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Some Amazing Facts About Black Friday You Should Know About | All of us have heard about the craziness and excitement of black friday among people. So, if you already know some facts, these facts which we have here for you gonna make you crazy. It is the start of the biggest shopping event in the entire world. Being full of amazing deals, discounts, and offers, black friday is the most favorite time of shopping for everyone.
So, without taking more of your time, let’s get started with these amazing facts.
Over 30% Americans Shop on Black Friday
We know that it is the most popular and biggest shopping festival but did you know that over to 30% americans do shopping on this event. Last year, 102 million people alone in America shopped on black friday.
7 Deaths and 98 Injuries During Shopping
Since 2006, there have been 7 known black friday related deaths and 98 black friday related injuries which basically mean that these people deal with death and injuries during shopping. Usually, the stores are overcrowded and hence people have to face such issues. Although, gradually stores are working on managing the crowd and making everything go easy.
The term “Black Friday” was first time used in reference to Stock Market crash in 1800's
“Black Friday” term was first used on 24th November 1869 when James Fisk and Jay Gould were trying to corner the gold market on the New York Stock Exchange. The government stepped in and flooded the market with gold, which resulted in a fall in prices and many investors lost their capital.
Black Friday owes its name to Philly Cops
As the prices dropped because of the market crash, the rush of shoppers was seen in the stores. Hence, Philadelphia Cops gave it the name of Black Friday as their profits went into the black.
Walmart employee trampled to death
Walmart supermarket at Long Island was trampled to death during Black Friday 2008. This resulted in the death of Walmart employees. Also, the paramedic forces went to save these employees were also trampled to death.
Black Friday is kickstart of Holiday Season
With the time, the Thanksgiving Day parade of Macy’s has become a part of holiday season rituals in America. The first Santa Claus parade was held on 2nd December 1905 in Canada. Gradually people starting doing such parades with Santa Claus in their area all across the United States. It is also known as an official kick-off for holiday season in the United States.
You May get Cheated
Spotted an irresistible deal on TV, Fridge, Tablet, or any other product? Make sure to check the quality of that item. It may not be the same which you get generally. Some of the products advertised during black friday may be of lower quality as there have been cases where people noticed manufacturers making lower quality products for sales.
Your Fellow Shopped may get Jealous of You
In 2011, a shopper shopping at the Walmart store in California spotted something which was on a huge discount. As there was only 1 unit available, fellow shopper sprayed pepper spray over that guy which resulted in dozens of people having irritated noses and throats.
It is the Buziest Day for Plumbers
It may sound weird to you but it isn’t. Plumbers are required to clean up the after guests to overwhelm the system. This fact was well explained by CNN in their reports.
Average Spend on Black Friday is $300
As per the survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, last year average shopper spent $299.60 on shopping. The number as an average is big.
Walmart is Dangerous
The most dangerous place to shop during this event is Walmart. If you don’t know why we are saying this, let me tell you there were several incidents of Death, injuries, and Pepper Spray incidents at Walmart since 2006 during this event.
It became the biggest shopping day since 2001
Before 2001, it wasn’t officially known as the biggest shopping event. Before 2001, the biggest shopping day was Saturday before Christmas.
12% of the Shoppers are Drunk
As per the survey conducted by RetailMeNot, 12% shopper admitted that they got for shopping in-store under the influence of Alcohol.
Youngesters are Big Shoppers
As per the data of 2018, millennials were the top shoppers. A whopping number of 53.8% shoppers from 18–24 age group shopped in 2018. | https://medium.com/@shashank-k/some-amazing-facts-about-black-friday-you-should-know-about-55349f1c22a7 | ['Shashank Kulshrestha'] | 2021-04-29 10:58:49.617000+00:00 | ['Facts', 'Black Friday', 'Cyber Monday', 'Shopping'] |
What Is Bitcoin? | Team
Bitcoin is an open-source project built by a global community of developers with 600 contributors on Github currently. The first bitcoin came into existence in 2009 by someone or some group of people that goes by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi Nakamoto left the project in 2010 without revealing himself or themselves. The community has since grown exponentially with many developers working on Bitcoin.
Use cases
Peer-to-peer payment system
Bitcoin allows you to transfer funds to other people at low cost and high speed. It probably takes a few minutes to settle transactions with Bitcoin, while it takes a few days for banks to transfer funds for you. One can send and receive payments directly from another person, without the need for a bank to process the transaction. Therefore, bitcoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer payment network.
Store of Value
Fiat currencies lose value over time because central banks issue money as one of their monetary policy tools. This breeds inflation. Bitcoin has a finite supply, and thus, contains inflation. This asset is deflationary in nature. When you store your funds in cryptocurrencies, they can potentially gain value instead of losing value over time.
Digital Gold
Bitcoin resembles gold in many ways as they both resist inflation. And bitcoin is a better alternative to gold as they are more divisible (up to 8 decimal places!), portable, and durable.
Banking the unbanked
In many countries in the world, especially underdeveloped regions, a great number of people still lack access to financial services at traditional banks. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can provide access to financial services for these people for the first time, as an increasing number of people in these regions have access to or own mobile phones. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can foster economic development and bring higher living standards and prosperity for many developing nations across the globe.
Competitors
Bitcoin competes with fiat currencies, other long-term stores of value like gold, and other cryptocurrencies that came into being after the introduction of bitcoin. Bitcoin’s reliability and immutability, among other unique properties, have made alternative coins unable to compete. Bitcoin’s resistance to inflation makes it a superior alternative to fiat currencies and other long-term stores of value like gold.
Bitcoin is more portable and divisible than gold
Central bank digital currencies lack the decentralization, scarcity, and trustlessness features of Bitcoin
Liquidity: Bitcoin is arguably one of the most liquid investment assets due to the worldwide establishment of trading platforms, exchanges, and online brokerages. Bitcoin has higher liquidity compared to other cryptocurrencies
Lower inflation risk: Unlike fiat currencies, bitcoin is immune to inflation
Diversification is an investment strategy: Digital currencies, including bitcoin, offer an alternative investment asset to traditional assets such as stocks and bonds. Bitcoin has historically performed as an uncorrelated asset, which means its price movement is independent of those of stocks and bonds.
Conclusion
The reputation of bitcoin has grown considerably over the past year making it the beta of the cryptocurrency markets. Institutions such as hedge funds and the ultra-rich have increasingly become interested in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Mainstream adoption of bitcoin may not be too far behind.
Key takeaways | https://medium.com/@radamedia/what-is-bitcoin-8fa2a7e82e36 | ['Rada Media'] | 2021-06-17 08:27:44.140000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin News', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Satoshi Nakamoto'] |
An invitation to be a part of Literary Impulse — a literary magazine | An invitation to be a part of Literary Impulse — a literary magazine
For its inaugural edition. Inviting poems, stories and creative non-fiction.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us,” Tolkien says through Gandalf. And we thought starting a literary space like this would a good way to do something with the time we have.
So, with due humbleness, we hereby invite you to be a part of Literary Impulse’s journey, a new entrant into the world of Medium Publications. A few rules that we will follow are —
It is a literary magazine. We love literature. And for literature, we are here. We will publish a total of 10 pieces every fortnight.
5 poems
2 very short stories (3000 words)
2 creative non-fiction essays (<2000 words)
1 review — of a book, or art piece, or even a poem (<2000 words) If we get enough entries, the first edition will come out on 3rd May, or then we will wait for the next Sunday. No listicles. Nor self-help articles. No motivational essays. We don’t care if the writers are enrolled in the Medium Partner program. Submissions open all around. Please check the SUBMISSION GUIDELINES page for details. Once you share your desire to join us, and we add you, you can share as many entries as you want.
“What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote.” E M Foster.
Since it is a new publication, we are also looking for Editors. For that email at [email protected]. And we will take it from there. For now, Nachi Keta and Priyanka Srivastava are editors.
But, remember that if you are an editor, none of your pieces shall be published on LI.
We are tagging some of you. Please comment on the Submission page and let us know of your willingness. Ask your queries, if you have any, here.
If you know a fellow writer whom you think shall be a great addition to a “literary venture” such as LI, please tag him using the comment thread of this Story.
One of the Lost Generation stars, F. Scott Fitzgerald, once said, “that is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” We are looking for those souls with whom we can share that feeling of belonging.
We invite
Thank you and Best of luck. Don’t forget to tag people in comments, if you feel like this is a good thing. Let’s see how this “experiment” fairs. | https://medium.com/literary-impulse/an-invitation-to-be-a-part-of-literary-impulse-a-literary-magazine-d7be2abdc25a | ['Editorial Literary Impulse'] | 2020-05-18 13:17:36.911000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Poetry', 'Literature', 'Writing', 'Writing Tips'] |
Generate Bitcoin Wallet Keys With Scannable QR Code | The use of bitcoin paper wallet is fairly easy login to a secure website go to the account section tap on to receive button of your account and a QR code will be displayed and then open your paper wallet to see your private key and your code and Scan the code with your camera tap to send funds
The Public Key and Private Key
So the question now arises how this all functions There are some basic differences between the Private key and Public key, The Private key is faster while the public is slower key, and the Private key decrypts data which is then coded while the public key encrypts the code
Top Bitcoin Paper Wallet Generator Website
So which is the best place for all users to interact with such technology there are some Top bitcoin paper wallet generator website such as
bitcoin-paper-wallet.net
bitAddress.org
btcofficialwallet.org
btc-paper-wallet.com
The Safest Way to Store Bitcoin
There are many forms of storage of bitcoins are upon which depend on customer’s preferences such as cold storage the most secure methods of collection bitcoins as these wallets are Inaccessible by the internet and customer's sensitive information can never be exploited. Offline wallets are disconnected from electronic devices and half of the information is kept on a physical system it is considered the advanced and safest medium for bitcoin.
Hot Wallet another way to store bitcoin they run online and are connected to various devices while they can be very suitable for some customers and can get their work done faster.
Bitcoin Deep Cold Storage system is the most discreet system of storing bitcoins where the owner remains unknown and still gets to use services the user security of not losing bitcoins or theft is the most important aspect of this system was found by a company in London that gave services of bank vaults for secure keys of bitcoins | https://medium.com/@btcusd/generate-bitcoin-wallet-keys-with-scanable-qr-code-d4e9e367e3b | [] | 2021-06-02 10:31:14.267000+00:00 | ['Crypto Wallet', 'Wallet', 'Bitcoin', 'Bitcoin Wallet', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
My Top 6 Reads of 2020 | For me, 2020 has been a strange year (to say the least). I read way more than I expected to as a result of being in quarantine, though, over the last couple of months, I’ve been in such a big reading slump! This year was filled with amazing reads- my Goodreads star rating average was close to 4.5 stars! My original goal for this year was to get through 35 books- I surpassed this goal by nearly 200% (reading 69 books so far).
Enough blabbering on- here are my top 6 books of 2020! (In no particular order).
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon:
“A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.”
This book took me by surprise! Before going into it, I was aware that Samantha Shannon was a well loved author, but I did not think this novel would have such beautiful writing! I am not usually into high fantasy, but this book captured my attention from the very first page.
2. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Alex Stern is tasked with monitoring Yale’s various secret societies after being involved in a traumatising crime. A dead girl appears on campus, though Alex does not accept the polices answer to the murder. Alex knows the secret societies are far more dangerous and sinister than anyone expected: they tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living…
“There were always excuses for why girls died” – Leigh Bardugo
This book… I have no words! I absolutely loved each of the characters, the plot, the setting, the atmosphere, the writing and so on! I was intrigued through the whole novel and couldn’t bring myself to put it down. Plus- that ending!! I can not wait for the next instalment in this new series :)
3. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
“After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen year-old Bree Matthews wants to escape. A residential programme for bright high-schoolers seems like the perfect opportunity- until she witnesses a magical attack her very first night in campus…
Bree will do whatever it takes to discover the truth, even infiltrating the Legendborn (a secret society of individuals descended from King Arthur’s knights). Should she use her magic to take the society down- or join the fight?”
I finished this book in a matter of days, because (once again), I just could not put it down! I really liked each character and their purpose in the storyline. The campus made for an interesting setting, filled with rich history and background. The magic system was extremely interesting as well!
4. The Final Empire (Mistborn Book One) by Brandon Sanderson
“What is the Dark Lord won? The mists rule the night, the lord ruler owns the world.”
I’m not going to go much into the synopsis of this books, because I believe going into it with less I for song enhances the story. What I will say is that Vin, Kelsier, Sazed and Elend are some of my favourite characters I’ve ever read about! This magic system is 100% my favourite… it does unto such depth!! It really shows how much effort Brandon Sanderson put into the construction of this system and its laws and limitations.
5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
“The circus at arrives without warning. No announcements precede it… it is timely there when yesterday it was not.”
This book is definitely one of my all time favourites! Not only did I fall in love with the characters, but the setting is really what made it for me. I could really imagine the circus environment, the smell of popcorn and caramel, the crowded alleyways and chatter of excited children! Everything about this books was just *chefs kiss*- there is literally no other way to describe the way it made me feel.
6. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerrie Maniscalco
“He murdered women in cold blood. He terrorised the entire city. He taunted those is us who hunted him down. Bet despite all of these horrors, in the end, I could not deny it… I was the girl who loved the Ripper.”
I still think about Audrey Rose, Thomas and this plot twist ending now, even though I read this book many months ago. The atmospheric London setting really added to the eeriness of the novel. The murders were terrifying! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. I finished this book in a couple of days and instantly bought the rest of the series… I just couldn’t help myself. If you love mystery and romance, you NEED to pick this one up soon!!
Well, that’s all for now! I hope you found a book you are interested in reading :)
Thanks for reading ✨ | https://medium.com/@tianaattard/my-top-6-reads-of-2020-851df4143be2 | ['Tiana Attard'] | 2020-12-21 23:20:56.074000+00:00 | ['Rankings', 'Reading', 'Books', 'Lists'] |
Thursday Thought — The reality of certification over experience | The Thursday Thought piece is our semi regular look at the world of software development. Always thought provoking, sometimes strongly worded and created to start a debate. The opinions expressed here and those of the author!
I’ve written before about how I believe certification can be a bad idea. This isn’t to say that I think all certification is bad, but certification that pretends to provide qualification to perform a role over more important needs — such as actual experience OR certification that just seems to be an easy way of making money for the certificate provider is a bad thing, a very bad thing.
You can look at my previous content on certification to see my complaints on the actual process but this post is all about what happens when you hire or have someone with a certificate in a team where the certificate is all they have.
So what is the problem?
I’ve been asked before what my goat is with things like the CSM course and certification and in all honesty I don’t have an issue with the material or the course (Even the fact its just two days). My real bugbear is at the end of it people being able to call themselves certified scrum masters. Because unless you’ve had a few years on the clock I don’t think you can call yourself certified as a scrum master. Which is what really worries me when companies recruiting for an SM put the CSM as a mandatory requirement for being given even an interview — it risks anybody being able to apply! Trust me, I know. I’ve hired them in the past.
So anyway, let me tell you a story of a software department. (Names and details of the company changed to protect the innocent/not so innocent) This department was trying to be agile, but had struggled. They had a huge backlog of work, were focusing on measuring the wrong things, had struggled to release anything of substance for a long time and had a bad vibe about the whole agile thing.
Enter Tom, Tom had been given about 10 different jobs in the space of two years working at this company, none of which had really resulted in anything (Not their fault). So Tom had been put on the CSM course as the CTO of this company felt that they needed to become agile.
Tom had never done any agile work before, never worked in a company using an agile approach to software development or worked with agile teams. But Tom was a good guy, he read up a bit on it, did the two day course and gained the certification so he could proudly say he was a certified scrum master.
Tom comes back to his dev teams and with the help of the senior managers moves to agile using Scrum (There were other options that could have been looked at but Tom had done the CSM where the focus is very much on Scrum). He introduces the typical ceremonies around Scrum and applies this religiously — after all this is what the course said good teams should be doing.
The problems start almost immediately. Stand-ups are stale, lose focus quickly, people become disinterested rapidly and some stop attending, struggling to see why they have to stand at a board each day and tell everyone else what they are doing. Particularly as they don’t work with some of the people who are in their stand up.
Sprint planning becomes a two day event due to the need to estimate the entire backlog of work they have outstanding, despite the fact they have nigh on 200 stories and about 20 epics, everyone is estimated — because the course reinforced the importance of estimating. Tom is just doing what he was taught.
Sprint demos are poorly attended because no one knows what they are. The team are very apprehensive about demoing unfinished work to stakeholders. One senior stakeholder blows up about the fact that the work isn’t finished. Failing to understand what WIP means or the concept of a demo. The team leaves the first one heartbroken that two weeks effort has been demeaned like this. Because no stakeholder engagement has been done prior to changing how the teams worked it means more senior stakeholders start to question why the team aren’t working on the stuff they need. The SM doesn’t know how to deal with this.
Retrospectives are stale almost immediately with Lean Coffee being the ‘go-to’ technique, the same questions are asked, the teams switch off, wondering why they need to spend an hour together to talk about stuff they failed to do and worried to talk because the CTO has plopped himself down in the corner of the room whilst they hold the retro.
People start to question the SM on the point of the ceremonies and how its taking them away from doing the actual work the senior stakeholders told them wasn’t good enough in the demo. The SM is ill-prepared for these conversations — it wasn’t really covered in the course material nor was dealing with senior stakeholders with differing priorities.
People in some of the teams become openly hostile to the SM asking them how they are getting on and what impediments are preventing them getting the agreed work done. They feel micro-managed. The SM struggles with being a servant leader because the course covered it but didn’t really cover how to use things like emotional intelligence, active listening or be able to spot some of the now very obvious dysfunctions in the teams.
But the SM is a good guy, he is trying his hardest to make this work, but the material he received from the course isn’t really covering the real-life situations he is now facing in the teams.
3 sprints go by. The teams get some minimal deliveries done but find they have taken in far too much work. The SM struggles to get them to understand the importance of not over committing to the work and how to story split, story map or to pair on the work, because some of this isn’t covered in the course and because there is a gulf between reading about it and putting it into practice with a team of developers who all have the best opinion on how to chop it up.
One of the teams calls an emergency meeting with the senior management team and say they can’t work with the SM anymore. They are tired of all of the meetings, tired of being shot to pieces by senior stakeholders who want to see actual completed work, tired of the deadlines and having to work long hours to meet all their commitments.
One Software Engineer hands in their notice. In their exit interview they point to just feeling like a cog in a machine and constantly having to justify their existence to others.
The other team starts practicing elements of XP and Kanban, the SM doesn’t really know how to help them with this. Further creating a divide between the SM and the other team. This team decides to bin a bunch of the ceremonies. Their Kanban board has no WIP limit, no sense of prioritized work and expedite requests from the support team come in daily, pushing the work they are wanting to do further down the list. Frequent context switching happens hourly as the next emergency request comes from the support team.
The SM and Hof Software go for a coffee and have a heart to heart. The Hof Software likes Tom. He is a good guy that’s been dragged from one position to another. He has done everything that’s been asked of him and worked his arse off to make a go of it but he has had enough. The Hof Software can tell he is exhausted. The SM hands in his notice — he doesn’t even have a job to go to but just needs to get away from the atmosphere he in part has created (Not intentionally).
At the end of the 4th sprint the existing approach is abandoned and the Hof Software starts from scratch. Two members of staff have left the company. Rumors of 3–4 more actively looking for other jobs outside the company are rife in the team and the general perception is that agile is a joke and should not be used here because it just stitches us up in front of management.
To recover that situation took the best part of 12 months and even at the end of it there were one or two who still had a very mistrusting view of agile. That was 12 months pain that could have been avoided with an SM who had more than a certificate. And this is absolutely not about shooting the SM. This SM had worked their backside off to make a success of this but a 2 day course and some material about being a Scrum Master is little preparation for dealing with actual teams with actual problems.
Now who was at fault here?
Tom? The CTO? The company? The Hof Software? The teams? Or a certification body that produces a two day course and hands out a certificate telling someone they are qualified after a multiple choice quiz to support real people in real teams facing real problems?
I know who I think is at fault and it certainly wasn’t the scrum master.
How to solve this?
The bodies that hand these certificates out like confetti need to take a good long look at themselves and do a bit of introspection. Are you more interested in helping the community thrive? Or are you more interested in helping the community shoot itself in the foot and make a quick buck off the back of it?
Because these courses do not and never will in their existing form cover the situations I describe above. They don’t cover off the huge amount of supporting frameworks, team culture, anti-patterns, smells, dysfunctions, cross company demands and people just not getting it that a real Scrum Master has to deal with.
The description of a scrum master as a shield is apt. But it isn’t just to protect the team from outside interference, sometimes (And I believe far more importantly) it’s to protect the team from themselves.
I would much prefer these courses were renamed ‘An introduction to Scrum Mastery’ and at the end of it you earn credits on the way to becoming a certified SM.
And it isn’t just the providers of these courses I have a dim view of. Its us as employers who put a focus on certification rather than miles covered. Ask yourself again, given just the one example I gave above (I have plenty more), would you rather have hired an SM who ticked the box of having the certificate but had no real world experience OR would you hire the person who has no certificates but has worked with teams in an agile environment for 5–10 years? I can tell you with confidence which one will cause more damage to your teams.
This isn’t about shutting out newly qualified SM’s either.
Its about making sure we are all prepared for the situations you are actually going to face rather than the happy-land world described in course material. How do you deal with a CTO/CIO/CEO demanding to know why you showed them this half finished piece of shit the team just spent 2 weeks on? Or the Product Owner that just doesn’t realize where their remit ends and the SM’s starts and keeps popping up to have ‘a chat’ with individual members of the team to bypass you?
Because those are potentially the types of conversations you will have. Being prepared for them is half the battle. Waving a certificate around is going to count for very little when the proverbial hits the fan. We need to better prepare our SM’s for the real scenarios they will face and give them training and ongoing support to make sure they can make the best of their roles. You cannot do this from a 2 day course.
I would love to see a group of us work together collaboratively to produce a set of material and courses that actually help Scrum Masters (And Agile Coaches) get their foot in the door, but more importantly provide an ongoing support mechanism with frequent inspection of what they have learnt and evidence of them putting it into practice. If anyone would like to help kick this off then let me know — and it must be a not for profit function to demonstrate that as a community we can do better without treating it as a get rich quick scheme.
Its time course providers got down off the high horse and joined us in the real world and tried to make this community better trusted and better equipped. Right now you’re making everyone’s jobs harder. | https://medium.com/ingeniouslysimple/thursday-thought-the-reality-of-certification-over-experience-507f9cf7a909 | ['Ben Mancini'] | 2020-02-20 09:34:13.309000+00:00 | ['Csm', 'Certification', 'Scrum', 'Agile', 'Csm Training'] |
INSTALL_FAILED_CPU_ABI_INCOMPATIBLE with Android project | Every story has its roots so do this.
I have lost almost 2days trying to find solution to this problem, so i decided to contribute my experience so it might help folks out there like me. “This error might occur for different reasons and the solution is different for each reason,finding the right cause is the key to solve the problem.” I would like to thank Ethan Keiser for his solution that saved me a lot of time.Below are some of the reasons and solutions for this error.
Reason 1 :
Let me explain why i faced this error, recently i am using Signalr(Chatting library from Microsoft) in my project.Everything went fine like integration,testing,dynamic updating data,etc.But all of sudden things went south when i tried to install the app in android tablets.There our villan enters into the play,whenever i tried to install in tabs android studio simple shows a popup with error INSTALL_FAILED_CPU_ABI_INCOMPATIBLE with Android project.
Solution
According to my assessment after quite research, reason for this problem in my case is, Microsoft have not bundled the Signalr SDKs properly for android so there’s been a conflict internally in jar files.By replacing the jar files properly that i found here solved my problem.
If you are using Signalr in your project this might be one of the reason, so give it a try.
Reason 2:
If you try to install the app manually make sure you are installing the app the with same version or higher than the existing version(if the app already installed) else there are chances this error might come into light.
Solution
Try to uninstall the app if it was already installed or install the app with higher version code than already installed app.
Reason 3:
By default, IntelliJ assumes that the libs folder in the root of an Android module contains native libraries, even if it just holds jars. Thus, it packages the APK making it look like these are native libraries. I just had a similar issue where my application had no native code and would work on the default emulator, but got the ABI warning when installing on the Genymotion emulator. To fix this, tell IntelliJ (or Android Studio) that your libraries are not native code:
Solution
Open File -> Project Structure. Click Modules on the left side of the window. For each Android module, expand the dropdown and select the Android subitem. In the Structure tab on the right, delete contents of the Native libs directory field (you can leave it blank). Once you’ve done this for each Android module in the project and applied the changes, you may need to rebuild your project for the changes to take place by choosing Build -> Rebuild Project from IntelliJ’s global menu.
Things to ignore
When i first came across this error and googled it ,many solutions i checked included some shit about x86 rams for tablets is the cause.I literally wasted 2–3hrs research about those RAMs ,trust me its of no use not at least in my case.Try every possible solution and then deal with this, Whatever the problem might be there will be programmatically solution so there will be programmatically explanation too(at least according to me).
Conclusion
Above three are possible reasons for this error,there are many situations in which you encounter this error, Try to evaluate what you included recently in your project and search this error with that components integration this might narrow down the solutions you have to try. | https://medium.com/android-dev-hacks/install-failed-cpu-abi-incompatible-with-android-project-791ca1f66753 | ['Siva Ganesh Kantamani'] | 2018-02-10 10:35:15.020000+00:00 | ['Android'] |
Self-Improvement Doesn’t Work Unless Your Mind Does | Self-Improvement Doesn’t Work Unless Your Mind Does
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash
My sister’s friend is suicidal right now. I don’t say that for shock value, it’s just a situation I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. On top of her mental health, she’s spiraling out of control. She has a sister who also isn’t in a good place mentally and they both live together.
They’ve both been getting cheap plane tickets flying around the country will-nilly. Going out to bars and losing their ID’s only to have something potentially terrible happen to them.
I started wondering why they’re doing this. We went to high school with these girls and they were very successful musicians. It was obvious they’d be great music teachers after they graduated high school. At first, we were hesitant to say anything because we didn’t think it would help. After all, we’re not life coaches.
But then it crossed my mind that you don’t have to be a life-coach to prevent a friend from losing their life. | https://medium.com/illumination/self-improvement-doesnt-work-unless-your-mind-does-afd2bb107b6e | ['Khadejah Jones'] | 2020-12-14 17:26:34.663000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Mental Health', 'Suicide', 'Self', 'Self-awareness'] |
The Blackest City in the U.S. Is Facing an Environmental Justice Nightmare | Growing up in southwest Detroit, Vince Martin thought it was normal for the sky to be orange.
When he was three years old, his family moved from Cuba to one of the Black areas of town. At the time, discriminatory housing practices segregated the city. His Afro-Cuban family settled in the 48217, now Michigan’s most polluted zip code, where 71% of the population is Black and air pollution makes the sky look like it’s on fire.
Specifically, the Martins moved to Boynton, a working-class neighborhood. The town sits next door to a Marathon oil refinery and its sprawling industrial campus.
Martin, now an environmental activist in Detroit, remembers the refinery being made up of “one or two tankers” when his family settled there in the 1960s. Now, Marathon is a 250-acre tank farm that emits so much air pollution it’s received 15 violation notices from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy since 2013 for surpassing state and federal regulations emission limits. (Marathon denies any wrongdoing, claiming it has reduced emissions by 75% over the last 20 years and only contributes to 3% of emissions in the area.)
But Martin saw air quality worsen as the refinery grew over the decades. He believes he escaped the worst of it in his youth because he traveled so often for sports, but others “weren’t so fortunate.”
At his 30-year high school reunion, it seemed to Martin that more people in his class were dead than living. He knew many had died from cancer. As a child, Martin’s younger brother David developed asthma and juvenile diabetes, both of which have been linked with air pollution. Every few days, Martin remembers, David was rushed to the hospital with respiratory issues. “These episodes kept happening every time he’d try to go outside and enjoy his environment,” says Martin. After a life of health complications, David died at age 45 from what Martin calls “toxic poisoning.”
“Seeing someone with such joy in life, seeing it stripped away little by little, it’s a terrible thing,” Martin says. “To be in a community like that and be exposed to those kinds of pollutants. It’s a sad story.”
These stories are common in the 48217. Four of the state’s top emitters of particulate matter sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides, which can, respectively, cause respiratory issues, and create acid rain are located within a five-mile radius of Boynton. A portion of I-75, one of the busiest highways in Michigan, runs along the northern border of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is nine minutes from the traffic-choked Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international border crossing in North America. Plans to open the new Gordie Howe International Bridge next to the Ambassador Bridge in 2020 are expected to increase diesel truck traffic by 125%. | https://onezero.medium.com/the-blackest-city-in-the-u-s-is-facing-an-environmental-justice-nightmare-788e0fb5c6b9 | ['Drew Costley'] | 2020-01-15 16:13:02.425000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Pollution', 'Environment', 'Equality', 'Black In Climate Change'] |
Datetime in Python | Lets get things straight . We all play with time and date all the time . Any time series data would have a column for date and time . This is an attempt to give an introduction for those who play with time and date in python .
Datetime string to Datetime object(strptime)
Its important to understand that whether you have your date time as a string in the form “10 Jan 2001” or “10/01/2001” we do have a way to read them in Python and use them for further computation . Right now what is available in quotes is a simple string and for any further analysis of the string we need to use datetime library and convert it to a date time object . Here is how we do that .
import datetime as datetime
x = "1–12–2001"
obj=datetime.strptime(x,"%d-%m-%Y")
Now we have a datetime object(obj) which isn’t just a string but contains the properties of a datetime object .
╔═══════════╦═════════════╗
║ Code ║ Value ║
╠═══════════╬═════════════╣
║ obj.day ║ 12 ║
║ obj.month ║ 1 ║
║ obj.year ║ 2001 ║
╚═══════════╩═════════════╝
Datetime object to string
To convert datetime object to string we use datetime.strftime function
import datetime as datetime
x = "1–12–2001" # Convert string x to datetime object
obj=datetime.strptime(x,"%d-%m-%Y") # Convert string object back to string
obj_string = datetime.strftime(obj,"%d-%m-%Y") # obj_string will contain value '12-01-2001'
Conclusion
Though I have covered only string to date and date to string in the article the concept remains same for time as well . Here is an example
dt = datetime.strptime("25/12/20 16:30", "%d/%m/%y %H:%M")
The article covers the application of strptime and strftime for string to date manipulation . Do explore functions like timedelta to add time or days . The documentation is self explanatory and hence my objective was to just introduce datetime function in python.
References
https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html | https://medium.com/@praveensmallya/datetime-in-python-9d9dbda3f99b | ['Praveen Mallya'] | 2020-12-24 18:59:17.283000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Python Programming'] |
RICH DAD’S QUADRANT. | RICH DAD’S QUADRANT. INCREASE YOUR FINANCIAL IQ. Get smarter without money. International best selling Author by. Robert Kiyosaki | https://medium.com/@robertt.kiyosaki/rich-dads-quadrant-30d5ff357ecd | ['Robert T Kiyosaki'] | 2020-12-23 11:26:39.398000+00:00 | ['Investment', 'Entrepreneur', 'Richdad Poor Dad'] |
How To Make More Of Your Book With A Content Strategy | How To Make More Of Your Book With A Content Strategy Dale Darley Jun 8·9 min read
My second publishing spurt came in 2012. Previously my marketing books were PDF’s which I sold on my website. One I cobbled together using Dreamweaver. Those were the days, eh? It is so much easier now.
The two books I initially wrote were Writing To Heal and Plan Your Non-Fiction Book.
