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Proven Solution That Gets Your Baby to Sleep like Clockwork | 10 Tips to Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep
When you bring your baby home no one tells you that “sleep like a baby” only lasts a short time. This article will give you 10 tips to help your newborn sleep better.
Newborn Baby Sleep
1. Short Wake-time
The first week or so, your newborn baby will most likely hardly be awake, but after the first week or two, the #1 key with your newborn is to keep wake times very short, at first. You should soothe your baby for sleep after just 1–2 hours of wake time TOPS. You should look for signs that she is getting sleepy and start soothing her. If you wait until she is fussy, cranky or crying, you are actually too late!
An overtired baby will have more trouble settling down and going to sleep and staying asleep. My boys always fell asleep easiest when I caught them before they started to fuss and cry. Some babies are much more sensitive to being overtired than others, so while others will barely notice their child get sleepy before she drifts off to sleep, others will begin to realize just how in tune with their baby they need to be!
By wake time, I mean to include feedings and diaper changes and disregard how long her last nap was. For example, little Suzie starts to nap at 8am and sleeps for 3 hours. She eats at 11am and you change her diaper. Now, it’s 11:30 and you decide to give her a bath. At 11:45, she is fussy. She is already overtired and she needs a nap! In the beginning, they can’t go long before getting tired and over stimulated.
2. Swaddle
To help mimic the feeling of the womb, it helps to swaddle your newborn baby. This basically means to wrap him up in a blanket like a little burrito. You may have seen them do it at the hospital. This helps him feel safe and secure and also helps him stay asleep during any moro reflex or startle reflex moments. It is said that those reflexes are similar to how we have the feeling we are falling while falling asleep. It can take up to 4 or 5 months for your baby to stop the startling.
I recommend The Miracle Blanket for swaddling. It is a little pricey, but so easy to use and so hard for your baby to break out of! So worth it, to me! If you can’t or don’t want to spend that much.
3. Days bright / Nights dark
Although you might be tempted to keep things quiet and darker for your newborn to nap well, it might prolong the day/night confusion that almost all newborns will have. Day/Night confusion can last up to 6 weeks. When she was in mom’s belly, mom’s movements lulled her to sleep and when mom was resting, she’d have a party. When she comes out, she doesn’t know she should act in the complete opposite fashion.
So, keep days bright and upbeat and nights, dark and boring, and it will help your newborn sort out her days and nights faster. This might be more than you want to know, but light is what cues our eyes to tell us to stay awake or whether it’s time to sleep.
4. Limit naps
If he is taking longer to sort out days and nights (or you are having a very rough time keeping up with him being up all night), you can further speed up the process by limiting naps to no longer than 3–4 hours during the day.
5. Post-feeding routine
To help your newborn baby sort out day and night sleeping even more, you may want to develop a play routine after she eats during the day. Keep her awake 30 minutes after feeding by playing, singing, bathing, etc. Again, the light stimulating her eyes will help her sort out that daylight is for being awake at least a little bit. Many people recommend the eat-play-sleep routine for newborns.
6. Co-sleeping
Sometimes it helps to have your newborn in the room with you for quick access for middle-of-the-night feedings and diaper changes. This also can help give him more comfort being close by as he will be able to hear and smell you. For safety reasons, you should use a Co-Sleeper or bassinet, rather than have baby in bed with you.
7. Angle the mattress
For babies who spit up a lot or have reflux, it helps to angle the mattress when he sleeps, so baby is not flat on his back. You’ll want to angle the mattress so his feet are lower than his head, so his stomach contents can stay put. To angle the mattress, you can simply change the support platform level on one side on most cribs. If that is not feasible, you can put blankets and pillow under the mattress. Please note that the mattress should still remain flat at all times, just at an incline. You must make sure that you do not tilt the mattress so much that your baby slides down the bed, either. I strongly recommend that you first check with a knowledgeable health care provider to make sure that what you do is best and safest for your child. I only wanted to highlight the idea.
8. White Noise
White noise is made up of the sounds like a fan whirring, vacuum cleaner, hair-dryer, etc. It helps a newborn sleep because inside mom’s womb was all white noise. The sound of her blood flow, heart beating, etc. That’s why he finds comfort when you may run the vacuum cleaner. My son used to love when I turned on the blow-dryer. Of course, you can’t run the vacuum all day, so I recommend getting a White Niose Machine, Sound Machine or a White Nose CD
. I have two of the second one in each boy’s room so they don’t wake each other and they work like a dream!
9. Wear baby
For particularly fussy babies or just for parent’s convenience and snuggling, it helps to “wear” baby using a sling. They get very folded up in a sling, but again, it mimics the womb and babies love it! I didn’t use a sling with my first, but used a Baby Born Baby Carrier and loved it! It really helped me walk off the baby weight, which was a bonus. But, with my second, I did use this sling (there are many others!) and my son would fall asleep in less than 5 minutes until he grew out of it. This helped tremendously when I needed to cook dinner and do stuff with my toddler, at the time.
10. Swing
As I said earlier, mom’s movements lulled baby to sleep while in the womb, so I also recommend trying a swing but don’t be surprised if your newborn only likes it at high speeds. Our family teased us we were making our first son “drunk”, but he just loved it going FAST and it was the only way he’d fall asleep in it! We used a simple swing like this to help him sleep (I don’t see the exact one I used anymore — guess I’m officially old now). They have much fancier swings, now, such as the swings with cry detection technology. They didn’t have anything like that when I was shopping for a swing! Technology is amazing!
Note: Some say it might not be safe for a newborn to sleep in a car seat, so be cautious about that. Some say it’s just fine. Be sure to talk to your pediatrician as recommendations change daily, it seems.
CLICK HERE TO KNOW THE BEST WAY TO MAKE YOUR NEW BORN SLEEP BETTER>>> | https://medium.com/@rajkumar-33877/proven-solution-that-gets-your-baby-to-sleep-like-clockwork-51b589c880a2 | ['Raj Kumar'] | 2021-06-10 14:32:29.808000+00:00 | ['Make Baby Sleep At Night', 'Baby Care', 'Baby Smiling', 'Baby Sleep'] |
Запуск 2-го этапа развития Биржи Цифровых Активов. Предстарт открытых торгов | The Bitbon System is a large-scale infrastructure project, which represents a decentralized platform for Contributing. https://www.bitbon.space/en/home
Follow | https://medium.com/bitbon/%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%81%D0%BA-2-%D0%B3%D0%BE-%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0-%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B6%D0%B8-%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%84%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%85-%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82-%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%8B%D1%82%D1%8B%D1%85-%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B2-b2b39b3e79d4 | ['Bitbon System'] | 2018-10-19 13:35:33.238000+00:00 | ['Bitbon', 'Криптовалюты', 'Trade', 'Биржа'] |
Radiography of the Environmental Governance in Colombia. | Radiography of the Environmental Governance in Colombia.
Indigenous peoples and protected areas.
Colombia is one of the five most biodiverse countries globally, with 59 natural parks that represent 15.17% of the national territory. In addition to this ecological wealth, there is the cultural value contributed by the indigenous communities who inhabit 54% of these areas. However, the natural parks and other ecological areas of Colombia are alarmingly affected by the absence of the State, the presence of illicit crops, the exploitation of hydrocarbons, the armed conflict and deforestation. Challenged by this overlapping of actors and forces, some questions arise related to indigenous peoples’ agency: What role are indigenous communities playing in the decision-making for the protection and conservation of these sacred territories? What kind of governance is required to protect the biodiversity and the communities present in these natural areas?
Before answering these questions, it is necessary to explore the existing public institutional infrastructure in charge of managing the natural parks and other protected areas in Colombia.
Radiography of the National System of Protected Areas.
In 1993, the National Environmental System (SINA in Spanish) was created in Colombia, to determine a set of guidelines, norms, activities, resources, programs, and institutions that allow the implementation of general environmental principles in the national territory.
The SINA gives rise to the National System of Protected Areas (SINAP in Spanish), a system focused on articulating actors, actions and strategies for the conservation of protected areas under the umbrella of National Natural Parks. The SINAP functions as the coordinator of the different national and regional environmental authorities to guarantee coordination in the conservation of the country’s ecological and biodiverse areas, including protected areas of public, private or community governance, and national, regional or local management scope.
The protected areas that are part of SINAP are divided into different categories; some of these are:
National Park: ecological areas whose ecosystems have not been substantially altered by human exploitation or occupation; where plant, species of animals, geomorphological complexes and historical or cultural manifestations have scientific, educational, aesthetic and recreational value. For its conservation, it is subjected to an adequate management regime. Example: The Serranía de Chiribiquete, in the Amazon.
Unique Natural Area: an area that, due to its specific conditions of biodiversity, is a rare natural environment. Example: The Estoraques, in the department of Norte de Santander.
Flora Sanctuary: an area dedicated to preserving plant species or eco-systems in order to conserve genetic resources of the national flora. Example The Sanctuary Medicinal Plants Orito Ingi Andi, located in the southwest of Colombia, between Nariño and Putumayo departments.
Fauna Sanctuary: an area dedicated to preserving species or communities of wild animals in order to conserve the national fauna’s genetic resources. Example: Malpelo Island, in Buenaventura.
Parkway: A road with unique panoramic beauty or natural or cultural value, preserved for educational and recreational purposes. Example: Parkway Isla de Salamanca, in the department of Magdalena.
Integrated Management Districts: It is a geographical space that due to environmental or socioeconomic factors is delimited, within the criteria of sustainable development, for the use and management of renewable natural resources and economic activities. Example: The Sumapaz moorland.
Regional Nature Reserve: area in which primitive conditions of flora and fauna exist. This area is intended for the conservation, research and study of its natural resources. Example: Cerro el Volador, in Medellín Antioquia, is a Metropolitan Nature Reserve. | https://rebordetaller.medium.com/radiography-of-the-environmental-governance-in-colombia-1264a96368da | [] | 2020-09-03 17:11:12.101000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Colombia', 'Biodiversity', 'Indigenous', 'Armed Conflict'] |
Japanese Urban Legend: Kisaragi Station — The Devil’s Station | Back in 2004, When most of the Social Media platforms that exist today were not even created and People used different kinds of websites or forums to connect themselves.
“2chan” forum was one of them that was blooming back then with users, people used this platform to share information, jokes, and that kind of stuff.
This story was posted in the middle of the threat “Post about Strange Occurance around you”-. Initially, the poster was anonymous but later the user started attaching her name.
The user called herself Hasumi, who was supposed to travel from her office to home as per her scheduled, but she complained that the train hasn’t stopped anywhere for the past 20minutes. She told that it would take her only 2–3 minutes to reach her destination but it’s been 20minutes and the train hasn’t stop anywhere which freaked her out and there were currently 5 people on board who were sleeping.
She kept updating the users on what was happening to her till her phone died.
Here is the original conversation between 2chan users and her.
Please enjoy this story
#???: This may just be my imagination… Can I post it anyway?
#2ch: Go ahead.
#2ch: What’s going on?
#???: I’ve been riding a certain train for a while, but something seems off.
#2ch: Hmm…
#???: I always take this train to work. But it hasn’t stopped at any stations for the past twenty minutes or so. It usually only takes five minutes, seven or eight at worst. Oh, and there’s five other passengers, but they’re all sleeping.
#2ch: Did you take the express train by mistake?
#2ch: Is it a high-speed train?
#???: Well, it’s possible I may have just missed my stop. I’ll wait a little longer. If anything else strange occurs, I might bring it up here.
#2ch: Try going to the car on the end to see the conductor, maybe?
#2ch: It would be really bad if the driver had an epileptic fit or something. You should check on the conductor!
#???: Still not sign of stopping, so all right, I’ll take a look.
#???: There were blinds or something covering the window, so I couldn’t see the conductor or the driver. The route is a private railway in Shizuoka.
#2ch: Knock on the window?
Hasumi: I tried that, but nobody answered.
#2ch: Can you see out the window?
Names of stations you’re passing, etc.
Hasumi: We came out a tunnel, so we’re dropping speed slightly. There usually aren’t any tunnels, though… It’s a train from Shin-Hamamatsu.
Hasumi: Looks like we’re finally stopping at a station.
#2ch: You aren’t going to get off there… are you?
Hasumi: We’re stopped at Kisaragi Station. I wonder if I should get off. I’ve never heard of this place before.
#2ch: Definitely check it out.
#2ch: No, stay on until the last stop.
#2ch: Oh, but it’s probably already departing now…
#2ch: When did you get on the train?
Hasumi: I’ve gotten off the train. The station’s unmanned. I believe I got on the train at 11:40.
#2ch: I’m not finding any information on Kisaragi Station…
And Hasumi, your train was going for over an hour?
Well, that’s really strange.
#2ch
Yeah, I’m not getting any results for Kisaragi Station…
Hasumi: I’m looking for a schedule so I can get back, but I can’t find one. The train is still stopped, so it’d probably be safest to get back on… Well, it left while I was writing that.
#2ch: Is there anyone nearby, or any buildings?
It’s cold out, so be careful.
Hasumi: I’ll look for a taxi from the station. Thank you very much.
#2ch: Sounds good.
Take care.
#2ch: Way past the last train, at an unmanned station…
Really questionable if you’ll have any luck finding a taxi there.
#2ch: And so Hasumi became an inhabitant of the two-dimensional world…
Hasumi: There don’t seem to be any taxis anywhere. Hmm…
#2ch: Call 110? [Number for police.]
#2ch: Call the taxi company?
#2ch: If there’s a telephone booth nearby, look up the taxi company in the phonebook and call.
Hasumi: I called home and asked to be picked up, but neither of my parents seem to know where Kisaragi Station is. They’ll look for it on the maps so they can come get me, but I’m getting a little scared now.
#2ch: What about the others?
Are you the only one who got off the train?
#2ch: I checked online too, and the name Kisaragi Station isn’t coming up.
Am I wrong in assuming it’s around Shin-Hamamatsu?
I’ll check Yahoo.
Hasumi: I looked for a public phone, but there’s nothing. And no one else got off, so I’m alone now. It’s definitely called Kisaragi.
#2ch: Sometimes they have phones outside the station.
Hasumi: Looking into it, apparently it’s written with the kanji for “Devil,” but it’s read “Kisaragi”…
#2ch: Devil Station…?
Yikes…
#2ch:
Are you a gaming nerd? ’Cause a game comes up if you Google it.
#2ch:
Tell us the names of the stations before and after Kisaragi.
Hasumi:
What do you mean, a game? It doesn’t say what the next and previous stations are.
#2ch:
Walk back along the track.
#2ch:
If you start running now, you might catch up to the train!
#2ch:
There must be houses around the station, right?
Hasumi:
Yes, there are. I didn’t quite notice since I was panicking. I’m waiting for my parents to call while walking along the track. I tried checking town information on i-mode, but it gave me a “point error” or something. I want to go home.
Hasumi:
There’s really just nothing around here. All I can see are fields and mountains. But I think I’ll be able to make it back if I go down the track, so I’ll keep pushing on. Thank you very much. Treat this as a joke if you will, but can I come to you if I encounter any more trouble?
#2ch:
Of course.
Just be careful out there.
#2ch:
Sure!
Just make sure you don’t run out of battery. Your phone’s your lifeline right now.
#2ch:
Don’t get lost.
And be careful in the tunnel.
#2ch:
Huh, you can get a signal out in the middle of nowhere?
I kinda think you shouldn’t stray far from the station…
#2ch:
All alone on a cold night, at a station with no attendants…
Soon the lights could go out, and it’ll be pitch black…
#2ch:
It really might be safest to wait for daybreak at the station, though…
#2ch:
Oh geez, this sounds bad…
Hasumi:
I got a call from my father, and he had many questions, but simply couldn’t find my location. I’ve been told to call 110, which I’m a little opposed to doing, but I’ll try asking them to help me now…
#2ch
I really think you should wait until it gets lighter out before you do anything…
#2ch:
Waiting all alone in the dead of night?
And in some ominous place, yikes…
#2ch:
^ Going through a tunnel alone in the dead of night?
And on some ominous train line, yikes…
Hasumi:
I called 110 and tried my absolute best to explain the situation, but they thought it was all a joke and got angry at me. So I got scared and apologized…
#2ch:
Apologized for what?
Should probably give up for today.
Wait for the first train.
#2ch:
What’s it like around the station? What’s there?
Hasumi:
I hear what sounds like a beating drum mixed with some kind of bell way off in the distance. Honestly, I have no idea what to do at this point.
#2ch:
Get back to the station for now, Hasumi.
It’s best to return to where you started when you’re lost.
#2ch:
Here’s where it gets going…
#2ch:
Are they having a festival or what?
Hasumi:
You might think I’m kidding, but I’m too scared to look behind me. I do want to go back to the station, but… I don’t dare turn around.
#2ch:
Run. And don’t look back.
#2ch:
You can’t go back to the station now.
Run through the tunnel!
I’m sure you’ll find you’re not far.
Hasumi:
Someone behind me yelled “Hey! Don’t walk on the track, that’s dangerous!” I looked around expecting to see an attendant, and saw an one-legged old man, but he vanished. I think I’m too scared to move.
#2ch:
I told you not to look back! RUN
#2ch:
Calm down and listen to big bro, okay?
Check out where that drum’s coming from.
There’s bound to be somebody playing it…
#2ch:
^ Where the hell are you planning to take Hasumi?
#2ch:
Why’d you know it was an “old man” if it was just a single leg?
#2ch:
^ …Uh, I think Hasumi meant an old man who lost one of his legs.
#2ch:
Must’ve been an old man who died and lost a leg after walking along the track.
Hasumi:
I can’t walk or run any further. The drumming sound is getting a little closer.
#2ch:
Wait for dawn.
It won’t be scary in the daylight.
#2ch:
I’m glad I stayed on the train…
Hasumi:
I’m still alive. But I fell and started bleeding, and I broke a heel, so I’m sitting still on the ground. I don’t want to die now…
#2ch:
It should be safe if you leave the tunnel.
Once you get out of there, call for help immediately.
Hasumi:
I called home. Dad’s calling the police, but the sound keeps getting closer.
#2ch:
I hope to god that’s not the sound of a train…
But it might be too late…
Hasumi:
I finally managed to make it to the front of the tunnel. The name says Isanuki. The sound’s still getting closer, so I’m going to leave the tunnel. If I’m safe once I get out of the tunnel, I’ll post again.
#2ch:
Good luck.
#2ch:
This is the end.
Forget about trains and stations.
Forget about going back.
Forget about someone chasing you.
The sound you’re hearing is just something you imagined.
Run out of the tunnel.
If you stop, you’ll only succumb to something which does not belong in this world.
Hasumi:
I left the tunnel. There’s someone up ahead. It looks like all your advice was right after all. Thank you so much. My face is such a mess from tears, he might just mistake me for a monster.
#2ch:
Wait, Hasumi!
Don’t die on us!
#2ch:
Stop! That can’t be good!
#2ch:
Someone there? This late at night?
That’s suspicious…
Hasumi:
He seems gentle and was worried for me. He called for a train to take me to the nearest station. Apparently, there’s some kind of business hotel there. I’m truly, truly thankful to all of you.
#2ch:
Hasumi, please answer me this one thing.
Can you ask that man what that place is?
#2ch: Is he really gentle?
He sounds kinda scary from what you said…
#2ch: That guy’s no good!!
Why’s he by the track at this hour?
He must’ve been a corpse or something!
Hasumi, RUN!!
Hasumi: I asked him where it was, and he said Hina. That seems extremely unlikely, though…
#2ch: Hasumi, get off the train!
#2ch: Excuse me, Hasumi? Where’s Hina?
Hasumi: We’ve been headed toward the mountains for some time. It really doesn’t strike me as a place where trains would go. And he’s stopped talking to me entirely.
#2ch: Probably because you’re constantly messing with your phone?
#2ch: Hasumi, oh no, oh no…
Did you contact your parents after you got out of the tunnel and received aid (?) from this guy?
#2ch: Hasumi.
Please call 110.
This might be your last chance.
Hasumi: My battery’s almost run out. Things are getting strange, so I think I’m going to make a run for it. He’s been talking to himself about bizarre things for a while now. To prepare for just the right time, I’m going to make this my last post for now.
* Afterward, “Hasumi” was never heard from again. | https://medium.com/@abhisheksandhu/japanese-urban-legend-kisaragi-station-the-devils-station-136b5f588a77 | ['Abhishek Sandhu'] | 2021-06-14 07:25:15.482000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Writing', 'Urban', 'Life', 'Japanese'] |
Java 與 Spring 結合的多執行緒處理 | I'm a Java engineer, eager to learn new skills, technique and willing to take challenges. | https://medium.com/@brucehsu-developer/java-%E8%88%87-spring-%E7%B5%90%E5%90%88%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%9A%E5%9F%B7%E8%A1%8C%E7%B7%92%E8%99%95%E7%90%86-7b90433dec51 | ['Bruce Hsu'] | 2020-12-12 05:43:21.110000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Asynchronous', 'Thread Pool', 'Spring Boot', 'Spring'] |
How to Apjpro can help you to get best offer in Jaipur | How to Apjpro can help you to get best offer in Jaipur
apjpro, a local e-commerce company, based in jaipur, Having a tag line “Save every time.. You Spend” Helping jaipurities to find best restaurant, hotels, spa, salons, lounges and gym with very afforadable prices.
We are an innovative idea with WIN WIN WIN factor.
Win for members — This venture is an idea to provide the best non competitive discounts, benefits & privilege services to all citizens of Jaipur equally without discriminating their standards. It allows member to spend on their wish list @ affordable prices.
Win for associates — We don’t charge any commission or benefits to associates, all benefits are passed to members. We help our associates by working over the best fruitful deals to members as well as the discount providing partners. We ensure to fulfill the lean hours without hitting the peaks.
Win for apjpro — Today we have individual 25000+ influences members & more than 200+ partners. Most of the big brands are hand in hand since the origin of apjpro.
The mission of apjpro is to make Jaipur the most approachable, beneficial & well informed city, where its members & associates both can be benefited
“SAVE EVERY TIME, YOU SPEND”
Be apjpro member to unlock exciting deals & discounts at Finest Hotel, Restaurant, Lounges, Pubs, Salon, Relaxing Spa & more
We help you discover the best places in city.
Shaping the future of food Lovers!!
https://www.apjpro.com/about | https://medium.com/@jp.abuzzcompany/how-to-apjpro-can-help-you-to-get-best-offer-in-jaipur-80c01352b7c7 | ['Jp Abuzzcompany'] | 2020-12-10 11:10:56.540000+00:00 | ['Jaipur', 'Hotels'] |
Artificial Intelligence and Synthetic Media in News Broadcasting | We’re all familiar with news broadcasters like Anderson Cooper or Wolf Blitzer, and their lives outside of CNN. But what if the lives outside of these media hubs did not exist.
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was created in 1926, and by 1951 it had coast to coast regular television service. Television programs, like news broadcasting, were prepared well beforehand, and because of the slow travel of information as a result of lack of the internet, not everything was up-to-date as it took place.
The nightly news was always a formal event in suits and ties where families could look forward to not only learning about current events but also to inviting the charismatic anchor into their home for the evening where they would learn a little bit more about his personal life.
By all means, live news broadcasting soared in popularity and found its way to being a prestigious profession. In the United States, Journalists were and still are very respected individuals who go through years of proper schooling in order to deliver information to the people. A relationship was built between journalists and the people, a level of trust in their information, feelings of security and protection, and the feeling that you are tuning in to see your “friend” talk.
Journalists’ main goal is to deliver unbiased information to the people as quickly as possible. Acting as an unofficial fourth branch of the government, the news is a watchdog. However, we have started to see trends of shying away from proper journalism and towards stories that have the most “clicks” in order to curate content.
Content has become an incredibly important resource for media companies to have, it is looked at as currency. The more content the better. However, it is almost physically impossible for human creators to constantly put out new, entertaining, and factually correct content. As a result of this growing media problem, we have increasingly leaned on the convergence of technology and news broadcasting: artificial intelligence (AI).
The 24-hour news cycle is a tough feature to keep up with without a large staff. Information needs to be constantly analyzed, synthesized, and repurposed quickly and in an accessible way for the general population. Because of how disruptive the internet was in relation to breaking news, people demand instant information. No longer are they willing or able to sit through the 6 o’clock news when they could have already had the information at their fingertips.
While viewers do like having a connection with anchors, TV viewing time is decreasing and younger audiences especially are moving towards digital media in order to get their news. This is where artificial intelligence began its slow creep.
When breaking news happens, every news company wants to be the first to report on it with the correct information. We have seen an increase in links to a blank article tweeted by journalists with a statement along the lines of “developing story”. This is because it is physically impossible for a human being to write a full-fledged story within minutes of breaking news. Artificial intelligence is beginning to put out articles in just minutes following a major event.
Journalists have the tendency to be biased even though they claim to be unbiased. The reality is if you are a person who is able to perceive you will have a bias. While not intentional, anyway a journalist chooses to tell a story will be skewed to fit into their own creative narrative. Artificial intelligence does not have the capability of perceiving, therefore it cannot have a bias when reporting.
Not every news broadcaster has the ability to turn niche information into a well-informed story. Artificial intelligence cannot be bored by dull data, it takes in large amounts of data constantly and regurgitates a story out of it.
While artificial intelligence seems like the cure to every issue within news broadcasting, there are many things it lacks that we like in the current climate of journalism. As mentioned before, viewers like feeling a personal relationship with the anchor on their screen. The information feels as if it can be trusted more because it is from a “friend”.
Viewers also learn about the lives of broadcasters, for example, Anderson Cooper’s family is a frequent topic on his show, which makes watching the news a personable experience. Watching a human is not dry, human journalists do not just regurgitate synthesized information, they interweave an intricate story to creatively educate viewers. This is something news broadcast viewers are not ready to give up in exchange for quick accurate information.
Back push from viewers will always be a factor driving AI broadcasters away. Viewers want to avoid the uncanny valley that AI broadcasters can bring on-air, they want to hold on to the emotional aspect. Also, major contracts will keep traditional journalism afloat. Anderson Cooper has at least two years left on his $12 million per year contract signed in 2016. He, like many other anchors, is a personality that people are not ready to give up.
As mentioned before, artificial intelligence is slowly creeping into traditional news broadcasting and disrupting what we know. As time progresses we will only see a further convergence of journalism and AI in order to create content.
The direction of news broadcasting is already heading the way of artificial intelligence, and it is just a matter of time before we have the full technology for AI to fully integrate with the broadcasting system. AI is already seen within journalism, it is just not as prominent in some places as it is in others.
Starting with a basic amount of AI in news broadcasting, many media companies have adopted their own versions of the technology. Watson is a program used by The Weather Company to perform on-air captioning and it is now training to pull out key concepts of videos in order to make a condensed version of the most important information. In the United Kingdom, Channel 4 uses “Contextual Moments” in order to analyze scenes and to discard moments that score low in importance. This is a basic level of AI that pulls out information, recognizes its importance, and reworks it for a more optimal story.
Getting more complex, The Los Angeles Times was able to publish a report about an earthquake a mere three minutes after the earthquake took place because of their software robot Quakebot. No human could ever do this. Many media organizations have their own version of Quakebot. The BBC has Juicer, the Washington Post has Heliograf, and Bloomberg has Cyborg; Cyborg is credited with creating “nearly a third of the content” published by Bloomberg. The U.S. has taken a much slower turn towards reliance on AI than other countries, like, for example, China has.
China has already rolled out a few AI news anchors who regularly appear in their line up of presenters. The first AI anchor was in 2018 named Qiu Hao, and the most recent is Xin Xiaomeng; Xin is based on a real-life anchor by the name of Zhao Wanwei. These AI anchors are developed by Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, and the search engine Sogou; they are able to “imitate human voices, facial expressions, lip movements, and mannerisms using only text inputs”. China hasn’t kept these innovations to itself, Xinhua worked with ITAR-TASS, a Russian news agency, to create a Russian-speaking AI anchor. China created this technology and is now beginning to expand it past just its own people.
There is definitely quite the difference between Watson who live-captions on-air production and Xin Xiaomng who analyzes data, graphs, tables, and spreadsheets to pull out the main ideas in order to form a narrative and then present that narrative on live television. China has fully embraced artificial intelligence as news broadcasters, and are looking to improve the technology. The U.S. on the other hand has not accepted it with the same open arms.
This is the trend of artificial intelligence existing in news broadcasting, China has just utilized the innovation earlier than most. A valid prediction is that this technology will become widespread in the world and everyone will eventually have to adapt to AI anchors on live television.
One of the Six SuperTrends is Technological Process, and the “T” in “DEGEST” is Technology. Artificial intelligence in journalism is a prime example of these trends. Over time technology improves, it is a basic fact. It is only probable that as technology improves we tend to incorporate it more into our lives until there is no separation. As artificial intelligence improves we will see more synthetic media produced. More articles will be written by software robots within minutes of an event, and then presented by an avatar.
We sometimes tend to look at technological growth as stagnant when there are only small updates in between innovations, but the technological trend looks at technology in chunks of time. From year-to-year AI might not seem like it is a huge disruption to traditional broadcasting, but twenty years ago the thought never even crossed journalists’ minds. This shows how a slow transition is needed in order for the innovation to be accepted.
According to the Gartner chart, the U.S. lies somewhere between Level 2 and Level 3 of artificial intelligence in the broadcast industry. This means we have moved on from the Active stage, which is using AI in an experimental way, towards the Operational stage, which is beginning to practically apply the innovation in order to create content. This chart shows how AI is taking off but it is not necessarily running the broadcast industry just yet. That is when we get to Level 5, where it is impossible to separate AI and news broadcasting. The progression towards AI in journalism is already underway, and it is just a matter of embracing what is to come.
As mentioned before, content is currency. Meaning, AI can create rapid, accurate content which will draw in money for media companies. Another of the trends is Economy. News companies are able to lower their costs of production without having to pay for anchors and curators and can pump-out articles in a way a human never could.
Artificial intelligence will continue its journey towards integrating with the traditional news broadcasting industry until that Level 5 is reached and it mimics what China has already been doing and then surpasses it.
As evident, journalism industries are already adopting artificial intelligence it just needs time to work out all of the wrinkles.
New players will enter the field as the innovation proceeds. News companies will no longer have to invest in creating their own AI infrastructure as they will be able to outsource. Companies like AWS create free services based in the cloud with an upgrade available for companies who want to use their AI technology; the services include text to speech, speech to text, image and facial recognition, language processing, and other technologies. As a result of artificial intelligence convergence with journalism, technology companies will be created just to outsource the program.
The companies who have created technology like Xinhua and Soguo, or the news companies like the Washington Post’s Heliograf, will not remain as the front runners or providers for the innovations. We will see many businesses that focus solely on AI come to fruition in order to license their software to journalists. Outsourcing will be a large part of AI in broadcasting because it will become a commonplace technology but it is not the easiest to create on its own. A reason for this being that artificial intelligence runs on data, and for smaller companies, it is very difficult to collect big data in an effective way. Creating a business that solely focuses on collecting this data gives the resources to smaller journalists, making the trend more accessible, therefore, more widespread. Which as we see with AWS, is already happening.
This again goes into the idea that content is currency. The data collected for AI to analyze is the foundation for the content to be produced and as a result, make money for the company. The convergence of the two is very important for both industries to thrive.
It is probable for ethical and other problems to arise as this trend fully takes off. Ethically we ask who owns AI curated content. The argument is that considering a robot (nonhuman) wrote this article (or another form of expression) this piece should not have copyright privileges and should be deemed fair use. The opposing side is that someone has to gather the data, create the AI, and present the data to the AI, but who does this belong to; the machine, the software, the company behind it, the man who collected the data? There are so many options of who could possibly own the content created and considering we hold being a human to be a standard for copyright it is possible these articles could be considered fair use. New companies will not like not having control over their own stories and the data behind them.
Humans also hold creativity to a high standard, and as a uniquely human thing. However, we are not far off from AI picking sides and creating their own opinions in order to write “articles with flair, imagination, [and] in-depth analysis”. This will throw a curveball in the idea that AI curated content cannot be copyright because if AI is having original thoughts instead of just regurgitating data in a condensed form then this should be able to be copyrighted.
This then leads to the idea of a loss of jobs. No matter how amazing technology progresses the first worry is always who and how many people will lose their job. Artificial intelligence has the ability and will take over jobs. AI can pump out accurate articles rapidly in a way humans cannot, it also lowers production prices because software does not have the same salary price point as a human news broadcaster. This is all dangerous to the traditional journalist and is a reason there will be barriers for AI in journalism thriving. Humans want to keep in control and they want to remain employed even if the robots do their job better than them, this is specifically true in the U.S. There this culture centered around working hard, and AI poses a threat. Instead of focusing on converging the innovation with what already exists, there will be a push back against it.
Another barrier would be a lack of connection between anchors and the audience. As mentioned earlier, people like to trust the source they are getting information from. They also like to learn about the personal lives of broadcasters, and this cannot happen with AI anchors. Viewers will pushback against having fully synthetic people on screen in the U.S. because there is no relationship between the broadcaster and the audience.
There are many scenarios of what can play out decades down the line, but I am only highlighting three possible generic scenarios that can be seen for the future of artificial intelligence in news broadcasting. It is impossible for AI to be fully ignored and unused as it has already been integrated too much for the rejection to be possible, because of this the scenario is not entertained.
The first scenario is that artificial intelligence will continue to slowly creep in but only to a certain extent. Journalists will stop bothering themselves with minute and boring work and leave this up to AI instead of taking the job on themselves or having an intern do it. AI will not be invasive to the U.S. broadcasting industry and we will very rarely see synthetic people on television and only give air time to humans. There will still be the old issues of biases in writing, inaccurate information published, and articles taking a long time to be published. AI will work more as an aid to small things within the broadcasting industry and its full potential will not be used within the U.S. because of constant pushback from the workers and viewers. The innovation in this scenario remains pretty much stagnant.
The second scenario is that artificial intelligence will fully take over the broadcasting industry and will put journalists out of jobs. New jobs will be created to assist AI in data collection but the software is the one curating the content. All anchors will be synthetic, and all articles published are reproduced from data collection services. No journalists are human and the emotional connection between the viewer and the anchor no longer exists. The issues of misinformation, biases, and timely articles have been fixed because AI fully running the industry, but it lacks chemistry and depth. This is an extreme view of what AI could do to the broadcasting industry but it definitely is a reality that could happen.
The final scenario is the one I believe to be most probable. Artificial intelligence will continue on its path of converging with broadcasting until the two are synonymous. AI will work alongside journalists to put out quick, reliable, and unbiased information. AI will have a huge part in quickly putting out articles in order to avoid the issue of blank links while the story is still developing. Journalists will take a step back from always being the ones to publish factual articles and will watch over AI’s curation. News broadcasters will still have a spot on television alongside synthetic anchors. They will seamlessly interchange spots, which will maintain the emotional relationship with the audience. Fully integrating AI into journalism will reduce a lot of the issues that exist today, because artificial intelligence can only write factually. This will almost eliminate biases within journalism, and continue to act as a watchdog for the government. A huge emotional side of journalism will be reduced because there is not a person reporting these huge issues. Audiences can get the facts and go. There will however be big data conglomerates that license out their artificial intelligence to news companies and are only concerned with turning a profit. Because AI runs on data collection, there will be a lot of stored data. News broadcasters will work in tandem with artificial intelligence in order to curate the best possible content and information for the general population. In summation, AI will converge with journalism like any other trend and become a commonplace practice.
Artificial intelligence has a large spot waiting for it in the future. We have already seen the trend in action both within the United States and globally in ways that are almost sci-fi like. It is impossible to stop the disruption AI will bring to the broadcasting industry, as we have already seen the small effects of it so far. The journalism industry as we know it to be has been stagnant for so long and needs its next big innovation, and artificial intelligence will be the trend to do so. | https://medium.com/@gelatotina/artificial-intelligence-and-synthetic-media-in-news-broadcasting-56d937fc4fc5 | ['Tina Gelato'] | 2020-12-11 17:29:29.340000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Predictions', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Trends', 'Broadcasting'] |
Why is the mouse cursor tilted 45 °? | Why are all cursors in all operating systems a little “crooked”, that is, they have a certain slope, and not point straight? Indeed, why is the cursor not positioned vertically, since this is most convenient for selecting text and other tasks?
The inventor of the mouse, Douglas Engelbart, actually depicted the cursor as an up arrow as the most logical selection option (see screenshot above).
However, the graphical interface of the operating system was the first in the world to be implemented by Xerox, namely by its research division Palo Alto Research Center. Specifically, the cursor is described in a 1981 document that lists the characteristics of the XEROX PARC, the first graphical user interface computer ever.
When designing this machine, it was discovered that, due to the low resolution of the displays of the time, it was impossible to create a normal, small vertical cursor from the pixels. It was decided not to increase the size of the pointer but instead rotate it slightly so that one face is vertical and the other tilted 45 °.
Image from documentation Palo Alto Research Center
More than 30 years later, high-resolution displays have appeared, but the tradition of depicting the cursor tilted at 45 ° has been preserved. | https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/why-is-the-mouse-cursor-tilted-45-32b5c7d160ab | ['Typical Ui', 'Ux Designer'] | 2021-06-04 05:14:34.451000+00:00 | ['History', 'Mouse', 'Cursor', 'Computers', 'Design'] |
White Supremacy and Trump’s Coup to Overturn the Will of the People | Trump’s call to the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives twice during the past week; his reaching out to Republicans in Michigan, and on Saturday his pressuring of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in a call to try to replace that state’s electors; and the Trump administration’s alliance with, and support of, The Thomas More Society’s Amistad Project — suits challenging the election results in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona — demonstrate the lengths to which White Supremacists are going to erase, even annihilate, the growing political power of a changing non-white electorate.
Most of the growth in the electorate since 2000 has come from Hispanic, Black, and Asian eligible voters. In the 2020 presidential election, flipped Biden states were less white than the nation as a whole; flipped states were less wealthy than the average American household; flipped states had fewer four-year college graduates than than the average state. Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Atlanta were key, predominantly non-white cities that helped Biden win — and the major focal point of Trump’s racist attacks on voters of color.
Trump’s White Supremacist tactics, fully supported by GOP sycophants, say Amy Gardner, Josh Dawsey, and Rachel Bade, promotes a rhetoric that “is inciting violence. And while his efforts to overturn the result are widely viewed as fruitless, many officials said they are distressed at the lasting harm they believe he is doing to public faith in U.S. elections.” Protestors in Detroit showed up at the home of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson; in Georgia, protestors “armed with bullhorns and some with guns, arrived shortly after the end of Trump’s rally in Georgia”; and in Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said dozens of armed protesters gathered outside her Detroit home, chanting and shouting obscenities about overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election (CNN).
Trump and his GOP followers are fully committed to a violent racist agenda — in rhetoric and action — which is growing in energy and tenacity as President-elect Biden fills his cabinet with appointees that mirror the racial diversity of the U.S.
Take The Thomas More Society, for instance, where Christian fundamentalism, and the Amy Coney Barrett wing of Catholicism, conservative think tanks, and politicians have created a lobby of zealots focused on fighting back America’s demographic shift to a more non-white, and progressive, society.
The Society’s Board is compromised of 6 white people, all but one a woman; their backgrounds are religious, pro-life, and very conservative, and associated with The Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society. The Society’s Attorney’s are the same, with two notables, Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign lawyer working with Rudi Guiliani, one of eight women among thirty-two white men, and Noel Meza, a conservative of Latinx descent.
Media is focused on the racial diversity of Biden’s proposed cabinet, which is what we do in the U.S. — focus on color. But what we also need is diversity in thought, in thinking. How is the most recent Biden appointment, retired General Lloyd Austin, graduate of West Point and former commander of the American military effort in Iraq, diversity in thought? Yes, Austin would be the first African-American secretary of defense; however, his appointment would mark the third time “a president has requested a waiver since Congress passed the National Security Act in 1947, which requires a prospective secretary to wait seven years after ending active duty as a commissioned officer,” we learn from Jim Golby, once special adviser to Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Mike Pence.
(I’ve already written about Biden’s cabinet appointees questioned because of affiliations with the consulting firm, WestExec Advisors and the investment fund, Pine Island Capital Partners. General Austin, after retiring from the military, joined the board of Raytheon, aerospace and defense, and became a partner in Pine Island Capital Partners, too, a fund focused on military related companies.)
I am re-stating these problems because the Democratic — and Biden’s — approach to the violent encroachment of White Supremacy is deploying the same school of academic-political-economically secure people — YES, representative of what America looks like — which will not abate the onslaught, especially since no one, politically and in the media, except for very few, such as Briahna Joy Gray, former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders 2020, co-host of Bad Faith podcast and contributing editor to Current Affairs, appearing in one of the few news outlets daring to challenge the status quo, Democracy Now!, is raising questions — or is allowed to raise questions. (There are more media alternatives, just take the time to engage the full story.)
The banner over The Washington Post reads: Where Democracy Dies in Darkness. We are in darkness, indeed, so why are alternatives to mainstream coverage of news and events — CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc — not broadcasted more widely to Americans? What gives?
We like to say that Democracy requires a responsible, educated citizenry. Educating for Democracy requires deep inquiry into challenging ideas, some that may contradict one’s own thinking.
Media and politicians, especially Trump lackeys, fearing I don’t know what — loss of revenue? power? notoriety? the false gods privileged by society in the spectacle of grand illusion — are recalcitrant, eager to destroy and dismantle, while others remain complacently skating along the surface structure of things.
We cannot meet in the middle like this; we can’t come together anywhere like this, either.
How is this going to go, then, as White Supremacist ideology continues to violently push against all rational thinking, against Democracy, against humanity?
_____________________________________
Complimentary stories:
Can Biden’s Economic Team Reverse the Pandemic Economy? Megnha Chakrabarti, with Rana Foroohar, Michelle Singletary, and Jack Beatty (On Point — an exceptional hour on mainstream WBUR, public radio)
As Trump Rails Against Loss, His Supporters Become More Threatening, Nick Corasaniti, Jim Rutenberg and Kathleen Gray (NYT). Teaser:
M alcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic state representative from Pennsylvania, said he received dozens of emails every day. “It’s a bit more pronounced when you’re Black and queer like I am, that they go down the rabbit hole of parroting all the nastiness and vitriol that we see from the president all the time,” he said.
Coup or no coup, Trump sets dangerous precedents, Ishaan Tharoor (The Washington Post) — as we play intellectual parlor games, still no mention of the overt, violent racism Trump & Co are exercising, and calling forth.
The danger is growing that Trump’s lies about the election will lead to violence, The Washington Post Editorial Board.
The ‘Trump Won’ Farce Isn’t Funny Anymore, Jamelle Bouie (The NYT)
‘This Must Be Your First’, Zeynep Tufekci (The Atlantic) | https://theuncanny.us/white-supremacy-and-trumps-coup-to-overturn-the-will-of-the-people-343d45e482ea | ['Héctor Vila'] | 2020-12-11 11:36:34.516000+00:00 | ['Media Criticism', 'Democracy', 'Trumpracism', 'Racism', 'White Supremacy'] |
Git Bisect | Debugging with Git Bisect
Today I’m going to write about Git Bisect. This is a very useful tool to find any specific error in our code.
What is Git Bisect?
Bisect means binary search algorithm and is an efficient way to search large groups of ordered data. It divides the data in half several times and applies a validation criterion. Thus, we can scan a large amount of information with few iterations.
When is a good moment to use bisect? When you want to search for a change and you don’t know when this change happened. For example, you have a version 2 and you have an error or you have accidentally deleted some code, but you know that on version 1 everything is working. But between version 1 and version 2 you have 15 commits and you don’t know which commit caused the error.
How to work with bisect
To start you have to know the last commit where everything was working well and a commit where everything broke to specify search limits.
To start we put:
git bisect start
Then you have to check the last commit where the bug doesn’t exist. You can add the commit SHA, tag or branch and put it “good”:
git bisect good 123456789
And now, you have to add the commit where you know that the bug exist:
git bisect bad 987654321
Now, git starts a binary search: it splits commits in half and shows you the commit in the middle and you have to tell if this commit is good or bad. For instance, we have 15 commits between our v1 and v2, so you will see a message like that:
Bisecting: 15 revisions left to test after this (roughly 4 steps)
And bisect puts you on the seventh commit. Now you have to run code and check if in this commit everything is working or not and tell bisect your answer:
git bisect good||bad
Then, bisect jumps into other commit to test other and you have to repeat the test and put the answer:
git bisect good||bad
And so on until finding the commit where your code does not work.
If you can’t test a determined commit, you can run git bisect skip and jump into the next commit.
When bisect finds the first bad commit it gives you this answer:
135792468 is the first bad commit
And here you have your problematic commit! If you make: git show 135792468 you will see the changes done in this first bad commit and fix it.
To end with bisect you only have to run:
git bisect reset
And et voilà! thanks to this, we have been able to test 15 commits in just 4 steps. It saves you from testing all commits one by one. It’s so quick and very useful.
But that is not all! You can automate some tests with scripts. You only have to run:
git bisect run [script] [arguments]
For instance, you have an error while compiling your code. You can automate bisect to find the first bad commit like this (think that my script to compile my code is npm run build-prod) and find where the compilation stopped working:
git bisect start git bisect good 123456789 git bisect bad 987654321 git bisect run npm run build-prod
If you have an error 0 is that this commit is good. If you have a 125 error means that bisect can’t do the test and jump into the next commit (like git bisect skip). Any other error means that the commit is bad. | https://medium.com/@sararellano/git-bisect-1a8307f96359 | [] | 2021-07-07 07:59:34.183000+00:00 | ['Debugging Tools', 'Debugging', 'Git', 'Development', 'Debug'] |
Take a break? How does that work? | It’s ok to take a break sometimes as long as you have someone to blame
https://www.dieselsweeties.com/ics/1111/ | https://medium.com/@rstevens/take-a-break-how-does-that-work-b89925355dfb | [] | 2020-12-14 04:10:06.208000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Projects', 'Humor', 'Comics', 'Holidays'] |
A Blog a Day Keeps the Doc Away | Sorry, that made no sense
Happy Thursday everyone. God my titles and subtitles get worse and worse. There was some truth in that title, though. I have been blogging every day for the last 20 days and plan to do so for the next 80. Today I wanted to report my results thus far for those who for some odd reason are thinking of trying the same thing.
The whole reason I started this 100-day blog challenge was to see whether my writing would improve. Also, to see if I could actually follow through with a blog a day. So far, I have. And in doing so, I’ve noticed a couple things.
For one, it’s damn hard to think of something to write every day! Luckily I read/watch pretty cool things on a regular basis that I deem post-worthy. But keeping it fresh; not revisiting different topics from the same book or video is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Maybe I just gotta read/watch more!
I will say, I am getting better at slapping my thoughts down now than I was 20 days ago. That’s for certain. I’m pretty sure my first blog post 20 days back took me three hours and it was only 600 words. But as Tim Ferriss says, “Draft ugly, edit pretty.”
I’d say that’s the best way to go about writing every day. Just get your thoughts down now — however crude they may be — and edit later. Without exception, I get really bogged down every time I try to produce perfection from my finger tips right off the bat. That’s a losing game. If you write every day, you learn pretty quickly that perfection isn’t a very sustainable strategy. Don’t get me wrong, I STILL write and rewrite things like 15 times every now and then. Old habits die hard, I suppose.
Plus, I’ve found that the only way putting out a post a day is possible is to keep them between two and five minute reads. That’s key for me. Unless you’re a full-time writer, I feel like anything longer than that would be pretty difficult to achieve on a consistent basis. Also, I tend to tune out after reading a blog post longer than five minutes, so I try my best to write something I would find interesting and if others like it too, hey, that’s pretty cool.
The most awesome thing that’s come of this so far is the fact that writing so often has actually bettered my speaking ability! Specifically, words come to mind sooner than they did prior to my embarking on this mini journey. I guess that makes sense, but I feel like it’s not something you expect to happen. At least, I didn’t.
My writing ability is also substantially better in the morning than it is at night. I doubt I am alone here, and I’m sure most people can identify with that, at least to some degree, but for me, my writing is head and shoulders better in the morning than at night. For example, guess when I’m writing this? Yeah, at night. Told ya.
That is all for now peeps. 20 days down, 80 to go. I shall update you on my 100-day blogging journey another 20 posts hence. Until tomorrow, my friends. | https://medium.com/@geofflane/a-blog-a-day-keeps-the-doc-away-d197d5eedd71 | ['Geoff Lane'] | 2020-12-25 03:12:29.883000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Writing Tips', 'Blogging', 'Writing Challenge', 'Blogger'] |
Ten of Wands: Burden of Duty | I pulled this card on the first day of my four day vacation and felt self-satisfied that I was already enacting the lesson in this card. In true vacation form, I procrastinated actually spending time on the card and it is now day two of my vacation and I don’t regret it one bit.
Burnout is not a fun experience — it is one step away from a breakdown and often comes at at inconvenient time for yourself and others. For a Type A like me, taking vacations are hard and even during my time off I end up filling my days with housework and chores so that it never truly feels like a break. I wish I could say this time would be different but I already have plans to cook, do laundry and start holiday shopping. Perhaps if I get enough done I can reward myself with a Sims session.
Ten of Wands from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck
What you see: A man carries ten wands as her walks towards a village.
What it means: The man seems to be struggling under the weight of a heavy burden, yet he persists. The end is in sight.
The story: The Ten of Wands represents the burden of taking on extra responsibility; it is often a requirement on the path to success but often is and should be temporary.
Reversed meaning: Reversed, the card represents burning out; struggling with too much work with no end in sight often leading to a collapse.
