
In the interests of fairness, let’s take a look back at how the 2016 Republican Primary Debates began in Cleveland.
Brett Baier, Fox News correspondent started the entire debate with this question:
BAIER: Gentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we’re looking for you to raise your hand now — raise your hand now if you won’t make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump.
Here again, a “gossip” question.
In both cases, the questions were unnecessary. They were written purely for gossip purposes, the answers or the reactions have no impact on the American people — it’s all just a fabricated gossip show.
In Lester Holt’s case, it is entirely unclear what his question is asking? Is he asking Senator Sanders how he proposes to campaign against Mr. Trump? Or is he asking why he doesn’t like Mayor Bloomberg? Regardless of the true hidden meaning of Mr. Holt’s question, it’s obvious that it’s unclear, confusing and serves only one purpose — create gossip and controversy.
In the case of Mr. Baier, he started the whole Republican Primary Debate circuit as a reality talk-show, where Donald Trump was cast as the villain of the Republican Party against the rest of the field. In essence, Mr. Baier made Donald Trump the only name voters could identify with and dismissed the rest of the field with one question.
If both reporters had skipped over their “gossip” questions and had just gone directly to hard hitting questions, the “people” would start to learn more about their elected officials.
It’s extremely important for reporters to resist the urge to ask for a “reaction” from elected officials. If our elected leaders are unaware of what their colleagues are doing — that is better for the American people. The press should seize upon the reality that our elected officials have stopped communicating with one another and are using the media as a go-between, passing rumor and innuendo in a quasi-soap opera on the Hill.
If reporters can avoid “gossip” and rumor as the genesis of story ideas — this will put our elected leaders in a precarious position. They will have to start doing their job, or else reporters will expose them for sitting around and collecting a paycheck for no work.
Whether President Trump’s warning of fake news alarmed you or not — this is what he means by “fake.” Reporters that rely heavily on “react” stories and “gossip journalism.”
Reporters should leave those stories and videos for YouTubers. Real American Journalists should strive to only cover factual news — what an elected official says, “hardly qualifies,” as factual news.
Imagine, if Woodward and Bernstein reported what the White House officials were saying to them as “fact?”
The American people would never have learned about the Watergate break-in and subsequent government cover-up.
Why then do reporters take what elected officials and their surrogates say as “fact” today? Times have not changed, every single elected official if left unaccountable and unchecked is inherently corrupt. Right now, there is zero accountability for our elected officials, from D.C. to the local statehouses in all 50 states.
The American people rely heavily on the power and freedom of the press, and they have let us down for the last 40 years. It’s time to reawaken the power of the Press. And put our elected officials on notice, that reporters are no longer going to “fall” for your tricks and “gossip.”
From 1999–2015, comedian Jon Stewart hosted the nightly show The Daily Show on Comedy Central, and although he admits he was never a journalist, his program was a nightly media critique.
Journalists didn’t heed the warnings then, and they have abandoned the integrity of journalism now. The only way for the power of the press to re-emerge is to avoid the salacious inclination to cover gossip and rumor.
It’s hard to do — but that’s the whole point.
Personalities like Geraldo Rivera and Bill O’Reilly make it difficult for reporters to cling to journalistic integrity, when these two figures have made millions of dollars trampling all over the ethics of journalism.
What’s the point? Reporters need to make a living too?
I urge and implore journalists to ask themselves — do you want to be a Rivera or O’Reilly or do you want to be a Woodward or Bernstein? I would hope the answer is easy.
If reporters had followed the integrity trail and avoided the “gossip” story, someone might have broken the “Lolita Express” story decades ago, while the rumor and “gossip” surrounding then President Clinton was dominating the airwaves. The real story was never the Starr investigation. That was just pure salacious gossip, and the media abandoned all integrity by destroying the psyche of a young American woman.
If reporters had followed the integrity trail and avoided the “gossip” story, there is still hope that a reporter will uncover the true story behind President Trump and his convicted attorney Michael Cohen.
There was no story behind the russia rumors, there was no story behind the Steele Dossier, there simply was no story. Just “gossip” and rumors.
For real journalists and not “gossip journalists” there is a real story behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, but “we the people” will never know because these three elected officials have figured out how to completely manipulate reporters.
Here’s my Rx for clean journalism:
Do not create “react” stories — getting a quote from one party and asking them to react to the quote. Do not “initiate” a story by passing notes, gossip or rumors and asking for their opinion. File Open Records requests weekly to the various bodies of government related to discussions, negotiations and any and all records related to the American people’s money and how it is being spent by Washington and local statehouses.
We have a run-off election in Georgia in January, it would help the country to know who these candidates are and what they stand for? Right now, the election is about which party controls the Senate, and that is the “gossip” train rearing its ugly head again.
What every elected official in Washington needs to understand is that “clean journalism” and real reporters are coming for all of them individually. Reporters in Washington should be researching news articles about which members of the House and Senate have no original thoughts or independent ideas. Which members do as they are “told” by the party bosses?
If you are not familiar with the Frank Capra movie, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington,” it’s a story about how political parties only have their own interests in mind and could care less about the people they are supposed to represent.
Well, we are living that today. And the savior of the people was the Press. They freed the American people from the corrupt parties.
We need them again. We need reporters and American journalists to save “We the People” from our corrupt lawmakers.
The people of Georgia need two senators who are going to fight for the needs of the people of Georgia, not what the Republican or Democratic leaders want. Following the party leadership means that states like Ohio, Arizona, Washington, Texas and Connecticut for example get no representation in Congress.
Speaker Pelosi is from California, so the people of California have full representation. Chuck Schumer is from New York, so the people of New York get full representation, but the people of Delaware do not. The people of Pennsylvania do not.
The 2016 win by Donald Trump was a rebuke of the two-party system and the corruption in Washington, where Congressional and Senate members no longer vote the way their constituents want them to vote — but do as “they are told” by their party leaders. This is the reason Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and the impetus for the American Revolution.
We need journalists to start covering the real news and the real stories that are happening before their eyes. The story is not if the election is corrupt, because it isn’t — but why our elected representation forget us when they arrive in Washington. The American people elect representatives who are supposed to uphold their interests in Washington — and yet those interests are ignored time and time again by political party leaders.
The free press can uncover this corruption, expose the hypocrisy and hold elected officials accountable for their votes and political work.
It should be front page news why Speaker Pelosi opposes healthcare for all. It should be front page news why Mitch McConnell is in love with private health insurance, despite the truth that every single American citizen and doctor hates the private insurance companies.
I believe in freedom of the press, and I believe in American journalists, the bigger question is do journalists still believe in themselves? | https://medium.com/@leafacademy/rx-for-bringing-american-journalists-back-to-life-14aecbaea634 | ['Professor Schwartz'] | 2020-12-21 21:35:12.241000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Trump', 'Corruption', 'America', 'Fake News'] |
2015 year in review for Graph Commons | We wish you a peaceful and happy new year! This graph image is generated from The Emoji Graph.
2015 year in review for Graph Commons
2015 was a year of great new beginnings for Graph Commons and for our mission to provide an open network mapping platform, so that everyone can collectively involve in the act of mapping networks as an ongoing practice.
This post was originally posted in the Graph Commons Journal.
Here is our progress in 2015:
May
After six months of development, the new version of Graph Commons released on May 28th 2015 and witnessed a momentum of interest from people with varying interests, backgrounds and skill sets.
June
Network mapping at Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Paris (view all workshops)
Video tutorials released on network mapping using the new graph interface.
SIMPOL data Hub started on financial systems simulation and policy modelling in EU.
July
August
Force Atlas 2 layout feature released to provide better organization of large graphs.
Graph Commons API alpha version released.
Mobile view of graphs improved.
September
Graph Commons Hackathons site released for announcements and documentation.
Structured Journalism and Network Mapping Hackathon brought together programmers, activists, and journalists to create tools for network mapping and analysis using the API.
Private plans announced to help build a sustainable platform while supporting free public graphs.
Graph Commons Slack Channel started for community chat, questions, discussions, meeting people, sharing work.
October
November
December
Workshop at The Brown Institute, Columbia Journalism School (view documentation).
Networks of Dispossession project’s large prints and touch screen maps featured in the exhibition at MAXXI Museum in Rome.
Better Filters released, enabling graph authors to compose their custom filters depending on the graph context.
Node embed released for publishers to embed information cards in their publications.
iklimadaleti.org, new journal on ecological justice, launched using graph embeds and node embeds.
Better site wide search released (Elastic Search), so you can search among all public graphs, nodes, and members on Graph Commons.
Coming up in January 2016…
API refinement with general search, graph analysis + more API wrappers
New Hackathon: Creative Use of Complex Networks, Jan 9–10
Thank you everyone for your great support and encouragement. We will continue to provide an ever-growing connected knowledge base and support a network-literate community flourishing around it.
We wish you a peaceful and happy new year! | https://medium.com/graph-commons/2015-year-in-review-for-graph-commons-33610754cc95 | ['Burak Arikan'] | 2016-12-26 13:20:13.556000+00:00 | ['Open Data', 'Big Data', 'Social Network', 'Productivity', 'Data Visualization'] |
What if you could draw your thoughts in technical interviews? | A lot of people like drawing out their approach as they work through coding challenges, and that usually involves using a pen/paper or your iPad. Even some of the best tech interview related products like AlgoExpert (which I highly recommend using) end up showing you how to work through problems by drawing on a (digital)whiteboard. This got me thinking, why dont we have a single place to code, draw, and video chat with another person? I decided to build that.
Just share your sandbox link!
Interview Sandbox is an app that came out of the desire for a place to practice, pencil, and perform without having to have a split screen, or to spend time drawing on a piece of paper and showing your interviewer your thoughts. The app is pretty simple, you create your sandbox (no login needed!) and share your link with anyone else, to get them on the same page. They can see your code in real time, see your drawings in real time, and you can chat with them too. After you’re done, just save the link for future reference. That’s it.
The app is currently in v1 so there may be some quirks and some bugs, but I will be ironing those out and it should get better with each successive use! Oh and if you have any feedback on how it can get better, I would love to hear. Just leave a comment. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/what-if-you-could-draw-your-thoughts-in-technical-interviews-47e1ff87bf33 | ['Sagar Desai'] | 2020-05-27 21:08:54.178000+00:00 | ['Technical Interview', 'Software Engineering', 'Software Development', 'Interview', 'Coding'] |
I Wished I Had Been Born a Boy Part II | I think I need to start at the beginning — literally at the very beginning — with the title from the original post last year.
‘I Wished I Had Been Born a Boy’
Read the title again; I ‘Wished’ I Had Been Born a Boy
I can’t begin to tell you how many people read that title then only skimmed the article — never fully understanding the point I made within the first few lines.
As a child — possibly throughout my entire adolescence I had wished — special emphasis on the word ‘wished’ I had been born a boy.
I don’t still wish this — I wished it back when I also wished I could be a veterinarian, a fireman, a cowboy or the next ‘Tanya Tucker.’ when I grew up.
What I want to be when I grow up!
I was thankful to have grown up then — rather than now. So I had the chance to not only choose between a career as a cowboy or fireman but to grow through the awkwardness of adolescence without being assaulted by the psychopathic motives of gender activism.
Since writing the original Word Press Blog almost a year ago I have heard from countless people across the country.
The original article has been viewed nearly a million times from several different sites and sources and is still being shared and read. (Thank you)
Many are just like me.
They had the same experiences I had and eventually grew to fully embrace their ‘assigned gender.’
They got married, had kids — but stayed a ‘tomboy’ or ‘sissy’ at heart.
Others chose to go it alone — and maybe ‘chose’ is the wrong word.
My beautiful friend Sandi! Still waiting on Mr. Wonderful! Qualified applicants for Mr. W’s job can write me to inquire — If deemed suitable I will forward them to Mariah on the left and Tiko on the right — for closer scrutiny.
They fully expected to one day marry but never found that special someone — they are not gay — regardless of what people think — but they choose to live alone often times because of what people might think.
Some don’t care at all what people ‘might think’ and while they also are not gay they don’t live alone.
Both groups often have close friends and companions they love dearly — much like the love we saw between David and Jonathan in the Old Testament.
Others struggle still with identity but most I corresponded with have worked through the struggle to love themselves.
A few reached out and told me they still have strong gender issues. Most were men that felt society gave allowances for ‘tomboys’ that did not transfer to feminine ( sissy) men.
I heard from many who cautioned me not to confuse gay with gender identity — yet many with gender identity had sexual identity issues as well.
And yes some declared that just as I had supposed in the first post — they at a time of vulnerability and loneliness felt the adolescent flutters when touched by someone of the same sex and they simply assumed from that moment on they were destined to be in a same sex relationship.
I share all of this to say one thing — have we lost our minds?
Do we honestly think transgender laws and restrooms will compensate for the deafening cry to be noticed / cared about / loved / and dare I say it? To know God and gain an understanding of why any of us are here in the first place?
If you are someone struggling with gender issues I will pray for you — I will be your friend — I will help you all I can.
In America you can be anyone you want to be and I applaud that.
Please be free! Be anything you choose as long as it does not break my leg nor pick my pocket and I will love you.
Hear me — I will love you more than you can ever imagine!
I will be the person that does not stare at you because you look, act or seem different.
I will be the person who will sit by you and talk with you — hug you — laugh with you — and if you allow me — pray with you.
It is what Christ made me to be — it is all I know.
I can’t be anything else.
And if you would just stop for a moment and seek out the true followers of Jesus Christ you would see the only enemy you face is the one He defeated over 2000 years ago.
I don’t have an easy answer for you.
But I simply can’t imagine that forcing me to go to the bathroom with a guy that is not comfortable being a guy is going to make things any better for you — and how dare you ask me to try and explain that to a child.
Just as I will love and respect you I ask you to love and respect me.
I want to help you if I can.
More and more we are seeing single family restrooms being made available where anyone can go and be on their own — away from scrutiny.
I hope those options will be made available in schools where kids are the most vulnerable.
But we all know for a teen dealing with the awkwardness of gender identity — forced acceptance only feels like a victory momentarily.
Once the dust settles and the guards have gone — the shallow feeling of victory will be replaced again with the same old awkwardness and resentment that nothing has really changed.
The only true way forward is to not seek acceptance of others for your self-esteem and comfort but to find it within yourself in the perfect creation you were born and I believe God created you to be.
You can check out more of my story in:
‘Jesse’ A True Story of Redemption. Now also available as an ebook.
Contact me at lavernvivio.com
God Bless!
LaVern Vivio
May 1, 2016 | https://medium.com/autonomous/i-wished-i-had-been-born-a-boy-part-ii-34620e9a51b9 | ['Lavern Vivio'] | 2016-05-03 22:30:52.807000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Transgender', 'Political Correctness'] |
How to Download the CCIE Collaboration Exam Dumps? | Before we discuss the best study dumps for the CCIE Collaboration exam, let’s first gain the knowledge regarding it.
What is CCIE Collaboration?:
The CCIE Collaboration certification is believed to be for the aspiring Unified Communications Architects, Collaboration Architects, or Video and Voice Network Managers who would be considered responsible for the designing, implementation, and troubleshooting of solutions of the complex collaboration. The certification is going to ensure that the candidates who are taking it, could gain the knowledge and experience in collaboration solutions integration and interoperation, configuration, and troubleshooting in complex networks as well as the challenges of video, mobility, and presence as the establishment for workplace collaboration solutions.
Prerequisites
Generally, there would be no formal prerequisites for CCIE Collaboration certification, but the candidates are expected to have the knowledge and in-depth understanding of the topics on the exams and are strongly encouraged to have about three to five years of job experience before they start attempting this certification.
Below mentioned are the overview of the two exams that are needed to be clear in order to gain the CCIE Collaboration Certification:
CCIE Collaboration Written Exam
The first test that you need to clear for achieving the CCIE Collaboration Certification is the two-hour, written qualification exam that would be covering those technologies and applications that comprise a Cisco Enterprise Collaboration solution. It will make you eligible to schedule the next exam, which is the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam.
CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam
The next exams would be the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam, which is an eight-hour lab exam. This would be testing your ability to configuring actual equipment and troubleshooting the network in a time-based test situation. You are required to make an initial attempt at the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam within 18-months of clearing the CCIE Collaboration Written Exam. Candidates who fail to do so must have to reattempt the lab exam within 12 months of their last scored attempt in order to make their written exam to remain valid. If they fail to clear the lab within three years of clearing the written exam, it will void your written exam and you would have to give a retest again for becoming eligible for the Lab Exam.
Now, that you have gained proper knowledge, about the CCIE Collaboration Certification, let me tell you about the best exam dumps that you could gain for the same. The best study dumps you could download are provided by the SPOTO. Now below, you will get to know that why to choose SPOTO.
Why SPOTO?:
• High Passing Rate:
The SPOTO passing rate peak at Ninety-six percent. SPOTO not just only provide valid exam materials, but also provide mock exam to test whether candidates are available to take Cisco lab exam or not. SPOTO exam is going to validate that the candidates with good chance to clear the real exam. Furthermore, SPOTO gathers numerous CCIE Collaboration candidates in the study group, where they would be willing to share and help each other. Even the latest feedbacks are delivered on the study group of SPOTO.
• Premium Exam Materials
All the materials whether it is for the written exam or the lab study materials provided by the SPOTO are considered to be valid and proved that it could be of a great deal of help for the candidates to clear their CCIE Collaboration exam. CCIE Experts compile their research essence as well as their latest feedback into study reference materials for the candidates.
• Fast dump update
Based on candidate’s feedback across the globe and expert’s long year research on Cisco exam, they provide you with the updated dump at once. Their information keeps up the candidates with Cisco, therefore when the exam is ready they would provide the candidates with valid exam questions so as to achieve this certification in a single attempt. | https://medium.com/@allan0123120/how-to-download-the-ccie-collaboration-exam-dumps-660f3f78b42f | ['Allan Yu'] | 2019-05-06 09:33:36.299000+00:00 | ['Certification'] |
Data Sync to Snowflake Using Confluent Kafka Connect: Part 1 | Data Sync to Snowflake Using Confluent Kafka Connect: Part 1
Moving On-Prem Oracle Databases to Snowflake in Azure with Kafka Connect
In my most recent engagement, I was tasked with data synchronization between an on-premise Oracle database with Snowflake using Confluent Kafka. While there are many blogs that cover this topic, they don’t provide scenarios that deviate from the normal happy path and demonstrate how to overcome the deviations.
In this blog post, I will go over some of the hurdles we observed during the engagement and explain how we solved them.
The Scenario
The customer had an on-premise Oracle database. They wanted to synchronize the data into Snowflake in Azure and also wanted the ability to use the same data transport channel for future uses. They chose Confluent Kafka as the candidate for transferring the data from on-premise to cloud.
Here are some of the requirements that were mandated as part of the solution:
Develop a solution that could be adopted for multiple instances of Oracle databases.
Synchronization into Snowflake does not need to be real-time.
Adopt tools/libraries that are supplied by Confluent or the Confluent community before considering third-party tools.
Define a solution that is economical; preferably open-source and free.
The client wanted to adopt a pattern similar to this one below:
My Initial Thoughts Were…
The solution to this data synchronization did not seem complicated and appeared to be achievable. There are a number of implementations for this scenario as described in these articles:
The Hiccups
At first glance these solutions seemed workable, however, they did not end up suitable for the current client situation because of the following reasons:
1) Adoption Cycle
In the adoption cycle, we were in the early stages of Snowflake adoption. We still had to prove a use case and get the buy-in from the business for a complete adoption. For this reason, we wanted to limit and control the tech stack.
2) Timelines
There is a plethora of integration software that can achieve the solution we want. We did not have the necessary cycles, times, or resources in this project to evaluate new software vendors.
3) Enterprise Practices
Even if we had chosen a specific vendor (e.g. Attunity, Fivetran, Matillion, etc.), the timeline for getting contracts in place, negotiating the subscription/license, going through a security assessment, etc. was significant and didn’t fit the project timeline.
The Tactical Approach
So far we had Confluent and Snowflake already spun up, contracted for, and ready to go. We wanted to get started with what we already had, so we decided to develop our solution, even if it happened to be tactical, with the following stack:
Confluent JDBC connector: To pull data from the on-premise Oracle database.
Confluent Connect: The framework to connect to Kafka with external systems, including databases. It provided a solution to use community connectors and slash development cycles.
Snowflake Connector for Kafka: To push data into Snowflake.
The following diagram depicts the approach we wanted to implement:
In the following set of topics, I will highlight some of the hurdles that we faced and discuss how we solved these. Though some of the solutions are tactical in nature, it gave us an edge to proceed with achieving our goals in the defined timeframe.
NOTE: I am using local Confluent and Oracle instances with Docker containers to capture some configurations to better demonstrate the process. Some changes may need to be made to suit your needs.
Data Acquisition
“Data-Acquisition” is the process and the steps involved in extracting data from the source systems, (e.g., on-premise database).
We started off quickly analyzing some tools to understand the limitations and functionalities of data acquisition. We were hosted in Azure so we needed to adopt a solution that could be either Azure specific or generic across various cloud providers.
Debezium
We took a look at Debezium which is an open-source distributed platform for change data capture. It is a well-known solution in the open-source community providing the ability to capture the data changes and publish it into Kafka. It achieves this solution using Log capture thus avoiding any strain on the database.
Here is a wonderful blog on the advantages of adopting a Log-based capture vs. traditional data capture, via query.
Okay, so didn’t we use this approach? Well, as of this writing in March 2020:
The Oracle connector is incubating; meaning the published message format could change in future iterations.
The Oracle connector also requires a Golden Gate license, which means cost. We also currently did not have any Golden Gate implementations across our team.
Kafka JDBC Connector
Our choice was to use the de-facto Kafka JDBC source connector.
The Kafka JDBC connector offers a polling-based solution, whereby the database is queried at regular intervals. The data retrieved can be in bulk mode or incremental updates.
Connecting to the Database
While it sounds simple, you might face connection or configuration issues. Do not worry — here is a wonderful article that aids in solving some issues:
Blog: Kafka Connect Deep Dive — JDBC Source Connector
I recommend reading the section “Checking that the JDBC driver has been loaded” to confirm that the Oracle driver is loaded.
Confluent Kafka Connect Configuration
Here is the connect configuration which helps us to get a bulk data load of the table into Kafka:
name=orcl-source connector.class=io.confluent.connect.jdbc.JdbcSourceConnector tasks.max=1 connection.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:49161:xe connection.user=books_admin connection.password=password dialect.name=OracleDatabaseDialect schema.pattern=APEX_040000 table.whitelist=TEST_DEMO_EMP # mode of operation mode=bulk #convertor definitions topic.prefix=tpc-avro- key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter header.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter value.converter=io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter value.converter.schema.registry.url=http://localhost:8081 #To handle data type conversion numeric.mapping=best_fit transforms=Cast transforms.Cast.type=org.apache.kafka.connect.transforms.Cast$Value transforms.Cast.spec=TESTSAL:int32
Data Type Conversion
When the data gets pulled and transformed into a Kafka message, you typically would not have any issue with a VARCHAR/String datatype in the source table. However, for numeric /timestamp data types you would need to handle some potential conversion.
Below is the connector configuration where we defined the value as JSON:
key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter value.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter value.converter.schemas.enable=true
Below is the sample JSON message that gets published in the topic:
{ “schema”: { “type”: “struct”, “fields”: [ { “type”: “int32”,”optional”: true, “field”: “EMPNO”}, { “type”: “string”,”optional”: true,”field”: “ENAME”}, { “type”: “string”,”optional”: true,”field”: “JOB”}, { “type”: “int64”, “optional”: true, “field”: “MGR”}, { “type”: “int64”, “optional”: true, “name”: “org.apache.kafka.connect.data.Timestamp”,”version”: 1, “field”: “HIREDATE” }, { “type”: “double”, “optional”: true, “field”: “SAL” }, { “type”: “double”, “optional”: true, “field”: “COMM” }, { “type”: “int32”, “optional”: true, “field”: “DEPTNO”}, { “type”: “string”, “optional”: true, “field”: “WORK_CITY”}, { “type”: “string”, “optional”: true, “field”: “WORK_COUNTRY”}, { “type”: “bytes”, “optional”: true, “name”: “org.apache.kafka.connect.data.Decimal”, “version”: 1, “parameters”: { “scale”: “127”}, “field”: “TESTSAL” } ], “optional”: false, “name”: “TEST_DEMO_EMP” }, “payload”: { “EMPNO”: 10000, “ENAME”: “Anon-1k”, “JOB”: “Analyst”, “MGR”: 9047, “HIREDATE”: 1085270400000, “SAL”: 1300.0, “COMM”: null, “DEPTNO”: 40, “WORK_CITY”: “Tokyo”, “WORK_COUNTRY”: “Japan”, “TESTSAL”: “AeS7O40u/lY+QxzguxN0y/x/PcCXu7UV4y6aX2i/jS1riYg2bNzSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==” } }
For the JSON value-based:
The message contains both the payload (data) and also the schema.
The schema element reflects the column data types.
The column ‘TESTSAL’; looks weird even though its a decimal why?
Hurdle: Handling Numeric Data Types
To start off, here is the table DDL:
CREATE TABLE “APEX_040000”.”TEST_DEMO_EMP” ( “EMPNO” NUMBER(8,0), “ENAME” VARCHAR2(30), “JOB” VARCHAR2(30), “MGR” NUMBER(14,0), “HIREDATE” DATE, “SAL” NUMBER(9,2), “COMM” NUMBER(9,2), “DEPTNO” NUMBER(5,0), “WORK_CITY” VARCHAR2(100), “WORK_COUNTRY” VARCHAR2(100), “TESTSAL” NUMBER );
When the numeric columns, e.g.: MGR, are defined with precision,e.g.: NUMBER(14,0), the converter is able to handle the conversion. So in the above JSON output, you would see the value “ MGR: 9047”.
When the numeric columns, e.g.: TESTSAL, are defined without precision, e.g.: NUMBER, the convertor converts this into a BYTE array and outputs this into the JSON. Hence the value is: “AeS7O40u/lY+QxzguxN0y/x/PcCXu7UV4y6aX2i/jS1riYg2bNzSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==”
How this can be handled is explained in the section: Bytes, Decimals, Numerics of the previously mentioned blog post. I would recommend reading this section as well.
In our case, we do not have the option of updating the original table in the database. We did not like the approach of defining a query in the database, which had the appropriate precision definition, nor having the connector use this query.
We overcame this conversion by adopting the Single Message Transforms (SMT).
Single Message Transforms in Kafka Connect
Blog: How to Use Single Message Transforms in Kafka Connect
Below is the SMT defined in the configuration above:
transforms=Cast transforms.Cast.type=org.apache.kafka.connect.transforms.Cast$Value transforms.Cast.spec=TESTSAL:int32
Below is the sample JSON output, as you can see the conversion happens:
{“schema”:{“type”:”struct”,”fields”:[{“type”:”int32",”optional”:true,”field”:”EMPNO”},{“type”:”string”,”optional”:true,”field”:”ENAME”},{“type”:”string”,”optional”:true,”field”:”JOB”},{“type”:”int64",”optional”:true,”field”:”MGR”},{“type”:”int64",”optional”:true,”name”:”org.apache.kafka.connect.data.Timestamp”,”version”:1,”field”:”HIREDATE”},{“type”:”double”,”optional”:true,”field”:”SAL”},{“type”:”double”,”optional”:true,”field”:”COMM”},{“type”:”int32",”optional”:true,”field”:”DEPTNO”},{“type”:”string”,”optional”:true,”field”:”WORK_CITY”},{“type”:”string”,”optional”:true,”field”:”WORK_COUNTRY”},{“type”:”int32",”optional”:true,”field”:”TESTSAL”}],”optional”:false,”name”:”TEST_DEMO_EMP”},”payload”:{“EMPNO”:10000,”ENAME”:”Anon-1k”,”JOB”:”Analyst”,”MGR”:9047,”HIREDATE”:1085270400000,”SAL”:1300.0,”COMM”:null,”DEPTNO”:40,”WORK_CITY”:”Tokyo”,”WORK_COUNTRY”:”Japan”,”TESTSAL”:2100}}
Avro Convertors
It is generally recommended that the message be in Avro format. Below is the configuration:
key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter header.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter value.converter=io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter value.converter.schema.registry.url=http://localhost:8081
key.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter header.converter=org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter value.converter=io.confluent.connect.avro.AvroConverter value.converter.schema.registry.url=http://localhost:8081
Key & Header Convertor
The Avro converter does not work for Key & Header; they have to be a JSON convertor.
Handling Numeric data type
The configuration needs to have the SMT defined in case there is a number column in the table without any precision. If it’s not defined, an exception is below: | https://medium.com/hashmapinc/data-sync-to-snowflake-using-confluent-kafka-connect-part-1-fbe0e64347ad | ['Venkat Sekar'] | 2020-12-08 18:39:09.088000+00:00 | ['Data', 'Cloud Computing', 'Kafka', 'Snowflake', 'Open Source'] |
The Beauty of Your Words | #DecemberSelfCare
The Beauty of Your Words
Photo by Nikita Kachanovsky on Unsplash
when I think
about a treat with sound
I always think of music.
the beautiful melodies
from Lee Ji Eun,
or the upbeat tunes
of Blackpink.
in total irony
i forget —
as a writer —
the beauty of sounds
as they come in words
when they come as rhymes
when the rhythm’s just right.
the sounds of funny words
like moist and yeast
the calming sounds of words
like mist and joy. | https://medium.com/the-brain-is-a-noodle/the-beauty-of-your-words-fd24e7e03278 | ['Lucy Dan 蛋小姐', 'She Her 她'] | 2020-12-25 19:20:28.891000+00:00 | ['Sound', 'Poetry Prompts', 'Poetry', 'Beauty', 'Self Care'] |
Fiction | Wondering the hard time, when will it end…? as I feel so weak to face it again tomorrow. Wondering the hopes, thinking off if I don’t have anything left to keep it staying in my soul. Asking too much the tragedies, as I feel too much afraid if some time I can’t continue to survive in the day of storm.
All I want is to see people start doing the humanity each other, everyday. When the day begins.
All I want is to face the sweet things with the loves, as we care each other. Without stopping, without any ends, until we pass through.
As all I want is to feel the freedom, touching my heart when I begin my early morning, keeps warming me from the extremely cold night.
But wars are still taking place. Coloring the beauties to turn up to be dark, faded slowly where the black comes along.
Screaming and shouting scare the birds to fly high in the sky. Crying has trapped any children to dream their wishes. Then a big question stuck in me, “why?”
The innocents lying cold on the land. No words no voice. Some keep running to be at the shelter, saving their soul from the eye of the guns.
So let me create the world where you and I are in the same land. Talking and laughing. Sharing and smiling. Because we deserve to feel that peace ever.
And everyday, I’m trying to start moving my feet. Walking pass through, where I can feel the wind wishpering me a message… a message of good bye of the sorrow. And begins greeting the world by saying hello.
The pain seems so real. But it’s hard to be explained. Tears that have been blown away, never enough to make us cry again tomorrow. As I feel so tired.
Let me begins with my world, my wish, my own fiction. I want to hug you everyday. And don’t let me stop doing that, because I love you. Because I’m caring of your sorrow.
I wanna draw the birds. Painting the rainbow. Asking the storm to be friendly. Thunder’s becoming friend. Cause I don’t have any voice to shout aksing help. This time to end it.
Yesterday passed, we live our lives in tragic. They won’t hear us, they won’t come. God, please make us to keep standing by our legs, when we have no more strength. This seems like over, trapped and there’s no way out.
So let them in to my fiction. I will tell them a happy ending story. So they can wash away the fear inside. They can go through together.
I don’t know about tomorrow. The jail keep in closed. The gloomy days still coloring up above. Cloud can’t deliver good news. Looks like and feels like in hell. High water temperature, burning away our skin. No more left.
And if my fiction never taken place, please bring us to a better side. This crying is the witness, they destroy us like the animals.
If my fiction’s still not enough, send us Your love. We could be by Your side anytime. Die in peace… | https://medium.com/@breakingreza/fiction-4ea4531c6a84 | ['Reza Fahlevi'] | 2020-12-14 15:49:49.254000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'War', 'Fiction', 'Poem', 'Violence'] |
How I Dealt With My Cat’s Death | The day is not over yet
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.” — Epictetus
After my mom told me that my cat has just died, I was speechless. I hung up off the phone and took a moment for myself.
I don’t know if you are a cat or dog person. I don’t know if you like animals as I do. But that was painful for me.
My dad died in a car accident when I was eight years old. I got my pet one year after that. Our door was opened, and the cat went it. We thought that she was from one of our neighbors, but she wasn’t, and she ended up living there with us. I grew up and became an adult having this pet making me company.
Photo by João Vítor on Facebook
I was feeling sad, but I didn’t cry at that moment. I closed my eyes, put my head down on the table, and started to breathe slowly. I don’t know if my partners notice something strange about me at that moment. I frankly didn’t care. I just want to have a moment for myself. We still had a lot of work to do to finish the big project, and now I had to deal with this awful news.
I kept breathing slowly for about ten minutes. While I was doing that, I was thinking about the things that I still had to do. Being an entrepreneur is difficult. It’s not like I could leave, and someone else would finish my part. If I was an employee, maybe that could happen. I had chosen the life of an entrepreneur, and now I had to take responsibility.
I opened my eyes and started to work again. I didn’t tell anyone what has just happened. Nobody didn’t ask me why I was with my head down for ten minutes. They probably thought that I was too tired of working restlessly for the past couple of weeks and was trying to recover my energies a little bit. In some way, that was what I was doing.
It was the middle of the afternoon. I knew that I would have to work late again. Frankly, I was unsure if I was going to sleep home that night. The project we were finishing needed to be live the next morning. There was a scheduled presentation, and the client was counting on us. I had to focus on that.
The night arrived, and we still had a lot of work to do. Besides my three partners, we had two freelancers working with us from their homes for this project. As we started to be afraid of not finishing on time, we called both of them to work together with us in the office. We ordered pizza for everybody and kept working all night long.
It was 6 AM, and everybody finished their parts. The presentation was going to happen at 9 AM, and we had a meeting with the client at 8 AM. However, I still hadn’t finished all my parts. It was hard for me to keep working that night. I was able to work, but I wasn’t at my full speed. Everybody left the office to go to their homes to rest a little, but I stayed there. | https://byrslf.co/how-i-dealt-with-my-cats-death-7ecc3b08f903 | ['João V Souza'] | 2021-05-09 06:17:22.025000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Personal Development', 'Life Lessons', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Beyourself'] |
Statistics are boring. The journey is fun. | The year 2020 has been nothing short of a Bollywood movie for me. For the longest time in recent years, I was on the wrong side of every health metric one can think of — the weighing scale, BMI, glucose levels, lipid levels, etc. This affected not only my physical health, but also took a toll on my personal relationships. Everyone around me started worrying about my health and I was not serious about it. How many times have we all promised ourselves a desired goal but later came up with an excuse for not giving it our best to achieve it? I was no different in that aspect.
One afternoon in June’19, while taking my nap, I woke up to a sudden intense pain. The pain was so bad that I thought my end was near. My wife and my 3yo drove me to the ER where I was diagnosed with kidney stones. Until then, I had never imagined my health could deteriorate, or my body functions could have any issue. This was an awakening. The pain lasted a few days, and the aftermath of the pain lingered for a few weeks.
During that time, I made a resolve to do whatever it takes to take charge of my health. The first half of my movie started exactly today (Sept 8th) in 2019. The first month was all about sticking to a plan. It turned out to be the foundation of my journey. On the very first day, my commitment was tested when I said my first “no” to a favorite dish for lunch. It felt like a small victory. Over the rest of the month, although the needle was slowly moving in my favor, there was no difference at large — I was still a “metrics topper,” but, something inside me had fundamentally changed. I was no longer making excuses! In fact, whenever I felt that there was a slight chance that I was losing my resolve, I would push harder. Earlier, I couldn’t say no to a delicacy, even if it meant having 2 dinners. But now, there was a 42-day period when I was living on just water. During this time, I endured pain in my legs for 2 months with ice packs on both of my legs most of the day. But when it was time to exercise, I would tell myself that “the pain was temporary”. Around the last week of Jan’20, we had planned a holiday in Hawaii. The flight was departing SJC at 7am. The previous night, I slept at 11:30pm and set an alarm for 1:30am to make sure that I didn’t skip my morning run. After I finished my run by 4am, we got ready and left the house by 5:30am. Over the course of 5 1/2 months, I clocked 1011 miles (with 356 miles in just the 28 days of Feb’20) and had lost 110lbs in the process.
The second half of the movie started on March 1 2020 when I landed in India. At the time, there was not much going on in India or in the US about Covid-19. I thought that the virus was only in parts of Asia. So we came to India for my mother-in-law’s first death anniversary rituals. After performing all her rituals, we were waiting to fly back to the US on 31st March. But India had Janata Curfew on 22nd March. After a lot of drama, my family and I had made our way back to Mumbai in the early morning of 23rd March, from Meerut. On 25th March, India went into complete lockdown.
Never in the last 15 years, since I left for the US in 2005, did I get a chance to stay at home for so long. So, I was going to make the most of this opportunity. We had a lot of fun at home. Being fond of cooking, I made lots of delicious food. Among other things, I baked the best chocolate cake ever and made some fabulous rasmalai with 4 gallons of milk! I myself did not have any of it for fear of gaining back all the lost inches. This went on till the end of April.
During that time, I was following the news about all that was going on in the world and I realized the privileges that we all have. There were scores of migrant families who were suffering right outside my house in Mumbai. Initially, I did not know what to do. I figured out that these were the people who had built the city and were now walking thousands of kilometers to get back home. With the monetary help of a few of my friends back in the US, we decided to help these migrants with basic necessities. To my surprise, many more friends and colleagues joined hands in this journey. We quickly put together a team of 20 volunteers (primarily friends and family) in India and started distributing essentials to support the migrant families. I was worried that one of our team members might unfortunately catch the virus themselves. With donors constantly joining our campaign, we gained momentum and took extreme precaution to not contract the virus ourselves. So far, we have distributed 2400 liters of water, 2140 packets of biscuits and 1100 female hygiene products. Apart from that, the food supplies we have donated so far total 110,000lbs — enough to create a meal for 540,000 people — and thereby have helped 2000 families.
Behind all these statistics, lies a human story: of my family and friends coming together during my weight-loss journey and helping me maintain focus for the entire 5 1/2 months, of our community of 600+ donors that has trusted our team with their hopes and donations, and of the innumerable families who have humbly accepted the support we could extend during this time of crisis.
It took me 37 years to find myself and learn what truly gives me happiness. I hope that this journal could be of help to someone who is working on an ambitious personal goal — in taking your first step, or better yet, finding that elusive breakthrough. I am afraid I was a very good “bad example”. Today marks the first anniversary of my first step towards making a change. It has been an unimaginable journey of 365 days. Today, I sincerely believe that everyone can positively impact the world. They can be a beacon of hope to anyone out there who feels that 2020 has been a terrible year. For me, the last 12 months have had many highs and lows, but the highs have been so impactful and gratifying, that it has been the best year of my life.
My movie, however, isn’t over just yet. Going forward, I am going to celebrate this day, 8th September, as my other birthday. Because this is when I embarked on my new way of life.
Happy 1st birthday to me! :) | https://medium.com/@alokrathore/statistics-are-boring-the-journey-is-fun-22cab1fde9e5 | ['Alok Rathore'] | 2020-09-08 14:39:35.529000+00:00 | ['2020', 'Milestones', 'Birthday'] |
Principles of Object Oriented Programming — Part Three: Polymorphism | Now, polymorphism sounds a little scary but if you look it up in the dictionary, all it means is, “the condition of occuring in several different forms.” In the context of programming, it describes methods that have the same name, but perform difference logic. As with the other posts in this series, I will use Java for my code examples.
In Java, polymorphism can take on two types:
Static
Dynamic
Static Polymorphism
This is where methods in the same class can have the same name but different parameter variations. In Java, static polymorphism is achieved with method overloading. The parameters or input data into the method can vary in 3 ways:
The number of parameters
The data types of parameter
The order that the parameters are declared (not recommended as it can be confusing)
Together the method name and the declared parameters are known as the method signature. Any of the above variations result in a different method signature, which will allow the compiler to wire up the correct method body at compile time. This is known as static or early binding, as it occurs at compile time, before the program runs. As a result, program execution is much faster.
As a side note, any static, final or private methods are always statically bound, as the compiler knows they cannot be overridden at runtime.
Dynamic Polymorphism
Java also supports dynamic polymorphism. It is achieved through method overriding, not to be confused with overloading.
I already covered overriding in my last post on inheritance. But to quickly recap, if a child class and a parent class both have a method with the same name, the child class’s method takes precedence. In this scenario, the polymorphic method exists in multiple classes (child and parent) and has the same signature but different functionality.
The variation of method body called will depend on the type of object instantiated. The compiler will not have this information at compile time, it will be worked out at runtime.
The example above demonstrates how the move() method version called depends on the object being instantiated. As a general rule, unless the method is labelled as static, final or private, the method called will belong the object type (right side of the equals sign) rather than the reference type (left side of the equals sign).
In addition, because method binding occurs at runtime, program execution using dynamic binding will be slower than static binding. The advantage of dynamic binding is the added flexibility it gives you. Below is a typical example of where this flexibility can help you.
We might declare a new ArrayList like below.
We use a reference type of List and an object type of ArrayList. Later, we decide that a LinkedList object is better suited to the task. Because ArrayList and LinkedList both subclass List, we can easily swap out the object type to the LinkedList object without breaking the rest of our code.
Summary
Below is a table summarising the difference between static and dynamic polymorphism.
Method overloading allows methods that perform similar/related functions to share the same name. Overloading can also be applied to class constructors, allowing you to instantiate different but related objects based on what parameters are available at the time. Method overriding allows classes to share generalised behaviour, reducing code duplication. It also allows sub classes to specialise where required.
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If you found this article useful I’d love you to become a subscriber to my blog. I will be dropping articles regularly on all things coding. Knowing I have people reading would mean the world.