One weekend I’d had an idea to write a book about all the ways I used writing to support my healing. My dog Ferdy and I sat with Dragon Naturally Speaking and talked the book. Only interrupted by walks, snacks and wine. It was a winner…
Two weeks later (no editing included), my first draft turned up. This came on holiday with me. I giggled so much on the plane I thought someone would cart me off. Some of the things that Dragon thought I’d said were hilarious. Still, it got edited and published.
I then used the book to run workshops, blog and created my first online course. This course remains one of my best selling courses. And during the lockdown, I re-edited the book and re-recorded the course. That was step one of my content repurposing strategy. I have more ideas up my sleeve.
Plan Your Non-Fiction Book was written rather than talked. I used blogs and workshop handouts to create the content, plus the methodology used for previous books and workbooks.
This book has been used in many many blogs, courses, workbooks, programs, workshops, retreats, talks, stuff on YouTube, Facebook, memes, infographics and anywhere and any way I could think of to get the message out.
But honestly, with both books, I didn’t have a content strategy. I simply did what I felt like in the moment. And that worked for me. I like to call it an evolving strategy.
Now I am all grown up and know better. Although that will not stop me from doing things in the moment…
Before we look at a content strategy, let’s look at what a strategy is.
What is a strategy?
Planning, at any level, whether for us personally or for your business, cannot be effective or efficient without an overarching strategy. There is often confusion between strategy and planning.
A strategy is setting short and long-term goals and then choosing the major methods for achieving them. Thereby enabling ourselves and/or our business to at least survive, if not thrive, today and definitely to thrive in the future
is setting short and long-term goals and then choosing the major methods for achieving them. Thereby enabling ourselves and/or our business to at least survive, if not thrive, today and definitely to thrive in the future Planning is more than just setting a route to your goal or destination. It includes identifying the necessary actions, the timing of them, determining the necessary resources and estimating the costs
As you can imagine, there are as many views on what strategy is as there are on how to develop strategies. The key to your business’s success is, without a doubt, the appropriateness of the strategy to your situation. Your role is to develop and execute effective strategies for the business you are in or are creating.
You may not get your strategy right from the get-go. It is about doing your best with the available resources and using feedback to refine them. The sad truth is that strategies fail despite the vast amount of resources dedicated for many great businesses. Think of strategy development as being the orchestra leader for all aspects of your business and coordinating them into an integrated whole.
For the music to play sweetly, everything about your brand and business must be aligned. Strategy answers these questions:
Where we are going?
Why we are going there?
What do you want to do?
Why do you want to do what you do?
How are we going to do it?
Who are you doing it for, and what do they get?
What would happen if you did the right things?
Naturally, it includes people, products, processes and profits as well. Each of these elements is an essential part of the strategy. Planning ensures the development of the coordinated, specific actions to be taken to ensure the successful attainment of the strategic intent.
Your market/personal branding strategy, which is part of your strategy, consists of many P’s. When I did my MBA, there were just 4.
Product
Place
Price
Promotion
And Service.
These are now joined by people, process and physical evidence. Then there is profit and planning. What about passion, purpose and palatable?
Ok, I’m being playful because I want you to see the potential that strategy could have for you.
What is a content strategy?
The content strategy sits within your overall strategy and, in part, answers how are you going to do it. A content strategy is more than a mere marketing plan. I see it as a critical part of your personal branding strategy.
Content is more than just stuff that people like to read, watch or listen to. It is how you deliver your message — your vehicle. It also includes why you do it — your story.
I imagine that there must be authors who, with good intentions, have written a book and then gone off the boil.
My book The Conscious Woman’s Guide To Leaving Your Husband And Getting A Life (yeah, simple title…) came into being through a jokey conversation. Women bought it and thanked me for the strategic planning and self-love support. But it wasn’t a strategic part of my business, and so I unpublished it. It had served its purpose — it helped me to heal.
Taking the time to develop a strategy must come with the right book. Because if you love your book and its message, this will build your personal brand beautifully.
There isn’t a content strategy to suit all. It must be tailored to you. Pretty obvious, really!
That could mean a website, an authors page on Amazon and Goodreads. It could mean blogging, videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Lives on all platforms. Courses, programs, retreats and conferences.
The secret to content strategies is that there’s no such thing as ‘A’ content strategy.
There is usable and reusable content to suit your current strategic aims and goals. Your content needs to tell and sell your story, purpose and vision, and it needs to inspire and impact others to take action.
Why authors are missing out by not utilising their book
Words hold power. We need ideas and ways to inspire and motivate us daily. I read (listen on Audible) to lots of books, which inspire me to be a better person (non-fiction) and a better storyteller (fiction).
Books are powerful. So much effort goes into writing a book. I can understand why an author runs out of steam once the launch has happened. However, this is when the marketing really starts. This is when you can use your book to build your brand and reach the hearts of others.
As an author, you will know that the best route to achieve your outcomes is through your own unique content and strategy.
According to Bowker, in 2018, 1.6 million titles were published — a 40% increase over the prior year. This growth trend has been ongoing since 2013 — That’s a lot of books. And I think that we are not even scratching the surface.
And I have no idea how many authors are using their books to raise their profiles or not.
One big benefit of being an author with content is that you can save loads of time in the content creation process by repurposing it. And, of course, you have already tested your ideas.
By creating a great content strategy using your book, you can:
Reach new people
Be more visible
Reinforce your message
Be seen as ‘the’ expert, rather than just an expert…
Enjoy a great SEO boost
Simple content strategies for authors
Blog
By far and away, one of the simplest strategies is to blog. You already have your blueprint — the outline, so from here, you can pick parts of the chapters, some of your stories and share your insights. Your call to action — buy the book, coaching, course and program — depending on what else you have created from your book.
By the way, if you haven’t written a book, you can start by creating the blueprint and blogging your book.
A point to remember is that you write blogs differently from books, so you are not just copying and pasting your content. Blogs have a different structure and purpose, and of course, you would SEO a blog, which you certainly would do for a chapter…
A final point is that once you have a library of blogs, you can repurpose all of those again and again. The gift that keeps on giving.
Email marketing
You have loads of ideas for communicating with your readers by taking principles and ideas from your book.
Mini-courses
What about a mini-course that takes your ideal client through a 7 or 10-day challenge based on the book’s principles?
Lead magnet
Each chapter theme can be a step in your magical lead magnet. That has an email follow up, which suggests the book, mini-course, big course or program. Or maybe you have a workbook that they can buy too?
Videos on social media channels
There are endless opportunities to create videos that you can repurpose and use in many ways.
An evergreen webinar
With an evergreen webinar, you can automate a process that will lead your ideal client to your book and your services in a very simple and effective way.
Images and stories
I create quotes from my content and write little stories. These are kept in a swipe file, and I can reuse them whenever I need to.
These are just a few ideas.
The digital landscape is changing at the speed of lightning. Things like lockdown forced many people to change how they worked and how to engage with their clients. Many also had to think of new ways to do business, and a book is brilliant because it can become so many other things.
To be competitive and reap the rewards of your book, you need to adapt your ways of thinking and adopt new ideas. Even an old book can be revamped and brought to life.
Where to start?
Where to start is a great question. I’m assuming that you have done the who am I, who do I want to become, what is my purpose and inspirational message, what do I want to create and for whom stage? Great then…
Start by reviewing your content blueprint — the book outline
Brainstorm each chapter and come up with a series of content ideas
Look at your goals and plans and ask how the content you want to share fits with and supports these
Create a 90-day content plan
Do it. You have to start somewhere, and it will get easier
Pick something easy so that you feel you have achieved something. A lead magnet or e-book works here
I currently have a set of older books that I have repurposed to death. My newer ones are smaller and simpler, mostly about journaling — and they give me a way into selling my courses and, of course, my books.
The content for Ignite Your Success, which I am currently writing and editing, is already being tested with a series of blogs. I have a draft plan of how I will use this book.
Finding My Wild, which is my story of self-love and finding, yes you have guessed it, my wild — the inner child who was suppressed and put down fits perfectly with all of my hearts desires work. There are already courses, books, blogs, lead magnets etc.…
We all work differently, and I like to start by outlining and writing a book when I create a course — it works for me. I create the lead magnet, e-book, mini-course, course and whatever else from that book and then I finish the book. Creating content from the draft book helps me to get clear.
This may or may not work for you. You will, though, have a way that suits you and your learning style, and that’s what we have to tap into.
Where can you go from here?
Take a look at my coaching and choose a session or package to suit you. And of course, you can book in for a cuppa and cake chat. | https://medium.com/@daledarley/how-to-make-more-of-your-book-with-a-content-strategy-1ee9e0159077 | ['Dale Darley'] | 2021-06-08 10:10:25.015000+00:00 | ['Personalbranding', 'Contentmarketingstrategy', 'Contentstrategy'] |
Motivation and engagement at work (part 2) | Part 2: The journey to Engagement
Engagement shares similarities with motivation but is fundamentally different. The literature on engagement isn’t as prolific as what we can find on motivation, but it has become a very hot topic and is now widely discussed and measured. After looking at the old and recent models of engagement, it appears to me that engagement has slowly transformed into… a ratatouille. Everyone has a different recipe for it, nobody agrees on what it should be made of, but somehow we all know what it looks like 😅.
Photo from epicurious.com
The Components Model of Commitment
We constantly talk about engagement but it’s actually the term commitment that was more widely studied. They don’t exactly mean the same thing and authors have suggested a core difference between them: commitment would refer to attitudes, while engagement would be linked to the way people act. Some even suggest that commitment has a wider meaning and includes engagement as one of its pieces, alongside loyalty and identification.
💡 In this perspective, studying the theories and models of commitment will also inform us about engagement.
The dominant model of organizational commitment came from Meyer and Allen with their Components Model of Commitment. They intended to study what drives employees' commitment and their work has been extensively used by researchers to predict key employee outcomes, like turnover, performance, or even absenteeism. Meyer and Allen suggest that commitment is an attitude experienced by employees on three different dimensions (not all necessarily at the same level of intensity):
Normative commitment: it refers to the sense of obligation to stay, it’s a form of moral commitment. The driver to stay here is the sense of “duty” that an employee will have developed. Researchers found that employees tend to have a high normative commitment when their company invests a lot of time and money in training and developing them. Here’s what normative commitment looks like when I approach people on LinkedIn:
Affective commitment: it’s the emotional attachment employees have to their job or company, when they identify with the company and genuinely want to stay. Meyer and Allen have linked affective commitment to lower absenteeism and turnover, and better workplace behavior. If you’re lucky enough to work in a company with great culture and amazing colleagues, you surely have a high affective commitment like this person:
Continuance commitment: it alludes to the fear of loss, when someone weighs up the pros and cons of leaving their company. According to Meyer and Allen, employees who perceive that they have many employment alternatives may display a weak continuance commitment and vice versa. Since the beginning of the covid pandemic, I’ve seen more and more examples of high continuance commitment when headhunting:
Thévenet and the conditions to commitment
You might identify some of the drivers that make you stick to your company while reading Meyer and Allen’s model? Their work has been largely accepted and used, however, some argued it was incomplete and suggested adopting an enhanced model. One example is the approach put forward by Thévenet, a french pal 🇫🇷. He agrees that commitment is a multiform concept, but he considers that it has more components than the three suggested by Meyer and Allen. Thévenet suggests that commitment is explained by, but not limited to:
Work value: it refers to how much employees value working in the same way they value other activities or more personal aspects of their lives, which drives their organizational commitment. Some old-farts would argue that younger generations are increasingly less work-oriented… but the truth is, many people are driven by the value they place into work. Immediate environment: we’re talking about how employees value their working environment, the office, the dog-friendly policy, their team, etc. Having comfortable conditions can be an important driver to commitment and impact the attitude employees have towards their company. Product or activity: it’s when employees value their company’s product or activity. It could be explained by a lifelong dream fulfillment — like working in the video games industry, the social status that comes with working for a renowned company, or simply because it’s in sync with their personal beliefs. Role: it refers to the attachment employees have to their job and what it represents to them. There’s a sense of proudness that will drive employees' commitment. I’m sure you can think of people you know who are passionate about their job and area of expertise, like doctors, teachers (or recruiters 🙋♀️). Company: it points out how strongly employees endorse their company’s goals and values and develop a feeling of belonging and pride. It refers to how much employees can feel attached to the culture and values of their workplace.
This approach focuses a lot on the affective side of commitment and doesn’t mention the idea of continuance commitment (fear of loss), which is a bit of a shame. But the one thing I really like about Thévenet’s approach is that he describes commitment as a personal journey. He argues that commitment can only come from within, hence its complexity. He believes that companies can’t directly impact employees' commitment, they can only create the right conditions for commitment.
He suggests three conditions for organizational commitment:
Consistency: employees need to understand the company strategy, and they need to receive consistent signals from top management about it. Reciprocity: employees need to receive signs and evidence of the company’s commitment toward them. Appropriation: employees need to have a sense of belonging, they need to be given enough room to make the company’s culture their own.
💡 If you want to influence your employees commitment, you should start by ensuring that these three conditions are met according to Thévenet.
Photo by Kun Fotografi from Pexels
Modern view of engagement
The models offered by Meyer and Allen, and then Thévenet, give us great foundations to understand what drives commitment in the workplace. Yet… we don’t talk much about commitment these days, so let’s focus on engagement. Despite the difference suggested in the literature, engagement has become a one-size-fits-all concept that is used to refer to both concepts. A great example is the definition of engagement suggested by Culture Amp:
“Employee engagement represents the levels of enthusiasm and connection employees have with their organization. It’s a measure of how motivated people are to put in extra effort for their organization, and a sign of how committed they are to staying there”.
We have a mix of commitment (attitude “of enthusiasm and connection”), engagement (action “to put in extra effort”), and motivation in this definition. And while it doesn’t necessarily match with the traditional models of these three concepts… it offers a pretty holistic vision and incorporates everything we should care about and measure. I like Culture Amp’s definition because it’s short, easy to understand, and most importantly it gives everyone (HR, people leaders, and employees) a common baseline for talking about these immensely important topics.
I’m not sure how Maslow, Adams, Thévenet, and the others would feel about this definition though… Probably the same way as my dad when I describe a roman catholic gothic cathedral from the 13th century as an “old church”. The ones who really know their shit will always be annoyed by generic terms, but I feel like Culture Amp is actually working to join the two worlds. If you want to build an expertise on motivation and engagement, you should study the likes of Maslow, otherwise, a generic approach is more than enough.
Conclusion on motivation and engagement
Motivation and engagement at work have a clear impact on how people experience their work. They are similar in a way: both are not personality traits, both impact our behavior in the workplace and influence how we feel about our job and company. However, they don’t evolve on the same time scale, that’s one of their core differences. Motivation can be influenced directly by external factors and it can vary strongly and rapidly over time, whereas engagement is tied to our personal history and values, so it’s rather independent of external factors, and more stable over time.
Engagement can be influenced by long-term initiatives if the right conditions are present. For example, working on your Employee Value Proposition can create a great platform for engagement, because it will nourish the appropriation condition of commitment. Motivation can be approached with both long-term (using the right goal-setting method) and short-term initiatives (organizing team events to celebrate big wins). But they should never be taken for granted. Motivation and engagement move when employees join and leave, and with unexpected external events — like covid.
Managing motivation and engagement at work should be a duty shared between executive and HR teams, and also people leaders. That’s why companies must invest in their leaders, put leadership programs in place, and provide them with ongoing coaching. No matter what well-thought-out measures about motivation and engagement are launched, people leaders are the ones responsible to give them life…
Photo by Canva Studio from Pexels
Final thoughts. If you want to remember the difference between motivation and engagement, think of a relationship: motivation explains the daily ups and downs, and engagement informs the overall relationship journey. I’m always happy when my partner surprises me with a chocolate muffin. It represents a strong short-term motivation to share my life with him. However, there are other fundamental conditions for me to feel engaged and committed to my relationship with him, starting with honesty, respect, and kindness 🥰. | https://medium.com/@milena-lemancq/motivation-and-engagement-at-work-part-2-c05484b82499 | ['Miléna Le Mancq'] | 2021-06-12 23:53:07.251000+00:00 | ['Commitment', 'Engagement', 'Leadership', 'Management', 'Motivation'] |
impactChoice Solutions for the NAE: Carbon Mitigation | At impactChoice, the parent company behind the Natural Asset Exchange (NAE) and EARTH Token project, we have been serving custom-built solutions to our clients in the environmental sustainability industry since 2009.
Carbon Mitigation is one of three in-house solutions that impactChoice will be making available on the NAE from day one. We will go over the other two, namely Climate Neutral Fuel and Waste-to-Energy, in subsequent posts. To understand more about the challenges of carbon mitigation, see our overview on carbon mitigation where we discuss the problem in depth and give you the required background for putting our solution in context.
In this post, we take a closer look at our first use case for this solution in the hotel industry, we look at how this solution can be applied to other business models, and we also look at how the solution can be plugged into the NAE and what the implications are on trade and environmental impact.
An Elegant Solution
One of the biggest hurdles faced when trying to recruit companies and organizations to participate in voluntary carbon mitigation schemes is the initial upfront cost of purchasing natural assets. Even if companies make the leap, they are then faced with adding the cost of purchase into the pricing of their products or services in order to recoup their expenditure and this can price them out of competitive markets.
At impactChoice, we pioneered an environmentally sustainable Carbon Mitigation solution that is cost neutral to these companies and organizations. Instead of purchasing a natural asset in whole upfront, our solution provides these companies with granularity and access to purchasing a portion of a natural asset which is split and divided into many parts. It can then be parceled and packaged into the product or service the company or organization is providing. This granular purchase can then be added to the product or service at the point of sale — and in effect be paid by the customer.
When applied, it allows companies, businesses, and other organizations a cost-neutral method of becoming facilitators in partial Carbon Asset purchasing. They act as a direct bridge between their end clients and natural asset providers. This solution removes the upfront cost of voluntary participation in carbon mitigation schemes, while still allowing businesses and organizations the chance to participate in carbon mitigation and offer a benefit to the environment.
More recently, we took our solution one step further and instead of running it on an internal database, we developed the world’s first carbon asset management platform that is underpinned by a blockchain. Our private permissioned distributed ledger technology has been in operation since April of 2017 and is what we have been internally providing to our clients. The same elegant design can be applied to the NAE on an open, publicly verifiable and transparent permissioned blockchain.
Applying the Carbon Mitigation Solution to the NAE
impactChoice’s Carbon Mitigation solution can, and will, be deployed on the Natural Asset Exchange. We have test piloted it with a select few hotels in Africa and with the NAE’s global reach, the global hotel industry can come on board.
Beyond hotels, the very same solution can be applied to other customer-facing sectors of the global economy in a cost neutral way by including the cost of carbon mitigation directly into the price. Individuals and corporations will then be offered a direct choice in acting in a way that is environmentally sustainable. Those that do will receive unique certificates that are registered on the blockchain and, depending on the which projects the vendor uses, they can even become aware of which particular environmental projects they have assisted with.
It is our firm belief that people like doing the right thing by the environment. We also acknowledge that one of the main stumbling blocks for getting businesses and organizations to participate in carbon mitigation schemes is the initial upfront costs they need to later recoup. Our clients have been able to overcome this obstacle when applying our carbon mitigation solution and they have achieved phenomenal results. Extending this solution to the NAE will allow an even bigger penetration into the market, bring more businesses and organizations on board, and the results can be replicated globally. By removing one of the main barriers to participation we expect to foster more demand for environmental projects globally.
Look out for our next posts where we will be examining real-world industry use cases for our carbon mitigations solutions. | https://medium.com/earthtokens/impactchoice-solutions-for-the-nae-carbon-mitigation-6ec28a70dc2 | ['Allan Saunders'] | 2018-01-12 09:16:05.106000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Environment'] |
What’s Your Goal in Five Years? | What’s your dream? We’ve always been asked this question since as a kid and we all know it’s not that easy. I am not going to tell you how to achieve the goals here but would love to share the details of my 5-year plan, and let’s keep a close eye to see if I can achieve it.
First thing first, I think career should be at the top list because of normally being the main source of income and opportunity of achieving something big. Money is no wonder one of the keys to everyone’s life, no matter big or small. With your dream job, you can do something you like as a living, and achieve whatever you want at the same time. In five-year time, I aim at being promoted to be the assistant manager of the field I like at a scalable and fast-growing company. Many hard works are needed to gain the required skills and experience to handle the responsibility, and also expand my network to embark on future opportunities.
But of course, all the success needs to be backed up by people who always support you. It can be your family or friends. I want to build a stable and long-lasting relationship with my girl and start to plan for our marriage from that on. One point to be noticed is that I want myself to wholeheartedly respect, understand, care, & treasure those who’re important to me. Always remember, actions speak louder than words :)
To be honest, the salary from a full-time job can’t bring you much in material life, so you need to earn side income for better living. The ultimate goal is having a home to start the new phase of life with my girl. To achieve this, I need to work hard on earning more income, saving expenses, and growing my assets. For the income part, apart from relying on a full-time job, I would like to build a side business that is scalable to let me consider whether to stay or quit the job. As for the expense, only spending on necessary items but it doesn’t mean to save on those meaningful things, like enrichment, expenses with the loved one, etc. Last but not the least, building a diversified investment portfolio to rapidly grow my assets instead of putting them in the bank without any increment.
All I mentioned above is mainly realistic and practical stuff. We should also not miss out on the importance of personal growth. Doing regular exercise and being aware of the diet to stay healthy. Gradually untick the items in the bucket list to fully enjoy your life. Be a person you’re proud of, don’t let people’s words and opinions hurt you. To work it out in real life, I need to have a great work-life balance and always remember to do things right no matter what circumstances.
Lastly, it’s about how to take things you like to share with others and make them happy. It’s the reason why I’m writing this blog. I would like to share my story and thoughts with people who are interested or in need, and ultimately be a mentor to guide people to think in the correct mindset and go in the right way. Having to say that, it can be as simple as playing guitar or shooting a great short video to share happiness with people around. The key is not just working for yourself, but bringing joy to the world.
To summarise, I’ve my five-year plan in the aspects of career, relationship, material, personal growth, and the sharing of happiness. You can start to plan yours to let your future self thank you. Remember that you can make anything happen as long as you work hard and believe in yourself. | https://medium.com/@butterflystory1104/whats-your-goal-in-five-years-9fa84c8b8fa8 | ['Butterfly Story'] | 2020-12-20 05:25:10.608000+00:00 | ['Dreams', 'Goal Setting', 'Goals', 'Goals In Life', 'Future Self'] |
6 Ways That COVID-19 Has Affected Me As A Transgender Woman | 6 Ways That COVID-19 Has Affected Me As A Transgender Woman
The playing field actually seems a little bit more level.
Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash
So how is the pandemic treating you? Has this coronavirus forced you and those in your life to change how you go about your daily lives? I have read and heard a lot about how lots of people are modifying their habits and routines to adjust for the additional stress of the pandemic, and the extra time needed to properly protect themselves, while interacting in a higher than normal risk environment.
Honestly, this is scary for everyone. We’ve all likely witnessed other pandemics in our lifetimes like MERS or SARS, or even caught the annual flu and maybe took a long time to recover. But we do not know everything about the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can lead to fear.
Additionally, not everyone reacts to widely issued health guidelines in the same way. We see groups of people continuing their lives as if the pandemic does not exist. They party and congregate with no apparent care for the recommended distancing and protection measures. On the other hand, we see people stocking up on essentials and squirrelling themselves away in the protection of their homes, trying to avoid any possible contact with anyone who may be carrying the virus.
Dealing with all of this is definitely not easy for most people. Mainly because of all the unknowns and all the changes. For many, what makes it even harder is seeing those who aren’t even trying to be serious about the potential risks of a global pandemic.
For those of us who happen to be transgender, these times can present even more challenges… or, these times can potentially make the playing field seem just a little bit more level.
“The truth is, as transgender people, this is what we have been forced into being prepared for our whole lives.”
Honestly, it’s not all that bad of a situation… well, not really. The whole virus thing — with its health impacts, risk of death — none of that is good for anyone. But the day-to-day impacts on how we navigate things are not that bad.
The truth is, as transgender people, this is what we have been forced into being prepared for our whole lives. In some ways, you could say we’ve been trained for this.
Many of the aspects of daily life during this pandemic which cause disruption for the greater populations are, in fact, regular annoyances for transgender people. Annoyances we’ve learned to either live with or cope with. I’ll explain so you don’t think I’ve gone insane with all my squirrel friends…
1. Masks and ambiguity
There has been a lot of discussion and pushback regarding the imposition of mandatory face masks. Some people have fears of masks, some have health issues which are exacerbated by wearing a mask. Others simply do not want to be told what to do.
Face coverings place a barrier between people, making it difficult to read the other person’s expressions. There’s also concern over whether it’s possible to ascertain another person’s intentions or trustworthiness if their face is not fully visible.
In many ways, transgender people have been used to these issues their whole lives. We have learned to neither rely on, nor trust the outward appearance of others. Social norms and discrimination have forced us to hide our own true selves, while maintaining an outward public expression of happiness living as our sex assigned at birth.
We know that what one sees on the surface is not always the internal reality.
Similarly, we experience others acting as if they are supportive and accepting, yet beneath the surface, despise our very existence. So in that way, face masks are the perfect equalizer; they place each and every person at the same level of disadvantage in trying to determine one another’s true intentions.
We should, in fact, rely on action to assess trustworthiness; repetitive and consistent action demonstrates behavior far better than any facial expression, and trans people seem to know this lesson innately.
2. Being avoided
There’s also something scary about putting on a face mask, as it seems there’s a connotation of medical care, or something toxic that we need protection from. Putting one on yourself might stir up feelings of fear or harm, and seeing others with masks on may reinforce how fearful you are (or “should” be).
Before the pandemic, if I saw someone on the street wearing a mask, I would give them a wide berth. I would subconsciously think there was a reason I needed to stay away from that person. But nowadays, just about everyone gives everyone else a wide berth automatically.
The thing is, as a transgender person I have been given these “wide berth” distances over and over again. It happened throughout my transition, and it happens throughout my daily life as a trans woman. Of course, this is only my interpretation of other people’s actions, but I have felt that these distances given to me are a direct result of others being unsure of who, or what I am… And I feel that, somehow, the further away I am from that person, the less unease they will feel in determining how to interact with me.
Time will tell as to how this plays out post-pandemic. Will societies continue to maintain these distances as a way to protect against the unknowns carried by those physically intersecting our existence? Or will we return to the crowded pathways and establishments where “personal space” has no place? Will our future bring trans people like me into the norm, or will it return to a place where we continue to feel like outsiders — primarily because others push us away or avoid us?
3. Vocal issues
I don’t know about you, but the pandemic has put some pressure on my throat, not from any kind of sickness, but simply from communicating with others. I would hazard a guess that the distances we’re keeping from each other have a contributing factor; we can’t simply whisper in a friend’s ear anymore.
Even during this pandemic I have found myself a regular customer at my local coffee shop. For convenience and safety, I typically use the drive-through. But so do a lot of others seeking the same. I do end up ordering ahead and then go inside to pick up my cup of delicious caffeine-based heaven, but that causes its own problems. The staff end up asking customer names so as to see if their drinks are ready, but these questions (and their inevitable muffled responses) drum up a mix of potential outcomes for customers like me… that is, those of us who rely on some level of stealth to survive a life of relative normalcy.
As I stand on one of the institutional floor dots demarking proper social distancing, staff members scan the waiting clientele and query those waiting in order to play a game of retail “match-em.” As they ask my name, I meekly respond, “Kat… erm, Kathryn,” to which the guaranteed, “sorry, I didn't get that” requires me to dig deeper and say, “KATHRYN.”
Digging deeper is counter to the quiet, meek and hidden person I try to be, mirroring what I view as the norm of womanhood and femininity. However, I am unable to achieve this norm. Because simply stating my name for the barista with a mask across my face draws out a garbled — but distinctly masculine — voice, betraying my identity and my expression.
Who knew that simply picking up my coffee would crush the hope and optimism I work with each day?
4. Fear of healthcare
It’s interesting to consider that one of the greatest tools we have in overcoming this pandemic is our healthcare system. The better prepared and equipped they are, the better the chance we have of surviving any infection. The better prepared and equipped they are, the better the chance we have of gaining cures for this sickness. Our healthcare systems and their workers have truly been the unsung heroes of this pandemic.
But what of those needing healthcare for issues other than the Coronavirus? I know a number people who avoided going to the hospital for fear of putting themselves at risk of getting infected. It seems it’s becoming a regular occurrence now to just “work through” something which previously would’ve necessitated an ER visit.
For transgender people, this is common even when not in the middle of a pandemic. Many of us are fearful of healthcare. And many of us unfortunately have too many experiences reminding us that there can actually be more harm done by seeking help. Even though the type of harm I’m referring to isn’t like that of a disease or virus, it is no less potentially lethal.
Being transgender within a healthcare system can result in a lack of treatment (or inappropriate treatments), irrelevant linkages to gender transitioning, harassment, discrimination, and so on. Even the basic fundamental right of having one’s gender identity respected is not guaranteed. Each of these outcomes are just as likely to lead to harm, or even loss of life, as becoming infected with COVID-19 would.
It is no wonder that people in general avoid hospitals and doctors during a pandemic, as it’s easier to live with some pain and discomfort rather than face the potential of even greater harm.
5. Practicing patience
It sounds like a broken record by now, but how many of you have heard someone ask, “when is this pandemic going to end? I want things to go back to normal.” I can understand why people ask this question; many fear the unknown, finding it difficult to cope or manage their lives without firm answers or any view of the future.
While I can’t speak for all trans people, many of us do suffer from some mental health condition, which is only further exacerbated by also having gender dysphoria. Personally, I’ve had issues with anxiety — and a lack of information making it difficult to cope with unknowns only feeds the cycle.
When it comes to learning patience, and an ability to simply accept that there will always be life-altering events, or decisions to make based on those events (such as pandemic response), transgender people have already been dealing with this reality for a long, long time.
For those of you who don’t know, transition is typically the best way to address gender dysphoria, but transitioning is a long process (some would argue life-long), and it is subject to extensive gatekeeping by outsiders with their own agendas and biases.
Most people who transition get frustrated at the beginning because of the slow nature of approvals, and the lack of understanding by decision makers. As time passes though, many of us accept that the only way to get through our transition is to just be patient, do what’s required, and acknowledge that we are not in control.
This sounds a lot like what humanity must do in the middle of a global pandemic.
Many people question why we must follow government directions, why rights are being restricted to improve safety, and even, who has the right to be making decisions. Perhaps it time for everyone to just sit down and be patient, like us trans people have been doing forever.
6. Isolation and guilt
Ironically, isolation is both a required tool for combatting the pandemic as well as one of its worst side effects. While there are some people who enjoy personal time and solitude, many struggle with a long term lack of social interaction. The pandemic has robbed many people of these basic fundamental needs.
I, for one, did not have a big social life beforehand, as most of my social needs were met through work-related activities. But a couple of months before the pandemic happened, I retired. With the resulting disappearance of face-to-face contact and social spontaneity, I felt a great sense of loneliness. And I very much internalized that feeling, which drove a sense of responsibility and guilt… that it was my fault that I was alone.
Some of this comes simply from being transgender. Many put off coming out and transitioning for fear of losing family, friends, work, etc. The act of living authentically can, unfortunately, become the catalyst for a life lived alone and sad. When we’re at our lowest points, it’s often hard for trans people to not link their transition with their loneliness, and therefore, feel a sense of guilt… even though we’re decidedly not continuing to live a lie.
While I don’t want anyone to feel lonely, the fact that the pandemic has forced so many people into isolation — and subsequently, longing for a chance to interact with friends and family — has actually helped me a lot. I didn’t secretly start seeing friends to fulfill my needs, but rather, I felt some consolation that others were experiencing what I have been feeling for a while.