Reflection: There is an important lesson in this card that a lot of us need to remember, particularly these days. Burning the midnight oil is often required at times and can certainly be useful (particularly in the creative field). But, if we do it for look, we will burnout which is not physically, mentally or emotionally a pleasant experience, and is usually not convenient either. | https://medium.com/@tarotstories/ten-of-wands-burden-of-duty-693283a49e57 | ['Tarot Stories'] | 2020-12-06 18:55:28.291000+00:00 | ['Burden', 'Duty', 'Burnout', 'Responsibility', 'Breakdown'] |
Best Used Skid Steer to Buy for Mulching | Whether you’re getting into the forestry business or are already in it and just want more equipment to complement your current efforts, skid steers are essential to your productivity. And buying a used skid steer, rather than a new one, can offer cost advantages while also adding another viable piece of equipment to your fleet. But it goes without saying that some skid steers are better than others when it comes to forestry and mulching.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some of the best used skid steers out there right now, what to look for in a skid steer for the forestry industry, and we’ll offer a few buying tips. Here’s a look:
Best Used Skid Steers
Bobcat S650
When it comes to skid steers, there’s perhaps no brand more synonymous with this type of equipment than Bobcat. And its S650 is one of the brand’s most popular loader models. Specifically, the S650 is a vertical lift loader with a high lift and dump height, which can be helpful if you’re working in forestry. Though compact, it’s a powerful unit that’s equipped with a 74 horsepower diesel engine. Classified as a mid-size skid steer, the S650 is compact enough to easily navigate through tight and confined spaces.
John Deere 332G
Next to Bobcat, John Deere is another top name in skid steer equipment — and its 332G is a popular vehicle for larger work sites. Equipped with a 100-horsepower diesel engine but compact enough to get into tight spaces, the 332G is a productive workhorse that can handle just about every attachment you want to put on it.
Case SV280
If you’re looking for a strong, mid-sized loader, look no further than the SV280 from Case Construction Equipment. It’s technically considered a compact piece of equipment, but it packs more than enough power into its footprint. For starters, Case says it offers the best torque and hydraulic flow out of any skid steer that’s in its class. It matches power with versatility, which makes it easy to both store and transport. Packed with ergonomic features that make operation more seamless, it’s an ideal option for forestry work.
Caterpillar 262D
Caterpillar is another top brand when it comes to skid steer vehicles, and its 262D is its most popular offering. You can find Cat’s 262D on construction sites, often with attachments to mill concrete. But thanks to its robust operating ability and high hydraulic power, it’s a versatile piece of equipment that can handle a variety of attachments and be deployed for a variety of different uses, including mulching and forestry work.
Mustang 2700V NXT2
We’ll round out this list with a model from Mustang. What’s neat about the Mustang brand is that it initially began as a manufacturer of agricultural equipment, and you can still see evidence of these early roots in the equipment that the company makes today. Mustang skid steers are known for their power and high-output engines. The 2700V NXT2, specifically, offers good stability, good lifting height and it comes with quick-attach plates that make securing attachments convenient and fast.
Buying Tips
So what should you be looking for in a used skid steer for forestry and mulching? And what do you need to consider with used models before you make the purchase? Here’s a look at some used skid steer buying tips:
Skid Steers for Forestry and Mulching
When it comes to forestry and mulching, you want to look for versatile and compact units. Skid steer mulching attachments come in all different sizes and there are plenty of highly productive ones available for more compact skid steer units. Compact skid steers are easy to maneuver and navigate through forestry terrain with greater ease, and they’re also more than adequate when it comes to performing effective and efficient work.
Shop Through a Reputable Outlet
You don’t just want to buy a used skid steer from anyone. It’s why it’s important to only shop with a reputable outlet. The good news is that when it comes to this type of equipment, there are several credible outlets to do so online. Terex and MachineryTrader.com are two of the most popular. Browsing these websites for used equipment will allow buyers to easily access in-depth specifications and prices to enable smarter overall decision making.
Ask the Important Questions
While it can be tempting to buy a used skid steer just to get it added to your equipment fleet, you need to make sure you’re doing your homework on the model that you choose. On this note, we’d suggest reviewing these key questions to ensure that your purchase is a smart one:
Will this skid steer enable my fleet to work more productively?
Does the vehicle support the attachments that I need it to?
Does this vehicle give me any sort of competitive advantage over others working in the industry?
How will it help my bottom line?
Is there any extended warranty available with the unit?
Are there any red flags with its maintenance history?
Is the total cost of ownership worth it versus purchasing a new skid steer outright?
Is it fast and easy to outfit the unit with attachments?
Assess the Critical Components
Before you purchase any used vehicle or piece of equipment, you should always perform an inspection on the unit. This is especially true with skid steers, which put a lot of wear and tear on their critical components doing the type of work that is demanded of them. During the inspection phase, you want to be sure to thoroughly check out the engine, transmission, hydraulic pump, cylinders and the attachment features. Carefully examining these components can give you a good idea of how well the vehicle has been maintained throughout its history. You’ll want to start up the unit, monitor whether the transmission runs silent or noisy, and observe the loader arms.
Just like purchasing any used machinery or forestry equipment, doing your research in the beginning can save you a lot of headaches down the road. The same goes for buying a used skid steer, do your homework now to avoid the pitfalls later. | https://medium.com/@hardworktheory/best-used-skid-steer-to-buy-for-mulching-7006e34fb74 | ['Hard Work Theory'] | 2021-01-20 13:34:20.720000+00:00 | ['Heavy Equipment', 'Remodeling Contractors', 'Construction', 'Equipment'] |
The First Signs of Alcoholic Liver Damage Are Not in the Liver | The First Signs of Alcoholic Liver Damage Are Not in the Liver
Myfather died of alcoholic liver cirrhosis four years ago. It came as a surprise to all of us, even though it was clear he had a severe drinking problem for decades. It was especially surprising to me, as a former nurse and a recovering alcoholic. You would think I’d know more about liver problems and alcohol use than the average person. But the truth is, in the months before his death, I had no idea my father’s liver was struggling at all. Most people know about cirrhosis, but few people know how a liver goes from early damage to end-stage liver cirrhosis.
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The combination of my father’s death and my personal background lit a fire in me to know more. He was admitted to the hospital on June 24, 2016, and he died on July 18. Only 24 days passed between the first sign there was a problem and his subsequent death.
Now, hearing that he was in end-stage cirrhosis didn’t surprise me, given his heavy drinking. What did surprise me was that he’d visited several doctors and specialists in the months before his death, and no one knew his liver was struggling either.
So what happened? Does end-stage liver cirrhosis really sneak up that fast? Were there other signs that would have alerted someone to his failing liver?
As for why the doctors and specialists didn’t know what was happening, that mystery resolved reasonably quickly. The plain truth is that alcoholics rarely divulge the amount and frequency of their drinking to their doctors. This was the case for my dad. He had many health issues that he was trying to solve, but he protected his drinking habit fiercely. So he refused to spill the beans, even when it mattered.
The problem is that liver damage has numerous multifaceted symptoms that are confusing and associated with many other illnesses. Unless a doctor knows that the patient is an alcoholic, they may not know how to interpret what’s happening until it’s too late.
As he was dying, my father told me that he didn’t think to tell the doctors how much he was drinking. He said it was as if he blanked out and “forgot” to mention it. As crazy as that sounds, this strange “forgetting” is a common part of the alcoholic mindset. It may also be due to the metabolic and physical changes of cirrhosis itself.
There are many signs of liver problems, but oddly, none seem to point to the liver at first. And in fact, many of the first signs of liver damage occur in other parts of the body. Knowing these signs may help educate alcoholics and their families if they want to understand their risk of developing liver cirrhosis.
Liver damage has numerous multifaceted symptoms that are confusing and associated with many other illnesses. Unless a doctor knows that the patient is an alcoholic, they may not know how to interpret what’s happening until it’s too late.
Digestive signs
The liver plays a huge part in our digestive process. It filters out all toxins from food as well as helping to break down fats and glucose.
When a liver starts to slow down due to significant damage, it will reduce its digestive work. Instead, it will divert its energy toward vital functions like metabolizing medications and filtering toxins.
This means that symptoms like bloating, nausea, vomiting, gas, and diarrhea will start to increase. Over time, eating becomes more challenging. In the later stages of liver cirrhosis, toxins that can’t be filtered out begin to build in the bloodstream, which causes more nausea.
Cognitive signs
Although confusion and brain fog happen in end-stage liver cirrhosis, they can also be early signs.
The liver is responsible for filtering dangerous substances in the blood. It also helps regulate hormones, blood glucose, and vitamin absorption. In the early stages of liver damage, these processes can be interrupted. Inevitably, this affects our brain and nervous system.
This means that early liver problems can make you feel tired, confused, slow, and foggy. You may have some memory issues as well.
Neuromuscular signs
The liver stores vitamins required for the functioning of many organs and systems in the body — one of them is vitamin B1 or thiamine. A deficiency in this particular vitamin has been documented in many alcoholics with or without liver damage.
Unfortunately, alcohol inhibits the absorption of thiamine in the intestine. Over time, as the liver becomes damaged, it can no longer store thiamine in enough quantities. Thiamine deficiency is responsible for many neurological issues in people with alcoholism.
Symptoms of thiamine deficiency range from mild to severe and include things like: confusion, mental fog, lack of balance, pain and numbness in hands and feet, muscle weakness, rapid heart rate, digestive problems, flushing, and involuntary eye movements.
Thiamine deficiency happens in almost every alcoholic who consumes frequent and large amounts of alcohol. And if thiamine deficiency due to alcoholism is discovered, you can be sure the liver is suffering damage at the same time.
Many of the first signs of liver damage occur in other parts of the body.
Vascular signs
All alcohol consumption can lead to blood vessel dilation, causing flushing in the face and hands. Over time, this can cause damage leading to permanent redness in the face. Although many alcoholics have rosacea or spider-like veins on their faces, this is often benign.
However, spider angiomas are different from rosacea or spiderlike veins. They’re circular and have a central point called a spider nevus that is darker than the rest of the lesion. Spider angiomas are a sign of liver disease and can be present in the early stages. They often progress to more extensive and more numerous lesions.
Spider angiomas are caused by increased estrogen levels in the blood. When the liver becomes damaged, it can’t properly metabolize estrogens, which causes them to build up in the body.
Many women who are pregnant or taking birth control pills may have a few spider angiomas. However, in alcoholic liver disease, these lesions are often more frequent and accompanied by red palms and varicose veins in the esophagus.
These are a few of the main signs of alcoholic liver damage that happen outside of the liver. It’s important to know this because most of us have no idea how the liver functions and how it communicates distress.
The liver itself doesn’t show signs like pain or swelling in the early stages of liver damage. This contrasts with other organs like the heart or stomach, where any damage will emit pain or symptoms directly from these organs.
What happens with liver damage is that its many diverse functions become interrupted, causing symptoms in other parts of the body. This may explain why most people never think they have a problem with their liver.
Unfortunately, patients with alcoholism are rarely educated about these issues. This is because they often don’t reveal their drinking, to begin with. And even if they do, the symptoms are widespread and complex, which makes patient education challenging.
My goal in writing articles like this is to help educate regular people about alcoholic liver disease to understand their health and make better decisions.
It’s hard to say if my father would have changed his drinking habits if he knew more about his vague and complicated symptoms. But I think having proper education would have certainly helped him understand his risks and health problems better. | https://medium.com/@ortizrstephiae/the-first-signs-of-alcoholic-liver-damage-are-not-in-the-liver-704701e4b75b | [] | 2020-12-24 19:16:59.402000+00:00 | ['Alcohol', 'Health', 'Body', 'Mental Health', 'Addiction'] |
How Parliament can expedite the crypto ban bill & importance of Apr 3 | Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, addressing the Lok Sabha (Source:PTI)
The Indian Supreme court issued a landmark verdict on March 4, 2020 striking down the RBI prohibition as unconstitutional. There is a lot to be said about the verdict itself, for which I guide you to some dedicated analysis I have already put out on the topic — a video reviewing the full 180 page verdict, as well as an op-ed on Coindesk.
As discussed in my pre-verdict blog, the real clincher is not the RBI circular but the draft ban bill, which could still be passed in Parliament. In fact, there are multiple points in the verdict where the justification for exactly such an action comes up (check video).
Two alternatives of action by the Indian government
There are two routes for the government if they still wish to proceed with a prohibition or ban. The first is an appeal of the court verdict by the RBI and the second is the passage of the ban bill in Parliament.
In this blog I will analyze the second option, i.e., how the bill could be expedited through Parliament. There is already some news around an RBI appeal in the media. If you’re interested in examining the prospects for that, leave me a comment below.
Depending on the urgency the government sees in stemming the flow of cryptocurrencies, different routes could be adopted in Parliament. The passage of the bill and the amount of time it takes is somewhat dependent on procedure; of whether the bill is introduced as a money bill or finance or ordinary bill.
Understanding the types of bills in the Parliamentary route
Money bills hold a special place in Indian parliamentary procedure. Money bills can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha by a Minister (usually Finance Minister) upon the recommendation of the President. The Rajya Sabha cannot make amendments to this bill, it can only give recommendations which the Lok Sabha can accept or ignore. The Rajya Sabha also only has a 14 day window to clear a money bill, after which it is deemed passed.
In the case of Finance bills or Ordinary bills, both houses of Parliament have equal deliberation on the topic, and the procedure can take longer to reach consensus.
The conditions of money bills are laid out in the constitution, however the final classification of a bill as a money bill is a decision of the speaker of the House. We have seen bills such as the Aadhaar Act passed as money bills. The Supreme Court was petitioned on this aspect and ultimately upheld that the bill would classify as a money bill. Typically, issues such as money laundering are considered to fall under the purview of money bills. and the cryptocurrency ban bill would likely be classified as such.
Electronic voting in the Lok Sabha (Source: PTI)
What does this imply for the speed of passage of a ban?
In the case of an ordinary bill, we could some debate in Parliament over the issue. It could be possible that leaders from states which are trying to build large blockchain ecosystems, would petition the government for a regulatory framework instead, and debate the issue in Parliament.
However, in the case of a money bill route, their voices would not have much weight, as only the majority vote of the Lok Sabha would matter. This majority is decisively with the ruling NDA government. | https://medium.com/the-blockchain-policymaker/how-the-indian-parliament-can-expedite-the-crypto-ban-bill-the-importance-of-apr-3-bb5bb5c92736 | ['Tanvi Ratna'] | 2020-03-12 06:11:21.689000+00:00 | ['Ban', 'Legal', 'Bitcoin', 'India', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Why Freelancers Are Leaving Upwork And Building Their Own Client Base | I wanted to write about this for a long time, since it’s been a hot topic for over a year and became even more provocative after Upwork went public in October 2018.
I have been hearing stories from clients and friends on how they’ve been struggling to make good money through Upwork. For those of you who don’t know what Upwork is (though I doubt that you don’t, coz then you wouldn’t be reading this piece), it’s a platform to bring freelancers and startup clients together. For clients, it’s a place to hire remote workers until they establish a sustainable stream of income for their business that can make it affordable for them to hire full time in-house employees. For freelancers, it’s considered to be a great place to look for small projects, short-term contracts, part-time work or work-from-home opportunities, by presenting their skills and pitching on the job postings that show up in the newsfeed.
But wait, did I just say it’s “a great place” for freelancers? Well yes, that’s what it is supposed to be, except that the vast majority of Upwork users have been feeling otherwise.
I just want to pause here and mention that I myself am not on Upwork. I did make an attempt to create an account there upon hearing all the buzz about it in early 2018. Sadly, Upwork rejected my profile and didn’t give me access to any functioning account. So that was pretty much the end of my own Upwork story.
But since I am part of the freelancing world, the topic about Upwork comes up very often in many of my discussions with friends and colleagues, and even with clients, I get in touch with for freelance projects. It turns out that many freelancers (or at least many from my country, Malaysia) are getting fed up with Upwork and quitting it. They would rather suffer for few months trying to build their own client base by conducting a random Internet search and cold calling or emailing stuff than stick to this one platform called Upwork to have all their eggs in one basket.
Let’s see what’s been bothering them. Why is it so bad that they are all leaving Upwork one by one?
Quality of Clients
More than 90% of the clients on Upwork are new business owners whose business operations have not started yet. They come to Upwork to build basic things like marketing materials that are required to start running a company, such as a website, social media presence, copywriting material, traffic to their site, etc. Since they have not started getting revenue from their business yet, they are very stingy in payments for the work they take from freelancers. This drops the hope of many freelancers who join Upwork in an attempt to land their ideal clients.
Benek Lisefski, a UX/UI designer from Aukland, wrote about Upwork, saying, “Your ideal clients don’t live there.”
Most of these clients are just looking for anyone who would offer to do the work at the cheapest price. They don’t seem to go through the portfolios and past work history to reasonably decide who can do the job better. This is why many freelancers on Upwork get no or very few responses on the hundreds of proposals they send out on different job postings.
Rachel Munford, a Scottish freelance writer, shared about Upwork, “95% of the time I heard nothing from projects I sent a proposal to.”
This is a real problem, especially for those who create a profile on Upwork after getting years of experience in their field of expertise. As a creative professional, a programmer or any person who works on a project basis, they have to sell themselves short on Upwork to beat the price competition and end up not getting paid what their work is actually worth.
As maria milojković mentioned, “Choose entry or intermediate level for writing, and you will often be paid $0.001 per word or even less.”
Robotic Responses
It is getting more and more common for freelancers on Upwork to receive automated responses when they contact Upwork support with any problem they’re facing on the platform. I’m not sure if Upwork support staff is a group of virtual assistants, their own in-house employees, or merely a bunch of bots. They often tend to send the same response to a variety of queries, which is too frustrating for the person on the other end of the line whose income is at stake.
Gabriel Iosa, a writer and freelancer who used Upwork in the past, wrote, “All of my emails regarding real, unexplainable situations were answered with a copy-pasted response.”
Usability of Contracts
People constantly complain that they did not get paid for the work they delivered to some client on Upwork. Even though the Escrow system is in place, there is really nothing binding the Upwork clients to fund the next milestone after the previous one has been completed.
So if clients are not happy with somebody’s work, they cut off the contract halfway and move on to another freelancer who would give them a similar or cheaper quote. The ‘contract’ set up on Upwork for each ongoing project is non-binding, which makes it pretty useless, especially if the client has not funded the full project payment in Escrow from the start.
Many clients back off or end the contract before all the discussed scope of work has been completed at the negotiated price. This leaves the freelancers in dismay, as they must have allotted their time for working on the project, expecting to earn a certain amount of money from it.
The Dreaded Dead End
This problem started about two years ago, and has now gotten even worse. Upwork users say that they got banned from Upwork for no given reason whatsoever. Their account got closed and they received an email to notify them about it, without any logical explanation of what actually went wrong.
Ryuno, an ex-user of Upwork, wrote in October 2017, “I woke up this morning to an unexpected e-mail subject from the freelancing site: Your Upwork account has been suspended.”
When these people contact Upwork support, they either get no reply, or a delayed response that doesn’t mention any explanation for the ban. What’s worse is that they are not even allowed to open up a new Upwork account. According to Upwork’s policy, one individual can only have one Upwork account in their lifetime, which means if that’s gone, it’s really gone for good!
Mihajlo Milenovic, a featured writer in Noteworthy — The Journal Blog, once wrote, “Seems Upwork can ban you just for not looking your best in the morning.”
There are people who really rely on Upwork for all their income, and suffer from a huge loss when this happens to them. They lose contact with any clients they have worked for through the platform and are left with payments stuck in Escrow that cannot be withdrawn. The confusion as to why Upwork did that to them is another cause of despair.
Concluding Remarks
After all the negative comments, I am actually grateful to Upwork for not approving my profile last year, or else I would’ve been caught up dealing with these issues as well. I do know that there are people who’ve been able to make good amount of money on Upwork, especially those who joined it before 2016 or those who came from Elance. Hence I’m not saying that you can’t make any money on Upwork. It’s completely possible, and there are certainly some people who are making a living on the platform. But for the vast majority of freelancers out there, the experience with Upwork seems very bad. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/why-freelancers-are-leaving-upwork-and-building-their-own-client-base-d13ffd4112b9 | ['Sana Uqaili'] | 2019-11-12 06:04:49.545000+00:00 | ['Freelance', 'Upwork', 'Freelancers', 'Blogging', 'Freelancing'] |
10 Creative Ways You Can Improve Your Relationship! | Love is always the biggest story. But sometimes, by itself, it is not enough. It is necessary that the two people commit themselves and take responsibility for the relationship. Both must be invested. It is, at the same time, the hardest and easiest thing in the world. Today we tell you then what are the 10 things that, in addition to love, are indispensable to any happy relationship.
1. Trust
Controlling the person we love does not bring us closer to him. On the contrary. It is necessary to trust that we are your choice, to trust that we are important, to trust in the love that you give us (and that we give back). Trust, in short, the love that binds us to that person. This means not letting ourselves be overcome by concerns that, when unfounded and illogical, gradually erode love.
2. Friendship
You have certainly heard that the greatest love stories were born out of friendships. True or not, the fact is that the friendship and affection that we feel for our better half is the basis of all the relationship we have with her.
3. Commitment
The success of a relationship depends directly on how much the two parties are invested in it. Your relationship must be your priority, invest in it and invest your time, energy, effort. That way, your better half will know that it is important in your life.
4. Communication
Talking is necessary. Listening is necessary. The happiest relationships are those in which the two parties put aside fears and modesty and speak openly about what worries them and what motivates them. The passive-aggressive attitude of waiting for the other person to know what we want (because it is their obligation to know) is halfway to disagreements and frustrations.
5. Respect
Because there is no love without respect. Yes, I do. Passion, maybe. But love? Loving implies respecting the other person. Understand it and respect it for what it is. Its truth is not absolute. Neither does the way you see the world. It is necessary to respect the differences as much (or more) as it respects the similarities.
6. Acceptance
Your better half is not perfect. It is full of small (and delicious) imperfections. You will have defects that will bother you and addictions that will make you anxious. It’s part of it. You have to accept the person as a whole. If there is a characteristic in the other person that you do not imagine living with (and that you will hardly accept, even if you say otherwise), the relationship is more likely to be ‘doomed’ and that, sooner or later, will end. But not before a good deal of frustration!
7. Admiration
Loving someone you admire is the greatest luck of all. The admiration we feel towards the loved one is the feeling that drives us to plan a life for two, to want to be part of that person’s life and to be proud to have it in ours.
8. Loyalty
Yes, the concept of what constitutes infidelity varies from couple to couple. The important thing is that they both respect the ‘rules’. Loyalty is nothing more than respect for the person we have agreed to make a priority in our lives. If you have doubts about your own behavior, just think “if it were me, how would I react?”.
9. Forgiveness
Your better half will fail. Not always, but sometimes. It will disappoint you, have attitudes that sadden you, you will even be able to make it furious. And if you do, you need to know how to give your forgiveness when it is asked (and deserved). Get rid of resentments and forgive. That way you will feel the true extension of love, which so often leads us to put someone’s feelings above ours.
10. Common experiences
When we love someone we want to be part of their life and we want that person to be part of ours. Sharing experiences and tastes is a way to involve someone in our world. Activities for two are therefore essential, whether they are unique adventures or mundane everyday things.
It seems simple. And is!
John Efetobor is a “Relationship & Health Expert.” He provides content to thousands of relationship and health enthusiasts across the world, with over two decades of hands-on and proven experience…
Visit https://relationshipcry.com for more insights | https://medium.com/@qasimshaukat650/10-creative-ways-you-can-improve-your-relationship-2d50f09a9d70 | ['Qasim Ali'] | 2021-03-30 14:45:19.211000+00:00 | ['Lovestory', 'Life', 'Relationships', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'First Date'] |
Brand Style Guide: How To Create A Perfect One? | Build A Perfect Brand Identity In 2021, With 10 Best Examples
Brand Style Guide: How To Create A Perfect One?: When we talk about building a memorable brand, we talk about consistency. When we go to the supermarket to buy our favorite coffee, we can see it from several meters away, among all the available coffee offerings.
What happens with all brands: the best remain in our brain because their attractive presence defines by the recurrence of the same logo, fonts, colors, and pictures.
Once we see them long enough, they become instantly recognizable, giving us a distinct sense of reliability and security. And one of the essential points in creating a consistent brand is creating a brand style guide.
A style guide consists of a document that establishes the guidelines, provides all the details related to its graphic use, and guides the marketing area, graphic designers, commercials, web developers, and social media administrators.
The community and even the packaging departments should stay and present a unified vision of the brand to the public.
These guidelines ultimately govern the composition, design, and overall appearance of a company’s brand. And the best companies, the most recognized, generally show consistency in the messages they transmit, in the use of colors, tone, images, and all aspects in which they interact with the brand.
If you crave to know a little more about the use of colors and their importance, we recommend reading: Psychology of color: what do your brand’s colors say?
Basic guidelines of a style guide
Now we will see the basic guidelines that every Style Guide of a brand should have and how they influence it.
What Is The Purpose Of Branding?
Many companies think that the statement of Purpose or a Mission as a company is internal communication. But it is not like that. The purpose of a company should be the compass of the brand’s Style Guide. A statement ensures that every piece of content created for the brand is geared toward the same goal.
A statement of purpose can guide several things:
This article will help you develop a unique and memorable brand identity.
What Is The Customer Profile (Buyer Persona)?
The buyer persona or the presentation of the ideal client for each business. It is a profile prepared with a series of details related to the ideal client’s age, gender, position, and personal or professional challenges. For this reason, the definition of the buyer persona should also appear in the brand’s style guide. It is your target audience and, therefore, defines for whom the brand creates and publishes content.
The buyer persona can guide:
What Should Be The Color Palette?
A color palette is the group of colors that defines and guides the brand’s design in its visual pieces. The color palette can be as straightforward or as elaborate as you like, although two or three are the predominant colors.
Regardless of the colors you use for a color palette, make sure to identify their or color codes.
These codes consist of the same letters and numbers to ensure that we always use the same hue, brightness, contrast, and exact hue to associate with our brand. These color codes can be seen in most of the available photo editing or design software.
The color palette can guide the creation of:
The logo.
Website design.
Print ads.
Social networks.
Audiovisual content.
Packaging
What Should Be The Typography Of Your Brand?
Typography is another visual element of a brand’s style guide and goes far beyond the typeface used in the company’s logo. Typographic guidelines can also define a blog’s layout, articles, links, and the entire website.
Because as we have already said, the purpose of the brand style guide is to define all the various visual elements of a company that, when combined, explain the entire brand as it is recognized.
The tone of voice is a consistent way to convey your brand message to your audience. It is part of an expression that, together with images, define the brand identity. In some style manuals, they call the tone of voice as best communication practices.
Words are an essential part of a brand’s identity, and when used effectively, it helps shape the way the brand is perceived and the way potential customers interact with it.
Therefore, in addition to defining how the brand looks (images), it is also essential to explain how the brand speaks, a definitive style for writing and speaking.
These Are The Ten Examples Of Brand Style Guides:
1. Medium.com
medium.com
Medium is a publishing platform where people can read relevant and inspiring stories on the topics that involve them and share ideas with the world.
From a graphic point of view, Medium emphasizes both typography and color in its brand style guide. It also includes details related to the company’s “purpose” and “product principles.” You can review the complete brand guide here.
2. Starbucks
Starbucks
For example, Starbucks calls this document the “brand expression guide” and demonstrates a high-level summary of how Starbucks’ brand appears to live.
In the first several pages of this guide, you will find what “brand expression” really is and some case studies. By looking at these specific examples, it is possible to understand how different brand elements (or expressions) should design various applications.
The core elements of Starbucks are:
Logo: how to use the logo.
Color: primary and complementary green color palette.
Voice: the use of a functional and expressive voice.
Typography: fonts for headlines, body text, and accents.
Illustration: How to use texture, photo collage, and other graphics.
Photography: examples of the artistic, editorial, and intentional style.
The fantastic website is another excellent example of an online manual. Having a dedicated website like this one, displaying typography, grids, and colors, helps ensure brand consistency.
3. Skype
Skype
The well-known tool that allows people to create and get free voice and video calls across the Internet adopting a computer, web browser, or mobile phone, also has a style guide for its brand.
Skype, unlike Medium, focuses mainly on the writing and description of its products and services.
4. Uber
Uber
On the other hand, Uber calls its standards document “a system,” made up of nine core elements.
The system displays such an efficient brand identity to use, flexible across applications, and capable of presenting localized content in a globally consistent manner.
The nine core elements of your brand manual are:
The system is extensive and includes everything from brand history to applying the logo, typography, and colors to create new graphics.
5. Spotify
Spotify
The Spotify style guide focuses on graphic design best practices and does a great job of outlining your assets’ use cases. Spotify’sSpotify’s seamless user experience is built on its unique design language and has been key to its dominance of the market.
Spotify Logo
The Spotify style guide provides perfect examples of:
How not to use its iconography.
Color matching problems.
The manipulation of the logo.
Size restrictions, among others.
Spotify knows that its brand is used by people who do not work for them and uses this guide to create limits around the description of the use of its graphic pieces. And to make sure they are put to fair use and ensure consistency, your style guide provides downloadable files for your various logos and brands.
6. Jamie Oliver
Renowned chef and television host Jamie Oliver also has a brand style manual. It comprises everything you need to know about branding that should be used in product packaging, marketing support, and point of sale, ensuring that it remains consistent at all times.
Using a brand correctly is extremely important for what we want to communicate.
In particular, Jamie Oliver’sOliver’s brand guide is exceptionally comprehensive, ranging from the logo’s location to the packaging of the cookware it offers. It also includes a broad palette of colors and their specific use.
7. Cisco
Cisco
Cisco is as widespread a brand as its product and service offering. That is why it is essential to have clear guidelines for using your visual and graphic resources.
The Cisco Style Guide is not just a guide. It is an interactive brand book. The company brings website visitors page by page through its vision, mission, strategy, and even its brand promise before displaying its logo to users and allowing them to type using its proprietary typeface.
8. Netflix
Netflix.com
The Netflix brand style guide is exceptionally minimalist regarding its visual identity, the logo’s versions, the colors, and how to apply it. And like several of the cases we’ve seen, this guide also teaches us what to avoid and what the rules are to ensure the proper use of brand assets.
Netflix primarily focuses on treating its logo. The company gives a simplistic set of rules governing the size, spacing, and placement of its famous uppercase typeface, as well as a unique color code for its classic red logo.
9. NASA
The NASA Brand Book is as official and complicated as you think. At 220 pages, the guide describes countless logo locations, color uses, and supporting designs. And yes, NASA’s space shuttles have their own brand rules. Check out the complete guide to the brand here.
NASA
10. Audi
Audi
Audi recently redesigned its corporate identity to be a digital world leader, probably one of the most comprehensive of all.
The Audi guidelines cover nine items:
But that’s just the basics because it also has sections with guides on the user interface, media, corporate sound, movies, and more.
It is also possible to find what Audi calls “Brand Appearance,” which explains the principles of how to use the brand elements, with many examples and instructions that convey the essentials and provide inspiration for ideas.
We can call it brand guidelines, style guides, or brand books, but they all suggest standards that guide us to use the brand’s elements.
The design, printing, or manufacture of brand elements depends on a set of standards and guidelines given by this crucial document, ultimately helping maintain brand consistency and save time, money, and frustration. | https://medium.com/@mayankbhatt040/brand-style-guide-how-to-create-a-perfect-one-7220889a4f86 | ['Mayank Bhatt'] | 2020-12-30 06:14:30.904000+00:00 | ['Branding', 'Guides And Tutorials', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Branding Strategy', 'Business'] |
Java Spring Boot — More About REST Controller : Returning Object From Controller | In the previous article, we have developed a simple REST API where we can call an URL from web browser and get a response.
Now we will make something more applicable in real web service use case. When we call an API on a web service, we often want to do some data manipulation. Either we want to get, write, edit, or delete some data. Let’s try to build an API when we can get some data from it.
I will try to make an API that return a list of object. Let’s start from creating a class which will be the object we return. I named this class Student where it has two variable named studentNumber which the data type is an integer, and name which the data type is a string. Also, don’t forget to add the constructor, getter, and setter function.
After that, we make a function and annotate it with @RequestMapping(value=/”students”) annotation to make it accessible via REST request through /students URL. The function will return a list of student objects.
Now for convenient to test our function, let’s just hard code the return of the function.
Finally, when we run the app, we will see the following return. Notice that the return we get is already in JSON format. This is done because we use @RestController annotation at our controller class (the MyController class), so Spring Boot will do the transformation from java object to JSON format for us. | https://medium.com/@mnaufalazwar/java-spring-boot-more-about-rest-controller-returning-object-from-controller-e0a72a4541c3 | [] | 2020-12-25 14:36:42.006000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Java Spring Boot', 'Rest Api', 'Java Spring'] |
MS Excel — Cool Conditional Formatting Tips! | Conditional formatting is one of my favorite Excel visualization techniques. But it can confusing!
I’ve rounded up four techniques below that I have learned recently. I hope you find them useful! | https://medium.com/lets-excel/ms-excel-cool-conditional-formatting-tips-119941cc78db | ['Don Tomoff'] | 2019-01-04 18:41:26.716000+00:00 | ['Excel Training', 'Productivity', 'Visualization', 'How To', 'Excel'] |
Training Splits: What you need to know! | Your Training “Split” is the way you organize your workouts on a weekly basis. This is usually done following the calendar 7-Day week but could be adjusted for more than 7 days. The way you organize your training allows you to maximize your results and your recovery. The study of organizing training programs is known as periodization. This is a complicated and exhausting topic. What has been shown is that there is no “perfect” way. Consistency, hard work, and intelligent training is what works. Creating a training program for your body and the logistics of your life will lead to long-term success and maximize the results you see from working out.
I am going to go over three common ways to organize your training week. One method is not better than the other. Each split has pros and potential cons.
Bro Splits
The most common split I see in the average gym-goer or “gen pop” is a bro split. With this split, each day is organized by the muscles that are going to be trained for that day.
Sample 6-Day Bro Split
Bro splits are great for maximizing hypertrophy or muscle building. By breaking each training session into body parts you are able to train frequently because the working muscles will get ample rest before the next training session. A bro split does not work well for those who are not able to train as frequently. This split is frequently used by competitive bodybuilders. This type of split is focused on building muscle. If you want to work on other qualities such as speed, strength, mobility, or competitive weightlifting this split will not be optimal.
2. Upper-Lower Split
In an upper-lower split, upper and lower body workouts are alternated. This is a great way to maximize muscle gains but still allows for other qualities to be trained. I have personally found this split effective for myself and for the athletes I have worked with. An upper-lower split is usually done four days per week.
Sample Upper-Lower Split
In a four-day upper-lower split each day can have different areas of focus. For example, on Monday you could do a heavy upper body strength workout with lower reps and on Thursday do a lighter workout focusing on higher reps or on speed. The same can be done with the lower body. This split can maximize results in the short and long term. Four days per week is a good number to be effective but not have to spend too much time in the gym. There are not any real negatives to this type of split.
3. Total Body Split
In a total body split the entire body is worked on each day. This is typically done for two to three days per week. This type of split works well for athletes and the average gym-goer. Total body splits are usually centered around compound movements with less accessory work.
Sample Total Body Split
I have seen many people see tremendous results from a total-body training program. This works well for those who want to do other activities outside of the gym. This type of split would most likely not be effective for strength athletes. However, for team sports athletes this split is terrific. Another benefit of this split is longevity. Three days per week is enough to be effective but still allow for ample recovery between workouts and between weeks.
Those are three of the most common splits. As I mentioned above what matters most is being consistent, training hard, and training smart. You can also combine or rotate splits to find what works best for you. I think you see the theme, find what works best for you! | https://medium.com/@jwesfitness/training-splits-what-you-need-to-know-f7ee24a388b | [] | 2020-12-19 21:36:08.434000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Training', 'Exercise', 'Fitness', 'Workout'] |
FastAPI Microservice Patterns: Local Development Environment | FastAPI Microservice Patterns: Local Development Environment
Source code example repository
The series post’s will reference source code examples in the Github repository fastapi-microservice-patterns. Usually each sub directory contains an exemplary implementation of one or several patterns and is executable. The only exception is the directory hello-fastapi which shows how a minimal dockerized FastAPI service looks like and which can be executed using docker. The purpose of this directory is to make it easier to figure out which files need to be added for running services in with the skaffold setup.
Local development environment
First one needs to setup the development environment which allows the execution of the examples. The setup is suitable for local development as well and consists of Skaffold, Docker (for building container images), kubectl (for deploying images), minikube (Kubernetes distribution suitable for for running on local developer machines). The advantage of this setup is that the examples are easy to follow and allow migrating own projects based on the example skeleton into production environments comparably easily. One migration step required is to migrate from kubectl to a deployment tool which allows easier configuration, which implies easier maintenance, etc. like e.g. Helm. There is Kustomize as well but as others suggest I’d suggest to use Helm. However using Helm straight away would have added complexity to the examples which distract from the relevant things w.r.t. the pattern implementation. For an introduction to Skaffold refer to e.g. Intro to Skaffold for easy Kubernetes development.
Setup of the local development environment and run examples
To run the examples on a local machine the following steps are needed:
Skaffolded FastAPI
The source code repository hello-skaffold contains a minimal FastAPI service. The functionality is as minimalist as in the dockerized FastAPI service with the difference that a service based on this skeleton may be developed way faster than with a workflow based on docker or docker-compose. To run the example change into the sub directory hello-skaffold and execute minikube start followed by skaffold dev --port-forward .
The post series content | https://medium.com/@florian-kromer/fastapi-microservice-patterns-local-development-environment-12182e786f1c | ['Florian Kromer'] | 2020-12-29 13:37:11.392000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Skaffold', 'Fastapi', 'Design Patterns', 'Microservices'] |
I created my own YouTube algorithm (to stop me wasting time) | I created my own YouTube algorithm (to stop me wasting time)
Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash
🚀 Escaping the YouTube algorithm
I love watching YouTube videos that improve my life in some tangible way. Unfortunately, the YouTube algorithm doesn’t agree. It likes to feed me clickbait and other garbage.
This isn’t all that surprising. The algorithm prioritises clicks and watch time.
So I set out on a mission: Can I write code that will automatically find me valuable videos, eliminating my dependence on the YouTube algorithm?
Here’s how it went.
🗺️ The best laid plans
I started by visualising what I wanted the tool to do. I wanted something that would (i) rank videos based on likely relevance for me and (ii) automatically send me suggested videos, which I could select from.
I figured I could make some major productivity gains if I could batch-decide the videos I was going to watch each week and eliminate infinity scrolling YouTube browsing.
Generated at www.imgflip.com — used with permission
I knew I’d need the YouTube API to get video information (what’s an API?). I’d then create a formula which processed that information to rank videos. For the final step, I planned to set up an automated email to myself using AWS Lambda, which would list the top-ranked videos.
That’s not exactly how it ended up, though.
(If you want to skip the story and see the final code, click here.)
⛵️ Navigating the YouTube API
I wanted to find metrics that I could use to rank videos in terms of their likely interest to me.
I read through YouTube’s documentation here and saw that you can get information at the level of videos (title, when published, how many views, the thumbnail, etc) and at the channel level (number of subscribers, comments, views, channel playlists, etc).
Seeing this, I was pretty confident I could use this to define a metric and rank videos.
I obtained an API key through the developer console here and copied it into my Python script.
This enables you to initialise an API call and retrieve results with the following lines of code:
This would return a JSON object, which I could parse to find the appropriate information. For example, to find the date published, I could index results as follows:
There’s a helpful video series here which walks you through the process of using the YouTube API.
🧮 Finding valuable videos: defining the formula
Now that I could query the appropriate information, I needed to use the values obtained to rank videos in terms of their interest to me.
This was a tricky one. What makes a good video? Is it the view count? The number of comments? The number of subscribers of the channel?
I decided to start with total view count, as a reasonable first-degree proxy of how valuable the video would be. In theory, videos that are interesting or well-explained will gain positive audience feedback, get promoted more and thus have more views.
However, there are a few things that total view count doesn’t take into account:
Firstly, if a channel has built up a large audience, then it will be much easier to get a comparable level of views compared to a smaller channel. Some of this may reflect more experience leading to better videos, but I didn’t want to discount potentially high-quality videos from smaller channels. A 100,000 view video from a channel with 10,000 subscribers is probably better than a 100,000 view video from a 1 million subscriber channel.
And secondly, videos can get lots of views for the wrong reasons, such as clickbait titles or thumbnails, or being controversial. I’m personally less interested in these types of video.
I needed to incorporate other metrics. The next one was subscriber count.
I tested ranking based solely on the view-to-subscriber ratio (ie. by dividing views by number of subscribers).
When I looked at the results, some of them looked promising. However, I did notice a problem: For videos with really small subscriber counts, the score would get heavily amplified and surface to the top.
While the top video looks potentially interesting, the second and third aren’t really what I was looking for.
I took some efforts to remove these negative edge cases:
I set the minimum number of views at 5000
I set the maximum view-to-subscriber ratio to 5
I played around with various thresholds and these ones seemed to filter out these low-sub low-view videos pretty well. I tested the code on a few different topics and was starting to get pretty decent results.
However, there was another problem I noticed: Videos that had been published longer ago had a higher chance of getting more views. They simply had longer to accumulate them.
My plan was to run this code once a week, so I decided to restrict the search to videos published in the last 7 days.
I also added ‘days since published’ into the ranking metric. I decided to divide the previous score by the number of days, so that the final metric was proportionate to how long the video had been out for.
I tested my code further, and found I was quite consistently identifying great videos that I wanted to watch. I played around with different variations and weighting of different components of my formula, but I found it to be an inexact science, so I settled on the following formula which I found balanced simplicity with effectiveness:
The value function
🔬 Testing my new tool
First, I tested using the query term ‘medical school’. I got the following results:
I then went to YouTube and manually searched for videos related to medicine and medical school. I found that my tool had captured all the ones I’d be interested in watching. In particular, the second video by a doctor called Kevin Jabbal was one that enjoyed.
I tested on another search term; ‘productivity’, and was again pretty happy with the results:
The second video was a slightly rogue one — and not the type of video I was looking for. But I couldn’t think of a simple way to screen out these videos, which were picked up due to an alternative meaning of the search term.
Several months ago, OpenAI shared a really interesting new neural network called ‘GPT-3’. I decided to test my video finder with ‘GPT-3’ as a search term and found this video:
It’s an interesting video from a creator with only a few thousand subscribers.
If I make the same search on YouTube.com, I have to scroll past videos about GPT-3 from all the big channels before finally finding the above video in 31st place.
GPT-3 videos from channels with larger audiences
Finding these interesting videos with fresh perspectives is much easier using the Video Finder code I wrote.
Over the last few months, I’ve tried with multiple different search terms based on my interests, such as ‘artificial intelligence’, ‘medical AI’ and ‘Python programming’. Pretty much without fail, there’s been at least one interesting video in the top five that the Video Finder suggests.
🖋 Setting up the workflow
I tidied up all my code and uploaded it to GitHub.
On a high-level, my code now worked as follows:
Use the search terms, search period and API key to extract video information from YouTube Parse out the video metrics of interest Use the ‘value function’ to rank these videos based on predicted interest Store the relevant video information into a DataFrame Print details (including links) of the top 5 videos to the console
I wanted a way to automatically run this script and had decided to use AWS Lambda (a serverless platform). Lambda lets you write code which lies dormant until it is triggered (e.g. once per week, or based on an event).
My perfect workflow would have been to automatically email myself the list of videos every week using Lambda. That way I could pick out the videos from the past I wanted to watch the forthcoming week, and I’d never have to visit the YouTube home page again.
However, this didn’t work out.
This was my first time using Lambda and, try as I might, I just couldn’t get all the imported libraries to work at the same time. To execute, the code needed the boto3 email client, OAuth for the API call, Pandas for storing results and many sub-dependencies. Ordinarily, installing these packages is fairly trivial, but on Lambda there were extra challenges. Firstly, there are memory limits for uploads, so I needed to zip the libraries and unzip them after being uploaded. Secondly, it turns out that AWS Lambda uses custom linux which can make it trickier to import the correct, cross-compatible libraries. Thirdly, my Mac was behaving weirdly with its virtual environments.
After putting around 10–15 hours into scouring StackOverFlow, uploading and re-uploading different codebases and consulting several friends, I still couldn’t get it to run. So eventually, much to my frustration, I decided to give up. (if you have any good ideas, let me know!)
So instead, I settled for a plan B: I manually run the script on my local computer once a week (after an automatic email prompt). To be honest, it’s not the end of the world.
🔖 Closing thoughts
All-in-all this was a really fun project. I learnt how to use the YouTube API, gained familiarity with AWS Lambda and created a tool that I can use going forward.
Using my code to decide what videos to watch does seem to have boosted my productivity, as long as I have the discipline not to click on too many ‘follow-on’ links. It’s possible that I miss some interesting videos, but my aim isn’t to comprehensively catch all good videos worth watching (I don’t think that’s possible). Rather, I want to raise the bar on the quality of the videos I do watch.
This project is just one of many ideas I have around automating information processing. I believe there’s huge potential for us to boost our productivity and reclaim our time through intelligent digital minimalism.
If you’re interested in joining my journey, you can follow on my mailing list and YouTube channel. | https://towardsdatascience.com/i-created-my-own-youtube-algorithm-to-stop-me-wasting-time-afd170f4ca3a | ['Chris Lovejoy'] | 2020-12-08 10:29:00.010000+00:00 | ['Python', 'YouTube', 'API', 'AWS Lambda', 'Programming'] |
Sue Himmelrich, no fan of housing. | I’m curious, do people know what Mayor Himmelrich means when she says she only supports affordable housing?
“Affordable housing” is more accurately described as income-restricted rental housing. It’s vitally important and we should build as much as we can but it’s not available to everyone. To qualify, you cannot earn more than the income limits.
For a family of four in Santa Monica, the upper most income limit in newly constructed “affordable housing” is $92,750 per year. That’s $46,375 per working parent. If you make more, you’re out of luck — affordable housing is not available to you.
This excludes *a lot* of people. Many of our most essential workers do not qualify. Our nurses, teachers, firefighters, etc. all earn more than $46,375 per year. Their only option is market rate housing, which Mayor Himmelrich does not support.
That’s a big problem. We should want these community members to live in Santa Monica with us. But by saying you don’t support more market rate housing, what you’re in effect saying is that you don’t support housing for them. Our nurses, our teachers, our firefighters — according to Mayor Himmelrich, they don’t deserve housing here.
I find this all to be very hypocritical. Mayor Himmelrich lives in market rate housing! In one of the most expensive and exclusive zip codes in the United States. I guess this means that market rate housing is good when it satisfies her needs, but bad when it satisfies the needs of someone else. So, what ends up happening is that many of our nurses, our teachers, our firefighters, and others end up living elsewhere and commute in through horrific traffic every day. This clogs our roads, pollutes our air, and directly harms the quality of life for those we say are so important to our city.
I think housing is a civil right. And like other civil rights, you either support it for everyone or you don’t really support it all. We don’t get to pick and choose who gets access to the ballot box. Similarly, Mayor Himmelrich shouldn’t get to pick and choose who gets access to housing. | https://medium.com/@matthewstevens-67394/sue-himmelrich-no-fan-of-housing-380d609304ab | ['Matthew Stevens'] | 2020-12-19 05:34:00.482000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Santa Monica', 'Los Angeles', 'Local Government', 'Housing'] |
Get rid of belly fat with these five amazing techniques | Get rid of belly fat with these five amazing techniques
Bloated stomach has been a reality many people are trying to part ways with for ages. you’ve got a beach party among others but belly fat might be the reason for you not to attend, join me on this journey, let me walk you through these simple steps that help millions lose tummy fat around the world. Ahmad muhammad kabir Oct 27, 2021·3 min read
Make water number one. You always need to drink water, but it can be especially important if you’re trying to flatten your stomach. When you drink water, you help your body maintain proper fluid balance, stop water retention (a major cause of bloated bellies) and feel full so you’re inclined to eat less overall. Water also breaks down fat for energy and moves nutrients to your muscles to maintain your metabolism.
2. Exercise often. For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, for at least 150 minutes a week or vigorous aerobic activity, such as running, for at least 75 minutes a week.
If you use a step counter, remember that it takes an average of 10,000 steps a day to prevent weight gain. Some studies indicate it might take 15,000 steps a day to prevent the regain of weight after significant weight loss.
To lose excess fat and keep it from coming back, aim for slow and steady weight loss. Consult your doctor for help getting started and staying on track.
3. Stop Alcohol consumption. can you stop Alcohol? if yes perfect that will go a long way in helping you achieve your set goals. When it comes to flattening your tummy, alcohol is not your friend. It makes your body store more of the fat you eat and burn up to 36% less fat than you normally would. It can also inhibit your body’s production of fat-burning hormones. so please abstain from alcohol for healthy result.
you can quit alcohol for other healthy drinks like, okinawatonic or keto.
4. Fasting. I know right, might be a little scary but beneficial in the long run.
One of Mattson’s studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed data about a range of health benefits associated with the practice. These include a longer life, a leaner body and a sharper mind.
“Many things happen during intermittent fasting that can protect organs against chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, age-related neurodegenerative disorders, even inflammatory bowel disease and many cancers,”.
5. Reduce junk food. i know you like all the food you eat but when our computers contains junk files it often ask for deletion so do our body. Junk foods can be a treat to the taste buds, but the ill effects of these foods widely known. Its regular consumption can have adverse effects on your health and may cause irreparable damage to the body. Several scientific researchers have proven that junk food can leave you prone to heart diseases obesity and may eventually make your brain weak and non-functional.
click here reduce tummy fat with this.
Why do i need to get rid of tummy fat
Tummy fat
The trouble with tummy fat is that it’s not limited to the extra layer of padding located just below the skin (subcutaneous fat). It also includes visceral fat — which lies deep inside your abdomen, surrounding your internal organs.
Although subcutaneous fat poses cosmetic concerns, visceral fat is linked with far more dangerous health problems, including:
Heart disease
Type 2 diabetes
High blood pressure
Abnormal cholesterol
Breathing problems
CHECK THIS reduce your tummy fat with this. | https://medium.com/@ahmadmuhammadkabir841/get-rid-of-belly-fat-with-these-five-amazing-techniques-72f774998621 | ['Ahmad Muhammad Kabir'] | 2021-12-15 07:12:03.573000+00:00 | ['Exercise', 'Health', 'Fat', 'Fitness', 'Fat Burning Foods'] |
E.U. Begins Mass Vaccination Drive | Here’s what you need to know: Video
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Germany, Hungary and Slovakia began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Saturday, one day ahead of the European Union’s official rollout.