As always, thanks for reading! | https://medium.com/@the-inquisitive-dev/principles-of-object-oriented-programming-part-three-polymorphism-660b6b5db491 | ['The Inquisitive Dev'] | 2020-11-02 21:22:48.066000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Coding', 'Object Oriented'] |
What the World Needs Now | I pondered, “What The World Needs Now,” in a blog post awhile back. It felt like it was time for an update.
When I see the often overt hate speech that proliferates so freely in the pseudo anonymity of social media I feel two powerful emotions: anger and sadness.
I am angry that any person would so hurtfully denigrate another due to the color of their skin, how they choose to love, their ethnicity or their political beliefs. And I am sad that so many jump on bandwagons of hate without a second thought. Criss Jami notes that, “The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them.” And too many listen without thinking.
What the world needs now is thoughtful people — Slow to judge, courageous enough to share constructive feedback, and quick to forgive.
The world needs people who challenge every paradigm, including their own; people who are careful in judgement, especially if the other person has lived a different experience than yours; people who ask meaningful questions designed to clarify and not to incite additional negativity; people who consider how forgiveness may be the key to clearing suffering from your own heart. The ultimate benefit of forgiveness often comes to the the one doing the forgiving.
As a youth growing up in the 1960s, my father repeatedly reminded me not to judge the many by the behaviors of the few. He taught me about Dr. King, Shirley Chisholm, Caesar Chavez and the other names who were becoming legendary in real time during my youth. My parents were activists who preached two powerful messages: We are at our best when we can create an environment of opportunity for all. And that as individuals we an be a positive force for change.
Hate can’t survive in such an environment and creating it begins in our own hearts.
“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining,” Congresswomen Chisholm wrote. “You make progress by implementing ideas.”
And that requires faith.
What the world needs now is faith — Faith that good can ultimately overcome evil and love can conquer hate.
Real change is very hard to implement. Entrenched interests, prejudice and ignorance are powerful impediments. Change often foments fear. When we live in fear we can’t focus on faith.
It’s easy for fear to invade even the strongest constitutions. The problems we face often feel so huge and complicated that it’s hard to know where to begin to address them. And so it is with the challenge of finding faith in fearful times.
Start small. Find your faith first in the little things. During the summer months, Colleen and I begin each morning with a beach walk, early enough that it feels like we own it. We contemplate the steadfast beauty and power of the ocean and the transformative majesty of a sunrise. Holding hands, we felt deep gratitude for a partnership of over 40 years where faith in our union helped us through the though times and filled us with gratitude in the good times.
We remember the wisdom of Mother Teresa: “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
What the world needs now is resilience.
The powerful social movements of our day are reminders that the vast majority of us have survived unfair and unfortunate treatment. And each of us has caused pain, often inadvertently. We can choose to harbor energy sucking anger about all of this. Or we can channel our experience to transform who we are and become role models to help transform the world.
Despite our best efforts to be good servants, there will always be someone trying to spin our goodness in negative ways. Almost always, within these individuals is great suffering that unfortunately manifests in ways that hurt others. When we begin to understand that everyone is fighting a battle we know nothing about, we can also better practice forgiveness. Our own setbacks are inevitable and can be valuable learning experiences. A lifetime of working to be a better person can only be shattered by circumstance if you let it.
Kent M. Keith, a philosopher I had the pleasure of meeting years ago, wrote his ‘Paradoxical Commandments” on a napkin while in college. Today they circulate the globe as wisdom thousands turn to for strength. I treasure them all, but my favorite is, “Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. — Give the world the best you have anyway.”
The scars each of us carry mean we were stronger than whatever tried to hurt us. Think of each of them as badges of honor, earned in the eternal battle between good and evil. Whatever curve balls life throws at you, keep breathing and keep doing good things… anyway.
And finally..
What the world needs now is love.
That’s the title of the great 1965 Burt Bacharach / Hal David hit first made popular by Jackie DeShannon.
Surround yourself with people who know you for who you really are and share your ideals. And gently remove the negative and the judgemental from your relationship portfolio. Life is short. Change what you can change, accept what you can’t change and, most importantly, remove yourself from the unacceptable. Invest the bulk of your time on projects in sync with your purpose and in people who care as much about you as you do about them. Help one another and watch the magic happen.
We live in a world where many would seek to divide us for their personal gain. Let us find ways to unite together. Spread love and light whenever and wherever you can.
We live in a world where despite your best efforts to serve with honor, there will always be someone who may try to spin your truth in a different direction. Keep trying, keep going and keep the faith. The right path will ultimately become clear and time and tenacity will take you in the right direction.
And if you’re feeling like you’ll never make it, remember the words of Shannon L. Adler. “You will face your greatest opposition when you are closest to your biggest miracle.”
We live in a world that is in desperate need of miracles. Whether or not you believe it at the moment, YOU are a miracle.
Go out and do miraculous things.
What the world needs now… is You. | https://medium.com/@scott-westerman/what-the-world-needs-now-edf9d66381ff | ['Scott Westerman'] | 2020-12-26 03:52:11.779000+00:00 | ['World', 'Love', 'Inspiration', 'Resilience', 'Faith'] |
Fourth Law of the Interface: Interfaces evolve | Charles Darwin never employed the concepts of /evolution/ or /ecosystem/ in his most important and revolutionary text: On the Origin of Species (1859[1975]). However, he set the foundations for an integrated theory of evolution and wrote many pages about species, variety, diversity, extinction, and natural selection. Biological species undergo mutations — changes in their genetic material — caused by copying errors during cell division, exposure to radiation, chemical mutagens, viruses, or generated by the organism itself. In recent years human manipulation of genetic material has also contributed to this process. Mutation is an essential source of variation, which is the emergence of a new individual in an ecosystem.
Darwin realized that ecosystem populations can’t expand indefinitely because the resources are limited. Then, the new individuals must compete for survival with the old ones. If the mutation assists the organism in continuing to exist, the individual will adapt to the environment and reproduce; if not, it will be eliminated by natural selection. Most mutations are deleterious; evolution progresses through the few individuals that have favorable mutations. When a species generates a new different branch, biologists talk about a bifurcation or forking process.
Darwin’s theory integrated into the same picture the emergence of new species by variation and the destruction of non-adapted species. The basic principle behind this process — also known as the ‘Darwin machine’ — can be reduced to two words: natural selection, the key concept of the Darwinist approach.
Evolution of technology
If the Galapagos Islands ecosystem attracted Charles Darwin’s attention to the diversity of life and the emergence of new living forms, Karl Marx — who had read, cited and much appreciated Darwin’s contributions — was surprised by the production of more than five hundred different models of hammers in Birmingham (Marx, 1990). Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to witness the explosion of technological species in the 20th century. However, during the last decades, hundreds of researchers from different scientific fields have developed a Darwinian approach to technology evolution, for example George Basalla, author of the classic The Evolution of Technology (1988). Basalla considered that the human-made world contains a far greater variety of things than are required to meet our fundamental needs. This diversity of objects is the result of technological evolution.
Researchers like Basalla advocate the idea that innovation and diversity of technical objects have been present at all times and in all places where human culture has developed. Without variety and natural selection, the life on Earth would be composed of the same species as millions of years ago: a soup of microorganisms. By the same logic, without innovation and diversity the Homo sapiens would still use primitive silex tools and silicon digital machines would not have been created.
Techno-Cambrian explosions
Around 530 million years ago there was a sudden increase in new species on Earth, better known as the Cambrian explosion. The fossil record demonstrates a rapid –‘rapid’ in evolutionary terms, that is millions of years — diversification of organisms and an increased complexity of their organization (Gould, 1989). Although it is not easy to understand what happened 530 million years ago, we can analyze and reflect on modern techno- Cambrian explosions of new interfaces. Like in biological systems, at certain moments of the technological evolution there are bursts of new species that modify the configuration of the socio-technological network (Kauffman, 1995; Barabasi, 2010).
The evolution of technology offers many other case-stories of Cambrian explosions, like the sudden increase in aircraft models in the first two decades of the 20th century and after World War II, or the upsurge of hundreds of different smartphones and sneakers in the 21st century. Media have also gone through Cambrian explosions, for example the multiplication of radio stations in the 1920s, the increase in superheroes in comic books in the late 1930s and 1940s, the proliferation of television channels in the 1980s, or the boom of blogs and social media in the 2000s and mobile apps in the 2010s.
If variety, then selection
In the socio-technological network, variation and selection are indivisible processes: an increase in the technological diversity is usually followed by a selection process that puts things in order and establishes a new equilibrium. When an interface adapts to the socio-technological network, it is selected and chosen for replication. Or in other words: when users decide to adopt a technology – that is, they decide to join the interface and interact with the rest of the actors – at the same time they are discarding competing interfaces. Discarded interfaces may be condemned to extinction... or not (Sixth Law).
The famous Darwinian ‘struggle for survival’, like the rest of the eco-evolutionary metaphor, cannot be automatically applied to technology evolution. More than an individual struggle for survival, in the ecology of interfaces it is possible to identify a collective struggle where different actors -users, designers, producers, political institutions, economic groups, military hierarchies, consumer organizations, etc. – try to condition the development of a technology (Ziman, 2000).
Variation and the Long Tail
Digital technology facilitates the explosion of new species and, in certain cases, makes their survival easier. To record a song, write a text, take a photo, edit a video or develop an application has never been so simple. To distribute them has never been so easy. Millions of songs, texts, pictures, videos and mobile applications can be discovered, compared, bought and downloaded in an almost infinite number of online databases. In a brick-and-mortar economy the selection process condemned many goods and species to extinction. In the digital economy, the non-selected goods and species do not disappear: they survive in the long tail (Anderson, 2006).
From the perspective of the Laws of the Interface it could be said that the long tail is like an ecological reserve of cultural artifacts (texts, songs, photos, videos, applications) that have not reached the critical mass for surviving in the mass-market environment. If in the traditional market these species were condemned to extinction, in a networked environment they survive in their own digital niches and interact with a small but often devoted community of consumers. In this sense the long tail shrinks the mortality of cultural beings. | https://uxdesign.cc/fourth-law-of-the-interface-interfaces-evolve-3e316cc49013 | ['Carlos A. Scolari'] | 2019-10-27 09:11:19.313000+00:00 | ['Interfaces', 'Evolution', 'Ecology', 'Design', 'Technology'] |
Jaws (1975) • 45 Years Later | Jaws (1975) • 45 Years Later
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community, it’s up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
In a film as near-perfect as Jaws, it’s almost impossible to pick out highlights. With a few minor exceptions, every scene helps progress a story that’s as relentless as it is simple; finely-crafted in the tiniest details but never self-conscious about them.
The beginning is as good a place to start as anywhere. The opening few minutes of Jaws illustrate why it remains such an effective movie 45 years after its release in the summer of 1975, even for those who’ve seen it more times than they can count in an era when VFX has vastly improved.
The first shot is underwater, creeping through murk and ocean flora. It’s teasing audience who know they’re watching a movie about a shark. The soundtrack is ominous thanks to John Williams’ famous Jaws theme, one forever associated with sharks now. And there’s even a touch of shrieking strings, bringing the shower scene from Psycho (1960) to mind… and this segues directly into a young guy playing the harmonica at what seems to be a college kid’s beach party.
The sea felt sinister, but now we’re on land, so we must be safe, hearing jollier music… right?
Already the fundamental power of Jaws is clear: it’s not a story about a shark but a story about water. A liquid that covers most of the planet and in which humans are almost completely helpless. The shark is more of a convenience for the narrative; a way of concentrating that threat into deeper unease — rather like how the fire in The Towering Inferno (1974) was a vivid manifestation of wider fears about technological hubris.
From this late-night party emerge two young characters, Chrissie (Susan Backlinie) and Tom (Jonathan Filley), who leave the group to go for a swim. Chrissie strips off and enters the sea (looking for all the world like a coed unwisely taking a shower in one of the 1980s slashers Jaws helped influence), while Tom collapses drunk on the beach.
Next, in one of the most striking compositions of a film where the photography’s always careful despite looking naturalistic, Chrissie dives beneath the surface… and as she does so her arm rises above the water, resembling a shark’s dorsal fin, symmetrically balanced in the frame by a buoy. We notice, perhaps, just how tiny both her arm and the buoy are compared with the sea. Now we cut to the underwater again, but this time the implications are unmistakable: it’s a shark’s point of view, but we don’t yet see the creature itself.
Certainly, we don’t see this shark while it eats Chrissie. We mostly see the ocean. The buoy to which she briefly clings is a pathetic and useless substitute for land, and the shot foreshadows the way Roy Scheider’s character likewise clings to the mast of a sinking ship in the climax: another futile attempt by humans to impose their will on the sea.
Tom, meanwhile, is still on the shore, oblivious to Chrissie’s plight. The gentle remnants of a wave wash over him as if warning us that even those on the land aren’t going to be safe from the water for long.
But the next scene is as different as could be. It’s now daytime, the colours are bright and pastel and the mood domestic as police chief Brody (Scheider) and his wife Ellen (Lorraine Gary) chat away. “Somebody feed the dogs,” she says, and there’s a distinct pause after the word “feed” as if alluding back to what we’ve just watched. The Jaws of myth (and marketing) may be a terrifying thriller, but it’s also a film brimming with humour.
This vein of comedy continues as their son (Chris Rebello) enters the house with a bleeding hand. “I got hit by a vampire!” he exclaims happily. (It remains a mystery why he says hit and not bit), then asks his parents “can I go swimming?”
And in just those couple of lines, screenwriter Carl Gottlieb and promising young director Steven Spielberg have managed to casually sow two more seeds in the audience’s mind: the idea this shark is a monster (something almost supernaturally lethal like a vampire) and the idea it will soon get personal for Brody. All this has taken around six minutes, and it’s a rarely paralleled masterpiece of an opening.
Indeed, what makes Jaws such an achievement is that it seems so uncomplicated and unfussy on the surface despite being so meticulously constructed. It’s mostly driven by a forward narrative rather than by contemplation (as Gottlieb said, “nobody but the story was the star”), and though the three principal characters — chief Brody, scientist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and shark-hunter Sam Quint (Robert Shaw) — never feel unbelievable, no time’s wasted in giving them complex motivations or backstories. Those emerge from their performances.
It’s also a virtually non-stop film where only one sequence is questionable — the flabby beginning of the 4th of July beach scene, which doesn’t add much to what audiences already know. Apart from that, every moment contributes to the whole endeavour; whether to push the narrative forward, crank up the tension, lull audiences into false security, or develop characters. Yet it never feels hyperactive. In fact, despite the urgency of the situation it portrays, most of the time it has the same relaxed atmosphere of a summer beach resort where it’s set.
Indeed, two of the most powerful scenes are among the stillest: the confrontation between Brody and a woman who’s lost her child to the shark (where the town’s hubbub seems to cease to focus solely on her fury), and Quint’s account of a shark attack on shipwrecked sailors during WWII.
The plot is well-known and straightforward. After the attack on Chrissie, the shark strikes three more times off the fictional town of Amity, New England. (The movie was actually shot in Martha’s Vineyard near Cape Cod, with nearly all the ocean scenes shot offshore using real boats). Chief Brody, a newcomer to both his job and community, wants to close the beaches to protect people, but the mayor (Murray Hamilton) initially won’t let him, concerned about the effect on tourism.
Eventually, it’s accepted even by the hesitant mayor that this shark must be hunted down and killed. And so, just a few days after the attack on Chrissie, Brody sets off in a small craft (the Orca) with shark expert Hooper an irascible sailor Quint. The rest is cinematic history….
Broadly, it’s the same plot as Peter Benchley’s best-selling 1974 novel but trimmed down. In the book, for example, Ellen and Hooper have an affair, the mayor has links to organised crime, and class issues loom larger. In Spielberg’s film, there’s certainly a class-conflict aspect to working man Quint’s relationship with the wealthy and educated Hooper, but the book and film remain different enough that Spielberg reportedly asked Dreyfuss not to read the source material.
In other words, Jaws the movie directs its attention more single-mindedly to the water than Jaws the book, with its political and sexual shenanigans. The water is a constant, usually shown or being discussed even during the moments on terra firma. The shark barely appears at all before the climax, and nor are there as many attacks as its reputation might suggest.
The creature strikes five times in all, with the fatalities including a child and a dog (surprising for Hollywood tastes), but Quint’s is the only death we actually see in detail. This relatively low body count and restrained gore helped get Jaws a PG-certificate when it was released in the US, but it’s a stretch to consider this family-friendly even today. At the time, Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times warned that “ Jaws is too gruesome for children and likely to turn the stomach of the impressionable at any age.”
Surely the blood and guts are in the service of deeper meaning, though? At the time of its release, many certainly thought so. Yet the range of interpretations conferred on Jaws perhaps reflected the preoccupations of the mid-1970s more than anything inherent in the film itself: the shark allegedly represented the silent and deadly Viet Cong, or Communism, or phallic male aggressiveness, or economic decay, or even nuclear weapons. The latter is an especially unpersuasive theory, supported only by one tenuous connection-that the USS Indianapolis, on which Quint had sailed in the war, delivered parts of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima.
The land story, meanwhile, was suggested by some to recall Watergate, perhaps helped by Hamilton’s vague resemblance to President Nixon. (More recently this same fictional mayor’s reluctance to close the beaches has been compared to US governors unwilling to impose social lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Much more persuasive is the position of critic Antonia Quirke, who argues that Jaws doesn’t have any special meaning. Just as the shark kills and eats without any subtle motive, the makers of Jaws entertain simply because that’s what they do. That doesn’t mean it’s a dumb film. Indeed, the absence of any characteristics in the shark apart from hunger is a stroke of genius; nobody can ever accuse Jaws of anthropomorphising the way that they might King Kong, for example, though it does manipulate our bloodthirsty selves into rooting slightly more for the shark than for the people in the first half, at least.
Gottlieb, Spielberg, and a team including cinematographer Bill Butler extract a huge amount from the potent land/sea contrast, too, even extending it to water/air contrasts with some shots that are partly beneath the surface and partly above. More than half the movie is set in the town of Amity, so most of the time the sea is out there, threatening but not too familiar. This heightens the tension in the second half after the Orcasets out, and indeed the real terror at the end is not that the shark is prowling, but that the boat is sinking.
Even the three main characters are differentiated by their approach to the water. Quint is the old salty sea dog, Hooper is the scientist fascinated by the sea but detached from it (symbolically so by his shark cage), and Brody is downright afraid of the water, giving him the clearest arc in the film as he grapples with his fear.
The three main players meld beautifully in these roles, much of their success ironically coming from the long delays in filming caused by the malfunctioning mechanical shark. All from theatre backgrounds, they were able to improvise and develop their characters while waiting for shooting to resume, despite some offscreen clashes (especially between Shaw and Dreyfuss).
None of the actors was a major star in ’75, though Scheider had come to prominence in William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971), while Dreyfuss had received award nominations for The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) and, before that, George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973). But the characters they create are among the most memorable of the decade, and of Spielberg’s oeuvre.
Quint may be the most boldly drawn-almost a parody, singing “yo ho ho and a bottle of rum” as the Orca sets sail. Like many Spielberg characters, he’s obsessive. One of the best-known scenes in Jaws tries to explain that obsession as Quint recalls being adrift in the sea with fellow sailors for days after the sinking of the Indianapolis in 1945, the survivors gradually picked off by sharks.
There’s still controversy about who wrote this iconic speech because it’s not in the novel, and there’s an intriguing subtext to it as well. Several details Quint mentions are incorrect or self-contradictory. Although the Indianapolisincident undoubtedly occurred, this raises the question of whether such a teller of tall tales was really there to witness it…
At other times Jaws builds character through briefer touches; for example when Hooper struggles to control his shock after seeing the chewed-up remains of Chrissie in the morgue. And particularly strong insights come from contrasts in the way they’re portrayed. Consider, for example, how Brody is such a meek klutz in an Amity shop buying sign-painting equipment before closing the beaches, while Quint (in a deleted scene available on YouTube) completely dominates another shop that he enters to buy piano wire. Or consider how the seafaring novice Brody is still learning to tie a knot at exactly the same moment the old hand Quint is strapping himself into his chair on the Orca, after noticing a tiny movement in his line.
The leads are inseparable from Jaws in the collective memory now. It would surely have been a lesser movie with Jan-Michael Vincent as Hooper (as the studio wanted), and would’ve sunk without a trace had Charlton Heston succeeded in getting the part of Brody. But some other actors under consideration, like Jon Voight as Hooper and Robert Duvall as Brody, might have become part of the legend too.
Few others stand out, apart from Hamilton’s wonderfully insincere mayor with his lurid jackets, and many smaller parts were taken by Martha’s Vineyard locals. Screenwriter Gottlieb appears as the town’s newspaper editor, novelist Benchley cameos as a TV reporter, while Spielberg’s voice can be heard as a coast guard.
And then, of course, there is the titular star: the mechanical shark nicknamed ‘Bruce’ after Spielberg’s lawyer, a relatively realistic Great White though sleeker than any living animal its length would be.
The unreliability of the three complex shark models and budget overspends, with a planned schedule of 50-odd days growing to nearly 160, led the film to be nicknamed Flaws. But the setbacks were perhaps crucial to its success. Not only did they give the actors time to hone their performances, but it’s also because filming with Bruce the shark was so difficult that it was rarely seen until the ending. Instead, it existed mostly in everyone’s imaginations, stoked by Williams’ iconic theme.
Flaws wasn’t expected to be a major success. “It was considered a big B-movie”, Gottlieb recalled. Universal had pinned more hopes on The Hindenburg (a now nearly-forgotten disaster movie redeemed only by a gripping closing sequence). Spielberg himself was still a relative newcomer to feature films, and while Duel (1971) and Sugarland Express (1974) had been well-received, neither was a big hit. Indeed, Spielberg worried that Jaws might be too similar to Duel and could unhelpfully pigeonhole him as a “shark-and-truck director.”
But scepticism about its fortunes was soon replaced by huge confidence, and the heavily-advertised Jaws opened in the US on more than 400 screens simultaneously — a remarkable statistic back then, if small by the standards of the modern blockbusters it became the template for. It became the highest-grossing movie of all time, beating The Godfather (1972) and The Exorcist (1973), although Star Wars (1977) trumped it a few years later.
Jaws got nominated for ‘Best Picture’ at the Academy Awards, too, though it only picked up three Oscars. Alongside its ‘Best Sound’ award, Verna Fields won for ‘Best Film Editing’ (it was in her swimming pool that the famous head-in-the-boat scene was shot after principal photography had finished and audience previews had started), and Williams for ‘Best Original Dramatic Score’. His music for Jaws is now considered a high point of film composing. Not always foreboding, it’s sometimes summery in an Aaron Copland style, sometimes exuberantly dramatic, and works so well that he went on to score nearly all Spielberg’s subsequent movies.
Critics were largely enthusiastic about Jaws, many singling out its humour as well as its thrills. “It’s a film that’s as frightening as The Exorcist, and yet it’s a nicer kind of fright, somehow more fun because we’re being scared by an outdoor-adventure saga instead of by a brimstone-and-vomit devil,” wrote Roger Ebert. “You will recognize it as nonsense, but it’s the sort of nonsense that can be a good deal of fun,” agreed Vincent Canby in The New York Times. It was “funny in a Woody Allen way,” said Pauline Kael in The New Yorker.
There were three sequels, none directed by Spielberg, though he had wanted to do one based on Quint’s Indianapolisanecdote. The first of them, Jaws 2 (1978), is workmanlike enough but ultimately a weaker retread of the original, emphasising the slasher idea with a focus on a group of teens.
For Jaws 3-D (1983), the first movie’s designer, Joe Alves, took the directorial reins and Richard Matheson (who’d written Duel but turned down Jaws for being too similar) wrote the screenplay. Reviews of that one were poor, and by the time Jaws: The Revenge (1987) arrived in cinemas, the franchise had sunk into ludicrousness, with a Great White shark somehow following the Brody family from Amity to the Bahamas!
As significant as its own sequels are the films Jaws helped influence. And not just the obvious cash-ins like Piranha (1978), Tentacles (1977), and Orca (1977), but a multitude of other killer-creature flicks like Grizzly (1976) and Day of the Animals (1977). In the latter two, Susan Backlinie (who played Chrissie in Jaws) again plays the first victim! She also appeared in Spielberg’s own mini-Jaws spoof, as part of his flop comedy 1941 (1979).
Jaws’ impact wasn’t limited to the screen. Time magazine called the 1975 season “The Summer of the Shark”. Toothy merchandise of every kind proliferated. The Killer Shark arcade game seen at the beginning of Jaws’s 4th of July scene turned out to be prescient. Universal opened its first Jaws theme-park ride in 1976. The movie thrust sharks into the centre of pop culture discussion, in much the same way Spielberg’s own Jurassic Park (1993) did with dinosaurs nearly 20 years later. Hooper’s description of “an eating machine, a miracle of evolution” could equally well apply to the T-Rex.
And, just as Hamilton’s mayor had warned, beach resorts suffered from low attendances!
Inevitably, the huge literature on Jaws seeks to identify its forerunners as well as its successors. There are the obvious monster movies, like Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), as well as a distinct element of the Western genre — Gottlieb even compares Jaws to “High Noon, pumped up” with its lone sheriff going out to confront evil. Beyond the cinema, Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play Enemy of the People, with its nervous small-town mayor, and Herman Melville’s 1851 tale of whale-obsession Moby-Dick are often cited.
These influences are undoubtedly real. Jaws, unlike the shark, didn’t appear out of thin air. But they aren’t why it works so well. The actors are great, the script makes every line a valuable contribution, the action sequences are exciting, the pacing is astutely judged, and the shark actually isn’t terrible even by the high standards of our photorealistic CGI era.
No, above all, this movie succeeds because of how Spielberg hones in so ruthlessly on connecting audiences through empathy, amusement, anticipation, apprehension, and shock. 45 years and innumerable viewings later, the ‘head in the boat’ shot still makes you jump. And that’s the point of Jaws: it convinces you there’s something nasty out in the water, where we don’t belong. | https://medium.com/framerated/jaws-1975-45-years-later-afdbf6d2cff6 | [] | 2020-06-14 20:26:11.825000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Film', 'Steven Spielberg', 'Review', 'Retrospectives'] |
The Time a Plane Accidentally Crashed into the Empire State Building | On the morning of Saturday, July 28, 1945, with World War II still roughly a month shy of finally ending, residents and businesses of the Big Apple were going about their morning. Meanwhile, a B-52 Mitchell bomber aircraft with two pilots, including Captain William F. Smith, and a passenger was on a routine personnel transport mission going from Massachusetts to New York City despite some hazy weather. Smith, having led many dangerous missions in Europe during WWII, was the pilot behind the plane.
Upon arriving in the New York area, when weather conditions worsened, and with the fog made visibility increasingly difficult, Smith requested a clearance to land but was advised not to, and so he pressed on. After making a turn which found him heading over midtown Manhattan, it was then that some clouds broke apart, and Smith recognized the skyscrapers among them.
Not long after this, at 9:40 a.m., the bomber aircraft tragically collided into the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 78th and 80th floors, leaving an 18-by-20 foot hole, and killing Smith, the other pilot, Staff Sergeant Christopher Domitrovich, and their passenger, Navy Aviation Machinist’s Mate, Albert Perna¹.
At the time, the crash further killed eleven civilians working within the building’s walls and left many more injured. The impact caused one of the plane’s two engines to fly through the south side opposite the crash and go as far as the next block over. It then dropped a further 900 feet before finally coming to a rest on the roof of a nearby building, leading to a fire. The plane’s second engine and part of the landing gear were later found down an elevator shaft; the resulting fire was extinguished within 40 minutes. It remains the only significant one of its kind to be contained at such a height. | https://medium.com/@nicolehenley/the-time-a-plane-accidentally-crashed-into-the-empire-state-building-1c7eee334612 | ['Nicole Henley'] | 2020-12-09 13:02:23.960000+00:00 | ['Accident', 'Disaster', 'New York City', 'Tragedy', 'History'] |
A Life Hangs By A Thread | A Life Hangs By A Thread
Lit Up Halloween Spooks
Image by angela lazeta from Pixabay
I was sleeping like a log. Something forced me to wake up. I tried to open my eyes and took my mobile from the nightstand to check the time. The digital clock in the home screen switched the time from 2:59 to 3:00 A.M. Seeing the light from the mobile after a deep sleep had sent the wake-up signal to my brain, so I got up from my bed.
I went near to the window and looked outside from my high rise apartment. The first thing I noticed was the thick rope hanging in front of the window. I wondered why it was hanging there. I opened the window and peeped out. Then it struck for me that the window cleaner might have left it the previous day after cleaning it.
I closed the window and gazed at the deserted street outside. Suddenly, the rope oscillated. I assumed it was because of the heavy wind, but it began to swing at high speed.
Before I could figure out the reason for it, I saw a shoe descending. Slowly the leg of the person appeared. It was the window cleaner. He was hanging in front of my window with a cleaning mop.
I opened the window, greeted him, and asked him why he was up early. He didn’t answer me. I thought he was rude and was about to close the window. At that time, I noticed the blood dripping from his neck. I was too nervous to check what happened to him and decided to call emergency.
I turned back to take my mobile. Something pulled my hand, and the next second, I was hanging in the rope below the cleaner.
My face got painted with his blood, and I screamed at the top of my voice.
©Anisesh 2019 | https://medium.com/lit-up/a-life-hangs-by-a-thread-9194de297577 | ['Anitha Sankaran'] | 2019-11-01 20:08:16.021000+00:00 | ['Horror', 'Fiction', 'Microfiction', 'Fear', 'Halloween'] |
Don’t Sell Your Emotions on Social Media | Before reading the article, I would like it if you take some time and think about the changes in your social and professional behavior since you have started using social media.
Have you got anything?
No!
Don’t worry. Take a long breath and start reading the article.
“THE TECHNOLOGY THAT CONNECTS US, ALSO CONTROLS US.” — Social Dilemma
Social media isn’t a tool that’s just waiting to be used. It has its own goals and it has its own means of pursuing them. There are 3.81 billion social media users in the world with an increase of 9.2% users every year. Have you ever think why there is so much user engagement on these social platforms?
Everyone is fascinated by social media features. It helps in making the users feel involved. It helps to stay in touch with what my friends are doing, to stay up-to-date with news and current events, to increase general networking with people, to find funny and entertaining content, to share photos & videos with others, to share your opinion on any current issue, and many more.
“But what if I tell, you are nothing but a product to sell for the social media!!”.
Now you can question me how you are claiming us to be the product?
The simple answer is ‘Data’, I don’t know whether you are aware of the facts or not, the AI techniques that are integrated into these social media platforms monitor your smallest to smallest action like an engagement time on a particular post, type of post that you liked, shared or commented, your reaction on the post your friend liked or shared, what’s trending in your area respective to the GPS location, types of accounts you search for or follow them.
Collecting all this data, media giants understand your interests, likes, dislikes, perceptions, motives, nature, and most importantly your emotions.
Now if I would like to summarize what I stated until now, then I would say, “YOU ARE TRAPPED!!”
Photo by Artyom Kim on Unsplash
I think you got a glimpse of an idea about the objective of the article. Let’s divide the article into two parts now, first why I said you are the product to sell? and second, why I exclaimed you are trapped!!
The complex to complex algorithms designed by the expertise in social media giants totally worked on the data you provide them on your clickable actions and post engagements.
Consider a situation where you are liking animal posts continuously 10–12 times, then a human will easily figure out that you are fond of animals but what in the case of machines?
Analyzing the data, understanding your behavior, finding out the patterns, and test the learnings with your emotions.
That’s how they build the predictive models, forecast the outcomes, and get constantly updated with the new data.
Now just think, I am running a company that deals with the manufacturing of gym types of equipment and sells in the market. Now I want help from social media, so I sponsor an ad just like say on Instagram charged of a certain amount and hoping for high customer engagement.
Now think, you live near my company’s location and you are a fitness freak that Instagram knows. Then of course you will get the ad on your Instagram feed and will manipulate you to buy the types of equipment and if in case you are looking for some cool stuff and you like the products mentioned in the ad then you will sure to purchase it and obviously, I will say I got a new a customer.
“That’s great! How cool is social media!”
Now again you can question me that what’s the wrong deal about this, after all, I got what I want. It’s of my interest so it’s good that I purchased it. But deeper down when you will think about it, you will understand that social media sold you because you are the perfect customer for that type of product. Instagram knows you have liked this much count of fitness posts, you follow fitness influencers, you share fitness posts and many more. That’s where your interests play a vital role. They are utilizing your data to suggest the best possible recommendations and in return, you can't restrict yourself to purchase it. That’s the same predictive modeling is used in maintaining your social media feeds where you get videos recommendations, post referrals, or product ads based on your interest and indirectly they force you to involve in these things and spend more time scrolling the posts, buying the items which in turn make huge revenues for them. The recommendation engines are that much capable to keep track of your every action and updating the suggestions continuously so that you can’t able to detach it from yourself. You repeatedly scroll your feed and keep the flow on.
Whenever we search for a product on e-commerce sites, after viewing 2–3 items we get the same product ad on our social media feed, email, etc. They are playing with your mindset, they push notifications after a certain interval of time so that their ultimate goal of keeping you involved is achieved and lastly you will be get manipulated to purchase that product.
Coming back to my second exclamation, You are trapped!! Excess of anything is harmful if you are unable to feel it at present then for sure you will experience it in the future. I would like to share some social media facts which will disturb you for sure.
Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash
95% of social media using teens have witnessed cruel behavior on social networking sites.
of social media using teens have witnessed In the world, 80% of teens use Facebook , and 54% of those experienced cyberbullying.
of teens use , and of those experienced 9X higher chances of identity fraud .
. Engaging in dangerous & harmful activities including reckless behavior, substance abuse, or self-injury.
including reckless behavior, substance abuse, or self-injury. Higher risk of depression , trouble in sleeping , ongoing sadness , losing interest from favorite activities.
, trouble in , ongoing , losing interest from favorite activities. Sharing of inappropriate content/misinformation distribution.
distribution. Relationship threats , abuse, intimidation, faking perfection , social comparison, and self-esteem increase.
, abuse, intimidation, , social comparison, and self-esteem increase. 140–150 mins daily time spent on social networking sites worldwide. 39,757 years collectively spent per day on FACEBOOK .
daily time spent on social networking sites worldwide. collectively spent per day on . 25% of the users have admitted to being distracted during intimacy . 14% have risked their own safety.
of the users have admitted to being distracted during . have risked their own safety. According to MIT Research , fake news spread 6 times faster than real news on Twitter .
, news spread faster than news on . 62% of the population worldwide confesses to believing fake news.
of the population worldwide confesses to believing fake news. 89% of Americans believe that social media is responsible for spreading misinformation.
of Americans believe that social media is for spreading misinformation. 29% of the population deleted/removed social media accounts because they felt overloaded by it.
of the population because they by it. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has 60% of fake followers on Twitter while US President Donald Trump has 37% and Congress Party Member Rahul Gandhi has 69% of fake followers on Twitter.
Social media growth in India, which has risen from 137 million to over 600 million in 2019 leads to fake news distribution (230 million Whatsapp users highest in any country).
There are only two industries that call their customer’s ‘USERS’: ILLEGAL DRUGS & SOFTWARE
Now after reading all these facts, just ask yourself where you are using these social media platforms effectively or rising problems for yourself.
If we think about fake news distribution, we can’t trust anyone who is sharing real news. If we think of a social comparison, we can’t decide whether the guidance of any person will be beneficial for us or not. If we think about relationships, we never know when we will get disheartened and that will lead to depression and anxiety.
Social media is an unauthorized spy who knows everything about you like interests, mental condition, week plan, location, birthday, relationship, health, habits, next food order, visits, mentor, success, failures, and many more things that you also don’t know about yourself.
“Social media is training us to compare our lives, instead of appreciating everything we are. No wonder why everyone is always depressed”. — Bill Murray
S haring our data is our responsibility, what to share, when to share, how to share, why to share, whom to share all these things will be responsible for your future actions.
Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash
In the end, I request you it’s a social life please don’t make it so much personnel. Don’t post your feelings. Don’t share your emotions. This is not the kind of world where you think I will get genuine advice from others, Nooo! don’t expect this from social media. There are so many people gonna judge you based on your post engagements, make perceptions on it but you just want to trick them. Enjoy your weekend fully social media free, spent time with the loved ones, and invest time in your favorite activities. Finally, I will suggest you think about your current situation and work on your mentality to utilize such social media platforms in a more effective way so that it will help in your potential growth. Don’t use social media to impress people, utilize it to impact people.
I hope this article brings out a valuable change in your social & personnel life. Thanks for reading the article.
Now it’s up to you, choose wisely. | https://medium.com/plus-marketing/dont-sell-your-emotions-on-social-media-6079735e2dc6 | ['Amey Band'] | 2020-11-20 13:26:12.067000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Social Media', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Instagram', 'Facebook'] |
An Open Letter to ASOS from a Curvaceous Consumer | The Concern
So, we ask the question — why is this problematic? The answer is simple. Not every individual's body shape fits the standardized measurements. This can be extremely damaging to a person’s self-esteem and mental health. As a curvaceous person, I have big hips and a smaller bust. I don’t have a small bust, but it’s comparative when discussing clothing sizes. Since I was 18 my top size has always been 8-10 and my trouser size has remained a 10-12. I’m comfortable with that. However, a problem always arose when I considered buying dresses. If I bought an 8, it would be too tight on my hips. If I bought a 12, it would be too loose on my bust. I never found dresses that fit me perfectly and somehow I accepted this. I made myself believe MY body shape was the problem.
There is no question you have tried to address the concerns of differing customers by offering ranges such as ‘Curve’ for plus size, Petite for below 5'1, and Tall for above 5'9. However, when delving into thoughts about the system, I have quickly realised these ranges are catered still to wider audiences and not specific niches because ultimately your business cares about its bottom line, not its customers. Whilst you have attempted to create an ‘Hourglass’ range, this has not only not been marketed well enough to be noticeable, but it also is not a key section in your menu under body-fit nor filters. A person cannot search for hourglass clothing as a key category. Further, currently on your website within 10,305 dresses, there are a total of 15 listings for hourglass dresses (0.15%), in 3334 jeans, there are 115 listings for hourglass jeans (3.5%), in 13,905 tops, there are 111 hourglass tops (0.8), in 849 loungewear listings, 2 are from the hourglass range (0.2%), in 1897 tracksuits, 35 are hourglass (1.8%) and in 1258 jumpsuits, 2 are hourglass (0.16%). There are no hourglass listings for the categories: Swimwear & Beachwear, Lingerie & Nightwear.
Frankly, this is unacceptable.
9 out of 10 items I buy from your website are returned because they do not suit my body shape. So, I must say, thank you for your easy returns process as this does help reduce the headache of returning items bought online. However, I refuse to accept that this is how it will continue to be. I am not alone. I am one of many women whose body shapes deserve to be catered for.
By excluding voluptuous figure measurements you are sidelining an important part of your customer base, making them feel incredibly inadequate and unattractive when this isn’t the case. Clothing has the power to make or break a person’s mental health. As a company, you have a moral responsibility to ensure your products do not make your customers feel insecure. Alongside a piece of garment, you are selling confidence and reassurance. You are selling a feeling. That feeling, however, is determined the moment a customer puts on that item of clothing. You have the opportunity to sell positivity but, with a majority of your items for many women, you are in fact selling negativity. | https://aninjusticemag.com/an-open-letter-to-asos-from-a-curvaceous-consumer-aff7117f1371 | ['Maha Jabbar'] | 2021-06-17 15:23:22.650000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Ecommerce', 'Clothing', 'Retail', 'Fashion'] |
Gail Meyers | Gail writes on narcissistic mothers. Gail and KC3Lady, Narcissism: Echo Apologetics (not apologies! lol, previously Narcissistic Personality Disorder Mother Facebook Resource Page and Echo Scapegoat Recovery Tactics), write to raise awareness about narcissism, mobbings, and #fangrockers (see definitions folder on the FB page).
Gail has been prevented from publishing her book for more than FOUR YEARS now due to relentless hacking escalating into multiple perpetrator stalking, which has been reported to the police repeatedly. The essence of the beginning of Gail’s book, The Scapegoats of a Narcissistic Mother, was partially published on Blogger — where it has been unpublished due to criminal activity. The pages and groups are somewhat of a mess due to the hackers and move, but we hope to have them moved and ranking again soon. Find informative videos on Gail’s YouTube channel, Update: Gail’s YouTube Channel has also been hit. KC3Lady’s YouTube is soon to be up and running also, God willing. You can also find KC3Lady on Hubpages.
Narcissistic mothers often use the silent treatment to control, punish, test boundaries, and avoid responsibilities and issues. Read more at How the Narcissist’s Silent Treatment Speaks So Loudly.
How to recognize whether you or a loved one have been cast in the role of scapegoat. Read more at Scapegoats of a Narcissistic Mother.
A narcissistic mother may use the maneuver of playing the victim while vilifying true victims to conceal her abuse and inflict abuse by proxy all in one manipulative scenario. Read more at Narcissistic Mother Playing the Victim While Vilifying True Victims.
Gaslighting invalidation and rewriting history is an insidious form of abuse causing the victim to doubt their own perceptions, judgment and memories. It is the invalidation of another human being, which can include rewriting history. Read more at Gaslighting Abuse: More Than Just Lying.
Remain compassionate and empathetic to true victims, but begin making a point of noticing when someone is attempting to emotionally manipulate you by attempting to induce pity or guilt. Read more at Narcissistic Mother’s Emotional Manipulation.
Narcissistic maneuvers are discussed, including gaslighting, scapegoating, playing the victim while vilifying true victims, smear campaigns, and the silent treatment, in order to facilitate the sons and daughters in their ability to recognize, name, and articulate their experiences. Read more at Tactics of a Narcissistic Mother
Societal taboos, unresolved anger, and flying monkeys may complicate the scapegoat’s grief for his or her narcissistic personality disordered mother. Read more at How Do You Grieve the Death of a Narcissistic Mother?
This is an article of validation and information for the sons and daughters of narcissistic parents, fathers and mothers, with survival tips for the scapegoated child/ren for the holiday season. Read more at Thanksgiving and Christmas Celebrations with a Narcissistic Family of Origin. | https://medium.com/@gailmeyers/gail-meyers-a272783a13c | ['Gail Meyers'] | 2019-02-19 16:36:12.769000+00:00 | ['Abuse', 'Mothers', 'Gail Meyers', 'Hubpages', 'Narcissism'] |
Forgotten Identity | Photo by Chris Chan on Unsplash
These people walk without noticing,
the shadows of my feet.