What has been helpful is that it became easier for me to accept that this fear of loneliness is not my fault, just like the isolation caused by the pandemic is not the fault of anyone else feeling lonely.
So where does this leave us? I know I feel better right now than I did before the pandemic. Which is funny, since the pandemic is not over yet. Perhaps it’s more a sense of sharing this pain with my fellow human beings. Or that this pain we’re all sensing at present is unrelated to any individual personal characteristic… like being transgender.
I feel like some of what I’ve experienced as a trans woman — transitioning at this point in my life — has prepared me better for this pandemic. I believe that the impacts have been softer on me than on many others simply because I have experienced similar impacts as a trans woman.
At this point I actually feel that being transgender during a pandemic has left me in a better position than most cisgender people. I even feel a bit lucky to be transgender right now, with the other 99.5% of the species getting a small sense of the struggles and hurdles that we live with constantly. Right now, I have the advantage!
It will end though, at one point, this feeling of “superiority.” The pandemic will end, humanity will return to some sense of normalcy, and I will return to the normalcy of not being “normal.” And when it ends, like many others, I will rejoice that we have beaten this disease, even though that means I’ll lose this temporary advantage. But until then, I’m living in the moment! | https://medium.com/gender-from-the-trenches/6-ways-that-covid-19-has-affected-me-as-a-trans-woman-ad00167e0944 | ['Kathryn Foss'] | 2020-11-06 19:38:29.721000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'LGBTQ', 'Culture', 'Transgender', 'Covid 19'] |
The Good Earth is Dying, updated | The Good Earth is Dying, updated
Artwork by Aleta Lederwasch, 2021. Source
In 1971 Isaac Asimov wrote an essay called The Good Earth is Dying, which begins with thequestion, “How many people is the earth able to sustain?”
Asimov lays out the following logic: Since the mass of plant life on the earth cannot increase without a corresponding increase in solar radiation (or in the efficiency of photosynthesis), and plant life is the ultimate food of all animal life, the earth can only support a limited mass of living tissue.
Assuming the total amount of living tissue currently on the earth is equal to that limit, every additional unit mass of people comes at the expense of other animals. So, if human beings set out make as many human beings as possible, we would eventually be the only form of animal life on the planet. What would that look like? Asimov describes it this way (p. 70):
C an we imagine, then, a huge, world-girdling complex of high-rise apartments (over both land and sea) for housing, for offices, for industry? The roof of this complex will be given over entirely to plant growth; either algae, which are completely edible, or higher plants that must be treated appropriately to make all parts edible. At frequent intervals, there will be conduits down which water and plant products will pour. The plant products will be filtered out, dried, treated, and prepared for food, while the water is returned to the tanks above. Other conduits, leading upward, will bring up the raw materials needed for plant growth, consisting of (what else) human wastes and chopped-up human corpses. And at this point, of course, no further increase in human numbers is possible; so rigid population planning would then be necessary if it had not been before.
This kind of future would be the end of human dignity, and reduce life’s most precious qualities to inconveniences. How many people is the earth able to sustain? Not, as it were, as many as people can possibly produce.
But, you might be wondering, suppose we had other ways to grow food. Suppose owe no longer required the sun. Suppose, through technology, we became wholly independent of plants and solar radiation? Suppose we made our own energy? Then the earth could sustain more life.
Of course, we would then also have a different problem. A problem we currently have. Because every day the earth receives an amount of energy from the sun, and every night that same amount must be radiated into space to maintain average global temperature. When human beings generate additional energy to what the sun provides, that too must be radiated into space, and so the earth must get slightly warmer. Even without the compounding effect of a thickening layer of greenhouse gas.
Eventually, these changes in temperature would become unacceptable.
And it doesn’t end there. The wealthiest nations on earth already consume a disproportionate amount of energy. Putting aside the aim of making more people, even the modest goal of raising the whole of our current population to the standard of living of our wealthiest nations may be beyond the earth’s potential for sustainability.
This means, as Asimov proposes, either we must limit our use of energy, or else depend entirely on technology to bring us to safe levels of energy use for all. Many people, understandably, find the latter option hopeful. They are willing to let the future depend on convincing arguments that support technological optimism.
Still, it could be that the problem is more fundamental. It could be that we are in this precarious position of having to troubleshoot the planet’s continued capacity to sustain life not because our progress machine has yet to reach its sustainable frontier, but instead because our machine is pointed in the wrong direction. Put another way — we may suffer from an unsustainable attitude.
This is Asimov’s perspective too. And he proposes altering our attitude in a number of ways. He suggests we change the way we think about having children, become more supportive of non-reproductive sex, slow our growth, and shift away from all forms of localism towards global government.
In most of these he is prescient. But he misses the mark on the last. Because since the time of his writing, global government has only proved itself incapable of providing a planetary rudder. And localism, for all its faults and propensity to generate conflict (Asimov argues it doesn’t even have the virtue of being useful in times of peace), is also the source of our greatest strengths— diversity.
We are in this predicament together, but as Rosi Braidotti (2019) writes, we are not one-and-the-same. The terms ‘our’ and ‘we’ are not homogeneous categories. There is an element in our thinking that is incongruent with planetary survival, yes, but it is not necessarily in all of us equally. In fact, the collective ‘we’ includes ways of thinking that are by contrast profoundly sustainable. For example, among indigenous people, who conceptualise the world as a systematic interplay of ideas, manifest in timeless narratives.
The ‘we’ to whom the problem of an unsustainable attitude is immanent, have a lot to learn from indigenous epistemologies. We cannot adopt them wholesale, for the simple reason that they are so intimately local, but we can at least let them, for the blunted use of universalism is surely antithetical to our project.
Gregory Bateson identifies one such blunted use in his 1987 essay, Form, Substance and Difference. This the error in evolutionary thinking whereby the unit of survival under natural selection is identified as the breeding individual. It is an error for the simple reason that “if an organism or aggregate of organisms sets to work with a focus on its own survival and thinks that this is the way to select its adaptive moves, its “progress” ends up with a destroyed environment. If the organism ends up destroying its environment, it has in fact destroyed itself.” (Bateson, 1987, p. 319).
Thus, Bateson concludes, the evolutionary unit of survival has to be something that includes both the organism and its environment, which in turn includes various interrelationships. Contemporary anthropologist Anna Tsing (2015) calls these relationships, “liveable collaborations” (p. 29), which she describes as contrary to the fallacy of “self containment” (p. 29). Its in these liveable collaborations that the important stuff of life occurs, “not in the decision trees of self-contained individuals” (ibid).
Such a shift in thinking, towards an organism-in-its-environment theory of survival, has a number of implications. Detailing each is beyond the scope of this article. But one worth thinking about is what it means for the way we conceptualise the boundaries of living things. If the organism-in-its-environment is the unit under natural selection, the life of the organism does not end at its skin. Where, then, does it end? And of what forms of ecological intelligence might it be part?
Meditating on these questions has the effect of peeling back the tendency of our intellect to perceive the world as made of discrete objects. It reveals something more like indigenous ways of thinking, or what is commonly called systems thinking. And “quite seriously,” Bateson writes, “I suggest to you that we should trust no policy decisions which emanate from persons who do not yet have that habit” (1987, p. 327).
The good earth is dying. We are in this together, and we are also responsible to the problem. The ‘we’ who recognise it must be willing to be moved in our thinking, transformed through the encounter (Tsing, 2015), into new ways of thinking that sustain life ecologically.
How many people is the earth able to sustain? It depends, as it were, on the people.
References
Asimov, I. (1971). The Good Earth is Dying, in The Roving Mind (1983). Prometheus Books.
Bateson, G. (1987). Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. Jason Aronson Inc.
Braidotti, R. (2019). Posthuman Knowledge. Polity Press.
Tsing, A. L. (2015). The mushroom at the end of the world: On the possibility of life in capitalist ruins. Princeton University Press. | https://medium.com/@danielisilver/the-good-earth-is-dying-updated-13c6f9446ba0 | ['Daniel Silver'] | 2021-06-04 05:29:47.396000+00:00 | ['Thinking', 'Science', 'Ecology', 'Evolution', 'Climate Change'] |
Small talk your way to becoming an influential UX designer | I am a self-taught UX designer who made the transition from architecture in 2019. My first day of work at a real-life tech company was a something of a culture shock. I had always worked in design agencies and boutique architecture firms where I sat shoulder to shoulder with my fellow designers, ready to help each other out in an instant. In contrast, I was now working not only with a team of 10 UX designers (spread company wide), but I also supported two agile teams of developers, engineering managers, and product managers. I had to quickly learn the ins and outs of the complex technical requirements, business KPIs and the needs of our users, while mastering this whole UX thing as I went along.
Spoiler Alert: I eventually found my way around the place, through a deliberate regime of small talk.
There is a reason why one of the top skills required for UX designers today is not mastery of design tools but communication skills. Learning software can be done through practice; learning design patterns is about copying and adapting what is out there, but understanding your product, business, and users, this cannot be achieved by just quietly doing your homework.
UX design is about an amplified multi dimensional level kind of team work. This is across teams, disciplines and hierarchies in an orgsanisation.
Small talk can be described as pointless chatter. “It’s “small” because you talk about unimportant things, in a way that fills up silences and makes you both feel more comfortable and friendly with each other.” The smallness of the conversation can be a feel like a burden to many but I prefer to focus on the second half of this definition, making people feel comfortable with one another. Here is how small talk helped me become a better UX designer and how it can maybe help you.
Small talk helps you better navigate an organisation.
It might help to think of small talk as the opportunity to collect little nuggets of knowledge about our co-workers. Collecting these nuggets every day helps paint a picture of a someone beyond the operational facts we learn in a workday.
You may quickly discover more things you have in common with your co-workers and develop a rapport with one another. It is equally important to recognise who hates small talk wholly and treat them differently. Starting a new job, there is an initial scramble to understand the culture, business and get to know your colleagues. Friendly chatter helps us identify quickly who the possible go-to people are when problems arise. We can use these conversations to help us draw a map of knowledge and influence. The sooner you build a support system at work, the faster you can solve problems and become an influential designer.
Small talk is a gateway to more meaningful conversations.
One of my favourite colleagues is an Engineering Manager who I eventually small talked into a friendship. He was quick to warn me that he despises small talk. Whenever we chat, I come up with creative ways to gauge his mood. How many meetings have you had today? On a scale of 1–10, how productive was your day?. My camouflaged small talk helped us evolve our discussions out of the realm of day to day pleasantries. Think of small talk as the quest for stories about people’s days and life. These stories help you build better connections at work and can turn colleagues into friends. This one doesn’t apply just for UX, but friendships at the office can make work a a real joy. I benefited immensely from the support of my new found friends at work, and our conversations and often heated debates, were a great way for me to learn and think more holistically about the product I was working on.
Small talk helps create a collaborative atmosphere.
I desperately crave harmony at work and in life. As an ENFP personality type, I am also hypersensitive to awkward social situations. I practice small talk in an attempt to make people feel more relaxed. Since the switch to remote work, fewer people seem to make the extra effort to be friendly during video conferences. By opening up a dialog at the beginning of these meetings, the entire tone can change and become more collaborative. This can be a great time to ask a question about something you can see in their background or just break the silence with some chit-chat. When people feel more comfortable, they share their ideas and thoughts more readily.
Small talk will make you a better user researcher.
The exact same skills mentioned above will help designers conduct better user research. Beyond being a great communicator, this is one of the most sought after skills for designers. The most skilled moderators allow the conversation to flow naturally and let the interviews navigate seamlessly between tasks and questions. The candidate should have no idea the interview has even started. The other side of the coin is moderators who skip small talk entirely and abruptly list off a bombardment of questions as they are read from the discussion guide. Dominating conversations in this way can mean that the testing environment becomes so unnatural that the results are less reliable. These kinds of tests lack fascinating off-hand insights, which can be some of the best learnings from user interviews. Use small talk as a tool to set the tone for a casual conversation, which hopefully leads to more reliable research and some more talkative users.
Small talk can help you navigate conflicts and mediate discussions.
A considerable part of the job is not only empathising with our users but with the many stakeholders involved in building a product. A healthy tension between Product Managers, Developers, and UX is fundamental for any successful product development process. Small talk can be a perfect tool to break down tensions and let conversations become less volatile. A conversation about something outside of work can help everyone remain calm and civil. This should not play out in a manipulative fashion, but more of a reminder that the workplace’s misunderstandings should not strip us of our humanity. A bit of empathy for one another can go a long way toward coming up with the best resolutions as a team.
Small talk helps workshops and ideations run smoother.
This is a no brainer. Another highly sought skill for UX designers is running workshops and ideations. I have experienced my fair share of workshops ran by someone who awkwardly tries to engage a group of people in a lackluster manner. Remote workshops are even more difficult, and activating the group is about making everyone feel comfortable and engaged. A UX designer should know who to invite and how to get everyone involved in the conversation. This is where the skills above become crucial in combination. Successful workshops are about facilitation, mediating conflicts, and fostering collaboration. No one is better suited than the friendly neighbourhood UX designer to pull it off
Small talk makes you adorably annoying.
I am unapologetic about how small talk has helped me grow as a designer and find my way around a complex organisation. I tend to focus on the adorable and not the annoying, so I am advocating for this approach. Some people won’t be into it and will probably ignore your social advances, which is totally fine. Participating in small talk is about being open to people and hoping a “How are you” could one day progress to a “Could you help me out?” Without the relentless friendliness and openness, I might still be feeling like I did on day one: Disconnected, lost, and not knowing where my place is in the organisation. I know this kind of social proactiveness may seem insincere and ridiculous to the introverted designers out there. Nonetheless, I implore you to do it anyway. If you are the best designer in the whole world, you will not make an impact if no one knows who you are.
Remember being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points, so put on a smile, give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Phase 1: Small talk. Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: Profit.
References and fun reads:
Ogeleka, C. (2016, July 29). HOW TO TURN SMALL TALK INTO SMART CONVERSATION. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://medium.com/@christianachiogeleka/how-to-turn-small-talk-into-smart-conversation-c9d873ea1d3a
McAndrew, F. (2020, January 18). Why Small Talk Is a Big Deal. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ooze/202001/why-small-talk-is-big-deal
Chatting with a Purpose: Introverts and Small Talk. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.16personalities.com/articles/chatting-with-a-purpose-introverts-and-small-talk
Sterling, B. (2020, November 18). Life advice from guru Kevin Kelly. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2020/04/life-advice-guru-kevin-kelly/ | https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/small-talk-your-way-to-becoming-an-influential-ux-designer-db82c146ff7c | ['Reem Alwahabi'] | 2020-12-26 21:19:03.494000+00:00 | ['Remote Working', 'Product', 'Careers', 'Coronavirus', 'UX'] |
Are Americans ready to buy from Ukrainian Startups? Camdog: A video surveillance service for small and medium businesses that stores recordings in the cloud | Are Americans ready to buy from Ukrainian Startups? Camdog: A video surveillance service for small and medium businesses that stores recordings in the cloud Ucluster Apr 30·4 min read
Each of us has ideas that we develop over a long period of time and hope that time will turn them into reality. Dmytro Usenko, CEO of the Ukrainian startup Camdog, did not wait. He jumped to implementing his plan on the first opportunity. In this article, you will learn how Camdog videos help businesses in court and how storing them in the cloud reassures potential customers.
CEO and founder: Dmytro Usenko
Year of founding: 2019
Website / LinkedIn / Facebook / Twitter
After graduating from university, Dmytro Usenko immediately started working on his own software development and outsourcing company. Building on his experience with US customers, creating his own product was the next logical stage for his career: “Outsourcing is monotonous and boring, only lazy founders won’t consider building something of their own at least once in their life. Products that you create yourself are much more interesting, and the financial returns are completely different,” says Dmytro.
“Outsourcing gave me important basic knowledge and skills that came in handy while working on my new startup. First, we analyzed all similar companies that already were working in the market we targeted and confirmed that customer research was one of the most important steps when starting a company,” continues Dmytro.
After the research, it became clear what competitors’ weaknesses were how they priced their products, and how Camdog’s services should differ from theirs. In the end, Dmytro decided on the scope for his product — a video surveillance service aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, which automatically saves video recordings in the Google Cloud and provides essential business features.
Storing video in the cloud is very useful to SMBs because in case of a fire, robbery, or any other emergency if the camera is destroyed, the video will not be affected. Surveillance videos preserved in the cloud are even accepted as evidence in court and by insurance companies. That is why having such a system is critical to prevent and respond to accidents.
Besides, Camdog can perform video analytics and show where customers often stop in the store, what products they pay attention to, and other details beneficial for businesses. The service also has functionality familiar to buyers of consumer-oriented security cameras. For example, if the service detects suspicious activity, it will send a security notification to the owner.
Although Camdog is aimed at US users, you can buy it anywhere, and the standard price for one camera starts at $50. Even though it is pretty tricky for Ukrainian companies to enter the US market, Dmytro believes that expanding in the US is possible and the best way to reach a global audience.
Gaining the trust of US customers
Camdog sells its products through American resellers and this helps avoiding unnecessary concerns from users. Sometimes, when users learn that the service is developed in Ukraine they raise questions related to the safety of their personal data. That is why Camdog processes and saves videos in Google Cloud in one of their US regions and personal information does not leave the United States.
In the future, Dmytro dreams of opening an office in the United States and having a separate sales team that would communicate with customers without a language barrier. “A local sales office would allow us to look for new customers without using resellers”, says Dmytro.
The benefits of acceleration programs
After graduating from the startup accelerator by Starta Ventures at the end of 2020, Dmytro understood where to go next and how to organize business processes: “It was an unreal experience! It even seems to me that the program has changed my worldview. Talking to young startups that are passionate about their ideas motivated us to continue developing our own ideas,” admits Dmytro.
Today, the Camdog team is actively looking for investors to start building the US office. The funding amount they are looking for ranges from $ 500,000 to $ 1 million. These funds will help the startup to move forward on their US office idea and find new customers.
In the long run, Camdog wants to work not only with businesses but also with consumers. This will increase the total addressable market for Camdog significantly because many in the US live in private homes and need a reliable security system. By expanding from B2B to B2C, Camdog will have a much higher chance of becoming a global leader in video surveillance.
Video interview with Dmytro Usenko (rus).
Are Americans ready to buy from Ukrainian Startups? Camdog: A video surveillance service for small and medium businesses that stores recordings in the cloud. | https://medium.com/@ucluster/are-americans-ready-to-buy-from-ukrainian-startups-b8a38df8643c | [] | 2021-04-30 11:55:21.182000+00:00 | ['Security Camera', 'Ukraine', 'Funding', 'Startup'] |
Who Will Win RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 5? (Week 4)* | The competition may be half-over, but according to the (very rough) first draft of my model, it may be all sewn up.
Courtesy of In Magazine
Note: This story was updated on 6/30 to add a methodology section to make clearer how each queen’s placement was determined. Each queen’s placement was also clarified accordingly.
As I mentioned in my last article, I have a not-so-secret love of all things RuPaul’s Drag Race. I love pouring over the data, memorizing the statistics the way my peers memorize baseball players’ RBIs and ERAs, and getting every opportunity possible to understand the art of drag more. So, when I found out we’d be learning machine learning and predictive analysis as a part of my Flatiron School Data Science program, I couldn’t help but get excited at the prospect of taking my love for Drag Race to the next level. Thus: my quest to build a predictive model to determine the eventual winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 5. I set to work right away, and I’m excited to share my initial findings with you.
Before I get into my analysis, let my start by saying two things:
*First of all: I am five weeks into my data science program. In fact, we haven’t even started the type of modeling I’ve attempted here. I’m certain this model could be better, and even more certain that I’ll continue to improve it as the season goes on and as my skill set improves. So, if your favorite has a 0.00% chance of winning right now — don’t fret, this is mostly just for fun… for now.
Next up, If you are a big data nerd like me, you can reference the data I’ve used for the initial draft of my model here. This will be a living document that I update as I iterate it moving forward.
Now that THAT is out of the way, let’s get down to business. I’ll first discuss a TL;DR version of what the model determined and why. Next up, I’ll outline WHAT the model found (since let’s be honest, that’s what you came here for). Third will be HOW I created the model, and finally, what changes I’m considering for the next draft (and there are many).
TL;DR: What was the methodology, and what factors did this version of the model deem as important?
The model I created leverages 37 unique variables for each queen that has competed AND is not actively on All Stars 2–5 (34 in all). These included race, gender identity, stated hometown for both the queen’s original season and All Stars season, various performance metrics for both seasons (such as wins, highs, and bottoms), as well as metrics for specific challenge wins.
From there, I used a method called Univariate Selection to determine the 10 most important factors that indicate overall placement on All Stars. For this version of the model, these were:
All Stars challenge wins
All Stars challenge “high” placements
All Stars challenge “safe” placements
All Stars lip sync wins (regardless of whether it was “for their life” or “for their legacy”)
The latitude of their original hometown
The number of years between their original season and All Stars
Original season challenge wins
Whether someone is Latinx
Whether the queen won the All Stars “Ball” challenge
Whether the queen won the All Stars “Makeover” challenge
From there, I used 80% of the data for these 10 data points to train a model on how to predict eventual All Stars outcome. I then used the remaining 20% of the data to test the model. It is important to note, the most accurate model option had an accuracy score of only .571 (out of 1.00), meaning that this model has significant room for improvement.
After training the model, I loaded only the remaining six queens and ran it again, calling the probabilities that each queen would get each placement (meaning I had 6 x 10 probabilities, despite the fact 7th through 10th place have already been determined). Finally, I took the sum of probabilities that each queen would get first, and divided each queen’s probability over the sum to get the likelihood that the queen would get first place. To put this a different way, where P is the probability:
P[Alexis][1st] + P[Blaire][1st] + P[Cracker][1st] + P[India][1st] + P[Jujubee][1st] + P[Shea][1st] = P[Total][1st] P[Alexis][1st]/P[Total][1st] = Alexis’s chance to win All Stars 5 compared to the other 5 comeptitors.
SO, who is poised to snatch the crown according to version 1 of the model, four weeks into the competition?
Are you feeling parched? Because Miz Cracker is currently sitting at a 98.6% chance of taking this whole competition home. This is due largely to her Episode 4 main challenge win (and subsequent Lip Sync for her Legacy tie with Lip Sync Assassin du jour Morgan McMichaels). She has also had a consistent record of high performance without ever landing in the bottom. What’s more, she was a consistently high performer in her original season, who didn’t wait too long between her original outing and All Stars.
While her unrealistically-high chance of victory will certainly plummet as the model evolves and as the season wears on, right now, Madame Cracker is the one to beat.
How do the rest of the queens shake out?
The queen you should expect to see statistical improvement from as the season goes on is Shea Coulee. While she’s sitting at just 1.39% chance of victory in this version of the model, any Drag Race fan knows that Shea’s record is nothing to balk at. Unfortunately, Shea falling into the bottom in Episode 3 greatly hurt her chances in the model because it reduced her number of wins/high/safes. That said, due to the low accuracy of the initial model, we should expect to see this percentage higher than where its currently sitting. Whereas I believe we should expect Cracker’s stock to fall, look for Shea’s to rise as the season wears on — even just one more challenge win under her belt should be enough to see a massive statistical rebound.
Next up is Blair St. Claire (.020%) and India Farrah (.018%). Blair has had a middling track record that is keeping her from falling, but her lack of wins (or even high placements) is hindering her chances in the model. India, on the other hand, is benefiting from the fact that the number of bottom placements doesn’t have a strong correlation to eventual placement in the competition (you can thank queens like Roxxxy Andrews for that). That said, a lack of top-placements will negatively impact your chances, which isn’t serving India.
Finally are Jujubee (.006%) and Alexis Mateo (.000%). Unfortunately, Juju is being dragged down due by the fact she couldn’t pull off the W against Assassin/All Stars 4 co-winner Monet X Change, and the fact she won her first challenge ever in Episode 3 of AS5. Alexis has yet to pull off a win all season and has had a few lows which pull her stock down. What’s more, both queens have had large gaps between their original run and this season of All Stars. As mentioned previously, the gap between the original season and All Stars hurts overall chances the larger it gets, meaning the Season 2 and 3 queens have that as a handicap. Making matters even worse for Alexis is, unfortunately (and definitely not justly), the fact she is Latinx; of previous contestants, Roxxxy Andrews placed the highest at 4th place, and otherwise, both other Latinx queens (Aja and Valentina) placed 7th.
In Greater Depth: How I Created the Model
Because this was my first attempt (ever) at a model, I wasn’t certain what Python libraries I might need. As a result, I started the process by pulling in a large cross-section to ensure that as I worked through the model I would have access to call different functions.
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
from sklearn import svm
from sklearn import metrics
from sklearn.metrics import classification_report
from sklearn.metrics import confusion_matrix
from sklearn.metrics import accuracy_score
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
from sklearn.discriminant_analysis import LinearDiscriminantAnalysis
from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression
from sklearn.neighbors import KNeighborsClassifier
from sklearn.naive_bayes import GaussianNB
from scipy.io import arff
%matplotlib inline
Next up: I import my data and created dummy variables for categorical data such as gender identity and ethnicity, and then dropped the “defaults,” which I set as male and white (as a majority of All Stars queens identify as such):
df=pd.read_csv(‘/Users/joesanders/Desktop/DragRaceModel/AllStars.csv’) df_gender = pd.get_dummies(df[‘gender_id’])
df_ethnicity = pd.get_dummies(df[‘ethnicity’])
df_concat = pd.concat([df, df_gender, df_ethnicity], axis=1) df_concat.drop([‘gender_id’, ‘ethnicity’,’White’ , ‘M’], inplace=True, axis=1)
Next, I leveraged Univariate Selection to determine the best columns to use for the model.
from sklearn.feature_selection import SelectKBest
from sklearn.feature_selection import chi2 fit_X = df_concat[[‘original_season’, ‘os_ht_long’, ‘os_hit_lat’, ‘os_age’, ‘os_placement’, ‘os_wins’, ‘os_highs’,‘os_safes’, ‘os_lows’, ‘os_btm2’, ‘os_lipsync_wins’, ‘as_ht_long’, ‘as_ht_lat’, ‘moved’, ‘as_age’,‘os_as_age_gap’, ‘as_wins’, ‘as_highs’, ‘as_safes’,‘as_lows’, ‘as_btms’, ‘as_lipsync_wins’, ‘as_varietyshow’,‘as_snatchgame’, ‘as_rusical’, ‘as_parody’, ‘as_standup’, ‘as_business’,‘as_makeover’, ‘as_supergroup’, ‘as_ball’, ‘F’, ’N’, ‘Asian’, ‘Black’, ‘Latinx’, ‘Multiracial’]] fit_y = df_concat[‘as_placement’] bestfeatures = SelectKBest(score_func=chi2, k=10)
fit = bestfeatures.fit(fit_X,fit_y)
dfscores = pd.DataFrame(fit.scores_)
dfcolumns = pd.DataFrame(fit_X.columns) featureScores = pd.concat([dfcolumns,dfscores],axis=1)
featureScores.columns = [‘Specs’,’Score’]
print(featureScores.nlargest(10,’Score’))
Based on the resulting data set, it would seem that All Stars Wins, All Stars Lip Sync Wins, Original Season Hometown Latitude, Gap Between Original and All Stars season, All Stars and Original Season High placements, whether someone is Latinx, All Stars Safe placements, and performance in the All Stars Ball and Makeover challenges are the 10 primary factors to consider for the model.
To be certain, I also ran a correlation Heat Map. | https://medium.com/swlh/who-will-win-rupauls-drag-race-all-stars-season-5-week-4-ca7ff820735f | ['Joe Sanders'] | 2020-07-02 07:42:48.680000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Rupauls Drag Race', 'Data Science', 'Python', 'Statistics'] |
Transcript — Twitch Town Hall — Dec 16, 2020 | Announcement
Speakers:
Erin Wayne (Aureylian) — Community and Creator Marketing — Twitch | Twitter
Emmett Shear — CEO & Founder, Twitch — Twitter
Jeremy Forrester — Head of Creator Products — Twitch | Twitter
Sara Clemens — COO, Twitch — Twitter
Mike Minton — Head of Monetization — Twitter
Link to the full video: Twitch Town Hall Dec 16, 2020
Erin: Hello and welcome to Twitch Town Hall. I am thrilled to take a deep dive into three big issues at the top of mind for many of you. DMCA, trust and safety and ads. Joining me today are three of the leaders of Twitch. I know that when you choose to build your community here it’s because you want to grow that community by sharing things that you love. You expect our help with managing your channel, with building new and better features to improve the experience for you and your viewers and by understanding how to grow and monetize your viewership. This year has been challenging for everyone but the last few months have been especially hard for streamers. You are counting on Twitch and in some instances, we have let you down. One of the reasons I started and still work here is because I like my coworkers’ belief in the community first company value. All of us here know that we can do better. We are dedicated to doing better and we want you to know that we definitely have your back. And I hope personally, coming out of this town hall that that’s clear. As we navigate a global pandemic and its implications for how we come together as a global community moment like this Town Hall are more important than ever. To ensure that we are moving forward with your needs and feedback in mind, we have to be able to get together. We have to listen to your feedback and we definitely need to have an open conversation about how we are working here at Twitch to make it better. And with that, I want to introduce our CEO Emmett Shear to share a little bit more about why we are here.
Emmet: I really appreciate the community that shows up for us, to talk to us and give us feedback.
Erin: We’ve hosted town halls as far as I can remember definitely for as long as I have been at Twitch and they changed over the years. We started at Packs and then we started doing Twitch tours and then we eventually had TwitchCon and now in this age of COVID we are moving these town halls virtually. So, it’s nice for us to be able to have some ways to share with the community what we have going on. It’s been a really tough year for us at Twitch, quite frankly, in terms of our communication, especially around heavy topics like DMCA and ads that we are going to be talking about today.
Emmet: I think in the early days of Twitch, we could handle a lot of our issues very much one off. We could make a customized decision for each case and I really loved that. It was one of the best things about Twitch that we tried to judge every case on their merits. And while it’s been incredibly exciting to see how big the Twitch community has gotten. As we’ve gotten bigger, we can’t always do that kind of direct, individualized response that we would like to, as fast as we would like to for everyone. When we started, we were outnumbered but these days there are a hundred thousand viewers for every one of us. And I really don’t think that abandoning the approach of making sure we respond appropriately and contextually, and do the right thing in each case is right. That’s a high bar but it’s a bar that I want Twitch to be held to and at the same time we are going to miss it. It’s hard and I know we have to work to make things automate, to make things more scalable but at the same time I don’t want to lose that individualized contextual decision-making.
Erin: Yeah, you mentioned that hundred thousand to one ratio and that really hits home to us. You and I have done interviews where we talk to people pretty regularly about what makes Twitch special and I think to your point, we definitely have to scale to maintain what keeps us special and I think for us that’s our human component. Because in a spot where other companies are services led and would already have automated things like customer support or trust and safety. We have really tried to be mindful of that when we scale. We do it in a way that still allows us to have that human connection. So, when a creator submits a partner application, a real human reads it. When they file a moderation report, a real person reviews it. And when videos on social media go up highlighting the really cool things that the community is doing, a team of people work together to make sure that those streamers are recognized for the things that they are doing. And part of that is we care a whole lot. We come from the community, we care about the community and we want to make sure that they feel heard in all of those instances by a real person. But the other side of that is that we are real people and sometimes we mess things up. And we get them wrong. And we have done that a few times this year.