[speaking in German] [cameras clicking] [cameras clicking] [speaking in Hungarian]
Germany, Hungary and Slovakia began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Saturday, one day ahead of the European Union’s official rollout.CreditCredit…Zsolt Czegledi/EPA, via Shutterstock
BERLIN — From nursing homes in France to hospitals in Poland, older Europeans and the workers who care for them rolled up their sleeves on Sunday to receive coronavirus vaccine shots in a campaign to inoculate more than 450 million people across the European Union.
The inoculations offered a rare respite as the continent struggles with one of its most precarious moments since the pandemic began.
Despite national lockdowns, restrictions on movement, shuttering of restaurants and cancellations of Christmas gatherings, the virus has stalked Europe into the dark winter months. The spread of a more contagious variant of the virus in Britain has raised such alarm the much that continental Europe rushed to close its borders to travelers coming from the country, effectively plunging the nation as a whole into quarantine.
“Today, we start turning the page on a difficult year,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president wrote on Twitter. “The #COVID19 vaccine has been delivered to all EU countries.”
In Germany, a nursing home in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt jumped the gun on Sunday’s planned rollout of the vaccination campaign across the European Union, inoculating a 101-year old woman and dozens of other residents and staff members on Saturday, hours after the doses arrived. People were also vaccinated on Saturday in Hungary and Slovakia.
Early Sunday, dozens of minivans carrying coolers filled with dry ice to keep the doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from rising above minus 70 degrees Celsius fanned out to nursing homes across the German capital as part of the wave of immunizations. The rollout comes as Europe’s largest nation is confronting its deadliest period since the start of the pandemic.
With nearly 1,000 deaths recorded in Germany each day in the week before Christmas, a crematory in the eastern state of Saxony operated around the clock, straight through the holiday, to keep up.
“I’ve never had to see it this bad before,” said Eveline Müller, the director of the facility, in the town of Görlitz.
More than 350,000 people in the 27 nations that make up the European Union have died from Covid-19 since the bloc’s first fatality was recorded in France on Feb. 15. And for many countries, the worst days have come in recent weeks. In Poland, November was the deadliest month since the end of World War II.
For Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy, the vaccine’s arrival could not come soon enough. Italy’s suffering at the outset of the pandemic served as a warning for the world, and the current death toll is again among the worst in Europe.
“Today Italy reawakens. It’s #VaccineDay,” he wrote on Twitter after a 29-year-old nurse at Rome’s Spallanzani hospital was the first person to be inoculated. “This date will remain with us forever.”
The nurse, Claudia Alivernini, said she hoped the vaccination campaign would signal “the beginning of the end” of the pandemic.
The European Union’s member states made a show of solidarity by waiting for the bloc’s regulatory board to approve the vaccine before beginning coordinated national campaigns. But how those will play out in individual countries is likely to be disparate.
All of the member states have national health care systems, so people will be vaccinated free of charge. But just as hospitals in poorer member states like Bulgaria and Romania were overwhelmed in the latest wave of the virus, the networks in those countries will face challenges in distributing vaccines.
While each nation is determining how to carry out its campaign, in general the first phase will focus on people most at risk of exposure and those most likely to have serious health conditions — health care workers and the oldest citizens.
Most member states have said they expect the vaccine to reach the general public by spring.
United States › United StatesOn Dec. 26 14-day change New cases 225,818 –9% New deaths 1,645 –7% World › WorldOn Dec. 26 14-day change New cases 510,393 –7% New deaths 7,061 –6% Where cases per capita are highest Waiting for free antigen testing in Paris last week.Credit…Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
Canada, France, Japan and Spain have found small numbers of infections involving a new, potentially more transmissible variant of the coronavirus, most linked to travel from Britain, where it was first detected.
The rapid spread of the variant led to the lockdown of London and southern England, prompted a temporary French blockade of the English Channel and resulted in countries around the world barring travelers coming from Britain. Because few countries have the level of genomic surveillance that Britain does, there is concern that the variant may have been traveling across the world undetected for weeks.
A recent study by British scientists found no evidence that the variant was more deadly than others but estimated that it was 56 percent more contagious.
The British variant has been diagnosed in seven people in Japan, the country’s health ministry said. All had either recently traveled to Britain or were in contact with someone who had.
The discovery in Japan prompted the country to close its borders to all new entry by nonresident foreigners. The ban will go into effect at midnight on Monday and last through the end of January, the public broadcaster NHK reported.
In Spain, the variant was found in the capital region, the local authorities said on Saturday. Antonio Zapatero, a regional health official, said that four cases had been confirmed in Madrid, while another three were being treated as suspicious. At least two of the cases involve people who had recently been to Britain and then tested positive in Madrid, as well as some of their relatives.
In France, the first case of the new variant was identified on Friday, according to the country’s health ministry. Officials said the patient was a French citizen living in Britain who had traveled from London to Tours, a city in central France, on Dec. 19, a day before the British government imposed a lockdown because of the variant.
Officials in Sweden said on Saturday that a case of the variant had been detected there after a traveler visited Sormland, near Stockholm, from Britain over Christmas, Reuters reported.
Health officials in Ontario, Canada, said on Saturday that they had confirmed two cases of the variant in the province. The two cases included a couple from Durham, about 90 miles northwest of Toronto. The couple had no known travel history, exposure or high-risk contacts, the province’s health ministry said.
It is normal for viruses to mutate, and most of the coronavirus mutations have proved minor. The British variant has a constellation of 23 mutations, several of which might alter its transmissibility. Vaccine experts are confident that the available vaccines will be able to block the new variant, although that has to be confirmed by laboratory experiments that are now underway.
A few other concerning variants have also been identified, including one in South Africa and another in Nigeria. Britain said on Thursday that it would ban travel from South Africa after the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said two people were confirmed to have been infected with the variant that emerged there.
Germany, the Netherlands, Lebanon, Australia and Singapore have identified infections with the new variant. And Denmark, which has wider genomic surveillance than many other countries, detected 33 cases of it from Nov. 14 to Dec. 14, according to the Danish health authorities.
The United States has not yet reported any cases of the British variant. But the country will require all airline passengers arriving from Britain to test negative for the coronavirus within 72 hours of their departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. The rule will take effect on Monday.
Hisako Ueno and Mike Ives contributed reporting.
Two unemployment measures expired on Saturday after President Trump refused to sign the bill.Credit…Erin Scott for The New York Times
Two critical federal unemployment programs expired on Saturday as President Trump resisted signing a sweeping $900 billion aid package into law until lawmakers more than tripled the size of relief checks.
Mr. Trump’s resistance to signing the bill risks leaving millions of unemployed Americans without crucial benefits, jeopardizes other critical assistance for business and families set to lapse at the end of the year, and raises the possibility of a government shutdown on Tuesday.
The president blindsided lawmakers this past week when he described as “a disgrace” a relief compromise that overwhelmingly passed both chambers and was negotiated by his own Treasury secretary. He hinted that he might veto the measure unless lawmakers raised the bill’s $600 direct payment checks to $2,000, and Mr. Trump, who was largely absent from negotiations over the compromise, doubled down on that criticism on Saturday while offering little clarity on his plans. A White House spokesman declined to indicate what the president intended to do.
“I simply want to get our great people $2000, rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter on Saturday. “Also, stop the billions of dollars in ‘pork.’”
The $2.3 trillion spending package includes the $900 billion in pandemic aid as well as funding to keep the government open past Monday. Two federal jobless programs established to expand and extend benefits lapsed on Saturday, meaning that millions of unemployed workers will lose them.
Vaccination teams leaving the former Tegel airport in Berlin to distribute doses on Sunday.Credit…Lena Mucha for The New York Times
“Am I famous now?” Kurt Klingseisen, 90, asked as he and his wife Helga, 83, rolled up their sleeves to receive injections of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Sunday morning in the southern German state of Bavaria.
The couple, who live in a nursing home in Germering, were among the first to be inoculated in Germany, whose scientists played a lead role in developing the vaccine.
“This is a day of hope,” Dilek Kalayci, Berlin’s leading health official, said after the first residents in the capital received their jabs. “This vaccine is a stroke of luck. That we even have a vaccine after only 10 months is not to be taken for granted.”
Unlike some other European countries, where political leaders were first in line to receive the vaccine in an effort to raise public confidence, members of the German government said they would wait for their turn.
For days, doctors had been visiting the homes, explaining to residents what would happen on Sunday when the nationwide immunization program began. They secured residents’ willingness to accept the vaccine, which was developed in the western city of Mainz by the firm BioNTech and produced and distributed together with the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
Semi-trucks carrying about 150,000 doses arrived in Germany under police escort and distributed them to 400 vaccination centers across the country. Teams of volunteer doctors are administering the jabs free of charge to the public.
Early Sunday, the first vaccinators fanned out to nursing homes across the country. Many of Germany’s 29,778 recorded deaths from Covid have been residents in such facilities. Based on a plan drawn up by government officials, medical experts and members of a national Ethics Council, people age 80 and older and their caregivers are being prioritized, followed by medical and other frontline workers.
By the end of the year, Germany expects to receive 1.3 million doses, and officials have said they hope the vaccine will be available to the wider public by the summer.
The next challenge will be to persuade people skeptical of the vaccine to be inoculated. About two-thirds of people in Germany are willing to be vaccinated, according to a recent survey by YouGov and the German news agency D.P.A.
“Everyone who participates is saving lives,” Jens Spahn, the health minister, said at the launch of the vaccine campaign. “The vaccine is the key to getting out of this pandemic.”
Michael Callaway working the door at the Cantab Lounge, a longtime establishment in Cambridge, Mass., in 2008. The lounge’s owner put it up for sale this year, ending its 50-year run.Credit…Jodi Hilton for The New York Times
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
The Cantab: A dive bar that drew poets, too.
Before Cambridge, Mass., became a tech boomtown, the Cantab sat on a stretch of Massachusetts Avenue that was genuinely grungy. The bar took only cash. It was always sticky, and you wouldn’t want to use the bathroom.
But if you wandered in there on the right night, you could find a poetry slam or bluegrass night or Little Joe Cook and the Thrillers. Ben Affleck’s father used to work there, serving Budweisers to off-duty postal workers.
In July, when the Cantab’s owner, Richard Fitzgerald, announced that he was putting it up for sale after 50 years, a howl of distress went up from that old, scruffy bohemian Cambridge. Mr. Fitzgerald, known as Fitzy, hopes to find a new buyer to reopen the place in the summer — let’s hope in its old, sticky style. — Ellen Barry
NEW ORLEANS
The Cake Cafe and Bakery: Long mornings over crab omelets and cupcakes.
On Saturday and Sunday, mornings the line ran out the door. People waited for French toast, biscuits and gravy, and crab omelets the size of phone books; you could add a cupcake for a dollar.
The staff knew most of the customers on sight, except during carnival season when the tourists flocked. By that time, those in the know had already ordered a king cake, in competition with the best in the city. It closed in June. — Campbell Robertson
PITTSBURGH
The Original Hot Dog Shop: It was never really about the hot dogs
The warnings about the fries were as legendary as the fries themselves.
The large is huge!
Order it with friends.
Seriously, you can’t eat it by yourself.
The Original Hot Dog Shop had “hot dog” right there in the name, but it was the fries — perfectly cut, fried twice in peanut oil to extra crispness, served in a huge pile in a paper basket, with side cups of beef gravy or cheese product — that people talked about.
The University of Pittsburgh’s student newspaper reported that when the O, as the hot dog shop was known, closed in April, the owners served up one more giant order of fries, donating 35,000 pounds of potatoes to charity. — Scott Dodd
LOS ANGELES
The Ma’am Sir restaurant: A Filipino spot with a boisterous vibe.
Charles Olalia at his restaurant, Ma’am Sir, in Los Angeles last year. It has since closed due to the pandemic.Credit…Lisa Corson for The New York Times
When Charles Olalia decided to open a Filipino restaurant in Los Angeles’s hip Silver Lake district, he wished to “showcase my country’s food and vibe: beautiful, boisterous, loving” to a wide audience, he said.
Ma’am Sir opened in 2018 to rave reviews for its creative renditions of signature Filipino dishes, like sizzling pork sisig and oxtail kare-kare.
“Ma’am Sir was different,” said Cheryl Balolong, 41, who grew up visiting traditional Filipino cafeteria-style joints in strip malls. “It was a place where we felt proud to bring friends who weren’t from our culture.”
Then the pandemic struck. By August, Mr. Olalia had shut the place down. “Day after day, putting food in a box and seeing an empty dining room, I was getting farther and farther away from what the restaurant really was and why I built it,” he said. — Miriam Jordan
Demonstrators protested federal executions of death row inmates in front of the Justice Department this month. Lisa Montgomery’s scheduled execution remains in limbo.Credit…Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A judge’s ruling to delay the execution of the only woman on federal death row could push the new date into the early days of the administration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has vowed to work to end federal capital punishment.
The woman, Lisa Montgomery, was scheduled to be executed on Dec. 8, but that date was delayed after two of her lawyers tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after traveling to a federal prison in Texas to visit her in November.
Should Ms. Montgomery’s life be spared as a result of the delays from her lawyers’ infection, it would be a rare reprieve for a prisoner from a virus that has swept through prisons, infecting inmates crammed into shared spaces.
The Justice Department had rescheduled her execution for Jan. 12, but Judge Randolph D. Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Thursday that the January execution date had been unlawfully rescheduled because a stay order issued because of her lawyers’ illnesses was still in effect.
Ms. Montgomery, of Melvern, Kan., was convicted in 2008 of killing a pregnant woman and cutting a baby from her abdomen. She tried to pass off the baby as her own before admitting to the crime.
Ms. Montgomery’s lawyers have said that she has severe mental illness, which was inherited from both of her parents and worsened by abuse endured as a child, including being sex-trafficked by her mother and gang-raped by men.
The stay in Ms. Montgomery’s case barred the government from executing her before Dec. 31. How long the government will wait to execute her after that point remains unclear. Federal rules state that execution notices must be given to prisoners at least 20 days in advance, but when the rescheduled date is fewer than 20 days from the original date, the prisoner must be notified only “as soon as possible.”
Marie Fazio and Hailey Fuchs contributed reporting.
Global Roundup
A nurse taking a coronavirus patient outside for fresh air and sunlight at the Daryeel hospital in Somaliland, a self-governing region of Somalia.Credit…Samantha Reinders for The New York Times
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa — When the pandemic began, global public health officials raised grave concerns about the vulnerabilities of Africa. But its countries over all appeared to fare far better than those in Europe or the Americas, upending scientists’ expectations.
Now, the coronavirus is on the rise again in areas of the continent, posing a new and possibly deadlier threat.
In South Africa, a crush of new cases that spread from Port Elizabeth is growing steeply across the nation. Eight countries, including Mali, Nigeria and Uganda, recently recorded their highest daily case counts all year.
“The second wave is here,” John N. Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has declared.
When the virus was first detected, many African countries were considered particularly at risk because they had weak medical, laboratory and disease-surveillance systems and were already battling other contagions. Some were torn by armed conflict, limiting health workers’ access. In March, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the first African director-general of the World Health Organization, cautioned, “We have to prepare for the worst.”
But many African governments pursued swift, severe lockdowns that — while financially ruinous, especially for their poorest citizens — slowed the rate of infection. Some deployed networks of community health workers. The Africa C.D.C., the W.H.O. and other agencies helped expand testing and moved in protective gear, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.
The reported toll of the pandemic on the continent — 2.6 million cases and 61,000 deaths, according to the Africa C.D.C. — is lower than what the United States alone currently experiences in three weeks. But that accounting is almost certainly incomplete.
Evidence is growing that many cases were missed, according to an analysis of new studies, visits to nearly a dozen medical institutions and interviews with more than 100 public health officials, scientists, government leaders and medical providers on the continent.
“It is possible and very likely that the rate of exposure is much more than what has been reported,” Dr. Nkengasong said in an interview.
Updates from elsewhere around the world: | https://medium.com/@kissjane65/e-u-begins-mass-vaccination-drive-bedd80259fd1 | ['Dave Asare'] | 2020-12-27 13:15:51.945000+00:00 | ['Covid 19 Crisis', 'Covid 19'] |
How To Train a Kitten Not To Bite | How To Train a Kitten Not To Bite
In felines, biting is in their hunting nature. Fortunately, in cats, their behavior is malleable.
And if it is at an early age, everything is much simpler, since you can teach certain guidelines to prevent the development of some behaviors that can be negative, as well as long-term coexistence problems. How to teach a cat not to bite its owner, or anyone else, involves considering its nature, its experiences from birth, as its innate temperament. In this post we tell you more.
CAUSES AND SITUATIONS IN WHICH CATS USE TO BITE
Cats, whether they are puppies, young or old, can bite in different contexts and for multiple causes:
PUTTING A STOP TO AGGRESSION
Teaching a cat to respond favorably takes some strategy on the part of the owner. Most cats enjoy being stroked, but they usually dictate when they have had enough by either biting or scratching.
This is their way of saying they have had enough. However, this in not an acceptable way to show their fussiness and it would be wise to try to overcome this display with counter active measures.
These may include stroking gently until there are signs that the cat is becoming fidgety and then stopping before the actual need to scratch, or change the stroking area to another pleasurable spot that will be acceptable for the cat.
This will effectively put a stop to the cat’s negative reaction before it can actually launch a bite or scratch.
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The next step would be to carefully pick areas that would normally annoy the cat and alternate these with the more pleasurable spots, while going back and forth before the cat can act adversely to the stroking motion. Eventually these episodes should be prolonged until the cat eventually accepts the perceived uncomfortable and comfortable areas of stroking alongside each other. Cats are primarily of the predatory background, thus the need to bite into things at will.
Providing the cat with suitable toys to bite into may help to control this natural urge.
DUE TO AN INADEQUATE PERIOD OF SOCIALIZATION
The first weeks of life are the most important, since it is in a sensitive period of socialization. Everything that lives will mark your future character, to a great extent. During this time, cats learn to relate to everything around them, including other cats or people.
They must spend enough time with their mother, first of all. And, to the extent possible, have contact with humans to avoid future fearful and unsafe behaviors towards people.
POOR ACCLIMATION TO NEW ENVIRONMENTS
Adapting to new environments is very important for cats, whether it is a new place to live or simply getting into a carrier. It has to be something progressive, in which the cat becomes familiar with the environment and understands that there is no threat in that situation. If not, insecurities, fears, stress or anxiety may appear, resulting in negative reactions, but normal in nature.
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES
Many cats learn helpful behaviors to survive that are later more difficult to correct. It is also possible to find cats with behavioral disturbances due to previous traumatic experiences.
REACTIVE OR FEARY TEMPERAMENT
It is part of their character: cats are very cautious animals and this conditions the development of their later behaviors.
COMMUNICATION WITH PEOPLE
Whether it’s to get your attention or to disagree with you, your cat may bite or scratch to achieve its goals. It is important to ignore when she tries to get your attention, because if she sees that she succeeds, she will continue to do so.
ILLNESS OR PAIN
If your cat is in pain or has any pathology, it may bite or scratch to give you a warning.
HOW TO TEACH A CAT NOT TO BITE
There are several points you can follow to teach your cat not to bite.
Keep the environment safe and enriched. This way you will be able to favor the development of natural behaviors so that it can grow healthy and balanced.
Period of socialization. She must spend enough time with her mother and siblings during her first weeks (even months), as well as interact with humans.
Progressive acclimatization. In new environments, it is important that you gradually acclimate to all the stimuli in your new environment and to each new person there is. You must do it little by little and offer him a safe place to go to whenever he wants to take refuge.
Reinforce desired behaviors and avoid unwanted ones. It is better to teach them from an early age than to punish. Punishment can bring many negative feelings towards the cat.
Anticipate their behaviors by observing the signals they give you.
Ignore him when you see him too excited. Reinforce their quiet moments with caresses or rewards.
Avoid your feet or hands to play as a puppy. If you do, he will learn that those parts are toys and will go hunting or biting. Play with appropriate toys.
Make an exaggerated complaining sound when it bites you. So you can set the limit; it’s what their little brothers would do.
The behavior and acclimatization of a cat is very different from that of a dog. It can be difficult to understand the causes and motivations of their behaviors, but if you try to teach them from a young age, it will be easier for you to learn how to teach a cat not to bite. If you see that she develops inappropriate behaviors, do not hesitate to contact a veterinary ethologist so that she can assess your specific case and guide you during her development and learning.
VERY IMPORTANT: if you’re going to want to learn how to train your cat like a pro then >>CLICK HERE<<to download our $27 ebook for FREE… | https://medium.com/@bouchbelf/how-to-train-a-kitten-not-to-bite-b7a862781329 | ['Bouchy Belf'] | 2020-12-25 10:28:24.199000+00:00 | ['Kitten Training', 'Cats', 'Cat Training', 'Training', 'Kitten'] |
System design paradigm: Distributed source of truth storage | Source of truth
In designing distributed applications, it’s a good practice to separate the concern of serving latency and scaling out data storage as a source of truth. Serving latency is mostly handled by in-memory index or cache. The source of truth storage problem instead focuses on scale, durability and consistency.
Below is a typical design pattern for distributed application. I will explain this pattern in detail in another post. The focus of this post is the source of truth storage.
I will use the Key-Value data model in this discussion for simplicity. There are two main branches of designing a horizontally scalable distributed storage.
Two layer structure: Sharding + replication
The first one is sharding + replication. Sharding solves the problem that data is too big to store in one host. Replication solves the durability and availability problem. Each shard is replicated as a Paxos or Raft cluster, so the shard will function as long as a majority of the nodes in the cluster is available.
Write requests can only be handled by the leader and the contents are replicated to all followers. Read could be handled by a follower if the client doesn’t care about consistency or there’s a special mechanism to ensure linearizability, like TrueTime from Google.
One challenge of this design is adding shards. Resharding is usually not an option because that requires moving all data. One common solution is having a large enough shard number and assigning multiple shards to physical servers in the beginning. Then the load is dynamically adjusted. Google Spanner constantly adjusts the load across shards.
The most mature system using this hierarchical structure is Google Spanner.
Flat structure: consistent hashing
The second branch of distributed source of truth storage uses a single layer structure based on consistent hashing. In this structure, the same key is also replicated to several hosts. Consistent hashing is used to specify the keys assignment to hosts. Each key is hashed to an integer. Each host is consistently hashed with the same function.
Let me use a concrete example to illustrate. Assume the hash range is [0, 65535]. Each key is assigned to the next three hosts in the ‘ring’. In the graph above, the key whose hash is 41780 is assigned to host X, Y and Z. Keys whose hash is in (50170, 63937] will be assigned to host Z, A and B.
This replication scheme was first published by Amazon Dynamo and made more popular by Cassendra.
The rest of this post talks about how the key operations could be implemented under this scheme, including write, read, host restart under an unreliable network. The design is one way to implement them. Many ideas are borrowed from Cassandra. I would encourage the readers to think about alternatives and tradeoffs between availability and consistency.
Read and Write
Clients can specify the number of hosts to read from(R) for a read request and the number of hosts a write must be replicated to(W) before a write request if returned. Each write has a timestamp.
If less than W is replicated during a write, failure is returned to the client.
If there is conflict between the R nodes in a read, return the value with the latest timestamp.
Partial write failure
If the total number of replications is N, a common belief is that R + W > N implies ‘consistency’. This is not precise because value from a failed write is also possible to be observed by following reads. For example, N = 3, R = W = 2. If a write request is only successful on one node, then the value returned from the next read will depend on which two nodes it reads from. Remember read will return the value with the latest timestamp when different values are returned from R nodes.
Such inconsistency is temporary and will eventually be fixed by read repair.
Read repair
When inconsistency is detected during a read request, a background process will begin to heal the inconsistency by fetching value from all N replicas. It will force a write of the value with the latest timestamp.
Client interaction
All the hosts are identical from the client’s perspective. The client can connect to any host who will serve as the coordinator for the request. This greatly simplified the design and made the system more fault tolerant.
The coordinator needs to know the configuration of the consistent hash ring. This information will be externally maintained by a distributed strong consistency system like Zookeeper. Each host will cache it locally and query when conflict is detected during RPC interaction with other hosts.
Host membership
The hosts on the hash ring are virtual nodes. There will be a mapping from virtual nodes to physical server. This information will also be stored in Zookeeper. This design will make load balancing easier among physical servers.
When a host is down
Read and write will continue as long as R and W hosts responded respectively.
When a new physical machine is added
The new machine will be responsible for several keys, but initially it doesn’t have any data. Before making the service available, it needs to copy data from other replications to populate itself. It’s OK that the data is stale or inconsistent because read repair will fix it.
Load balancing(LB)
Virtual nodes level LB is easier. We will have a process that monitors the load on each physical server and assign virtual nodes from overloaded servers to servers that are less loaded. This will also need background data transfer and read repair to reach consistency. Assume A is overloaded and B is under loaded, the process of transferring virtual node V1 from A to B is:
Copy V1’s data from A to B. Notice this will be inconsistent data if there’re updates during the copy. Update the virtual nodes mapping in Zookeeper. B will begin serving requests on V1. Delete V1’s data from A. The inconsistency introduced in 1) will be eventually fixed during read repairs.
Key level LB is more complex and requires adding virtual nodes in the hash ring, after that the procedure will be similar.
Conclusion
The consistent hash based distributed storage introduced in this post is shared by most NoSQL systems. NoSQL became popular around 2010. But at that time, those DBs are not stable, hard to operate and usually very slow. Many companies, including Facebook chose to use a simplified version of the sharding+replication solution. They don’t have a Raft cluster and trade consistency for higher speed.
In recent years, NoSQL(for example, Cassandra) became mature and proved in production with superior horizontal scalability power and ease of maintenance. In my mind the benefit of choosing Cassendra over manually sharding DB is the reduced complexity in SRE operation and simpler application infra. With sharding, you are essentially pretending that the system is not distributed. You have to expose sharding to the application in the process. The advantage is the ability to execute relational query within each shard. | https://medium.com/@luanjunyi/system-design-paradigm-distributed-source-of-truth-storage-3c1d688be474 | [] | 2021-01-25 23:54:05.270000+00:00 | ['Dynamodb', 'Distributed Systems', 'System Design Interview', 'Spanner', 'Consistent Hashing'] |
Spherical Coordinate System | This article is a very basic primer on the notion of Spherical Coordinate System, and how it is linked to the Cartesian Coordinate System
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Suppose you are staring at a clock (I used to do so in every History Class ��). When it's 3 o’clock, we say that the hands of the clock are a right angle apart, and the same goes with 9 o’clock. We do not measure the distance between the tips of the hands, as doing that would be just plain absurd 😆. Similarly, in many other instances involving circles and spheres, measuring angles is a very intuitive way of quantifying relative position.
In order to assign the position of a point in space, coordinate systems were introduced. The world we live in 3-dimensional, so any point in space can be represented in terms of three independent quantities, the most intuitive (generally) being height, width, and depth. This notion is the root of the Cartesian Coordinate System. Here, an origin is considered, relative to which the position of all points in space would be measured, and three axes (usually denoted by X, Y, and Z)are defined, which are nothing but directed reference lines passing through the origin, which are at right angles to each other. Any point can be represented in the following way — imagine an insect (say the aesthetically beautiful ladybug 😍) is at the origin and can travel only parallel to the three axes (since we are imagining, anything can happen!). So, the set of distances it would travel parallel to each of the three axes (along with their directions considered) would define the three cartesian coordinates of the point.
However, as already stated in the example of the clock, spherical coordinates are more intuitive than cartesian coordinates in cases involving circular and spherical symmetries. Let’s view the three-dimensional world through the eyes of spherical coordinates!
Consider a sphere of radius r with a center O. Let us consider a point P on the sphere. The angle made by OP with the Z-axis is denoted by θ. Also, let the projection of OP on the XY Plane be OQ. The angle between OQ and the X-axis be φ. The set (r, θ, φ) uniquely identifies the point P and distinguishes it from any other point in the three-dimensional space. In other words, point P can be uniquely represented by the spherical coordinates (r, θ, φ).
Connecting Spherical and Cartesian Coordinate Systems
Now that we are familiar with the very basics of the cartesian and the Spherical Coordinate Systems, let us use some simple trigonometry to convert the representation of a point in one coordinate system to the other. The following figure shows the relationship between the two coordinate systems (X, Y, Z) and (r, θ, φ). | https://medium.com/@wanna-nlp/spherical-coordinate-system-4611d6e2e292 | ['Abhilash Nandy'] | 2021-07-06 18:53:47.267000+00:00 | ['Physics', '3d', 'Coordinate Systems', 'Spherical', 'Dimensions'] |
Heart of Morning | Your heart is the morning
a beautiful mist
dappled in sunlight
each touch is a kiss
Your thought in the weather
of tremulous heart
is song like a child’s
I’m taken apart
Ah land ever lovely
I sing at your thought
in your lull I will listen
breathe never for naught | https://medium.com/@caelanrowan/heart-of-morning-822bf88b8a0e | ['Caelan Rowan Mccuen'] | 2020-12-19 20:39:44.207000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Nature', 'Inspiration', 'Poetry', 'Connection'] |
I Give You A Name (& this is my blessing) | Lights shone down onto the concrete stage, music chirped to life, and all — except one — of the tutu-adorned toddlers began their ungraceful dance.
In full view of a captive audience of beaming adults, I plopped myself belly-down onto the floor. My little round face rested in my cupped hands as I kicked one leg and then the other, back and forth, and watched the rest of my class perform.
This non-conformity was no isolated incident. In kindergarten, I went through a phase of signing all my papers as “Robert.” (I don’t remember why; I don’t feel like a Robert.) Soon after, I fell in love with the idea of a character like Disney’s version of Mulan, who faced the role that had been chosen for her, and replied with every one of her actions: no thanks. And as a vainglorious adolescent, with a kind of pluck I seem to have since misplaced, I enlisted all my friends — and several long-suffering teachers — in referring to me, exclusively, as Platypus.
As I’m typing these anecdotes out, in my cobbled-together “working from home” area (which was formed under the threat of pandemic!), it’s easy to play office-chair psychologist. And I’m horrified to see now how much I didn’t know then. At the time, I could only perceive myself and my world as if through a mirror, darkly.
And that’s because I still had Something to meet.
•••
My siblings and I adored PBS shows, and one late afternoon when our cartoons rolled into the adult stuff, nobody felt motivated to go turn the TV off. So, the narrator of NOVA went on uninterrupted while explaining the science of sex — a word I still blushed to hear, even though in this context I knew it didn’t mean reproduction.
I should change the channel, I thought — this seemed like something I shouldn’t be watching.
But… I stalled.
Something lingered there with me, looking on in rapt and silent interest.
The program went on, detailing the lives of some people who were “transgender,” which apparently meant that they changed their bodies to try and be the other sex. To my young mind, they ended up… just looking somewhat off, like someone in a costume. And now, out of a fascinated revulsion, I couldn’t look away.
When Mom came in to say our screen time was up, I startled and tried to scramble for the remote — but she only frowned at the TV with genuine sympathy.
“Those people are confused,” she said sadly. (You had to be, right? To do something so drastic?)
But, luckily, transgender people are a rare anomaly.
And as I wandered out of the room, I reassured myself that I didn’t really need to stress over something so abstract and far away.
•••
At my 12th birthday party, in our family living room, the other kids all circled up around me. They chattered with excitement as I eagerly reached for the next gift. My fingers fumbled with the wrapping paper before revealing a small zippered bag.
“Oohh!” I grinned at its beachy vinyl print. “Super cute pencil pouch! Thank you.”
“It’s a PURSE,” corrected the gift-giver immediately, as if it should have been obvious. Maybe it was to everyone else.
Then she scoffed. “What kind of girl ARE you?”
Inside, I yelled. I’m not like you! I’m no good at being a girl, and I never will be! I don’t get it! I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I’m doing it wrong!! wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG….!!
I set the purse down to the side, swallowed back my anger, and forced a smile before replying. “I’m just a weird one, I guess.”
The Something stirred and grumbled softly, but had nothing more to say.
•••
Seated on the floor of my brother’s room, I rolled his pocket knife idly in my palm. He and my parents had heard — many, many times — my thoughts on the matter. They’d seen my glower as he selected it off the shelf.
“Girls can have pocket knives too,” I muttered. “And I’m older! It’s not fair.”
As far as I could tell, no good reason kept us from copying the “cooler” boys’ activities, like knots and car repairs, and going on treks and hikes and campout adventures. To be fair, I did also enjoy learning to knead warm dough in our leader’s kitchen; cutting and pasting patterned paper shapes; and yes, even trying on outfits at Kohl’s for a cheesy “modesty fashion show.” I liked most of our activities, but I still wanted all of it. Not just the half I’d been shoved into, for… some reason.
It seemed as if everyone around me had a silent agreement about arbitrary Rules like this, and I hadn’t been informed or consulted.
Girls like clothes and scrapbooks, the Rules say. Boys like camping and hiking.
“And what about me?” I wanted to say. “I like all of it.”
But Rules are Rules. You are a “girl.” Your best friend is a “boy.” So everyone on the bus and playground — even your 6th grade teacher — will insist you’re “in love.” On Tuesday nights, your friend will be dragged to the other side of the church while you trail behind the Young Women like a dog with its tail tucked.
And, the Rules go on, when girls go to church, they dress up nice and Do Their Hair. They wear dresses and skirts — only those. Pants are not allowed.
No pants, and no matter how dapper you think they look, absolutely no bow ties.
That jolted me back to my senses. Mom had just told us something about one of our cousins going through a phase of exploration, and how disappointing it was that our aunt encouraged it — wearing ties and all.
“She’s confused,” Mom had said, shaking her head. “Heavenly Father made us a certain way…”
My fingers curled tightly around the pocket knife. The Something fluttered back to life in my chest, but all it could do was breathe heavily. We both knew Mom was right.
And yet… The world wouldn’t end if I put on a bow tie. But why was I the only one who wanted to? What was wrong with me?
All the girls around me seemed to excel at following the Rules. I only seemed to excel at laying on the stage when someone told me to perform.
•••
My splotchy-faced reflection glared at me when I glanced at the mirror, so I pouted elsewhere while Mom reached for another strand of my hair to style. She brought the steaming curling rod startlingly close to my neck, and I instinctively winced away.
Boys don’t have to do this. It hurts!! And it’s not, well, me. That… isn’t me.
A little wide-eyed, I peered into the mirror again. The makeup looked… objectively nice. And like Mom had pointed out, makeup is basically drawing and painting on your face, and I do love art!
But seeing it on my own face, framed by golden spirals of long hair, made my stomach lurch. It felt the same as hearing two discordant notes being played together. It looked like someone doing their best to masquerade as a pretty girl — but still, always, coming up just a little short.
The Something lifted its head and gave a low, long, mournful bellow.
I know, I agreed, softly, cringing at another curl being tugged.
It hurts.
•••
One weird thing about years is that they can seem to pass quicker than the days that comprise them. In a whirlwind of research papers and exams, falling in love while cleaning toilets, and a thunderstorm-maelstrom of an engagement, all at once I’d graduated with a degree in illustration, and one cute dork of a spouse. We’d even managed to make two little sprogs of our own, but as it turns out, raising young offspring is no easy feat.
Tearful and aimless after another grueling evening, I wandered into the front room. It welcomed me in with its dark expanse and deafening quiet — something that had become totally foreign, and starkly contrasted with our rowdy daytimes.
As usual, I couldn’t sleep. Even while my body slowed and begged for rest, my mind continued to spin and whirl.
Earlier that day, the Spouse and I had watched an episode of “Adam Ruins Everything,” in which a character named Rhea shows up to give Adam some playful sibling grief. The Something perked up as I realized, with delight, that I couldn’t tell if this was meant to be Adam’s… sister? Brother? Sister? …Sibling?!
A scramble over to IMDb showed that Rhea Butcher — who has since come out as nonbinary! — also did stand-up, as well as co-starring in a series with fellow comic (and wife!) Cameron Esposito. Another win for the queer-radar.
Some slice-of-life queer comedy/romance sounded like exactly the light and fluffy antidote my heart needed, so I hit ‘play’ on the first episode of “Take My Wife.” And soon enough, I couldn’t stop smiling.
The “me” of not so long ago could never have imagined choosing something like this, let alone finding so much solace in it. But six years of being on Tumblr, and the Internet at large, had gradually changed my perception and understanding of being queer. I’d been introduced to a vibrant community of individuals, far different from the shameful myths I’d accumulated over a lifetime. Part of me even began to identify along with them, when I discovered the term “asexual” sometime in the early ’10s (though that will have to wait for another essay).
I’d been the most wrong about trans people. The more I learned, the more I loved. I found myself coming back to a particular subreddit which documents transitions, and I’d beam over the before-and-after photo comparisons. You can’t help but cheer someone on when you see how their whole persona has brightened, with confidence and contentment glimmering in their eyes. It’s a blessing to witness someone blooming into the person they were always meant to become.
And… it also filled me with longing. I kept returning to these transition stories, the YouTubed journeys of people like Ash Hardell, and the Something would always be right there, whining and groaning because I so badly wanted that to be me.
If only.
•••
One spring afternoon, in a recliner in a chapel’s mothers’ lounge, I scrolled through Tumblr on my phone while my son nursed. A post about gender identities popped up on the screen, a few paragraphs about various experiences that I absolutely resonated with. Things I had felt for as long as I could remember, even before I had enough words or awareness to notice. And at long last, something — I almost physically felt it — clicked into place.
“I think I’m nonbinary,” I thought placidly, as I tapped to reblog the post. Then I looked up at the Something.
The Something stared, unblinking, back at me.
•••
My prayers have never felt right as a formal affair. The most meaningful discussion I’ve ever had with God happened in two words and a feeling, tucked into bed in a pitch-black hotel room. The air conditioner whirred like sacred droning, and with sudden insistence, Something in me coalesced to proclaim:
I’m trans!
A warmth of assurance spread through my entire figure, like sunlight spilling to fill a room. It felt good. And every time I think back on it, the same phrase comes to me: I know it, and I know God knows it, and I cannot deny it.
Then, just as quickly, a shadow crept into my gut.
“This must be a warning, right?” I asked the ceiling. “You’re only telling me this so clearly because I’m gonna need to really know it. Something’s going down tomorrow.”
With a frown, and then a small nod to myself, I burrowed under the covers and slipped into uneasy dreaming.
[ ⚠️ content note: the next section contains direct quotes from a conference address by Dallin H. Oaks. ]
All throughout the next morning’s session of general conference, I fidgeted atop the disheveled bedsheets — and not just because Elder Cook had dropped a bombshell about church services transitioning to a two-hour block. Every word buzzed right by me, as if the TV were broadcasting static instead of prophetic counsel.
The final speaker took his place. My stomach lurched.
As Elder Oaks’ face appeared on-screen, the Something charged into the room and bared its teeth.
“Gender is eternal,” Elder Oaks said directly to me, with his usual grim finality — like a judge delivering a sentence. “We all lived as male or female spirits in the presence of God.”
I desperately wished that static would save me now, but every sonorous statement (“ — suffer from self-inflicted spiritual blindness — ”) sent a shuddering shockwave through my skull (“ — put their eternal soul at risk“ — ) until I couldn’t tell which beat harder — the apostle’s declarations, or my own racing heart.
I need to run. I felt the flight instinct viscerally, and yet I couldn’t tear myself away, as if my nerves had stopped taking any advice from upstairs. And so I stared. And listened. And trembled.
The moment he finally stopped talking, I raced into the bathroom and collapsed, heaving, in front of the toilet. The cheery sounds of the Tabernacle Choir echoed distantly behind me.
But I’m trans! I thought, putting clammy hands to cold porcelain. You told me I’m nonbinary, and that felt so right and good. How can one of Your servants — one of Your prophets! — say otherwise?
No answer came. Beneath the ringing in my ears, I thought back to that instant of clarity, and realized I’d been given a choice. Which voice would I listen to — the one that made me feel like… this?
Still shaking, I met my own green-tinged gaze in the steely mirror.
Or, would I hold tight to that halcyon whisper in the eye of a hurricane?
•••
Through the courthouse’s large windows, muted sunlight pours over the floor. I breathe in deeply, and walk forward with purpose and a smile. My chest fills with a bright certainty and, looking down on the traffic flowing down a snowy State Street, I’m reminded of the early years when I called this city home.
This is for you, I think. Little me.
I’m also wearing a Doctor Who patterned bow tie, and I look pretty damn great.
A few minutes before the hearing is due to start, I enter the courtroom and take my seat quietly, still unsure of what to expect.
Firstly, I’d imagined someone austere, but the judge who enters the room — while he definitely has a commanding presence — speaks kindly, and with warmth. He asks us all to be seated, then asks if the name listed before him is the right one. I’m prepared to fight tooth and nail for it, but moments after my affirmation, His Honor is already signing his own name at the end of my petition.
The whole thing has taken maybe three minutes. I blink.
…That’s it?
The gentle judge congratulates me and leaves me alone with the court clerks, who finish their important-sounding typing and then direct me downstairs.
Downstairs, to get the official paperwork documenting my new name.
My name! The name that fits me, that I chose and I get to be called by. My parents aren’t with me — and it feels like they should be, though I hadn’t even told them this would happen — but as my chest expands with a joy I can’t contain, I know my Heavenly Parents are looking on, proudly.
“And you…!” Coming back out into the hallway, I stand before the Something that has been with me all these years. It quirks its head sideways.
“I name you too,” I say. “You were my shame and my fear. You wanted to keep me safe, so you followed me and questioned me — made me question — and I still made it this far. With you, and in spite of you.
“Somehow, though, you’ve become something else. You’ve matured right along with me. And now, I call you Resilience. The marker of where I started, but more importantly — proof of who I’m becoming. In those moments where I once felt shame, I’ll now choose delight. I choose bravery, admiration, and compassion. I choose to become myself, and the way that God wants me to be. I hear Their voice, and I act on it.”
I look down at the pages I hold, grinning.
“And the name by which I will be known is Ash Rowan.” | https://medium.com/@ashrowan/i-give-you-a-name-this-is-my-blessing-2b47e3876848 | ['Aisling', 'Ash'] | 2020-10-05 21:14:03.821000+00:00 | ['Faithfullylgbt', 'Nonbinary', 'Latter Day Saints', 'Transgender'] |
Towards Collaborative and Interconnected Innovations: Development as an Ecosystem | Since 2020, Pulse Lab Jakarta (PLJ) has looked to evolve its role as an analytic partnerships accelerator. Transitioning our identity from a “big data innovation lab”, the challenge has been to be more impactful, by progressing beyond methodological contributions to building partnerships that impact on the data ecosystem in Indonesia. This repositioning has led us to further explore Indonesia’s data ecosystem, particularly as it relates to different development sectors.
The COVID-19 crisis has emphasized the need for collaborative and interconnected innovations. It also provided an opportunity for us to observe data flows between local and national governments, and identify underlying issues in the data ecosystem. These issues include lack of consistency in applying data standards, lack of data partnership agreements, and poorly integrated data flows across ministries engaged in the response. Separately, a number of international partners and government entities have developed systems to address particular aspects, but the lack of interlinkages between emerging and existing systems often leads to inefficiencies.
The existing dynamics call to mind an article published by Adam Brandenburg in Harvard Business Review, titled: “To change the way we think, change the way we look”. It highlights the manner in which many important innovations came about by changing the way innovators looked at “the familiar in an unfamiliar way”. At the Lab, we’ve been reflecting on the article in light of our emerging identity as an analytic partnerships accelerator. Here, I would like to share some of our key impressions that we hope will support a broader conversation across development actors in looking anew at development as an ecosystem.
The Definition of Ecosystem
The word ecosystem is far from new. It is commonly defined in terms of science to describe the interaction between living and non-living components within an environment or system. Borrowing attributes such as adaptive, collaborative and interconnected, we often talk about “data ecosystems” and “innovation ecosystems’’ within the development space, but we have rarely looked at development itself as an ecosystem — or as an organic generative system with core, extended and external components.
Since our establishment in 2012, our work has been on harnessing data innovations to support development practices and humanitarian action in Indonesia and the Asia Pacific region. Working with different stakeholders and development partners across various sectors, the strength or weakness of data flows becomes a proxy indicator of the health of these relationships.
Nonetheless, development as a process of change is about innovating, which means practices undertaken in any given context should also be seen anew. With the advent of digital technologies and surge in data innovations, we are seeing a push to apply data innovations, as well as concepts that have long been applied in the data science field towards the development sector. By fundamentally looking and perceiving “development” as an ecosystem, it is fair to say that the strength or weakness of an ecosystem is based on the level of functionality and interlinkages between components. In other words, the better the level of functionality and interlinkages, the higher the likelihood of survival, consolidation and growth.
Application in the World of “Development”
As we mentioned, the phrase “innovation ecosystem” is often used, but in its breadth and entirety this is perhaps much too broad and complex to analyse. Furthermore, many components of an innovation ecosystem are likely beyond the mandate of international development programmes that are seeking to affect positive change and improve the welfare of citizens. As such, we suggest looking more specifically (in the case of PLJ) at what we could term “Indonesia’s development ecosystem”. This comprises meshed systems with multiple actors, including international agencies and programmes, as well as national institutions.
In Indonesia, there are many international agencies, multilateral and bilateral, with each intent on playing a role impacting on socio-political and bureaucratic processes. At the same time, there are a range of efforts also being undertaken by civil society organisations and the private sector. In essence, they are all components within Indonesia’s development system, and should be incorporated in the overall configuration.
We can then map the entities intensively engaged in any given development sector as components in subsets of the overall development ecosystem, who are engaged in efforts of producing or supporting development policies. Referring to the literature on digital or data ecosystems, a useful reference is IBM’s depiction of an analytics ecosystem (seen below). This is perhaps most relevant to a development ecosystem in terms of linking and aligning components to support improved analytics on policies leading to better development outcomes.
Core, Extended and External Players
We can categorize components of any development ecosystem into three main layers or groupings. Essentially, we have core components of the ecosystem which are key institutions, systems and decision makers establishing the policies and controlling resources. These components can be likened to keystone species, where the whole system collapses or becomes dysfunctional if these components are no longer effective. For instance, many leading development organisations in the disaster risk reduction space face great difficulties in collecting and collating data and information from various agencies, hampering their own effectiveness for example in interacting with Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) as a keystone species in this space. Extended players/institutions are part of the second layer, which include private sector and civil society organisations who are closely linked with core components. Then we have a third layer of external players and systems, including regulators, data providers and consumers.
Ecosystems function and are strong or weak based on relationships between components/institutions. As mentioned before, this can be observed from the flow and utilisation of data and information, whereby a stronger flow points to a stronger relationship. So in the case of International agencies and programmes, one could say a number of them are “extended players” in the ecosystem, but are functioning and have high information flows with core institutions. At the same time, others are in the periphery of the ecosystem as external components, and struggle to impact on core decision making processes, again based on the flow and regularity of information and data supplied to be absorbed by core institutions.
From these groupings, we can also see how relational trends are progressing in terms of where components are getting their information and data from, particularly in this era of digitalisation transformation. If institutions are not able to change the way they collect, analyse and project their inputs, they may soon be pushed to the periphery or become irrelevant to the ecosystem. What we’ve observed is that innovations from international development agencies are often not fully adopted or incorporated by core state actors, as these recipients often do not commit the resources to facilitate and sustain data flows and exchanges. Development as we see it being undertaken by global, regional and national bodies when competing for influence and resources can often exacerbate the poor health of national development ecosystems.
The Importance of Development Ecosystems Moving Forward
With the development sector, different policy domains have already existed, but traditional boundaries have started to fall as increasing complexity of development issues can no longer be addressed through mono-sectoral approaches. This is why we need to look at ways to better improve the effectiveness of our institutions and interventions.
For Pulse Lab Jakarta, we have seen that our impact is limited if we only work in the solution space (providing prototypes without strong partnerships needed to adopt and adapt our innovations). It became clear that our data innovations required partnerships across a range of actors and institutions. In PLJ’s early days, we were close to the periphery of the development ecosystem. This is when we focused on introducing and demonstrating novel approaches and methodologies, but the core components were not necessarily utilising our services. Today, we’ve started to move towards the extended sphere, and hope to further influence the way the core components operate and interact with each other.
Continuing with the example of the disaster risk reduction space, with so much investment into disaster risk reduction systems, it is unfortunate that the sum of the whole is not greater than the sum of the parts. This is where we started looking at the various institutions working in this particular space. It became clear through this process that whilst many institutions were delivering on their individual mandates — resulting in a plethora of platforms and tools — collaboration was often not strong enough and interconnectivity between platforms was weak to non-existent. Common protocols, standards and other governance mechanisms were not in place to achieve cohesion between efforts, and therefore competing interests and redundancy actually seem to hinder this sector from advancing.
Another way to measure and improve the health of the ecosystem is to improve data flows within and across agencies, as well as improve behaviours (including better collaboration and coordination). This is directly linked to the data strategy of the UN’s Secretary General which is focused on “building a whole-of-UN ecosystem that unlocks our full data potential for better decisions and stronger support to people and the planet”. At its core, this data strategy is reliant on the health not only of individual components, but also in terms of the strength of interconnections and collaboration, measured through the level of shared data and knowledge between these components.
We note that many important components in the national level development ecosystems are part of regional and global development ecosystems, and provide opportunities to interlink between different levels. This emphasizes the need for learning and feedback loops and mechanisms to ensure global agendas can be effectively implemented on the ground, whilst also providing insights to adapt and adjust regional and global strategies.
Are you working at a global level, regional or national level? What are your thoughts on the health of relationships and data flows between key components of the development ecosystem you work in? We’d love to hear your thoughts, email us at [email protected]
Author: Petrarca Karetji (Head of Pulse Lab Jakarta) | https://medium.com/pulse-lab-jakarta/towards-collaborative-and-interconnected-innovations-development-as-an-ecosystem-f38c55ba1c2c | ['Pulse Lab Jakarta'] | 2021-07-08 05:51:14.363000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Innovation', 'Partnerships', 'Ecosystem', 'Development And Growth'] |
Metformin to Treat Aging: Potential and Concerns | Metformin to Treat Aging: Potential and Concerns
(Pixabay, stevepb)
Elixir of life
Imagine going to sleep and waking up in a body much older than the one you dozed off in.