They will not feel my disappearance,
nor will they ever miss my presence.
The streets will find new footprints,
that bury mine beneath theirs.
And the flowers and trees,
will find newer faces to look at.
Will my birds and dogs remember me
when I don’t show up?
Or will they find,
other faces that look the same as mine?
My existence is transient,
yet I had hoped to leave a mark.
But on the day of my departure,
I see unfamiliar faces walk in.
Ready to take my vacant spot,
and wipe my legacy forever. | https://medium.com/blueinsight/forgotten-identity-d932c74ca4da | ['Anushka Choudhary'] | 2020-12-26 18:07:58.658000+00:00 | ['Identity', 'Lost', 'Blue Insights', 'Poetry'] |
NEW MOON IN TAURUS | N EW MOON IN TAURUS
April 22, 2020
Essay by Mike Zizis
The new moon in 3 degrees Taurus begins tonight at about 10:26 pm EDT.
This moon for me in heart and mind is a fortunate new moon. Why? Some of the keywords for Taurus are stabilization {and stable}, grounded, fertile, and revolution. That last word is quite important here in the northern portion of the northern hemisphere. It has been a long cold lonely winter. There are the last vestiges of frost on the other side of my sunny back door. This isolation and INsulation have taken their toll on my patience. How am I going to support my local business if I can’t exchange money for goods?
For self-employed people like me, shopping, banking, browsing etc. is a good way to meet people and exchange some friendly acknowledgement. Hi there — nice to see you — how is everything?
Coming to our senses is a good meditation for this new moon.
Leaving the monkey mind is best done thru the five earthly senses.
These are the blessings of Taurus:
Smell: what are my favourite aromas?
Sight: What colours are most pleasing?
Taste: What brings joy to the palette?
Hearing: What music takes me away?
Touch: What fabric or dough or massage brings joy? Warming my hands by a fire? Holding a hot mug of tea or coffee?
This time of the year in the northern hemisphere is also the time when the YANG or SUNNY portion of the year is rising. In the fall it is a YIN or LUNAR cycle here. The sunlight is receding; a natural cycle.
Sunlit Taurus is also a fixed power sign. The four fixed signs in order are Taurus {earth}, Leo {fire}, Scorpio {water}, and Aquarius {air}. These signs on the calendar represent the portion of the season when the particular sign is at its strongest steady expression.
This yang/male part of the yearly cycle compliments yin/female Taurus beautifully. Vigorous shoots push rocks and soil and pebbles aside to take their greening place under a strengthening sun. Taurus is one of two signs ruled by Venus; the other at the Yin light-decaying part of the year is Libra. Libra being a cardinal sign reveals the darkening of the light, harvest, and the promise of spring rising again, in time.
Venus and Taurus are centered on beauty, fertility, values, relationship with finances, material possessions, and pleasures, luxury, and hygiene. This is the earthy part of Venus. Venus wants no end to luxury. So it’s no surprise that Trump’s wife Melania Knauss; April 26, 1970 is a Taurus. Auto manufacturer Ford brought out the Ford Taurus from 1985 to 2019 to dramatically improve the quality of its passenger vehicles.
What is surprising is that 8 of the 12 male executives at Ford discovered at an earlier meeting that they were married to Taurus women. So the easy part was naming the new vehicle.
In 1989 my wife at the time a stunning Taurus beauty, {born with six planets in Taurus} was deprived of her car in January when while it was parked someone drove straight into it. It was a wreck. She was very unhappy about being deprived of her autonomy and mobility. I had a part time job teaching and a full time job as an astrologer. Money was hard to come by then.
I was determined to get her a new car. To this day I don’t know why I drove about 40 miles north to a big Ford dealership. I saw a white Ford Taurus in the front display showroom. A nice man greeted me at the door.
“Hi my name is Mike I have a part time job and am $20,000 dollars in debt. I want a Taurus for my wife who is a Taurus.
He said — “Hi my name is Jim. I am a Taurus, My wife is a Taurus, and I will get you that Ford Taurus!”
Done deal. Miracle.
…
The horns of the Taurus bull pierce the air like the thorns on a beautiful rose pierce the skin. Volcanism, the erupting earth is also associated with Taurus. Also the volcanism of revolutions. Even tho Taurus begins in the late third week of April, houseplants will die of frost here in this part of Canada if put outside before May 24th.
The bull was celebrated and even worshipped in the age of Taurus.
From: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=the+age+of+Taurus
The Age of Taurus spans approximately the period between 4400 and 2200 BC. It is the age defined by the Sun being in the constellation of Taurus on the spring equinox. … The Element associated with Taurus is Earth, and as such, Taurus has a solid, practical, down-to-Earth, and sensual tone. It has an instinctive awareness, so it knows its place in the natural flow of things and it prefers the natural gut feeling over intellectual interpretation. It is hard-working, structured, steady and persistent, and at the same time it appreciates beauty.
One of the finest examples of a Taurian civilization is Ancient Egypt, from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt (3100 BC). In the late Taurian period, during the Old Kingdom (about 2700–2200 BC), Egypt erected some of the grandest architectural wonders of the ancient world and of all times, such as the Giza pyramids and the Great Sphinx. The three great pillars of human life on the Earth — civilizational order, religion, and spiritual tradition were all alive.
Pharaoh Menkaura, accompanied by the goddess Bat on his right and the representation of the town Hu (in which Bat was worshipped) on his left.
They were aligned with each other, and they were feeding each other. They were all unified by the role of the Pharaoh, which was the ruler and the representative of a higher world on the Earth. The hierarchy was clear. Everybody knew their place in relation to each other. Religiously, the Age of Taurus in Egypt coincides with the worship of Apis, the bull-deity, the most important of all sacred animals in Egypt, said to be instituted during the Second Dynasty of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. Apis was originally the Herald of Ptah, the chief god in the area around Memphis, Egypt’s capital during this period. As a manifestation of Ptah, Apis also was considered to be a symbol of the pharaoh, embodying the qualities of kingship. The Egyptian goddess Bat (later Hathor) was commonly depicted as a cow goddess with head horns.
This new moon in Taurus is as good time to breathe deeply, and begin again. With the Venus light of this new moon, we can put away so much justified discouragement. New moons are about creating new gardens in the mind and heart, especially this new moon.
From: https://www.moonomens.com/new-moon-in-taurus-during-444-portal/
New Moon in Taurus: Setting Our Sails
The New Moon in Taurus occurs when the Sun and the Moon come together in the sign of Taurus. The Moon represents our feelings, emotions or subconscious whereas the sun brings in the energy of our conscious awareness and focus. We are the ships setting our sails and the wind is right there willing to take us on our journey.
Setting the sails is our responsibility. It’s our job to set up the boat in order for the force of nature to give us the wind. We are part of a dance of creation between our individual choices and a natural force of life we cannot control.
In a sense, it’s like our breath. When we are well and healthy, our breath is an automatic function. If we’ve ever paused for a moment to really feel the sensation of our breath we know the peace and serenity that it can bring. This is an example of aligning our conscious awareness with the subconscious force of life.
Take Time to Notice
The New Moon in Taurus is a time to stop and notice the breath. Take time to notice that as humans, we are a sweet spot between Heaven and Earth. We have physical bodies that ground us here on Earth, and we have a spirit that moves through us. This is a big deal. This is powerful.
We Are the Seeds
Let’s imagine that Earth is a garden and each person is a seed. We are born into this garden and we grow in all sorts of ways. Some of us will become trees, and remain on a steady track for the entirety of our lives.
While others perhaps are dandelions that recycle and regrow each season. Maybe we are a rose that blossoms brilliantly and then takes time to gently fall away. We are all unique plants in this garden of Gaia.
Coming Back to Gaia
“In Greek mythology, Gaia, is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess.” (wikipedia)
The New Moon in Taurus is inviting us to come back to Gaia. To focus on our choices and ask ourselves if they are nourishing our primal Mother Earth Goddess. Even though the Earth may appear to be outside of us, what if she’s an extension of ourselves?
For example, we know that a plant will be impacted by the soil it grows from. If we are the plants, growing in the garden that is Gaia, then her health affects us. How we treat the planet, or where we turn a blind eye to what is occurring, affects our health and capacity to grow. | https://medium.com/@michael-zizis/new-moon-in-taurus-db38d1509d5a | ['Michael Zizis'] | 2020-04-22 21:49:35.543000+00:00 | ['Astrology', 'Cycles Of Life', 'New Moon', 'Seasons'] |
What has COVID-19 done to American jobs, and what can we do about it? | What has COVID-19 done to American jobs, and what can we do about it? AFT Follow Mar 5 · 3 min read
In February 2021, our economy created 379,000 jobs. That’s good, but it’s not enough: We’re still down 9.5 million jobs from where our economy was just one year ago. At this rate, it will take two years to gain back those jobs and closer to three years to catch up to where we were pre -pandemic, when accounting for population growth. Translation? February was a decent month, but more help is needed and it’s needed now.
When you dig deeper into the numbers, you find that, compared with 12 months ago, there are some alarming job losses in education, the public sector and healthcare:
674,000 fewer jobs in local government education;
327,000 fewer jobs in state government education;
31,000 fewer jobs in the rest of state government;
360,000 fewer jobs in the rest of local government; and
102,000 fewer jobs in hospitals.
These job losses come in some of the most important sectors of employment for helping us cope with the pandemic and the economic downturn. Losing more than 100,000 hospital jobs during a pandemic is alarming. We know how much stress COVID-19 has placed on hospitals, and we know that nurse staffing in particular was an issue even before the pandemic.
We also know that before the pandemic, schools and colleges in many states still hadn’t recovered from the Great Recession and were in need of more resources. The cuts they are taking are bad for our economy and, more importantly, bad for our children. If we were to properly make use of all available spaces to provide safe, in-person education, we would need more staff, not less. Similarly, state and local government workers in areas like public health and services for senior citizens, processing of unemployment benefits and many others are needed more than ever now, yet we are making cuts.
Another alarming takeaway from the jobs data is that, even with every other bad thing the past year has wrought, societal inequities continue to live on. As such, the unemployment rate for Americans of color is much higher than the already high overall unemployment rate of 6.2 percent. For Black Americans, the unemployment rate is 9.9 percent, and for Hispanics or Latinos, it is 8.5 percent.
So what can we do? On an individual level, continue to protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, of course, and get your vaccine when it’s your turn. But on a larger scale, our country must pass the American Rescue Plan. People need relief, and they need it now.
If passed, the American Rescue Plan would put money in working families’ pockets, invest in states and localities, fund public schools and help curb the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, it will provide immediate aid to protect frontline workers like nurses and EMTs; help teachers, school staff and administrators get our schools reopened safely; help those hit hardest by the pandemic feed their families, pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads; and, critically, ramp up vaccine production and distribution. Each of these things is good on its own, but together they will help our economy move forward and help more of us get back to work.
We have actions you can take, like tweeting and calling your senators. You have the power to tell our elected officials how best to serve the people. We are the people — and we must do what we can. Help is urgently needed, and we need hope that help is on the way.
[Brianna Meeks] | https://aftvoices.org/what-has-covid-19-done-to-american-jobs-and-what-can-we-do-about-it-c5d8a5e7c861 | [] | 2021-03-05 20:54:05.126000+00:00 | ['Covid', 'Covid 19', 'Stimulus', 'Jobs', 'Biden'] |
Inside NEM Episode 40 | MyCoinvest is developing a 3-tier ecosystem that will offer users a more convenient way to save. I had a chance to interview Corey Patterson and AJ Taylor from myCoinVest to learn more. Check it out!
AJ Taylor: The team is about 17 strong ranging from a huge amount of experience in different areas bring a new level of skill sets. We have people that work in engineering, business consulting, technical consulting, as well as banking — really just the entire consumer experience. We also have another team that works primarily with Georgia Tech and we have a partnership with them. They manage our entire global technology apparatus which includes all of our development, operations and everything like that. These guys are really smart… Master Degrees and everything. We put together a pretty good team!
Alex: Tell everybody about MyCoinvest and the problem that you’re trying to solve. Why does MyCoinvest even exist as it does today?
Corey: Sure! This is a question that we get asked a lot. We are recent college graduates and pretty much what we saw coming into the workforce were a lot of unexpected expenses. Mainly what I can think of is furniture. Furniture is a big out-of-pocket expense and we started to realize and look around and say hey! There’s a big problem with savings. You have to save for everything and that was our first approach at this. That was the first reason.
And two — we started to look under the cover at numbers. We looked at it from an investment standpoint and they were staggering. Something like 70% of Millennials said they did not feel prepared for any kind of financial crisis or anything. We thought that was crazy. We’re not the first to market for our automated solution but we decided to develop an ecosystem that was completely tailored to the method of saving. So myCoinvest allows users to automate their savings and live their everyday lives without having to do the manual process of having to move from one account to the next to help them save for expenses.
Alex: Tell me the roadmap. What people can expect now, in 6 months and what things we should be excited about for myCoinvest in the future.
Corey: Sure! We have a set go live date for October 3rd. That is our go live date for the VezClub Exchange. That’s when all of the services will be completely functional for our app. Currently we are in the Alpha testing mobile phase for our mobile app and we should be finishing that up in the next month or so. After that we will move into the Beta phase and we will release it live to the Android and iOS market.
Our target timeline is around June and we want to get the tech developed out and focus on the operational side of things.
AJ: Right! A part of the operational piece will be the legal framework so we partnered with a top-notch firm in Atlanta that deals with this all the time such as securities and stuff. We plan to work closely with them and then by October we should have everything in place so we don’t have any issues.
Alex: That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. That’s very good… so how can the NEM community get involved with you right now? You’re very active in the NEM community channels. There’s a lot of momentum and excitement around what you’re doing. How can people find out more so if they want ot participate they can?
AJ: you can reach out to us on social media at myCoinvest on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram. We have this unique initiative going and we’re doing this a little bit differently and it’s “Utility in Community”. What this does is allow people to harness their own favorites — any kind of talents they have and then input that into our community and then we’ll distribute VezCoins to them for doing their work. This is our cool way of harnessing the world’s talents and using it for our platform.
PAYTOMAT INTERVIEW
Paytomat provides a way to use cryptos as every day currencies by enabling local stores and online merchants to accept payments in crypto using its decentralized network. They offer a reliable and feature-rich point of sale terminal that now supports XEM, in addition to LTC, DASH, BTC, and several others.
Paytomat first gained traction in Ukraine with over 150 businesses using them, and letters of intent signed with dozens of merchants in Europe. Their goal is to double this by the end of the year. Paytomat is now negotiating with other POS systems to directly integrate its network into those devices as well. With its decentralized system for cryptocurrency payments, Paytomat introduces several innovations in the blockchain industry, including a decentralized franchise model and a unique blockchain-based loyalty program that provides rewards to buyers and merchants.
I had a chance to interview with Yurii Olentir from the Paytomat team to learn more about their platform. Take a listen.
Yurii: Hi Alexandra and NEM community! I want to apologize in advance. English is not my native language. So I can collect my thoughts. I am most about math not politics. I can tell you some words about our team. Our team is international. The core team is based in Kiev Ukraine. I’m the founder and CEO of Paytomat. Most of the team has worked together in different IT projects over ten years.
Since 2011, I became interested in Bitcoin and blockchain. I bought my first Bitcoin when it cost near $100 USD. In 2016, I founded the company Daily Coin, an investment company specializing in crypto. It quickly became one of the major crypto investment funds in Ukraine. After that it was a logical step to launch something bigger — it was a global sum, a global infrastructure project. This is how Paytomat came to life almost two years ago.
Right now we are looking for partners and international suppliers. And we find NEM as one of them. We believe cryptocurrency has big potential to be used as digital cash for every day payments — not only for trading or exchange but for payments, every day.
Currently Paytomat works as an extension to every day POS terminals. People and merchants have no need to install new software or new hardware. They just look in the displays and they can see this new button “PAY WITH CRYPTO”. This is how Paytomat works.
Now we accept eleven cryptocurrencies — including XEM. We have proved that crypto can be used for everyday payments. Payments with fiat currency will become less popular with time. And cryptocurrency payments will go up every day. But there is a big gap between companies and cryptocurrency users. There are some big problems. The key problems for business are that they have no motivation to start accepting crypto. [They say] We don’t want to buy new hardware…software…we don’t want to accept crypto every day. They don’t understand the legal part. They are afraid to accept crypto.
Crypto owners have no motivation to pay this crypto. If you have some crypto, you just want to hodl or trade — not pay. And only a few places accept crypto. In Europe…US… you can pay this crypto only in e-commerce, not your cafe or restaurant. And payments have high fees and long time transactions. Paytomat is designed to solve these problems.
You can learn more about Paytomat at: Website, Whitepaper, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Medium.
Alright, that’s all I have for today! Thanks for watching, don’t forget to like and subscribe, and until next time I’ll see you on Inside NEM. | https://medium.com/nemofficial/inside-nem-episode-40-6a391f585d3e | ['Alexandra Tinsman'] | 2018-05-10 02:09:37.351000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Nem Blockchain', 'Nem'] |
Inheritance For Children.. | All you need to give to your son is the house you live in, if you own it. You should let your son know that he will become the owner of the house only upon your death. When you die, everything will be his, but if he does not live properly and misbehaves, then you will have to ask him and his wife to leave. But as long as you are alive the property is yours. You should also make a will. Give to your son, whatever you inherited from your own father. Do not divulge all your assets to him. If he thinks that you have half the amount of what you actually have, let him think that. He may have expectations of inheriting that amount from you. Let him be with his greed until the end. And in his greed, he will instruct his wife to take good care of you. Live your life with pride. Pass on your inheritance to your son.
No one is allowed to take anything along with him. They burn us on the funeral pyre when we go. If you leave an excessive amount of wealth behind, the children will think that there is no need for them to work for a living. They will lose themselves to a life of alcohol and other vices; they will fall into the company of alcoholics. So you should give to your children, but within limits. If you leave them an excessive amount of money, they will end up abusing it. Make it so that they will have to work for their living. If they are idle, they will fall prey to all kinds of vices.
If your son likes a particular business, help him establish it. Help him borrow about fifty percent from the bank and you may provide the rest. Let him make regular payments on the loan from the bank. This will make him financially responsible.
Help him just enough to get started and use the rest of your wealth to give happiness to others. How can you give happiness to others? By appeasing their hearts. It is this wealth that will follow you into your next life. It does not come in the form of cash, but in the form of an ‘overdraft’ from this life. By helping the needy people and soothing their sorrows, you will acquire a ‘draft’ for use in your next life. So use your money wisely. Do not worry about anything. Eat well and do not be miserly when it comes to food. Enhance other people’s lives and collect all the overdrafts. | https://medium.com/dadabhagwan/inheritance-for-children-9872b1b0155d | ['Dada Bhagwan'] | 2019-11-02 12:47:15.190000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Life Lessons', 'Parents', 'Parenting Advice', 'Parenting'] |
OLI dApps Portal | The interest in blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) has accelerated significantly since the emergence of Bitcoin back in 2008.
Though blockchain is still a very young technology and undergoing continuous development, its use is gaining momentum in various industry sectors including finance, real estate, healthcare, identity management, and the energy sector. Technologies built on top of blockchain are known as Decentralized Applications (dApps). dApps are web applications that have a frontend and a backend just like common web applications. However, their backend is running on a decentralized peer-to-peer network. One of the most popular blockchain networks to develop dApps is Ethereum. It is a public blockchain and has developed its own programming language called Solidity to encode logic, rules, and instructions as smart contracts.
As many sectors are actively experimenting with blockchain, the energy sector is no exception. Blockchain along with other DLT and distributed energy sources (DERs) have opened new opportunities and challenges to revolutionize the way energy is traded, distributed, and the energy market is regulated. The potential of blockchain can be utilized across the energy value chain, building a peer-to-peer trading platform enabling producers to sell their energy directly to the consumers, generating green energy certificates, and integrating energy production and consumption in the energy supply system in a distributed way, etc.
At OLI Systems, we are building decentralized applications for energy markets based on the Ethereum blockchain network and smart contract technology.
Overview of the Development Stack
The dApps were developed using the following development stack:
Smart Contracts: developed using Solidity
developed using Solidity Frontend: written in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Vue.js
written in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Vue.js Backend: Volta Test network connected with Parity Ethereum client
The architecture of the dApp is shown in the following figure:
Dev Environments
Dev Environments
Developer Tools and Libraries
The dApps were built with the help of the following tools and libraries:
Truffle : smart contract development suite for compiling, migrating, deploying, run tests, and interacting with a smart contract.
smart contract development suite for compiling, migrating, deploying, run tests, and interacting with a smart contract. Web3.js : A collection of JavaScript libraries to set up a communication layer between the blockchain node and the frontend.
A collection of JavaScript libraries to set up a communication layer between the blockchain node and the frontend. Parity Ethereum Client : An Ethereum client to connect with the Ethereum blockchain node.
An Ethereum client to connect with the Ethereum blockchain node. Vue.js : A progressive JavaScript frame to develop the frontend of modern web applications.
A progressive JavaScript frame to develop the frontend of modern web applications. Solidity : An object-oriented programming language to write smart contracts.
An object-oriented programming language to write smart contracts. Solidity-Coverage : Code coverage for Solidity smart contracts.
Code coverage for Solidity smart contracts. Plotly.js : A declarative charting library built on the top d3.js.
A declarative charting library built on the top d3.js. Leaflet : A JavaScript library to build interactive web maps.
A JavaScript library to build interactive web maps. Git: A distributed version control system.
The Development Workflow
The development of the dApp can be divided into the following parts:
Backend Development: This part involves setting up a connection with the Volta node through the Parity client.
This part involves setting up a connection with the Volta node through the Parity client. Smart Contract Development: During this part, smart contracts are developed using Solidity programming language and then deployed over the blockchain.
During this part, smart contracts are developed using Solidity programming language and then deployed over the blockchain. Development of the Web App: In this part, the front-end of the dApp is built with the Vue.js framework.
In this part, the front-end of the dApp is built with the Vue.js framework. Connecting Frontend with the Blockchain: The communication layer between the front-end and the blockchain backend is set up using the web3.js library.
1. Setting up the Volta node
The setup starts with setting up the Ethereum blockchain development environment as a backend that is connected with the Parity client. For dApps backend, we are using the Volta network that is a test replica of the Energy Web Chain (EWC) and mostly used to test applications in a robust quality assurance (QA) environment. The network is connected by the Parity Ethereum client and uses a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism.
2. Smart Contract Development
The project implements the business logic through smart contracts which are deployed on the blockchain. Smart contracts are a piece of program that represent the core logic of a dApp and are an integral part of the Ethereum blockchain. These contracts are developed using an object-oriented high-level programming language called Solidity. The development life-cycle of the smart contract, from developing to deployment on the blockchain, can be summarized in the diagram below.
Smart Contract Lifecycle
2.1 Truffle Framework
We are using the Truffle framework for the development of smart contracts. The Truffle provides a suite of tools to write smart contracts in Solidity, perform unit tests using Mocha and Chai, and deploy contracts on the Blockchain.
Truffle Unit Test
We will be using the truffle unit testing to test the core functionality of our smart contract. Under the hood, Truffle uses the Mocha testing framework and Chai assertion library to write the tests in JavaScript.
Following is the result of running truffle test on one of our smart contracts:
Contract: ChargingOrigin
✓ should register a new asset (267764 gas)
✓ should fail to register an already registered asset (27720 gas)
✓ should send the charging info (33427 gas)
✓ should send the production value (281962 gas)
✓ should fail to send production value from the un-registered asset (24967 gas)
✓ should return the ETH address of given asset id
✓ should return the list of registered assets
Gas Cost Estimation
The following table shows the gas and cost calculations for the execution unit tests and contract deployment. The market price data is fetched from Coin Market Cap and gas price is fetched from Eth Gas Station.
Gas cost estimation
3. Development of the Web App
To interact with the smart contract on the Volta network, we built a UI component of the dApp in the form of a web app. The front-end of the project was built using modern web standards such as CSS, HTML, and the Vue.js framework. Additionally, two other JavaScript libraries, Plotly.js and Leaflet.js, were used to plot graphs and display geospatial distribution of resources, respectively.
4. Connecting Frontend with the Blockchain
The front-end of the dApp communicates with the Ethereum network using the JSON-RPC which is a stateless, lightweight remote procedure call (RPC) protocol using JSON for payload. This communication is done using a JavaScript library called Web3.js. It is a collection of libraries that allows our client-side application to communicate with the Ethereum network.
The interaction with the Ethereum network would be:
Listening to the blockchain events like production and consumption data
Sending transactions (containing registration details, production, and consumption values) to the blockchain using smart contract methods
To connect to the Ethereum node with JSON-RPC, we need to access the node using an Ethereum client, parity, or geth. In this project, we will connect with a locally running node connected with the Volta network using the Parity client.
5. dApp UI Update Cycle
As an overview:
Currently, we are using a simulation setup written in Python to send the energy statistics over the blockchain using methods from smart contracts. We are continuously polling the network to listen for the event emitted for successful transactions. For each past and upcoming event, we perform some business logic and display them in the frontend.
UI Update Cycle for Charging Origin dApp
Energy Geo-Browser
Among many use cases that can be built on blockchain technology, the Energy Geo-Browser app focuses on a transparent and efficient mechanism for presenting the dynamic and static attributes of energy assets, a decentralized mechanism for energy certificate issuance, and geo-visualization of spatially distributed energy sources.
The basic concept of the project is to present real-time information in a dynamic, secure, and transparent way. Thus, significantly reducing the complexities and additional costs associated with the internal operations because of third-party involvement. Though, we still have to pay the fee for the blockchain transactions. The prime focus of the project is to strengthen the energy market by modeling the energy transaction system that could lead to the energy certification layer on top of it.
The idea can be further extended to decentralized energy trading that will enable a direct relationship between producers and consumers.
Key Features of Energy Geo Browser App
A registration mechanism for energy producers and consumers
Real-time energy production and consumption tracking
The decentralized energy transaction system
Geo visualization of energy resources
The app shows one of the potential use cases of blockchain technology in the energy sector. The current dapp shows the very basic features of the geo-energy browser. Depending on the context of the implementation, the integration of DIDs or privacy-enabling components is possible. So, some regulatory and economical hitches are yet to be resolved.
OLI Tokenization
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are important tools that represent the energy attributes as well as the information about how energy is generated. The certificate includes device type, locational information, owner details, and the total amount of energy generated. However, the energy is not incorporated in the RECs themselves. But, the renewable energy plants can issue 1 REC for every 1 MWh of the energy generated after they have fulfilled the criteria of REC generation.
The project has a certification page where a list of certificates is available that basically contains the Ethereum address of all the registered users. Once an address is clicked, a certificate has displayed that shows the energy and non-energy attributes of the producer such as device type, location, owner name, the total amount of energy produced, and geographical coordinates.
The process of certification is further extended to issue the digital token against the amount of energy produced at the rate of one coin per 1 MWh of energy produced. The token is a utility token and is designed on the ERC20 standard.
Asset Logging and Flex Control
This application enables a DSO or TSO to transparently control assets in their respective grid area. Some examples of this are the curtailment of PV in case of a local over-supply or the control of a battery that is supplying a local energy community. This process is usually being done with uni-directional radio transmissions from the grid operator to the asset which is highly inaccurate and not suitable for state-of-the-art smart grids. Also, it is rather in-transparent. The asset owners have to trust the grid operators to make the right choices — and also to reimburse them correctly for any lost revenues in the case of PV curtailment.
With an increasing amount of assets, participants, and control processes in general, there is a demand for a platform that can integrate the following steps into one workflow:
Onboard Assets, asset owners, and grid operators in a quick and simple way with low costs
Enable the grid operators to securely control assets
Log every control process to enforce transparency for the participants
The backbone of this application is the “Volta” test network of the Energy Web Foundation. Every device owns its own key-pair which is being registered inside the smart contracts. These smart contracts also take care of the access restriction and the logging process. The participants don´t have to trust each other because the blockchain takes care of this, which reduces administrative overhead.
Charging Origin App
The Charging Origin dApp is also built using smart contract technology on the top of the Ethereum network. The basic concept is to keep a record of events managing charging point power consumption and PV power generation data at a specific time interval.
The process starts with the one-time registration of the assets. After the registration, the assets will be able to send their data to the blockchain through smart contract methods. The front-end of the app will actively listen to the blockchain events in response to the transaction sent to the smart contract. Once an event is popped up, the event's return values will be processed to bind them to the respective asset and to calculate the energy share for each consumption event. | https://medium.com/oli-systems/oli-dapps-portal-5bff38dc127b | ['Muhammad Yahya'] | 2021-06-02 12:04:20.733000+00:00 | ['Energy', 'Ethereum Blockchain', 'Development', 'Smart Contracts', 'Dapps'] |
Spider-Man : Into the Spiderverse Review | Spider-Man : Into the Spiderverse Review
Plot:
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse serves as an origin story for Spider-man. However it is self aware enough to not bore fans with the same Peter Parker storyline for the third or fourth time. Instead we are introduced to Miles Morales. The new Spider-Man and someone who is slightly
More complex and relatable in comparison to Peter Parker. Without giving too much away after being introduced to our lead Miles we are introduced to many other characters who also have the spider sense. These characters all end up in Miles’ dimension due to a worm hole in the Universe. Is it meant to be or caused by something more sinister?
Trailer Talk
The trailer gives a lot away and the YouTube featurettes leave almost nothing to be desired.There is a lot of heart and fun in this movie but it seems like the studio over marketed that aspect. If I were you I wouldn’t watch any trailers.
Stand out Characters
The standout performances in this movie for me were Jake Johnson as Peter Parker and Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy. Although all the voice acting was superb on all fronts the story felt most at home when these two were on the screen. It could be because both are already established actors or perhaps they were given the most to do in the film. Either way both characters added a new dimension to the film that caused me to really enjoy it. Peter Parker being the washed up teacher trying to get back on his feet and Gwen Stacey bringing in that element of leadership but also being too afraid to fail or let anyone in.
Overall
In total the movie is a Miles Morales origin story. However because he is growing and learning the film mostly leans on his surroundings to be the source of entertainment as the audience and Miles kind of just sit and learn. You can expect Team ups and battles that in my personal opinion top most live action superhero movies. You’ll also need to look out for the killer soundtrack and score of this film. From Sun flower by Post Malone to the theme you hear for the Villain Prowler all of the sounds in this movie will give you goosebumps.
The powerful message in Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse and the final change in narrative puts it in my Top five favorite movies of 2018, if not my favorite superhero movie this year.
I’ll give this movie a 9.5/10 only because the movie lacked a little in fight sequences.
9.5/10
What did you think of the film ??? | https://medium.com/@billykoffer/spider-man-into-the-spiderverse-review-8368c11dff78 | ['Billy K.'] | 2018-12-13 20:37:36.239000+00:00 | ['Marvel', 'Film Reviews', 'Movie Review', 'Spider Man', 'Cinema'] |
Good News For Storymaker Readers | Good News For Storymaker Readers
With a new editor, Storymaker has a future
A couple of weeks ago, I emailed you guys to let you know Storymaker was to be wound up. Several people made contact with me to ask how they could help, and as a result, you folks have a new editor.
Jimmy Cerone has been appointed and his tenure as Chief Editor commences straight away. Jimmy will be responsible for ensuring your articles are scheduled and published, adding new writers, helping you with spelling and grammar and making suggestions to how we all can make better content for readers of Storymaker. I will remain in the background and will assist Jimmy where he needs it and to also consult on adding assistant editors where required.
In the meantime, you can continue to add new submissions as you have always done, and it will be Jimmy who will offer feedback and hit publish.
Reminder: The Kind of Content We’re Looking For
Nothing has really changed here, we’re seeking content that speaks of the creative spirit, is non-promotional, and reflects your passion for your work.
Submissions of the following are welcome;
Poetry
Short Stories
Articles describing your creative process and experience as an artist/writer
Culturally relevant articles on Art & Creativity
What We’re NOT looking for;
Self-help
Life hacking
Political discourse
Pornographic writing
Please Use Tags
Tags are important, they help readers find your work. So, if you’re submitting poetry use the tag Poetry. Submitting a short story? use the Short Story tag. Writing on creativity? Use the tag, Creativity. And of course, try always to add the tag, Art to your submission.
That’s all from me, here’s a word from your new editor. Jimmy, take it away.
Greetings Everyone!
My name is Jimmy Cerone and I’ll be the new editor of Storymaker! First, I want to make clear that Storymaker will still be about good stories and how to tell them. Second, for all you writers out there, I want to offer myself as an editor. I am committed to actively helping you improve your writing through private comments. I will, as editor, correct for grammar, but anything beyond that I will leave up to you in the form of a private note. If you don’t respond to the note / make a change in 24 hours I will go ahead and publish!
For a bit about me, I’m a college student, reluctant entrepreneur and computer science major. I love to read and I love when a story is finished, but struggle with the writing of it. I’ve been writing for a couple of years now and come from a family of communicators (my father is a speaker and host).
What You Can Expect for Me:
Private notes for feedback on each piece
Corrections for grammar and spelling
Comments/Edits within 48 hours
Publication within 24 hours of my last edit or your incorporation of feedback
Sharing your new article, short story or poem on Twitter
I’m looking forward to receiving your submissions. And for those of you who love to read the content and not submit, I’m looking forward to sharing new material with you.
Regards for now, Jimmy (& Larry) | https://medium.com/storymaker/good-news-for-storymaker-readers-52828e7c13fd | ['Larry G. Maguire'] | 2019-09-07 17:27:30.893000+00:00 | ['Weekly Letters', 'Stories', 'Creativity', 'Art', 'Letters'] |
Industrial IoT: How Subscription Models Will Change the Industry and Society | The Internet of Things (IoT) — or the network of internet-connected objects able to gather and exchange data — has been part of our lives for some time.
And now, there is the Industrial IoT that is already taking the business world by storm. This use of IoT technologies to enhance industrial and manufacturing processes is gaining traction across many industrial segments and in terms of the Industry 4.0, it represents the hope of raising yet untapped potentials and creating new digital business models.
While IoT-enabled systems continue to create value all over, the question around how best to build a business model around connected machines continues to be a challenge.
The current popular model that involves selling IoT-enabled hardware at a huge scale to make profits is only largely viable in the consumer sector. In the industrial sector where equipment is costly, sales happen less frequently, and machines have extended shelf life, large scale sales are largely a non-viable model.
Machine manufacturers must therefore consider other ways to build revenue. And subscription models are quickly taking shape as that go-to option that is filling in the gap. Judging from all indications, subscription models are the future of the IoT world.
Indicators that subscription models are the models of the future
A growing number of B2B companies are finding ways to provide their customers with subscription services across different industries.
Meanwhile, global spending on IoT is expected to hit $1.29 trillion by 2020, with B2B applications projected to account for about 70 percent of the total value. With B2B IoT-related subscription businesses being on the rise, it’s only expected that we’ll see them become mainstream as far as Industrial IoT is concerned.
Further, manufacturing companies that are creating and selling only devices limit themselves with a one-time revenue. With subscriptions on the other hand, these businesses are able to offer additional services around the data that they harvest and process through installed IoT elements and sensors.
This shift to a recurring revenue model which helps these companies create sustainable businesses is not something entirely futuristic. Already, companies like Heidelberger Druck (Subscription Model) and Kaeser (Druckluft-as-a-Service) have started it, and other B2B companies are expected to follow suit.
That said, here are some of the ways in which subscription models are going to transform our society.
Increased risk enablement in product development across the IIoT marketplace
Because more and more products will be embedded with a digital layer, vendors will be able to capture valuable customer data needed to inform their product development decisions. Sensors will collect and relay a complete range of usage data, eventually removing guesswork from these companies’ product development roadmap.
With such data granularity, machine manufacturing companies will know exactly how their customers use their product(s), and when they use them.
This way, companies will be more informed and more certain with the kinds of subscriptions to offer their markets. All they’ll have to do is properly analyze the data, and leverage it as the basis for not only designing new products, but also marketing their entire IoT offer.
Businesses will be able to relate better with their B2B customers
Already, companies that design their marketing campaigns around accurate customer data (from accurate surveys and research) are unbeaten in their respective industries. IIoT takes the whole element of data acquisition to a whole new level. Data collected via IoT-enabled businesses is richer and will allow for even more precision when communicating with prospective and current customers.
Companies can collect the data they need on the go, and use it to better design customer follow-ups for specific customers at the right time to achieve greater results; including successful upsells, cross-sells and repeat sales.
When you know your prospective customer’s partialities and specific interests, it’s easier to choose the right message content and timing to maximize success.
This is particularly important for a subscription-based business as it helps to bring the company closer to the subscriber, encouraging the latter to keep buying and using the service. The company on the other hand is therefore better placed to make more revenue on a recurrent basis.
Vendors will compete in new markets with subscription offerings around their machines
Let’s take the example of Kaeser Kompressoren. The company originally manufactured and sold compressed air systems and services as a B2C offering.
Now, the company has embedded its equipment with machine sensors that deliver real-time analytics, predicting and preventing system outages way before they occur; and offering these data and customer insights to its B2B market.
The thing is, each time a production system goes down because of something like failing machine parts in an industrial process, the problem creates an extensive ripple effect that impairs the entire production processes and disrupts factory output further downstream.
What Kaeser Kompressoren does is collect a wealth of customer data from the machine sensors embedded in its compressors to predict failures and preventing downtime for its B2B customers through predictive maintenance.
And this is giving them a competitive edge because they can now identify and replace potentially faulty parts before they actually fail, which helps to avoid unexpected, costly outages on the their customers’ production lines.
More and more industries are starting to offer subscription models, which were not traditionally part of their business. But because these companies can now gather enough IoT data to inform their product development and marketing strategies, they are able to enter new markets and compete effectively with impressive success.
Performance Based Contracting: Usage-based /pay-per-use pricing models in the mechanical engineering B2B sector
IoT will continue to provide B2B companies with insights necessary for prolonging the life of products. With the data that these devices gather, the cost per item, use, and more can be calculated with a total cost of ownership.
At the moment the machine vendor does not know much on the machine behaviour and how the costs for maintenance are.
The companies will then be able to sell this proactive predictive maintenance, that’s necessary for reducing downtime for the customers, as service on a pay-per-use basis. This way, the companies will be able to earn a recurring revenue stream.
Wrap up
Even though some of the suggestions regarding subscription models as future models may be largely predictions based on observed trends, one thing remains true: the technology behind the Industrial Internet of Things will continue to evolve, and so will the business models underpinning it. It’s imperative therefore for companies in the manufacturing and industrial sector to incorporate this Industry 4.0 mindset in their future plans, both for the immediate and long term. If you want to start with your own subscription model, elunic is able to offer an IIoT-Subscription Model Framework. | https://jonasschaub.medium.com/industrial-iot-how-subscription-models-will-change-the-industry-and-society-43e96b821a28 | ['Jonas Schaub'] | 2020-10-28 06:30:58.798000+00:00 | ['Internet of Things'] |
Animated design. | Have you seen the gorgeous animations on the Global Forest Watch Topics pages? We’d like to tell you how and why we made them. It was a process that united art, science and technology to create a captivating entry point for data exploration.
Opening up the path to knowledge.
Forest loss is a complex issue. Trying to understand everything all at once can be overwhelming. To help first-time visitors to Global Forest Watch learn more about deforestation and guide them towards independent data discovery, we wanted to design an introduction that not only looks great but is rooted in science and viewable on any device.
Animation is a great way to introduce people to new or complex topics because the moving images are more engaging and memorable than still ones. However, there are a few things you need to consider if you’re thinking about using it. I asked Estefanía Casal, the designer of the animations to tell me more about the process.
Set out your objectives.
When we began designing these animations, we had three things in mind.
Simplicity. The animations have to be an entry point for people who aren’t forest experts. Representative: The animations need to be more than just pretty, they have to be a faithful representation of the topics. Performance: The animations have to be viewable and usable on any device, regardless of processing power or bandwidth.
Simplicity.
“Good design should attract, not distract, a person from the data or insights you want to share with them,” explained Estefanía. “With this in mind, we thought a minimalist style would work well for the animations. Our designers and developers have experimented before with isometric projection—a method of visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions—so we decided to build upon this work. Using this approach you can add depth to your animations and make the scenarios they depict seem more realistic.”
With isometric projection you can represent 3D objects in 2D.
To make sure everyone was happy with the approach, Estefanía shared her preliminary sketches with the Global Forest Watch team at World Resources Institute. Although basic, these early designs prompted some great feedback that fed into the design of the moving parts. Getting feedback early on can save you lots of time in the long run, as adapting a sketch is easier than changing a multi-layer animation.
Estefanía’s original sketches that she used to share her ideas and get feedback.
Representative.
Even though her animations are minimalist in style, Estefanía was still careful in her choice of what elements to feature in each one. Everything in the animation has to have a purpose. If it’s not essential to the story being told, it won’t be included. For example, clouds might make a drawing prettier but if they aren’t part of the narrative, you shouldn’t include them.
To help her decide what features to include and what kind of forest to draw, Estefanía talked to Ben and Enrique, two of our Scientists. They showed her pictures of rainforests, mangroves and plantations, and explained what happens when forests are cleared for agriculture or urban expansion. With this information, she could sketch out the dramatic changes that happen when deforestation occurs and add some little details that add character, like a tropical red flower or buttress roots.
The red flower and the shape of the tree trunks in this scene are a nod to the real flowers and trees found in rainforests.
One of Estefanía’s favourite moments of the project was making a tree trunk fall into the river. People had told her that the animations reminded them of a video game, and since games are so engaging, she decided to build on this idea. Seeing the tree fall was the moment Estefanía realised she’d achieved her aim and found an engaging way to visualise forest loss.
Estefanía wanted her illustrations to have a video game feel to them.
As well as being representative of the real-life events that happen when forest loss occurs, the colours used in the animations reflect the Global Forest Watch brand. The greens match the brand’s colour palette and blend seamlessly with the overall appearance of the platform. It’s a subtle touch that goes a long way towards enforcing a brand and creating a more beautiful experience.
