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A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Make the Perfect Budget | I’m about to share with you a step-by-step guide on how to make a practical budget that ensures you reach your big financial goals. “Practical” is the operative word here. If you have high hopes, like when I started budgeting, and make your budget too restrictive, you’re going to blow through it every single time. What’s worse is that you may start to develop a mentality that you’re just not good with money. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Everyone is capable of being smart with their money. I firmly believe that money management is all about the perfect blend of knowledge & mindset. You need the knowledge to create a plan that makes your money work for you, and then you need the mindset to successfully follow-through with that plan.
I don’t know a single person who has met their financial goals without some form of a budget. A budget is the first, and most important, step towards financial independence. There are many different ways to budget. Some people budget bi-monthly, others budget monthly, and some even budget annually. You need to find what works for you. This will most likely be dependent on three factors: when you get paid, your regular expenses and your spending triggers. If your weakness is buying clothes when you’re having a bad day, a monthly budget rather than an annual budget will keep you more honest. For me, I get paid every two weeks, have few major expenses, and eating out is my weakness. I find that it makes the most sense for me to make a monthly budget.
When I started out, I made bi-monthly budgets. I found it so difficult and, to the surprise of no one, failed at staying within my budget almost every single time. Why? Because say, for example, I gave myself $50.00 for eating out. Well, technically I gave myself $100.00/month for eating out, but because I broke up my month in two budgets, I had zero flexibility with that expense. I might have had two birthday dinners to attend the first two weeks of the month, blowing my budget, but had no birthday dinners the last two weeks of the month. If I just gave myself $100.00 for the entire month I wouldn’t have blown that expense. Instead, I would get down on myself, when really it was completely preventable. See how important having a practical budget is to your motivation, as well as your relationship with money?
Here’s the steps I took to make my current budget, which works extremely well for me. Please feel free to reach out with any comments or questions, and if you have any strategies that work for you. I’d love to hear them.
Step 1: Track Your Spending Every Day for a Month
There are lots of advice online that suggests you should track your spending for 3 months before you create a budget, but if you’re reading this you probably don’t want to wait another 3 months to make a budget. If you’re serious about creating a realistic budget, start tracking your spending today. It’s okay if you’re reading this in the middle of the month, just record your spending for the next 30 days and then start your budget the beginning of the following month.
I use the simple “Notes” App on my iPhone to track everything. Since I almost always have my cell phone on me, I just quickly fill this in when I’m making a purchase. If I don’t have time, I’ll just ask for a receipt or look at my online bank account and fill it in later.
Here’s a sample picture of what I do. As you see, I have already put things into categories. I suggest that when you’re tracking your spending before you make your first budget, start putting your expenses in categories. It’s easier to figure out what your categories will look like when everything is already compartmentalized. For example, don’t write, “pizza — $20.00.” Instead write, “eating out — $20.00.” It will make things much easier when you calculate your spending.
If you’re going to be making a monthly budget, I suggest adding up all your spending approximately two weeks into your tracking exercise. If you think you’re spending too much on something, try to reduce that spending the following two weeks. This will give you a better sense of what costs you can realistically lower when you’re creating your first budget.
Because I make monthly budgets, I calculate my spending in each category in the middle of the month. I can determine exactly what spending money I have left in each category. I usually then write something extremely informal:
“As of August 15:
Groceries — $100
Presto — $100
Entertainment — $75
….”
You get the idea. I save this information in my phone, again usually within the same note, so I can quickly glance at it before I decide to make a purchase.
I don’t find that tracking my spending is particularly burdensome. Once it becomes a habit, it takes 5 seconds to pull out your phone and record this information. It also takes less than 10 minutes to tally up the categories.
Just like the importance of the long and short-form census to Canadian domestic policy, recording this information about your spending habits are important to finding what you absolutely need to spend money on per month and what you can probably reduce a little. This also identifies your spending triggers. Basically, this shows you your strengths and weaknesses. Once you get a better understanding of yourself and your money habits, you’ll be ready to make your budget. Information is power!
Step 2: Figure Out Your Fixed Expenses
Your fixed expenses are expenses that don’t change much and you know are due every month. This is a list of mine:
Rent
Utilities
Cell Phone
Retirement Savings
While the minimum payment on your student loans will change as you’re paying down your balance, you should eventually have a rough estimate as to what it is. For example, if your minimum payment last month was $350.00, you can make your “student loan minimum payment amount” $450.00. That way you know it’s covered. However, you can also just as easily check your student loan balance at the end of the month, which is what I do, and identify the minimum payment before you finalize next month’s budget.
Your cell-phone bill may also occasionally fluctuate. One month you could accidentally go over your data limit and owe more the next month. It’s not a big deal, just keep that in mind when you’re making next month’s budget. While these are “fixed” expenses, you are still making a new budget every single month. While you can usually just copy + paste these expenses when figuring out next month’s budget, you should still double-check some of these expenses haven’t changed.
Also things to include under fixed expenses:
Utilities
Car Insurance
Subscriptions (i.e. Spotify, newspapers, gym membership)
House/tenant insurance
Condo fees
House maintenance
Minimum payment for credit card debt
Minimum payment for car lease/loan payment
Minimum payment for your student loans
Step 3: Figure Out Your Variable Expenses
These are costs that you, generally, have more discretion over.
This is a list of mine:
Groceries
Pet Supplies
Dining Out
Entertainment
Transportation (I purchase monthly transit passes)
Healthcare (i.e. contact lens solution)
Clothes
Enterprise Car Share (I don’t have a car)
Gifts
Shit Happens Fund
My grocery category has been the same every month this year, but this can vary if you know you’re hosting a big dinner party or going on vacation for 2 weeks.
I also used to have a separate coffee category, but recently I increased my “Dining Out” category and folded my coffee category into there to simplify things.
“Personal Spending” means I can use this money for whatever. Unfortunately, most of the time it goes towards my medications (my health benefits cover 90% of the costs) and expensive contact lenses. But, I also use this category for clothes, books, and whatever I feel like treating myself with. Also, if I’ve maxed out my “Dining Out” budget but I have a lot leftover in this category, sometimes I use this to fund food-related treats too.
I also sold my car for scraps over a year ago and purchased an Enterprise Car Share membership. I mostly use it get to my softball games, but it’s been pretty handy since there are two readily available Enterprise Cars on my street. They even reimburse me for gas!
Lastly, I strongly recommend having a “Sh** Happens Fund.” If I accidentally go over my budget due to some unexpected cost, I can use these funds instead of having to dip into my separate emergency fund. I’ll be honest, I mostly use this to pay back my girlfriend for groceries. We split groceries down the middle and she tends to buy groceries more than me, so I usually owe her money at the end of the month.
Also things to include under variable costs:
Gas/Car Maintenance
Presents
Miscellaneous — a “catch all”
Step 4: Decide What to Do With The Remainder
Okay, time for some kindergarten math. Subtract the total of your fixed expenses and variable costs from your net income per month, and voila that’s what you have leftover. This money should NOT be used to spend on restaurants, concert tickets, the new iPhone and other things you want now but don’t need.
This money should be strictly applied to your bigger financial goals. For me, this means a full-funded emergency fund (approx. 3 months of expenses) and contributing 18–20% of my income to investments (for retirement).
If you’re in debt, paying that off should be your #1 financial priority.
If you have multiple goals as well, such as 1) saving for a down payment, 2) a new car, 3) your future wedding etc. then you can use your discretion on how to divide up this money. But again, I strongly believe it’s a mistake to use this money towards anything else.
Step 5: Track Your Spending Again
You’re not off the hook just yet!
Why am I telling you to track your spending again now that you just made a beautiful, well-thought out budget? To see if this budget actually works.
Tracking your spending should be familiar to you now, and shouldn’t feel too onerous. The first month with a new budget is critical. At the end of the month, figure out what worked and what didn’t work, and use that to create a new budget for the following month. I’m going to be honest, it’ll probably take you 3 months or so to perfect your budgeting. Don’t give up. Solid money management takes practice, with a lot of setbacks.
While Gail Vaz Oxlade insists on tracking all your spending forever and ever, I don’t think this will always be the case. For me, I recorded all my spending for months. Once I knew my budget and spending habits really well, I stopped tracking my spending daily. Now, I just login to my online bank account at the end of every week or every two weeks, and tally up my categories. I have developed a better sense of where I think I’m at in terms of my spending, and when I’m getting close to maxing out.
Breakdown of My Budget by Percentage
I find that looking at your budget by percentage, rather than numbers, is more helpful. We all have different incomes, so to look at what someone else spends will not be very helpful for you.
Here’s the breakdown of my current budget:
Fixed Expenses: 27.98%
Variable Expenses: 30.04%
Remainder: 41.98%
It’s also worth noting I have a group RRSP (401k for Americans) plan through work. It’s a bit unconventional since my employer automatically contributes 5.5% of my gross income per paycheque to a group RRSP plan, without me having to match anything. That being said, I can voluntarily contribute more. I currently do not contribute to my work plan as I am currently invest in Index ETFs through an online brokerage account.
Ultimately, if you calculate everything, I would estimate that I am roughly living on 58% of my income and the rest is going to retirement and short-term savings.
Last Piece of Advice
There is no quick and easy way to make a budget that you can stick to. A budget is, after all, a breathable framework for your money habits. A budget should not only reflect your current lifestyle, but also be the primary tool that will help you reach your bigger goals, such as those I mentioned. Again, these goals may not necessarily reflect your own goals, but you get the idea. If you have everything you already need, then throw that money towards your retirement or mortgage!
Once you have a budget in place, you will not only significantly reduce your present stress, but also feel more confident about your future. Good luck! | https://medium.com/simple-not-easy/a-step-by-step-guide-on-how-to-make-the-perfect-budget-37fd74b4df25 | ['Jennifer Taylor Chan'] | 2018-09-12 13:07:48.552000+00:00 | ['Personal Finance', 'Life Lessons', 'Money', 'Self Improvement', 'Life'] |
Baseledger — The Blockchain for Baselining, powered by UBT | Baseledger — The Blockchain for Baselining, powered by UBT Unibright.io Follow Feb 25 · 6 min read
February 25, 2021 — Whitepaper authors of Unibright, Provide and Finspot present Baseledger: a public-permissioned, council-governed blockchain network that fulfills the major requirements of enterprise organizations for participating in Baseline-enabled processes: A unified architecture ensuring service quality, data privacy and integration.
Baseledger is powered by UBT, Unibright’s Universal Business Token, and constitutes a public, council-governed blockchain using a Proof-Of-Stake consensus mechanism that enables low and fixed costs, high and guaranteed performance, data privacy compliance, multi-chain-coordination and off-chain integration by design.
Find all the details in the whitepaper presented on Baseledger.net
The Road to Baseledger
Unibright is pioneering enterprise blockchain adoption since 2017, when the Unibright Framework was announced. Now firming under Provide Framework, it allows seamless no-code-design and operation of business process between enterprise systems and various blockchains.
With Unibright Freequity, the blockchain agnostic no-code-approach was extended with a 360° take on tokenization and Enterprise DeFi, including liquidity concepts, token issuance, trading and custody solutions.
As a leading contributor to the Baseline Protocol, Unibright is paving the way for confidential and complex collaboration between enterprises without sharing sensitive data on-chain since 2020.
With Baseledger, we now present the missing link for enterprises aiming for a productive deployment of the Baseline Protocol across a variety of blockchain business cases at enterprise scale.
This not only completes the ecosystem from a technical and architectural perspective, but it also completes the utility of UBT, Unibright’s Universal Business Token. Within Baseledger, UBT acts as a work token, allowing for those that stake and provide work on ensuring consensus, to participate by a “share-in-the-block reward” mechanism.
Baseledger explainer video on YouTube
The “right” mainnet for the Baseline Protocol
The Baseline Protocol is the approach of using a public blockchain (i.e., a “mainnet”) as the common frame of reference between off-chain enterprise systems of record. The Baseline Technique enables confidential and complex collaboration between enterprises without sharing sensitive data on-chain. Baseline is a particularly promising way to reduce capital expenses and other overhead while increasing operational integrity when automating interorganizational business processes and data sharing.
A “mainnet” in the context of the Baseline Protocol is an always-on public utility — serving as a state machine — that sacrifices speed, scalability and fast finality for tamper- and censorship-resistant consensus. Today‘s public blockchains are a great solutions for Cryptocurrencies and DeFi that benefit from a maximum distributed and opaque network — Enterprises Baselining or using a public ledger in general, have vastly different requirements concerning a public blockchain, which are fulfilled by Baseledger’s core feature set.
Baseledger
In order to address these issues, Provide and Unibright have authored a whitepaper detailing a new mainnet of choice for the Baseline Protocol. Known as “Baseledger,” this is a public-permissioned, council-governed network that caters to the primary requirements enterprises need to leverage the Baseline Protocol.
As described in the whitepaper, Baseledger is an “Architecture of Architectures.” This means the Baseledger network will serve as the underlying ledger for coordinating leaf node consensus; state synchronisation and configurations; and plugging in other protocols for exiting and tokenization (Layer 1), along with workflows and zero-knowledge proofs (Layer 2).
Prior to Baseledger, no other projects have aimed to coordinate Layer 1 and Layer 2 within a single, open architecture. Baseledger, however, can serve as the minimum viable protocol to serve Layer 2 functionalities and exit them into Layer 1 by storing baselined proofs in the network. Moreover, Baseledger can work as the underlying ledger for coordinating multi-chain setups, like combining Baseledger with Ethereum for enterprise DeFi (decentralized finance) purposes.
The whitepaper we present on Baseledger.net, explores the current state of enterprise blockchain, including an introduction to the Baseline Protocol. After a deeper look into the unresolved challenges of building the right mainnet, Baseledger is presented as the solution. Reference Implementation Examples and an evaluation of the proposed solution are presented afterwards. These examples include the role of all products from Provide’s and Unibright’s joint Baseline-as-a-Service tech-stack.
UBT Token Model Extension
There is already a set of products and services powered by the UBT token within Unibright’s and Provide’s product offerings. Now, Baseledger is a perfect extension to these offerings. By combining them and making UBT the token to fuel Baseledger as well, UBT is not only an “input” payment token, but also an “output” reward token, which makes the token flow complete.
We propose to extend the current UBT utility token model where:
The token acts as a payment mechanism for using software
The token acts as a staking mechanism for workers maintaining consensus
The token acts as a “share-in-the-block reward” mechanism for workers that are doing the work relative to their stake
A proxy-staking mechanism is in place, where members of the ecosystem can contribute to a worker’s stake (and partially participate in the rewards) without doing the work themselves
Organizations (users) do not need to handle the token themselves and can pay in fiat money
The following diagram shows the token and fiat streams envisioned in the tokenized ecosystem of Baseledger, incorporating aforementioned elements like revenues, rewards and customer payments, as shown in detail in the Whitepaper.
This model has the potential to successfully support the distinction between and proper addressing of both the enterprise audience (interested in Software-as-a-Service with a classic fiat payment model) and the cryptocurrency audience (interested in holding and staking UBT and participating in revenue and reward shares).
This is the groundwork for a self-sustaining ecosystem that is able to grow and incentivize those working on it — a token model that helps to grow the network around Baseledger.
Summary
Baseledger as the public ledger for Baseline allows enterprise projects to provide value when multiple entities in an ecosystem require a shared, single version of truth and no single entity is in control. It is the trusted middleware for business processes, harnessing the potential for blockchain to become a new open standard protocol for trusted records, identity, and transactions that cannot be simply dismissed. It overcomes the restrictions of current public ledgers in terms of transactions costs, performance, compliance, integration and multi-chain coordination.
It is powered by an incentivized ecosystem based on UBT, properly addressing of both the enterprise audience (interested in Software-as-a-Service with a classic fiat payment model) and the cryptocurrency audience (interested in holding and staking UBT and participating in revenue and reward shares). | https://medium.com/unibrightio/baseledger-the-blockchain-for-baselining-powered-by-ubt-db44d2a02289 | [] | 2021-02-25 13:05:15.400000+00:00 | ['Baseline', 'Baseledger', 'Defi', 'Integration', 'Blockchain'] |
Covid Casualties That Will Haunt Us Forever | Covid Casualties That Will Haunt Us Forever
Things big and small that will never be the same post-pandemic
Image: Pixabay
With a fierce winter storm bearing down on the Northeast, Connecticut doctor Craig Canapari, MD, was asked by his kids: Will tomorrow be a snow day? “Sadly they will be disappointed,” Canapari tweeted. “One is already doing online school on Thursday. The other will be.”
This arguably innocuous annoyance struck me as telling of the countless things that are being disrupted by the pandemic — small pleasures and larger ways of life we’ve long taken for granted but which will never be the same.
Death is the ultimate horrific outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic, of course, and without meaning to minimize the pain and sadness left behind by the more than 300,000 departed Americans and 1.6 million deaths worldwide, I got to thinking about the many other ways Covid has, and will, irrevocably change the lives of so many people, of society as a whole, for years and even generations to come.
I’ll get to the lesser things below. But first, there are several truly distressing and harrowing casualties of Covid-19 that will play out for years:
Long-haul physical effects
We have no clue yet just how devastating Covid-19 is for those who survive it. Already, we do know that thousands of people, young and old, are suffering physical pain and mental distress — including memory and concentration problems — months after they were declared Covid-free. Sadly, it’s appearing ever more likely that some of these long-haul symptoms could be lifetime afflictions.
Economic catastrophe
It will be many months and possibly years before we can grasp the full scope of disastrous financial effects on tens of millions of Americans who’ve lost their jobs or had their incomes slashed, or might soon. Already the devastation clear for countless families. Across the country, children are going hungry and parents are overwhelming food pantries like never in recent memory. Missed rent and homeowner payments are piling up, and broad wealth reduction will create hardship for millions of families — holes are being dug that will sink some people for the rest of their lives.
Educational and earnings disadvantages
The year of disrupted instruction, with more sure to come, will reverberate for a lifetime, especially among kids who are in (or out of) K-8 schools, in the form of lower earning potential. Research has shown what all parents have learned: Online education is not as effective as in-class instruction, particularly for young children. One study projects that one year of online-only learning would cause $195 billion of lifelong earnings losses for current K-12 students.
Deadly side effects
People are already dying from several non-Covid causes because they missed cancer screenings or didn’t get medical care for other serious health issues. Excess deaths in 2020, those that exceed the otherwise very stable annual average, will end the year above 400,000 (based on my own analysis of actual excess deaths through November 21, Covid-19 deaths since then, and the current daily pace of Covid-19 deaths). While the majority of the excess deaths are officially attributed to Covid-19, the others can be explained only by lapses in treatment, multiple studies and analyses show. The impact on reduced cancer screenings alone will result in additional unnecessary deaths for years to come, simply because treatments were not started as soon as they would have been without the pandemic disruption.
Mental health crisis
The pandemic is fueling increases in depression, alcohol use, and opioid deaths. We can’t begin to predict the long-term effects of all the current stress and sorrow, but we do know our social systems were not prepared to deal with it. | https://coronavirus.medium.com/covid-casualties-that-will-haunt-us-forever-1f8795ebccf1 | ['Robert Roy Britt'] | 2020-12-16 19:25:18.165000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Pandemic', 'Covid 19', 'Culture', 'Coronavirus'] |
Karma Is My Guardian Angel | A story on the power of Karma.
Image by Annelise Lords
Janet and Ronald were having dinner at her favorite restaurant, her phone rings while the waiter was taking their order. She answers saying, “Yes Rosalyn, I did recommend you for that position and they say they will call you soon.”
She listens signaling to the waiter to wait then said into the phone, “Girl, just wait and give them time to contact you, ok,” then hangs up.
Giving the waiter her order, as he walks away, Ronald asks, “Is that the same Rosalyn that cheated you out of ten grand?”
“Yes,” she answers browsing on her phone.
“And you are recommending her for what?”
“A job,” she replies, still focusing on her phone.
Ronald reaches over gently taking the phone from her hands then hit, “She stole your $10,000, and you are recommending a thief to repeat her crime on someone else’s place of business?”
Janet sways her head several times, then said, “why not?”
“What if she decides to steal again?”
“Well, this time she won’t get away with it,” Janet remarks as the waiter came with their meals.
After taking several mouthfuls, Ronald teases, “I saw that spark of fire in your eyes when I ask you why you helped her, so I know there are some flames behind it.”
She smiles as the spark got bigger, then releases, “The night when she stole my money, the anger in me, I just went for a drive. While driving there was an accident on Highway 112. I had to rush a 9-year-old girl in my car to the hospital. She lived because of my quick action. Her mother gave me $20,000 for saving the life of her only child.”
His eyes widen, his mouth agape as pieces of lettuce hangs from his lower lips.
“Yuck,” she said. “Close your mouth, you are making me lose my appetite.”
He swallows, then took a big gulp of water and asks, “What happened with Tony? I know he lied about you and caused you to lose your job last year. And I heard his sister cussing him out, telling him that he was lucky you forgave him and is doing the recommendation for his girlfriend.”
“Well,” Janet said, swallowing a mouthful of her salad. “They fired me without giving me a chance to explain. I had 12 clients who decided that if he doesn’t hire me back, they will move their business elsewhere. That’s how I end up owning my own investment company. You see, every time they cheat or do anything bad to me, something better happens. It’s like their cruel decisions, opened a better and bigger door for me. How can I not forgive them?”
Ronald swallowed too quickly, then starts to cough. She hastily hands him her untouched glass of water saying, “Drink this and swallow slowly.”
He obeys then said clearing his throat, “Damn girl, what is his name?”
“Who?” Janet asks.
“Your guardian angel.”
“Why do we always assume that a guardian angel is a guy?”
“I don’t care if it’s a she or he. I want to know the name?”
“His name is Karma.”
Sometimes, our enemies do their job of cruelty and destruction too good, thinking they are destroying us, but instead, they unconsciously directed us to a more successful path. Life is a test. In every test, there are winners and there are losers.
Which one are you?
Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it. Please enjoy more from other writers on this platform.
https://mediumauthor.com/@thisisanneliselords
https://mediumauthor.com/podcast
medium.com/illumination/interview-with-annelise-lords-421238e49b9f
https://twitter.com/ThisisAnneliseL
https://medium.com/authors-peeps/authors-peeps-interview-d43e38e53898
https://vocal.media/authors/annelise-lords | https://medium.com/social-jogi/karma-is-my-guardian-angel-2d56364838 | ['Annelise Lords'] | 2020-12-24 23:28:13.237000+00:00 | ['Positive Thinking', 'Life', 'Fiction', 'Karma', 'Social Jogi'] |
Walking By Faith | Higgins Lake, Roscommon, Michigan (photo: Michelle Berry Lane, 2014)
Walking By Faith
Autumn is a radiant season. On clear and sunny fall days, when the leaves on the trees are like stained glass silhouetted against the blue heavens, we are drawn to gaze at them. A walk in the woods is a rich experience with the pleasing sound of the swish and crunch of feet in the leaves, a warm palate of fall colors and a generous variety of seeds, nuts and mushrooms that can be found on the forest floor.
I remember a magical walk that I took several years ago, while attending a conference for environmental educators. The conference was held at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center at Higgins Lake, a beautiful lake in the north-central mitten of Michigan. It was a gorgeous, crisp fall day and a friend and I decided to take a little break from the activities and hike through the woods on the grounds of the conference center.
The forest was in full autumn dress. We could see the blue lake shimmering in the sunlight through the trees and we could hear the waves lapping at the shore along the trail. Mushrooms were fruiting prolifically on the forest floor and the loose bark of old tree snags and fallen logs was hyphenated by shelf fungus like Turkey Tail and Dryad’s Saddle. We were enchanted by the great diversity of all the fungi and wandered from mushroom to mushroom, going deeper into the woods.
Turkey Tail (photo: Michelle Berry Lane, 2014)
As we wandered, the deep blanket of leaves on the ground turned to a soft tapestry of pine needles and we entered a stand of pines. Our steps grew quieter on the piney carpet, and we did too. We spoke less and less and in quieter tones when we did say something. I was looking down, scouring the ground for more treasures, when I noticed a row of carefully laid rocks that continued on. I followed them with my eyes and saw that this rock line joined hundreds of other rocks in lines that formed a pattern of curves and turns. I had found a stone-bordered path, a spiraling Labyrinth, surrounded by a ring of tall pines with one lone evergreen growing up out of the center.
The mystery of this assembly, found there in the woods by chance, filled me with wonder. I knew a little about labyrinths and was drawn toward their designs and shapes, but I had never walked one before. They have been used for meditation and prayer practice and as a symbol for spiritual pilgrimage for thousands of years, before and throughout Christianity. Labyrinths can be found at sacred sites all over the world. One of the world’s most famous labyrinths is laid in the floor tiles of the sanctuary at the ancient Chartres cathedral in France.
(photo: Michelle Berry Lane, 2014)
I was delighted to find this carefully constructed labyrinth in the middle of the woods. There were no visible buildings near and we had really just stumbled upon it. I imagined the hands that built it, most surely engaged in a labor of love.
At the time of this discovery, I had been going through many years of challenging and traumatic experiences related to a primary relationship in my life and I had made some extremely difficult decisions to take steps toward my own healing. As I slowly began to emerge from the quagmire of fear, trauma, guilt and despair, I found myself in the midst of a deep spiritual awakening. At times I felt lifted and held like a child and I had profound gratitude for this grace touching me in my life and leading me toward healing.
It was with wonder at this touch of grace and this sense of being led that I stepped onto the path of that magical labyrinth in the woods. As I began to walk, I had an assumption that the goal was to make my way to the center and to stand with that tall tree there and look out from within. I slowly walked the twisting path, settling into a meditative calm with every step.
Suddenly the path turned and drew me back out toward the outside again. I noticed a sense of disorientation and doubt. Did I make a mistake? Did I somehow step off of the path? I paused for a moment and looked behind me. I could see that I had stayed true within the rock bordered path, but the center tree was now as far from me as when I began.
I chose to trust the path and went on. The way continued to move in and out, getting closer to the center and then sending me out again to the outer layers of the path. I began to relax into the rhythm of it and accept the meandering nature of the journey. A peaceful acceptance fell over me as I placed one foot in front of the other and surrendered to the process. When I finally came to the circle in the center, I felt quiet joy and gratitude.
The circuitous route that brought me in was like life and faith. We do not know what the next turn will bring as we journey through life. There are challenges and tests and times when we experience doubts and fears and loss. Faith is, in many ways, the act of blindly putting your feet on the path and learning to trust that unseen guidance will come. Just when you may feel far from that which you yearn for, suddenly there is a bend in the road that brings you in and shows you that you are moving in the right direction even though you felt off course.
At the center of the labyrinth, I hugged the tree standing there and then turned and leaned back against it, looking out. I could see the spiraling trail I had followed curving all around me and the ring of beautiful trees encircling the outer border. Again, I felt a deep welling up of joy and gratitude.
As I re-entered the path from the center for the spiral journey back out to join my friend, who was busily exploring, I had the sense that the beauty and meaning of this experience for me was in the wending way that had brought me to the labyrinth and then to step my feet onto that path. I could see how the journey of my life so far had brought me to this moment and I knew that the path would continue on. My labyrinth experience was like a kind of map for walking in this earthly life that is full of beauty and challenges, connections and separations and healing work. It pointed me toward the process of learning to trust that the Divine Mystery is always there, even when we may feel far away. It revealed a picture of what faith is.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
(A version of this story was published in the November, 2019 edition of “Saints Alive!” the magazine of All Saints Episcopal Church, 171 Pike St., Pontiac, MI 48341)
End Note:
Later, after walking that labyrinth, I found out that it had been constructed in commemoration of a beloved counselor at a neighboring church camp and that it was modeled after the famous labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral. Here is a diagram of the pattern:
If you have an interest in trying a contemplative labyrinth walk yourself, there is a website directory called: The Worldwide Labyrinth Locator, https://labyrinthlocator.com/home . Put your location into the search form and it will tell you where there are labyrinths in your area. You might be surprised how many there are! Since my first experience walking that path in the woods, I have gone to other labyrinths and each time it has been a different experience for me. If you go, you might simply follow the path slowly and quietly from beginning to end. You might bring a prayer, a question that you have been mulling over, or lay a burden down at the entrance and ask for help. However you come to it, may the experience be what you need it to be. | https://berrywoman08.medium.com/walking-by-faith-6dbba46420f7 | ['Michelle Berry Lane'] | 2019-11-06 21:54:05.459000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Nature', 'Spirituality', 'Labyrinth', 'Faith'] |
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Tailwind CSS Tutorial | Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS library that makes development for your next website way easier and faster. It basically means you could stop writing CSS, which sounds amazing. Learn more about what it is and how you can use it in my tutorial.
https://youtu.be/ApPEK_6KM60
So what is Tailwind CSS doing? Instead of creating a CSS class called chat-notification, with a display flex, we simply create a class called flex, and the CSS is automatically applied.
Before:
<div class="chat-notification"></div>
.chat-notification {
display: flex;
max-width: 24rem;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 1.5rem;
border-radius: 0.5rem;
background-color: #fff;
box-shadow: 0 20px 25px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 10px 10px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04);
}
</style>
After:
<div class="max-w-sm mx-auto flex p-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow-xl"></div>
This is a simple example where we are applying class names instead of CSS properties. Tailwind has a large number of CSS classes ready to go, so instead of doing padding-top:1.5rem we can add a class called p-6 which simple and easy to get used to.
This also means you can edit things easily without jumping between files.
Some benefits include:
Faster development lifecycle
No requirement for additional CSS files
Customisation of Tailwind can be done with PostCSS settings
Large base of nice classes for shadows, fonts, colors ready to use
You are still building your own site, so unlike bootstrap, tailwind is just there to improve your development
Bootstrap comes with preset components, this is still available via Tailwind UI
You can find out more about TailwindCSS directly from their website:
https://tailwindcss.com/
Follow and support me:
Special thanks if you subscribe to my channel :) | https://medium.com/@twarogadrian/tailwind-css-tutorial-4c7de442c6e2 | ['Adrian Twarog'] | 2020-05-05 10:40:59.211000+00:00 | ['HTML', 'CSS', 'Tailwind Css', 'Web Development', 'Website Development'] |
A Linked List Implementation for Ethereum | A Linked List Implementation for Ethereum
Coding data structures in Solidity is weird and beautiful.
A few months ago I implemented a Linked List in Solidity for a client. More recently I decided that I might take on implementing a Fast Limit Order Book in Solidity as a pet project (aren’t nerds fun!) and Linked Lists appeared again.
As I recently wrote in an article about when to use different data structures:
Linked Lists are your data structure of choice when you need to preserve the insertion order, and also when you want to insert in arbitrary positions.
I love coding basic building blocks and no one seemed to have done this one*, so I took to it happily.
In this article, I’ll introduce an implementation for Singly and Doubly Linked Lists, which you can reuse or modify for your own purposes. All the code is available in GitHub or as an npm package.
*Disclaimer: While writing this article, and after having coded the contracts, I found this earlier implementation from chriseth. Like him, I also considered using an array. Compared to using a mapping, it simplifies the creation of new items but also makes deletion more difficult.
Implementation
For this article I’m going to ignore that Solidity is an Object Oriented Programming Language and code the lists in a single contract. Doing that will allow me to focus on the basics such as data usage. An OOP implementation is possible, but the trade offs deserve an article of its own.
Implementing a Linked List in a single contract Solidity was not an obvious thing to do. This code would be very convenient, but not doable in Solidity since you can’t have recursive structs .
contract ImpossibleLinkedList {
struct Item {
Item next;
address data;
} Item public head;
The only dynamic contract variable that exists in Solidity are mappings. Even arrays are mappings under the hood. Given that constraint the best implementation for a Linked List in Solidity that I could come up is based on this:
contract LinkedList {
struct Item {
uint256 id;
uint256 next;
address data;
}
mapping (uint256 => Item) public items;
uint256 public head;
uint256 public idCounter;
The Linked List is made of Item . The Item has a unique id, a member for the id of another Item , and an address which is the data payload. Then all items created are stored in a mapping indexed by Item id.
You can retrieve any Item at cost O(1) if you know its id, just by looking it up in the mapping. If you are looking at an Item in the List and want to proceed to the next one you have to retrieve item.next which is an Item id, and then look up that next Item in the mapping.
If this gets you confused, don’t feel bad. I also got very confused. My first question was “is there any point to a Linked List if you can just arbitrarily retrieve any Item from a list?”.
The question is that yes, there is a point, but with a very limited scope. Linked Lists are your data structure of choice when you need to preserve the insertion order, and also when you want to insert in arbitrary positions. The fact that you can iterate over the list is useful to a point, if you have to do that in a transaction the list cannot grow indefinitely.
You can use this data structure when a contract needs to frequently use several items in an ordered list that you can assume will be of limited size.
For example if you need a contract to always know the 100 largest holders of a token to give them some perks.
Unlike in previous articles, this time I’m not going to paste the whole code here. Instead, I will direct you to the full implementation. There is an implementation for a Singly Linked List and another one for a Doubly Linked List, with each one being about 200 lines of code, which I’ve crafted carefully for maximum clarity.
In this case, I think it is more important to discuss the trade-offs between a Singly Linked List and Doubly Linked List, in particular given that the Ethereum blockchain is quite limited in the algorithms that you can execute safely.
Usage
When I started the implementation of linked lists, I thought that doing a Doubly Linked List would be more complex than a Singly Linked List. Interestingly enough, it is slightly easier to implement the former. Adding in each item a link for the previous one allows you to remove this inefficient method:
/**
* @dev Given an Item, denoted by `_id`, returns the id of the Item
* that points to it, or 0 if `_id` refers to the Head.
*/
function findPrevId(uint256 _id) public view returns (uint256) {
if (_id == head) return 0;
Item memory prevItem = items[head];
while (prevItem.next != _id) {
prevItem = items[prevItem.next];
}
return prevItem.id;
}
That while statement is evil.
You would use this method anytime that you know of an item and you want to insert another before it. Quite a common use case.
A gas comparison between LinkedList.sol and DoubleLinkedList.sol sheds some more light on the issue. For these tests, I used a list with 100 items.
addHead and insertAfter operations with LinkedList are O(1) and cost about 100K gas. Data retrieval is not depicted but given that we use mapping the cost will be O(1).
The issue is when we need to loop over the list. Every item we loop through seems to cost about 1K gas as seen in findTailIdWithGas (which is a mock function that encloses findTailId in a transaction, wasting some gas).
Maybe we can make without adding items at the tail or inserting before a known item, but the remove function is more of an issue. In a LinkedList you have to loop through the list from the head to remove items. In smart contracts a method with a cost of O(N) needs to be approached very carefully, or better even, avoided.
A Doubly Linked List is easier to implement and more practical, even if a bit more expensive to use.
In this specific case, and with a gas block limit of about ten million, it means that you can’t remove items that are more than 10,000 positions away from the head. That can be quite dangerous.
For DoubleLinkedList, on the other hand, all the methods are O(1). addHead and insertAfter are more costly than in LinkedList because we need to update an extra pointer. If you need to insert at the end of the list, find neighbouring items in both directions, or remove items, you’ll benefit from O(1) cost. I haven’t included gas costs for looping the list but they should be identical to LinkedList.
And as I said before, it’s interesting that for the same functionality, DoubleLinkedList costs less to deploy than LinkedList. Not that important but interesting.
As with anything, your mileage will vary. Maybe you can do with a Singly Linked List, maybe you need a Doubly Linked List. Maybe you should use an array. At least now you know them all.
Other Implementations
The implementations discussed above are not the only ones, I just thought they would be easy to understand. There are other interesting implementations that might fit your use case better:
You want to save some gas, then remove the id field from the Item struct. You don’t actually need it, funny enough.
field from the struct. You don’t actually need it, funny enough. You don’t like the structs, them replace each struct variable with a mapping as a state variable, it will work exactly the same.
You are happy with just appending items at the tail, and maybe those items expire after a set period of time: You can use RenounceableQueue.sol. It would work great for a traditional fast limit order book.
If all the items in your list are unique, then you can use OrderedSet.sol. I like the compactness and elegance of it.
If all the items in your list are unique, but you don’t care about the order, then you are after a canonical Set, get it from OpenZeppelin.
Conclusion
Linked Lists are the first complex data structure that is considered in smart contracts. Given the constraints in smart contracts that force us to code as simply as possible it is necessary to know the trade offs between different linked list implementations.
In this article I’ve shown both Singly Linked Lists and Doubly Linked Lists, pointing to code ready to be reused. An analysis of gas costs has also been provided, along with guidance for safe use.
I feel quite privileged to have the opportunity to code basic data structures. Sometimes coding smart contracts feels like a trip many years back when programming meant being very close to the hardware and was very close to mathematics. I like that.
If you are considering using this code in a project, want to contribute, or have ideas to explore, please drop me a line! Talking to those that read me is always a pleasure :) | https://medium.com/coinmonks/a-linked-list-implementation-for-ethereum-a2915bf8122f | ['Alberto Cuesta Cañada'] | 2020-08-23 10:24:21.246000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'How To', 'Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Solidity'] |
Home Cleaning Solutions for Your Jewelry | You do not would like fancy jewelry cleaner to induce your silver to sparkle, your gold to gleam, and your gemstones to shine. Strive these everyday things, most of that you almost certainly have already got within the house.
When your favorite bling simply does not have a similar sparkle, rather than getting big-ticket improvement solutions or bucking out for an expert cleaning, do that straightforward DIY jewelry cleaner. Mistreatment ingredients you have already got in your storeroom, this concoction prices pennies to create and does not use any harsh chemicals — simply the facility of science. And you’ll be able to offer your previous toothbrush a replacement life by gently cleansing jewels post soak. Before you recognize it, your special gems are going to be dazzling. For more info contact house cleaning nyc
Needed Materials and Equipment:
· Small bowl
· one tablespoon salt
· one tablespoon sodium hydrogen carbonate
· one teaspoon dish detergent
· one cup quandary
· aluminum foil
· towel
· previous toothbrush
Directions:
1. Gather what you wish for creating the jewelry cleaner. You will be able to use your favorite dish detergent — or create your own — to feature a heavy grease-busting side to the current concoction. The salt, sodium hydrogen carbonate plus the aluminum foil produce a chemical exchange referred to as a particle transfer, which naturally cleans metals.
Read the entire “Home Cleaning Solutions for Your Jewelry” article here | https://medium.com/@ilovevintage/home-cleaning-solutions-for-your-jewelry-b95b4f250c6 | ['I Love Vintage'] | 2016-10-20 19:53:22.205000+00:00 | ['Recipe', 'Food', 'Jewelry'] |
Download SHAREit Free For APK/Android | Download SHAREit Free For APK
SHAREit for Android is an application to share files and documents. SHAREit is a cross platform application close. Share app has been used more than 600 million people in the world.
To use SHAREit for Android no internet connection needed when performing a file transfer.
Main Features
Fast and free: SHAREit for Android has the advantage in speed of transfer and without the need to connect the internet. The delivery process is done through Bluetooth, high-speed up to 20 MB per second. All files sent using SHAREit will not experience loss of quality, so You can keep the quality of photos, videos, music tracks, and important documents belonging to You.
Support all file formats: SHAREit for Android can be used to send or receive all sorts of file formats. You can do the delivery of smartphones, tablets, iOs and PC or computer. Because SHAREit for Android this is a cross platform application.
Intuitive interface: the Application SHAREit for Android comes with an intuitive interface and easy to use. All the menus and the available options will be very easy to understand. The process of file transfer from one device to another will be easy to do.
SHAREit for Android the latest version can now manage and analyze files apps with the. APK format. | https://medium.com/@zuraidaida018/download-shareit-free-for-apk-android-73b2c453bccc | ['Zuraida Ida'] | 2020-02-22 15:33:26.851000+00:00 | ['Mac', 'Windows 10', 'Android', 'Android Apps', 'iOS'] |
Why are So Many Teens and 20-Somethings Today Anxiety-Ridden? | I am a family practice doc who sees teens and 20-somethings daily in my practice. And I have raised 3 teenagers in the past 9 years, as well as a beautiful group of their teenaged and 20-something friends, who also hang out at my house. I love young people in their teens and 20’s. I love their sass and their creativity and their general aliveness. And I am acutely aware that these young people represent the future of our world and will receive the burden of all the problems we have created for them. So, how are they doing?
Last Thursday in my office I saw a strapping, healthy-looking 22-year old male who couldn’t attend school, get a job, or even look me in the eye because his social anxiety was so intense. I listened to a straight-A 18-year old who is taking a leave from college, even though she loves it, because her anxiety is keeping her from being able to focus on her work or attend class. And I saw a 16-year old who had been out of school for a year due to a wicked combination of social anxiety, sensitivity to loud noise, and a variety of anxiety influenced medical issues: headaches, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome.
I don’t know how it seems to be going in your home or the town or city you live in, but I am seeing an epidemic of anxious, stressed out teens, in my office and in my community. And I am not alone. There has been a significant increase in the number of teens and young adults with anxiety and depression in U.S. since the 1940’s. 25% of teens in the U.S. will fit the criteria for an anxiety disorder at some time, and anxiety is the most common mental disorder in adults, at 18% of the population (according to the NIH). The U.S. (and other Western countries) have a higher incidence of anxiety than the rest of the world, where the global prevalence of anxiety is only 7%. So U.S. teens and 20-somethings have become progressively more anxious over the last 60 years, are the most anxious age range in our society, and are more anxious than their peers in the rest of the world.
What is going on in our culture and environment that is making our 21st century young people anxious? I think of our young people as the “canaries in the coal mines” of modern culture, with social, environmental, chemical, and community changes all coming to bear on their ability to function. No one knows exactly why teens are more anxious than they used to be, but I have a few guesses.
Loss of community connection and support:
In my book BodyWise, I write about the challenging mismatch between our physiology — which was designed for humans living thousands of years ago — and our culture and environment. And this is a more pronounced problem in Western countries than in more traditional cultures. Specifically, Western countries, like the U.S., have lost much of our communal connection. We often don’t even know our neighbors. The lack of religious and social community, the loss of family farms, and the increasing isolation of our nuclear families create environments which are less friendly to the happiness and relaxation of teens and adults alike. In the U.S., more social connections (at home, at work, in your softball league) lead to less depression and anxiety. Teens need social connections even more than adults, and not just through Instagram or Snapchat. Face to face interaction with friends reduces stress and fuels healthy development. My sister Lisa, who is a 30-year veteran educator who specializes in anxious teens, suggests that creating an environment in which young people can feel safe, form connections with other young people, and be successful, is the key to helping them recover their peace of mind. And if you’re the parent of the anxious teen, your love, support and connection is a critical factor in their success. No matter how your teen is behaving, he or she needs your attention, your presence and your affection, if they’re willing to receive it.
Suggestion 1: Find an educational and social environment in which you (or your teen) feels safe and can be successful. Remember that “high achievement” is far less important for your young person’s success long-term, than feeling comfortable and confident in her or himself. As a parent, even when it’s tough, try to stay open to communication, attention and affection with your teen or 20-something.
Insomnia and Sleep Deprivation:
The impact of artificial lighting and technology on sleep is harsh for everyone in modern society, but it is particularly important for teens, who need more sleep than adults, but have shifted sleep clocks, meaning that they naturally go to sleep later and get up later (no news flash for those of you with teens in your home!). The issue is that most schools start by 8 am and teens can’t sleep in late, leaving them chronically sleep deprived. All artificial light has the result of reducing melatonin production at night and making sleep more difficult, but the light on computer and phone screens is a bluer light, and it has twice the suppressive effect on melatonin — severely impairing sleep in teens. A study published in the British Medical Journal reported that the more screen time teens engage in, the longer it takes them to fall asleep. Teens with 4 or more hours of screen time per day were 350% more likely to sleep less than 5 hours at night and 49% more likely to need more than 60 minutes to fall asleep. The impact of less sleep? Anxiety, depression, inability to concentrate and poor grades.
Suggestion 2: Help yourself (or your teen) sleep by limiting screen time at night and/or adding an amber filter to their phone, pad, or laptop to limit blue light exposure (see justgetflux.com). For more help with getting yourself (or your teen) to sleep, see my article ’11 Tips for Getting to Sleep Tonight.’
Couch Potato Kids:
All humans are physiologically designed to be active, and young people, at their physical peak, should be the most active at all. Exercise is my number one recommendation for preventing depression and is also effective in combating anxiety. In addition, exposure to nature is particularly therapeutic, reducing both anxiety and depression.
Suggestion 3: Find any way for a young person to be active, preferably outside. Skateboarding, biking, walking to school, all sports, even fooling around outside — all count.
Helicopter parenting.
Now seriously folks, I meet young people regularly who can’t cook, do dishes, drive, figure out a bus schedule, do their laundry, handle a bank account, or write a comprehensible letter or e-mail to an adult. This makes them incapable, vulnerable and dependent, and they know it. Which is why they’re stressed. Do they feel ready to be independent come the age of 18? Hell no. Which is a cause for anxiety and an impending “failure to launch” that hurts everyone. Our job is to raise adults, and to give them independence in every area that they’ve earned it, whenever possible. Let them fail at things while still at home so that they know how to figure out life when they leave home. A life-competent teen is a less anxious teen. And if you think that “tiger-parenting” a young person is a better option, in my opinion, excessively high parental expectations around school performance or college admissions is a major source of anxiety for many teens. Let them set their own expectations and establish an acceptable minimum for school performance — a B or C average, for example. They should be responsible for their future opportunities as much as possible.
Suggestion 4: While living at home, require that your teen or young person care for their physical, nutritional, financial and transportation needs in whatever ways they are capable of. Give them independence to make decisions whenever it is safe to do so. And don’t pressure them to meet excessively high academic expectations — let them set their own goals for achievement, and then support them.
The impact of technology.
Our brains were not built to withstand the amount of constant information that is barrages us. A study in Pediatrics of babies that were exposed to a DVD, showed significantly increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol, when compared to babies who played with blocks. And another study in Pediatrics showed that early television exposure significantly correlated with later diagnoses of ADHD. Fast forward to the small children I see in cars and airports all over the world with headsets and pads playing games and watching shows. What is the impact of all this stimulation? Well, increased stress hormones. And increased growth of the areas of the brain that respond to stress. Ultimately, a human with a lower threshold for stress and anxiety. Reducing screen time, as best you can, at all ages of development, is key to reducing anxiety. Most importantly, do your best to limit access to violent games, which increase both aggression and anxiety. Realize that kids who are on Facebook and other social media sites more hours, are more depressed and anxious. Perhaps comparing themselves to the “perfect” lives of their peers, falsely portrayed online. Some social media is fine, but require real face-to-face interaction to reduce anxiety and learn social skills.
Suggestion 5: Limit your teen’s (or your own) access to and use of phones, pads and laptops when at home and require human interaction free of devices — at family dinner for example.
The impact of toxins in our food supply and environment.
25% of U.S. residents eat at a fast food restaurant daily. And the food at those restaurants is processed, heavy with sugar and salt and highly inflammatory to the body and brain. A study in Tehran showed that the more processed food young adults consumed, the more likely they were to be anxious. Multiple studies have shown a reduction in the symptoms of ADHD, depression and anxiety when kids are fed a diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, essential fatty acids (in nuts and fish) and healthy protein. We are also exposed to over 50,000 chemicals in our environment, water and food supply that were not present merely 60 years ago (most of which have not been tested for human safety). A sampling of the umbilical cord blood of infants born in the U.S. revealed more than 200 industrial chemicals. Of the 297 chemicals detected, 180 cause cancer, 217 are toxic to the brain or nervous system, 208 cause birth defects. We have been conducting the biggest experiment on industrialized food and toxic exposure that has ever been seen in human history. And increased rates of learning disorders, depression and anxiety in our youth are likely consequences of this experiment.
Suggestion 6: As best you can, keep your children and teens away from fast food and processed food. Only keep food and snacks at home that support their health: preferably organic fresh fruit, whole grain breads and crackers, nut butters and cheese, carrots and hummus. You’ll be amazed at how many healthy “snack foods” are available when you look for them. And avoid putting toxic herbicides and pesticides on your lawn or garden, which get tracked into the house or using toxic cleaning products.
These are a few tips to get started in supporting yourself (if you’re a teen or young adult) or supporting a teen you love, with anxiety. Want more? Stay tuned for Part II: ‘Treating Your Anxious Teen or 20-something with Integrative Medicine.’ | https://medium.com/thrive-global/why-are-so-many-teens-and-20-somethings-today-anxiety-ridden-63180f8a8678 | ['Doctor Rachel'] | 2017-01-27 01:33:14.054000+00:00 | ['Wellbeing', 'Sleep', 'Health', 'Teens', 'Anxiety'] |
Lists in Python | In python, a list is delimited by the characters ‘[]’. The characters ‘[]’, alone, designate an empty list. An example of a list is [‘Guido van Rossum’, ‘Bjarne Stroustrup’, ‘James Gosling’], which is a list containing three string instances. Further, the elements of a list can be arbitrary objects (including None). For example, you can have the following list: [8200000, ‘Python’, None]. Lists are one of the most used containers in python and are central to data structures and algorithms in computer science.
In this post, we will discuss how to iterate through and filter lists using three different looping constructs in python. We will discuss how to use ‘while loops’, ‘for loops’, and ‘index-based for loops’ for list iteration. We will also give an example of list comprehension in python for list filtering.
WHILE LOOPS
While loops allow us to repeat an action based on repeated testing of a condition. In other words, any time you need a program to keep doing something until a condition is met, ‘while loops’ are useful.
For our example, we will consider the problem of filtering a list of songs based on the song writer. Suppose we have a list of tuples of songs and writers from the first side of the album Abbey Road, by The Beatles:
abbey_road = [('Come Together', 'Lennon'), ('Something', 'Harrison'), ('Maxwell's Silver Hammer', 'McCartney'), ('Oh! Darling!','McCartney'), ('Octopus's Garden', 'Starr'), ('I Want You', 'Lennon')]
We can iterate over the list of tuples using a ‘while loop’:
j = 0 #initialize the index
while j < len(abbey_road):
print(abbey_road[j])
j+=1 #advanced the index
Here, the ‘while loop’ condition is that the index we advance after each iteration must be less than the length of the list.
To filter the list of tuples based on the song writer, we can apply an additional condition. Suppose we want to remove songs by Paul McCartney. We can do the following:
j = 0
while j < len(abbey_road):
if abbey_road[j][1] != "McCartney":
print(abbey_road[j])
j+=1
We can do the same for the other song writers as well. I encourage you to give it a shot! Now let’s move on to ‘for loops’.
FOR LOOPS
We will be using ‘for loops’ to solve the same problem of list filtering. To start, let’s iterate over the ‘abbey_road’ list and print each element:
for song, artist in abbey_road:
print((song, artist))
As you can see, this is a bit easier to read. This construct allows us to define names for the elements we are iterating over, which helps with code readability. Let’s filter out songs by Lennon:
for song, artist in abbey_road:
if artist != "Lennon":
print((song, artist))
Try modifying the condition to filter by song or a different string value for the artist. Let’s move on the ‘index-based for loops’.
INDEX-BASED FOR LOOPS
For this example, we will iterate through the ‘abbey_road’ list using ‘index-based for loops’.
for i in range(len(abbey_road)):
print((abbey_road[i][0], abbey_road[i][1]))
Which gives us the expected result. Let’s apply the filter for songs written by Harrison:
for i in range(len(abbey_road)):
if abbey_road[i][1] != "Harrison":
print((abbey_road[i][0], abbey_road[i][1]))
As you can see, this for loop construct is not as readable as the previous construct. Now let’s move on to the last example, list comprehension.
LIST COMPREHENSION
For this last example, we will use list comprehension to filter the ‘abbey_road’ list. Let’s filter out songs by “Lennon” again: | https://towardsdatascience.com/lists-in-python-d1ec8b61ee06 | ['Sadrach Pierre'] | 2020-03-13 21:26:41.305000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Software Development', 'Data Science', 'Programming', 'Python'] |
Top 5 android apps | Top 5 android apps 2021 | Top 5 android apps | Top 5 android apps 2021 Muneeb Apr 13·2 min read
There are thousands of apps on the PlayStore, so it will be very difficult for you to choose which apps are better for you, which apps really work for you.
Today We Talk About Top 5 android apps
Top 5 android apps | Top 5 android apps 2021
Top 5 android apps
TempMail Hermit TorrSE Zort LED Scroller
1-TempMail
We have been signing up with your main email at the top of all the websites, followed by spam and promotional emails. In this case, TempMail can help you. You will receive a temporary email in TempMail mail that you can use to sign up. You can also receive this with a verification mail.
2-Hermit
This app can be very useful for you if you have a problem with storage space in your phone. With the help of this app, the app can use the lite or website version of any app. You can also create shortcuts to any website or use the app.
3-TorrSE
If you use Torrent this app will be very useful for you, you can easily search for torrent or generate torrent file or magnet link or easily download movies from this torrent on your mobile without free software.
4-Zort
Zort app is a great option to manage SMS in a smart way. Here sms will be automatically arranged according to category. You can also track your expenses and income or due date.
5-LED Scroller
If you want to use your mobile phone as a fancy led screen then this application will work like a perfect led screen. You can scroll the text in this app on your own. Can control font, speed, size, everything.
To Download Visit My Site — Smallhelp4u | https://medium.com/@muneeb420/top-5-android-apps-top-5-android-apps-2021-b220ac559e26 | [] | 2021-04-13 11:31:37.330000+00:00 | ['Best Apps', 'Free', 'Top 5 Apps', 'Mod App', 'Apps'] |
Christmas Wrath: A Gritty Hallmark Holiday Movie Reboot | The Big Apple. Christmas Eve. Dirty snow. Yuppies walk the streets, pointing and laughing at homeless people. Rats are eating a Bloomingdale’s holiday display. Random man on a street corner is shooting a handgun into the air while laughing/screaming — no-one reacts.
COOKIE, a high-powered career woman, JOSEPH, her coworker/gay best friend, and their BOSS are working on Christmas Eve because godlessness.
COOKIE: Ugh, I hate Christmas. Also I haven’t gotten laid in weeks because I’m a feminist.
BOSS: Cookie, you are fired for being too good at your job. I’m going to visit a prostitute now. (leaves)
JOSEPH: Too bad about being fired, Cookie. At least now you have time to visit your folks!