Saggy skin, different body shape, loss of muscle tone. On the inside, a decrease in immune function, a greater risk for cancer, joints that creak, holes in your memory, and even a microbiome that gives your trouble.
Doesn’t sound like fun. Yet we will all be confronted with old age one day.
No wonder we are looking for ways to prevent that scenario.
More specifically, we would like to extend both health- and lifespan. Thus far, we don’t really have a lot of options. Our current best bet is to emulate the lifestyle of people who age healthily (see the Blue Zones, for example): Move throughout the day, eat (mostly) plants, avoid stress, have a purpose, and cultivate a strong social network.
Those lifestyle factors, though, are no guarantee. There is a lot of individual variability — and even with the best genetics and healthiest lifestyle, human bodies fail eventually.
Time for a magic pill? (As social media ‘influencers’ know very well, we all like magic pills — and are willing to pay big bucks for it.)
Several chemical compounds are currently being studied for their potential effects on (parts of) the aging process — here’s a review. Some are more popular than others. Rapamycin is a favorite. So is metformin.
But all anti-aging drugs have their drawbacks. Not in the least the fact that they have been mostly tested in model organisms in controlled laboratory settings, or in small, short-term human trials that look at select biomarkers and then extrapolate the findings. There is a lot we still have to figure out.
Metformin review
Metformin (Wikimedia commons, Ben Mills)
The diabetes drug metformin is a perennial top-pick in the anti-aging competition. After all, metformin does a couple of interesting things.
For one thing, it affects the 5′‐AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). This an enzyme that — what’s in a name? — plays an important part in the AMPK signaling pathway that regulates cellular energy homeostasis. As we age, the activity of that pathway declines. This messes up autophagy and amps up cellular stress and inflammation.
Hello, cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular issues.
Metformin also reduces stress on the endoplasmatic reticulum, an important cellular subunit. Additionally, metformin may tweak how our gut microbiome responds to nutrients, and the diabetes medication is known to affect DNA methylation (‘tagging’ DNA with methyl groups, which influences gene activity).
So, is metformin the key to become Methuselah?
Hold your old horses.
A new review tallies what we know about metformin, and why we have to be careful. Let’s take a look.
Lifespan
What we’re here for, right?
And indeed, in organisms such as roundworms, fruit flies, and mice, we see an increase in lifespan (between 0.1% and 36%). Big but: at higher doses, we see a decrease in lifespan.
In human trials (a list here) we see an increase in AMPK activation, less tumor cell proliferation, and a change in activity in genes thought to be involved in metabolism and DNA repair. Results on life- and healthspan in humans? Come back in twenty years — also: more research funding needed…
Cardiovascular disease
Some of the genes affected by metformin play a role in the concentration of circulating lipids and LDL cholesterol (which we generally don’t want too much of). Tweaking the activity of those genes could affect the risk for cardiovascular disease.
In old, atherosclerosis-suffering mice, for example, a chronic low dose of metformin reduced vascular inflammation and delayed aging in the cardiovascular system.
In humans too, metformin appears to have a modest cardiovascular protective effect, both in diabetes patients and non-diabetics.
Tumors
As we age, our backstabbing bodies tend to shut down tumor suppressing genes and loosen the reins on oncogenes. Ready, set, cancer. Metformin might be able to put the brakes on this.
When mice are started on a metformin treatment early in life, the emergence of life-threatening tumors is delayed (but not turned to zero).
There are some indications that diabetes patients on metformin have a reduced cancer risk. Unfortunately, if we look across all trials in a meta-analysis, no luck, metformin does not appear to reduce cancer risk.
Neurodegeneration
For a while now, we have known that there is a link between type 2 diabetes and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), possibly due to problems with protein and insulin processing, as well as increased inflammation.
Metformin to the rescue?
Again, the data does not live up to the hype. People without diabetes do not seem to benefit from metformin when it comes to AD risk. Although the use of metformin with insulin in AD patients did improve cognitive function in the short-term.
Metformin go or no?
This leaves us where exactly?
Any positive effect of metformin is strongly dose-dependent. Wrong dose → shorter life. Oopsie. What is the right dose? We don’t really know + it probably depends on your genetic make-up and other individual traits.
Side effects: depending on your version of the gene OCT1, metformin can cause gastrointestinal issues. The drug can also up the risk for vitamin B12 deficiency.
Effects are not the same in male and female mice and people. Why? We’re not sure.
We don’t really know how or why metformin changes the activity of certain genes, and this activity also depends on which specific versions of other genes you carry.
As the authors of the review note:
The issues of dosage, side effects, sexual dimorphism, and genetic regulatory mechanisms all point to the need for large‐scale clinical trials.
No magic pill, after all. | https://medium.com/predict/metformin-to-treat-aging-potential-and-concerns-1ba82f5a3b67 | ['Gunnar De Winter'] | 2021-02-26 06:15:48.886000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Aging', 'Science', 'Medicine', 'Drugs'] |
4 ways to lead a startup that grows globally. | What is the first thing when you think about “work”?
From my perspective, It is the opportunity to achieve all our goals and dreams, to have a chance to grow as a person and be better, and to challenge ourselves every day while we impact people’s lives and do our bit to build a happier world.
Then, what means work for you?
If you have never asked yourself that question, I invite you to ask it (because if you don’t know, how would you know your path is).
When you create a startup, you have a big responsibility to your people and the world (yes, the world) because many people follow you. They are waiting for you to point the way. You are the lighthouse to them.
And more importantly, ask yourself what your startup is bringing to the world? If the answer is anything, so what is the purpose of your startup?
1. Change your mindset about work.
Sometimes when people ask, “what do you want to do for a living?” I always answer that I want to be part of something that creates a better place every day, a job with meaning. Of course, some people say “well, how will you do that? That is not going to pay your bills; this is not how the world works. Come back to reality and get down off that cloud and start to think about gaining money…”
Probably you’ve heard that, right?
At some point in our life, we start assuming that the end goal of life is to get a job regardless if we like it. The important thing is to “get money to pay our bills” and, sometimes, in your 50’s, you will “earn enough money, or you will finally retire to rest and achieve your personal goals”.
Is this our best way of living our life? Have a job to have some money to sustain our physical needs and wait if we can probably reach our purposes? Is this the only way?
And for me, I think, on the contrary, they are the ones who do not live in reality. I believe our jobs it’s not only to sustain us; it is the perfect way to feel we are contributing to something big, something with value. It’s to feel inspired, feel safe, grow, and become a better person every day, and I know this is possible because I’m living it!
Let me tell you about my experience working with Getmipulpa, a startup that cares about the people.
When I came for the first time, it blew my mind. For a start, the essential thing for Getmipulpa is the people. They think they need to contribute to the world and the people who surround us. Their primary focus is to bring joy and happiness to every house in the world, and what I love most is we share the same idea we believe our jobs should give meaning to our lives.
As a startup, we create our own rules and fulfill our standards because we imagine a new and better world when people enjoy their works and feel fulfilled in their lives every day. We like to think we are contributing to the creation of a happier world. And we are aware that if we want this change, we have to start within ourselves first. We have to change our mindset and begin to act. We all are a community where we care for each other. We grow together as a person and, of course, as a company.
We don’t worry about profits. We worry about the people and how we impact their lives.
2. Work with a cause. Give the people a purpose.
When you share a purpose so important that you know this will change people’s lives, you are given a mission to your people, which allows us to contribute to building a better world. This mission will enable us to be more focused because we know our work is so vital that no one else will do it if we don’t do it. It’s to give a purpose to fight for.
Like Simon Sinek said, “A just cause is what inspires us to want to keep playing.”
Give your people something to believe, let them know that they are so indispensable to impact, and create a better world and better lives. And of course, it’s crucial to continue the legacy because it’s the only way you know your work is not a waste of time. After all, what do you do and your people today it’s the first step to a long way to fulfill a new world’s ideas. We are playing in an infinite game.
At Getmipulpa, I trust we are changing people’s lives. We believe in a world when people have healthy nutrition and also a healthy mind. Our mission is to move the health of thousands of people across the globe smoothly at a time. We want a better world, and we know that it is possible through a sustainable ecosystem, and we achieve this by supporting the small farmers in the cities.
We are here to make people happier, healthier.
3. Build from resilience
Stop pressure to demonstrate constant high-speed growth. When we care more about profits than our cause, we would prefer to sacrifice anything to make a profit, even our meaning, our reason; and, this in the short term will probably bring economic benefits. Still, it will be catastrophic for a long time. Because the profits always are output, it’s not a cause, it’s a result. When we always focus on winning, we don’t look at the big picture because we are building to have stability. In other words, it’s to remain the same, it’s not prepared to be unpredictable, and we are in a world whose foundation is unexpected.
“A company built for resilience is a company that is structured to last forever.”-Simon Sinek
When you start to build your startup from resilience, you stop worrying about numbers and begin to embrace your cause. And when you face an unexpected situation, for example, a pandemic, you will surf the waves and not try to stay afloat.
And you may be asking yourself, a startup like Getmipulpa, how is it being built from resilience?
The pandemic enlightened us. We didn’t see the epidemic as a problem. We saw it as an opportunity to reach 210 countries globally, and we took advantage of it. We went off script, and we created a program for our young professionals to help them achieve their dreams and goals, have the experience of meaningful work, and help us bring happiness and reach every corner of the world.
It is incredible, right?
Let me tell you more.
We make the “city ambassadors’ program.” We want to help young people to have experience in a global startup because we believe it’s an opportunity to practice everything you have learned in college. We thought it is the best way to internalize everything you have learned. For us, it is the best way to help develop young people.
And while some people have struggles and trying to survive, we managed to expand in more countries and every time increases the quantity, and all this is possible because we don’t worry about numbers. We all care about our cause; that is our lighthouse, and more importantly, we believed in our people; without them, we would not be here. We build from resilience.
“Great leaders are the ones who think beyond “short term” versus “long term.” They are the ones who know that it is not about the next quarter or the next election; it is about the next generation.” -Simon Sinek
4. Always ask yourself, “what’s best for us,” but don’t “what’s best for me.”
From my perspective, I think this is the problem we have today. We are always getting our benefit, no matter if we hurt others. We are still trying to achieve their personal goals with fewer regards to the effects. But we have to think in community, “what’s best for us” is to think about how my decisions impact the people, my city, the economy, the country, and the world. It’s to think together.
Remember your startup, business, or company; it’s not only built for you; your people make it.
In the past we days, I have been working on understanding better what our ‘archetype’ is, what gives meaning to our company, to our people, and we choose “community” because we believe in the people. We support each other. We are growing together. Our way to work is without hierarchy. All our coworkers are like family. And we know Getmipulpa is the people.
A great example of this is Getmipulpa’s “City ambassadors’ program” was founded because we believed Getmipulpa is a place when anyone is welcome. We are working to make a better world, and we know we can’t do it alone. That’s why we invite people worldwide to build this company because we believe we are building a startup by the people for the people. We empower our people and ask them to do a company with us.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. -Confucious
Let me tell you that since I got on Getmipulpa’s team, I have not worked a single day. On the contrary, I have lived, I have impacted people’s lives, and as a result, we have grown worldwide.
This is how we do it in Getmipulpa; a startup committed to creating a better world where people are our first focus.
What about you?
Do you work with a purpose? | https://medium.com/@manuela-torresf/4-ways-to-lead-a-startup-that-grows-globally-db8bfebb176c | ['Manuela A. Torres Florez'] | 2020-12-18 21:09:20.115000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Growth', 'Perspective', 'Startup', 'Growth Mindset'] |
10 Best Cat Videos On Twitter This Christmas | 10 Best Cat Videos On Twitter This Christmas
Cats moonwalking, facing identity crises and weathering profanity take the holiday in purr-fect spirits.
Photo: Marko Blažević / Unsplash / Irrevocable, nonexclusive copyright to use & distribute for free
Just because you’re not a cat, doesn’t mean you can’t have a Merry Christmas. I compiled the 10 best cat videos from my Twitter feed that were posted during the Christmas holiday, and decided to share them with you.
Some of these cats are rambunctious, while others are just curious — and get themselves in trouble. All of them look like they’re enjoying the holiday season.
Which one is your favorite?
1. Cat Bath
There’s nothing like giving your cat a Christmas bath — and having him be such a good sport about it. No cat I ever had would have ever been so well-behaved!
Source: missenell Twitter page.
2. Cat Explorer
Some cats are more adventurous than others. It looks like this cat found a new part of the house that he never knew existed. I admire the cat for his, well, curiosity.
Source: BigPoppa Twitter page.
3. Meow Mix Cat
I’d be careful before offering the wrong cat Meow Mix. In this case, would have polled the cat on his interest in Meow Mix treats before offering them to him.
Source: WizardEli-Films Twitter page
4. Seal or Cat?
This cat had it sealed with the purr from the start. But is it a seal — or a cat?
Source: cats are liquid Twitter page
5. Moonwalking Cat
This cat is talented. I feel like Michael Jackson is here is spirit. That’s all I have to say.
Source: Cats Being Awkward Twitter page
6. Fish-Chasing Cat
I can tell this cat really wants the fish. I’m going to say a little holiday prayer for him, and maybe he will see a miracle.
Source: Cat Lovers Community
7. Dog Orgy
Who said that cats and dogs don’t get along?
Source: puppies Twitter page
8. Cat Beats Dog in Fight
On the other hand, this cat and dog definitely don’t get along — and the cat got the better of the dog.
Source: AmalShal27 Twitter page
9. It’s Not About The Cat
Somebody has a filthy mouth here, and it’s not the cat.
Source: Football Madness Twitter page
10. Cat Identity Crisis
Some cats get along with dogs. Other cats fight with dogs. This cat clearly as an identity crisis. | https://medium.com/illumination/10-best-cat-videos-on-twitter-this-christmas-ae4f5f50d7ac | ['Jay Krasnow'] | 2020-12-27 06:42:56.530000+00:00 | ['Cats', 'Pets', 'Humor', 'Holidays', 'Christmas'] |
TDTW (Test-Driven Tech Writing) | An unlit lightbulb.
This week I’d like to take a step back and offer a bit of a mission statement for how this blog will function moving forward.
Based on a not-so-comprehensive (but surely algorithmic) review of articles referred to me by Medium dot com over the past few months, it seems like a lot of tech writing on this platform tends to fall into a few generalizable categories:
- Walkthroughs for specific tasks
- “You’re doing [X] wrong, did you know?”
- Listicles (usually of libraries or methods to know)
- “Get to green lights with this one weird trick”
To be clear, all these kinds of tech writing are valuable, helpful, and necessary. The algorithm is pushing these genres of writing out because they serve a purpose and have an audience (and that audience is often me, or people like me: recent Coding Bootcamp graduates who need all the help we can get).
Thing is, as a Babycoder, I don’t know that I could or should convincingly produce writing for Medium dot com that falls into any of those genres — not because I couldn’t do the research necessary to make a list of urgently helpful Node packages, but because I’m simply not the person to write that article; I’ve been using Node for a week, and while I’m excited to be learning it, I’m sure as hell not ready to make any recommendations about it. I cannot and do not need to pretend that I am a Knowing Subject™ when it comes to coding.
More importantly, though, as I transition into tech, I’m not actually sure a Knowing Subject™ is something I want to be, much less something I want to perform. Part of my aversion to being a Knowing Subject™ stems from my values. For me, intellectual humility is a really important emotion to cultivate: it keeps us honest, keeps us open-minded, and keeps us relational.
Beyond that, though, I have an incredible suspicion that Knowing Subjects™ are often (not always) subjects for whom knowledge is indelibly tied to authority. We’ve all met people who use what they know as a way to bully, cajole, and overpower others, to various degrees of success. In many contexts, such behaviors are normalized as essentially “earned by qualification.” Knowing, especially knowing without a continued commitment to learning, can lead to pervasive forms of structural and interpersonal violence. And no thanks.
Back when I was an academic, I spent a lot of my time worrying about my status as a Knowing Subject™. On the academic job market, convincingly presenting as a Knowing Subject™ was one of the major keys to landing a tenure-track job. I couldn’t, and I didn’t, and I don’t regret it: I am not interested in being, or having, authority.
Unsurprisingly, much of my pedagogy involved actively displacing my students’ seemingly default belief that my knowledge or perspective was somehow de facto truer, more valid, or more valuable than their own, or that of anyone else, simply because I held a credential. Surely, the extent of default for that belief had a lot to do with the fact of my presenting as a white, cis, queer man in a world where white, cis men continue to be given the completely unearned benefit of the doubt when they make claims as Knowing Subjects™— and are often interpellated as Knowing Subjects™ even when such claims aren’t made.
Holding a PhD did not mean that I inherently knew more or better about a text or topic than my students did. I was not somehow transformed by my years as a bookworm into an essentially different kind of being.
What was the actual, substantive difference between myself, as a literature professor, and my pupils, as literature students? I had simply had a lot more time and motivation to read, to notice patterns, to internalize and apply accepted methodologies, to formulate analysis, and to put my arguments into writing. In other words, holding a PhD meant I’d had time to practice. But I still had (and have) blind spots, gaps, and a perspective that is intersectionally situated. And more importantly, I’m still learning.
To be clear, I’m well aware that Americans have a particularly fraught relationship to knowledge. Over the last few decades, it’s become increasingly clear that, for some people, an uninformed, but strong opinion is magically equivalent to years of researched, contextualized expertise. This false equivalence is a problem, full-stop, and not just because it is literally costing lives in 2020. Ignorance, unfortunately, yields authority too.
To be very clear, then, I am precisely not arguing that my students were, or could have been, “the real teachers” in the room any more than I am arguing that the Karens and Chads of the world should be arbiters of public health. Practice, expertise, and a commitment to continued and collective learning matter, vitally. The Karens and Chads of the world haven’t just stopped learning, they’ve also stopped listening. And no thanks.
At the same time, I’d also like to enter tech fully aware that I value learning far more than I value knowing. And, with that priority in mind, I’d like to reposition this blog as an opportunity for exploring my process of learning tech, rather than any state of knowing tech.
In other words, I’d like to fully embrace TDD as both ethos and method for what this blog could become. On the ground, this will mean exploring ideas as they’re unfolding in the moment, forwarding hypotheses without having finished all the tutorials, and simply trying things out with avid, open curiosity. Part of this emphasis on intellectual openness arises from purely pragmatic future-proofing, too: in coding, there will always be more to learn.
I’ll be returning to ideas that were wrong and gleaning value from that wrongness, rather than in spite of it. I’ll be making false starts down cognitive dead-ends. I’ll be learning, then unlearning, bad habits. I’ll be sharing my failures much more often than I’ll be showcasing my successes because that’s why TDD is valuable in the first place.
So, if you’re looking for Expert Tips, either in truth or in drag, then this is not the place to be. Instead, the process-driven writing here will hopefully serve as as a very different sort of resource that is just as engaging and instrumental—not because it’s perfect, but because I do my best learning and write my best code not when I’ve reached MVP, but while I’m still in testing. Maybe you do, too.
(Photo by Mohamed Ahmed on Unsplash) | https://medium.com/@kaelinalexander/tdtw-test-driven-tech-writing-b3e8a5bfe634 | ['Kaelin Alexander'] | 2020-12-29 16:26:51.235000+00:00 | ['Tech Writing', 'Epistemology', 'Learning And Development', 'Coding', 'Career Change'] |
Solitude | Darkness reigns in here
Bringing nothing but my fears
The cold winds they freeze my heart
Until the moment it just breaks apart
I hear voices that I can’t comprehend
I ask for help but no one lends a hand
It’s a room with old and locked doors
Loneliness that fills me with remorse
I hear them talk, I hear them speak
Before I say a word, my body gets weak
Lungs are suffocated; I can’t breathe
Dying in this blizzard with no sheets
My blood its running low
They’re all my enemies, I don’t know where to go
The clock ticks and my blood drains
Killing me with this unbearable pain. | https://medium.com/thenewnorth/solitude-99ed1641140b | ['Daniel Roxas'] | 2017-07-12 12:49:30.029000+00:00 | ['Solitude', 'Poetry', 'Life', 'Loneliness'] |
I Know He Exists | Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “I Know He Exists.”
G-d, who is infinitely compassionate, did the most compassionate thing, which was to create us and give us the ability to be compassionate on others. The way we bring Hashem to reside with us is to transform the world (tikkun olam) “to make it a place that G-d can call home.” We do this by performing acts of loving kindness, making the mundane holy, and manifesting G-d’s divine providence. In essence, it’s not enough for us to know G-d exists, but we need to be a light unto the nations to reveal G-d’s unity, sanctity, and ongoing relationship with his creations to everyone in the world.
Like the story of the priest from the Holocaust, we don’t believe G-d exists, but rather, we know He exists. And when we perform our mission in this world by doing good deeds and manifesting G-d’s oneness and divine providence then we make this a place where G-d wants to reside with us in this world as well as in the world to come.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal) | https://medium.com/@andyblumenthal/i-know-he-exists-f4b31697394c | ['Andrew', 'Avraham'] | 2020-12-20 00:20:32.304000+00:00 | ['Kindness', 'World', 'Soul', 'Good Deeds', 'Faith'] |
Introduction to decision tree classifiers from scikit-learn | There are plenty of articles out there that explain what a decision tree is and what it does:
So here I am going to focus on how a decision tree may be implemented using the scikit-learn library in python on the iris dataset, along with some of the functionality that is useful in analysing the performance of the algorithm.
What is a classifier?
A classifier algorithm is used to map input data to a target variable through decision rules and can be used to predict and understand what characteristics are associated with a specific class or target. This means that it is a supervised machine learning algorithm as we already have the final labels, we just want to know how they may be predicted. For our purpose, we can use the Decision Tree Classifier to predict the type of iris flower we have based on features of: Petal Length, Petal Width, Sepal Length and Sepal Width.
What is a decision tree?
A decision tree a tree like structure whereby an internal node represents an attribute, a branch represents a decision rule, and the leaf nodes represent an outcome. This works by splitting the data into separate partitions according to an attribute selection measure, which in this case is the Gini index (although we can change this to information gain if we wanted). This essentially means that we each split aims toreduce Gini impurity which measures how impure a node is according to incorrectly classified results.
Implementing a decision tree
We first of all want to get the data into the correct format so that we can create our decision tree. Here, we will use the iris dataset from the sklearn datasets databases which is quite simple and works as a showcase for how to implement a decision tree classifier.
The good thing about the Decision Tree Classifier from scikit-learn is that the target variable can be categorical or numerical. For clarity purpose, given the iris dataset, I prefer to keep the categorical nature of the flowers as it is simpler to interpret later on, although the labels can be brought in later if so desired. The following code can therefore be used to import the dataset here:
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
from sklearn.datasets import load_iris #load in the data
data = load_iris()
#convert to a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame(data.data, columns = data.feature_names)
#create the species column
df['Species'] = data.target #replace this with the actual names
target = np.unique(data.target)
target_names = np.unique(data.target_names)
targets = dict(zip(target, target_names))
df['Species'] = df['Species'].replace(targets)
The next thing we want to do is to extract our training and test dataset. The purpose of this is to ensure that the model is not trained on all the available data so that we can test how it performs on unseen data. If we were to use all the data as the training data then we may end up overfitting the model, meaning that it may perform poorly on unseen data.
#extract features and target variables
x = df.drop(columns="Species")
y = df["Species"] #save the feature name and target variables
feature_names = x.columns
labels = y.unique() #split the dataset
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
X_train, test_x, y_train, test_lab = train_test_split(x,y,
test_size = 0.4,
random_state = 42)
Now that we have the data in the correct format, we can start to create the decision tree so that we can try to predict the classification of the different flowers. To this end, the first thing to do is to import the DecisionTreeClassifier from the sklearn package. For which, more information can be found here.
from sklearn.tree import DecisionTreeClassifier
The next thing to do is then to apply this to training data. For this purpose, the classifier is assigned to clf and set max_depth = 3 and random_state = 42 . Here, the max_depth parameter is the maximum depth the tree, which we control to ensure there is no overfitting and that we can easily follow how the final result was achieved. The random_state parameter ensures that the results can be replicated in further analyses.
We then fit algorithm to the training data:
clf = DecisionTreeClassifier(max_depth =3, random_state = 42)
clf.fit(X_train, y_train)
We want to be able to understand how the algorithm has behaved, which one of the positives of using a decision tree classifier is that the output is intuitive to understand and can be easily visualised.
This can be done in two ways:
As a tree diagram: | https://towardsdatascience.com/introduction-to-decision-tree-classifiers-from-scikit-learn-32cd5d23f4d | ['Philip Wilkinson'] | 2020-11-16 19:01:46.134000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Decision Tree', 'Classification', 'Scikit Learn', 'Data Science'] |
Python 3.9 Updates in 2 Minutes | The stable version of Python 3.9.0 has been released on 5th October 2020. Let’s see the new major features.
Dictionary Merging
Consider two dictionaries having the same key-value pairs except one of the values in one dictionary. For example, a person's email id has been changed recently which is in a new dictionary(b) and you would like to update the email id in the original dictionary(a) containing other details.
There are two ways to do it(updating dictionary a) in Python 3.9.
Output: {'id' : 10, 'username' : 'python3.9', 'email' : '[email protected]'}
Type Hints
Python now supports native type hinting. You can have a list of integers only, if you try to add a string to the list it throws an error.
Removing Prefix/Suffix
Suppose I have a list of doctor's names and one out of them does not have ‘Dr.’ prefixed. Now I would like to remove the prefix so that I have only the names on my list.
Let’s first see how it was done before Python 3.9.
Output: ['Leonard McCoy', 'Beverly Crusher', 'Julian Bashir', 'The Doctor', 'Phlox']
Python 3.9 provides two functions to remove prefix and suffix:
removeprefix() removesuffix()
Now let’s see how to the above job after Python 3.9.
Output: ['Leonard McCoy', 'Beverly Crusher', 'Julian Bashir', 'The Doctor', 'Phlox']
Time Zones
Python 3.9 provides native capabilities to specify the timezone. Previously we had to do this by installing the third-party library called pytz.
The below code shows the time by timezone India. | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/python-3-9-updates-in-2-minutes-30ab522c1f3c | ['Sujan Shirol'] | 2020-10-08 03:19:49.969000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Python Programming', 'Python3', 'Updates', 'Python'] |
The Impact Of Gender-Neutral Muisjes | The Dutch have a solid reputation for having some very strange kinds of foods in our culture. Kroketten, drop, hagelslag, stroopwafels, kruidnoten… you know the drill. Across the board, most of our strange foodstuffs that aren’t deep-fried are sweet. Sometimes sickly sweet. And one of those things is muisjes.
Muisjes (“little mice”), as seen in the image above, are traditionally eaten on beschuit (Dutch rusk). Usually with some butter to make sure they don’t fall off. And not only that, this tradition is widely associated with the birth of a child. “ Beschuit met muisjes “ has become firmly ingrained in our minds as a childbirth-related thing. So much even, that can use it to announce your pregnancy by saying that you’ll be serving beschuit met muisjes later that year.
The muisjes controversy
But however charming this little tradition sounds, it’s also fraught with controversy. Controversy over a sickly sweet rusk topping, you might ask? Absolutely.
You see, as with a lot of things in western culture, pink muisjes are associated with girls, and blue muisjes with boys. So if you have a girl, you serve pink-and-white muisjes, and if it’s a boy, blue-and-white muisjes. Expecting parents also use it to reveal to other people what gender your unborn baby is going to be, once you’ve found out at the OB/GYN.
Traditions aren’t sacred
To most, this probably sounds innocent enough. But now that our knowledge about sex and gender is expanding, it’s time to critically scrutinize this tradition. After all, traditions stem from the past, by definition. And since our perceptions of what’s normal and what’s ethical are continually progressing, that means that some traditions may end up seriously outdated.
After all, owning slaves was also a ‘tradition’ of sorts: something that was deemed normal, a part of the culture, and that was passed down through the generations. It was also a ‘tradition’ that women didn’t work but stayed home to take care of housekeeping and of the children.
Luckily, that has all changed, for the most part. But there are still some cultural revolutions in progress that aren’t well understood yet. And one of those is the concept of gender neutrality.
A short while ago, Dutch muisjes manufacturer De Ruijter announced that it doesn’t rule out the production of gender-neutral muisjes in the future. And as you can imagine, Facebook blew up.
Most of the comments were somewhere along the lines of ‘the world has gone mad’, or ‘why do we have to change everything for those snowflakes?’. And I understand that it might seem like a nonsensical, tiny thing, to create special gender-neutral muisjes. Who cares about the color of a sweet rusk topping, right? The baby isn’t even capable of noticing it anyway, right? And a baby doesn’t know what their gender is going to be, right?
Well… it’s a little more complicated than that. Let me explain.
Pink for girls, blue for boys?
In general terms, most people agree that pink is a girls’ color and blue is a boys’ color. We think of pink dresses and barbie dolls and hairbrushes, and blue toy cars and superhero suits and building blocks. But what came first, our association with pink for girls, or the assignment of pink as a girls’ color? It could be a chicken-and-egg story, but in this case, there’s an answer.
Already eight years ago, LiveScience published this blog post, examining why we associate these colors with these genders. As it turns out, there’s no real biological explanation for the assignment of these colors.
Cohen adds that […] all other evidence indicates that, today, we differentiate children by gender much more than we did 150 years ago, when babies of either gender were typically outfitted in white dresses. The recent strengthening of gender-color associations must be cultural, he argues, leaving little room for the notion that each sex has evolved its own color preference.
There were times when pink was advised for boys. That was mainly because its proximity to red made it a stronger and more aggressive color. Blue was more subdued, and considered more delicate and therefore more associated with girls.
But however it came to be, the fact remains that the only real reason we associate colors with gender is just because we do. That might sound like circular reasoning, but that’s because it is (see what I did there?). It displays how social constructs perpetuate themselves. We’ve gotten so used to seeing pink associated with girls, that we associate pink with girls. We don’t feel ‘boy’ when we see blue, and we don’t feel ‘girl’ when we see pink. So we buy and advertise pink stuff for girls, and blue stuff for boys. And since the girls now mostly have pink stuff and the boys have blue stuff, we associate pink with girls and blue with boys. And so the cycle continues.
Sex and gender
The assignment of a certain color to a certain gender is fairly arbitrary. Nevertheless, it’s accepted by almost everybody. But that’s problematic.
The problem is that we assign these colors to certain genders. We think that we assign them to sexes, but in reality we assign them to genders, not sexes. And this is a very important distinction to make. They’re still used interchangeably very often, but by having two separate words, we have the opportunity to separate two equally separate things.
What does sex mean?
Of course I’m not talking about that thing that (usually) happens in the bedroom. In this case, sex is the overarching term describing the biological differentiation between humans. That differentiation is mostly based on genetics, anatomy, and the type of gametes it produces.
Most of these differences are caused by sex chromosomes. A chromosome is a DNA molecule that holds your genetic information. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, so 46 in total, in each cell. Two of those 46, so one pair, are your sex chromosomes. There are two types of sex chromosomes: X and Y. And females have XX, and men have XY.
Those sex chromosomes determine the way parts of your body are going to develop. Usually, that ends up in women getting a womb and a vagina, and men getting a penis, a pair of testicles, and a prostate. In later life, hormones cause women to grow breasts, and men to grow a beard and chest hair.
But it’s not always so simple. By saying you’re either a boy or a girl at birth, you’re leaving out a lot of naturally occurring diversity.
Intersexuality
Sometimes, errors in cell division during the creation of eggs and sperm cells can cause people to receive too many or too few X’s or Y’s. For example, people with Klinefelter syndrome have too many X’s next to their Y. People with Turner syndrome have only one X, and are either partially or completely missing a second X.
And sometimes, errors during development can cause changes in the physical development of the foetus. Abnormal influences of hormones and other chemicals can change the way the body or the brain develops in the womb.
And those are just a few of the causes of what we call intersexuality. And the birth of an intersex person occurs far more often than most people think.
The Intersex Campaign for Equality states that intersexuality occurs in an estimated 1.7% of the population. That’s roughly 1 in 59 people. According to these numbers, intersexuality is just about as common as having red hair (1–2%).
Around 1 in 2,000 to 5,000 children are born with ambiguous genitals. And these children are almost completely overlooked by society. While sex is still for the most part simple male or female, you can’t think of the human species as being truly sexually dimorphic.
Then what does gender mean?
And then there is gender. Gender is the societal and psychological part. That can include gender roles, characteristics or behavior perceived as masculine or feminine or anything in between, and gender identity. Gender isn’t black and white, or pink and blue for that matter. It actually exists on a spectrum.
It’s a complex concept, but in simple terms, you can think of sex as anything physical. Gender is anything psychological, such as gender identity, or socially constructed, such as gender roles. And sex and gender don’t necessarily have to conform.
Transgender
That’s where it becomes complicated. A common expression of a gender identity that doesn’t conform to physical sex, is the transgender identity. That means that someone who was born in a body that was either biologically one sex or was assigned one sex, but psychologically doesn’t feel like or identify with the according gender.
Someone who was born in what we’d perceive as a man’s body, might feel more like a woman, and might identify more with being a woman than with being a man. And, accordingly, that person might choose to undergo a sex-change operation so they can live in the body that corresponds with how they feel.
Non-binary
Another term that we hear more often is ‘non-binary’. That refers to anyone who doesn’t identify with the exclusive gender binary. These can be genderfluid people, who might feel more like a woman one day and might feel more like a man the other day. They can also be people who don’t wish to have a gender at all, or any other flavor your can think of.
So what’s the problem with color assignment?
As you can see, there are a lot of different sexes and gender identities instead of just the two familiar ones. If you feel like it’s complicated, you’re right. It is. But humans are complicated, and can’t be defined by just fitting in either box A or box B. Hopefully, the concept of having only two colors to indicate someone’s sex or gender with has started sounding a little illogical. Or at least a little limited.
The assignment of blue for a boy generally persists throughout their childhood. In almost every clothing or toy store, there’s a clearly visible separation of colors. You can easily distinguish the items intended for girls, and those intended for boys.
There’s a number of toys that aren’t specifically gendered. But the remarkable thing is that, the older the child gets, the more marketing turns towards their expected gender roles. And that’s where it gets sticky.
Marketing towards gender roles
Boy products aren’t just often blue, they’re more often marketed as tough and cool, emphasizing strength and activity. For example monster trucks and superheroes.
Girl products are more often marketed towards being kind and caring. They emphasize what we see as a ‘softer’ inclination, and more often focus on looks and aesthetics. Girl products therefore often include dolls that you can fuss with and dress up.
There’s at least some grounding in biology here. From an evolutionary standpoint, men were more often the hunters, the fighters, the defenders, fueled by testosterone. Women more often those that cared for the home and for others, most importantly their offspring.
The impact of gendered marketing
But marketing products according to gender roles doesn’t leave room for those who don’t fit into that category. And don’t even get me started on the unrealistic ideals some of these products create for children ( looking at you, Barbie!). But maybe more importantly: these kinds of toys perpetuate the gender role stereotypes.
Marketing products this way perpetuates the idea that boys should be tough and aggressive. It presupposes that girls should be caring and nurturing and should care about their appearance. And while the colors of the muisjes don’t specifically say anything about those things, they’re a small part of the bigger social construct. A construct of assigning rather fixed gender roles to someone with a certain sex.
There’s a reason this is a problem. It leaves little room for children to find their own preferred way of expressing themselves. They’re expected to play with toys that are associated with their sex, and to dress in appropriate colors. Luckily, wearing a pink shirt is steadily becoming more and more normal for businessmen. But a lot of schoolchildren are still harassed, made fun of, and bullied for doing or wearing things that are associated with girls.
The damage of sex and gender assignment
Boys that wear nail polish often have to endure a lot of scorn and bullying at school. Girls that cut their hair short, and run around playing in the mud with monster trucks, hear from society that it’s not how a girl should behave.
Women in the military are perceived as mannish. Men that earn less than their wives are sometimes still perceived as emasculated and weak. Bonus points if they stay home to care for the child while the mother is off to work.
These cultural perceptions of gender roles are all results of our persistant compulsion to think of sex and gender as purely binary things with very distinct characteristics.
There’s nothing wrong with identifying different sexes and genders in general. And there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging a broad set of characteristics that we generally see more often in one sex than in the other. That’s not the issue.
The issue is the way we force those ideas onto people who haven’t formed their own yet. The issue is that we expect these characteristics from someone purely based on their body parts.
Of course men are generally stronger than women. The strongest woman on the planet can beat all other women and most of the men, but the strongest man can beat every other person on the planet. Testosterone does a good job at that.
Of course women are often more nurturing and caring. Evolution has primed us to feel that way, to ensure that we take care of our offspring and therewith ensure the survival of our species. You can thank hormones for that too.
Expectations vs. reality
But what we’re doing now, is putting the cart before the horse. We’re putting expectations before reality. We see on the ultrasound that our baby is going to be a girl, so we paint the child’s bedroom pink and adorn it with frilly pillows and dolls and a toy kitchen.
That child is going to grow up in that stuff. But what if it turns out that their gender identity is male, and not female? What if it turns out that they don’t like baby dolls and pink dresses? That they would much rather wear cargo shorts and go skating?
You might think ‘no harm done, right?’, and oftentimes that’s true, but the child will also have lived in confusion for many years. Especially in families and environments where transsexuality isn’t discussed or isn’t viewed as normal.
Time and time again, children from these kinds of environments develop gender dysphoria. They fear to truly be their authentic selves. They’ll try to fit in that mold until they can’t take it anymore, often developing severe depression and anxiety. But growing up in a gender-neutral environment could prevent all of that.
The main problem is all those expectations. They set you up so that you either conform to those expectations, or you’re a deviant. Either you’re normal, or you’re an outlier. And it should no longer be normal that those expectations define what normal is.
Gender-neutral doesn’t mean genderless
Now, I want to be very clear about something.
Raising your child in a gender-neutral way absolutely does not mean that you call your child an ‘it’ and dress it in drab grey. It doesn’t mean you pretend that your child is non-binary. It doesn’t mean you raise your child without the concept of gender as if it doesn’t exist in the world.
Gender neutrality doesn’t mean that men and women no longer exist. It doesn’t mean that you can’t call anyone ‘he’ or ‘she’ anymore.
What gender neutrality really means
Gender neutrality means that everyone has access to both ‘he’ and ‘she’ and all other pronouns if they wish to. That everyone has access to whatever type of expression they want, regardless of whether society deems it feminine or masculine. It means that everyone has access to high heels and skirts and make-up, without fear of ridicule or harassment.
Gender neutrality only means that your child has equal access to any and all different gender identities and gendered concepts. It means that your child isn’t expected to play with dolls if they’re female. It means that your child doesn’t have to think they’re strange for wanting to wear hot pink nail polish if they’re male.
Gender neutrality means freedom from expectations. Freedom from the thought of having a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ way to express yourself. A freedom that means there isn’t anything you should or should not do or like based on your gender.
It means that your child can just walk into the toy store, and pick the toy they want to play with, without fear of scrutiny when a boy walks into the doll section. It means that they can grow up and do, wear, and play with whatever they want.
Gender neutrality means that masculinity is no longer exclusively thought of as a guy thing. That femininity is no longer exclusively thought of as a girl thing.
The concepts of masculinity and femininity will still exist, but everyone has equal access to them. And that access will depend solely on what they feel like, and no longer on what society expects of them.
Gender neutrality means that people of any sex or gender can do what feels good to them. That they don’t have to conform to the gender role that society expects of them.
It means that talking about your emotions is no longer a ‘girl thing’. That men are no longer expected to be macho. It means that men no longer have to feel weak when they’re suffering from depression because they think they should be strong.
The benefits of gender neutrality
Decreased suicide rates
First of all: decreased suicide rates among men. I kid you not. Because society so often expects men to be strong and tough, many men feel they can’t open up about their feelings, leading to many men suffering from depression in silence.
Men are more likely than women to be unable to recognize their feelings, or to push them away, often subconsciously. Because society particulary doesn’t pay enough attention to emotional skills in men, a lot of men are poorly equipped to deal with their feelings in a healthy way.
Men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women, mostly because signs of depression go unnoticed for too long, and because men don’t seek help as early or as easily as others.
And of course: decreased suicide rates among people who are transgender, intersex, non-binary, gender-nonconforming etc. Gender dysphoria leads to suicidal ideation in almost half of all cases, and suicide attempts in almost one in four of them. Confusion over who they are, where they belong, or what they are supposed to do with themselves is a big contributor.
But not only that: a large part is societal stigmatization and discrimination against anyone who doesn’t conform to the standard binary norm. If depression is already hard to talk about as a man because it’s deemed too feminine, how hard would someone’s life be if they feel like a woman in a man’s body? Or don’t even feel like either a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’? Combine that with the lack of support and safe places to express themselves, and you have a recipe for depression and suicide.
More gender equality
Gender neutrality also contributes to equal opportunities and possibilities in careers. Luckily, we no longer think it strange that women have full-time jobs. But society is still more likely to expect the man to earn more and work harder, and the woman to stay at home more and take care of housekeeping, cooking, and caring for the children.
And on top of that, women are still structurally paid less than men. But if we stop differentiating between the two in places where it really isn’t called for, that might disappear too.
More personal freedom
If all the world was open to you, instead of just those things that suit your gender, you would have far more freedom. More freedom to be who you really want to be, regardless of the body you were born in. Because gender neutrality offers everyone equal access, you have more freedom of expression.
More possibilities for hobbies and personal interests. It will be easier for women to get into martial arts, and for men to get into dance. Men can be ballerina’s if they want to, and women can play the male roles if they want to.
Better understanding
Nowadays, there’s a certain schism between the male and female worlds. The prevalence of gender jokes in sitcoms shows that it’s still too common for men and women to misunderstand each other’s perception and experience.
But of course, if you come into contact with things from the other gender’s side more often, it’ll be easier to understand all of that. If you rarely come into contact with sports because your culture sees it as a predominantly male thing, you won’t learn that much about it.
Growing up in a gender-neutral environment greatly decreases the amount of bias you’ll have in later life towards others. Especially if others in your environment grow up that way too.
By comparison, if you grow up in a sexuality-neutral environment, you like won’t be as biased towards gays and bisexuals as others who grew up in a predominantly heteronormative environment.
Conclusion
Society still has a consistently binary view of gender, aside from often confusing it with biological sex, which also turns out not to be purely binary. It’s human nature that anything that isn’t deemed ‘normal’ is bullied into conformity or otherwise shunned and rejected. These behaviors stem from times long gone by when our ancestors still lived in tribes, and they might have contributed to our continued existence.
But now it’s time we move forward from that history, and recognize that the human race comprises of a colorful spectrum of all kinds of different configurations. From sex and gender to sexuality and from neurodivergence to skin color, they all exist on a spectrum.
We’re learning more about the human experience every day, so it’s only fair that we adjust our views and preconceptions accordingly. And producing muisjes in only pink and blue therefore becomes a thing of the past. | https://medium.com/@blackbirdsfeathers/the-impact-of-gender-neutral-muisjes-c40bf41a34fc | ["Blackbird'S Feathers"] | 2020-11-29 16:05:53.496000+00:00 | ['Gender Identity', 'Gender Roles', 'Gender Neutrality', 'Gender', 'Gender Assignments'] |
5 Reasons Why you need to learn Excel | There are many different roles and several types of companies. Excel unites them all. It is a versatile program that can be used in all industries and walks of life. It is an industry-standard and is widely used. Excel provides many functions for sorting and analyzing data. Click here for more information about Excel.
Excel is an extremely powerful tool for business that has been well-developed over time. We will not be able to cover all the incredible capabilities here. But this blog will help you to answer one important question, “Why do you need to learn Excel?”.
Excel skills can be extremely valuable to employers, which will increase your chances of getting hired. Employers will notice that you have excellent analytical skills. Excel skills are highly valued by employers due to the variety of ways they can be applied. Excel courses will show you how to excel in advanced ways that will help you stand out in the job marketplace. Excel can be used for many purposes, including:
Creating Financial Models
Comparing Actuals vs Budgets
Monitoring expenses and revenues
Creating Dashboards and automating reports
Manually organizing or manipulating data can be time-consuming and tedious. Excel makes it quick and easy to organize data and modify it quickly. It reduces human error like miscounting or miscalculating. It also makes it easy to analyze large amounts of data quickly and once you’re proficient with its advanced properties and features you can even do complex statistical analyses. Excel skills will improve overtime as you complete more tasks and projects. Consider this:
Automation is the new trend. Use Power Query, one of the excel capabilities to automate reports and dashboards to save time.
Humans tend to remember pictures rather than words of numbers. Excel can identify trends quickly in large data sets and make a business decision using pivot tables or charts.
Many jobs in finance require Excel skills.
Excel can also be used by accountants with financial management software.
Financial analysts use Excel often for financial modeling.
Excel can be used for business analysts to analyze and report data to support business decisions.
Excel makes it simple to create interactive analytical dashboards, or reports. These can be used for the PowerPoint Presentation or given to clients/managers to provide real time detailed analysis. The dashboards are automated with the help of Power Query, which makes the work simple and efficient. The dashboards/reports are reviewed by clients/managers and a standard template will help with better formulas and charts.
Excel’s collaborative design makes sharing, editing, and using an Excel spreadsheet easy for other users. This allows users to freely share and edit data, regardless of where they are located. Microsoft Office makes it easy to export Excel data into Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. This makes it simple to present presentations and write work. Even though it may seem overwhelming at first, Microsoft Excel is very easy to use. Excel can increase your employability and career prospects. Excel is a great tool to analyze data and manage personal finances. Excel is a useful tool that you can use in many areas of your daily life. It is a crucial part of personal growth. | https://medium.com/@sarvagya.tongia/5-reasons-why-you-need-to-learn-excel-f51509d98887 | ['Sarvagya Tongia'] | 2021-09-14 10:04:01.168000+00:00 | ['Skills', 'Learning', 'Excel', 'Skills Development', 'Microsoft'] |
Finding God in Gay | Learning to find God in all things can be tricky, but it can get even more daunting to find God in the darkness of rejection, discrimination and prejudice.
I didn’t have to grapple with my gay orientation for too long. I was accepting of who I was from the beginning, which was a blessing and a grace in many ways, though I did feel the sting of rejection from a place that was supposed to be my home. I consider my brothers and sisters who have not been as fortunate and I feel compassion for those men and women who struggle with self-hatred and condemn themselves to a life of secrecy, those who are constantly bombarded with messages telling them they are freaks. I think of the kids being bullied at school who then go to mass with their parents and hear anti-gay remarks. I wonder how many teenagers who kill themselves also went to church with their parents and heard those things. And mostly, I wonder where God is in the midst of all this.
I constantly struggle with the answer to that question, but I do know that who God made me to be has been a gift. I have learned that love has many faces and styles. I’ll never forget watching Chely Wright — the country singer who came out — describe her experience. She said she remembered praying to God to make her straight when she heard a still small voice saying, “You are fine the way I made you. Proceed as you are.” Her words resonated deep within me. That is a powerful message for everyone, but especially today’s youth.
We find God in the diversity of creation and we find God in love — whatever form that takes. We can also find God when we are rejected and abandoned. Jesus was rejected because most narrow-minded people have little capacity to receive the all-encompassing love of Christ. Jesus preached of loving your neighbor and accepting everyone as brother and sister. Sadly, many Pharisees found this loving message absolutely appalling. Even more, Jesus made the human sacred. He blessed diversity. He associated with all types of people — some of whom were of questionable character.
Whenever we are being our authentic true selves — the selves that God created us to be — we will meet some level of rejection. But we can find God in the love within us and in communities that accept and affirm us. We can find God in people like Chely Wright who was a voice for all gay people who have no voice. God can be found in that still, small voice, “You are fine the way I made you, proceed as you are.”
We also find God in hope. Hope for the future — that acceptance and change will happen. It already is. There are many voices speaking out in favor of that change. I believe there is hope that we will come together as one big human family and “love one another as Christ has loved us.” I pray to be a part of that change and I pray that together we can play a part in helping to end teen suicide over one’s sexual orientation. I pray that all my brothers and sisters would know that they are loved and created in the image of God who has created diversity when it comes to love.
I believe that it will be the small communities that meet outside of the institutional church that will make the difference in this world; the lay people and the clergy who actually follow Christ that will make a difference by their efforts and sacrifices, people like Jeannine Gramick and the late Mychal Judge and many others who are standing up against injustice. It’s the quiet nuns that live in obscurity taking care of AIDS patients and the small welcoming communities who worship in the seclusion of their own home who are making the difference. The men and women who have the courage to be who they are in the face of rejection and ridicule and those who minister to the ones who cannot be themselves — they show me the Kingdom of God. These people are the true church and the face of Christ for me. | https://medium.com/reaching-out/finding-god-in-gay-9090c7f48a3 | ['Stephen Fratello'] | 2018-01-14 21:47:31.575000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Life', 'Storytelling', 'LGBTQ', 'Catholicism'] |
Free Your Team From the Burden of Technical Debt | How Technical Debt Is Abused
Working with and coaching many teams from many sectors for far too many years, I have found that technical debt always gets misused in the same ways.
Teams — or especially tech architects — quoting that you should “spend 20% of your time on technical debt.”
Maintaining a technical backlog.
Ensuring that 20% of the team’s capacity is expended on tech debt items every sprint.
There is a fundamental misunderstanding of a quote from Martin Fowler summarized as “teams spend about 20% of their time working on Tech Debt.”
This quote should be viewed in conjunction with the earlier quote from Fowler. The intention is to quantify on average how much time the team spends dealing with tech debt when implementing a change.
The tech architect or manager often uses the 20% argument and a technical backlog to justify getting the work they want into a sprint instead of following the correct practice of assessing the items alongside all the other backlog items and then only working on the items that deliver the most value.