Emmet: Yeah, I think that being a company that tries to bring the human connection and the human touch is a huge strength for Twitch. I think it’s one of our biggest strengths and I get that sometimes it can also be a weakness. It’s common for companies and people that your biggest strengths are sometimes both your strength and your weakness. And of course, there are so many times I wish that we did a better job. Sometimes, we just made a mistake, an error of judgement, or we just didn’t know. We made an honest error. But sometimes I think we did something really good and something really cool and then we screwed some small part of it up or we dropped the ball communicating about it and people walked away feeling that we didn’t care. I feel like that’s the part that hurts the most for me because people were thinking that we were not there to make things better for them. And I want them to know that we are. And I think that the more we can have that connection and faith, the better off we are. And it means that we get the feedback too. One thing that I have always been proud of in our community is how much everybody complains. I know that might be a strange thing to say but I appreciate everyone’s critical feedback as well as their positive feedback. Because those complaints are how we know how to keep making Twitch better. Because we know it’s not done, we are not near done. It’s very much still the early days for Twitch. And I just know whenever I walk around Twitch and I talk to all the other employees, they are, like everyone at Twitch including myself, we are here for the streamers, for the viewers. We are here because we want to make it awesome and we are also running a business. But we are streamers, viewers, we are people who want Twitch to be great and it’s not always easy to make it right but that’s what is in the top of mind and it’s brought up in every meeting, in every Slack discussion or email thread. That’s what we are using and there might be two thousand of us now. There is customer support, partnership people, sales, marketing, legal people, there is a huge team that makes Twitch work. But at the same time, there are millions and millions of people to support and given the scope of what we are trying to tackle, it doesn’t even feel like we have any people sometimes. Today we are going to be hearing from Jeremy, Sarah and Mike, three people who are in that group who care about streamers and viewers. They work specifically on the topic we are discussing but behind them are hundreds of other people making it happen. With that number of people, it can be frustrating how slow things can go, it’s frustrating for us how slow things can go but we are working on making it better.
Erin: Yeah, you mentioned that we are going to be talking with Mike today. He is one of the heads of monetization. So, he is going to be talking about ads and specifically one of the big things we are talking about today is the current set of ads, the future of ads, and that’s something we have experimented with since day one. We have always thought about how ads could look like on Twitch and this year obviously we heard lots of feedback that a few things that we tried didn’t land, we didn’t get them right. But I always find it really interesting that we aren’t more vocal about one of the ways we operate which is our experiment to decide mindset. So, if you have never heard that term at all and you are wondering what that means is that experiment to decide our mentality around running public experiments and regularly putting out products that aren’t finished and we do that on purpose. We do it so that when we go into the final phases of production for those products and when we move forward with how we are going to pivot or update those products, it’s based on feedback that we have collected from streamers and viewers and moderators and developers during those experimental phases so that the final version is exactly what you wanted it to be, what you need and what we know will help you succeed. So, sometimes those experiments aren’t great, sometimes they are wonderful, creative and built out of feedback, things that we head the community needed — chat was redesigned after a million people almost broke it after playing Twitch Plays Pokemon. So, as our CEO and as somebody who works on overseeing a lot of experiments on Twitch can you talk about what really that mindset means to you and how that impacts what happens when we release these products that don’t give us the best feedback.
Emmet: Ultimately, the only judge of products whether it’s good or whether it works or not for streamers and viewers on Twitch. And we can guess, talk to people, we can get input but it’s really hard to tell what’s going to work. In fact, I think anyone who has worked on an internet product or any kind of product will tell you that it’s impossible. No one knows what’s going to work and so you have to try things, you have to experiment and some of the things you try aren’t going to work. But that’s the only iterative way to move forward and to build things out. And sometimes, in retrospect we might think that it was so obvious, how could we possibly have missed that but I don’t know anyone at any company that manages to produce products without making mistakes or building things that where V1 sucked. And I don’t see necessarily launching and selling V1 that isn’t great yet as a problem. Of course, we want it to be great when we launch it but sometimes you miss the mark and that’s just part of life. I think the thing has changed for Twitch. The most important thing right now on which we need to change our approach is that it used to be when we launched something and it used to work great for 99% of our community that meant 10 people got a bad experience. Now, if we launch something and it is awesome for 99% of you, 1–2% of Twitch is now tens of thousands of streamers. And those tens of thousands of streamers have a bad experience on something that we know is super important for their lives. And having tens of thousands of people have a bad experience when we got something 99% right means that we have to be a lot more careful when we experiment. When we are rolling something out it’s important that we need to bear in mind the damage it can do when we do something that’s mostly a good idea but not quite there. And it’s obviously even worse that we do that isn’t 99% right. We are going to keep experimenting in public, we are going to keep trying stuff out, we are going to continue to appreciate your feedback. Please keep sending us your feedback whether it be email or user voice or customer support or partner manager. I will also say that we read social media but we read a lot of other feedback as well and we are also going to be moving our approach to try and think about it more in terms of opt-in betas and more in terms of transparency as we do these kinds of experiments when we can. So that when we get to that 99% right, we are protecting the 1% people that it didn’t work for. And everyone is having a good experience on Twitch. So, as much as I regret experiments that didn’t work out, I don’t regret that we tried it. I still think that experimenting is the right approach but as the blast radius for mistakes gets bigger and bigger for Twitch, we are going to be updating our approach and try to do it in a thoughtful way where we are still running experiments where people don’t have the negative experience from them.
Erin: I really like the way we do that, especially thinking about how we build them and not really thinking about what we come out with as a good idea but really taking that feedback. And I hope that we always continue to make products and improvements with the community’s involvement. You touched a little bit there on how our teams rely on feedback and that can be things like reports generated from feedback from creators, submitted to their account managers, user voice, all of that are turned into regular reports that are sent out. I know that I personally take time out to sit and read every single week to read all of those reports so that I understand what’s happening in the community. But I think it will be really valuable for people to know your personal experience has been staying connected to what the community is doing and how you get that feedback and what happens when you get it.
Emmet: I get a lot of people reaching out. I get people reaching out via email, I read people’s post whether they are on Twitter, Reddit, or they are blogging about it or they are doing a Twitch stream about Twitch, I go and listen to that feedback and sometimes I think that they have hit the mark exactly sometimes I have a lot of questions. I wish that I could go through every single person’s feedback and give it the time it deserves which is a full back and forth learning about what was going on and give the full context to understand but I can’t always do that obviously because there are so many feedbacks to respond to. But everyone at Twitch has at some point got an Emmett email forwarded that’s like “Hey what is that we are doing out there? Is this a real issue? How can we approach this?” and I know that I am not the only person who does that. I know that people across Twitch are reading, learning, thinking about what is the input people are giving and we find all kinds of things that we would have never known. Opportunities to do great new stuff and mistakes we have made that we never could have found if you weren’t telling us about it so thank you. I really appreciate the input and that’s how we make Twitch better.
Erin: The feedback is what I missed the most while being in quarantine and working from home. Because typically, we have E3 and Twitch tours and Twitch Cons, and other conventions and events where we can host feedback sessions or roundtables or panels or bring creators into the office and have them participate in a number of sessions or talk about what we might be building or want to and we have not been able to do that. So, I am really glad that we are doing this Twitch town hall. I am glad that people are utilizing the user voice much more frequently now because we want that feedback. It’s not something like “Give us your feedback!”. We really want it and need it because especially when we are at home, we need to rely on that to ensure that we are going through everything the way we should. So, please everyone continue doing that. We will hope that we continue doing these virtually or in-person in the future for sure.
Emmet: I really miss Twitch con and other events because I get to meet a bunch of viewers, streamers, moderators in person and it’s just a different level of learning and connection you can get from someone and in depth you can get to a person, I think. But it’s been really positive to get some of that replaced online and it’s why we are doing this here today with all of you.
Erin: Today, I know we are primarily focused around DMCA, ads and trust and safety but we got a lot of feedback on user voice, social media, specifically about discovery on Twitch, including identity tags. I know this is a topic that’s incredibly meaningful to you. You and I have talked about it in the past and I was hoping that we could spend some time quickly chatting about that before we get into the main segment of the Town hall.
Emmet: For those of you who aren’t aware of the issue, there is a large number of people who would like there to be a tag for trans people on Twitch so that they can share their identity. It’s also equally important that other people looking for transgender can discover them and form a community. Tags were developed for exactly this purpose to figure out what’s going on in stream, ways to group people, find people, and when we launched tags, it replaced a product called communities and communities had these sort of community identities that people had formed. That means we had a bunch of other issues like the fact that it wasn’t really used unlike tags but when we did that, we launched an LGBTQ+ tag as an experiment to see how does it work to have an identity tag and we had the intention to learn from that and quickly iterate into a better solution for identity tags. Obviously, it has taken longer than we would have liked. Obviously, we still believe in that direction, we believe in that goal. Because we think that people being able to express their identity on Twitch is a great thing. And people being able to find other people who can share identity with them is a great thing. As we were looking to launch new identity tags like the trans tag, specifically we ran into two problems. First problem we found is that the usage of the tag can often lead to increased harassment for streamers especially in identity groups and we wanted to make sure that we tried to solve that so that people aren’t accidentally opting into that harassment. And that equally importantly, on top of that we didn’t want to be the arbiters of identity. I don’t think that anyone at Twitch should get to tell you which identities are valid, which identities deserve a tag and which don’t. That decision has to be up to each individual as a person — how do you identify, what tags you want to use. So, we are out there picking which tags deserve to have a tag, so there will always be someone who feels left out by that. And so, I challenged it with an equal product for tags that would let people identify themselves on Twitch however they wanted to, protect themselves while they are doing that and allow viewers to find streamers who had those identities. And that’s a harder challenge that you might think. There are a lot of nuances and difficulty building a tag system that drives discovery effectively. And that also allows for self-identity and that can be moderated effectively. I am proud of the plan they put together, they really rose to the challenge, and we were hoping to release this feature this year in 2020 but we have been working with creators before we launch it and also with the community. But we realized that some of the assumptions that we were working with weren’t good enough. And so, we went back to the drawing board and we are redesigning it and I think we made a lot of progress. I think the new plan is great and we are going to share more details with you early next year and I think that’s going to be a huge step forward. Of course, we like to have done this faster. But as we were saying that this experiment side of things, getting things wrong has a high blast radius now. And I am just imagining launching something and then someone who has an identity being like where is my representation here. Or someone opting into using it and getting harassed, I don’t want that either. I am glad we took the time in getting it right. I wish we could have prioritized and got it done faster but I am excited to see what the team builds.
Erin: Yeah, and in full transparency, I am actually glad that we are covering this today because I know there have been work behind the scenes and the community has given us feedback that they don’t feel listened to or that they don’t understand what’s happening or what’s taking so long and so it was really important to know that you and I talk about this and for the community to hear what our thoughts are, what are we actually planning, what’s taking so long. So that they can realize that it is important to us. And we do care very deeply about having an experience in a product that is good for everybody when they use it and it doesn’t lead to any negative experience. So, to add to that insight as well, we are going to be showing more about the new product once it’s available and in the new year we are going to be hosting creator camp sessions specifically on discovery, including insights from product experts and a little bit more about identity tags. So, with that thank you Emmett so much for joining us. We just covered a whole lot and we haven’t even gone into the main part of the town hall yet so, I think it’s probably a good time for us to do that.
Emmet: We know you have a choice in streaming solutions and I am really happy that people choose Twitch. We are really grateful for the patronage of our service, I am really excited to get to do this with you and I think sometimes people make fun of us saying hold us to a high bar and saying that we don’t hit that bar. Hold us to a high bar isn’t about us being perfect. We are going to miss sometimes. It’s about having that expectation. I am proud to be working with a community that has really high expectations for us. I have very high expectations for us. And I am really excited to get to share all of this with you. So, thank you again.
Slide 1: Agenda for the Town Hall
Erin: Before you move into the main portion of town hall I wanted to talk about what you can expect from us to cover today. So, first we are going to dive into DMCA with Jeremy Forrester who is our head of Creator Products and he is going to go through where we are currently at with DMCA, talk about some new products that are releasing soon and cover what we have planned going into 2021. Then we will be joined by Sara Clemens, our COO to recap plans from our moderation, talk about our recent updates to our hateful conduct and harassment policy and cover what to expect in terms of future enforcements when it comes to trust and safety. Finally, Mike Minton who we mentioned earlier who oversees monetization products will take us through the future of ads on twitch and announce some really exciting updates that are in the works. We are going to feature questions from the community sporadically during the town hall as they come up through each section but we are also again dedicating an entire section at the end solely for Q&A. Often we get questions around can you build blank, have you thought about building blank, would you love to build blink and although we would love to talk about all of your ideas if you specifically want to chat about an idea or something that you want us to work on, I would also ask you to head over to twitch.uservoice.com, log your idea and we will be sure that that information and feedback get to the right teams.
Slide 2: Navigating Copyrights on your Channel
So, we are going to jump into DMCA and we are going to spend the next 30 minutes discussing new info about DMCA with the community which means that we are not going to be providing an overview of copyright law or a refresher on Twitch’s DMCA guidelines. With that said, it is still super important that you understand both and how those may affect your channel on Twitch and anywhere else that you publish your content. If you have questions about copyright law or DMCA please check out all of the recent materials we have published. There is a blog, blog.twitch.tv, we have creator camp sessions at twitch.tv/creatorcamp, and info available on help.twitch.tv. I also wanted to take a quick second to reiterate that you should not play recorded music on your stream unless you own all of the rights in the music or you have permission from the necessary rights holder. We have with us Jeremy Forrester, Head of Creator Products who is here to talk about the tools that his team is building to provide additional insurances to help you avoid copyright infringement claims on the content that you stream and you share on Twitch. Jeremy let’s start with admitting that as a streamer understanding your channel’s current risk and understanding DMCA guidelines is at best incredibly complicated and the tools that Twitch has to help creators in these areas are not good enough, specifically I personally understand why an absence of other solutions but it was still really hard to watch Twitch tell creators that their primary defense against DMCA was to delete all of their VoDs and clips. When we watched them delete their content it was literally years of hard work and then all of the memories that they have built with their communities just gone. And it felt really awful. It didn’t feel good.
Slide 3: How we’re improving the DMCA Experience
Jeremy: Yeah, you are right. I am a part of a number of communities on Twitch and I saw firsthand just how devastating it was to lose all of that content. It wasn’t a recommendation that we would have made if there was an option that made more sense in those circumstances. What I can say is that we have doubled down on our efforts to help you better navigate copyrights and content on your channel.
Our roadmap prioritizes features that improve the creator experience in the following areas. 1) music on your channel and streaming with music, 2) managing content on your channel and 3) how you track copyright claims on the platform. I also wanted to mention that although as a strategy, as a multi-pronged approach, each update on its own will make the experience a little bit better for creators. We won’t wait till all the updates complete before shipping them to you. As soon as an update is ready, we will make it available to the community.
Erin: Yeah, I think it’s really important and I am glad to know, and I am sure that the community is glad to know that this is a big priority for your team not just now but also carrying throughout the years as we implement new and future products. So, I think everyone is eager to learn, “What does that mean?”. So, let’s start at the top with music and work our way through that list. So, starting with music, earlier this year, Twitch released “Soundtrack”, a tool that gives creators access to music that’s already licensed to stream on Twitch so that as a streamer you can play music during your live broadcast without it violating copyright. We also published educational materials for creators on creator camp and on “Help Center” as we mentioned before. But is there anything else that helps creators stream with confidence knowing that the content that they stream isn’t violating a copyright or at the risk of a DMCA takedown notification.
Slide 4: Streaming with Music — Today
Jeremy: As you mentioned, a great component of the soundtrack is the multi-track audio technology that we built.
Slide 5: Streaming with Music — In Development
The music from the soundtrack doesn’t transfer over to the clips and VoDs, so you can share the music feedback version of your content wherever you want. We have this technology as useful for streamers who independently license music on their livestream and not their recorded content. We have been integrating the technology into other streaming applications so it can be accessible to more creators. Just this past Monday, it was included in OBS 26.1 which was released in Q2 and integrated in Twitch studio and we are looking forward to more of these integrations.
Erin: And to be clear, that is not to help streamers circumvent securing rates for copyrighted materials. So, those are there to help you and you should still only use content that you have rights to stream. They are just there to help you as added insurances to ensure that if anything accidentally slips through that you are covered. So, that reminds me of that case. We are talking about Twitch tools, we do have an upcoming creator camp session that’s live on twitch.tv/creatorcamp on December 22, the title of that stream is Copyrights and Managing Your Content which includes more information about the tools specifically Twitch offers for use to help you manage your content. We have 1 question — Can Twitch pay for sitewide licensing like other sites?
Jeremy: Yeah, we do pay organizations around the world like ASCAP and BMI in the US and JASRAC in Japan and SACEM in France for public performance licenses. These licenses allow creators to perform music live to their communities. This is similar to a live performance that you would see. But most of what happens at Twitch is ephemeral and our services were built to enable connections through live sharing experiences and this differentiates us from other video online sites who focus on video on demand. These services have an agreement that reflects that primarily on-demand nature. On-demand videos are more likely to be considered substitute for listening to music on a streaming service like Spotify and it comes with commensurate costs. Twitch, by contrast, offers a predominantly live interactive and unpredictable experience which is fundamentally distinct from on-demand and implicates different rights. So, while we are open about partnering with labels our agreements have to reflect the different usage and the underlying rights and landscapes to each affair for both Twitch and creators. That said, we are actively speaking to major record labels for potential additional agreements that would be appropriate for the Twitch service. We are approaching these conversations thoughtfully and in consideration of our creator community. Because we know that the current constructs for label agreement and services often use revenue earned by the creators to pay the record labels. The thing is the vast majority of our creators aren’t adding recorded music to their streams and if a creator does have the music in their stream is it okay for the label to get all of the revenue earned during an air on stream when it only included thirty seconds of music. These are the types of questions we are thinking about because they can have a substantial impact on what it means to stream on Twitch. So, we hear you and we are open minded to new structures that could work for Twitch’s unique services but we also want to show that we are not compromising your long-term economics as a result. These agreements may take some time to materialize and may never happen if we can’t reach an agreement that works for everyone. It’s not a one size fits all solution and it will come with possible trade-offs.
Erin: Yeah, it’s definitely an incredibly complicated and nuanced thing to work through. So, I am really glad to hear that we are working on it and we are having those conversations. There’s another question that we got on Twitter. This one is also about licensing but specifically as it relates to soundtrack and they asked if music and soundtrack is licensed for streaming on Twitch, why is my VoD muted?
Jeremy: Yeah, this is a common question. So, if some of your VoD is muted, then it is likely that you don’t have “Soundtrack” configured correctly. Soundtrack was built to derive music for your livestream only and not for VoDs and clips. And to do this, soundtrack streaming software captures the output sound from your application from separate tracks and removes the music from the soundtrack and then sends the remaining audio to your VoDs and clips. So, if it isn’t coming from your VoDs and clips, it is probably misconfigured. If “Soundtrack” is configured correctly, music may be included in those VoDs and clips. Those sections can be muted or deleted by audible magic which is the system that we use to detect music in your content. Streamers have unique set ups. So, it’s difficult for me to give you specific configurations or instructions right now but we do have a help article that provides guidance on how you should set up “Soundtrack” and we recommend you checking that out.
Erin: We do get a lot of generic questions like can I do blank or what is blank. And it’s difficult when those questions are asked and so heads up in Q&A if someone asks it. Sometimes, it’s like what else there is to know. Everyone’s situation is so different and unique. But probably because you have it misconfigured and so, definitely check out the link Jeremy mentioned. We have one more question from the community that relates to music. That question is — can I just get permission to stream music from the artist directly? Actually, I think I can answer that. One of the beautiful things about social media is that you can connect sometimes directly with your favorite artists and musicians. However, it’s totally possible for an artist to say that they are giving you a license or that they are okay with you streaming their music but they actually don’t have the authority to make that decision. And it’s likely because another party like the record label or a music publisher actually controls the rights to that content. So, rather than taking social medias or DMs or emails directly at face value, I would highly encourage and it is up to you as a content creator and streamer is that you make sure that you do your homework and ensure that you have the permission from the actual license holder when you are putting that content on your channel.
Slide 6: Content Management — Today
Let’s move on to the next topic of managing content on your channel. We all know that the tools available manage VoDs and clips could definitely use some work. They are not fully sufficient. And I am really excited for you to talk about the tools that you guys are building in this area.
Jeremy: I did want to let you know about a product update just before we literally started the town hall. So, now that they are assigned the role of editor on your channel can access the clips library so that they can help you review and delete clips as needed. But that’s not enough. The current options of reviewing and deleting clips are fairly extreme and you can even review each clip and delete individually or delete all the clips at once but both options are not ideal particularly if you have hundreds or thousands of clips to review. To fix this, we are going to build functionality that lets you sort and delete clips by dates, game or view count. We expect to roll this out by the second half of this year. I know that sounds like a long time and we wish we could get this to you sooner but in order to build this we need to make some significant updates to our clips infrastructure which will take some time to complete. I can assure you that we are working urgently on this and we have added more resources against it. But even with that it will take time.
Erin: Just to clarify, editors can already manage clips. It’s already out.
Jeremy: Talking about VoDs, today creators only have one option for managing their VoDs which is review and delete them all individually. This puts them in a really tough situation because there is a potential risk of keeping a huge number of VoDs on your channel but it also takes time to view the content in each VoD. To help with that, we are rolling out another update today that lets you select and unpublish VoDs and they are not visible on your channel but they are not gone forever. We will work on expanding this functionality so you can select a batch of VoDs and unpublish or delete them if you prefer. We hope to have this in the creator dashboard by the end of Q1.
Erin: So, on the topic of managing your content, let’s say that some music or content slips through while I am live. I obviously want to remove that specific content from my channel but I don’t want to have to delete it entirely. Right now, it’s that the option is really there that you have to just delete the whole stream. And so, the question we’ve gotten is Twitch working on a way to cut out specific parts of a VoD so that we don’t have to sacrifice the entire stream if we have to remove it from our channel.
Jeremy: This is where we use Audible Magic to help. It scans VoDs for copyrighted music and if it is detected it mutes that portion of the VoD which is obviously less disruptive than removing that section entirely. But you can also use the highlighter tool in the creator dashboard to select and remove segments of your VoD that you want to get rid of.
Erin: Audible Magic isn’t perfect. So, if you know that the content is there and you want to highlight the stream and do like a part one before the content and a part two after, you can definitely cut it up and keep it on your channel. So, if you haven’t done that, there is a help article to “Creating Highlights” on help.twitch.tv if you are interested in learning more. But let’s say that I do want to go ahead and delete the entire stream or a series of VoDs and clips from my dashboard, one question that we have heard multiple times is that I deleted content from my dashboard. But it’s still showing up on Twitch. Does that put my content and channel at risk?
Jeremy: I am glad someone asked this question because it gives us a chance to address this misinformation that we have been hearing. So, if you have deleted the content, you are not going to strike. If you have used twitch tools that deleted your content and it’s still viewable when you have received a strike against it, for example that it is a large job or and it needs additional time or there are other deletion jobs in progress, you will not receive the strike in those cases. It’s important to note that this doesn’t apply to content deleted by third party tools that may exist on Twitch’s system. That’s because we don’t manage the tools so we cannot verify the accuracy.
Erin: I am glad that we were able to verify and touch on that point. You mentioned Audible Magic just a few minutes ago. Do you have any updates?
Jeremy: As I mentioned we use Audible Magic right now to scan new clips and VoDs and we delete the entire clip or mute the segment of the VoD if copyrighted music is detected. We started using Audible Magic to go back and scan all historical clips that were made as well as all VoDs that were created before it was introduced in 2014. So, this scanning is ongoing but it will take time for Audible Magic to scan years and years of VoDs and clips. We will keep making progress but we expect the scanning to be done in about six months.
Erin: We did get a question about muted audio on the topic of Audible Magic and they wanted to know if a section of their VoD was muted on sound on stream is that the same as a DMCA notification? Some people get the two confused that if it’s muted does that mean that a takedown notice was filed? Can you clear that up?
Jeremy: So, there’s a difference between seeing a muted audio warning in your video and video producer dashboard and receiving a DMCA takedown notice. A muted VoD doesn’t mean that you have received a DMCA strike. It means that our end of Audible Magic detected copyrighted music and muted that segment of the VoD. This actually helps prevent the DMCA strike so it’s not an indication that you have received one or even going to receive one. That said, no technology is perfect and it is possible that it doesn’t pick up all copyrighted audio.
Slide 7: Notification Management — Today
Erin: Yes, we have said it a few times that it is a safety net but it doesn’t mean that it’s perfect. So, you can’t rely on that solely. You can’t put the content and assume that it’s going to catch 100%. These tools are there to try and help you in case something slips through, not to allow you to put content on your stream that you don’t have the rights to and then remove it later. But we talked about the confusion of knowing whether you got a strike or not or when a VoD has been muted, I think the last thing that we need to talk with you is our system for managing DMCA notifications and appeals and notifying streamers when they do receive those notifications. So, if you aren’t familiar right now Twitch sends DMCA notifications to creators in an email that contains the information like what content was removed, the content that was in violation and information about who filed the notification but honestly email is not a reliable system and it’s not creator friendly at all. So, can you share with the community today what we are doing to make it more clear for streamers when they receive a DMCA notification and what their options are after it happens.
Jeremy: Emails should not be the only channel we use for important notifications like this because as you mentioned it’s easy to miss an email or it’s for it to be sent to the spam folder. To build this we are going to build functionality.
Slide 8: Notification Management — In Development
That when you receive a takedown notification that you receive it on Twitch as well as an email. We expect to release this in the first half of 2021. But we also want to make it easier to navigate the entire DMCA process. In 2021, we are going to release a series of updates that will enable creators to learn when they have received a DMCA notification and review the content that was subject to that notification. Monitor the number of strikes that they have on their channel and even follow the count of notification if they believe that they have wrongly received the DMCA notification and it will all be done directly from the creative dashboard.
Erin: I think that’s going to be a pretty huge step not just for understanding the content but also making it easier to navigate. There’s just comfort in being able to feel informed about the current state of your channel. Understanding how many strikes that you have, being able to navigate those notifications and understand the content that received it. So, one of the questions that we also get specifically about DMCA strikes is that are strikes for a DMCA violation the same as strikes for violating Twitch’s terms of service? We haven’t really been clear about the difference between the two. So, I was hoping that you could clear that up.
Jeremy: Strikes that are received for DMCA violations are different than those received for terms and services violations including community guideline violations. For example, say you have received an enforcement for community guidelines or terms of service violation. This is separate and is not counted against DMCA infringement policy which purely concerns the number of DMCA notifications you have received. Likewise, if you have run a foul that is a repeat infringement policy DMCA strikes do not impact your ability to use Twitch products that require you to be in good standing like “Bounty Vault”.
Slide 9: Product Roadmap
Erin: I know that there were some streamers that weren’t aware of those nuances. So, I am glad that we were able to clear that up. I was hoping you could do a quick recap of the product roadmap.
Jeremy: Quick recap. So, we release free updates this week. We integrated “Soundtrack” for multiple audio technology into OBS 26.1. We gave editors access to manage clips. We added the functionality to let you unpublish individual VoDs. Next quarter we are going to continue to expand on VoD management functionality that will let you select a batch of VoDs to unpublish and delete and then in Q2 we are going to give users access to “Soundtrack”, “Multitracks”, audio technology in Twitch studio and we will be adding DMCA to the creative dashboard so you can receive notifications, review the content targeted in those notifications and track strikes without having to leave Twitch. In the second half of the year, we will enable sorting and deleting clips by date, game or view count and we will also introduce functionality that will let you unpublish all of your VoDs at once and file a canon notification directly from the creative dashboard.
Slide 10: Creator Camp Live Learning on Dec 22, 2020
And while all this is going on Audible Magic is going to continue scanning historical content and deleting clips or muting VoDs where it detects audio from its database and finally I want to remind everyone that we have a creative camp session.
Erin: So, switching gears, we covered DMCA now we are going to get to our second topic — trust and safety. So, joining us now is our chief operating officer Sara Clemens.
Sara: I run everything that focuses on taking the products that are launched. So, the type of things that Jeremy was discussing. So, the teams like partnerships or marketing, all of that corporate functions including trust and safety.
Erin: We are going to spend the bulk of our time in this segment talking about the Hateful Conduct and Harassment Policy. But before, I wanted to talk about the other improvements and progress that we have made this year to help keep our community safe. So, I want to give you a second to talk about what stands out to you this year.
Slide 11: Making Twitch a Safer Community
Slide 12: 2020 in Review
Sara: So, in terms of trust and safety, we have had a really big investment area in 2020. It’s a priority for us and it will absolutely continue to be a priority for us. This is a perpetual area of investment for us. I want to talk about a few policy updates.
We have heard this from the community. They wanted us to make the community guidelines clearer and to improve enforcement consistency. So, there’s really been a strong focus around those two objectives. We have issued several policy clarifications this year that have been specifically about addressing community feedback about issues such as drops farming and also suspension evasion. We have done it quite quickly because the issues that cropped up in real time and we wanted to address and issue clarification and provide as much clarity as possible. We did a much longer process and we overhauled nudity and attire policy. This has been a really hot topic for the community. We appreciate that there has been frustration around this in particular. And so, we did a lot of work and rolled that policy out to provide more clarity around what you were able to do in terms of nudity and attire. So, you can feel a bit more confident and understand exactly what was covered under the policy. And then, just to clarify that these policies are only effective if we can enforce them consistently and fairly. So, one of the big investments we have made in this space is that we have doubled our safety operations team in 2020 and it helped reduce the median response time by 96%. This is an area we will keep focusing on. Having really expeditious responses to reports critical to creating a robust trust and safety system. And we are not only adding more people to our trust and safety team but we are also adding some new expertise. So, particularly, we have focused on deepening our language coverage globally so that we can get quick responses in all the different languages around the globe. And we have also broken out a dedicated appeals team and a dedicated law enforcement team that helps us in having specialty around those particular areas. This is a perpetual area of investment for us. There is no end state when it comes to safety and we are really committed to it.
Erin: So, definitely making progress in enforcement and consistent response time. All the things that we hear from the community are a huge part in ensuring that Twitch is a safe place to be and a big step toward safety in general. But it’s’ definitely only a part of it, so can you give us a rundown of the tools that we have specifically launched this year to help with moderation on Twitch.
Sara: Moderation is just critical. We launched mod view to help in March which is a one-stop shop that we have created for mods on Twitch. And since we have launched it, over 40% of all moderations have gone through mod view. So, we are really excited about that.
Erin: You said things for mods and I thank all the moderators.
Sara: So, I am going to jump into more of the products. So, the first improvement is that we edit notifications for reporters. So, historically the reporter experience was a black ball. So, you would submit a report and then the only way you could tell if something had happened was if you saw some news on twitter or people chatting about it. And so, what we wanted to do was to ensure that when people are reporting they have full clarity around what happened. The safety of Twitch lies enormously on community reports. For us, making sure that you have clarity, really as part of just maintaining the robustness of this reporting system. Earlier in 2020, we launched a confirmation email. So, when you send the report now, you will get a confirmation email saying that we have received it. And just a couple of weeks ago, we started sending a notification. If action was taken for the reason you did in the report and you could close that loop. And so you actually know now that if the thing that you reported was upheld, we will give you a response to that confirming that. It’s important that the community feels confident that the reports you make are impactful. And I just want to take a moment and speak about this issue. Every report that is submitted is reviewed by a member of our team. This is a really important part of our trust and safety approach is that we want people to actually review these reports. And so we continue to invest in our team and in the first half of next year we are actually going to undertake some user research to understand how we can further improve the reporter experience.
Erin: I think it’s really important for people to understand the outcome of a report. They want to feel heard and they don’t want to know that the report just went into a void and had no impact. That if something happened, that Twitch took action on it. It’s super important.