COOKIE: (checking email) Oh shit, my parents just died in an unfortunate reindeer farm accident and left me their Christmas-themed B&B.
JOSEPH: Girl, let’s go to New England and get us some country dick!
Cut to rental car. COOKIE (driver) and JOSEPH (passenger) are alternately squinting at their GPS set for “Christmas Wreath, New England” and then out into the snow-ravaged countryside. A vaporwave cover of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” plays on the radio.
The town sign “Welcome to Christmas Wreath” has been defaced to read “cum to Christmas Wrath.” Once-charming stores display broken ornaments and “For Lease/Rent” signs. Dead vintage cars rust under snowdrifts. Tumbleweeds of tinsel roll across the road.
COOKIE and JOSEPH exit car, enter a combination artisanal candy shop/AMAZING adult superstore.
PROPRIETOR is watching “Russian Hoes + American Cucks 7” on the store’s flatscreen while popping taffy candies into his mouth. A screamo rendition of “White Christmas” is playing over the intercom.
JOSEPH: This is SO cute, you never see these kinds of shops anymore! (To PROPRIETOR) Is that a cruising spot behind the Turkish delight?
COOKIE: We need to know what happened to our adorable hometown. Also, I want to acknowledge that you are black.
PROPRIETOR: Yes, I’m the only black person with a speaking part in this movie. My role is to tell you white people that ever since the candy factory shut down, Christmas Wreath has fallen on hard times. Property values are in the toilet. The only reason I’m making ends meet with a porno shop is because most of the townsfolk think the internet is witchcraft — the last Comcast repairman who stopped by here got burnt at the stake.
COOKIE: Oh no, what am I going to do with my parents’ B&B? This is the worst Christmas ever!
PROPRIETOR: Can I interest you in some handcrafted chocolate truffles shaped like Stoya’s butthole?
COOKIE stomps into the “Hentai” section, runs straight into SHEPARD, her blandly handsome old high school boyfriend. Startled, SHEPARD drops the “I Dream of Fish Pussy” DVD he was holding.
COOKIE: Oh Shep, it’s been so long. You haven’t changed a bit!
SHEPARD: I heard about your folks’ brutal demise at the reindeer farm — does this mean you’re moving back to Christmas Wreath?
COOKIE: Hahaha — as if I could be happy HERE after experiencing champagne orgies and quail egg omelettes from Seamless!
SHEPARD: Stick around, Cookie — you might just change your city slicker mind.
JOSEPH: (pops head around corner) Let’s split, kiddies — I just got a beej from someone named Toothless Jack, and I am NOT interested in Round 2.
TOOTHLESS JACK: (hoarse voice from behind the Turkish delight display) Let… me… love… you…
Cut to Christmas Wreath B&B. COOKIE, JOSEPH, and SHEPARD find the front door locked with no key under the mat. SHEPARD pops open the lock with his Leatherman. COOKIE marvels at SHEPARD’S manly B&E skills.
COOKIE: Is there a woman in your life?
SHEPARD’S phone buzzes. He types a reply, then smiles at COOKIE.
SHEPARD: Not anymore.
COOKIE, SHEPARD, and JOSEPH enter B&B. Front hallway is littered with old Christmas debris. A grindcore version of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” plays in a distant room.
JOSEPH: This place smells like cat piss.
UNKNOWN: (booming voice from another room) Do I hear naughty children?
UNKNOWN enters hallway — a scary-looking fat man with a full white beard, wearing a ratty Santa Claus suit.
COOKIE: Uncle Gerry?
SHEPARD: Big Poppa Bearclaw?
JOSEPH: Excuse me, who is this hobo, and why does he look like Santa and smell like cheese?
SHEPARD: That’s Big Poppa Bearclaw — head of the Bearclaw Bikers.
COOKIE: AKA my ne’er-do-well Uncle Gerry!
SHEPARD: Big Poppa was our Macy’s Santa Claus for 23 years. After the Macy’s shut down, he’s never taken off the Santa suit.
COOKIE: Uncle Gerry, my parents forbid you to set foot in this house after you tried to turn this place into a turkey-fighting gambling den!
THE BEARCLAWS BIKERS emerge from the basement, wearing surgical masks and latex gloves.
BIG POPPA BEARCLAW: Well, Cookie, your parents aren’t around anymore to stop me, not after their (wiggles fingers) “accident.” But me and the boys are beyond bird-fighting now — we are moving our thriving meth lab into this house!
JOSEPH: I knew I smelled cat piss!
COOKIE: You’ll be hearing from my attorney, Uncle Gerry!
SHEPARD: (checking wristwatch) No time for lawyers this holiday season!
SHEPARD whips out a Colt AR-15 and blasts away BIG POPPA BEARCLAW and THE BEARCLAW BIKERS in a hail of bullets.
COOKIE: Goddamn it, Shep, how are we going to explain this to the cops?!?
SHEPARD: Watch.
A car screeches to a halt outside. SHEPARD calls 911.
SHEPARD: Operator, we’re at the Christmas Wreath B&B, there’s an active shooter, send help!
SHEPARD places the Colt AR-15 on the floor and scoots it to the threshold. Seconds later, a red-faced WOMAN in curlers with a sobbing CHILD on her hip bursts into the hallway.
WOMAN: Get away from my husband, you big city slut!
COOKIE: Brenda O’Malley? (to SHEPARD) Brenda from Dairy Queen, really?
BRENDA puts down CHILD and picks up the Colt AR-15, pointing it at Cookie.
BRENDA: You are a dead woman, Cookie!
BRENDA squeezes the trigger — the clip is empty.
THE POLICE bust in, disarm BRENDA and handcuff her.
BRENDA: (as THE POLICE drag her away) SEE YOU IN HELL, COOKIE!
Spotting mistletoe in the drawing room’s entryway, SHEPARD pulls COOKIE under it and kisses her passionately. CHILD wails louder.
COOKIE: Fuck, I’m a mom now. (Chucks phone out the front door into the snow.)
SHEPARD: Did I mention that I used to be the second-biggest meth dealer in Christmas Wreath?
COOKIE: And now?
SHEPARD pulls out a little box with a red bow on top. COOKIE opens it — inside is white powder and two tiny candy-striped straws.
SHEPARD: (smiling at the dead body of BIG POPPA BEARCLAW) Well, I guess I’m the biggest one now.
COOKIE: Oh Shep, fill me with the Christmas spirit!
COOKIE and SHEPARD each snort a bump of powder.
JOSEPH: (happy-crying) It’s a miracle — my best friend finding a real man on Christmas! If only we all could be so lucky!
TOOTHLESS JACK: (knocks, enters) I saw the flashing lights and thought this was the holiday underground rave.
JOSEPH: (sighs, breaks the 4th wall) Guess I’m on the hook for Round 2!
A neurofunk “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” intermingles with CHILD’S weeping while meth-smeared COOKIE and SHEPARD bang under mistletoe.
THE END | https://medium.com/the-haven/christmas-wrath-a-gritty-hallmark-holiday-movie-reboot-68246c553fd1 | ['Katherine Bergeron'] | 2019-12-21 03:16:47.018000+00:00 | ['Gritty', 'Spoof', 'Parody', 'Christmas', 'Hallmark'] |
Part 1: Beginners Guide to Natural Language Processing(NLP) on social media | EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS
I firstly performed exploratory data analysis to understand this dataset. Firstly, I tried to learn summary of the dataset and then checked which columns includes NA values. In fact, dimension of original data is 500x10 and it includes texts and numeric values. In addition, there exists blank rows and NA values in news data.
fb_posts.shape
fb_posts.info()
fb_posts.describe()
fb_posts.isnull().sum()
Then, I converted NA values in “reaction” columns to 0 and gathered number of total reactions into one column which is labeled as “Engagement” by reducing dimensionality.
fb_posts['Engagement']=fb_posts[['like','love','wow','haha','sorry','anger']].sum(axis=1) fb_posts_new=fb_posts.drop(['like','love','wow','haha','sorry','anger'],axis=1)
Before calculating total engagement, I analyzed types of engagement and it is obviously shown that although there are several kind of engagement, people prefer clicking ‘like’ button. The main reason was that liking is still as easy ever. You’ll see the ‘like’ button on each post, but now if you tap and hold on it, the ‘like’ will expand to engender a number of emotions: love, haha, wow, sorry, and anger. Also, ‘sorry’ and ‘anger’ button indicate which content of news are more intensive(negative news)
Figure 2: Distribution of Engagement
I just wondered whether length of message has a significant effect on engagement score.That’s why, I calculated word counts of every post and used Pearson correlation to understand relation between two continuous variables.
fb_posts_new['word_count'] = fb_posts_new['message'].apply(lambda x: len(str(x).split(" ")))
fb_posts_new['word_count'].corr(fb_posts_new['Engagement'])*100
output:-9.86 %
It can be seen that there wasn’t strong negative correlation between length of message and engagement.
Apart from that, I looked at which hours people have interacted with our posts more by using “created_time” column.
fb_posts_new['created_time']=pd.to_datetime(fb_posts_new['created_time'])
d = pd.to_datetime(fb_posts_new['created_time'], format='%y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%f')
fb_posts_new['Time'] = d.dt.time
fb_posts_new['Hour'] = d.dt.hour
Then, I aggregated engagements based on hours and drew a line graph showing hour vs engagement. (Hours are based on UTC)
time_postengagement=fb_posts_new.groupby('Hour').sum()
time_postengagement=pd.DataFrame(time_postengagement)
sns.set()
time_postengagement.plot()
Figure 3: Hour vs Engagement
The line plot indicates that posts on Facebook which are published at 11 A.M or 5 P.M tend to be interacted by people more. | https://medium.com/@abdullahsaka/part-1-beginners-guide-to-natural-language-processing-on-social-media-a0534e0c1adf | ['A. Tayyip Saka'] | 2019-09-12 16:17:15.632000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'NLP', 'Social Media', 'Exploratory Data Analysis', 'Facebook'] |
Mor Salkim Farm, Koycegiz, My new home… | Mary is Irish and her partner Aman is Turkish, they are a lovely couple. They moved here in April with a few animals in tow from Alanya, and have acquired a few more. So far we seem to have 8 dogs, 2 donkeys, 13 goats, a selection of chickens and turkeys and a cat.
The cat belongs to the owner of the farm, a guy called Kaya but he’s had an accident and can’t look after her at the moment so she’s staying in my room with me for the time being. She’s called Hurria, which means angel apparently. I love cats, so I’m very happy.
I’ve got a favourite dog too called Leila, who was a street dog.
There’s lots of dogs that live on the street here, like the cats in Rhodes, but its dogs here. People look after them and feed them, but they’re homeless for the most part. Now the restaurants are basically closed they’re getting hungry but they’re not aggressive. | https://medium.com/@yvetjm/mor-salkim-farm-koycegiz-my-new-home-dc4924589322 | ['Yvette Graham'] | 2020-12-27 14:37:40.193000+00:00 | ['Köyceğiz', 'Over 60s Womens Travel', 'Turkey', 'Dalyan', 'Türkçe'] |
How and why I did over 1000 Leetcode problems | Last year, I solved around 1200 leetcode problems, most of InterviewBit and some GeeksForGeeks as part of interview/placement preparation. I have also interviewed with a handful of companies and I want to share some things that I have learnt from the experience.
Disclaimer: This is a highly opinionated post of my experience and what worked for me. Because everyone learns differently, my methods may not work for you.
If you are in a hurry, you can skip to the 3rd section.
The Awakening
When we were preparing for JEE, parents and teachers gave the impression that after we get into a good college we are set for life and like most people I believed that. Therefore I spent my first 3 years of college getting good grades, doing fun projects, exploring stuff etc. However, at the end of 3rd year, I had a rude awakening. I hadn’t paid much attention to placements and companies till then. I got to know that most companies don’t care much about what we did in college. Our grades, projects, knowledge doesn’t matter much to them. Largely, they want us to be able to code and have problem-solving ability. Only 3 courses — DSA, Operating Systems and Databases matter. In fact, FAANG companies mainly only asked DSA problems in their interviews and have almost complete disregard for whatever else is present in the resume.
The fact that companies seem to focus on problem-solving can be a good or bad thing depending on perspective. From a positive perspective, anyone can work hard and get better at problem-solving. Yes, you read that, it isn’t as hard as it looks.
So I got to know one more thing, something like 50% of all problems asked in an interview is directly available in leetcode. Around 30% of the problems are very similar or modifications of questions found on leetcode. Only like 20% of questions are actually new. And with enough preparation, you can solve them as well. These numbers are from my personal and peer’s experiences.
That is why I decided to buckle up and embark on my journey to solve complete leetcode.
Why do companies focus on problem-solving?
I think it is important to understand why companies do their interviews the way they do them. So, the fact is that the big tech companies need to hire a lot of candidates. They also interview and hire globally. Their candidates and interviewers have very varied experience and knowledge. Therefore there is a need for a standardized interview process. The best that the industry has found is testing for coding skills and problem-solving ability. They believe that if the new hires are able to solve problems, they can learn and do anything.
In my opinion, smaller and mid-sized companies should hire differently. However, most of them seem to be copying their big counterparts.
How did I get started?
I had a headstart, I knew C++ fairly well and I was strong with DSA concepts because my college course was very good. However, I didn’t have STL knowledge (C++ Standard Template Library) and I wasn’t familiar with interview-style questions. I recommend solving problems only after being familiar with a programming language and learning the basic DSA concepts.
I started solving with Python and then shifted to C++. If you haven’t picked a language yet, I recommend C++ or Python. I don’t recommend Java due to the verbose nature of the language. Fix a language and code only in that language.
That's it, I just started solving leetcode problems. I started solving the easy problems first. They teach STL skills and give confidence. They also teach some simple tricks which can be combined to solve medium and harder problems.
I spent like 8 hours a day on leetcode. It went slow for a few days but soon I was able to solve with an average throughput of 10 problems a day. On some good days, I even solved 30 problems. How was this possible? I followed some principles which might help you do the same.
Principle 1: Solve every problem
There are so many easy leetcode problems that anyone can solve. Do NOT skip over them. Solve them as fast as you can and move forward. And by solving, I mean actually writing the code and getting all test cases passed.
Principle 2: Read Solution + Discussion
Wrote code on your own and got all test cases passed? Congrats! However, that is not the end, it is very important to read the solution and discussions. More often than not there will be more than one approach to solve the problem. It is important to understand all the approaches.
Leetcode discussion community is very good. Sort by most voted and pick any of the top few answers. Make sure you check out their code as well. The top coders write code very elegantly. There is a lot to learn from them even if you get the solution. Also reading the explanation will give you ideas on how to explain in the interview.
Principle 3: Do not spend more than 5–10 minutes thinking
This might be a controversial opinion. According to me, you will only have a maximum of 10 minutes in an online test to think of a solution and less than 20 minutes to implement it. In an interview, you will have even less time as you will need to explain your approach, code and dry run etc. So if in the actual test you have less time, you should prepare accordingly.
What I did was this, after 5 minutes, I give up and check the solution. If I don’t understand the solution, I bookmark it as red and leave it. If I understand the solution, I bookmark it as yellow.
After a week or two, I come back and solve the yellow ones. This time I try to recollect the solution and solve it myself. If I fail, then I read the solution again and come back later. Most of the times I succeeded to recollect the solution. This is extremely effective because it will feel like I got the solution myself and I would feel confident I can solve similar questions now.
Some advantages of this principle are:
You didn't spend too much time “thinking” You understood the solution fast, it feels like progress If you recollect and implement it later, the concept will be ingrained in the mind Throughput — number of problems solved / day will be high Overall morale will be good because you are not spending time stuck
Principle 4: Solve problems of the same topic together
There are 2 approaches to solving problems. I practised both.
Mix different topics and solve them
This has the advantage of not getting bored. Moreover, an important part of problem-solving is identifying the topic.
Solve problems of the same topic together
This can get boring but has some advantages from the learning perspective.
High throughput — e.g. if you have already solved a binary search problem, you can solve similar binary search problems fast. Pattern recognition — e.g. you will be able to recognize the different types of DP problems. Confidence and Morale — even if you take help for the first type of problem, you are able to solve the next type of problem quickly.
Leetcode suggests similar problems after successfully solving a problem. I have found these suggestions to be very accurate and helpful.
Leetcode Similar Problems
Principle 5: Practice, Practice, Practice!
There is no shortcut, I practised a lot. I regularly solved some important problems I have already solved just to make sure they are at my fingertips.
How many problems should I target?
In my experience after solving 300–500 problems, you should be able to clear interviews in very good companies. If you solve 1000+ problems, you can clear any company!
Leetcode has a difficulty ratio of 1:2:1 for easy, medium and hard problems. I find the hard problems quite hard. They are rarely asked in an interview, so it is okay to skip them and just solve the popular hard questions. I solved the problems in the ratio of 2:4:1.
Don’t worry too much about what problems you solve but make sure you do solve a good number of medium problems because they are the ones that are regularly asked in an interview.
Leetcode Contests
After getting confidence in solving problems, I started doing leetcode contests. This is important because you will have pressure and time constraint in a coding round. So leetcode contests can help simulate that.
Bonus Giveaway
I wanted to give back to the community, so I made 2 things that can help prepare better.
Leetcode Preparation Sheet
This sheet can help you prepare more effectively. It sorts the question based on the popularity and quality of the question. Check the READ ME sheet to understand how to use the sheet. This was prepared by my junior Saiakash Konidena with my guidance.
Link: Leetcode Preparation Sheet
Leetcode Preparation Google Sheet
Interview Bit Chrome Extension
InterviewBit has an excellent list of curated problems. I highly recommend solving them especially if you have less time. However, they have a very poor question and solution description. Even their user interface is subpar. Therefore I built an extension that maps interview bit questions to leetcode ones.
Link: Chrome Webstore
Leetcode Links in InterviewBit site
Conclusion
That's it! This journey was a rollercoaster ride and it took over a year to complete. However, it is completely worth it. Problem-solving rounds are present even for higher positions and therefore this skill will help in the long run.
These were some of the principles that I developed while I was preparing for coding rounds. I am planning to write a blog post on how to prepare for an interview and some important tips. Stay tuned!
If you would like to do a mock interview with me, register for one at https://proxyprep.tech/ | https://medium.com/@satviksr/how-and-why-i-did-over-1000-leetcode-problems-b236a3f887c9 | ['Satvik Ramaprasad'] | 2021-06-15 06:38:07.138000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Problem Solving', 'Leetcode', 'Interview', 'Coding Interviews'] |
How to Compare Sentiments for Movies with Amazon Comprehend in R? — a Use Case for AWS Machine Learning Services | Now let’s get started! My favourite movie of the year is “The Social Dilemma (2020)”, and I am going to use this movie as an example. It is a documentary that explores the rise of social media and the damage it brings to today’s society. I found this movie to be rather alarming to today’s young generation and I am very curious about how the others think of this movie!
The Official Netflix Trailer of “The Social Dilemma”
First, we would like to scrape comments from this movie’s official trailer in R. To access YouTube’s metadata like comments, views, likes, and dislikes are simple by using the “tuber” package. It is an easy-to-use package for accessing the YouTube data API. Below is the R code:
R Script for Scrapping Comments from YouTube Video
Next, we would like to find a video review on “The Social Dilemma (2020)” and download it from MP3.
The most Popular Review of “The Social Dilemma”
Meanwhile, go to Amazon S3, and create a S3 bucket, and then store the converted MP3 into the S3 bucket.
R Script for Creating S3 Bucket and Storing File
After that, we need to go to Amazon Transcribe, fetch the file from S3 bucket, and run the speech-to-text function. You should get an output similar to this after if successfully run:
AWS Transcribe Output
And then go to Amazon Transcribe, convert our MP3 speech to text, and load it to R studio (remember to limit your character numbers within 5000 for later sentiment analysis)
R Script for Loading Converted Text
Next, I found one English movie review site here on “The Social Dilemma (2020)”:
And below is a review article from a French movie review site — Moustique:
We would like to scrape both of the online article using Google Chrome’s add-ins: SelectorGadget. And then use R package “rvest” to paste the HTML nodes into R studio. Don’t forget to take a look at your inputs before proceeds, as there might be some cleanings you need to do given the websites you have picked. Below is the R code block showing the whole process in R. In the very end, I also choose to translate the French review into English for later comparison.
R Script for Scrapping and Cleaning
Finally, let us use Amazon Comprehend in R to check the tone of the reviews, and complete the sentiment analysis in R. Let’s see how the reviews are different from site to site:
R Script for Language Detection
R Results for Language Detection
R Script for Sentiment Analysis
R Results for Sentiment Analysis
L et us take a look at our results here in R output. We could find that more than half (65%) of people who commented under the movie’s official trailer have positive sentiments toward this movie. Around 5% of people have negative sentiments, 12% of people have neutral sentiments, and the rest are in the mixed sentiments category. From the movie review video, 62% are in the negative sentiments category, only 5% are in the positive, and 7% are in the neutral. From the New York Times review article, 68% of them are in the neutral category, only 5% in positive, and 7% in negative. Similarly, the article from French site, Moustique, has 94% neutral sentiments, and 6% negative.
Sentiment categories from Different Sources
Overall Sentiment Toward the Movie
Overall, I would say the results are a bit surprising. Clearly, people have mixed feeling towards this movie. One reason could be that this is a documentary on the dangerous human impact of social networking. People may have more critical thoughts on contents like this.
I also put two “ggplot” graphs to have a more visual views of the results. We can see that overall, we have a neutral sentiment towards this movie from the four sources where people have comments and reviews, despite the fact that from the trailer, more people have a positive sentiment. Also bear in mind that in this analysis, I only use the first 3000 characters from the sources due to limitations from the sentiment analysis, and that might cause bias to some extend in our analysis. | https://medium.com/@xinqiwang207/how-to-compare-sentiments-for-movies-with-amazon-comprehend-in-r-16eb5aa498a1 | ['Xinqi Wang'] | 2020-12-02 20:37:57.510000+00:00 | ['Web Scraping', 'The Social Dilemma', 'Machine Learning', 'R', 'AWS'] |
Optimization: Ordinary Least Squares Vs. Gradient Descent — from scratch | Now back to our optimization problem that we defined using OLS. Let’s do the solution using Gradient Descent. Again, the loss function will be the same. But this time we will be iterating step-by-step to reach the optimal point. W start with any arbitrary values of the weights and check the gradient at the point. Our aim is to reach the minima which is the valley bottom. So our gradient should be negative always.
Next, we need to update the weights to get them closer to the minima. We have the following equation for it:
This means that weight in next iteration will be weight in previous iteration minus the update. Now this update has 2 components: direction — which is the slope or the gradient, and the value — which is the step size. The gradient will be:
So if at our initial weights, the slope is negative, we are in the right direction. We just need to increase the value of the weights to get it closer. That is exactly what the above equation does. If the slope is negative at the particular point, the second term gets added to the value of weights in previous iteration. Conversely, if it is positive, that means we need to go in the opposite direction to get to the minima. In this case, the equation subtracts the second term from the value of weights in the previous equation. Neat.
The second component we need to consider is the step size — α. This is a Hyperparameter which you need to decide prior to the start of the algorithm. If the α is too large then your optimizer will be jumping big leaps and never find the minima. Conversely, if you set it to be too small, the optimizer will take it forever to reach the minima. Hence we need to set an optimum value for α beforehand.
If you understood correctly, you would appreciate that the gradient we are talking about here is essentially the Sum of Error. And by we are in essence taking a fraction of that error. And we are propagating that error to update our weights.
Therefore, our equation for weight update becomes:
So let’s jot down the clear steps we performed:
Initiate the values of the weights W0, W1 — which can be any value and the step size α — which needs to be a good value. Find the predictions of target Ŷ = W0 + W1.X for all X. Calculate the error values (Ŷ-Y) and the MSE. Update the weights as per the Gradient Descent update rule. Repeat 2–4.
This is known as Batch Gradient Descent as we are taking the error of the complete batch or the data set per iteration. We also have the following variants of Gradient Descent:
Stochastic Gradient Descent , where the updates in the weights are done in every iteration
, where the updates in the weights are done in every iteration Mini Batch Gradient Descent, which is a midway between Batch and Stochastic, divides the complete data set into mini batches and then applies weight updates after each batch.
Now finally let’s get all of this done in a few lines of code in Python!
Let’s begin by initializing our tiny little data set:
Now onto Step 1, initializing weights and the step size which I have chosen as 0.04. You can try tweaking the value and see the results for yourself:
After initializing, we iterate through the complete data set multiple times and calculate Mean Square error per iteration and update the weights:
So we iterate 10 times and hope that our algorithm has converged sufficiently. Let’s take a look at our final weights and see how close they got to our OLS solution:
Pretty close! Now let’s check the predicted target variable, Ŷ and the Error:
As you can see the predicted variable got pretty close to the actual values. Finally, let’s plot the Mean Square Error values per iteration and see how did our algorithm performed:
Great! So we covered : | https://towardsdatascience.com/https-medium-com-chayankathuria-optimization-ordinary-least-squares-gradient-descent-from-scratch-8b48151ba756 | ['Chayan Kathuria'] | 2019-11-25 05:43:58.791000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Optimization', 'Gradient Descent', 'Linear Regression', 'Data Science'] |
Inner Machinations: Entry_022. | Inner Machinations: Entry_022.
I was able to get out of the house in the morning to bike with my dad to MOA. It’s the first time I’ve been out, like really out, you know. It was a good experience. My legs kinda hurt, but that goes without saying, since I only really had two practice bike rides before tackling this long ride. I felt my brain hurting like hell at the end of the bike ride. Maybe it was because of the heat, since it was nearing lunchtime already. But now, I’m fairly okay.
I got a scratch wound because of an incident that happened before we arrived at MOA. My dad told me that the road that we were in at the time was a place where we could peddle like hell, so I kinda did that, but decided to stop midway cause my legs kinda started hurting. My limit was still low, of course. And then, I hear my dad’s voice at the back, shouting something to me that I couldn’t understand. So I stopped and hit the breaks, and through reflex, used my feet to sort of add to the breaks as well. My back of my legs got hit by the peddles, and my left leg has a scratch on it. Nothing that serious, of course. But still, this event was a clear sign that my dad has a sort of daredevil-side to him.
I’ve never been much of a daredevil, really. I get scared when things get tough. I will take on challenges only if I’m certain that I could do it. But if the odds are against me, I would definitely not fucking push my odds, and think rationally of the situation. Yesterday’s mishap was just an example of “oops!”.
In other news, I’m fucking annoyed already with the Pokemon Ruby Nuzlocke Challenge that I’m currently in the middle of doing. Like, the play-through’s not the fucking problem. It’s the fucking shitty computers at my disposal that seem to make things boring, dull, tedious, and overall feel like a waste of fucking time.
In other news, again, Mandalorian Season 2 is almost done, so I might watch an episode tonight. But also one last thing to say is that I’m now in the process of doing another Red Rescue Team Play-through. But this time, it’s on hard mode. (No Maps, Perma-Death, and I can only recruit the first pokemon that wants to be recruited in each dungeon). | https://medium.com/@elmohidalgo/inner-machinations-entry-022-c88c7c3b7082 | ['Elmo Hidalgo'] | 2020-12-17 16:29:48.227000+00:00 | ['Journal', 'Journaling', 'Writing', 'Gaming', 'Pokemon'] |
What you should know about Fei | What you should know about Fei
Understanding the risks and mechanisms of the system Brianna Montgomery Follow Mar 31 · 4 min read
This is the Fei (art by @vmedium & @rodrigosalcedov)
FEI is a highly scalable, decentralized, and reserve-backed stablecoin that can meet DeFi’s needs without relying on centralized assets for collateral. We are humbled by the community that has formed around Fei Protocol. With the upcoming launch of Fei Protocol Genesis on March 31, we want to ensure that our growing community is familiar with exactly how the protocol works, and associated risks.
Direct Incentives
Fei Protocol uses direct incentives to penalize trades away from the peg and reward trades towards the peg. The net effect is deflation, which helps modulate the FEI supply.
Direct Incentives are powerful and magical tools that must be understood deeply
Dynamic fees on FEI selling through direct incentives is a new pattern in DeFi. For example, Uniswap’s interface might show a price of $0.98 for selling FEI, but with the 4% burn for being below the peg, it effectively becomes a price of $0.94. (Read more: Uniswap Incentive Sell/Burn). The user cannot view the burn amount via the Uniswap interface. However, upon trade execution the burn is treated the same as slippage. The slippage parameter Uniswap sets indirectly protects against unexpected large burns. This means the user would never receive less than the amount they opt for, even with direct incentives. Note also that supplying liquidity incurs a burn as if the FEI transferred was sold. Once the protocol is live, people can go to the Fei Protocol app’s trading interface to determine any burn or mint that might apply on their trade.
We strongly recommend people use the Fei Protocol app to trade between ETH and FEI to see the incentive amounts
The burn can be severe, with up to 100% of the trade size at a 10% distance from the peg. This means if you need to sell FEI in a quick time frame during a period of high sell pressure, you could incur a significant burn penalty. FEI’s stability mechanisms are geared towards long-term holding.
Direct incentives only apply to incentivized exchanges. FEI will utilize the Uniswap incentivized ETH-FEI pair starting at the conclusion of Genesis. All other exchanges and transfers should exhibit normal behavior.
Collateral Risk
At launch, Fei Protocol will use only ETH as the reserve currency. This design decision is core to Fei Protocol’s commitment to decentralization. However, the volatility of the ETH price could potentially lead to an undesirable collateralization ratio.
The white paper discusses the conditions under which the collateral ratio continues to improve or decrease in response to selling pressure. In short, if demand falls faster than the burns captured by direct incentives, Fei Protocol will decrease collateralization over that period. Reweights will step in to restore the price by using Protocol Controlled Value (PCV) to buy and burn FEI. In a serious crisis, the Fei DAO could need to step in and restore a healthy collateralization ratio by minting TRIBE tokens to burn FEI and recapitalize.
If ETH suffers a significant and rapid drop in value, the system could struggle to function properly
Along the way, the Fei DAO can take steps to diversify PCV by implementing bonding curves in stable decentralized assets like DAI and RAI. Fei Protocol can generate an additional collateralization buffer by investing in yield generating opportunities through Yearn and lending markets.
Contract Risk
OpenZeppelin has completed a 15 person week audit of Fei Protocol (OpenZeppelin Audit Report). Additionally, ConsenSys Diligence performed a secondary audit of the critical components (ConsenSys Diligence Audit Report). | https://medium.com/fei-protocol/what-you-should-know-about-fei-3ccffd4a4bb6 | ['Brianna Montgomery'] | 2021-04-02 22:14:23.855000+00:00 | ['Ethereum Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Stablecoin Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Defi'] |
America Ignores Its Own Climate Change Assessment | You may have heard that the United States government recently published a report on climate change. Although it is also likely that you heard nothing because the Trump administration dismissed the report’s findings, along with its underlying science. Notwithstanding Trump’s ignorance and apathy, we all need to pay attention and heed these latest warnings.
By way of background, the Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (“USGCRP”) deliver a report to Congress and the President no less than every four years that 1) integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program; 2) analyzes the effects of global change (e.g., effects on the natural environment, agriculture, etc.); and 3) analyzes current trends in global change.
The USGCRP recently published its Fourth National Climate Assessment (the “Assessment”) to fulfill this mandate. This Assessment has been published over the course of two volumes, the first of which focused on the underlying science and was published in 2017. The second volume was published two weeks ago and hones in on the human welfare, societal, and environmental elements of climate change. In particular, it focused on the variability of impact for 10 regions and 18 national topics, including observed and projected risks, and considerations for risk reduction.
To grasp the dire message from this Assessment, one only needs to read the first sentence: “Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities.” Despite this powerful opening, and the strong supporting evidence and analysis further summarized below, the Trump administration has done everything to try to bury the findings of its own federal government report. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders even said, “We think that this is the most extreme version and it’s not based on facts. It’s based on –it’s not data-driven. We’d like to see something that is more data-driven.”
Data-driven? The Assessment is based on peer-reviewed scientific literature, and the authors used “well-established and carefully evaluated observational and modeling datasets, technical input reports, USGCRP’s sustained assessment products, and a suite of scenario products.” All sources met the standards of the Information Quality Act, which requires federal government agencies to employ sound science when disseminating information. Sounds data-driven to me!
And who were the authors of the Assessment? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) served as the administrative lead for the Assessment’s preparation, and a Federal Steering Committee, composed of representatives from USGCRP agencies, oversaw its development. A team of more than 300 federal and non-federal experts (e.g., national laboratories, universities, etc.) volunteered their time to produce the Assessment. Regional engagement workshops connected with over 1,000 individuals in over 40 cities, while listening sessions, webinars, and public comment periods provided valuable input to the authors. These participants included public and private sectors decision-makers (e.g., environmental managers, scientists, educators, etc.). If that is not a robust and qualified group of authors, I don’t know who would qualify.
The Trump administration’s asinine comments aside, even though the impacts of climate change are already being felt in the United States and are likely to intensify in the near future, their future severity will depend largely on the societal response. Will we take actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? How will we adapt to the changes that inevitably occur?
The Assessment articulates how, based on its findings, climate change risks will only continue to worsen without additional action. It also makes clear that current global and regional efforts to mitigate the causes of climate change (e.g., burning of fossil fuels) do not approach the scale required to avoid substantial damage to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decade. The morbid reality is that this catastrophic risk is staring us straight in the face, while America’s leaders act with extreme recklessness and willful blindness of scientific proof, even when this proof comes from their own government agencies.
Thankfully the same is not true of other world leaders. In a joint declaration released on December 1, 2018, leaders of the G20 nations reaffirmed their commitment to addressing climate change through the Paris Agreement — with the exception of the United States. A G20 communique explained how America reiterated its position to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and retains the right to use all sources and technologies for economic growth, energy access, and security, while protecting the environment.
Given the calamitous climate risks facing humanity, America’s response is not sufficient. It is not emblematic of the supposed “leader of the free world.” As evidenced by the recent Assessment, we no longer have the luxury of assuming that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past. Modern civilization has never experienced the current meteoric rise in global average temperature, which can only be explained by the effects that human activities (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions) have had on the climate.
The unique risks posed by climate change vary by region and sector, along with the vulnerability of people experiencing impacts. Not surprisingly, low-income communities, minority groups, children, and the elderly, are the some of the people most at risk. The effects of climate change will only exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities, whether it is through famine, drought, or natural disasters. Some of these effects include:
Extreme high temperatures and heavy precipitation events;
Shrinking of glaciers and snow cover, including the retreat of sea ice;
Warming and rising of the world’s oceans, which are becoming more acidic, forcing marine species to move to cooler waters;
Increased flooding along the United States coastline; and
Higher occurrence of wildfires, hurricanes, and other climate-related natural disasters
The observed changes as a result of greenhouse gas emissions are seemingly endless. Although natural factors can influence how much of the sun’s energy enters and leaves Earth’s atmosphere, and how natural climate cycles and weather patterns have an impact in the short term, the Assessment unequivocally states that “greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the only factors that can account for the observed warming over the last century.” Scientists have not discovered any credible alternative cause or explanation to date that is supported by data and observational evidence. In fact, the Assessment found that without human activities, based on the influence of natural factors alone, the last 50 years should have caused a slight cooling effect on the global climate.
What this means is that humans must change their behavior on both the global and community levels. Perhaps the best way to affect change is by hitting people where it matters most — their wallet. Putting a price on carbon through a tax or other means, or developing programs like Cap-and-Trade in California (signed by a Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger), would be a great start. If America continues to do nothing and fails to lead on this issue, we will put future generations at unimaginable risk.
The Assessment concludes that: “the evidence of human-caused climate change is overwhelming and continues to strengthen, that the impacts of climate change are intensifying across the country, and that climate-related threats to Americans’ physical, social, and economic well-being are rising.” If that conclusion from an esteemed group of scientists is not enough to convince willfully blind Americans and other climate deniers around the world, nothing will until it’s too late. | https://medium.com/the-millennial-republican/america-ignores-its-own-climate-change-assessment-5891570eaa02 | ['Sebastian Stone'] | 2018-12-04 01:23:06.002000+00:00 | ['Global Warming', 'United States', 'Climate Change', 'Environment', 'Donald Trump'] |
da dor que vai a coisa que sai | 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/an-idea/da-dor-que-vai-a-coisa-que-sai-65960f967591 | ['Luiz Carlos González'] | 2020-12-17 16:54:23.741000+00:00 | ['Pain', 'Life', 'Writing', 'Poetry', 'Heartbreak'] |
How to build an email list for free and from scratch in 2020 | Picture from DigitalBug
According to a few biggies in this online industry, having an email list has seen 4300 per cent return on investment for big businesses in the USA. There is no doubt that having an email list in 2020 is extremely important for any type of online business If you don’t know what is an email list and how to create it, stick to end of this article to learn how to build an email list for free.
Why build an email list?
Now those who are in the online market for quite a long time they know the importance of email list but for those who are beginner, remember this, the importance of email lit is far beyond your Instagram follower, Facebook follower or any other social media perse.
People in your email list opted for themselves, which means they are genuinely interested in your product or service.
You can build a strong customer relationship with your subscriber by sending them informational content regularly.
People on your email list are more filtered out meaning they are more interested in your products than those on your Instagram and Facebook.
Your sales conversion rate probability will increases as they are more prone to close a deal.
1. Offer free incentive or value to people in exchange for their email address
If you think it’s just an email and people will give it to you easily, then you are wrong. If getting emails would have been so easy, you would definitely not reading this article and neither I would be creating one.
Everybody wants something in exchange, so you need to either offer them free eBook or free tutorial or something for free relevant to the visitor.
Check some of the email pop-ups images below. (slide right)
If you are wondering how to create such email pop-ups, it fairly easy. There are many email marketing tools providing such features for free.
Visit this: How to create an email subscription pop-up(Step-by-step)
Listing some of the best Email Marketing tools:
Using the above tools and making the best use of them will help you to build an email list for free.
2. Create an attractive landing page/funnel.
Building a landing page is one of the sure-shot technique for grabbing the email address of your visitors. Also, if you have a well-structured landing page, you can easily convince your subscriber and sell your products or services directly from the landing page itself.
Now to build an attractive yet simple landing page, you can use free and best page builder which is Elementor or nowadays many email marketing tool are providing pre-built landing pages templates which you can just drag and drop and use it on your websites.
Some marketing tools such as GetResponse and AWeber provide one of the best landing page template in the market and that too for FREE. Try it out.
3. Tag and Segment your audience appropriately
Every marketing tool provides a tagging feature which means you can segment your audience according to their subscription.
Picture from DigitalBug
Let’s understand this with an example. Let’ say you have different subscription pop-ups on your website, one is for a Free Course and the other for your daily newsletter subscription. Now in future, you want to send your free course to the people who subscribed for the same. If you don’t have a segmentation, you wouldn’t know whom to send what and this will create confusion.
4. Adding pop-ups to different places of your website using Hello Bar
Once the visitor has landed to your website, you don’t want to miss the opportunity of not having his emails. For that, you have to display simple yet attractive email subscription pop-up at different places of your website.
Now there are may tool out there which help you to create subscription pop-up easily. If you are a newbie and don’t have much idea, just go and use Hello Bar. It has the easiest interface and even a newbie can easily create an email pop-up with few clicks.
If you are a bit experienced, go with Convertful or AWeber as they provide more advance features.
Learn More : Create email pop-up using Convertful
5. Don’t use too much promotional content in your email copy
The main goal to build an email list for free is to increase your sale/conversion and for that, you need to send some promotional emails. But if you write an email which looks like a sales pitch or a promotional email rather than informational, your click-through rate will decrease and the chance of landing your email to spam folder might increase.
So try structuring your email in such a way that it looks like an informational or content filled article and try to implement your sales within it.
Click here to learn more about email writing.
6. Avoid using images and HTML to ensure high inbox delivery
You might have seen many emails which are having images and infographics more than text. Now, this is not a good way to send an email and there is a high chance those email would land up in the spam or promotional folder of visitor account.
But this doesn’t mean that you can’t use it at all. You can use it but don’t overdo it.
Also, try to use plain text as much as possible as it increases the probability of delivering your message directly into the primary folder of your visitors.
7. Conducting free webinars
The webinar has become a new trend or technique to do online business in 2020. Nowadays along with the emails and videos, people have gone one step ahead and started conducting live webinars so that people can join and decide for themselves it’s good for them or not. Now even at the end of the webinar, the host was able to make a sale or not, either way, they have definitely captured the email address of the attendees.
Click here to read the full article. | https://medium.com/@high-himanshu/how-to-build-an-email-list-for-free-and-from-scratch-in-2020-a5f8d9ee5622 | ['Himanshu Shekhar'] | 2020-12-23 17:49:03.298000+00:00 | ['Email Marketing', 'Digital Marketing Agency', 'Digital Marketing', 'WordPress', 'Digital Marketing Tips'] |
March | MICRO POETRY
March
Micropoetry about changing times
Photo by Mohammad Ali Jafarian on Unsplash
“Every storm runs out of rain.” — Maya Angelou
Winter is tired;
she longs to lie down
in the arms of spring
among the sweet
white blossoms
and the ripening buds
of new beginnings. | https://medium.com/scribe/march-baaf1e92a1b9 | ['Caroline Mellor'] | 2020-12-06 15:03:14.959000+00:00 | ['March', 'Hope', 'Poetry', 'Change', 'Micropoetry'] |
3 Simple Ways By Which You Could Clean Your Curtains | Buying and hanging curtains may not seem like a difficult job. But maintaining them certainly is. In this world of busy schedules and workload, finding time to clean your house is putting it mildly. But there are some easy ways by which you could definitely clean your custom curtains in Toronto.
Vacuuming: This is one of the easiest processes to clean your curtains. If you are thinking about dealing with the dust every week, then you surely need a vacuum. Use a cleaning system which is lightweight. It should also have a large extension reaching the top of the curtain for cleaning purposes.
Shake: Before you clean your curtains, make sure that you shake them well. Custom curtains in Toronto should be shaken. This makes the dirt particles that are there get dislodged. After this, you could vacuum to clear away anything if left. Many curtains could attract lint or fabric fibers. They could remain there even after vacuuming if you are not careful. To make sure that they are gone use a lint brush to remove them. Flat the curtains out and then do the necessary job.
Steam Brush: This is a new technique which is now frequently used. You could use this to remove the grease and the unwanted stains that are there. You cannot remove them with vacuum, thus the power of steam would be helpful. It requires minimum hard work. And you have to gently roll the steam power device so that the steam penetrates the custom curtains in Toronto.
If you are using detergents and other chemicals be sure that you read the user guide. This would make sure that the detergent is suitable for that kind of curtain material or not. If you see that you do not need professional help to not take it. Cleaning them with clear would definitely give you the results that you want. | https://medium.com/@boostpills/3-simple-ways-by-which-you-could-clean-your-curtains-36e204af6cdd | ['Avery Grace'] | 2019-03-27 06:29:53.823000+00:00 | ['Home Decor', 'Home', 'Home Improvement', 'Blinds Manufacturer'] |
Solarwinds Orion and Sunburst | Introduction
US departments of Commerce and Treasury were victims to the same threat vector that was exploited at FireEye. As organizations that have Solarwinds Orion installed conduct forensics on their environment, we will see the impacts of this backdoor. Brian Krebs has posted a list of organizations that were using Orion in this blogpost U.S. Treasury, Commerce Depts. Hacked Through SolarWinds Compromise
Solarwinds recently filed an SEC report indicating that, while they have over 300,000 customers, fewer than 18,000 customers were running the trojanized version of the Orion software.
My post, Asset Management! Why is it Important in Cyber Security? highlights the importance of asset management and this attack is the prime example.
Who was behind this attack?
The stealth with which the perpetrators executed this attack has the signatures of Cozy Bear or APT29. Which seems to operate with a light malware footprint, avoids detection, prioritizing stealth, and going at lengths to blend with normal network activity. was behind this attack. APT29 is believed to the supported by Russia’s SVR or FSB.
However, it is still unclear who was behind this attack. Security researchers a busy pinning the tail on the donkey and are calling this donkey what they will. For instance, FireEye is calling this APT UNC2452, whereas Palo Alto Unit42 is calling it SolarStorm. to avoid crediting the wrong APT.
What should the customers do?
The backdoor, Sunburst, was introduced in Solarwinds Orion software builds 2019.4HF → 2020.1.1 which were released between March 2020 and June 2020.
Solarwinds is advising its clients to update to version 2020.2.1.HF2, which is scheduled to be released on 15th December 2020.
Microsoft and FireEye have already released updates to their security platforms to detect and neutralize Sunburst.
How did this happen?
This is by far the most sophisticated supply-chain attack. FireEye calls this malware sunburst
This malware has been embedded in SolarWinds.Orion.Core.BusinessLayer.dll by AP29 around March 2020. The impacted builds are 2019.4HF → 2020.1.1 which were released between March 2020 and June 2020.
This malware remains dormant for up to a period of two weeks, after which it wakes up and makes contact to a domain avsvmcloud[.]com to retrieve and execute commands. The capabilities include the ability to transfer and execute files, reboot ad disable systems services on the target host. To avoid detection all communications are masqueraded as the Orion Improvement Program (OIP) protocol.
It has been observed delivering multiple payloads, mostly focused on memory-only droppers, such as the FireEye-dubbed TEARDROP and Cobalt Strike BEACON.
References | https://medium.com/security-privacy-risk-management-blockchain/solarwinds-orion-and-sunburst-55c00c7a7c5b | ['Shahid Sharif'] | 2020-12-15 13:25:01.212000+00:00 | ['Solarwinds', 'Sunburst', 'Trojan', 'Vulnerability', 'Backdoor'] |
Welcome to MAC—A Message from Chair, Julian Domanico | Headshot Credit: Helena Raju Photography
After four years of service on the City of Philadelphia’s Millennial Advisory Committee (MAC), I am grateful, but more so humbled to be appointed as Chair. I take seriously this role to steward MAC’s efforts to affect positive change within Philadelphia. Now, after a fruitful recruitment and onboarding process that added 10 new members from across the city, we have doubled our capacity. MAC and I recommit ourselves to advocating on behalf of those who have historically been — and continue to be — excluded or oppressed by our social and economic systems. To that end, we encourage organizations of all sizes throughout Philadelphia, as well as individuals dedicated to fostering young leadership, to work alongside us in the fight for justice and antiracism across sectors through Philadelphia’s recovery from the pandemic and beyond.
MAC will continue advocating within municipal government on behalf of our generation — and those young at heart — by amplifying and convening around ideas, resources, and initiatives that reach the communities we not only serve, but come from.
So, where do we go from here? MAC has a new organizational structure that has further enabled us to be nimble, allowing us to be more responsive to the needs of the community. We will do this by focusing on four pillars: (1) Legislative Transparency, (2) Civic Education and GOTV Efforts, (3) Community Collaborations, and (4) Millennial Spotlights.
As millennials, we value transparency — understanding how, why, and by whom decisions are made. A 2017 study by Forbes found that out of 2,000 millennial consumers, 94% of respondents said transparency breeds loyalty. When millennial consumers changed their behaviors in favor of increased or complete transparency, 56% said they were likely to stay loyal for life.
Through MAC’s first pillar, Legislative Transparency, we will share in layman’s terms and in various languages, through testimony, pop-up activities in the community, and more, the impact of bills working their way through our city council or the state legislature. By being better adept at following the movement of bills that have impact on our lives, MAC can better inform our next pillar: Civic Education and GOTV Efforts.
Elections have consequences and a lack of civic education matters. Philadelphia will be better able to retain and attract millennials (and younger) if they are more civically engaged now. We know that youthful perspectives, in particular, are an important barometer for the health of communities. Millennials have begun to settle down, build roots, and juggle the needs of today with the wants of tomorrow. By being more deeply educated on how our city runs, young people will continue building a sense of ownership and pride for our communities. When one knows how to stay connected — in ways that leave their mark — through accessible points of entry, there becomes an inherent deeper care of their community.
A 2010 study by Zaff et al. in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence found that engagement that maximizes the impact at both individual and community levels increases a sense of civic duty, confidence in one’s abilities to foster change, and active involvement for the purpose of being a part of their community, connected to it and its members, and having relationships with both of them.
Through our second pillar, Civic Education and GOTV Efforts, MAC will add its own spin on tying opportunities for learning with culturally competent and conscious activities. Through initiatives that demystify how laws are made, the structure of government, and the impact of proposed policy, MAC will help meaningfully connect millennial Philadelphians to information and resources necessary to effectively advocate for themselves and the future of all of our communities. By sharing ways millennials can support our own communities, MAC helps to open the door for our penultimate pillar.
MAC’s third pillar, Community Collaborations, seeks to amplify the resources and programs around Philadelphia that make a difference in the lives of youth over the long term. We will work with any mission-aligned group that seeks justice and works to build an antiracist future. In doing so, MAC challenges the notion that Philadelphia’s communities who experience marginalization lack deep roots of hard-working, caring organizations and people who make a felt difference daily. In the past, MAC has been privileged to collaborate with the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association Coalition (SEAMAAC), African Family Health Organization (AFHO), the Anti-Violence Partnership (AVP), and others who are building a stronger society based on the principles of justice and equity for all. The power of being a part of the fabric and culture of a community that has history, social nuances, and complex trauma gives way to our final pillar.
None of this work can — or should — be done alone or in a silo. MAC’s final pillar, Millennial Spotlights, seeks to highlight our peers — and the programs and organizations — that make Philadelphia’s future bright. We are inspired by the many unsung heroes who continually show their best selves professionally and personally in the service — and for the benefit — of all of us. The only way forward is to unlearn and actively redirect exclusive gatekeeping tactics that bottleneck collaboration and stifle progress. Toward the end of 2021 for our culminating event, MAC will invite organizations and their leaders to share their work and visions for the future of social justice and youth development in Philadelphia.
I invite you and your organization to join me and MAC this year as we get to work. If you would like to collaborate with us, reach out to [email protected]. You can follow MAC @PHLMillennial on all social media for resource sharing and upcoming activities.
In Solidarity,
Julian Domanico
Chair, Millennial Advisory Committee | https://medium.com/@phlmillennial/welcome-from-mac-chair-julian-domanico-9d769dc5e83e | ['Philadelphia Millennial Advisory Committee'] | 2021-04-30 14:13:00.525000+00:00 | ['City Living', 'Local Government', 'Millennials', 'Millennial Trends', 'Philadelphia'] |
𝗔𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶 𝗥𝗲 : Dhanush and ARR save this average movie | I hate Dhanush’s forced humility off screen for obvious reasons but Dhanush on screen is a powerhouse performer. "Atrangi Re" is another testimony to his outstanding acting ability. He makes you laugh when he laughs, he makes you cry when he cries. He is such a terrific actor.
As revealed in the trailer, the movie is about a forced marriage and the aftermath the couple face because of the same. The movie has an interesting plot that can make anyone say "wow" but the screenplay lacks big-time. The movie as a whole was a middling affair that solely relies on performance of the actors.
Sara Ali Khan played her character to perfect while Akshay Kumar was just decent. ARR is the hero behind the screens for the movie. His songs and soulful BGM is what promotes the movie from being average to decent/good. Particularly loved the "Little Little" sequence in the movie. Imo, the best 10 minutes in the movie.
The movie has equal shortcomings to that of the positives. The lack of engaging screenplay, irking logical loopholes, stereotyping tamils(though it's not new in a Bollywood movie, the entire Tamilnadu sequence was a turn off) and inadequate character background are some of the shortcomings of the movie. It's as if the director who wrote terrific first half didn't know how to end the movie in second half.
~Overall, a decent movie that falls short in the latter half. Watch it for Dhanush and AR Rahman.
P.S. : There is some serious ill handled mental issue concept that is sure to stir up arguments in the coming days. Dhanush being a doctor in the movie, it was baffling the way it was treated in the movie. | https://medium.com/@jcwrites/dhanush-and-arr-save-this-average-movie-f52f083ff30d | ['James Carnival'] | 2021-12-24 17:54:10.546000+00:00 | ['Bollywood', 'Movie Review', 'Review', 'Atrangi Re', 'Movies'] |
Counter-Cultural Courage | Counter-Cultural Courage
A review of Russell Moore’s raw, powerful new book, *The Courage to Stand*
Think of a time you took a risk to stand for something important. What did you stand for? What was the result?
When I think of standing for God against a culture that runs from His love and authority (whether that culture is among His people or in the broader world), my mind has always gone to prophets. Elijah’s stand for God against the prophets of Baal is a particularly vivid narrative that comes to mind. And if you were to ask me who I think of as a modern prophet, my mind would immediately go to Russell Moore. It is fitting, then, that Russell Moore’s new book, The Courage to Stand, speaks on how to stand on God’s Word and His promises, even in fear, and he uses Elijah as the engine of the narrative. I cannot think of a more perfect combination of message, messenger, audience, and exemplar for the church for this crazy year in which we are all currently living.
When talking about “courage” or “standing for truth”, our culture often dictates what that means without us even realizing it. Our modern notion of those terms has taken a masculine turn that equates worldly strength or power with the ability to “stand”. Dr. Moore writes to disabuse us of that unhelpful notion. His primary message is clear in an early passage:
What it means to “stand” for Christ is not, it turns out, to evacuate our internal lives of all fear, or to humiliate our enemies with incontrovertible “winning,” but instead to live out in our very lives the drama of the cross. That means that courage does not come from matching the world’s power and wisdom with more of our own, but instead by being led, like Elijah, where we do not want to go (John 21:18). The courage to stand is the courage to be crucified.
This shifts the paradigm of courage for many of us. It becomes not the alpha-male prototype that we see in the world, but instead a type of servant leadership that is rarely seen outside of the church. But what makes this so much different is when it comes into practice. Moore writes:
The problem is that much of what is actually defined as courage in Scripture — the bridling of the passions, kindness, humility — is seen as timidity, while many who feel themselves “courageous” because they “tell it like it is” are really just seeking to be part of their protective tribes, even when those tribes are boisterous and angry.