Technical debt gets used as a convenient catch-all instead of adding technical stories to the backlog. The backlog should contain technical stories as well as all the exciting new features. The following are often wrongly generalized as tech debt:
Identified issues
Lack of process or poor process (e.g. configuration management tool)
Features that are wrong or delayed (things we should have done in release X but)
UI issues, inconsistencies, or bad experience
Enhancements (including performance)
Lack of skills within the team
Changes resulting from architecture decisions
Incorporation of new coding standards or practices
All of the above represent work that the team may need to complete. The product backlog is the correct place for these items.
The issues above usually occur in a team or organization that has not fully embraced Agile thinking. If a separation has been maintained between the technical and business aspects, or if the Product Owner is only performing what they consider the sexy part of the role, then the product backlog may only contain the new features for a product. With everything else considered as a technical problem that is of no interest to the Product Owner, these items are then formed into a Technical Backlog.
This is usually justified by stating that the Product Owner has no technical knowledge. Therefore, how can they judge the relative merits of the technical items against the business ones? The answer when working in a Agile manner is simple: All items on the backlog should be refined by the team as a whole.
The team has the technical knowledge and can therefore have the relevant conversations to ensure they get prioritized correctly.
During the early stage of an Agile adoption, the team and organisation struggle with the concepts of openness and transparency. This is especially apparent when transitioning from a “command, control, and blame” culture. In these circumstances, the technical backlog becomes a mechanism for hiding uncomfortable truths. The product backlog only contains the new features used in reviews and communications with stakeholders. All the issues and problems are contained in the technical backlog, which is kept within the team and never communicated to the stakeholders. | https://medium.com/better-programming/its-time-to-kill-your-technical-backlog-3f19e2347538 | ['Mark Gray'] | 2020-10-05 17:59:23.223000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Leadership', 'Product Management', 'Technology', 'Agile'] |
Why We Should Make 2020 the Year of Resilience | What is Resilience?
According to Psychology, Resilience is our ability to cope during a crisis and come back stronger. Instead of letting adversity and challenges tear us down, we choose to face them, to heal, and to continue our course.
Some research suggests resilience has a genetic predisposition. The good news is that many of us are resilient in some capacity. Yes, some of us are naturally better at it than others, but I believe it can be learned as well. As with everything, genetics and environmental factors are always interacting in some capacity. The layman's term for this is Nature vs Nurture. Psychologists have often taken a stance on which affects our development more. That said, these days most agree that it’s a mix of both.
If you don’t think of yourself as resilient, well I’d like to argue you are more resilient than you think. Winnie the Pooh phrased it better than me though.
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” ~ Winnie the Pooh
And if you don’t believe that, well let’s look at ways you can improve your resilience by learning from others.
What Builds Resilience?
There are a lot of traits associated with people who are highly resilient. Here are a few ways to build your own resilience. And don’t worry, I’ll elaborate on each one with research.
Here are 4 traits that build resilience:
Internal Locus of Control
High Rates of Optimism
Social Support
Strong Moral Compass
Internal Locus of Control
The Locus of Control refers to the degree to which you believe you are in control of a situation. If you think all your problems are out of your control it would be external. If you see yourself as still in control it would be considered internal. Resilient people have an internal sense of control and that helps them perform better. This makes sense since feeling in control reduces anxiety and that makes adapting to a challenge easier.
High Rates of Optimism
Optimism is another trait that has some basis in our genes, and I’m sure I fall into this pool. My family has gone through some difficult times, but we have always been happy. Being more optimistic leads to more success when faced with challenges, as seen in this study on university students.
Social Support
Resilient people also look for emotional support in times of trouble. In this paper, they provide evidence that seeking social support leads to better psychological hardiness. A close social network is a key factor in reducing depression and coping with adversity.
Strong Moral Compass
Having a clear moral compass and internal belief system is another way to increase your resilience. In this study, having a strong moral compass and ethics was found in resilient people as well. This makes sense since decision-making would be easier if you follow your own beliefs on what is right and wrong. | https://medium.com/@victoriaafraser/why-we-should-make-2020-the-year-of-resilience-efcd56f05caa | ['Victoria A. Fraser'] | 2020-12-26 22:59:56.309000+00:00 | ['Opinion', 'Inspiration', 'Resilience', 'Psychology', 'Personal Development'] |
Dance Nation: A Guide | Everything you need to know about Clare Barron’s Dance Nation, a State Theatre Company South Australia co-production with Belvoir for Adelaide Festival and the first show of State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2020 season.
What is this show about?
In Middle America, a dance team of adolescent girls (and one boy) are preparing for the most important moment of their young lives - a national dance final. Under the guidance of a ferocious dance teacher, we see the teens (all played by adults) collectively fight for glory while dealing with their own talents, inadequacies and experiences. Some are naturally skilled, some just want to have fun, some have overbearing stage mothers, and all are discovering their power in a world that threatens to take it away.
But a straight-laced, coming-of-age tale this is not. Dance Nation is a blur of reality and fantasy; a dream and a nightmare. It flips from the mundane to the surreal in a heartbeat, taking the audience on a turbulent ride through adolescence.
Also — it’s really funny.
Fusing high energy dance numbers, quietly poignant moments and fantastical bursts of surrealism, Dance Nation is one of the most extraordinary pieces of form-bending theatre to emerge in the past five years.
The success of Dance Nation
Dance Nation had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons, New York, in May 2018 and its UK premiere at the Almeida Theatre in London.
It won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2017 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — Drama in 2019. It was also a shared recipient of the inaugural Relentless Award, established in honour of Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2015.
The New York Times called Dance Nation one of the best plays of 2018, stating:
“[The play] conjures the passionate ambivalence of early adolescence with such being-there sharpness and poignancy that you’re not sure whether to cringe, cry or roar with happiness. Blazingly original and unsettlingly familiar.”
The writer
Clare Barron is a Washington-born playwright who originally set out to become an actor, but discovered a love for playwriting after penning her own monologues.
Dance Nation playwright Clare Barron.
Her other plays include You Got Older, which received its world premiere with Page 73 and later appeared at Steppenwolf (Obie Award for Playwriting, Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Play, Kilroys List, and Susan Smith Blackburn finalist), I’ll Never Love Again (The Bushwick Starr, NYTimes & Time Out Critics’ Picks), and Baby Screams Miracle (Woolly Mammoth, Clubbed Thumb).
In an interview with The Guardian, the 33-year-old speaks about her passion for telling women’s stories that concentrate on bodies and sex. The article states that “she grew up in a conservative Christian community in Washington state and has tasked herself with undoing the shame she learned there.”
Dance Nation, Barron says, is a play about women, ambition, and desire.
“I wanted to write this play because I wanted to present a different picture of teenage girls onstage. One where trauma wasn’t the central narrative. One where “being the best” was.”
The director
The incredible Imara Savage (who directed Mr Burns: a post-electric play for State Theatre Company South Australia and Belvoir in 2017) takes the helm once again for Dance Nation. Clara Solly-Slade, recipient of the inaugural Emerging Director Fellowship through the support of The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation and the Helpmann Academy, is also on board as Assistant Director.
Dance Nation director Imara Savage
Imara says Dance Nation is “in part a reclamation of narratives, of language and the female body and asks serious questions about what it means to win, to be the best and to burn the brightest.”
Under Imara’s direction, designer Jonathon Oxlade has created a singular, psychological dance studio surrounded by mirrors. As he writes in his Designer’s Note, it becomes the training ground and the battleground — a space that transforms and shifts between the past and the future, a space that is less literal and one that sits inside a feeling and intuitive space.
Jonathon worked with Imara and lighting designer Alexander Berlage to create an aesthetic that drew inspiration from pop culture references, including the high school in the film Carrie, American pop video clips with a cheerleader edge and the television series Dance Moms.
The vision board. Photo by Sia Duff
Composer Luke Smiles and sound designer Andrew Howard then worked with Larissa McGowan’s choreography to create an electric soundtrack that worked with the dance moves, rather than the other way around. Rather incredible.
The cast
Dance Nation has a star cast featuring Elena Carapetis, Emma Harvie, Chika Ikogwe, Yvette Lee, Rebecca Massey, Amber McMahon, Tara Morice, Tim Overton and State Theatre Company South Australia’s very own Artistic Director and Helpmann Award-winning actor, Mitchell Butel. Only Mitchell, as Dance Teacher Pat, and Elena, as an array of dance mothers, play adults. The rest of the cast, ranging in age from 20s to 50s, all play the teenage dancers.
This doesn’t mean the actors become teenage caricatures — the intention here is to ensure the audience views these characters both as teenagers and the adults they’ll become.
It aims to illustrate that what happens to us at 13 is carried throughout our lives.
In turn, it becomes a ‘memory play’.
As Imara Savage quotes in her Director’s Note:
“Memory offers up its gifts only when jogged by something in the present. It isn’t a storehouse of fixed images and words, but a dynamic associative network in the brain that is never quiet and is subject to revision each time we retrieve an old picture or old words.”
― Siri Hustvedt, The Sorrows of an American
Actors Emma Harvie and Yvette Lee in rehearsal. Photo by Sia Duff
The characters of Dance Nation. Top row from L to R: Zuzu (Chika Ikogwe), Tim Overton (Luke), Rebecca Massey (Maeve). Second row: Elena Carapetis (Dance Moms), Tara Morice (Sofia), Mitchell Butel (Dance Teacher Pat). Bottom row: Amina (Yvette Lee), Ashlee (Amber McMahon), Connie (Emma Harvie).
OK. Let’s go deeper
Beneath the pomp and pageantry of Dance Nation is an intense examination of ambition, adolescence, womanhood, sexuality and gender roles.
As Dance Nation literary assistant Lizzie Stern writes, the play “asks the scariest questions about who we are, how we became that person, and who we will become next” and insists we think about these questions in terms of gender.
“And there’s really no other way to do it — because, before we even start preschool, we’re assigned and participating in gender roles.”
“As Judith Butler puts it, in her 1990 book Gender Trouble, ‘Does being female constitute a “natural fact” or a cultural performance?’ The rules and borders of this performance are constraining for all, and unbearably excruciating for some. And what’s so spectacular about Dance Nation is that its characters can’t be boxed in-at least not entirely, not yet. None of them is a ‘type.’ They’re all the smart one, the funny one, the competitive one, the supportive one, they’re all driven in part by an animalistic id, they’re all self-possessed and vulnerable and messy and shifting and opening. Or, in a word, human.” — Lizzie Stern
In short?
Dance Nation will make you laugh, maybe even make you cry, and bring some of the best dance moves to ever grace the Scott Theatre stage. It’s poignant, shocking, funny, tender, empowering, beautiful and just a little bit daggy.
Get out your leotards.
Dance Nation’s Adelaide season plays at Scott Theatre, 21 Feb — 7 Mar, for Adelaide Festival. Tickets at statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/dance-nation Dance Nation’s Sydney season plays at Upstairs Theatre from 14 Mar — 12 Apr, tickets at https://belvoir.com.au/productions/dance-nation/ | https://medium.com/behind-the-curtain/dance-nation-a-guide-e9f7a2ffe352 | ['State Theatre Company South Australia'] | 2020-02-24 06:18:16.338000+00:00 | ['Theatre', 'Gender', 'Dance', 'Feminism', 'Adolescence'] |
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BUY FROM OFFICIAL WEBSITE | https://medium.com/@cholegrace/what-is-java-burn-f617211c5035 | ['Chole Grace'] | 2021-12-29 21:44:07.063000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss Tips', 'Weight Loss', 'Weightloss Recipe', 'Weight Loss Program'] |
How to Talk the Talk (in front of hundreds) | Talking is simple. We do it everyday. But plop a group of people in front of you, and suddenly it becomes very, very difficult. Our inherent fear of public speaking is arguably one of the world’s great mysteries.
Does anybody truly enjoy public speaking? Some people seem to — but we can all agree that they’re weird and not to be trusted. That being said, I’ve been working on ZenHub for a few years now, and I’m always looking for new ways to grow and learn. I’ve learned the surest sign that you’re challenging yourself is when your stomach flops over and your palms get clammy. So a while back, when I decided it was time to target a new challenge, I thought about what made me feel uncomfortable. Top of the list was public speaking. So I determined that was exactly what I needed to do.
Sharing my journey
I hope it saves you time and spares you a headache. If nothing else, it should show hesitant speakers like myself that you can do it too.
To be totally transparent, at one point I did actually enjoy public speaking. At my high school every year each student had to write and deliver a five minute(ish) talk to the class. The best ones were selected to be given to the entire school. I was pretty good at it. Good enough that other students would pay me to write their speeches (what can I say, I’ve always been a hustler).
Since then I’ve forgotten most of my commissioned works, but a few highlights stick out. One, for a particularly petite friend, laid out an airtight case that sports are biased against short people. In another case, on behalf of a friend with terrible grades, I put together a thought-provoking treatise on why kids should drop out of high school. Somehow that one got selected as a standout that the entire school would enjoy.
A decade later, this upcoming presentation brought up much more dread. This was a more serious talk on a highly technical topic for a very specific audience. At fifty minutes, it was twenty-five times longer than my high school diatribes, and too lengthy a time slot to have something memorized. About a hundred people would be there, which is a considerable increase since the classroom-sized audiences I was accustomed to. Plus, it would cover my professional arena, so the stakes were higher than ghostwriting for pimply teenage slackers. Part of the talk would involve a live demo, too, so I needed to build something that I couldn’t accidentally break on stage with a live audience.
Despite (or maybe because of) my incredible nerves, I knew this was an important thing to do. I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt, and learning to share that knowledge for an audience felt like my next big challenge. With encouragement from my team lead Pablo, I got started preparing.
Identifying a topic
First off, I’d never given a talk before, so requests for speaking engagements and keynotes weren’t clogging my inbox. This girl needed to find a stage. And that meant I had to find something to talk about.
After some thought, I settled on Ramda, a library we’d recently incorporated into ZenHub. Although I’d have do more research, I already had a solid foundational understanding of the library. Plus, there’s not much material on Ramda out there compared to other JavaScript libraries, so I’d be able to get a good grip on it in a reasonable amount of time.
Armed with a topic, I applied to speak at DeveloperWeek, the huge tech conference held annually in San Francisco. I got accepted.
Once I got my breathing under control, I spent the next three days reading everything I could find on Ramda and watching previous DeveloperWeek presentations on YouTube. With that done, I had a ton of notes I needed to organize into a 50-minute talk.
So where to start?
To my surprise, information hierarchy proved to be one of the tougher aspects — I had plenty of material, but how should I shape it into something coherent?
I began by laying out the skeleton of the presentation slides. A central part would be the live coding demo (which would also take up a nice chunk of time). I needed to make the demo robust enough to illustrate my points, but not so complicated as to lose the audience or trip myself up onstage.
With my main points plotted out, it was time to add some flair to the technical stuff. I turned to Mack, our resident entertainer.
A hero and a villain
Ok. I already had those: noble clean code, the kind provided by Ramda, versus diabolical, complex, unreadable code. A battle waged since the earliest days of computing. I delegated an emoji to each as their avatar.
Once I had everything in good shape, I began practicing five-minute lightning talks at work and to friends. This was important; my co-workers could offer important technical feedback, while my friends outside the industry could give pointers on the talk’s delivery and clarity.
For my final dry run I gave a more substantial version of the talk at our office a few months later, cutting some of the novice intro material and beefing up the technical sections. At this point, everything was pretty much finalized.
Lessons already learned
In the months I spent preparing the talk, I discovered some surprising revelations. One of the biggest ones was that you need not be the foremost expert on your topic in order to speak on it. Sounds counterintuitive, but that’s a lot of pressure to lay on yourself and a great way to psych yourself out before you’ve even started.
A talk by Anjana Vakil from a 2016 conference dispelled the idea of topic mastery for me. Right up front, she admits she’s not a complete master of the subject, but that she’d like to share her journey with the audience. Whenever I started to feel overwhelmed in this process, I remembered Anjana. Pretty soon, I realized that an effective way to develop expertise on something is to commit to talking about it in front of a large group of people. Nothing motivates you more than sheer terror.
Another assumption was that I should have every line, beat, and quip committed to memory. Otherwise, I feared at first, I would stumble once, panic, and implode. However, it became clear pretty quickly that memorizing everything was not the best way to go about this. While I did have a solid script in front of me for reference, I made sure to leave room for flexibility. In the end, these more loose moments let some levity and personality shine through.
This isn’t to say I wasn’t incredibly nervous in the minutes before walking onstage. I pored over my notes again and again, ran through my coding demo repeatedly, and triple-checked my computer to make sure everything would run smoothly.
Then the time came. They called my name and I took the stage
I launched into the talk. It might not have been the world’s greatest presentation, but things went pretty well. For the first half I was nervous and it showed — but I quickly realized that wasn’t the end of the world. About halfway through, I took a deep breath and gave myself a pep talk. I reassured myself that I knew what I was talking about and had every right to be there.
My nerves began to dissipate, and everything smoothed out. I quit stressing about staying glued to my script. The tone grew more casual and relaxed, and I think everybody benefitted.
Early on, I’d worried that my topic was too basic, that ten minutes in, half the audience would be glued to their phones. But that never happened. After wrapping, there was a ten-minute Q&A packed with insightful, thoughtful questions — the sign of a successful and engaging presentation.
The biggest takeaway, for me, was that people are, at their core, good and kind. The audience laughed, they cried (okay, so nobody cried). My point is, they aren’t out to eat you alive. After my talk, several people told me they appreciated that I never tried to sell them anything, that I was there to share some information and insight. Two even said it was the best presentation they’d seen so far, two days into the conference. That alone made the entire endeavour worthwhile.
As you can guess, I’m so glad I did it. I’m proud I set this challenge out for myself and overcame it, and I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to speak. I hope anyone that’s thinking about it like I was will give it a try.
Written by Christine Legge
Edited by Grady Mitchell | https://medium.com/axiomzenteam/how-to-talk-the-talk-in-front-of-hundreds-62a6775fdb4 | ['Axiom Zen'] | 2018-04-12 17:29:00.892000+00:00 | ['Public Speaking', 'Engineering', 'Conference', 'Insights', 'Startup'] |
Can Social Media Help Us Overcome Our Social Anxiety and Become Better Marketers? | The world has become a noisy place
Maybe it is easier now to make a name for yourself as a writer. But there are so many of us, it’s hard to find an audience in the middle of all the creative souls scattering their words to the four winds.
This all seems so awesome in theory.
The shattering of the glass ceiling, the downfall of the middlemen, the easy access to free and powerful means of communication.
There are no obstacles anymore… except for the ones we’ve built for ourselves in this new world.
In the land of opportunities, attention has become the world’s most coveted currency. Clickbait, fake news and “get rich quick” courses keep popping up all over our social media feeds like mushrooms after a heavy storm.
But I have to wonder if we didn’t end up where we started?
Aren’t the middlemen algorithmic entities who scavenge our feeds looking for valuable content? Aren’t our glass ceilings our social media stats? Aren’t our powerful and free channels crowded with noise?
And what does this mean for introverts like us?
Marketing for introverts — it’s not what you think
Some days I feel I’m 10 years old and back at school.
I feel the same paralysis I once felt when I looked around me and saw my classmates chatting happily and expressing their views freely in front of the entire class.
As for me, it terrified me even to think the teacher would remember I was there.
So my mouth remained shut. And my shoulders bent. But my eyes and ears were wide open capturing every single excruciating detail so I could write all about it when I got home.
Most of my teachers thought there was something wrong with me. Most of them would take pleasure in mocking me and my red cheeks in front of the entire class.
For a long time, I thought there was something wrong with me too. I wanted to be like everybody else… but I couldn’t.
I always stood out like an awkward moment of silence at a dinner party.
I knew I was different, but I would only find out about introversion a decade later. I first heard about it from the lips of Susan Cain, an introvert like me. And at that point, I’d completely forgotten which had started first: my introversion or my social anxiety.
Did I become anxious in social settings because my colleagues and teachers mocked me for being an introvert? Or was my social anxiety there all along?
I can’t remember at all.
Social media was supposed to make things easier. But it hasn’t. Not in the slightest.
Most days I feel I’ve been stuck in a giant classroom with thousands of people screaming at each other at the top of their lungs and ignoring everyone else around them.
To be honest, I feel the same fear and insecurity I once felt. I feel ignored and heartbroken. I feel just as powerless as before.
But there’s a quiet and solid strength to introverts that hardly anybody cares to recognize.
We’re good at creating comfortable and intimate environments around us.
Sure it might take us a while to adapt to new people and new circumstances. But once we start building bridges towards others, we’ll always make sure to keep our foundations strong.
We work at a different speed and start our journeys from unusual places.
But we know where we stand and we know what we want because… while others were screaming for attention, we were searching for our dreams and strengths deep within our souls.
How we can use introversion to become good marketers
Does this mean we’ll be bad at social media? Probably. Or at least we’ll suck at social media for a while.
But don’t let this discourage you. We’ll be bad because we need to learn how to express ourselves in this new medium in a way that’s lined up with our vision and our strengths.
We can’t do social media the same way everybody else is doing. The same way we can’t scream for attention in a crowded room.
But this doesn’t mean we can’t achieve the same or better results as natural extroverts. In the end, it’s all about the conversion and the engagement rates, not the number of fans, likes or comments.
To understand how our particular personality can help us become better marketers, we need to understand what marketing is all about.
Real marketing
Real marketing is about people. And it’s about change.
Seth Godin said it himself. Marketing is about foresting change. And change starts by creating a relationship with others. And a relationship starts by listening to what others have to say.
Good marketing it’s about going the extra mile for our clients and collaborators.
It’s not about standing out in a crowded and noisy room. It’s about knowing how to find the little and quiet rooms and building something valuable in there and making sure it is found by the right people.
Real marketing starts in one-on-one conversations.
Photo by Joshua Ness on Unsplash
As introverts, we may hate crowds, but we can understand others just as well as we understand ourselves. So don’t try to grab a microphone and scream into a room full of people. Grab a single person and listen to what she has to say.
Big changes can start small. They don’t need to go viral in the first hour. They don’t need to have millions of fans.
Social media has created the illusion of effortlessness success. But there is nothing easy about good marketing.
You can try all those shortcuts splashed all over the internet. You can choose to do what everybody else is doing. Or you can try to be different and try to find ways to go the extra mile.
The extra mile is where you should be. Find what everybody else is doing and do something else, something harder, something unscalable, something that cannot be replicated by others.
I’m still discovering what this means for writers. But as a web marketer I start to understand that the real opportunities are not on short posts on our social media accounts… but in genuine human interaction and collaboration.
Go out there. Get out of your feed and try to look for opportunities in the real world. Literary cafes, workshops, conferences, art exhibits…
Pick up that phone and start talking to people, interviewing them, creating collaborative content.
In the end, you can have a beautiful Instagram feed and hilarious tweets. You may have the numbers and the stats and the social proof.
But if you don’t have the relationships, if you don’t have a network, none of it will matter in the long run. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/can-social-media-help-us-overcome-our-social-anxiety-and-become-better-marketers-2d3d5f9af274 | ['Ana C. Reis'] | 2019-09-23 15:17:37.732000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Writing', 'Marketing', 'Social Anxiety', 'Introvert'] |
Doing Business in a Data-Driven World | The modern company thrives on data, yet some are also drowning in it. The data that we find so precious could be holding us back rather than driving us forward for data must be managed and interpreted for it to be turned into actionable insights. Data management complexity increases as data sizes grow and as data is distributed across a multitude of devices and platforms.
The cloud and the mobility of work have created a data diaspora. Data is created and exists across a myriad of platforms, some on the corporate network, but increasingly, in the cloud. This makes it difficult for companies to understand what data they have and how to use it properly. Pockets of valuable data may not be on the corporate radar or copies of data may reside in places that no longer meet organizational security standards. The former presents a risk of operating with incomplete data while the later a risk of a data breach.
Those that do utilize their data may be stymied when trying to make decisions based on ever-changing data sets. Each moment provides new data for machine learning systems or complex data algorithms, which can potentially provide more accurate insights. However, there is a time to collect data and a time to act and business leaders need to know when to do both in order to succeed.
So how do we get from collecting data and organizing data to the point where it can be used for business success? Naturally, there are management concerns, but there is also a concern about trust. Companies must be able to trust the data that they have. Is the data being applied correctly to the task at hand? Was it collected properly and from trusted sources? We have seen the problems that fake news has created over social media and in election systems. Such is the same for businesses.
It so happens that I will be speaking on this with Neil McGovern, Senior Director of Marketing, at SAP America, Inc. in our webinar titled, “Creating Trust in the Age of Data Driven Business.” In our data-driven world data privacy, security, and management couldn’t be more imperative for corporate success and a thriving digital economy. Join us in the discussion so that you can begin to harness your data with confidence. | https://medium.com/security-thinking-cap/doing-business-in-a-data-driven-world-bcddee57ad2b | ['Eric Vanderburg'] | 2018-05-29 17:30:49.690000+00:00 | ['Data', 'Business', 'Privacy', 'Cybersecurity'] |
Real World Applications of Cryptocurrencies — Food Traceability | As part of my series “Real World Applications of Cryptocurrencies”, and follow-up from my previous post on Cloud Computing & Golem, which you can find here, I will be discussing how the Food Traceability industry will be disrupted by the emergence of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Coincidentally, after I had started writing this post, I attended a steak course, where the Chef was criticizing how hard it is to find out exactly where beef has come from, how it’s butchered, whether it’s organic etc. — a perfect example for the need of food traceability.
Food Traceability— TE-FOOD (TFOOD)
Food traceability is probably something you never thought of before but something extremely important for your health. Regardless, there are a number of issues in this sector and especially in emerging markets, which are also major exporters of food. Some of these issues include:
Food Safety — I cannot stress enough, how severe the social and economic impact is, from lack of food safety. Foodborne diseases are accountable for the hospitalization of 700 million people and 400,000 deaths worldwide annually. Additionally, according to a study by the Ohio State University, the average cost of foodborne illness was estimated at $55.5 billion, in the USA alone.
— I cannot stress enough, how severe the social and economic impact is, from lack of food safety. Foodborne diseases are accountable for the hospitalization of 700 million people and 400,000 deaths worldwide annually. Additionally, according to a study by the Ohio State University, the average cost of foodborne illness was estimated at $55.5 billion, in the USA alone. Antibiotics — Using antibiotics in agriculture has many benefits; they promote growth and are essential for treating infections in animals. However, antibiotics are being overused and in many cases, used as part of intensive farming to prevent infections and speed up growth. This has given rise to antibiotic resistance, leading to new “superbugs” which are ingested by humans during food consumption. These “superbugs” can cause infections in humans that can lead to adverse health consequences. Researchers worldwide have been warning farmers to dramatically reduce the amount of antibiotics used in agriculture, in order to avoid a crisis. You can find a brilliant post by the UK’s National Health Service article explaining the problem here.
— Using antibiotics in agriculture has many benefits; they promote growth and are essential for treating infections in animals. However, antibiotics are being overused and in many cases, used as part of intensive farming to prevent infections and speed up growth. This has given rise to antibiotic resistance, leading to new “superbugs” which are ingested by humans during food consumption. These “superbugs” can cause infections in humans that can lead to adverse health consequences. Researchers worldwide have been warning farmers to dramatically reduce the amount of antibiotics used in agriculture, in order to avoid a crisis. You can find a brilliant post by the UK’s National Health Service article explaining the problem here. Mistrust & Fraud— Food supply chain companies, authorities and consumers have no way of confirming how each operate. There isn’t truly a way to prove this, which could lead to mistrust and deceit. Additionally, food fraud has a significant global economic cost to the food industry. According to PwC the economic impact is estimated to be in the region of ~$40 billion annually.
Food supply chain companies, authorities and consumers have no way of confirming how each operate. There isn’t truly a way to prove this, which could lead to mistrust and deceit. Additionally, food fraud has a significant global economic cost to the food industry. According to PwC the economic impact is estimated to be in the region of ~$40 billion annually. Economic Inequality — According to a report from public policy group Demos, the food industry is one of the most unequal sectors within the USA economy, and this is echoed globally. Just to give you an example, CEO’s of fast food chains can earn 1,000 times more than their average worker. This not only hurts the under-paid workers, but also shareholders.
Enter TE-FOOD.
TE-FOOD is a successful farm-to-table livestock and fresh food traceability solution, focusing on emerging markets. Since 2016, TE-FOOD has been implemented in Vietnam. As a farm-to-table solution, TE-FOOD tracks the items through the whole supply chain (farm, slaughterhouse, wholesaler, retailer) and provides tools to both consumers and authorities to gain food history and food quality insights.
TE-FOOD is an existing company that has been established in Vietnam since 2016. It currently serves over 6000 business customers, tracking 12,000 pigs, 200,000 chickens, and 2.5 million eggs daily.
TE-FOOD has created a centralized ecosystem in which each step in the food supply chain can be tracked.
However, according to their whitepaper “even data coming from a third party like existing traceability system seems suspicious to the participant”. The solution to this, is introducing the blockchain. By moving the TE-FOOD ecosystem on the blockchain, TE-FOOD will be able to provide a completely transparent, unmodifiable environment (and tools) for food supply chain companies, authorities and consumers.
A general diagram of the food supply chain in the TE-FOOD ecosystem
The diagram above is just a general representation of the food supply chain. Within the TE-FOOD ecosystem, this can be further customized for specific uses cases.
TE-FOOD focuses on solving the issues discussed in the previous section, in the following ways:
Transparency & Immutability —By moving the TE-FOOD ecosystem on the blockchain, it brings complete transparency and trust between all “stakeholders” of the food supply chain. For example, authorities can track & confirm whether farms are following correct practices. Consumers can immediately find out how their product was sourced, transported, slaughtered and much more. Farmers can avoid double vaccinations and overuse of antibiotics. The advantages of a transparent food supply chain are endless.
—By moving the TE-FOOD ecosystem on the blockchain, it brings complete transparency and trust between all “stakeholders” of the food supply chain. For example, authorities can track & confirm whether farms are following correct practices. Consumers can immediately find out how their product was sourced, transported, slaughtered and much more. Farmers can avoid double vaccinations and overuse of antibiotics. The advantages of a transparent food supply chain are endless. Controls — Authorities have the ability to introduce & enforce control points in the food supply chain. This means a product needs to have fulfilled certain criteria before moving onto the next part of the chain.
— Authorities have the ability to introduce & enforce control points in the food supply chain. This means a product needs to have fulfilled certain criteria before moving onto the next part of the chain. Forecasts and Analysis — Sophisticated algorithms will analyze data and alarm relevant authorities if there are signs of an epidemic outbreak. Since the data is transparent and valid, it will be easier to track the root cause and prevent it from spreading faster than the current means.
— Sophisticated algorithms will analyze data and alarm relevant authorities if there are signs of an epidemic outbreak. Since the data is transparent and valid, it will be easier to track the root cause and prevent it from spreading faster than the current means. Fair Trade — Governments and institutions providing grants and tax-relief will have an easier and more accurate way of determining who are entitled to these. Additionally, conscious consumers will have the ability to “support” developing countries easier.
— Governments and institutions providing grants and tax-relief will have an easier and more accurate way of determining who are entitled to these. Additionally, conscious consumers will have the ability to “support” developing countries easier. Supply Chain Rating—Participants in the food supply chain will be able to view & rate other counter-parties. This will promote good practices and deter bad actors.
How are the TFOOD Tokens used?
The TFOOD Token has a multitude of applications; it is used in the TE-FOOD ecosystem in the following ways:
Execute traceability transactions by paying with TFOOD.
Used to exchange “paid” information (i.e. the type of antibiotics) between supply chain companies.
Get rewarded with TFOOD by using the TE-FOOD consumer mobile application in retail.
Purchase food quality analysis services.
Rate supply chain companies that they have “interacted” with.
How the TFOOD Tokens are used in the TE-FOOD Ecosystem
I would also like to point out that TE-FOOD has a number of competitors in the supply chain area. Similar projects include Ambrosus (AMB), Modum (MOD), Provenance, WaBi (WABI) and Walton (WTC). If you would like to see a post comparing and contrasting these projects, feel free to drop me a comment below or a tweet.
TE-FOOD has not launched their token yet. You can only purchase TFOOD Tokens during their Initial Coin Offering (ICO) which is dated for the 22nd of February. You can sign-up for their ICO here. | https://medium.com/hackernoon/real-world-applications-of-cryptocurrencies-food-traceability-3c46bc121b92 | [] | 2018-01-30 14:12:42.824000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Finance', 'Bitcoin'] |
Soothe the Baby and Stir the Soup | We arrived at the mountain in the early afternoon, before the warm Autumnal light of New England started to gush through the trees like golden honey. Walking in the woods is our family medicine, and after days of online school with little joy or movement, it’s crucial to let our animal bodies run around in the woods.
In the parking lot, something spooked our gigantic puppy Charlie, and he turned and bolted without realizing I was right behind him. His skull made contact with my leg at such a velocity that astonishing pain spiked through my knee. He twisted his leash around us both, all while trying to escape, pulling me backwards so my hip cracked into the fender of a parked car. It all happened so fast, that I mostly laughed and tried to stay upright, but actually, ouch.
Given that we had sat in front of screens for the majority of the day, I insisted that we persevere with our hike, dammit. I tried not to favor my tender leg, so as to reassure them.
“I’ll go slow behind you guys, don’t wait for me! See you at the top!”
I meant it too — I swear there wasn’t a trace of martyrdom in my voice because I was already imagining a gloriously silent semi-solo hike, fantasizing about having a few uninterrupted thoughts allllll by myselffffffffffff.
My 6 year old consoled me;
“I’ll take care of you mom. I’ll hold your hand. You’ll be ok!”
My heart softened, of course, but the sweet silence of the trails was far more alluring than <ahem>, even more quality time with my son.
Despite my many desperate yet casual sounding attempts to dissuade him otherwise, the 6 year old insisted on chaperoning me up the mountain.
I was suddenly captive to yet another Minecraft/ Space Exploration/ Close Encounters with Bigfoot/ Super Smash Bros/ Capturing Dragons mashup monologue.
We tromped along, and I fell into my rhythm of the responses that I mindlessly dole out to indicate that I’m listening (even though I’m not);
“Umm hmm”
“Oh cool!”
“Wow…”
“Really?”
My own thoughts, desperate for some fresh air, darted among the shadows of the 6 year-old’s Really Big Super LOUD and certainly urgent crazy important stories, but they were understandably furtive and fleeting.
My child momentarily brought me back to earth, and I felt his little hand close around a few of my fingers. I noticed how his little bones are firming up; the squishy toddler hands have all but vanished.
I allowed the sweetness of his little voice really dance in my ears for a moment. I looked up the trail at his 12 year old brother Arlo, whose voice is already growing deeper, and walking on legs that are well on their way to being long and sturdy adult legs. I’m not lacking evidence that children grow up unbelievably fast. No matter how many times I witness the unfurling, it’s still just impossible to comprehend.
Here’s the thing — I can be both completely fed up with my kids AND in desperate need of alone time AND still marvel at them and all their sweetness. I can of course love them endlessly, AND then also want to run screaming down the trail away from another Minecraft story that lasts 37 minutes or often even longer. These revelations aren’t anything new, it’s only that women are still expected to be delighted with and unimpeded by the endurance sport that caregiving has become. We’re definitely not having fun anymore.
We hadn’t encountered another person the entire ascent, but there were quite a few people at the summit, so I pulled our masks out of my pocket, first helping my son with his. A young couple lay canoodling in the grass, languid in the post-election pre-sunset bliss, looked on with confusion as my young son started yelping and moaning once his mask was on his face.
He emitted mask-muffled bellows over the treetops below;
“It smells SO HORRIBLE”
Oh dear, yes, I had hastily stuffed our masks into the same pocket with the liver dog treats. I mean, we’re training a puppy during a pandemic, so masks and smelly dog treats just naturally go together in one’s pockets, wouldn’t you agree?
I placed my own mask over my face, and yes indeedy it was overpoweringly repulsive, but we wore them anyway, BECAUSE IT’S WHAT YOU DO.
Arlo and Charlie were both excited to see me once reached the top — the puppy because I feed him, and the pre-teen because I had the water in my pack.
I’m a lowkey food truck without the truck.
We sat on a huge rock together and looked out over our beloved and ever-gorgeous Pioneer Valley and Connecticut river. We gazed out over the patchwork quilt that spread out below us, our eyes drinking in the trees, fields, and mountains.
We chugged silently together, masks on our chins, while I dug in my pack for the collapsible doggie water dish. The puppy excitedly rushed over when he heard the gentle glug glug into his bowl, and plunged his nose into the water, lapping eagerly, but as soon as he started, he somehow grabbed the dish with his teeth and tossed it up, managing to dump half his water directly into my sneaker.
In almost the same motion, he yanked his leash, forcing me to drop the open water bottle, which clanged straight down onto the rock, sending up a geyser of cold water, which soaked my chest down to my bra and into my belly button.
The metal water bottle-on-rock noise scared the nervous rescue puppy nearly out of his floppy hound skin, and again he pulled his leash, sending my bottle cascading down the grassy slope, the last sips of my water splashing out in little gushing intervals of sadness and impending dehydration. The whole rapid slapstick event left him cowering, and me all soggy and sputtering.
At least I stopped thinking about my liver-infused face mask, the soul-cringe embarrassment of living in a country where millions of people voted for an actual fascist, my homeschooling woes, climate change, and even my wet sock for a few moments.
We started our descent, and like an experienced meteorologist, I predicted a fight brewing between my kids when it was only a little pissy flicker on the horizon. Despite my attempts at distracting, separating, and soothing, they were both dedicated to verbally ripping into one another with increasing ferocity. I suggested a stop for ice cream in a desperate effort to reset to a gentler fraternal mood.
‘Perhaps we should keep celebrating this historic election with soft serve?’
There was a surprisingly long line for a November evening, but we New Englanders love our highly processed sugary dairy products, even if we’re wearing hoodies and hats while we consume them.
Somehow I had missed the ‘cash only’ sign scribbled on a paper plate hanging over the cashier, so I had to conduct a quick dig through my pockets/wallet/purse, and sadly unearthed only enough for the kid’s two cones.
As I walked back to the car, I wondered how a business can be cash only in 2020, during a pandemic, no less? By the time I arrived, my kids were yelling, the 6 year old was already scream-crying.
I suddenly felt like that whiny-ass little pessimist kid Alexander of the ‘Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day’ fame. Nothing was going my way, everything sucks, wah wah wah, (except I kinda like lima beans and always love kissing on tv).
I pulled my younger out of the car, and we sat on the curb in the dark while I held him on my lap. I’m not sure how many times in my mothering career that I’ve been cried at (or on) in public. This time in particular it took some effort to just hold him and not join in: my own tears were splashing against the thresholds of my weary eyelids, but I held them at bay.
As I felt the subtle spreading warmth of my son’s tears soaking into my shirt, I thought about all the skills I’ve gained since the pandemic began. Interestingly, none of my newly acquired talents are quite right for my resume:
· All day snack dispenser
· Lackluster PE coach
· Reluctant and under-qualified homeschool administrator
· Zoom meeting IT troubleshooter
· Sibling brawl mediator
· Lonely child soother
· Recess facilitator
· Long story listener
· Able to Cook one full actual dinner with real vegetables that no one will eat except the adults and then realizing the futility and making a second dinner for the kids and not allowing it to crush your soul (wait, is that technically a skill or just about survival?)
· All day dish washer
· Laundry Ignorer
I’m sure I’m overlooking about 50 different new or enhanced skills, but isn’t that where capitalism kneecaps us? If you can’t make money on it, then it’s basically meaningless. Which means, of course, that women’s work and contributions are often overlooked and taken for granted.
The sunset was nearly over, but the spectacular glimmers of orange, pink, and fuchsia clung to the clouds overhead, making it difficult to fully succumb to despair. My child continued crying as I straddled the striking dichotomy of my current reality; the acute boredom/exhaustion of true non-stop parenting, paired with awe and gratitude for our sweet little life where we can hike and stare at the clouds while awaiting ice cream cones (even if I have to scrape the coins from the bottom of my bag to pay for them).
When I signed up for parenthood, I had no idea how many whiplash moments of juxtapositions I would be experiencing. Moreover, I had no idea that I’d eventually be enrolled in extreme parental bootcamp through the most repulsive mess of a presidency that our Nation has ever endured. But that’s what parents do, we ride the waves and wipe the baby’s tears as we go.
An older woman in a walking across the parking lot spotted me with a sobbing child. Her eyes twinkled over her mask, and she cocked her head sympathetically while she gently thumped her fist to her heart in a gesture of solidarity. In that wordless moment, I was held by the timeless web of women, mothers, caregivers, nurturers, and gentle compassionate beings. That small exchange reminded me that although we trudge through our days so isolated from other parents, we are most certainly not alone.
Before that moment of shared maternal humanity, I could’ve sworn that if cut, my veins would just puff out dust instead of blood, I’m that wrung out from all the mothering I do every day. A little spring returned to my step, giving me enough to fuel me through another evening of dinner, dishes, stories, tucking in, and fear-soothing. I silently thanked that parking-lot grandma for helping me to feel less lonely in my drudgery.
When I finally took off my one wet sock and soggy bra, and treated myself to 1/2 pint of Ben and Jerry’s (to make up for the cone I didn’t get earlier), I realized that I felt guilty for not having done more with my day.
Why didn’t I earn more money today? Why didn’t I work on my novel? Why didn’t I reorganize my desk? I should’ve… I meant to…
My exhaustion doesn’t feel acceptable or allowed because I’ve been trained to believe that caregiving and raising children isn’t actual work.
If caregiving really took time, thought, and energy, then certainly there’d be some provisions or protections in place for caregivers now that we’re multiple months into online learning for children across the country, right? RIGHT?!
But that’s the norm for many mothers right now; We keep giving care, even when we have no community or public supports. We keep going, even when we can’t think straight with all the debilitating stress around us. We continue on, even when it’s nearly impossible to work a full time job while providing non-stop ‘intensive’ parenting and homeschooling. We still soothe the baby and stir the soup, even when our socks are wet, and our masks smell like liver treats… Or when the pain is worse, much worse.
I almost didn’t recognize that I’ve fully swallowed the myth that caregiving is comprised of the small, background tasks that won’t interfere with making a living or enjoying a succession of coherent thoughts. Many American women are watching their childcare evaporate, career options wither, and stress and anxiety proliferate. Through it all, not only have we blamed ourselves for these ‘failures’, but many of our white colleagues voted to continue rolling back our hard-won progress of the last 50 years.
I’ve been reluctant to attempt the painful exercise of considering how the pandemic has savagely exposed the glaring inhumanity and injustice for low income people, immigrants, women, and people of color. I feel so disgusted that many white women voted to deepen and expand the damage that the outgoing administration brutally inflicted on this beautiful country. Yet here we are in this disappointing yet unsurprising reality. There’s women that look out for one another, and then there’s those other women who won’t think twice about crushing anyone in their path.
As we can see from exit polls, white women carried the vote for Trump. Many women who have carried babies, carried aging parents, carried innumerable thankless tasks, also carry significant privilege, but chose to attempt to hoard it for themselves. The white women that voted for the outgoing administration proved that they are willing to keep others from accessing equal rights, strength, or power. Those republican votes were cast by women who fear losing their tenuous hold on their status and security, as well as their flimsy and conditional association to men with money and actual power.
Maybe every single woman I know has been bone-achingly exhausted since March because the fractures in our society that women have always been forced to smooth over and ignore are now in sharp relief, exposed for all to see, and yet WE’RE ALL STILL TRYING TO ACT LIKE WE’RE FINE. If we’re not constantly working hard, and earning money, and denying our very human needs and emotions or ourselves and our children, then we aren’t properly praying at the altar of the all-powerful dollar. That’s just it; so many of us are still walking uphill despite our wounds because we have no choice. We’re continuously being screwed by our toxic capitalist society AND by other women that we’d hoped and assumed would be allies and sisters.
Isn’t that the ultimate mindfuck that’s been exposed in 2020? That many women are expected to smile pretty for 40+ hours of zoom calls for work with a quiet spotless kitchen in the background while also simultaneously running a mixed-age interactive and emotionally intelligent learning pod, with organic homemade crackers and locally sourced hummus. The expectations on caregivers have grown increasingly absurd and impossible to meet. No wonder most of us feel like failures, when really, it’s our society that has failed us. On top of it all, women who should be our sisters and allies have proven yet again that they don’t have our backs.
To varying degrees, we’ve all been victimized by our extractive capitalist society, yet black, brown, and indigenous people voted to preserve Democracy and to repair the safety net that many Americans rely on to survive. Conversely, many white women have internalized the scarcity mindset so profoundly that they’ve succumbed to thinking that there will never be enough to go around, and the way to succeed is to step firmly on the throat of anyone who may be slightly beneath them. The oppression that women endure, no matter how subliminal, has inspired many minority voters to a vote democratic in record numbers, while instead a whole swath of white women worked to divide us even farther, instead favoring possessions and ever-elusive status.
Far too many of us are hiking up this endless mountain with bashed up knees, soggy bras, wet socks, and liver-scented face masks, while listening to a boring long-winded story, and we won’t even get an ice cream cone after getting screamed at in a parking lot. If you find yourself sitting there, look for me, and I will remind you that you are not alone.
We are stronger together, and we need one another, but we don’t need to waste our precious time and energy reaching out to the white women who place their own interests over black, brown, and indigenous people. We are strong enough to soothe our babies, support one another, and keep stirring the pot for progressive change. Please join me in vowing to be among the sisterhood of women who refuse to give up on solidarity and shared strength. As exhausted as I am, I promise that I’ll be your parking-lot grandma, as I hope that you’ll be there for another woman. Let’s keep it going on and on, until we turn the tides towards compassion, goodness, and shared humanity. | https://medium.com/@chelseasundaykline/resume-tips-for-mothers-4f8219cbabb0 | ['Chelsea Sunday Kline'] | 2020-12-01 03:32:14.971000+00:00 | ['Caregiving', 'Feminism', 'Motherhood', 'Racial Justice', 'Capitalism'] |
Optimise your Angular 1.x app: Fast rendering with HyperScript and virtual-dom | While AngularJS is certainly not a slow framework, there are cases where dealing with large amounts of data could cause a significant performance degradation, particularly when we render a lot of it on the page.
For those not familiar with the issue: every ng- attribute and element, {{expression}} and $scope.$watch contributes to slowing down the $digest cycle, since Angular creates a lot of “watchers” to check that data for changes. This is especially true when we frequently invoke costly functions from the template and use multiple ng-repeats to render large lists of items.
There is only so much that you can do to reduce the number of $$watchers on a page. You can use the one-time binding (::) syntax, track by with ng-repeat and de-register $scope.$watch functions when not needed, and yet you can still end up with thousands of watchers and a slow digest cycle, making the app pretty unresponsive and sluggish.
When everything fails, there is still a solution to improve the performance in your app—and even make it pretty damn fast!
Note: you can use HyperScript and virtual-dom for rendering in any JavaScript application; however, this method is particularly relevant for AngularJS 1.x applications, since Angular 2, React and Ember 2.x have their own virtual DOM implementations built-in.
From templates to pure DOM
The truth is: not everything needs to be done using Angular. When you need performance above all, you cannot beat rendering with plain JavaScript. This doesn’t mean moving away from Angular altogether and going back to the old jQuery days — you can convert only specific templates/directives and keep the rest of the application the same! Consider the following (quite simple, but still…) example:
Let’s say that totalItems is super slow — it contains a lot of items, that change frequently (maybe it’s a real-time application, constantly streaming data), and all the filtering and ordering doesn’t help. In addition, there’s the myMagicFilter filter that’s also slowing things down, and the final result is lots of bindings to the $digest cycle.
The template logic above can be refactored to a controller or a directive (notice that I’ve injected $filter into the code) and rendered directly to the page:
With a few extra lines of code, you’ve eliminated all those extra watchers — good job! Put that rendering code into a pure function and call it whenever you need to render the data.
In reality, however, our templates are much more complicated than this. They tend to contain not just deeply nested HTML, but also a lot of logic (all those ng-if, ng-hide, ng-class, etc). Using the DOM API to create elements manually can quickly become tedious and the resulting code will be hard to maintain.
Enter HyperScript!
From pure DOM to HyperScript & v-dom
If you want to generate HTML with JavaScript, HyperScript is a great option if you like functional, concise and maintainable code. It comes to about 7kb minified (and probably around 3kb gzipped) and it’s quite intuitive to use, especially if you have used Haml, Jade or a similar template language before.
Note: if you don’t want to import the whole virtual-dom package, you can import virtual-dom/h and virtual-dom/create-element separately.
Here is how HyperScript generally looks like. Note that I’m using a module bundler (Webpack) with an ES2015 transpilation step.
The HyperScript h() function generates a Virtual DOM tree. We can then use createElement() to convert the tree to HTML and insert it into the page. Why Virtual DOM instead of just HTML? You will see why in a second—first, let’s convert the example earlier from pure DOM to HyperScript! Since we can pass arrays of elements to the h() function, this is a perfectly valid HyperScript example:
So Example 2 could be easily re-written as:
What about virtual-dom?
Since our applications change frequently, we want to update the UI as fast and as efficiently as possible. With virtual-dom, we can simply re-render everything (just like in React) using the diff and patch functions, like so:
And that’s it! You just made your app render as fast as anything out there, and you didn’t introduce any fat libraries and a few million dependencies.
If you are not familiar with the concept of Virtual DOM and how it works internally, I strongly recommend reading this answer on StackOverflow.
Downsides
There are pretty much none, but there is one important detail: if you are using a lot of custom or third-party directives in your templates, you will have to refactor their logic to Angular services or pure JavaScript functions, so that you can use them when generating the vdom from the controller. That could be quite an overhead, but if you think about it — all these directives are what is probably causing your performance problems anyway, so that’s for the better!
Conclusion
Complex template logic could be refactored to pure JavaScript and put into controllers/directives to speed up the $digest cycle. With HyperScript, you can make your templating more concise, functional, and leverage super fast rendering with virtual-dom. And at the same time — you can keep using Angular’s routing, controllers, dependency injection and all other goodness!