Erin: And on the top of notifications, our team is also working on providing more detail if you are receiving enforcement against your account. So, if you or someone who is at the receiving end of enforcement, we will actually build providing a notification so that we include the content title, the creation dashboard, and the type of content that is being actioned upon.
Erin: By just saying that you violated our guidelines and not knowing what you did or what the content specifically was can be an incredibly frustrating situation especially if you are trying to appeal it and there’s not much info to go on. So, I am sure people will be really happy on both sides. If you are making a report or on the other side of a report we are working on building better communication and more transparency.
Slide 13: Hateful Conduct & Harassment Policy
Sara: The last thing I want to touch on is that we are involving the community in order to improve our approach to trust and safety. So, this has been a big area of investment for us and so we have really brought the community voice into the conversations that we have about trust and safety. What we can do better, what approach are we taking and what the stands in the community are. We have things like interviews, we have focus groups of community members. We do that around the globe and across different continent times. And we are also regularly tracking community sentiment. We use surveys, what we see on social media and also the use of voice. In addition to talking to the community, we also contact subject matter experts. So, academics we are considering, NGOs around the globe on specific topics like hateful conduct policy. And finally, a safety advisory council that we created this year. And they are great and are providing us with advice and feedback and it has been really valuable because they can give their unvarnished opinions on everything that we put in front of them and it’s really helped us identify areas that we can improve.
Erin: We are going to talk about all those things specifically as they relate to updates to hateful conduct and harassment policy. So we will touch on the specifics of those in the next section. But before we get into that, I wanted to remind everyone that the new policy for hateful conduct and harassment doesn’t go into effect until January 22nd of 2021. So, we have specifically set aside the next few weeks to give the community time to read the policy and understand what’s changing and in the meantime our safety team will continue to moderate the existing guidelines until that January 22nd date. So, Sara before we dive into the policy we have gotten some questions from the community and they wanted to know that if we understand that we have a policy, if we have a problem with harassment, why are we waiting over a month to release the new updates to the policy.
Slide 14: Policy will not go into effect Until Jan 22, 2021
Sara: First off, it’s important to remember that we have an existing policy in place. And that policy prohibits the kind of behavior under the hateful conduct and harassment policy and we will continue to enforce that during the education period. And so, it’s not that there is no policy in place. We wait up the education period really carefully. We were considering, “Do we implement it immediately or do we provide a buffer for the community?” We made a deliberate choice to give everyone an opportunity to fully understand and digest the policy before we started enforcing it. We were super conscious that for many of our creators this is their livelihood. And so, we didn’t want them to catch people off guard over a policy particularly during the holiday period. We take our community’s safety seriously. If we had thought that this education period would have resulted in any level of abuse we could have restrained, we absolutely would not have provided. We will still be monitoring all content under the existing policy.
Erin: There is so much in addition to the time period like educating the community about the policy. There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes that we are trying to make these decisions. Again, we will talk about that. But I think we should step back one step further and talk about why we even decided to make these updates. What happened was that we felt that we should revise and make new guidelines.
Sara: We are always looking for ways to help our creators and our communities to be safe when they are on Twitch.
Slide 15: Why Update the Policy?
And do that in a way that’s meeting the community’s needs. We heard from the community that there were some frustrations regarding the hateful conduct and harassment policy, specifically that the existing language was too broad. It didn’t provide enough clarification on how we actually enforce the policy. And that lack of clarification was distressing for people and so we were like this is something that we want to make sure that people have a really high degree of understanding about. We also heard from communities that it didn’t provide an adequate level of protection for some parts of our community, particularly women, black, LGBTQIA, disabled, and identities alone that specifically and unfortunately make them targets. Our mission at Twitch is about building a global economy of diverse multiple creators. We really want to ensure that gaming on Twitch is for everybody. And we know that being exposed to pervasive harassment or hateful conduct really inhibits the growth of the community and the well-being of our streamers. And so, with this update we really wanted to provide clarity on our expectations about being very explicit about what is allowed and what isn’t allowed. So, if you read through the policy, one of the most notable changes is that we have added a really long list of examples in every section. And if you go on to the Twitch site where the policy is, you can actually hover over the parts of the policy — you can see examples that will pop up and they will give you tangible and concrete examples that demonstrate how actually the policy might translate into your everyday experience on Twitch. Adding that level of specificity both to our external guidelines and also to our internal guidelines, we are able to eliminate some of that grey area that might have led to inconsistency or confusion in the past.
Erin: Making sure that we are consistent and everyone is understanding what those guidelines are is super important. And I think that you should reiterate that there are a lot of updates to the clarification but not necessarily changes to the policy. We are just being incredibly clear about how this may impact you. So, a lot of it doesn’t change and it’s just us being very specific. We had one more question — whether content created before the announcement will be held to the new policy because there is such a wide breadth of time between the announcement and the enforcement, how are we moderating against content that may have existed before that goes live.
Sara: This updated policy will only apply for content that is created after January 22nd. So, we don’t intend this to be applied for historical content. Sometimes mistakes can occur. But if you do receive a strike for what you believe is content that was created prior to the 22nd of Jan that were acceptable under our existing policy then please file an appeal so that we can look into it. We do not intend for people to be penalized for something that is new in the policy that is after January 22nd for the content that was created prior.
Erin: We have not consistently disclosed to the community how we make these decisions and I would really like to talk about it. The community wants to know if they are represented, especially if you are somebody being impacted by new and updated policies that somebody is bringing into the room your point of view or experience to ensure that this doesn’t have a negative impact on you. Can you talk about this specific round of policy updates as to who was involved and helped in making those decisions?
Slide 16: Policy Development Process
Sara: This is a big area of investment for us. We want to ensure that the community voice is part of our ongoing policy development process. And so, the internal team that drives the policy in tune with our internal research group, we conducted a range of interviews. They were both one to one and also focus groups where a group of creators and moderators around the globe and we talked to them about the kind of harassment that people experience on Twitch and how it affects them. And we wanted to ensure that there was a diverse sampling of creators, so we included a range of genders, people from different regions, different continents and focuses. What time they spend on Twitch, to get a really broad and representative view of the community. And this was just so helpful and us being able to understand what are the key pain points that the community feels and we need to address to ensure that the change that we made to the policy would actually provide protection for everybody. We have also built a sort of arm of effort across the business which is how we tap into experts around the industry. So, in addition to talking to our community and having people internally, what are the external experts that we can talk to. So, these are academics around the globe, we have talked to civil society groups, safety groups, and specifically in fields who consider things like cyber bullying or diversity and inclusion and ensuring how the best practices for helping build a healthy community can actually enhance what we do on Twitch.
Erin: One of the points that you talked about was about historical context, current cases and review, blending into how we decide to make these updates. One of the questions that we saw across Twitter specifically when we announced the updates to the policy was coming, the community wanted to know whether this was Twitch’s response to the sexual misconduct allegations that we saw over the summer.
Sara: So, we had actually started working on the policy change well prior to that. This is all being across the year in making but the info that we gathered is part of the investigation that we took into those allegations. It gave us visibilities in the ways in which sexual harassment can actually differentiate from other forms of abuse. And it influenced that decision to distinguish sexual harassment as a different category and break it out and also to adopt the lower tolerance ratio that you see in the policy for objectifying or harassing behavior that is sexual in nature.
Erin: So, now that we have the context into why we make policy updates, how we make them and we are very clear about where we are from those aspects. Let’s really get into the details. So, the current policy is broken out into the three areas, hateful conduct, harassment and sexual harassment. Why specifically those three areas?
Slide 17: Update Provides More Detail
Sara: Once we completed our research we understood that there is no one size fits all solution here and so, we decided to break the categories out into distinct sub-sections. So, harassment, hateful conduct and following the events of the summer, we broke sexual harassment out as a third category. We did that to reflect and to ensure that we can consider the different situations with a lot more specificity than we are able to when they are all combined together. It was really important with the sexual harassment category to allow our teams to take decisive actions around those behaviors. This also allows us to give specific examples which were much harder when they were all combined together. So, again when you look at the policy you can see those breakouts, we have added very specific examples to each of the types of behaviors. And we are hopeful that it will help achieve greater clarity across the policy.
Erin: The older policy was super generic in language and very broad ways and it encapsulated one area that was incredibly dense. So, I think it makes sense to break them out. I think we should go through one by one, each of those sections today and provide an overview as to what’s been updated in each section. So, let’s start with the harassment section since it’s the first part of the policy. What are the key things that the community should know when it comes to updates and changes in that area?
Slide 18: Definition of Harassment
Sara: Based on our research and the feedback that we gathered from all those conversations that we had around the globe that streamers really had a stable and consistent definition of what harassment was that aligned with our existing guidance. The harassment section of our new policy is not a massive departure from where we are today. However, we have added a lot of details so there’s a lot of examples and we have done that to really make it clear that what it is that we consider harassment and provide examples to bring that to life.
Erin: At the very top of that bullet is something that we hear a lot from the community all the time is that there is a nuanced and kind of really important part of conversation that relies on context that there is difference between banters and trash talks and harassments. Those are all different things. And that concern is largely based on the idea or the potential for streamers receiving a suspension for something that was good-natured but was reported for harassment.
Sara: This was probably the biggest issue that we grappled with. We got a lot of feedback from the community that they wanted to have in-jokes, and talk to each other and these sort of banter and memes and inside jokes and we wanted to ensure that we didn’t stop people being able to do that. What we were focused on is that sometimes, those behaviors can cross a line and then they rise to the level of harassment. And so, what we have decided is that in order to evaluate that we will actually consider a number of different factors. And specifically is there an indication that the behavior is unwanted or makes someone uncomfortable. And those indications might be things like timeouts, reports or chat bans from one of the moderators. And those indications give us the necessary context to ensure that we are not punishing people for banter or teasing or competitive trash talk that is actually comfortable for people who are participating in that particular discussion. But I do want to emphasize that there are bounds across Twitch about what is and is not acceptable. And so as creators, as community members, it’s important to remember that there may be behaviors that you may be comfortable with but they are not acceptable to the broader Twitch community. So, we do have what we think is kind of a threshold in terms of behavior and there is a limit to that exception of allowing indications of comfort around the particular conversation. And so, we are constantly weighing the perspective of the reporter and content for review for each determination and the thing that we are hopeful for is that we anticipate these challenges will actually improve the enforcement consistency as they reduce subjectivity in the review process.
Erin: If somebody does something in your channel that makes you uncomfortable, or if you witness something that you absolutely feel empowered to take action, so somebody does something, definitely time them out and ban them and especially report it. A lot of times, somebody will come into chat and say something and you are like, that feels like harassment to me and you ban and that’s where it stops. But we rely on the community to report those actions for us so that we can take those actions and I am glad that it comes in now. On the opposite side of the issue though, we have another question from the community that I know came across social media for sure which is that “What happens if somebody falsely claims to be offended? That they didn’t actually take offense and they were reporting and banning in bad faith and they wanted somebody just to get into trouble. How do we determine that and what do we do about it?”
Sara: Even if we are given an indication from a targeted user, we don’t suspend for behavior that does not violate the harassment policy. So, for example when someone is egging you on and then reporting and review of the content demonstrates that it was in bad faith and so we don’t want to penalize someone who is trying to get into the system to try and get someone into trouble, we do always take that into account. But if you did make a comment and you are asked to stop, and it was in violation of the harassment guidelines, then there could be grounds for enforcement and so I just encourage people for like if you don’t have a relationship with the other person and you are unsure about what kind of tolerance about specific kinds of behavior are it’s probably best to avoid them.
Erin: Can you cover what has changed in hateful conduct?
Slide 19: Hateful Conduct
Sara: So, harassment becomes hateful conduct when you target someone on the basis of a predicted and usually identified characteristic. And so, in this policy change we have expanded our list of particular characteristics and it included caste, color and immigration status. And the reasoning for that is that we want to evolve with the community and we heard from the community that they felt these were particular characteristics that were not included in our previous policy and we really needed to step up and include them. So, we have done that. And then similarly to the harassment section it’s a very similar approach and we have added a lot of illustrative examples. So, all these behaviors were implied in the policy that we have in place now but they weren’t explicitly called out and we have made the effort to break these out for you so it gives you more tangible ideas as to how these policies are actually interpreted.
Erin: I think that section was brief and it didn’t accurately portray the amount of severity that we put on making sure that there is no hateful conduct on Twitch and nobody experiences that behavior. So, now let’s move on to the sexual harassment section.
Slide 20: Sexual Harassment on Twitch
Sara: The first thing is that we have broken it out of harassment. So, this new policy really talks about behavior that could be objectifying or abusive and it makes it clear that they are never permitted on Twitch. Because of this, our trust and safety team will act in requirement based on any indication from the targeted behaviors that are unwanted. This is a really notable and important change and a critically important one because what it does is that it takes the onus of the victim of that behavior to report it and so community reports around that and review from our trust and safety team ascertaining that it did indeed breach the community guidelines around sexual harassment enabling us to act upon it. We have also limited things like repeatedly commenting on someone’s parents if they have asked you to stop and also making explicit comments about someone’s sexuality. I honestly hope that some of those sounds like common scenes but we wanted to ensure that everybody was crystal clear about our expectations of the behaviors that we expect when you are part of the Twitch community.
Erin: I know that there will be communities that will be glad to see that these changes are being rolled into effect but I think that it’s fair to say that there is skepticism about our ability to provide consistent safety. We have mentioned multiple times that we are trying to improve the consistency there and so one of the questions is what we are doing specifically to improve the consistency across our enforcements so that it is fairer to users across the board.
Sara: We absolutely acknowledge the fact that our policies are as good as their enforcements. Enforcement consistency is a priority for us. I know this has been a real pain point for the community historically and we might have actually talked at Twitch con last year and we explained as part of the reason that historically we had issues with consistency is that we had different teams managing trust and safety across the business. And that just inevitably leads to inconsistency. And so, there is different interpretation of policies and so last year we actually brought all those teams together and we are putting in place these new policies that have global training processes and wherever possible we are trying to remove subjectivity from the system because subjectivity is the thing that creates inconsistency. And consistency absolutely starts with having clear guidelines. It’s absolutely essential to us to be able to run a trust and safety system that is consistent with everybody. And so, one of the reasons why we updated this policy is that the broad language that we had in the previous policy had made enforcement decisions really confusing because it wasn’t clear to the community what specific behavior was prohibited. The effort that we have made to clarify and provide all these examples means that both internally and externally we are able to remove some of the objectivity in the review process. And the second thing from a consistency perspective is that we have been scaling up our safety operations team and the team has had an enormous amount of training over the course of the last year and that’s a really important aspect in terms of ensuring that they understand how the new policy should be applied to new content. What the nuances are of it, we provide examples to the safety team when they are looking at content. And our safety operations team will be placing more emphasis on the content of the words and actions rather than the intent. So, you may recall that our historical approach was that we would look at the intent behind the content that had been reported. And that actually makes it more subjective because everybody thinks about intent differently. So, we have moved to considering the content and reviewing it against community guidelines. And that makes it much simpler for the safety of our team. Every report that you send to Twitch is reviewed by a member of our safety team. And we are really committed to the human review. We really believe that humans are best placed to assess the context and the meaning of content and that can vary enormously from country to country. Our teams can understand and identify nuances that can have a significant impact on meaning in a particular language. This is a human process and we are absolutely committed to minimizing our mistakes but we also have an appeals process in place to ensure that if they do happen, they are fixed.
Erin: It definitely is a conversation that we are building out our ability to provide more information to you if you are on the receiving end of moderation action and if something happens you do have the ability to raise it to us. Before we move on, there is a trust and safety related topic that we haven’t covered here and it’s not necessarily covered in the policy but it is something that we commonly get and it’s really important for us to cover. And it’s that the community wants to know what Twitch is doing to curb the creation of usernames that are made purely for the purpose of harassing other streamers or viewers on Twitch.
Sara: It falls into two categories. One is, what can we do with technology and the other is, what can we do with humans. From the tech perspective, we have an efficient machine learning model that runs on all our nearly proposed usernames. So, if you create a new username, we let you run that through a technology system that will review it and block abusive names from being created. We also maintain as a part of that, a list of slurs and phrases that will be blocked as usernames as well. Machine learning is a great tool but it doesn’t necessarily understand the nuance of language and so we did a specific list of debiasing look earlier this year to train it, to allow more positive implications of LGBTQIA and black identity and so we want to use technology to be effective but it does require these kinds of trainings and investments. We also act on reports of offensive usernames. And those that are found in violation of our community guidelines are indefinitely suspended. So, on the proactive detection model, that’s based on actions and reports, so it does matter. I really encourage you to review usernames that may not have gone through the system and if you could report those to us because that report actually helps us in improving our technology’s proactive detection and it’s really essential to it. On the human side, we also have a team dedicated to preventing that on Twitch. We don’t talk about what they do because the objective of this team is to stay ahead of bad actors.
Erin: I know that they are the unseen heroes behind the scenes and I know it can be frustrating for the community and we get a lot of questions about, do you do this, do you try this technology and there is sometimes a specific reason why we don’t tell you that and it’s so that people don’t figure out how to circumvent that.
Slide 21: Enforcement Begins Jan 22, 2021
Erin: So, the final topic of today’s session is ads. So, some of you may have attended the ads seminar that we hosted specifically for partners about a month ago and I am specifically excited about this part because right now we are going to review all of the information that we included in our partner webinar so that the entire community is in the know including updates in the past few weeks and show you things are to come. Mike Minton is going to guide us through the ad experience.
Mike: I am going to discuss with the community about advertising and the future.
Erin: Before getting started, I want to talk about what sparked the conversation about ads which was the automated experiment that we ran a few months ago and I think that the most common question that we get is why did even Twitch decide to do that experiment.
Mike: Anytime we are making any change to the side of ad experience, we are starting with some kind of customer problem and what we had heard consistently from streamers is even if ads seemed interesting and the revenue that could be earned there is a perception that there is a disadvantage. If I run ads and other streamers aren’t running ads, I may lose my audience because nobody else is running ads. It was also grounded in an understanding that the streamers that were running ads started with, many of them were using automated tools, running ads on a timer basically. So, the combination of those two things informed a solution where we would automate the ad breaks to level out across the ad load across Twitch and reduce the burden on streamers to have to remember to hit the ad button. While they are using third party tools that’s hard to remember running ads in the midst of everything else that a streamer is doing to create amazing content to build a community. And so, for us bringing the timer on the platform, putting the burden on Twitch, honestly we expected that the community would be largely angry at Twitch. What we learned is that the control in our mind was that a streamer can choose to run ad breaks. If a streamer runs an ad break the automated midrolls won’t run. That wasn’t enough. Consistent feedback from streamers said that we needed even more controls than that. Even when they used timers, what we heard from them is that they are still adjusting the ad running to avoid it running in the middle of a boss fight. Nobody wants to get an ad when you are about to down a boss. Our goal was to get feedback and learn and that’s where we are.
Erin: We definitely heard all of them and even with all that feedback I think it’s still fair for us to answer this question because the community is going to ask whether the automated midroll experiment is going to come back?
Mike: The experiment that we ran and as per the feedback it’s not coming back. The feedback was quite clear which indicated it won’t be smart for us to put it back out there. But we are going to continue to experiment to make the ad experience more consistent across Twitch. Our north star vision is most ads on Twitch are midroll ads run in a streamer-initiated ad break. We have more things coming, we will be more transparent, and we will obviously think a lot more about the viewer experience to ensure that they are not missing out on those important moments.
Erin: I think it’s really good for the community to know that we do think about the future of ads that we are dedicated to making sure that there are less interest (??). We will talk about more of those core tenants in a little bit but at the end of the day, ads are incredibly important to the ecosystem of Twitch. So, I would love for the community to hear directly from you.
Slide 22: Subs and Bits support creators and our service
Mike: Everybody typically brings up subs and bits. We love those products, the community loves those products but not everybody can afford to pay, not everybody wants to pay on Twitch. So, the other thing to keep in mind is the viewer journey. It often takes a long time for a viewer to discover a community that works for them, that aligns with their interest and are ready to support by taking out their wallet. Subs and bits were great for the community, where there is a lot of engagement between the community and the streamer and less well when you get into very large communities, chats moving faster, a cheer might not even get noticed. So, as the channel grows, ads become a much bigger part of how the community is supported. So, if you think about from a streamer’s perspective ads generate revenue, paid for by brands versus viewers where brands are paying for this opportunity to reach this awesome audience and community. Ads grow with the channel, and then frankly it allows us to provide the infrastructure and bandwidth and services to support Twitch experience. Simply said, they pay our bills and keep Twitch free.
Erin: There is a definite misconception from the community and we do hear this quite often that Twitch doesn’t need ad revenue because we make enough money from our splits of bits and subs.
Mike: The truth is that ads scale. Bits and subs and paid products do not scale the same way ads do in terms of scaling. And when I say scale, I am talking about all kinds of content across different types from esports to community-created content and different countries around the world and different community sizes. So, ads scale. And as twitch grows, ads become more important in terms of the value they provide. When streamers grow, it becomes more important to them and their earnings and their ability to make a living by doing what they love. So, we have to have both and we are balancing them. So, it allows Twitch to be the place where streamers get paid creating and building a community around things that they love whether it’s a day two streamer with one concurrent viewer who might be their friend, trying to grind their way to affiliate or whether they are partners that have been on the platform and the service for seven years and have thousands of viewers every time they stream. So, we are here to support all streamers who have the products and resources to do that and that’s why we need to have both forms of monetization in terms of direct paid as well as the advertising. We are an independently operated business. We built a high definition, low latency, globally available streaming experience. So, operating that, maintaining it, growing it as the community grows, has significant operating costs. So, ads are really the underlying way that we are able to keep Twitch freely available and stay in business and ensure that we keep building that service, growing it, and rolling out new tools for streamers.
Erin: Yeah, the high definition, low latency, global experience can get quite costly on bigger channels and then you add all the channels who are just starting out on Twitch and who don’t have those monetization products enabled, there’s a lot of costs associated with that. Ads are really an important part of keeping that technology going. As a viewer when I come to Twitch what should my expectation be as a viewer with regards to ad experience?
Slide 23: Types of Ads
Mike: There’s definitely a lot of confusion about what to expect and what ads are run by Twitch versus streamers. So, today pre-rolls are twitch-initiated. So, you are discovering new channels and you happen to find a new stream, you will often be experienced with a pre-roll before that stream starts. And then you will also see beyond that pre-roll and then some channels and not all channels, streamer-initiated ad break. And when streamers are running those ad breaks, it’s really important to understand that they consistently run mid-rolls, it removes the pre-roll from the experience. So, if they run 90 seconds of ad every half hour, it will remove pre-rolls from that channel.
Erin: I think that the pre-roll experience on a channel is something that people might expect but mid-rolls like when it’s going to come, when should I expect it, are confusing to the community and viewers. I think I have an indication of why that might be but I think the community would love to hear from you.
Slide 24: Mid-roll Ads
Mike: It gets back to that inconsistent point. Not all streamers are running ads and many viewers watch the same channels consistently when they go to experience a new channel and see an ad break, it’s very confusing. I see this on social media as to why there were seven pre-rolls? But the truth is there wasn’t. You entered a channel when an ad break was being run and it was surprising and unusual. But when you see the longer ad pods, it’s a streamer-initiated ad break after pre-roll.
Erin: And sometimes, those ads aren’t seven thirty second ads, sometimes they are seven shorter ads but the length of the time is determined by the streamer who is running that mid-roll and that length of time can be 90 seconds, it can be a minute, it can be a different varying amount of time and so both the number of ads doesn’t necessarily correlate with time and understanding what happened can be confusing. But because a lot of streamers aren’t manually running their ad breaks, mid-roll ads are somewhat of a new experience for the community even though the number of ads total that you will experience on Twitch is still much less that other video-based services. But since mid-rolls are controlled by creators, we see concerns from streamers all the time who aren’t necessarily opposed to running ads and obviously everyone wants to increase monetization and make more money, but there’s an underlying fear that if I am a streamer and I run ads, I am going to lose viewers. And I know that you have got some data and insights to talk about the numbers.
Mike: It’s something that we have shared with streamers to help them educate and make them aware.
Slide 25: Insight into Ads
But the reality is, first of all, most viewers absolutely stay, they understand ads support streamers and they don’t leave or switch channels. But if you compare a mid-roll versus a pre-roll, the community is five times more likely to stay through a mid-roll. The immediate question that typically follows is that if I run a two-minute ad break of multiple ads, does that mean that it adds up? No, what happens is that viewers once they make it through the first break, there is increasing likelihood that they will stay through the entire break. Streamers are educating the audience and letting them know. The picture-by-picture experience also helps here because if the streamer actually gets out of their chair, they can see the empty chair and they know that they are not missing out. And streamers and the community will stick around. So, that’s why we created the mid-roll, pre-roll trade so that new viewers can get into your channels more easily while still maintaining equal or similar amounts of inventory. And then the viewers can immediately see your content.
Erin: I think for people who are coming into streaming for the first time, they want to stay and want to experience the channel to see what you have. So, if you are regularly running those breaks when it’s convenient. Running those 90 second ads to disable those pre-rolls, that retention ends up being higher in the long run because they are able to get into chat. Streamers want to know can I actually make real money? Is there money to be made running ads on Twitch?
Slide 26: Revenue Increase for Streamers from Running Mid-roll Ads
Mike: They absolutely can. And we brought some data here to show and it’s kind of varied by the amount of ads and the community size of course and by country honestly as well. We are going to start from the left and work our way right. A smaller streamer that has 11–100 working partners at this point, and are consistently running affiliate and we are running three minutes of ads an hour which is far less than any other ad-supported content site on the internet, there’s 3–6% increase if you consistently run ads and you remove the pre-rolls. You get the benefit of a little more money and the pre-rolls are gone. But one way to think about these sizes of community is that another sub or two which gets added up. It’s meaningful, it gives more equipment for the stream, helps you on your journey to become a larger community. Then if we go into mid-sized, at this point, 101–4000 is a very large range, that’s our partners, our growing partners, communities and if they are running three minutes of ads, they are going to increase their take-home pay up to 28% by consistently running ads and also with the removal of pre-roll benefit. And finally, it’s no secret that ads tend to work better at larger sized communities and it’s up to a 48% increase in revenue. And once your community is used to ads, and you can incorporate those into your content, and increasing that a little bit then you will start to see even more in terms of potential revenue up to a 120% by running 5 minutes of ad, still less than YouTube and many other sites.
Erin: Start with disabling the pre-rolls, have the conversation with your community. You should ensure what works for your content. We are trying to give you more tools to be able to do that. But, even with all the tools, with all the improvements that we are making to ads in the future, the ability for creators to earn money in doing ads is still impacted by other things that viewers can be doing in a negative way. We have seen a lot of conversations about how ad blockers are impacting the ad experience on twitch?
Slide 27: Ad Blockers on Twitch
Mike: It’s important to understand that oftentimes, ads blockers prevent the streamers from getting paid. The ads are nearly always delivered but because we can’t track it, it unfortunately impacts the streamer and their ability to earn from that ad view. So, the other thing that we have seen recently is that the way in which ad blockers and third-party scripts are trying to modify the site, it results in things that we come to watch on Twitch TV. But I am already on twitch tv. That’s not the expected experience and in those cases, we suggest that you check things you may have installed. We have a published help page that you can learn more about and we can encourage you to go and look there if the ad experience hasn’t been what we are talking about today.
Erin: Ultimately what the community is anxious to learn about is what the future of ads look like.
Mike: We always start with the streamer. And so, when we talk about the future it’s what more controls can we give to streamers and how can we make advertising more lucrative. How can we help that impact their take-home pay? Then we think about the viewer side of it, it’s live content, we don’t have time outs. We really need to have them not disrupt the content and that starts with the streamer running ad breaks. From the viewer side, we want the ads to be relevant and personalized and enmeshed with the content and we can’t forget the advertisers. They are the folks that are putting out the money here to buy advertising on Twitch and in that case, the ads must be attractive and it must represent their brands and it must be effective. They need to work. They want to see engagement, brand lift. So, by balancing the needs of these three customers, the streamer, the viewer and advertisers, that would result in more advertisers spending on twitch which results in streamers earning more money. And for the viewers that don’t want to pay or can’t pay it helps them to support the community.
Slide 28: A more controllable and lucrative experience for streamers
Teams are working on for a while and iterating with some streamers now which is really a much better on twitch offering that helps schedule and manage your ad breaks. It’s called ad manager and the other thing is that it’s not there now but it’s coming is to help connect if I do this ad running behavior what the impact will be to my earnings.
Erin: Some people might have had a sneak peek when it appeared on streamers’ dashboard once. I am glad that we are finally talking about it. It will be helpful for us to understand if the Ads Manager will be available for everyone including both partners and affiliates.
Mike: It sure will. Ad manager has started testing with certain creators now and early in 2021 it should be available to all creators, every streamer that is eligible to run ads will have access to this tool.
Erin: One bullet point that you mentioned was less interruptive. I think something we can agree on is that if ads are going to run, we don’t want it to disrupt the viewer experience.
Slide 29: Experiment — A less Disruptive Viewer Experience
Mike: It’s important to understand that advertisers are paying to interrupt. So, video advertising is the core of what we do. It is interruptive and the only way to not interrupt the content is for it to be a streamer-initiated ad break where it’s woven into the content. But what we are also saying is what I suggested about the ad load earlier is that we still feel that it is quite competitive in a good user experience within live content, we want to add to that. To give streamers more options and more types of formats. I have seen a lot of people suggest this on social media, etc. We want to integrate more display advertising which by its nature is less interruptive. It still provides great value to the three customers that I mentioned. It may refer to something referred to as the squeeze back format. This basically brings the video player back about 70% of its original size for some amount of time, gets the message out, the audio and video remain, it doesn’t interrupt the stream and then it will revert back after the message has been delivered. So, this is one format, there are three or four here. Instead of an L, it might be across the bottom and there might be also opportunities with what we call IEB standard units, these are the units that are bought and sold on the internet where a lot of advertisers are using them will also be shown. With any new ad product, especially something like a squeeze back that is not a standard ad format that advertisers are already buying, there can be time towards convincing them that there can be great value for our community and works on our site, and for them to understand the format, understand the effectiveness and buy it, so you will often see us put things out there, iterate, learn and then see it scale.
Erin: I am sure it will be available to all partners and affiliates when it goes out?
Mike: Yeah, absolutely. None of these ideas are segmented for any specific streamers. We want to get these ad formats and tools in the hands of every streamers. Much of the alternate squeeze-back type formats as well as the ad manager we are looking at March-April time frame in 2021.
Erin: Speaking about brands, the last thing that you mentioned was, really wanting to incorporate that into the experience so that they can advertise on Twitch. And when they do that, they really want to take advantage of this crazy, wonderful place that we love and call home, and that’s because we are engaging, it’s a live format and unique, what are we doing that helps them do those things in fun and unique and engaging ways?
Slide 30: Multiplayer Ads — Better for Advertisers and Creators
Mike: You are seeing our new multiplayer ad format. What we tried to do here was build a really engaging ad format and in this case, the advertiser can use their normal video ad creative but round it in some fun, amusing twitch community engagement. So, there are kind of three parts to this — there is a two way interaction, so multiplayer rewards the community for interacting with brands. So, the brand gets more information beyond whether the video was shown or not and they also in this case the brands get direct market feedback. We will often see this interaction in the form of a poll which can ask things like what’s your favorite flavor. So, it’s really a fun and engaging content around a brand message of course and the streamer benefits because they are rewarded when the community engages and, in this case, they are rewarded with a number of bits based on the engagement of the community. So, we think this is fun, probably one of the best examples of balancing the needs of streamers, advertisers and viewers. And one important lucrative thing is that early data shows that on average if a streamer runs a multiplayer ad versus a 60 second ad break it’s 37% more revenue to the streamer due to that community mechanic engagement. And that will vary based on how engaging the community is or isn’t. So, they are also controllable, streamers decide when to run them. We are testing it and rolling out, it’s now available to 3,000 streamers which is quite a bit more than what it was in the week prior, mobile users are now able to vote on the poll and finally, I talked about that retention piece earlier. The early data shows us that the audience is even more likely to stay with this type of advertising experience then the streamer initiated standard mid-roll.