Performance.
Aesthetics shouldn’t interfere with good user interface, so animations are only good if people can view them without crashing their phones or sending their laptop fans into overdrive. To find the best approach, Estefanía paired up with Ed, one of our developers.
Animations can be placed on the screen in a variety of formats, he explained, but due to the complexity of the animations, and the number of moving images (nodes), using a video or a GIF would be very large. We also wanted to be able to transition smoothly between each animation for any given topic. This means we’d have to load all four animations at once. You’d end up requesting 100Mbs of image files for each topic, which is unrealistic if you want people to have a smooth experience that doesn’t crash.
So what is the solution? A popular method for animation is the use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) to dynamically draw on the screen. Instead of loading a heavy image you can draw the image instead. Using a plugin called BodyMovin for Adobe After Effects you can export the SVG to a JSON file which contains references for how to draw the animation. Best of all, if you are a designer you can do this step yourself and not rely on a developer to do it for you.
Ed then used a nice library from Airbnb called Lottie to take the JSON and render dynamic looped SVGs. Normally this method is used for simple animations, such as moving icons or logos, but in our case we sometimes had millions of complex nodes to move around with high levels of detail. Estefanía had to reduce the complexity of the animations so Lottie wouldn’t get jumpy. Another reason not to include clouds if they aren’t essential to the story.
Each part of the moving arrow-like shapes (which represent CO2) is an element that has to be moved. Add too many and your animation will get jumpy.
The resulting JSON was 50kb and it’s tiny in comparison to a video. This allowed us to have a very light page with complete control over where we show the animations. You can check the code on our GitHub if you’re interested in doing something like this yourself.
It takes a team to make an animation.
Everything you see on your screen is the result of collaboration. Even this blog you are reading right now. Bringing together different skills and working together as one unified team will help you create the very best experiences for people who want to learn more about our world.
At Vizzuality, we add scientists to the mix of designers, researchers and developers to ensure data leads the design. If we can inspire people with our designs, and spark curiosity, we’re creating an opportunity that someone will use Global Forest Watch data to make decisions that are good for our planet. | https://medium.com/vizzuality-blog/animated-design-6e007311ca46 | ['Camellia Williams'] | 2019-05-31 16:42:14.005000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Illustration', 'Json', 'SVG', 'Lottie'] |
Role of smaller states in the two world wars and Indo-Pacific lessons for China | We have known the two world wars to be between major powers of the world, the first one between the allied powers led by Britain, France, the US, Italy, Japan and Russia and central powers led by Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Germany, while the second one between allied powers led by the US, Britain, France and the USSR and the axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan. However, it was always the smaller nations which caused the spark that ignited the two world wars, while the complex web of alliances which took it forward to the scale as we know it.
World war I
It was fought between the allied forces and the central forces mentioned before. But, what brought these major nations into the war? The central powers did not have colonies all around the world like the allied forces did. This caused them to look for expansion within Europe. The allied powers on the other hand had alliances with smaller nations, against whom the aggression of central powers was focused. This caused them to enter the war. It began when Serbian nationalists, who were Slavs(an ethnic group), assassinated the archduke of Habsburg empire of Austria-Hungary in Bosnia, as they wanted Bosnia to be a part of a future Slav nation, Yugoslavia. Austria-Hungary then attacked Serbia. Russian Czars, who were Slavs, then entered to protect Serbia. This caused Germany to enter in defence of the Austria’s Habsburg, which was a German empire. Germany, which was aware of Franco-Russian alliance, planned to invade France. The invasion plan required them to invade Belgium first(see map). The invasion of Belgium caused Britain, which had guaranteed Belgium borders, to enter the war. Then Japan entered to defend its ally, Britain. The US entered to protect its own interests. The result was a humiliating loss to the central powers which lost most of its territories(see map below) and also a change in their regimes.
World war II
Britain and France had guaranteed the borders of minor powers like Poland and Czechoslovakia. Adolf Hitler, through negotiation in Munich conference, had secured Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia, but that resulted in unrest and law and order problems in the rest of Czechoslovakia and the latter was forced by Germany to invite it to control the unrest, when the latter annexed it. The allied powers did not act blaming Czechoslovakia for inviting Germany. This emboldened Germany to invade Poland. It was at this time that the allied powers declared war on Germany. Italy under Benito Mussolini and Japan joined the axis powers. Russia which was on the axis side, shifted to the allies when Hitler invaded Russia. The US joined the allies. The result of which was a devastating loss to the axis. Germany divided between Russia, the US, Britain and France.
Indo-Pacific
Source: Forbes
China has been increasingly aggressive in the South China sea. The claims of various nations have been shown above, where China claims the entire sea through its nine-dash line. Philippines approached the UNCLOS to claim sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, where it got the ruling in its favour. The ruling is binding on the member nations. China, despite being a member nation did not accept it. It has been stopping oil drilling by Malaysia and Vietnam, preventing Philippines’ poor fishermen from fishing, building artificial islands in the sea to claim the sea.
Artificial island built by China
It has to be noted that the islands are just rocks with no economic value. Its the sea that carries value. Trade worth 5.3 trillion dollar passes through the South China sea . It has proven reserves of 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil.
China has to understand that bullying of smaller nations has not gone down well in the recent history as shown before. Germany and Austria have only lost territory in the world wars. It has to be noted that the US has pledged its support to nations neighbouring the South China sea. In its greed for more territories, China, along with disturbing the world peace, might also end up with the same fate as Germany in the two world wars. | https://medium.com/@shreyaskenganal145/role-of-smaller-states-in-the-two-world-wars-and-indo-pacific-lessons-for-china-c6da754584e1 | ['Shreyas Kenganal'] | 2021-10-31 07:19:59.111000+00:00 | ['South China Sea', 'Philippines', 'China', 'Vietnam', 'World War II'] |
Tackling Customer Challenges with Decentralized Wallets | Since launching DoWallet (https://dowallet.app.link/pczcR7Aw0U) a few weeks ago, we have had the great privilege (and stress) of witnessing an incredible phenomenon up close — the consumers’ shift to a reality of decentralized custodianship and the growing pains associated with it. In simpler terms — we had to solve a bunch of customer support issues.
Some of these stemmed from questions about our features, like issues in connecting to their crypto exchange accounts, like Kraken or Binance (Binance). However, most issues stemmed not from our own app’s features, but the features of the different blockchains and their respective currencies (at time of writing we support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin).
From day one of starting this venture, we knew that customer support would always be a differentiator, but we grossly underestimated how important it would be — not only to the success of our company, but to the industry itself. Without some fundamental handholding and better, more intuitive user interfaces, we risk scaring off a whole new generation of crypto users.
Coinbase has done a great job of bringing a whole population of investors and crypto-curious individuals to the market. By acting as custodians and shielding users from the onus of managing their own private keys and individual wallet addresses, Coinbase has been able to create an experience that is more like a Citi or a Chase account and hence closer to users’ current mental framework of financial services. However, this is fundamentally different from the vision of owning and using cryptocurrencies and digital assets in a decentralized economy, as set out as the central tenet of this industry. Synopsis: what’s the point of using a disintermediated asset if you’re storing your crypto with an intermediary?
Owning your own crypto in your own wallet today, however, is not an easy task, and not for the faint-hearted. When developing DoWallet, we planned for an easy user experience that would be self-explanatory and help users get used to this new framework. We thought we had been thorough in our wizards and messages, but, like any new app, there were a few things we did not predict.
Here are the four top issues our users have faced so far in using a decentralized wallet:
Recovery Phrases are rough : The vast majority of people are not equipped to deal with the recovery phrase. The 12 word mnemonic allows you to restore your wallet and all the access to its funds in any other device, hence, it’s very very important to keep this secure. In our experience, it was very hard to convey this importance to users to the extent that they actually take the proper precautions in storing it and keeping it confidential (i.e. not share it via email or save it as a screenshot in their picture roll).
: The vast majority of people are not equipped to deal with the recovery phrase. The 12 word mnemonic allows you to restore your wallet and all the access to its funds in any other device, hence, it’s very very important to keep this secure. In our experience, it was very hard to convey this importance to users to the extent that they actually take the proper precautions in storing it and keeping it confidential (i.e. not share it via email or save it as a screenshot in their picture roll). All Sends are final: Sending crypto to the wrong crypto address is the same as sending cash to the wrong address: you’re not going to see that money ever again. There is no recourse in crypto. No chargebacks. No calling the bank to try to revert the transaction.
Sending crypto to the wrong crypto address is the same as sending cash to the wrong address: you’re not going to see that money ever again. There is no recourse in crypto. No chargebacks. No calling the bank to try to revert the transaction. Bitcoin is not compatible with Bitcoin Cash : Since many coins are forks or branches of another coin, there are similarities in formats that might confuse a user. For instance, Bitcoin Cash has three different acceptable address formats, one of which is identical to Bitcoin’s (of which it is a fork). Hence, a less experienced user might attempt to send Bitcoin to a Bitcoin Cash address and vice versa. Putting the onus of figuring out compatibilities of the different blockchains (or lack thereof) is probably not the fairest thing you can do to a first-time user. At DoWallet we are constantly trying to help users by providing warnings or giving error messages for incompatible transfers, which may result in funds being lost in limbo for hours or permanently.
: Since many coins are forks or branches of another coin, there are similarities in formats that might confuse a user. For instance, Bitcoin Cash has three different acceptable address formats, one of which is identical to Bitcoin’s (of which it is a fork). Hence, a less experienced user might attempt to send Bitcoin to a Bitcoin Cash address and vice versa. Putting the onus of figuring out compatibilities of the different blockchains (or lack thereof) is probably not the fairest thing you can do to a first-time user. At DoWallet we are constantly trying to help users by providing warnings or giving error messages for incompatible transfers, which may result in funds being lost in limbo for hours or permanently. Some transactions take a while to settle: Due to differing block sizes, mining fees, and other factors, some blockchains take longer to settle a transaction than others. Some of our users were confused and frustrated when they weren’t able to use or transfer out funds that showed as ‘pending’ in their wallets. In a world of instant gratification and immediate information, users expect instant settlement. It’s a small price to pay to send money across borders without a single financial institution, so we try to educate our users on each blockchain and to explain why it’s absolutely amazing that we are able to do this today.
Overall, interacting with our users has been awesome. It’s great to hear about the different use cases that our users are coming up with to use DoWallet. Several user journeys were complete surprises to us. We are excited about what’s coming up next with markets, as new assets are tokenized and people look to wallets like ours as a viable alternative to using traditional custodians. | https://medium.com/@dowallet/tackling-customer-challenges-with-decentralized-wallets-e7ac0c0597a7 | ['Dowallet', 'An Easy-To-Use', 'Secure Crypto Wallet'] | 2019-03-13 19:56:24.223000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Bitcoin', 'Bitcoin Wallet', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
Don’t Become An Influencer | Don’t Become An Influencer
“He’s a creep. He talks to young girls all day. My wife thinks that’s weird too.”
“I’m sick of his BS. His content is crap and he sucks too.”
“He made my friend cry. He’s a piece of shit human being. Don’t believe this whole empathy nice thing he presents to the world.”
“What a privileged ass. How dare he insult what I’ve accomplished and gone through.”
“Disconnecting. I’m over it.”
“Dude, you’re standing up for them, but they’ll still never sleep with you.”
And on. And on. And on.
The trolls. The negativity. The constant Bring Him Down. But at least they’re honest.
There’s the jealous ones who pretend to support me but secretly wish for me to fail.
I left the corporate rat race behind because emotionally I couldn’t deal with the constant vitriol spewed at me by sociopaths at companies. I was the victim of bullying and harassment and was happy to leave that behind.
But this. This social media. This is a whole new level of toxic that I saw happen to other people but didn’t believe it would happen to me. But of course it has. I’m legit Big. My presence on LinkedIn is nearing 100K followers. Most CEOs don’t have that kind of following. I do. And it’s accelerating rapidly, becoming its own beast. My Brand is bigger than me. It feels like a movement.
“Jon, get over it. Brush it off. Move on. Don’t let their negative vibes enter your world. It’s not worth it. Most people love you.”
And yeah, most of what I see is accolades. It’s people being inspired. It’s fan mail that’s so amazing that I share it on my other social channels, not because I’m bragging but because I’m amazed that I can touch people’s lives in such a personal way.
But here’s what none of you are getting. The negativity hurts not because it’s so outlandish and ridiculous. No, just the opposite. It hurts because my core identity of who I am is being challenged. The very fabric of my personal development work over the last 11 years is being questioned. The words hurt because there’s a truth to them, and I don’t have the ego defenses to deal with what that means.
In order to brush it off I’d have to build up defenses that I don’t have, that would feel false. “I’m so awesome, none of this is true, moving on.” But I can’t do that because I’m always 100% honest with myself. Some of those things people said…well, I believe them. And that, my friends, is why I can’t just move on.
And so, here I am, wondering if this is worth it. Right now, the answer is a resounding no. The emotional toll is too raw, and I’m falling apart. Considering that this isn’t my main source of income and is just a way for me to sound off about random shit, the payoff isn’t good enough.
As I always say, things can change. But my guess is that I’ll be taking a long time to lick my wounds. | https://medium.com/@mahler101/dont-become-an-influencer-ea7ae7fdc1bb | ['Jon Tesser'] | 2020-12-27 02:18:58.337000+00:00 | ['Influencers', 'Personal Development', 'Cyberbully', 'LinkedIn'] |
S&S News — Holiday Edition! | S&S News — Holiday Edition!
R. Rangan PhD via Canva
Dear Friends,
Thank you for subscribing!
This special holiday edition will find some of our writing from December and highlights from 2020.
These past few months have proven to be quite eventful here at Science & Soul — politically, personally, scientifically, and spiritually. It has been a time for renewed hope and growth while acknowledging collective and systemic pain.
The US is now averaging a daily death toll equivalent to the 9/11 terrorist attacks every single day and with no signs of slowing down any time soon — CDC recommendation suggests that we do not gather outside our immediate family units, but if if you do, do not miss Tara Haelle’s checklist for a harm reduction approach.
Do check some of the stories listed below, and let us know your thoughts as we continue to learn and grow. We are grateful to all of you who contributed and consistently wrote excellent pieces — many are listed here in the links below for your holiday reading pleasure. I hope you had a chance to read it, and if you haven’t yet — do give them a look, clap, or comment!
We are thrilled to have your support and hope you will join us again in 2021. Here’s wishing everyone a blessed holiday season — Merry Christmas — May the season bring its brightest and merriest to you and your loved ones.
Happy Reading and Writing!
Until next time,
Sincerely,
Science & Soul Team.
Soulful stories from December:
How to Manage Anger Around Your Family During the Holidays
3 Ways to Work Through Your Emotions In A Healthy Manner
How to Effectively Deal with Your Inner Critic
How to Proactively Plan for the Holidays this Year
Learning to Play The Piano Taught Me How My Brain Works
The Only and Best Way to be Happy
Where Did the Term “Shot in the Arm” Come From?
The Easiest Way to Get Through is to Flow
Selected Poems
Silence — A Quest
Give It to Me — Science & Kundalini in the Earth
How to Climb Mountains That Don’t Exist
Enlightenment Defeats Unhappiness
Hi, I’m Lucy — An Eggsperimenter
A Text From Bodhidharma
Sankalpa — An acrostic Poem
Ilm — An acrostic poem
a mindful memo
Happiness
Breath
Sleep
Selected 2020 Distributed Stories:
The Connection Between Food and Your Mental Health
How I reDiscovered Joy of Reading!
How to Eat
When Challenging Your Eating Disorder Thoughts Isn’t Working
What to do when Your Body Won’t Stop Being Anxious
What to do on a Bad Body Image Day
A Guide to Dealing With the Death of a Parent
Kids & Screens During COVID
Dealing with Loss and Grief in the Age of COVID-19
How to Ace Your Mindfulness Practice
How to Not Procrastinate under Pressure
How to Become a Happy Person
How to GLADly Meditate and be Happy?
How to Make Your Present Great Again.
Don’t Be Afraid To Say “No”
How to Cope with Working from Home During COVID-19
5 ways of Learning to Like Yourself Better
How Meditation Can Help You Overcome Your Food Cravings
The Reason Why We Can’t Smell Our Own House
How to Start Intuitive Eating
Got complaints? Say Thanks.
How to Do the Next Right Thing
Some Additional COVID-19 Resources:
Gathering for December Holidays? Follow This Checklist.
4 Stories for Understanding the Latest Covid-19 Science
Psychiatric Drugs Could Be the Key to Treating Covid-19
50 Experts to Trust in a Pandemic by Elemental Editors
CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.
A shout out to everyone for your support — a huge thank you!
Joan O’Donnell Darrin Atkins Anthi Psomiadou Camille Allard Alysha Oravetz Myriam Ben Salem Nidhi Dhawan Gail England Ntathu Allen Adelia Ritchie Angela Harkerina Rochelle Silva Samataria Ana Ryan Thais Macedo Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Pradeep Srivastav Taliyaah Onze JESSILEE ASeiler KK Malukani, PhD Israel Ben Chuks Amy Lee Kite Denay Montgomery-Ryan Sarah Rossi Laura Griffith Machado, PsyD Venkat Kaushik Glendari Tutario Galit Birk, PhD Jonas Rothe Younes Henni, PhD Kathleen Cheplo Celine Lai Karen DeGroot Carter E Nichole Annika Lii Meg Lewis Pene Hodge Christopher Kokoski JoannaAmena shon grayson John Levin Ellane W Sara Pehrsson Diane Gillespie Daniel Sanchez Caballero Sandija Sproģe Meg Alzona miss mojo Wolfie Bain Dr. Fatima Imam Autumn Blossom Yan H. Stephen Ray Brown Atlanticcoatman Kathy Mulherin Darren Richardson Love, Anonymous 1 Love, Anonymous2 Ryan DeJonghe Denise G Dr Jenny Brockis Eiji Suhara PhD Dr. Marina Harris Marcus Franke Cooking at Home Cristinamiceli Cody James Howell PhD (Raiden) Matthew Prince Adam, Diabetic Cyborg Synthia Satkuna, MA Candidate Aravind Balakrishnan Lucy The Eggcademic (she/her) Robin G Murphy Anna Tryc Kate Cohen Erin Price-Hale Bianca Zagan Lynn E. O’Connor, PhD Glen J Fergo Gluttarkarki Darren Lafleur Genius Turner Daniel A. Teo James G Brennan Jim McAulay🍁 Donna L Roberts, PhD Dr. Preeti Singh Agnes Louis Elena Sunshine Magazine Susannah MacKinnie Rita Hitching Bassey Elimian Terry Mansfield Laine Kaleja Kushal Geesawor ScienceDuuude Melissa Gouty joana dos reis kurt gasbarra Michael Burg, MD Martin Vidal | https://medium.com/science-soul/s-s-news-holiday-edition-a1d6f97c786f | ['R. Rangan Phd'] | 2020-12-24 21:13:45.648000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Digest', 'Covid 19 Crisis', 'Mindfulness', 'Psychology'] |
Normandia’s Defence during 1942 | They had to decipher 7, now we are not talking about just some AAA guns no, we are talking about full-on triple mount 300mm naval cannons that would just obliterate anything it is aimed at, however, these were very rare and had a huge flaw (because of their huge size they were an easy target for bombers.
It is very difficult for many to even think about that time of period as it was presented aa the real hell on earth. What you have portraied above is a 88mm cannon set in a strong pillbox that would requier a serious load to take out. Only the noise when firrd woult threathen the morale of the allied soldiers. This is another concept that Hitler wanted to grasp with huge size weaponary, they put fright into the allied forces and they also make the axis look more overpowerd.
Now many may ask, how good was the defence? Well from the German side it was impassible as they had most of the points secured and it was just simply a massacre for the allied troops. It would have been a better idea to bring troops from Italien and African front in order to reinforce the western defence line and not let the allied forces penetrate back into Europe. If they would manage to hold back the push of the allied troops by at least 2 more weeks this would be crucial to prepare the defence out of Normandy as well as time to bring some troops from the eastern front. It was all about the focus as well as the perspective that the Germans would have in the second world war, the warforce would prove inefficient when it comes to defence against huge numbers.
At the end of the day, numbers will count for something and they have in this gruesome battle, the allied forces had over 100,000 soldiers at disposal from which they have lost almost 5,000 in D-day trying to penetrate the west front. The Germans had the guns but, the shire number of guns.
What was to become a major problem for the allies after the assault of D-day was the morale of the soldiers. Seeing the number of soldiers killed trying to take over the hills they were scared of what was waiting for them deep in Normandy. To their surprise to find less resistance as expected as most of the German troops were holding the line in the eastern front. What is important to note is that the German troops were really outnumbered but never unmatched. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/normandias-defence-during-1942-a3b86b2e5959 | ['Andrei Tapalaga'] | 2019-08-14 17:42:30.603000+00:00 | ['WIB History', 'History', 'Strategy', 'War', 'Ww2'] |
When Does Stress Become Anxiety — Take the GAD7 Anxiety Test | Many people feel anxious these days. No one will judge you for worrying about the future in these troubling times.
When do you know normal worry has turned into anxiety? How is anxiety diagnosed and why do we not test for neurotransmitter imbalances through a lab test, not a questionnaire?
All valid questions, and we can test for amino acid imbalances, specifically for those that play a vital role in anxiety — the inhibitory ones that calm the mind, and the excitatory ones — those that keep us awake, wired, and restless. You get the idea, but another article will have to be written on that subject. The purpose of this one is to provide an insight into your current psyche.
Here is the GAD-7 test used by many organizations, institutions and mental health providers.
The Test
Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems?
1. Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge
Not at all — 0 points
Several days — 1 point
More than half the day — 2 points
Nearly every day — 3 points
2. Not being able to stop or control worrying
Not at all — 0 points
Several days — 1 point
More than half the day — 2 points
Nearly every day — 3 points
3. Worrying too much about different things
Not at all — 0 points
Several days — 1 point
More than half the day — 2 points
Nearly every day — 3 points
4. Trouble relaxing
Not at all — 0 points
Several days — 1 point
More than half the day — 2 points
Nearly every day — 3 points
5. Being so restless that it is hard to sit still
Not at all — 0 points
Several days — 1 point
More than half the day — 2 points
Nearly every day — 3 points
6. Becoming easily annoyed or irritable
Not at all — 0 points
Several days — 1 point
More than half the day — 2 points
Nearly every day — 3 points
7. Feeling afraid, as if something awful might happen
Not at all — 0 points
Several days — 1 point
More than half the day — 2 points
Nearly every day — 3 points
Tabulation
Add all points based on your answers to access severity.
0 to 4 = mild anxiety
5 to 9 = moderate anxiety
10 to 14 = moderately severe anxiety
15 to 21 = severe anxiety
Call your doctor if your score is 10 or higher, or if you feel that anxiety is disrupting your daily life.
The GAD-7 was developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B. W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke, and colleagues, with an education grant from Pfizer, Inc.
Supplements
If your score is within healthy limits, and if you feel that your stress is manageable, consider the following:
Biological processes that suffer (as a result from stress) deplete our B vitamin levels and GABA, the inhibitory neurotransmitter that acts as a “brake” on spiraling negativity. GABA promotes restful sleep and relaxation.
“Clinical studies show this natural form of GABA in Thorne’s PharmaGABA can decrease the brain’s stress-related beta waves and increase the production of alpha-waves, creating a profound sense of physical relaxation while maintaining mental focus. Other studies show reduced pupil diameter and heart rate, and a reduction in the levels of two natural biomarkers of stress — salivary cortisol and chromogranin A — all signs of enhanced relaxation.”
Adding adaptogenic herbs to your routine helps in several ways:
This non-glandular formula of botanicals optimizes adrenal response to help you cope with pressure. It may improve your response to stress and help you reduce fatigue. The blend contains Ashwagandha, Astragalus Extract, Eleuthero Extract, Ginger, Ginseng, Licorice, Vitamin B, Vitamin C, and Zinc — anti-stress, immune-boosting herbs and vitamins with impressive clinical properties.
Adding this bundle to your dailiness may improve your well-being substantially, especially if combined with meditation, music, art, and exercise — topics for another day.
LINK: https://thor.ne/QALug (copy/paste to your browser)
Resources:
Legal Disclaimer
The statements on these pages are not evaluated by the FDA and are for informational purposes only. Nothing on this page intends to treat, diagnose or prevent disease. If you suspect that you have a disease or a condition of any type, please see your primary care physician without delay. Consult your physician before taking supplements or changing your diet.
About the Author
Evelina Sodt, PhD is a nationally registered provider of health education services. She is a practitioner, a consultant, and the author of over a dozen books, including Healing Pain, Anxiety, and Inflammation Without Drugs: The Science Behind Natural Medicine. Dr. Ev practices virtually via remote consultations. She lives in Northern NJ with her husband, daughter, and a cat named Kingston. | https://medium.com/naturopath-magazine/when-does-stress-become-anxiety-take-the-gad7-anxiety-test-68a178581466 | ['Evelina Sodt'] | 2020-12-18 18:02:11.996000+00:00 | ['Supplements', 'Anxiety', 'Stress Management', 'Evelina Sodt', 'Stress'] |
Feelings v. Intellect | Feelings v. Intellect
Photo by Aditya Joshi on Unsplash
Savoring supple moments,
Idle chatter mixed with wishful glances,
Wandering eyes meet in hopes to exchange sustaining smiles.
Disregarding the cautions signs and refusing to tread lightly.
Each unspoken phrase serving as a coal to tend the fire within.
A flame created to illuminate a long-forgotten desire.
A shimmering blaze catches the outskirts of my lungs.
Causing me to suffer and reach out for breath.
A fruitful thought proves powerful and allows me to hold out.
I begin to grasp forward for anything, I reach out further.
My hand connects to yours as my priorities begin reconfiguring.
I crave your touch more than oxygen.
God grants my lungs redemption as they expand larger than before.
An energy proved palpable knocked the wind into me.
You coexist with a polite filled manner,
Accepting my hand with aid but with retracted affection.
You catch my eyes, learning of their true intent.
Escaping their meeting with thoughts of another.
A voice of reason ascends to the control room,
Deciding to retreat in hopes to maintain dignity.
My heart makes an appearance and demands a debate.
He stands accused of a deeper wound than any previous pain.
The heart bends the knee in order to beg for a final chance,
If logic joins in this valiant venture, the heart may face a clouted blow.
This voice of reason views the woman as uncaring and unreceptive to the approach.
Her use of time and money spent on another making us the sucker.
The voice stands against the heart in the virtuous trial.
Love calls time to the stand in hopes for a plea bargain.
If love and the heart utilize their lawyer, patience, they may secure more time.
The heart, time, and patience stand against logic, a voice of reason, and argumentation.
The left stands against the right combatting through a battle of wits and emotions.
Their sole being has a say in the ongoing matter as he approaches the stand.
He recalls Saturday nights, treacherous tears stuck reminiscing in unending intimacy.
A decision has been made.
The jury attempts to announce their deliberations.
The six stand for a ruling,
One which inspires hopeful prudence.
© Gaston King, all rights reserved. | https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/feelings-v-intellect-9b3c07a1999 | ['Gaston King'] | 2020-12-21 07:48:23.211000+00:00 | ['Feelings', 'Thoughts', 'Poetry', 'Decision Making', 'Debate'] |
How getting your employees out to volunteer on Friday makes your company more successful | A model that makes your employees happier — and thus boosts the productivity of your company — while doing social good? I would surely take that. Social Friday, a new, avant-garde corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative provides this model. It aims to reinvent how Fridays are spent across offices worldwide and convert them into a force for social good. Its big, hairy, audacious goal is to create a healthier economy, where consumerism and giving are balanced.
Research shows that Friday is the least productive day of the work week. (1) Millions of hours are spent unproductively across offices and classrooms on Friday. These are hours during which employees are feeling dreary, productivity is low, but they are still required to be glued to their chairs, impatiently watching the clock tick until they can kick off the weekend.
At the same time, the current state of the economy is fiercely focused on consumption. Companies are not aware nor engaged in the social surroundings of the environments they operate in.
This is why Social Friday was born. It aims to utilize these millions of unproductive Friday hours to activate companies, organizations and universities to get out of their offices, connect and give back to the community by volunteering for a social cause. It wants to make Friday afternoons doing good with your team, the new cool way companies, organizations and universities spend their last day of the workweek. A Social Friday activity is more than just a fun team outing. The participants get actively involved and make a valuable contribution to the local community.
Social Friday happens four times a year, one each quarter on a set date. One Friday afternoon each quarter of the year is not too much for companies to commit, and not too little to have an impact. This model uses the repetition of the corporate cycle. Not for quarterly reports, but to start a chain of social good.
The fourth, and last Social Friday, happens on the same day as Black Friday — and not coincidentally. The vision is to have 100+ companies and organizations in 20+ countries all engaged in social service activities on that same Friday afternoon. Taking advantage of the Black Friday hype, Social Friday uses these social good activities happening around the globe to steer the conversation from consumerism to giving. Social Friday is to serve as the “band-aid” of Black Friday.
What’s even sweeter about Social Friday is that it’s a win from all perspectives. The obvious one is that through these volunteering hours, the people in need of help receive it. The second one is that according to a study by Fidelity Charitable, two-thirds (67%) of Americans (2) say they generally make their financial contributions to the same organizations where they volunteer.
The benefits for companies are plenty as well. First of all, getting together with your team outside the office creates a stronger bond. Strong bonds build strong teams. And strong teams make companies successful. Moreover, research shows that helping others makes people happy and satisfied (3). Happy employees are more healthy employees and — don’t tell your competition — more productive. Engaging with and giving back to the community will also improve a company’s reputation among its customers and stakeholders. And lastly, by 2025 millennials will make up 75% of the workforce. And research shows millennials are eager to make a difference through their work (4). So, engaging in Social Friday activities positions a company in a favorable position to attract top talent.
Realistically, during the Covid-19 infused era that we live in, an initiative like Social Friday becomes even more appropriate. In the recent years, as a result of the pandemic sweeping the world, the needs of the vulnerable have increased even more. On the other hand, people are craving connection with others after months of social distancing. Team building for companies and organizations has become difficult noting the work from home set up. It’s been a tough year, but an initiative like Social Friday is available to help in addressing some of these “new normal” challenges. | https://medium.com/@socialfridayactivity/how-getting-your-employees-out-to-volunteer-on-friday-makes-your-company-more-successful-a1d75e708e11 | ['Social Friday Activity'] | 2020-12-11 12:57:20.791000+00:00 | ['Corporate Culture', 'Philanthropy', 'Business', 'Happiness', 'Productivity'] |
When Industrial IoT Comes to the Office | When Industrial IoT Comes to the Office
On the complexity of IoT in the seemingly straightforward scenario of determining whether a conference room is occupied.
One cool aspect of being part of Favorite Medium is that we get to work with emerging technology, such as industrial IoT. We’ve had the opportunity to work on IoT in many spheres from security to energy grids to physical space analytics. Our IoT projects have spanned the gamut. Sometimes we’re just trying to make an ordinary task a touch easier, such as ordering lunch with a button. Other times, we’re changing the way that people manage a chronic health condition like diabetes via a medical device.
With the Internet of Things, it feels like we’re entering a new era. Chips are getting smaller, more powerful, and less costly to produce. Likewise, the software networks, data storage, and computational power needed to enable devices to communicate are also becoming cheaper to build and maintain. It’s clear that the potential to transform the operations of many industries — and the way that we live — is vast.
Today, we’re sharing about a project that takes place in a location that’s familiar to many: the office space.
The Conference Room Conundrum
The question posed to us was: How can we make the best use of space in an office?
Our client was interested in finding out if conference rooms were being used well. With real estate at a premium, using space efficiently is essential.
Yet figuring out the most productive office configuration has proved to be a vexing problem for facilities managers. They didn’t have meaningful data to help them make informed decisions. Were the number of rooms and the amount of people they could hold the right number for the space? What if there was a way to look and see which conference rooms were available at any given time? On its face, this seemed like a straightforward issue. As we dug into these questions, we found that they became increasingly complex.
To determine whether or not a room was occupied, we outfitted them with PIR (passive infrared) sensors that could detect motion. We built an app that integrated the client’s existing calendaring system. One could search for a room in real time, generating a list of what was available at that moment. Not only that, but if you had booked a meeting and weren’t in the room at the appointed time, the system would ask if you were still planning on using the space. If you didn’t respond within 10 minutes, it would cancel the reservation, freeing the room up for someone else to use.
Installing a sensor under the conference table
Unexpected Challenges
The sensors in each room connected to a gateway via Bluetooth. However, we found that wireless Bluetooth sensors can be unreliable in buildings with a large amount of structural steel or with very thick walls. These can disrupt a sensor’s Bluetooth connection to a gateway. The pilot space we were testing happened to be located in an older building that had been retrofitted with large steel beams. Thus, the sensors constantly lost connection to the gateways. We conducted a lot of complicated field testing just on the reliability of the sensors.
We also found that motion sensors by themselves were not sufficient. Some people like to fidget, but others sit very still. And in the case of the latter, sensors could miss them. There were times when a room became unlocked even though people were in it because there were insufficient sensors placed throughout the room to detect very still people or low occupancy (for example, two people taking up a 10-person conference room). To truly determine if humans were in the room, it would be ideal to add sensors that tracked temperature too.
Another challenge was human. People had concerns about their privacy and were nervous about their calendars interacting with the reservation system. Some people didn’t want to participate in the system at all. At other times, people removed sensors. (A good inventory management system to track devices was important for this project!) Ultimately, any system needs buy-in on the individual and organizational levels in order for it to succeed.
Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash
Data Engineering in Office Space Analytics
The conference room efficiency idea was then expanded to the larger space. What if we could generate analytics for the entire office space and see how well (or not) it was being utilized? To do this, we had to carefully design where we placed sensors. Then we collected and stored data for several months. Sensors help capture data in a way that’s far more accurate (and cost effective) than humans with clipboards observing the space.
One key thing we did was separate the raw sensor data from the aggregated space data. So much data was being generated, but not all of it was necessarily meaningful. Cleaning up the data was crucial, as it allowed us to converge on an aggregated data model that supported a wide variety of queries. (Garbage data = garbage insights.) Thus, we could develop a wide variety of visualizations very quickly.
Because the data was “flexible” we could manipulate it in many ways to deliver insights. Our designers and facilities consultants used the data to make recommendations on reconfiguring spaces to optimize how employees actually use the space. For example: the data might show that phone booths were often occupied, particularly at certain times of the day, but that hot desks were not. So, from a facilities standpoint, removing some desks to create more room for phone banks would increase space efficiency.
Takeaways
IoT doesn’t mean that you can just slap sensors on something to make it smart and expect it to start generating data. Even with something as seemingly straightforward as room reservations, we found a level of complexity that isn’t in many traditional web- or app-based software projects. Not only do you have data-related software engineering, you have networking and physics. (When steel and Bluetooth collide!) You also need a good understanding of human behavior related to the objects in their sphere that are collecting data about them. And then you need to understand how to sort and clean that data for it to generate meaning.
You must deal with all of this just to let people know that a conference room is open or to tell them how they are using the spaces in their office.
No matter what the situation or industry, when we approach this kind of platform, we’ve learned that it’s important to understand the broad challenges, not just the software challenges. We may work in the digital realm — but whether it’s analyzing something as ordinary as office space or something as important as medical data that could potentially save lives — at the end of the day, our work is centered on making people’s lives a little better and a little easier. | https://medium.com/fm-stories/when-industrial-iot-comes-to-the-office-4ba746a2bcb | ['Favorite Medium'] | 2019-06-11 01:20:36.817000+00:00 | ['IoT', 'Data Engineering', 'Proptech', 'Sensors', 'Data Science'] |
Solving the Bitcoin Dilemma | On Christmas day bitcoin (BTC) reached another all time high. Unlike the stock market the cryptocurrency market never sleeps. However in many ways cryptocurrencies, or more specifically bitcoin, possesses similar qualities to stocks.
A few weeks ago the latest hot topic on the social media platforms was whether it was wise to borrow against your home and invest in bitcoin. That discussion had started after a well known podcaster admitted he had taken out a loan failing to tell the lender what he intended to use the money for. The discussion moved away from the ethics of his actions and towards whether it was an acceptable risk to borrow money to invest in bitcoin. The reaction was mixed.
That discussion is the crux of this article. Should we be throwing caution to the wind and ploughing our spare money into bitcoin? When you read about companies like MicroStrategy investing the bulk of their surplus cash into bitcoin (over $1bn including borrowings of $650m) and that Elon Musk is contemplating doing the same at Tesla you have to ask yourself a very important question: Am I missing something?
It has been said that every event is a repeat of the same or similar situation from the past. These past events generally establish certain rules which should be followed based on past experience. In the case of the phenomenon which is bitcoin by throwing caution to the wind and disregarding these investment rules we are declaring that bitcoin is unique, that the world has never seen anything like it before.
Investment Rules
What are these investment rules which have been learnt over many years through the school of hard knocks? Here are the eight most important ones which are particularly relevant to bitcoin.
Don’t invest money you’ll need right away. Always have an emergency fund. Following on from this basic rule, don’t invest what you cannot afford to lose. By ensuring you never invest all your money into one investment if the worst case scenario comes to fruition you are still able to remain in the game. There are many horror stories of people investing all their available savings into a single stock which they think is the next big thing, a commodity, junk bonds, an alternative investment (from ostriches to tulip bulbs) or an attractive looking property play. Some work out, most don’t hence the rule! Don’t invest in anything you don’t understand. This is Warren Buffett’s golden rule and has stood him in good stead throughout his long and successful investment career. Do you really understand how bitcoin works? Do you understand the factors that influence its price? Are you investing because everyone else is? Or have you sat down and worked out independently of anyone else why bitcoin is a solid long term investment? Leave your investments alone. Another one of Mr Buffett’s golden rules. Don’t be one of those people who checks the price of your investment ten times a day. The best practice is to buy an investment and hold it. That policy has worked exceptionally well for Warren and his investors over the years. Diversify your portfolio. Often described as the golden rule of investing. This rule doesn’t just mean investing in a large number of stocks to spread your risk, it also means having different kinds of investments (stocks, bonds, gold, property and bitcoin) that will perform differently over time reducing overall risk. This is where bitcoin fits in, as a constituent of a well diversified portfolio. Do not invest in single stocks. This rule doesn’t just cover stocks, it covers any type of investment. If you are presented with something that your advisor says is the best investment opportunity he has seen in his long illustrious career and recommends you invest your entire savings into it I think a fair response would be a stiff punch to the nose. It is always advisable to spread your risk among a basket of investments which react differently to market conditions. Understand your risk tolerance. Are you a risk taker or risk averse? Are you a pensioner who needs a financial loss like a hole in the head? Are you young with money to burn? Do you panic when one of your investments loses 20% in value in one day? Do you sleep like a baby despite market turmoil? These are all factors which you must consider when investing in any asset. If you don’t handle stress well and panic when bitcoin dives by 50% in a day then this investment isn’t one for you. Likewise if you are a pensioner who is in need of a regular income investing any of your pension in bitcoin is not advisable. Buy when everyone is fearful. This rule is the signal of a cold hearted professional investor. When the crowd is selling in panic the professional with nerves of steel is snapping up unwanted stock or in this case bitcoin believing the market has overreacted. A shrewd investor goes against the crowd not with it. When the Uber driver tells you he has purchased bitcoin, that is when you want to take profits and wait for the same driver to tell you he has sold, then buy. Don’t deviate from the process. Follow your investment rules religiously. The first time you deviate from your rules that is the start of the end. It is like an alcoholic taking his first drink after being on the wagon for twelve months! If you decide to hold 5% of your portfolio in bitcoin stick to that and rebalance your portfolio.
Does Bitcoin Deserve Special Treatment?
Some of the most enthusiastic among us may say these rules do not apply to bitcoin. Bitcoin is unique. To that we respond with the wise words of Sir John Templeton the successful value investor who once said “The four most costly words in the annals of investing are ‘this time is different.’”
Risks
With any investment it is not all one way traffic. There are also many risks attached to bitcoin which tend to be brushed under the carpet when market exuberance takes over. When the market turns it becomes quickly obvious that we should have realized that there were glaring downsides to our once faultless investment. What are the glaring downsides to bitcoin? Here are a few.
Despite the often cited argument that the maximum supply of bitcoin is restricted to 21m coins we often forget that each coin can be divided into 100,000 Satoshi’s.
BTC is already a mainstream investment or store of value however it is barely utilized as a medium of exchange because of its volatility and the snails speed in which Bitcoin processes transactions (BTC blockchain processes 7 transactions per second compared to 24,000 for VISA).
There is no intrinsic value behind bitcoin.
There is no generally accepted valuation model to determine bitcoin’s value. A few valuation models that do exist suggest an intrinsic value of under $5,000 based on the opportunity cost of using an alternative to bitcoin and the financial savings made as a result of using bitcoin. These models have their faults and do not take into account other non financial factors.
Regulation. A few countries have banned bitcoin such as China and India (China prohibits exchanges from dealing legal tender for virtual currency). What would happen if the US instituted a ban?
Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash
Counter Arguments in Favor of Bitcoin
For each risk there is a strong counter argument especially as the bitcoin frenzy remains in full flow.
A few convincing ones for the value of bitcoin to continue its rise include:
Based on 100,000 Satoshis for each BTC, a value of $1 per Satoshi (and $100,000 per BTC) would produce a market cap of $1.8 trillion (it is $500bn now), compare that to golds market cap of roughly $10 trillion that is a strong argument for BTC to continue its rise for some time to come.
Whilst bitcoin’s blockchain is fundamentally slow there are networks which work on top of the blockchain that will speed up the processing of transactions so it is competitive with centralized systems. This will increase future adoption and therefore the price.
Cryptocurrency will become more user friendly in terms of user interfaces and ease of use (including security and storage). This will lead to widespread adoption.
Bitcoin will become a mainstay of every investor’s portfolio.
A Sensible Conclusion
It all comes down to risk tolerance. As we saw earlier a persons risk tolerance depends on a number of factors. This article is not by any means saying don’t invest in bitcoin. We are advocates of bitcoin and can see the price continuing to rise. A price of $100,000 isn’t a mere pipe dream any more, it is a real possibility. However like with most investments in the past and present things don’t always turn out the way we expected. As they say, there is many a slip between cup and lip. This slip could be the US imposing a ban on bitcoin, unlikely but possible. A competitor to bitcoin could emerge which quickly overtakes bitcoin. This is a more likely scenario in the medium term with Facebook’s virtual currency being a main contender.