So the courage to stand requires knowledge of Scripture (as much as possible, not just handpicked verses), knowledge of Jesus, and a relationship with God where you are guided by him at every turn. That is why you know it when you see it. It’s noticeable because it is overwhelmingly strange. But why is it so important to stand for what God says? Can’t God handle things all on His own? Why do we need to be vocal and go where we don’t want to go? And why is it so important that we’re standing for the right things? These may sound like silly questions to ask out loud, but if we don’t internalize them and ask ourselves where we fail in standing for God’s truth, it can have disastrous consequences. In a shocking and raw moment, Moore shares that he has maps in his home that act as a reminder for what he almost was:
And what I almost was is a teenage suicide.
How is this related to having the courage to stand? In two ways. First, Moore was able to find that courage and survive. But second, he spiraled into this place because he felt that, outside of his local church, Jesus was being used as a prop and nothing more. It was being used to legitimize racism, cover up abuse, and enrich hucksters. And for Moore, that meant his life had no meaning. He lays it bare:
If Christianity were just a means to an end, if Jesus were just a hood ornament on top of southern honor culture, then that means that what held everything in the cosmos together was not the Sermon on the Mount but the survival of the fittest. All that would be left is a universe red in tooth and claw, a universe that at its heart is not about love but about power. If that were so, then, however well-intentioned the people were who taught me to sing it, Jesus didn’t love me, no matter how the Bible told us so. I wanted to die — and I realize only now that my life as a writer started not with my writing short stories or essays but suicide notes, trying to explain why I didn’t want to hurt anyone but that I couldn’t bear to live.
You’re reading this, so listen up. How we act matters. How we represent the gospel matters. How we treat others, especially those who are less powerful, matters. Because there are kids and adults looking at our behavior, looking at what the Bible teaches, and deciding if those two match or not. And if they, because of our behavior, decide that Christianity cannot be the truth because the people who follow it are, at their core, just like everyone else, they will die without knowing our Lord and Savior who can sweep in and make dead, rotting hearts alive again. We have to let God change us to our very core. Be transformed heart, soul, and mind. People’s lives, temporally and eternally, are at stake. We cannot be Christians and be of the world. We must have the courage to stand and be crucified.
But if courage looks like radical sacrificial servanthood to God, what does cowardice look like? Moore helps us understand that as well. He unearths exemplars of cowardice from the story of Elijah, Ahab, and Jezebel:
The very reason the Baals (the false gods) existed in Israel was due to fear. Ahab and Jezebel were from two opposing nations, not because they were Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers, but as an act of pragmatic statecraft. The marriage was no doubt part of a geopolitical alliance meant to stave off hostilities, from one another and from other potentially hostile powers. Moreover, the people participating no doubt did so because they feared the royal house. They did not want what would happen to Elijah to happen to them — exile and presumed death. And, of course, there were (there always are) the court prophets, those who would tell the king precisely what he wanted to hear, for fear of losing their access, their influence, or their heads. That’s cowardice.
The pursuit of worldly power is cowardice. I’m going to keep my tongue in check here because I don’t want to put words in Dr. Moore’s mouth, but I can imagine what modern “court prophets” he has in mind. And he would be right.
But before we think, “Well yeah, I always stand for God’s Word when the whole world is going against it”, we must make sure that what we are standing for is God’s Word and not the word of our political tribes or ideologies. That’s what is most dangerous, Moore warns:
Those who “fight” but who don’t fight the right enemy in the right way are the equivalent of the person who, in order to vent his anger, slams his fist into a wall while his family is being murdered in the next room. Such venting of emotion may help the man to feel better about himself, but is of no help at all to the real danger afoot.
And before we think that being counter-cultural means castigating the culture of the world for everything they are doing wrong and propping up professed Christians (whether actually Christian or not) at all costs, Moore points us to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians:
“For what have I to do with judging outsiders?” the apostle Paul wrote. “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” (1 Cor. 5:12). Why is this the case? “God judges those outside” (1 Cor. 5:13). The church is freed from acting as rulers over the outside world, ripping the weeds up from among the crops or separating out the goats away from the sheep, precisely because we know there is a future Day of Judgment to come, and that we will not be the ones on the throne there. …Clearly, the Scriptures call us to judge those on the inside, who bear the name of brother, and not those on the outside. Doing the reverse can make for a much easier ministry, as a hack.
So cool it off with the pitchforks pointed toward the outside world, put them down, and look to Jesus. We should be defensive of God’s people, not American culture. God has a bright, eternal future for us, and we must stay focused on that. We bring as many people with us as we possibly can, and let God deal with the rest. That means evangelism, discipleship, and accountability, in that order.
I could write for days about Russell Moore’s The Courage to Stand, but it comes out tomorrow (October 6th), so I must stop and simply recommend it to literally every Christian who can read and every non-Christian who doubts the authenticity of Christians. Dr. Moore is the most authentic, prophetic writer I have ever read. Readers of my year-end favorite books list know that Moore features prominently when I read one of his works (2017 and 2018), and this year will be no exception. The Courage to Stand is essential reading.
I received a review copy of The Courage to Stand courtesy of B&H Publishing and NetGalley, but my opinions are my own. | https://medium.com/park-recommendations/counter-cultural-courage-4cec33dac39d | ['Jason Park'] | 2020-10-05 17:11:08.464000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Reading', 'Books', 'Christianity', 'Religion And Spirituality'] |
What I learned exhibiting our last-mile tracking solution at Merck’s Digital Expo | The Merck Digital Expo in Darmstadt is a two day exhibition featuring 48 innovations built from within Merck, a 350 year old science & technology company started here in Darmstadt. This event hosted over 1,500 visitors in the past two days — all Merck employees from around the world who came to check out the next big thing in digital innovations. There were booths featuring robots (so many robots!), 3D printers that can print livers (yep, human livers), augmented reality that allows you to work in a medicine manufacturing facility without actually being in the manufacturing facility, and more. Our booth featuring NTDeliver’s end-to-end medicine donation tracking platform was different. Amongst the sea of really cool flashy high tech gadgets, we highlighted our simple SMS chat-bot that helps Merck keep track of the numbers of children treated for schistosomiasis (a gnarly parasitic worm disease) with praziquantel (the pill that kills the gnarly worms) donated through Merck’s donation program.
Our booth featured simple photos to illustrate the 7-step process of treating school-aged children for schistosomiasis.
As I reflect on the past two days spent discussing this technology and the purpose behind it, I have 3 main things in my head:
The simpler the better. Tracking medicine donations all the way through the last mile is a big problem that we could have easily engineered a super complex high-tech solution for. Instead, we went with the simplest way forward — text messaging. While a text message chat-bot may not be the flashiest thing at a digital expo, it works.NTDeliver texted over 9,000 Kenyan teachers asking them a series of questions about the distribution of praziquantel during Kenya’s national school-based deworming day, and we saw a response rate over 70%. This simple use of basic technology allows us to learn how many kids were treated for schistosomiasis in near-real time, immediately following each deworming, as opposed to the 12–18 month timeline required by the previous paper-based process. Technology should never be the sole focus. The info I threw out in point #1 was cool and all, but what really matters is that kids are being cured of schistosomiasis, a disease that threatens their shot at a long healthy life. And they’re not being treated by the technology we built, they’re be treated due to the massive collaboration between pharmaceutical companies, shipping providers, global health organizations, ministries of health and education, teachers and a bunch of dorky developers (that’s us). Technology enables us to do great things, but none of it would happen without the people. The importance of understanding the ‘why’ behind what you do. While our booth had big ‘competition’ sitting right between a robot and a virtual reality manufacturing facility, we noticed something unique about the crowd our booth attracted — they stayed. Since this event was hosting only Merck employees, many of these individuals played some part — big or small, direct or indirect — in the development of this medicine. When they learned about the impact their efforts were making they lit up and wanted to know more. The conversations that followed showed their understanding of the technology, how impressed they were at the magnitude of collaboration enabling all the moving pieces to come together, and pride learning that the work they do is making a real difference in the world.
Since 2007, Merck’s donation program has donated 800 million tablets of praziquantel to treat 320 million patients through the World Health Organization. They now commit to donating 250 million tablets per year until this disease has been eliminated throughout all of Africa. NTDeliver, a supply chain information system built on top of the Secure Data Kit platform, has tracked 400 million of these tablets in the past 2 years, 2 million of which were tracked all the way to the mouth of the child during Kenya’s national deworming days in 2018. We plan on expanding this last mile tracking technology into other African countries by building strong relationships with those in-country to pave the way for another successful collaboration. | https://medium.com/securedatakit/what-i-learned-exhibiting-our-last-mile-tracking-solution-at-mercks-digital-expo-2334a8030c88 | ['Emily Tunggala'] | 2018-10-17 20:46:51.195000+00:00 | ['Nomorentds', 'Makingschistory', 'Supplychain', 'Globalhealth', 'Lastmile'] |
YOUR BODY CAN HEAR YOU. YOUR BODY CAN HEAL. | For instance, I am not a vegetarian, and I never decided to try to be. My diet has changed and continues to, however, naturally. I rarely ever eat meat these days, but I do not deprive myself of anything. I simply don’t desire as much red meat.
We have all heard our friends talk about their bodies in different ways, and we have all thought of and spoken of our bodies and uplifted them or shamed when around other people or alone.
From now on, pay extra special attention and take notice. The next time you hear someone talking about their Body, ask yourself, how does what this person is saying make their Body feel? If their Body was to overhear? Because we aren’t ever really talking ABOUT our bodies, we are speaking directly TO THEM.
For instance, if you say that your mostly happy with your Body but your ‘legs are so skinny‘ and they ‘can’t seem to grow no matter how many squats‘ you do, while that isn’t the worst way you could’ve worded it, it isn’t especially encouraging to the Body.
When you are frustrated with someone for not meeting your expectations, making them feel bad is potentially the least productive thing you can do to motivate them. Instead, you can encourage them with positive words and encouragement.
Something that I have learned in my 36 earth years here this time is that the more I love my Body, the more my Body changes into precisely the way I want it to be.
Something that I like to recommend to friends when having this conversation is this.
When you pass by a bathroom mirror, or maybe in front of it when you are just out of the shower, or even while you are in the shower… take a moment to go over yourself and find something about your Body that you love. Then, take a few moments to notice and appreciate that part of your Body. Maybe it’s your smile or your pretty eyes, maybe the way your beard is trimmed or your hair is curlier in one section of your head.
Often, it’s the things that make us unique and different, those things that made us insecure as kids, that really make us the most special.
Words Are Important
I often say that meditation is the single solution to every problem and the way to get anything and everything that you want. I attribute everything that I have and everything that I am today to meditation.
The reason is simple. We create our reality with our thoughts, our feelings and our words. Ultimately there is more to the total recipe but this is a great place to start and everything else just adds to these fundamental parts. Feelings & thoughts.
IF YOU HAVE A THOUGHT & YOU CANNOT FRAME THAT THOUGHT IN A WAY THAT IS BENEFICIAL TO YOU AND HELPS ADD TO YOUR LIFE, THEN YOU SHOULD LET IT DISSOLVE AS EXACTLY THAT. A THOUGHT. DON’T SPEAK IT.
Do not help that thought by adding words and emotions if it will not help you. Words keep the thought moving and add to it. Now it is on a trajectory moving forward, increasing in power, and gathering momentum.
You will want to say, but some of those thoughts I’m choosing not to put words to are true! My reply would be as the great Esther Hicks says, “Just because something is true doesn’t mean it deserves your attention.”
Emotion is energy in motion, so if energy is going to bring something that you do not want, you want to detach from it. That way you prevent any more energy-in-motion from adding to it and allow the release of any that is already attached. Slow it down until it eventually fizzles out. How do you know if energy is going to bring you something that you do not want? Easy. When you think about it, you feel bad. You feel anxious, you feel stress.
You cannot stop thinking a thought because the very act of not thinking about it is thinking about it, increasing the energy and emotion. What you can do is think of another thought and the original thought will eventually dissolve away. This is simply the way it is.
Trade in Your GPS for Your EGS
Your car and your cell phone likely have built-in GPS systems that will tell you every turn to make to reach your desired destination. Did you know that you have your own guidance system that will tell you in which ways you need to be going? That it is mapped out by your higher self? (When I refer to your higher self, it could also be your inner being, your soul, or whatever is comfortable and fitting according to your belief) And the way that you read and follow it is by tuning into the way that you feel. Well, you do! It’s called your EGS.
Your Emotional Guidance System & How to Use It
I am going to explain this as simply as I can because it is a big concept. There are different aspects of you, most of which you are not aware of. You are primarily focused, pin-pointedly as the human you. The you that is emotional, the physical you. While you are physical, you still vibrate because everything moves. Its physics. Everything is constantly in motion and even when it seems like you are still, or the floor, or the table… there is motion happening that we cannot perceive.
You are a vibrational frequency.
Your inner being or higher self also has a vibrational frequency. Of course, it is a much higher frequency. When you feel good, it is because you are seeing things the way your higher self sees them. Lovingly. So your frequency and your inner beings’ frequency are in resonance or harmony.
When you feel bad, it’s because you are seeing them differently (ie. judgmentally) so your two vibrational frequencies (yours and your inner beings) are dissonant and do not vibrate or feel in harmony. When you see lovingly like your higher self, you are in resonance and in harmony.
So, contrary to what you might have been told, it’s important that you feel good. Most important. So follow that good feeling! It will lead you on a path full of fun and excitement that in every moment is where you want to be.
Meditation is The Key To Unlock Everything & Regain Access to You
Where does meditation come into play with all of this? Meditation allows for a quieter mind all the time. Without all of the constant chit chat going on in your mind all the time, you become very aware of each thought and, naturally, how each thought is making you feel. Then you have the choice in every moment to continue adding to the thought, to reframe it, or to move to a better feeling thought. What happens next is you change your mind and you watch your life change as a reaction or reflection of your new state of mind.
The dictionary version of words isn’t necessarily of key importance, but the meaning that you attribute to the word. When it comes to words to describe feelings, I believe the simpler the better. When you are having a conversation with your mind, there is no one to impress.
Think or say things like, ‘wearing this dress makes me feel sexy’. Chances are you will feel a little silly, but really get into it, no one else on earth is watching!
You know that feeling when you really let yourself go when singing or dancing alone and you almost feel embarrassed but you get a rush of goosebumps or energy? That is good, you want to feel that because you are integrating parts of yourself that you have been avoiding or suppressing. 🙂 More of that embarrassed feeling.
Healing the Body of Dis-Ease by Allowing The Body to Maintain Balance
Could you imagine if the whole point of meditation is to quiet the mind so the Body can relax?
Stress causes reactions in your Body like the release of hormones like cortisol. These hormones oxidize your cells which is degrading to your physical structure. When you are stressed you are feeling dis-ease. You do not feel easy. This leads to disease. Stress and not feeling ease, eventually lead to the physical manifestation of disease. (It’s literally in the language)
When the Body can relax it can do what it’s good at. Healing. You see, your Body wants to maintain balance in everything. And it is designed to do that. You are one wholistic system made up of interdependent systems that all are connected and working together, all with the goal of maintaining balance and harmony. When we throw in pharmaceutical drugs to fix things it prevents our Body from its own healing.
(I’m not saying there is no value in drugs, I’m only saying they are a band-aid which can be incredibly helpful and life-saving but also more damaging than anything.
In order to allow your Body to heal you have to get out of our mind and into your feelings.
Some things cannot be understood intellectually. Some things can only be felt. That is okay. It’s a good thing.
Get out of your head & into your heart. Love yourself, Love your Body & everything else will sort itself out.
Be well. | https://medium.iam5d.com/your-body-can-hear-you-your-body-can-heal-521ccbfe329c | ['Richard Thomas Scott'] | 2021-02-27 22:00:50.790000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Life Hack', 'Body', 'Weight', 'Personal Development'] |
Verge Currency + GetBlock | Verge Currency & GetBlock are happy to announce a collaboration providing access to XVG nodes. GetBlock is a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform that provides a fast and easy API connection to full nodes.
GetBlock provides a connection to blockchain nodes for the most popular cryptocurrencies with JSON-RPC, REST, and WebSockets. You can immediately connect your app to a blockchain, as GetBlock relieves you from running a node yourself.
Verge Currency is a secure and user-friendly digital currency designed for everyday use. Verge promotes ease-of-use, speed and community ownership. With Verge, businesses and individuals have flexible options for sending and receiving payments securely and efficiently all around the world in a matter of seconds.
Verge Currency node is now live on GetBlock, with their non-stop working servers located in Germany, where a connection can be established at all hours at a speed of 1 GB/s. Each node can be integrated using various API methods, while the method available for XVG is JSON-RPC.
GetBlock’s pricing system is structured in a way that the purchased requests do not have an expiration date and can you spend 40,000 requests/day for free!
To find out more head over to Twitter @getblockio or Telegram | https://medium.com/vergecurrency/verge-currency-in-collaboration-with-getblock-are-happy-to-announce-that-you-can-now-access-the-6a0c3db9e704 | ['Nichola Wilkinson'] | 2021-04-13 23:27:17.693000+00:00 | ['Getblock', 'Xvg', 'Crypto', 'Verge', 'Node'] |
Two Scheming Uncles Talking to the Beat | Alison Blast looked at the magic map in her hands and feels healthy.
She walked over to the window and reflected on her creepy surroundings. She had always hated magical Dallas with its jealous, jittery jungle. It was a place that encouraged her tendency to feel healthy.
Then she saw something in the distance, or Rather someone. It was the figure of Hector Lukeman. Hector was a gracious vicar with Vast arms and Ample elbows.
Alison gulped. She glanced at her reflection. She was a sinister, tight-fisted, tea drinker with wide arms and vast elbows. Her friends saw her as a flipping, faithful friend. Once, she had even helped a deafening deaf person cross the road.
But not even a sinister person who had once helped a deafening deaf person cross the road was prepared for what Hector had in-store today.
The wind blew like eating frogs, making Alison active.
As Alison stepped outside and Hector came closer, she could see the scattered glint in his eye.
“Look Alison,” growled Hector, with a scheming glare that reminded Alison of gracious rats. “It’s not that I don’t love you, but I want justice. You owe me 2360 pounds.”
Alison looked back, even more, active and still fingering the magic map. “Hector, exterminate,” she replied.
They looked at each other with calm feelings, like two miniature, melodic maggots cooking at a very mean dinner party, which had flute music playing in the background and two scheming uncles talking to the beat.
Alison regarded Hector’s Vast arms and Ample elbows. “I don’t have the funds …” she lied.
Hector glared. “Do you want me to shove that magic map where the sun don’t shine?”
Alison promptly remembered her sinister and tight-fisted values. “I do have the funds,” she admitted. She reached into her pockets. “Here’s what I owe you.”
Hector looked afraid, his wallet blushing like spicy, spotty sausage.
Then Hector came inside for a nice cup of tea.
THE END | https://medium.com/@danishdayasa/two-scheming-uncles-talking-to-the-beat-886757bc223b | ['Kristina Khan'] | 2020-12-17 11:48:05.699000+00:00 | ['Talking', 'Magic', 'Alison', 'Map'] |
What To Do When You Miss A Writing Or Publishing Deadline | There are two kinds of deadlines in a writer’s life: those you set for yourself, and those literary agents or editors set for you.
If you ignore your own self-imposed deadlines in favor of sleeping in a few extra minutes every day, you only have yourself to answer to.
But if you miss a writing or publishing deadline set by an agent or editor, it could derail your writing career. So what should you do when you suddenly glance at your watch, gasp, and realize you’re late?
7 Tips For Handling A Missed Deadline With Grace And Professionalism
Take the blame. You might be tempted to point to your editor’s unreasonable expectations or unexpected occurrences in your life, but editors and literary agents will appreciate it when you take responsibility.
Offer an explanation. Do you have a good reason for missing your deadline? Literary agents and editors want to be supportive of your writing: grant them the chance by giving them a legitimate explanation. Without passing blame or making excuses, briefly state the reason for missing your deadline.
Ask for a specific extension. Editors and agents have printers, coworkers, and bosses to answer to, so give them hard facts they can pass along. Let your editor and/or agent know exactly how much more time you need to meet your writing obligations.
Demonstrate understanding of the larger issues in play. Your deadline lapse may have a ripple effect and make other people’s jobs more difficult. So you may want to apologize for making your agent or editor’s life unnecessarily complicated.
Make the call. While your go-to means of communicating about your manuscript may be email — in this case, a phone call may be required to smooth ruffled feathers.
Be willing to take unconventional steps. Let your editor or agent know you are open to suggestions about how you might ameliorate any damage caused by you bungling the deadline. Perhaps your editor would be willing to start on the first half of your manuscript while you keep working on the second half.
Say thank you. Offer a sincere expression of gratitude to both your editor and agent for understanding.
The Best Way To Handle Deadline Drama…Is To Avoid It Entirely
If you take on a deadline, be sure you have realistic expectations of your own writing goals. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Calculate how many words you’ll need to write or revise every day to arrive at a rough estimate for a feasible timeline. Then, give yourself 15% padding — to allow for unforeseeable complications. If your projected numbers don’t match your editor’s deadline expectations, negotiate your due date ASAP — before it’s too late. | https://writersrelief.medium.com/what-to-do-when-you-miss-a-writing-or-publishing-deadline-4d7fb0d5e4ac | ['Writer S Relief'] | 2019-04-26 20:04:48.103000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Writing Life', 'Writing Tips', 'Time Management', 'Publishing'] |
Postures of Love | Throughout life, I would often see people with physical challenges and I would have an overwhelming inner reaction. I would quickly turn away and feel embarrassed. At the time, I did not know I was being prepared to receive a message that would change me.
I was able to attend the Toronto Fellowship Church in Canada in the late nineties. It would be here that the transforming power of our Divine would allow me a face-to-face encounter and set the stage for a deeper understanding.
Growing up I use to have dreams of falling into the filthy water that was rising around me. I would wake up before the water actually touched me. Through the years the dream would change and at times I would barely skim across the water. In later years I would thrust both my arms into the mountain or hillside so that I would not fall into the mirky grave just beneath me at times a hundreds of feet drop. Throughout this time I could not figure out the meaning of the dream or why it occurred so often.
During one of the services at this church, the Presence of God filled the room. I observed the people and saw many of them taking on odd positions. Some began to bend over, some seemed to have problems with their arms or feet, and they reminded me of the crippled people that I had seen before. After the service, I hurried back to my hotel room. I couldn’t explain my feelings. I wasn’t repulsed by what I saw nor did I have the embarrassing feelings from before and though it felt familiar I knew something was different. I fell asleep or so I thought.
In what I thought was a dream, I was walking through what looked like the Rain Forest. The foliage was dense but easy to pass through. I noticed in the distance a bright light from the sky and began walking towards it. As I went I could see the trees and how the light pierced through this particular section of limbs. In the midst, it looked like a charcoal cross had been burned from the form of a nest. The light was coming from this area and the closer I came the more I could see that water was pouring through it. I was amazed by this sight and continued walking toward it. I felt the light’s warmth and it was as if I was beginning to glide. I looked down and the water — the clearest water I had ever seen in my life was rising. I began dancing as the water came up and over me. I’d never felt so free in my life. As I moved about freely I found myself taking the same positions as those not only from the evening service but also as those that I thought of as physically challenged and crippled. I began to see the faces of these people and I noticed something I had missed before. The look of peace, kindness, contentment, and joy. I had never really looked in their faces before because I had been embarrassed. I was brought up to never stare at people, so I missed their faces — until that moment.
I now know that I experienced a vision. The message that accompanied the vision is that what we may see as crippling, challenging, and such, are really postures of love. God grants a special grace for those who experience things that are different from most. He gives grace to the humble. He is close to the brokenhearted. He is a father to the fatherless and a mother to the motherless. The things we often see as barriers are postures of love. His love is beyond our comprehension. Where we wonder “why”, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways — so He prepares the table before us and He goes before us to prepare the way we should take. It is why He knows the ending from the beginning. Some of my most treasured experiences in life happened at my lowest point.
After this experience, I would go on to visit nursing homes and offer my gift of song. The joy in what many see as suffering that I witnessed fills me even today. I will never look at people the same. I have been forever changed. I’m amazed by God’s love for us. | https://medium.com/spiritual-secrets/postures-of-love-1c2e4664b8fc | ['Sharon Brandon'] | 2020-12-21 18:33:00.162000+00:00 | ['Illumination', 'Darshak Rana', 'Spiritual Secrets', 'Inspirational', 'Spirituality'] |
Jesus, You Still There? | It just feels like all my letters are being sent straight to the spam.
I’m not asking for welfare or even for some answers to my most curious questions. It’s just lonely when I go to church, hang out with friends, and even now, when I go to the gym to workout.
Even on busy days and family events, I will still feel alone.
I just want to hear how you got me, that intense feeling when I’m speaking in tongues, the beautiful warmth you give when I hear your heart. Lately, I’ve been disconnected, and it is difficult to go back to where we were connected when I’ve been wandering so long.
This isn’t a story about how someone got lost in drugs, sex, porn, or other pleasure that is alluded to with testimonials. Instead, this feeling was different than before; it wasn’t a distraction that I could just avoid. This was something I needed to overcome.
It was pride.
Two things will lead you away from God; it is:
1) Distractions (external)
2) Yourself (internal)
As Christians, we need to understand that when we just define distractions or the temporary pleasures around us as the only separator between God and us, we become blind. Distractions aren’t the only things that are temporary around us; our bodies are also fleeting.
We are not eternal, and the good news is our God’s will is.
I was trying so desperately to achieve a purpose, calling, and acceptance on my own, hoping that God would come and join me. Instead, I should be putting down my own attempts and join God with His purpose.
This is why I felt so lonely…
I have God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. They never left me. It was just that I became so full of myself that I thought I didn’t need to chase them but instead have them follow me.
That’s where my loneliness comes from. If you’re reading and felt what I’m feeling, then this is where your loneliness comes from as well.
This is a long life we live, and sometimes we hit our strides and spring for a while, but do not look down while forgetting to look up. Make sure you’re following God and not waiting for Him to follow you.
God isn’t going to meet you at your finish line. He is already at His and waiting on you to join Him.
What can you do to draw closer to God?
1. Stop, drop and meditate
This is so key, just like when you’re on fire. In elementary school, they told you to stop, drop, and roll. Well, our soul is on fire when it is not close to God. Jesus keeps our temperature in check, so instead of rolling, we need to stop the brakes on everything going up in our head and stop to meditate.
Meditation by breathing allows the body to be aware of our lives’ simple truths, such as meditating on our relationship with God. It might be tempting to impress God by reciting everything He did for your life, but don’t focus on that. Just let that be the primer of your meditation. Your praise is to lead you to God. The core of your mediation should be to see yourself as a part of God’s plan.
Breathe-in and breathe-out. Do not allow any distractions in your mind.
2. Your pain is temporary, so invest time in something else
We decide to do things on our own because we become hurt by what is happening around us. Feeling the pain of so many people, we think that God is doing nothing. Instead, it is the opposite: we are doing nothing.
If we are going to promote real change in our situation and circumstances, it is best to buy into God’s plans over our own.
3. Remove yourself, then include God
Including God in our prayers is different from including Him in our life. What if you prayed to your boyfriend or girlfriend every day but never thought to buy them a latte, get them gifts, call to talk about life, or even play cup pong every once in a while? That would be a short-lived relationship.
You wouldn’t wonder why you’re single because you would see why. In this case, with everything going on around me, the second I remove my own feeling and thoughts on what should be done and let God do it, everything changes.
4. Lastly, get some rest
After applying steps 1 through 3, you should know that you don’t need to be up and active all the time to make miracles happen. God has your back, and I guarantee you that you will be happier with your plans when God is guiding you then when you are guiding yourself.
Take it easy, get some sleep, and enjoy getting the burden lifted off your chest. We all work hard, but there is no pride in that; satisfaction is only in the work of God.
Disclaimer: Faith is a marathon, not a sprint. This isn’t past tense because I still do wonder if Jesus is still there, but now I just know that isn’t because of Him, but because of me. | https://medium.com/koinonia/jesus-you-still-there-a918515d9da6 | ['David Ramos'] | 2020-11-20 16:56:27.566000+00:00 | ['Jesus', 'Self Help', 'Christian', 'Spirituality', 'God'] |
When social media comes crashing down, THIS is what to do… | In case you didn’t hear the news — Google and YouTube both crashed yesterday.
It was only for an hour or so, but when you’re desperately trying to blast through episodes of “Terry and June”, it can be a bit frustrating.
Anyway, I know what you THINK I’m going to say about this…
As an email marketer, you think I’m going to say:
“SEE? This is why you need to focus on building an asset you own and start emailing your list…”
You’re also expecting a “building your house on sand” analogy too, aren’t you?
If that’s the case, I’m going to disappoint you.
Yes, the fact that two of the internet’s largest websites went down yesterday should terrify you a little bit, but make no mistake…
… email ain’t perfect either.
It’s not a panacea.
For reasons that I’ll get to in a future message, email has its fair share of problems too.
(Here’s a clue: have you looked at your email providers T&C’s recently?)
When Google and YouTube crash, it’s a reminder you should look at ALL the online tools you use and ask:
“If this went down tomorrow… what would I lose… and what would I do next?”
Doesn’t matter if it’s Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or Tinder…
If you logged in tomorrow and were greeted by a screen that said:
“I’m sick of going to Congress, so I’ve cashed out and moved to Berwick-upon-tweed. Love you, Zucks.”
… what would you do?
And if you’re sitting there gloating, thinking:
“I’m OK… I have an email list”, let me ask you a question:
When was the last time you downloaded it? And if you have, where do you keep that precious CSV file? Is it in one place, or do you have backups, just in case?
Social media.. email… YouTube… Google… they’re all just tools and, like any tool, they can break and go wrong.
Your job isn’t to find one only to bitch and moan when the handle snaps…
… it’s to take responsibility for your business and always have a plan B.
To always know the answer to the question — “if this went away, what would I do?”
Having said all that…
Email probably IS the best place to start.
That CSV file full of people who raised their hands, saying “I want to hear from you” is a pretty awesome asset to have in your back pocket should Zucks decide to delete his FB account.
If you don’t have an email list, start.
Not because email is king…
… but because it gives you more power and control over your business and your life. | https://medium.com/@johnholtcopywriter/when-social-media-comes-crashing-down-this-is-what-to-do-b77ca214f31f | ['John Holt'] | 2020-11-16 07:31:49.146000+00:00 | ['Small Business Marketing', 'Social Media Marketing', 'Marketing Technology', 'Marketing Strategies', 'Copywriting Tips'] |
We Are Always Watching: The Dawn of Biometric Surveillance | This report was originally submitted for the Big Data for Intelligence course supervised by Dr. Ayşe Ceyhan (Sciences Po Paris) — May 2019
Heather Dewey-Hagborg’s computationally generated 3D portraits
In 2012, an American artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg embarked on a controversial biopolitical art project called Stranger Visions. She collected items New Yorkers unintentionally left behind (chewed up gum, cigarette butts, strands of hair) to “computationally generate 3D printed life size full color portraits representing what those individuals might look like, based on genomic research.” (Dewey-Hagborg) The project exemplifies the eerie potential of biological surveillance in identifying individuals through genetic determinism. Indeed, biometric authentication as “the automated recognition of individuals based on their anatomical and behavioral characteristics” (Biometics Research Group) is increasingly utilized in intelligence and law enforcement.
Biometrics serve as a convenient mechanism through which individuals can be identified by unalterable biological characteristics. The datafication of these characteristics with the help of Big Data analytical tools can be used in in a variety of contexts, including military, border protection, healthcare, among others. Case in point, American military intelligence “has relied heavily upon biometrics to identify hostile actors in a guerilla or counterinsurgency environment” (Gioe : 216) during post-9/11 invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. A group of Jordanian researchers proposed a new approach in identifying jihadist militants “from their geometric features of victory sign alone, as this sign might be the only information available about such persons.” (Hassanat, Alhasanat and Abbadi : 6) In the meantime, private companies are also employing biometric features, such as fingerprint recognition in smartphones, in provision of goods and services, as the total revenue of the global biometric system market is expected to reach $30 billion by 2021. (Statista : 7)
In the process, vast amounts of data containing sensitive biological characteristics of individuals are increasingly accumulated in public and private biometric databases. This report aims to analyze the privacy and data protection implications of datafication when it comes to biometric information. Firstly, it will characterize the increasing use of biometrics in intelligence and law enforcement contextualizing it in the broader theoretical framework. Secondly, it will explore the privacy and data protection issues emerging from the use of biometrics in surveillance. Finally, it will conclude with a brief case study of genetic information potential in intelligence, drawing on practical examples from commercial and forensic use of DNA.
Biometrics: A Gold Standard for Law Enforcement
Identity has come to be one of the crucial components and means of governance in an increasingly digital world. As far as intelligence and law enforcement is concerned, “identification has become represented at the forefront of the techniques and technologies of so-called homeland security.” (Amoore : 22) In particular, biometric technologies are often described “as the new silver bullet, the simultaneous ‘solution’ to a number of problems associated with the organizational desire for positive identification.” (Lyon : 501) As biometric authetification relies on unique physiological features, Jain, Bolle and Pankanti point to 7 factors that provide biometric parameters with several comparative advantages as a source of intelligence, notably:
‣ Universality
‣ Distinctiveness
‣ Invariance
‣ Collectability
‣ Performance
‣ Acceptability
‣ Circumvention (1998 : 1)
According to their biological characteristics, the biometric modalities can be further categorized into hand-based, facial region, ocular and periocular region, behavioral and medico-chemcial attributes. (Unar, Seng and Abbasi)
As a result, biometrics serve as an attractive tool for intelligence and law enforcement institutions, because “identification may be achieved using features that almost all human beings have by virtue of being bodily creatures, in a process that is relatively quick, non-invasive and low-risk (…) for the person identified.” (Lyon : 501)
Owing to the convenience of biometric characteristics in identification and the advent of modern technology, public and private actors alike have embarked on biometric datafication, amassing vast amounts of bodily characteristics in databases. To this end, biometric systems are created for “the capture and storage of enrollment (reference) biometric samples, and the capture of new samples and their comparison with corresponding samples (matching). (Pato and Millett : 2) In this enrollment and verification process, the information collected is stored in a database.
Lyon and Bennett observe that “national identification systems have been proliferating in recent years as part of a concerted drive to find common identifiers for populations around the world.” (2008 : 3) For instance, in 2009, India constructed a biometric identity system Aadhaar, connected to the national identity card, which “retains the cardholder’s demographic and biometric information — including iris scans — in a national, centralized database.” (Dixon : 544) With 1.2 billion users enrolled (around 15% of the global population) since its conception, Aadhaar is the world’s largest biometric identity program. (World Government Summit and OECD)
The identification potential of biometrics is also progressively instrumentalized by intelligence and law enforcement institutions. In 2011, the FBI deployed the Next Generation Indetification (NGI) biometrics database, which “provides the criminal justice community with the world’s largest and most efficient electronic repository of biometric and criminal history information.” (Federal Bureau of Investigation) The initiative aimed to expand the pre-existing IAFIS database “to include multimodal biometric identifiers such as iris scans, palm scans, face-recognition-ready photos, and voice data, and makes that data available to other agencies at the state and federal levels.” (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
The NGI encompasses an immense volume of personal information, including more than 70 million criminal records and 38 million civil records. (Kofman) In such way, the activities of the FBI are endowed with an added multimodal functionality, which is symptomatic of “the normalization of datafication as a paradigm in science and society” (van Dijck : 198) in the activities of intelligence and law enforcement bodies.
This broader paradigm shift energized by Big Data technology does not only foster new capabilities, but also presents operational challenges. Gioe emphasized the rise of Big Data technology like biometric identification as a ‘double-edged sword’ for the intelligence community, as “the role of such interconnected technology on the battlefield and improved real-time situational awareness has been revolutionary for military personnel, but networked computer systems carrying massive amounts of information can also pose a threat to military officers.” (2017 : 216)
Indeed, the American military has extensively used biometrics-enabled intelligence in Afghanistan. For instance, it controversially enrolled individuals on the ground in the Biometric Enabled Watch List (BEWL), connected to the domestic FBI and Department of Homeland Security databases. This allowed the US to not only “identify and locate suspected insurgents,” (Public Intelligence) but also acquire extensive biometric information on the population under the pretext of coutnerterrorism. On the flip side, there are emergent operational challenges intelligence agencies face with the increasing penetration of biometrics. Case in point, the future of international human intelligence (HUMINT) operations is at stake, as “biometrics — particularly those at international borders — make alias travel more challenging.” (Gioe : 2016) Ironically, the privacy of intelligence officers is at risk, as biometrics are increasingly becoming part of the equation in a multiplicity of contexts.
Hence, the advent of biometrics-enabled intelligence is symptomatic of the broader paradigm shift in the intelligence community, as Big Data is transforming its methodological and operational tooxbox. Owing to the parameters that take into account the intrinsic qualities of individuals, biometrics serve as an attractive and relevant tool in the conduct of intelligence and law enforcement activities, particularly forensic, battlefield and counterterrorism investigations. Simultaneously, the implementation of biometrics in other commercial and public contexts, such as national identification systems, provides intelligence and law enforcement entities with new avenues for data collection, bolstering and adding value to their modus operandi.
As emphasized by Maj. Gen. (ret.) Farkash, the former head of the Israeli Defence Forces Directorate of Military intelligence, the datafication of biometrics allows “to fuse all of this information together in real time and determine actionable intelligence for end users, namely special forces and similar units.” (2017) However, as colossal quantities of information containing intrinsic biological characteristics of individuals are collected and stored in databases, it is necessary to consider the ethical and privacy-related implications of biometrics-enabled intelligence.
Under Surveillance: A Global Paradigm
Beyond operational dynamics, a broader epistemological shift is occurring in intelligence and surveillance. However, debates on this transformation remain scarce and confined to the academic circles, while the consideration of privacy and data protection issues remains ever-relevant in the context of the digital era. Ceyhan uses Bauman’s liquid modernity theory to emphasize the transformative “fluid conditions of globalization and the production of a global risk society generating an increase of perceived uncertainties and insecurities in almost all aspects of life.” (2008 : 105)
In this context, Bentham’s panopticon, a metaphor widely used in surveillance studies to describe “increased capabilities of ‘watchers’ (…) to acquire more power over the ‘watched’,” (Manokha : 220) is evolving with the emergence of surveillance technologies. According to Lyon, “electronic technologies through which power is asserted in today’s mutuable and mobile organizations makes the architecture of walls largely redundant.” (Bauman and Lyon : 10)
The trend is indicative of new dynamic characteristics of liquid surveillance, which enables the “creation of a space that is not colonized either by individuals and citizens, and also not controlled by states, generating new fears and anxieties.” (Ceyhan : 106) The 2013 Snowden revelations sparked new concerns over the privacy and data protection implications of surveillance.
Contextualizing within the scope of the aforementioned example of the Indian biometric system, the American whistleblower has pointed out in 2018 that India has virtually “created a mass surveillance system with Aadhaar, and warned that Indians could face a civil death given that Aadhaar is linked to everything.” (The Times of India) There are several dimensions that point to the critical privacy flaws within the Indian biometric system.
First, Dixon criticizes the “marked lack of protective regulatory controls of the Aadhaar program, which has in turn resulted in profound mission creep and a loss of autonomy.” (2017 : 565) Nonetheless, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favor of its constitutional validity back in 2018. While it struck down controversial clauses like sharing of data on the grounds of national security, the Court retained the compulsory enrollment in the system for many crucial aspects of public service delivery, such as welfare. (Bloomber Quint)
Critically, WikiLeaks revealed that the CIA potentially possessed the tools to access the Indian biometric identity database. Aadhaar was implemented by an American company Cross March, which allegedly assisted the CIA in the creation of a “covert information tool that is used (…) to secretly exfiltrate data collections from such systems provided to liaison services.” (Kasli) This alleged meddling of a foreign actor in a national framework speaks volumes in illustrating the transnational implications of liquid surveillance.
Meanwhile, as the “world’s largest collection of fingerprints, DNA profiles, palm prints, face images and other biometric identifiers,” (Kofman) the Next Generation Identification (NGI) database of the FBI has also been subject to rigorous public scrutiny concerning issues of privacy and data protection. In 2016, the FBI has requested to be exempt from the Privacy Act of 1974, which “governs the collection maintenance, use and dissemination of information about individuals that is maintained in the systems of records by federal agencies.” (US Department of Justice)
In its notice of proposed rule-making, the FBI justifies the request “in order to prevent interference with the FBI’s mission to detect, deter and prosecute crimes and to protect national security, which includes the use of criminal record information and biometric identifiers.” (US Federal Register) This has garnered heavy criticism from civil society, as it pointed to the controversial arbitrary involvement practices, because the “database stores millions of identifiers for US citizens who have not been convicted of a crime, alongside those who have.” (Kofman) It potentially hampers the ability of uninvolved individuals to pass background checks in pursuing employment, in addition to danger of potential false positives in criminal investigations. The FBI was eventually granted the exemption, an emblematic example of the emergence of a liquid surveillance space beyond the control of legislation and bottom-up democratic oversight.
In the global context, China has been particularly invested in biometric surveillance methods for social governance. In 2014, it embarked on the implementation of a highly controversial social credit system (SCS). With prospective application in the country by 2020, the SCS aims to create an overarching citizen surveillance and ranking framework, under which “people will be ultimately scored based on past behavior, taking in misdemeanors such as traffic offenses and court records.” (Lucas and Feng) The system, frequently branded as Orwellian, relies heavily on Big Data technology, including artificial intelligence and biometrics, with ultimate goal of making every Chinese citizen traceable “by a file compiling data from public and private sources by 2020, and for those files to be searchable by fingerprints and other biometric characteristics.” (Hvistendahl) China’s invasive encroachment on citizen’s privacy does not end there, however.
Authorities in Xinjiang, a region in eastern China populated by a historically persecuted Muslim Uyghur minority, “are collecting DNA samples, fingerprints, iris scans and blood types of all residents in the region between the age of 12 and 65.” (Human Rights Watch) There has been evidence of complacency of American companies in this case of state surveillance, as a recent leak has “led to accusations that Microsoft had partnered with [Sense Nets] to help repressive surveillance efforts in Xinjiang.” (Burt) The Chinese biometric surveillance practices are becoming a practical embodiment of a digital panopticon.
The aforementioned examples illustrate that the epistemological frameworks that conceptualize the emergence of liquid surveillance in the digital era are increasingly manifested in the real world. The datafication of personal characteristics through Big Data technology, as evidenced by cases from applications of biometric identification methods, entail threats to privacy and data protection. Manokha points out that digital surveillance can indeed lead to the so-called chilling effect. As he further explains, this concept “is now widely used to describe changes in behavior made by individuals, aware of being under surveillance, to be in conformity with the perceived norms and expectations of the surveyors.” (2018 : 230)
As the Snowden revelations have also shown, individuals change their behavior both online and offline, as soon as they acknowledge the scale of surveillance, even if “there was no increase in coercive or repressive measures by security agencies.” (ibid : 228) In the case of biometric surveillance, this effect could potentially lead to a greater sense of unease and anxiety, since individuals could be identified by their intrinsic biological features, rather than their online presence. The passivity through which biometric information could be collected, such as CCTV cameras and the analysis of DNA trances, can lead extensive and intrusive surveillance practices in a form of a digital panopticon.
It’s in the DNA: Can You Escape Biometric Surveillance?
As evidenced by the biopolitical art project of Dewey-Hagborg, by simply collecting cigarette butts from public spaces it is possible to recreate the facial features of the smoker. The use of DNA-based biometrics can in fact enable law enforcement, investigative and intelligence institutions to identify people though genetic information. the increasing use of biometric DNA technology in public and private realms were “spurred by sociological phenomena such as genetic essentialism (the notion that genetic material is the “essence” of the individual) and genetic determinism (the notion that genetic information is determinative of an individuals predisposition for disease as well as other social behaviors).” (Arrigo)
Compared to other modalities, DNA is the most identifiable biometric, because it contains the unalterable characteristics specific to an individual. The collection and testing of DNA has already been digitized by forensic investigators and law enforcement agencies.
Nonetheless, the collection and storage of DNA samples is not limited to artistic projects and intelligence agencies — it has also been on the rise in the private sector, although its share in the market still remains fairly limited. In particular, online platforms like 23andMe, MyHeritage and Ancestry allow users to send a sample of their own DNA in order to find possible lost relatives and acquire a better understanding of their ethnic heritage. At first glance, these services seem innocuous, but the possible access of intelligence agencies or third parties to the private DNA databases of such companies can constitute major risks for the privacy of its users, but also those who are not.
Verge Science’s short documentary The At-home DNA Test Craze is Putting Us All at Risk outlines the privacy issues that individuals face when they use one of these services. Through comparison of the DNA with other samples from the dataset, it is possible to track down distant relatives of the person in question. By looking at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs), which are specific segments of the DNA that reveal information about the genealogy of the person, the platform inks the DNA to a specific region of the world or to a set of matching people.
In doing so, companies that sell this type of service collect vast amounts of DNA samples in their private biometric databases. As the documentary explains, the number of people tested by the consumer genetics companies is estimated to be around 26 million individuals. In order to authenticate a specific person through DNA matching, it is not necessary to have an exact match in the system. Through a long range of familiar search, it is possible to connect the DNA of the person in question to a potential third cousin.
Verge Science argues that “for any population with some common ancestry, DNA from just 2% of the people could make anyone findable via a third cousin or closer. For example, all Americans with some European ancestry could be matched by just a 2% pool.”
Should intelligence and law enforcement agencies decide to get access to these databases, they have two legal solutions. First, they can contact the company and solicit collaboration, as it was the case for FamilyTreeDNA, which admitted sharing genetic data with the FBI. (Haag) Second, if the company refuses to collaborate, these actors would require a specific judicial warrant, such as a court order, that would compel the company to give access to the data. However, peculiar work-arounds emerged with the boom of at-home DNA testing companies with readily accessible databases.
While these databases are primarily used to trace lineage or ethnicity, the 2018 breakthrough in a 1970s murder case illustrates that these databases can be used by investigators to identify suspected criminals. Case in point, American investigators were faced with an impasse in the “Golden State Killer” case, who between 1976 and 1986 raped and killed dozens of individuals across California. Despite the fact that investigators possessed his DNA samples, they were not verifiable in FBI’s extensive DNA databases. With the emergence of freely available commercial DNA databases, police “checked the crime scene DNA against one of the genealogy sites that have recently become popular. (…) GEDmatch, a free service, confirmed that police used it to identify” (Selk) the serial killer via a close relative. The criminal is now facing charges more than four decades after the crime was committed.
This phenomenal instance points to the underlying privacy issues in the digital era. Liquid surveillance practices now go beyond traditional modus operandi of the intelligence community. As the conclusion of the “Golden State Killer” case shows, the intelligence community is not limited to their in-house resources and databases, as now they can pool into freely available commercial counterparts. While the aforementioned case points to the immense potential of commercial DNA databases in forensic investigation, the fact that individuals can be traced and identified through the DNA of their relatives from a small pool of samples speaks volumes about the implications to the integrity of personal privacy. In this context, an ethical dilemma persists, since genetic information is not something an individual personally chooses and gives consent to share with its relatives.
In the meantime, your entire physiological features can be reconstructed from a cigarette butt left behind in a public space.
_____________________
Sources:
Amoore, Louise. “Governing by Identity.” Bennett, Colin J. and David Lyon. Playing the Identity Card: Surveillance, Secuirty and Identification in Global Perspective. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 21–36.
Arrigo, Bruce A. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. Charlotte: Sage Publishing, 2016. Bauman, Zygmunt and David Lyon. Liquid Surveillacne. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013.
Biometrics Research Group. What is Biometrics?
Bloomberg Quint. Aadhaar: A Quick Summary of the Supreme Court Majority Order. September 26, 2018.
Burt, Chris. Biometric Surveillance Raises Ethics Concerns for China-US AI Industry Sharing. April 12, 2019.
Ceyhan, Ayse. “Technologization of Security: Management of Uncertainty and Risk in the Age of Biometrics.” Surveillance and Society 5.2 (2008): 102–123.
Chin, Josh and Clément Bürge. Twelve Days in Xinjiang: How China’s Surveillance State Overwhelms Daily Life. December 19, 2017.
Dedrickson, Kirsten. “Universal DNA Databases: A Way to Improve Privacy?” Journal of Law and Biosciences 4.3 (2017): 637–647.
Dewey-Hagborg, Heather. Stranger Visions.
Dixon, Pam. “A Failure to “Do No Harm” — India’s Aadhaar Biometric ID Program and Its Inability to Protect Privacy in Relation to Measure in Europe and the US.” Health and Technology 7 (2017): 539–567.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. FBI’s Next Generation Identification Biometrics Database.
Farkash, Aharon Zeevi. Walk this Way, Talk this Way: Using Multiple Biometrics. April 1, 2017.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Next Generation Identification (NGI).
Gioe, David V. “‘The More Things Change’: HUMINT in the Cyber Age.” Daver, Rober, Huw Dylan and Michael S. Goodman. The Palgrave Handbook of Security and Intelligence. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 213–227.
Haag, Matthew. FamilyTreeDNA Admits to Sharing Genetic Data With F.B.I. February 4, 2019.
Hassanat, Ahmad B. A., et al. “Victory Sign Biometric for Terrorists Identification.” 2016.
Human Rights Watch. China: Minority Region Collects DNA from Millions. December 13, 2017.
Hvistendahl, Mara. Inside China’s Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking. December 14, 2017.
Jain, Anil K., Ruud Bolle and Sharath Pankanti. Biometrics. Personal Identification in Networked Society. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
Kasli, Shelley. How CIA Spies Access India’s Biometric Aadhaar Database. August 25, 2017.
Kofman, Ava. FBI wants to exempt massive biometric database from the Privacy Act. June 1, 2016.
Lucas, Louis and Emily Feng. Inside China’s surveillance state. July 20, 2018.
Lyon, David and Colin J. Bennett. “Playing the ID Card. Understanding the Significance of Identity Card Systems.” Lyon, David and Colin J. Bennett. Playing the Identity Card: Surveillance, Secuirty and Identification in Global Perspective. London and New York: Routeledge, 2008. 3–21.
Lyon, David. “Biometrics, Identification and Surveillance.” Bioethics 22.9 (2008): 499–508.
Manokha, Ivan. “Surveillance, Panopticism, and Self-Discipline in the Digital Age.” Surveillance and Society 16.2 (2018): 219–237.
Pato, Joseph N. and Lynette I. Millett. Biometric Recognition. Challenges and Opportunties. Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2010.
Public Intelligence. Identity Dominance: The U.S. Military’s Biometric War in Afghanistan. April 21, 2014.
Regalado, Antonio. 2017 was the year consumer DNA testing blew up. February 12, 2018.
Selk, Avi. The ingenious and ‘dystopian’ DNA technique police used to hunt the ‘Golden State Killer’ suspect. April 28, 2018.
Statista. “Biometric Technologies.” Statistical Report. 2017.
The Times of India. Snowden calls for criminal action against Aadhaar misuse. August 20, 2018.
Unar, J. A., Woo Chaw Seng and Almas Abbasi. “A Review of Biometric Technology Along With Trends and Prospects.” 47.8 (2014): 2673–2688.
US Department of Justice. Privacy Act of 1974. July 17, 2015.
US Federal Register. Privacy Act of 1974; Implementation — A Proposed Rule by the Justice Department on 05/05/2016. May 6, 2016.
US Government Accountability Office. Face Recognition Technology. FBI Shoud Better Ensure Privacy and Accuracy. Report to the Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, Committee on the Judiciary, US Senate. Washington D.C.: US Government Accountability Office, 2016.
van Dijck, José. “Datafication, dataism and dataveillance: Big Data between scientific paradigm and ideology.” Surveillance and Society 12.2 (2014): 197–208.
Verge Science. The at-home DNA test craze is putting us all at risk. April 16, 2019.
World Government Summit and OECD. Embracing Innovation in Government — Global Trends 2018. Review. Dubai: Observatory for Public Sector Innovation, 2018. | https://medium.com/@zkapocius/we-are-always-watching-the-dawn-of-biometric-surveillance-a3f6989e6c1b | ['Žygimantas Kapočius'] | 2020-12-23 05:02:53.695000+00:00 | ['Digital Policy', 'Biometrics', 'Intelligence', 'Privacy', 'Surveillance'] |
Custom PHP Runtime Layer in AWS Lambda Functions | I wanted to deploy Serverless Microservices(PHP) using AWS Lambda for one of my projects. I researched and found some existing packages that can accomplish this task.
I was curious about the process happening inside the lambda container. Thus, I decided to do it on my own.
So Let’s start the Adventure….
Prerequisites :
AWS Account
Basic knowledge of AWS lambda, CloudWatch, and API gateway
We will create a layer of runtime in AWS lambda which contains
PHP binary
runtime.php
bootstrap
and we will reference it in the lambda function.
PHP Runtime:
We are using guzzlehttp for handling incoming lambda requests.
You can install it using,
composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle
In the runtime.php, add vendor dependency for guzzlehttp.
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
Then, create method getNextRequest() for capturing lambda requests. In this method, we will initialize the guzzlehttp client, and send a request to AWS lambda.
function getNextRequest()
{
$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();
} return $client->get(' http://' . $_ENV['AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API'] . '/2018-06-01/runtime/invocation/next');
After this, add a method to send a response to the AWS lambda.
AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API is AWS lambda’s default environment variable, we don’t need to set it. I’ll explain later, why should we send a JSON response to the AWS Lambda.
Finally, use the do-while loop, which will run till the AWS Lambda’s environment shut down. Then, call both of the above methods.
do { $request = getNextRequest(); $invocationId = $request->getHeader('Lambda-Runtime-Aws-Request-Id')[0]; $payLoad = json_decode((string) $request->getBody(), true); $data = []; sendResponse($invocationId, $data); }while(true)
Here data is an empty array, so let’s prepare data to send a response to AWS Lambda.
Create an index.php file. It contains a simple PHP code that we want to run in AWS lambda. You can add your code and pass the result as $response to runtime.php.
<?php $response = "Hello World"; ?>
Now we’ll include it in runtime.php as,
require_once $_ENV['LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT'].'/index.php';
Then prepare $data as follows,
$headers['Content-type'] = "text/html; charset=UTF-8";
$statusCode = 200;
$content = $response;
I took Content-type as text/html, because I want HTML view for my response. You can take content-type as per your requirements.