Erin: Why don’t we launch skippable ads, why aren’t we talking about that here today?
Mike: We are looking at many new formats, and the skippable ad economy isn’t that great in terms of what the revenue will be to the streamer, it’s far less but you can imagine that we will continue to test it. We will see and find out which will then establish the value to the advertiser but there are other things like snoozing, allowing viewers to pool their ad watching into a time that is convenient to them. We are going to continue to iterate, talk to the community, but at the end of the day, help streamers earn revenue via advertising.
Questions and Answer Session:
Erin: So, before we head into our Q&A, there is one last area that we heard and saw on twitter we saw lots of feedback coming out of the Twitch con keynote, since most of what we are covering today and talked about only a select few areas of the thing that are happening on Twitch, the community ask, so now that everyone on Twitch is working from home, what actually has Twitch done this year. And the answer is, quite a lot. Our teams have been hard at work delivering new features and updates to the community across all of the areas of Twitch. So, a couple of things that I specifically wanted to highlight is one of the things that we truly worked hard on is improving the tools to the streamers. So, few things that really stand out to me is the fact that we have released an improved watch-parties, which includes adding in picture by picture, which was highly requested for our video and audio support, and releasing to creators across the globe. We have improved Twitch Studio in a number of ways, which is our own broadcasting software by bringing it to Mac, which is so wonderful for varying creatives across out of streaming space and added ton of new features like Chroma key, chrome vault, Vulcan game capture, streamed act interaction, chat overlay, so many things are available for people who are wanting to break into streaming utilizing Twitch Studio. We also expanded the ways for streamers and their communities can interact on stream. These are things like channel points which generally became available in December of last year, but since then we have continued adding new features to that like community challenges per user limits, and cool downs. Most recently we launched predictions. If you haven’t seen predictions, they are very wild. I would highly suggest you find a channel who runs them. And we also continuously work on improving the chat experience, including the current check chat history; and a number of changes that make fast moving chat more adjustable for the streamers and for the viewers that are watching. Those are just a number of things. It’s the tip of the iceberg. I was given the entire list. So, I am challenged, like to rattle off as many as I can in a minute. So, I just want you to understand that we have a lot of things that we are working on that includes high train for both web and mobile, celebrations which included two different beats, including commerce interaction, limited time e-modes for hyper skate private, holidays, new emotes, including emote auto resizer, tier two and tier three modifiers to emails analytics, and now default emotes which you can use if you don’t have your emotes, providing them for you; it’s super awesome; feedback to reporters. So, now you | https://medium.com/@adityasingh95/transcript-twitch-town-hall-dec-16-2020-399c4497b86b | ['Aditya Singh'] | 2020-12-19 07:51:30.921000+00:00 | ['Transcript', 'Online Harassment', 'Twitch', 'Updates', 'Dmca'] |
How to Ask Smart Questions | I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all done it at some time in the past. We’ve asked a stupid question. It happens in both individual and group meetings at work. Hopefully, the employee that we ask is nice and patient, so they answer your question. But, if not, the employee will clearly show you how much disdain your question causes them.
I have to be honest. I’ve been at my current company for a few years now. I went from the newbie engineer who asks a ton of questions to the one who is the receiver of the questions. So I’ve seen all sides of the spectrum. And if you were to ask me which one of the engineers I am from the first paragraph, I will unfortunately say the second.
But I don’t mind questions… when they’re smart. A good question will bring about a good answer that will propel you forward in your project, and maybe even lead to a solution that’s even better than one I could come up with myself. A good question may lead to a recognizing a potential weakness in the team or the project. I love smart questions. So here are my tips that I use to make sure that my questions are smart.
Be Specific
One thing that always irks people is when they are asked a vague question or given a vague problem. To be more specific, these are questions that could only be responded to with giant answers.
“I don’t understand anything about this spreadsheet.”
“How exactly do we write a requirements document?”
“I think this table is broken.”
A rule of thumb is if it takes more than 30 seconds to answer the question, then it’s too big and vague. Focus your question to something more specific.
“What is this spreadsheet trying to show?
“Are there examples of requirements documents I can look at?
“The value in Cell F4 of the table seems higher than it should be. Is there something wrong?”
With this one step, you will immediately look more intelligent. Instead of looking completely lost, you’ll like a competent employee who is just missing one piece of vital information.
Avoid asking the first question that pops into your head. Examine the problem more and look for a bite size question that you can ask a coworker.
But what if you’re completely lost? My advice is: break up your question into smaller bite questions and distribute it among several engineers in your team. That way, no one person knows how much you’re completely lost.
State What You Already Know
Engineers will be happier to answer your question if they know that you’ve already put some leg work yourself. What have you done already to try to figure this out yourself? Even if you’re completely wrong, you still look better if you try. Just make sure you provide your justification.
“Tab XYZ has a lot of financial data in it. It looks like this spreadsheet may be the team budget.”
“I looked up a template of a requirements document online, but I want to make sure that I’m matching the format used in this company.”
“I looked at the formula in Cell F4, but it looks like the same formula found in all of the cells in the column. So I’m not sure what could be wrong.”
When I first started at my company, there was a coworker of mine that I asked coding questions to constantly. Every time something in the code would break, I would immediately send him a message to help me. Eventually, he started delaying his responses back to me. The reason why, he said, was because he felt that often times, people end up figuring out the problem on their own.
Even if I didn’t figure it out, I used that time during his delayed responses to get a better understanding of the problem. I could try different solutions to try to fix something or start on the project even when I didn’t feel fully comfortable. That way, when he actually did respond, we had a much more fruitful conversation about the problem.
Keep It Simple
Engineers are busy. Some are antisocial.
This means that no one wants to hear you rambling. Keep your questions short and to the point. I once had a new employee send me a bunch of questions via email about the company and the program we were working on. I didn’t mind this list of 15 questions because they were short, and required short responses.
There is no need to have more than 1–2 sentences max to explain your question.
“Hi John. I was looking at the schematics for the hydraulics system we’re working on. Could you tell me what this portion is supposed to represent?”
See, it’s a quick question necessitating a quick answer.
Be Polite
Your coworkers are doing you a favor by stopping their work and answering your question. You should be polite when you come to them. In fact, the more that they like you, the more they’ll be willing to answer your question in the future. So make sure you’re polite and respectful of your coworkers’ time and effort.
Be Confident
Last, in everything that you do at work, always be confident. You’re at this job because someone saw drive and intelligence in you. We all have questions. That doesn’t make us worse engineers. In fact, what makes a good engineer is being able to ask the right type of questions. You got this.
Are there any tips that you use to make your questions smarter? Leave your answers in the comments. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-ask-smart-questions-d02f053a02ac | ['Chelsie Librun'] | 2019-09-12 19:00:09.332000+00:00 | ['Coworking', 'Collaboration', 'Work', 'Questions', 'Meetings'] |
Design System: Icons | Redundant Layers In The Icon Frame
There should be nothing in the component frame, except for the icon. Don’t forget to remove all hidden layers from the icon frame.
For example, Material Design icons have a white background layer.
Icons have a white background layer
As a result, the icon component should contain only one layer (the layer with the icon). But there may be exceptions, for example, two-color icons.
In the case of a one-color icon, all the elements must be combined into one layer.
After you have merged the layers, don’t forget to apply the “Outline Storke” to the merged shape.
Combining an icon into one layer
All this is necessary for the icons to weigh less, to make the SVG code much smaller and more understandable, and for the developers not to have problems with recolouring the icons.
This is how the SVG code of the icon looks like when the icon component has several layers and they are not combined into one. The code turned out to be very long and has as many as 7 “Fill” parameters for different icon elements. It can’t be done like that.
Icon file size 1318 bytes
And this is how the SVG icon code looks like when all layers are merged. The code is much smaller and has only 2 “Fill” parameters. One for the background of the container, the other for the color of the icon. You can do it like that.
Icon file size 803 bytes
After exporting the icon, you can further compress it using this website.
After compression, the icon code got even smaller, but the appearance of the icon did not change. | https://uxplanet.org/design-system-icons-5955b68eb3dd | ['Андрей Насонов'] | 2020-12-22 16:14:51.587000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'UI Design', 'Design', 'Design Systems', 'Figma'] |
Understanding the FED. What’s all this about Interest Rates?? | The United States Central Bank (FED) has the ability to raise and lower interest rates. Interest rates have a profound and far reaching effect on the economy and, recently, FED Chairwomen Janet Yellen made her address to Congress and talked about the potential of the FED beginning to ‘normalize,’ that is to say raise, interest rates before the end of 2015, possibly in the summer. This data-story aims at clarifying some of the different considerations the FED takes when choosing whether or not to raise interest rates and why, in particular, they are not raising them, yet.
While other indicators and influences in the economy have appeared to improve, inflation has remained sluggish over the past 2 and a half years. Inflation reflects an active economy. When people have more money, when they feel more optimistic about the economy, they start to spend and the increased demand will start to raise prices. So when the FED sees lower inflation than their 2% annual goal, it causes them to pause and think twice about raising rates.
If the FED were to raise interest rates it would without any doubt lead to even lower inflation. Raising interest rates causes liquidity in the market to decrease, leading to lower spending, leading to lower inflation. The less than ideal inflation over the past few years is probably the best explanation for why the FED has not raised interest rates up until this point.
Most anyone will tell you that a good indicator in the economy is unemployment. The normal unemployment that is reported on regularly in the media and the oval office is U3. But, as you can infer from this graph, it is not the only way of measuring unemployment. U6 is another such way and it is calculated by taking U3 and adding to it workers who are in part-time work that would like a full-time job.
Normally, the majority of people would be satisfied with the standard measure of unemployment, but during the financial crisis, the number of people who were pressured into part-time work rose relative to the people who were completely without work. This led to a small debate on whether or not U3 is a good indicator of the current job market because it failed to take into account this uncharacteristically high U6. Notice how the ‘Difference’ line, which shows the difference between U6 and U3, rose at the end of 2008 and has not returned to pre-recession levels.
When the FED looks at unemployment, they are optimistic looking at U3 but will pause when looking at U6. All this being said, it is important to remember that unemployment is a lagged indicator. In other words, the economy might have improved but it can take time for that improvement to be reflected in unemployment because hiring is not instantaneous.
To take another view, Yellen recently met with a more conservative group who would like to see the rate raised sooner rather than later. By keeping the interest rates low for so long, it has actually begun to hurt employment rather than helping it. When capital has been as cheap as it has been, it makes it more likely that business can invest in physical capital rather than more employees. The firms are likely to take out a loan and buy a machine to do the work because they will never see loan interest rates so low after the FED acts. Add this to minimum wage hikes and companies like Mcdonalds are much more likely to hire a touch screen payment system rather than a cashier.
Wage growth is similar to unemployment in what it says about the economy but not the same. A tightening labor market, meaning more and more people have jobs, will result in higher wages as employees can start to ask for more money as the scarcity of their skills increases. For the past 4 or 5 years, wage growth has hovered around 2%, barely keeping up with inflation. Wage growth is one of the key indicators that continues to lag, resulting in the FED being ‘patient’ about raising interest rates. If the data for 2015 start to show more substantial wage growth, we can be much more confident about normalization occurring before the year’s end.
This graph shows the US Labor Force Participation Rate. The rate is now the lowest it has been in over 3 decades and many people are unsure of the cause. One of the main explanations going around is that the baby boomers are starting to retire. This could account for some of the decline but not all. The long term effect of more and more people not working on the American economy could be drastic. As more and more people go on welfare or other government subsides it could seriously dampen the long term finances of the nation. A lagging LFPR is yet another reason why the FED decided to not raise the rates just yet.
Interest and bond prices have an inverse relationship. When the FED lowers interest rates, what they are really doing is buying bonds with newly printed money. So instead of there being a piece of debt floating around in the market (the bond) there is new money. The FED starts buying bonds, the increased demand causes bond prices to go up which in turn makes interest rates go down because of the aforementioned relationship.
This is why the FED Balance Sheet looks like it does above. The longer that the FED continues to hold interest rates down, the more debt they will accumulate. This amount of debt has never been seen in the FED’s history and it has raised questions about the risks associated with a central bank holding so much debt. Many wonder if there will be long term consequences if the FED does not curb their current intake of debt.
Take Away
Many different factors affect when the FED will finally raise rates. Without a doubt, it is getting closer to doing so, but if certain factors of the economy do not improve this and the next period (Q1 and Q2 2015) they could postpone it even further. The most important incoming data to watch will be wage growth and inflation. When these factors in particular start to normalize the FED will begin to raise interest rates.
Last Updated: March 4, 2015 ; Data Source: BLS, FED. | https://medium.com/data-visualizations/understanding-the-fed-what-s-all-this-about-interest-rates-95118ad5c1f7 | ['Matt Mulholland'] | 2015-03-18 23:57:19.159000+00:00 | ['Interest Rates', 'Federal Reserve', 'Data Visualization'] |
Connecting with your Teenage Daughter | When our baby is first born, we want to do everything right, and we’re nervous that we won’t. We read all the books, we go to birthing and parenting classes, we ask our parents questions about how they did things.
After a few years, though, we start to get pretty comfortable that we know what we’re doing. “I’ve been doing this for 7 years now, so I think I have a pretty good handle on this whole parenting thing.”… which may be true.
What is ALSO true, however, is that the entire landscape of the matter changes during our child’s next growth stage and they become a pubescent darling who only vaguely resembles that chubby toddler who smeared chocolate on you when she hugged you.
How do we go from the rainbows and unicorns of childhood into a more mature relationship with our maturing daughter?
Love, of course, is the answer.
But what does “love” LOOK LIKE in the teen years?
When we’re talking about reaching our teen daughter, I believe that the conversation needs to include these 3 elements: connection, communication, and considering her personhood.
Maintain (or Establish!) a Heart-to-Heart Connection
What is a heart-to-heart connection? It’s one that’s based on internal motivation and closeness rather than external control. We want our daughters to WANT to love us, connect with us, and do what’s right because she desires to do so from her heart, not because we forced her.
This is counter to the typical idea of power struggles for dominance where Mothers and Daughters, like two Tasmanian Devils warily circle each other before they erupt in a violent altercation for pack control.
Love is about trust and openness.
If our daughter trusts that our desire is for her good and that we have her best interest at heart (and not our own selfishness), then she feels safe to honor our guidelines and “protect my heart” by her choices. She can grow her own trustworthiness because she won’t have to act out in defiance to get your attention or to regain the power in the relationship.
A connected love draws close to each other on good days and on bad.
We can keep the Love Valve of our heart turned fully open even though we have the potential to get hurt.
Fear is the Great Disconnector. Don’t fear that she’s turning into somebody you don’t know and don’t like. You don’t have to push her away to be safe. We can stay vulnerable and open.
Choose to minimize the distance between the two of you — actively be aware of your connection so that you can close the gap if you start to feel any offense or a disconnection occurring.
Healthy communication.
Healthy communication involves honor. HOW we approach our daughter matters.
Teens need our wise advice, but they also need a safe place to process ideas without judgment.
For several months I was really struggling with this. When I was cooking a meal and my daughter would come in to talk, sometimes she would bring up a subject that she didn’t know was a hot-button issue for me, and because of fear I would shut down the conversation by going into a finger-pointing lecture mode. I would watch my daughter’s face shutdown, and I knew it was ineffective communication, and that I would have to change in order to be heard.
I chose to start having self-control when that topic was raised instead. Instead of immediately spinning out, I started asking her questions about why she thought those things, where the ideas generated, what was the end result of that thought process. I led her through a series of questions (conversationally, not like an interrogator) and helped her think about the long-term effects of those choices.
As she had to start doing the thinking for herself, she corrected her own faulty thought processes and I was able to be there to support her.
We started working WITH each other on these topics rather than AGAINST each other, and she made a stronger association with this decision instead of my attempt at coercing her to choose what I thought was right for her. | https://medium.com/@bethswiger/connecting-with-your-teenage-daughter-bf4c03aa8305 | ['Beth Swiger'] | 2020-05-16 13:22:56.351000+00:00 | ['Parenting Tips', 'Parenting Teenagers', 'Parenting Teens', 'Parenting Advice', 'Family'] |
What If It Ends? | What If It Ends?
What if this were the end?
Who would you see or call?
What if no days to come?
How would you spend it all?
What if the last sunrise
Greeted you on this day?
What if your lover’s smile
Disappeared as you pray?
What if tonight it’s done?
Tomorrow will not come
What if the timeline froze?
Your heart beat its last drum
What if the time was up?
What would you choose to change?
What if the song complete?
What would you rearrange?
What if the clock counts down?
What’d be your final act?
What if the lights go dim?
What line your final fact?
The truth is we know not
Just when our end will be
Each day must be embraced
With love and empathy
Life leaves when time runs out
The curtain falls unplanned
Take time to say what’s real
Give love without demand | https://medium.com/speaking-bipolar/what-if-it-ends-feecde426da8 | ['Scott Ninneman'] | 2020-06-23 18:09:27.463000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Poet', 'Poetry', 'Poems On Medium', 'Poem'] |
Create a Captcha With SwiftUI | Create a Captcha With SwiftUI
Figure out if you’re dealing with a human or not
An example of a captcha. GIF by the author.
Trying to figure out if you’re talking to a human being or a bot these days is becoming increasingly difficult. In recent years, the de facto method to solve this has been a captcha — a challenge/response protocol that either gives you a set of images and asks you to identify something within some of them or a string of text that has been distorted (as shown above).
I am going to focus on the latter in this article. We’re going to try to disguise a string of text such that a human can still figure out what it says, but a bot will struggle. I will present a solution to do so in SwiftUI.
Where do we begin? I published a couple of articles a while back on rotating images. They talked extensively about the rotationEffect , which is a possible starting point. I can turn and twist the numbers and letters in my text and produce a captcha version:
The hexidecimal alphabet being captcha’d with rotation3DEffect
In this GIF, I have flipped the letters on every axis randomly, although I have limited the angle to 65% degrees to keep it readable. It’s OK but leaves a good deal of room for improvement. One of the gotchas I already have to solve here is the fact that the letters remain with their own space, which is a real giveaway for a bot trying to analyze what it is looking at.
Now the answer lies in the Core Graphics framework, an aspect of which is accessible within SwiftUI constructs. A method whose roots lie in the branch of mathematics called Affine geometry. It is specifically available within SwiftUI with the transformEffect tag.
You have five transformations possible with Affine geometry:
Translations, which is simply moving the X and Y origin.
Reflections, which is a mirror image.
Scaling, which makes it larger or smaller.
Rotating, which is doing just that.
Shearing, which is the one we’re really interested in.
Shearing an image will distort or warp it. This is important for our captcha because the human brain is good at correcting this sort of thing, but your average bot isn’t. Coincidentally, I wrote an article last week about the sort of shape that a shearing an image produces. It is known as a trapezoid.
To the code. What does this all mean and how does it work? Understanding offline transformations is quite easy if you have a template.
This is called the identity matrix — a matrix that represents the image as it appears without any transformations. Now by changing the values held in the different positions, you effectively describe how you want to change the affine space it refers to.
For example, with code, we can define a shear transformation of ten degrees:
The letters map across to the matrix I presented earlier. Using warping, we can create a far wilder captcha (the one presented at the beginning of this article). Note that I took the values needed here from the Wikipedia page of templates.
All of this brings me to the end of this short article. Here is the iOS code you need to do all the different sorts of transformations using Core Animation:
But wait, just before I go, there are two other tricks to the trade here.
The first is to use a font that is hard to read anyway. It sounds a little daft, doesn’t it? But if you think about the task at hand, it makes sense.
The second is to introduce noise into the picture — enough to confuse an image-processing algorithm but not so much that you cannot read the text. It’s a fine line I will leave you to explore.
Keep calm, keep coding. | https://medium.com/better-programming/create-a-captcha-with-swiftui-ff75b750971d | ['Mark Lucking'] | 2020-12-07 18:00:13.197000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'iOS', 'Swift', 'Mobile', 'Swiftui'] |
The Three Most Important Issues to Address When Writing a Post for Medium | Anyone can make money on Medium. You don’t need a degree; you don’t need an agent or a publisher. If you can write and write well, you can earn a living from writing. If you love to write, you’ll probably do even better.
Because of this, Medium is my favorite platform; they pay me when people read my words.
The latest on Medium
Medium has been cracking down on titles that read like clickbait, which means I have to change my mindset on what constitutes as clickbait and what doesn’t.
Here is the latest from Medium:
“Clickbait is content that’s designed to entice a reader to click. It often shows up in the form of deceptive or manipulative story packaging — a hyperbolic claim, a too-wide curiosity gap, a titillating image, etc. These stories do not follow through on their promise and often leave the reader unsatisfied.”
My highest viewed post, The One Book That Will Change Your Life, offers up a title that is now considered “clickbait,” as do several of my older titles that went on to do well and were curated.
They probably wouldn’t get curated if they were published today.
At the time The One Book That Will Change Your Life (published in 2019), was curated into two topics.
I don’t qualify this title as clickbait because I delivered on the promise the title suggests (although, I realize that’s a subjective statement). I believe it is the one book that could change your life, and the message in the post resonates with readers. The book did change my life (no hyperbole).
I’ve been getting rejected from publications with the same note, “the title is clickbait — it won’t get curated.”
Until recently, I didn’t fully know the extent of what Medium considers clickbait. I need to change my thinking on this if I want to get into the larger publications. One of my posts was rejected for a title that read, “Practice This Quality, and You Will Attract Others to You.” The “this” is considered clickbait. Because I’m not telling the reader what the quality is that will make you attractive to others.
If you want to get into Medium publications, you’ll have to play the game or publish in your own publication (another benefit to running your own publication). However, you most likely won’t get curated. Significant downside.
Curation is still the most important metric on Medium you want to aim for and not miss. Curation means Medium pushes your story across its platform. It’s topics that drive Medium’s algorithm, and the more topics a story is curated in, the better for your story and your bottom line.
More eyeballs equate to more of the green stuff. Giving your story a longer shelf life.
The story I referenced above didn’t take off for months after publication; curation helped push it across Medium’s homepage. Views mean nothing; it just means someone clicked. The metric you should pay attention to is the average reading time because it determines the payout. You want your stories to be curated if you want to make money. | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/the-three-most-important-issues-to-address-when-writing-a-post-for-medium-fa6eb87be81 | ['Jessica Lynn'] | 2020-11-16 12:47:14.581000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Success', 'Inspiration', 'Writing', 'Blogging'] |
A quiet presence | Not a day goes by
without a thought of you.
Twenty plus years have come and gone,
populated with births, deaths, milestones.
Some strides have lengthened and quickened,
others slowed. Our time together
ended much too soon.
You —
a strong, silent presence
in my life.
Protecting me,
teaching me,
always there for me.
Me —
a constant shadow
as you worked; watching
from the periphery.
The daughter you had dreamed of
and wanted
for so long.
A treasured childhood,
unconditional love and acceptance
moulding me
into the woman I am today;
instilling belief I could do
whatever I set my mind to.
Adulthood brought growth,
knowledge, and experience.
The relationship changed
blooming and flourishing,
solidifying a loving relationship
with mutual respect.
I miss you every day
since you’ve been gone,
so much of my life you‘ve not shared ,
except in my whispers.
Grandchildren who know you
only by pictures
and stories told,
an attenuated version of who you’d have been
to them.
In these days of milestones,
when I think of how you’d have taught them,
as you taught me,
life skills that get lost in the shuffle
of everyday
but always made me feel secure
upon the ever-shifting shoals of this world.
I think of the crinkle around your eyes
when you smiled,
I think of your hugs,
and I miss you anew. | https://psiloveyou.xyz/a-quiet-presence-db93214febf2 | ['Christine Kelly'] | 2020-09-24 02:16:13.971000+00:00 | ['Dads', 'Family', 'Poetry', 'Poetry Sunday', 'Fathers Day'] |
Living the smart way | Living the smart way
Standardization helps achieve an efficient, safe, and reliable IoT
by Antoinette Price
Whether we realize it or not, the internet of things (IoT) is part of many aspects of daily life (picture: jeferrb, Pixabay)
The internet of things (IoT) is part of everyday life, facilitating daily activities and improving the efficiency of work processes, saving both time and money thanks to billions of connected, “sensorized” devices and systems. In the case of healthcare, it can save lives.
Connected everywhere
Cities and their infrastructures including transport, energy, buildings and homes are becoming smart, in order to boost energy efficiency and enhance how they function. The well-being of citizens and the economy both benefit from this.
Intelligent collaborative manufacturing systems enable businesses to respond in real time, to meet changing demands and conditions in factories, supply networks, and customer needs, while on the rural front, farmers can streamline crop and animal management, using smart phones and apps.
IoT is also changing how other industries work, such as automotive, healthcare, entertainment and retail.
In all these areas, this technology contributes toward building a more sustainable world.
The need for standards
The IoT is comprised of diverse and evolving technologies and stakeholders involved in a wide range of applications. For this reason, it is paramount to provide a minimum level of interoperability. This would allow all the components to function rapidly and reliably, as they gather, exchange and analyse vast amounts of data. IoT Standards will also facilitate the growth of IoT devices, systems and services market.
IEC and ISO Joint Technical Committee (ISO/IEC JTC 1) develops International Standards for information and communication technologies for business and consumer applications. Given the great importance and impact of IoT, in 2016, JTC 1 established a new Subcommittee ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41: Internet of Things and related technologies, which has consolidated and expanded the activities of former Working Groups (WG) 7 and 10.
The main focus of SC 41 is to establish a standardization programme, and provide guidance to JTC 1, IEC, ISO and other entities developing IoT-related applications. Its scope also covers sensor networks and wearables technologies.
In addition to the Standards already published for sensor networks, SC 41 is developing base or horizontal Standards for IoT reference architecture, vocabulary, and interoperability. These can be used by industry and any application-related standardization technical committee, where IoT technology is used as an enabler.
By ensuring consistency and avoiding duplication, businesses and manufacturers can save time, effort and money.
A year of achievements for SC 41
e-tech caught up with François Coallier, Chair of SC 41, to hear what has been achieved during the first year.
A great deal of the activity has been administrative, setting up the work structure, governance and strategic planning. All of this was done in parallel with the continuation of the technical work inherited from the former WGs, which totals 11 projects.
“We created six study groups (SG) at the first plenary: edge computing, industrial IoT, real-time IoT, trustworthiness, wearables and IoT use cases. All groups are progressing.
“The edge computing group was mandated to help enable the recommendations of the Edge Intelligence White Paper. Based on the recommendations of this SG, SC 41 initiated a project in this area at its last plenary meeting in New Delhi, India.”
The importance of building synergies
Many players are involved in developing the component devices and systems that make up the ubiquitous IoT, as well as their related Standards. An important part of SC 41 activities will be to liaise, with other IEC technical committees (TCs) and subcommittees (SCs), as well as with other standards development organizations (SDOs) and groups within the industry.
SC 41 already liaises with ISO and ITU-T, and the Advancing Identification Matters (AIM), Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), Global Language of Business (GS1), and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). “We have to be systematic and work with a lot of different people, so this will be a big challenge as there are around 24 IEC TCs and SCs,” says Coallier.
“For example, our edge computing work will liaise with ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 38 for cloud computing and our trustworthiness study group will work with ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 on IT security techniques, while our wearables study group will be in regular contact with IEC TC 124 which covers wearables and their technologies.
“Then there are our Systems Committees, for active assisted living (SyC AAL), smart cities (SyC Smart Cities) and the newly established SyC Smart Manufacturing. This year we also hope to expand our external liaisons.” | https://medium.com/e-tech/living-the-smart-way-d55f5858f6b5 | [] | 2018-09-19 14:40:55.450000+00:00 | ['Wearables', 'Internet of Things', 'Smart Cities', 'Edge Computing'] |
An effluence of pure twaddle... | An effluence of pure twaddle... "transracial" (lol). Anyone wanting to read Angela Volkov’s latest rant:
https://angelavolkov.medium.com/if-a-white-person-is-adopted-into-a-black-family-can-they-not-be-transracial-b226b7e24c28
Look, I have a basic tenet: it's difficult to win an argument with an intelligent person, but impossible with a moron.
I'm not certain why I expected more out of you given your apparent endless propensity for posting idiotic comments on this and other forums. Nor do you display any desire, much less ability, to learn anything about that which you clearly know nothing.
Perhaps my generosity was misplaced since I know most slavs to be fairly sensible folk, despite having the head of their church wear a dress and quite hilariously calling himself 'patriarch'. Question: does he ever put glitter in that beard of his?
Oh yes, back to your "sex-segregated spaces"... you want us out, correct? Just how do you believe that will come to pass... that you'll get your wish? hmmm?
Meanwhile, we live, love and thrive in "your world" despite you and your kind.
Finally, I see no reason whatsoever to make an exception to my most basic of tenets.
luck | https://medium.com/@my88waves/an-effluence-of-pure-twaddle-transracial-lol-eab32010bbb6 | [] | 2020-12-12 01:10:01.923000+00:00 | ['Feminism', 'Gender Critical', 'Womens Rights', 'Radical Feminism', 'Transgender'] |
Ionic & Felgo: App Development Framework Comparison | Cross-platform development is making a lot of noise in today’s dev world and there is a reason why. A shared codebase can save a lot of time if you want to target multiple platforms. There are several approaches for creating cross-platform applications. But which one is better? This time you will see the comparison of Ionic and Felgo.
Differences between Cross-Platform Frameworks
Before we start, let’s take a peek at the history of cross-platform development. In early cross-platform mobile app development times, apps were displayed in a WebView. A WebView is nothing more than a native browser window without any extra interface
The HTML engine of the browser took care of rendering all app elements. The idea was to create and run a web application with a native look and feel. This way developers could deploy to many platforms. The platform just had to provide the browser technology. This approach is still used by many frameworks, including Ionic.
On the other hand, a standard web app running inside a browser cannot access all the functionalities of a target device that a modern app needs. That is why tools like Cordova became popular. It provided a web-to-native bridge. The bridge granted access to functionalities like localization in a WebView. Ionic also provides such a bridge with Capacitor. But in reality, it is nothing more than the good old Cordova with some upgrades.
In summary, if you want to create an application using the Ionic framework, you will need to use a web technology stack: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Other frameworks, such as AngularJS or React, would also be useful to give the app the desired modern feel.
Hybrid Frameworks and Rendering with a WebView
Hybrid Frameworks, like Ionic, render their content within a WebView. This WebView is wrapped with APIs to access native device features.
However, this approach has some disadvantages like:
The performance of your app depends on the internal version of the WebView used in the targeted OS. This dependency can cause different behaviors and performance characteristics on different OS versions (e.g. Android 6.0 vs 9.0).
You will depend on Apple and Google to add features and improve the performance of the WebView.
There are features that depend on web engines like Webkit and CHromium for both iOS and Android. Some of the CSS fields supported by the JavaScript standard are an example of such a feature. It makes maintainability harder as you need to support multiple Webview browser versions and types.
Web renderers were designed to display websites or multimedia content in a browser. They do not render user interfaces & animations very efficiently. Because of that, performance is significantly slower compared to native apps.
The Felgo Approach
Let’s focus now on how Felgo handles cross-platform rendering. Qt with Felgo compiles real native applications without the need for a WebView. Felgo renders its UI elements with the Qt rendering engine built on C++ & OpenGL ES / Vulkan / Metal. This so-called “scene graph renderer” is optimized for performance. It also guarantees that the UI will look the same on any device & platform. Furthermore, it is also possible to keep your existing native iOS, Android, or C++ code. You can simply reuse your own native code with Felgo thanks to its architecture.