Nothing is risk free. There was the tulip bulb mania back in the 1600s and the dot com bubble in the late 1990s. It is always best to urge on the side of caution. Borrowing against your home is the act of a maverick investor or someone who has let greed go to his head. It rarely turns out well. The sensible investor would do better to add bitcoin to his portfolio and limit it to below 10% (5% feels about right). The overriding fear in all of us is the fear of missing out — they even have an acronym for it (FOMO). The fear of losing your home or your car should always override this. That is why the golden rule in the case of bitcoin is only invest what you can afford to lose. If you can’t afford to lose it don’t invest it — simple.
Visit us at www.fraudstamp.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram: @fraudstamp
No Financial Advice
This article does not constitute financial advice in any way. The article should be treated as supplementary information to add to your knowledge base.
Also, Read | https://medium.com/coinmonks/solving-the-bitcoin-dilemma-7fbfd045e997 | ['Fraud Stamp'] | 2020-12-30 05:01:45.577000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Bitcoin', 'Investing'] |
The worst ever pandemic | The Worst Ever Pandemic
How the Spanish Flu became the worst pandemic ever witnessed
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 is said to have infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide — about one-third of the planet’s population — and led to the death of up to 50 million people. It is still the deadliest pandemic in history.
Although the Spanish Flu did not originate in Spain widespread news coverage of the pandemic was broadcast from Spain due to its neutrality in the First World War. Other Allies did not openly report on the flu pandemic in order not to affect morale and as a result, the coverage of the pandemic was forever equated with Spain and the name has stuck even to the present day.
Though the death toll and its devastating effects are clear the origins of the 1918 flu strain are still elusive.
According to historian Mark Humphries, the mobilization of large numbers of Chinese laborers to support both the French and British war efforts may have been the source of the pandemic but this too is still not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
It has also been widely suggested that the first case was reported at a military base in Kansas on March 11, 1918, where American soldiers were preparing to fight in World War I.
The height of the Spanish Flu reads like a news report from this year: cases quickly spread to urban populations that were completely unprepared for such unprecedented hospitalizations and the rate of infections. Makeshift hospitals and morgues sprung up across cities as infection rates spiraled out of control as citizens were ordered to wear masks in an attempt to prevent further infections. Schools and businesses were shut and curfews and bans on mass public gatherings were also commonplace in many countries.
To make matters even worse, the Spanish Flu had a terribly high death rate in seemingly healthy young people. As a result, it was reported that more U.S. soldiers died from the 1918 flu than were killed in battle during the war. Nearly half of the US Navy was affected and more than a third of tall armed forces experienced symptoms at some point in the height of the pandemic.
It is often assumed that in 2020 we inhabit a world that is far more open and interconnected than 100 years ago and thought this is mostly true one cannot forget that during the First World War mass movements of people were commonplace as young men and women across the globe left small towns and traveled far and wide.
Although the Covid 19 vaccine is now being administered thanks to the work of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine one must recall that there was no vaccine ever created for the Spanish Flu and in fact, medical treatments at the time were completely inadequate.
One of the primary pharmaceutical treatments for the Spanish flu was aspirin and medical professionals widely recommended up to 30 grams of aspirin daily. This amount is now known to be far too high and medical historians believe many of the deaths from the Spanish flu were either caused or accelerated by aspirin poisoning.
According to Jeffrey Taubenberger in History, since the whole world had been exposed to the virus a natural immunity against its effects the virus mutated in a process called “antigenic drift.”
Incidences of the original strain of the 1918 flu reemerged in both the winters of 1919–1920 and 1920–1921, however, they were far less fatal and nearly indistinguishable from the common seasonal flu that was everpresent in the winter months. Taubenberger does state that even today elements of the 1918 flu strain can still be found. It seems history remains hidden in the present, allowing us to learn from it.
Though 2020 is about to come to an end, we must look to the past to see how people lived through the worst ever pandemic. Through this, we can look to the future with togetherness, resilience, and hope. | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-worst-ever-pandemic-bd5c16824768 | ['Saamir Ansari'] | 2020-12-29 21:39:08.397000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Pandemic', 'Coronavirus', 'History', '2020'] |
AMA Recap: CRYPTO MINERS X WIZARDIUM | We hosted an AMA session with Wizardium on 29th December at 3:30 PM UTC.
Mr. Ramsy was the host from Crypto Miners and Mr. Arch was the guest. He shared delightful knowledge and unique features of Wizardium.
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Segment 1️⃣: Introduction
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Ramsy:
Hello everyone 👋 and welcome to the Crypto Miners AMA session With Wizarduim
To help us learn more about the featured project of this AMA session, we are lucky to be joined By Mr. Arch
Arch:
Hi there!
Ramsy:
Hello 👋
Wolcome here
Thanks for bringing Us Wizarduim❤️
Arch:
Welcome community 🙂
Ramsy:
I'm pretty sure that our AMA participants are very much excited to learn more about Wizarduim 😇
so let's get started if you're ready!!
Arch:
Lets do 🙂
Ramsy:
So here's our first question from this segment...
Q1) Can you give a brief explanation about 'Wizarduim' .What popped up in your mind to create such a platform in this Space?
Arch:
We were inspired by Harry Potter stories and the atmosphere of good magic. We decided to bring this to binance smart chain community and create wizardium as the Metaverse of good magic with play to earn principles, where users will be able to have their own heroes magician animals and farm WIZZY tokens to gain some profit.
Ramsy:
Thanks Arch For This warm start 🤝
Now let's see our second question from this segment...
Q2) So what are your main features and advantages that discern you from other projects?
Arch:
Actually we have started with some well known features to be quickly adopted. You can mint NFT hero by using BNB, BUSD and other currencies and go to exploration of Wizardium lands to gain some gems - WIZZY tokens, next steps for us to implement another DEFI mechanics - staking, where users will be able to stake LP tokens and earn WIZZY or stake WIZZY tokens to earn even more WIZZY tokens.
Ramsy:
Q3) How has the experience and background of your team been effective in the success of your project so far?
Arch:
We have a huge experience in online gambling and crypto. Professional approach in smart contracts development bring the opportunity for us to create a quite interesting game mechanics that may attract lots of users across Binance Smart Chain.
Ramsy:
4) Now Share us about your Native token, What are the some of utlities of $WIZZY Token in Your Ecosystem? And if possible share to us the Tokenomics
Arch:
We are aimed to build the most balanced token system in blockchain Play to Earn gaming. Tokenomics of the $WIZZY Wizardium. The use case of tokens is the most important thing we understand that so we have several important use cases for WIZZY tokens inside the game: The use cases of $WIZZY tokens are: 🪄Exploration cost (when you send NFT hero to farm you need to have some $WIZZY)
🪄Exploration rewards
🪄In-game store purchasing (potions, other stuff in future)
🪄Token Staking and LP staking
🪄Ecosystem partnerships
🪄Trading
Ramsy:
Q5) So how long did it take to develop this project? What plans do you have for the future? And what can we expect from Wizarduim? If possible could you please share road map with us.
Arch:
We have started in the late summer with this idea and spend all the autumn to make it work. We have lots of plans but all of them depend on the adoption of the nearest releases which include NFT Farming and Staking. We have plans to make mini games with our heroes and implement more play to earn mechanics we have worked. But it’s a secret for now! Current roadmap can be seen here: https://about.wizardium.io/start/description/roadmap
Ramsy:
Thanks Arch for this well detailed introduction about Wizarduim:)
And that's the wrap up of our the first part of the AMA session ✅
Let’s now proceed to our Twitter Questions section...
i hope you’re ready for that!!
Arch:
Lets do it 🙂
Segment 2️⃣: Twitter Questions
Ramsy:
1)What are the risk management policies that project uses to safeguard the investments and credits granted by its platform? How do you really ensure that there is a backup base to rely on in the face of any situation or sudden change in the commercial markets?
Here's out first question from twitter
Arch:
We have a great game mechanics to make it stable 🙂
Ramsy:
2)Many of us as blockchain gamers have experienced constant bugs from games hitting rock bottom today. So what steps will Wizardium take to avoid cases like this? Have you tested it on the Wizardium platform?
Arch:
We are testing more than 1 month to be sure that everything will be smooth :) Testing is very important We are good in that
Ramsy:
3)Game NFT Blockchain and P2E are becoming more popular, however most of the existing games that use this concept are too expensive for newbies. Will your games be affordable and accessible to the general public, or have you taken any steps to appeal to a wider audience?
Arch:
We are also expensive in NFT heroes the floor price is 250 usd for minting However users may participate by buying WIZZY tokens and use staking WIZZY token is cheap now only 0.11 usd :) And can be bought here https://pancakeswap.finance/swap?outputCurrency=0x9E327B55D5791bd1b08222F7886d7a82EB11aCEE
Ramsy:
4) I read that Wizardium was designed by the team to give NFT owners the opportunity to earn around $500-1000 per week. In the long run, how do you make these passive returns profitable? What does this benefit depend on? What kind of economic structure do they have?
Arch:
This profit can be riches by using multiple heroes farming and great market conditions :) We can’t assure it will be long term but will do our best to keep it as long as possible
Ramsy:
Let's hear our last question from twitter...
5) Collaborations and partnerships are some of the most important cornerstones to help improve adoption. Can you tell us about your current partners, plans for partnerships and what everybody stands to gain from these partnership??
Arch:
We have partnered with major nft marketplaces, also in the near future we are gonna expand WIZZY use cases :)
Ramsy:
Thanks man for Your Valuable Informations,
And that's the end of our twitter question segment
Now Moving on to our last segment - Live Q&A
Shall we go?
Arch:
Let’s go :)
Ramsy:
Here we go,
Segment 3️⃣: Live QnA
(In this segment group was opened for 60 seconds and Miners sent hundreds of questions. Guest choose some best to answer)
1)How important is the community to Your project? and How can we collaborate or help share token for the development of the project?
Arch:
The community is very important, we have a great community of game lovers. Join https://t.me/wizardium_nft
2) Has our project been audited?
Arch:
Yes we have done audit with solidproof team and it’s 100% secure ✅
3) What are the top priorities of your project in 2021? As we know that we are in the bullish phase of the crypto market now, are there any exciting initiatives that you’re planning in the pipeline that you can share with us?
Arch:
Okay, our mai priority is game development and the next priority is token development to make it a real usable asset with high value 🧙♂️
4) What is the next most important thing to achieve according to your roadmap, do you start working for it?
Arch:
The next important thing is to launch NFT farming where users who have NFT hero will be able to gain some WIZZY tokens ;)
5) IS This Your Project Only For Elite Investors, How About Others With Small Funds, Is It Open To Everyone?
Arch:
Our project is for people, we don’t have a huge investors backing us. We build Wizardium for people :)
*This segment ends here*
Arch:
Play games guys, love crypto Visit Wizardium.io to check us :) Thank you
Ramsy:
Thankyou so much Arch For your valuable answers and information about Wizarduim,
It Was Pleasure Hosting An Ama With You
Time To Conclude Our AMA Section
Best of luck for the future 🚀🚀 | https://medium.com/@cryptominersco/ama-recap-crypto-miners-x-wizardium-b34c02dc9d4 | ['Crypto Miners'] | 2021-12-31 11:37:12.197000+00:00 | ['Ama', 'Metaverse', 'Nft', 'Nft Gaming Platform', 'Decentralization'] |
LGBT. WWJD? | One May day during my Peanut Butter Cheerios phase, I came across images of a Minneapolis church distributing Communion. This wouldn’t be a big deal, except there was a slight twist. The blessed bread to represent the body of Christ was colored in rainbow tie-dye to celebrate Minnesota legalizing same-sex marriage.
“BLASPHEMY!” I decried from my laptop, a volcano of PB Cheerios erupting from my lap as I self-appointed my shaking fist to substitute for the right hand of God. “How DARE these false prophets vandalize traditional religious sacrament to forgive sin of those who sin”, I thought (or something like that) from the moral high ground that was my love seat. I thought the world was going to hell in a Communion bread basket.
My persecution was justified by years of conservative Evangelical indoctrination towards the LGBT lifestyle. I was proud to be homophobic and professed this to my friends, both Christian and imaginary. During my Bible study days, I militarized my Bible by arming it with Post-It notes and camouflaging the pages with Sharpie highlights. Bible verses were read-off like Battleship coordinates, raining down Sodom and Gomorrah to morally obliterate the faults of those floating in sexual sin. Homosexuality was an easy target, as I would lock-and-load Scripture with heavy clips of Biblical ammunition to launch an all-out religious warpath on those who’s lifestyles would tread on the Word of God.
Long story short. I was a self-righteous dick.
Then I pulled a stuffed lion out of my pants during Bible study to be funny. No one laughed. I got a front-row seat to how cutthroat religious persecution can be in friendly fire.
My Christian “friends” stoned me with stares for my bad humor (you may agree as you read this blog). The group’s second-in-command called me the next day, probably making sure I didn’t have plans to sacrifice a lamb on someone’s coffee table for the following week’s study on Abraham. “I should really apologize” I voiced to him, which he replied, “I think it would be best to never bring it up again”.
Attendance nose-dived. Several unfriended me from Facebook (THE HUMANITY!). Some just stopped talking to me altogether. I was shunned to the point where I was expecting to be tossed 30 pieces of silver and exiled to 40 days and 40 nights of wilderness. ‘How can Christians treat me like this?’ I thought, unable to comprehend the hypocrisy of the group’s reaction to my blunder. I felt my faith was put into question. I stopped going.
Throughout my 20's, I mirrored the same judgmental stance on same-sex relationships. More and more of my friends came out of the closest as gay or lesbian, and I sensed the cultural consciousness changing. My millennial generation was growing up on history class lessons about the courageous actions of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King to confront racial injustice. I started to see a similar tone with sexual discrimination, and religious doctrine was the oppressive slave master. When I began to look at the iris in the eyes in front of me, I slowly started to adopt a realization they weren’t just choosing to live in sin. They were gay because they were gay, just as much as I get morning wood to dreams of Kate Upton.
So after 30 years, my year as a Wayfaring Stranger to visit 52 Churches in 52 Weeks has me taking a step back and taking a fresh look at such a social issue. I’m left asking the question:
‘LGBT. WWJD?’
Jay Bakker isn’t your typical pastor. His arms are sleeved with tattoos, his face a connect-the-dots of silver piercings scaffolded with black-rimmed glasses. A self-described Christian agnostic, Bakker has come out as a punk preacher who openly supports gay marriage. As a result, he has been called many radical things over the years by watchmen Christians: “apostate pastor”, “emerging false prophet”, “heretic”, the list goes on.
In the last few months, Bakker’s life experiences and social stance has attracted interviews with Larry King Live, CNN, and MSNBC, who preface him as “the son of former televangelists, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker”. His parents were a big deal back in the day, hosting a popular religious talk show and creating a Christian theme park. Eventually, his father was implicated in scandal and shipped to prison, leaving the Bakker empire to collapse in a hostile takeover. The media circus and corrupt betrayal of his religious community left Jay in a downward spiral during his teenage years that left him to question his faith.
After recovering from substance abuse, he emerged preaching grace.
Not many were as accepting.
For Week 20, I took a road trip through the urban wilderness of downtown Minneapolis to see Jay Bakker talk at Revolution Church inside a bar/restaurant/bowling alley that the locals call Bryant-Lake Bowl. It’s the same church that I cried “blasphemy” when I saw those images of Bakker breaking rainbow-colored Communion bread to celebrate same-sex marriage.
Restroom riddle.
Bryant-Lake Bowl is not a setting you’d expect to hear a sermon. The glass windows display times for Happy Hour and Cheap Date Night, with chalkboard drink specials above the bar for drinks called the Madhatter, Loon Rise, and Gramma’s Candy Dish. The bathrooms were populated with graffiti, the porcelain tiles providing thought-provoking questions like, “How many midgets does it take to !@#k a waitress?” The answer apparently is 12. No one bothered to answer the “Why?” step-down question.
An overhead sign pointed me towards the theater which could have been mistaken for an emergency exit. After passing a framed picture of a bowling ball complemented with a middle finger, I walked inside to see Jay Bakker sitting on a barstool sipping Starbucks. Just earlier in the week on his website, he posted pictures from his interview with Barbara Walters. Days later, here he was in front of 5 introverts, and a podcast that reaches a Facebook following of over 13,000. | https://medium.com/52-churches-in-52-weeks/lgbt-wwjd-b13493f61db9 | ['Dave Boice'] | 2016-07-20 16:22:03.387000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Agnostic', 'LGBTQ'] |
Designing for email | Revue is a content curation platform driven by email. With Revue people can subscribe to newsletters that fit their interest and receive a nicely formatted email once the curator publishes his issue.
Based on feedback, feature requests and research, Revue figured it was time to take the platform to the next level by introducing (built-in) themes. Revue learned that their target audience is really broad varying from investors to food bloggers, so they want to offer their users the possibility to choose from different themes.
We’re really thankful to be the first ever to design a theme for Revue because it gave us a blank slate when it comes to choosing a target audience. We decided to focus on journalists, photographers and bloggers because those people truly rely on great typography and beautiful imagery. By focusing on those two principles we wanted to create a theme that gives the content the podium it deserves.
Great typography and photography also brought us back to the exploration of the Awkward brand. We originally got our inspiration from editorial design and art, which made us eager to design a newsletter theme with inspiration from the same things. But before we dove into aesthetics we summed up the current functionality and discussed the roadmap as well as existing known problems with the current theme.
We quickly realized that editorial design depends on different types of layouts. Once we figured that out, we proposed it to Revue and they got a little anxious because the email medium is very outdated. In collaboration we set priorities and decided to begin with releasing one new layout and extend the theme. More layouts will be added once the back-end is ready and Revue validated that people actually use our theme.
Revue originally only allowed people to choose between a left / right aligned thumbnail or no thumbnail at all. We took the thumbnail a little further by allowing people to enlarge it to spread the full width of the canvas. Users already appeared to be hacking around the current limits in order to achieve this effect, so adding it to our template made total sense.
Putting the content first
The most reported feedback by Revue users is that the header takes up too much space. At first we didn’t really understand why people disliked the header, because visually it felt balanced. Although we realized that if we truly want to focus on the content of the newsletter the author section shouldn’t be the first thing people see when opening the email. People are already subscribed with a reason, so a reminder of such size seemed to be overkill. Therefore, we decided to move the author section to the footer.
What’s next?
This wasn’t only a trip out of our own comfort zone but also for Revue. Revue always believed in less is more but this principle would slowly fade away with the introduction of themes. For us the email medium is quite new, but together we created something we really believe in within just four days.
On top of designing the email theme we helped Revue with some UX problems they faced whilst integrating themes into their service. Four days seems like a short period of time but we think we’ve built a good foundation for a great partnership. Read our showcase for more information on Revue.
To be continued… | https://medium.com/madeawkward/designing-for-email-99e21c06d42a | [] | 2018-07-25 06:36:15.338000+00:00 | ['Newsletters', 'Design', 'Blog', 'Blogger', 'Content'] |
What is Artificial Intelligence? | AI, Technology, Philosophy, Self.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
A Starting Point for Exploring the technology and Social Implications of AI.
Not AI. Photo by Rudi Endresen on Unsplash
Seriously, What Do We Think When Some Say “AI”?
Are we just mystified by AI or perhaps we just ignore it? Maybe some have visions of killer robots or totalitarian regimes controlling our minds? Misinformation, hype and ignorance abound and I decided to ignore all this rubbish and start with the original explanation of “Artificial Intelligence”.
On August 31, 1955, J. McCarthy, M. L. Minsky, N. Rochester, and C.E. Shannon proposed that a
“study of artificial intelligence be carried out during the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The study is to proceed on the basis of the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it”
The proposal outlines the interests of participants and areas of work. The precise description would be mathematical in nature and based on the concepts under development by the participants. The implication of the words “simulate it” are key to a faithful interpretation of AI.
“Simulate” and “Precisely Described”.
Simulation is key to our discussion. AI does not have an objective to create intelligence but rather to “simulate it”. The success of the simulation depends upon the precision of the description of human intelligence and the method adopted for validating the simulation.
The Turing test dating to 1950 was adopted as an early validation technique. Here, a human would judge conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses. If the judge could not tell the difference between human and machine, then the simulation would be considered valid. The Turing test and its variants are still the subjects of much controversy.
The phrase “precisely described” implies a reductionist approach to the study of intelligence. However, intelligence emerges from the complex electrochemical interactions between the brain’s neurons. Using reductionism to study intelligence means separating and simplifying phenomena and ignoring the neuronic interactions.
Reductionism fails in the goal of providing a precise description of intelligence. This explains why after nearly 60 years of intensive research booms and busts the optimism of the 1956 participants has not been realised. The phrase “Artificial Intelligence” has been shown to be a misnomer, but the term has penetrated the common lexicon to such a degree that it’s here to stay.
The mathematical tools developed as subsets of AI are extremely useful and valuable in the way they underpin our modern interconnected society.
The Tools of AI: Machine Learning and Deep Learning
While “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) is concerned with human intelligence, the commercially successful tools of AI research focus on data parsing and pattern matching. These tools are categorised under the broad church of “Machine Learning”. Machine Learning has been widely deployed in fields including facial recognition; cargo distribution; sales and marketing; climate science; social media; and financial trading.
Machine Learning algorithms can be deployed to many applications without the need for changing any code. Instead, standard sets of labelled data are used to train its algorithms to recognise desired patterns. These “trained” algorithms can then be applied to new data sets to discover the desired patterns.
A Machine Learning technique called Artificial Neural Networks is designed to mimic the electrical interactions between neurons of the human brain. In Machine Learning, the set of algorithms of ANN’s consist of three levels: input, parsing and output.
“Deep Learning” is applied when a neural network has more than three layers. Some of the modern Deep Learning neural networks have many thousands of layers. Every layers can be optimised through a technique called backpropagation that gives Deep Learning the ability to independently learn and make decisions on pattern recognition. Deep learning is ideal for large unstructured data sets.
Going Forward
This introductory article establishes the framework for my articles on AI. Future articles will give examples for programming in Machine Learning with a view to “learn by doing” and showing exactly what AI can and can’t do.
I want to discuss the social impacts of AI, particularly in view of the new data laws and privacy considerations for protecting people’s rights to own their own data.
If you have any questions or suggests please comment on this article.
Acknowledgement
I want to thank Dr Mehmet Yildiz for his vision in creating the new Technology publication. I have always wanted a broad platform of technologists to share and learn new knowledge. | https://medium.com/technology-hits/what-is-artificial-intelligence-aaf562bb48f1 | ['Dr John Rose'] | 2020-12-08 06:44:32.176000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Neural Networks', 'Deep Learning', 'Technology', 'AI'] |
Short Stories 1 | The Burglar
What was that? That query travelled through my brain as I quickly sat up in my bed, wondering what kind of noise that was. As I gradually came back to my senses, it struck again, this time taking longer to subside. My eyes widened as I racked my head, but no memory of such a sound came. I had to investigate, otherwise I’d never know. It sounded like a combination of long sharp fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard violently and a monkey’s screams as if it was being boiled alive in a vat. All in all, dreadful and frightening.
I gingerly got off the bed, and placed my feet slowly onto the plush carpeted floor, feeling the warmth through the dense ruggedness of fur. I fumbled around for a few minutes in the dark looking for the lamp switch. After turning it on, I slowly tiptoed towards the door. The sound was still blaring as I walked out of the bedroom and looked at a dark hallway , trying to make out the surroundings. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I slowly walked towards the direction of the sound.It seemed to be coming from downstairs.
As I peered over the balconied bannister of the brogue railing installed just a little while ago, I could make out the light was on in the room directly below the bedroom. This could only be the kitchen. My best guess was that the sound was coming from here. Now as the only living soul in the house, my heart was racing, I started breathing deeply and wondered whether it could be a burglar. As I rapidly starting making loose assumptions about what or who it could be, the sound abruptly stopped. Then, as if connected to the stoppage, the light turned off, and I was left looking at a dark abyss, heart racing and palpitations abound.
I hurried back towards the room, banging my shoulder into the frame while bustling in, and quickly turned around to shut and lock the door. As I fumbled around the handle and lock, it finally clicked and I had a momentary feeling of relaxation. But, I know had to find my phone and call the police. That was the only way I would feel safe. I turned around and crept towards the bed, scrambling to remember where I had last seen it before drifting off. Luckily, with the help of the lamp’s dim light, I could make out that my phone was on it’s charging pad, giving me the slightest semblance of hope I needed. I quickly grabbed it, almost making it fly off my hand while doing so, and held it around a foot in front of my face, waiting for the ever reliable Face Identification to recognize its owner. It didn’t work. I brought it down and then up again in front of my face with a burst of impatience. The phone didn’t unlock once again. Frustrated, I tried to go to the passcode but unbelievably, I couldn’t remember what it was. Frantically, I started pressing the numbers, hoping one of the combinations would work.
Right then, I heard the noise of the door handle being opened from the other side and I froze. A disgruntled voice rang out, muffled by the barrier in between. “Why’d you lock the door? Open up!” It was a shrill voice, resembling the cackling from before in a way. I was frozen on the spot, unable to think what to do next. I guess the burglar outside was frustrated as well, and footsteps leading away from the door were heard. I quickly turned around, and started looking for a weapon, something to defend myself with. I would not let some lowly burglar take my house. As if on cue, I began to recollect some memories of my past, images of beating men to a pulp in the ring, hoisting a belt over my head as a Champion. I was a fighter! A resurgence of energy crept into my body as I turned around and faced the door, not feeling the need for a weapon anymore. The fear I had was also dissipating rapidly as I felt powerful once again, as I did in the ring.
The footsteps were heard again and the sound of an object entering the keyhole and being fumbled around was heard. The burglar was trying to pick the lock! I quickly went to the side of the door and put my back to the wall, waiting for the right moment to strike. The fumbling stopped right after a click was heard, and I was on full tilt and on my toes. The door slowly opened and the burglar walked in nonchalantly, without any hesitance. I could just make out the figure in the semi-darkness of the room, and I quickly bounded over and grabbed the person from behind. As soon as I did, I was grabbed by the upper arm, the person bent down and I was thrown off their back and onto the floor. This person was a fighter too! As I lay on my back, I looked up and peered at the burglar’s face. It looked like a woman, but she had a look of worry on her face, instead of what I expected.
“Honey, what’s wrong with you?Are you okay? This is the second time this week, I think we need to see the doctor!” Perplexed and confused, I said “Why are you calling me honey? Who are you?”
“I’m your wife!” | https://medium.com/@drjai/short-stories-1-d4e7bfef8447 | ['Dr.Jai Chatha'] | 2020-12-19 08:17:03.318000+00:00 | ['Horror', 'Storytelling', 'Fight', 'Fear', 'Lessons Learned'] |
Digital Marketing and Security Meet | In light of recent well publicized attacks on web based infrastructure for retailers like Target ( https://arstechnica.com/security/2014/02/epic-target-hack-reportedly-began-with-malware-based-phishing-e-mail/), Houston energy companies ( https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323336104578501601108021968), and industrial espionage ( https://abcnews.go.com/topics/business/corporate-espionage.htm) it is more important than ever to be vigilant with network and infrastructure security. Much of the spam that is produced around the world is directly related to hacking attempts. This spam is actually caused by a virus or script that infecteds a web server.
A common method of attack is called a “watering hole” attack.
As the name suggests, the goal of the attack is to get the target to come to the “trap.” A watering hole attack occurs in a few general steps:
1. The attackers identify a website that the target is known to visit.
2. The attackers then target the webserver with a malicious script or a website with malware.
This is a common source of spam. The spam attempts are often a decoy to discover information about the web server itself.
3. If the website or webserver is compromised and the target inputs confidential information, the attackers succeed.
The watering hole attack is a favorite tool against the energy industry. Many times, the attacker’s ultimate goal is not attaining personal financial data, but internal network documents, like blueprints and projects in research and development.
One of the best ways to limit exposure and to mitigate risks is to treat web security like defeat of the Spanish Armada.
One of the most popular ways to limit entry points is by blocking IP addresses known to cause issues. Most web servers around the world run a form of Linux. Many versions of Linux allow for advanced firewall configuration through a control panel or IP tables. Configuration of the firewall requires Linux scripting knowledge.
Of course blocking one IP address means that the entity behind any security breaches can also change their IP address. A successful way for server administrators to combat this problem is by blocking entire country zones with IP tables. While this is a approach, it can be very handy, especially for small business.
A local business solution.
Let’s say you have a mom and pop store that serves the local community. It is very unlikely that they would ever do business in China, especially if the owner tells you they only server a 2 block radius. If Mom and Pop’s website is under constant attack from many IP addresses originating from China, then blocking the entire country zone of China (all of the known IP addresses in China) would be a simple and straight forward approach. It should be known that blocking IP addresses should only be done if there will be no real business relationships generated in that particular country.
On the other hand, bigger brands that may do business in China must explore additional measures and block IP addresses individually.
There are easy solutions like Wordfence’s security network that can be scalable up to enterprise levels.
Some advanced networks also have a cloud infrastructure just for filtering traffic. That’s because blocking communication on ports can be resource intensive.
An enterprise solution.
Bigger brands that may do business in China and other areas prone to hacking attempts must explore additional measures and block IP addresses individually. There are easy solutions, like Wordfence’s security network, that can be scalable up to enterprise level. If the option is available, web server administrators should use the “Drop” command in their IP tables instead of the “Reject” command. The drop command will simply end the communication with no message back to the other end. A reject protocol will send a message back to the other end, potentially giving the attacker more information about the web server the can use against it.
Many folks are still in the dark about digital security. Make no mistake about it. Big firms have complained and have reason to complain. What do you do when a hostile organization is targeting your company for internal records? Internal records are a key part of competition and business success. If a company with brand equity and world reputation is not able to keep their information secure, then that company’s ability to earn revenue in a competitive marketplace is dramatically reduced and only the employees suffer.
Digital media professionals and advertising agencies need to pay close attention to the type of security problems on the web right now. The security for most of their big clients will inevitably trump many of the functional pieces we, as designers, love to implement. Creative professionals should partner with security professionals to develop a secure way of implementing all of the notorious “bells and whistles” that our clients deserve. Maybe, if we had cross-over individual who understand where both the client’s security needs meet the digital marketing goals, we could create a bigger impact on our clients’ bottom lines. | https://medium.com/the-shakeout/digital-marketing-and-security-meet-b58a122221a5 | ['Aaron Henry'] | 2020-06-18 14:25:51.603000+00:00 | ['Security', 'Advertising Agency', 'Creative Process'] |
News: Medium Has Lost Its Way | News: Medium Has Lost Its Way
Prepping for a giant loaf of white bread in my future dashboard
Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash
Medium has always maintained a ‘no clickbait’ policy as long as I’ve been a member. But somehow they’ve lost their way in the basic human behavior department. The latest change in distribution is likely the large reason most of us have lost reader traffic overnight.
This is a change all Medium writers must be aware of.
In yesterday’s story from the Medium blog, this article digs deep into their ‘clickbait’ policy. And overreaching it has become.
The actual definition of clickbait is to use sensational, misleading language to encourage a reader click a link. This link leads to a video, story, or ad that has nothing to do with the text in the link. Medium’s new stance appears to take this to such an extreme level that all basic copywriting strategies will soon be in question.
Hence, prepare for a whole pile of stories with titles that read like the owner’s manual for an ’86 Oldsmobile.
Medium is cracking-down on the distribution and curation of stories with titles they deem as clickbait. I’d argue to say this could include any title that would actually grab your reader’s attention.
I mean we’re talking (these are direct quotes from the story above):
Is the title trying to exploit a reader’s personal worries, insecurities, or emotional state?
Is the title or story image more provocative than the content of the story merits?
Is the title over-reaching or over-promising with hyperbolic claims or absolutes that are not verifiable?
Is the title withholding important context; misleading the reader; or using clichés, gimmicks, or cheap language?
At the surface these all sound like improvements. But this list is a direct gateway into shutting-out some fantastic, creative titles that encourage readers to open your content.
Good writers understand this.
As writers it’s our job to encourage people to open and read or content.
If your title doesn’t tickle the reader’s emotions and place an unanswered question in her mind, she won’t open your story. Period. This isn’t about lying or deception. I’m not advocating actual clickbait. This is about creative wordplay in order to continue the dance with the reader.
Creative titles are a dance readers welcome.
We want to be amazed. We want to open stories with unanswered questions. Nobody wants to read a story with a title “How to Turn a Discarded Stuffed Animal into a Dog Toy.” Bo-ring! But you can bet she’ll open “A Free and Clever Way to Entertain Your Furry Friend With Household Waste”
This second title is not clickbait. It’s copywriting. And there’s a Grand Canyon’s difference between the two.
The story would describe exactly what the title promised. But it would fail Medium’s test. You can’t infer your reader’s emotional state (don’t you dare say this is clever. It’s now only your reader’s decision to decide it’s clever). You can’t use ‘cheap language’ (which could mean anything), so the ‘household garbage’ bit is out too. We probably can’t say ‘furry friend’ either, because someone might get butt-hurt that humans could possibly be friends with an animal.
I’m worried.
I realize this is an extreme take on their clickbait stance, but the requirements are so overreaching almost any interesting title could tumble into the rejected net.
When faced with a glut of over-choice and ever-changing content, the reader will choose a story that strikes her core emotions and wants. A title that stirs fascination. A title that begs to be clicked to find out the answer to an unanswered questions.
Our brains are hard-wired to close open-loops.
Following Medium’s new direction of ‘reader engagement’ and super-wokeness, the home page is about to be wallpapered with white bread and saltines. The most-popular stories are soon to be the ‘stomach flu’ diet of content.
…and it gets better.
This new change in reader engagement now says it’s OK for writers to ask readers for claps and feedback. This has been a no-no forever. Since we don’t get paid for claps anymore, it’s now OK to ask for cheap, forced replies from readers, but we can’t give them a compelling reason to open the story in the first place?
There is some light, however.
I don’t want to leave you with a total rant and not end on a high note. Medium’s new changes apply to their distribution standards-only. This means you can still use any title you wish (and get paid for it). This is the path I choose. But if you want your story curated for broad distribution outside your following, be prepared for white bread and saltines.
I hope our stories don’t come to this, but at least you’re aware.
We’re waiting for you. | https://medium.com/the-book-mechanic/news-medium-has-lost-its-way-3a6eb45dbdf8 | ['August Birch'] | 2020-12-10 18:11:28.224000+00:00 | ['Medium', 'Marketing', 'Life', 'Life Lessons', 'Writing'] |
A Manifesto for 2021: Make America Want to Make Babies Again | A Manifesto for 2021: Make America Want to Make Babies Again
Fatherhood on Friday: Old rules and new stresses have forced birth rates to record lows. We can turn that around if we work to build the post-quarantine family lives we deserve. Dad 2.0 Nov 6, 2020·3 min read
Writing a news digest this week feels redundant, since the U.S. election has dominated the news (and made it so indigestible). As the results shake out and the holidays approach, we’re already thinking ahead to 2021, when one of our primary objectives will be to help foster a renewed confidence that meeting in person is safe again.
We’re also going to study how parents will emerge from the unrelenting stress of Lockdown Life and build back better.
It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing before COVID closed the boathouse. Giving birth and childcare cost a fortune, but the purchasing power of our paychecks hasn’t budged in 40 years. Millennials are making less than their parents and suffocating under student-loan debt. We still have no national policy for paid parental leave. All of which are huge reasons why the U.S. birth rate has sunk well below replacement and is projected to stay there for the rest of the century. We’re being actively disincentivized to have kids.
On top of all that, we’ve spent the last eight months focused on all the mundane things we took for granted and can no longer do. Like send our kids to school, or hug Nana, or spend four seconds alone. And if you thought more togetherness would lead to more “togetherness,” you’re dead wrong. In fact, all this financial and mental stress has economists predicting an outright Baby Bust.
Either all parents fight together to make our lives more family-friendly, or we settle in for “a demographic time bomb,” when population growth drops to its lowest rate in 100 years.
This newest wave of coronavirus, which sets new infection records every day and epidemiologists predicted early on, keeps pushing the Old Normal farther into the future. But we’re not going to lose sight of our inevitable return, nor of our power to shorten the journey.
We’re mad as hell, dammit.
We don’t know when Dad 2.0 Summit will convene in person again. But it bears reminding that April 16, 2021 will be the tenth anniversary of the day our co-founders took the stage at the third annual Mom 2.0 Summit, which had graciously devoted a ballroom to dad-specific breakout sessions, and announced we were launching a parent conference with Dad in the title.
We left that weekend flush with possibility, fired up by the example the moms had set and excited to have a seat at the table. And after our podcast conversation with the moms of the What Fresh Hell podcast, when we discussed how moms and dads can maintain the dialogues that will keep working moms working, we felt that again:
Our core belief has always been: “If you want to take women seriously taking care of business, you have to take men seriously taking care of kids.” Families flourish when they have the most options, and we think that sentiment is peaking in importance, because the pandemic is basically crowding us into two options: to fight the inequities it has laid bare, or to regress into the perceived safety of outdated norms.
So either all parents fight together to make our lives more family-friendly, or we settle in for “ a demographic time bomb,” when population growth drops to its lowest rate in 100 years.
A lot is going to happen in these next few weeks, and we’ll be taking some time to watch it all play out (and to launch new podcast episodes every Monday). Until Fatherhood on Friday returns next month, we wish everyone a social and safe Thanksgiving, when everyone can celebrate with the babies they have now, and aspire to make a lot more in the future. | https://medium.com/@dad2summit/a-manifesto-for-2021-make-america-want-to-make-babies-again-9c63b01d2180 | [] | 2020-11-06 20:01:48.467000+00:00 | ['Mothers', 'Dads', 'Lockdown', 'Birth Rate', 'Fatherhood'] |
Not Your Imagination — Society Is in Fact Going Insane, and I Can Prove It | All I need is some Aztecs and a Time Machine.
But since both are in short supply, I think perhaps some hypothetical Aztecs and an imaginary Time Machine will do nicely. Follow along, don’t worry, this is quick. We’re going to have a ten second overview of Aztec civilization, a quick romp through 1960s serial cartoons, and tie it together with a discussion of social media echo chamber mechanics to prove the thesis.
Aztecs
We in the United States are very focused on the impact colonization had on the native Americans, but because of our cultural myopia, we forget that the greatest North American culture to be wiped out by European expansion wasn’t here at all. It was south of the border.
Whereas most of the native Americans within and to the north of our current United States borders were either nomads or lived in small agricultural villages, the Aztecs were a thick, beefy, advanced society, with calendars, civil engineering infrastructure, and large-scale maize agriculture. They had an Emperor and royal families, expanded their borders through trade and violent wars, and had vassal states as far south as modern-day Guatemala. They had rigid social hierarchies, and an extremely uniform system of indoctrinations, which bound them together into a society that could achieve these things. Their Podunk tribal neighbors north of the border paled in comparison, and until the Spaniards showed up, they were growing. Colonizing, even. And the thread that bound this entire system together, was a religion based on human sacrifice.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
And boy oh boy did they sacrifice. By my research, this story we tell ourselves that the Aztecs sacrificed virgin girls to ensure the sun comes up is not only true, it barely scratches the surface of what they would do to get favor from the Gods.
Sacrifices for the Aztecs were detailed rituals but perhaps what makes them truly stand out is the scale in which they were conducted. During the reign of their empire, it’s estimated that an average of 200,000 people were sacrificed a year. Many rituals surrounded the theme of mass sacrifice, such as the inauguration of their greatest pyramid, which is said to have claimed the lives of 84,000 over a period of only four days. […] The Aztecs would bring large groups of children to Tlaloc’s temple, where they were forced to solemnly and ceremonially parade up the steps. If the children did not weep, they would be forced to do so by any means of psychological and physical torture necessary. To the Aztecs, the tears shed by these children on the way to their untimely deaths was the only way to ensure rain during the oncoming dry seasons. […] Another common sacrificial technique included pulling a still beating heart out of a victim’s chest and showing it to them in their last moments of consciousness, an act that took a surprising amount of anatomical knowledge and surgical skill but has since been proven possible by modern scientists. […] Other rituals included cannibalism, the live flaying of men, wearing of human skins, and other techniques of drawn-out dismemberment and bloodletting including the mass collection of skulls.
Recap: The Aztecs had a socially constructed indoctrination program that bound themselves together as a group which involved the ritual killing of virgins, children, adults, basically everybody, and this was completely normal to them. Beyond normal, it was essential.
Not doing it would be “crazy.”
So that brings us to step two of our thought experiment. What does “insanity” even mean?
Socially Constructed Insanity and the Wayback Machine
From the Oxford English Dictionary:
insane ADJECTIVE · 1 In a state of mind which prevents normal perception, behaviour, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill. ‘he had gone insane’
All of these blood-soaked Aztecs practicing ritual human sacrifice were sane, because sacrificing a quarter million people a year to appease various gods was a normal behavior for them, and their societal interactions demanded that behavior, because of their set of indoctrinated beliefs.
When Mr. Peabody and Sherman hopped in the Wayback Machine in the best cartoon ever, to travel back in time to meet important people and witness fabulous historical events, they never seemed to go to Tenochtitlan. Probably because Mr. Peabody was trying to raise a healthy boy, or because massive human sacrifice wouldn’t have made it past the NBC Standards and Practices department. But if they did visit the ancient Aztec homeland, they would have encountered a culture so foreign that it would be clearly insane. To them.
If they attempted to save a girl from the daily virgin sacrifice, the Aztecah would have found their interference to be evidence of a “state of mind preventing normal behavior,” and “preventing normal social interaction” at the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl. Mr. Peabody and Sherman were clearly the insane ones.