$data will be like this, we will encode it using PHP's json_encode in sendResponse() to get JSON response.
$data = [
'statusCode' => $statusCode,
'isBase64Encoded' => false,
'headers' => $headers,
'body' => $content
];
Full code of runtime.php mentioned below,
<?php // This invokes Composer's autoloader so that we'll be able to use Guzzle and any other 3rd party libraries we need. require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php'; // This is the request processing loop. Barring unrecoverable failure, this loop runs until the environment shuts down. do { // Ask the runtime API for a request to handle.
$request = getNextRequest(); //Get invocationId and Payload from request.
$invocationId = $request->getHeader('Lambda-Runtime-Aws-Request- Id')[0]; $payLoad = json_decode((string) $request->getBody(), true); //include index.php file require_once $_ENV['LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT'].'/index.php';
$headers['Content-type'] = "text/html; charset=UTF-8";
$statusCode = 200;
$content = $response; //Prepare response for runtime API.
$data = [
'statusCode' => $statusCode,
'isBase64Encoded' => false,
'headers' => $headers,
'body' => $content
]; // Submit the response back to the runtime API.
sendResponse($invocationId, $data);
} while (true); function getNextRequest()
{
$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();
return $client->get('http://' . $_ENV['AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API'] . '/2018-06-01/runtime/invocation/next');
} //Send request to lambda function. function sendResponse($invocationId, $response)
{
$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();
$client->post(
'http://' . $_ENV['AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API'] . '/2018-06-01/runtime/invocation/' . $invocationId . '/response',
['body' => json_encode($response)]
); //Get response from lambda function and send it to client. }
For executing runtime.php in the Lambda environment, we need PHP binary. As I need a UI interface, I’ll use PHP_CGI. We can use PHP if an interface is not required.
PHP Binary :
I have built PHP binary using amazonlinux:2 docker image. You can find the Full Code of it in Dockerfile.
Bootstrap :
It contains a command to execute runtime.php
Layer’s files reside in /opt directory and Function’s files reside in /var/task directory.
#go into the source directory
cd $LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT #execute the runtime
/opt/php-cgi /opt/runtime.php
Again, LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT is Lambda’s predefined env variable valued as the root directory of lambda function which is /var/task.
Last step:
Create a Lambda layer and a lambda function using AWS-CLI and deploy PHP code. Deploy.sh contains a script of it.
I created a GitHub repo for serverless-php, which contains a lambda function example.
After deploying both layer and function, it will look like below,
AWS Lambda Layer
AWS Lambda Function
Lambda Function has a layer of PHP runtime as,
Layer Reference in AWS Lambda function
Now it's time to run the deployed Lambda function.
Open Created Lambda Function and Test it, If everything’s fine, it will show output like,
Lambda Function Response
If we want to use an API gateway with a Lambda function, As mentioned here at Method Response, the response should be in JSON format.
You can configure CloudWatch to trace the logs of PHP applications.
Our custom PHP runtime also allows the deployment of PHP Laravel and CodeIgniter Application by doing some minor configurations like changes Session, Cache, and Logs drivers. | https://medium.com/canopas/custom-php-runtime-layer-in-aws-lambda-functions-fee0e71c7097 | ['Sumita Canopas'] | 2020-11-27 04:35:19.867000+00:00 | ['AWS', 'Microservices', 'Custom Runtime', 'AWS Lambda', 'PHP'] |
My Top Ten Highest Earning Medium Stories for November 2020 | My Top Ten Highest Earning Medium Stories for November 2020
Plus one honorable mention.
Photo by Viacheslav Bublyk on Unsplash
Last month was my best month yet for my earnings on this platform. I made over $15 — something I did not expect. In addition, I achieved one other milestone I didn’t expect. The story that had been chosen for distribution in October had so many views from Medium readers that I was able to see their interests.
So, without any further delay, here are my top ten most popular Medium stories for November 2020, by the amount earned:
A Simple Process for Tracking All Your Goals in Google Sheets
This story made a whole 10 cents in November and has made $1.30 since I published it in January. In the post, I discuss how to set up a dashboard in Google Sheets so you can track all your goals. It’s received over 1000 views, but most of them came from Google. If you want to check it out, here it is: | https://medium.com/writers-blokke/my-top-ten-highest-earning-medium-stories-for-november-2020-b95acdb87304 | ['Erica Martin'] | 2020-12-03 02:59:55.988000+00:00 | ['Medium', 'Analytics', 'Motivation', 'Reading', 'Writing'] |
Can’t Code? You Can Still Run a Software Company | Can’t Code? You Can Still Run a Software Company
How do you manage a successful software company without a deep knowledge of coding? Danielle Weinblatt (SB2011) offers some lessons from her own experiences.
As a founder of a software company, I often get asked about my ability to code. The answer is simple: I can’t code at all.
At first, I thought what many young and eager entrepreneurs think — that I must learn how to code. So I downloaded a bunch of files to help me learn Ruby on Rails. After my first lesson, I was able to code my name forwards and backwards and perform simple math equations. That’s about as far as I got.
But I’ve still been able to build a software company that reduces recruiting inefficiencies for more than 250 companies. And I learned several lessons that are key to running a technology company without a technical background.
1. Understand the real motivations behind why people work with you. If you can’t understand what motivates your employees and what it takes to keep them happy with their career, your organization is doomed. In the interview process, I try to ask questions that will uncover what really motivates a developer. I can’t administer a coding exam, but I can certainly try and make our work environment conducive to productivity and success.
2. Under-promise and over-deliver. As a first-time non-technical founder, I built credibility with my development team by promising that we would hit certain milestones such as getting accepted to an accelerator program, landing great co-working space, and raising capital. I always articulated the things that we could achieve together as a team, and didn’t rest until I delivered what I had promised.
3. Communicate “wins” on the business side driven by innovations on the tech side. It’s easy to speak about business with your sales and marketing teams. But the development team needs to be engaged in the business wins, too. When developers see their work transformed into real revenue and happy customers, it helps build morale for everyone. Developers don’t work in a vacuum, or at least they shouldn’t. Business wins are rewarding for them, too.
4. Explain why things are getting done, not what needs to get done. One of the biggest mistakes I made in the beginning was to hand developers a laundry list of features that need to be built without taking the time to agonize over why each of these features is needed. When you can articulate the “why” rather than the “what,” your developers are more likely to be in sync with the company’s overall direction and vision.
I still can’t code. When I asked one of my lead developers if I should learn, he urged me to focus on delivering progress on the business side and to leave development to him. I guess if we ever wanted to run simple math equations, I could step in…or not.
Danielle Weinblatt is the Founder and CEO of ConveyIQ. She has operational and startup experience from founding to scale and helped create the Digital Interviewing and Interviewing Management sectors. In 2017, she launched Convey-the first Talent Communication software for recruitment. Convey is the only solution that engages candidates from application to onboard integrated into all major Applicant Tracking Systems. She has led the company since inception and has experience launching 3 software products. In 2016, the company was recognized as a Top 10 HR Cloud Solution Provider. ConveyIQ has raised $14M in venture capital. | https://medium.com/been-there-run-that/cant-code-you-can-still-run-a-software-company-e193e8f4149c | ['Springboard Enterprises'] | 2018-10-16 18:01:02.646000+00:00 | ['Software', 'Women Entrepreneurs', 'Startup', 'Coding', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Coronavirus: 23 HUGE Spiritual Growth Opportunities Social Distancing Gives You & Practices You… | Hey there Soul-Seeker! Let me show you the 23 greatest spiritual growth opportunities that this current coronavirus-pandemic gives you and some practices you can start today.
As you may have already read in my previous post, 12 Things You Can Do To Stay Calm During This Pandemic Even While Social Distancing, you know that staying calm during this pandemic can be a bit of a challenge…
But I want to remind you today that… with challenges, also comes growth.
While we are all staying home and practicing social distancing people in the world are facing numerous kinds of different emotions right now.
Some of us are lonely, some are fearful watching the media, some are sad, some are in disbelief, some are confused and some just don’t know what the heck to do next.
But I have good news for you.
This social distancing provides us all with some of the greatest spiritual practices and growth opportunities than ever BEFORE!
Check this out:
To start, let’s stop looking at everything going WRONG and let’s start looking at everything that’s going RIGHT. For instance:
…Are You Going To Be The Next Isaac Newton in [Spirituality]?? 😉
Here are The 23 HUGE Spiritual Growth Opportunities Social Distancing Gives You & Some Practices You Can Start Today
At this time, it has recently been reported that over 22 million Americans have officially applied for Unemployment Benefits.
But one of my money mentors online, Tai Lopez recently said in one of his talks before all this “when you don’t have money, what you do have is time”… and he has a point.
So, there’s number one for you.
This social distancing gives you a HUGE amount of time on your hands so you can practice spirituality as much as you would like to right now.
Given that, let’s follow Isaac Newton’s mastery and inspiration during this quarantine time and master the skill and art of Spirituality (if that’s what you want to master of course)…
Here Are The 23 HUGE Spiritual Growth Opportunities This Social Distancing Gives You & Some Practices You Can Start Today:
1. Connect & Love Yourself Again
If you’re paying attention to even a little bit of social and online media during this coronavirus pandemic you’ll soon realize that a lot of people are complaining about their time alone.
But what this time alone does for you that most people aren’t seeing is that it’s helping you to connect with yourself and be your best friend again.
Do you remember what actually makes you laugh? Or what you like to do for fun? How about what your current thoughts are like? What you truly desire within yourself??
This is the time to build your relationship with yourself and figure out what’s been stopping you from being happy until now.
This is your time to be completely honest with yourself and find out what your body, heart and mind have been asking for from you for so long now.
And now is the time to start listening to yourself again and making sure your actions are congruent with your thoughts, your true inner needs and desires.
How’s Your Relationship With Yourself Now??
Exercise To Start Loving Yourself Today:
When it comes to making any decision today even if it’s something like deciding if you should put on the blue shirt on or the pink shirt, ask yourself this question:
“what would someone who loves themselves do?”
The first answer that you get is the answer and you may not even know why it’s the answer right away but it will make sense later.
For example, I once asked myself if I should wear this fancy black shirt or this pretty pink shirt before work and I was immediately disappointed when my answer was the pink shirt but I went to work with the pink shirt and on another day I decided I was going to wear my black shirt.
When I wore my black shirt the sleeves were so tight on my wrists because of the way it was made that they were cutting my circulation for the rest of the day.
After that day I wore my pink shirt more and got rid of my black shirt completely.
Weird, right?
All in all, I strongly believe that you too, will find out why your answer was what it was when you start asking yourself “what would someone who loves themselves do” eventually, too.
2. This Social Distancing & Uncertain Time Can Teach You How To Stay Calm & Keep Hope During Difficult Times
Everyone in the world right now is full of fear. But we’re all going through this together.
And we are all going to be so prepared if this ever happens again in our lifetime.
But next time, with much less fear involved and much more love.
This social distancing time during the coronavirus pandemic can teach you how to stay calm and keep hope during difficult times.
Ancient readings of Buddha show that he taught strongly on the power of a still mind and meditation.
Imagine being so reliant on the outside world and senses that your happiness completely depended on them?
In a Buddha mind, the mind is still and non-reactive in all good emotions and bad.
The mind that is too happy will equate to a mind that has the ability to be a too sad also.
Practice stillness and overtime, you will understand just what the Buddha was talking about.
Meditation Challenge for Stillness:
Recently I launched a meditation challenge for any level to help you while you practice your spirituality during this quarantine time.
Day 1 starts on April 1 and goes until April 30, 2020 but your day 1 can start as soon as today too.
It’s better late than never.
Just click the picture below and you will be redirected where you can enter your email to download your FREE copy of your meditation challenge for stillness!
Namaste! Now here’s the next greatest opportunity that this social distancing gives you for your spiritual growth!
3. Now Is The Perfect Time To See & Understand That We Are All One
Honestly, if nothing else in this world proves to you that we are all connected and literally one, I don’t know what will.
In other words, if we weren’t all connected then this pandemic would have never happened… It would have just stayed in China.
But we are.
We are all connected and what the world needs most for us is for all of us to come together and work with each other so we can have a better world, life and environment for us all.
Also, when you realize that literally almost everyone, if not literally everyone is going through this with you as well, it makes things that much easier to bear.
Realize that we are all one big giant team working together and you are part of that team too.
So when you start to work on yourself and your spiritual practice, you are also helping out the world, Universe and collective energy as a whole too.
Your actions do impact the vibration of the collective energy even if it’s small. Get started on your spiritual journey today and know that we are all in this together.
4. You Have Time To Make A List Of How You Are Going To Be More Loving When This Is All Over
I’ve heard so many people who don’t even practice spirituality on a regular basis say that this COVID-19 pandemic is going to be a true spiritual awakening for people once this is all over.
What does that even mean though?
We’re going to start believing in ghosts now?? We’re going to start to all go to the same church now with the same religion??
No. That’s not what that means.
What it means is that people are going to start awakening and realizing that we are all one and the collective energy needs a change, and people are going to be more loving.
Over the next few months, we are going to start seeing more and more people being more caring towards one another, and thoughtful in their actions and more authentic with themselves and to the world around them.
And you’re also going to see an increase of interest in spirituality and health since this pandemic. (Ahead of the game, aren’t ya? ;))
But not just health for themselves; health for their environment, animals and other people too.
With all of this spiritual awakening going on right now and increased awareness in all parts of life, there’s an increased amount of love slowly but surely zooming around the planet.
For example, people are starting to have more empathy and compassion for the person standing in front of them. They are starting to understand the person who stands in front of them is just like them too.
And lastly, people are also seeing that we are all struggling in the same way right now like bring afraid of the virus and unsure how to pay the bills and keep food on the table for the next however long this goes for.
Having this much time on your hands gives you the chance to create a list of different ways you can be more loving to the world around you and how you will help to increase the collective vibration once this is all over.
Mother Earth just can’t ask any louder than this; that she needs us to take care of each other and her environment right now.
Make a list and really sit on it, even meditate on it if you can on how you are going to be more loving once this is all over.
For more information and ideas on how to practice love and non-violence in your everyday life, check out my latest blog on Ahimsa: The Act Of Practicing Non-Violence & 22 Ways You Can Start Practicing It In Your Everyday Life.
Namaste love-bug.
5. You Can Practice Yoga Like Genius Inventor Nikola Tesla & Low-Key Spiritualist Did When He Was Alone
I brought this up in my previous blog about Tesla, The Physics Of Spirituality: How Genius Physicist Nikola Tesla Used Spirituality And The Mind To Understand The Universe And Change The World As We Know It Today And How You Can Too.
Nikola Tesla was by himself most of the time and in turn he was able to create and invent astonishing things. A lot like Isaac Newton’s story from before, huh…?
“No big laboratory is needed in which to think. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone; that is the secret of invention; be alone; that is when ideas are born.” (Nikola Tesla)
When Tesla was alone, one thing he loved to practice to maintain a long and vital life was his practice for yoga.
Yoga can help you physically with your balance, flexibility, strength and focus but it can also teach you all of these things for an optimal heart-mind relationship too.
Also, yoga philosophy goes over the complete path to enlightenment with more gratitude, giving, focus, disattachment, stillness and so, so much more. Use yoga as your tool to inner enlightenment during these times and love the benefits. 🙂
6. With All This Time, Don’t Let A Second Go To Waste. Not Even When You’re Sleeping… Practice Your Art Of Conscious Sleeping
For the average person who sleeps 8 hours a night, most of us will spend 1/3 of our life sleeping.
So we might as well practice sleep consciously and now is the time to get started on that journey with nothing but ourselves to distract us from it.
Conscious sleeping, as described by lucid dreaming teacher Charlie Morley, is “unrestricted by censorship or state control, limited only by the relationship with our own inner state, lucid dreaming is a true taste of freedom.”
When we pay attention to our dreams, we pay attention to the messages our subconscious is trying to tell us and we can eventually even use it to heal inner things that may need healing.
Use this time to focus on your dreams and practice conscious sleeping.
How To Get Started:
You can get literally started by simply writing down your dreams as vividly as possible right when you wake up and in a few weeks or sooner, you will soon begin to see more vivid dreams and eventually begin to even control them.
PS Yes, you can even work on having an outer body experience while doing so. 😉
7. Social Distancing Gives You The Opportunity To Discover Your True Inner Authenticity & Desires Again
Before all of this, a lot of us were extremely busy with work, maybe school, family, relationships, maybe hobbies, etc.
But now that all of that is put on a temporary pause, this is a true opportunity to look within and find your true inner authenticity again.
When we were born, we all knew exactly why we came here on this Earth and we knew what we were going to do.
But then life, parents, school, friends, social peer pressuring, social status, bills, etc happen and we lose touch of ourselves and our calling.
While spending your time in quarantine, this give you a great opportunity to rediscover why you came here on this Earth again and what it is that you’re body and mind have been asking you for so long now to do.
You can now rediscover your true inner needs, wants and desires again and follow your heart like never before.
Just like number 1, by reconnecting with yourself again you will reconnect with your true inner light again and in turn have a more authentic life and experience because of it.
A great way to make sure you are being authentic is to make sure that your actions match your words and thoughts and vice versa. Always stay true to yourself.
During this time, know that pain is a great teacher and pain tells us what we do want and helps us get closer to our truer selves. Listen to your pain body. ❤
8. Opportunity Of Practicing Presence
One of the greatest spiritual things that can come from this social distancing time is the art of practicing presence.
Like no other, this time is more important than ever to practice the art of presence and with social distancing in place, we really have no other option but to practice calmness during these times for sanity and peace.
It is easy to keep checking the media during this time but the more challenging opportunity in this is to remain present during these difficult times.
And if you can stay calm during this time, it will be a breeze to stay present and calm in difficult times whether it be a fight with your spouse or a bad day at work…
Also, what presence shows you is that you have everything you’ve ever needed right now and thus, experiencing less pain and suffering from past or future events.
9. You Can Create Your Spiritual Goals You’ve Been Thinking About For Awhile Now & Take Action On Them Now
If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you have been thinking about a spiritual practice for yourself recently or you have been practicing one for some time now and you are looking for more ways to grow in your journey.
Either way, this social distancing time gives you the sheer opportunity to write down those spiritual goals and truly commit yourself to them.
That could mean creating your spiritual routine that you have been wanting to start.
Or that meditation practice you’ve been wanting to get better at.
Or starting that spiritual book you’ve been wanting to write.
Whatever it is, with all of this time, you have a grand opportunity to do it and show the world what you are made of spiritually.
Goal Creating Quick Tip:
Some of the most successful people categorize their goals into 4 groups: Health, Wealth, Love and Happiness.
Use this as a guide and domino effect. Work on your health, then your wealth and then your love and happiness just happens…
What’s the first spiritual goal you’re going to work on for yourself?
10. Read Your Favorite Spiritual Books You’ve Been Putting Aside For So Long
This social distancing and quarantine time can feel like it’s going by really really slow, that is until it’s all over with and we’re asking to go back to how much free time we had.
Especially pick up that book by that spiritual mentor who you would like to follow because as I practice more spirituality, I notice us human beings love guidance to look up to for inspiration.
What’s your favorite spiritual / self improvement book to read??
11. Connect With Your Spirit Guides
With all of this time alone and time to ponder, why don’t we use this time to our advantage and connect with our spirit guides?
The reason that I’m putting this here is because if this is something that you truly want to do it’s going to take your complete patience as it doesn’t come in a day.
Practice meditations and talk with your spirit guides and let them know that you are listening to their messages.
The more open you are to receiving messages from your guides, the easier they will be able to communicate with you but if you have any kind of blockage stopping yourself from receiving those messages, it will be very hard to hear from them.
Pst, here is a quick cheatsheet to your 10 quick steps & tips on how to connect with your spirit guides:
12. You Have Endless Opportunities To Start Practicing Meditating And Looking Within
Of course, I have to put meditation in here as one of the BIGGEST opportunities that this social distancing gives you.
With all the time that this quarantine gives you, why not spend the time with yourself and learn to build that relationship with yourself again while in the meantime developing the skills and discipline that is required to sit for long periods of time in complete silence?
As mentioned earlier, Buddha and even traditional yoga philosophy hardcore believed in the power of stilling the mind.
Because a still mind is a peaceful mind.
No matter what happens in either extreme bad or good, they cannot impact your mood and how you feel too positively or negatively, therefore being endlessly at peace with yourself.
Crazy, I know.
This means that the impact excitement has on your brain has the same impact that nervousness has on your brain.
Stay calm! Ommmmmmmmm.
PS. Download Your FREE MEDITATION CHALLENGE HERE
13. Find Out What You Value Again
Part of building your relationship with yourself again is discovering what you value again.
When we were born, we knew what we came here on this Earth to do… But overtime our values can be blurred with other people’s opinions and values and we can become very confused when it comes to figuring out what our values are again.
Value Definition: a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life. (Google Dictionary)
Values are your inner belief systems that you subconsciously or consciously decide on how you want your life to go and when values are ignored or replaced for something else, there ends up being very unhappy results.
Activity To Figure Out What You Value:
I want you to write down 3 life-values that come to your mind without thinking (because your heart-mind naturally know what it values anyway).
After that I want you to ask yourself this one question:
“Am I operating and taking actionable acts every single day to ensure that I am living in correlation to my values?”
If the answer is no, we need to fix this.
So for instance, if your value is to be healthy and fit but you’re ordering take out pizza and coca-cola every night and you’re ordering a large caramel macchiato every morning and then sitting on the couch all day without moving, then you’re not living in accordance to your inner values.
Here’s another one; if you write down that you value your emotional wellbeing but everyday you continue to do things that make you angry and sad towards yourself like breaking promises to yourself or staying in a relationship that isn’t good for you anymore, then you are indeed, not living in accordance to your values.
14. Learn To Follow Your Heart Again
Another part of spiritual growth and learning is to learn how to listen to your heart again and quiet the noise that’s around you.
Our heart is that little quiet voice and that “knowing”.
It can be so powerful in you that you notice a complete change in your gut feeling and happiness level when you follow your heart.
So for instance, a lot of people have day jobs that don’t fill our heart soul.
In this case, it would be best for you to find a job that fills your heart soul because as Nikola Tesla said about healing from some of his hardest diseases and illnesses:
“A powerful desire to live and to continue the work, and the assistance of a devoted friend and athlete accomplished the wonder… Thereafter I devoted myself chiefly to physics, mechanics and mathematical studies, spending hours of leisure in the library.”
It’s that answer that comes to you regardless of any social pressure from other people. This is a perfect time to reconnect with our hearts and do what we were meant to do when we first came here.
15. Work On Your Gratitude Bucket
An important part of spirituality, AKA mind-body health is working on your gratitude list.
When you make it a part of your life to integrate gratitude in your life you will feel completely relieved and love yourself for where you are right now.
Gratitude is a life with no desires because you have everything that you have ever needed right here, right now.
Once you start to focus on the positive things in your life, your pain and suffering that comes from the need and desire for something to change or be better than it is now, disappears.
Right now during this pandemic, a lot of people are focusing on the need for change and for everything to just end and go back to the way it was before.
But is that what we really want??
Or would we rather have a life full a gratitude and everyone around to help the other person out??
Like the good old tribal times.
You choose.
16. Work On Your Happiness Bucket
In addition to your gratitude bucket, something else that this pandemic gives you is an opportunity to make your happiness bucket.
*A happiness bucket is a bucket (or list) that you resort to when things feel difficult or tough and you’re finding it hard to remember what makes you happy again.
How To Make Your Happiness Bucket:
When you are making your happiness bucket write down everything that makes you happy.
This happiness bucket truly works because in times of difficulties or challenges it can be easy to see everything that’s going wrong but it should be reminded that if you were happy in the past one point, you certainly can be in The Now.
This happiness bucket is just one of the great tools you can have in your back pocket when it comes to self-love and care and needed that quick happiness reminder to yourself.
Remember, your happiness is yours and it cannot be taken from you. ❤
17. You Can Work On Your ‘Safe World’ Like Genius Inventor + Low-Key Spiritualist Nikola Tesla Did When He Was Alone
Nikola Tesla claims that most of his success if not all of it was because he was very good at being by himself.
Tesla would spend hours and hours in a room by himself to master the thing he was looking to solve.
As a low-key spiritualist and avid visualist, he practiced and mastered creating his own safe-space whenever he felt frightened in regular life.
He would do this by visiting other places in the world and hanging out with people who made him feel safe and he did all this in his dreams.
In his book he shares that it started out challenging and the worlds did not seem real to him but after more practice and conscious sleeping, he was able to create worlds and people in his dreams that were more real to him than everyday life.
Are you going to start searching for your safe space in your dreams like Tesla did?
18. You Can Develop Your Psychic Skills You’ve Been Wanting To Develop For So Long
Psychic abilities can be experienced in multiple different kinds of ways.
Right now with all of the time on your hands, you can develop those skills and challenge yourself to get those psychic and spiritual goals that you’ve been wanting to reach for so long now.
Something you can do to help yourself develop your psychic skills is opening your third eye chakra.
How To Open Your Third Eye Chakra:
I will write a post on opening the third eye chakra soon but in the meantime what’s been helping me to open up my third eye chakra are things like third eye meditations, repeating “open” when looking up between the eyebrows, chanting “Mayyy” during my meditations, etc.
When you are opening your third chakra it is important to make sure you have no blockages in opening your third eye.
Opening your third eye chakra can have amazing benefits if you are looking to have more awareness in your psychic abilities.
Benefits Of Opening Your Third Eye Chakra:
When you open your third eye chakra you can start to have the ability to see more colors and energy fields, more vivid dreams / lucid dreaming abilities, outer body experiences, an increased ability to create and you can even open yourself up more to the ‘spirit’ realm.
Note: Sometimes opening up the third eye can have side effects that are similar to detoxing feelings but it can be an amazing experience to open yourself up to your spirit surroundings if you can handle to detox-like side effects.
Are you going to work on your psychic abilities AKA open your third eye chakra?? 🙂
19. You Can Learn How To Garden / Farm & Connect With Mother Earth
One of my most favorite opportunities that this quarantine gives us is the opportunity to learn how to garden and grow our own food again like we did hundreds of years ago.
Since places are still shut down and people are afraid to go into public out of fear that they will get sick, there has been a large increase in gardening equipment being bought.
And let’s be honest, do you think that people are going to be any less scared to go into public after all this?? Probably not honestly.
Gardening is one of the most grounding experiences and spiritual experiences that you can have with Mother Earth. For more information on grounding yourself read Bioenergetics: 7 Ways To Heal Your Mind With Your Body.
Mother Nature provides energy to our bodies like no other and standing and working with the dirt can be one of the most grounding experiences.
Are you going to start gardening? 🙂
Bonus! Here’s 3 Quick Gardening Tricks & Tips For You! Enjoy! 😉
20. Discover & Research Those Vegan Meals To Make At Home Now That You Have Time
The classic spiritual vegan diet is most commonly talked about by people who practice spirituality on a regular daily basis.
Vegan meals are popular among the group of serious spiritualists as they promote non-violence and equality among all life.
If you’ve been thinking about a spiritual vegan diet you now have the time to start to looking up some of your favorite meals but in vegan form and try them out!
One of the best times to try something out like a new diet is at home so you can cook all the food you would like and you can react to it how you want to react to it!
Also as a bonus btw, the classic vegan diet is the diet said to clear the pineal gland and promote clarity for the third eye and spiritual awakening, so if you’re serious about developing your psychic skills and opening your third eye this diet may really help you get there!
21. Learn How To Have Fun Again
A lot of spirituality has to do with building a better relationship with yourself and those around you and being more authentic with yourself and others, etc.
But also another reason why I chose the path of spirituality is because it’s not afraid to allow yourself to have fun again.
Part of following your heart within is about not being afraid to let the inner child and dreamer out to play again.
While we are social distancing we don’t have people around us to judge us for what we do or say right now.
Too many times when we are out there in the real world we are told we have to act proper or behave in a professional manner.
We’re told we can’t have fun anymore… With no one around you, you can focus on letting your inner child out again.
What’s Been Working For Me To Bring Out The Inner Child In Me:
I’ve found it most helpful in bringing out the inner child in me by watching my favorite cartoons and movies that I loved when I was younger.
I still laugh at the same jokes and love them just as much as I did before.
Thus, letting my inner child out.
Maybe for you, getting your inner child out could mean eating your favorite childhood meal again or playing outside and playing cops and robbers or building that sand castle.
Whatever it is, just know that there are no rules when it comes to having fun.
There isn’t a certain age where we need to stop having fun officially and just start working and only be serious. Fun never stops and sometimes we have to teach ourselves to not take life so seriously and just laugh it out again.
22. Heal Your Darkest Emotions Within While Social Distancing (Recommended With Professional Assistance If Needed)
One of the greatest but most challenging aspects that this quarantine gives us all is the very opportunity to face our very inner darkest emotions and traumas that we’ve been avoiding up until now.
A lot of people are unhappy being told they have to sit with themselves for a unknown amount of time but I’m looking at this like an opportunity.
Do you really want to not look forward to your times with yourself??
Before this, we usually use work or school or friends as a distraction for facing our deepest darkest pains, but now is the time to look in, resolve those issues so you can finally allow yourself to move on from them.
What I Did To Help Me To Face And Heal My Darkest Emotions:
I recently found a professional holistic therapist to speak with to help guide me through some of my darkest emotions buried within myself so I wouldn’t have it do it alone and neither should you.
When you face your darkest emotions and traumas within you, you are essentially giving yourself the permission and opportunity to move on so you can live and become the best version of yourself finally physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
And this quarantine time gives you one of the best opportunities for that growth so you can finally move on because you can take however much time you need to heal when hard or difficult emotions arise.
There is no rush for you to jump into public and put on that fake smile like nothing happened and live inauthentically to your truth.
Instead you can use this time to learn and truly express yourself.
PS. This is a recent haiku that my holistic therapist recently sent me. Enjoy!!
“Barn’s burnt down… Now I can see the moon.” — Mizuta Masahide
23. Find Out How You Want To Make A Difference In This World And Then Start Doing That
One of the most popular practices that I find in people who practice spirituality on a regular basis is that they love to look for new ways they can give to more people and the world around them.
And as a benefit, the Universe works with the Law of Attraction or as Nikola Tesla said it, “Law of Compensation” so when you put out the work and energy you can be sure that you will be compensated for your all hard work.
Just keep trying and never give up. No one ever accomplished anything by giving up.
Just like genius Nikola Tesla and mathematician Isaac Newton did when they were alone, you can use this time to yourself master your skills and then figure out how you can make a difference in this world.
And the coolest part about making a difference is…?
That there really is no right or wrong answer about how you define making a difference in this world.
For some people this could mean volunteering at an nursing home and studying brain health for the elderly…
Or this could mean staying at home with your kids so they have a better relationship with you and are raised in the right hands or …
For some this could even mean writing those thousands of books to help people on their spiritual path …
Or it could simply mean going to all of the concerts in the world and then sharing your experiences with people on their concert journey.
Whatever it is and how you define your making a difference, I can assure you that you are here to do something meaningful and purposeful in this lifetime and you are here to do big things.
Use this time like the 2 geniuses mentioned in this post in the beginning and really work on developing yourself, figuring out and remembering exactly why you came here in the first place.
And now is the best time for this because there’s no noise or intruding obligations to show up to or unnecessary opinions and judgements from others while you’re working on yourself.
This is your time and this is you time to completely shine!
Because seriously, when’s the next time we will have some of these greatest spiritual growth opportunities with this much time on our hands?
In Conclusion
A lot of people are saying that this pandemic is going to be a huge spiritual awakening once it’s all over.
But I’ve already seen people start to spiritual awaken right now.
This quarantine time can be one of the hardest times in life if you choose to see it that way, or you can choose to see it as one of the greatest opportunities at hand for your spiritual growth.
Just like Isaac Newton used his time in quarantine to invent what we now know as calculus…
And Nikola Tesla used his time alone to work on his inventions and (low-key) spiritual practice…
You too, can use this as your opportunity to manifest those dreams and goals you’ve been thinking about for so long now.
Now that we no longer have long hours used up by our jobs or unnecessary social events or distractions, etc., we have time to fully focus on ourselves and get back to our original state of being which is the following:
Our natural state is fully loving ourself unconditionally without judgement, complete authenticity and living in accordance to our own personal values and beliefs as an individual. Now is the perfect time to work on becoming the best version of yourself physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
So, in quick summary for you, here is a quick list of the Coronavirus & The 23 HUGE Spiritual Growth Opportunities Social Distancing Gives You & Some Practices You Can Start Today:
1. Connect & Love Yourself Again
2. This Social Distancing & Uncertain Time Can Teach You How To Stay Calm & Keep Hope During Difficult Times
3. Now Is The Perfect Time To See & Understand That We Are All One
4. You Have Time To Make A List Of How You Are Going To Be More Loving When This Is All Over
5. You Can Practice Yoga Like Genius Inventor & Low-Key Spiritualist Nikola Tesla Did When He Was Completely Alone
6. With All This Time, Don’t Let A Second Go To Waste. Not Even When You’re Sleeping… Practice Your Art Of Conscious Sleeping
7. Social Distancing Gives You The Opportunity To Discover Your True Inner Authenticity & Desires Again
8. Opportunity Of Practicing Presence
9. You Can Create Your Spiritual Goals You’ve Been Thinking About For Awhile Now & Take Action On Them Now
10. Read Your Favorite Spiritual Books You’ve Been Putting Aside For So Long
11. Connect With Your Spirit Guides
12. You Have Endless Opportunities To Start Practicing Meditating And Looking Within
13. Find Out What You Value Again
14. Learn To Follow Your Heart Again
15. Work On Your Gratitude Bucket
16. Work On Your Happiness Bucket
17. You Can Work On Your ‘Safe World’ Like Genius Inventor + Low-Key Spiritualist Nikola Tesla Did When He Was Alone
18. You Can Develop Your Psychic Skills You’ve Been Wanting To Develop For So Long
19. You Can Learn How To Garden / Farm & Connect With Mother Earth
20. Discover & Research Those Vegan Meals To Make At Home Now That You Have Time
21. Learn How To Have Fun Again
22. Heal Your Darkest Emotions Within While Social Distancing (Recommended With Professional Assistance If Needed)
23. Find Out How You Want To Make A Difference In This World And Then Start Doing That
What’s your favorite spiritual journey during these times? Comment Below & Let Me Know! 😉 Thanks for reading!!
Namaste Spiritual-Seeker!
Spriituality Lifestyle Blog
Photo credit: Meditation photo: Business vector created by freepik — www.freepik.com; Photo credit: Pig in Feature photo: Flowers vector created by brgfx — www.freepik.com | https://medium.com/@brittany-lbrin/coronavirus-23-huge-spiritual-growth-opportunities-social-distancing-gives-you-practices-you-f46853e91e33 | ['Spirituality Lifestyle Blog'] | 2020-04-24 18:04:18.880000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Self Improvement', 'Spiritual Growth', 'Awakening', 'Self-awareness'] |
Diversity and Inclusion amongst Early-Stage Investors | Refreshingly, awareness towards diversity and inclusion is ever present, this has certainly been seen in wider society as well as in the corporate world, although arguably at different lengths. Research carried out by McKinsey& Co firmed the hypothesis of the presence of a positive correlation between a company financial performance and its workforce diversity; this is known as the presence of a multi-gender and multi-cultural working environment. This applies particularly to the start-up ecosystem and it is clear that although there has been progress, there is quite a way to go. According to the Founder Institute, in the US, only 2% of senior positions at VC firms are held by African Americans, creating a growing industry of investors who don’t align with present-day consumer and business interests. As well as this, statistical data from a survey conducted by UKBAA tells us that the demographic profile of the angel investors is predominantly male, white and an average of 55 years old with an underrepresentation of women and minorities — in this article we will explore this demographic further.
Age
We have mentioned in previous posts that investing pre-seed and seed can be extremely risky and while opportunity does present itself where angels find great teams and products they really believe in, these opportunities present themselves to relatively wealthy individuals who are able to buy a ticket for the ride. This is the underlying reason behind the high average age of investors. According to the UKBAA, only 4% of angel investors are aged between 18–34 and 10% between 35 and 44. The largest angel group sits in the 45 to 64 years bracket with 64%, bringing the average age of business angels from our sample to 55. Having an experienced angel support you is extremely beneficial to a business’ growth, as they can bring with them invaluable experience, networks and advice. It is also true however that we are seeing increasing popularity of more accessibility into the investment space. The rise of crowdfunding has meant that the opportunity to invest in startups has opened up to many more. As well as this the increasing popularity of rolling funds, as championed by AngelList, as a method of fundraising for VCs also makes becoming an LP more accessible. For now, we expect the age demographic of investors to remain high, but we will certainly be interested to see if there will be a shift towards democratisation of investment opportunities with popular platforms such as crowdfunding and rolling funds.
Geographic Demographics within the UK
The London Start-up Ecosystem is ranked as the number one in Europe and third in the world after San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The city has the perfect combination of a high-quality and diverse talent pool, an entrepreneurial environment and infrastructure to support it, plenty of network opportunities, a well-established angel investor community along with the tax incentives to support it and a strong presence of venture capital firms. For this reason, London remains the most prominent home location for angel investors with 34% of the total 508 surveyed. The second most dominant geographical for angels in the UK is the South East of the UK, with 22% of the total. This data is significant, but statistics show that even if investors are spread in different locations, 55% of the angel investors who invested in 2018/19 made at least one investment in the capital. Also, if we look at the total value of investments received, London received just over 50% of angel investments in the survey while Scotland received only 11%, followed by 10% invested in overseas start-ups.
Gender
According to the survey in question, 86% of the angel investor respondents were male. In the UK, the number of female angel investors make up around 13% of the total, which is relatively low when compared to a 29.5% representation rate seen by our cousins across the pond in the US. The reasons for this disparity can be found in many places, one reason is the still ever-present income and wealth inequality we see in this country. In addition to this, according to our data, statistically female angel investors are more risk-averse compared to their male counterparts, so the average ticket size amongst female angel investors is lower. The sign of an upward trend in the number of female investors is positive, we have seen many angel groups and angel syndicates set up to encourage more women to become business angels. Addidi Angels and Angel Academe are just two examples of brilliantly successful groups of angel investors that have set out to introduce more women to angel investing and that are looking to fund more women-founded businesses. It is clear that by empowering women founders and having initiatives in supporting their projects, we would be able to make progress to reaching gender equality in the entrepreneurial world.
Ethnicity
The inclusion of people from different cultural backgrounds and experiences is one way that innovation and success can be made possible. Black and Asian investors remain underrepresented in the UK angel market. Among the 508 people surveyed, we found 79.2% angel investors that are White British, 15.7% are White from other ethnicities, 6.3% are Asian and only 0.6% are Black. However, 3.3% of the total UK population and 44% of London’s population (where we have seen 34% of angel’s investing in our survey) are Black.
We have seen encouraging signs from a number of financial institutions and they have really reaped the benefits by combining motives of inclusion, representation and entrepreneurship. These firms are doing more than just virtue signalling through twitter, they are actually supporting the black startup community by getting behind entrepreneurs trying to push this ecosystem. Impact X is a London-based VC that was founded to support underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe and we have seen similar efforts from VCs such as HBCUvc BLCK VC. Now what’s left is for larger funds to follow that lead and make a commitment to hiring and funding from minority groups.
Overall, there is an expansion trend within the angel investment community towards a more inclusive and diverse participant base, both from the founders’ side and the investors’ side. The good news is that there are ever more fantastic opportunities for investors to support minority founders and a greater breadth of investment choices that an angel investor can choose from. Data shows that investments in diverse founders’ start-ups can have a significantly higher ROI compared to investing in a less diverse one. That being said, it is encouraging to see this and there are more and more initiatives aimed at making the start-up community less niche and more open and inclusive to support talents from all different backgrounds no matter their gender, belief or skin colour. | https://medium.com/go10x-ventures/diversity-and-inclusion-amongst-early-stage-investors-b7c5cee62113 | ['Sam Keisner'] | 2020-12-15 15:49:20.032000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Diversity And Inclusion', 'Angel Investors', 'Startup', 'Diversity'] |
Why so much talk about Decision Science? | When I first came across this term and tried to learn about it, I was overwhelmed by the information. Everyone has picked it up and have written pages on end about it. There was one thing in common though.
We all have read many articles, blogs and seen posts of ‘decision science vs data science’. We haven’t actually tried to think why do we compare the two. There is more congruence between the two. I would say that the only main difference is that data science delivers the results and decision science helps us take calculative steps based on the results.
What if I asked you to compare the sports, chess and boxing. Many would argue chess as an activity rather than a sport but that is a discussion for some other time. Both require attention and patience and practice and pattern recognition in the opponent. Yet, they are quite different and does not require to set up a comparison between the two. The missing piece that we failed to notice was that they did not affect each other. Whereas, decision science depends a lot on data science.
Imagine this, you are a data scientist dumped with a huge database containing all sorts of data. Your superior asks you to comb through the data and provide him with your findings. We have all been there where based on certain results we can easily decide what to do. That is where the decision scientist comes in. It is not as easy as it sounds.
A decision scientist doesn’t just look at the data provided. There are factors like ‘past-experiences, variety of cognitive biases, individual differences, commitment and some more’. Data Science is a tool by which correct decisions can be made. Read more here.
Whoever said that data science is for the math majors or the computer genius in the class. Basic analysis is required in every field. You do not have to be Alan Turing to go about it. Psychology students learn distributions in their bachelors, biology majors have to understand the normal curve too. In short if data science is everywhere, so is decision science and has been so always.
Photo by Frank Vessia on Unsplash
Since we are just venturing into this field, decision science can quite easily get misunderstood for analytical fields or areas using machine learning, but it is very much a separate area.
“While data science is perhaps the most broadly used term, ‘decision science’ seems like the more fitting description of how machines are assisting business leaders in solving problems that have traditionally relied on human judgment, intuition and experience,” according to K.V. Rao, founder and CEO of sales forecasting software company Aviso, in TechCrunch. “It may not be the sexiest phrase in the world — I’ve never seen it in any marketing materials — but ‘decision science’ aptly encapsulates how computers are helping to systematically identify risks and rewards pertinent to making a business decision.”
As I have mentioned above, according to Data Science Central, “Data Scientist is a specialist involved in finding insights from data after this data has been collected, processed, and structured by data engineer. Decision scientist considers data as a tool to make decisions and solve business problems.”
Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash
By now, we’re accustomed to the what a great deal being a Data Scientist is. The demand for Data Scientists is only skyrocketing and will be go on maybe till aliens take over. The overlooked champion of the business and technology world have just been recognized. Little do we know about them.
If people were rational, behavioral economics would be a myth. From Economics to Marketing to Psychology, all require a Data Scientist and a Decision Scientist. Intellectuals believe that the combination of two can take the business to great heights.
A data scientist just has their data in hand. They have no knowledge of client needs or promises made by the company or whether the management has some reservations. In short, they do not have a 360-degree view of the problem at hand. Regardless decision scientists have an analytical mind which helps them picture the problem and find the best solution for the company and client/customer. Hence, they are prepared for all kinds of situations.
Being rarer than data scientists, the demand for decision scientists are only to increase. The craze for data science had just started when educational institutions started providing courses. The trend is still increasing. Everyone is gearing up with the latest tools. We do not want to be left behind. Universities have already started courses for students to become decision scientists. It’s a matter of time before schools adopt some concepts.
I have made a list of as many universities as I could find which were offering the course in major countries. Now, most of these are PhD courses as decision science requires a some taste of how things run in the real world. It is a great opportunity as research is still underway.
ASIA:
IIM Bangalore, India
IIM Lucknow, India
INSEAD, Singapore(in all campuses)
CUHK Business School, China
Asia and Pacific decision science institute
EUROPE:
European decision sciences institute
University of Konstanz, Germany
IESE Business School, Spain
Rwth-aachen University, Germany
HEC, Paris
AMERICA:
Decision Science institute
The College of Penn
Carnegie Mellon University
Harvard University
Kellogg School of Management
Thank you for reading!
Do tell me your remarks. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/why-so-much-talk-about-decision-science-f9d8b8bd92d4 | ['Ada Johnson'] | 2020-10-02 17:02:37.434000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Data Science', 'Decision Science'] |
Maybe Next Time | Thank you for taking the time to read my poem. If you like my work the maybe you’d like to read more of my work.
If you’d like to stay up to date and get regular writing inspiration and tips then you can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: katmorrisbooks. | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/maybe-next-time-55e5877f481e | ['Kat Morris'] | 2020-01-02 16:20:15.443000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Poem', 'Relationships', 'LGBTQ', 'Love'] |
Where do you sit on airlines? | Are you green or blue?
This week my linkedin feed gave me two consecutive articles from the United Nations. The first one, in green, urged me to consider that “We need a systemic shift to a more sustainable economy that works for people and the planet”.
The second, in blue, supported the view that “”Aviation is an important engine of our world, and will play a critical role in lifting the world to recovery from #COVID19. “
I have worked all my life in the aviation industry, however felt uncomfortably conflicted by this apparently nonsensical juxtaposition of messages.
However, it made my pause to think, where is the balance between securing the survival of the planet and the economic need to keep airlines and people flying ?
I am still thinking, are you ? | https://medium.com/@pargyle/where-do-you-sit-on-airlines-2848bf612185 | ['Paul Argyle'] | 2020-12-10 09:59:11.602000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', 'United Nations', 'Travel', 'Environment', 'Airlines'] |
I left consulting to join a startup | How do you know you’re ready to make the switch?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, I want to address a question that I myself asked many times — how do you know you’re really ready to leave consulting? If you’ve already decided, feel free to skip this part.
Staying in consulting does have many benefits — great opportunities, steadily increasing salary, little risk, a lot of diverse experiences you can intertwine into your role (role rotations, geographical mobility), and a bottomless well of challenges and hard problems you can throw yourself at. The potential FOMO is endless, and probably grows bigger the longer you stay in consulting. Every day, you are learning new things — some are useful for running a company, others not so much.
My advice here is to really think about where you want to get, and what is the learning that will get you there. Getting that managerial promotion or an MBA might make sense if you want to join a company of your clients’ scale, but it might not be relevant if you want to join an early-stage company, or start a business of your own. You can’t learn to build products by a proxy, only by jumping down the deep end. Equally, improving as an analyst won’t make you a better operator, only operating will. If you feel the itch to leave your job, look around and see if there are opportunities within the company that might move you towards your goal. If the learnings will only side-step you, bite the bullet and move on.
It’s important to evaluate how well our aspirations align with the critical path of the environment we are in. Find projects, teams, and companies whose critical path is best aligned with yours. — Robert Chang
Jeff Bezos coined the regret minimization framework (of course there’s a framework for this) when he spoke of his decision to leave a Wall Street firm and start Amazon. “If you project yourself out to age 80, and ask yourself whether you’d regret making this step, it gets you away from daily pieces of confusion, and helps you make good life decisions.” A wise friend of mine reiterated this for me — “consulting companies, MBA degrees, all of these long-standing institutions will always be there for you — a high-growth opportunity might not.” So what would your 80-year old self say?
How to make the leap?
Consulting and startup worlds are radically different, but similar in their intensity and the level of commitment they require if you want to succeed. I did not know much about startups aside from my romantic ideals, and what I learnt from Jared in the Silicon Valley show, so learning about the startup world itself before moving on to the actual job search was crucial.
1. Grow your network outside consulting
Someone at McKinsey famously remarked it’s “less than a life, but more than a job” — but I found it all-consuming nonetheless. I would spend most of my week at work, and then hang out with my colleagues on weekends. If that sounds nothing like you — more power to you. If that’s all too familiar, I suggest you take a step outside of your bubble and start speaking to non-consultants.
Growing your network helps you understand what’s out there, and get a feel for where you could fit in. Your clients are most likely leading corporations, so your professional connections won’t help you with the job search, and great early-stage job postings on LinkedIn are rare and gone before you know it. Here’s a couple of tips on how you can start growing your network:
Reach out to alumni from your company — McKinsey has an amazing Alumni Center that allowed me to search through a global network of people who had been in the same shoes, moved on to do extraordinary things, and when I reached out, they were empathetic and happy to help. I suppose most consultancies will have a resource like this — at the end of the day, investing into alumni and nurturing the relationships is consulting’s bread & butter. Even if your company does not have a dedicated database, try asking around — supportive colleagues and leadership can share their own leaving stories, or connect you with relevant alumni. You can also reach out to people from other consulting firms via LinkedIn or Twitter, they can relate to your pivot even if you’re not coming from the same company.
— McKinsey has an amazing Alumni Center that allowed me to search through a global network of people who had been in the same shoes, moved on to do extraordinary things, and when I reached out, they were empathetic and happy to help. I suppose most consultancies will have a resource like this — at the end of the day, investing into alumni and nurturing the relationships is consulting’s bread & butter. Even if your company does not have a dedicated database, try asking around — supportive colleagues and leadership can share their own leaving stories, or connect you with relevant alumni. You can also reach out to people from other consulting firms via LinkedIn or Twitter, they can relate to your pivot even if you’re not coming from the same company. Meet strangers — Lunchclub (or the Russian Random Coffee) are great resources for meeting interesting people outside of your domain. You just have to sign up, complete your profile, set the goal for your conversations and who you want to talk to (like a founder, investor, product or a technical expert) — Lunchclub algorithm then connects you with up to 6 people every week. Lunchclub was originally focused on connecting people within selected cities (starting out in London, San Francisco and New York), but this got much easier during the pandemic. All sessions are now fully online, so you can set your location preference and get networking.
Goals page of lunchclub.ai
Join a community of people on the same boat — While I don’t have a first-hand experience here, I’ve heard great things about career change programs like Grand Quest or community-based fellowships like On Deck (especially the On Deck First 50 or On Deck Founders might be relevant). These programs do require substantial time commitment, but if you’re convinced it’s the right time to make a move, they can help you navigate the decision-making process, get professional guidance and you can meet inspiring and like-minded people along the way.
2. Learn about the startup world
Consulting is a bubble — the words you use, the way you talk and the clothes you wear probably scream “consultant”. The problems you’re solving rely of repeating proven recipes and blueprints in a new context. Getting impact does not necessarily always mean cracking the hardest problems, but instead, finding out what works for your clients’ organization — and then building conviction and buy-in to get the results. Whilst the pressure is high, in the grand scheme of things, there is zero ambiguity. The project length, structure and the to-do list are often laid out even before you join the team. The hard part is taking that high-level roadmap, and making things work under pressure.
Startups are different. You’re solving challenges that are hard in a different sense — often facing problems that have never been solved before. Many concepts that move the needle in startups can also be counterintuitive to a consultant: MVP and “better done than perfect”, pragmatism about resources, mission obsession, not caring so much about best practices and “state-of-art”, not over-engineering everything — simply finding out what works quickly, getting the job done and moving towards the next milestone. You have to understand that mindset before starting your job hunt. Would you even enjoy this type of work? Ease yourself into these topics before starting to have real conversations, and give yourself ample time to do this. Here are a couple of resources I found helpful when making the leap.
🧑🎓Courses
How to start a startup — I highly recommend this if you don’t know where to start. This is a free series of ~1-hour recordings where startup legends share their take on different topics with Stanford students, and it also comes with a list of great reading resources.
YC’s Startup School — A great resource if you’re looking to start a company of your own. If you can’t commit to the full program, you can also check out Startup Library, where YC shares some of the content that make up the core Startup School curriculum.
📚 Reading
🎧 Podcasts
Masters of Scale — a podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman (PayPal, LinkedIn, Greylock) where he analyses different topics with founders that scaled successfully.
How I Built This — Guy Raz interviews entrepreneurs on how they built things.
The 20 minute VC — Harry Stebbings interviews people from the VC industry and founders in conversations that rarely take 20 minutes.
Clubhouse — Great talks are hosted here daily. I recommend you sign up and follow a couple of people (like Naval, Ben Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Ryan Hoover) and clubs (e.g., Startup Club, A16Z), so that you get notified when they’re online and pop in to relevant conversations.
🐦 Twitter
I did not have Twitter for the longest time, and I was missing out on some major startup knowledge. TL;DR — Get Twitter and follow everyone and anyone that might be an inspiration on your journey. Here are some of the accounts that broadened my understanding of the startup landscape:
3. Learn to tell your story
This one is not easy — especially if you’re like me, someone hired into consulting straight out of college, with little/no idea of the value they can bring. You can’t sell yourself to a founder (especially a technical founder) the same way you’d sell yourself to a client or a partner at a consulting firm. Especially if you’re interested in a specific function like product or sales — you will automatically have lower leverage in those conversations than someone with relevant training.
Here is my humble perspective of what consultants can bring to the table in early-stage startups. I can’t really speak to post-seed companies, but I assume some of these are relevant across the board:
Getting stuff done — Especially if you join an early-stage company, you will have to wear many hats, make strategic decisions quickly, but also get the stuff you think up done — there is noone else to do the work. Showing that you are driven and smart, but also eager to get your hands dirty will get you far. You’ll no longer be the manager, the thinker, or the analyst — you will be the maker, so get comfortable with that and make sure to communicate that to others too.
— Especially if you join an early-stage company, you will have to wear many hats, make strategic decisions quickly, but also get the stuff you think up done — there is noone else to do the work. Showing that you are driven and smart, but also eager to get your hands dirty will get you far. You’ll no longer be the manager, the thinker, or the analyst — you will be the maker, so get comfortable with that and make sure to communicate that to others too. Learning quickly — A lot of the success of being a consultant relies on the ability to absorb a lot of information, ramp up and rapidly mold yourself into different context. As a strategy consultant, you are trained to be a generalist. So while you may not have the 4 years of B2B account management experience or the market understanding that another candidate has, speak to the fact that you can learn these things extremely quickly, and by the virtue of being a generalist, you can bring value beyond the role description.
— A lot of the success of being a consultant relies on the ability to absorb a lot of information, ramp up and rapidly mold yourself into different context. As a strategy consultant, you are trained to be a generalist. So while you may not have the 4 years of B2B account management experience or the market understanding that another candidate has, speak to the fact that you can learn these things extremely quickly, and by the virtue of being a generalist, you can bring value beyond the role description. Being independent and proactive — Often times, there is noone to tell you what to do. If your role relates to growth, the founders might have an idea of what they’d like to accomplish, but you will ultimately be the person thinking about this the most, and driving the growth agenda. Show evidence that you can take ambiguous problems, break them down to manageable chunks and drive to solutions — that is ultimately what you’re best at as a consultant.