The core language behind Qt & Felgo is C++, which is famous for its performance and stability. However, it is not ideal for creating a modern UI and cutting-edge applications. So Qt introduced a new language called QML.
QML is a declarative language that lets you compose your UI as a tree of visual items, very similar to HTML. For adding application logic, QML relies on JavaScript. Developers can easily get started if they are familiar with these web technologies. Felgo comes with everything you need to build stunning applications in record time. To achieve native performance, all QML items actually translate to performant C++ components in the backend.
Your QML and JavaScript get executed and visualized by a highly optimized C++ renderer. Qt also compiles all components Just in Time (JIT) or Ahead of Time (AIT) if configured. This way, QML can achieve native performance.
Qt & Felgo not only allow you to develop cross-platform for iOS and Android. You can also run your applications on desktop, web and embedded systems.
Inside the Frameworks
The devil is in the details and that is why it’s crucial to take a look inside the architecture of both frameworks. Let’s start with Ionic. The browser renders your code and Ionic needs a bridge to access OS functionalities like a camera:
You have to rely on this bridge to access native features. It is not possible to build an application that directly uses these platform APIs.
But what about Felgo?
You won’t need any additional bridge to access the OS functionalities. You have direct access to all platform features with the native code in your application. This also includes the highly performant QML Engine, which is part of your Qt application:
This architecture ensures a consistent performance on all target platforms and devices.
Framework Business Potential
When considering business potential, there are some things to keep in mind. First is, of course, current staff experience.
When developing with Ionic, you need a team with quite a lot of knowledge about web app development. If they are lacking some of them, the training would take some time.
When considering Felgo, the main skill your team should have is knowledge of JavaScript, because QML is derived from it. As JS is one of the most popular programming languages, the probability that your fellow programmers have such ability is quite high. If you already work with programmers who have JavaScript knowledge then it’s easy to reuse their skills in the new Felgo project.
Another aspect to consider is the supported platforms. Apart from Web, Ionic supports only iOS and Android. With Felgo, you can deploy also to Windows, Mac, Linux, and embedded devices. The variety of platforms is much bigger when using Felgo.
Framework Documentation
Many developers consider documentation as one of the most important factors not only in terms of learning new technology but also in case of reducing the time of development. When creating the app, you will sooner or later bump into some issues that will require some additional knowledge. Documentation is the best place to look for it. If it is high quality, you will solve the problem in no time. Otherwise, you will struggle with scrolling through many pages and hope to find a detailed answer.
Both Felgo and Ionic offer great documentation, to browse APIs, examples and demos.
Learning Curve Comparison
When taking the first steps with Ionic, you need to learn quite a lot of technologies like HTML, Sassy CSS, and JavaScript. On top of that, you should also know a front-end framework like Angular. It uses Typescript language that you will also need to be familiar with. You might also use React to give the app the desired modern look and feel.
There’s a lot to learn if you aren’t an expert in web development but would like to create mobile apps with a cross-platform framework. Besides, Angular and React are not known for being easy to learn.
To learn Felgo, you need some QML skills and know JavaScript to write functions in QML. QML, due to its JSON-like notation, is very friendly for new users.
The gap between Ionic and Felgo’s necessary technology stack is rather big — especially if you are not specialized in any kind of web app technology.
To summarize, the learning curve of Ionic can be much steeper than Felgo’s. Especially when learning the chosen front-end JS framework at the same time.
Framework Pricing and Licensing
For personal usage or “low-budget” developers, both of the frameworks are free. If you’d like to include additional services and tools into your app, you can get professional plans to ensure that you get the most out of the solution. Felgo offers advanced features like analytics and push notifications. Whereas Ionic gives you more than 100 live updates per month in their paid licenses.
Hello World Mobile App Comparison
Architecture and functionalities are one thing. But learning a certain technology
simplicity and clarity are a completely different matter. How to compare these factors? It’s quite simple — let’s write a simple app!
Proceeding with Ionic, you can see at the beginning that creating logic and design will need two separate files for every page. You’ll also need to write the code in two different notations: HTML and TypeScript.
Now, let’s look at the Hello Word app written with Felgo:
Run this code on your iOS or Android device now, with Live Code Reloading
Here you can see how you can create the logic and design in the same QML file. This has a positive impact on the entry-level of technology. QML is also easier to read than HTML, with less syntax overhead. This especially matters when dealing with large projects where a single page can contain many objects.
At the same time, the application logic with TypeScript and QML are quite similar because both are based on JavaScript syntax.
Comparing Integrated Development Environments
When comparing frameworks, it is also worth taking a look at integrated development environments (IDE), and what they can offer you to make development more efficient.
Felgo isn’t just a framework for cross-platform development. It also offers a whole set of tools that you can use throughout the entire lifespan of the application. Felgo comes with the full featured Qt Creator IDE. You also have access to QML Hot Reload that lets you view edits of QML code in real-time. This feature comes with a tool called Felgo Live Server. It lets you deploy apps to multiple, real devices via a network. In the IDE, you have access to built-in documentation. Here you can find info about Felgo types as well as about all Qt classes. Once you write some code, you can use an integrated debugger and profiler to analyze your app’s execution flow.
In this matter, Ionic falls behind as it has no dedicated IDE. Thus, you need to rely on tools that are not fully adjusted to this framework.
With Felgo you also get access to Cloud Builds. This service allows you to build and release cross-platform applications to app stores like Apple Store and Google Play. You can integrate it with your code repository and CI/CD system, so you don’t need to do so manually on every platform. With Cloud Builds you don’t even need to have a MacBook to release iOS applications.
Cross-Platform Framework Comparison Overview:
What is the best cross-platform framework?
The answer to this question does not really exist — there is no silver bullet. Instead, you should ask “What framework is best for me and my project?”. Several factors can help you decide on a particular technology. To ease the decision-making process, you should ask yourself a few questions:
What programming language do you or your team have experience in? What are the requirements of your app? What tooling helps you to work more efficiently? What platforms do you want to support, now and also in the future? Do you have an existing code you want to reuse? Who can help me if I run into problems?
Every technology has its pros and cons and your use-case matters. If you are looking for a reliable, efficient, and easy-to-learn framework, you should definitely consider having a look at Felgo & Qt.
Related Articles:
QML Tutorial for Beginners
3 Practical App Development Video Tutorials
Best Practices of Cross-Platform App Development on Mobile
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QML Hot Reload for Qt — Felgo | https://medium.com/the-innovation/ionic-felgo-app-development-framework-comparison-ba84de105a20 | ['Christian Feldbacher'] | 2020-07-08 10:16:51.360000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Programming', 'Technology', 'Apps', 'Framework'] |
Let’s Play The Security Gamebook | Today the common use of internet encourages the spread of our data: checking your mails, sending messages, downloading files, shopping online etc.
Most of the services you access to, require to unveil, register and store your data online. A significant portion of that data is sensitive information, for which unwanted access could have serious consequences. Particularly in crypto.
Cyber security is therefore one of the most important matters you have to deal with.
Blockchain.io gives you the first steps to follow through the security gamebook: a short security oriented decision-making game.
Take a deep breath and find out if you master the basics of cyber security!
Ready?
👉Imagine that you are walking down the street.
You have some cryptos stored on a Blockchain.io wallet so we can say that I am now next to you, carrying your bag of coins and tokens.
1. A stranger stops in front of us, and suggests to take your bag because he’s an expert. He promises to give it back to you with interests. What would you do ?
- You follow him: Go to 0.
- You don’t follow him: Well done. Beware of “phishing”. Always check the URL (https + domain name) of the website you are connected to.
2. You can’t remember your secret code to open your wallet full of cryptos so you share it with your family. You realize now that your brother-in law has always been a bit weird…
- You eliminate all your family and friends. Go to 0.
- You pick a password that you can remember. Well done. You also set up a 2FA to confirm with your phone each time you log on the platform and secure your mailbox. (Want to know more about 2FA and how to implement it?)
3. While we’re walking together, a group of junkies try to steal your bag (that I am still carrying, remember?). Fortunately, I’m used to it and master martial arts like Jacky Chan in a kung-fu movie.
- You trust in my abilities to protect the bag. Go to 0.
- You anticipate risks and move your cryptos into a hardware wallet when you don’t need to make trades. Well done!
4. In the street, we meet Cristiano Ronaldo coming the other way, you ask me to take a picture. As your phone was turned off…
- We have to be fast! You give me the PIN number. Go to 0
- You don’t. Good choice ! During SIM swapping attacks, an adversary only needs few information (PIN number, recent numbers called, street address, date of birth,…) to take control of your phone and then your accounts.
0. ☠️ Game over! You put your cryptos at risk (or yourself).
To sum up:
• Always check the domain name and url on the websites you visit
• Pick a strong password and set up a 2FA (how to implement a 2FA)
• Always look for the most secure solutions, like an hardwallet.
• Keep a strong control on who has access to your information, even the least important ones! | https://medium.com/blockchainio/lets-play-the-security-gamebook-7dbc855a7c7a | [] | 2020-03-24 16:10:37.999000+00:00 | ['Privacy', 'Cybersecurity', 'Encryption', 'Crypto'] |
What can quilting teach about building a product? Step 1: Planning | What do opportunity cost, personas, and use-cases have to do with quilting?
This is what happens when you buy fabric with no solid plans and/or go fabric shopping on Black Friday.
Hopefully the intro to this series made an interesting enough case that quilting can teach you a few things about building a product. Each article will dive deeper into different phases of building a quilt to provide more specific examples.
A quick overview of building a quilt
If you’ve never built a quilt before, here is a quick overview of the steps.
Step 1: Planning — Deciding what you want to make and who is it for
Step 2: Piecing your quilt top- This is a fancy way of saying making the top of your quilt usually this what most people think of as quilting. Gather your materials and get started.
Step 3: Quilting — Taking your quilt top, backing & batting (the fluffy stuff that makes a quilt soft) and sew them together.
Step 4: Binding — Creating the edging & finishing your quilt.
So how do you get started?
When building a product or making a quilt you are immediately faced with a choice — do you focus on what you are building or who you are building it for? Figuring this out can be tricky and often these two decisions are intertwined.
Quilting personas & use-cases
When planning a product build, often planning can start with what to build rather than who you are building for. In the case of quilting, since I’m not selling my quilts (and have zero desire to) I’m more focused on the user persona and I’ve found that if I start with who rather than what, I end up with an extremely different quilt. I think there’s some important product lessons that can be gleaned from that.
When you are creating a quilt, it’s advantageous to think about who will be using the quilt and how. A quilt made for an infant could end up being displayed in the nursery or it could be used for tummy time. These are contrasting use-cases even though they are both for a baby. A quilt made for display doesn’t need the same qualities; it will rarely need to be washed and extra soft fabric choices aren’t necessary.
Similarly, if your product roadmap only includes what you’re building, but not who you’re building it for (or why they even need it), there’s a better chance you’ll wind up with a really cool piece of technology that can’t or won’t be used in its current form.
When I start the planning process of a baby quilt with a specific family in mind, I try to find out if there is a nursery theme or even just the color scheme that I can work with — as well as how they might plan to use the quilt.
Similarly, when planning to build a new product, knowing just who you want to build for isn’t enough information on it’s own. Without additional context, similar to how I should know more about how a baby quilt would be used, it will be hard to build a product that truly fits the needs of either your buyer or user persona. Taking the time to better understand the personas of both your user & buyer can help you create a product that addresses the problems of a potential user and is valuable for a potential buyer.
For a baby blanket, I have two different users- the baby and the parents. Let’s be honest, the baby isn’t really giving much feedback at the planning stage, so that leaves me with my friends, the future parents, as my user persona. From here I could subdivide into a few different types of parents if I needed to get more specific — first time parents vs current parents for example. This quickly becomes tailored to the individuals to help figure out what to build.
Here are just a few examples: | https://medium.com/building-rigup/quilting-step-1-planning-d7c707f9b9fe | ['Mindy Regnell'] | 2019-11-05 21:11:18.869000+00:00 | ['Lessons Learned', 'Product Management', 'Quilting', 'Product', 'Planning'] |
Mr Saravanan Sundaramoorthy | Saravanan Sundaramoorthy, Founder of Edsix Brainlab, a next generation platform for 21st century learning. Edsix Brainlab aims to impact and transform the lives of lakhs of students by enhancing thinking skills and life skills. He started his EdTech journey in 2007 when he was driven by a vision to empower future generations with vital skills. He is a successful IT professional who had assumed several senior leadership roles early in his career. He has also delivered large scale transformational engagements across the globe with brands such as GE, Cognizant Technology Solutions and SCM Microsystems among others. He continuously incubates novel programs with the aim of creating an empathetic society which is responsible towards the environment, emotional skill development, arts and culture and many more. Saravanan Sundaramoorthy is also a Six SIgma Black Belt practitioner. We are honoured to have him as a speaker at TEGS. Join him on 12th September’19 at The LaLit Ashok, Bangalore. | https://medium.com/tegs/mr-saravanan-sundaramoorthy-b3126bfeaecd | ['The Education Growth Summit'] | 2019-09-04 13:00:43.769000+00:00 | ['Speakers', 'Summit', 'Tegs', 'Edsix'] |
Blockchain Report — 12/11/2018. Summary: UNICEF Invests In Six… | Summary: UNICEF Invests In Six Blockchain Startups; Facebook Is Hiring Blockchain Engineers And Researchers; Bitmain Closes Israel-based Development Center Due To Bear Market
Watch: Latest Episode of Blockchain Report on YouTube
UNICEF Invests In Six Blockchain Startups
According to Forbes, The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is planning on investing in six different blockchain startups . UNICEF will invest in these startups through the organization’s Innovation Fund, which invests in tools and products in emerging industries.
Innovation Fund has $17.9 million dollars in total that it can invest, and has invested in 33 startups so far in emerging industries ranging from data science, machine learning, drones, and blockchain.
Each of the six blockchain startups that UNICEF is investing in will receive $100,000 to develop an open-source prototype next year. According to a blog post by UNICEF, the startups will focus on solving problems such as “transparency in health-care delivery, affordable access to mobile phone connectivity, and the ability to direct finances and resources to social-impact projects.”
Chris Fabian, Principal Adviser of the UNICEF Innovation Fund, explained why UNICEF is investing in blockchain:
“Blockchain technology is still at an early stage — and there is a great deal of experimentation, failure, and learning ahead of us as we see how, and where, we can use this technology to create a better world…That’s exactly the stage when UNICEF Innovation Fund invests: when our financing, technical support, and focus on vulnerable populations can help a technology grow and mature in the most fair and equitable way possible.”
Facebook Is Hiring Blockchain Engineers And Researchers
According to The Next Web, Facebook is recruiting for new talent to help with expanding its blockchain team. Facebook’s career page lists that it is looking for a data scientist, a data engineer, and two software engineers to add to the company’s blockchain team. The posting states:
“The blockchain team is a startup within Facebook, with a vision to make blockchain technology work at Facebook scale…It’s a small, fast-growing, but talented group of people who are passionate about changing the world.”
Facebook is also looking for a product marketing lead who can help with managing and marketing the project. The description of the job post states:
“Our blockchain team is fundamental to that mission and we are seeking an experienced leader to build and manage a new product marketing team focused in exploring the opportunity the blockchain will bring.”
The fact that Facebook is seeking to recruit employees to join its blockchain team shouldn’t come as a surprise to many — Facebook reportedly already has at least a dozen people in the company working on blockchain and cryptocurrency technology since May.
Bitmain Closes Israel-based Development Center Due To Bear Market
According to The Next Web, various blockchain and cryptocurrency startups have been forced to shut down or layoff staff as a result of the cryptocurrency bear market. The latest company to do so is Bitmain,the world’s largest manufacturer of ASIC mining devices. Bitmain is closing its Israel-based development center.
The development center, known as Bitmaintech Israel, was setup two years ago. This week it will shut down and lay off its entire staff of 23 people. Gadi Glikberg, head of Bitmaintech Israel and VP at Bitmain, will leave the company also. Glikberg told Bitmain Israel employees:
“The crypto market has undergone a shake-up in the past few months, which has forced Bitmain to examine its various activities around the globe and to refocus its business in accordance with he current situation.”
Do you want daily blockchain and cryptocurrency news delivered directly to your inbox or feed? Sign up today for the Blockchain Report at http://blockchainreport.tv.
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- Telegram 💬: https://t.me/blockchainreportnews | https://medium.com/blockchain-report/blockchain-report-12-11-2018-96cf4773327c | ['Christopher Durr'] | 2018-12-12 13:13:18.557000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'News', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin'] |
What’s Polymorphism in Java. A quick reference for one of the main… | What’s Polymorphism in Java
A quick reference for one of the main OOP pillars.
The second principle of Object Oriented Programming is Polymorphism.
An OOP language is polymorphic meaning that it lets you perform the same operation in different ways.
Method overriding
A class that inherits methods from its parent can override the code of a certain method to customize its behavior.
Method overloading
One class can have many methods declared with the same name but different parameters. In this way when you call “method X”, the actual code that will be runned it will based on the parameters you are passing to the aforementioned function. Obviously you can’t have two methods with the same name and same type&number of parameters. | https://medium.com/federicohaag/what-is-polymorphism-in-java-a95af67aceac | ['Federico Haag'] | 2020-05-31 16:26:05.698000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development'] |
Retro-Review: ‘Friends of Hell’ by Witchfinder Genral | Believe me, there’s more to this picture, but I’ve got to keep this page PG-13.
Witchfinder General’s 1983 album Friends of Hell is for those who just couldn’t get enough of Black Sabbath’s sound from the early to mid 1970s.
Their flavor of doom metal, which really wasn’t thought of as a genre then, would satisfy the fans of the dark sounds that Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward churned out from Master of Reality in 1971 to Sabotage in 1975.
The dark guitar tones, crushing slow riffs and Ozzy-esque wailing vocals are all there.
Plus, they wrote some pretty damn good songs too.
Much like Black Sabbath, they took their name from a movie. In their case, it was the 1968 flick Witchfinder General (with the alternative name The Conquering Worm in the U.S.) starring Vincent Price in the title role. And much like Black Sabbath, they sung songs about the occult and the darker side of life.
Founded in Stourbridge, England, in 1979, they released their first album, Death Penalty, in 1982, quickly followed by their second album, Friends of Hell in 1983. They would disband in 1984 and reform in 2006, releasing the album Resurrected in 2008, disbanding again that year.
Handling vocals on Friends of Hell is Zeeb Parkes, who sings in an Ozzy-esque wail, but doesn’t quite sound like Ozzy. But, he didn’t need to sound like Ozzy, though. His vocals are the driving force on Friends of Hell, helping give them their own sound.
Guitarist Phil Cope and bassist Rod Hawkes, on the other hand, could pass off as Iommi and Butler to those that aren’t diehard Sabbath fans. They don’t rip off Sabbath’s riff, Witchfinder General’s music is definitely their own, but they do sound like Sabbath if Sabbath decided to just stay with their early sound.
Grounding things is drummer Graham Ditchfield. He’s pretty consistent as far as keeping things nailed down with a steady beat.
The album
The first three tracks on the album are also the best in my opinion.
“Love on Smack” kicks off Friends of Hell in kick-ass fashion. It’s reminiscent of Sabbath in their faster moments. It could easily be mistaken for a Sabbath track if it weren’t for Parkes’ vocals. From the main riff to the solo, it just drips of Sabbath and their blues-influence heaviness. It’s one of the best tracks on the album and you’ll remember it long after listening. You’ll find yourself saying the closing verses “she’s dying, she’s dying, she’s dying … she’s dead.”
“Last Chance,” on the other hand is pretty much doom metal all the way through, with its heavy and slow opening riffs to its whirling guitars throughout the verses. If you like “Children of the Grave,” then this one is probably right up your alley.
After two, rather dark, Sabbathy tunes, Witchfinder General kicks into rock anthem gear with “Music.” It’s kind of a shock after the first two tracks, but man, is it catchy. After the first time the chorus, you’ll find yourself singing “I need music, everyday!” It’s like a fusion of 70s and 80s arena rock with a big sound and fist pounding bravado.
Now, they don’t slouch on the rest of the album, but after those first three songs, it’s difficult to maintain that level. Not that other songs don’t come close.
“Friends of Hell” is lyrically speaking about as Sabbath as you can get. It’s a narrative song about a protagonist hunting down some devil worshippers who he watches melt by the end of the song. While pretty good, it doesn’t match the songs before it as far as energy.
Witchfinder General stays in the narrative territory throughout most of the album, with most of them being a story within themselves, whether it be about someone who considers themselves a coward for not being able to kill themselves (“Requiem for Youth”) to another song about contemplating suicide because of a lost love (“I Lost You”).
Parkes really shines as a vocalist on “Shadowed Images.” You can hear quite a bit of the sound that would go on to become the doom metal we know today intermingle with a lot of Sabbathy riffs here. It’s an enthralling song with an almost ethereal feel to it.
“Quietus,” though, comes closest to matching the first three songs on the album. It kicks off like you’re watching elephants walk up a hill then takes off as the elephants hit the pinnacle and start stampeding downhill. It goes a lot of different places and has a great instrumental section to it. In a way, it reminds you how Sabbath would meander into almost unrelated instrumental territory at the end of the song. Definitely recommend this one.
The verdict
Friends of Hell is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of doom metal, early Black Sabbath or both. The songs are strong, memorable and you’ll be singing the choruses before you realize it.
Also, if you love doom metal, then this is a must listen. You’ll hear one of the roots which the modern doom metal movement springs from. | https://medium.com/earbusters/retro-review-friends-of-hell-by-witchfinder-genral-b8122c9632f0 | ['Joseph R. Price'] | 2018-12-18 01:13:29.884000+00:00 | ['Doom Metal', 'Witch', 'Black Sabbath', 'England', 'Music'] |
Five Upcoming NA Pros to Watch Part 2 | Since I last covered a few rising stars in North American Valorant around a month ago, more players have caught my attention that I believe to deserve some recognition for their recent play. Here are five more names that you should keep an eye on in the NA scene. Once again thanks to VLR for the stats used in the article.
Benchmark Stats
Before I get into the player’s individual performance, here are two stat benchmarks to give a scale of what good stats on different roles look like in this game. For the average, I averaged the stats of all players for the listed roles from Champions. The peak stats are from the player on VLR with the highest stats for a role. Please note that the peak stats do not represent the best player or an achievable average, but rather the maximum level per agent, and anything around the average stats are realistic. For the player stats, I am looking at the past 60 days.
(ADR is Average Damage Per Round, KPR is Kills Per Round, APR is Assists Per Round, FKPR is First Kills Per Round, and FDPR is First Deaths Per Round.)
Peak Stats Per Role
Peak stats per role
Average Stats Per Role
And here’s what an “average” tier 1 player in each role looks like for comparison:
Average stats per role
James “Aiko” Sandberg
Aiko is a Sova player and in-game-leader for ex-Serenity Black. Aiko first started competing in April of this year under the DNADIFF banner, playing alongside Akrew player Neon and his current ex-SRN teammate Nick. During his time on DNADIFF, the roster managed to find moderate success in lower-tier events, such as winning a VSS weekly and making the finals of a GLG Radiant Arena Series. Eventually, these results from the mix team caught the attention of Serenity, who signed the team in August. After the signing, the team started to see an uptick in results, making quarterfinals in the $20,000 NSG Summer finals and winning matches against top tier 2 teams such as SoaR and Knights.
After two months with the organization, the roster opted to leave to pursue other opportunities, sticking together as Ex-Serenity Black. While playing as Ex-Serenity, Aiko and the roster as a whole has seen an enormous level of improvement in matchups against top t2 squads, and even winning tournaments like the Boom Proving Grounds S3, Rival 1, and most recently the Frag Major — Fullerton.
Individually, Aiko has been putting up fantastic numbers across the last two months, especially considering that he is IGL as well. Aiko is a relatively passive player as shown by his FKPR and FDPR stats, but this doesn't mean he lacks impact, reaffirmed by his .4 APR. He often will support his team from the backlines using his utility rather than charge head-on, like in this example. This also lets him focus on calling and getting value out of his kit instead of on his crosshair.
Team: Ex-Serenity Black (Ranked 33rd in NA)
Roles/Agent(s): Sova IGL
Stats:
Drew “ApeX” Caban
ApeX is a duelist that currently plays for ex-Limit. ApeX’s first notable team was in one of the earlier iterations of YFP Gaming, where he played stage 1 VCT Open qualifiers to little success. After this ApeX spent the next few months playing short stints with a number of teams, such as Reformed and Illuzion Black. In November, he went started playing with ex-Limit and started to show better performances against better opponents, on both a team and individual level. ApeX’s also topped the player stats at the Frag Major — Philadelphia LAN playing with Jays Finest in the event.
On the stats front ApeX has been on a tear, with the Reyna main’s stats being a considerable amount above the average for the agent and even topping the #1 benchmark in ADR. In-game, he plays a secondary entry role that sees him support a teammate (most commonly a Jett player ) initially running into a site with flashes or another piece of utility before fighting the distracted defenders. I also want to mention that one of the areas ApeX impressed me in was how well he can trade and play off his main entry player.
Team: ex-Limit (Ranked 44th in NA)
Roles/Agent(s): Duelist
Stats:
Erik “d1msumboi” Almhjell
d1msumboi is a sentinel player currently on The Mafia. d1msumboi has been competing in Valorant since all the way back in October 2020, starting off playing with DREAMLAND in two NSG monthlies and First Strike qualifiers. After his 2 month stint with the team, he went to Resonate to finish the year, competing in the first VCT Stage 1 qualifiers. In February, d1msumboi joined the free-agent roster Kooky Koalas. Going into the Stage 1 challengers 3, the team went on one of the most impressive runs for a free agent team at the time, beating beastcoast and Built By Gamers in open qualifiers to qualify for the main event. While KK got knocked out due to losing two 0–2 matches against Luminosity Gaming and Gen.G, making it to the event was enough of an achievement to make the team fan favorites overnight.
After this cinderella run, d1msumboi and KK were expected by many to repeat this previous success going into the second stage of VCT. However, the team failed to make it out of opens in both challenger events in the stage, sending them back to the drawing board. In the lead-up to the 3rd VCT stage, Kooky Koalas attempted to stay in form by consistently playing lower-tier events and were linked to a move to DarkZero Esports. Unfortunately, due to external circumstances, d1msumboi was unable to join the rest of the roster in joining DZ, leaving him teamless.
d1msumboi’s next long-term project was The Mafia, joining in August and playing with them to this day. The free-agent team has been a recurring face in the tier 2 scene, consistently competing in events such as NSG Opens and taking wins against other top t2 squads.
While d1msumboi has been putting up decent stats for his role, he’s a player that I would personally say brings more value than what could be seen on the scoreboard. In a previous article about his team The Mafia (here) I noted how good his lurks were for opening and closing rounds for the team, and I still hold the same sentiment currently. Going by the games I’ve watched from him, I noted that d1msumboi is great at playing off his utility while defending from a site hit, and also how smart he positions himself around his teammates when taking engagements.
Team: The Mafia (Ranked 25th in NA)
Roles/Agent(s): Sentinel (lurker and anchor)
Stats:
Mark “mehzy” Olaes
mehzy is a duelist player that is currently a free agent. mehzy first popped up in the scene in January, with a VSS weekly appearance with a mix team. After this, he wouldn’t make a return to competitive play until July, playing with TLP Monkies in NSG, Knights, and GLG Radiant Arena events throughout the month. mehzy and TLP Monkies’ breakout moment came during the NSG Summer LCQ in August, where the young team managed to take a map off of Cloud9 in the playoffs of the event. Unfortunately, mehzy would once again take a break from tournaments, this time until November. After this 3 month hiatus, the 14-year-old was back in action, this time under the Ex-Serenity Black banner for the NSG Winter Open 3 and the Valorant Elite Showdown. Next, mehzy played with Betrayed’s Fantasy Team for the Rival 1 event, and with Froggers in the Frag Major — Fullerton, making the quarterfinals.
mehzy is an undeniable talent, and that is reflected in his high stats across the board, putting up numbers far above average in seemingly every match he plays. His FKPR and FDPR on Jett are almost on par with the #1 Jett benchmark as well. In the matches I’ve watched of his, mehzy seems to just take over a game almost effortlessly and won aim duel after aim duel. While we still have to wait two years from now to see him compete in the highest caliber of events, mehzy has already shown high potential that I hope he can realize in the future.
Team: Free Agent
Roles/Agent(s): Jett (entry)
Stats:
Vincent “Apoth” Le
Apoth is a controller who currently plays for Renegades. His first appearance in competitive play was with Last Round Save in the First Strike open qualifiers. The team had quite unfortunate luck here considering they played XSET, Gen. G, and even the eventual event winners 100 Thieves in all 3 opening matches of their brackets. A short while after this, Apoth found himself on VIRTUOSO, where he would stay for close to 7 months. With VIRTUOSO, Apoth and the rest of the roster would cement themselves as one of the stronger tier 2 teams in the region, peaking in the top 20 of NA. In September, Apoth and his teammate Lin departed from the team to trial with Renegades. During the duo’s trial period, RNG managed to place well in a multitude of events and even win the Rival 1 in a 2–1 series against Soniqs. Following this successful trial, Apoth and Lin joined Renegades officially in December.
Stats-wise, Apoth has been putting up good numbers for a controller, especially when it comes to his openings. Not only has he been playing a more active style on Astra and Viper compared to the average, but he has also rarely died while doing this, as shown in his FKPR and FDPR stats. Now, this is purely anecdotal, but in the matches I’ve seen of him, Apoth also seems to be great in clutch situations, such as this 1v3 .
Team: Renegades (Ranked 23rd in NA)
Roles/Agent(s): Controller
Stats: | https://medium.com/@notmattamu/five-upcoming-na-pros-to-watch-part-2-8fae0719237d | [] | 2021-12-22 02:26:10.961000+00:00 | ['Esports', 'Valorant', 'North America'] |
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If you’re looking for a cost-effective, easy way to build custom campaigns and collaborate with influencers, we’ve got your back!
On our website, you can choose from a wide variety of niche influencers. Once you choose the right influencer you can contact him and if you want he/she to do the advertising or to promote anything for you will find the price for the service.
We would like to protect our influencers and customers (All Users on the platform). We are delighted to let customers lock the value of the influencer’s service in our smart contract. | https://medium.com/@influmarketplace/are-you-looking-for-the-big-boom-for-your-next-project-join-our-website-d8d79da8586a | [] | 2021-01-06 18:09:15.121000+00:00 | ['Influencers', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Technology', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Defi'] |
CBI’s Statement on PRIA to Congressional Subcommittee | PRIA would replicate and extrapolate known defects in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program.
Photo by Darren Halstead on Unsplash
The House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance will hold a hearing on Thursday November 19, 2020 entitled Insuring Against a Pandemic: Challenges and Solutions for Policyholders and Insurers. The hearing is expected to focus on the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act (HR 7011) introduced in May by Representative Maloney of New York.
The Centers for Better Insurance is submitting the attached Statement for the Record which warns this well-intended legislation (as well as the excess program in the joint industry Business Continuity Protection Program) would:
Leave small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments in no better position during future pandemics than they are today as they struggle to survive COVID-19 lockdown orders while battling their insurance companies in court; and
Grant large corporations license to design their own multi-billion-dollar taxpayer funded pandemic bailouts free from Congressional oversight, U.S. Treasury supervision, and public scrutiny.