—
I’m Svilen — a full-stack web developer and co-founder at Heresy. We’re always looking for engineers who enjoy working with the latest technologies and solving challenging problems. If you’re curious, check out jobs page! | https://medium.com/heresy-dev/optimise-your-angular-1-x-app-fast-rendering-with-hyperscript-and-virtual-dom-d76252278ad0 | ['Svilen Gospodinov'] | 2017-08-31 15:01:13.143000+00:00 | ['Angularjs', 'JavaScript', 'Web Development'] |
Facts about Siamese Cats | Facts about Siamese Cats
The Siamese cat is one of the first distinctly identified breeds of Asian cat. These cats were originated in Siam, which was later named as Thailand and was not exported until the late 19th century.
In 1878, U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife received one of these exotic felines as a gift.
The Siamese have contributed to the creation of several other breeds, including Himalayan, Burmese, Balinese and more.
Description
Their point coloring isn’t the only distinguishing feature of Siamese Cats. Siamese cats have a distinct, wedge-shaped head with large, triangular ears. These cats have a long and slim physique, with longer back legs and a long thin tail. The stunning most feature of this cat is their deep blue eyes with almond-shaped and slightly slanted.
Coat: Short, fine, glossy
Siamese Cat Lifespan: 11 to 15 years
Siamese Cat Weight: Males weighing 11 to 15 pounds and females weighing 8 to 12 pounds
Click here to read more.. | https://medium.com/@jessicawilson00745/facts-about-siamese-cats-f4d8667b657f | ['Jessica Wilson'] | 2020-12-26 07:46:33.724000+00:00 | ['Cats', 'Siameses', 'Cats N Things', 'Cát', 'Siamese Cats'] |
加州生活 | Final | Poets&Quants | 2020 Best 40 Under 40 Professor: Auyon Siddiq, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Some people are just born to teach. That's the case with Auyon Siddiq. The 32-year-old assistant professor of… | https://medium.com/@winnieyuwentsay/final-f9ded9b7253f | ['Winnie Tsay X 維尼蔡'] | 2020-12-27 04:07:30.654000+00:00 | ['Food', 'Schools', 'UCLA', 'Final', 'Exam'] |
Data Stories for U.S. Election 2020 | Introduction
The idea of applying data analytics for the United States 2020 Presidential Election was sparked when I picked up Qlik Sense, a powerful data visualization tool. “Nothing beats getting your hands dirty.” Even though I am not a very political person, I figure this is a great chance to challenge myself by applying and upskilling my newly honed knowledge. I started my work on 6th November, the third day since Election Day, while the world was much concerned and uncertain about what was going on with this race.
Disclaimer: The election has come to its finale with the confirmed winner Joe Biden when this blog is edited. This blog thus only intends to share the analytical views based on data acquired on 6th Nov. from a neutral point of view.
Datasets
The first thing to start off is to acquire datasets with adequate dimensions for data analytics from credible sources. I checked on the live-update results from well-known press media such as Bloomberg, New York Times, and Reuters where they usually specify the data sources of their results. However, it turns out that their data sources are acquired from either research companies or individual jurisdictions. The Federal Election Commission and the Electoral College do not provide the voting results but only the campaign finance data and legal resources about the presidential candidates.
Therefore, I resorted to 270toWin, a nonpartisan website that provides up-to-date results data. My preliminary goal is to visualize the results map on the state level, on top of which I continue to build the insights. Unfortunately, the website does not allow web scraping with Selenium. For that reason, I had to manually collect the results data of 50 electoral states and Washington D.C. into an Excel file.
With efforts and research on several federal and state government websites, I managed to gather the following datasets.
Results by state from 270toWin
from 270toWin Campaign finance from the Federal Election Commission
from the Federal Election Commission Ballots breakdown from Michael McDonald, Uni. of Florida
from Michael McDonald, Uni. of Florida COVID-19 cases & deaths by state from CDC
from CDC Demographics by state from Census Bureau
from Census Bureau Exit Polls from New York Times
For the rest of the resources, I was able to batch download or use Python Pandas to read and export into a tabular format.
Data Wrangling & Statistics Aggregation
Before I could dump the datasets into Qlik for analysis, they need to be transformed into a consistent and neat structure for the cross-table association without unnecessary fields to speed up the analysis.
The methods of doing so are mainly Excel functions, Pandas data frames, and preprocessing functions by Qlik Sense.
An example step is to aggregate the results by state data which originally stored in individual sheets into a single table.
Sample Raw Result Data Table (Alaska)
Hence, I have 51 such sheets on hand and have to unpivot them into a single table with rows of states and leave the columns only for Democrat, Republican, Independent/Minor, and Write-in. The process is handled by Pandas with the resource code shown below.
#create an empty df to store the unpivoted data
df_unpivoted = pd.DataFrame(columns = ["state"]+ parties) candidates = {'Democrat': 'Joe Biden',
'Republican': 'Donald Trump',
'Minority': {},
'Write-in': 'Unknown'}
minority_votes = {} #iterate over each state
for state in states:
df_state = pd.read_excel('./results by state.xlsx', state)
state_result = {'state': state}
#iter over each party voted
for index, row in df_state.iterrows():
candidate = row['Unnamed: 0']
party = row['PARTY']
votes = row['VOTES']
#percent = row['PCT.'] if party in candidates.keys(): #if democrat or republican
state_result[party] = votes
else: #if a minor party/independent
candidates['Minority'] = {'party':party,'candiate': candidate}
state_result["Independent"] = votes
if candidate not in minority_votes.keys():
minority_votes[candidate] = votes
else:
minority_votes[candidate] += votes
df_unpivoted=df_unpivoted.append(state_result,ignore_index=True)
Unpivoted Result Table
Analysis 1: The Results & Unsettled States
The first dashboard I built was the high-level overview of the results as of 6th November.
Result Overview Page
On the top, it gives an overview of how many votes for senate and house seats each party has secured. The left bottom corner shows the results map whereby a gradient of blue/red color indicates the percentage of votes won by Biden or Trump. A tooltip shows the electoral votes of the state since different states have decisively different weights in this race.
On 7th Nov., the election still had no projected winner, leaving 5 pivotal states unsettled while counting their mail ballots.
Charts for the Unsettled States
With a closer look at the ongoing results, the closing situation counts on the outstanding mail ballots. From the histogram, it proves that a majority of returned mail ballots go to Biden, who had advocated mail voting for his supporters amid the pandemic.
For the outstanding mail ballots, Biden enjoys an advantage in all states over Trump except that Georgia does not report its result breakdown.
Vote Results Polarity
To forecast the decision among these swing states, a comparison between 2016 and 2020 might also tell us something. In 2016, Trump wins Clinton by a significant amount in these states except Nevada. However, the previous firmly red states lost all their advantage and even flip into blue with a decisive amount of mail ballots left to count, which gives a hint of Biden’s awaiting success.
Analysis 2: Election Amid Pandemic: what has been affected?
COVID-19 Page
2020 is an unprecedented year with uncertainty and pressure. The effects of the pandemic shifted people’s faith in the candidates and the way the election is conducted.
From the map, clearly, the general pattern is Trump wins states with a more severe situation while Biden wins the better-controlled states. This may be explained by their respective diverged COVID policy and proposition. The bar charts on the right further illustrate that states with top cases per 100k almost all voted for Trump while states with the least cases mostly come in blue. I have also made an option of showing the cases per 100k during the week before the election instead. But the result has no clear pattern, which means voters probably do not deviate their decision by near-term factors.
Mail Ballots & COVID-19 Severity Correlation
Based on the assumption that the COVID-19 severity may have a positive correlation with mail ballots demand, a scattered plot interestingly rejects my hypothesis. There is no clear linear correlation shown between the percentage of mail ballots requested over total registered voters and cases per 100k. Nonetheless, we can see that Democrat-winning states do follow Biden’s advocate and requested for more mail ballots.
Analysis 3: Campaign Finance
Campaign Finance Page
The election in the United States is a cash-burning game. To some extent, the campaign finance reflects how “bullish” a candidate is deemed to be by industries and financing investors. Trump raised his fund in an even manner even closer to the election month, whilst Biden received drastically increasing receipts since March 2020, which is exactly the time when the U.S. started to experience a worsening pandemic situation. Among all candidates since 2008, Biden raised the record highest finance to arrive at his today’s success. In terms of spending, the trend is similar to that of fundraising, Biden made a final dash near to election day at a high monetary cost and support. The cash-on-hand summary approves Biden’s solid financial strength ever since he joins the game.
Analysis 4: Electorate Demographics Distribution
Electorate Demographics Page
Last but not least, combined insight into the demographical distribution of different states is worth exploring to understand which candidate wins which group.
With the data extracted from the U.S. Census Bureau, the map covers categories of
Race
Age & Sex ratio
Education level
Child/Old-age dependency ratio
Household income level
Yearly Household Income with 200k+ by State
Some patterns are identified such as the map above shows that on the east coast, states with more rich upper classes tend to support Biden over Trump. This contradicts the fact that Biden’s claim he would legislate higher taxes for the richest top 1%. Therefore, the income level may overlay with the education literacy factor, meaning that these states may also happen to be the most well-educated population.
Education Demographical Distribution
Looking into the education distribution, it is identified that the states with the lowest percentage of college degree attainment are all taken by Trump. This is consistent with the exit polls conducted by New York Times as shown below. Biden is more trusted by people with a college degree while the other group makes a tie between the two.
Exit Polls: Education Attainment Groups
2016 vs 2020: Which States Have Flipped?
With the dots representing results of 2020, we witness that Democrat keeps all their states but Republican loses its previous weakly supporting swing states such as Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Although the exit polls tend to be controversial for being not representative of the actual voting results, it is still valuable to see how the mainstream values and certain social groups make their voices by choosing the side of candidates. For example, election 2020 is reported to be a unique election where gender division is at an all-time high.
Conclusion
This has been a great full experience from data gathering to uncovering insights with data-backed storytelling. Looking into a relatively holistic scope of perspectives in such a short time was really challenging yet enjoyable. With the hands-on practices, I have upskilled my knowledge of Qlik Sense’s advanced topics such as set expression, master items, interactive page navigation, and dynamic field association.
Based on the analysis, Biden holds a prominent advantage ahead in the race and we see more division and shift of trust in different states in accordance with different identities of voters. After all, the election is tremendously complex with an uncertain and intractable pool of factors. Hence, the above analysis might be superficial or simply fundamental. To have a more accountable prediction or in-depth analysis requires multi-disciplinary expertise and larger datasets.
Some possible future work for this project is to get more granular datasets such as historical voting results with timestamps to model the result trend and thus a predictive model for the next election. Social media listening can also be applied by using Twitter’s API to analyze sentiment movement during the election period.
Github repo: https://github.com/yingjiebyron/U.S.-Election-2020 | https://medium.com/swlh/data-stories-for-u-s-election-2020-d324e3f6ac4c | ['Yingjie', 'Byron'] | 2020-11-10 17:15:13.736000+00:00 | ['Election', 'Data Analysis', 'Qlik Sense', 'Data Visualization', 'Covid 19'] |
Travel in covid times with an infant and a kid. | I traveled from Bangalore to Patna about a month back with my 5 months old and 8 yr old and my husband.
We booked the ticket with indigo airlines and did online check-in 48hrs before from indigo site and booked the seats at 4th row by paying some extra amount.
It's easier to board and deboard the plane when seated towards the end, instead of somewhere in the middle. We also printed the baggage tags based on number of bags. Though this can be easily done at the airport at automatic kiosks. We planned the travel on Tuesday and afternoon time to avoid the crowd. Though the flight was fully crowded, but the airport crowd was relatively much less. They didnt ask for arogya setu app or anything. But they did ask for some id proof for the baby. Though I read in similar articles from other moms, it’s not needed. They easily agreed on request and asked to carry on next time. Also we boarded the plane at the last so we avoided the chaos while settling down and baby was also feeling better as he has to be in the flight for lesser time. During the entire flight of 2hrs 15 mins, he has been doing fine..only for 20-30 mins he got cranky.
I started feeding during take off and landing time as instructed.
He dozed off soon after and slept well for most of the flight. The flight was having prebooked meals option so many of them were served meals. We avoided to eat anything inside flight as it’s closed space. So, we had our packed food from home and had it at the airport itself. We chose to sit at place with lesser crowd around at the airport. Bought the face shield for the LO but he was not comfortable with that. So I carried a soft stole to cover the baby when needed.
Link to purchase shield: https://www.hopscotch.in/product/939139/al2b-dark-blue-shark-print-hat-with-face-shield I was carrying him most of the times. I also covered him fully in bodysuit dress and carried multiple mittens.
Because he used to suck his thumb, I kept changing his mittens time to time. I was carrying a separate cloth bag and kept dumping used stuffs like mittens, kerchiefs. sheets etc there and kept it separate. As we reached airport quite early, so I had enough time to feed the baby couple of times. As, he mostly used to do dreamfeeding..
The feeding room was quite clean still we kept sanitising the places before using. There were sensor based sanitiser stands everywhere at the airport so its very useful. I wore clothes comfortable for feeding and wore only mask. Didnt wear gloves or shield as baby was not comfortable.
I kept sanitising my hands. Carried minimum hand luggage with the stuffs needed for both kids. Extra pair of socks, gloves, mittens, masks, towel, diaper, wipes, set of clothes etc. I avoided using mobile too, as the dress didnt have any pockets so I kept it in the hand bag. I also carried nasal drop and colic aid for the baby, just in case if needed. For the elder one, I was concerned too much as I will be focussing more on the LO. I made him wear gloves with masks. He wanted to take it off so I kept multiple numbers, so that after sometime he will wear a fresh pair and kept applying sanitiser. He was at the window seat and was touching window shields and all smtms. So I ensured he is using sanitiser often. I sat in the middle so feeding position comfortable for me. My husband was wearing the ppe kit at the boarding gate inspite of all 3 from same family so it was a bit uncomfortable for him.
Shield and a ppe kit was provided at the boarding gate for him and for us, masks and shield. We came to airport by own car with a driver and a friend, to avoid cabs.
I hope this read might be useful for someone.
Just want to add at the last that this is going to be new normal for quite a long time and we have to find a way to live normal life with all the precautions wisely. All we need to do is be alert and take required safety measures.
Wish you a safe travel!! | https://medium.com/@ranjan.pragya/i-want-to-share-my-travel-experience-during-this-covid-times-so-that-someone-could-benefit-from-it-c5f5744dee0e | ['Pragya Ranjan'] | 2020-11-18 10:52:53.198000+00:00 | ['Infant', 'Kids', 'Motherhood', 'Breastfeeding', 'Covidtravel'] |
What “Her” teaches us about AI and human relationships | “Her “ movie poster
Artificial Intelligence is the manifestation of human curiosity to discover the secrets of the human brain and its complex functioning.
The story takes place in a distinct reality where a software company releases an operating system (OS) that is artificially intelligent and is meant to be the perfect personal assistant. The film revolves around the relationship between the protagonist and his AI operating system /assistant.
As the film progresses we see their relationship becoming complex and euphoric. Throughout the course of the film, we see the AI adapting and evolving according to the emotions of the protagonist. This striking similarity to human relationships captures the true essence of an artificially intelligent system. A true AI should be able to communicate with humans in an intimate and personal way, understanding their needs and wants. What seems extremely fascinating is how each experience shared by the protagonist becomes a source of information for the AI, which it uses to learn more about the protagonist and interact with him. We see how the AI helps in propelling the protagonist towards a more meaningful and purposeful life. The film thus captures the immense potential that AI has in improving our lives and making them more meaningful.
Apart from presenting a beautiful picture of the future of AI, the movie teaches us an important lesson about the human need for connection and profound relationships. It tells us how every person longs for a meaningful connection and a blissful exchange of emotions. The protagonist of the story who is anti-social and depressed at the beginning of the story re-discovers himself through his interactions with the AI and restores his relationship with his close friends and colleagues. The movie shows us how an understanding and unbiased listener can catalyze the development of an individual. It teaches us about tolerance, patience, and love. Throughout the story, we see the AI motivating and inspiring the protagonist to bring out his lost joy and curiosity about the world. We see a symbiotic relationship is established between the OS and the protagonist.
Finally, “her ” teaches us about the infinite and everlasting potential of a human being just waiting to be re-discovered from among the hidden layers of chaotic and unfortunate life experiences, giving us hope to pursue and persevere. | https://medium.com/vitmas/what-her-teaches-us-about-ai-and-human-relationships-195dae72309 | ['Mehul Jain'] | 2020-10-17 09:27:58.682000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Science'] |
Is the Healthcare System Working Against Those with Diabetes? | Is the Healthcare System Working Against Those with Diabetes?
People trying to manage their diabetes face two unique hurdles that are built in to the current healthcare landscape.
Receiving a diagnosis of a chronic health condition — or, an illness that requires ongoing care — is never easy. There’s a lot to consider. How will this condition affect how I feel every day? How is my daily routine going to have to change? How much are my medications and other treatments going to cost?
Those with diabetes deal with all of those challenges, and more — some of which are unique to diabetes. Here are two, and what you can do about them.
Bias in the healthcare system
An unfortunate fact: our society regularly exhibits bias against those who are overweight or obese. The stigma overweight people face can affect how they’re treated at work, at school and even at their doctor’s office. A survey of more than 2,000 doctors concluded that weight bias is as common among physicians as it is among the general public.
While not all people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes are overweight, many are. It’s estimated that about 50% of people with type 1 and about 90% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. That comprises a large portion of those living with diabetes who are subject to negative bias when working with a physician to manage their condition.
Further, there is a commonly-held assumption that those with diabetes are to blame for their disease. While risk factors include age, family history, medical history and comorbid health conditions, many overlook those considerations and approach diabetes solely as a lifestyle-induced condition.
Physician bias related to patients’ weight can do more than make people uncomfortable or lower their self-esteem — it can negatively affect health outcomes, too. When doctors express bias toward their patients, a few things can happen.
First, doctors may spend less time with these patients during appointments and provide less health education counseling. Second, when patients feel they are being stigmatized, they are less likely to seek follow-up care from a physician, which can be detrimental to the successful management of a condition that requires regular check-ins and potential treatment adjustments. Third, when a diabetes patient perceives that he or she is being stigmatized while interacting with a doctor, the resulting stress responses can make it more difficult to absorb new information — a significant barrier when it comes to learning how to successfully manage their condition.
It’s likely that, as might be true for much of the general public, these biases are not intentional or mean-spirited. But the consequences are real. Put simply: those seeking help from a doctor to manage their diabetes could be getting lower-quality healthcare than those with other chronic conditions.
High out-of-pocket costs
People with diabetes have medical expenditures 2.3 times higher than those without diabetes, on average. While those with health coverage have the benefit of getting help with those costs from their health plan, more and more plans are increasing their cost-sharing requirements, placing more out-of-pocket cost burden on the patient. These types of plans expose all consumers to financial risk, but diabetic patients may be more likely to experience the financial pitfalls of these high out of pocket costs.
For those without health coverage, footing the entire bill for blood glucose monitoring supplies, medication, and/or insulin can seem nearly impossible. Insulin, which is a non-negotiable need for type 1 and some type 2 diabetics, has exhibited atypical pricing trends in the marketplace; prices haven’t notably dropped even when competition in the market increased.
Unaffordable treatment leads to medication nonadherence — or, people not taking their medications as prescribed. For diabetics, the consequences can be serious and immediate. A recent study showed that 16.5% of people with diabetes experienced cost-related medication nonadherence, with the incidence being even higher for those who used insulin.
What you can do
A reduction in physician weight bias could be achieved by providing issue-specific training to doctors. You can facilitate this and help the issue gain more exposure by reporting your experience to the Obesity Action Coalition.
To help with costs, be sure to check Blink to see if there’s a cheaper price available for your metformin, glipizide, glimepiride, pioglitazone, insulin, or testing supplies like your glucose meter or testing strips. You can also save money on your Lilly insulin prescription through Blink. | https://medium.com/@erin.sandberg_17476/is-the-healthcare-system-working-against-those-with-diabetes-5790fafdbc98 | ['Erin Sandberg'] | 2018-11-30 19:02:55.741000+00:00 | ['Diabetes', 'Diabetes Medication', 'Prescription Drugs'] |
President Thomas’ Rating | President Thomas’ Rating
Morehouse’s president David Thomas will be coming up on one year as the official president in February. In his short time as president different changes have occurred for the college. These changes have come in policies, appearances, and other aspects that involve the college.
Modifications may have occurred, but what do the Men of Morehouse think of Dr. Thomas and his changes so far? For freshmen and sophomores, President Thomas is the only president they have known to be in charge since their time at Morehouse. Dr. Thomas stated, “The class of ’22 is my class.” He considers that his class because it will be the first class that he welcomed into Morehouse and will say goodbye to at commencement in spring 2022. One member of the ’22 class thinks nothing of Thomas.
“I barely see President Thomas,” Morehouse sophomore Christopher Goolsby said. “I don’t know what to think about him. I have very little interaction with him.”
Dr. Thomas is a very busy as many presidents of a college or university would be, especially one of Morehouse’s magnitudes. Recently, he had to handle a situation with the faculty of Morehouse almost walking out because of unfair pay and benefits. When he is not handling problems such as that, he is trying to raise money for his college. But one student believes he is not doing that correctly necessary.
“President Thomas must begin to address the true financial issues of Morehouse,” class of ’22 member Jordan Tune said. “And the poor management of the school. I am dissatisfied with him.”
Of course everyone might not feel the same way, but if there is a large enough number of students that feel the same as Tune or might not know him well like Goolsby then what does that mean for Thomas? Men of Morehouse like to have results and if some feel he is not doing enough for the college or trying to connect with the students then it could mean departure from Morehouse sooner rather than later.
Nevertheless, it is still only his second year as Morehouse’s president so things might not be able to get done as soon as students want it to be. Time will only how President David Thomas presidency will go from now on. | https://medium.com/morehouse-advanced-news-writing-fall-2019/president-thomas-rating-93d4f47a5587 | ['Shakim Muhafiz'] | 2019-11-15 21:50:32.495000+00:00 | ['President', 'Schools', 'Morehouse College', 'Higher Education', 'Leadership'] |
Ben & Jerry’s and PRX Announce “Blackberry Jams,” A New Podcast At the Intersection of Phish, Jam Band Culture, and Black Liberation | Ben & Jerry’s and PRX Announce “Blackberry Jams,” A New Podcast At the Intersection of Phish, Jam Band Culture, and Black Liberation
Co-created and co-hosted by Lenny Duncan and Leslie Mac, the podcast will launch free to audiences on August 31. Dial the “Blackberry Jams” phone line to share a personal experience from a Phish show: 888-PHAN-JAM (888–742–6526) PRX Follow Aug 10 · 6 min read
Ben & Jerry’s and public media organization PRX today announced “Blackberry Jams Presented by Ben & Jerry’s,” a new podcast pulling back the curtain on how jam band culture and Black liberation work intersect. By diving into Phish fandom and exploring the experience of Black Phans, the series will envision a community filled with liberation, love, and Phish tickets by mail for all.
Co-created and co-hosted by Lenny Duncan and Leslie Mac, “Blackberry Jams” will launch on Tuesday, August 31. The 10-episode podcast series will feature new episodes weekly through November 2, available free on-demand to audiences across major listening platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
An audio trailer is available now.
In addition, Black Phish fans are invited to dial the “Blackberry Jams” phone line at 888-PHAN-JAM (888–742–6526) to leave a voicemail sharing their most blissful, most messed up, or weirdest personal stories from Phish shows. Recordings may be played on future episodes of the podcast.
“Blackberry Jams” will delve into a wide range of topics, including discovering love for Phish and the jam band community, the historical and present connections between counterculture and Black liberation, dating as a Black, queer Phan, and how life-affirming concepts such as mutual aid are embedded in jam band culture. From the rising price of grilled cheese on lot, to the self-awareness Duncan and Mac display in owning the complexities of purchasing white privilege one GA ticket at a time, “Blackberry Jams” will also discuss the weighty politics of Shakedown Street and tailgating, painful experiences of being stereotyped at major venues, and why they keep showing up to as many shows as they can.
A public theologian, Lenny Duncan is the founder and former pastor of Jubilee Collective, a collective community organized around principles of anti-racism, queer acceptance, and affirmation. Duncan is also the Second Vice President of the Vancouver, Washington branch of the NAACP, and the author of several books, including “Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S.” and most recently “United States of Grace: A Memoir of Homelessness, Addiction, Incarceration, and Hope.” Duncan attended a formative Jerry Garcia Band show in 1993, which was the start of his decades-long journey in the jam band scene. Lenny can be found on Twitter @lennyaduncan.
A digital strategist and organizer, Leslie Mac serves as Communications Director for The Frontline, a movement of everyday people advocating for a future that holds elected officials accountable to community needs. Mac is also the Digital Organizer for Black Womxn For — a project focused on creating intentional political spaces for Progressive Black Women community leaders — and is the Founding Chair of the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism Organizing Collective Board. She has been named to “Essence” magazine’s list of 100 Woke Women, was named a Voice of the Year for Impact by “BlogHer” in 2017, and in 2020 was named an Election All-Star by BET. Leslie attended her first Phish show in high school in 1993 and now shares her love of jam bands with her husband of 20 years. Leslie can be found on Twitter @lesliemac.
Leslie Mac (left photo courtesy of Romel James) and Lenny Duncan (right photo courtesy of Ankosfilm)
“As a well-known Black Woman organizer and strategist, so much of my life is on display — my experiences as a Phan have been life-affirming and a self-care safe haven for me over the years,” said Mac. “I’m so excited to talk about the good, the great, and the ugly with my friend Lenny, who I’ve spent many hours dissecting everything from our favorite ‘Tweezer Reprise’ to which show venues are the most racist. Telling these stories will offer a peek into how music helps me cope with the difficulties of the world and my hopes for how this scene can change to meet the current moment.”
“The truth is that my life has been forever altered by this scene, it’s people, and of course the music. When America abandoned a 13-year-old Black Queer boy to its streets, a Day-Glo bus filled circus-jam-packed with dreams of revolution rescued me,” said Duncan. “This scene, this band, and others like it, have been my North Star when all other stars have long since faded. The chance to talk about it from a Black Queer perspective with Leslie is the icing on the cake. Her power analysis, organizing credentials, and educational work in anti-racism is only topped by her real compassion for those she comes across. The Black Phan experience and ‘Blackberry Jams’ are coming to a shakedown near you.”
“Ben & Jerry’s is honored to support Leslie and Lenny with ‘Blackberry Jams,’” said Jay Curley, Global Head of Integrated Marketing at Ben & Jerry’s. “We have been part of the Phish community for decades and supporting racial equity and Black liberation for many years. We are excited for Leslie and Lenny to share these stories and history with the world.”
“This podcast is a must-hear for anyone searching for community through music,” said Jason Saldanha, Chief of Business Development and Content at PRX. “Thank you to Leslie, Lenny, and Ben & Jerry’s for sharing this experience with us.”
“Blackberry Jams Presented by Ben & Jerry’s” is distributed by PRX and produced by PRX Productions, the organization’s team specializing in high-quality storytelling. In addition to Duncan and Mac, the production team includes Director of PRX Productions and “Blackberry Jams” Executive Producer Jocelyn Gonzales; Producer and Engineer Pedro Rafael Rosado; and Producer and Project Manager Ian Fox. | https://medium.com/prxofficial/ben-jerrys-and-prx-announce-blackberry-jams-a-new-podcast-975edbcfd553 | [] | 2021-08-12 13:19:20.819000+00:00 | ['Podcasting', 'Ben And Jerrys', 'Storytelling', 'Music', 'Podcast'] |
China’s “Double 11” event pulls in a record-breaking $137 billion with L’Oréal and other overseas brands staging a comeback | China’s “Double 11” event pulls in a record-breaking $137 billion with L’Oréal and other overseas brands staging a comeback BeautyTech.jp Follow Dec 15, 2020 · 6 min read
China’s mega sales event “Double 11”, which originally began as “Single’s Day” for being held on November 11 (or 11/11), had its duration extended this year. The singles’ shopping spree kicked off on November 1st and the battle between brands was fiercer than ever before. Overseas brands such as Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, and P&G that were starting to be pushed out by Chinese brands staged a comeback. Japanese brands such as Shiseido, Kao, and Ya-man also made their own strides forward.
According to Pingan Securities, the overall GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) of all platforms across the duration of Double 11 this year (November 1 to 11) surpassed 900 billion yuan (US$137 billion). The top platform was Alibaba Group’s Tmall, which made 498.2 billion yuan (US$76 billion), a 26.1% increase over the previous year, and combined with Taobao (also of Alibaba Group) their share was 59%. In second place was JD.com, whose GMV was 271.5 billion yuan (US$41 billion) — an increase of 32.8% — and whose share was 26%.
Cross border e-commerce also did well. The GMV of Tmall Global as of midnight on November 11th was an increase of 47.3% over the previous year. 2,600 brands participated in the event for the first time, and 1.2 million items made their debut.
Courtesy of Tmall
Estée Lauder in the first place, while Shiseido was eighth
Skincare items made 75.5 billion yuan (US$11.5 billion) during Double 11, a 45% increase from the previous year, while makeup items recorded sales of 15.4 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion), a 38% increase. Beauty products were big on Tmall as well. Of the 108.2 billion yuan (US$16.5 billion) of GMV earned on the platform between November 1st and 3rd, the largest product category was cosmetics which made up a 20.1% share. Furthermore, the ranking of Double 11 cosmetics sales on Tmall by brand, as provided by Alibaba-owned media site Tianxiawangshang, was as follows:
1st: Estée Lauder
2nd: L’Oréal Paris
3rd: Lancôme
4th: The History of Whoo
5th: Olay
6th: SK-II
7th: Sulwhasoo
8th: Shiseido
9th: Winona
10th: La Mer
In the first place, Estée Lauder had sales that surpassed 2.4 billion yuan (US$366 million). In an affirmation of their strength, three major global companies — Estée Lauder, L’Oréal and P&G — each had two brands in the top 10. South Korean brands were down to two. However, a striking difference from previous years was the performance of Chinese brands. Although in recent years they had made remarkable progress, only Winona made the top 10 this year. 2019 featured four Chinese brands in the top 10, while 2018 had five, which is why this year appeared to be a sudden drop-off.
For Japanese brands, only Shiseido made the top 10; however, beauty appliances from Japan did see solid sales. According to Chinese research firm CBNData, it was thanks to live-commerce sessions featuring popular KOL (Key Opinion Leader) Viya on the 10th that led to Ya-man’s facial appliances reaching their estimated revenue of 41 million yuan (US$6.25 million).
Japanese brands also stood out on cross border e-commerce platforms again this year. Indeed, Japanese products made up the most imports on Tmall Global as of 4 pm on November 11th. In the sales ranking of imported (overseas) brands, Ya-man came in the first place, Kao in fourth, Shiseido in fifth, and Dr. CI:Labo in fifteenth.
Large discounts offered by overseas brands
As to the reason overseas brands have been able to stage such a comeback, Chinese media https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fJMVALlbkhe7Nf0VSYd6qg suggests that compared to previous years, they’ve put a lot more effort into offering discounts. In this year’s Double 11, although 250,000 brands and 5 million stores participated, there were up to 14 million discounted items — 1.4 times from the year before and a record high.
Certain benefits such as receiving another for free on buying one of two of the same product and the distribution of coupons are indispensable elements of sales events in China. However, this year overseas brands offered considerable discounts through live commerce. Discounts of over 50% were not uncommon. For instance, Estée Lauder sold eye cream with virtually 50% off and Shiseido sold their beauty concentrate Ultimune with 60% off. Olay’s facial mask was apparently sold with virtually 77% off. Back in 2018, the largest discount was around 20%, so it’s clear that this was a heated discount battle.
One of the main reasons for increased sales has been live commerce. According to iiMedia Research, the number of live streams that occurred on Tmall during the sale period surpassed 100,000, the total number of viewers surpassed 300 million, and the volume of business was over six times the previous year. Tianxiawangshang reported that there were close to 500 streaming rooms that made over 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) and 33 that made over 100 million yuan (US$15 million).
Although Chinese brands had a lesser presence compared to their overseas counterparts, their sales performance was far from bad. Winona, the only Chinese brand to rank in the top 10 cosmetics sales on Tmall, exceeded 700 million yuan (US$106.7 million) in sales — over two times their Tmall sales of the previous year.
Courtesy of Winona
Also, the Chinese brand to attain the most cosmetics sales on the final day on the 11th was Jala-owned Chando. Within an hour, their sales on their flagship Tmall store reached 100 million yuan (US$15 million). Their vegetable-based water retention facial mask also sold 40 million units.
Another brand that did well was Perfect Diary. The brand’s operating company Yatsen Holding just recently listed on the US Securities and Exchange Commission on November 20. Perfect Diary sales on Tmall exceeded 600 million yuan (US$91.5 million) and it had the top sales within the makeup category.
Florasis, introduced in a previous article, also did well. Their sales on Tmall surpassed 500 million yuan (US$76 million) — a 259% increase from the previous year — plus they were second place in the makeup category. They also made the most money from overseas sales between the 1st and the 3rd of November out of the Chinese brands, with consumers from over 100 different countries and regions making purchases via Tmall.
The costs involved in rolling out promotions for Double 11 tend to be enormous — brands pay big for exposure on platforms, partner with popular KOL, and conduct countless live-commerce sessions. Even so, the reason overseas brands had such competitive prices this time was likely a move mindful of the fact that Chinese brands have always tended to set their prices low.
Western markets still seem a long way off from recovering from the pandemic. Thus, for global brands, a Chinese sales event like Double 11 makes for a huge PR opportunity. With these overseas brands engaging in a price war in order to increase their presence in China, and Chinese brands continually trying to expand their foothold, it will be interesting to see how the market share and competition will look like in 2021.
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Team Roboteer | https://medium.com/beautytech-jp/chinas-double-11-event-pulls-in-a-record-breaking-137-billion-with-l-or%C3%A9al-and-other-overseas-fd09cc924d54 | [] | 2020-12-15 13:02:40.693000+00:00 | ['Alibaba', 'Double 11', 'Online Shopping', 'Cosmetics', 'China'] |
Have a scattered job history? Here is how to transform your resume into a compelling value proposition | Have a scattered job history? Here is how to transform your resume into a compelling value proposition Sushant Kumar Feb 20, 2020·3 min read
I hear this lot of time from a lot of professionals that their job history is scattered & they face an uphill task in presenting their value to prospective employers.
For professionals who have worked for different industries, have jobs which on the surface seem unrelated or have confusing job titles, writing that winning resume & LinkedIn profile is challenging. However, with a strategy connecting some dots/missing links, your career document will not leave readers confused.
Here is how to tackle different circumstances:
Roles seems unrelated: When you are looking for a new/attractive opportunity, most of us have career stories which feel unconnected & disjointed. They find it hard to showcase how such seemingly unrelated roles can be presented in a way that portrays their profile to be a good fit. Focus on uncovering the commonalities between your current/past job & the target job to showcase the potential employer how your experience is similar & can create value/solve their pain point. Your best shot should be to connect the dots by diving deep to uncover the skills you used to register success in disparate roles. Job titles seem unrelated: Job titles vary from company to company & a lot of prospective employers form an impression /opinion when they browse the job titles of job seekers.In lot of cases, such job titles do not explain what you actually do. I generally recommend my clients to tweek the career title for clarity. For instance if you are working as Manager- loans & are looking to take up the next role in sales. Essentially, your job was of sales- increasing the loan book size but it did not reflect in the title. You should rather revise your career title from loan officer to Loan(sales) officer. Focus on providing clarity with Ambiguous job titles. Industry seems unrelated: If you have job history with frequent industry jumps, do not worry. Rather use it to your advantage. Change language in your summary/branding statement to showcase that your skills have been successfully used across industries. You can boost your chances of doing well during LinkedIn searches and Applicant Tracking System (ATS) tests by including a list of industries where you’ve worked. Focus on telling how you have used your skills to achieve success in the industries you have worked
Above described strategies will provide clarity & throw light on your distorted & scattered career history & would ensure that reader will have clear understanding on how your job roles /history aligns with your career goals & how your skills /expertise can be best utilised to generate benefits for their organisations.
As the founder and executive resume coach at Sushant Kumar Ventures, I offer customized executive resume and LinkedIn profile writing services for modern day job seeker. Sign up here for our services/free consult.
PS: Originally published on www.thesushantkumar.com | https://medium.com/@sushantkumar-67353/have-a-scattered-job-history-8728f38b1d64 | ['Sushant Kumar'] | 2020-02-20 15:52:43.388000+00:00 | ['Executiveresume', 'Resume', 'Career Advancement', 'Jobsearchstrategy', 'Recruitment'] |
Simple Sexuality: How Do You Label Yours? | Simple Sexuality: How Do You Label Yours?
There are a slew of labels many people may or may not be familiar with that feed into my relationships: demisexual, pansexual, aromantic, noetisexual, polyamorous, singleish, relationship anarchist, etc.
What the hell are all of these, why are they relevant to me, and how can they possibly all fit together?
There’s a simple way and a complex way to describe the way I relate to other people. The simple version is that I let each relationship be exactly what it is. Sex and love are other aspects, dimensions, of the relationships I have with people. I don’t categorize them by importance and I don’t go in with certain expectations. I develop them based on the person I’m interacting with, instead of having a set of roles for people to fill.
It starts with my values. What I treasure, what I seek, and what I know about myself. My experiences have been rather unique — the fact I happen to fall into so many of these alternate categories both adds to interactions and allows me to explore new avenues. When it comes to love, relationships, and sex all of my various aspects play off against one another and create some rather interesting situations, ideas, and discoveries. Most of all, I value truth. I also really like math.
The idea of just happening to find the one true soulmate in my area, in my lifetime, always struck me as extremely odd. The math never added up for me. It also didn’t make sense to choose one person and place them on a pedestal above all other humans. What about family? What about friends? What about myself? Polyamory made more sense to me because in the entire history of humanity, many people have loved or been with more than one person in their lifetime.
People leave, people die, people meet other people.
The saying about not being able to fill another person’s cup without first filling your own just makes logical sense to me. On airplanes, everyone is instructed to put their own mask on first before assisting others. So it is with love or relationships — of any kind. If you’re a wreck, or expecting someone else to fulfill you, what happens when they leave or die or if someone is required to prop you up? I mean, we fall in love with a person, an individual right? Each person is different, they’re not interchangeable, and to get to know them you have to understand yourself. That’s why autonomy, self-love, is at the top of my list. That’s the singleish part; I take care of myself and expect my friends and partners to do the same. It’s also kind of difficult to care about anything else if you’re starving yourself. It’s hard to even notice anything else when your mind is a mess.
With such a huge world and so many people why ever would anyone desire to shrink their experience? For me life is about learning. I suppose that has a lot to do with my noetisexuality. That is the term for arousal or attraction based on the other person’s mental makeup. It’s a mental connection based on knowledge, information, demeanor, ideas.
Noetisexuality: It’s a mental attraction rather than a purely “intellectual” one (I’m looking at you, sapiosexuality). It’s loving the shape of their mental landscape and wanting to explore it. It’s falling in love with the way they think, their unique mental make up. It’s loving their creativity, their ingenuity, their silliness, their humor, their emotional intelligence, the way they use words, the way they make mental space for you in their minds, and more.
This is near the top of my list and precludes the other labels. It also falls close to my demisexuality. I have a high sex drive, oddly enough — I have to actually like a person, feel emotionally or mentally close to them before I even think about having sex with them in particular.
That’s what demisexuality is: the inability to be sexually attracted to another without an emotional connection. If I don’t like, feel close to, or know someone there’s very little chance I’ll find them attractive and want to be physical with them. I don’t lust after celebrities or models, either. The desire for sex is secondary attraction, naturally growing out of the feelings I’ve already developed for them.
That leads right into my relationship anarchy. I don’t sort my friends according to some exalted status like lover or partner. Each person I choose to interact with is important to me in their own way, whether or not that includes love or sex. I’m not romantic (the aromantic part) but I am very passionate and loving.
I don’t get swept off my feet.
I don’t desire to meld into one being or forsake all others.
I’m not romantic because I don’t experience these kinds of desires for my relationships.
Friendship tends to be the strongest aspect of any relationship for me, no matter what else it includes. Romantic things like candlelit dinners, identifying as a couple, marriage, or childrearing aren’t what I want or if I do want something like them they’re not necessarily limited to those I call my lovers or partners. Friends aren’t treated like dirt just because they don’t live with me and those I might have sex with aren’t more important. Each relationship is just what it is. Each relationship is developed around how we actually get along, how we feel towards one another, and is open to change. I’m also very sensual and the thought of limiting that based on who’s supposed to be acceptable to touch makes no sense. Touch is so often bound up with sex that people have trouble seeing it apart from sex.
Since people are unique and my love for one doesn’t detract from my love for another — although time may be an issue — the gender and sex of another don’t matter much to me. That’s my pansexuality. My own gender is fluid; I consider myself human first and foremost. Everything else is secondary to that and the contents of a person’s mind. I’m not going to exclude the possibility of knowing someone just because their body looks a certain way. This doesn’t mean I want to have sex with everyone or everything. I usually have to have a connection with someone to even consider sex, if either of us even wants to go there.
Each of these labels grows out of the values I hold, the information I see, and my inherent curiosity. It’s amazing how much I learn about myself, the world, and other people by just letting them be themselves. When there are no arbitrary barriers, when communication becomes the focus, when options are open-ended instead of proscribed a whole world of unique connections opens up. These labels don’t make me who I am. They describe several aspects of me. They are helpful, although not always necessary. The simple description I gave above is accurate even though others can miss the full implications. That’s why the complex description comes in handy.
Having language to sum up behavior or values allows new possibilities to sprout. Labels don’t have to be scary or impossible or divisive.
They can be helpful, informative, and dare I say even simple? | https://medium.com/postmodern-woman/simple-sexuality-how-do-you-label-yours-51e4918e39ed | ['Michon Neal'] | 2017-10-13 19:28:03.647000+00:00 | ['Polyamory', 'Noetisexuality', 'Relationships', 'LGBTQ', 'Past'] |
Review of Java Multithreading for Senior Engineering Interviews | Java Multithreading for Senior Engineering Interviews
Today we’ll be reviewing one of the most popular courses on Educative.io Java Multithreading for Senior Engineering Interviews. This was the first course on concurrency and multi-threading on Educative.io. The real value the course delivers is the aggregation of the basics of Concurrency theory and its practice in Java. The course starts with general theory and then dives into the specifics of Java. However, note that all the topics discussed in the course can be found online for free. The only propriety aspect about the course is the interview questions which are indeed innovative and challenging. For instance, the quintessential concurrency producer/consumer problem is solved using mutex, semaphore and monitor in Java. Usually, you’ll find this problem solved online on various websites and blogs using a single concurrency construct. Seeing the problem get solved by all the different building blocks of concurrency truly drives home how to correctly apply each tool to a given situation. Then there’s also an excellent section on the Java memory model and how it affects multi-threading in Java.
In total there are eighteen interview questions and few are solved using multiple approaches. Questions such as implementing a semaphore using a monitor, difference between semaphore and mutex, thread-safe singleton pattern, use of the volatile keyword, read-write lock, dining philosophers are all problems that make good candidates for interview questions, especially for seasoned engineers. Two of the questions are said to have appeared in interviews for the author at Netflix and Oracle. The author’s linked-in profile lists him as have worked at these two companies. Because of the author’s professional experience, the course feels very practical and industry-orientated rather than academic in nature. The same author also has concurrency courses on Python, Ruby and C#. The Python and Java ones seem more popular than the other two, judging by users’ commentary on Educative’s online forums.
Compared to baeldung.com and tutorials.jenkov.com, the course provides a gist or summary of the concurrency knowledge required for most software engineers. The fundamentals and basics are explained really well along with executable examples that demonstrate race conditions, deadlocks, and other bugs common in the concurrency realm. Baeldung lacks a structured approach to follow when a newbie is learning concurrency while Jenkov doesn’t support executable code snippets. Both, lack a section on interview preparation. However, Educative’s course seems to strike the right balance for beginners and intermediate professionals with just enough detail and practical application in sample problems. We definitely consider the course a great fit for someone new to concurrency or preparing for interviews. On the contrary, if you are already an experienced Java professional then this course is likely not for you. You are probably familiar with the basics and the twists and turns of the Java memory model viz-a-viz concurrency. Any advanced topics can be dug-up online searching on Google. Finally there are areas of improvement in the course such as advanced constructs in Java e.g. CompletableFuture aren’t discussed. Some readers may also not like the UI which is a departure from Educative’s traditional course-UI. The price point of $59 seems a tad bit high too. But on the whole, this is definitely one of the gems Educative.io has to offer! | https://medium.com/double-pointer/review-of-java-multithreading-for-senior-engineering-interviews-1e6c9cf7308f | ['Double Pointer'] | 2020-08-24 01:44:02.692000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Coding Interviews', 'Tech', 'Codingbootcamp', 'Coding'] |
Lessons on Loneliness from an introvert | We all get it: Loneliness is something to learn from. Something you need to go through to grow from it. As a young millennial, meaning a woman in their late twenties, single during the Corona pandemic, I don’t think I’m wrong when I say that a lot of us have learned many lessons within the last 9 months. Ironically my being single started just before the big outbreak — so there was no way to escape the loneliness and heartbreak. Distraction was a rarity.
Lesson 1: No matter how physically distant you are as a human in general, when you cannot have it anymore, there is nothing more you want.
Not being the most touchy-feely woman, many men in my past have noticed that about me, I thought that sleeping on my own most of the 365 nights of this year would be easy enough. After all, women sleep better without other people in the room. Their sleep is deeper because they don’t have to worry about their child or significant other. While I can say this is true and that my sleep is deeper when sleeping alone, there is another factor to good sleep: Low stress levels. And guess what: Physical touch helps to increase serotonin levels and decrease cortisol levels which is the perfect combination when combatting stress.
This dawned on me when talking to another very single friend of mine, who was so happy, after coming back from a massage. “Just being touched like that again, it felt amazing” she said — well yes, it was a massage but I think she really meant the experience of intense physical touch. Something you only miss when you cannot have it.
I learned this about myself, while I will never be the most affectionate person — an issue for another story — as a human I crave physical touch from people I like. And that doesn’t mean just sex.
Lesson 2: Loneliness doesn’t get better with time (unlike expensive Merlot) but it balances out a bit.
I don’t believe it gets better. People tell me all the time that I will be fine being by myself and independent of others. Yes. I am better with being by myself now more than in my relationship but I always was fine with being by myself. This situation right now is the absolute extreme though. We are forced to live like Pandas or even polar bears, loners by nature. Except we are not. I like to have the choice, having no choice or say in this triggers feelings of helplessness and being out of control. I will admit, I am not patient and the waiting game suffocates me.
But — and there is a big but — me experiencing loss of control and loneliness during this pandemic teached me a lot about acceptance. You cannot resist the given circumstances forever. You cannot cry over every changed plan that wasn’t in your control. When this happens over and over again, you get used to it. You are learning to accept. And with acceptance, of course, you are not using your valuable brain power to moan over what hasn’t happened. You can move on quicker from the negative feeling and be more productive with things that still make you happy anyways. The loneliness stays with you but by moving on from this feeling, you are making space for other feelings that balance the negative.
Lesson 3: Boredom, loneliness and lost opportunities can spark creativity
I think we all got a bit creative during lockdown. All the baking, all the home workouts, all the creative projects. All the new ways to stay in contact. In fact, I wouldn’t even be on here if it wasn’t for my breakup and this pandemic. For me personally, two things came together: The general pandemic loneliness and all the new options and opportunities that comes with being single again. I had a lot of time to think and question every aspect of my life. Do I want this life that I have created for myself?
I am one to wander and move a lot. I don’t have a real sense of home. Home always was where my loved one was. And I think this is something that my generation is struggling with or embracing — depending on who you ask. So this should feel freeing. Except this pandemic prolongs the decision-making process since I cannot just get up and leave. The job market isn’t great and frankly, the great first moment of arriving in a different city: the exploration, the new air, the meeting new people — it just wouldn’t feel the same. In a way I am trapped, as many are, in a poise, in a state of uncertainty. How do I know what I want, when I don’t even know what life is going to be like after all of this. But I found the positive in this: I can trial everything that comes to mind before committing to another career or job. I have time now to write again, paint again, try to practice photography, do some freelance work. See what I really want and try all the things I didn’t have time to do before. I am more creative than I was a year ago. Paths that didn’t come to my mind before are on the list of possibilities suddenly.
Lesson 4: Loneliness can mean many things
Being single, I do complain a lot about being alone and by myself. And for the record: While I do think that this lockdown is right in this pandemic, I think that people aren’t talking and expressing mental health issues enough — because we could look like we are part of the corona conspiracy theory crowd in pointing out the bad effects of lockdown. But while I am one to self-loath here and there, we cannot forget about those people who are in relationships, or have kids, and still feel lonely. Loneliness can have everything and nothing to do about actually being alone. I can say this from experience: There are many ways to feel lonely. And even being by myself might not be the only part of my loneliness. I felt lonely since moving to this city because I am not surrounded by my best friends. I built new friendships but it’s not the same as those bonds that I have built over years and years. And remember: I was in a relationship most of the time since living in this city. Yet, I felt and still feel lonely.
This means: We all need to check on those people who seem to have their life together, are in a relationship, have kids and all that. They could feel lonely. And you could help them to feel less so.
Lesson 5: As with everything, there will be ups and downs. Concentrate on the fact that there are ups.
I’m generally a positive person, although this trait has suffered within the last two years. Maybe it’s growing up. Maybe it’s life throwing me curve balls around every corner. But I am still here even after all of this. And there were good phases. There is an end to any episode of loneliness. This feeling will go away eventually, not forever. But next time you will be able to handle it better than last time, at the time after that, well… We all grow stronger the more s*** that happens to us. This may sound cheesy but there is so much truth and calm to this.