— Often times, there is noone to tell you what to do. If your role relates to growth, the founders might have an idea of what they’d like to accomplish, but you will ultimately be the person thinking about this the most, and driving the growth agenda. Show evidence that you can take ambiguous problems, break them down to manageable chunks and drive to solutions — that is ultimately what you’re best at as a consultant. Building relationships — Relationships are the bread & butter of consulting. Building a startup is relationship-building on steroids: you are building a company out of thin air, which means talking to investors, influential people in your domain, reaching out to other startups for advice. Show that you’re up for the challenge.
Once you have the building blocks, practice your story. I found it helpful to use a framework that Marissa Mayer used when moving across different roles at Google and Yahoo — “I started working at {your consulting company} to learn X and Y, now I want to join {your dream startup} to apply this, help your company move to point A and learn B.”
4. Get on with the job search
When doing the actual job search, there are many things to consider when filtering job opportunities — industry, product, company stage, team size, the role, geography and more. Ultimately, you will have to think about how important each of these aspects is for you, and prioritize the 2–3 things you won’t compromise on.
When it comes to choosing the right industry / product domain, maybe some of your client work gave you an indication for where to look and what topics make you excited. If you have no clue, keep an open mind and speak to anyone and everyone. Having said that — when going into any hiring conversation, make sure you have tested the product (if possible), and can speak to the company’s vision and users they serve. Startups are user- and product-obsessed, so not knowing this is an instant red flag.
Size of the team and company stage are other things to get clear on. The earlier the company, the broader role you will take on, spreading yourself across multiple domains — your generalist background can be a perfect fit here. If you’re looking at more mature startups, make sure you identify roles where you can bring the most value. Unless you have prior background in a certain function, it will be hard to apply for a function-specific role against someone with relevant experience. Traditionally, consultants are well-suited for Business Operations, Analyst, Internal consultant and Chief of staff roles (if you like the sound of that, I highly recommend this great essay on The Chief of Staff role in Silicon Valley by Julia Wahl). As a generalist, you might also be a great fit in Account Management/Sales roles at later-stage B2B companies.
To get started on your job search journey, pump up your LinkedIn, reply to the recruiters in your inbox and connect with search firms like Opus Search and Golden Gate Recruiters. There is a large job market for ex-consultants, and companies like these can help you connect with interesting startup opportunities based on your background and preferences. If you’re interested in Chief of Staff roles, check out Ali Rohde jobs — a weekly digest of Chief of Staff and BizOps roles for early-to-mid-career professionals. You can also search for opportunities on platforms like Angelist and Crunchbase.
Good luck, and remember — while consultancies hire the best talent because they can afford it, startups cannot afford not to — so don’t sell yourself short. | https://medium.com/@elizabethdlha/i-left-consulting-to-join-a-startup-2772b91bc3d7 | ['Elizabeth Dlha'] | 2021-04-22 23:58:37.280000+00:00 | ['Mckinsey', 'Job Hunting', 'Startup', 'Consulting'] |
Why Nuclear Security Matters | I didn’t really know anything about nuclear security.
I studied international affairs in college, but found myself drawn to more popular topics like peace in the Middle East and development in sub-Saharan Africa. I have a vague recollection of memorizing the nine known countries that possess nuclear weapons for an introductory-level course, but can’t call to mind another time in my undergraduate career when nuclear weapons were mentioned.
Now that I’ve spent a few months interning in nuclear nonproliferation, I find that mind-boggling.
Nuclear is relevant to everything in international relations, and, yes, affects everyone in the world. Nuclear security matters.
Most American children learn about nuclear weapons in the World War II unit of high school history classes. The United States became the only country to have used atomic bombs when it effectively ended the war by dropping bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And then despite debate in the scientific, military, and diplomatic communities, a race to build bigger, more powerful, and more terrifying nuclear weapons began.
Scores of countries started to develop nuclear bombs. At one point, President John F. Kennedy spoke about a potential world with dozens of armed nuclear states. Sweden became a potential nuclear state. And so as the Cold War raged on between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., a set of treaties known as the nonproliferation regime came into force. Stockpiles are now down 85 percent from where they were at the height of the arms race, and the number of countries with nuclear weapons did not balloon as feared.
In 2018, we’re limited to just nine states with nuclear programs: America, Russia, France, Great Britain, Israel, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.
But those nine states hold 14,000 nuclear weapons, each one grim, deadly, and under human control.
Nuclear security matters, and here’s why:
Because we spend an insane amount of money on it. Think student debt is bad? We (fellow millennials) might have to fund a bunch of new nukes. The U.S. is expected to pay $1.7 trillion on new and improved nuclear weapons over the next 30 years, an insane dollar amount on par with the current student loan debt. Because weapons with catastrophic capacity can be launched by the whims of a single person. The President can personally choose to launch nuclear weapons at any time, without condition or approval from anyone else. And current U.S. nuclear policy requires unrealistically quick decision-making in times of crisis; some of our most destructive weapons are purposefully kept on high alert, capable of being fired in as little as ten minutes. Because nuclear weapons kill people with lives, families, and loved ones. The 73-year anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings are this week, and it’s critical that we never forget the very real, human cost of these weapons: 130,000 lives lost and tens of thousands of survivors with horrific injuries. And it could happen again all too easily.
In the era of Trump, we’ve come close to nuclear conflict with North Korea and made threats to unleash terror on Iran. The less we understand the financial and human cost of nuclear weapons, as well as how little oversight we really have over them, the graver the threat to the world.
Before I came to work in the nuclear nonproliferation world, I thought nuclear weapons were an outdated relic from my textbooks. I didn’t realize how real and immediate the threat is to us all.
Somehow, 60 percent of Americans would support a nuclear attack on Iran that would kill 2 million civilians. Perhaps it’s because we don’t really know anything about nuclear security. | https://medium.com/discourse/why-nuclear-security-matters-abdcd5ae9d92 | ['Annika Erickson-Pearson'] | 2018-08-18 10:57:31.611000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Nuclear', 'Nuclear Weapons', 'Trump', 'United States'] |
5 Great Life Lessons From New Disney/Pixar Movie “Soul” | 5 Great Life Lessons From New Disney/Pixar Movie “Soul”
Photo by Karim MANJRA on Unsplash
Soul shows the life of Joe Gardner, who is a school teacher with great love for jazz music. He gets the chance to play in the best jazz club in town, this would be the moment of his life but a sudden accident separates his soul from his body. While his body is on Earth, his soul is at The Great Before doing its journal to get back to his body.
Don’t underestimate others
When Dorothea met Mr. Gardner for his audition, she said: “So, we’re down to middle school teachers now”, while her facial expression and tone showed no great expectations for what Gardner could do.
Life can surprise you, just because a person is not as famous as you are, did not study in the best college or don’t work in a big company, it doesn’t mean this person can’t be good in at what they do, you can find a hidden gem in the place you never thought you would.
Also, remember that some people struggle to believe in themselves, thinking and believing they are not good enough. Be kind with others, you never know the weight in their shoulders.
Don’t lose yourself being obsessive
There is in the movie a place called “The zone”, it is the space between the physical and the spiritual world. There are creatures there which are “lost souls” like the hedge fund manager that was so immersed in his work.
Who doesn’t know somebody that is obsessed with their work? That can be very time consuming and will take your peace away. It is not bad if you think of your work when you’re not actually working, maybe want to bring new ideas and that’s great but tossing and turning all the time is a different thing.
But not only can this happen with your job, people get obsessed with their relationship, their grades, etc. If you feel you are going into this situation, look for ways to reconnect with yourself, do things you enjoy and make you happy.
Don’t be afraid to stand for your dreams
Sometimes you don’t stand for what you want or believe because you’re too afraid of people’s reaction, what they will say can empower or discourage you and this last one is precisely what stops you from defending your dreams and believing. But sometimes these people (your family, friends, partner) are you fan at the end.
Expectation are the worst
Sometimes you expect something in a way and it happens in a different one or does not happen at all, you should cope with that.
Expectations can be so negative, holding expectations in someone or something can lead to disappointment and discouragement. It hurts when you dream about how something will be and turns out it is not like you wanted. I’m not saying you must not have expectations but if you do, be clear that maybe things won’t be exactly as you think.
Don’t let society dictate who you have to be
Society tends to dictate how you should dress, what you should believe, what you should become, they even try to tell you how YOUR happiness must look. They measure if you’re successful, not knowing everyone has their own definition of success, everybody wants different things in life.
In the movie, 22 became a lost soul because others told her how her life was supposed to be but she didn’t feel like that, she did not fit what they say so she felt she wasn’t enough
Don’t lose your soul trying to fit in a mold, your life must have the shape you want to give it not what others expect it to be. Nobody has the power of telling you what to do or be in order to be worthy unless you let them do it. | https://medium.com/illumination/5-great-life-lessons-from-new-disney-pixar-movie-soul-ed596267c6e3 | ['Elisenda Vargas'] | 2020-12-26 08:06:11.180000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Disney', 'Life Lessons', 'Better Humans', 'Advice'] |
How to Become a Junior Developer and What It’s Like to Be | Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash
In software development and many other tech industries, there is a logical gradation of specialists based on their level of expertise: Junior, Middle, and Senior. This gradation gives a better understanding of qualification and allows determining the responsibilities and salary level.
In this post, I will get wind of the entry-level specialist, find out how to become a Junior programmer, what companies expect from an employee, and what salary they are willing to pay for this position. So, stay tuned.Who is a Junior Developer?
As a rule, a Junior developer is a specialist who’s just graduated, has little to no work experience, so still has a lot to learn, gain expertise, and go through the entire product development cycle. Juniors don’t usually write straightforward code — fancy one-liners and abstractions are still more often associated with the entry-level specialist. While in a Junior position, specialists continue to engage in various mundane tasks to gain as much hands-on experience as possible.
Despite the overall simplicity of Junior-level tasks and responsibilities, companies sometimes set up high standards for entry-level candidates, as if they were mid-level or senior developers. The only thing that explains this is that the perception of a position often varies depending on the company, market, industry, and business goals.
Applying for a Junior Developer: Responsibilities
I’ve already briefly mentioned some Junior developer’s duties, but let’s look at the most common ones in more detail.
Writing code and making it easy to maintain.
Making enhancements to code.
Analyzing project tech requirements.
Correcting bugs and errors in code.
Participating in the testing process, documenting progress, etc.
Working with a group of people assigned to a specific project, visiting meetings.
Drawing up reports, manuals, and other types of docs.
Explore the project’s structure, as well as a codebase.
Collecting users’ feedback about the product.
Covering the code of fellow programmers with unit tests.
These are more or less standard responsibilities of a Junior specialist that you are most likely to perform.
Requirements to Meet to Become a Junior Developer
Before applying for a job position, we all as one go get familiar with the requirements the employer has for candidates to understand if we meet them and can get a job. I do not know the industry, where things are different. In programming, there is a list of requirements for specialists at all levels and Junior developers as well. They may different from company to company, but an average pool of knowledge for a novice Java coder may be as follows.
In-depth knowledge of Java, including syntax, collections, and multithreading. A firm grasp of IDEs, version-control systems, and services, like GitHub or GitLab is also required.
An understanding of web project frameworks, enterprise frameworks, and unit testing tools are desirable.
The basic knowledge of other programming languages, such as JavaScript and C++. HTML/CSS is also appreciated.
Basic-level hands-on experience in programming.
Proficiency in SQL and a solid understanding of databases.
Advanced knowledge of at least one OS.
The fundamentals of Computer Science.
A potential to quickly master brand new software platforms and technologies.
The importance of being a team player and following the instructions.
It will take you up to a year to learn everything you need to apply for your first job as a Junior Java programmer. Self-learning is really difficult, but a mentor represented by the experienced developer, good offline or online courses (some of which are mentioned below) can help you speed up. Once you have the necessary knowledge, you can apply for a job and continue to study and gain practical experience, but already working for one of the technology companies.
Why is the Junior Developer Position Cool?
As we’ve already considered the common requirements and responsibilities of a Junior Java developer, it’s high time to find out what entry-level specialists should expect from working in this position.
Financial Compensation
Have you ever thought about the main criteria for professional identity? Somehow, it’s mostly feedback and financial compensation. I am not saying money is the only reason to choose web development as a profession, but you won’t deny that a high salary is a good motivator and driving force for further self-development.
Let’s see what you can make working in the position of a Junior Java Dev.
Salary is certainly one of the advantages of working as a programmer as even the inexperienced coder can be fairly well compensated compared to the specialists in other industries.
According to Glassdoor online job boards, a Junior developer in the US can earn $ 63,502 a year. While the average salary for the same position in the compensation software PayScale reaches $ 53,803 a year.
The average wages in other developed countries vary. For example, German entry-level specialists can make $48,466 a year, while English and Dutch Junior developers earn an average of $31k and $37k a year correspondingly. The world’s highest Junior developer salary is recorded in Australia and is $70,446 a year.
Practical Experience
Experience is another thing that makes it possible for Junior devs to get a job at this level of qualification. While getting familiar with a range of working processes and technologies and completing tasks, a Junior programmer can get the applicable experience. The latter is important to any developer as it allows evolving and growing in their profession.
So, when applying for a Junior coder position, take notice of what kind of experience you’ll get while working in this company. Consider this criterion ahead of the wage. Confirm that performing the tasks in this position will lead to your professional progress and help to improve your career prospects.
Online Courses to Become a Junior Java Developer
Learning Java online has never been that simple. Today, the web is full of courses created to make the learning process as easy as possible. Most are interactive and designed using the latest teaching methods, like gamification, storytelling, visualization to keep you engaged. Next, you will find a list of learning platforms aimed at helping you acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become a Junior Java developer. Go check them.
CodeGym
CodeGym is known for its hands-on approach to learning Java. The platform hosts over 1200 tasks of increasing complexity to let you code as many as needed to become an experienced programmer. After completing the task, you can get it validated instantly and receive feedback from a virtual mentor to understand what you need to improve in case of mistakes. The course also contains a Game section that helps you edge your coding skills by creating your own versions of popular classic video games.
Codewars
Codewars is another gamified platform that allows training your skills by completing challenges called kata. This is the course that allows you to compete with your fellow programmers, discuss the competition outcomes with them, earn ranks and honor, and even create your own kata to challenge others. Codewars with its interactive classes makes it easier to master any of 30 programming languages.
Cyber-Dojo
Cyber-Dojo encourages students to improve their skills rather than reaching the final level of the game as soon as possible. The platform allows users to complete the challenge on their own or join the group session. Every single task is well-described and comes with examples of how the solution might look. The students can also test their challenges during the session — they will pass the test only when the traffic light turns green.
CodeChef
CodeChef is a popular platform among students who like to learn programming by participating in coding contests. Fortunately, the platform hosts contests and challenges three times a month. So, the users can not only edge their skills but also win trophies at the end of the competition. Apart from that, the students can join training sessions and discussions that cover binary search, algorithms, and other useful topics.
The Complete Java Masterclass
If you want to master Java from A to Z, this masterclass is right for you. You will learn the language right from its fundamentals to more advanced concepts, such as Multithreading, Variables, OOPs, Generics, etc. The course also has practice examples that will let you test what you’ve learned.
Java Programming for Complete Beginners in 250 Steps
This Udemy course devoted to learning Java is created using a step-by-step teaching technique to make the learning process easier. After passing the theory part, you will be forced to hone the knowledge solving hands-on exercises and writing high-quality Java code. Like other courses on the list, this one will brush up your coding skills so that you can apply for the position of Java programmer.
Java Certification by Duke University
This course supported by Duke University is designed for beginners to teach them core programming concepts and equip them with the knowledge needed to solve coding problems. You will end up the course with a decent portfolio of work and certification that will help you at your future interview.
Closing Word
How to become a Junior programmer? Start learning to code at your earliest convenience. The point is that you don’t need years of training before you can apply for a Junior position — months of training, acquired basic knowledge and coding skills are pretty enough to get your first job. The next step is to gain more hands-on experience, which is possible when you are already working. So, don’t put it off and start learning Java today. | https://medium.com/dev-genius/how-to-become-a-junior-developer-and-what-its-like-to-be-aa0db915157 | ['John Selawsky'] | 2020-12-15 12:04:44.503000+00:00 | ['Learn To Code', 'Coding', 'Learning To Code', 'Programming', 'Development'] |
No Crying Over Spilled Milk | Hi! I’m Terry Mansfield and I Specialize in Eclecticism
Here are some things about me you probably don’t know (and maybe don’t even care to know; sorry about that). | https://medium.com/illumination/no-crying-over-spilled-milk-6cb01468f55c | ['Terry Mansfield'] | 2020-12-20 01:19:21.889000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Haiku', 'Poetry', 'Crying', 'Milk'] |
Content-Based Recommendation Systems | Photo by Jeff Sheldon on Unsplash
Content-Based Recommendation Systems
Michael J. Pazzani and Daniel Billsus
This paper discusses content-based recommendation systems in general. It explains how to represent items with structured data, and how to generate structured data from non-structured. For example, for natural language text, the tf-idf method it’s discussed. Afterward, it discusses two approaches to keep a user profile, with a model or a history of the user’s interaction. Finally, different popular models are presented as ways to create a content-based recommender system. Decision trees, KNN, Relevance Feedback, Linear Methods, and Naïve Bayes are proposed as classification learners.
The methodology for content-based recommender systems is explained as follows:
… [the models] learn a function that models each user’s interests. Given a new item and the user model, the function predicts whether the user would be interested in the item…
Isn’t that inefficient? To provide recommendations for a user, with this approach the system would pass all items through the model to see if they are a match or not for the user. Some pre-computation seems necessary, as the number of items can be really large.
For all the models presented, there is no scalable way of adding new items for the users, the only way would be to recompute the model all over again from scratch. You would like for example your Decision Tree to adapt to the new items that the user likes.
It’s surprising that the Naive Bayes method does well as the authors claim. That's because, for text, the algorithm assumes that all words are independent of each other, and that is of course not true, as some words are extremely more probable if they are present after another particular word. Maybe some way to address this would be to group all words that tend to appear together (with some clustering method maybe), and use only one as representant of the group. | https://medium.com/recommender-systems-iic-3633/content-based-recommendation-systems-62a1d89c9740 | ['Yoav Navon'] | 2019-08-29 02:51:46.471000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Recommendation System', 'Machine Learning'] |
On Being a ‘Minority’ | …the tiny semblance of a feeling to which you sufferers of white privilege may be able to relate.
And of course, I have no idea if you’ve ever experienced this particular feeling, but I do think it is a feeling with which anyone can empathize simply by understanding the context inside which this example exists. And it is a feeling with which I (and others like me, but I haven’t done any legwork on this as I am a self-labeled ‘amateur’) am very familiar and have to deal with on a regular basis.
Imagine you’re invited to dinner, therefore, you must attend. You arrive, and you are greeted, friendly enough, and people see you and acknowledge your existence, but then, when everyone moves to sit in the dining room, there’s no place for you, and there’s clearly no room to set up an extra place. The host apologizes and hopes you will understand that there’s simply not enough food for you because you didn’t rsvp on time, so they’re really sorry that you can’t stay for the dinner part. You gently state that you did rsvp, and that the host had said they’d received it when you saw them last Tuesday. The host shakes their head as if trying to remember something and finally states that that can’t be right. It is, but who are you to make a fuss about free dinner.
And then, all of the other guests merrily sit down and begin eating in front of you as you have not quite left the room (or the house) yet to head home.
Oh, and you are the crazy one if you show even a whiff of anger. | https://medium.com/hot-orange/on-being-a-minority-8db795102b03 | ['Amateur Tattletale'] | 2020-11-10 17:59:18.056000+00:00 | ['Emotional Intelligence', 'White Privilege', 'Empathy', 'Discrimination', 'Microaggressions'] |
Are Your Children Cooperating? | Four years ago, I was chatting with Jan, a German expert in outdoor education, in a tiny pocket of forest just outside the city limits of Guangzhou, China. Jan was one of many occidental education experts our school would see in the first couple of years of its opening. They served as consultants to help model our forest school (China’s first) after a Western, outdoor pedagogical framework. It was part of my job to help them acclimate to Chinese social and professional culture, so I spent a lot of time observing their work and interacting with them, particularly Jan.
That day in the forest, I was telling him how enamored I was with the idea of having children, but that I was terrified by the thought of failing to raise them well. I asked him to recommend some literature that might help ease my conscience.
Admittedly, my bias on child-rearing and education already leaned Montessori and Waldorf, given the time I’d spent working with the school and other foreign experts, so I welcomed his recommendation.
If you’re unfamiliar with Montessori and Waldorf philosophies of childhood development and education, I highly recommend a peek at a recent ThoughtCo article by Robert Kennedy. He provides an adequate explanation of them by showing their differences.
Jan suggested I read Jesper Juul’s, Your Competent Child.
As a renowned family therapist and author on the family, Juul’s work bursts with insightful material on improving relationships within the home. His objective is to shift traditional, hierarchical perspectives of family roles to ways that cultivate equal dignity and collective growth. His effort begins by disabusing long-held beliefs about what it means for our children to cooperate.
“When children cease to cooperate, it is either because they have cooperated too much for too long, or because their integrity has been harmed. It is never because they are uncooperative.” Jesper Juul
Cooperation Misunderstood
For many children of my generation and those before me, cooperation was a word often paired with obedience. If we weren’t cooperating, it meant we weren’t behaving.
Teaching children how to cooperate is part of what it means to be a parent. What would it say about your adequacy as a parent for your child to disobey and misbehave? For some parents, that meant delivering verbal or physical punishment, fearing the child would end up controlling the relationship if they didn’t.
Juul points out that through imitation, children actually cooperate all the time; we’re just not seeing things from their perspective. | https://medium.com/modern-parent/are-your-children-cooperating-212b6b254c50 | ['Michael Adelizzi'] | 2021-05-25 20:30:15.490000+00:00 | ['Integrity', 'Cooperation', 'Children', 'Parenting Advice', 'Parenting'] |
Moonlit Blossom | 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/taphoangontu/moonlit-blossom-27721448b0f2 | ['N. T. Anh'] | 2021-01-08 13:48:14.104000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Hasui', 'Basho', 'Vietnamese', 'Thoughts'] |
10 Tips for Amazing Self Discipline | Are you tired of your family and partner nagging you for things you have to do and KNOW you must do but just.. lack self-discipline?
I was (and sometimes still am) in your shoes. But there are things you can do to change it.
There are things you can do to change everything in your life you are not happy with. It all depends on you if you will act on it or not.
Girl learning self-discipline
My story: I used to postpone things but stress over them. Like, I was thinking only “I have to do that...But soon” 10x times a day!
It was annoying,tiring and frustrating.
I’m sure this happens to everyone at least sometimes.
And the result, after I learned some amazing tips for self-discipline is so worth it!
I’ll list them below, so keep reading.
Remember your goals — You might want to start or started something because of a goal. If you are like me, you act on impulse or feel like you have superpowers in good days but then, you fell down suddenly and just lose enthusiasm.
What to do in this case: Write down your goals in either your journal or stick them somewhere in your room so you can see them everyday. When you lose your mood, imagine your goals being met. It instantly give you hope and motivation back, right?
2. Set up alarms- Sometimes, I’m so caught up with something that I postpone things and forget to do them. So an alarm is the best reminder. This way I don’t have to be stressed that I must do something today and to remind myself “Don’t dare to forget it!”.
3. Habits- Slowly, your alarms will disappear as you create daily habits.
A fact about me: I used to be a dancer. Yes, I took dance classes, danced on the stage but at my home, in my mirror, was the place I was most comfortable to dance. So, I had this habit of waking up and dancing during the day whenever I had time, sometimes for hours.
But with time, I lost this habit as life get busier. Yes, I know. It was my mistake to not find the time to do something I love. And sometimes I regret it because I lost my grace in dance.
I don’t want the same things happening to you, so we’ll talk in another post how to find the time to do things that makes you happy, even when your life is a mess.
4. Finish what you started — This whole post talks about my past me, so if you relate to it as well, believe me, things can be changed!
So, how can you finish something when you love to multitask or lose interest and focus for one thing in less than 30 mins?
First, make sure no one disturbs you. Keep your mind and focus only on that thing and when a different thought hits you, ignore it. It does takes some effort, but in the end you can breath so easily knowing that you did one more thing today and you didn’t just waste your time!
5. Breathing Techniques and Meditation — I think this one helped me the most. Whenever I had a bad mood, thinking positive with a relaxing breathing calmed me instantly and I had better energy to do things I have to do, to achieve my goals for the day and so on.
6. Set Deadlines- I also love doing it! Setting deadlines allowed me to really focus and give my best on everything because I felt like in a competition where I must win by doing it well and on time. And it really works!
Look at the clock and say “By x time I must do y thing/half of it” and so on.
7. Eat well and Hydrate — When you eat unhealthy, you get tired more easily and may end up in a bad mood all day. Either drink coffee or black tea or both (I do) and take supplements such as vitamins if you don’t feel full enough from salads and other vegetables.
8. Include a friend — This works in two ways:
a) Either do difficult things together with a friend or sister
b) Let them know via call or text message what you are up to and make sure to send a picture after you’re done with the thing. It’s a good way to be motivated to get things done.
9. The Power of Breaks — By taking breaks such as watching Youtube, Tiktok, reading a book or going out allows you to gain back your energy so you can continue to finish your super busy schedule for the day.
10. Ignore the “Haters” — I feel so bad to say it, but I want to be honest. Sometimes our biggest fans aren’t our family or partner. But you don’t live for them, you live for yourself, you deserve happiness and deserve to dream big,
So, whenever someone tries to discourage you, get online in your favorite community to get motivated back by all those that could do it! Or simply vent to your friends. There are people who believe in you!
I do, too. Don’t give up and keep going. I was in your shoes. I know you can do better!
Originally published on: thedeluxediary | https://medium.com/@denissafarkas-76219/10-tips-for-amazing-self-discipline-f5f6feaf3bec | ['Denisa Farkas'] | 2020-12-26 15:01:18.319000+00:00 | ['Learning', 'Confidence', 'Tips', 'Self Discipline', 'Self Development'] |
The Research That Literally Shocked People to “Death” | The Milgram Shock Experiment was a social psychology study, and one of the most famous studies on obedience, conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. Their objective was to measure the obedience of the participants to authority figures while being instructed to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.
Participants were led to believe that they had to administer electric shocks to a “learner” person sitting in the next room. These fake electric shocks gradually increased to levels that would have been fatal had they been real.
The experiments began in July 1961, a few months after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Those accused at the World War II Nuremberg War Criminal Trials often used obedience from their superiors as their primary defense when asked why they committed acts of genocide. Milgram wanted to understand if the main reason behind the Nazi killings in World War II was Germans simply “following orders” or if other motives were responsible for their behavior.
The Setup
Milgram selected participants for his experiment by newspaper advertising for 500 male participants between 20 and 50 years old to take part in a “study of learning” at Yale University.
The “experimenter” (E) was in charge of the session. The “teacher” (T) was the volunteer participant in the experiment. And the “learner”(L) was an actor pretending to be the subject of the study.
Photo showing the experimenter (E), teacher (T), actor known to be the “learner” (L); Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
The subject and the actor arrived at the session together. The experimenter told them that they were taking part in a scientific study about memory and learning, to see the effects of punishment on the person’s ability to memorize content.
Then both the subject and actor drew slips of paper to determine their roles in the experiment but unknown to the subject, both slips said “teacher”, which guaranteed he would end up as the “teacher” regardless of which slip he drew.
The next step was to take the teacher and the learner into an adjacent room where the learner was strapped into what appeared to be an electric chair. In addition, the experimenter would dress in a lab coat to appear to have more authority.
The teacher and learner were then separated so that they could communicate, but not see each other.
The teacher was then given a list of word pairs that he was supposed to teach the learner. After going through the list once, he would read the first word of each pair and the learner had to choose the second word from four possible options. If the answer was incorrect, the teacher would administer a shock to the learner, with the voltage increasing in 15-volt with each wrong answer. | https://historyofyesterday.com/the-research-that-literally-shocked-people-to-death-5941ba063804 | ['Kim Mia'] | 2021-05-05 11:51:51.849000+00:00 | ['History', 'Human Behavior', 'Psychology', 'Research', 'Humanity'] |
“Onlinesales.co.in” primarily segmented into following three categories. Choose your need and start reading. In every blog you will find the option to buy your product directly from seller website. 1) | “Onlinesales.co.in” primarily segmented into following three categories. Choose your need and start reading. In every blog you will find the option to buy your product directly from seller website. 1) Laptop & Computers 2) Appliances & 3) Home Decor Onlinesales.co.in Oct 17, 2019·2 min read
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French Ambassador “Very Impressed” by Rabidly Islamophobic Adityanath | French Ambassador “Very Impressed” by Rabidly Islamophobic Adityanath
“His supporters have called for digging up Muslim women from their graves and raping them,” reported The Washington Post in 2017, but, upon meeting Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister on 25 November 2020, the French Ambassador to India reported it was an “excellent meeting” that left him “very impressed” with the “dynamism” of one of India’s most controversial politicians.
Less than a month ago, in the French National Assembly, MP Jacques Marilossian “drew the attention of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to the treatment of Christians and religious minorities in several states of India.” Focusing on “anti-conversion” laws — which essentially criminalize religious conversion without government permission and are in force in eight Indian states — Marilossian warned that UP is one of the states which “make no secret of their desire to adopt this type of law.” Nevertheless, French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain gleefully met Adityanath.
When Adityanath was appointed Chief Minister in March 2017, Amnesty International took the unusual step of releasing a statement specifically directed against a particular politician, insisting that he “must publicly withdraw his previous inflammatory statements against Muslims and other religious minorities.” Aside from calls by his supporters for necrophilia with Muslim women, Adityanath himself, reported Amnesty, is known for “militant, misogynistic and anti-Muslim rhetoric.” His statements, for example, include the violent and communalist declaration: “If [Muslims] take one Hindu girl, we’ll take 100 Muslim girls. If they kill one Hindu, we’ll kill 100 Muslims.”
“We had a fruitful discussion regarding further strengthening the ties between France and India and forging the partnership for leveraging huge potential of Uttar Pradesh,” said Adityanath after his meeting with Ambassador Lenain. The meeting comes in the midst of a massive French crackdown on French Muslims — in the name of “secularism” — which has gone so far that it is described by some as “state-sanctioned Islamophobia.” It also comes just one day after the UP government approved a law banning interfaith marriages unless couples first inform governmental authorities of their intent to marry — those in violation face up to 10 years imprisonment.
While France wages war on Islam in the name of “secularism,” however, Adityanath is as anti-secular as they come. “‘Muslims did no favor to India by staying here,” he said in February 2020, an expression of Islamophobia that may have won him favor with the current French government. Yet Adityanath — himself a Hindu monk — also endorses the merger of religion and politics. He has “called for India to be a Hindu nation” and also stated his desire to install Hindu idols “in every mosque.” He has further declared that “this is the century of Hindutva, not just in India but in the entire world.” Hindutva, according to Amnesty International, “is the political ideology of an exclusively Hindu nation.”
His claim to infamy additionally includes pledging to continue reconversion of religious minorities to Hinduism — voluntary or otherwise — unless and until conversions to other religions stop. When formerly an MP, he called for an “aggressive campaign” of reconversion. Speaking at an event hosted by Vishwa Hindu Parishad — a group which has been labeled by the CIA as a “religious militant organization” and which is the religious wing of the Hindu nationalist paramilitary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — he insisted that “conversions spoil communal amity in the country” and demanded that they be banned. Describing conversion as an “anti-national act” — in line with the Hindutva ideology that non-Hindus are foreign to India — he suggested that the “anti-conversion” laws in force in various states should be replicated on a national level. As French MP Marilossian noted, however, such laws “exclude conversions to Hinduism, which constitutes additional and explicit discrimination against Christians and Muslims.”
“Adityanath has been one of Uttar Pradesh’s most polarizing politicians, given to hateful rhetoric that incites discrimination and hostility against minority groups, particularly Muslims,” said Amnesty International India Executive Director Aakar Patel in 2017. “By demonizing Muslims, he has increased religious divisions and put ordinary people at risk of discrimination, hostility and violence. As the head of the Uttar Pradesh government, he must disown his poisonous statements, and ensure that his administration respects the rights of people of all faiths.”
Adityanath definitely has not done that.
While campaigning for India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party — itself merely an extension of the RSS — in April 2019, he described Indian Muslims as a “green virus” who have “infected” the opposition. The comment earned him a temporary ban from campaigning by India’s Election Commission. Yet the ban did nothing to prevent his administration’s Islamophobic rhetoric from translating into violence.
In December 2019, after India’s passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act — which, warned the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, set a “legal criterion for citizenship based on religion” — mass protests against the act erupted around the country, with Muslims taking the lead. As India brutally suppressed the protestors, the crackdowns, reported The Los Angeles Times, were “harshest in the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where at least 17 people have been killed and more than 5,000 detained.” Throughout the state, reported the Times, “Residents have described a military-style crackdown on Muslim areas, with police opening fire on civilians, beating children, barging into homes and vandalizing property.” In one of many horrifying incidents, as reported by The Guardian, a 73-year-old Muslim attorney was arrested, beaten in custody, and told by police: “I will fuck your mother. I am going to throw all your family members in jail where they will rot for life. I will destroy your family.”
Speaking about his supporters — perhaps the same ones who have called for raping dead Muslim women — at a rally in 2009, Adityanath declared, “When I ask them to rise and protect our Hindu culture, they obey. If I ask for blood, they will give me blood. I will not stop till I turn UP and India into a Hindu rashtra [nation].” And yet, according to Ambassador Lenain, “France is keen to contribute to UP government’s ambitious plans in the areas of sustainable cities, defence industry, aerospace.” Profit before principle — or people — after all emerges as the French State’s raison d’être.
Meanwhile, only a day after Lenain praised the “ambitious plans” and “dynamism” of Adityanath’s administration, video footage emerged of a stray dog entering a UP government hospital and feeding on the corpse of a girl whose body was laying unattended. | https://medium.com/@pieterjfriedrich/french-ambassador-very-impressed-by-rabidly-islamophobic-adityanath-341b67f991ef | ['Pieter Friedrich'] | 2020-11-26 20:47:10.336000+00:00 | ['Islamophobia', 'Hindu Nationalism', 'India', 'France', 'Foreign Policy'] |
Petrine Infallibility in Matthew 16:19: A Response to Steven Nemes | “Jesus Returning the Keys to St. Peter” — Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1820)
Steven Nemes has proposed two possible ways of interpreting Matthew 16:19. The first is the prospective reading wherein Peter only binds what God has already bound. Thus, we may infer that whenever Peter has bound something, it is because God already bound it, and therefore Peter’s binding and loosing will always have the divine seal. The second is the retrospective reading wherein Peter will only bind what God has clearly bound. Steven divides this option into two further interpretations based on Christ’s indicative mood in v. 19.
The first is that Jesus is assuring Peter “that he will not in fact bind or loose incorrectly.” At first glance, this sounds exactly like the prospective reading wherein God providentially secures the rulings of Peter. However, Steven insists that “as thing will actually turn out, he will not misuse his authority.” In other words, our omniscient Lord reveals to Peter that he will not bind and loose incorrectly in the future. Steven adds, “God could ensure this by acting clearly and unambiguously to guide Peter’s decisions, as in Acts 10. There is no need to be infallible where things are clear.”
The second interpretation is that Jesus is speaking in an encouraging manner, much like when we tell a friend, “If you set your heart to it, then you will never fail!” Fortunately, Steven explicitly favors the first and not the second interpretation: “I am personally more strongly inclined toward the first interpretation.”
Let me rehash Steven’s reasoning for the first interpretation. Steven rightly understands Matthew 16:19 in a polemical context. Jesus has previously critiqued the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 16:1–12), and now promises to transfer their Rabbinic binding and loosing authority to Peter and the apostles. Steven maintains that the scribes and Pharisees lost their authority because they did not obey the word of God: “Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, it is clear that Christ believes that the Pharisees do not bind and loose correctly because they do not understand and stick to the word of God.” Thus, God will now make clear what His will is and Peter is tasked with following “God’s lead”.
I believe there are five reasons to reject Steven’s interpretation, although I do briefly entertain a sixth. My case begins with the first reason to reject Steven’s view: The Syntax of Matthew 16:19.
Jesus says in Matthew 16:19, “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” As Charles Talbert notes in his Paideia commentary on Matthew, “The translation will have been bound/loosed in heaven represents in Greek a periphrastic future perfect passive.”
This choice of tense on Matthew’s part makes the text read rather awkwardly: “The construction is sufficiently unusual and indeed awkward in Greek to draw attention. If Matthew had wished to say ‘will be tied up,’ ‘will be untied’ (as many translations have it), he could have used the much more natural syntax of a simple future passive to say it. It seems likely, therefore, that these repeated future perfects are there for a reason.”
In continuation with the previous quote, R.T. France argues that this unusual yet specific Greek construction “change[s] the sequence of actions. With simple futures, Peter would take the initiative and heaven would follow. But with future perfects the impression is that when Peter makes his decision it will be found to have been already made in heaven, making him not the initiator of new directions for the church, but the faithful steward of God’s prior decisions. In this syntactical form the saying becomes a promise not of divine endorsement, but of divine guidance to enable Peter to decide in accordance with God’s already determined purpose.”
Remarkably enough, Talbert also demonstrates in his commentary that this has been the traditional interpretation among Biblical scholars, “Traditionally this has been interpreted to mean not that heaven ratifies Peter’s judgment but that Peter’s judgment reflects what God has already determined (Gundry 1982, 335; Chamberlain 1957, 80)… When Peter interprets, it is a reflection of what has been revealed to him.”
This is what I will call “the divine causality” interpretation. God is the cause behind the rulings, hence “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven.” If Peter binds something, then it will be because God has already bound that thing.
There are at two pieces of evidence for this conclusion:
1. Matthew 16:16-17 — Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah because of divine revelation. Jesus explicitly says this in v. 17, using causal language.
2. John 11:51–52 — Caiaphas is able to prophesy that Jesus will die for Israel and unite the children of God, and John says “he did not say this on his own” and then says, “, but as high priest of that year” connecting his prophetic declaration to his office as high priest (located in Jerusalem). We know that Jewish literature taught that the gift of prophecy was only given in Jerusalem. And the gift of prophecy comes from God.
Aside from Matthew’s intentional use of the future perfects, this interpretation coincides well with Matthew’s polemical context. We know from Jewish literature that the Rabbis believed they could bind God to their rulings. In WD Davies and Dale Allison’s International Critical Commentary on Matthew 8–18, page 639: “One recalls that the rabbis had no difficulty affirming that their halakhic decisions could ‘bind’ God. See the many texts to this effect by SB 1, pp. 741–7.” The SB here is Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck’s Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, which is finally being interpreted into English from the original German — a major source for New Testament scholars.
Moreover, in our debate on Pints with Aquinas, Steven mentions the defeat of Rabbi Eliezer despite having divine approval. I rebutted that God nonetheless deferred to the other Rabbis on the basis that they followed the proper procedure. Michael S. Berger in his book Rabbinic Authority writes, “The famous talmudic story of ‘the oven of Akhnai,’ however, seems to suggest that at least on one occasion, God’s will was, indeed, determinate regarding the law in question, siding with R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus; nevertheless, God ‘deferred’ to the majority of the Sages who argued against that view, since they followed proper legal procedure in reaching a decision. This case is a rather bold articulation of the view that error is conceptually impossible for the talmudic Rabbis when they follow the proper rules.”
It would appear that in the halakhic courts of the New Moses, such a possibility would no longer exist. Rather, Jesus, in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 1:26–27, restored the courts of Moses and God’s place of honor as the originator of the halakha — it is God who binds and man who follows, not the other way around.
The Reasons Summarized
There are, in total, at least five grounds for rejecting Steven’s retrospective interpretation:
(1) the syntax of Matthew 16:19 supports a divine causality view
(2) the prospective interpretation also coincides well with the polemical context of Matthew 16:19 by fundamentally restoring God to a place of honor as the originator of the halakha and having His institutional authorities remain bound by Him.
And, as I have argued previously here and here, God did not intend for the institutions He built in the Old Testament to die in the New Covenant.
Thus, (3) the prospective interpretation better preserves the continuity between the Old and New Testament portrayal of God, including the New Testament evidence for an institutional Church, by reordering rather than destroying the role of divine causality in the courts of Moses. Steven’s Protestant ecclesiology would spell the end and not the revitalization of the Mosaic courts.
The fourth reason is that Scripture appears to provide a counter-example to Steven’s vision. Steven believes that “God makes His decision to bind or loose ‘publicly’ apart from Peter, and Peter is expected to follow God’s lead.” Yet, notice what happens in Matthew 16:15–19:
15 He said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Jesus merely asks a question, Peter answers, and then Jesus reveals to Peter that God the Father had revealed this to Peter. Notice that there was not a prior public revelation that led Peter to answer properly. It is uncertain whether or not Peter would have even known he had received divine revelation were it not for God the Son making it clear. Thus, Peter received private guidance from God to publicly declare Jesus’ messiahship.
This also reminds me of John 11:51–52, which I argued is another direct counter-example to Steven’s objections to infallibility, in that God was able to use Caiaphas to prophesy the Messianic accomplishments of Jesus. Steven objects on Pints with Aquinas that Caiaphas didn’t appear to know what he was saying or didn’t follow through on it faithfully — which would actually make my point even stronger! It was God using a man who, despite his personal flaws and limitations or even his lack of experiencing himself as infallible, gave correct prophecy on the Messiah!
The Gospels seem to have a unified theme of God as the true power behind our regeneration as children of God or even the gift of infallibility. It is a proper reordering of things with God as the primary cause behind the greatness He desires to bring out of us.
The fifth and final reason to reject Steven’s interpretation is an argument Steven originally raised here. Steven attempted to introduce a double-bind: If Suan argues that some doctrine is clearly in scripture, then we don’t need the magisterium; but, if Suan argues that we don’t always need clear scriptural support for magisterial teaching, then how do we know the teaching is correct?
I’d like to reverse the argument like this: If God has already made publicly clear what His will is, then why does He need Peter or anyone else to bind and loose? Rather than issuing rulings, Peter and the apostles would just have to reference what God has already made public. After all, if the teaching is publicly revealed, then why would there be a hierarchical structure in the first place with the apostles above the laity as Steven has explained here (or here)?
But, if God has Peter and the apostles defend and make clear what God has already made public, then it would appear that it is not the public revelation alone that is enough but the living apostolic authority that secures the public revelation for the people’s understanding. This is precisely what Catholics have been saying about why sola scriptura is unsustainable and why a living magisterium is needed!
One might respond that God makes His teachings public to the apostles and then uses them to disseminate His teaching. But, notice what Steven says,
“On the prospective reading, God makes ‘public’ or ‘visible’ His eternal decision to bind or loose through Peter. Peter becomes the mouthpiece and hand of God. On the retrospective reading, God makes His decision to bind or loose ‘publicly’ apart from Peter, and Peter is expected to follow God’s lead. Peter may be a leader of the Church, but God is outside of Peter just as He is outside of any other person in the Church.”
There appears to be not only an ambiguity here in what “apart from Peter” constitutes, but even if Steven opts for this revised interpretation, then it would still seemingly fall into the second horn of the dilemma.
I am currently developing the sixth reason why Steven’s interpretation is erroneous, which is that I think he misunderstands Jesus’ critique of the Pharisees. After all, Jesus appears to recognize their authority in Matthew 23:2–3 when He says, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.”
I’ve been graced with help from Jewish and other Christian New Testament scholars in this area, and I intend to publish my work in an academic journal. Let me just emphasize that if Jesus recognizes the validity of the Pharisaical office but believes they have exceeded their proper jurisdiction and hence ought not to be obeyed in those extra-judicial areas (which I have argued for here and here), then this would coincide better with the Catholic and Orthodox view that Jesus did not abolish but really did transfer the authority of the Rabbis to the apostles and their successors. My thesis is that Jesus endorses absolute obedience to official high court rulings and not Rabbinic legislation. | https://medium.com/@paukhansuansonna/petrine-infallibility-in-matthew-16-19-a-response-to-steven-nemes-cbe0c33a88ff | ['Intellectual Conservatism'] | 2021-07-17 00:45:33.186000+00:00 | ['Catholic', 'Religion', 'Reformation', 'Catholicism', 'Judaism'] |
Vanity Fixtures to Fit Theme and Style For Your Bathroom | One of the easiest and inexpensive ways to update your bathroom decor is by replacing the light fixtures in your bathroom. Depending on your taste and style and how much you want to change the look and feel of your bathroom you can make minor adjustments or take it up a notch and really go to play. Finding the right bathroom lighting incorporates combined lighting techniques to achieved satisfying balance of ambience and task lighting.
The most satisfying thing about updating your bathroom lights is how easy it is, and knowing the you can do the job yourself without having to hire any professional trades. Assuming all your electrical work is up to code and that you are not installing too much lighting of course. It is also important to note that even though you can install as many lights as you want there is nothing quite like natural lighting. If you have natural light coming through a window into your bathroom try to complement the natural light with bathroom lights.
The right designed bathroom lighting plan will take into account luminance, placement of the light. On the one hand you want enough brightness to be able to shave and apply makeup, on the other LUXE led ring light hand you want pleasant ambiance. The plan will also coordinate the numerous surfaces that are found in your bathroom, mirrors, matte or gloss tiles, counter top, ceramic bath, glass doors, faucet hardware, wallpaper or paint, wood finishings, window treatments and floor rugs — to blend them and pull everything together.
Bathroom Lights Well Executed: A small part of the total bathroom cost is vanity lighting.
The mixture between overall light and task lighting requires you to use layers. To prevent shadows you can’t rely on just overhead lighting. Combine it with vanity lights close to the mirror by using wall sconces on each side. This will make applying makeup or shaving easy daily tasks.
More Tips
Take advantage of light sources such as windows or skylights.
Natural light can be used as task lighting at the vanity.
Recessed lighting can be used as elegant accent lighting when combined with task lighting.
Reduce glare on shiny surfaces found in the bathroom by layering the lighting. Use frosted light bulbs and shades over regular bulbs will help lower glare but still give you enough light.
Choose a chandelier or pendant for added elegance.
Add lighting in the shower or over the tub. Make sure the bathroom fixture is UL rated for moist locations.
Add a reading light near the toilet.
Lighting strips around cabinets could serve as a night light.
Consider dimmer switches which will give you accurate control of the level of light and luminance. Great for those LUXE led ring light midnight bathroom trips.
midnight bathroom trips. Try not to combine clashing finishings. If your faucet is a copper finish you’ll want to try to match your fixtures to look the same or similar.
Some featured retailers | https://medium.com/@customerpormotionalblogs/vanity-fixtures-to-fit-theme-and-style-for-your-bathroom-5ef9863e53a8 | ['Martain Buranes'] | 2019-04-27 18:03:08.244000+00:00 | ['Lighting'] |
5 Subtle Secrets to Getting Fitter, Faster | 1. Workout in the morning
A morning workout sets a healthy tone for the rest of the day.
A 2018 study found that exercise inspires better eating habits. If you exercise in the morning, you spread those habits out over the course of an entire day instead of maybe 1–2 meals.
Working out in the morning has also been demonstrated to increase mental alertness and focus, improve your mood and keep your blood pressure under control.
Personally, if I go for a run the morning of a big work presentation, I’m more able to perform at a high level while staying calm and collected.
Anecdotally, I find my sleep quality to be better on days I train in the morning. I sleep harder throughout the night and with fewer interruptions. 9 PM comes around and I’m fighting to stay awake.
Give morning workouts a shot if you haven’t already.
3. Eat proteins before carbs
A steaming plate of chicken parmesan has the power to take my breath away. Warm spaghetti with creamy tomato sauce flanked by breaded chicken covered in melted cheese gets me salivating like Pavlov’s dog every time.
If you’re like me, you binge the spaghetti (and probably multiple sides of bread) first, leaving little to no room for the chicken, thereby omitting many of the proteins and amino acids your body desperately needs.
Always eat your proteins first.
Protein is fundamental to muscle growth, development and recovery.
Protein increases bone density, especially important as you age.
Protein reduces your levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone. You’ll feel fuller for longer.
This isn’t to say carbs aren’t important. Anyone who promotes eliminating carbs from your diet is wrong — science doesn’t support that notion and neither should you.
Carbs should be balanced with protein intake. A much easier task if you consume your proteins first.
3. Don’t keep crap in the house
We all want to eat less crap.
If cookies and candy and other such treats aren’t within arms reach, you won’t eat them. Simple as that.
I used to kid myself thinking I could eat one serving of Oreos at a time. One serving is two cookies. Who the hell only eats two cookies? I’d routinely eat 10–12 in one sitting. Whatever chemicals they put in those things had me hooked and hooked hard.
I needed to kick my Oreo obsession if I was going to be as healthy as possible. So I stopped keeping them in the house. Now I don’t eat them at all and have zero cravings.
Out of sight, out of mind, out of my bloodstream.
4. Put sleep on the calendar
My personal favorite health hack.
1 in 3 adults don’t get the recommended 7–9 hours of sleep, according to the CDC. Whether it’s video games, TV or social media, we toil away into the dead of night when we should be catching much-needed Zzzz's.
The solution? Put sleep on the calendar, just as you would a social gathering, doctor’s appointment or work meeting. I literally have a recurring “sleep” event setup in my iCal.
Building sleep into my schedule keeps me honest. Once it’s in the calendar, the ink is dry. I’m committed. It’s something I have to do.
This proved so successful I’ve started doing the same with my free time activities, such as practicing piano, playing Playstation and watching TV.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised how productive you are while finding ample time to relax and unwind.
5. Walk more
I know you’ve already read 100 articles telling you to walk more.
I’ll be the 101st.
The benefits of walking are immeasurable. From reducing body fat and strengthening bones to increasing muscle mass and endurance, walking is widely known as one of the most powerful fitness tools in the toolbox.
But walking goes beyond the physical.
If I’m stressed I’ll go for a walk
If I need to sort out a problem I’ll go for a walk
If I need a breath of fresh air I’ll go for a walk
There are many other examples, but you get the point.
Walking is built into our anatomy. Some suggest humans are capable of walking 20–30 miles per day (depending on level of fitness). We’re meant to walk, meant to explore, meant to push ourselves mentally and physically.
Lace up your shoes and hit the road, Jack! | https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/5-subtle-secrets-to-getting-fitter-faster-18a180e1b51b | ['Scott Mayer'] | 2020-12-10 19:48:52.721000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Fitness', 'Life', 'Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons'] |
How We Can UnTrump America | Do you feel a tinge of blind, uncontrollable rage every time you look at the news? Does that rage grow more overwhelming with every abuse of executive power?
Is your anxiety rising as we countdown until November? Does fear shock your system every time Biden does something dumb? Does a sense of hopelessness well up inside that he’ll just bring a different kind of incompetence?
Good. Then you’re just like me. And it’s a fucking injustice.
We, the American people, deserve better. We deserve to live in a nation where people look out for one another, where people put the common good above self-centered desires, where vice signaling is not used to defy public health measures, where police don’t target a specific race, where we can hold an election without the imminent threat of interference.
We scratched our heads in disbelief in 2016 as fellow citizens collectively turned a blind eye when sexual harassment claims piled up, and he bragged about pussy grabbing. We’ve sat wringing our hands in agony for four years enduring his transparent manipulation and delusional statements in head-shaking disapproval.
We’ve winced and cringed every time his fat, orange, pompous face opened, and his grease-soaked cheeseburger lips unleashed a new verbal assault on the truth. It’s been a waking nightmare where no value or community right is safe from his grabby, greedy child-sized hands.
Well, I have a message to you, to the Democratic party, to every liberal media outlet out there. We need to UnTrump America, and I have a plan. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/how-we-can-untrump-america-7fef44b4ee15 | ['Russ W'] | 2020-07-16 10:44:36.898000+00:00 | ['Media', 'Injustice', 'Society', 'Trump', 'Politics'] |
How to Arbitrage in RiceQuant. We built a cyclic market game mechanism… | NOTE:
We Rebrand Recently. New brand is RiceQuant and Old Brand is ifarm.finance. $IFA => $RICE
We built a cyclic market game mechanism at the beginning of liquidity mining. We recommend that you, who are smart, study it carefully, and you can find many arbitrage opportunities.
The charm of DeFi stems from the free combination and creativity like Lego. We can freely combine various components in the DeFi industry through smart contracts, such as uniswap, and can also integrate popular and highly recognized crypto assets into our products without permission to create an interesting market. Yes, ifarm.finance is like other DeFi projects, which also connected with uniswap and also support DAI, wBTC for liquidity mining.
The market volates all the time, and price volatility mean investment risks, but also there are many potential profit opportunities. Next, we will introduce arbitrage in ifarm.
Seeding and locking DAI, wBTC, wETH can borrow iUSD, iBTC, iETH respectively, then harvest IFA. This type of pools has low principal risk and low IFA earnings.
iToken LP Pool
Seeding iToken LP can harvest 5x IFA rewards. The purpose of iToken-LP pool setting is to make iToken have sufficient liquidity and to support the Rebase mechanism.
At its core, iToken is an elastic supply cryptocurrency, which expands and contracts its supply in response to market conditions, initially targeting 1 DAI per iUSD, 1 wBTC per iBTC and 1ETH per 1 iETH. This type of pools has medium principal risk and 5x IFA earnings.
IFA LP Pool
Seeding IFA-DAI UNI-V2 LP, IFA-wBTC UNI-V2 LP, IFA-ETH UNI-V2 LP can harvest 50x IFA rewards. The purpose of IFA LP pool setting is to make IFA have sufficient liquidity and to seek market price. Due to the high volatility of IFA, the principal risk of participating in liquidity mining is high, so the return is 50x IFA reward.