And if Mr. Peabody and Sherman drug one of these priests back through the time portal and into downtown Los Angeles, and that priest decided to take it on his own responsibility to ensure a virgin was sacrificed to appease the gods, that priest would be obviously diagnosed as mentally ill, because who could find a virgin in 1960s LA? (or the other more obvious yet less funny reason)
This is an absurd example, but it’s important to understand, because it highlights an overall mechanic within our social interactions. Humans are apes with white space into which indoctrinations are installed. And while the definition of “insane” may stay the same, its very definition ensures that the body of behaviors within each culture considered to be “insane” must necessarily be different. It’s almost tautological.
Curated Media Feeds
When I pull up Google on my phone, it feeds me a list of articles it thinks I’ll like, based on a history of things I’ve read prior. Of late, this has been a fusillade of gun control spam, accented with stories about Atlanta United, the new Star Wars movie, and Tinder screenshots from Reddit. But if I was a Flat Earther, I guarantee you my feed would be full of Flat Earth stuff. Feminists feeds are full of articles about how gender oppression is at all time highs, while Men’s Rights Activist feeds are full of stories about misandrist bitches behaving badly. Blue Tribe feeds are whatever flavor of “Trump pissed on a hooker” is being run this week, while Red Tribe feeds bemoan the rise of Marxist Communism.
Is any of this stuff real? If you identify with any of those tribes above, did my inclusion of your feed in the list of those “obviously insane” other feeds trigger you emotionally?
The Aztecs were indoctrinated from birth in a particular belief system, so the insane stuff they were doing became obviously sane. The curated media feed is indoctrinating all of us constantly into different belief systems, such that whatever feed we’re reading becomes obviously sane. And wherever it may be incompatible with someone else’s feed, that makes them insane. By definition.
And there’s your proof.
The further down the rabbit holes of curated media echo chambers our cell phones drag us, the more we all become insane, by everyone else’s perspective. Universally held mass insanities become sanities, like the Aztecs. But a system of thousands of divergent bifurcated micro-insanities becomes nothing but a bunch of people who literally can’t communicate with each other meaningfully.
A society that’s all going insane stops being a society at all. It is the destruction of everything that has ever been built.
It makes me question if the clicks are worth it. | https://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/not-your-imagination-society-is-in-fact-going-insane-and-i-can-prove-it-9a8136c544c1 | ['Bj Campbell'] | 2019-09-04 20:15:28.920000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Culture', 'Culture War', 'Media Criticism', 'Media'] |
Which is the best Investment? | Like other versus fights and heated debates, the financial investment platform has undergone a very intense debate that is all about Bitcoin vs gold — which one is a profitable and superior form of investment. Finding a solution to this interminable discussion, I have put forth my brief justifications of the best from one among these two.
We all know about gold in all forms, be it an ornament, an investment, or a commodity stock for trading, etc. But there are few sides of gold that should be unleashed here. Before that let us begin with the newest form of investment that has arrived last decade and it has gained a good number of investors equally to other investments in the financial sector. That is none other than cryptocurrency.
The crypto market has laid the foundation by revealing Bitcoin to the entire world in January 2009. No one had expected that the currency would be entirely virtual because in 2009 the online transaction technology was not rolled out. So the entire world was new to such technology as a peer-to-peer transaction system.
During the initial days of Bitcoin’s release, none of them treated it as investment material. Because the entire thing was a very unconventional form of handling money and investing money. The entire era was comfortable in investing in deposits, shares, commodities, and other mutual funds, but Bitcoin was considered to be an anomalous way of investment.
Gold vs BTC
After the popular fictitious grapevine about the pizza story that spread very rapidly unlike any pandemic. This happened in May 2010 and the price of Bitcoin(BTC) was less than $0.01. If the BTC transaction had happened for Pizza by that time. By March 2013, the pizza store owner would be having $750,000 (approx.)
Yes, gradually the price of Bitcoin was in the steady phase of the uptrend.
First, BTC started to list at the price of $11.09 in August 2011. As there we are less trading volume done on the BTC, and the initial reception was not up to the mark, the price got slumped to $2.10 in the next three months, (i.e) in the month of November 2011. Until this period, the all-time high of BTC was its listing price — $11.50 and the all-time low was $2.10.
There was a gradual rise from the end of 2011 until mid of January 2012. In the next 2 years, in April 2013, it broke its all-time high record for the first time and made it to $226. The price gradually started to rise and this started to break all the myths on Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the price did not depreciate at any cost, it was steadily towards the heights, maybe I could say, it is like climbing up to a peak of a mountain. At last, Without losing its grip in any places, BTC created a new all-time high that made the haters’ mouth shut by reaching $1101 in November 2013.
Can you be able to see the two rocky cliffs that BTC created during its all-time high?
Until this time, let us parallelly look at the price of gold.
The data which I’m going to take for gold is from 2010, the year Bitcoin was released. To compare both investments the data has to be collected from the same year to date. Because the historical price of gold ranges from the early and mid-twentieth century. So, the price range of gold that I’m going to consider here is the last 10 years.
In August 2011, the price of gold was $1610 per Oz and the trend was steadily raising. During the end of 2011 that is December, the price was falling $63 low and the year wrapped up with $1547 per Oz. That was not a shocking part like how Bitcoin intimidated with a huge fall from $11.09 to $2.10 in three months.
I guess there should be some socio-political factors that could have impacted the price during the later part of 2011. Maybe the earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster might have led to the price drop of these two, that’s my guess, and that may not be cent percent sure, it is just a speculation. Because these are the factors that could affect such financial markets.
From December 2011, after the slight depreciation in the price of gold, later it started to rise from $1539 and progressively to $1789 on February 28, 2012. Since 2012 a leap year, the price dropped to $1710 on the last day of February (i.e) 29th.
Alas! The leap year(2012) has changed the entire trend of gold into a bearish phase where the price started to fall back. From Feb 29, 2012, to May 16, 2012, the price was very bearish.
From the start of December 2013, BTC performs bearish. The BTC market started to roll down slowly from this month I can say from the end of 2013. Because the BTC market trend in 2014 was very bearish. From mid-May 2014, the price hiked around $200 but that is not much sound profit when compared to the previous yieldings.
But that raise didn’t give hope for the future price rise in the BTC during 2014. The price contained till July 2014 then started to fall back again till the end of 2014. Even that still extended till the first two weeks of 2015. That doesn’t mean that 2015 performed very well. From January 2015 till October 2015, the BTC was strongly laying the foundation where it left space for the investors to accumulate BTC at the average price of $230 (Jan 2015 — Sep 2015).
BTC Chart
From October 2015, the price ranged from $230 and raised gradually. After a year BTC enters 2016 in the bullish phase.
Meanwhile, we can check the price of Gold which is gradually fluctuating but not that low or high. The price slumped from $1901(Aug 2015) to $1059 (Dec 2015) which is an unpredictable fall during that time.
Because no investors would have thought this much would fall in the four months. But gold is meant and considered as a long term investment, the four months of a gap would not mind the investors much.
That was the last fall since then because right after that fall, still now gold has not dropped to that low level. From $1054 to $2054 was the highest and maintains the pace. On the other hand, few speculations say that it is very hard for the gold to fall back like before because the pace is now in the bullish trend where there is a limited chance for fall back mostly it won’t happen as per the technical analysis.
With the BTC, the price after 2015 was overwhelming because none of them would have expected this much hike during the very short period. The price of BTC at the end of 2015 was $427 and at the end of 2017 was $19918. That is was history in the journey of Bitcoin and as well as the life of financial market investors to see the huge and enormous profit in the two years.
But I can say 2018 was the bearish year in the journey of BTC because the price dropped from $19918 to $3313 which is inversely proportional when compared to the last year. Bitcoin proved that the price of cryptos can highly volatile. No other investment would give this much amount of loss in one year.
After this, the price of BTC has taken off slightly from December 2018 from a price of $2797 to the price of $42792 which is the new all-time high in 2021. No one has expected that BTC will create a new all-time high in the year 2021 even though the pandemic was spreading.
Let us now discuss which one is best based on the investment perspective. Yes, when it comes to investment, it is completely meant for the long-term purpose and naturally, the price has to be very stable and steady that should gradually raise. By having these criteria, I can sort that gold is the best option for the people who are willing to invest on a long-term basis. Because it is obvious that gold is not highly volatile in the terms of price.
But the other side BTC is highly volatile in the terms of price. From our analysis, you would have come to the conclusion that BTC is bullish in a year and bearish the next year. The price is unpredictable. Whereas with the gold, it is not volatile this much amount. The price will act very gradually either up or down.
My Take
So it is very safe it invest in gold rather than preferring to invest in Bitcoin(BTC). Because gold offers so many investment types like a sovereign bond, gold bars, ornament, and jewels. Also, investing the gold is said to be the mid-low risk where it does not create a huge amount of high-risk appetite that BTC has. Yes, every investment has its risk levels. Knowing that you can trade or opt for an investment based on its risks.
Likewise trading any cryptocurrency will come under high-risk investment. Because the entire investment and trading are based on speculation and the high price fluctuation. The investor might end up in a huge loss if crypto did not perform well. | https://medium.com/@iampraveenhere/gold-vs-bitcoin-f15f4f2668a2 | [] | 2021-01-21 05:48:04.308000+00:00 | ['Investment', 'Gold', 'Investment Research', 'Finance', 'Bitcoin'] |
Ready Fire Aim – The book you must read if you are musing about creating a business one day | Ready Fire Aim – The book you must read if you are musing about creating a business one day
Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash
When I was in engineering school, I was working as a bartender to make the ends meet.
I was working nights and as I was working to save money, I didn’t indulge myself in paying for a cab after every shift.
Of course, the subway was closed after 2 AM so I had to take the night bus.
Cumulatively, I have spent months of my life on a night bus to get back home, my gaze lost through the window, dreaming of a better tomorrow. | https://medium.com/@remi-connesson/ready-fire-aim-the-book-you-must-read-if-you-are-musing-about-creating-a-business-one-day-1ec92627ba9d | ['Rémi Connesson'] | 2020-12-24 11:08:47.510000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Life Lessons', 'Personal Finance', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Personal Development'] |
The One That Succeeds Is The One That Puts In The Work | Look at the picture at the top.
It’s me, on a black shirt, trying to point at something. Also, I have the 'I don’t give a fuck' look on my face.
Take a moment to think about the picture of myself at the top. Look at it. Think about it- deeply. I’ll give you 1 minute.
Did you see a ghost on the picture?
No?
Of course not. It’s a lie. Nothing 'weird' or interesting is happening on the picture except from the bitch face expression I’m wearing.
I’m telling you something here. There’s an underlying lesson.
The lesson is:
Stop thinking. Stop debating. Stop strategizing. Stop pondering. Stop overthinking.
You are slowing yourself down! You could of have finished reading this article already!
Stop thinking so deeply about things if you want to succeed.
Life is simple.
You want to have power? Money? Fame? A great body? Anything?
YOU already know what to do.
Put in the work. Stop overthinking. Stop procrastinating.
JUST DO IT. ❤️ | https://medium.com/@iampaulquinn/the-one-that-succeeds-is-the-one-that-puts-in-the-work-b289d1e21703 | ['Paul Quinn'] | 2020-12-23 01:46:10.347000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Just Do It', 'Procrastination', 'Hustle', 'Self Development'] |
Introducing Nemo—Search and Analytics Platform for Automotive Sensor Data | Teams working on autonomous driving collect Petabytes of sensor data over thousands of miles. However, finding valuable events and traffic scenarios from these driving logs remains an unsolved problem.
To address this problem, we launched Nemo — our new Search and Analytics Platform. Nemo (https://nemosearch.ai) is an automated metadata tagging and scenario extraction tool that helps find useful events and traffic scenarios, saving up to 30% of developers’ time, reducing data storage costs by 80–85%, and providing insights to the testing and validation teams on product readiness.
Nemo results from years of research done by Auro, Ridecell’s Autonomous Driving Division in automated driving technologies and L4 autonomous vehicles (AV). Over time, we have developed expertise in processing AV and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems) sensor data (coming from a camera, lidar, or radar in addition to CAN and GPS) and deriving contextual scene understanding from it.
Nemo packages the expertise and underlying technology to help the new age automotive industry with data search, filtering, export, and analysis capabilities.
Data explosion in the auto industry
At least one ADAS feature is available on 92.7% of new vehicles produced in the U.S. as of May 2018 (link), because of which cars are now generating at least three orders of magnitude more data than ever before. Moreover, the level of autonomy is growing exponentially in every new production model. There will be 100M+ semi-autonomous (L2+) and autonomous vehicles by 2025. A single autonomous driving vehicle can generate up to 4 TB of data per hour, or 20 PB per year. A fleet of 5000 cars would generate 100 EB/year.
Autonomy enabled vehicles will be the largest data collecting agents of the real world, propelling the AV and ADAS companies to dwarf the video streaming companies (Netflix, YouTube) in the amount of worldwide network bandwidth consumed.
Companies working on automated driving technologies have fleets of R&D vehicles, prototype vehicles, Field Operational Test (FOT) vehicles, and production vehicles, each spread over multiple geographies collecting millions of miles of driving logs generating Petabytes of data per month.
But only 5–10% of the data collected is useful for further product development, algorithm training, compliance, and system testing. The rest is just boring miles. The question is — which 5–10%? That’s where Nemo comes in. It finds valuable events and traffic scenarios from Petabytes of driving logs.
Challenges of data management in the ADAS and AV industry
The industry lacks an intelligent and automated way of finding interest and traffic scenarios from driving logs. At best, teams use semi-automated approaches or tags created by safety drivers to capture an event of interest. However, these methods do not scale as the fleet size grows and are extremely limited in their capabilities to describe a scenario.
Using databases with SQL like queries and off-the-shelf analytics frameworks like Spark, one can only search and filter basic events such as speed/acceleration, braking power, and steering rate values. They cannot search and extract scenarios based on metadata and contextual description of a traffic scenario (for example, searching for all scenarios where a truck made an aggressive cut-in at a highway exit).
Limited tool capabilities, coupled with exploding data in the automated driving industry, has resulted in multiple points of engineering inefficiencies and money drain. Nemo aims to solve that by providing its contextual scene understanding AI and scenario extraction engine along with domain-specific micro-services to search, catalog, and export scenarios.
Nemo offers the following benefits to the AV and ADAS development teams over traditional approaches:
Provides developers instant access to the right data: A manual or semi-automated process of reviewing driving logs can consume up to 30% of engineers’ time, making it a prolonged and expensive process. With Nemo, they can zero-in to the right data they need instantly using a simple GUI. Think Google Search for autonomous driving sensor data.
A manual or semi-automated process of reviewing driving logs can consume up to 30% of engineers’ time, making it a prolonged and expensive process. With Nemo, they can zero-in to the right data they need instantly using a simple GUI. Think Google Search for autonomous driving sensor data. Reduces data storage cost by up to 85%: Without an automated tool to separate valuable events and traffic scenarios from boring miles, companies end up storing everything in the hot storage (which is 10x costlier than the cold storage), costing them $10s of millions in just data storage costs. Nemo can automate the data tiering process based on pre-defined scenario descriptions, reducing storage costs by up to 85%.
Without an automated tool to separate valuable events and traffic scenarios from boring miles, companies end up storing everything in the hot storage (which is 10x costlier than the cold storage), costing them $10s of millions in just data storage costs. Nemo can automate the data tiering process based on pre-defined scenario descriptions, reducing storage costs by up to 85%. Provides scenario distribution and coverage analytics: Companies collect millions of miles of driving data for training, testing, and compliance purposes but have no insights on scenario distribution, scenario coverage, and biases in the training/testing datasets. Nemo provides detailed analysis such as heat maps, time-series plots, and frequency plots that offer more in-depth insights into product development and testing.
How it works
Within a typical Automotive data lake architecture, Nemo sits at the pre-processing level right after the data-ingestion. It’s contextual scene understanding AI scans the sensor data (coming from Lidars, camera, radars, and CAN bus) to generate and tag metadata (shown in Figure 1 below) across objects in the scene, road infrastructure, traffic interactions between different objects, and the vehicle’s driving behavior.
Figure 1: Metadata tags across the five layers used to describe a scenario — objects in the scene, road infrastructure, traffic interactions, vehicle’s driving behavior and environment
Developers can search/filter for scenarios using any permutation or combination of these metadata tags, including sub-properties such as distance and number associated with the metadata. Here are some example queries:
Give me “all scenarios where a truck made an aggressive cut-in at a highway exit.”
Give me “all scenarios where a pedestrian is jaywalking at a roundabout during a night-time.”
Give me “all scenarios where a bicyclist is within 20 meters on a downhill road”.
Figure 2 shows a more detailed set of events and scenarios extracted by Nemo.
Figure 2: Example scenarios extracted by Nemo from driving logs
Figures 3 and 4 below show an intuitive graphical user interface to perform such searches. A more powerful interface based on Python Notebook is also available that enables end-users to write their custom analyzers and detailed scenario descriptions.
Figure 3: Querying “Bicycle encounters at junctions”
Figure 4: Querying “Interaction with other vehicles crossing in the ego vehicle path at junctions”
Nemo has been built keeping in mind the needs of AV and ADAS organizations, including ML researchers (who are working on perception, prediction, motion planning), data infrastructure teams, and testing/validation teams.
We have partnered with industry-leading cloud and on-premise data infrastructure companies to provide Nemo to their customers, and are working with leading OEMs, Tier 1s, and insurance companies to solve their data search and curation needs.
In the subsequent blog posts, we will cover various other aspects of Nemo, including:
Automated Metadata tagging and underlying scenario extraction engine
End-user interfaces — GUI and Python Notebook
Scenario description language — RSL
Export to simulation, Scenario Generation, and Scenario Variation
Deployment on cloud, on-premise, and hybrid IT infrastructure
Micro-services for data tiering, annotation, and insurance
Using Nemo to identify corner cases, false positives, and unsafe driving situations
In the meantime, please feel free to drop by https://nemosearch.ai to request a custom demo. We would love to discuss your sensor data strategy and help you along the way. | https://medium.com/@nemo-blog/introducing-nemo-9afd2021df29 | [] | 2020-12-21 17:50:57.127000+00:00 | ['Autonomous Cars', 'Data Processing', 'Adas Sensors', 'Scenario Extraction'] |
How to Fill Holes Around the Pipes Under Your Kitchen Sink | And while that may sound harmless (after all, who’s going to see it?), those holes could cause problems for you down the line, like giving mice, bugs, and cold air an easy way into your kitchen. Here’s how Deziel — a building contractor and fix-it pro — suggests dealing with these gaps.
Use spray foam
If you’re new to spray foam, Deziel says that it’s “essentially liquefied polyurethane” that expands into a hardening foam, and has the ability to completely fill gaps up to two inches wide (though sometimes more). It’s also an insulator, and does a good job at keeping pests out.
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image from ( sr sewa sofa )
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Using spray foam is relatively straightforward, Deziel explains, but because of its tendency to stick to everything it touches, it can also be kind of tricky — especially since it’s incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to remove. Solvents are no match for it, and if you get it on your skin, “mechanical removal is required,” according to Deziel.
Spray foam usually comes in a 16-ounce aerosol can with a removable application tube. Here’s Deziel to explain how to use it:
Fit the tube onto the nozzle, place the end of the tube in the gap and squeeze the trigger. Fill gaps about halfway, and the foam will expand to complete the job. Keep a rag handy and cover the end of the tube as soon as you’re done spraying to avoid dripping any liquid onto the bottom of the cabinet.
Other ways to fill under-the-sink holes
Although the spray foam method is easy, it’s arguably also the ugliest. If you’re OK with that (again, this is under-the-sink we’re talking about), then by all means, go for it. But if you’re about to put your home on the market, for example, and want something moderately more attractive, Deziel has a few other suggestions.
image from stok photo ind
The first is to use caulk to fill gaps less than about 1/2 inch wide. If you have holes wider than that, first stuff them with steel wool, and then caulk over it, he says.
Another option (and the most attractive of the bunch) involves patching compound, which Deziel describes as “a powder that sets rock hard when you mix it with water.” Use a trowel to spread and level-off the compound, then let it set for an hour. After that, apply a coat of drywall joint compound (which Deziel says is easier to sand flat). Finally, slap on a coat of paint, leaving the holes both out of sight, and out of mind. | https://medium.com/@southernfolks/how-to-fill-holes-around-the-pipes-under-your-kitchen-sink-e74ed41ab78b | ['Southern Folks'] | 2021-12-15 11:09:25.621000+00:00 | ['Kitchen', 'Design', 'Decoration', 'Furniture', 'Art'] |
What we expect while the market is picking up | Analysis in the token economy
Blockchain projects realize economic incentive function through the design of the Token system, which generally consists of the total supply, emission scheme, the distribution system, and token demand.
The main role of the token in the sense of economic level is to support the completion of the transaction. Because token generally has 12–18 decimal, the absolute value of total supply is not important. However, the accumulation of transaction scale needs a longer period than the token emission which only needs a period of contract development, the design of the token economy always needs to address the mechanism of “deflation”.
Compared with the total amount, the emission scheme has more impact on the secondary market because of its direct effect on the supply of token. Based on the theory of money economy, the token volume in circulation should be compatible with the increase of transaction scale; otherwise, the economy will suffer “deflation”, which will eventually inhibit the transaction. However, there is also an exception to this rule, that is, if the core role of token is not for circulation but for storage, the deflation will become a positive incentive for the token demand and benefit to the economy. That’s what we see in Bitcoin nowadays, but we need to understand that deflation is not always absolutely effective.
In fact, the token also needs to play a role in stimulating the establishment of the ecosystem. So far, blockchain with certain ecological scale only include Bitcoin and Ethereum, so the key role of token economy in most projects is to inspire the communities, rewarding miners, incentivize technical developers and early participants.
1. Total supply
It can be seen from Figure 4 that Grin and Monero continue to release every year, the total amount of token keeps growing, and the other 4 coins have capped supply. Considering that the primary goal of economic incentive is to establish a community, the design of capped supply is more conducive to incentivize the early participants in the community by strengthening the concept of “deflation”.
2. Emission scheme
As can be seen from Figure 5, Grin has a constant emission scheme continuously, and the other 5 projects have to decrease emission schemes according to different rules. Zcash and Beam have a very similar emission scheme with Bitcoin, which takes halving every four years. Dash and Monero have decreasing emission schemes in the same proportion every year. Suter also has a similar emission scheme with Bitcoin but in a more radical way by taking halving every two years.
Further analysis of the inflation rate of the 6 projects over the years shows that, on the whole, the inflation rate of Grin is the highest among them, and that of Suter is the lowest one with decreasing rapidly. It needs 4 years to have Suter’s inflation rate decrease to 5%, while Monroe needs 5 years, Beam and Zcash need 8 years, and Dash and Grin need more than 10 years.
Due to being online for a while, Dash, Monero, and Zcash have basically completed the emission of majority token in 2020, and the inflation rate of them is between 10–12%. Zcash is about to meet the turning point of halving in May 2020. Grin, Beam, and Suter started to operate in 2019, with an inflation rate higher than the above 3 projects, but Suter is relatively the lowest among 3 new projects.
3. Token demand
The design of the token economy mainly reflects the supply factors, and the demand also has an important impact on the market. Token demand mainly includes trading demand, utility demand, and consensus demand. Among them, trading demand is mainly affected by market conditions, utility demand is mainly affected by application scale, and consensus demand is determined by consensus mechanism of blockchain.
From the perspective of token demand, Suter operates on the POS consensus. After token emission, Suter can be locked again through its staking mechanism, which plays a key role in reducing token circulation. According to the information on its official website, Suter’s staking participation rate has reached 75% by the end of Jan. 2020, and its automatic delegating plan (named bearish ark plan) has locked more than 50% of the daily staking rewards automatically. This approach is efficient for expanding token demand.
In addition, Dash has an original master node network which actually has a consensus mechanism similar to PoS. The master node needs to stake a certain number of tokens to have the opportunity to participate in the confirmation of transaction in the instant transaction and can obtain about 8% of the annual rewards. This mechanism of Dash is also equivalent to the realization of the consensus demand, which may be the main reason for its price increase under the expectation of the bull market.
Conclusion
To sum up, privacy coins represent the extension of the crypto assets trading business and the bridge of mainstream cryptos such as BTC and ETH between small geek groups with the traditional financial industry, which is expected to become a market hot topic in 2020.
The original cryptography technology is the ticket of the privacy coins and also reflects the competitive advantage in the long term. The iteration of technology mainly focuses on “trusted setup or not”, “proof efficiency” and “support smart contract or not”.
Building application models around mainstream crypto assets such as BTC and ETH, rather than separating the privacy protection function from them will open up the market space several times of the existing scale for the privacy coins.
The main purpose of the design of the token economy should encourage the community to expand. A lower inflation rate helps to form incentives for the early participants in the community, and the staking mechanism is more conducive to the flexible regulation of the token demand. | https://medium.com/suterusu/what-do-we-expect-while-market-picking-up-90bf9a7a5782 | ['Suter Chef'] | 2020-04-03 08:09:19.240000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Btc', 'Dash', 'Blockchain', 'Monero'] |
Simple Stoic Advice | Simple Stoic Advice
Photo by Aleksandra Zelena on Unsplash
The beautiful thing about Stoic philosophy is the advice contained within it is just as applicable today as it was when it was first written all those many years ago. We can learn a great deal from interpreting the advice provided and using it to our advantage as we go throughout our own lives.
Today’s quote comes to us courtesy of Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, IV.2:
Quote
“No random actions, none not based on underlying principles.”
Advice
The Stoics believed that everything in life was guided by Nature, or underlying principles. The Stoics in a sense tried to replicate this by making sure that each and every action taken had a reason behind it. This entry can be viewed as Marcus reminding himself that everything he did needed to be supported by a belief or rational. As Donald Robertson once explained, at an early age, Marcus was placed under the watchful eye of Hadrian, the emperor. During this time, the palace where Marcus lived was filled with people spying and lying on one another to get ahead. From this, Marcus probably attempted to find transparency as a way to combat these lies and spies that surrounded him. This is also why Stoicism was one of his favorite philosophies, it is built upon wisdom and transparency, getting to the heart of a matter.
Remember: If you are going to act, make sure that that action is supported by reason and an underlying principle which guides your life. | https://medium.com/the-stoic-within/simple-stoic-advice-d562569e030d | ['D.A. Digerolamo'] | 2021-02-02 23:19:33.227000+00:00 | ['Principles', 'Stoicism', 'Philosophy', 'Simple Stoic Advice', 'Stoic Philosophy'] |
Queer Women Throughout History: The Writer and the Painter | Queer Women Throughout History: The Writer and the Painter
The tales of two unapologetically bisexual artists from the early 1900s
Colette (1873–1954, France): The Writer
Colette. Picture found here
“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.” — Colette
The French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette married her first husband Henry Gauthier-Villars (nicknamed ‘Willy’) in 1893. As it wasn’t as easy for a woman to find success and fame on her own during that time, and because Willy was already in the editing business, Colette had her written works published under his title. This was not new for him, as he frequently hired ghost writers to publish works in his name (the difference being that he paid them). Eventually, Willy relied on his wife’s writing for recognition, sometimes even locking her in a room until she wrote enough to satisfy him, and refused to give her any credit (until he finally relented and allowed the book to be credited to “Willy and Colette Willy”).
Colette’s written works were sensual and focused on matters of the heart, and were heavily influenced by her own life experiences. Her series Claudine became especially popular throughout France, and tells of the story of a bisexual woman who cheated on her husband, who she hated, with women.
Even Claudine’s adulterous behavior was based off of her own life, which she later found to be neither good nor bad, but natural, along with other Parisians. Willy, however, was the first to act in such a way:
“In the beginning, Colette was wildly jealous of Willy’s other women, […] Eventually she accepted his infidelity as incurable, she got Parisianized [infidelity was common in Paris, France at that time], and started having dalliances with women, but not with men. Down the road, about five or ten years, their marriage was open on both ends, and Colette proposed that rather than divorce, they go on that way. Willy didn’t want to by then.” — Judith Thurman, Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette
After she left her husband in 1906, Colette struggled financially and decided to join the theatre as an actress and dancer. During this time, she met French artist Mathilde de Morny, often referred to as ‘Missy’. It is probable that Missy was transgender, having both a hysterectomy and a mastectomy, dressing in male attire, and playing exclusively male roles, but such word didn’t exist at the time. They were described as such:
“Missy comported herself as a man, padding out her small feet with socks to fit her men’s shoes, wearing overalls and three-piece suits, a short haircut, and a rounded center that betrayed no breasts. She even tried making herself a mustache from her poodle’s tale.” — Toni Bentley, Sisters of Salome
The two of them shared a powerful connection and decided to live together, which lasted for five years. During this time Colette’s divorce to Willy was finalized (1910), and she began to write again after the short intermission. Missy became a muse for Colette, given the role of romantic interest La Chevalière in her novel Le Pur et l’Impur (The Pure and the Impure, 1932), which was written under her own name. In it, she described Missy as:
“in dark masculine attire, belying any notion of gaiety or bravado… High born, she slummed it like a prince.”
Colette also wrote about her newfound freedom apart from Willy, writing in her book La Vagabonde (1910):
“I have found my voice again and the art of using it…”
Colette and Missy did not feel the need to hide their relationship, France being rather accepting of the lesbian community.. to a degree. They performed plays together, with Missy as Colette’s (male) romantic interest. In 1907 they shared a kiss on stage while performing Rêve d’Égypte (Dream of Egypt) at the Moulin Rouge, which resulted in public uproar.
Colette and Missy on stage. Picture found here
After the riot they caused settled down, they decided it was best not live with each other anymore. Their relationship, however, lasted until 1912, when Colette married her second husband Henry de Jouvenel.
During this marriage, Colette had a daughter named Colette (after herself), and sexually enticed Bertrand, who was only 16 (31 years younger that herself), and her stepson. It is likely that her novel, Cheri (Premonition, 1920) was inspired by these events. Henry de Jouvenel, undoubtedly disturbed when he later found out about her ongoing affair with his young son, divorced her in 1924.
Eleven years later, in 1935, Colette married her third and final husband Maurice Goudeket, who was 17 years younger than her. Maurice — a Jewish man— was taken to a detention camp during WWII, and Colette successfully fought for his release. Over time, and perhaps also due to both the couple’s close proximity when hiding for the duration of the war and to Colette’s increasing age, she became less promiscuous, Goudeket writing of her:
“I set myself gently by the side of this woman whom life has so wounded,” […] “and I did so with the firm determination of proving to her that fidelity was not an empty word. Year by year she grew more persuaded of this, and her last books bear witness to a serenity that she would not otherwise have acquired.” — Close to Colette (1957)
Colette lived her life loudly and unabashedly, making both friends and enemies along the way (as is impossible not to when standing out against the social norms). She proved herself to be a skilled writer both in and out of the shadow of her first husband Willy. According to her, she lived a good life before dying at the age of 81, saying:
“What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”
Colette wrote more than 50 books, including L’Entrave (The Shackle, 1913), Mitsou (1919), Le Blé en Herbe (Green Wheat, 1923), La Femme Cachée (The Other Woman, 1924), La Naissance du jour (Break of Day, 1928), La Chatte (The Cat, 1933), Julie de Carneilhan (1941), Gigi (1944), Pour un Herbier (1948), and Le Fanal Bleu (1949).
“Books, books, books. It was not that I read so much. I read and re-read the same ones. But all of them were necessary to me. Their presence, their smell, the letters of their titles, and the texture of their leather bindings.” — Colette
Frida Kahlo (1907–1954, Mexico): The Painter
Frida Kahlo. Picture found here
In 1925, Frida Kahlo got into a car accident when a car crashed into the bus she was on, causing a handrail to pierce through her mid-section and leaving her with broken spine and pelvis bones. Some would call this a tragedy, and others would call it fate: While she was recovering and didn’t have much else to do, she took up painting, and finished her first self-portrait of many in 1926.
A few years later — in 1929 — Kahlo married Diego Rivera, a Mexican fresco muralist. Kahlo’s parents called them the “elephant” and the “dove.” Together, they became two of the most influential painters of the 1900s.
It is said that in 1922, while Kahlo watched in awe as Rivera painted a mural — Creation — she knew that she would marry him and carry his children. Of only the former she was correct; The latter was soon made impossible, as her accident in 1925 left her infertile, having three miscarriages in her lifetime.
Rivera saw that Kahlo had artistic potential and encouraged her to pursue it, even admitting that she was better at painting than he. She also became his muse, especially when it came to Communist murals, which is seen in his works such as The Arsenal (1928) and Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park (1947).
As Kahlo’s skills as an artist were blossoming, her personal life did not reflect the same sentiment. She suffered from chronic pain and — as if the physical pain wasn’t enough — struggled with the emotional burden of being unable to conceive and of infidelity in her marriage. Rivera cheated on her, rather frequently, with the girls he painted. He even cheated on her with her younger sister, Cristina. Frida wrote harshly of him,
“There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the train the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.”
Kahlo had affairs of her own, too, possibly out of spite and a yearning for connection. She became romantically and sexually involved with not only men, but with women also, and it is rumored that her and Rivera even shared a lover at some point.
One of Kahlo’s affairs was with the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe, who she met in 1921 while at one of her husband’s galleries in New York. Kahlo and O’Keeffe had many things in common, such as their fondness of colorful, expressive clothing and their similar marriage situations. It is no wonder they found a lot to talk — and flirt — about. Rivera was not ignorant of this, and as opposed to being upset by his wife’s flirtations with another woman, he made boasts about it.
After their parting, Kahlo kept contact with her, especially upon learning that she was not doing well and later ended up hospitalized. She wrote in a letter:
“Georgia,
Was wonderful to hear your voice again. Every day since I called you and many times before months ago I wanted to write you a letter. I wrote you many, but every one seemed more stupid and empty and I torn them up. I can’t write in English all that I would like to tell, especially to you. I am sending this one because I promised it to you. I felt terrible when Sybil Brown told me that you were sick but I still don’t know what is the matter with you. Please Georgia dear if you can’t write, ask Stieglitz to do it for you and let me know how are you feeling will you ? I’ll be in Detroit two more weeks. I would like to tell you every thing that happened to me since the last time we saw each other, but most of them are sad and you mustn’t know sad things now. After all I shouldn’t complain because I have been happy in many ways though. Diego is good to me, and you can’t imagine how happy he has been working on the frescoes here. I have been painting a little too and that helped. I thought of you a lot and never forget your wonderful hands and the color of your eyes. I will see you soon. I am sure that in New York I will be much happier. If you still in the hospital when I come back I will bring you flowers, but it is so difficult to find the ones I would like for you. I would be so happy if you could write me even two words. I like you very much Georgia.”
Kahlo and O’Keeffe . Picture found here
Kahlo visited O’Keeffe again in New York while she was still ill in 1933. She wrote of the visit in a letter to her husband’s assistant Clifford Wight:
“She didn’t make love to me that time […] I think on account of her weakness. Too bad.”
Less letters were found addressed to Frida, but it is likely that they phoned and met many more times in secret, even up until 1951.
Kahlo was also rumored to have affairs with German art dealer Heinz Berggruen, American actress Paulette Goddard, revolutionary Soviet communist Leon Trosky, American photographer Nicholas Murray, Mexican actress Dolores del Río, American-Japanese artist Isamu Noguchi, Italian photographer Tina Modotti, and singer Chavela Vargas, to name a few. Many of these lovers were connected to Rivera in some way.
The affairs on both sides of the marriage led to her and her husband’s divorce in 1939.
In 1938, the French writer and surrealist André Breton was impressed by Kahlo’s work, and tried to push his surrealist beliefs onto her. She refused to join the movement, as she wanted her work to remain deeply introspective and personal, although she is still categorized in part as a surrealist painter.
“They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” — Frida Kahlo
A year after meeting Breton, he helped her to set up her first gallery in Paris, impressing and befriending some of the greats like Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and Wassily Kandinsky. Although she was greatly admired in Paris, she did not return the sentiment to many of the intellectuals she met, writing of such Parisians:
“They are so damn “intellectual” and rotten that I can’t stand them anymore… I [would] rather sit on the floor in the market of Toluca and sell tortillas, than have anything to do with those “artistic” bitches of Paris.”
On Kahlo’s trip to Paris, she met one of her more popular alleged romantic lovers, Josephine baker, who was openly bisexual. It is impossible to know for sure if anything more than friendly occurred between them, as Kahlo was discreet about her interest in women, although it was no big secret.
A while after Kahlo’s exhibition in Paris, Rivera and her remarried in 1940. Kahlo had two conditions for this remarriage: No more sex would take place between them, and they would contribute equally when it came to finances. The affairs continued on throughout the rest of their marriage, and they did not remain close.
Although Kahlo continued to find the love she desperately craved in others, she still struggled to cope with the hurt that Rivera continued to inflicted on her, and she often conveyed this pain in her painting.
This painting, Diego and I (1949), was made after she heard rumors that Rivera was planning on leaving her for actress Maria Felix:
Diego and I, Frida Kahlo, 1949. Picture found here
Kahlo admitted of herself and Rivera:
“I am that clumsy human, always loving, loving, loving. And loving. And never leaving.” “I love you more than my own skin and even though you don’t love me the same way, you love me anyways, don’t you? And if you don’t, I’ll always have the hope that you do, and I’m satisfied with that. Love me a little. I adore you.”
Kahlo hopelessly fell for those who she connected with — giving her love freely and in good faith — and was passionate about her beliefs and her work. Self-portraits were her forte, and she gave reason why:
“I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”
Kahlo lived a difficult and painful life, getting Polio at the young age of 6 and it permanently damaging her legs, suffering with infertility and chronic pain due to her accident at 18, and spending most of her life bedridden, yearning for love.
She committed suicide in 1954 at age 47, the year after her leg was amputated and she held her first solo exhibit in Mexico at the Galería Arte Mexicano.
Kahlo once said:
“The only reason I go on living is to paint and to love.”
With her health rapidly declining, she was unable to do either; struggling to even hold or use a paintbrush properly. As her reasons for living dwindled into nothing, she felt as though there was no longer a reason for her to suffer any longer.
Days before her death, she wrote:
“They amputated my leg six months ago, they have given me centuries of torture and at moments I almost lost my reason. I keep on waiting to kill myself. I hope the exit is joyful and I hope never to come back.”
Kahlo finished an estimate of 143 paintings (although some claim there are closer to 200), 55 of those being self-portraits. Some of her more famous ones are, Henry Ford Hospital (1932, about one of her miscarriages), The Two Fridas (1939), Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940), The Broken Column (1944, about her spine surgery), Without Hope (1945), and The Wounded Deer (1946, depicting the pain she felt).
It was not until the 1970s that Frida Kahlo was truly began to be appreciated for her work, her paintings resurfacing with the help of activists and historians. Today she stands as one of the most important artists of the 1900s, having created many colorful paintings of self expressionism. These paintings tell the tragic and inspiring story of a politically charged, optimistic yet woeful, and loving person, and inspire the LGBTQ+ community, women, and artists throughout the world. | https://medium.com/the-collector/queer-women-throughout-history-the-writer-and-the-painter-15ffd6acb28 | ['Jenna Mcrae'] | 2020-12-23 19:17:17.707000+00:00 | ['Women', 'LGBTQ', 'History', 'Feminism', 'LGBT'] |
I Can’t Stop Thinking About Grima Wormtongue | Photo: New Line Cinema
I Can’t Stop Thinking About Grima Wormtongue
The spineless, forked-tongue ‘Lord of the Rings’ villain is a hero to many
I wonder what The Lord the Rings author JRR Tolkien would think of our times. I’m positive he would be pro-Brexit. I’m sure he’d be shocked by the diversity and dysfunction of his beloved England and most of the West.
The man had one of the most creative minds of the last century but he was certainly the type of person who’d call the police if they saw someone in their neighborhood who didn’t look exactly like everyone else who lived in the neighborhood. He definitely wouldn’t be in favor of letting non-Hobbits live in The Shire. The Shire is for tiny fussy white people with gorilla feet and only tiny fussy white people with gorilla feet. If you’re not tiny, nor white, nor gorilla footed — or worse, French — then bugger off.
Was Tolkien racist? I don’t know. He was a product of the British Empire, and those fancy gentlemen never met a culture run by people of color they didn’t want to immediately subjugate and then exploit. I love his books though. They’re examples of a human imagination transcending the limits of a single person’s prejudices.
I do think he’d be dismayed to see his island — and the whole of the English-speaking world — populated by Grima Wormtongues. There are many self-absorbed Gollums obsessed with various precious’s and not enough selfless Samwise Gamgees. But watch the news. Scroll through social media. The US and UK are infested with snivelers. Calculating ass-kissers. The White House is home to men who softly beg a brutish president for favors while kneeling on monogrammed pillows. From their knees, they make kissy-faces.
There is a generation of adult men whose primary life question is: What Would Grima Wormtongue Do? And the answer is: Grima Wormtongue would do anything if it means he got something in return. Grovel, weep, purr. Whatever. The ends justify the means. The bigger the ends the more sordid the means.
Grima Wormtongue was King Théoden of Rohan’s chief counselor, all the while working in secret for the evil wizard Saruman. For years, Wormtongue used a spell of Saruman to hypnotize the king with flattery, advise, and sweet talk. It is suggested that Wormtongue’s reward for betraying his people would be the king’s niece Éowyn. Wormtongue is a sex pest and a jellyfish and a bootlicker. A human-shaped eel who lies for profit.
In Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies Wormtongue is played by Brad Dourif, a brilliant character actor with a wide range and rare intensity. The man has had a decades-long career. My first memory of him is in the problematic classic Jack Nicholson movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (some of you may know that movie as the problematic sequel to Netflix’s Ratched.)
He’s turned in memorable performances in David Lynch’s Dune, Exorcist III, and as the original voice of murder doll Chucky in the Child’s Play series. But he should be remembered as the vulgar and kindly Doc Cochran from HBO’s Deadwood.
His eyebrow-less performance as Grima is one of his best, though. He is pathetic and conniving. Part man, part snake. The movie may portray him as slightly more formidable as the book but the point is made: Long before the fall pride goeth, pride’s fat head swollen with empty compliments made by greedy flunkies.
Eventually, the dark spell on Théoden was broken by Gandalf the White, and Wormtongue was cast from the kingdom. In The Return of the King, the third book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Wormtongue cuts the throat of Saruman, who had slowly transformed from his mentor to his tormentor. This comes late in the book, during a climactic battle in the Shire. Wormtongue is, himself, felled by arrows.