I do have to admit that being in my late 20s and living through this phase makes me a little more anxious than before. I am not living my best life currently but I am preparing to live my best life when this is over. And so should you. Not with pressure. But with acceptance, creativity, and realising all those new facets about yourself that you might not have been aware of. I am aware that this sounds like a bad self-help book. But if this even created one moment of inspiration, of looking at the situation with different eyes, then this article has done its job. We’ll all meet one another again, on the other side as people who have grown from this experience. | https://medium.com/@thoughtsalad/lessons-on-loneliness-from-an-introvert-486862e51bdd | ['Sophie Creitz'] | 2020-12-27 15:22:05.503000+00:00 | ['2020', 'Single Life', 'Lockdown', 'Loneliness', 'Introvert'] |
Abandoned | Abandoned
Julio’s hand slipped
While he was painting
The clouds. They say
That’s how Dambulla
Wound up with rain.
He drags his palm
Across the sky and makes
A lot of little showers like that.
Even where the sun
Is high,
Loose bits
Of broken-free
Cloud wander off
— And dissipate.
Julio says he always
Gets his clouds back.
He watches a horsetail
Drift over a farmhouse
Wood shingled, proud.
Perched in a meadow and
Glowing inside. Daisies
Grow wild, up to the door.
Julio puts up
His feet. Smokes.
By the time
He finds those clouds
They’re hanging
In a gallery
In western Ohio.
They’ve gone
Ominous and gray.
He can’t touch
The canvas.
He stares.
Broken shutters dangle
From weathered hinges.
Torn window-screens point
Wiry fingers at feral
Daisies. The light is gone.
The door had been left open
A long time ago.
Julio doesn’t recognize
The name of the artist.
The title, written in pencil
Close to the frame
Says: Abandoned.
© Peggy Moss | https://psiloveyou.xyz/abandoned-f0f9b7523972 | ['Peggy Moss'] | 2020-12-13 13:02:31.974000+00:00 | ['Free Verse', 'Loneliness', 'God', 'Poetry Sunday', 'Painting'] |
ESSENCE OF FESTIVITY | As a child, celebrations are implied just as holidays. We were never amped up for new garments or individuals. We were excited about things that we would buy for the festivals, playing with our siblings, and sweets. Celebrations additionally signify gift-giving and sharing. Interchange of gifts encourages youngsters to share delights during celebrations. This educates children about generosity and humbleness and the proverb “Sharing is caring”.
As we grew older we realized that a significant number of these things don’t bring us joy any longer. Being a grown-up, presently we find satisfaction in gathering companions and conversing with them for long periods of time, going through celebrations with family, and calm festivals. We crave the presence of humans who matter to us the most and make our celebrations jubilant. Growing up friends became distant and occupied with their lives yet celebrations give the chance to reconnect with them. A few events are very close to our hearts because of past memories, rejoicing in special moments and emotions, respect for our culture, feeling of connection with our roots, and spending time with our loved ones.
Festivals come around and suddenly we remember that we are alive. Lights, laughter, and celebration all around. For few people, festivity is just about creating an unhygienic environment and noise, eating food, gambling, and air pollution. Having fun at the cost of natural resources is not the right thing. We have to follow the right grounds of festivity. “We are diverting from the essence of festivity and rather we are centralized only towards entertainment.”
Before the pandemic, we used to go on excursions with my family. Due to the epidemic, long journeys were not possible. We celebrated almost every function at our home with family which might not be a usual thing for adults. When we celebrate the new year, we feel like entering this new phase of our life. We noticed a few things we have not seen previously. To exemplify, people having a job can enjoy fewer days for Diwali get-away. As an undergrad, it isn’t a big deal to skip a day of classes. However, as a grown-up you have liabilities so you can’t simply take a break whenever you want. Still, celebrations are crucial for having time off from our hectic schedules and simply spending time with loved ones. These are the days when we recall pitiful days and carry a grin to our face. | https://medium.com/@phoenix.flame.blog/essence-of-festivity-c68e0c05b476 | ['Phoenix Flame'] | 2021-11-11 04:45:30.761000+00:00 | ['India', 'Sharing', 'Festivals', 'Indian Culture', 'Diwali'] |
The High Canning | Brooks Range, what it’s like flying in, Flickr, Larry Scott
Saturday, August 18th, 10:35 P.M. — Weathered in by wind and snow at the Waldo Arms, the little hotel in Barter Island, which is really no more structurally than a modular/mobile home conglomerate. This entry is as much to keep from losing track of the day as it is from having anything to say. I talk to people, those who live here, tour operators, other travelers, always with the hope of picking up information about this country I can use. I’ve been at this kind of thing for a while now, and I expect little. It’s curious, the more eager a person seems to give you something, the less likely it is to be useful.
Unearned truth too often holds little value. I equate it with the riddles of the Fae. It can be understood, but too often the truth is only appreciated far too late to either turn back or do me any real good. It’s only a goad, a glimmer in the night to tease me.
People want to ask how I plan to deal with the bears, but when I listen closely to what they don’t quite say they’re happier to hear me state I’m clueless. There’re too many useless tourists in this world, not enough bears. Guess which they’d rather see die?
Sunday, August 19th, 5:09 P.M. — Yesterday, this part of the Arctic coast was too fogged in to fly into the Canning River. Walt Audi, the pilot, couldn’t drop off a party in the foothills. Walt and Meryln Audi’s little hotel in Barter is a charmed place. The food is good and the company better. Except of course for Walt and Meryln, they’ve dealt with too many tourists for too many years. They have information I could use. I’m sure of it, but the greatest kindness I could do them is just to leave them the hell alone. Speak, when I’m spoken to.
I’ve fallen in with a pair of internationally traveled long bow hunters. Their talk is of Siberia, Africa, the far flung reaches of the world. They wouldn’t have spoken to me, but at airport security in Fairbanks when I had to uncase my rifle for inspection, and they saw the Model 1886 40–65 made in 1887, they took notice. Had it been a modern bolt action .300 magnum with a telescope, they would have pointedly ignored me.
They don’t quite understand my reason for the massive old Winchester lever. I have nothing in particular against the .300 magnums. It’s the rifle for the man who is going to make the shot he should by rights have passed. It’s not the rifle I would choose for an encounter with a bear in the dark. That’s not the best use of the small thirty caliber bullets. The ’86 points with an almost mystical rightness when there’s neither the time nor the light to acquire the sights. Three times with the old Winchester levers in hand, I’ve forgotten in the excitement of the moment that I didn’t carry a shotgun and plucked a wild turkey out of the air. This worn white ’86 has a memory of the men who carried it before. When it’s my life, I’ll draw on those memories I feel but cannot quite touch.
The long bow hunters believe I share a kind of commonality with them by intentionally eschewing the best in modern technology to handicap myself. They’re wrong. I use the old because I don’t trust the new.
One of them had a Nalgene jar full of rare old Scotch. Last night I convinced him he didn’t need the extra weight in his backpack and that a ridge over the Kongakut River in grizzly country was no place to be drunk. In a backroom in this dry village, we traded stories about our travels, and drank it all. It was a heady time.
4:22 P.M., Finally in the Brooks Range on the Canning River — The sky has clouded over; the wind has picked up, and it’s colder. I’ve been organizing gear all afternoon, and except for the coaming, the raised border made of aluminum that fits around the hatch and works to keep the water out, I have the Folbot together. I’ve quit for the day and gone inside the tent. I still have gear I can’t find.
My gear wasn’t organized for a quick start. Some of it was in the two bags I mailed to Barter Island in July — winter gear I didn’t need in Virginia. I’ve unpacked the food from the Barter Island store: the coffee, the sugar, and fifteen pounds of flour still unpacked in the unusable containers or paper sacks straight from the store.
The guides from the group of sheep hunters, who are also using this airstrip, came down to visit. They said I shouldn’t encounter anyone on the trip out to the coast on the Canning.
These weren’t the first guides I’d met, and anyone who has read in the outdoor literature is familiar with how it romanticizes the guide. In the rich tradition of hunting guides, as recorded by Hemingway, Ruark, and years of Outdoor Life stories, this ear-ringed kid didn’t stack up to much.
He assessed me just as hard — a thing a man feels on his skin, doesn’t like it much but feels it — before he said, “None of them back up there would have the balls to do what you’re doing.”
If I suspected he was right, I was just as confident he didn’t know, a kid’s judgment of men, meant nothing to me, the traditional Alaskan contempt of the outsider.
If I had paid his outfit for a week’s sheep hunt, nothing I could have done in that week would have been enough to win his respect. Respect of the guide, and the winning of it, has always figured as a cornerstone in the outdoor literature. Which is kind of the reverse, I suspect, of the way it really is.
People who drop that kind of money don’t lose sleep over the opinions of temporary employees. Guide, as owner-operator, is all but gone. These cats were employees, paid on a shoestring. Anything extra they came away with was going to be from tips. Any attitude they had about their clients was going to be carefully concealed. I would have never heard it if they thought I was apt to spend time in their camp, and they pointedly didn’t invite me.
I didn’t invite them either, but more than likely they were down here to find out if I was here to hunt sheep and explain that this was their territory, and when they learned I intended to leave as soon as I could, they relaxed.
My initial impulse to leave this place quickly when I discovered this campsite was tainted by the presence of others would have never worked. I’m still not ready.
Monday, August 20, 5:37 A.M., The landing strip camp — The coffee is on. Outside, under a low cloud ceiling, a light rain mists. The wind is up somewhat from last night, and it’s cool, but there’s no ice in the pot of water I brought in the vestibule last night for this morning’s coffee and oatmeal. If conditions hold, I should be able to move.
I’m always quiet in campsite, especially so this morning. Noise might be taken to suggest I’m open to visitors and conversation.
5:58 A.M. — Reorganization is a priority. I need to pack my gear to protect it, protection of the matches being a major priority. With the fire striker, they’re no longer needed for the stove, but to rely on a fire striker entirely would be to have fewer fires. There’s no way around it, the fire striker requires more skill and drier tinder than an actual match, When used to light anything other than the stove, the kind of dry tinder required too often takes forever to make, if it’s available at all. In favor of the striker, it’s waterproof, and the matches aren’t.
Scrub willows grow thick at this airstrip, but the area close in to camp appears picked clean of easily used dry sticks. People have camped here before because of the airstrip, and they’ve used the easy wood. It should be better further down.
6:18 A.M. — The quality of these strike-on-anything matches is poor. Some already have blackened heads, and others were manufactured without the white phosphorus part that strikes. I thought shipping them in the unopened box was the thing to do. I was wrong. Trust nothing.
8:40 A.M. — The merlin made a pass by my campsite. It has been many years since I’ve seen one. According to the range map in Peterson’s, I’m pushing the northern edge of their range and lucky to see this tiny falcon.
Snow has blown hard all morning. With the Folbot together, I can consider moving today. Fog blankets the upper elevations.
I relocate gear. By the time I found the filet knife, I had accepted that I didn’t have it. Tension mars the moment. I try to tell myself there are mistakes I can’t make, that I will not make, but I know better. Between what I packed on the flight up, mailed from home, and bought quickly in a supermarket in Fairbanks, and in the little store in Barter Island, I’m perfectly capable of making any kind of mistake. I made exhaustive lists of every item in every bag, but I long ago learned that just because an item appears on a list doesn’t constitute proof it’s really in the bag. The mind is given to strange lapses, a thing to accept and expect.
The filet knife is something I could have done without. If I were down to one or two knives, it would never be included. The thin, flexible blade lacks backbone for heavy cutting and is too vulnerable to breakage. I can prepare a fish for the pan without it, although it wouldn’t be as neat or as quick. I do the vast majority of my actual cutting with the filet knife. If I try never to be out of reach of a knife, I keep the actual cutting to a minimum. I don’t want a dull blade when I need one because I’ve been whittling on something I didn’t need to cut, and every slice or chop with a blade is a potential accident. More telling, a cut with a tool is an unnatural thing in nature, and it leaves behind a signature to the world, or to anyone capable of reading, of the man who made the cut.
More important than the filet knife is wondering what else I either forgot or didn’t know about that I’ll need.
10:07 A.M. — An attempt to move against this driving snow strikes me as foolish. It’s going to stick at the higher elevations. I’ll feel better when I see how this gear packs up in the boat, and after I feed myself for the first time off the country.
10:40 A.M. — I started one of Lorrie’s books, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa. She made a special visit to leave this book with me. She said she didn’t need it back, that I could use it for fire starter if I needed.
I know little of her beyond the obvious, that she’s a stunning beauty. We met in the weeks running up to this attempt on the Canning. She writes a column for the local paper, self-publishes books of poetry, and she’s in every environmental group I’ve ever heard of and plenty more I haven’t.
Her marginal notes interest me more than the book. In certain circles, there is a deep belief in the hidden wisdom of the East. I can’t say it isn’t there, but I can’t help thinking of Private Ken McCoy, Killer McCoy, a China Marine, a character in W.E.B. Griffith’s Marine series. Killer called this “The thousand years of culture crap.” I’m not about to say there isn’t wisdom in the East, ancient wisdom if you must, but it doesn’t particularly show up in their governments. This western fascination with the trappings of the East, aside from the true Orientalists, and their years of research, strikes me as insipid New Age Wu-Wu imitation.
An entry I find myself looking at again and again reads: “Coltsfoot out, February 29.” No reasonable person would make anything out of that one cryptic line, except perhaps in passing to wonder why she thought such a common occurrence, a thing that is going to happen anyway, whether it’s noted or not, was worth recording. Yet, I find myself wondering how much she knows about coltsfoot. It’s widely enough distributed. I’ve found it in the Yukon and in the Territories, as I wandered valleys that no one else wanted that year, and I’ve found it all over Southwest Virginia. Technical botany, though, is not my interest: coltsfoot has its dark side. For centuries it has been associated with witches.
I ask myself, if Lorrie possessed that arcane fragment of knowledge. I have no way of knowing. Nor does it much matter. Possession of trivia tells less than a person’s intuitive response to the world around them. Had she lived in the 17th century, would have been labeled a witch?
It’s for damn sure, she’s going to be judging my reactions to her marginalia. She drops tidbits to test my understanding. She couldn’t have missed that I’ve read a book or so, here and there, but so far as I’ve told her, I’m another high school dropout, something of a recluse, socially backward. Mentoring appeals to her.
Will I ever see her again?
In the past, when I have done these trips, my appreciation of what I faced was reduced to the brown and blue lines on a topographical map. This time I don’t face a complete unknown. When I flew up here from Barter with Walt Audi, he traced the coastline for a time. Flat unprotected country of little vegetation, its most obvious wealth the massive mounds of driftwood from the great Mackenzie.
But back to the question that really interests me, whether I will die tomorrow or next week isn’t a particularly new way for me to live. The more interesting question is, if I do survive my immediate future, will I see her again? I think I shouldn’t count on that. There is an elusiveness to her, a fear. She searches for a man of sensitivity who may not be real. She sees herself as deeply spiritual, a quality I’m completely devoid of, and she looks for her like. A wandering rifleman, past his best years, hardly fills the bill.
Meeting her a few weeks before this trip couldn’t have been worse timing. I would have preferred to have the possibility of any budding relationship resolved and put behind me.
2:52 P.M. — The snow for the moment has stopped, and the cloud ceiling has raised, but the wind if anything has picked up. Out of the wind it is pleasant.
This is the trap: the season closes; the weather worsens. I’m unfamiliar with this country. Do I dare wait for better weather that might not come?
2:58 P.M. — I dreamed last night of becoming a better man. A man of substance, valued by those around him for the work his wealth represents, or for the scholarship of years, that lay behind his words. I no longer hope. I know myself better. There is the next hill, the next river, and there is no caution in my heart. Neither is there much give. The rigidity is dangerously brittle.
6:05 P.M — I’ve been out walking in the wind. I released Lorrie’s little white feather. I almost didn’t. I made sure not to let it slip out of my hand, as I placed it firmly in the current of the Canning. I watched it for a few minutes before turning to scramble back up the bank. When I looked back it was gone.
I could go back to the moment when she handed me the white feather and asked me to release it an Arctic river and do it better. I might have shown a reaction beyond stunned silence.
So historical imagery is not her forte. When a woman hands a man a white feather it is a judgment and an accusation of cowardice. It’s beyond challenge. The man will never be offered a chance to respond. She slips out of his life. Symbolism, even unintentional, weighs too hard with me.
She didn’t know.
Was I a coward? That’s always a view from the outside. In the wilderness I understood how to calculate odds and advantage and act in my interest. I’m as happy to sidestep any opportunity to prove myself.
She meant to impress her poetic soul on me, if she had already judged me and found me wanting.
When she showed me her poetry, I muttered, “Nice.”
She paused for me to try to tell her what it meant. At the very least I might have latched onto a stray image, elucidated it, offered some bone, some sense of feeling.
I didn’t.
Too much MFA, too little reading. I mouthed to myself if not loud enough for her to hear, “September 1939. Yeats is dead. Poetry is over.” That wasn’t fair. Poets lived, but that meant nothing to me. Were I to meet one, I had nothing to offer in return. It could be that I had too little education to understand what I read, but with the real thing, it was possible to feel something first. Hers made no syntactical sense. And she had no sense of the difference between the insight and the cliché. The image of the released feather in the stream was too painfully common.
The image of those long, toned legs in motion wasn’t.
Some images were timeless. They haunt long after the moment is passed. | https://medium.com/lit-up/the-high-canning-96e984f419a3 | ['Edd Jennings'] | 2019-04-30 12:30:25.668000+00:00 | ['Memoir', 'Travel', 'This Happened To Me', 'Memories', 'Alaska'] |
How to weight loss by Running | As we know to lose weight, we have to reduce our calorie expenditure with healthy diet and also use cardio vascular exercise to burn of excess fat and help speed up the process of weight loss.
Today I would like to talk about running and the many benefits that you can get from this fantastic exercise. Running is a very high impact exercise that works all of the muscle of the body. Running is also a very versatile exercise that can be very challenging and intense depending on the type of training program of the individual.
The speed, environment, angle and time are all factors that will determine how effective the workout is for the individual. As a general rule, the faster a person runs, the more energy expenditure is needed, therefore the more calories that are burned, there the higher probability of losing weight and improving fitness levels.
One of the main reasons what running is a popular choice among weight loss programs, fitness enthusiasts and military personal is the fact that you only need basic gear. A good pair of running shorts and suitable running clothing and your good to go.
Now when it comes to the actual running, one must understand that the type of running training that you participate in is entirely down to the individual’s current fitness level and body shape and health.
If an obese person wants to start running to lose weight then the concept of running 5 miles from scratch will most likely be far to challenging to start with.
The best practice for such case would be to start by simple running half to a full mile, or even a quarter mile to get into the swing of things.
Now in regards to intensity and variation, there are quite a lot of things one can do to change up the run. Running uphill is one very good option and is very challenging to even the most hard core runners.
Another great way to mix things up is to use HIIT which stands for High intensity interval training. This is done by simple switching from running fast to slow every few moments to keep the heart rate in the fat burning zone.
When you use High Intensity interval training in your running program this allows for the best type of training for weight loss because the heart rate is tested and challenged this will help improve fitness levels, increase cardio vascular efficiency and burn more calories, thus allowing an ideal scenario for weight loss.
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Alternatively running with a weight vest on is also a fantastic way to make the running more challenging and more intense, this provides the best scenario for improved fitness levels, heath and weight loss.
To give yourself the best possible chance of improving your fitness levels and losing weight, the ideal case would be to go running for at least 30 minutes 3 / 4 days a week to boost a weight loss plan.
In regards to nutrition practices for running, complex carbs are the best way to go. Carbs provide the body with the energy needed for high intensity workouts.
Running should be complimented with other cardio vascular exercises to keep the body guessing, and also challenging and shocking the body to improve fitness levels and lose weight. In the ideal situation to lose weight, running would be complimented with swimming and skipping as these are some of the most other effective cardio exercises for improved fitness levels and weight loss.
Want weight loss diet plan ? Click here
A few things to consider when running, would to make sure that you have the correct type of running shoes on for the run, nothing worse than going for a run without suitable trainers on the protect your feet from blisters and other feet issues.
Some ideas to help compliment your running program would be to join a group of runner’s, get a running buddy or simple put headphones and let the music entertain and motivate you while you run.
Overall running is one of the most effective exercises to improve fitness, and lose weight, regardless of age or fitness background. | https://medium.com/@donk60278/how-to-weight-loss-by-running-1fa921b9627f | ['Bikash Adhikari'] | 2020-12-18 14:45:59.942000+00:00 | ['Running', 'Weight Loss Tips', 'Weight Loss Fast', 'Wright Loss By Running', 'Weight Loss Program'] |
Time Jumps | 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/chalkboard/time-jumps-ff4dc675818f | ['Ana-Maria Schweitzer'] | 2020-12-23 22:15:59.717000+00:00 | ['One Line', 'Time', 'One Line Poetry', 'Life', 'Existence'] |
Recorded Meditations | Stories about the spiritual journey. For more information visit http://kellydignan.com
Follow | https://medium.com/kelly-dignan/a-recorded-meditation-546cf5b4992b | ['Kelly Dignan'] | 2020-07-06 16:24:37.416000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Centered', 'Meditation', 'Grounded'] |
Shopping List for a Maker Space | Shopping List for a Maker Space
Apple iPad Air 2 64GB — $599
It’s always fun to spend fake money. But if you’re going to spend money you don’t have, you might as well spend it well. Right?
Last week’s inventory for the fictional maker space at the fictional Dominican High School included items from the worlds of robotics, 3D printing, movie making, music making, and many more. The inspiration for many of those items came from searching through actual maker spaces in my PLN and from the up-and-coming maker space at the school where I work. And because our assigned budget was a moderate $3000, we really wanted to make it stretch. This required a thorough and comprehensive investigation of each item and any viable alternatives. And as any modern American consumer knows, it’s all about balancing the reviews with the price.
Dremel Idea Builder — $999
This week, my group created a Prezi of our investigation which we will present to our class next week. Before I take you through the process of investigating each item and choosing which items to present, let me first say a few words on Prezi. I’ve tried. And I’ve tried. But despite my efforts, I cannot get on board with Prezi. I do not like it as a program for creating visually pleasing yet functional presentations. I find that the only benefit of Prezi over MS PowerPoint is that Prezi offers the ability to organize one’s information into a meaningful geographic landscape. The ability to create frames that stem from other frames allows one to organize information in a way that may communicate something visual to the audience. Consider if one wanted to present a family lineage in alinear fashion without the image of a tree. Prezi allows for this. However, my gripe with it is: how often is that actually necessary? I find that section headers and title cards in MS PowerPoint are sufficient for organizing a landscape of informaton. Proponents of Prezi might argue that it is mroe visually pleasing, and perhaps that is true for some. Yet, is it that visually pleasing? I would liken Prezi to Smartboards — flashy and cool at first, but eventually, the poor functionality of each renders the flashy factor obsolete.
littleBits Base Kit — $99
Now, onto the heart of the matter — the investigation. As a group, we chose 4 items from last week’s inventory to evaluate and present to the class. We each chose 1 item and we each contributed to the Dremel 3D printer. I chose to contribute the pros to the Dremel, and I began my investigation at the Dremel product page for the particular model we listed on our inventory. I was impressed by the videos on the product page’s website that offered general instructions, ideas for application, and troubleshooting techniques. Next, it was on to Amazon.com to read reviews of the Dremel as well as some competing 3D printers. I found two 3D printers that were comparable to the Dremel — Solidoodle ($600) and Flashforge ($1300). Flashforge had some compelling negative reviews on Amazon.com, and considering the price difference — the Dremel Idea Builder prices at $1000 — that eliminated the Flashforge from my considerations. Also, the Solidoodle had several reviews criticizing its customer service. And considering 3D printers are such highly technical devices, I thought good customer service is a major plus. In addition, I found that the “proprietary” (non-generic; sold by the company) filament, which is the material with which 3D printers print, was cheaper than its competitors. Overall, it seems like a good balance of quality and low price.
Lego Movie Maker app — $0.00
Next, I undertook the Lego Movie Making items. I first got this idea from an Apple conference for librarians and media specialists I attended last year; and it sounded like an excellent project for a library maker space, because no single classroom can invest in all of these materials. Instead, a library can, and it can be made accessible by classes and clubs. The item list for this project included three lego sets (e.g. figurines, blocks, platforms), an iPad for filming, and the Lego Movie Maker app. The item that shines the most here — the app itself — is free! I’ve played with this app and it is incredibly user-friendly, intelligible, and visually pleasing. It is a nearly perfect app, and it makes stop-motion movie making so easy. I found that the sets are perfect for customization and creative building, yet, specialty Lego pieces, such as curved pieces and all those fun pieces that could give a Lego movie personality, are difficult to buy in wholesale. Perhaps, our makerspace could organize a donation drive of students’ and staff’s old Legos.
And, I’m happy to announce that I have a meeting next week with our advancement office to go over some of the maker space ideas from this project. Maybe I’ll be seeing this inventory list come to life very soon. | https://medium.com/@adamapo/shopping-list-for-a-maker-space-ea06059b8440 | ['Adam Apo'] | 2015-10-21 20:32:34.916000+00:00 | ['3D Printing', 'Technology'] |
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TELEVISION 👾
(TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports.
TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 5540s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new innovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 5Season 00s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[5] during the 55040s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 4000s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (55i, with 505054 intertwined lines of goal and 444545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 545045044, 545045044 and 454. Since 4050, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, Starz Video, iPlayer and Hulu.
In 4055, 54% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[4] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 5550s. Most TV sets sold during the 4000s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-4050s.[5][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 4050s.[04][4][5] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 4.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 4050s.[5]
TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 4000s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 4000s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 4050s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
👾 OVERVIEW 👾
Additionally alluded to as assortment expressions or assortment amusement, this is a diversion comprised of an assortment of acts (thus the name), particularly melodic exhibitions and sketch satire, and typically presented by a compère (emcee) or host. Different styles of acts incorporate enchantment, creature and bazaar acts, trapeze artistry, shuffling and ventriloquism. Theatrical presentations were a staple of anglophone TV from its begin the 5450s, and endured into the 5450s. In a few components of the world, assortment TV stays famous and broad.
The adventures (from Icelandic adventure, plural sögur) are tales about old Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking journeys, about relocation to Iceland, and of fights between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse language, for the most part in Iceland. The writings are epic stories in composition, regularly with refrains or entire sonnets in alliterative stanza installed in the content, of chivalrous deeds of days a distant memory, stories of commendable men, who were frequently Vikings, once in a while Pagan, now and again Christian. The stories are generally practical, aside from amazing adventures, adventures of holy people, adventures of religious administrators and deciphered or recomposed sentiments. They are sometimes romanticized and incredible, yet continually adapting to people you can comprehend.
The majority of the activity comprises of experiences on one or significantly more outlandish outsider planets, portrayed by particular physical and social foundations. Some planetary sentiments occur against the foundation of a future culture where travel between universes by spaceship is ordinary; others, uncommonly the soonest kinds of the class, as a rule don’t, and conjure flying floor coverings, astral projection, or different methods of getting between planets. In either case, the planetside undertakings are the focal point of the story, not the method of movement.
Identifies with the pre-advanced, social time of 5445–045, including mid-century Modernism, the “Nuclear Age”, the “Space Age”, Communism and neurosis in america alongside Soviet styling, underground film, Googie engineering, space and the Sputnik, moon landing, hero funnies, craftsmanship and radioactivity, the ascent of the US military/mechanical complex and the drop out of Chernobyl. Socialist simple atompunk can be an extreme lost world. The Fallout arrangement of PC games is a fabulous case of atompunk. | https://medium.com/attack-on-titan-episode-4-on-nhks/attack-on-titan-s04-episode-4-animation-engsub-on-nhk-4285ca41901e | ['Mam A N G Ole H'] | 2020-12-27 10:04:30.570000+00:00 | ['Animation', 'Mystery'] |
EY’s Dave Burg: Five Things Every Business Needs To Know About Storing and Protecting Their Customers’ Information | Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I had a lot of fun growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs with my five siblings and lots of pets running around the house — always something going on. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time outside with my friends playing in the woods. We went to a lot of trouble to hunt down golf balls from a nearby golf course and sell them back to the golfers at the course.
Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue your particular career path? We’d love to hear it.
A pivotal moment for me happened in 2007 when I was working on an ATM cash out attack that was undertaken by Eastern European cyber threat actors. The investigation and understanding of the hacking component became extremely important to the financial services sector and to bank regulators because it was one of the first monumental hacks in history to illustrate the potential magnitude of a cyber intrusion. We worked with the FBI, the Department of Justice, bank regulators as well as with the clients impacted. The banking ecosystem was highly alarmed by this intrusion because the only things that limited the magnitude of the attack were the number of human “mules” dispatched to take cash out of ATMs, and the number and amount of cash in ATMs around the world. This opened my eyes to just how significant the business challenges are when it comes to cyber and made it clear to me that cyber is an important space.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
There have been a number of significant cyber intrusions that have shaped my career. While much of my work remains confidential, the most rewarding matters are the ones in which I’ve been able to make a big difference for a client and really prove the value of the work. For example, my team helped a financial services institution extract itself from a bad situation with a bank regulator, developing and deploying an extraordinary analytic approach. What made this interesting for me is that the work had a great deal of exposure with the CEO and Board, and it was gratifying when the CEO said the quality of the work we delivered was well worth the expense — which was substantial. This was an impactful experience because we always seek to demonstrate our value and it is nice to see the difference your work can make.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are a lot of people who have been incredibly influential in my career and there is one client in particular who I’ve worked with for 15 years on over 100 matters that really stands out. He is a lawyer, and our skills complement each other well and we really formed a great team that made a positive impact on the clients that we served. Over the years, we have been able to push our teams to achieve more than they thought was possible in order to help our clients avoid typical negative business outcomes. All of the success I achieved while working with him propelled me through promotions into many different leadership roles and so I attribute some noteworthy career growth to the strong relationship we share.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
There are several exciting projects right now. In a number of sectors, we are working intently to use advanced technologies to understand and manage the consequences of cyber resilience. Additionally, we are doing work around the use of various automation technologies that can make businesses run better and safer. A third exciting project is in privacy and individual consumer information protection, which has been groundbreaking and important geopolitically. Last, we are working on a project around supply chain security that I think will be consequential to many industries.
What advice would you give to your colleagues to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
‘Burn out’ is a common issue and there are many ways to combat it. My advice is to take a more strategic career approach. I believe it is extremely important to steer your career by focusing on what you care about and are passionate about. It’s important to recognize that your career should never remain static — it should keep evolving as your interests, knowledge and skills evolve. The idea of being dynamic and constantly learning and changing your area of focus is a great way to avoid burnout.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Privacy regulation and rights have been changing across the world in recent years. Nearly every business collects some financial information, emails, etc, about their clients and customers. For the benefit of our readers, can you help articulate what the legal requirements are for a business to protect its customers’ and clients’ private information?
I am not an attorney and therefore cannot render a legal opinion. However, if you look at the big picture, I do believe that every business is accountable for managing and protecting sensitive information. There are laws and regulations that determine the specific requirements for protecting sensitive information. Philosophically, ethically and even strategically businesses need to take these requirements seriously — not only to protect their customers — but it also provides visibility into the increasing connectivity across business supply chains and business ecosystems. In other words, a negative consequence in mishandling sensitive data could result in negative consequences across a business partnership landscape. The good news is we’re now seeing the deployment of many more types of technology to manage and protect information in ways that do not slow businesses down. In fact, we’re seeing more and more businesses using security solutions to help architect and develop new ways of managing business requirements and protecting information, while at the same time, enabling businesses to innovate and collaborate and move faster. While the requirements to protect information vary, the positive trend I see is towards being able to satisfy these requirements while achieving better business performance.
Beyond the legal requirements, is there a prudent ‘best practice’? Should customer information be destroyed at a certain point?
A key best practice is to develop a more granular understanding of individual data elements:, what they are, their importance, where they are located, where and how they travel and how they’re protected. Then, most importantly, businesses need to be able to use insights from those data points to make decisions about how to better run the business. In reality, most businesses have a difficult time handling these fundamental processes, but mastering them can position the business to not only satisfy data protection requirements but to also manage and run their business more efficiently — a win-win.
In the face of this changing landscape, how has your data retention policy evolved over the years?
I believe businesses have an enormous way to go to improve data and information retention practices. There is an issue where companies do a poor job of taking responsibility for storing a single copy of something that they need to keep for the appropriate period of time. Part of the reason this happens is that on-premise and off-premise storage capacity and cost continues to increase and decrease respectively. This creates significant ongoing potential risk and challenges. If an organization is unable to understand where information, whether it is sensitive or not, is stored and how many times it is stored, problems can occur. Information retention hygiene and data protection and security go hand-in-hand, and unfortunately this remains a significant challenge for most organizations.
Ok, thank you. So far we discussed a business’s responsibilities. Now let’s talk about how to put it into practice. Can you please share “Five Things Every Business Needs To Know In Order Properly Store and Protect Their Customers’ Information?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
You can’t protect what you don’t know you have. Create a sustainable personal data inventory capability.
It is important for companies to create a sustainable personal data inventory capability. Many laid the foundation for this in response to the EU General Data Protection Regulation which became effective in 2018. However, it wasn’t always structured as a sustainable capability to support ongoing updates of the inventory. Also, in the past, personal data inventory exercises have often been led by the second line privacy or compliance team. These teams generally don’t have the resources to manage this as an ongoing activity. The capability is much better placed into the Data Management team, where data monitoring is a routine function.
Most personal data discovery exercises are biased towards searching for what we already believe is there based on our knowledge of the business and the types of personal data necessary to support operations. However, it’s important to consider “outlier” personal information — personal data that your company may be collecting or receiving from second and third parties — that may not be in sufficiently large volumes to put it on anyone’s radar. Consider customer surveys and social media activity as well as personal data that may be purchased from data aggregators for specific initiatives.
2. Protect it while processing it.
Consider homomorphic encryption for your most sensitive personal data, such as financial data or healthcare related data. This type of encryption allows functions to be performed on the data while it is still encrypted. Consider this especially for data analytics processing that is managed by third party providers.
3. If you don’t use it, consider getting rid of it.
Most companies do not adhere to their own records management standards on data deletion. It is seemingly an afterthought and with the reducing costs of data storage, it hasn’t necessitated management from a financial perspective. Anecdotally, we have found that most companies also don’t have a data and analytics capability to support discovery and implementation of data maximization — a disciplined approach to evaluating how certain data sets could be used to support new business intelligence or enhance the customer experience — secondary data use cases. If a business is keeping personal data beyond the time period for which it requires it pursuant to both privacy laws and its own records management policy, it is sitting with a potentially large liability. If the company deletes the data, it no longer needs to worry about how to protect it — wasted worry for assets no longer being used or perhaps no longer permitted to retain/use.
4. Manage your supply chain (don’t simply rely on contractual provisions to save you)
Our experience has been that most breaches of personal data involve a third-party supplier. When suppliers are vetted and onboarded to the organization, most companies have implemented some form of a security assessment as a precursor. However, in many respects, these forms have become ‘check the box’ exercises for all involved. The template language is inserted into the contract and the deal is closed…fingers crossed for the best going forward. We advise clients that they need to be able to identify which of their suppliers have their customers’ personal data — not only because privacy laws now require this — but because it’s simply foundational data governance. This exercise can be unwieldy based on a business’s supplier population and how much data it’s consistently maintaining as part of its contract management system -regardless, the business needs to know. Once that population is identified, they should be stratified by risk at minimum according to the volume of its customers’ personal data they have access to and the countries in which they are doing business. There should be proactive engagement with the business’s high-risk suppliers (based on their access to personal data) including site visits. If it’s a key supplier and the company is a sufficiently large client, the company may consider requesting a quarterly briefing with the CISO and CPO to better understand how the supplier is protecting customer data.
5. Invest in master data management and metadata management technology to inform better decisions.
Protecting customer data — actually actioning it — is premised on the notion that someone can find all of the information related to individuals and make intelligent decisions on how to safeguard that data in a way that still respects how a business needs to use it or share it. The absence of master data management will make that significantly harder. Companies that can’t identify the “golden record” of their customer data as it applies to the different types of use cases in their organization don’t generally apply controls consistently to all of the derivatives of that data that follow or alternatively they may be applying safeguards redundantly. Same point on metadata management — it’s an important input to the calculus on why we should care about certain customer data. Companies must understand the, what, where, why, when and how as it relates to their personal data in order to apply targeted controls to protect it.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-) (Think, simple, fast, effective and something everyone can do!)
At some point we’ll solve the cybersecurity challenges we face. A main one to focus on is being able to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information, ensuring that only the individuals or entities who should have it, have access to it. The confluence of technologies like cloud, quantum computing, authentication technology and zero trust networks will enable us to get to a place where the confidentiality, availability and integrity of the information will be ubiquitous. Having the ability to accurately know who is communicating with who will take us a long way in solving many of the cybersecurity problems we face because it will prevent someone from using someone else’s credentials to inappropriately access information. Businesses have been focused on identity and access management for years, which remain at the center of solving cyber security challenges. I’m hopeful that solving this particular part of the issue will provide a great deal of benefit to society at large.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
My EY.com profile or LinkedIn page are places where readers can follow my work:
Dave Burg’s profile on EY.com: https://www.ey.com/en_us/people/dave-burg
Dave Burg’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidburg/
This was very inspiring and informative. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this interview! | https://medium.com/authority-magazine/eys-dave-burg-five-things-every-business-needs-to-know-about-storing-and-protecting-their-a04349a10e4f | ['Jason Remillard'] | 2020-12-30 01:14:29.402000+00:00 | ['Tech Feature'] |
Currying vs Partial Application | Recently I have come across some really interesting questions and debates around these two terms and how they differ from one another. There seems to be widespread confusions with many examples demonstrates one whilst intends another, and some simply uses the terms interchangeably.
Whilst admittedly not being a function programming expert, I’ve spent a bit of time scouring the web for information from those who are and I think I’ve finally come to understand the difference between the two!
In case you’re not familiar with what Currying and Partial Application means, here’s some quick definitions for you.
Definitions
Currying
According to Wikipedia, currying is:
the technique of transforming a function that takes multiple arguments in such a way that it can be called as a chain of functions each with a single argument.
This means for a given function f, which takes three parameters x, y, and z and returns R:
f(x, y, z) => R
once curried it becomes:
curriedf(x) => g(y) => h(z) => R
When you supply x to the curried function curriedf, you get back a new function g, g takes a single parameter and returns another function h which also takes a single parameter but this time returns R.
So to get the full application of the original function f, you need to call
curriedf(x)(y)(z).
With currying, parameters must be supplied from left to right starting from the left-most parameter.
Partial Application
Again, borrowing from Wikipedia, Partial applications refers to:
the process of fixing a number of arguments to a function, producing another function of smaller arity.
This means for a given function f, which takes three parameters x, y, and z and returns R:
f(x, y, z) => R
If you fix the first parameter x to 1 then you get another function g that takes two parameters and returns R:
g(y, z) => R <=> f(1, y, z) => R
Equally if you fix both x and y to values 1 and 2 respectively then you get another function h that takes one parameter and returns R:
h(z) => R <=> f(1, 2, z) => R
Currying vs Partial Application
At first glance the similarities are hard to miss, and one might be tempted to suggest (well, many have!) that they are two of the same thing or that one is simply a special case of the other. However, there are some crucial differences between the two which ultimately dictates their very different applications in practice.
To help you understand the differences, try and ignore the fact that both Currying and Partial Application takes a function and returns a function with less input parameters and instead think about the function that’s returned (see image):
Currying
- when you curry a function F, you get back a chain of functions that returns another function at every stage, except the last function in the chain
- you still have to apply all the necessary parameters if you want to get the full application of the original function (i.e. R)
- you have to supply parameters one at a time to a chain of functions
- you have to supply parameters from left to right in the same order as the original function F
Partial Application
- when you partially apply a function F, you get back a function that allows you to get the full application (i.e. R) of the original function F with less parameters
- you don’t have to supply parameters in any particular order
Examples
So, the main difference between currying and partial application lies in the return type of the new function produced, let’s see how they differentiate in practice with a simple example in Javascript:
[code lang=”javascript”]
// original function that takes three parameters a1, a2 and a3
function f(a1, a2, a3) {
return a1 + a2 + a3;
}
// curried function which takes one parameter at a time
function curry(a1) {
// each stage takes another parameter and get you closer to the
// full application of f
return function (a2) {
// but only with the inner most function do you actually get
// the return value you wanted
return function (a3) {
return f(a1, a2, a3);
};
};
}
// partial applied function which takes one parameter and fixes
// the other 2
function partial(a1) {
// a partially applied function of the original function f can
// get you the full application straight away
return f(a1, 5, 10);
}
curry(1)(5)(10); // returns 16
partial(1); // returns 16
[/code]
Parting thoughts…
In general, both techniques produce reusable, helpful functions which fixes some parameters of the original function. For example, with Currying the function returned at each and every stage of the chain can be reused and potentially create a tree of functions:
though in practice I can think of few examples where you would require such level of reusable functions…
I’m of the opinion that Partial Application has greater applications (not pun intended!) in solving real world problems. In fact, using Partial Application is something we’ve all done before — e.g. take a general purpose function which needs lots of parameters and make a more high level function out of it by fixing some parameters with sensible defaults:
[code lang=”csharp”]
// base method which provides a way to encapsulate common logic, but
// needs a number of parameters in order to ‘tune’ its behaviour
// NOTE: this C# code won’t compile, it’s just to illustrate a common
// pattern of using partial application
public void DoFileIoOperation(
FileReadWriteMode mode,
string path, string content,
FileOverwriteMode overwriteMode)
{
…
}
// high level methods more useful to anyone who’s trying to get things done
public void DoFileRead(string path)
{
DoFileIoOperation(
FileReadWriteMode.Read, path, null, FileOverwriteMode.None);
}
public void DoFileWrite(string path, string content)
{
DoFileIoOperation(
FileReadWriteMode.Write, path, content, FileOverwriteMode.Overwrite);
}
[/code]
Also, the fact that you don’t need to supply each and every parameters one at a time, in a particular order makes Partial Application easier to apply in practice. As much as one would love to stay ‘pure’, it’s simply far more pragmatic to repackage the original function signature and fix multiple parameters in one go! | https://medium.com/theburningmonk-com/currying-vs-partial-application-1f1bdd829f6b | ['Yan Cui'] | 2017-07-03 20:55:51.545000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Functional Programming'] |
Edvard Munch | Exactly 9 days ago from today, in Löten, Norway, 1863, was born a Munch.
Edvard Munch, photo, undated. Media Commons
The man responsible for The Scream, a painting ubiquitous from pop culture on the internet to books in libraries, had rather a sad and tragic initial period of his life.
The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893. Nasjonalmuseet
His mother died of tuberculosis when he was five years old, an event that resulted in his first masterpiece The Sick Child. His sister died when he was fourteen and his father and brother some time later.
“Illness, insanity, and death were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle and accompanied me all my life.” -E. Munch
One of his sisters suffered psychological illness.
Such events at the start of his life influenced much of his work, which has symbolism and imagery around themes of anxiety, suffering due to love, paranoia, horror and fear.
Anxiety (original title; Angst), Edvard Munch, 1894. Wikiart
He was an Expressionist and express he did, along with his painting, with a life of drinking and brawling, nihilism and a constantly disappointed father. One who often reprimanded him for his art when Munch was a teen, even going so far as to destroy a nude he painted when he moved up from drawing and watercolor to oil. After his fathers death he left the family, suicidal thoughts close at his heels. Thus, his art took on a symbolic form, within which seeped his inner state and emotional turmoil, the world less as it was and more as he lived in it.
Edvard Munch had many idiosyncrasies and beliefs that put him in the path of persecution and suffering. Some involved enmity with his neighbors, getting back at his older circle of friends from Kristiania (now Oslo) and the considering of his paintings as his children. He often made other versions of his paintings as they sold. He also never married.
Within Munch's period of painting as you observe it from start to finish, one finds a turning point around the earlier 1900s where his painting gets a bit brighter and perhaps, a bit more positive.
The Night Wanderer, self portrait, Edvard Munch, 1923–24. Wikiart
This is when he had a mental breakdown, a culminating surrender of his mind under the pressure of all that it carried. After this detachment from reality, complete with hallucination and paranoia, he pursued treatment which included therapy, a controlled diet and electrotherapy. Thereafter, his paintings were more vibrant and less intense.
In addition to painting he also dabbled in photography, with a lot of selfies, and wood etching/cutting. Lithography was also a favorite technique. some version of The Sick Child were made in lithography by him.
The Kiss 1, woodcut, Edvard Munch, 1897. Munchmuseet
It is reasonable to assume that a lack of formal training as an artist contributed to his diverse use of mediums and versatile approach to art.
Edvard Munch and Ludvig Ravensberg, Åsgårdstrand, Collodion, Edvard Munch, 1904. Munchmuseet
The photographic work of Munch was intriguingly personal. He took photos of himself, his friends, various scenes and backgrounds and then some more of himself, this time nude. He employed a colloid or silver gelatin photographic film and sometimes exposed it twice to create interesting compositions.
He died at 80 years old, in his house at Ekely. His death was on 23 January 1944 and his funeral was orchestrated by nazis, which threw caution to the winds to the Norwegians about him being a sympathizer to their cause. But later such assertions were thrown out as it was a mere act of appropriation by the nationalists, of the free spirited artist. The German supremacists even characterized his work as “degenerate art”.
His work is now curated by the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo and his face is now on the Norwegian currency. A testament, that as long as Norway stands, Edvard Munch will be remembered. | https://medium.com/@artyfynch/edvard-munch-712799b60cee | [] | 2020-12-22 10:12:48.047000+00:00 | ['Edvard Munch', 'Artist', 'Europe', 'Painters', 'Norway'] |
Most Writers will Quit News Break | Most Writers will Quit News Break
Can you take the heat?
Photo: Ryan Franco via unsplash
Since joining News Break a week ago, I’ve had a blast exploring what works, what doesn’t, and trying to strategise a way forward on this new platform.
As part of my process, I’ve joined one of the dedicated Facebook groups for News Break Creators, and man, is it a minefield of everyone’s fears and insecurities.
People are so worried about where they’re going to end up if they don’t start attracting enough audience interaction to match News Break’s expectations.
So what’s expected? And why is everyone so worried?
The Work vs The Compensation
As many readers will already know, News Break is offering writers a minimum payment of $1,000 per month in exchange for 3 articles per week.
For the first three months, writers aren’t expected to achieve any goals beyond meeting their article quota. However, after a three month grace period, writers will be expected to have a minimum of 500 followers and attract at least 500 readers to each article.
This will mean that very few of us will actually contribute just three article per week, because we’ll be desperately trying to hit the quota.
While it’s not difficult to attract the eyes of 100 or 200 people to each article on this platform, attracting 500 eyes doesn’t happen with every piece.
What this will mean is that writers will be pumping out articles in far higher volumes with the hopes that at least three each week meet the minimum requirements.
It also means that the subject of each article will change as each writer tries to figure out what attracts attention. Writers will choose their subjects very carefully, and will probably stop writing anything each week once their third article reaches 500 views to prevent “wasted views.”
At the moment, some writers are sticking very close to the 3 per week minimum. They’re either writing everything fresh, or conserving their backlog to avoid running out too fast. (News Break accepts previously published articles).
However, I don’t think this strategy will lead to success for these writers. Building up a following on this platform is going to take a solid presence, which is only achievable once you’ve established a strong library of content for readers to find you through.
Some writers spent their first day on the site dumping dozens or even hundreds of articles onto their profile, which I think is a genius move to make before you’ve attracted followers that would ordinarily be completely pissed off with a writer filling up their page.
After your first day, you need to think about your followers and start sticking to a publishing schedule. But day 1 should be a free for all, and I sure wish I had spent mine more proactively.
Photo: 傅甬 华 via unsplash
Expectations – Reality
Ultimately, a lot of people are disappointed because they’re realising that this platform isn’t going to pan out for them as they had expected.
They joined on the promise of enormous minimum royalties, which must have felt incredible at the time.
If these writers have previously written on Medium and only made pennies each month, then it would have been near impossible to see anything past the money.
But with higher payouts come higher expectations, and because of this I foresee an exodus on the horizon.
The Bloggers Exodus
They say “write what you know”, and for a lot of writers, what they know is their own lives.
Many writers have spent a lifetime writing about their everyday experiences, and some have even found success doing so. But from what I’ve seen, the odds of this style working on News Break seems incredibly low.
News Break readers are accustomed to a platform that provides them with hard news, and have only recently started seeing personal essays and stories of peoples lives.
This type of content is alien to this platform, so it may be a long time before this type of post becomes normalised.*
*There are exceptions to every rule.
The Style Exodus
The News Break user interface for writers is absolute garbage, and that’s going to drive writers away.
The stats page refreshes infrequently and is very unintuitive. The writing page is hard to understand and prone to bugs. Plus, it’s impossible to track how much you’ve earned unless you’ve made referrals, prompting some to think of this creator program as a pyramid scheme.
Ultimately, the writing platform is brand new and it looks like ass, so many will return to the relative comfort and ease of the Medium UI.
The Money Exodus
Ultimately, most of us are going to be unable to maintain News Break’s standard for their minimum payout, and I think they know it.
500 views per article is going to be impossible for a lot of people, so they will instead be paid under the regular royalty structure, which I believe is approximately $2 per 1,000 views.
These writers will eventually realise that without the minimum payment, they’re only earning about as much as they were earning on Medium, but without all the fun, community, or luxurious UI.
They’ll realise that without the bonus income, News Break isn’t worth making the transition, so they’ll move back.
In the end, only those of us that enjoy writing “sensational” articles will survive on that platform. Sensational meaning extremely relevant articles that address issues and news being discussed in the present moment, rather than an account of someone’s day or their thoughts on the vagaries of depression.
I imagine that News Break will become a niche platform for a few creators who love the challenge and don’t mind the constant pressure. But for many of us, that’s not what writing is for, so they won’t take part.