Borrow and Farming
In the iLoanbar scenario, Farmer can first seed and then lock the position to borrow iToken, and then further participate in 5x IFA reward pool mining to maximize the use of the principal of DAI/{wBTC}/{wETH}, that is, use leverage to gain profits.
iToken arbitrage
Since iToken with a Rebase mechanism, iToken holders can achieve arbitrage around iToken’s soft peg pricing.
Debtor who borrowed iToken from iLoanbar also can arbitrage between business of iLoanbar and iToken rebase. For example, Bob collateralized 1000 DAI to borrow 700 iUSD for 30 days with 105 iUSD interest fee. That means Bob’s total debt is 805 iUSD. Within 30 days of owning 700 iUSD debt, iUSD will be rebased times. During this period, when the positive rebase is much larger than the negative rebase, the position of 700 iUSD may directly cover the interest generated by the debt for 30 days.
We call the farmer who borrow iToken from iLoanbar as iToken debtor. When the iToken debtor repays the debt, it needs to repay the principal of the debt with iToken itself he borrowed and repay the debt interest with IFA. In this scenario, the debtor can utilize iToken’s rebase mechanism to arbitrage the debt principal and debt interest coverage. Since the debt interest must be repaid through IFA, this can increase the purchase demand of IFA, thereby increasing the market price of IFA.
When the borrower’s debt plus interest fees is above the collateral value and liquidation ratio, the collateral will be under risk of liquidation. Anyone can trigger the process through the smart contract. The liquidator will retrieve the collateral plus the farming rewards by paying back iToken at a discount ratio. In other words, in the liquidation process, the liquidator is required to a liquidation cost, which value less then default debtor’s collateral to retrieve the collateral plus the unclaimed farming rewards. However, in the liquidation process, the debtor’s default debt interest and liquidation execution fees need to be paid by IFA, which can increase IFA’s market purchase demand and IFA price.
iToken Farming Pool
Seeding IFA-DAI UNI-V2 LP，IFA-wBTC UNNI-V2 LP，IFA-ETH UNI-V2 LP can harvest iUSD, iBTC, iETH respectively. These farming pools can increase the purchase demand of IFA, thereby increasing the market price of IFA.
In Costco, farmers can use iToken to purchase IFA at a discount of 95%. In this way, the purchase demand of iToken will increase. Since iToken’s issurance in iLoanbar and iToken farming pools, the previous paragraph has explained the stimulus of these two businesses to IFA purchase demand, so that a closed loop can be constructed to form a cyclical stimulation.
Welcome to Join us:
Website: ricequant.fi
Tweet: https://twitter.com/RiceQuant
Discord:discord.gg/PuKuxtW | https://medium.com/@ricequant/how-to-arbitrage-in-ifarm-finance-37330e357fc4 | [] | 2021-02-25 09:23:35.011000+00:00 | ['Defi', 'Uniswap', 'Liquidity Mining', 'Farming', 'Lending'] |
テスト観点レビュー時のチェックポイント | Our mission as a data empowerment company. Dramatically expands data utilization possibilities, from operational reforms to social issue solutions.
Follow | https://medium.com/wingarc/%E3%83%86%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E8%A6%B3%E7%82%B9%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E6%99%82%E3%81%AE%E3%83%81%E3%82%A7%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%9D%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88-932adf70111d | [] | 2019-12-19 14:45:42.275000+00:00 | ['Quality Assurance', 'Japanese', 'Review'] |
The War on Drugs, Part II. The Prison Industrial Complex | The War on Drugs, Part II. The Prison Industrial Complex
By Matt Bump
Date of Writing 01/2019
It has been just over one year since I wrote the original piece: ‘The War on Drugs is a War on People. And It’s Creating Victims’. In that time I’ve come to learn that it was and is a much bigger problem than I ever thought. And the end is nowhere in sight. This has much more of a broad cause and effect, both in the traditional sense and the geographical sense. It’s a geopolitical catastrophe. I alluded to what I thought was a purely American issue, but more so focused on that of Wisconsin and its epidemic of opiate addiction. Which I also said was caused in an epidemic of establishment nonsense. Rooted in all kinds of immoral reasoning like racial profiling dating back to the 70s and being amplified over the years leading to the world’s biggest prison population. But, again, hindsight is 2020 and I think with time I realized that I missed information I knew, but forgot to include. And of course, I have learned more about this issue during my time in prison. So the time for part 2 is NOW. If I get something wrong the fault is mine alone. But what can I say? I am an inmate with limited resources. As you may have read in my prior article I am locked up over marijuana that I proved I never touched. The process was inefficient and messy. I waited 7 months for evidence that should have exonerated me. But it is what it is. It provided me with opportunities to examine my path and the paths of others. It is a constant fight for me and others against an incompetent state and federal government. Even with a competent attorney on my side, it was a struggle to get my evidence. I found out, about a month after taking a plea deal for prison time concurrent with my probation revocation (2 years in prison), which means running together rather than consecutive to each other, that the clerk put in the system “consecutive”. This, even though the judge had clearly stated concurrent. The court record verified as much. It took nearly 6 months for this clerk to do their job and fix it (The supreme court reprimanded my clerk! ) It goes to show that simply doing your job right is not a priority for the courts because after all, I am just a “criminal” to them. Essentially this made my release date 6–9–2020 rather than 12–8–19. Which is what my sentence should have been, or so I thought. More on that later. It meant I would have spent almost 4 years in prison, rather than the 20 months. My attorney had to go to the judge after he left several voicemails and emails giving chances and deadlines to the clerk with not a single response. The supreme court had to force the clerk to follow the law. Crazy, right? I mean, I thought it was a disorderly system before. Yikes. It gets worse, however. I will get to that later.
I have been to 5 institutions in the last 2 years. I have encountered criminals of every caliber from substance abusers, sex offenders, and even murderers. Sometimes even in the same unit. Hell, sometimes even the same pod. I’ve met some of the most mentally ill people I’ve ever seen in these institutions. Someone who is locked up for life for killing his wife over getting rid of a cat, who threatened my life over saying Aaron Rodgers is better than Brett Favre. Yes, Packer fans are ride or die but any reasonable person can see the extremism in the comment. To see it in person was interesting. I laughed at it initially but then felt bad for the guy because he was serious and couldn’t help it. You’ve got to be fearless in prison. Just in case something pops off or someone wants to test you. The key is not to be stupid. I will say the majority of my days were smooth but filled with a different kind of anxiety. The kind that sits and dwells, where you are powerless and have to rely on others to get stuff done. This plagued my mind for 6 months. The feeling that the state and the department of corrections were trying to screw me over was worse than if I had known that they had gotten my sentence right. This culminated in a lot of stress and near breakdown down the road. This place is known as Stanley, and all the institutions I’ve been housed had at, have had a negative impact on my mental health but I think I’ve overcome a good chunk of it. And I know that some of the staff along with my family have some credit due. I still wonder what it’s like to be my family and friends, considering that they express anxiety to me about my absence. My family has had, at nearly all times, at least one person incarcerated. Right now I have 2 family members locked up for a drug-related offense. Both are non-violent and both stemming from an addiction that I feel the war on drugs perpetuates. I’d be willing to bet that they’re addictions that began with a true gateway drug: the pharmaceuticals, the prescription narcotics. Social politics and establishment nonsensical reasoning are not only holding us back but are now pulling us backward. There are countries that do everything with regard to drugs in the opposite way of the U.S. But our politicians and some socially ignorant or politically illiterate citizens still think prison is the answer to drug addiction. Probation and parole officers revoke people who are addicted to drugs for nearly any reason and for simple hearsay allegations. Probation is a trap. Nobody wants to address the root causes or take a small step back and re-examine how we approach crime in general, but especially the war on drugs. It’s even less likely if you are someone whose job relies on your perpetuating the problem. I’m looking at you. Administrative law judges, probation officers, doctors or anyone who is apathetic on the issues facing our country. In a sense, we are all complicit if we want to change but don’t get active and involve ourselves to change the injustices. We are complicit as a civilization when we begin to not care. Our rights, our freedom, and dignity are under attack by our government — and by ourselves when we become apathetic and when we don’t care until it affects our lives directly (by then it’s too late).
The body count of our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and friends has continued to grow. The number of people, dead from drugs or in prison has continued to grow. The addicted on the streets, and country roads have continued to grow, not despite how we approach and combat the war on drugs but because of our war on drugs. It is all a part of the prison industrial complex.
Now for an expanded understanding of just what the complex entails, I can point to my experience and my most recent trip around the state prison system. After 6 months at Stanley Correctional Institution in northwestern Wisconsin, I transferred out due to a few events. I was still fighting my case when I first got there, for example. I resolved the case soon after that and was eligible to be restaffed and have my custody level reconsidered. I was transported to Black River Correctional Center which is a minimum-security treatment center with an earned release program that focuses on those with AODA needs and cognitive thinking therapy for those with criminal thinking tendencies. I requested to come here based on a judicial and clerical error that led me to believe I would be able to save significant time. Over the next 6 months, I worked as a slave for the state and battled away trying to fix my sentence. But I make the best of situations I’m in. In a minimum setting, you are treated a little more like a human. And I was able to converse with guards and medical staff. I was exposed to some raw numbers coming into the Jackson Correctional Institution. You can bet that a lot of this money and expenditure is important and significant to companies like Indianhead, Keefe, etc. Every week there was an order for institutional food between 10–30K and sometimes even higher. It ranges between 500K a year and 1.04 million dollars a year on food alone for this prison. When it comes to inmate clothing it’s about 3K every 2 months. Paper products like toilet paper? 14K every 2 months. Cleaning supplies? 7–15 K every month. Office supplies 789 bucks every other month. I even found the cost of electricity per month at Jackson which is 30K every month. At the time of writing, there are about 1000 inmates here. It’s operating capacity is 896. The budget for this institution alone is 30.6 million dollars. There are 36 institutions in the state of Wisconsin for adults and 6 more for juveniles. I don’t know offhand the budgets of all of these institutions on an individual level, but altogether in 2019–2020, they will amount to about 1.21 billion dollars per year. The state prison system is expected to reach a record high number of inmates by June of 2019. On any given day the cost of housing an inmate is about 89 dollars. The record number of inmates being expected in 2019 is 23,233. That’s not counting the people in country jails or the House of Corrections.
There is something even more sinister not being shown in the background of all of this. Something that can be traced back to the 90s and the Truth in Sentencing legislation brought to us by our former elected leaders.
Keefe Group distributes the food that inmates can order that wouldn’t typically be on the kitchen menu. Everything from ramen noodles to soda, candy, even email credits are all overpriced. Ramen, priced at .35 cents, is probably the most ordered food item. Keep in mind that the food served in prison is low quality (and is subject to lawsuits in the past and present). So people in prison get really ingenuitive in what they order just to feel some sense of comfort and be filled. But it’s not that simple. The state can take 50% of what you get sent to you or what you make in state pay. State pay is something miserable, ranging from 15 cents an hour to 50 cents an hour. That is supposed to be offered to you so you can at least afford hygiene basics The state gives and takes back it’s money so you are paying off fines and court costs. Sometimes the state takes as much as 80% because your judge ordered it that way. In other words, there is an incentive to locking people up and it is hurting families more than is known on the surface. People become revenue for police departments, state departments like the department of corrections who oversee probationers. The department of justice, for police and even more so for private companies like Keefe. A closer look at Keefe shows you how those in the corporate world have reaped benefits from the monopoly over prison food and the legislation that leads to mass incarceration. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson signed this legislation into law. Yet he has the nerve to say he regrets his actions and effects on communities while his pockets got heavier. Thomson says he wishes prisons were converted into vocational schools and rehabs. Former governor Scott Walker pushed for mass incarceration and Truth in Sentencing laws when Democrats like Joe Biden offered funds for states who passed this kind of legislation. Truth in Sentencing has cemented in mass incarceration and protected the revolving door between probation and prison by making people spend more time in prison. The prison population tripled under Thompson’s tenure.
The prison population grew, even more, when Scott Walker was governor, spiking again in 2013. Politicians are only pro-police/prison state because it benefits them monetarily and politically. Police do not realize that they are the pawns in the game of class warfare, or that prison protects modern-day slavery and voter suppression and are complicit in rising racial tensions in our country. What I mean by modern-day slavery is, it is somehow permitted by the Constitution because it allows prisoners to be treated as slaves. The 13th amendment in its attempt to make more people free and able to participate in capitalism, but actually has allowed further dehumanization in modern times. So where’s the outrage? It is seen as racially insensitive to question the amendment that made former slaves and millions of millions of their ancestors free, even with the intention of fully banning slavery. The stigma of being an inmate or convicted felon affords little and elicits little empathy from legislators or the general public, who could care less because they view it as they “make their lives and their own problems.” Addiction, much like mass incarceration, only matters when it affects them or someone they know.
Inmates who have 2 or more years can work for “Badger State Industries” for maybe a couple bucks an hour, full time. Making everything from inmate bunks, street and highway signs to state-issued glasses. I’m not sure if they put the glasses under “Badger State Industries” but it is still inmate labor. Maintenance of the institutions like shoveling and almost any service you can imagine can be practically forced on an inmate or you can get put on “Vuna” status, which means you refused a duty and no longer receive a percentage of it back for fines and court costs. Simply put, it all sucks and is immoral.
Back to my story: As I attended “work” at the JCI warehouse, I started to think about my journey through the hell that is MSDF, Dodge and Stanley. Inmates coined the phrase “It’s the DOC. If it makes sense, they’re not doing it”. I had a painful experience that lasted 6 months at BRCC…The menace was an ingrown toenail. I was given 6 months of “soak it in Epsom saltwater”. 6 months of me asking for removal. 6 months of the nurse’s superior saying “No, it’ll cost money”. Without even seeing it in person. The nurse said he wished he could send them a picture. This is the value of an inmate in pain in Wisconsin. 6 months of all of this along with my issues with the courts. I had gone through 2 sentence corrections, with all the anxiety stemming from that. At the end of my time at BRCC, I chose to leave and was able to help someone else to attain my spot for early release. I felt good about that because he could see his daughter’s 8th-grade graduation after being incarcerated for 10 years. Shout out to overly extensive sentences! The reason I quit the program before it started was because I thought when my sentence was corrected and I would be given credit for every day spent in custody relating to my crime, my release would have been 12–9–18. A day before the program began. But the courts managed to find one more way to screw me over, along with unknown quantities of others. Essentially a case law, as understood in an upper courts’ interpretation denies credit for people who have their probation revoked when later sentenced concurrently on a new crime. The law itself reads that “each day spent in custody should be credited toward the inmate so long as it is in connection with the same course of conduct for which the sentence is later imposed.” It even goes further and states that this “applies to people including those on a probation hold.” This statute is WI stat 973.155. Parts A and B are what I am citing. The courts somehow determined that once you are revoked even though the allegation is the same thing you were charged and later convicted for, that you’re no longer incarcerated in connection with the same course of conduct and no longer afforded credit toward the service of the new sentence.
In summary, I was revoked for a total of 20 months based on an allegation I was both charged and convicted for and the new sentence was 18 months ran concurrent or together with the 20-month revocation. 20 months should be all the time I had to serve. April 4th, 2017 through December 2018. Instead, I will be serving a total of 23 months when 3 months of it is in reality, consecutive. This defies common sense. This case law they used to screw me is an ambiguous interpretation of the law. Because of my 4 months at the House of Corrections, I was given credit toward a 2-year sentence, which is where my remaining 20-month revocation came from. So when it’s all said and done, I will have been incarcerated for 27 months, when my longest sentence was 2 years or 24 months. The interpretation of the law is political in nature and I move that any interpretation made to screw over the people of my state and country like this one, should have its judges assets as well as decisions audited, on the basis of ethics. People must come before profit. Justice must prevail and we must make it easier to reverse rulings that deprive people of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Corrupted judges and politicians all the way up the local and federal chains of command up to the president of the United States should be subject to the fruit of the poisonous tree argument when it is found that they have ethics violations or profited from something they decided upon or signed into law. So that the future of our country can undo the stains of corruption and inhumanity and selfishness forged upon it by the predators in suits and ties and cloaks among us. Judges, politicians and all forms of authority need oversight. Our system as it currently exists does not work for justice but works for injustice. We need to mobilize and make criminal justice reform a priority as well as judicial and legislative ethics. I know what I want to be a part of the change I want to see.
We must make people aware and understand they are footing the bill for mass incarceration and similar failed policies like the war on drugs and address the root causes of crime such as poverty, poor education, and inequality among social levels. I’ve been through almost every situation in the social struggle against the powers and forces of negativity. Due to economic issues, addiction issues of others, and in some cases apathy towards me, I have attended 12 public schools. Moving between 4 counties and one year attending 4 different middle schools, I struggled academically. But I pushed myself to graduate when people in my family even told me I wasn’t graduation material. I depended on food stamps as a kid, free lunch and transportation by the bus lines. These are socialist safety nets that keep society from hitting rock bottom. They are essential and remain essential to our future. As I sit here among my fellow inmates, I notice the disparity in percentages of blacks, whites, Hispanics and how it is not proportionate to their numbers on the streets. I note that 36 percent of the inmates of every year com from Milwaukee County alone. The next closest is Racine at 6.7 percent. When I was in the House of Corrections I noticed the dishonesty of representation of the races because the wristbands of all Latinos or Native Americans were listed as white. That seemed to justify and hide facts for political reasons. The school to prison pipeline needs to be addressed and one way we can do that is reinvesting into our schools. Walk into any school in Milwaukee or urban area and you will see 30–40 kids in one class. There is no way that is conducive to learning. Scott Walker and the Republicans gutted schools and went after teacher unions and cut funding to universities sending education and social safety nets into a tailspin. Conservative ignorance at its best?
They also proposed drug testing those on welfare benefits, when 10 states did similar testing and it resulted in millions of wasted dollars due to not even 1 percent of the people testing positive for drugs. Most people are good people and are trying to make it. We all share the same fight against the special interests of the corporate world. Against the Scott Walkers and Donald Trumps of the world. We must break the general lack of awareness in people supporting the forces opposing their well being and interests. I am hopeful, along with thousands of inmates and their families that the newly elected Democrats, including Governor Tony Evers, will refocus and reinvest in our schools and communities and lift people out of poverty. We hope that he and the legislature will use common sense and empathy and do something about the destructive, wasteful and inhumane politics in the legal system, the war on drugs, mass incarceration. We prisoners sat in prison glued to the TV in hopes of being assured that we are still people and can still be represented, that we matter. That we will have a chance. To have a hope of having hope.
I plan to do my part in many forms. I plan to educate myself and others. I plan to organize and reach out to politicians. But I must not get ahead of myself. I know that I must do everything to earn back my good name. If I succeed, I hope to make it easier for others to do so as well. I will reach out to all progressive groups and organizations and offer my services to the community and to our society. Anything I can do to get my record expunged. With a felony, I cannot run for local office. I will need all the support I can get. I see no limits, no walls that we can’t destroy in order to have a brighter tomorrow.
Somewhere down the line, I want to run for office and show the world that America is and always will be the land of opportunity. Democrats, Republicans, Greens and Libertarians, Pirates, Socialists and Progressives, and Conservatives… These issues are not inherently partisan, but it is all of our responsibility to resolve them. It is important to democracy. I repeat: the war on drugs, mass incarceration, and the prison industrial complex are not fiscally conservative, but are negligent and destructive to communities nationwide. We don’t have any right to moral high ground if we do not change. Challenge the establishment and the status quo!
Heather Thompson, prison historian, on food as punishment for prisoners.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/539n3d/when-prison-food-is-a-punishment
Prisons in wisconsin/Budget/Population. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2017/04/29/wisconsin-prison-population-hit-record-soon/100944740/
https://badgerherald.com/opinion/2019/01/29/slavery-is-still-legal-in-wisconsins-prisons-its-time-to-change-that/
Slavery in Wisconsin Prisons.
Stats and Demographics of Inmates and their offenses.
https://doc.wi.gov/DataResearch/DataAndReports/InmateProfile.pdf
Overcapacity prisons link: https://doc.wi.gov/DataResearch/WeeklyPopulationReports/11222019.pdf
The War On Drugs is a War on People: Part 1
https://ourvoiceusa.org/war-drugs-war-people/
There will be a part 3 addressing:
The struggles of being released and details around that fiasco.
Some steps towards hope for some if not all people affected by incarceration.
Some things that I learned about how our system works.
Proposed methods of changing the system.
Politics.
A one week trip back to MSDF. | https://medium.com/@mattbump_57520/the-war-on-drugs-part-ii-the-prison-industrial-complex-be19dd7b6809 | ['Matt Bump'] | 2019-12-06 15:03:59.054000+00:00 | ['Prison Industrial Complex', 'Prison Reform', 'War On Drugs', 'Slavery', 'Criminal Justice Reform'] |
A new (virtual) Studio | In the wake of the confirmed cases of the coronavirus continuing to climb in New York City and surrounding areas, Cornell Tech joined many top institutions in making the tough decision to move classes to online instruction. This will take effect tomorrow.
It seems simple. Hop on Zoom, or Google Hangouts, or whatever video conferencing platform you favor, and let the instructor do their thing. But, it’s not so simple for the Studio at Cornell Tech.
Multidisciplinary teamwork is ingrained in everything we do in the Studio. In all three of the core Studio classes students work in teams to build digital products. They sit with their teams in each class, complete deliverables as a team, and present as a team for their final grades. Transitioning to online instruction within this structure poses an interesting challenge.
My colleagues and I have had about 48 hrs notice to transition this unique curriculum online. Our curriculum and student experience are the lifeblood of Cornell Tech. Across all disciplines we expect a high degree of rigor and academic integrity from our students, and we certainly hold ourselves to the same standard.
There are many versions of the saying “hard times will reveal true friends”. This week I witnessed how “hard times” will reveal true rockstars. I am amazed at how dedicated and adaptable everyone at Cornell Tech has been in a stressful and anxiety ridden time.
Over the last two days the Studio team has come together to create an action plan for online learning. We have met in person or hopped on Zoom with our practitioners to discuss creative solutions and new ideas for how we can optimize this new learning environment. Thatcher Bell (Startup Studio lead) and Chad Dickerson and Bradley Horowitz (BigCo Studio co-leads) are each incredible mentors and colleagues. They have put their trust in our team to lead the way through this transition while remaining creative, easygoing, and most importantly, FUN.
The Studio Operations Lead, Tyler Rhorick, is one of the most impressive people I have worked with in a long time. In between telling him we were going online and finishing a one hour tour of campus with some visitors, Tyler created a detailed list of all of our courses, dependencies, outstanding questions, and plans for how to solve our most pressing issues.
We have become semi-experts in the features of Zoom in a very short time period. We have a comprehensive plan for the coming weeks to keep our students in their team structure and deliver our outstanding curriculum. Though this change in structure is difficult, it offers an opportunity for us to explore expanding our curriculum with new technology; and what better place to do that than Cornell Tech?
Our plan comes to life tomorrow afternoon and I feel confident that we’ve done the best that we can to provide a seamless transition. I know we are going to encounter a lot of unforeseen hurdles that even Tyler couldn’t have predicted in all of his detailed planning. Stay tuned for updates on how the Studio is evolving.
Stay safe and healthy! | https://medium.com/@LeandraE/a-new-virtual-studio-d103db9bdfb2 | ['Leandra Elberger'] | 2020-03-12 01:32:07.067000+00:00 | ['Cornell Tech', 'Online Learning', 'Zoom', 'Virtual Classroom'] |
How to set up your own newsletter for free | Newsletters are a powerful marketing tool to promote a product, articles, or just to attract traffic to your website. In this article, I will show you how to build a newsletter web application for free! If you get stuck, don’t worry! I will provide you with the whole code at the end of each section.
Before we get started
Our application will be composed of a sign-up page that will be connected to Mailchimp’s servers via their API. For those readers who are not familiar with it, Mailchimp is a marketing automation platform and an email marketing service. To create an account navigate to Mailchimp’s signup page and click on ‘Sign Up Free’.
Enough talk… let’s code! | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/how-to-set-up-your-own-newsletter-for-free-41929018aae6 | ['Gianmarco Ebeling'] | 2020-11-09 16:22:44.121000+00:00 | ['API', 'Programming', 'Newsletter', 'Web Development', 'MailChimp'] |
Broken | Over the past twenty years, meanwhile, East New York has been a kind of policing test kitchen. Numerous programs and initiatives come and go — CPOP (Community Police Officer Program); SNAG (Street Narcotics and Gun); the Street Crimes Unit; Weed and Seed, a federal program started in 1998; an East New York Urban Youth Corps program called PACT (Police and Community Together); the Community Security Initiative (CSI), where office working the streets would try to develop rapport with the locals; the Federal Trespass Affidavit Program, in which landlords of private apartment houses entered into an agreement with police that allowed officers to conduct vertical patrols from ground floors to the roofs; Community-Based Response Teams (CBRTs), consisting of police officers and probation officers who conducted unannounced home visits, curfew checks, car spot checks; Tactical Narcotics Teams (TNTs); The East New York United for Safety Project, funded by the CDC and bringing together Victim Services, the New York City Department of Health, the Cypress Hills Development Corporation, the East New York Urban Corporation, and the United Community Center, as well as an evaluation team from New York University and The Blue Group, a highly structured intensive-group-counseling-and-therapy outfit.
In 2007 there was Operation Impact, with a special variation for the high crime zone of East New York called Operation Trident that divided the neighborhood’s 5.6 square miles into three separate areas, each under a different Police Captain. Then Operation Takeback, in which 200 officers working 4 p.m. to midnight conducted high-visibility uniformed patrol around locations identified as hotspots.
Today there is Operation Crew Cut (going after gangs or crews); the All Out Program, in which 330 extra officers are assigned to high crime precincts; the NYPD Firearms Suppression Division; Audio Shoot Tracking technology, such as the Shot Stopper System; a Facial Recognition Unit, in which Intel officers scan mug shots of known criminals with pictures from social media, surveillance cameras, and anywhere else police can find images; a Shooting Incident Crisis Management System piloted in the five neighborhoods where gun violence is highest, East New York being at the top of the list; a Cure Violence Program (a public health approach: gun violence can be compared to a communicable disease). As for technology, there are SkyWatch Observation Towers, which rise out of a van to about twenty-five feet, equipped with a spotlight and four cameras (one pointed in each direction). There are police officer body cameras, too, in a pilot program launched in six high crime precincts (including the 75th).
The police, public officials, and media drumbeat the idea that crime is down in the city from the bad old days, usually focusing on the murder rate. Murder is down everywhere. Criminologists and public affairs experts who study the NYPD say it is important to remember that murder, arguably the most violent crime, was a relatively rare occurrence even at its peak in 1990. There were 2,200 homicides in 1990, in a city of 7,305,000. In 1990, the 75th Precinct had 109 murders, the highest in the city. In 2014 it had twenty-one murders, still the highest in the city.
Some police history is in order.
In 1992, Mayor David Dinkins established the Mollen Commission, a twenty-person staff of attorneys and investigators, to investigate NYPD corruption and, in particular, an officer named Michael Dowd and his precinct — the 75th in East New York.
The commission held two weeks of public hearings and Dowd was the star witness, with a criminal career as a police officer that spanned six years beginning in 1985 when he was cited for threatening his wife and engaging in sex with prostitutes in the local Bailey’s Bar. On March 4, 1986 the NYPD had opened a case on Dowd and his then-partner, Gerard Dubois, based on an allegation received from the 75th Precinct’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Kevin Farrell, that Dowd and Dubois stole money from drug dealers, prisoners, and deceased persons. Four days after the initiation of the Dowd and Dubois investigation, the Internal Affairs Division opened another investigation into allegations of brutality by Dowd and other 75th Precinct officers.
What emerged in testimony is that by the summer of 1987, Dowd and his new partner, Kenneth Eurell, were on the payroll of a major drug organization, taking $8,000 a week in return for protection, information, and assistance. The 75th had a gathering location known as “The Pool” — an isolated inlet near Jamaica Bay where Dowd and as many as fifteen other officers from his crew would gather — while on duty — to drink, shoot their guns, meet their girlfriends, and plan future criminal activities.
Dowd testified that he and his crew — including Officers Dubois, Henry “Chickie” Guevara, Jeffrey Guzzo, Brian Spencer, Walter Yurkiw, Henry Jackson, and others — had for more than a year been routinely involved in stealing money and drugs from street dealers and by otherwise “stealing almost every opportunity that presented itself.”
Dowd, Yurkiw, Guzzo, and Guevara, with the aid of drug dealer accomplices, were committing armed robberies in East New York (for money, drugs, and to assist the drug gang he was protecting by intimidating competing dealers and disrupting the business of rival drug traffickers). The NYPD, Internal Affairs, or related agencies received sixteen separate allegations implicating Michael Dowd and his associates. But after six years of investigations, every case against Dowd was closed as unsubstantiated, “despite overwhelming evidence,” the Mollen Commission notes. Dowd was rated as a good cop on performance reviews.
Photo by Anna Hiatt
Then in May of 1992, Suffolk County Police arrested six New York City police officers assigned to two different Brooklyn precincts — including Dowd and Eurell, who were by this time selling cocaine in Suffolk County, where Dowd’s brother was a police officer.
The Mollen Commission focused, insightfully and powerfully, on the issue of policing, especially in high crime and minority neighborhoods. They found that the 75th was a dumping ground for corrupt or deadwood cops. As the Mollen Commission put it:
One group [of police officers] in particular … from Brooklyn North believed that their Patrol Borough is considered a ‘dumping ground’ within the agency. They stated that they are regarded by officers from other Boroughs, as well as by the Department’s executive cadre, as a collection of misfits, incompetents, malingerers, and undesirables inhabiting a series of ‘shithouses.’ This perception coexists with, and perhaps has created, a strong group identity marked by an undercurrent of perverse pride in their deviant status. Many officers reported that Department commanders often assigned sergeants and other supervisors to high-crime precincts without regard to prior experience, training or the needs of the particular command. Too often, inexperienced, probationary sergeants were assigned to busy corruption-prone precincts where experienced and proven supervisors were most needed. This practice is even more alarming because the Department also often sent those officers with disciplinary problems, those most susceptible to corruption and most in need of effective supervision, to these crime-ridden precincts — which are widely perceived as the Department’s ‘dumping grounds.’ Indeed, one method of dealing with corruption was simply to transfer problem officers to unattractive assignments including, crime-ridden precincts. This ‘dumping ground’ method of discipline punishes the community more than the problem officers by assigning them to the very precincts where the opportunities for corruption most abound, where the need for talented, committed officers is the greatest, and where minority populations often reside.
The Mollen Commission also found a definite correlation between brutality and corruption — brutality in whatever form, including unnecessary force, abuse of authority, and discourtesy in civilian interactions. The commission found that brutality is also used “as a rite of initiation to prove that an officer is a tough or ‘good cop,’ one who can be accepted and trusted by his fellow officers not to report wrongdoing. Dowd, like other officers, reported that brutality strengthened the bonds of loyalty and silence among officers and thus fostered corruption tolerance.”
Dowd served twelve years in prison. In 2015 a documentary was released, The Seven Five, reuniting for the first time Dowd with his former partner — in crime fighting and in crime — and the man who “ratted on him,” Kenneth Eurell. As one reviewer noted, hearing Dowd “pour out the details almost seems like a pleasure to him at times.”
Another reviewer put the entertainment value of the film into context: “Mr. Dowd’s vehement narration does have, at times, a vague Joe-Pesci-in-GoodFellas feel, which is amusing only if you ignore the historical record. In 1988, when Mr. Dowd was still on the force, an estimated 100 people were murdered in East New York [actually 105, a record]. Those dead should haunt The Seven Five, which instead breezes through its crimes while tossing out grim images of unidentified black and brown bodies.”
Is any of this relevant today? One of the Mollen Commission’s concluding criticisms was the adversarial behavior of the police union, the PBA, which is still criticized today. (Consider, too, a June 22, 2015 article in the New York Post containing this quote from a police source: “Three or four officers were sent to a certain precinct in Brooklyn and instead of going and walking foot posts, they up and retired.” The precinct is the 75th. In all the time I spent in East New York, I never saw an NYPD foot patrol.)
The Mollen Commission most of all emphasized the need for an external independent monitor with real power and oversight, pointing out that for the last century the New York City police force has been plagued by serious corruption/misconduct problems roughly every twenty years, like clockwork (before Mollen there was the Knapp Commission in the ‘70s). The department cleans up after each censure. But without an external watchdog agency, Mollen argued, the department would backslide.
Today there is still no independent oversight entity with real teeth in NYC — and here we are twenty years out from Mollen. If corruption emerges now, it will likely be in a different form than in Dowd’s day and the department and the public might be just as slow to recognize it. So every amber light bears watching.
In April 2015, the NYPD’s Inspector General released a report “calling for the NYPD to upgrade its method of grading cops, starting with how it looks at the number and substance of misconduct suits filed against individual officers.” In the last five fiscal years, 15,000 lawsuits have been filed against the NYPD, costing taxpayers $202 million in jury verdicts and settlements. In 2013 alone, settlements and judgments against NYPD cost the City $137.2 million. In April 2014, NYPD removed an officer from street duty who reportedly had been sued twenty-eight times and had cost the city at least $884,000 in settlements. | https://medium.com/thebigroundtable/broken-f0036e02684f | ['The Big Roundtable'] | 2016-12-08 15:23:37.061000+00:00 | ['Brooklyn', 'Big Reads', 'Poverty'] |
Flying Cars Will Solve the Housing Crisis | Flying Cars Will Solve the Housing Crisis
Alex Butterfield, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Listen to my related podcast episode at https://redcircle.com/shows/ae991a1b-c410-4177-a548-507498ca540c/episodes/89594a60-d5ac-41b6-8c72-375c9b37cb14
A Problem With An Out-of-the-Box Answer
I have a theory that flying cars are going to solve the housing crisis, at least for the next couple of generations after we start using them.
I’m right at that stage of life where all of my peers are buying houses. As I try to chart out when the right time for me to make that step is, it has had me thinking a lot about why housing is so expensive. By “thinking about”, I of course mean “getting frustrated by”.
Most people that I know are pulling their hair out over this same thing. Why is it so expensive to buy a house? The hopelessness is especially strong for those looking to stake their claim in really constrained housing markets, like Silicon Valley. I grew up in California, so the depressing housing outlook there is near and dear to my heart.
Is there any hope for trends to reverse, or at the very least to stop getting worse? I think there is, but I don’t think we’re using the right transportation infrastructure to make that happen yet. We have to start thinking outside the box. We have to change the fundamentals about how we get from A to B on a daily basis. We need some flying cars. We need some vertiports.
Vertiports — Little Baby Airports all over the place
Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles don’t need an entire runway to get into the air. That means you can put their landing areas in more places than you could fit a traditional airport — like on top of buildings and parking garages. That, plus the advances in flight and electric technology, are going to allow eVTOL flight to merge into our everyday life in a way that traditional airplanes and helicopters could never achieve. Really, it’s probably more effective to think of flying cars less like cars that we’ve given flight capabilities to, and more like airplanes we’ve just figured out how to downsize.
With the current advancements being made in battery and flight technology, I’m sure we are going to make it to a place within my lifetime where instead of driving my car through an hour of traffic across several different freeways to get to work, I’ll grab an electric scooter and head down a couple blocks to the nearby vertiport that the local Walmart paid to build on its roof.
I’ll leave the scooter in the “MicroMobility” hub next door to Walmart that rents out all kinds of electric last-mile urban transportation, and then I’ll open my “FlightPlan” app that lets me reserve the next flight over the nearby hills and into the big city. The self-flying “car” will take me for a couple minutes over all the traffic, following an A.I.-determined flight path, and then I’ll land in the vertiport built on top of the parking garage of the business complex where my company rents office space, where I’m now only a short walk from work.
Then at the end of the day I come home the same way, back to my house, that I was able to buy relatively cheap considering the commute time. Turns out there was a ton of nearby land that just wasn’t being developed before because it was too expensive to build a big enough freeway out there.
The Housing Economic Perspective
I may not have done super well on my college economics tests, but I still remember that first fundamental notion — supply and demand. I’ve always heard that people aren’t making any more land, so of course supply is going to be low no matter how high demand climbs. The problem there is that I don’t think the market cares about just any land; it cares about useful land. Even though we don’t make more physical land, we CAN take available land and make useful land from it. I’ve driven through Nevada enough times to know that we aren’t anywhere close to tapping out our supply of available land. The only real thing keeping the supply/demand curve tipping in favor of limited real estate supply is our own technological ability to extend a plot of land’s usefulness further out away from societies activity hubs. The physical square footage on planet earth isn’t the limiting factor. It’s whether or not we can get there and back in short enough times to make it worth it.
Boats, railroads, freeways, and airplanes all took their turns in history at expanding outward the sphere of relevant land we wanted to live in. Now we live in a society where the freeway is the king of the every-day American’s land valuation process. We chart our paths in google maps and make our decision based on freeway traffic loads, commute times, and proximity to stores and schools. There’s only so far we can drift away from the bustling hives of human activity before we reach the limits of how much time we are willing to spend on transportation. It’s like our leash, keeping us bumping into each other all together in crowded clumps of humanity. That leash isn’t just made of personal preference or or traffic intolerance — there’s a hard limit on how many cars you can squeeze through the strained road network before the whole process gets as sluggish as a cholesterol-riddled artery. Every costly investment in additional lanes or expansive intersections only alleviates the stress for a short time. Traffic which was suppressed before just released and fills capacity right back up again.
Any housing developer looking for land is going to be hard-pressed to find an abundance of opportunities where people are going to be willing to live there, and where all the existing nearby neighborhoods won’t let the “Not in my backyard” mentality unite their residents in opposition to new development. They’re justifiably worried about putting added strain on their transportation infrastructure.
We need a new approach that will last longer than one more freeway lane or one more redesigned intersection. We need housing developers to have a way to turn more land into useful land. The only way to do this faster is to give ourselves the right tools to break out of the tyranny of the restrictive and sluggish freeway system. We need a way that can scale out faster than we can slap down more asphalt and concrete.
Some Missing Puzzle Pieces Still
Flying cars have what it takes to dethrone that despot and set up a new king. It won’t solve our housing problems forever, but it’s the long overdue step in the right direction. It’s an upgrade that might just buy a growing earth population some relief from the hot housing water we find ourselves in.
There are still many challenges that get in the way of flying cars and vertiports being a near-future reality, but we seem to be definitely headed in that direction. A few more iterations of better battery and energy technology, a few more cycles of improved versions of self-driving software, and an exponential increase in artificial intelligence, and I think we’ll be in a place where flying cars just make sense. The cost of doing it is falling, while the cost of NOT doing it is rising. Soon those lines will cross, and flying transit will explode.
Why do I think it’ll become so popular? It’s because it will be easier than figuring out how cars work. I’ve owned a car for several years now, and I STILL don’t feel confident I know how to take care of the thing properly. Can you imagine the upcoming generations wanting to go through the same nightmare of licenses, driving tests, and oil changes when they can just Uber their way through the air on their parent’s money and get to where they need to be? | https://medium.com/laughing-at-myself/flying-cars-will-solve-the-housing-crisis-fedd236a79d1 | ['Tarron Lane'] | 2020-11-22 22:25:27.040000+00:00 | ['Housing', 'Self Driving', 'Passenger Drone', 'Drones', 'Technology'] |
Welcome to my story. | Welcome to my story.
Excitement, science fiction, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!
First of all, I really am glad that you have taken the time to come visit my blog. I am certainly new to this medium, and writing in general. Which is why the Word Crimes picture is up there from the song by the same title. You can find it here.
Now, why do I have the picture there, well it is because I will for the most part be writing this story rough draft style. There maybe grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. Though I will try my hardest to avoid those when possible.
Let’s get to why you should follow my blog. I love writing fictional stories, but have never done so in a public place. As such, I wanted to give it a try, and here we are. This story I am about to write for you is called Alice. It will follow a female robot as she becomes the first self aware machine in human history by a fluke of nature. Like in Jurassic Park, life finds a way.
You and I are going to follow Alice through her “life” as she discovers what it means. There will be adventure, there will be some adult content, there will be fun. Also I would love to hear your feedback as we go. We can sort of make this interactive! I am not afraid of criticism, however please keep it constructive. There is no need for trolls here.
I want to aim for 3 pages a week, though we will see how long I can keep that up for.
I love you beautiful creatures.
~Naomi | https://medium.com/a-l-i-c-e/welcome-to-my-story-92b1b746deaf | ['Naomi Hanson'] | 2016-07-29 16:20:07.571000+00:00 | ['Fiction', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Science Fiction', 'Storytelling', 'Books'] |
Don’t Confuse the Need for Self-Care With the Need for Community Care | But there is another concept that is also important, and we seem to avoid it. It’s community care. And while self-care is necessary and inevitable for a healthy mindset, the need for community care has to be fulfilled just as much.
In our individualistic culture, we value strength and independence disproportionately. We look up to people who achieve success on their own, who defy their circumstances, who show incredible strength and persistence. We are made to believe that being a one-man-show is the desired way forward.
The gig economy is pushing us toward professions that can be done alone and remotely, where we learn enough skills to carry out the work of several people, where we contribute to teams only by sending in our own solution of the phase of work. We have been moving towards isolating ourselves socially even before we were forced to keep social distancing because of the pandemic this year.
We have tons of friends yet we feel lonelier than ever. We have the means to talk to anyone anywhere in the world, yet we go out of our ways to show how great our life is as an independent person. We glorify self-sufficiency and we despise people who are needy.
Humans are social beings — and have been since the dawn of time. Our evolution and our survival have depended on being part of the community around us, they were providing us protection, care and the potential for growth. We need others — in one way or another. Our need to belong is wired into our brain, to be part of a community is a vital need. We need self-care but we also need community care. | https://medium.com/curious/dont-confuse-the-need-for-self-care-with-the-need-for-community-care-2b4f32f2a852 | ['Zita Fontaine'] | 2020-12-11 17:43:41.555000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Self', 'Self Improvement', 'Advice', 'Mindfulness'] |
Using R’s Tidytext package to analyse Covid-19 speeches | Using R’s Tidytext package to analyse Covid-19 speeches
I learnt about tidytext awhile ago and thought it was such a neat framework. The essential idea behind it was that you could perform text mining/sentiment analysis using dplyr and "tidy" dataframes. So, I just had to try it out! I looked around for awhile to find things to perform this exploration on and finally settled on Singapore Prime Minister Lee's Covid-19 related speeches - thought it might be fun to see how that changed over time. As always, a tl;dr to get things going.
( a side note here: this was a rather basic and easy introduction to tidytext but it really is a much more powerful package and a lot more (which I plan to write on when I have more time) can be done with it)
tl;dr
There was a change from negative to positive sentiment from February to December (with the release of the vaccine) The Top 5 words used in each speech actually gave quite a good summary of the speech and the core issues Tidytext is a really intuitive and easy to use framework and should definitely be explored in more depth!
Data Gathering
It was quite easy to get the data since all of the speeches had been nicely organised and transcribed (in true Singapore fashion!). If you’re interested, the first one can be found here and the rest are just in the search pages after that. I initially wanted to use beautifulsoup and selenium to scrape it but... the web addresses were not nicely organised by date and weren't numbered properly but instead used full titles. Given that there were only 8 speeches between Feb and now, I decided to do it manually. Granted, there were probably better ways of doing it and I would likely have tried harder if there had been more speeches.
But, given that there were only 8 speeches, I just copied and pasted each one into its own little .txt file and that was done!
Initial Cleanup
Next, I had to clean the data and this was where tidytext really came through. The tidy way of storing the data made it really easy to clean the data since I could manipulate it as I would a normal tidy dataframe - pretty neat!
Most of this step is self-explanatory. I basically imported the bunch of libraries that I would have to use and also imported a list of stop words. Then I got the names of all the files in the folder where the speeches were kept. Following which, I used a for loop to import each of the files and create a tibble for every speech.
I used stri_remove_empty because there was somehow an empty line between each line of the speech. I then used unnest_tokens which is really the core of the whole tidytext framework. This command facilitates the tokenisation of the words (i.e. breaking them up into individual words) and also does a whole bunch of clean-up (e.g. removing punctuation, changing everything to small caps etc.). This would obviously not be the most useful thing in certain circumstances (for e.g. when an exclamation mark or question mark could provide good context clues) but the default settings were fine for our basic usage.
Next, I used an anti_join to remove all the "stop words" - words in the English language which functioned as filler or connecting words (i.e. probably did not provide much important meaning). I then used assign to create a new df for each of the speeches. Finally, I bound all the speeches together in one giant df, giving them all a new column of properly formatted dates.
With that, it was time for the fun bits!
Top 5 words across speeches
I thought this would be interesting to look at because it would give a sense of which words were used the most over the course of the year. When the graph was out, it was also interesting because it actually gave a relatively good summary of the speech and the important points within that speech.
Most of this is pretty self-explanatory. I used regex to and stri_extract to ensure that only words (and not random symbols) were extracted and dropped all the empty rows. I then used count to provide a count of each word, grouping it by date. Next, I created a proportion column as recommended by Silge and Robinson since comparing actual counts would be misleading if comparing between a very long and a very short speech.
I then grouped it by dates before arranging it by proportion, making sure to set .by_group to TRUE ensure that it would sort it within the groups. Finally, I sliced out the top 5 words from each group. I also created a new "tohigh" column to help with graphing later on as I wanted to highlight the top word used. To achieve this, I used ifelse and max() to find the highest proportion value and then set the tohigh column to "Yes".
Graphing it was rather fun! I wanted to facet the graphs and also ensure that there were arranged from highest to lowest. To do that, I used reorder_within so that it would be ordered within their respective date groups and then added scale_x_reordered so that the labels would come out properly (try it without scale_x_reordered and you'll see what I mean!)
And finally…
Image by author
It was quite the interesting result because of the fact that it highlighted quite well the key takeaways of each speech. For instance, around the end of April, Singapore experienced an outbreak of Covid-19 cases amongst the foreign workers (hence the top word used being “workers”). Or on 10th April when a lockdown (“circuit breaker” was what the government called it) was put in place and hence “home” was the top word. And obviously for 14th Dec, with the vaccines out, it was the word of the month.
The keener eye might notice that I chose not to lemmatize or stem the words. I chose not to do it for two reasons: (a) I felt that because of the relatively short length of the speeches, lemmatizing the words might detract from some of its meaning. For instance, Singapore and Singaporean are two words that likely would have been fused. However, I felt that in the context of relatively short speeches, they carried different contexts/meanings. Of course, this meant that things like “vaccines” and “vaccine” appeared in the top 5 words for December but this issue (as you can see) didn’t affect the other 7 speeches. (b) I wanted to try to use only the tidytext package as much as possible for the actual data manipulation and it surprisingly (unless I'm wrong then please let me know!) doesn't have any in-built functions to do that. One would have to turn to textstem to do that.
Sentiment Analysis of speeches
I did this in quite the basic way. Going along with the “tidytext” idea, I performed an inner join with the words in the Bing Liu sentiment corpus, grouped it by date, counted the sentiments and then took the difference between the number of positive and negative sentiments. I also reformatted the dates for graphing purposes.
Here, I had to use “factor” to get the dates to follow the same order as the df.
Image by author
Even though it was a rather quick and dirty way of doing it, I must say that the results were pretty good. Again, it reflected the general sentiments of the time — low/negative points in Feb and Apr when the virus was first breaking out and when the virus hit the workers hard. To obviously much brighter days when the vaccine came out!
Change in words used over time
Finally, a cute one just to see how the number of keywords used changed over the various speeches.
Image by author
As someone in the Reddit thread said, “Vaccines go brrrr”
Conclusion | https://towardsdatascience.com/using-rs-tidytext-package-to-analyse-covid-19-speeches-in-a-r-approved-tidy-way-50d2153a2e77 | ['Zachary Lim'] | 2020-12-21 13:47:14.635000+00:00 | ['Tidytext', 'Text Mining', 'Covid 19', 'Sentiment Analysis', 'R'] |
The FCC says AT&T is harming consumers | Have you heard of AT&T’s “DIRECTV Now” service? The Federal Communications Commission certainly has, and it isn’t happy.
If you aren’t familiar with the service, it allows subscribers to stream live TV and On Demand shows from a mobile device. The cheapest bundle is 100 channels for $35/month (this is a limited time offer and will jump to $60/month unless you sign up now), and users can add-on channels like HBO for as little as $5.
DIRECTV Now was initially hailed as a cord-cutter’s dream, especially considering that AT&T announced that AT&T customers will not be billed for any data used while streaming Now on their mobile devices.
If you use even a bit of data on your phone, you understand how expensive that data can be. Even if you have an unlimited data plan, that costs $100/month!
So for AT&T customers that don’t have unlimited data plans, DIRECTV Now’s new data-free plan sounds pretty sweet, right? Not for the FCC.
Here’s the problem
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sent AT&T a letter this Thursday reprimanding the company for this policy.
What AT&T is doing is called “zero-rating,” and is not always a problem. T-Mobile has recently announced their own zero-rating plans with music streaming services such as Spotify and YouTube, and this has not raised any issues.
The problem with zero-rating comes when it presents an unfair advantage for a certain provider. By only zero-rating its own service, AT&T is making their own service much more attractive than competitors like Netflix and Sling TV.
In the official letter (here), The FCC estimates that
…an unaffiliated mobile video service provider would have to pay AT&T $16 a month to offer zero-rated service to a customer who uses just 10 minutes of LTE video per day, increasing to $47 for a customer using 30 minutes per day. These costs alone would represent 46 percent to 134 percent of DIRECTV Now’s $35 retail price…
For a streaming company such as Hulu to provide data-free streaming for just half an hour each month, it would cost them about $47/month, in addition to their regular costs and fees. The average American watches over four hours of television per day (source).
If Hulu or Netflix wanted to provide four hours of zero-rated streaming per day, the cost would come to $9,000/month!
It’s pretty obvious, with those metrics in mind, why the FCC believes that AT&T’s zero-rating policy for DIRECTV Now violates net neutrality rules.
The meaning of Net Neutrality
The term “Net Neutrality” is tossed around a lot, and it is important that you know what it means.
Net Neutrality refers to equal access to websites, content, and applications on the internet. Net Neutrality is protected by the FCC’s Open Internet rules.
According to the Open Internet rules, internet service providers (ISPs)(including Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T) are not allowed to block any legal content in favor of their own. In addition, the rule “also bans [service providers] from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates” (Source: FCC).
AT&T’s zero-rating policy flies directly in that last restriction. Basically, the FCC mandates that AT&T either has to zero-rate more services, or end its zero-rating policy for DIRECTV Now.
If you’re wondering why T-Mobile hasn’t received any criticism for letting customers stream certain services without being billed for the data, it is because they are not zero-rating their own service. T-Mobile’s current policy zero-rates apps like Spotify and YouTube, neither of which are owned by T-Mobile.
What this means for AT&T
The FCC has already done its part to make life difficult for the service provider, issuing a $100 million fine in June of 2015. With this new ruling, AT&T’s offering will be weakened, resulting in a lagging stock price, right?
Wrong.
Even though the FCC has warned AT&T about their policies, nothing is likely to change. This is because Donald Trump is headed to the White House.
Donald Trump has already stated that he is against Net Neutrality rules, as he believes they target conservative media unfairly.
Trump has announced that Jeffery Eisenach and Mark Jamison will head his FCC transition team. The two men are telecom lobbyists who are most likely anti-Net Neutrality. In addition, one of the few dissenters to the FCC’s 2015 decision regarding AT&T’s unlimited data was a Republican FCC commissioner.
All of this points to the likelihood that the FCC will be upended, with its Net Neutrality rules dismantled. While many free speech and net neutrality advocates are appalled by this possibility, the future looks bright for AT&T as well as all other ISPs.
It is very likely that AT&T will not receive a fine or ruling regarding its zero-rating policy, meaning that it will be able to keep its marketplace advantage and increase Now’s popularity, boosting AT&T revenues. This also comes as a boon to Verizon, who offers a zero-rating policy for its streaming service Go90, as well as any other ISPs that decide to implement their own streaming services.
This may be the dawn of a new golden era for ISPs. | https://medium.com/french-toast-finance/the-fcc-says-at-t-is-harming-consumers-7903a233661d | ['Parker Nolan'] | 2016-12-04 16:30:36.044000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Business', 'Donald Trump', 'Net Neutrality', 'Tech'] |
Tails, Tiaras and CO2 Tonnage | The climate costs of President Trump’s state visit
Donald Trump’s State visit to the UK this week will see a staggering 2,619 tonnes of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere — the equivalent to running an average home for 970 years.
Yes, that’s almost the equivalent of a millennium’s worth of CO2 emissions from a typical British home — in just three days.
Let’s think of this another way, just to help comprehend the vast scale of this climate-impacting trip: the 800 tonnes emitted by the President and his entourage each day is what a typical person would emit over a hundred years — should they live that long of course.
So behind all the pomp and red carpet ceremonies is an invisible but very real cost, a huge climate impact.
We at Pure Planet thought it would be useful to try and work out the impact of this carbon calamity, especially since the President is a well known climate change denier.
The President and First Lady disembarking one of their jets
The President and First Lady arrived on one of two heavily modified Boeing 747 jets — dubbed Air Force One — with the other one reportedly carrying the President’s adult children and other officials.
Almost as recognisable as the planes are the President’s two identical seven-seat armoured limousines dubbed The Beast. These are both brought on any foreign visit and make up part of the 30-car motorcade.
The Beast in action
This arrived ahead of the President on US Air Force cargo planes. The exact number varies depending on the visit and is kept secret but we have estimated four planes were used.
The commander in chief is also not constrained to roads when travelling abroad and shortly after arriving on Monday 3 June, a formation of two ‘Marine One’ choppers and three Chinook twin-rotor military helicopters led by a UK police helicopter were seen flying over central London.
President Trump saluting from a ‘Marine One’ chopper
On top of this, up to 1,000 people, including secret service agents, staff, military aides and members of the press accompany the President on trips and make advance visits to check security arrangements.
The President’s exact transport configuration and the efficiency of military planes is often kept secret, but based on official emissions figures Pure Planet estimates:
The President’s record on climate change during his time in the Oval Office has already been a cause of criticism.
Trump’s most high profile rejection of climate change since entering office has been withdrawing the USA out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The American President also once famously tweeted that the concept of global warming was “created by and for the Chinese”. Trump said climate change is a Chinese hoax. But we all know it is no joke. The emissions from this state visit are vast.