Like Wormtongue, Saruman was also corrupted by a great and powerful evil. Both men thought they could thrive as servants of wickedness. They were both wrong. This is not a subtle warning in Tolkien’s text, nor in the movies. It’s a warning no one takes seriously anymore because there are far too many men in the news who think they’re going to win sucking up to cruelty and avarice. | https://medium.com/humungus/i-cant-stop-thinking-about-grima-wormtongue-4d6a20edd017 | ['John Devore'] | 2020-10-19 17:42:16.073000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Ethics', 'Cinema', 'Fantasy', 'Film'] |
Free coupon code for amazon USA | About Amazon
With Amazon, you can shop online from the world’s biggest choice of books, attire, furniture, films, music and games, hardware, PCs, toys, and all the more including the entirety of your number one brands. Amazon has the greatest assortment and the most minimal costs on almost anything you would shop online for. Clients appreciate the comfort of Amazon’s one quit shopping experience, and the quick and simple delivery from Amazon Prime. In the event that you have an Amazon Alexa, you can utilize voice orders to have Alexa search, survey, and affirm your request for you. Alexa will peruse item names, costs, and even gauge conveyance times. Alexa additionally utilizes your request history to assist you with restocking the specific things you realize you love.
Free Shipping Policy
All orders of at least $25 of any combination eligible items qualify for free standard shipping. In some cases, there are additional specific options or requirements for free shipping, which will always be shown at checkout. With Amazon Prime, users enjoy unlimited free 2-day shipping on orders consisting of any combination of eligible items. Certain items are even eligible for free 1-day shipping for Amazon Prime members.
What is a promotional code for Amazon?
Any vendor can create an Amazon promo code to discount their product on amazon.com. There is also an Amazon coupon portal that lists the top Amazon promo codes, coupons, and promotions. To activate these coupons, any user can click “clip coupon” for the desired item and the advertised discount will be applied at checkout. You can browse this coupon portal at Amazon.co.in | https://medium.com/@digitalcreatorad/free-coupon-code-for-amazon-usa-ebd99087e7d8 | ['Mr Ananomas'] | 2020-12-21 19:49:04.733000+00:00 | ['Coupon Codes', 'Code', 'Free', 'Promo Code', 'Amazon'] |
What is a Bitcoin ATM? | A Bitcoin ATM (also referred to as a Bitcoin kiosk) is a physical device used for withdrawing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies available as cash. Users can also use Bitcoin ATMs to buy cryptocurrencies with money and have the purchased cryptocoins sent to their software or hardware wallets immediately.
BTMs are much like the traditional ATM that dispenses fiat currencies where you use your debit card to withdraw TRY, EUR, INR etc. However, unlike the traditional fiat ATMs, some Bitcoin ATMs actually allow you to withdraw Bitcoin from it. Some help you convert your Bitcoin into fiat currencies, while there are also some that help with both like Gobaba Bitcoin ATMs. Currently there are 3110 Bitcoin ATMs in 7o countries from all over the world. You can find the full list below.
How Gobaba Bitcoin ATM works
You can buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 3 simple steps:
Scan Your QR Code — Use your crypto wallet’s and scan the QR code of your wallet address you’d like to send Bitcoin.
— Use your crypto wallet’s and scan the QR code of your wallet address you’d like to send Bitcoin. Insert Notes — Enter the amount of cash to be exchanged for cryptocurrencies.
— Enter the amount of cash to be exchanged for cryptocurrencies. Receive Cryptocoins— Press ‘Send Bitcoin’ and once your transaction is confirmed within seconds you will have your fresh cryptocoins right in your wallet! | https://medium.com/gobabaexchange/what-is-a-bitcoin-atm-9f7e5eee20d1 | [] | 2018-05-27 15:15:50.321000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Bitcoin Atms', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto', 'Finance'] |
What is ETL? | In our articles related to AI and Big Data in healthcare, we always talk about ETL as the core of the core process. We do not write a lot about ETL itself, though. In this post, we’ll give a short overview of this procedure and its applications in businesses.
ETL is the abbreviation for Extract, Transform, Load that are three database functions:
Extract is the process of reading data that is assumed to be important. The data can be either raw collected from multiple and different types of sources or taken from a source database.
is the process of reading data that is assumed to be important. The data can be either raw collected from multiple and different types of sources or taken from a source database. Transform is the process of converting the extracted data from its previous format into the format required by another database. The transformation occurs by using rules or lookup tables or by combining the data with other data.
is the process of converting the extracted data from its previous format into the format required by another database. The transformation occurs by using rules or lookup tables or by combining the data with other data. Load is the process of writing the data into the target database, data warehouse or another system
ETL in its essence is a type of data integration used to blend data from multiple sources.
ETL vs. ELT
The ETL paradigm is inherent to Data Warehousing, and Big Data has significantly changed the order of the processes. In Big Data, data is “lifted and shifted” wholesale to a repository, such as a Data Lake, and is held there in the original format. It is transformed “on the fly” when needed by Data Scientists, creating the procedure of ELT, or Extract, Load, Transform.
One of the main benefits of ELT is a shorter load time. As we can take advantage of the built-in processing capability of data warehouses, we can reduce the time that data spends in transit. This capability is most useful when processing large data sets required for business intelligence and big data analytics.
In practice, however, things are not so black and white. Many Data Lakes, for example, contain intermediate merged and transformed data structures to ensure that each Data Scientist doesn’t repeat the same work, or carry it out in a different way.
Where are ETL/ELT used?
ETL is not a new technology: businesses have relied on it for many years to get a consolidated view of the data. The most common uses of ETL include:
ETL and traditional uses
Traditionally, ETL is used to consolidate, collect and join data from external suppliers or to migrate data from legacy systems to new systems with different data formats. ETL tools surface data from a data store in a comprehensible for business people format, making it easier to analyze and report on. The key beneficiaries of these applications are retailers and healthcare providers.
ETL and metadata
ETL provides a deep historical context and a consolidated view for the business by surfacing the metadata. As data architectures become more complex, it’s important to track how the different data elements are used and related within one organization. Metadata helps understand the lineage of data and its impact on other data assets in the organization.
ETL and Data Quality
ETL and ELT are extensively used for data cleansing, profiling and auditing ensuring that data is trustworthy. ETL tools can be integrated with data quality tools, such as those used for data profiling, deduplication or validation.
ETL and Self-Service Data Access
Self-service data preparation is a fast-growing field that puts the power of accessing, blending and transforming data into the hands of business users and other nontechnical data professionals. ETL codifies and reuses processes that move data without requiring technical skills to write code or scripts. With this approach integrated into the ETL process, less time is spent on data preparation, improving professionals’ productivity. | https://medium.com/sciforce/what-is-etl-1df5305bb341 | [] | 2019-09-27 12:48:33.283000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Healthcare', 'Big Data', 'Technology', 'Data Science'] |
How to add on-screen logging to your Flask application and deploy it on AWS Elastic Beanstalk | How to add on-screen logging to your Flask application and deploy it on AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Hint: don’t forget to configure the Nginx reverse proxy server
At the end of 2019 Deeplearning.ai reported that only 22% of companies that use machine learning actually deployed a model. Most companies do not get beyond a proof of concept, often by means of a model in a Jupyter Notebooks. As a result, numerous companies are hiring machine learning engineers who can build machine learning models and put them in production as well.
Data scientists should be at least familiar with some methods of productionizing models. The most important tool in a data scientists toolbox for this purpose is Docker. Docker is a container service that enables you to deploy a model or application beyond your local machine. For example, running it on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Several frameworks exist to build applications and serve your models within these Docker containers. As many data scientist already know Python, Flask is easy to start with. In addition, Flask provides you with the opportunity to build a (simple) user-interface so your users will be able to interact with your models without having to learn how to use the command line interface or make an API request.
In this hands-on tutorial I will show you how to deploy a simple Flask application in a Docker container on AWS Elastic Beanstalk and how to add a logging functionality, so your users will be able to see what’s happening behind the scenes. The application will not contain any machine learning models, but you can easily extend it on your own. When I first deployed this solution, I had some trouble with getting it to work, as I had to configure the (reverse) proxy server on AWS. In the last part of this tutorial I will show you how to do this.
The Basics
Folder structure for our Flask application
First, we set up the basics of our Flask application. It includes an app.py file for all Flask code, a static index.html file to format the structure of our index page and a css stylesheet (custom.css)
The app.py has only 7 lines of code. We first initialize a Flask application class and define the static and template folders. Then we define a route (‘/’) and tell the application that it should render index.html. The last line tells the application to expose itself on port 5000. The host arguments is set to 0.0.0.0 for deploying it on AWS Elastic Beanstalk later on.
The HTML and CSS files are also quite simple and for the sake of completeness demonstrated below. We define a logging_window class with some style options that will contain the logging later on.
We are now able to run our application for the first time to see what it looks like. As you can see still nothing special.
Screenshot of the first version of the application
Adding logging functionality
As mentioned before, displaying the logging of your Python processes will make it a lot easier to work with your application. For example, users can see if a process is stuck or still running and they should be patient.
To add logging to our application is quite easy. It requires a helper function flask_logger, that (in this example) returns the current datetime as an encoded string every second. In addition, we add a new route (‘/log_stream’) that will return a Flask Response class with the output of our flask_logger function. In addition, don’t forget to import datetime for this example.
If we go to the newly created route (which will be exposed at https://localhost:5000/log_stream), we will now see the following. Not very nicely formatted, but it returns the datetime every second.
Logging your logs
As we are now able to display an output every second, we can actually display our logger. For this, we have to change our flask_logger function. First, we have to configure our logger. In this example, I will use the logger from loguru but you can use any logger you like. The logger will be configured to write all logs to a file job.log which is located in the static folder. The flask_logger will be configured to read the log-file every second and return the logs. In addition, the log-file will be cleaned after 25 iterations.
This will result in better formatted logging. Be aware that all information that is logged with the loguru logger (in all python processes) will be displayed as these are all written to the job.log file after configuring the logger. So, if you have a line of code logger.info(‘Model is training’) in your training process, it will show up in our logger as well.
Formatted logging read from the job.log file
Include logging into our index page
The last step before we can deploy our application is to include the logging in our created index.html. This is fairly easy, but includes a bit of JavaScript. We create a function that starts after the page has been loaded, makes a GET request to our /log_stream route and writes the response to an HTML element with the id ‘output’. The whole HTML file will look something like this:
As you can see we now have an application that logs all our python processes and displays them to our users.
Log streaming included in our index.html file
Deploy to Elastic Beanstalk
Now we can deploy our simple application to AWS Elastic Beanstalk so it can be accessed by anyone. Elastic Beanstalk is a so-called ‘orchestration service’ which not only takes care of the deployment of our application, but also sets up server instances, takes care of load balancing (distribution of tasks over your computing resources if multiple instances have been instantiated to make the overall process more efficient) and monitoring the health and status of your application.
For this step we need two more files in our project’s root folder: a Dockerfile to containerize the application and a requirements.txt containing all the packages that should be installed in this container. Copy-paste the outcome of the pip freeze command to the requirements.txt and set up the Dockerfile as follows.
Now it is time to let the magic happen. There are several methods to deploy your application to AWS Elastic Beanstalk (assuming you already have an AWS account. If you have not, sign up for 12 months of free tier access on aws.amazon.com). The most convenient method is to install the command line interface of Elastic Beanstalk. After you have installed it, navigate to your project’s root folder with the terminal. Subsequently call eb init and eb create and answer the prompted questions. Elastic Beanstalk will automatically recognize there is a Dockerfile in your project’s folder and will start building the environment. Wait a few minutes (check the progress through the management console of AWS) and afterwards you can access your application via the URL you have defined during the initializing process. You can also find this URL if you navigate to your Elastic Beanstalk environment via the AWS management console.
Nginx
However, if you visit the URL of your application you will see that no logging is appearing. After 25 seconds all logs appear simultaneously. To fix this, we have to configure the Nginx reverse proxy server that is being instantiated by default if an Elastic Beanstalk environment is created. Configuring this server may sound scary, but actually it is quite simple. To understand what we are doing, let me explain where the problem comes from.
As mentioned before, an Nginx reverse proxy server is started when creating the Elastic Beanstalk environment. This proxy server is intended to map your application to your environment’s load balancer. However, one of the feature of Nginx is that it buffers all responses our application is generating, until the process of generating logs is completed. As we would like to display all logs immediately, we have to configure the proxy server to stop buffering them.
Configuring Nginx can be done in 2 steps: 1) create a .ebextensions folder in your project’s root folder, 2) add a config file to this folder (it doesn’t matter what it’s name is, as long as it has a .config extension). The content of this file should be:
Now we can call eb deploy in the terminal from our project’s root folder to update our application and wait for the changes to be deployed.
NB: if you have initialized your project’s root folder as a GitHub repo as well, be sure to commit your changes before deploying the new version of the application. By default, only changes that have been committed will be deployed with the eb deploy call. You can also run eb deploy — staged; then your staged changed (so you have to git add them as well) will also be deployed.
After the deployment, visit your application’s URL and you can see the logging is working as expected!
Conclusion
Following these steps, it is fairly easy to create and deploy a simple Flask application with logging functionality in an AWS Elastic Beanstalk environment. Feel free to extend the application to serve your machine learning models and bring them in production using this easy method!
About the author
Rik Kraan is a medical doctor working as a data scientist at Vantage AI, a data science consultancy company in the Netherlands. Get in touch via [email protected] | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-add-on-screen-logging-to-your-flask-application-and-deploy-it-on-aws-elastic-beanstalk-aa55907730f | ['Rik Kraan'] | 2020-08-24 19:10:20.079000+00:00 | ['Logging', 'Aws Elastic Beanstalk', 'Docker', 'Flask', 'Nginx'] |
Providing Elasticity to the HDFS Cluster | Confirm that the Physical Volumes are created using the pvdisplay command.
$ pvdisplay /dev/xvdf $ pvdisplay /dev/xvdg
Step 4: Create a Volume Group
To get the space from separate Physical Volumes we have to combine their space. To achieve this, we have to create a Volume Group that has space from both /dev/xvdf1 and /dev/xvdg1 physical volumes.
$ vgcreate contribdata /dev/xvdf1 /dev/xvdg1
This will create a volume group of size 5.5 GiB (512 MiB + 5 GiB).
View the created Volume Group using the following command
$ vgdisplay contribdata
Step 5: Create a Logical Volume
Now, we have Volume Group ready. We have to create a logical volume from this volume group, so that, we can mount the logical volume to use it.
$ lvcreate --size 3G --name ankush contribdata
The above command will create a logical volume of size 3 GiB and named ankush. This logical volume will take the storage space from the volume group named contribdata.
We can display the logical volume using the command lvdisplay.
$ lvdisplay
The command above will also show the exact path/name of the logical volume. For this logical volume, the exact name of the logical volume will be /dev/contribdata/ankush.
So, finally, we have a logical volume ready. And as this volume is the Logical Volume, we can increase or decrease its space on the go without losing any of the stored data.
Step 6: Mount the Logical Volume
As we already had configured HDFS cluster and our datanode will share the storage space to the HDFS cluster from /data directory. So, we have to mount the logical volume to the logical volume at /data directory. But, before mounting, we will format the logical volume to ext4 partition type.
$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/contribdata/ankush
Now, the logical volume is ready to use. We will mount the logical volume named /dev/contribdata/ankush at /data directory.
$ mount /dev/contribdata/ankush /data
Step 7: Start the Datanode
Now, we are all set to start the Datanode. This Datanode will share the storage to the HDFS cluster from the logical volume.
Before starting the Datanode, I will go to the Namenode and check how much storage it currently has.
$ hadoop dfsadmin -report
You can see in the above screenshot that the HDFS cluster does not have any Datanode connected and hence the current storage space is 0 GiB.
Now, Go back to the Datanode and start the Datanode.
$ hadoop-daemon.sh start datanode
After that, go to the Namenode again and check the storage space.
You can see that, after starting the Datanode, the HDFS cluster now has 2.89 GiB(approx. 3 GiB) of storage space. All this space is coming from Datanode and hence from the logical volume.
Now, Let’s see the power of LVM in the real scenario.
Let us assume that we are about to run out of the space of 3 GiB and we have to increase the space of the Datanode instead of adding a new Datanode. This problem may in the real world and copying all of the data to the new harddisk of more size is not the optimized solution. So, here the role of the LVM comes into play.
Now, we just have to extend the space of the logical volume and that's it! We can increase the storage without losing any past data.
Let’s see this in action.
Increasing the storage space of the Datanode
For increasing the space of the Datanode storage, we have to increase the size of the logical volume. This size can only be possible to extend if the volume group of the logical volume has unallocated storage space. As we had used 3 GiB for the logical volume out of 5.5 GiB total size of the volume group, we can extend our logical volume by up to 2.5 GiB.
Here, we will extend the logical volume by 1 GiB.
So, let’s begin.
Step 1: Stop the Datanode and unmount the logical volume
As the logical volume is mounted to /data directory, we will unmount it in order to increase its space.
$ hadoop-daemon.sh stop datanode
$ umount /data
Step 2: Extend the size of the logical volume
To extend the size of the logical volume, run the following command.
$ lvextend --size +1G /dev/contribdata/ankush
This will increase the size of the logical volume by 1 GiB. But this size is increased logically. If we check the size of the logical volume, it will show it 4GiB but after mounting the volume, the actual size is 3 GiB. This is because, we had extended the size of the logical volume but inorder to get the extended storage, we have to format only that part of the volume that we had added newly.
Step 3: Format the newly added storage to the logical volume
If we try to format the volume by using the regular method, it will recreate the whole partition table. And thus, we will lose the data stored in the volume. But, we have to format only that part of the volume that we had added newly. To do this, we will use the command resize2fs.
$ e2fsck -f /dev/contribdata/ankush
$ resize2fs /dev/contribdata/ankush
The command above will format the un-formated part of the logical volume.
Now, we have the size of 4 GiB ready to use.
Step 4: Mount the logical volume and start the datanode
Mount the logical volume to the /data directory.
$ mount /dev/contribdata/ankush /data
Start the datanode again.
$ hadoop-daemon.sh start datanode
Now, go back to the Namenode and check the HDFS storage.
In the above screenshot, you can see that the available storage space is 3.87 GiB(approx. 4 GiB).
So, this will prove that, we had successfully increased the storage space of the datanode on the go.
In the same way, we can reduce the size of the Datanode storage using lvreduce command.
Reducing the storage space of the datanode
For, reducing the Datanode storage space, run the following commands.
Step 1: Unmount logical volume
$ unmount /data
Step 2: Resize the LVM to 2 GiB
$ e2fsck -f /dev/contribdata/ankush
$ resize2fs /dev/contribdata/ankush 2G
Step 3: Reduce the size using lvreduce
$ lvreduce -L 2G /dev/contribdata/ankush
$ e2fsck -f /dev/contribdata/ankush
Step 4: Mount the LVM to the /data
$ mount /dev/contribdata/ankush /data
Creating a Python script to automate the elasticity of the HDFS cluster
The script above will automate the process of providing elasticity to the HDFS cluster.
That's it for this article! | https://medium.com/@ankush-chavan/providing-elasticity-to-the-hdfs-cluster-ee1e896a1303 | ['Ankush Chavan'] | 2020-12-19 11:09:00.592000+00:00 | ['Hadoop', 'Hdfs', 'Big Data', 'Storage', 'Lvm'] |
5 Most Scalable Backend Development Languages/Frameworks in 2021–22 | Today’s digital transformation concept affects all organizations, irrespective of their vertical or functional industry of expertise. A massive digital transformation is leading any company’s digital presence.
This is because it helps in meeting the changing customer expectations in a better and more satisfying way. But what does digital presence mean?
Digital presence means how a business appears online. It can be both web and mobile apps.
With the advent of frameworks and APIs, web development standards have risen over the years. A decade ago, a company’s digital presence was limited to a static website or PHP web application, but it is not the case anymore!
Technology has come up with backend-specific languages and frameworks. These are libraries of server-side programming languages that help build the backend structure of a website secure, fast, and customer-friendly.
The backend frameworks provide ready-to-use components for developing a dynamic web application. Using frameworks gives developers an advantage by eliminating the need to build and configure everything from scratch.
Role of Backend Development in Website Development
The main focus of backend development is on the server-side of the website. In general, the backend consists of three main parts:
Database
Request
Server
On the server side, the backend powers the operation of the website. Also, the programs written here by backend developers are used to communicate information from database to browser.
In 2021, backend development will be even more vital as companies look to expand at a rapid pace.
Therefore, I will share the top 5 languages/frameworks for backend development to rule the roots in 2021 and the coming years.
Let’s get the ball rolling!
1. Node.js
There are many other JavaScript frameworks, but Node.js is ruling the industry.
Node.js even has its IDE or runtime environment. This IDE has become one of the reasons why it is popular with the developer community.
Also, as Node.js is efficient, developing high-end applications for website development and video streaming is preferred.
Node.js is asynchronous, non-blocking, and single-threaded. This is why Node.js is the best backend language for real-time applications.
Node.js is a JavaScript-based solution, so most backend developers are familiar with this language. JavaScript was the most widely used programming language according to development stats published in 2019.
So if you are planning to hire Nodejs developers, it won’t be too difficult or time-consuming.
When switching to the backend, developers can benefit from all the benefits of JavaScript development.
Due to a dynamic community of developers, Node.js is one of the best backend programming languages. In addition, the active developer community contributes to the development of the language.
2. Python
According to the development stats report published for 2020, Python surpasses JAVA to become the second most popular programming language.
Python programming language has experienced tremendous growth, around 18–19%, in the last five years. In some statistical analysis, Python ranks first in December 2020 ( PYPL index).
Python is among the most popular backend programming languages on several other well-known platforms such as Stack Overflow and Github.
Also, Python’s compatibility with trending technologies like AI and ML makes it more preferred among Indian programmers. Thus, if you want to make a robust application on Python, contacting python development companies in India can be the best bet.
Python has been the leading backend language in almost every industry vertical, just starting with the mastery of programming for the past few years.
The main reason behind this is a relatively simple syntax that makes it easy to read, learn, and use. As a result, the language is widely used for web development, software development, etc., and various trending technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, etc.
The language offers rich features like rich library support, easier integration with other languages, automatic garbage collection, GUI support, etc.
The popular Python frameworks that help make things more efficient and convenient are Django, Flask, Pyramid, etc.
3. Kotlin
Kotlin is a backend programming language for the Java Virtual Machine, also generally known as the JVM. Ever since 2017, Kotlin is highly preferred for Android development, as it has official Google support.
With Kotlin, in addition to writing less code, readability is also improved. Less coding results in fewer errors and allows developers to focus on other essential tasks.
In 2021, the Kotlin backend programming language will occupy an important position as website performance increases.
Another interesting fact about Kotlin is that it came from industry and not academia.
Therefore, it is a more straightforward tool than Java that solves the challenges and problems faced by programmers. For example, it helps developers avoid null pointer exceptions.
Hence, it becomes an efficient tool to use with Java and is as ubiquitous as Java.
Kotlin will have a significant impact on future backend development, as it is fully compatible with Java. In addition to this, developers would have access to huge libraries that would allow them to write concise code.
That is why more than 61% of developers with more than five years of experience prefer to work with Kotlin.
As companies look to emerge from the horrors of 2020, Kotlin can be a great ally for them. It facilitates faster development and is comparatively very inexpensive.
Also, Kotlin is a universal backend programming language. Hence, transferring from one platform to another becomes very easy.
As discussed earlier, Kotlin has an easy learning curve. Therefore, the language is less error-prone and allows developers to find errors quickly.
Kotlin is a very secure backend programming language. Everyone understands that data security is an essential thing to grow in the modern business world. Kotlin developers are embedded in semantic principles. These principles prevent common errors that often occur during program execution.
4. Ruby on Rails (RoR)
1. Ruby on Rails or RoR is a popular server-side web app framework written in the Ruby language available under the MIT license.
Backed by a large and friendly community, RoR is an ideal framework that includes everything a developer needs to create great apps.
Since its launch in 2004, hundreds of thousands of apps have been built using the framework, including GitHub, Airbnb, and Hulu, among others.
The key features of RoR include:
• Ruby on Rails implements the MVC architecture or the Model-View-Controller architecture
• RoR emphasizes the principles of the Configuration Convention (CoC) and No Repetition (DRY)
• The RoR makes it easy to modify an existing code
• The Rails community works proactively to identify and fix new vulnerabilities
I have listed some of the main advantages of this backend development below.
The code that is written in Ruby on Rails is crisp, clear, and very consistent.
Furthermore, this programming language is one of the most time-efficient frameworks in the world.
It has a large community of developers.
Therefore, if developers face any problems during web application development, they have a large group to rely on.
Reduces the time required for web application development as developers can reuse code to a greater extent.
Ruby on Rails (RoR) works in Model-View-Control-Format. This simply means that it is easier to separate the business logic from the other application parts.
The encoding process in RoR is self-describing and easy to read. Therefore, novice developers do not need additional documentation to start a new project.
The developer can develop a prototype of the future website at a faster pace with Ruby on Rails.
The backend programming language is also known for its predictability and stability.
Due to its predictable nature, it is easier for developers to add new features according to requirements. In addition, the framework is suitable for long-term projects and can be used in all kinds of commercial industries.
5. JAVA
Many times it seems that JAVA is losing its charm. Still, when we look at the actual statistics, every year, JAVA ends up with an excellent ranking showing that the particular language still works well and is in demand in the world of technology.
There are around 8 million JAVA developers worldwide; perhaps this number can help you gauge the demand and popularity of this particular language.
In addition, the language is occupying first place among all programming languages in the ranking of TIOBE and PYPL.
According to RedMonk reports, JAVA ranks third behind JavaScript and Python only.
The object-oriented programming language features a highly celebrated Write Once Run Anywhere that allows Java code to run on other platforms, which support JAVA, without recompiling.
The language is widely used in Android development alongside web applications, desktop applications, scientific applications, etc.
Also, top-tier companies like Adobe, Amazon, Flipkart, and many others hire Java developers to enhance the functionalities of their applications.
Java’s extraordinary features like high demand in the tech world, tremendous community support, popular frameworks (like Spring & Hibernate), multithreading, automatic memory allocation and garbage collection, platform independence ensure that JAVA will provide you with valuable business opportunities for years to come as well.
Bottom Lines
Every programming language has its own benefits and losses. It entirely depends on your requirement and budget as to which language will be a perfect fit for you.
The above-mentioned backend programming languages and frameworks are leading the development industry, and you can pick any for your business-level programs.
All you need to do is get in touch with India’s top software development company and get yourself a great application.
Good Luck! | https://medium.com/backenders-club/5-most-scalable-backend-development-languages-frameworks-in-2021-22-f7f96101c19b | ['Ajay Kapoor'] | 2021-06-28 08:32:16.706000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Web Development', 'Backend Development', 'Back End Developer', 'Programming'] |
Why do organizations need Market Intelligence platforms? | Introduction
Market intelligence is information relevant to an organization from its industry including its competitors, customers, partners, and all about the industrial ecosystem. It is considered essential to gather and analyze market intelligence data to shape the long and short-term plans of organizations. If two emerging organizations are competing to be the leader of an industry, the one who is on the toes to gather strategic information wins the race by applying such information, data, and knowledge in decision making and planning.
Market intelligence is the tool organizations leverage for looking at what the customers and prospects are now expecting. It helps organizations maintain and improve their products and services. On that note, let us deep-dive into how organizations can make use of market intelligence or what are the key benefits of market intelligence platforms for organizations across industries.
Why Market Intelligence platforms?
Extracting and using market Intelligence can add up for organizational growth in certain ways. But it also depends on the way market intelligence is gathered and analyzed. Therefore, leading organizations leverage market intelligence platforms to get structured intelligence and insights. Let us see how that helps.
Target audience study
Market intelligence is a way through which organizations decipher patterns of customer and prospect behavior. This market intelligence data answers the questions of marketers, strategists, and decision-makers about what kind of strategies are responsive for the audience, and the analysis of such strategies can add a lot of relevant observations that can help decision-makers in building other strategies too. Earlier organizations used traditional tools like manual research for mapping the target audience, but with the growth of internet space, it is not possible to manually keep track of customer behavior. Therefore, with a market intelligence platform, organizations can track audience engagement with their industry efficiently.
Competitive landscape analysis
Market intelligence has a wide scope for organizations looking to boost their growth. A part of it is competitive intelligence that is used for keeping an eye on the activities, campaigns, and events of competitor organizations. It helps the organization in understanding the scheme of events that customers are already in tune with. Getting into the customer mindset is important for marketing and sales job roles and for that, you have to look at the whole market and read through the battle cards of your competitors for analysis. Previously, organizations used to monitor competitive intelligence with the help of Google Alerts but now, when the sources of information are less but not limited to the wide space of the internet, Google Alerts is being phased out. This has resulted in organizations starting to look for Google alerts alternatives. Now, market intelligence platforms serve this purpose by effectively tracking market and competitive intelligence relevant to one’s business.
Positioning in the market
The market intelligence platform enhances your knowledge of the external environment by keeping you posted with the recent updates of how your industry peers are positioning themselves in the market. It can also bring opportunities to try something new that prospects and customers are expecting.
Product / Service positioning
When your organization is selling a product or a service, it is vital to brush up your knowledge of the industry and market trends to keep up with the changing product positioning of your competitors, government policies around the industry, and news updates. For example, if your competitor changes its positioning from Cow milk to Fresh and healthy cow milk, you need to keep a track of such activities in the market. But the question is how? As it is not easy to monitor the internet that is filled up with tons of information by everyone. Therefore, a market intelligence platform provides market insights that help you in positioning your product as per the changing market landscape.
Conclusion
Market intelligence is an important element required for the end-goals of every stakeholder team member of the organization, be it marketing, sales, leadership, strategy, or procurement team but it might be used by them in different ways. For example, while marketing team members would be interested in understanding the positioning of the organization, product, or service but the sales team might use such intelligence as a conversation starter. Hence, organizations supercharge their market intelligence tracking with market intelligence platforms that help them track relevant information, updates, and news from the market and competitors for analysis. | https://medium.com/@natsharichardsonc/why-do-organizations-need-market-intelligence-platforms-f120181dc3dd | ['Natasha Richardson'] | 2020-12-16 12:25:58.240000+00:00 | ['Market Intelligence', 'Intelligence Platforms', 'Competitive Intelligence', 'Business Intelligence'] |
Reclaiming powerful habits | I have been stuck in the same habits for a whole year. Correction: my inconsistency has caused me to repeat the same systems over and over again. I was going through my emails and found a book someone had recommended to me in August 2020, a year ago. The title of the book: Atomic Habits. When I finally got to reading it, it felt like I was being called out on what I had been doing all year. Prior to the pandemic, I had systems set in place. My life revolved around school, social gatherings and family. The pandemic robbed me of the first two, and significantly reduced my interaction with the latter. As a result, I developed severely bad habits. Instead of getting up early to start on my tasks I now spend, at times, entire days in bed. I rarely have full meals and when I do, I order out. My bank statements show multiple payments to eateries and fast food restaurants. I have found myself slowly loathing who I am becoming.
But thank God for the book, for according to James Clear, I am not beyond salvation. I am simply not patient enough to allow the small changes I am making daily to reflect in my life in the long run.
If you had started feeling stuck like me, I have good news for you. That all you need to do is show up every day 1% better than you were yesterday. Slow progress is better than no progress.
I, for one, wanted to wait until I finished reading the book to write a little something about being a better you. You think I should have waited, don’t you? Well so did I, 5 minutes ago. But I am always certain that, given my new distasteful habit of postponing, if I don’t write this now, I probably will never get to it. And I’d rather come edit this in a week’s time when I’m done with the book than deal with the regret of having put off writing altogether.
I feel so much better, truly. In the book, James also talks about settting your systems. And that to me translates to living as the person you want to be every single day. And by just writing this I feel like my systems are falling back into place. In 2019, I was serious about my articles. I’d publish some on WordPress. I even got a page two feature in our local newspaper!(https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/life/beijing-through-the-eyes-of-kenyan-student) So what happened to that girl? She simply stopped showing up as who she wanted to be. She is now trying to take control of her systems again.You could too.
I’ll probably stop here and engage again when I have more to share. But in the meantime, you could read the book, and implement the lessons in your life. | https://medium.com/@Melody_Mukami/reclaiming-powerful-habits-dd9fdc11dcf1 | ['Melody Mukami'] | 2021-08-20 11:22:55.609000+00:00 | ['Lifestyle', 'Habit Building', 'Habits', 'Atomic Habit', 'Reclaiming Your Power'] |
No Reset Button | You and I are both looking for it, but we won’t find it.
As we approach the end of 2020, like every year, many of us begin to reflect on the past year along with dreaming about the future year. January 1 is the beginning of a new calendar year. It also serves as the beginning of resolutions, goals, and plans. People are hoping for a reset to happen on this date or another date in January.
However, there is no reset button.
Life will feel the same on January 1 or 2 or 3 or 23.
Then what?
Our hopes will be crushed. They will be crushed because we expected a date to change our world or rhythm of life.
I propose we make the change now. Take inventory of the things we want to change and change them. Be in control of your change; don’t let a created symbol of difference be your hope. | https://medium.com/@bosshogge/no-reset-button-bb84188b75ac | ['Boss Hogge'] | 2020-12-09 12:48:06.950000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'New Year Resolution', 'Change', 'Inspiration', 'Reset'] |
Gettier Problems in Machine Learning | Gettier Problems in Machine Learning
Have a look at one of the most prominent philosophical puzzles through the lenses of machine learning.
Gettier Problems
If you haven't heard the term already, here’s the gist of it. The Classical Account of Knowledge suggests the following:
One can know a proposition is true, only if:
1) The porposition is true;
2) One believes the proposition;
3) and One’s beliefs are justified.
According to this view of knowledge, knowledge is just justified true belief. That every time you come to a conclusion q through p implying it, p needs to be true and justified so as to lead to it. This justification needs to satisfy the anti-luck intuition and the ability intuition. The anti-luck intuition simply states that your knowledge isn’t just out of luck that you’ve got it right while e the ability intuition states that this knowing was down to your cognitive abilities.
Now, this account of knowledge is plausible. But around the 1960s, Edmund Gettier got to disproving the basis of this account of knowledge.
The Stopped Clock Case
This was stated by Bertrand Russel to prove a different point but we shall use this example here. Let us say you get up one morning and look at the time on your clock. This clock is very reliable and there is absolutely no reason you’d doubt that the clock is showing you the wrong time. Also, the time shown by the clock corresponds to what time you might take it to roughly be.
But here’s the problem. That clock stopped working 24 hours ago exactly. The moment you’re looking at it, it just so happens that it is showing you the correct time. This is pure luck. But is the inference you make of the time actually knowledge? Well, one would argue that a clock that isn’t working can never show you the correct time and how you got the proposition of the time correct was just luck attacking the anti-luck intuition. So, you have a justified true belief that doesn’t satisfy knowledge.
Another case could be, looking at the above image of a clock and imagining whether it is one of a stopped clock or a working one.
The Sheep Case
This example is from the American philosopher Roderick Chisholm. Imagine a farmer looking at a field in clear daylight and seeing what looks like a sheep. This is a justified true belief.
Now, imagine that we set the case such that the farmer is not looking at a real sheep but a sheep-shaped object and there really is a sheep behind the view of a sheep-shaped object. That means the farmer has a true belief but what he is looking at isn’t a sheep but a sheep shaped object.
Generalizing Gettier Problems
Step 1. Take a belief that is formed in such a way that it would result in a false belief but is justified nonetheless.
Step 2. Make the belief true, albeit for reasons that have nothing to do with the subject’s justification of the case.
The Solution
People thought the solution to Gettier cases would be quite simple. Maybe just add something onto the tripartite analysis or negate Gettier completely.
Keith Lehrer suggested that we add in a fourth clause saying that your belief shouldn’t be based on any false assumptions. But there are problems with this. In the clock case, it simply isn’t psychologically plausible that you start to question whether the clock is working or not. And what are even assumptions?
The definition of an assumption can not be so narrow so as to assume that the clock is working or so broad that genuine knowledge shall be excluded.
Another solution was by Lukasz Lozanski, who completely negates the Gettier problems saying that assumptions made were far too specific to generalize conclusions we reached at. And thus, the knowledge we concluded with was either not justified or false. Or the fact that there could be logical flaws in the case stated in his article here.
With all that kept in mind, I don’t think Gettier cases are so far-fetched or logically flawed so as to cease all existence. And hence, I shall present my own and the problems that follow.
The Machine Learning Gettier Case
When it comes to ML we have one basic problem we try to solve: Character Recognition. It’s quite simple, you design a neural network that classifies all the Unicode characters there can possibly exist. Let’s say you write two really similar characters on two separate parchment paper. These two: ⻳ and 龟. This is the 2nd last example on this site. The first Unicode character has a description different from the second, so technically they are two different characters. Now, you keep the incorrect character’s butter paper in front of the correct character. The answer classified by the algorithm is of the correct character even though, it’s supposed to be of the incorrect character.
How would you justify correct answers that have false assumptions to a machine? This is something above hoaxes because otherwise, you can just completely negate the case stating that it is completely untrue. In this case, we can’t alter the weights leading to a supposedly correct solution.
To me, this example poses a problem to machine learning algorithms, not ones that just classify but in the real world, this example exemplifies. When robots are supposed to make inferences that might be correct because they are justified and true but for the fact that in this case aren’t seemingly. If this continues, it’ll become a barrier in the way machines learn. | https://medium.com/swlh/gettier-problems-in-machine-learning-8f49a6a0e2c7 | [] | 2020-10-26 03:09:29.017000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Computer Science', 'Philosophy'] |
Venezuela’s Two Presidents | Sign up for Taking Stock of COVID: New comics from The Nib
By The Nib
New comics from Matt Lubchansky, Keith Knight, and Niccolo Pizarro. Plus How Seniors Are Living With COVID-19. Take a look | https://medium.com/the-nib/venezuelas-two-presidents-2d9d48c704b8 | ['The Nib'] | 2020-11-30 16:48:47.450000+00:00 | ['Latin America', 'Maduro', 'Venezuela', 'Venezuelan Politics', 'Comics'] |
Terramaster F2–422 review: This two-bay NAS box offers fast 10-gigabit ethernet streaming | Affordable 10Gbe NAS boxes such as Terramaster’s $350 F2-422 are relatively new to the market, but they’re a very welcome addition—at least for those with the network infrastructure to take advantage. That can be 10Gbe or the increasingly affordable 2.5/5Gbps multi-gig.
Depending on your network infrastructure, a box like the F2-422 can mean a lot more streams and considerably faster client backups. Our test unit even sported HDMI—contrary to the specs on the company’s website.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best NAS boxes for media streaming and client backup, where you'll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.Design and featuresThe F2-422 is a two-bay box with quick-change sleds that use screws rather than snap-in rails to secure hard drives. A pair of gigabit ethernet ports are provided, along with a single 10Gbe port. The latter doesn’t function until you’ve installed the OS and the proper driver has been automatically downloaded, so initial configuration is performed using one of the gigabit ports.
Powering the F2-422 is a quad-core, 1.5Ghz Intel Celeron J3455, fed by 4GB of DDR3 in the single memory slot. The box features a metal chassis with a silver plastic shell The fan is extremely quiet, so much so that I had to check a few times to make sure it was actually doing its job.
On the back of the box, along with the ethernet ports you’ll find the A/C jack, two USB 3.0 ports, and an HDMI port—which is not listed in the specs online. HDMI allows you to connect a display and administer the F2-422 locally via a Linux command prompt. Note that the image below incorrectly shows only the outline where the port should be. The HDMI port was present on my test unit, Terramaster confirmed it should be there, and it functioned just fine for command line use. Hopefully, the company will amend the product page to match.
The F2-422 lacks a quick-copy USB port or button on the front, which may or may not concern you. I’ve never actually used quick-copy other than in testing, though it could be handy if say a photographer needs to quickly dump the contents of a thumb drive or the like.
Terramaster Terramaster’s F2-422 offers a pair of gigabit ports and one 10Gbe ethernet port. The latter only becomes functional after initial configuration and an automatic driver download. Note that while this image shows only the punch-out for an HDMI port, my test unit had an actually HDMI port that can be used with a display for local configuration via the command prompt.
The F2-422 carries a two-year warranty. QNAP offers the same on its similar boxes, but it’s as reassuring as Asustor’s three years. That said, NAS boxes seem to either fail soon after purchase, or not for quite a long time. Given the F2-422’s beefy fan, I’d say not to worry.
OS and appsTerramaster uses its own flavor of Linux to implement a “windowed OS in a browser” called the TOS, which I’m assuming means “Terramaster Operating System.” Alternatively, if the company has a sense of humor, it might be simply “The Operating System.” Whatever the name, it works well and offers two different file systems.
IDG The TOS desktop is the fruit of TerraMaster’s continuing OS development. (Stop groaning!) This was easy pickin’s. (Seriously… stop.)
Btrfs offers advanced features such as snapshots, while the older EXT4 file system is a bit faster. Most TechHive readers looking to stream media from the F2-422 will be better off with the latter. If you’re using the box primarily for business or storing really important data, consider Btrfs. AFP (Apple), SMB (Windows), SAMBA, FTP, and WebDAV network protocols/access are also supported, and there are administration amenities such as power on/off scheduling and email alerts.
Media streaming, a weakness when I first started reviewing Terramaster boxes, is now well provided for: There’s support for the Emby media server as well as DLNA (with real-time 4K transcoding), Plex, and iTunes.
Miscellaneous applications include the Transmission BitTorrent client, a text editor, a PDF viewer, and ClamAV anti-virus. A host of business-related programs and programming tools, including Python3, Joomla, SugarCRM, OrangeHRM, IceHRM, and PhP are on hand as well. If you’re running a small- to medium-sized business, these can save you a ton of cash.
VirtualBox allows you to run virtual machines, and the F2-422 has enough processing power to make it bearable in terms of speed. If that’s your aim, however, you might want to replace the 4GB SoDIMM with an 8GB module.
One thing missing from the repertoire is support for video surveillance, something that’s commonly offered by other vendors. If you’re up to it, there are Linux apps you can sideload for the task.