But for everyone that is currently part of the platform, there’s something they can never take away from us.. We were part of something at its beginning, we were pioneers! And regardless of how the next year pans out, that will always be really special and something worth remembering. | https://medium.com/money-clip/most-writers-will-quit-news-break-cd97454f8520 | ['Jordan Fraser'] | 2020-12-09 07:13:01.337000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Finance', 'Business', 'Writing'] |
Pushing the boundaries with the Open Geography Portal API | The UK Office for National Statistics' Open Geography Portal provides a range of geospatial datasets under the Open Government Licence 3.0. Digital vector boundaries for different administrative and statistical geographies, postcode centroids and lookups are all available to freely download. This post will show you how to download digital vector boundaries for custom administrative geographies using the Open Geography Portal API.
What’s available?
Digital vector boundaries on the Open Geography Portal come as ESRI shapefiles, KML or GeoJSON files in full resolution or in one of three generalised formats:
Generalised (20m)
Super generalised (200m)
Ultra generalised (500m)
It is recommended that high resolution formats are used for geospatial operations like point in polygon and generalised formats for interactive maps. Higher resolution boundaries are larger and will therefore take longer to load in a browser.
The boundaries are also available in two different coastal extents: ‘extent of the realm’ and ‘clipped to the coastline’. Unless you are mapping offshore islands it is recommended to use the ‘clipped to the coastline’ boundaries.
Maps using these boundaries must include the following attribution:
Contains National Statistics and OS data © Crown copyright and database right [YYYY]
An example
Task: Download the boundary for the local authority district of Trafford
1. Visit the Open Geography Portal and navigate to Boundaries > Administrative Boundaries > Local Authority Districts > 2018 Boundaries and choose Local Authority Districts (December 2018) Boundaries UK BGC from the list. This boundary layer has been generalised and clipped to the coastline.
2. Click the ‘API Explorer’ tab. This page allows you to construct an API query using the dropdown menus.
3. We intend to filter the UK Local Authority Districts boundaries by their attributes so we need to enter values into the ‘Query’ box. Click the + sign to reveal the attributes that we can filter by. We will select ‘lad18nm | Text’ because this contains the names of the local authority districts in the dataset. If you want to check what the other attributes refer to click the ‘Data’ tab for a preview.
Building an API query
4. Next we enter ‘Trafford’ into the free text box and click Enter on the keyboard.
5. The vector boundary layer has a number of attributes that we don’t need so just untick them. As you untick each box you’ll notice that the URL path displayed in the ‘Query URL’ box in the top right hand corner updates automatically.
6. Now click ‘Try It Out’ to see if the query returns a boundary from the API.
Results returned from the API
The results have been returned in JSON format. Unfortunately, there is no option in the dropdown menus to choose an alternative spatial format but we can retrieve one if we tweak the API query string.
7. You’ll notice that the URL path shown in the ‘Query URL’ box ends with ‘json’. We just need to change that to ‘geojson’. Copy the URL path and paste it into the address bar of a new browser window. Move the cursor to the end of the path and prefix ‘json’ with ‘geo’.
8. The where clause used to filter the boundary layer uses LIKE which will match records that contain TRAFFORD within ‘lad18nm’. Let’s substitute this for ‘=’. Hit Enter and your browser will return the boundary in GeoJSON format.
Results returned from the API as a GeoJSON
Now what can we do with this? There are several options:
We could copy and paste the GeoJSON into an online tool like geojson.io. From here we can save the data in a variety of spatial formats and even add styling.
Viewing a GeoJSON in geojson.io
If you are an R user we can load and visualise the boundary with:
sf <- st_read(“
plot(st_geometry(sf)) library(sf)sf https://ons-inspire.esriuk.com/arcgis/rest/services/Administrative_Boundaries/Local_Authority_Districts_December_2018_Boundaries_UK_BGC/MapServer/0/query?where=lad18nm%20=%20%27Trafford%27&outFields=lad18cd,lad18nm,long,lat&outSR=4326&f=geojson ")plot(st_geometry(sf))
If you have access to a Geographical Information System like QGIS you can save the output shown in the browser with the extension .geojson and load it directly.
Going further
Since this is a query string we can change the parameters so that the API returns multiple local authority district boundaries. To do this it is helpful to first parse the URL path we used to retrieve the boundary of Trafford.
The API call
is made up of four different segments:
The endpoint: https://ons-inspire.esriuk.com/arcgis/rest/services/
boundary layer: Administrative_Boundaries/Local_Authority_Districts_December_2018_Boundaries_UK_BGC/
resolution: MapServer/0/
and the query string: query?where=lad18nm = ‘Trafford’&outFields=lad18cd,lad18nm,long,lat&outSR=4326&f=geojson
If we split the query string we will discover a further four segments:
+--------------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| Parameter | Value | Description |
+--------------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| ’where’: | lad18nm = ‘Trafford’ | equal to 'Trafford' |
| ’outFields’: | lad18cd,lad18nm,long,lat | return attributes |
| ’outSR’: | 4326 | in lon/lat coords |
| ’f’: | geojson | in GeoJSON format |
+--------------+--------------------------+---------------------+
Let’s change the where parameter so that we return all of the 10 local authority districts in Greater Manchester. We will use the ‘IN’ operator which allows you to specify multiple values in a where clause:
lad18nm IN ('Bolton','Bury','Manchester','Oldham','Rochdale','Salford','Stockport','Tameside','Trafford','Wigan')
When added to the full API call we have:
Let’s paste this into the address bar of a new browser window and copy the resulting GeoJSON into geojson.io:
Local authority district boundaries in Greater Manchester
If you need to encode the query as a URL string you can use online tools like the encoder on w3schools.com, urlencoder.io or the URLencode() function from the utils R package.
Final remarks
The Open Geography Portal’s API is an extremely useful service that allows users to download custom administrative and statistical geographies for the UK. | https://medium.com/@traffordDataLab/pushing-the-boundaries-with-the-open-geography-portal-api-4d70637bddc3 | ['Trafford Data Lab'] | 2019-03-29 14:35:14.479000+00:00 | ['API', 'Government', 'GIS', 'Maps', 'Open Data'] |
Ten Relationship Basics | I wish I didn’t have to learn the hard way.
I’ve written about how I used to be super-sensitive in my relationship with Angus and how that created a negative downward spiral between us, with each of us adding more negativity to our communication with each other and slashing the feeling of goodwill between us in the process.
I would blame him for how I felt. I thought if only he were kinder and less irritable then I would be happier. I would voice my criticism. He would take my criticism personally and become less kind and more irritable in the process.
We managed to create a negative amount of goodwill in the relationship. It is not a surprise that from this feeling state toward each other our relationship crumbled.
What turned it around initially was a huge wake-up call. When I became attracted to someone else, Angus and I had to decide if we really wanted to be together or not. We were forced to make a decision. Because we decided to stay together we shifted our behavior, but it wasn’t sustainable. We had a temporary reprieve from our negative interactions, but the hurt surfaced again.
What allowed for more sustainable change to occur in our relationship was not actually anything to do with our relationship dynamics or communication. What created change was me having a deeper connection with my own inner safety and wellbeing.
I had an experience in which my mind got very quiet, and I dropped into a beautiful state of peace. I felt my okayness in an unshakable way. I realized that my well-being and peace of mind do not come from outside of me. Because of that experience, I became less afraid of my emotions. I knew that feelings, even intense ones, couldn’t take away my experience of okayness. I also realized my feelings didn’t mean anything about me. For example, just because I experienced the feeling of shame didn’t mean I was shameful.
This took the pressure off of my relationship with Angus. I was no longer looking to him and needing him to be different in order to feel better or okay. And as soon as I wasn’t looking for my relationship to improve, it did. I became less selfish and self-centered and saw his irritable or angry behavior as a reflection of his own suffering and state of mind and not a threat to me or condemnation of me. He in turn was less irritable and volatile as my criticism and judgment waned.
My dwelling within a space of greater peace within myself is what really made a difference in our relationship. It allowed me to be two feet in, fully committed, and allow myself to be vulnerable with Angus. Previously I had been too scared to really allow myself to experience deep intimacy with him because I was afraid if I loved Angus wholeheartedly I would not survive if I lost him for whatever reason. It was easier for me to be one foot out the door even though I was not happy rather than risk that level of potential pain.
I didn’t realize that I was suffering chronically in order to hold on to the illusion that I could protect myself from possible future pain or loss. None of this worked. All it did was have me behave like a critical, uptight bitch and experience dissatisfaction in my relationship. I had to learn the lesson the hard way.
Here are ten relationship basics I want you to know so your experience might be easier:
The feeling of peace and wellbeing exists within you. It is always there even though you don’t always experience it. You can intentionally look within and quiet your mind. It is in the silence that you can feel the impersonal love of your true nature that will guide you and sustain you.
You experience your true nature through presence.
There is no safety or certainty in the world of form other than the certainty of change. Forget about chasing it or trying to create it. Instead, enjoy the present moment.
Your partner is not responsible for your happiness.
Your experience is created from within from the thoughts you identify with. If you are struggling with your experience, let yourself settle and then make decisions by listening to your own wisdom and common sense.
Your partner’s upset is a reflection of his or her suffering. If you genuinely see that it will be natural to feel compassion for their suffering even if you don’t condone their behavior.
Just because your experience is created on the inside, it doesn’t mean you have to stay with someone on the outside. You get to choose.
Be kind to yourself. Intimacy can feel terrifying to the ego that has you perceive yourself as a separate self. Your partner can’t make the fear go away, but experiencing your wellbeing and “okayness” can. It will help you get to feel the truth of your resilience.
Emotions just are. They don’t need to be explained or approved of. Do your best to stay open to them and let them move through you. This allows for natural healing to occur.
Any time you are in judgment toward yourself or your partner you have lost your bearings and need to put the oxygen mask on yourself first. Don’t waste time on your partner. Go straight to self-care.
I hope these points are helpful to you and save you from having to learn them the hard way as I did. But don’t take my word for them. Reflect on each point, and see what resonates as true for you. Let me know if you have any questions.
Rohini Ross is co-founder of “The Rewilders.” Listen to her podcast, with her partner Angus Ross, Rewilding Love. They believe too many good relationships fall apart because couples give up thinking their relationship problems can’t be solved. In this season of the Rewilding Love Podcast, Rohini and Angus help a couple on the brink of divorce due to conflict. Angus and Rohini also co-facilitate private couples’ intensives that rewild relationships back to their natural state of love. Rohini is also the author of the ebook Marriage, and she and Angus are co-founders of The 29-Day Rewilding Experience and The Rewilding Community. You can follow Rohini on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. To learn more about her work and subscribe to her blog visit: TheRewilders.org. | https://medium.com/less-stress-more-success/ten-relationship-basics-d2551b753879 | ['Rohini Ross'] | 2020-12-23 19:35:20.282000+00:00 | ['Relationship Advice', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Connection', 'Relationships', 'Marriage'] |
I Wasn’t A Very Good Perfectionist, So I Quit | I Wasn’t A Very Good Perfectionist, So I Quit
The freedom of “good enough”
Photo by Raka Rachgo on Unsplash
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.” — Anne Lamott
I am anxious by nature. That means I grew up with my stomach in knots and always worried that I wasn’t good enough.
Truth was that I wasn’t by some standards. I had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), which not only meant that I often have focus problems, but the tension to stay hyper-focused adds more weight to the load.
I was also dyslexic, though it manifested itself in different ways than most. I reversed letters when I learned to write, but not for a long time. As a natural reader, it was easier for me to learn to compensate than it is for many dyslexics.
But putting my shoes on the right foot — I have selectively forgotten how long it took me to do that correctly, but let’s just say that I was probably in the bottom ten percent for my age group.
My mother was patient with me. She’d show me my foot, and show me the shoe, and say. “See how your foot curves in this direction? Just match up the shoe that does the same.”
Which brought out another problem with my dyslexia. I can’t reverse mirror images, so this sort of matching was also a bit of a challenge. Neither of us understood that at the time. But eventually, I learned. I now put my shoes on the right feet 99% of the time.
Then there’s my hand-eye coordination. It was never my strong suit. I was looking at my report cards from first through third grades recently, and my handwriting grades were abysmal. Well, I got a B+ in first grade, but we all know that’s probably the lowest grade they gave out for a nice student who obviously put a lot of effort into trying to get better.
Give me a craft project and it simply wouldn’t be completed. I get discouraged early on and quit.
There was also my sports ability. I was unathletic. In elementary school, and truly through much of life, people put others in the “athletic” or “unathletic” category and some never emerge from that label. I avoided anything athletic in nature, and yes — I have the trauma of being the last one picked for teams often. Such an evil practice.
High school came and so did communal showers. Well, we had our stalls for a couple of minutes, but with fewer showers than people we had to be quick about it. And we had to take our showers. There’s a lot of body comparison that goes on at that age. Mine didn’t measure up. More trauma.
Inwardly I knew I wasn’t perfect, but I kept trying to act as though I was on the outside. I was an abysmal failure. I spent my life stressed out and frustrated. It’s a heavy load for a kid to carry. I also felt very alone in my imperfect world. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/i-wasnt-a-very-good-perfectionist-so-i-quit-1315827707e5 | ['Kim Mckinney'] | 2020-09-29 14:45:53.035000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Lifestyle', 'This Happened To Me', 'Philosophy', 'Self'] |
Hi:) | Hi:)
My name is Bella. I plan to write DAILY stories about my life and every Friday release a chapter of a book I am writing. I hope you guys can follow along with my daily life starting today. I will most likely post a little later in the day but this is just the introduction. Follow me for more. | https://medium.com/@falconanabella170/hi-ae2435f9b38c | [] | 2020-12-18 10:15:55.059000+00:00 | ['Introduction', 'Anxiety', 'Coronavirus', 'Schools', 'Online School'] |
Buying and Shipping Oxygen Concentrators from Singapore to Myanmar | A quick guide to get started with find the right equipment and shipping agent
10 Jul 2021
At the time of this writing, Myanmar is falling fast and hard into the depths of humanitarian crisis with little hope of a way out any time soon, being simultaneously struck by the twin blows of the coup and the coronavirus. Everyone is scrambling for help that can come in any shape or form — whether it be peer medical advice and makeshift medical equipment for self treatment at home, or simply a roof and a blanket not to contract malaria — and getting medical help is quickly becoming a rare luxury for most. With both the public and private health infrastructure overwhelmed, getting hold of a source of oxygen supply has now become the only way for every household to ensure survival in case of Covid-19 infection.
As trading routes with neighbours including China and Thailand have suddenly been closed off apparently in a unilateral move just a few days ago on account of surging Covid-19 cases in Myanmar, the means to send medical supplies into Myanmar have literally shrunk to a few channels at most, the only one of which that I know is through Singapore; fortunately, there were still cargo flights between Singapore and Myanmar. I was in a similar experience of having to rush to get my hands on a medical equipment recently and have summarised some relevant information below for those looking to ship an oxygen concentrator from Singapore to Myanmar. | https://medium.com/@soemyathein/buying-and-shipping-oxygen-concentrators-from-singapore-to-myanmar-9577ed4a117f | ['Soe Myat Hein'] | 2021-07-11 11:40:23.081000+00:00 | ['Shipping', 'Myanmar', 'Oxygen Concentrator', 'Singapore'] |
There is No Place Like Home, if You can find it | There is No Place Like Home, if You can find it
When I told my friend Bea that I had moved from Perpignan to Céret after only a year there, she remarked with surprise, “Oh really, do you think you’ll stay there long?”
I could sense confusion and a bit of judgment in her tone. After all I’d just picked up and moved from Richmond, Virginia in the United States to Perpignan in the South of France only a year earlier, and now I was on the move again.
Certainly, it was another change, but I had gained clarity about where in France I would be even happier. And I had done what was right for me. No need to explain or excuse it away to anyone.
But why, if I’d fallen in love with Perpignan (which I had) was my stay there so short. Perpignan introduced me to the Pyrenees Oriental region in France and provided my first home here, so it will always be dear to me. But I hadn’t managed to find a section of the city I could see myself settling in. So I decided to move based on additional information I’d absorbed over the previous ten months in that city, and on a feeling I’d gotten. Perpignan will always hold a place in my heart, but now I’m happy to call Céret home.
Some people move around frequently because it’s in their nature to move about in a nomadic fashion. Others move a lot because they are trying to find themselves or escape from an internal discontent they think won’t follow them to their new location. And still, others move to a new place because they haven’t found that location that feels just right for them. The latter was my situation. The city of Perpignan was more right for me than from where I’d come, but not quite right.
So I expanded my search to find that place I could see myself settling down in, longer term. I could stay in the region and follow the path that led to the Mediterranean Sea or the one that took me toward the gorgeous Pyrenees mountains.
I love the calming nature of the sea — the beauty of the crystal blue water nestled between the azure and the silvery beach. But there is a transitory nature there. The continual washing away of things by each day’s tides and the shuttering of storefronts after the summer sun’s allure and the tourists seeking it have returned home. That did not speak to me.
On the other hand, there were the mountains, majestic and magnetic, that filled me with a sense of strength and stability. So I decided on the hills, knowing the sea was still only a 30-minute drive away. In short order, I found the charming village of Céret, which had been the frequent haunt to artists like Picasso, Matisse, and Braque. Now I’m at the end of my second year here and have recently set a goal to find a place to buy and make my own. I know I’ve chosen well.
Are you the kind of person who finds a place and stays put for long periods, only moving when you need a new challenge or a significant change in your life? Or are you more nomadic, continually looking for and moving somewhere new to feed your soul? Neither type is better or worse, but when you know and embrace your preference, you find yourself in the driver’s seat, and can make your moves without guilt or the need for justification. | https://medium.com/@thecouragecatalyst/there-is-no-place-like-home-if-you-can-find-it-836b9429866f | ['Patricia Brooks'] | 2020-12-08 11:12:07.346000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'France', 'Relocation', 'Expat', 'Travel'] |
Internet of Things (IoT) Demystified. | Internet of Things (IoT) Demystified.
As a technologist with four decades of experience, I feel obliged to simplify Internet of Things (IoT) and make it known to more people. IoT is critical in our lives and will be more and more important in the future. IoT is fundamental building blocks of artificial intelligence. Some of us are already using IoT devices at home and at work.
Even though this article is technical and aims to provide an overview to technology leaders and entrepreneurs, I attempt to make it as simple as possible for my readers to understand the concept, mechanism, and its parts.
My goal is to introduce IoT (Internet of Things) ecosystem based on a model that I developed as part of my solution architecture engagements in multiple successful projects in large business organizations.
I used the metaphor of an ecosystem as the IoT looks like a biological system with many dependencies.
In this article, I set the IoT solution context at a high level.
You can follow more of my stories from my profile. | https://medium.com/technology-hits/internet-of-things-iot-demystified-b141ace8b100 | ['Dr Mehmet Yildiz'] | 2021-01-17 15:24:12.999000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Internet of Things', 'Technology', 'Self Improvement', 'IoT'] |
12 Simple Tricks to Stick to Your Exercise Regimen as a Beginner | As a beginner, exercise might look like an insurmountable task for you. If you look at it in terms of gym workout or sporty activities, it certainly is. Building muscles or having an athletic physique takes more time, effort, and an indomitable will to attain the success most people wish but can only see from afar.
But exercise works not only for people who want to have enviably toned muscles and fitter bodies. Exercise is for everybody, young and old alike. Regardless of the exercise regimen you plan to follow, you’ll reap the same benefits — enhanced energy, improved mood and sleep, and reduced feelings of anxiety and stress.
Exercise also works great for people who want to improve the state of their physical health. In fact, health experts recommend specific physical movements for their patients. If you haven’t exercised for a long time or if you have planned to exercise a long time ago but keep on putting it off for not knowing where or how to start, the following tricks might immensely help you.
1. Prepare your mind
All undertakings come with obstacles. It’s in overcoming these challenges that make the journey extra sweet and where you build confidence and momentum. The first obstacle you need to hurdle is your own mental barriers. A lot of things will ultimately come up in your mind, like a busy schedule, poor health or a dwindling motivation. You need to have a strong mind and be not swayed every time an obstacle pops up in your head.
2. Overcome self-limiting beliefs
The moment the idea of establishing an exercise routine pops up in your head, self-limiting beliefs might sabotage your good intentions. The inner voice might be saying you’re too old, too fat, or too weak to exercise. Don’t listen to these voices. All they want to do is prevent you from getting out of your comfort zone. The purpose or reasons why you want to exercise are to become more fit, more youthful and vigorous, and more energetic — the very things that can change the way you will look at yourself once you find success in your fitness goals.
3. See exercise from a different light
Exercise doesn’t have to be difficult. Some people avoid exercise because they think it’s painful or difficult. It can be when you choose high-intensity gym workouts. But if you’re able to see that light exercises like playing frisbee, walking in nature or playing with your kids can give you health benefits, then you can exercise any time of the day, whenever you want to. The point of exercising is to get your butt off the couch and beat that sedentary lifestyle that leads to underlying health conditions.
4. Have the right attitude
Regular exercise can become a habit, which you automatically do without thinking too much about it. Creating a habit takes time. You need to do it on a consistent basis before it becomes natural for you. However, there are times when you’re unable to do it. In a week, you might fail to exercise for a few days. Don’t consider yourself a failure should this circumstance happen to you. It doesn’t matter if you fail. What matters is that you started in the first place.
5. Be gentle with yourself
Be kind to yourself should you fail. There’s no need to beat yourself up. Look at the situation in a more positive note. Instead of feeling bad about your failure, look at the ways you can improve the situation and make the necessary adjustments.
6. Don’t set expectations that are too high
Knowing where you want to be in your exercise regimen is necessary for success. But it’s only a question of time. Don’t expect to get results too soon. Focus on what you do every day and have fun along the way.
7. Start with the activities you love doing
If you think you hate exercise, you might be wrong. As a person, you might have some physical activities you love doing. It can either be dancing, gardening, walking with your dog or playing baseball. All these things can make a great exercise for you. And if something feels like a routine, you can switch activities. As long as you keep your body moving, you’re building momentum.
8. Include exercise in your priority list
At times, your busy schedule may seem a valid excuse not to exercise. For health’s sake, don’t take exercise a nuisance to your busy schedule. If you won’t squeeze into your schedule a few minutes for exercise, you might regret it when stress takes its toll on you. Being too busy can be a source of stress, but exercise is the best way to manage it. Make it a point to prioritize your health. You don’t have to spend an hour in the gym. A 30-minute walk to your workplace five times a week can be your form of exercise. On days when the schedule is too hectic, a 5 or 10-minute physical activity will do it.
9. Make it easy
Not everyone is a morning person. Some people wake up with oozing energy while others just don’t. Check yourself and assess what part of the day you think exercise will work best for you. If you’re a morning person, you might be more empowered when you run, bike or go to the gym before work. But if you think you need more time to cool down and recharge yourself after work, then late afternoon exercises suit you best. The point is to make exercise less of a struggle for you.
10. Plan ahead
Planning ahead makes obstacles less of a struggle. For example, putting your running shoes and bottled water near the door will make it easier for you to put on your shoes and have that quick run after waking up. If your workout is after work, seeing your gym bag on the car seat would make it easier for you to head to the gym after work.
11. Find an accountability partner
Having someone to exercise with is fun. You not only hold yourself accountable for the other person but you’re accountable for yourself too. You’re less likely to skip exercise when your gym buddy is already outside waiting for you.
12. Involve your partner or family
Be a model to your partner or to your family. Encourage them to join you. Go for a swim and bring your family along. Kids love plunging on the pool or at the sea. Running or biking with your partner is not only a good exercise but strengthens your relationship too. | https://medium.com/@supplement2016/12-simple-tricks-to-stick-to-your-exercise-regimen-as-a-beginner-570ada61ee96 | [] | 2019-06-18 08:01:51.807000+00:00 | ['Beginner', 'Exercise', 'Fitness', 'Workout', 'Gym'] |
Join us as a Volunteer Editor | Towards Data Science provides a platform for thousands of people to exchange ideas and to expand our understanding of data science. Our audience is mixed, consisting of readers entirely new to the subject and expert professionals who want to share their inventions and discoveries.
Now that our audience is significantly larger, we have become aware of our responsibility to present readers with high-quality content. From today, we are inviting applications for Editorial Associate positions on a 6-month, voluntary basis.
If this interests you, read on! | https://towardsdatascience.com/join-us-as-an-editorial-associate-of-towards-data-science-766cdd74d13e | ['Tds Editors'] | 2020-12-14 16:28:05.550000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Data Science'] |
Evolution of Medical Billing Software | With progress in medical industry, population growth, and increase in the complexity of clinical care environment, it became imperative that appropriate modern tools for handling the current landscape were developed. Not just the billing process, other related factors such as facilitating efficient communication, assigning patients to providers appropriately, and tracking the quality with regard to pay-for-performance measures also became crucial in the healthcare setting. The electronic version of medical billing, namely, medical billing software , ensures that the entire process gets more efficient, while assuring that there are fewer lost charges and improved reconciliation process.
Data mining and data collection having become easier, providers are seen to meet increased need for documentation for proving medical necessity and other related factors to get their claims paid properly. Sophisticated health information systems such as 75Heallth Medical Billing Software enable medical professionals and practices to get their regular billing and accounting tasks performed efficiently in lesser time and with the help of reduced resources.
Today, the innovative 75Health Medical Billing Software provides control and clarity of healthcare practices’ critical information, enabling them to access detailed billing and accounts receivable information. | https://medium.com/@medicalservice/evolution-of-medical-billing-software-b1c6c87bca7a | ['Health Service'] | 2019-12-05 08:43:36.391000+00:00 | ['Doctor', 'Healthrecord', 'Health', 'Medical', 'Healthcare'] |
Weekly Digest: Microsoft Teams Smart Speakers and Hearing-Enhancement Earbuds From Google | This week in Conversational AI.
Image Credit: Polina Pirogova/ Just AI
Amazon launches the new Fire TV platform for cars
Starting March 11, a version of the Amazon Fire TV platform for cars will be available in Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Equipped with features designed for people riding in a vehicle, the new Fire TV for Auto enables passengers to access the smart TV platform, with all of its streaming services, and Alexa voice control. Via Voicebot.ai.
Microsoft Teams smart speakers are perfect for meetings
Microsoft teamed up with EPOS and Yealink to create two new Teams Intelligent Speakers. They can identify and differentiate the voices of up to 10 people speaking in a Microsoft Teams Room, transcribe what was said in a meeting, or capture actions to know exactly who in the room said what. Via Tech Radar.
IBM Watson is to moderate GRAMMY debates
The Recording Academy and IBM, the Academy’s Official Cloud, and AI partnered to launch GRAMMY Debates with Watson. Apart from the new digital fan experience powered by IBM Watson’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities and cloud technologies, the Recording Academy announced the transitioning of its consumer-facing online platform, GRAMMY Backstage, to a digital environment running on IBM Cloud. Via GRAMMY.
Google is reportedly working on hearing-enhancing earbuds
According to a report from Business Insider, Google’s parent company Alphabet is working on high-tech hearables that will be able to distinguish individual voices in a crowd. Via Voicebot.ai. | https://medium.com/voiceui/weekly-digest-microsoft-teams-smart-speakers-and-hearing-enhancement-earbuds-from-google-936b72a30a95 | ['Dasha Fomina'] | 2021-03-07 09:38:23.267000+00:00 | ['Amazon', 'Digest', 'Conversational UI', 'Grammys', 'Google'] |
Case Studies: Website Review | Aloha, Vioni here! 🌺
Today I’m going to to review a website by learning how to give Burger feedback with the solution as well.
Photo by Edo Nugroho on Unsplash
Let’s jump right in!
*Note that everything that is written here was solely my opinion in a user perspective. Please feel free to have any opinions and thoughts too. Hohoho.. Oh boi it’s gonna be a fun and interesting way to learn! 😊
Theme : Job Vacancy Website
Case A — Karir.com
Feedback for the search bar :
Job Vacancy Search Bar in Karir.com
Reduce in words usage . First of all I think the the message that they are trying to tell is clear and I can immediately understand it, it is to find jobs based on position, company name or keywords. But I see that the last word that says “Kunci” (Eng: Key) is being cutted off in the search bar. And since the main message here for the the jobseeker is to search based on position, company name, and keywords, it could be displayed just “Jabatan, Nama Perusahaan atau Kata Kunci” (Eng: Position, Company Name, or Keywords”).
. First of all I think the the message that they are trying to tell is clear and I can immediately understand it, it is to find jobs based on position, company name or keywords. But I see that the last word that says “Kunci” (Eng: Key) is being cutted off in the search bar. And since the main message here for the the jobseeker is to search based on position, company name, and keywords, it could be displayed just “Jabatan, Nama Perusahaan atau Kata Kunci” (Eng: Position, Company Name, or Keywords”). Capital letters for consistency. I think overall it’s good and no one really pay any attention to it right but I think a little improvement on details would be great! Since other words are capitalized, the words “kata kunci” should too.
I think overall it’s good and no one really pay any attention to it right but I think a little improvement on details would be great! Since other words are capitalized, the words “kata kunci” should too. Add search icon. Same like the second point, I think it’s good to have consistency.
Same like the second point, I think it’s good to have consistency. Add space between two search bars. It’s just a little happy bumps but I think adding the space between it could increase the “breathing area”. And since both function the same, I implement the Proximity Law where things that are similar should be brought closer to each other and that’s why I only add a little space between them.
It’s just a little happy bumps but I think adding the space between it could increase the “breathing area”. And since both function the same, I implement the where things that are similar should be brought closer to each other and that’s why I only add a little space between them. “Ubah” (Eng: Change) word removal. I have tried to tap the button with no location being filled but nothing happens. But when I fill it with location name and I tap the “Ubah” button, it deletes the location name. So since it function the same as delete, I think it could be removed to increase simplicity.
I have tried to tap the button with no location being filled but nothing happens. But when I fill it with location name and I tap the “Ubah” button, it deletes the location name. So since it function the same as delete, I think it could be removed to increase simplicity. “Cari Lowongan” (Eng: Search Job Vacancy) button removal. Since there’s already “Cari Lowongan” Word on the very left and whenever user tap Enter/ Return it function pretty much the same as “Cari Lowongan” button, I think it could be removed as well.
Changes :
Job Vacancy Search Bar — Before and After Feedback
— To be continued —
(pst, any comments are much appreciated!) | https://medium.com/@vionii-febiyantii/case-studies-website-review-15dc46f14524 | [] | 2021-05-08 16:34:13.857000+00:00 | ['Solutions', 'Feedback', 'Website Redesign', 'Website Review', 'Website'] |
NYC: FOUND | NYC: FOUND
When: September 25 — October 31
Where: The Cell, 338 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011
Price: $25; 16+ recommended; 21+ to be served alcohol
Tags: #immersiveart, #interactive, #ContactAdvisory, #ContentAdvisory, #MobilityAdvisory (see below)
Event Link
Enter the whimsical, irreverent, and epic world of visual artist Mikel Glass as the cell launches its first ever immersive theatrical experience, FOUND. Audience members will be taken through and encourage to participate in activities on all four floors of the cell’s historical townhouse. Collaborating with renowned theater companies, Mason Holdings and Sister Sylvester, Found takes audience members through an explosion of art, found and transitional objects, and mysterious cocktails. FOUND is an exciting new way to consume the arts.
NoPro is a labor of love made possible by our generous Patreon backers: join them today!
In addition to the No Proscenium web site, our podcast, and our newsletters, you can find NoPro on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, in the Facebook community Everything Immersive, and on our Slack forum.
Office facilities provided by Thymele Arts, in Los Angeles, CA.
Contact Level: Moderate (Familial)
Content Advisories: One of the rooms features hundreds of found and discarded dolls in some disturbing positions. Please be advised.
Ascending stairs is required for this experience. There are no elevators in this historical brownstone. This experience is not wheelchair accessible. | https://noproscenium.com/nyc-found-5e3d097a7999 | ['Nopro Newswire'] | 2019-09-14 18:41:55.797000+00:00 | ['NYC', 'Np Newswire', 'Immersive Theatre'] |
Asking Deeper Questions | Top of the morning to you, lovely people!
I don’t know about you, but I adore questions. I love asking them, not so much answering them. I like the infinite possibilities that open up for me to reflect upon that don’t require a definitive answer.
This Thursday’s story is all about questions. Can we expect to obtain genuine insight into the mysteries of life? That is up to each and every one of you to decide.
All I can say is: Be still and listen! | https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/asking-deeper-questions-a32c5aff56f2 | ['𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘊.'] | 2020-12-03 16:09:59.543000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Energy', 'Short Story', 'Storytelling', 'Life Lessons'] |
Tutorial: Web Scraping de Tablas HTML desde Wikipedia (o Cualquier Página Web) | Hello World 👋🌎 Welcome to my thoughts and projects on Data Science and Machine Learning I’ve been documenting through blogging ✍️. Let’s learn together. 💪💯 | https://medium.com/@mrenrique/web-scraping-de-tablas-html-de-wikipedia-usando-pandas-9045994b6b34 | ['Enrique Antonio Mosqueira Rubio'] | 2020-12-09 23:48:59.652000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Web Scraping', 'Programming', 'Data Science', 'Pandas'] |
Where Does My Mental Illness End and “I” Begin? | Because of my role as a mental health advocate whose goal has been to motivate and encourage “recovery” to those living with depression and bipolar disorder, I’ve always been hesitant to be entirely honest about my own inner thoughts on the subject. But lately, I’ve been asked quite a bit if there is truly such a thing as recovery from mental illness, or if one just learns to cope with it on a daily basis. And now, after more than 20 years of ping-ponging between the two frightening emotional states of euphoric highs and desperate lows, I’m pretty sure I’ve come up with my answer to this challenging question.
Along with almost 3 million other Americans, I have bipolar disorder. When I’m manic, I’m so awake and alert that my eyelashes fluttering on the pillow sound like thunder and I immediately have to jump out of bed and experience the beauty and glee of the world. I live for these fabulous moments. On the flip side of the coin, I cherish my depression: although it’s dark and frightening, it allows me plenty of time and an incredible perspective in which I can reflect on the darkness and the depth of the abyss of this depression.
So when I’m manic, I can be busy plotting my run for the U.S. Senate or thinking about hopping the next flight to Bali from LAX. And when I’m depressed and in pain, I can find myself questioning the world around me and digging deeper into it. I’ll spend hours lying alone on the floor in my underwear just watching a lone snail crawling on the window pane and thinking about her place as a crustacean in this world (and praying that she doesn’t end up on a plate with garlic and butter sauce).
Many people consider me a “recovered” bipolar patient, but I’ll be the first one to tell you that this part of me is “alive and well” and it never will completely fade. After innumerable trials with medications, electroshock treatments, talk therapy, diet, exercise, nutrition and even spirituality, I’ve been stable, in control and free of major episodes for almost a decade.
At the height of my illness I was virtually homeless, squatting in an apartment in Manhattan and stealing food from the corner grocery store. Today, I have two young daughters. I live in the suburbs in a house with a pool, and my car has toddler seats in the back. But mostly I have my life back, and it’s fair to say that it’s a much more quiet and peaceful one than I had a decade ago.
I never imagined I’d have a life as a parent, let alone one volunteering to serve hot lunches to first graders at my daughter’s school. But I do I feel like I’m a very good example of how treatment, as well as really wanting and working hard to get well, can be successful. That’s what has brought me to where I am today.
Yes, I am certainly one of the lucky ones. But I know that my mental illness is not cured or even under lock-and-key, plotting its next escape. It’s still very much part of the landscape of my life and often seeps out, sometimes when I least expect it. I slip a little and become aware that people around me notice my mania if I’m particularly aggressive, loud or silly. But I have such a better perspective on it now that I can usually rein it in — although sometimes I still act on the impulse. It’s just that the impulses aren’t as dangerous as they were years ago.
The old me constantly focused on the next high, whether it was a $25,000 shopping spree at Barneys, working into the early hours of the morning at an all-male strip club in Times Square, or as an art forger. This extreme behavior has abated, and so have the anxiety, the paranoia and the out-of-control mania. The light is no longer at the end of the tunnel; it surrounds me, even on the days that I am trapped inside the tunnel.
Mental illness cannot be treated separately from the person; they are inextricably linked. Bipolar disorder is not like a physical illness where you can point to an empirical issue and fix it. So I feel I’ve answered the question, “Where does mental illness end and where do I begin?” In my case, we are one. I’ve made friends with the enemy, and the illness is no longer my disability.
My successful and ongoing battle is a matter of understanding my mental illness, realizing when my moods are shifting, and targeting the destructive behaviors through psychiatric, psychological and spiritual professionals. I also rely on a few very close, compassionate friends. My treatment is successful precisely because it takes both me and my bipolar disorder into account and doesn’t delineate between the two of us.
I cope with my mental illness every single day of my life, from the moment I wake up, and I truly believe I now lead a rich life, even with bipolar disorder. For me, recovery is no longer a destination; I am just traveling on a path called recovery.
—
The story was previously published on The Good Men Project. | https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/where-does-my-mental-illness-end-and-i-begin-f751639bc367 | ['The Good Men Project'] | 2020-05-11 21:46:00.998000+00:00 | ['Recovery', 'Mental Illness', 'Self', 'Mental Health', 'Coping'] |
10 incredible ways to train your brain to sleep better. | As peaceful as sleep sounds, for some people, going to bed can be the preview to a nightmare.
As soon as it’s time to sleep, your brain starts its own race of thoughts. Each thought sprinting faster than the first.
It’s almost like a constant car race. As soon as one thought takes off, there’s one more bad thought charging in behind.
Your brain starts turning those unending thoughts into a habit. You notice you don’t get enough sleep, and the next night — The vicious cycle starts over.
Unfortunately, there’s no snooze button you can push to shut down your brain at bedtime. Luckily, there’s a bypass. You can train your brain to allow you to sleep better and deeper.
Years ago, it might have taken me hours to fall asleep. If my brain was feeling generous, I could be sleeping in 15–30 minutes. Today, I fall asleep in a minute or less.
Contrary to popular belief, the inability to fall asleep is a habit your brain learns. The good news is, it’s a habit that can be unlearned.
Why aren’t you falling asleep?
You may have channeled your mind to prevent you from getting your quality sleep. The idea is programmed in your subconscious. So, no matter how hard you try and fall asleep, you’re fighting a losing battle — your brain isn’t in charge.
If your mind isn’t ready to sleep, you’ll find it almost impossible to fall asleep.
There are specific techniques you can use to train your brain to sleep better and to fall asleep faster. While most of these methods have worked for countless people suffering from insomnia, it ultimately depends on how well you can train your brain.
The brain is one of the most intricate organs of the human body. How you picture sleep, and the priority you give it goes a long way in determining how well you sleep. If you often neglect sleep, or you see sleeping as unnecessary, your brain will program its subconscious to dread bedtime.
Changing your mentality on the idea of sleep can significantly improve the quality of your sleep.
The only reason why you’re experiencing poor sleep is because you haven’t trained your brain to sleep properly. Well, not yet. Once you can mentally instruct your mind, quality night rests follow.
I know how frustrating sleepness nights can be, so to make things easier, I’ll teach you the absolute best techniques you can use to train your brain and finally get the quality night rests you’ve been craving.
Let’s dive in!
Tip 1: Tell your mind sleep is essential
One reason why many people can’t fall asleep is because they haven’t recognized the importance of sleep to a healthy mind. Usually, when a major project comes up, sleep is the first thing we forgo, especially if you’re low on time.
However, the lesser you sleep, the more it affects your mood, overall health, and wellbeing. Lack of sleep doesn’t only contribute to those morning mood swings; it also puts you at risk for health issues, including diabetes, anxiety, and heart disease.
Once you mentally register the significance of good sleep, you’ll realise your brain stops viewing sleep as a chore, and you can start sleeping a lot better.
Tip 2: Maintain a regular sleep schedule
A few decades ago, I usually stayed up as late as I wanted, and on weekends, I’d sleep till late in the afternoon. However, I noticed sometimes I’d wake up feeling full of energy, while some other times, I’d feel wake up feeling tired and disoriented.
I came to discover that my brain wasn’t used to my sleeping routine. How could it? I didn’t have a schedule. Most times, when I finally decide to hit the sack, my brain would leave me awake with thoughts.
Maintaining a regular sleep schedule is one of the fastest techniques to train your brain. I recommend you set an alarm when you want to wake up, and the time you want to go to bed. Your mind will get accustomed to your sleep schedule, and you’ll notice you’ll start enjoying your much-needed sleep.
Tip 3: Think positive
No matter how hard you try, some thoughts just keep coming. As soon as your head hits the pillow, the unattractive thoughts start popping up. You remember when the first time when you embarrassed yourself at a party. Instead of lying awake worrying, you can picture happy memories. It’ll help your brain fall asleep faster.
Tip 4: Remember to Meditate
Meditating before you go to bed helps you reassure your brain, you’re at ease. It can be as simple as breathing in and out for a few minutes. When you feel relaxed, it stimulates your brain to release “feel-good chemicals” like endorphins. Meditating reduces your inflow of thoughts, and gently trains your mind to relax, and rest.
Top tip: Asides deep breathing, you can also try tensing and relaxing your muscles for a few minutes.
Tip 5: Exercise regularly
Exercising regularly can be a significant factor if you’re not getting enough sleep. Exercise prolongs the amount of time you spend in deep sleep and plays an essential role in reducing anxiety.
I recommend you do simple work out routines or try out some light stretching. Whatever exercise you choose to do, make sure you work out at least a few hours before your lights out.
Tip 6: Write down your thoughts
It’s not rocket science. The human mind will always hover around its problems. So sometimes, no matter how hard you try, some thoughts still tend to creep in and keep you awake. The best way to let out these stubborn thoughts is by writing them down. Although I prefer putting pen on paper, you can use journal apps like Onenote, Evernote, or Google Keep.
Whatever thoughts keep you awake, whether it’s family problems, business, or that project you’ve still not completed — Instead of overthinking and depriving yourself of sleep, write it down.
Tip 7: Avoid unnecessary nap time
It might be tempting to give in and take a quick nap if you’re starting to feel sleepy, especially in the late afternoons. If you notice you tend to feel tired when you’re reading a book or watching the news, try and sit in an upright position. In the long run, taking these unnecessary naps can do more harm than good. Sticking to your sleep schedule will allow your brain adapt to sleeping at night. You’ll be surprised at how fast you’ll start sleeping at night.
Top tip: If the temptation becomes too much, and you genuinely need rest, ensure you sleep on your bed. Not your couch, not your office desk, and not in your car. Sleep where you sleep at night.
Your brain will program your body to sleep only when it’s on its comfortable bed and sleeping soundly at night won’t be a problem anymore.
Tip 8: Avoid active activities in bed
Bringing work home is never a great idea. It’s even more damaging to carry your work to sleep.
You need to instruct your brain to fall asleep when you put your head on your pillow. Get rid of the phone, stop watching TV, and avoid any other activity that can distract you from sleeping immediately.
Sex can be an exception. Having an orgasm before you sleep helps you by releasing feel-good hormones that convince your brain you’re in a safe space.
In women, orgasms don’t only let you sleep quicker; it also induces a deeper state of sleep.
However, if you notice you’re more active after sex, then you can have sex during the day, or somewhere else in the bedroom.
Conclusion
Like fingerprints, each human is different. You may feel more energized after you’ve had 9 hours of sleep, and feel gloomy if you’ve slept for only 7 hours.
Regardless of what group you fall under, sleeping healthy doesn’t have to be an impossible feat. You just need to change your mindset, and With the few healthy tips I’ve mentioned above, you’ll be off to nod town in no time. | https://medium.com/@karunwiwrites/10-incredible-ways-to-train-your-brain-to-sleep-better-16bb2220782e | ['Karunwi Writer Extraordinaire'] | 2020-12-24 07:25:26.472000+00:00 | ['Sleep', 'Sleep Problems', 'Sleeping', 'Sleep Disorders', 'Sleep Deprivation'] |
COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we need to invest now in systems to ensure equitable global vaccine delivery | Asthe world awaits the results of COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we need to invest now in systems to ensure equitable global vaccine delivery. Sixteen vaccine experts from the vaccine industry, academic and regulatory agencies interviewed…
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A safe and effective vaccine is a critical tool for stopping the spread of COVID-19.
While there are still things we don’t know about the COVID-19 vaccine, we do know that there is much we can do now to prepare, and we are not starting from scratch in Vermont. We will build on a strong existing primary care and medical home infrastructure, our experience with vaccine distribution in past public health crises, and valuable partnerships across the state with health care and community partners to help make sure all Vermonters have access to the vaccine.
Putting Safety First
The global push to find a vaccine for COVID-19 is unprecedented, but this urgency can not outweigh the importance of vaccine safety and efficacy. That is why we keep a close watch on the vaccine development process and put science above all else when it comes to distributing any vaccine in Vermont. Before it is given to anyone in Vermont, a vaccine must meet strict U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety standards and be recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)(link is external). All newly developed vaccines must also be monitored continuously for safety.
Identifying Priority Groups
Based on what we know now, it is likely that the initial supply of COVID-19 vaccine will be limited, and will be distributed to states in phases, with early vaccine going to certain groups of people. Those groups may include:
people who provide direct care to others (for example, health care professionals)
people who are critical to the COVID-19 response (for example, people who work at COVID-19 testing sites, people who process COVID-19 specimens at laboratories)
people who are essential to maintaining a functional society (for example, first responders)
older adults and people who have chronic illnesses and are at the highest risk for developing severe illness from COVID-19
We will look to recommendations from the National Academies(link is external) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices(link is external), and gather input from organizations and partners across Vermont, to determine what these groups will be in Vermont.
Ensuring Equitable Access
When a COVID-19 vaccine is more widely available, we will work closely with the health care providers, pharmacies, and others who will provide the vaccine in Vermont, to ensure access across the state. We will also collaborate with community organizations and other partners to make sure people who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including Black, Indigenous and people of color, have equitable access to the vaccine.
Sharing Information with Vermonters
We are committed to sharing ongoing updates with Vermonters as we make plans for vaccine distribution, and as we learn more about strategies at the national level. Below you will find our draft interim COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan for Vermont. For a quick look at the plan, read the executive summary. | https://medium.com/@xaaiqjvsleprib/asthe-world-awaits-the-results-of-covid-19-vaccine-clinical-trials-we-need-to-invest-now-in-6233a07e7ae1 | [] | 2020-11-25 18:22:07.428000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Vacation', 'Sports', 'Social Media'] |
Tips to help you keep your bucket full | 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/all-we-feel/tips-to-help-you-keep-your-bucket-full-705246be435e | ['Jenny Tudor'] | 2020-12-15 21:10:38.343000+00:00 | ['Stress Management', 'Overwhelmed At Work', 'Stress And Anxiety', 'Stress Management Tips', 'Overwhelmed Parents'] |
LET’S CROWN SOME MIDDLE CHILD WINNERS! | LET’S CROWN SOME MIDDLE CHILD WINNERS!
Quick note…My emailing service is doing some server maintenance at the time this email is supposed to go out so there might be some delay in receiving it.
We have our latest winners!!!
Congrats again to chileheadd who narrowly won the Middle Child game with 810 points. They will receive 12.5 SBD, paid today.
Mjwalsh210 finished second with 808 points and will be paid 6.25 SBD today as well.
Finally machv with a first time top 3 finish will receive 3.75 SBD, paid today.
Tomorrow I will announce the qualifiers for the 100% Prize. At that time you will have about a day to contest if you are not listed as a qualifier and have qualified.
All the best,
Jason | https://medium.com/daily-emails/lets-crown-some-middle-child-winners-93ba32fce4f3 | [] | 2018-08-14 14:08:59.796000+00:00 | ['Crowdini', 'Questions', 'Games', 'Steemit', 'Steem'] |
Case Study: Unlocking The Power of a Remote UX Workshop | What we achieved with a Remote Product Design Workshop
Established a viable scope of the MVP, Split the product’s growth into actionable stages, with the digital tools used we were able to boost the workshop efficiency & reduced time spent on technicalities.
The client
Kinastic Coach promotes a holistic approach to fitness, where workout is merely a part of the equation of a much bigger picture.
This virtual coaching assistant wants to take care of your well being, offering stress relief, nutritional advice and sharing knowledge about every little aspect affecting your lifestyle in the long run.
Thanks to applied machine learning algorithms, kinastic Coach is able to direct your journey to better health and, thanks to available data, optimize it along the way.
The challenge
kinastic Coach came to EL Passion with a big and thorough plan of revolutionizing the fitness & lifestyle app market.
We needed to give this plan a tangible shape and separate it into relevant stages, supporting both the app’s future users and the client’s business goals.
An in-depth product roadmap and a quick MVP launch
We split the kinastic Coach vision into three distinct stages of product development taking into account both, building and expanding value for the user and fulfilling necessary metrics from the business perspective.
We suggested moving advanced personalisation and automation features into the second phase of development for quicker MVP push into the market.
A remote environment facilitated the workshop’s efficiency
Conducting the workshop remotely allowed us to manipulate the app’s architecture elements easily and seamlessly in real time. We were able to dive deep into the functionalities thanks to this.
Time management: solved.
Because remote workshopping is governed by slightly different rules, to eliminate the “remote meeting fatigue” we experimented with our approach switching between synchronous and asynchronous tasks for best brainstorm and best final workshop outcomes.
The well-structured workshop with EL Passion’s team gave us a valuable in-depth roadmap that we followed all the way through our app’s MVP launch. The professionalism and the critical-thinking mentality that the EL Passion’s team brought to the table, helped us visualise our priorities and goals in a manner that was easier to follow development-wise.
ANDREAS KARANTZAS, Head of Software @ kinastic Coach
The article you have just read was originally published on the EL Passion Blog.
We are EL Passion! 💚
We build digital products with stunning UX & UI design.
Find us on Facebook, Instagram & Dribbble 🏀. | https://medium.com/elpassion/case-study-unlocking-the-power-of-a-remote-ux-workshop-6981679a54be | ['Patrycja Paterska'] | 2020-10-01 08:10:15.269000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'UX', 'UX Design', 'User Experience Design'] |
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