Based on our calculations, President Trump’s state visit is equivalent to almost a millennium’s worth of emissions from a typical home. It is a staggering large amount.
We think Trump’s administration could do much more to help climate change by leading by example — acknowledge it, stop cutting environmental protection policies in the States, invest in renewables, and recommit to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Pure Planet Members show that we can all take action, even if presidents don’t.
And if you haven’t chosen a renewable energy supplier for your home yet — do. It’s easy to switch; it only takes a minute or two. And it is the biggest single thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint today.
You can switch to clean, green renewables with Pure Planet in 60 seconds. Start by getting a quote here. | https://medium.com/pureplanet/tails-tiaras-and-co2-tonnage-46121e81781 | ['Pure Planet Blog'] | 2019-06-04 11:05:04.338000+00:00 | ['Carbon Emissions', 'Global Warming', 'Renewable Energy', 'Climate Change', 'Trump'] |
This is an eye opening question Tim Denning .Thanks for sharing it with us… | If you were to send money to your family 100 years into the future, what are the options, and which one works the best? | https://medium.com/@andersonworld88/this-is-an-eye-opening-question-tim-denning-thanks-for-sharing-it-with-us-5ecff712937f | ['Emmanuel A. Anderson'] | 2020-12-12 20:43:29.825000+00:00 | ['Finance Management', 'Money', 'Finance', 'Money Management'] |
Grace Paley on Voice — Writers on Writing | Grace Paley is one of the few writers whose work I could pick up, with no name or other identification on the cover, and know instantly that it is hers. Haley’s voice is so distinct, so recognizable in its abruptness, its stops and starts, its clever and heartfelt truth laced with humor. Her dialogue, in particular, drags you onto the New York street or into the cramped flat with her characters.
In an interview with the CBC Radio program Writers and Company, host Eleanor Wachtel asks Paley about “the uniqueness of your voice…where does that voice come from?”
Comes from the Bronx to begin with. Comes from my mommy and daddy. It comes from the language around me…I have this way of describing the voice if you want to call it that, or anybody else’s voice, which to really work has to come from two places really, and the first place I’ve just described which is home, really, and that’s one ear, see. I always say, ‘That’s why we have two ears.’ The other ear is for literature, and so that’s been in my ear from Mother Goose on — the traditions of English literature particularly with other sounds in translation coming in. But those two ears I think make everybody’s voice.”
The interviewer replies, “Everyone’s got two ears but they don’t write like you,” to which Paley quips, “Well, they don’t come from the Bronx, what can I say?”
Wattle says Paley’s voice was there from he beginning — in her very first published story, “Goodbye and Good Luck,” which appeared in Paley’s first story collection, The Little Disturbances of Man. Haley says she had wanted to write prose, but had been writing poetry instead, until the moment when she wrote the first line of Goodbye and Good Luck. “I’d been writing poetry up until the moment I wrote that line. I wanted to write prose, I wanted to write stories, but that particular line resonated for me, and when I began to write it really was like a breakthrough for me, because my poetry was nothing like that at all. When I started writing the stories it was really like a new sound for me in my head.”
Paley said there were a number of reasons she wanted to write prose instead of poetry, but one of the primary reasons was that she was spending a lot of time with women who were doing exactly what she did — raising their children. She was interested in the lives of those women she knew from her kids’ preschool, and in the lives of the women in her family.
In the interview, Paley also talks motherhood, the friends she had who lost their children to AIDs and drugs and other tragedies, and “the terrible edge of life, the tragic fact you can’t avoid”:
We all bring our children up, especially in this country, with such belief and determination, but belief that everything will be well — if they’re fed well and so forth, if they’re white middle class children, certainly — they’ll be okay. Of course other families know from the very beginning that their children are very vulnerable, no matter what decade they’re living in.
Haley says, surprisingly, that she was considered “a dead bust” in her family “after being a very smart little child…I never made it through school the right way. I never finished school. I never got a profession.”
Fortunately for us, Paley’s profession was writing.
Read Paley’s inimitable stories in The Little Disturbances of Man and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, and learn about her life — personal, political, and literary — in her wonderful memoir, Just As I Thought. | https://medium.com/a-writers-life/grace-paley-on-voice-writers-on-writing-791da9d99939 | ['Michelle Richmond'] | 2016-08-25 17:07:04.221000+00:00 | ['Voice', 'Short Stories', 'Grace Paley', 'Writers On Writing', 'Books And Authors'] |
Excess Has a Permanent Address | 12.23.20
i think i know where the money resides. the same place it always has. within the accounts & stocks & shares & retirement funds & blood-stained coffers of the advantaged. the etymology of working-poor was not mouthed from a place of contradiction. america literally makes allowances for you to work yourself to death. honor your contributions to its stockpile of revenue. then mail your loved ones a scant offering they have already paid into. | https://medium.com/@ObservationsInBlackness/excess-has-a-permanent-address-e5586cd7d2a0 | ['Donney Rose'] | 2020-12-23 17:21:21.785000+00:00 | ['Covid-19', 'Stimulus', 'America', 'Poverty', 'Capitalism'] |
An Interpretation of Powerful Knowledge for History Education | At the moment, I combine teaching with pursuing a PhD at the Institute of Education at University College London which, according to its slogans, encourages innovative and disruptive thinking. One of the ideas that has created quite some attention is the formulation of Powerful Knowledge (PK) by Professor Michael Young. Since the beginning of this century, Professor Young promotes the idea of a re-focus on knowledge in the curriculum and moving away from a curriculum based on 21st century skills or other competencies. Initially, this sounded like a reactionary attitude to me: while there is some recognition for multiple ways of knowing, there are also the conservative voices calling to bring ‘real’ knowledge back into the curriculum. However, the more I started to read about PK and its essential complementary ideas, the more I realized that theoretical knowledge can also be empowering. Encouraging ways of thinking that are specific for a certain community of inquirers will allow for a deeper understanding of reality. For now, this idea is mostly put into practice by geography educators at UCL, however the principles of PK are also very much applicable to history. In this blog post, I would like to explain the essential characteristics of the idea, along with important criticism focussing on social justice. Lastly, I would like to suggest an implementation in history education.
A curriculum on the basis of PK perceives subjects as specific disciplines with their own procedures and protocols to understand and examine the world. In an article in 2010, Young and Muller elaborated on three possible futures of education: 1) the continuation of the elite system as it exists today; 2) the end of disciplinary knowledge which is replaced with generic outcomes hereby — unintentionally — educating students solely for employability, while also deprofessionalizing teachers and de-specializing research; 3) emphasizing the role of specific knowledge communities in acquiring and producing knowledge, whereby the aim is to supplement the everyday experience with theoretical knowledge. Young and Muller predicted that future 2 will remain most popular because of the (hidden) neoliberal tendencies of this educational system, while future 3 has, according to Young and Muller, more potential to confront contemporary challenges such as the growing inequality, polarization, and misinformation.
PK is not about dominating, but rather empowering the learner. According to Young, there are two types of power: the kind that wants to dominate, thus exercising power over something or someone; and the emancipatory kind, namely the power to do something or to think something. What makes PK emancipatory, according to Young, is that it provides students with the ability to critique society as it exists.
Biesta is another proponent of bringing knowledge back into the curriculum, as a way of indicating to students what might be worthwhile paying attention to. Biesta suggested that emancipatory teaching would let students “figure out what they do with what they may encounter there. The judgement, and the burden of the judgement is, in other words, on them [the students]”. Young claims that all students should have access to emancipatory knowledge as it allows for generalizations, imaging the yet unthinkable, conceptual understanding, and embedment within specialized inquiring communities. In contrast, future 2 education will place the focus on everyday experience without complementing it with theoretical knowledge that allows for a more complex understanding. Hence, Young claims, future 2 will only make the achievement gap wider between students, as the theoretical knowledge can act as an equalizer. Young exemplified the difference between everyday knowledge and PK on the basis of geography: everyday knowledge is your knowledge about how the public transport works or where the stores are located, whereas PK is an understanding of how cities are organized and how they might change.
The idea of PK is based on a social realist perception of knowledge, which can be dismissive of ways of knowing outside western perceptions of ‘knowledge’. A social realist perception of knowledge means that the acquisition and production of information involves systematic concepts and methods within communities of enquirers who search for truth within their distinctive disciplines. Hence, it can be said that a critical attitude towards PK is necessary to understand that knowledge is never neutral and always highly political.
Therefore constructive criticism of PK has complemented the theory and encouraged the integration of social justice. In 2018, Wrigely expressed his worry that social structures influence knowledge formation and distribution, inevitably creating silences due to dominance of certain voices. Hence, Wrigely argued for the incorporation of a theory of knowledge called critical realism, which would acknowledge that the curriculum is political and never neutral. Students should therefore have the ability to evaluate any knowledge claims because they understand that social structures and conventions play a role in the formation and distribution of this knowledge. Thus, Wrigely suggested that PK should incorporate a critical element by supplementing the everyday experience with a focus on “underlying forces which are at work, that these forces might not always be active or visible, that everyday experience is not always the best guide to understanding the structures that impact on our lives..” (p.12). Therefore, Wrigely suggested “Productive Pedagogies” to complement conceptual thinking with students’ everyday life experience. So PK in a critical realist interpretation would still mean a focus on key concepts and challenging ideas, but would account for the social structures in society that allow for some knowledge to emerge and be distributed more widely.
Another useful addition to the idea of PK is the concept of Powerful Pedagogies, which encourages enquiry as a way of learning. Roberts wrote in her response to PK that everyday experience is a necessary element in teaching in order for students to make a connection between the theoretical concepts and their own lives. According to Roberts, the everyday experience of students is not just their location but also the media in which they interact or the circles in which students find themselves. As a result, Roberts argues that subjects, like geography, have powerful ways of understanding this world: ”through the kinds of questions it asks and the ways in which it investigates them” (p.201). Roberts furthermore stresses the political element of knowledge, hence there should always be a reckoning of its origin and context in which it was created. Roberts emphasizes the importance of how the teaching takes place, thus the method of instruction which truly allows for knowledge to become powerful or not. According to Roberts, PK can in other words only become emancipatory when Powerful Pedagogies are used. Roberts summarises Powerful Pedagogies with three characteristics: 1) Enquiry-based; 2) Dialectical Teaching; 3) Critical. Thus, PK alone will not provide students with a complex understanding of the world it needs to co-exist with powerful ways of teaching.
The powerful element of knowledge is not only in the hands of the teacher. The students themselves need to feel agency in order to act upon the newly acquired insights. Alderson enlists in her response to PK four necessary conditions for knowledge to become truly powerful: 1) The Known; 2) The Knowers; 3) The Social and Cultural Context; 4) The Application. The Known in the case of PK refers to knowledge that is constantly changing and emerging through research and creativity, aiming to move towards reliable truth. According to Alderson, this knowledge can never be powerful if there is no human agency involved (the knowers), thus for knowledge to be powerful there should be an active and creative dialogue between the knowers and the known. This power of this dialogue depends on social and cultural contexts, as this learning is not happening in a vacuum but influenced by real life challenges, which needs to be considered for PK to truly be emancipatory. Lastly, the application of the known by the knowers in particular social and cultural context will determine whether it can influence society. Thus knowledge might claim to promote social justice but this will only be the case if the application of the knowledge is done in such a way.
To summarize, PK as originally suggested by Young could have indeed promoted a reactionary response to the increasing liberation of marginalized voices, however when PK is informed by a critical realist perception of knowledge this can be averted. Thus, PK has the potential to act emancipatory when it accounts for the political nature of knowledge and thus reveals structures and conventions in society that allow for dominant voices to be (over)heard while marginalized communities are silenced. Furthermore, knowledge can only become powerful when teaching is emancipatory through a focus on enquiry, dialectical teaching, and a critical understanding of the subject. And lastly, knowledge is only powerful when its application indeed promotes social justice.
Powerful Knowledge in history education
As of now, most of the debate and application of PK took place in the discipline of geography. The critical application of PK can however also suit a subject such as history. In early 2021 a book will be released (and edited by Arthur Chapman) that applies the idea of PK to the subject of history. In another contribution from 2018, Counsell mentioned the potential of PK for the subject history in a blog post. For this sake, Counsell uses substantive knowledge — content as facts, e.g. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Fall of the Berlin Wall — and disciplinary knowledge — evidence, causality –, as both a part of historical knowledge. Counsell suggests that this division is a helpful tool when engaging with PK in history education: it is impossible to teach students all the substantive knowledge, therefore discipline knowledge is required.
To make this a bit more clear, I will try to give an example of PK in history on the basis of the topic women’s suffrage movement in the Netherlands. In 1919, active women’s suffrage was achieved when a bill was approved by the House of Representatives, after more than fifty years of protest. However, it was only in 1937 that women older than 25 years in the Dutch colonies received passive suffrage, which became active suffrage in 1948 after more than a decade of protest movements.
Example substantive knowledge: cult of domesticity; cult of domesticity; Aletta Jacobs; Rosa Manus; Vrije Vrouwen Vereeniging (Free Women Association); National Exhibition of Women’s Labor 1898; Demonstration 18 June 1916; active suffrage 1919; passive suffrage 1917; Damanan di Djarason 1937; Clarita da Costa Gomez; Altagracia de Lannoy-Willems 1949
Example disciplinary knowledge: using evidence from sources to make a claim; indicate change and continuity.
In this case, the PK might be that students are able to assess to what extent the women suffrage bill of 1919 was a change or continuation for women in public life. For this, students use their substantive knowledge about the historical context of the 19th century and the ways in which women were protesting. Students need disciplinary knowledge to be able to critically analyze sources and ‘read against the grain’ when analyzing primary sources to indicate whether women’s role in the public indeed changed or how certain systems continued, especially for women in the colonies. The emancipatory element of this knowledge could be that students understand the historical relationship between gender inequality now and then, while being able to actively search for marginalized voices in public debates. This knowledge can then be used in a very practical way by having students write a commentary on current representations of women in politics, or set up a campaign to encourage political participation of everyone.
As we currently live in a pandemic during which universities, again, make most cuts on their social science and humanities departments, it would be good if we as educators can be vocal advocates for the importance of our subjects. The idea of PK shows the importance of having different knowledge disciplines, as each discipline brings with it their own ways of knowing and viewing the world. Hence, the subject history can emancipate students by allowing them to understand the present through knowledge of the past, utilizing the historical method for research, and having a healthy sense of suspicion towards any source. It would be great if history educators can be more vocal and explicit about the power that historical knowledge provides to students, to avert authoritarian tendencies in our multicultural democractic nations in Europe. This blog post is merely intended to start a conversation among history educators about the powerful knowledge in our subject and how we can better advocate for our subject and discipline.
Written by Maayke de Vries
History teacher at an international school in The Netherlands & PhD Student UCL Institute of Education
www.mizsdafreeze.com
Originally written for EurClio:https://www.euroclio.eu/2020/10/27/an-interpretation-of-powerful-knowledge-for-history-education/
Sources:
Cristine Counsell (2018) “Taking Curriculum Seriously”, Impact https://impact.chartered.college/article/taking-curriculum-seriously/
Gert Biesta (2020) “Have we been paying attention? Educational anaesthetics in a time of crises” Educational Philosophy and Theory — https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2020.1792612
Margaret, Roberts. 2014. “Powerful Knowledge and Geographical Education.” The Curriculum Journal 25 (2): 187–209. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2014.894481.
Margaret Roberts (2013) “Learning Through Enquiry” Presentation at the IOE- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyGwbPmim7o&t=198s
Michael Young (2013) “Bringing Knowledge Back in” presentation at the IOE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_S5Denaj-k
Michael Young and Johan Muller. 2010. “Three Educational Scenarios for the Future: Lessons from the Sociology of Knowledge: European Journal of Education, Part I.” European Journal of Education 45 (1): 11–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2009.01413.x.
Priscillla Alderson (2020) “ Powerful knowledge, myth or reality? Four necessary conditions if knowledge is to be associated with power and social justice”,London Review of Education https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=3a2dd799-e59e-44ac-938d-c7068f7c566
Terry Wrigley. 2018. “‘Knowledge’, Curriculum and Social Justice.” The Curriculum Journal 29 (1): 4–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2017.1370381.
Forthcoming: Arthur Chapman (ed.) Knowing History in Schools. Powerful Knowledge and the Powers of Knowledge UCL Press. Open Access. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/130698#
Information about Women Suffrage in the Netherlands:
“Vrouwen Kiesrecht in Nederland”- Atria https://atria.nl/nieuws-publicaties/vrouwen-in-de-politiek/vrouwenkiesrecht-in-nederland/
“Vrouwenkiesrecht op de voormalige Nederlandse Antillen” — Atria https://atria.nl/nieuws-publicaties/vrouwen-in-de-politiek/vrouwenkiesrecht-op-voormalige-nederlandse-antillen/ | https://medium.com/@mizsdafreeze/an-interpretation-of-powerful-knowledge-for-history-education-3ef8d2295cf | [] | 2020-12-19 07:43:05.212000+00:00 | ['Powerfulknowledge', 'Teaching', 'Ucl', 'Historyeducation', 'Teachers'] |
‘Kind Words’ | ‘Kind Words’
Kind words are now a rarity these days but actually they have a lot of power hidden in them. Someone’s bad day can be a little bit better if you praise them or least give them a calm smile. A small thank you to the bus conductor or your milk man can lighten up their mood and make them feel light.
Recently, I was travelling in a bus and then at a T point, a child maybe of 15 years boarded the bus and asked the conductor to drop him two kilometers from that point. The conductor was very rude and threatened him to get off the bus as it wasn’t going to stop for him. Moreover, the boy wasn’t willing to pay for such a small distance as he was also from a poor family. In the heated conversation he said, “ Taauji maan jao please. Bhaut jaroori kaam hai.” Taauji, in hindi means father’s elder brother. He basically asked him to please let him board the bus as it was very urgent for him. The conductor immediately was a little less rude and allowed him for those two kilometers.
In this short span, I realized how, very kindly he referred him as Taauji and conductor heart melted. That day, I realized the power of kind words. Maybe the boy just said that he can board the bus without paying but those kind words actually softened the conductor’s heart. | https://medium.com/@garghardik21/kind-words-6b1e803fcccc | [] | 2020-06-04 17:32:56.230000+00:00 | ['Help', 'Love', 'Words', 'Family', 'Kindness'] |
How to Manage a Micromanager | Let me start off by saying that my manager is not a micromanager — just in case she finds this article. But boss, you may have been one, once upon a time. Those days are long over. We’re like this (*crosses fingers*).
We’ve all had those days. You get into work and don’t even get to your desk when someone rushes over, and drops a poop ton of work on you that you didn’t expect. What’s worse, they’re going to stand beside you and dictate while watching you finish what was just assigned.
How do you manage a micromanager?
First, you have to think about where they’re coming from. It’s usually anxiety because they’re afraid of missing things, of dropping the ball. The positive is that these managers are extremely detail-oriented. In a crisis, these are the people you want at your side because they think of everything under the sun.
Second, you have to take a proactive role and manage your micromanager by working on your relationship and helping them to understand how you work best — with time for preparation, and discussion.
How do you that? Here are my learnings from 10+ years of administrative support in varying roles.
Set up regular check-in meetings. Make them every morning or at a time convenient to your manager. Have an agenda. Make it about your manager’s needs. Make sure that everything on the agenda will fill a mutual need. Do look ahead in your manager’s calendar. Before you go to the meeting, look in your manager’s calendar, and make notes about possible things they might want you to do. This reduces the number of possible last minute items in your future. Your questions also show your manager that you care about what they’re working on. Prepare for the meeting. Every single thing on your agenda will have documents or files backing it up. Make sure they are all ready, including your questions around the calendar. Go to the meeting. Let your MANAGER TALK FIRST. Your manager will have their own list of things to do. Some of these items will match what is on your list. Every time your manager brings up something on your list, you comment, and draw up your prepared document. Cross it off your list. By doing this, you are training your manager to have an agenda during your meeting time instead of coming to you for one by one items. Let’s be honest, your manager highly likely does not really want to manage you. They are just worried that you’re not getting it and want to help you get your stuff done right so that they don’t have to come back to you. Be flexible. Sometimes shit happens. You have to leave a margin of time for your manager’s last minute items. Try to aim for three to five big things you finish for the day and make the rest of the time free for your manager’s last minute emergencies. If your manager is an executive shit happens everyday.
This will work. Trust me. You need your manager to be able to trust you with the things they give you. In time, the daily meetings will become weekly meetings, then bi-weekly meetings, then meetings every three weeks, then ad-hoc meetings. It’s your dream come true. You have transformed your micromanager into your dream manager. | https://medium.com/live-well-now/how-to-manage-a-micromanager-6d756c6a857d | ['Sarah Kommala Baez'] | 2020-05-17 21:02:02.930000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Management', 'Workplace', 'Admin', 'Meetings'] |
How to excel at take home coding challenge | I reviewed a lot of take home coding challenges. Our challenge was designed for junior/beginning Java developers. In this article I want to compile list of recommendations on how to ace this challenge. These recommendations can be applied to all developers.
In my experience person doing the review will not spend huge amount of time reviewing your code. In most cases they will not even run it. I am not saying that that you send them nonfunctional piece of code. I am saying that the most important thing you can do is have everything clear and obvious. Do not spend huge amount of time on some abstractions, complex algorithms or other bragging opportunities. Those challenges are usually designed to be simple and reviewer wants to see simple solution.
Project setup
Our assignment was always bit vague. But one of the instructions was to use a concrete library for parsing CSV files. As a reviewer you looked on how the library was integrated into the project. In Java you looked if Maven or Gradle was used. If not was the library present as a jar file? There were cases where we received full Eclipse workspace. In Java Script you would look for NPM or was the library just linked in the script tag?
This tells how familiar you are with the tooling around the language you are interviewing for. As I was doing mostly junior positions it was not necessarily bad if the person did not used Maven. That is something you can teach them. But it always was huge plus if they did.
There is a lot of project creation tools out there. For Java you can use Spring Initializer , for Java Script Yeoman. Your code will look much more professional. You increase the changes of reviewer actually running your code. And you will learn something you will need anyway.
Clean code
There is a lot of resources online on how to do clean code. You do not have to follow it one to one. But some general principles should be applied. The best principle you can follow is newspaper article analogy.
Image your code structure as a newspaper article. Headline is your class name. Public methods are first few paragraphs. Private methods are rest of the article. Each class should be its own story. This will increase readability of your code. Reviewer will have easier time reading your code and it gives you a lot of plus points, as readable code is must for working in team.
You should also choose some kind of formatting and stick to it. Most modern IDEs can reformat your code, please run it before submitting your code. It looks ugly if each method/class/line has different formatting. Do not worry about tabs vs spaces or any other topic. Just choose what fits you.
Be careful naming things. Classes, variables, functions etc.. Do not use unnecessary shortcuts. Why use Stor instead of Store ? Names should be descriptive, but avoid long names that feel like straight out of Corporate Name Generator.
Logging
I always looked how logging was done. Was it present? How? Was it just System.out.print ? Next level would be java.util.logging and best would be SLF4J. Obviously some logs are better than no logs. I usually did not recommend solutions without logging.
I would consider error handling as part of this. Every time I see e.printStackTrace() in catch block I am subtracting some points. Least you can do is log it properly.
Writing tests
Another huge part is test writing. Tests are the best thing you can do to standout in this challenge. I understand that testing may be hard for you, it takes some time and you want to do this challenge as quickly as possible. You do not need to TDD this challenge. You can just test the happy path. If you are out of time, you just write few tests, and rest you just prepare test methods and leave comments explaining what are you about to test.
Tests tell me that quality of the code you are writing is important for you. It tells me that you can write testable code. And it tells me that you are willing to write those.
Documentation
You do not really need to document everything and append 50 pages long documentation with your challenge. But still nice README.md explaining how to run your app is a must. Look at your favorite open source project on GitHub and try to do something similar in your README.
Bonus points
Few bonus points you can get are
Some CI integration
App is actually running/is deployed somewhere
You provide doc with next steps you would do to improve this app
I can do quick code review for you if you are not sure about your results. DM me on Twitter | https://medium.com/dev-genius/how-to-excel-at-take-home-coding-challenge-5b25c03d6c3c | ['Pavel Polívka'] | 2020-12-03 18:11:27.334000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Development', 'Java'] |
Fourth Wave Has a New Look | Our new masthead was designed by artist Leila Register, with inspiration from and gratitude to regular contributor Peter Pruyn.
So much has happened since we sent out the last communication to Fourth Wave subscribers in mid-May, including Medium’s change in labeling for this type of communication from “letter” to “newsletter.” The most obvious change, though, is our new redesign.
Some of you might have been fans of the previous masthead, which featured a woman holding her arms up while looking out at the ocean — a literal translation of the feminist term “fourth wave.” I know I was. Because I designed it! :p But about the time I was receiving $1,200 from the U.S. government, I was realizing that image was under par, so I decided to spend some of that money hiring actual artists to come up with a new vision for the site.
You can read about that thought process, and see a few of the options it generated, in two stories:
How I Spent My $1,200
and
Why Beauty is a Drawback | https://medium.com/fourth-wave/fourth-wave-has-a-new-look-5cabc13633c4 | ['Patsy Fergusson'] | 2020-07-20 18:43:35.502000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Feminism', 'Writing', 'Equality', 'BlackLivesMatter'] |
A keeper’s guide to arbitrage mining $ROOK | Take your arbitrage, liquidation, and tailgating operation to the next level with arbitrage mining on KeeperDAO. Not only will you be rewarded for the hard work that you’re already doing, but you’ll be participating in the very first trading pool on Ethereum.
When Kasparov (black) mixed up the moves for the Caro-Kann defence, Deep Blue (white) took advantage and created a new attack by sacrificing a knight. Kasparov argued that the computer must actually have been controlled by a real grand master. He and his supporters believed that Deep Blue’s playing was too human to be that of a machine.
Background
KeeperDAO is an economic experiment that initially launched with an on chain liquidity pool and only one internal keeper bot. With the recent upgrade and launch of the ROOK token, all traders from around the DeFi ecosystem are now incentivized to join KeeperDAO as a keeper and reap its rewards.
Keeper mining rewards
Keepers are rewarded for trading and sharing profits with the pool based on factors detailed in the Caro-Kann announcement. Rewards will be prorated against the % of total profits returned to a pool. Rewards run from block 11185218 to 11783358. Keepers receive their reward in ROOK tokens. 20% of the initial ROOK total token supply will be mined during this event. 70% of which goes directly to keepers participating in this event. That is a whopping 14% of the token supply going to keepers starting right now!
How to be a keeper and earn ROOK
Simply call the borrow function from within your trading contract, and share profit from your trades.
If you’re currently flash loan trading, simply switch from your current flash loan pool to ours. If you’re currently trading with assets in your own personal contract, you can periodically share profit with the pool or upgrade based on my suggested pro tip below.
We created an example keeper integration project along with detailed instructions explaining how to borrow and share profit with KeeperDAO. This repo also indicates our liquidity provider contract address as well as borrow proxy address which are critical in setting up the integration.
LiquidityPool 0x4C8cC29226F97d92eC2D299bC14EDF16bAD436b7 BorrowProxy 0x82151CA501c81108d032C490E25f804787BEF3b8
KeeperDAO integration pro tip
We recommend flash-loaning for your large trades and trading out of pocket for the little ones. We also recommend having intelligent logic that can choose between flash loaning and trading out of pocket based on the size of the trade. See the examples below:
Say you have 50 ETH in your trading contract.
Example 1) Say you find a trading opportunity that requires 1,000 ETH. You don’t have enough ETH to trade, so you’ll need to flash loan. So before you trade, simply call the borrow function to borrow the tokens you need for the trade. Then after the trade completes you can return the borrowed quantity + some shared profit to get a reward.
Example 2) Now you find a trading opportunity that requires only 10 ETH. Since you have 50 ETH in your trading contract, you can simply trade with your own ETH and forgo the flash loan for now to save on gas expenses. You may make hundreds of these small trades per day, so no point in wasting gas flash loaning on every single small trade. Finally, at the end of the day, you can share profit with KeeperDAO to earn the ROOK reward all in one single transaction at safe low gas prices. This will save you a lot of overhead gas cost and the best part is you don’t have to uproot your trading operation by introducing a flash loan on every single trade. The simplest way to share profit in this manner is to essentially call the borrow function and borrow exactly 1 wei of ETH, then return sharedProfit + 1 wei back to KeeperDAO.
KeeperDAO integration beginner tip
If you’re still fairly new to trading on Ethereum through contracts, we highly recommend that you use upgradable contracts for your keeper bot operations. This will save you the hassle from constantly deploying new contracts as you add new features. There are tons of resources out there focused on this topic. We also recommend that you specialize your trading strategy on one particular area while you gain experience and conquer the learning curves that come with competitive trading on Ethereum.
How to claim your ROOK
For liquidity providers, simply navigate to the KeeperDAO app, sign in using your wallet, and click on the Claim button. Confirm the amount, and click Claim one last time. Then follow the instructions in your wallet to sign the transaction.
It’s worth noting that your earned rewards are assigned to your specific address. Anyone can claim rewards for anyone by calling the claim function on chain. But regardless of who calls the claim function, the address that earned the ROOK always receives the ROOK. So Alice can claim for Bob, or Bob can claim for Bob. Regardless, Bob always receives Bob’s rewards. This feature will come into play when claiming as a keeper who’s trading through an Ethereum smart contract.
For keepers who share profit through a smart contract, claiming is a bit different. Soon we’ll add a feature to the web page that allows you to modify the claim address, but for now you’ll want to use this API to get all the data you need in order to call the claim function on chain.
The response will look like this:
{ “owner”: “<your_keeper_address>”, “earnings_to_date”: “<amount>”, “nonce”: “0x0”, “signature”: “<signature>” }
Take the data from the response and call the claim function on the KeeperDistributor
claim(address _to, uint256 _earningsToDate, uint256 _nonce, bytes _signature)
How to retrieve your claimed ROOK from your trading contract
If you claim ROOK earned as a liquidity provider, the ROOK simply goes to the address which provided that liquidity. On the other hand, if you’re a keeper, you’re likely trading using an Ethereum smart contract instead of a private key based account. And since you’re sharing profit to KeeperDAO via the borrow function, then those ROOK rewards are getting attributed to your trading contract that called borrow. Once you receive ROOK on your trading contract, you can access it simply by withdrawing it like you would any other ERC20 token on Ethereum by using the ERC20 standard transfer function.
To get involved and help evolve the protocol, join us on Discord and begin integrating your trading operation as a KeeperDAO keeper. | https://medium.com/keeperdao/a-keepers-guide-to-arbitrage-mining-rook-d9a56373bd14 | [] | 2020-11-05 13:02:20.142000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Liquidation', 'Arbitrage', 'Game Theory', 'Defi'] |
Giving Thanks for our Pro-Housing Elected Officials | Across the United States this November, Americans rejected the idea of building walls of exclusion. Hard-fought, steady progress to advance the pro-housing movement was made. All in all, YIMBY Action and our energized membership helped elect 82 candidates who will push for more housing in their communities.
This year we endorsed more candidates than ever across California. This was only possible because YIMBY Action members on the ground researched candidates, conducted interviews, and analyzed questionnaires. In the coming years, we hope to endorse candidates in cities and towns across America, because everyone deserves a home.
Voters soundly rejected the candidates of exclusion.
From the small city of Cupertino, where voters ousted Councilmember “Build a wall” Scharf, to the federal triumph of pro-housing Biden, YIMBYs can be proud of the progress we’re making.
The California state legislature will see a few more pro-housing faces, and we hope this will firm up support for some of the most important bills. The Bay Area Housing Caucus remains strong, bolstered by the resounding victory of State Senator Scott Wiener (SD 11). This election was a test for our most fearless pro-housing legislators — and they triumphed!
This pattern is getting elected officials to stick their necks out further and further for housing. Assemblymember Rob Bonta (AD 18) led the charge for removing the apartment ban in Alameda. Meanwhile, new leaders like Assemblymember Alex Lee (AD 25) are bringing fresh energy to the pro-housing cause. The South Bay and Santa Cruz areas saw state legislators connecting the dots on how housing affects so many other aspects of our lives. Longtime environmentalist and State Senator John Laird (SD 33) spoke about the critical connection between infill housing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And State Senator Dave Cortese (SD 15) drove home the point that jobs growth without housing growth was driving up both homelessness and super-commuting, crushing the middle class.
YIMBYs know that we need more pro-housing legislators in Southern California if we’re going to see success for bold state-wide housing reform. Local chapters were key to this years success. In places with a thriving YIMBY movement, activists did incredible work (Read more about San Francisco here). In many places, YIMBYs were endorsing for the first time, pushing candidates to get right on the issue of housing. People for Housing Orange County saw the results: “In previous cycles, candidates weren’t widely talking about their stances on housing. This election was different.”
So many candidates steadily increase their appetite for state-driven housing policy reform to eliminate exclusionary single family home only zoning. From progressive champion Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (AD 80) in San Diego to the mild mannered Assemblymember Dave Min (AD 37) in Orange County, pro-housing candidates are finding their stride in SoCal. This is critical for the success of future bills.
Even if our most ambitious pro-housing legislation takes another couple years, the wins we’re having in local races are part of a coordinated effort to get the most out of our state housing goals. YIMBY Action endorsed 59 people who will sit on city councils overseeing local rezoning processes mandated by state legislation we helped strengthen. These elected officials will be overseeing contentious general plan updates, which reporters are already predicting to be a “maelstrom.”
But YIMBY can be prepared. California’s complex process of updating local housing plans is where YOU can make a difference. Our Housing Element Watchdogs are getting up to speed on the acronyms and preparing for a contentious year holding cities accountable for state housing goals. And we will be there to ensure California gets the most housing possible out of this complex process. Sign up to be a Housing Element Watchdog today.
Which brings us to our first YIMBY of The Week: Adam Buchbinder. Adam was calling in to the city council meeting in Alameda to ask them to take their state housing goals seriously — when all of a sudden a city councilmember lashed out. Adam kept his composure under pressure and we’re glad to name him YIMBY of the Week! | https://medium.com/@yimby/giving-thanks-for-our-pro-housing-elected-officials-bb2f283d7a35 | [] | 2020-11-25 19:26:17.882000+00:00 | ['Housing', 'Elections', 'California', 'Yimby'] |
From Unintended Villains To Heroes Without A Cape | Berkay Tunali is a filmmaker with around 10 years of experience, specializing in documentaries as well as different types of video production for positive change for humanity and the environment. Currently, he’s really interested in finding suitable storytelling for the main target audience in his works. He is the director, cinematographer, and also editor in this project. Ilkim Idil Bursa is part of the team as the second camera operator and co-editor. Previously, she worked on various productions around the world as a producer and cameraman. Barbaros Vardar is our farmer, has a long life full of adventures and enterprises. Now, retired, finds happiness in growing trees, doing İyi tarım. Skeptical at first, because this Onarici tarım was too good to believe, he wants to try now to help biodiversity. Begoña Rodriguez is a Spanish Medical and Scientific Illustrator, a teacher at Trakya Universitesi. Environmentalists since the cradle, couldn’t hold herself from getting into activism in Turkey. She is the scriptwriter and pre-film researcher.
Let’s start remembering our childhood drawings, maybe we are weirdos in this team but all of us remember ourselves drawing the idyllic house, that was actually a farm with many animals, green fields with trees covered in fruit and flowers, a clean river nearby with fish jumping out of the water, blue sky with butterflies and dragonflies flying around the flowers that popped up everywhere, and landscapes patched of different colors with the different crops. Look at the farms nowadays, they are nothing like that, not at all. The farmer cut every grass that is not “productive”, “chapa, chapa, chapa”, afraid that it will eat the nutrients of his crops, and around the house make it all cement to make it easier to clean. The farmer cut the trees that give shadows to the crops, and turn the soil upside down again and again, to make it soft for planting the seeds, and when the seeds are weak because the soil is almost dead, add some artificial fertilizer here and there and pour the water form the pomp like there is no tomorrow; don’t worry if the water finish, we can protest and cry to the government, and the extra water running off will go to the river loaded with chemicals and soil, changing our blue river into brown. What about the happy animals in our drawing? They are locked in a grey industrial building, being fed processed food, medicated just in case there is an outbreak. Oh what about the butterfly and the…. Oh! shhhhh!! not even name them, we gassed all of them in the modern farm because some bugs are bad for the crops, and, sorry, maybe that gas affects us too, we just can’t say it out loud. What about the quilted landscaped? it is just one color, and in winter, just brown. And like this, our beautiful dreamed farm became a grey factory where the only lives that we may see are begging us to set them free. A horror movie made real.
For the life lovers, the conventional farmer is a villain, but the farmer does all of this for feeding us. We, all of us, depend upon farming. The farmer, his parents and grandparents have been told that this is the way to make farming productive, so he does. In the case of our farmer, Barbaros, he wants to produce healthy food, and he follows the advice of the Iyi Tarim Mudrululugu, as they told him to keep the soil clean of any wild grass or even old leaves, he was passing the tractor “cleaning” the field year after year, taking with it the biodiversity of his field. Thus, the farmer becomes an unintentional villain. Now that Barbaros learned the secret of soil, he looks at it in a different way, the color, the amount of grass, the worms that he can find when he digs for planting a tree, and he looks at the other fields with sadness wishing he could do more to change the system and tell the other farmers what he has learned.
Farming, our unintentional villain, is responsible for:
Water scarcity, 75%-90% of human water usage is dedicated to farming. For domestically people use about 30–300 l of water per person per day, for the daily food the needs are about 3000 l of water. (FAO 2003)
Water pollution, underground and rivers are polluted due runoffs from irrigated fields loaded with soil, PNK and pesticides.
Health problems derived of the usage of chemicals on the food, and food that is not really nutritional. There are many studies supporting this claim and many others debunking it making an extra clarification, saying that the “allegations of decline due to agricultural soil mineral depletion are unfounded.” We are not saying that its due the soil mineral depletion, we are saying that it is happening because the soil lacks of the necessary bacteria that helps the roots of the plants assimilate these minerals. As the gut bacteria in humans and other animals, the soil bacteria is essential for the plants nutrient assimilation and fighting diseases.
Climate change, many factors are involved in this issue, but let’s take into account only the farming responsibility on this. Farming contributes with about 15% of the global greenhouse’s production, or maybe even more, as it is not clear if the carbon released in every tillage is taken into account, because yes, the carbon in the soil is released in every tillage, add that to the gases emitted by the tractors that till. At the same time, farming is one of the most stroked sectors by climate change. Farming is feeding a monster that slaps its own face harder and harder.
Deforestation, 80% of the deforestation caused by humans is due to farming, and with this comes the loss of habitat and biodiversity.
Farmers are also victims of this system, they complain about the prices of gas, fertilizers, lack of water, empty towns and so much work that is not fairly paid. But to all of these problems Regenerative agriculture offers the solution, when the solutions are presented all we hear are excuses or incredulity. It is like someone complaining that has pain in the toes because he is wearing the wrong shoes and when you offer a better pair he refuses because he can’t quit using the same shoes that his parents and grandparents used. And it is such a beautiful solution that it is difficult to believe. When Barbaros watched the documentary film “The Biggest Little Farm” he said that it was just a fairy tale, a movie, fiction. He could not believe that the farm from our childhood could be true, when him, himself, remembers his grandparents farm being like this. That farm, by the way, was demolished to be replaced by the new conventional system of huge monocultives.
How could any farmer believe in this if there are no publications or news about it? Why is conventional the only way that we generally know? For years we have been hearing the miracles that GMO and modern farming would do in feeding the world and reducing the usage of pesticides and herbicides, but the experience has shown that there is more need for pesticides (look at the usage of Roundup in the US during the last 10 years), pests are becoming resistant, and we still have problems with providing food to people while, at the same time, one-third of the global food production goes to waste. Now the trend is to integrate high tech into the farming fields, and for that, there’s government funding, like if to modernize farming we just add gadgets. There is no interest in developing regenerative farming or anything similar because there is no business for agribusiness or tech companies. All our efforts to share this system will be fought back or obscured by agrochemical companies and even academicians whose research funding depends on these companies. Agroecological strategies are underfunded and overlooked in academia because there is no money invested in them, as it is free.
Let’s illustrate very briefly how converting to Regenerative Farming could transform the unintended villains into heroes without a cape:
Regenerative farming uses from one third to half of the water, one-fifth of the gas and almost none of the artificial fertilizer that conventional farming needs. This doesn’t happen miraculously, there must be a conversion and in this transition, the governments must help the farmers. Regenerative reduces the usage of NKP gradually until it is not needed anymore, instead, the soils sequester carbon to increase the fertility of the soil. There are estimations that calculate that we can sequester 20 tons of carbon per acre in regenerative agriculture for over 10 years. Sounds good, eh? Well, it can be even better if we apply the right compost; Dr. Johnson, Chico University, explains that soils rich in fungal biomass capture an average of 10 metric tons of soil carbon per acre per year. Only just for the amount of sequestered carbon, this system deserves serious investment.
Although we focus on farming in the documental, the science of soil can be applied to any piece of soil in earth. We don’t only manage the soils in farms, think about the city, schools, universities parks and gardens. If managers learned this, they could accelerate the carbon sequestration, and maybe it is not too late for us. We need the change, now. | https://medium.com/@info-53788/from-unintended-villains-to-heroes-without-a-cape-3cf37a7398d6 | ['Project Zoom'] | 2020-12-24 12:56:51.521000+00:00 | ['Grantees', 'Organic', 'Agriculture', 'Healthy Soil', 'Regenerative Agriculture'] |
Send Lawyers, Lockboxes, and Money | Shared social movement infrastructure in popular uprisings
Across the United States and around the world, the past decade has been marked by a series of dramatic episodes of social movement uprisings. Thousands of people have taken to the streets facing down chemical weapons and police violence, camped out for months at a time blocking the expansion fossil fuel infrastructure, and faced felony charges and decades of jail time for their alleged participation in militant direct action.
Images of protestors facing down tear gas, people locked to construction equipment, and burning limousines have appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the country and been plastered across social media. But every mobilization, every blockade, every march has depended on a complex network of movement infrastructure that will likely never make it to the front page of the papers. To make all of these things possible, hundreds of people prepared and served food, organized legal support, set up medical clinics, designed websites, facilitated trainings, organized transportation, secured meeting spaces, maintained databases, and took on dozens of logistical tasks that allowed movements to operate.
Wikimedia Commons
Many of the social movements that have emerged in recent years have moved beyond simply critiquing the systems they were struggling against, they also offered new models of how society could be organizing. Throughout these long and challenging mobilizations, thousands of people experimented with modeling and developing the practices of direct democracy, autonomy, and mutual aid that their movements aspired to create.
Much has been written on the manifestations of direct democracy in the political sphere that were on display at the mass assemblies of the Occupy Movement and other plaza mobilizations around the world.[1] Something less explored and certainly less celebrated are the practices of mutual aid and solidarity that have been baked into the economic and social, as well as the political spheres of these new social movements. In the plaza movements and the more recent episodes of contention in Ferguson, Standing Rock and J20 social movement infrastructures emerged to provide the food, medical care, legal support, internal communication, transportation and myriad other logistical needs of the movements. Developing all of these aspects of social movement infrastructure offered participants opportunities to create and practice models of direct democracy and mutual aid in allocating scarce resources, navigating social relationships, and providing the basic human necessities that participants needed to continue to engage in the movements.
While much of this social movement infrastructure emerges organically within distinct social movements or mobilizations, many of the networks, organizations, and institutions with the skills, resources, and experience in providing social movement infrastructure frequently mobilize across seemingly disparate social movements spaces at different times and in different places. From the outside, the episodes of contentious politics that played out in Ferguson, Standing Rock and J20 appear as distinct social movements with little overlap. But interestingly, many of the same organizations and networks providing food, legal support, and medical care participated in each of these uprisings. The people doing this important work each had unique backgrounds and movement histories but over a lifetimes of activism, their paths have continually crossed in the streets.
Shared Social Movement Infrastructure
Traditional theories on how social movements emerge focused mainly on the individual grievances that catalyzed movements, the relationships between participants in these movements, and the ways that new threats and grievances emerged.[2] By the 1970s, scholars reflecting on the social movements of the 1960s began to recognize that the role that the availability of resources and a number of structural factors can play a more important role in the emergence of social movements. McCarthy and Zald describe this new body of analysis which has become known as resource mobilization theory as an approach that “examines the variety of resources that must be mobilized, the linkages of social movements to other groups, the dependence of movements upon external support for success and the tactics used by authorities to control or incorporate movements.”[3]
Researchers have argued about which types of resources contribute to the success of movements and how those resources impact various movement outcomes, but the idea that movements need money, facilities, legal skills, and other resources to operate is relatively non-controversial. Movements have built out infrastructure to develop and organize these resources in distinct ways: vertically (internal to movement organizations) and horizontally (shared movement infrastructure).
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Most commonly, social movement organizations have sought to build infrastructure vertically within their organizations and issue areas, amassing trained volunteers, skilled staff, and large treasuries. This infrastructure gives social movement organizations the ability to make strategic decisions about how to allocate their resources as they plan campaigns and mobilizations. It also, however, also forces social movement organizations to compete for scarce resources, respond to the whims of funders and donors, and jockey to ensure that their particular movement or issue receives the most attention.[4]
Alternatively, organizers who recognize the intersections between different movements and issue areas have worked to build out infrastructure horizontally, developing an infrastructure of material and technical support that can be deployed in different times and spaces among various seemingly-disparate social movements. The networks and organizations that provide these resources across different social movements make up a shared social movement infrastructure.
When social movement organizations, labor unions, and NGOs build infrastructure internally, that infrastructure is constrained by the same limitations of the organizations that they are controlled by. Historically, social movement organizations and labor unions have not created movements and have often acted to constrain movement. Piven and Cloward observe this playing out in Poor Peoples Movements, their important analysis of four major social movements in the 20th century. “Because [mass membership organizations] were acutely vulnerable to internal oligarchy and stasis and to external integration with elites, the bureaucratic organizations that were developed within these movements tended to blunt the militancy that was the fundamental source of such influence as the movements exerted.”[5]
Recognizing Piven and Cloward’s critique of the limits of social movement organizations, Engler and Engler suggested a “momentum-driven” theory of organizing to “build decentralized networks to sustain protest mobilizations through multiple waves of activity.” This model suggests that social movement organizations can develop infrastructure to absorb and energy as moments surge and retain capacity to be mobilized in future waves after the “moments of the whirlwind” recede.[6]
The momentum-driven organizing approach is useful because it acknowledges the natural ebbs and flows of social movement activity and suggests strategies for sustaining movements through multiple waves of activity, in large part, by developing social movement infrastructure. The Momentum Community has emerged as a “training institute and movement incubator,” teaching and promoting this momentum-driven organizing approach. Momentum has incubated the launch of some important movement organizations including Movimiento Cosecha, IfNotNow, and the Sunrise Movement.[7]
But the momentum model still implicitly assumes that infrastructure must be developed vertically within a particular social movement or social movement organization. Many of the organizations and networks that provide key infrastructure for social movements are mobilized across movement spaces, however. This shared social movement infrastructure, then, does not necessarily need to ebb and flow the way that individual movements do. Instead, movement infrastructure organizations can move laterally from movement to movement in response to trigger moments and in support of uprisings happing across a wide range of social movements. Infrastructure organizations doing this work have created the shared social movement infrastructure that has emerged in uprising after uprising in recent years.
Bringing More to the Table Than Breakfast
When the people, organizations and networks that build and share the infrastructure that social movements rely on move across different movement traditions, issue areas, and geographies, the impact that they have can extend well beyond the specific resources that they are bringing to those spaces. As infrastructural organizers enter new and emerging movement spaces, they also often bring with them a set of organizational practices, politics, movement histories, and relationships. Nick Stocks, a longtime organizer who has worked with the Seeds of Peace Collective and Rising Tide North America observed, “the organizations that provide infrastructure for movements, like Seeds [of Peace] have been some of the standard bearers for some of the practices our movements have been using for decades.”[8]
Kim Ellis from RAMPS expanded on this point. “Most folks who get involved in infrastructure come to it out of a particular political theory around horizontalism. That brings prefigurative politics into lots of movements.”[9]
When a kitchen collective with three decades of experience providing food at protests shows up to provide food for a nascent movement, they don’t just bring breakfast, they bring decades of movement history, shared norms about how to cooperatively operate a campaign kitchen, the explicit or implicit political analysis that has guided their work over time, and relationships with organizers in other movements and other types of infrastructural roles. These shared practices can have a profound impact on emerging social movements.
Often these practices are transferred organically. When activists participating in movement infrastructure use horizontal organizing structures, local activists often take notice and adopt those tools and practices. When activist legal collectives work with groups of defendants who have little experience with the criminal justice system and share stories of activists successfully engaging in collective defenses and strategies of non-cooperation the defendants can become more likely to adopt those approaches.
In many cases, however, this dissemination of common social movement practices can be more deliberate. Most notably, infrastructure organizers have historically played an important role in promoting principles of horizontal organizing and consensus-based decision making. C.T. Butler, one of the founders of Food Not Bombs co-wrote and published a manual on the formal consensus process, On Conflict and Consensus.[10] That manual has been circulated widely within a broad range of social movements and has introduced thousands of organizers to the formal consensus process. The Seeds of Peace Collective has also offered consensus trainings. Medical teams conduct ‘bridge trainings’ to teach medical professionals about principles for consent-based care and horizontal organizing. The Tilted Scales Collective’s Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant presents an explicitly political context for legal defense work. [11]
Because infrastructure organizations are generally not tied to one specific movement and instead move across movement spaces, they often create important bridges between different social movements. Kim Ellis observed “any issue or movements need infrastructure. That’s a way to bring movements together, and it’s an incredible coming together point.”[12]
Movement Infrastructure: Scarce Resources, Huge Potential
In social movements and uprisings all over the country, movement infrastructure organizations and networks have mobilized an astonishing level of support activity. In Ferguson, legal workers built a legal support structure from scratch in less than a week that was able to track down people who were arrested and, in most cases, bail them out and get them back on the streets the very next night. At Standing Rock kitchen crews and medics kept thousands of people who were camping outside in North Dakota in the winter healthy and well fed for months. At J20 the creation of shared infrastructure created space for dozens of different movements — many of whom had no experience working together — to take bold direct action on the same day in the same city.
What is more astonishing than the sheer scale of activity generated by these infrastructure projects is how relatively few resources have been dedicated to them. While the value of sustainable infrastructure projects is widely acknowledged, there are only a handful of well-established organizations that work to create movement infrastructure that operates across social movement spaces. Few of these organizations have paid staff, and nearly all depend almost entirely on volunteer labor.
Fundraising can be difficult for movement infrastructure projects. Many donors will be happy to give money to bail an activist out of jail, but be less likely to donate to make sure that there is a well-trained, experienced and sustainable legal collective available to set up the fundraising link, track the activist through the legal system, and show up at the jail with the cash to bail them out. Many foundations and other traditional funding sources for social movements consider infrastructure ‘overhead’ and will not fund it, opting instead to support programmatic work.
Activists who organize movement infrastructure projects report that this work is also often undervalued or ignored within movements. One long-time organizer lamented, “within our movements, there is a tendency to celebrate the people who take really big risks…the people who are doing the labor (to create infrastructure) are often undervalued.” The limited support for movement infrastructure takes a toll on the people who are doing this work. The organizer continued, “A lot of people who fill support roles over the longer term are people who have dedicated a substantial portion of their lives to movement work. They’re showing up at the cost of having stable jobs, healthcare, and financial security.” This can lead to burnout and high turnover. Nick Stocks said, “the people who do any type of grassroots organizing work often do it for two or three years and then burn out. Very few people are able to do it for the long haul.”[13]
Behind every protest, blockade, encampment, or occupation there is a complex set of organizational structures that handle the logistical, administrative and other support functions that keep the action going. Sometimes, the infrastructure to provide this support emerges independently within specific social movements, but in important ways, the individuals, networks, and organizations that offer infrastructural and logistical support are often mobilized across dramatically different movement spaces through informal and semi-formal networks, personal relationships, and formal organizational structures.
It is reasonable to argue that the availability of this social movement infrastructure can hasten the emergence and increase the resilience of social movement uprisings. Relying on existing movement infrastructure to provide or, at least coordinate, key logistical needs of the movement can free up movement organizers to focus on the political and strategic work of their movements. Organizations providing infrastructural support to social movement bring with them important resources including technical skills, political relationships and often physical equipment.
The legal support collectives, campaign kitchens, and medic teams that work tirelessly to support a wide range of social movements will, unfortunately, probably not be featured in the history of our movements. But looking closely at social movement moments throughout recent history it’s clear that the people who staffed the clinics, organized the kitchens, and coordinated legal support played an important role supporting the action on the front lines and in weaving the fabric of our shared social movements.
Notes
[1] Marina Sitrin and Dario Azzellini, They Can’t Represent Us! Reinventing Democracy From Greece To Occupy, 1 edition (London ; Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2014); Jerome E. Roos and Leonidas Oikonomakis, “They Don’t Represent Us! The Global Resonance of the Real Democracy Movement from the Indignados to Occupy,” in Spreading Protest: Social Movements in Times of Crisis (ECPR Press, n.d.), 117–36.
[2] J. Craig Jenkins, “Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements,” Annual Review of Sociology 9, no. 1 (August 1983): 527–53, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.09.080183.002523.
[3] John McCarthy and Mayer Zald, “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory,” American Journal of Sociology 82, no. 6 (May 1977): 31.
[4] INCITE! The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, Reprint edition (Durham: Duke University Press Books, 2017).
[5] Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail, unknown edition (New York: Vintage, 1978).
[6] Mark Engler and Paul Engler, This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century (New York: Bold Type Books, 2016).
[7] “Movements,” Momentum, accessed May 13, 2019, https://www.momentumcommunity.org/movements.
[8] Stocks, Interview with author.
[9] Ellis, Interview with author.
[10] C. T. Lawrence Butler and Amy Rothstein, On Conflict & Consensus: A Handbook on Formal Consensus Decision Making, Second Edition (Food Not Bombs, 1991).
[11] The Tilted Scales Collective, A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant.