Backup comes in the form of Terramaster’s own simple utility, which handles Rsync to other boxes and backup to local USB drives. The CloudSync utility syncs with OneDrive, Google Drive, and DropBox, and there are separate applications for those cloud-storage services as well. Time Machine is supported for Mac users and there’s a link in the app store for Aomei Backupper, a very capable free desktop backup client for Windows.
Terramaster provides a web portal and access from mobile devices via its TNAS mobile app. You can use it to back up the files from these devices, and as a streaming-media app of medium effectiveness. You need to be running TOS 3.0 or later.
There’s still no support for automated remote-to-local backup, but you can install Net2FTP and perform manual backups via FTP or SFTP. If you’re curious as to why I mention remote-to-local backup support, check out this article on automating backups without need of third-party desktop backup client software.
PerformanceThe F2-422 turned in very good numbers via its 10Gbe port. As hard drives would be an obvious limiting factor, I tested with two SSDs in RAID 0. As mentioned, you need to connect via one of the two gigabit ports first, then download the OS and driver before the 10Gbe port will work. This took quite a while in my installation. Long enough (several hours) that I asked the company what was going on.
My guess is that Terramaster is using the same boot ROM for a lot of its boxes, and extra features are added via the Internet. It took a long time for the apps to load into the a pp manager as well.
Whatever the case, by the second day, the 10Gbe port had shown up and provided the following results connected via a Zyxel switch. Note that a SFP+ to 10base-T adapter was used at the switch end.
IDG To the left are the F2-422’s CrystalDiskMark 6 numbers via 10Gbe. The numbers on the right were recorded with a slower 2.5Gbps (Multi-gig) connection. Either represents a large improvement over gigabit. Why the 2.5Gbps was better with 4K reads is undetermined.
Just under 600MBps reading, and about 425MBps are largely on par for our current test setup. 2.5Gbps performance was also on par at around 295MBps. Though not shown, gigabit performance will be around 119MBps, which is as fast as any box will transfer data via that older standard. I had no 5GBps ports on my current set of switches, but I’m sure that will be on target as well—usually around 350MBps to 400MBps. That folks, is a vast improvement over gigabit.
Note that all network connections are limited by the slowest link in the chain. If there’s a gigabit port in the chain, that’s what you get. 2.5Gbps in the chain, that’s what you get. That said, attach the F2-422 to a switch or router that supports 10Gbe, and the switch can utilize that extra bandwidth by divvying it up between more devices, no matter their speed. In other words, you should be able to stream movies and/or back up more devices at the same time. You can read about greater-than-gigabit-home networking here.
Very good in a tough market segmentThe F2-422 is a very good NAS box. That said, priced at $350, it’s up against some stiff competition in 10Gbe products such as the $390 4-bay QNAP TS-431KX-2G and the $360 two-bay Asustor AS4004T. Not to mention 2.5Gbe boxes like the Asustor AS5202T and QNAP TS-253D.
Regardless, if you’re a fan of Terramaster’s keep-it-simple approach, this box won’t disappoint.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@greg93916948/terramaster-f2-422-review-this-two-bay-nas-box-offers-fast-10-gigabit-ethernet-streaming-a27e9fb65902 | [] | 2020-11-21 00:57:59.089000+00:00 | ['Consumer Electronics', 'Chargers', 'Security Cameras', 'Home Theater'] |
經典網路系列(三) — generative adversarial network | gitE0Z9/classical-network-series
GitHub is home to over 50 million developers working together to host and review code, manage projects, and build… | https://medium.com/@acrocanthosaurus627/%E7%B6%93%E5%85%B8%E7%B6%B2%E8%B7%AF%E7%B3%BB%E5%88%97-%E4%B8%89-generative-adversarial-network-445ffdc297fd | ['Mz Bai'] | 2020-12-06 11:35:49.646000+00:00 | ['Gan', 'Deep Learning', 'Pytorch'] |
The Narcissist Saga | Deception Games
Heavy like my heartbeat,
that angry, growling sonnet.
Teardrops on the kitchen tile,
deja vu from the last motherfucker
who used my love for his ego.
Why do I love these narcissist assholes?
Is this a nightmare
or is this reality?
I’m accustomed to,
expectant of the charming liars.
I’m screaming through the amplifiers.
Yeah, he knows me, I’ll keep crawling,
digging through the mud
and painting over the warning signs.
He knows I’m just a starving stray,
devouring the attention,
the fantasies he sends my way.
So he takes what he needs and leaves the shell,
translucent and tattered,
broken and forgotten.
Empty eyes glued shut,
stripped of my beauty.
Naked on the ledge.
Then that replacement body,
with her demon limbs,
with her succubus lips,
tosses me to the undertow.
And I can’t breathe.
But it’s not like
you ever cared about me. | https://medium.com/@aerwriting/the-narcissist-saga-698cc3174ad4 | ['Amber Redmond'] | 2020-12-20 00:57:48.576000+00:00 | ['Breakups', 'Love', 'Free Verse'] |
Episode 6 — Ep. 6 (Eng — Sub) | Dr. Bahnjit is a medical examiner who works at the provincial hospital. One day, the body of a woman who died as a result of hanging comes in and after carrying out the autopsy, Dr. Bahnjit concludes that it not suicide but in fact a murder case. This suddenly makes him a target of someone powerful. As a result of his statement, Dr. Bahnjit has an anonymous man break into his house and threatens him to change the report to suicide. Dr. Bahnjit doesn’t take this man’s threat seriously, until one day one of his friends, who is a prosecutor disappears. He begins to secretly conduct an investigation of his own in order to get to the truth — and somehow all clues lead to a man called Tan as the main suspect. Tan, however, denies everything and instead convinces Dr. Banjit to work together in order to get to the bottom of this and find the real murderer together.
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Title : Manner of Death
Episode Title : Episode 6
Release Date : 28 Dec 2020
Runtime : 45 minutes
Genres : Crime , Drama , Romance
Networks : Tencent Video
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♚ I do not own this song or the Image, all credit goes,
It’s so Awesome. Subscribe and Share with your friends! to my channel. See for more videos!!. I want to say ‘thank you’ for being the friend!! Atelevision show (often simply TV show) is any content produced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or internet and typically viewed on a television set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed between shows. Television shows are most often scheduled well ahead of time and appear on electronic guides or other TV listings. A television show might also be called a television program (British English: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A television series is usually released in episodes that follow a narrative, and are usually divided into seasons (US and Canada) or series (UK) — yearly or semiannual sets of new episodes. A show with a limited number of episodes may be called a miniseries, serial, or limited series. A one-time show may be called a “special”. A television film (“made-for-TV movie” or “television movie”) is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video. Television shows can be viewed as they are broadcast in real time (live), be recorded on home video or a digital video recorder for later viewing, or be viewed on demand via a set-top box or streamed over the internet.
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The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 202044s. Televised events such as the 202044 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 202044 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 202044 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 202044 World Series inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 202044, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “Mr Television” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 2020, 202044 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets. The first national color broadcast (the 202044 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 2020, 202044. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 202044, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 202044, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season.
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Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed] A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 202044, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 202044, many series feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television series to have this kind of dramatic structure,[2020][better source needed] while the later series Jujutsu Kaisenlon 2020 further exemplifies such structure in that it had a predetermined story running over its intended five-season run.[citation needed] In 202044, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies’ revenues than film.[2020] Some also noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 202044, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: “I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television. On January 20200, 2020202020202020, WHO announced an outbreak of a coronavirus new (COVID-20204) as a Concerning Public Health Emergency World. To respond to COVID-20204, preparedness and response is needed critical nature such as equipping health personnel and facility management health services with the necessary information, procedures, and tools can safely and effectively work. health workers play an important role in responding to outbreaks COVID-20204 and become the backbone of a country’s defense for limit or manage the spread of disease. At the forefront, power health care providers that suspect patients need and confirmed COVID-20204, which is often carried out in challenging circumstances. Officers are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-20204 in their efforts to protect wider society. Officers can be exposed to hazards such as psychological stress, fatigue, mental exhaustion or stigma. WHO is aware of their duties and responsibilities this big responsibility and the importance of protecting health care facility personnel.
💫 Aim
This material aims to protect health workers from infection and prevent it possible spread of COVID-20204 in health care facilities. This material contains a series of simple messages and reminders based on technical guidelines WHO is more comprehensive about infection prevention and control in facilities health services in the context of COVID-20204: “Prevention and control infection in health services when the new coronavirus (nCoV) infection is suspected “ (20204 January 2020202020202020). Further information can be found in the WHO technical manual.
✨ Readers of this material
This material is intended for health personnel and service facility management health and may be distributed to other health workers and to facilities health services. The Ministry of Health can provide this material to all hospitals and government health service facilities. Copy this material needs to be provided to private physician networks, medical associations, medical, nursing and midwifery to be shared and fitted accordingly necessity. The contents of this material can be adapted into local languages and placed in places in the service facility
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An action story is similar to adventure, and the protagonist usually takes a risky turn, which leads to desperate scenarios (including explosions, fight scenes, daring escapes, etc.). Action and adventure usually are categorized together (sometimes even while “action-adventure”) because they have much in common, and many stories are categorized as both genres simultaneously (for instance, the James Bond series can be classified as both). Continuing their survival through an age of a Zombie-apocalypse as a makeshift family, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abagail Breslin) have found their balance as a team, settling into the now vacant White House to spend some safe quality time with one another as they figure out their Jujutsu Kaisen move. However, spend time at the Presidential residents raise some uncertainty as Columbus proposes to Wichita, which freaks out the independent, lone Jujutsu Kaisen out, while Little Rock starts to feel the need to be on her own. The women suddenly decide to escape in the middle of the night, leaving the men concerned about Little Rock, who’s quickly joined by Berkley (Avan Jogia), a hitchhiking hippie on his way to place called Babylon, a fortified commune that’s supposed to be safe haven against the zombies of the land. Hitting the road to retrieved their loved one, Tallahassee and Columbus meet Madison (Zoey Deutch), a dim-witted survivor who takes an immediate liking to Columbus, complicating his relationship with Wichita.
💫 ANALYZER GOOD / BAD 💫
To be honest, I didn’t catch Jujutsu Kaisen when it first got released (in theaters) back in 404. Of course, the movie pre-dated a lot of the pop culture phenomenon of the usage of zombies-esque as the main antagonist (i.e Game of Thrones, The Maze Runner trilogy, The Walking Dead, World War Z, The Last of Us, etc.), but I’ve never been keen on the whole “Zombie” craze as others are. So, despite the comedy talents on the project, I didn’t see Jujutsu Kaisen….until it came to TV a year or so later. Surprisingly, however, I did like it. Naturally, the zombie apocalypse thing was fine (just wasn’t my thing), but I really enjoyed the film’s humor-based comedy throughout much of the feature. With the exception of 202040’s Shaun of the Dead, majority of the past (and future) endeavors of this narrative have always been serious, so it was kind of refreshing to see comedic levity being brought into the mix. Plus, the film’s cast was great, with the four main leads being one of the film’s greatest assets. As mentioned above, Jujutsu Kaisen didn’t make much of a huge splash at the box office, but certainly gained a strong cult following, including myself, in the following years. Flash forward a decade after its release and Jujutsu Kaisen finally got a sequel with Jujutsu Kaisen: Double Tap, the central focus of this review post. Given how the original film ended, it was clear that a sequel to the 404 movie was indeed possible, but it seemed like it was in no rush as the years kept passing by. So, I was quite surprised to hear that Jujutsu Kaisen was getting a sequel, but also a bit not surprised as well as Hollywood’s recent endeavors have been of the “belated sequels” variety; finding mixed results on each of these projects. I did see the film’s movie trailer, which definitely was what I was looking for in this Jujutsu Kaisen 2020 movie, with Eisenberg, Harrelson, Stone, Breslin returning to reprise their respective characters again. I knew I wasn’t expecting anything drastically different from the 404 movie, so I entered Double Tap with good frame of my mind and somewhat eagerly expecting to catch up with this dysfunctional zombie killing family. Unfortunately, while I did see the movie a week after its release, my review for it fell to the wayside as my life in retail got a hold of me during the holidays as well as being sick for a good week and half after seeing the movie. So, with me still playing “catch up” I finally have the time to share my opinions on Jujutsu Kaisen: Double Tap. And what are they? Well, to be honest, my opinions on the film was good. Despite some problems here and there, Jujutsu Kaisen: Double Tap is definitely a fun sequel that’s worth the decade long wait. It doesn’t “redefine” the Zombie genre interest or outmatch its predecessor, but this Jujutsu Kaisen chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen still provides an entertaining entry….and that’s all that matters. Returning to the director’s chair is director Ruben Fleischer, who helmed the first Jujutsu Kaisen movie as well as other film projects such as 40 Minutes or Less, Gangster Squad, and Venom. Thus, given his previous knowledge of shaping the first film, it seems quite suitable (and obvious) for Fleischer to direct this movie and (to that affect), Double Tap succeeds. Of course, with the first film being a “cult classic” of sorts, Fleischer probably knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to replicate the same formula in this sequel, especially since the 4-year gap between the films. Luckily, Fleischer certainly excels in bringing the same type of comedic nuances and cinematic aspects that made the first Jujutsu Kaisen enjoyable to Double Tap; creating a second installment that has plenty of fun and entertainment throughout. A lot of the familiar / likeable aspects of the first film, including the witty banter between four main lead characters, continues to be at the forefront of this sequel; touching upon each character in a amusing way, with plenty of nods and winks to the original 404 film that’s done skillfully and not so much unnecessarily ham-fisted. Additionally, Fleischer keeps the film running at a brisk pace, with the feature having a runtime of 44 minutes in length (one hour and thirty-nine minutes), which means that the film never feels sluggish (even if it meanders through some secondary story beats / side plot threads), with Fleischer ensuring a companion sequel that leans with plenty of laughter and thrills that are presented snappy way (a sort of “thick and fast” notion). Speaking of which, the comedic aspect of the first Jujutsu Kaisen movie is well-represented in Double Tap, with Fleischer still utilizing its cast (more on that below) in a smart and hilarious by mixing comedic personalities / personas with something as serious / gravitas as fighting endless hordes of zombies every where they go. Basically, if you were a fan of the first Jujutsu Kaisen flick, you’ll definitely find Double Tap to your liking. In terms of production quality, Double Tap is a good feature. Granted, much like the last film, I knew that the overall setting and background layouts weren’t going to be something elaborate and / or expansive. Thus, my opinion of this subject of the movie’s technical presentation isn’t that critical. Taking that into account, Double Tap does (at least) does have that standard “post-apocalyptic” setting of an abandoned building, cityscapes, and roads throughout the feature; littered with unmanned vehicles and rubbish. It certainly has that “look and feel” of the post-zombie world, so Double Tap’s visual aesthetics gets a solid industry standard in my book. Thus, a lot of the other areas that I usually mentioned (i.e set decorations, costumes, cinematography, etc.) fit into that same category as meeting the standards for a 20204 movie. Thus, as a whole, the movie’s background nuances and presentation is good, but nothing grand as I didn’t expect to be “wowed” over it. So, it sort of breaks even. This also extends to the film’s score, which was done by David Sardy, which provides a good musical composition for the feature’s various scenes as well as a musical song selection thrown into the mix; interjecting the various zombie and humor bits equally well. There are some problems that are bit glaring that Double Tap, while effectively fun and entertaining, can’t overcome, which hinders the film from overtaking its predecessor. Perhaps one of the most notable criticism that the movie can’t get right is the narrative being told. Of course, the narrative in the first Jujutsu Kaisen wasn’t exactly the best, but still combined zombie-killing action with its combination of group dynamics between its lead characters. Double Tap, however, is fun, but messy at the same time; creating a frustrating narrative that sounds good on paper, but thinly written when executed. Thus, problem lies within the movie’s script, which was penned by Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick, which is a bit thinly sketched in certain areas of the story, including a side-story involving Tallahassee wanting to head to Graceland, which involves some of the movie’s new supporting characters. It’s fun sequence of events that follows, but adds little to the main narrative and ultimately could’ve been cut completely. Thus, I kind of wanted see Double Tap have more a substance within its narrative. Heck, they even had a decade long gap to come up with a new yarn to spin for this sequel…and it looks like they came up a bit shorter than expected. Another point of criticism that I have about this is that there aren’t enough zombie action bits as there were in the first Jujutsu Kaisen movie. Much like the Walking Dead series as become, Double Tap seems more focused on its characters (and the dynamics that they share with each other) rather than the group facing the sparse groupings of mindless zombies. However, that was some of the fun of the first movie and Double Tap takes away that element. Yes, there are zombies in the movie and the gang is ready to take care of them (in gruesome fashion), but these mindless beings sort take a back seat for much of the film, with the script and Fleischer seemed more focused on showcasing witty banter between Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock. Of course, the ending climatic piece in the third act gives us the best zombie action scenes of the feature, but it feels a bit “too little, too late” in my opinion. To be honest, this big sequence is a little manufactured and not as fun and unique as the final battle scene in the first film. I know that sounds a bit contrive and weird, but, while the third act big fight seems more polished and staged well, it sort of feels more restricted and doesn’t flow cohesively with the rest of the film’s flow (in matter of speaking). What’s certainly elevates these points of criticism is the film’s cast, with the main quartet lead acting talents returning to reprise their roles in Double Tap, which is absolutely the “hands down” best part of this sequel. Naturally, I’m talking about the talents of Jessie Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin in their respective roles Jujutsu Kaisen character roles of Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock. Of the four, Harrelson, known for his roles in Cheers, True Detective, and War for the Planet of the Apes, shines as the brightest in the movie, with dialogue lines of Tallahassee proving to be the most hilarious comedy stuff on the sequel. Harrelson certainly knows how to lay it on “thick and fast” with the character and the s**t he says in the movie is definitely funny (regardless if the joke is slightly or dated). Behind him, Eisenberg, known for his roles in The Art of Self-Defense, The Social Network, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is somewhere in the middle of pack, but still continues to act as the somewhat main protagonist of the feature, including being a narrator for us (the viewers) in this post-zombie apocalypse world. Of course, Eisenberg’s nervous voice and twitchy body movements certainly help the character of Columbus to be likeable and does have a few comedic timing / bits with each of co-stars. Stone, known for her roles in The Help, Superbad, and La La Land, and Breslin, known for her roles in Signs, Little Miss Sunshine, and Definitely, Maybe, round out the quartet; providing some more grown-up / mature character of the group, with Wichita and Little Rock trying to find their place in the world and how they must deal with some of the party members on a personal level. Collectively, these four are what certainly the first movie fun and hilarious and their overall camaraderie / screen-presence with each other hasn’t diminished in the decade long absence. To be it simply, these four are simply riot in the Jujutsu Kaisen and are again in Double Tap. With the movie keeping the focus on the main quartet of lead Jujutsu Kaisen characters, the one newcomer that certainly takes the spotlight is actress Zoey Deutch, who plays the character of Madison, a dim-witted blonde who joins the group and takes a liking to Columbus. Known for her roles in Before I Fall, The Politician, and Set It Up, Deutch is a somewhat “breath of fresh air” by acting as the tagalong team member to the quartet in a humorous way. Though there isn’t much insight or depth to the character of Madison, Deutch’s ditzy / air-head portrayal of her is quite hilarious and is fun when she’s making comments to Harrelson’s Tallahassee (again, he’s just a riot in the movie). The rest of the cast, including actor Avan Jogia (Now Apocalypse and Shaft) as Berkeley, a pacifist hippie that quickly befriends Little Rock on her journey, actress Rosario Dawson (Rent and Sin City) as Nevada, the owner of a Elvis-themed motel who Tallahassee quickly takes a shine to, and actors Luke Wilson (Legally Blonde and Old School) and Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie) as Albuquerque and Flagstaff, two traveling zombie-killing partners that are mimic reflections of Tallahassee and Columbus, are in minor supporting roles in Double Tap. While all of these acting talents are good and definitely bring a certain humorous quality to their characters, the characters themselves could’ve been easily expanded upon, with many just being thinly written caricatures. Of course, the movie focuses heavily on the Jujutsu Kaisen quartet (and newcomer Madison), but I wished that these characters could’ve been fleshed out a bit. Lastly, be sure to still around for the film’s ending credits, with Double Tap offering up two Easter Eggs scenes (one mid-credits and one post-credit scenes). While I won’t spoil them, I do have mention that they are pretty hilarious.
💫 FINAL THOUGHTS 💫
It’s been awhile, but the Jujutsu Kaisen gang is back and are ready to hit the road once again in the movie Jujutsu Kaisen: Double Tap. Director Reuben Fleischer’s latest film sees the return the dysfunctional zombie-killing makeshift family of survivors for another round of bickering, banting, and trying to find their way in a post-apocalyptic world. While the movie’s narrative is a bit messy and could’ve been refined in the storyboarding process as well as having a bit more zombie action, the rest of the feature provides to be a fun endeavor, especially with Fleischer returning to direct the project, the snappy / witty banter amongst its characters, a breezy runtime, and the four lead returning acting talents. Personally, I liked this movie. I definitely found it to my liking as I laugh many times throughout the movie, with the main principal cast lending their screen presence in this post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Thus, my recommendation for this movie is favorable “recommended” as I’m sure it will please many fans of the first movie as well as to the uninitiated (the film is quite easy to follow for newcomers). While the movie doesn’t redefine what was previous done back in 404, Jujutsu Kaisen: Double Tap still provides a riot of laughs with this make-shift quartet of zombie survivors; giving us give us (the viewers) fun and entertaining companion sequel to the original feature. | https://medium.com/thai-drama-manner-of-death/manner-of-death-2020-episode-6-ep-6-eng-sub-1e5870b7a7eb | ['Eric M. Ray'] | 2020-12-27 07:40:47.492000+00:00 | ['Drama', 'Crime', 'Romance'] |
Sixty Seven Spins | Autumn’s border not quite crossed,
but a chill spins in.
Implacable goose captains lead
honking squadrons to bomb Mexico.
Leaves begin to waltz elegantly with death.
Brown supplants green as the color of hooray.
Breezes expel chilly breaths.
Ants have gone underground and plan
attacks to be launched next year.
The season of death approaches.
Another birthday waits in ambush a week off.
The garden retreats beneath the earth,
content to sleep and dream and wait.
Soon will come wood fire and rising smoke.
The world swirls and wizens as I fall,
wondering if there might be
another rotation awaiting me. | https://medium.com/the-junction/sixty-seven-spins-9a8760030309 | ['Mike Essig'] | 2018-10-11 16:55:37.366000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Aging', 'Death', 'Autumn', 'Wonder'] |
Briefly TRT. A Series of Entries from my Life as a… | Meet The Author Behind The Stories
Briefly TRT
Biography
Toni Renee Taylor, Native of Cincinnati, Ohio, grew up studying at Cincinnati’s School for Creative & Performing Arts (SCPA), majoring in Dance, Drama, and Musical Theatre. There she was represented by Katalyst Talent Agency and was a SAG-AFTRA Member, appearing in many local commercials.
She began her professional dance career with The Sarasota Ballet in their Trainee Program/ Conservatory. In 2017 she became an Apprentice with Ballet Idaho and in 2018 she danced with Island Moving Company. Highlights were working with choreographers such as: Daniel Ojeda in his production of “Together” in The Fleetwood Mac Collection, Simona Di Tullio from Breathing Art Company in Bari, Italy, Lila B. Hurtwitz, Staycee Pearl from Staycee Pearl Dance Project in Pittsburgh, PA, and Puerto Rico’s Rodney Rivera. In 2019 she danced the Principal Role of Frou- Frou in The St. Petersburg Opera Company’s Production of Franz Lehar’s “The Merry Widow.”
Along with performing, she has a passion for choreographing within various styles of dance, exploring new bold ways of movement that connect deep with human emotions, telling stories, and giving a platform to voices that need to be heard. One of her proudest moments was choreographing the Pas De Duex “Broken Compasses” and performing it on The Sarasota Opera Stage!
She’s humbled to return to her hometown of Cincinnati and honored to dance with De La Dance Company for the 2020–2021 season and Teach at Mutual Dance Theatre & Arts Center. During her free time she enjoys collaborating with local artists and continuing her choreographic journey under her own brand, TRTCreations. She’s currently choreographing & performing in a music video for Musical Artist, Suave (AKA, Max Higginbotham) for his latest release, SYHTF. [SYHTF video release date still TBA]
She’s also very happy to be a represented actress with Heyman Talent Agency and looking forward to the opportunities that are still to come!
Toni Renee Taylor, aka TRTCreations, hopes to one day own her own dance company. It will primarily be a dance focused company but she hopes to use her background in other arts fields and day to day life to create the ultimate performing & creative arts experience. | https://medium.com/@trtcreations/dancer-tales-bfec3123f37e | [] | 2021-01-16 18:52:56.135000+00:00 | ['Biography', 'Trtcreations', 'Blog', 'Life Stories', 'Dance'] |
How do we approach risks? | Business Owners on a Scale-up journey get exposed to multiple risks. Taking risks are part and parcel of Scaling-up. As the saying goes - no risks, no returns. When one prepares to face the risks, it gets qualified as calculated risk, informed risk, measured risk, calibrated risk and so on…
Could one avoid risks? Probably not. Then, the next best way is to manage them. By preparing to face the risks one could increase the stakes of managing them better.
It’s in preparing; it’s in perceiving, planning our preparedness; getting ready with mitigation measures, as meticulous as possible.
Is the fear of risk directly proportional to the level of risk? Not necessarily. That way, one doesn’t fear driving a car on a highway, yet fear a discussion that one needs to have with another! though the former has higher levels of risk in terms of accident / injury.
How do we prepare ourselves to face the risks? How do we know that we are prepared-enough?
Having presence, chasing clarity, simplifying things, brain-storming, and increased levels of engagement with the stakeholders might enhance the levels of preparedness.
And then, as Robin Sharma says— If we are not over-prepared, we are under-prepared — holds good with respect to taking and managing risks!
#scaleup #leadership #ceo
[If you want to discuss specific questions that you may have on scaling-up your business, write to [email protected]] | https://medium.com/@pknarayanan/how-do-we-approach-risks-c3b968b597da | ['Pk Narayanan', 'Ceo Coach'] | 2020-09-02 08:58:23.926000+00:00 | ['CEO', 'Scaleup', 'Risk', 'Leadership'] |
My Husband and I survived COVID-19 | Our sense of taste is just starting to come back. And, I think I caught a faint whiff of my peppermint tea today. For at least a week, my husband and I have not been able to taste or smell anything.
We made baked potatoes three nights ago. I couldn’t finish mine, so my husband had doctored up my left-overs with black beans and chives the next night. But when I took a bite, and tried to chew, it was like mashing a variety of textures, with absolutely no flavor, in my mouth. When I stuck my nose close to the steaming potato, I could feel the vapor in the back of my throat, but couldn’t smell a thing. And trying to choke anything down amidst my nausea was nearly impossible.
We had been pretty certain that we had COVID-19, but when my sister sent me a link on Monday, reporting a growing body of evidence that anosmia and dysgeusia (loss of smell and taste) are rapidly becoming key confirming indicators of the coronavirus, we knew for sure that we had it.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery wrote in a statement, “Anecdotal evidence is rapidly accumulating from sites around the world that anosmia and dysgeusia are significant symptoms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
And, on Sunday, the American Academy of Otolaryngology published a statement, proposing that anosmia, hyposomnia, and dysgeusia be added to the list of screening tools for COVID-19.
When my husband and I received my sister’s text, we grabbed Vick’s Sinus Sticks, placed them in our nostrils, took a deep breath — and nothing. Not even a hint of menthol.
The journey home
On Sunday, March 8th, my husband and I flew home from the Dominican Republic, through both the Miami International Airport and the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Before our trip, COVID-19 was somewhere “out there.” But we didn’t actually know anybody who had had any experience with it. It still seemed to be a rather nebulous threat.
But, just in case, a couple of weeks before the trip, I had ordered hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, because I thought we should be careful on the plane. I wiped down every possible surface, knob, seatbelt, and air duct. I (but not my husband) put on a mask. And then we enjoyed the most gorgeous flight that I have ever been on — a clear day stretching over the vastness of the Caribbean Ocean.
And, when got off of the plane, we were greeted by a very nice young man, who was there to drive us to the hotel. He stuck his hand out. And my husband (reflexively) shook it.
We immediately ducked into the restrooms to wash our hands. And then we tried to explain to the young man that shaking hands was not a safe practice right now. It seemed pretty obvious, though, that he had no sense of the gravity of the situation.
While we were in the Dominican Republic, we started hearing the news that UCLA and UC San Diego had sent their students home. On the day we flew home, Italy closed its borders.
The world had no understanding of what was about to happen.
Rushing to our gate, for our flight home, a familiar face appeared in the crowd. It was the young man who had met us on arrival. And he stuck out his hand again. And, again, my husband, so “well-trained” to shake hands, shook his hand.
We cringed, went to the bathroom, scrubbed our hands, then looked at each other and said, “How many people’s hands from all over the world do you think he has shaken in the last few days?” And then we started to think about all of the things, places and people that those hands had been in contact with.
Once again, I disinfected every possible surface of the plane. And I wore a mask. But I did hear someone coughing a seat or two further back. Even so, I really still felt like the disinfectant measures were probably just precautionary. The thought that I would ever actually catch COVOD-19 was not yet fully formulated.
The onset
The Wednesday night after we came home, my husband felt very slightly achy, but, it was so slight, that he didn’t really realize what was happening.
Thursday morning, he wiped down his keyboard, and door knobs, at the office with a bleach wipe, and slipped out, thinking that he was probably being paranoid, but he thought he should come home.
He hasn’t left the house since.
He still had no fever on Friday morning. He really didn’t even feel sick, more just “off.”
I had not been to the grocery store since we had been home, and Amazon Prime Now (grocery delivery) had stopped offering delivery dates here, in Southern California (because all of the panicked shoppers were using the service). I also had a doctor’s appointment. I called them, and said that my husband was a little under-the-weather, but had no fever, and should I still come in? “Yes,” they said. “We’ll take precautions.”
Friday night, I was in a lot of pain from having stem cells injected into my arthritic fingers. I stood up from playing with the cats to look out of the window of the front door at the magnificent rainstorm raging outside. And I felt myself start to pass out. I awoke milliseconds later to find my hand and cheek pressed up against the glass. I laid down on the couch, attributing it to the pain of the procedure.
But I have had had that same “passing out” feeling just a few times in my life: the first was when I was twelve, and I was seated at the foot of my mother’s hospital bed in ICU — she had Guillain–Barré syndrome and was completely paralyzed, and on a ventilator; the second time was when I sat down in the middle of a holiday party, took off my shoes, and realized that my toes were numb — I had no idea yet that I was about to get Guillain–Barré syndrome too (although I didn’t have as severe a case as she did. I never had to be put on a ventilator); the third time that I had that “feeling,” was when I passed out in a bathroom on a bus in India after a sudden onset of projectile vomiting.
So, I really wasn’t sure if the “passing-out-for-a-few-milliseconds” feeling was just from the pain of my fingers, or if it meant anything more. But, I had a serious thought that COVID-19 might have just entered my body.
My fingers really hurt that night — so much that I took a Norco left over from a past surgery.
And, during the night I took another Norco.
The next morning — abdominal symptoms
When I woke up Saturday morning, I ate breakfast, and then threw up. It must have been the Norco, I concluded. I also had diarrhea all day.
Nausea, diarrhea and vomiting are early indicators of COVID-19, often appearing before any sign of fever. It’s thought that the body is trying to expel the virus, just as it does when you sneeze or cough.
I was tired that Saturday. But, neither of us had a fever yet.
We had no idea what was about to happen.
Sunday — the fever began to rage
Sunday morning, I woke up tired. I had a slight fever (around 100° F). We laid down for a three-hour nap under a pile of about five blankets. It felt like the sleep of the dead. When we got up, I felt very feverish. My husband took my temperature. And we were both quite alarmed that it was 102.8° F. I do tend to run high fevers though. It’s just my body’s way. But my husband, still, did not have a fever at all.
And, weirdly, by the evening, my fever was gone.
We looked at each other and asked, “Could that have just been the coronavirus?” We wondered if it could have been that easy.
For some people, yes, it will be that easy.
The reports issued from several countries over the last few days have shown that patients with the coronavirus very often only lose their sense of taste and smell. It may be their only symptom. But, they, unknowingly, do have the virus, and are spreading it wherever they go.
But, for us, at fifty-three and sixty-one, it was not that easy. It has a good ending, don’t worry, but the middle part was a little like stepping into Robert A. Heinlein’s, “Stranger in a Strange Land.”
The next couple of days — fevers, aches, sore throats
Monday, I had a fever again, but it was only around 101.5° F. My husband developed a fever of 101.7° F. We went online and read that a fever above 101.4° F is highly suspect in diagnosing COVID-19. We began to really wonder….
But his fever disappeared by nightfall.
My husband had not been in to the office since that initial Thursday morning, but he and his partners decided to take his whole law practice (with twenty-three employees) to “virtual mode” starting on Tuesday morning. Clients were calling every few minutes trying to figure out how to navigate this new business terrain. So, he was very focused on trying to make this transition, in the midst of what seemed to likely be mild symptoms of COVID-19.
One of his clients told him about a couple in their 60’s, who had gone to Mexico, for a wedding, a week or so ago. They got massages on the beach. And they got COVID-19. They were now on ventilators and were not expected to live.
For the next few days, we both had slight fevers and were very achy. We also had scratchy throats. At this point, we were still figuring out “isolation rituals” — setting the table for lunch and taking a short walk up and down the street each afternoon. We really didn’t really that feel that sick.
Wednesday — the onslaught of the “lung phase”
And then, on Wednesday, our noses began to run — it really felt like an allergy to the pines in our yard. The runny noses only lasted for about ten hours.
But, strangely, we began to feel like something very foreign was settling into our lungs.
It’s hard to actually describe the feeling, because it wasn’t like anything we had ever felt before. We had a slight amount of congestion. And we had dry coughs. But it felt as if our lungs were gripped by something alien.
At this point, we were pretty certain that we had COVID-19. But we live in California, where there are not enough test kits. And everything we were reading made it very clear that we were not supposed to go to a testing center or to a doctor if we thought that we could deal with this on our own. They are trying to save the few test kits that they have for those who might need to be put onto a ventilator.
And, since there are not enough masks or protective equipment available to protect medical personnel, the current advice here is to “stay home and ride it out” rather than risk infecting a doctor or nurse.
I decided to take some edible marijuana in the late afternoons (not doctor-recommended — it just felt right, and I do have a medical card for my psoriatic arthritis), because I thought it might help my lungs dry out. We also started drinking A LOT of peppermint tea, taking peppermint capsules and inhaling those Vick’s Sinus sticks frequently.
Thursday, our lungs felt tighter.
Thursday night we went into “lockdown” in California.
Friday was a little scarier. That alien force had turned into a legion of foreign warriors in our lungs. We were both healthy and athletic going into this, and we knew we would probably be just fine, but we also knew that if we put too much thought into it, we might have gotten a little, or a lot, panicked.
In my journal, I described my lungs as “finding new muscles to deal with a very different sort of attack.”
Saturday morning — our lungs felt a little bit better
I have psoriatic arthritis and had already been told by my rheumatologist’s nurse to stop taking my otezla until this was over. But I know that my body tends to go into overdrive. It’s what caused me to develop Guillain–Barré syndrome years earlier. Back then, my body thought it was fighting a virus, and, instead, went on attack against the myelin sheaths around my peripheral nerves and left me partially paralyzed for months.
We kept reading about how what kills people is not the virus itself, but the body kicking into overdrive to fight it. So, I was worried. Was I doing the right thing by “not” tamping down my immune system?
But by Saturday morning, our lungs felt a bit better. My husband actually felt well enough to vacuum the house. We spent the afternoon sitting outside, in the sunshine, reading.
I look at my notes from late Saturday afternoon, and we described what we were feeling as “Well, here goes…I just went from ‘I might have COVID-19’ to ‘I probably do have COVID-19.’”
But we thought that we had make it through the worst of it.
We decided to do a little meditation to heal ourselves. We visualized the vibrational energy of the virus. And we tried to increase our vibrational energy higher than the virus’.
Our lungs seemed to be “figuring it out.” Alton’s fever was gone. My fever was less than 100° F. We were feeling better. We thought we were out of the woods.
But I was really tired. I laid on the couch while Alton cooked baked potatoes for dinner. We did a Facetime dinner with some friends. But the potato just tasted weird. It was like it didn’t have any flavor — just texture. Then, we watched Outlander, and went to bed.
Sunday, the next wave — I didn’t know that my temperature could actually go that high
Sunday morning, my fever returned. It went to 102.8° F again. And then it kept climbing. It went to 104.7° F. It did it multiple times. My husband kept having me strip and get into the shower. We had read that we weren’t supposed to take NSAIDS because it could make the illness worse. We opted to take nothing, and to let my body burn this foreign thing out of it. I learned later that this was NOT a good idea. I should have been taking Tylenol.
All day, my temperature kept reading in the 103’s and 104’s. At one point, my husband took my temperature while I was under a pile of blankets (so I am sure it was reading high) and it said 105.1° F. That’s about when we began to get really scared.
I have had pneumonia a couple of times. Once, I was in France. After riding in the back of a bus through Cognac, I found myself lying on a bench in a tasting room with a temperature of 104.2° F. I remember feeling very “out-of-it.” We ended up leaving the group we were with and went to a French hospital.
So, what seemed strange about this, is that I felt, oddly, clear. And yet, Sunday and Monday also felt quite surreal. My memory of these days is sort of like looking back through a warped mirror, with a weird clarity that comes from the survival instinct.
Monday — the text about losing our sense of taste and smell.
Monday morning, my sister sent me a text, asking if we had lost our sense of smell.
She attached the article which said that people with coronavirus frequently lose their sense of smell and taste. I hadn’t had much of an appetite the last few days. And I had noticed that my vanilla almond tea was sort of “flat.” But it wasn’t until we stuck those Vick’s Vapor Rub sticks up our noses that we realized we had completely lost our sense of smell.
I hardly got out of bed that day.
I had a “virtual appointment” with my doctor the next morning. And getting the web portal set up for the appointment was almost more than I could do.
We had been doing “virtual happy hours” with people throughout the course of this isolation. It was Alton’s friend, Bob’s birthday. We were going to take the call outside, but I asked if we could do it in bed. Our friends noticed. I had blankets up around my waist. I tried to subtly take my temperature while we were on the phone. It was 104.7° F. Amidst a moment of panic, we hung up and my husband rushed me to the shower again.
Tuesday — the “virtual doctor’s appointment”
I woke up early Tuesday morning, at 4:22 a.m., and I was starving. I felt like something in me had shifted. I went downstairs. I ate bell pepper slices and a half of an English muffin with cheese (none of which I could taste). I made a cup of tea. I thought that I had beat this virus.
I went back to bed, and woke up at 8:00 am, drenched in sweat. I took a shower, and my temperature dropped from 102° F all the way down to 97.8° F.
I had been trying to get through to my doctor since the week before, but I don’t think that his office staff really believed me when I told them that I thought we had the coronavirus.
Tuesday morning, I had a “video appointment” with my doctor. We described our symptoms, and we watched his face go from that of a doctor who probably has had a million patients calling him, thinking they have COVID-19, to the face of a doctor realizing that he was talking to his first actual patients with COVID-19.
My doctor told me one very important thing. I should have been taking Tylenol for my fever. I started it right away. It has helped to control the fever. But I was still getting occasional very high spikes (up into the 103° F and low 104° F range until Wednesday night).
He also confirmed that, yes, the loss of smell was most likely a confirming factor. And he said that unless things started to go really badly, we should stay home. There are not enough test kits in California. They need to be saved for people who might end up needing to go on a ventilator. He also said that we should not be exposing medical personnel to the virus. He told us that he thinks that there will be a “previous exposure” test coming out very soon.
Tuesday night, my husband made curried shrimp. He added extra peppers to try to enhance the flavor. He sweated up a storm but couldn’t taste the peppers. What really made us laugh is that, yesterday, “Sunbasket,” the meal service which we use, sent out an apology e-mail to its customers, saying that the curried shrimp dish was too hot, and had, apparently, been inedible. They were refunding everyone’s money.
I had a weirdly intense craving for apples. I ate two of them, savoring their coolness, but not tasting them.
Wednesday — the intense nausea and fatigue
I woke up on Wednesday with intense nausea.
I called the Orange County Health Care Agency. I thought that I should at least report our symptoms, even if they didn’t want us to come in for a test. They told me to stay home, and that we were doing the right things. They weren’t even taking reports anymore because the “Community Spread” had grown so much.
I also messaged my primary care physician. They were very concerned about my high fever. They had a triage nurse call me. She said that we were doing the right things, and to stay home, unless I had severe shortness of breath.
By evening, the nausea was terrible. My abdomen hurt. I had a fear that my organs might be shutting down.
And then I threw up, violently.
I, literally, felt like my body had just expelled a lot of the virus. I also felt like my body was smart enough to have just coated my digestive tract with bile, creating an environment in which any new viral attacks couldn’t live.
And I, weirdly, immediately, felt better.
Thursday — day 14 — I am pretty sure that I am now in recovery
I slept through the night on Wednesday. I think that the fever tried to break through — I just couldn’t get warm. But, the Tylenol seemed to keep everything under control.
And, when I woke up this morning, although I still have no appetite, I discovered that my sense of taste is coming back. I ate a kumquat and savored its tartness. I had a piece of chocolate, and it was like tasting something divine.
I am pretty confident that we are about at the end of this thing. My husband, who is a couple of days ahead of me, is feeling really good. I feel so much more energetic, and my fever has been more-or-less normal all day.
I had a “zoom” date with some girlfriends today and tried to explain what we had just been through. But some experiences are just too foreign to ever really be able to describe.
One of my friends told me that two people she knew had died of COVID-19. Another friend’s uncle just died.
I feel like I reached a point during this journey where the veil between worlds grew very thin. I don’t think that I ever really thought that I would die. But I can easily see how people do. | https://psiloveyou.xyz/my-husband-and-i-survived-covid-19-c706527d3309 | ['Erika Burkhalter'] | 2021-03-11 02:39:42.113000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Coronavirus', 'Love', 'Covid Diaries', 'Pandemic'] |
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