[12] Ellis, Interview with author.
[13] Stocks, Interview with author. | https://patrickyoung-29256.medium.com/send-lawyers-lockboxes-and-money-2df0f85b409e | ['Patrick Young'] | 2019-06-09 01:49:14.188000+00:00 | ['Standing Rock', 'Politics', 'Social Movements', 'Protest', 'Action'] |
What are the pros and cons of the waterfall method and what other project management methodology could one consider? | What are the pros and cons of the waterfall method and what other project management methodology could one consider? Dru Macasieb Jun 17·3 min read
The waterfall methodology is a project management planning process that uses a linear, sequential life cycle; whereby each phase of the project must be completed before the next one starts (Pinto, 2020). In software development, there are six phases: planning (also known as process of gathering requirements for the project), design, implementation, and testing, deployment, and maintence. Designing software using the waterfall planning process works well under certian circumstances, specfically:
When requirements are fixed and well understood at the very beginning of the project.
The software project being developed is stable, therefore no changes or modificatons are needed.
The technology, programming language, and frameworks are well understood
Resources and expetise are freely available to focus on thier specfic role in their given phase.
The projects that work well in the waterfall are relatively short.
As one can see, the waterfall methodology works well with projects that are repetitive in nature, levargaging the specialization at each phase of a project. If life were only that simple.
The waterfalll methodology falls short when a project is not fully understoood or set in stone. Based on today’s rapidly evolving competitive arena where new innovations in technology are introduced, the decision to define an unchanging and rigid project scope is highly unlikely. Below, are the conditions for which projects shoud not adopt the waterfall model:
When the project is prone to changes due to external factors (i.e. consumer trends, innovations in technology, legal constriants)
When competition is fierce and the likelihood of change is high due to meeting or exceeding consumer expectations
When the scope of the project is not fully understood or are loosely articulated.
To address the shortcomings of traditional project management methodolgy, newer and much more innovative techniques were adopted. One popular project management methodology is Agile. Agile recognizes the mistake of assuming that once a project is conceptualized and planned, that the project can not simply be executed without change. In the Agile way, a project’s success is amplified by it’s ability to embrace and implement change throuhoug the SDLC, paving the way for adding incremental value, through steadily developing subfeatures or elements in the overall project. In Agile software development (Campbell, 2020):
Projects are relatively short spanning one to four weeks
Projects are long enough to provide value but short enough to respond to changes
Complexity and uncertainty of inefficient and costly traditional approaches are avoided
Projects are about provding value to customers by listening to their needs and desired features, whereas traditional approches relied on the expertise of the software developer and focused more on detailed product descriptions.
The flexibility leveraged by Agile project management process, especially in software development, creates a process that listens to customers and defines the project’s critical deliverables in terms of features. Whereas in traditional approaches like in the waterfall model, the focus was on a set of clearly defined parameters, and the relationship between customer and developer was clearly defined by rigid expectations. In Agile, the critical nature of the ongoing, closely-linked relationship between the Agile team (the Scrum) and clients must maintain be maintained throughout the entire SDLC process.
References:
Campbell, A. (2020). Agile- Essentials of team and project management: Manifesto for Agile software development. Apple Books.
Pinto, J.K. (2020). Project management: Achieving competitive advanatage (5th Edition). Harlow, UK. Pearson Education Limited. | https://medium.com/@drumacasieb/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-the-waterfall-method-and-what-other-project-management-methodology-59453a570227 | ['Dru Macasieb'] | 2021-06-17 02:09:45.587000+00:00 | ['Project Managment', 'Agilesoftwaredevelopment', 'Agile Methodology', 'Agile', 'Waterfall Model'] |
What is Internet of Things (IoT)? | What is Internet of Things (IoT)?
IoT is simply a network of physical objects things with sensors & softwares, thus they can share generated information amongst each other, using the network. Just like we do over the internet.
IoT in Manufacturing
Industrial processes are undergoing a radical transformation. IoT has not only optimised the manufacturing processes from the shop-floor to making finished products. But has also enabled us to used this data to get smart insight with AI
IoT in Transportation
Freight and Public Transport services equipped with sensors has made it easy for us to schedule maintenance, optimise fuel and improve security. Now even car manufactures have also started using IoT to enabling things like Autonomous Driving and Accident Detection and Rescue etc.
IoT in Healthcare
Healthcare is fastest growing sector in IoT today and for years to come. From medical machines that enable patient monitoring and troubleshooting to real-time location systems to track medicine dispensation, staffers and patients.
IoT in Daily Life
SYAN brings IoT to your everyday lives with easy to set up Smart Home Automation. Enabling you to Control all your appliances, devices, lights and fans directly from your smartphone. With features such as energy use tracking and analytics, scheduling. Giving you the lifestyle and ease that you deserve. | https://medium.com/@syanautomation/what-is-internet-of-things-iot-d13ffba7ff1f | [] | 2020-12-06 08:26:09.075000+00:00 | ['Smartphones', 'Home Automation', 'Smart Home', 'Internet of Things', 'Technology'] |
Why do women stay? | It has been two years since the last time he hit me. I have struggled that entire time to be honest with myself. I asked myself the usual questions, “how do I keep finding men like this?”, “what did I do to deserve this?”. I blamed a broken picker, or a certain magnetism for lowly men.
Yet the bigger, more important question lingered. How do I prevent it from happening again? I believe by examining my role in cultivating this relationship I have stumbled on the truth, and a hard truth at that.
It started 4 years ago. He was an attractive man, with dark skin and light green eyes. He wasnt very interesting, nor was he my usual type, but women seemed to flock to him. He had a certain charm about him. His accent was vaguely southern, his speech was peppered with subtle compliments, and he went out of his way to assist everyone in every way he could.
When he took an interest in me I did not take him seriously. I had seen him show up to work with various women, never the same woman twice, and many of them were very attractive. I slept with him immediately, due to my lack of belief that this would be anything but sex, and wrote him off.
He continued to pursue me. He was at my house every day. He asked me to go everywhere with him, even to places that didnt make much sense in hindsight. Why was he driving me to random apartments to sit in the parking lot?
I continued to date other men but didnt invest in them. I was delighted that a man was paying so much attention to me, I reveled in it when comparing him to the other men who didnt return my calls. But things got weird quickly.
Within a few weeks his car was gone. I know now that it was a rental car, but at the time he claimed it was impounded due to driving under the influence. I brushed his drug habits aside, it was common for the men I met to do some kind of recreational drugs. At least he liked me.
He began asking to use my car. At first, just to run some errands for both of us. A grocery trip there, a carwash here. All perfectly normal. But it began to take longer and longer and he invited me(in my own car) less.
I was annoyed, but not annoyed enough to dump him. When I began to make a fuss and place boundaries on the use of my car, he responded by moving into my house.
Without warning, without permission. He simply showed up one day with all of his belongings and did not leave. I was impressed by this. Yes, really. He had given me something that usually took me months of begging and reassurance to receive. Something I’d had to force my ex boyfriend into with ultimatums and immature responses.
Then came the family talk. At this point I had known this man for a total of 6 weeks. I had lived with him for less than 2 weeks, and I knew nothing about him. Not that it mattered. I was not interested in him, I was interested in a fantasy man that I had created in my own head. I wanted a family, a marriage, a man who loved me. And here he supposedly was, laying it out on a platter.
I was pregnant quickly. He was very excited for the pregnancy, which I took as another positive sign that our whirlwind romance meant something. But while his words grew more positive, his actions grew worse.
He was gone all the time. He was out sometimes until 4 in the morning, he stopped sleeping with me, he started having rage fits and temper tantrums.
Anything could set him off. Sometimes he was angry because I was rushing him, or I brought the wrong pasta back from the store, or someone called me and I wasnt giving him my attention. He called me names and degraded me, then when it was over he would shower me in love and affection. He’d do everything I wanted to do, cook me food, clean the house, compliment me.
I didnt run. Instead I googled relentlessly. Mood disorders, anger management, drug addiction. I could fix him! He was perfect, if he could just fix that tiny annoying habit of threatening to hurt me.
I miscarried the first pregnancy. He was very supportive during this time, in fact he seemed to revert back into the person I originally fell in love with(or clung to, really).
I thought he had been fixed, I was convinced that he’d had a change of heart and realized he truly did love me. Until I got pregnant again less than a month later.
This time there was no going back. By the time I was 5 months pregnant we’d moved into our own shared place and hed abandoned all pretense of being a decent human being.
Looking back it’s clear to see where each escalation happened. When I became pregnant he began to use vicious words against me(on one occasion suggesting I get an abortion before I ever consider leaving with his child). When we moved into an apartment together he began to threaten me as well. He used strong body language, blocking doorways and hallways, standing over me when I was sitting, puffing his chest to indicate he was ready for a fight.
I knew it was wrong. I began to resent him, but still I continued to google worthlessly. “Anger cycles", “bipolar disorder", “BPD". I ignored the many DV awareness columns I found. He wasnt hitting me, he was just threatening me. He had an anger problem!
I became afraid of his moods and addicted to the love bombing that came after these episodes. Most of the time he ignored me completely, but when he became irritable, I was suddenly the only thing he paid attention to.
Everything made him angry when he was irritable. He was looking for a reason to fight, he’d walk around the house with palpable rage, emanating from him like a force field. I lived in fear of poking at it, but it was unavoidable. If I didnt say anything sassy or smart to him, he’d manufacture it by sending me to the store and then being disappointed with whatever I brought back.
I developed a fear of the grocery store, or any activity that required me to leave the house. It was all a setup, but the release was often better than the buildup.
Once he’d gotten it out(it could be days or weeks to get past irritable) and blown up, with increasing rage and hostility each time, he was as docile as a puppy. He was the sweetest man alive. He would cook, clean, wine and dine, shower me with love and affection, elaborate apologies, and the time I’d been begging to spend with him.
I’m sure that sounds absurd. What does it matter if he spent time with me after he’d already treated me so badly? But herein lies the problem, I had no self esteem and I was already in too deep to leave. I couldn’t be a single mother, I was too poor and no one would love me. No reality would stand in my way, there was no behavior that I couldn’t make an excuse for.
After all, he didnt hit me! he didnt cheat! He had a job! Those are the only things I’d ever been warned against. So maybe this is what it was like to be in love, he just had some problems. I would google them again, I was sure there was an answer.
But of course he did cheat, what else would he have been doing outside the house until the early hours of the morning? I caught him several times before I gave birth, it was always to my detriment. There would be no apologies, of course, instead there would be backlash and anger. I remember, with the tightest cringe of embarrassment in my stomach, asking him if he loved me more than her and convincing myself that that was mattered.
After I gave birth(my ex put on a good happy show for the family, which pleased me) I fell into whatever the exact opposite of postpartum depression is. I really, really loved my baby. I was glowing, I was doting, I was giving and receiving a natural love that lit me up from the inside.
It was a far distance from the sulking and bitter pregnant girlfriend I had been weeks before. I no longer cared where he was, in fact I hoped he’d stay away longer. I started taking public transportation to see family and friends, I was saving money and decided to go back to school.
If you know anything about narcissists it should come as no surprise that this incensed my ex. He saw it, too, and he was determined to crush me back into an ant.
He began insulting me outside of his “irritable phase", playing strange games with my emotions. For example, pretending he had kidnapped the baby and run away on my birthday. He quit his job to stay home and torment me(I was on leave), and insisted on being in whatever room I was in.
One morning, he had been bullying me for several hours, sitting at a playstation idly discussing my failures as a mother(I’d been one for approximately 3 weeks)when I snapped. I told him, with gusto, to get out.
He responded swiftly, before the words were fully out of my mouth his hands were around my neck. My son was there, right on my chest, blissfully unaware that his mother was dying underneath him.
I felt my windpipe close. When you see this happen on movies it’s so violent, so physical, the victim reacts as though their brain is functioning the whole time. In real life it took me a moment to gain awareness that I was going to die without any action on my part, I was peacefully allowing him to choke me, as if I had frozen in time and the only thing I was aware of was the lack of oxygen.
I was still holding my coffee, which I threw at the wall. The sound startled him and I ran, for my phone, baby still in arms. He walked away, presumably satisfied with the fear he’d caused.
What I did next is endlessly gut wrenching. If you take any advice from this(if anyone ever finds this), do not ever do this. I dragged the phone back to the bed and announced I was calling the police.
He was fast, again, running across the room, across the bed, and “stomping” onto my face with his full body weight. I felt the crack in my jaw.
He took my baby and left. See here’s the thing about abusive men, I had spent months(years?)escaping reality, hiding from who he was, and he had spent the same amount of time studying me carefully. He knew I would never risk losing my only real love, he recognized that my son was now his most valuable weapon.
I’m ashamed to say that I did not leave that day. I didn’t leave for another 6 months. I dont need to describe each violent attack for you to get the idea, things were exactly as they’d always been, except now when be became “irritable” he was as likely to murder me as he was to yell at me.
I got my restraining order in October of 2018, my rebirth. I had survived. I had stored that little bit of joy and confidence I found in motherhood in a little jar, kept it closer to me where he couldn’t see it, and when the moment was right I escaped with all the detailed and strategic planning that he had unleashed on me.
(I do not recommend this to women who don’t have to. I could have died or been permanently injured at any point while I sorted out school, living arrangements, and savings. Leave immediately if you can.)
But I don’t write this as another proud survivor. I am proud that I escaped, of course, but I write this to elaborate on what happened here. Do you see a common theme?
My ex has a new girlfriend now. Naturally, I was still forced to share custody. That is an unfortunate outcome that I have had to live with, and the re-traumatizing effects of the system have been the hardest to bear.
They met in July, they were living together by August. Shes a beautiful woman, accomplished, smart, and appears to own her own home. (Seriously, get it girl!) Her Facebook posts all say “love you, Mike".
From this perspective I am finally aware, I can see very clearly what’s happened here to both of us and our own role in this situation. Why is an accomplished woman moving in with a drug dealer with no car? Why did I let him stay with me after he called me names? Why didn’t I tell on him, in the hospital, while they took x-rays of my fractured jaw?
And so we’re back to the first question. How do I prevent this from happening again? The answer is simple. With self respect and self esteem.
By lowering my standards I allowed the devil into my life. By refusing to see him as the failure he is I let him drag me down until I was a failure too. By being needy, clingy, and desperate for love as I had been for years I created an environment that was perfect for an abusive man to exist in.
I will not(and have not) chase love again. I will thrive in all that I love about me. My son, my great new hobbies, my new friends, my career(!), my peace. I’ve accepted the possibility of dying “alone". I don’t need to be picked by a man, I already picked me, and its great to finally be in love. | https://medium.com/@redpuff/it-has-been-two-years-since-the-last-time-he-hit-me-c767a49af8c1 | ['Michelle Lawrence'] | 2020-11-19 23:01:29.820000+00:00 | ['Domestic Violence', 'Relationships', 'Domestic Abuse', 'Pickme', 'Love'] |
Wait a Moment.js! | Ahhh, date and time. It’s such a fun thing to deal with during development. In situations when we need more than what the Date object can offer us in terms of convenience, we turn to date wrapping libraries such as Moment.js.
Moment.js is a JavaScript library designed to work on both the client side (in browser), and the server side (in Node.js). It has a lot of functions to parse, display and manipulate dates. This makes dealing with dates less painful.
I would agree it makes things less painful, but let’s take a look at what happens in the source code. Let’s say hypothetically that I have to work out how many days there are between my birthday and the last day of the tax year in the UK.
Let’s use Moment.js to do this. Consider the following code:
Moment example
There are 166 days between the last day of tax year and my birthday
Okay great, we now have the count in days. Simple stuff, and a very convenient method from moment. So what is happening during the execution for this result to be obtained?
Please note: I am profiling a production build of my application and it’s being viewed in incognito mode.
Photo by Fabian Grohs on Unsplash
Okay well first off, my main bundle is a total of 66KB. Moment is 51KB of that, 77% of my bundle. The library is pulling in around 4500 lines of code. Using the JavaScript Profiler in the Chrome Developer Tools, I could see 23 functions were invoked in the moment source code for the 3 functions I used in my example.
If I created a single Moment object for the last day of the tax year, a total of 18 functions are called. 5ms was recorded by aggregating all of the function calls on a slow 3G connection.
The internal functions of moment that took the longest were:
createFromConfig (0.9ms) createLocal (0.9ms) createLocalOrUTC (0.8ms)
Now I know what you are thinking, this is so minimal. The dreaded micro-optimisation. Of course it depends on the circumstances of the problem and how complex your date logic is, but it’s always worth reviewing if there is the need to import a package to do such a thing. In my case I would say it isn’t needed. So I decided to turn to a library called date-fns just to see how it compares.
The date-fns library is different as it’s modular, meaning you only need to import the functionality you need. This will of course reduce the final bundle size. It doesn’t try and create its own object like Moment does, and it still makes use of the native Date object provided by JavaScript.
Date FNS example
Total time spent using this differenceInDays function from date-fns was 0.1ms. It required 3 other internal modules to accomplish the task, but is much lighter in comparison to moment. The file size of my bundle was 18KB. This means the functionality of date-fns was 3KB to achieve the same thing!
Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash
Take a moment.js to observe the sizes of your packages and improve your overall page performance.
Sorry for the cringe-able pun. Thanks for reading, and please drop a few claps if you found it useful. Expecting happy birthdays mid-September time in the comments :) Man… I’m getting old.
‘Software engineers do what now?’
Book Cover for Software engineers do what now?
With this book, we’ll introduce you to the variety of technical roles out there, the recruitment process, the positions that exist on the career ladder and make our way through an abundance of sought after technical languages, tools, libraries and frameworks that companies seek from candidates today.
Print: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1707231079
Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Software-engineers-do-what-now-ebook/dp/B08413XHS8
Leanpub: https://leanpub.com/softwareengineersdowhatnow
Google Play: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about?id=lijLDwAAQBAJ
New Book, ‘Software engineers do what now?’
Thank you for reading! P.S. if you are in a position where you cannot afford the book, direct message me via Twitter!
Shaun Michael Stone
Shaun Michael Stone
Twitter: @shaunmstone | https://medium.com/hackernoon/wait-a-moment-js-80e329fcfc3 | ['Shaun Michael Stone'] | 2020-01-26 17:30:38.231000+00:00 | ['Programming Tips', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Nodejs', 'Software Development'] |
Dead by Deadlines | Author –Nehru Nagappan — CEO, Project Leadership Academy, Malaysia
Ever been in a situation where the project deadlines were “imposed” on you arbitrarily rather than a detailed planning exercise? If your answer is yes, then you are NOT alone. It is a common complaint among project teams across the globe that business doesn’t estimate project deadlines accurately. The fault, however, doesn’t like entirely with them.
Have you ever questioned HOW the deadlines were derived by the senior management and/or the sales team? Often, the response to this is no. Guess what? You’ve set yourself up for failure even before the project has been confirmed. Subjecting your project team to project deadlines estimated through “inspiration from God” or “plucking from the sky”, or a “top-down estimation” is definitely not a good way to start!
The habit of setting deadlines before planning
In many instances, deadlines are randomly thrown at Project Managers without accounting for key factors of the project — the size of the project, the actual effort, and resources needed, a detailed list of expected tasks and the time required to complete them, etc.
The general demands of Business teams from Project Managers is to finish the project on time, with the best quality product, at the cheapest price possible! This is NOT a good practice.
This mandate compels Project Managers to place deadline as a priority over cost and quality. If you haven’t realized it yet, this practice is detrimental to the project. We must realize that deadlines are not the primary drivers for most projects.
Instead, as Project Managers, it is our responsibility to highlight the order of priority in the project — should the project be driven by the non-negotiable deadline? Should the focus be on delivering the best quality output? Or should cost/budget be the priority in how a project turns out?
The Project Triangle
The three criteria of Time, Cost and Quality are commonly called the Project Triangle.
The Project Triangle highlight the constraints that most teams face when fulfilling a project requirement. Despite pressures from business teams to deliver a quality product, on time, and under budget, it is important that Project Managers do not bow down to this ill-advised demand.
Rather, it is pertinent to educate business teams that while these three criteria can be stretched, only ONE of the three criteria can be given higher weightage.
Having said that, do not get the wrong idea that only ONE of the project drivers is important. All THREEconstraints must be managed simultaneously.
You may use this as a guideline:
Choose only ONE of the three constraints as the PRIMARY driver of the project.
Once chosen, the other two are not neglected or ignored, but they become lesser priority compared to the chosen PRIMARY driver.
When we focus on one of the three as the PRIMARY driver, the other two drivers may need to compromise.
In deciding the driver that best works for a project, it is important to keep the following criteria in mind:
Would it cause any safety, life or death issues?
Would it cause any embarrassment to the organization/nation?
Let’s delve deeper into each element of the Project Triangle. | https://medium.com/knolskape/dead-by-deadlines-ff385e8a6f44 | ['Anand Udapudi'] | 2019-03-27 09:07:47.859000+00:00 | ['Time', 'Time Management', 'Project Management', 'Efficiency', 'Deadlines'] |
Dive Into The Beautiful Jupiter | Civilization never stops growing. At first, humans lived in caves. Then they concord the lands and the seas. But they always had a curious look towards the sky. Then humans learned to fly with the help of airplanes. But even that could not contain their hearts. The more they looked deep into the sky, the more they wanted to grasp and feel all of the things inside their hands. From the planets they could see to the stars that emitted light, they wanted to just take a closer look at it. They wanted to praise its beauty not just with a lens between them, but upfront. And this dream of humankind came a bit true when they colonized mars. After sending rockets after rockets filled with men and women and supplies to Mars, within just 30years a million people were walking across that red, once a dead planet.
It is such curiosity and ambition that pushed mankind for prosperity. But prosperity comes at a cost. When the most ambitious feats are achieved when there is nothing that one wants more, the same man mad for excellence either falls into despair or loses control over greed. He wants more and wants everything. No matter that he needs it or not, he must achieve it.
After the United Government announced that all the citizens whether they work or not will receive a monthly allowance of 10,000 Unos everyone went crazy. Some stopped working while others started to pursue their hobbies. Garden fruits and amateur paintings became common on the Enet to buy. Everything was delivered either via drones or robots. People willing to do something earned extra and people not willing to do anything just lived their simple lives without any worries. But not everything went as smoothly as everything. People got everything right at their homes and because of the worsening climate condition, fewer people went to actual social gatherings and preferred Eline interactions.
But humans are social creatures. They can’t go without the touch of others. As more people for one reason or another were getting isolated from society, their mental health started to degrade, they became depressed and suicidal. And as the suicide rate rose, the government started anti-suicide campaigns and programs to reduce the suicide rate. The government made suicide illegal and penalized their family members by curbing their monthly allowance. Everyone was asked to install special AI cameras in their homes that would be able to detect whether a person was suicidal and their chances of committing suicide. The cameras than would alert the police to stop their attempt and give support. But questions were raised as most of the time police were too late to stop them. One incident even sparked a controversy when a police officer in an operation to stop suicide, killed the victim while shooting at her with a stun gun.
As more and more people became suicidal they started to protest against the actions of the UG. “Our freedom, our choice,’’ they said. “Legalize euthanasia and suicide.” “We can choose our own future.” In this chaos and pressure, the new UG government was elected. They supported the minorities’ decision to choose their own fate. So they allowed suicide. And a new era of suicidals began.
Greedy private companies saw this as an opportunity for profit. They launched new drugs to give the suicides' a painless ending process. The drugs would cut off the pain receptors and would give them a surreal experience that lasted about 5minutes. In the meantime, if someone suffocated they won’t sense it, if they bled out they won’t feel it. They would only experience 5minutes of surreal happiness and slowly go into the darkness as they bled out or suffocated. Some companies even sponsored suicide packages where they helped the customers to die in various places and in various ways. Among the packages, most trending was sky dying, where people would jump from planes without parachutes, and at the last 5minutes drugs would be inserted into them letting them die a painless death with the impact. Companies like these while promoting their product also promoted suicide. But the promotion of suicide was illegal. So companies hired AI marketing companies to target suicidal people to choose their package of heavenly death. As a result, people who were suicidal but were in a dilemma were more likely to commit suicide than live their life as they were constantly reminded of the act. As more and more people died companies signed deals with robots and AI manufacturing companies to automate jobs.
Akram and his best friend were environmental activists. They were protesting against the worsening environment of the earth. Lightning strikes became so common on earth that one could die in a lightning strike rather than in a car crash. But Akram’s best friend recently died when a car crashed into his apartment. The driver was asleep, the cooling mechanism failed, magnetic flux was decreasing which led the car to lose altitude and crash on the 13th floor of the building. Akram's friend was just unlucky but Akram was still feeling guilty as he himself recommended that apartment to his friend. He was depressed. He did not go to his regular job as a result he was replaced by an AI. He did not talk to people. And soon suicidal advertisements were flooding his Enet. One night just before he was about to close his eyes, a certain ad picked his curiosity.
A new company, Skybed, started a marketing campaign of committing suicide on other planets which were not colonized such as Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. Among the planets, Jupiter the gas giant were advertised to be the most beautiful experience to fall into. He saw more than 100 people signed up for the dive. Akram decided his fate in his drowsy eyes. He clicked the ad, chose Jupitar, and went to sleep participating in the batch which would be going the next day.
The next day Akram did not wake up in his own bed but in a starship that was zooming past Mars orbit and headed for Jupiter. Akram asked the robot attendees what was happening. They explained that he had chosen today’s date so they acted accordingly. Akram seeing no choice, let the procedure continue. They assured the procedure would be painless and after 10minutes into the dive, the pain killer drug would be injected. Giving him a total of 15 minutes of diving.
Time to dive. The starship entered Jupiter’s orbit. Akram's heart was pounding. If things went wrong the only hope was the 1km cable that was attached to him for the late change of mind. Though his heart seemed about to burst, his eyes remained open out of curiosity. Then Akram jumped out of the ship. Quickly gaining speed suddenly something was not feeling right. The 1km cable seems to be just 100m. Looking back he saw the starship was not waiting for his cancellation. Fear consumed his heart. Upon close inspection he found the suit to be of cheap material which was not enough to handle Jupiter's immense pressure and gravity.
10 minutes had passed. He was inside Jupiter’s thick atmosphere. It was slowly getting dark as the sunlight was being blocked by the gases. The only beautiful scenery was the starship leaving. Now inside Jupiter, it was not beautiful at all. He was more concerned with the pain killer drug which then he found to be missing. They scammed him. The pressure was getting unbearable. Thinking he was going to die a painful death, he closed his eyes.
And with a flash of light, everything stopped. There was no pressure, no gravity, no pain. It seemed it was just a simulation. The company worked with the Mars Government which had an anti-suicide ideology and gave the people who signed up a terrible experience so that they do not commit suicide. They explained everything to him and how the UG officials profited from the suicide companies' donations, how they let the earth slowly die to make money off of sending people to Mars. Akram somehow felt relief. He was thankful to them. But then knowing everything, it was time for him to again protest against the United Government of Earth. | https://medium.com/@nahidosen/dive-into-the-beautiful-jupiter-44ab4e3cd437 | ['Nahid Hossain Jibon'] | 2021-06-16 14:28:36.115000+00:00 | ['Mars', 'Science Fiction', 'Jupiter', 'Earth', 'Corruption'] |
Announcing Topknot’s raise | Today, we celebrate an important milestone in Topknot’s journey: We’ve raised $650K from Homebrew, Uprising, Base Ventures, 27V, and Backstage Capital, along with notable angels like Phin Barnes, Nick Caldwell, Melissa Tidwell, and Laura Butler. Our newest investors join our earliest backers — Merline Saintil, Jeff Lawson, Aston Motes, Joe Greenstein and Rachel Sheinbein, to name a few — in fueling and supporting our next stage of development.
While we are incredibly proud of this raise, fundraises are just part of the journey, not a destination unto themselves. We started Topknot in February with the mission to provide women with intentional support to realize their potential. We recognized that existing supports were tailored to and accessible by the deeply accomplished, and that there was a huge opportunity — and for us, a moral imperative — to democratize access to the tools and resources known to catalyze meaningful change.
At Topknot’s inception, we established three pillars to guide our work: equity, intentionality, and growth. These pillars are foundational to all of our efforts, fundraising being no exception.
We believe the status quo will only change with an emboldened and activated collective of diverse women. Our commitment to building with and for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ women has stood firm since our inception. It was critical to us that women — and in particular Black women — were a part of the early financial fabric, and ultimately the success, of our company.
Half of our angel investments are from women by both headcount and dollars. Notably, nearly a quarter of our angel investors by headcount are Black women and they represent 31% of commitments in dollars. Of our angels, 44% are BIPOC and they represent 38% of dollars invested. We see similar diversity in our funds — all have BIPOC in senior leadership, and two of five have Black general partners.
We want to say unequivocally that none of this is an accident. We were thoughtful about from whom we took intros, how we talked about our work, and who got an extra nudge via email when the distractions of this fall sunk in. Every little bit mattered. And we are thrilled by the outcome.
The funders who’ve backed us are exceptional. As individuals and funds, they’ve experienced success and have sent the proverbial elevator back down to ensure more rise to their level. Their commitment to creating opportunities for others makes them the perfect partners.
Just like for the women on Topknot, our company’s growth is enhanced when done with the support of others who provide space for processing, skill building, and introspection. In this round of funding, we’ve gained coaches, collaborators, and cheerleaders. With their support, we’re ready to tackle the next part of our journey.
There’s lots to look forward to on the Topknot roadmap; expect exciting updates and new features shortly. To stay in touch, sign up to receive our newsletter [link]. | https://medium.com/@withtopknot/announcing-topknots-raise-1261ee173126 | [] | 2020-12-16 16:03:06.084000+00:00 | ['Fundraising', 'Personal Development', 'Diversity And Inclusion', 'Women In Tech', 'Startup'] |
Learning JavaScript by Implementing Lodash Methods — Picking Items and Getting Sizes | Photo by Brienne Hong on Unsplash
Lodash is a very useful utility library that lets us work with objects and arrays easily.
However, now that the JavaScript standard library is catching up to libraries such as Lodash, we can implement many of the functions in simple ways.
In this article, we’ll look at how to implement Lodash methods that let us pick items and getting sizes of collections.
reject
The reject method takes a collection of items and a predicate with the items that we don’t want to include in the returned array and return an array with the items that are opposite of the predicate.
We can implement this as follows:
const reject = (collection, predicate) => collection.filter(c => !predicate(c));
In the code above, we just called filter with a callback that returns the predicate call negated.
Then we can call it as follows:
const users = [{
'user': 'foo',
'active': false
},
{
'user': 'bar',
'active': true
}
]; const result = reject(users, o => !o.active);
The code above rejects the users entries that have active set to false as the value.
This means that we return the entries with active set to true . Therefore, we get:
[
{
"user": "bar",
"active": true
}
]
as the value of result .
sample
The Lodash sample method returns a random element from a collection. Since plain JavaScript has a Math.random method, we can use that to get a random element from an array as follows:
const sample = (collection) => {
const index = Math.random() * (collection.length);
return collection[Math.floor(index)];
};
In the code above, we just used the Math.random method which is multiplied by the collection.length to get the index . Then we take the floor of it to get the actual index.
Then when we call it as follows:
const result = sample([1, 2, 3]);
We get a random item from the array.
sampleSize
The sampleSize method takes an array to get the items from and the size of the sample, we want to get.
It returns the array that takes random elements from the collection up to the given size .
We can implement the sampleSize method as follows:
const sampleSize = (collection, size) => {
let sampled = [];
for (let i = 1; i <= size; i++) {
const index = Math.random() * (collection.length);
sampled.push(collection.splice(index, 1)[0]);
}
return sampled;
};
In the code above, we created a loop that gets the index of the collection to pick by calling the Math.random multiplied by collection.length .
Then we called splice on collection to remove that element from collection and push it into the sampled array.
Once we have enough sampled items, we return sampled .
Then when we call it as follows:
const result = sampleSize([1, 2, 3], 2);
We get 2 different items from the array we passed in as the value of result .
shuffle
The Lodash shuffle method returns an array that’s a shuffled version of the original array.
We can implement it as follows:
const shuffled = (collection) => {
let shuffled = [];
const originalLength = collection.length;
for (let i = originalLength - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
const index = Math.random() * (collection.length);
shuffled.push(collection.splice(index, 1)[0]);
}
return shuffled;
};
In the code above, we created a loop that loop through the collection ‘s original length. Then we get a random item from the collection and put it into the shuffled array as we did with the sampleSize function above.
Once the loop is done, we returned the shuffled array.
Then when we call shuffle as follows:
const result = shuffled([1, 2, 3]);
We get a shuffled version of the array we passed in.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
size
The size method gets the size of a collection, which can be an array or an object. Since we have the length property of arrays and we have the Object.keys method for objects, we can implement it with the following code:
const size = (collection) => {
if (Array.isArray(collection)) {
return collection.length;
} else {
return Object.keys(collection).length;
}
};
In the code above, we check if collection is an array. If it is, then we return the length property of it.
Otherwise, we return the array returned by Object.keys ‘s length property.
When we call it as follows:
const result = size([1, 2, 3]);
We get that result is 3.
When we call it with an object:
const result = size({
'a': 1,
'b': 2
});
We get that result is 2.
Conclusion
The reject method can be implemented with the filter method by negating the predicate in the callback.
The sample family of methods and shuffle can be implemented with Math.random and splice . | https://medium.com/swlh/learning-javascript-by-implementing-lodash-methods-picking-items-and-getting-sizes-8147b1aa4225 | ['John Au-Yeung'] | 2020-05-09 20:50:50.954000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Programming', 'Web Development'] |
How To Deal With Life-Changing Moments | It was the summer of 2016.
I was living in England at the time because I was pursuing my passion for soccer professionally.
One morning, I received a phone call from my mother that would forever change the direction of my life.
She went on to explain that my father had his second heart attack and was in a coma.
I was thousands of miles away.
I was pursuing a deeply meaningful dream.
And now, I had just received the most emotionally difficult news that I have ever been given.
I was lost, confused, angry, sad, and went through a number of emotional storms during that short period of time.
To cut the story short, I couldn’t afford to continue on with my dream and rightly so had to go back home to meet the rest of my family.
Thinking back on that time now, I realized some important insights:
My dream of playing soccer professionally died along with my father.
I genuinely had it within me to play soccer professionally as a desire, but much of this was influenced by my father.
Now, I view that time in my life as karma that I needed to experience.
I learned so many valuable lessons from travelling to both England and Ireland for soccer and have gained priceless experiences in the process.
I am in complete acceptance of the experience because it is what I needed for my own personal evolution.
This is how you must start to view your own experiences, from a perspective of karma and lessons that need to be learned.
Your attachment to a period of time within your life is preventing you from beginning your new journey.
If I identified as a depressed person after my father died and dream seemed impossible, then I wouldn’t have cultivated my current journey.
I would have been a miserable fuck who lives for Netflix binges, weekend partying, and drug abuse.
I was forced to be detached from that situation and how it turned out because I understood that I was capable of achieving great things.
I became obsessed with my other interests — learning, health, and reading.
Your inability to accept your current situation is holding you back from all the great rewards that your potential new venture could offer you.
Although my professional dream had died, my love for the sport of soccer and playing is resolute.
Now, I took about a 7-month break from soccer shortly after coming back from England.
I was focused on other things and had to step away from the thing that I deeply loved for some time. Looking back on it, this was necessary.
Once I began to experience that urge to play consistently again, I slowly but surely started listening to that intuitive call within me.
Fast forward to now, I am playing better than ever and have created an even healthier and stronger relationship with soccer.
It’s funny how life works, the moment I created this better relationship with soccer was the moment that I began to cultivate a healthier relationship with my father and his passing.
Childhood dreams are deeply intertwined with our parents and childhood lifestyle.
Life changing moments are a natural part of life and we will always have two options when it comes to how we respond to those events:
We can either choose to be a victim of life.
OR
We can choose to rise up and take responsibility for our lives.
I chose to rise up after the passing of my father and am reaping the rewards from that decision. | https://zaiderrr.medium.com/how-to-deal-with-life-changing-moments-d178844d7788 | ['Zaid K. Dahhaj'] | 2019-02-28 16:01:01.044000+00:00 | ['Decision Making', 'Life', 'Self Improvement', 'Psychology', 'Life Lessons'] |
A Glimpse Into The Functional Culture And Sacred Attributions Of North American Indigenous Peoples | Academic approaches to the sought understanding of the depth into indigenous cultural remains focus strictly on physical detritus of the pasts’ bearers (Sablof, 19). As such, the archival body of artifactual data, known as “the Archaeological Record”, is an available source of information for academics interested in establishing a firmly set narrative about Native history in the Western Hemisphere; yet, the historical connotation one may perceive from the partial published archaeological data would be considered a misconception of history, due to the lack of the intentional, original, perceived meaning which instilled a culture, described through the artifactual remnants resistant to weathering. This is clear, as the narrative that Native people, have no relevant history, an idea held among scholars and a majority of Americans who maintain the belief that the indigenous people of their land have long since died out — intentionally, or justified through chance — pervades the heart of American universities. As a result of this mentality, the volume of data collected in such large quantities since the 19th century, become less understood through a progressively unfit puzzle of a narrative. Globalization and information exchange appear unavoidable at times, which threaten foundational comprehension of cultural diversity and the history of our species. Thus, the ultimate mode of understanding the instilled meaning behind historical reports, artifacts and traditions of indigenous Americans relies on the connotation of symbolic considerations of sacred practices.
The ancient past of North America concerns the studies of the social and cultural activities through two broad considerations, traditional knowledge of the indigenous populations, and that of the categorical academic perspective. Variable meaning (or lack thereof) received by distinct symbols in culture enables understanding of that which defines a culture but requires concerted analysis and effort for many (Leydesdorff 193). Under the academic anthropological order of the study of human behavioral evolution, lies the practice of archaeology, the artifactual approach to the analysis of culture through strictly physical remnant cultural material defined through symbolic depiction.
The media credits such primary physical evidence, usually a discovery that exists outside of academic historical context, to some form of extra-terrestrial contact, an arguably racist and dangerously popular target for misconception of native history. As of December 2018, a Google search reveals that the most popular of such media television series broadcast to the public since 2009 has 13 seasons, with 149 episodes. Alternative mythologies as this, devoid of sacred cultural meaning, exist without the context of the indigenous cultures symbolic understanding of artifactual symbols; and, risks the loss of culture behind the sacred symbols prevalent within the diversity of Native American existences. Additionally, contentious cultural interactions often occur due to ethnographic bias, the perceptual analysis of unfamiliar phenomena related to individual subjective experience, and invariably exists innately within all humans.
For scholars, academics, or simply anyone interested in the understanding indigenous American culture, thought, and the multitude of cultural diversity within, one should consider the conserved symbolism which defines a culture through sacred principles. Symbols, aside from language alone, through their prevalence in Native culture, allow a deeper understanding for how “sacred” reflects the behavior and culture of indigenous people, rooted in the ancient synthesis of ancestral communication. Ultimately, through the analysis of the characteristic symbols, whether physical, or ideological, one can define a cultural identity in a region. Moreover, symbolism of the traditional practices and stories of a culture demonstrate the means sacred meaning develops for Native people and academics respectively.
Additionally, understanding the sacred as it exists to a Native culture generates a fuller understanding of the sacred as it is conserved through symbols and cultural diversity. Symbols persevere into all elements of human behavior, as they form the basis of written and spoken language, and the landscapes which symbolic medium may represent. Sociologically, and most generally, “Meaning is generated in a system when different pieces of information are related as messages to one another” (Leydesdorff 191).
Among other domains, symbols exist primarily within documentations of the indigenous origin stories of America, and the cultural practices. As such, to any analytical attempt of understanding the historical past, indigenous people and their ancestors should be understood, within the symbolic mediums to instruct indigenous ways of life. Concepts of the sacred, particularly the sacred element of knowledge, ancestral reverence, and perseverance, depicted among symbols variously documented in Native mythology and folklore, offer guidance towards an appreciation of how indigenous people incorporate and consider “sacred” ideology within knowledge. This is because symbols often represent of the natural world, distinct ideas and concepts relevant to human perception which retain flexibility in their instructional role through generations. The physical contexts, such as location in which a story of an origin or creation myth occurs, critically determine the meaning behind a story, which additionally maintains importance towards the establishment of symbolic cultural values that enable the survival and endurance of a people (Leydesdorff 193).
Subjectively, a focus which aims to revolve around the proper acquisition of power to survive and subside with nature, culturally define Native peoples in North America through symbolic descriptions within story mediums. Numerous practices of the Hopi, in the following example, illustrate the sacred principles which incorporate the physical and spiritual domains of though specific to survival within the high desert of the Colorado Plateau. The Hopi way of life preserves several reoccurring symbols which promote focus among tradition, within Loftin’s 2003 overview in “Religion and Hopi life” of the Hopi account on maize farming,
“The digging stick, or sooya, holds great religious significance for the Hopi. According to Hopi tradition related to me by Sekaquaptewa, the sooya was given to the Hopi along with blue corn before their emergence to this world. To work with the sooya is to participate in the way of the “people of the long ago”
Photo of Maize in the desert by Markus Spiske
This detailed report provides symbolic depictions of physical tools that enable the growth of corn, which serve a necessary purpose to survive. The meaning of the significance of maize, and the practice of its cultivation with the sooya represents a form of sacred power to the Hopi. The sacred practice of behaviors within farming not only represents agricultural practice necessary for survival, but additionally, the expression of gratitude for one’s existence and the enduring struggles which a person’s ancestors overcame. Moreover, “It too symbolizes the life of humility and hardship chosen by the Hopi in the underworld in the ‘ancient time ago’” (Leydesdorff 193).
The consideration of the former existences as sacred interdependently motivates and nourishes a culture and its people.
Sacred principles, as with the Hopi sooya additionally form as physical embodiments of spiritual principles, such as the subterranean constructs called Kivas. A report of the Hopi ceremonial practices of passage involving the symbolic meaning of initiation in Kivas, published in 2009 to the journal American Antiquities, adds “The sipaapuni, the small excavation often located in the kiva floor, further symbolizes the place of emergence” (Schaffsma). Spiritual meaning, much like the the sooya, additionally presents itself physically as the sipaapuni, the physical emergence from darkness, into the partially lit kiva floor. The unknown “darkness” which exists as the inner portal of the sipaapuni serves to remind one within the inner Kiva, of the relative darkness within their own perceptual environments. This concept intensifies with the emergence from the kiva, into the brightly lit world above, ultimately representing ideas of cyclical rebirth and change towards a more dominant light of continuation and progress towards the light. Thus the connotation for a young boy inside the subterranean structure as a rite of passage, with a single light beam emanating from the portal above, depicts the importance of choice, decisions, and the responsibility for the decisions thereafter.
Kiva at Spruce Tree House. Adam Baker / Getty Images sipapuni behind the small wall blocking any light from the portal.
Schaafsma, in her analysis of the Hopi symbolic depiction of the Kiva, supports such claims as “the related supernaturals” of such tools as the sooya Leydensdorf 192). The challenge of blue corn, and its cultivation in a desert, as Schaafsma writes, are “essential to the success of maize-growing farmers, and hence a life of abundance.” This further suggests the prevalence of symbolic depiction of the essential respect for ancestral pre-existing life as critical among cultures for subsidence and survival. Hopi way of life not only revolves around the reverence and respect for ancestral tradition as sacred, but also humility as one lives a challenging life, in the ways of their ancestors. The meaning of instilled challenges and overcoming hardships as a practiced skill, has not simply maintained existence of a farming community in the desert, but the culture of its people has maintained its own historical existence through the respect of the ancient ways. Further, Leydesdorff supports such sacred practices of symbolic depiction as a sufficient hallmark of progress and adaptability through a sociological lens, “As an evolutionary achievement in interhuman languaging…when meaning can be communicated, this communication can further be codified, and discursive knowledge also developed” (192)
A varied depiction of the sacred values within the symbolism of Hopi traditions further credits an appreciation for the former way of living. The 1973 film “Hopi: Songs of the Fourth World” supports this position through a slightly varied telling of the Hopi emergence story.
Depiction believed to describe Hopi emergence into the Fourth World
‘Maassaw’ delivers to the Hopi, the decision of which corn they may cultivate after their emergence from the third world of darkness beneath the earth, through a sipapu into the upper Fourth World. Upon the deliverance of blue corn by Maassaw’ the Hopi find their way in the Fourth World to the Central Place which they call home.
The symbolism of their creation, the ultimate meaning intended of the Hopi in which they identify, lies within their response towards challenge and hardship. The individual gifting the emergent Hopi with decision, provides the image of Hopi thus identify with the decisive intent to seek challenges, represented through the blue corn. Corn is the literal substance which constitutes the physical bodies of the Hopi people, upon investment and nourishment by humans. Additionally, the humility of the Hopi becomes meaningful and incites gratitude, and the message that the Hopi will graciously accept the challenges such that others may not face them, or that they remain the people with the means to do so.
Photo by Cosmic Timetraveler on Unsplash
One final document regarding the Hopi culture, synthesizes the former perspectives with consideration of the symbolic depictions of emergence, and provides furthur insight towards understanding their sacred beliefs as presented here. Published to the largely dated but pertinent journal American Indian Religions, Christopher Vecsey supports such claims of from his perspective of a synthesis of Hopi emergence stories in a 1983 issue, “The Emergence of the Hopi People”. Vescey writes, “Mentioned formerly, this functions as a survival tool from a non-traditional perspective. He writes, “Through verbal images, tribal myths make graphic the realities of existence. They face the anxieties in subsistence activities, the failures, sorrows, and (most of all) the death contained in life as a whole. That is, they see life in its contradictory, unsatisfactory, paradoxical entirety…by presenting the fullness of human existence, tribal myths have the potential to function as tools by which societal groups and the individuals within them can meet their life-and death challenges. Tribal myths can be means by which people adapt and survive in practial function as well as content” (75) . | https://jakeloveless.medium.com/a-glimpse-into-the-functional-culture-and-sacred-attributions-of-north-american-indigenous-peoples-30f1ee2f77dc | ['J. J. Alan'] | 2020-03-29 22:39:11.618000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Culture', 'Indigenous', 'Native Americans', 'History'] |
3 Freelance Writing Myths That Are Holding Us Back | 3 Freelance Writing Myths That Are Holding Us Back
Photo by aisvri on Unsplash
The world of freelancing is full of myths that are, at best, dubious and, at worst, downright harmful. In this short article, I’ll bust a few of the ones that I’ve seen pop up over and over again.
Myth #1: You should never work for pennies
There are plenty of writers out there who will tell you you should never agree to work for extremely low rates, even at the beginning of your practice. Some argue that these sorts of engagements reduce prices across the board for all writers. Others argue that you’re simply worth more than this and that you’re leaving money on the table by agreeing to 1 cent per word.
I understand that these arguments are motivated by a desire to see writers paid “fairly” (whatever that actually means) for their work. Unfortunately, though, they don’t hold water. The harsh truth is that if you’re starting out online with no references, no credentials, no credibility, and no experience, you’ll be starting at the bottom. And, at the bottom, the pay sucks. This is just economic reality.
(Of course, if you’re lucky enough to have access to more valuable work right off the hop, more power to you. Skip those lame 2 cents-per-word jobs. Personally, I didn’t have that luxury.)
In content mills, Upwork assignments, Fiverr jobs, and similar places, most of the jobs pay pennies. Luckily, while you won’t be able to earn a living on these pittances, the right testimonials from the right clients can be the stepping stones you need to make it to the next level and find your niche.
So, it’s fine to work for pennies at the beginning. Just make sure each job you take has a good chance of landing you a great testimonial and reference and that you have a way of leveraging that testimonial to improve the terms of your next engagement. After all, you don’t want to be working for insanely low wages for any longer than you absolutely have to.
And definitely pay no mind to those people who tell you you’re doing other writers a disservice by agreeing to a low wage. This isn’t a union. It’s freelancing. We all take the most desirable jobs we can find and, for some of us, that means we temporarily have to accept low-paying work. Do what’s right for you in the moment and work hard to improve your situation.
Myth #2: Only the best writers make decent money
At this point in the article, it should be clear that there’s nothing truly special or unique about my writing. I’m alright and all, but I’m not a master wordsmith. Despite that, in the space of a year and a half, I’ve built a lucrative copy and content writing practice.
The truth is that, as long as you can string a sentence together in a way that doesn’t make your readers’ eyes bleed, you’ve probably got the writing chops to make a healthy living at this.
What will set you apart from the legions of struggling writers are the other skills you bring to the table. Client service, time management, small business finance, strategy, marketing, and soft skills matter just as much, if not more, than your writing ability. After all, this is the business of writing. And a middling writer with a broad and deep set of commercial skills will make more money than an amazing writer who mistreats his clients and neglects his business any day of the week.
Myth #3: There’s one right way to make money as a writer
There are tons of writers who think that, because they’ve found a business model that works for them, that this must be the only way to do business as a writer. Don’t listen to them. There are plenty of ways to structure your practice and the only important criterion is that it works for you.
The structure you choose should meet your operational and financial needs. No more, no less. Obviously, you’ll need to accommodate your clients (since keeping them happy is your one and only job) but as long as they’re satisfied choose the transaction form that works for you.
And that’s one of the great things about freelance writing. You can charge by the hour, by the word, or by the piece. You can write on retainer or send a separate invoice for each article. The only hard-and-fast rule, really, is that your client needs to be cool with it. But if they say yes, you can customize your practice as you see fit.
So, how do you decide which structure and rate are best for you? I’ll address that in a future article.
Final Thoughts
If you’re new to the freelance writing game, take the info you get from other writers (including me) with a grain of salt. Very few of us are real experts at this strange profession. And even those of us who can fairly be called experts come from a particular set of circumstances that may not apply to you.
What works for a former lawyer living in Bermuda (like me) may not work for a single mother of two in Wisconsin.
So be wary of anyone who speaks in absolutes and thinks they’ve memorized the rulebook for freelance writing. They’re probably dealing in nonsense. | https://writingcooperative.com/3-freelance-writing-myths-that-are-holding-us-back-e1c2a2ac7846 | ['Steven Toews', 'Jd'] | 2021-05-18 21:02:14.985000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Business', 'Freelance', 'Freelance Writing', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Tell me how you really feel! | “How you doing?” One of the most common greetings we use across the globe (I think). What’s the usual response to this? “Good, and you?” Followed by “Good”. And then we just keep it moving. But what if we began responding honestly? Could normalizing telling people how you really feel improve our lives? Let’s see.
Think of this scenario. A young couple are married for 2 years. They have a 1 year old child who is having difficulty sleeping at night. Both work full time jobs and have agreed that they are going to split night time duties with the child. This has been going on for months now. They are tired, more than tired they’re exhausted. They begin lashing out at each other due to this. Before this they had a great relationship and great communication and were able to discuss issues and come to agreements and make things work. But the sleepless nights have become tolling mentally and physically. They aren’t thinking straight. And they are not on great terms because of it.
The wife has a great friend at work she usually discusses things with and gets good advice in return. She tells this friend how she really feels because she knows that friend will give a genuine caring answer or if needed will just listen and allow her to get things off her chest. But this friend does not have children. She does not have any experience dealing with a child with difficulty sleeping through the night.
The husband has an older brother who he confides in. Similar to the wife’s work friend. He can talk to his brother when things get hard. His brother has 2 kids. However neither child ever had issues with sleeping through the night. He does not have much advice to offer to help him through this.
The wife brings her child to a doctors appointment. A routine checkup. She and her child sit across from a woman with 2 kids a little older than her own, maybe 3 and 5, who are being loud and crazy. The woman looks at her smiles and says “How are you?” “Good, and you” she responds. “Fantastic” says the woman. The conversation ends.
The husband shows up to work one morning. He sees his coworker getting dropped off by his wife. He doesn’t know him very well but he had heard rumors that he and his wife were having troubles at home. But they seemed so happy this morning. They both got out of the car gave each other a big kiss, his wife handed him his coffee, he walked towards the building with a big smile and his wife got back in the car with a big smile and drove off. “What happened with them?” Thought the husband. He shrugged it off. Both the husband and the coworker got in the same elevator. The coworker looked up smiling and says “Good morning! How you doing today?” “Good, and you?” Says the husband. “I’m great thank you” says the coworker. The elevator door opened and they went their separate ways.
A few more months went by and the husband and wife were at their wits end. They couldn’t take it anymore. The wife decided to go stay with her mom with the baby for a while. Her mom may be able to help. The husband reluctantly agrees. But it did not work. A year went by and they ended up getting a divorce. It became too much. They didn’t make it.
Let’s go back a bit. The woman the wife spoke with at the doctors office had 2 children with her. One of them had very bad issues sleeping through the night as a baby as well. She found that swaddling the baby and playing white noise in the background was the solution. And this was through trial and error. She had tried no swaddling with rain noise. Then swaddling with soothing music. She tried a multitude of things before figuring out it was swaddling and white noise. The woman would’ve gave this information to the wife without hesitation if the woman would have just said how she really felt. But she didn’t. She said “Good, and you?”
The husbands coworker and his wife had gone through extensive therapy and got amazing results in their relationship. They found ways to express themselves and come to a common ground using exercises learned from their therapist. They did not allow stress and outside circumstance come between them using these practices. The coworker too would’ve gave this information to the husband without hesitation if he had just said how he really felt. But he didn’t. He said “Good, and you.”
Do you see now what I mean when I say normalize saying how you REALLY feel? Sure we may come across people who are just asking to be polite and do not want to actually want to hear how you really feel. This does not mean that you should not burden people with your problems. It means that they should stop “asking politely”. If you do not want to hear how somebody actually is simply say “Hey, have a good day”. But do not ask if you do not want an honest answer.
There are so many people that have had so many experiences in this world and some of them have the answers to the issues plaguing us if we only give them the opportunity to tell us. It’s great to have that one person you confide in and go to with all your problems but sometimes that person just doesn’t have the answer you need. So again.
NORMALIZE SAYING HOW YOU REALLY FEEL!
Donal Greene | https://medium.com/@QuestionTheMeaningOfLife/tell-me-how-you-really-feel-795d185ff529 | ['Donal Greene'] | 2021-02-20 16:34:04.126000+00:00 | ['Help', 'Blog', 'Philosophy', 'Talks'] |
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