PRIA is based on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) thereby adopting and amplifying its two greatest shortcomings:
PRIA would remove only the “virus exclusion” from small business insurance policies. More than 80% of court cases dismissing small business claims for COVID-19 business interruption so far have been based on a lack of “direct physical loss or damage” — not the virus exclusion alone. PRIA is no more than a ticket for small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments to head back to court to litigate whether a virus can cause property damage as their businesses crumple under the weight of future pandemic lockdown orders.
from small business insurance policies. More than 80% of court cases dismissing small business claims for COVID-19 business interruption so far have been based on a lack of “direct physical loss or damage” — not the virus exclusion alone. PRIA is no more than a ticket for small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments to head back to court to litigate whether a virus can cause property damage as their businesses crumple under the weight of future pandemic lockdown orders. PRIA would allow large corporations to set up their own personal insurance companies (known as “captives”) offering their owners generous pandemic coverages with 95% of the cost transferred to the American taxpayer. According to U.S. Treasury, up to 95 cents of every dollar paid out under TRIA following a future terrorist attack would pass through captives on the way to the coffers of large corporations. No doubt large corporations would likewise siphon off the lion’s share PRIA’s payouts through these secretive special purpose vehicles.
The American taxpayer in on the hook for “only” 80% of the $100 billion TRIA program. Perhaps continued tolerance of that program’s well-known defects is somehow justifiable. However, there can be no justification to replicate these defects and extrapolate them into a taxpayer liability for 95% of a $750 billion program. | https://medium.com/@jason-schupp/cbis-statement-on-pria-to-congressional-subcommittee-fed277592faf | ['Jason Schupp'] | 2020-11-11 13:41:16.082000+00:00 | ['Covid 19 Crisis', 'Terrorism Risk', 'Business Interruption', 'Terrorism', 'Insurance'] |
Healthful Monday~ 07/06/2020 | Today's Healthful-Amusement worth reviewing and considering to amuse your thoughts toward supporting a healthier mind and body! Here to assist you with self-care for healthier decisions and healthier choices for a healthier lifestyle both in mind and body. Improve your overall well-being not just for yourself but for those you adore and care about. You'll surely achieve and accomplish more further, farther, and faster with a healthier you... besides, you deserve greater bliss and success~
So, invest in your education by increasing your knowledge regarding your health. Learn more about what energizes you and keeps you going! Check out this bit of information I am sharing today... this is just some info to assist you in being the best version of yourself for your joy and bliss. The better your self-care the better you'll be! You deserve better moments of today for an appreciative yesterday as you create your ideal tomorrow! You deserve to enjoy every day that much more~
CHEERS~
#healthful #lifeguidance #selfhealing #nutritional #infographic | https://medium.com/@edwardftcharfauros/healthful-monday-07-06-2020-2d01fceac8c8 | ['Edward F. T. Charfauros'] | 2020-07-06 16:55:50.460000+00:00 | ['Infographics', 'Nutritional Guidance', 'Self Care Tips', 'Minerals For The Body', 'Healthful'] |
The Securosys token offering | In the following post, we want to provide you with an overview of our token, and how it works for you as a contributor. At Securosys, we strive to set a landmark for a new era of growth financing. Crowd financing and the token economy have created a new set of possibilities for companies to gather money on the market. With the addition of security token offerings, a new class of assets was created and there are still differences in how they are structured and back-fitted to existing law. We are at the forefront of this innovation and proud to have created an asset that is both attractive to crowd investors, as well as traditional investors.
In the current landscape of growth financing, there is one major trade-off that must be addressed by anyone that is asking the market for money. Liquidity versus security. Tokens emitted in an ITO are of high liquidity, but there is still a gap between innovation and the law protecting the investors. With our partner Froirep, we found a viable solution to cater to both demands. The SET token can be held as a “security token” and offers certain rights to the holder, including a share in the business gains by Securosys. If the investor prefers to hold classic equity, he can convert his tokens to shares (non-voting and voting shares are both available) immediately.
The tokens offer high liquidity, besides the dividend share that is distributed through them. On the other hand, the shares offer shareholder rights (depending on the shares the tokens are converted to), but they are not as liquid as the tokens. We are firm believers that this opens up an interesting dynamic.
With the increase in functionalities of the token economy, there is an increase in the complexity of the token structure and associated rights. Therefore, we ask the reader to always fall back to the official whitepaper for any details about the token mechanics and deal structure.
The Securosys SET token
Securosys will issue the Securosys Token (SET) as a security token. The following gives an overview, including token distribution, profit sharing, and conversion mechanism.
Name: Securosys Token
Ticker: SET
Price per token: CHF 5.00 (or equivalent)
Token type: ERC20 compliant token
Token purpose: SET tokens can be converted into shares. The conversion rate is 100 tokens to one Securosys share of CHF 1.00 nominal value. The tokens entitle to an annual dividend-linked participation per token when the company issues a dividend.The dividend-linked participation is a cash payment by Securosys in CHF, tokens, or Ether. The amount of participation per token equals 1% of the amount dividend paid per Securosys share.
Hard cap: 3’049’345 SET Token
Pre-money valuation: CHF 49’259’350 (accounting for discounts)
Participation options: Bitcoin, Ether, and Fiat (CHF, €, $) via bank wire.
ITO timeframe: 6.11.2018–7.12.2018 (target dates. For more details see “ITO tickets” below.)
The SET tokens are considered securities under Swiss law. That’s why we use both terms ITO/initial token offering and STO/security token offering to be more specific about the nature of our token sale.
Although the tokens represent shares in the company, they do not confer any voting rights.
Profit sharing
Every year after receiving the audit report and checking the general financial health of the company, the Securosys board makes a decision on paying out dividends. The general assembly has to approve the proposal, then approved dividends are paid out to share and token holders. Note that Securosys just entered the second year of profitability, but has not paid out dividends in the four years of existence.
25% of the dividends paid to shareholders are distributed to the token holders. The 25% corresponds to the 25% of shares represented by the SET tokens. The dividends are paid out via smart contract in ETH or SET tokens with the rate CHF/ETH calculated at the date of payout. If dividends are paid out in SET tokens, they come from the company reserve or market buybacks by the company.
If a subsidiary of Securosys is sold, the same procedure applies for the exit proceeds.
Requirements for dividend payouts
To be eligible for the dividend distribution, the holder needs to be in possession of at least 1000 SET tokens, and they have to be registered and verified with Securosys. This is due to the Swiss tax withholding requirements.
Participant limitations
Within the EEA, Securosys will rely on prospectus exemptions, offered to less than 150 investors per member state, offered in batches of over €100,000 per investor, or offered to qualified investors only. The full terms of the SET sale will be included in the Token and Token Sale Terms, to be published separately on the Securosys Token Sales website, reachable through ico.securosys.ch.
For other jurisdictions, Securosys will rely on a general representation from the investor that no security laws, or other laws, are violated by the purchase of token shares by the respective investor.
ITO tickets and schedule
According to each investment size and method, various lockup periods apply. All tokens in the Securosys company reserve are locked up 24 months after the ITO. Some tokens that are not sold in the ITO phase are kept separate for private investor sales that will be ongoing due to time-intense processes on the investor side. Please have a look at the table below for all ticket sizes and corresponding lockup periods.
Target dates for public sale November 6 to December 7, 2018
Token distribution and use of proceeds | https://medium.com/securosys/the-securosys-token-offering-3688d1584349 | [] | 2018-10-25 14:19:02.549000+00:00 | ['Security Token Offering', 'Blockchain', 'ICO', 'Hsm', 'Ito'] |
Snap Snap | Written by
Daily comic by Lisa Burdige and John Hazard about balancing life, love and kids in the gig economy. | https://backgroundnoisecomic.medium.com/snap-snap-4232e688db2f | ['Background Noise Comics'] | 2019-10-10 07:11:01.412000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Body Image', 'Comics', 'Addams Family', 'Humor'] |
50 Day Challenge Update: Week 5 | Daily Challenge 1. stretch 2. write 3. meditate 4. promoting my books and blog. An update on how my personal challenge is going.
Photo by Pietro Rampazzo on Unsplash
Well, it is my final week. And Saturnalia/ Faux X-mas Eve to boot. Always nice to have a non-celebration here in Japan though. December 25th sort has a me purpose, date night and KFC (don’t ask), lots of decorations, another reason to buy a bunch of shit you don’t need, that sort of thing.
But it’s not officially a “holy day”, thankfully. December 31st/January 1st is a different story though. On the Faux Japanese New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (Japan used to follow the Chinese calendar) things get pretty busy at all the Shinto Shrines and to a lesser extent, Buddhist temples. I’m not a fan of crowds, but New Year’s Eve at the local Shinto Shrine is kind of fun if it isn’t raining.
This one sort of morphed into a weird rant/rambling “nothing to do” with my 50 day challenge sort of thing. Honestly, though I don’t have a whole lot to report. I’m doing my stuff and making my goals. That’s about it.
Daily Stretch
Doing it. Everyday. Um, not much else to say.
2. 500 Words a Day
Same with this one. Though, I’ve been thinking I might go back to handwriting in my journals again. I’m typing up five hundred words everyday fairly easily, but without a lot of focus. I think handwriting would help with that.
3. Daily Book Promotions
Promoting and occasionally selling. Amazon deposited about $20 in my bank account recently from book sales. Roughly equal to what I earn every month on Medium.
4. Daily Meditation
Nothing new here either. Just putting in my time on the cushion. Wish I had more to say about it. It is generally a nice short daily high though. Good enough for me.
And that’s that until I make my final entry next week on December 31st.
Steve Howard has published flash fiction, short stories, haibun, and creative non-fiction, poetry and haiku in numerous literary journals. His self-published collection of short stories Satori in the Slip Stream, Something Gaijin This Way Comes, and others were released in 2018. His poetry collection Diet of a Piss Poor Poet was released in 2019. Book One of Mystical Meat Machines was released in 2020. He currently teaches English in Japan and is a semi-professional stand up comedian. For a FREE copy of his “Best of 2020” PDF book subscribe to his blog here.
https://stevenbhowwrites.wixsite.com/website-1 | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/50-day-challenge-update-week-5-5b35154ca02e | ['Steve B Howard'] | 2020-12-24 00:35:47.418000+00:00 | ['Challenge', 'Writing', 'Goals', 'Meditation', 'The Partnered Pen'] |
Guide for build plan for STO marketing: Security token | Guide for build plan for STO marketing: Security token
How to market your STO
In the current scenario, the most common or essential component for the technological sector is blockchain & cryptocurrency. It has been seen that ICO is growing very fast all over the globe. In fact, most of the businessman wants to invest in this technology through which they will attain advancement stage in their business. It’s a long time now since the introduction by ICO & there is many people who know about it & its related conceptualization. The further stage for every industry is STO marketing & the predominant strategy is ICO.
Enhancement in the cryptocurrency market
cryptocurrency market
The market of cryptocurrency has risen in present scenario after 2017 December, the overall capitalization of the cryptocurrency market was 326.5B $, but after the 1 January, the gap was reduced & enhance to the 629.5B $. The graph of the market was enhanced recently and huge investors have been seen in the year 2018.
Introduction to STO marketing
STO defines as the next trendsetter in the industry of cryptocurrency which mainly defines value, voting rights, a stake in the specific organization. STO can be elaborated as Security Token Offering. Tokens seem to be essential for an asset as they can act as money or gold and with the tokens, you can easily change things. Hence, the token’s security is also an important platform, so STO is introduced, & this seems to be the advanced step from the ICO. They are overall backed by the assets of the real world.
Marketing of STO
STO marketing services
Marketing of STO does not seem to be an easy task & even though SEC which stands for Securities & exchange Commission allows the issuers to broad the solicit & advertise all offer which also consists of some factors that can be defined as:
Sellers of the token should verify all buyers & cross-check about their status.
All process of buying in offering should give out the profit credits to the particular investors.
There are some other conditions related to Regulation D that should be maintained and followed.
Overview of the regulation D
Regulation D is defined as section 506 © which stated that token selling is banned & as per this section, users are not permitted to advertise like ads in radio, seminars, newspapers, and many more. This doesn’t allow for any type of advertisement. This system also banned the organizations to conduct the meetings which organized issuer who invited by general advertising.
Now you are thinking that all of the marketing ways are getting close but it is not. There is a number of mediums of marketing of STO which can be: your security tokens also have an appealing look but the investors have to attempt by themselves.
How your research for marketing should be?
For STO marketing, there should be appropriate planning & planning work mainly has three pillars & seems to be the backbone of every successful marketing. These three pillars can be defined as:
Research for STO market
Consulting for STO market
Planning for STO market
Various ways for STO marketing
Various ways of STO marketing can be defined as:
1. Target to the appropriate customer
2. Deal marketing
3. Proxy marketing
4. Networking
5. Appropriate partner exchanges
Read more: How Change the Automotive Industry
1. Target to the appropriate customer
It seems to be essential to attain & target the correct people or customers. Your point of a target should be the correct and appropriate audience. In order to attain the successful sales rate of security tokens, this step plays a vital role to target the appropriate group for income.
2. Deal marketing
In order to sell out the token, there is a requirement to have full documentation & you also have to enable the reports to respond frequently. Some most common steps seem to be important in dealing that can define as:
Properly reach out to the audiences
Always keep and maintain the documentation of confidential information.
Prepare a generic teaser that completely covers all important things in short.
Appropriate database related to the potential investors & buyers.
3. Proxy marketing
Proxy marketing seems to be the best solution for security marketing because their marketing cannot be done directly. So, you are not able to do direct marketing and the best way is proxy marketing. This trick can be used in form of an appropriate feature whether online or offline depends on the organization’s requirement. They can also mark all presence through magazines & newspapers.
4. Networking
Networking seems to be the important part for the tokens selling as according to this; buyers prefer their reference and this will lead to avoid the unwanted mess. In this, the linking of networking plays a vital role. For better publicity, you have to go and attend the events of crypto, seminars & also be crypto members which seem to be an imperative part.
5. Appropriate partner exchanges
Appropriate partner exchanges
The blockchain medium has simplified the way of security tokens. Mainly, it seems that with the name of tokens investors which scared off by partner name as they are also scared of massive type of theft that deals with the commitments.
In a bottom line
In the case of blockchain marketing, its presence is not tough because it comes up with cryptocurrency technology but this software works very precisely and smoothly. Blockchain seems to be a secure platform & it is also used to record the data of transmission. All marketing can be done as per the use of products & there is no foundation for software promoting.
With the advancement in technology and time, there are several companies based on blockchain & people are also searching to hire a blockchain app development company that will offer the advanced & effective feature in order to make compatible as per the market. If you are also looking for a blockchain app development company then contact us at Mtoag technologies. We have the best-experienced expertise that offers the best client services and all deal with the marketing industry. | https://medium.com/@mtoagtechnologies/guide-for-build-plan-for-sto-marketing-security-token-e58d06732896 | ['Mtoag Technologies'] | 2020-12-15 13:23:09.565000+00:00 | ['Security Token', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Blockchain', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Blockchain Development'] |
1% Kampagne: matched.io hilft Startups beim Tech-Recruitment. | matched.io | Matchmakers. Reshaping job matching for developers. On a mission to digitize the world 🌍 | https://medium.com/@matchedio/1-kampagne-matched-io-hilft-startups-beim-tech-recruitment-ce71a5e106e6 | [] | 2020-11-24 17:06:33.135000+00:00 | ['Deutschland', 'Tech', 'Startup Life', 'AI', 'Startup'] |
Can We Forecast the Number of Sunspots? | Can We Forecast the Number of Sunspots?
I will be predicting the number of monthly Sunspots using time series analysis. The models that will be explored in-depth are the ARMA and LSTM models. Ethan Johnson-Skinner, MSc Sep 9·10 min read
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Introduction
Firstly: what is a sunspot? Sunspots are a temporary phenomena on the Sun’s photosphere that appear darker than the surrounding areas. The reason why I have selected the sunspots dataset for time series analysis is sunspots appear on an 11-year solar cycle, meaning we should expect to see a seasonality component to the data. I will be modelling the seasonality trend using two different methods, the ARMA model and LSTM model.
Sun spots appear and disappear on a 11 year cycle
Image from [Wikipedia]
The data that will be used is from 1749 to 2013 and is the monthly average at each month. The data which was used for the analysis can be found from kaggle. Below I have a small snippet of the data.
Image by [author]
One of the first steps in time series analysis is plotting both the data and the autocorrection. We do this to understand any underlaying trends or seasonality, by identifying any trends, the appropriate mathematical models can be used.
Sunspots Plot
I begin simply by plotting a block of 600 data points from the sunspots data.
Image by [author]
From the graph a strong seasonality component can be viewed. However each peak and trough vary in size, this will limit which mathematical models can be used. For example using a sinusoidal model may not produce the best results.
Image by [Wikipedia]
A moving average or Data science approach will yield the best modelling results
Autocorrelation
Before I begin modelling the time series I first produce the autocorrelation graph to understand if any underlaying patterns are existent in the data. For time series modelling I should expect to see a stationary time series with no pattern.
Note that the autocorrection is the correlation of a data point with a lagged version of itself.
Image by [author]
From the autocorrection plot a strong seasonality component exists. We will need to segment/decompose out the seasonality component.
Time Series Decomposition
For any given time series three layers can be segmented. It might help to think of any time series [Xt] as three components. Below I show the mathematical formulation of an additive model.
In our case there is only a seasonality component. With this in mind we can apply the method of differencing. If there is a seasonal component to an 11-year solar cycle, then we can remove it on an observation today by subtracting the value from 11 years ago.
Here is the python code for subtracting out a seasonality trend.
from matplotlib import pyplot
X = df.values
diff = list()
cycle = 132
for i in range(cycle, len(X)):
value = X[i] - X[i - cycle]
diff.append(value)
pyplot.plot(diff)
pyplot.title('Sunspots Dataset Differenced')
pyplot.show()
Image by [author]
From the differenced plot I can see that there still exists some seasonality in the time series. Next I attempt to model the seasonality with a polynomial recurring on a 11 year cycle.
Image by [author]
A second order polynomial does a poor Job of modelling our sunspots time series.
Some of the key problems of the time series we need to address:
Each 11 year cycle varies in magnitude
The cycles are on average 11 years apart but not exactly.
The Autoregressive moving average will address these issues well. One downfall will be the forward prediction will be limited in look ahead days. Another method that will be explored in-depth in this article will be the LSTM.
The LSTM performs well in forward prediction and addresses the downfall of the ARMA model.
Autoregressive moving average (ARMA) Modelling
The ARMA model is a powerful tool for modelling a time series. The ARMA(p,q) is defined where p is the order of the autoregressive polynomial and q is the order of the moving average polynomial.
The Autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model is given as
ARMA Model
In python we are able to fit the parameters (p,q) using the ARIMA function.
The function ARIMA() accepts a two main arguments
x : a univariate time series
: a univariate time series order : a vector of length 3 specifying the order of ARIMA(p,d,q) model
Here, d represents the order of a time series. For example if there is an underlaying linear trend than d would be equal to 1.
When fitting a ARMA model we set d equal to 0.
from statsmodels.tsa.arima_model import ARIMA
y = np.array(RNN_data.value)
model = ARIMA(y, order=(1,0,1)) #ARMA(1,1) model
model_fit = model.fit(disp = 0)
print(model_fit.summary()) # Plot residual errors
residuals = pd.DataFrame(model_fit.resid)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(1,2)
residuals.plot(title="Residuals", ax=ax[0])
residuals.plot(kind='kde', title='Density', ax=ax[1])
plt.show() # Actual vs Fitted
cut_t = 30
predictions = model_fit.predict()
plot = pd.DataFrame({'Date':date,'Actual':abs(y[cut_t:]),"Predicted": predictions[cut_t:]})
plot.plot(x='Date',y=['Actual','Predicted'],title = 'ARMA(1,1) Sunspots Prediction',legend = True)
RMSE = np.sqrt(np.mean(residuals**2))
The ARMA(1,1) model produces the single day forward prediction. In other words we forecast one day ahead.
One of the downfalls of the ARMA model is the number of days for forward prediction.
Image by [author]
LSTM Modelling
The LSTM is a type of model within the RNN family. It can be thought of as a neural network for time series data.
The LSTM differs from the neural network as follows; instead of single time instance for input into a neural network the LSTM takes x pervious days for input.
You may start to begin to understand why this will be useful for the Sunspots dataset. By using pervious data as input the model will attempt to capture the seasonality information on an 11-year cycle.
The main idea behind LSTM is in the forget gate where information can be passed through to the next neural network.
Here the green block represents a look-back day, for example if our LSTM model was using a look-back period of 3 days the below graphic would represent a single day in our model.
Image by [Wikipedia]
For an LSTM model the model structure is dictated by the structure of the input data and the features for prediction
The number of previous months for look-back and the number of input features will determine the number of neurons that require weights and bias.
LSTM Modelling in Python
I will be using the Keras libraries and packages for creating the LSTM model.
Creating the input data structure is the most important step in LSTM modelling in Python
The first step is simply splitting our data into the train and test datasets.
split = 0.7 #Split into test and training set (70/20 split)
length = len(dataset)
train_length = round(length*split)
test_length = len(dataset) - train_length train = dataset[0:train_length,:]
test = dataset[train_length:length,:]
Let's introduce the preprocessing functions for a single day ahead LSTM forecast.
def preprocessing(training_set_scaled,n,train_length,days):
y_train = []
for i in range(days, train_length -1 ):
y_train.append(training_set_scaled[i, 0]) # note that our predictor variable is in the first column of our array
y_train = np.array(y_train)
X = np.zeros(shape=[train_length - (days+1),days,n],dtype=float)
for j in range(n):
for i in range(days, train_length-1):
X[i-days,:,j] = training_set_scaled[i-days:i, j]
return X, y_train
Image by [author]
Here the shape of our numpy array is as follows
418: The number of days in our training data
The number of days in our training data 3: the number of Days we look-back for prediction
the number of Days we look-back for prediction 1: the number of features used for prediction
Next I introduce the structure of the LSTM model
# Initialising the RNN
regressor = Sequential() # Adding the first LSTM layer and some Dropout regularisation
regressor.add(LSTM(units = nodes, return_sequences = True, input_shape = (new.shape[1], new.shape[2])))
regressor.add(Dropout(0.2)) # Adding a second LSTM layer and some Dropout regularisation
regressor.add(LSTM(units = nodes, return_sequences = True))
regressor.add(Dropout(0.2)) # Adding a third LSTM layer and some Dropout regularisation
regressor.add(LSTM(units = nodes, return_sequences = True))
regressor.add(Dropout(0.2)) regressor.add(LSTM(units = nodes))
regressor.add(Dropout(0.2)) # Adding the output layer
regressor.add(Dense(units = t)) # this is the output layer so this repersetns a single node with our output value # Compiling the RNN
regressor.compile(optimizer = 'adam', loss = 'mean_squared_error') # Fitting the RNN to the Training set
model = regressor.fit(new, y_train, epochs = 50, batch_size = 22)
Single Day forward prediction with LSTM
Image by [author]
The LSTM model preforms quite well, however part of this is simply because we are predicting one day ahead at a time. Next we look at multi-day forward prediction.
Multi-day LSTM Modelling in Python
Let’s introduce the preprocessing functions for a multi-day ahead LSTM forecasting.
Look-back is 3 Day
Forward Prediction is 5 days
I am using the previous 3 days to predict 5 days into the future at each time-step.
def preprocessing_muli(training_set_scaled,n,t,train_length,days):
days_length = train_length - t
y_train = np.zeros(shape=[days_length-t,t],dtype=float)
#y_train[:,0] = training_set_scaled[t:days,0]
#y_train = np.zeros(shape=[days_length - t,days],dtype=float)
for i in range(t):
y_train[:,i] = training_set_scaled[i+t:days_length+i,0] # Here each column repersents a time step.
X = np.zeros(shape=[days_length-t,days,n],dtype=float)
for j in range(n):
for i in range(days):
X[:,i,j] = training_set_scaled[i:days_length-t+i, j]
return X, y_train
Loss Function
I explore the loss function when fitting the LSTM model to both understand if the model converges and how fast does it converge. The loss function is a measurement of the distance our predictions are from the response variable. Below is an example of a linear regression model fit using MSE. Understand that the distance from each blue point to the line is measured then squared and finally divided by the total number of data points.
Image by [Wikipedia]
To keep things simple I will be using the mean squared error as the loss function. The formula for the mean squared error (MSE) is given as
From the MSE formula the hat represents the predicted or estimated values for the variable y. In mathematics the hat above the variable represents an estimation for a given random variable. n represents the number of total data points that we our estimating. The graphic above shows how the MSE would be calculated for a simple linear regression model in two dimensions.
The results for the MSE loss function for the Multi-day LSTM Model is shown below.
Image by [author]
The results for the 3 day look-back and 5 day forward prediction.
Image by [author]
LSTM - Sunspots 11 year cycle prediction in Python
Next I investigate if the LSTM model can predict one full cycle ahead. For our dataset each data point is representative of a single month and we know that we should expect a sunspot cycle each 11 years so we will be forward predicting 132 data points into the future. However to capture part of the next cycle as-well I will use 160 days for forward prediction.
Look-back is 200 Days
Forward Prediction is 160 days
Image by [author]
The LSTM does properly capture the seasonality or cyclic component of the time series however it offset and the peak and trough are not aligned.
Image by [author]
Attempting to predict an entire 11 year cycle ahead did not yield the best results so next I attempt to predict an half cycle ahead or about 60 days ahead.
LSTM Sunspots half cycle prediction in Python
Lastly I investigate if the LSTM model can predict a half cycle ahead. For our dataset each data point is representative of a single month and we know that we should expect a sunspot cycle each 11 years so we will be forward predicting about 60 data points into the future.
Look-back is 120 Days
Forward Prediction is 60 days
Image by [author]
Here I create four blocks each 60 days long for predicting the test dataset.
Next I plot 60 days into the future.
Image by [author]
Conclusion
Everything that was shown in this article was done to forecast the sunspots dataset using real data. Both ARMA and LSTM were evaluated in-depth. The LSTM far outperforms the ARMA model in terms of multi-day forward prediction, the ARMA model can capture the seasonality component while the LSTM is unable to correctly identify the start and end of a new cycle. Adding additional features to the LSTM model may yield better results when forecasting the number of sunspots. | https://towardsdatascience.com/modelling-the-number-of-sunspots-with-time-series-analysis-39ce7d88cff3 | ['Ethan Johnson-Skinner'] | 2021-09-11 01:44:22.415000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Lstm', 'Time Series Analysis', 'Python', 'Data Science'] |
Musings by Sateesh | Marketing in Early Stage SaaS companies.
Marketing as a function has many roles. In every company the role and definition of marketing changes.
For early-stage SaaS companies, ‘a must-have marketing functions are as follows.
1) Growth Marketing — This is more of coordinating with product teams and exploring what works and what not works. Identifying ‘aha’ moments and trying to expand these moments for growth.
Launching the product and different features, testing various channels, tracking what works, moving the prospects in the growth funnel, Identifying Distribution channels; demand gen; inbound; supporting sales outbound efforts; website optimization is the broad functions.
2)Product Marketing
Owning products and communicating the product features to the customers.
Owning product launches, GTM strategy, Customer Feed Back, and pricing strategy.
3) Content Marketing
Attracting and Engaging customers through content, creating attractive content, brand voice, managing bloggers.
Managing a content calendar and managing voice and brand. Managing various social media posts.
I thought of writing this since there is a lot of confusion about Growth Marketing.
Embrace Growth Marketing.
Do you ever think that every word you have written on your website, every blog you write, the content you create, and every customer you answer is also marketing?
In many organizations, marketing is the function of the ‘Marketing Department’.
It is not.
We can not look at Growth Marketing in silos.
The product features, the User Experience, the Customer Journey, the value proposition, the customer success, everything contributes to marketing.
It is the function of everyone in the organization. | https://medium.com/corporatesoul/musings-by-sateesh-1921fdb65a15 | ['Sateesh Hegde'] | 2020-12-17 04:04:17.109000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Marketing', 'Growth Marketing', 'Growth Hacking', 'SaaS'] |
Developing Your Personal Brand at Work | Branding isn’t just for businesses seeking to maximize online visibility, although that’s how this concept first began. Today, anyone can develop a personal brand and use it to help them follow their chosen career path. Here are a few tips for pursuing your personal brand in the workplace.
Develop Your Brand
The first step in personal branding is to create a package that’s worthy of branding. This involves taking an insightful look at yourself to identify any talents that can be cultivated into useful skills. You should also determine which personality traits you would like to emphasize as a part of your brand. Your goal is to include desirable traits and skills that employers will want to add to their team, so choose characteristics that will help you stand out. Any skill or characteristic that you claim to offer should be verifiable and reliable.
Get Honest Feedback
If you have ever had to complete an online employment assessment, you know that many of the questions you’re asked revolve around what a supervisor or co-worker thinks about you. It’s possible to get a jump on these types of questions by asking your supervisors and co-workers these questions ahead of time. You can ask them to provide you with blunt and honest answers. The feedback they provide can help you adjust your behavior and practices to improve your personal brand. You’ll never be the perfect employee to everyone, but using feedback can help you correct the flaws that most people see in you.
Don’t Be Afraid to Volunteer
Anytime a new opportunity is presented, you should be among the first to volunteer for it. This will help you earn a good reputation with your employer and supervisors for being the “go-to” employee who isn’t afraid of new challenges. That’s a good quality to add to your personal brand. Additionally, it will expose you to new situations in which you can learn new facets of the organization’s operation.
These tips will help you create and grow your personal brand, which will, in turn, help you advance your career. Just as companies must maintain a consistent philosophy in building their brand, you should adhere to the principles you use in creating your personal brand. This will help co-workers, supervisors, and potential employers develop trust in your work ethic, expertise, and integrity. | https://medium.com/itc-uk-digital-marketing-entrepreneurship/developing-your-personal-brand-at-work-48291180ec2e | ['Warren Ferster'] | 2020-11-23 17:20:51.389000+00:00 | ['Career Strategies', 'Personal Branding', 'Branding', 'Warren Ferster Manchester'] |
Cyber Sprint Notes #5 | Covering 18–31 May 2021
Welcome back to our Cyber Sprint Notes, an opportunity to catch up on the progress of the Local Digital Cyber team.
Cyber Health
The Cyber Health team completed their Alpha Service Assessment on 19 May. This gave us an opportunity to present our work during the Alpha phase to peers from other digital teams, including what we learnt and what we plan to do next. The assessors use the Government Service Standard to suggest any changes or make recommendations for how we might be able to improve our work. You can read more about service assessments in the Government Service Manual and we expect to receive the report soon.
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) roadmap has been developed, which shows the work that will need to be completed in the next phase.
Preliminary work on the private beta phase has also kicked off, so come along to the next show and tell on 18 June to find out more.
Cyber Support
This sprint, the Cyber Support team conducted Cyber Clinics for:
Advanced Threat Protection overview
Active Directory toolkit — with enhancements
We’ve selected 3 new councils to take part in further exploration of their cyber posture based on their answers to the Mitigating Malware and Ransomware survey.
We also held project briefings and workshops with two of those councils, and produced reports ready for collaborative review and agreement. A briefing took place with the third council and a workshop has been scheduled.
Join the Cyber show and tells
We’re changing how we run our show and tells, and you must now register to attend upcoming events on Eventbrite.
You can now register for the following confirmed dates:
Cyber Health project : 18 June, 11:30am — 12pm
: 18 June, 11:30am — 12pm Cyber Support project : 25 June, 11:30am — 12pm
: 25 June, 11:30am — 12pm Cyber Health project: 2 July, 11:30am — 12pm
If you work in a national or local government agency and would like to find out more about our work, visit the Eventbrite page to register. We look forward to seeing you there.
Thanks for reading! For more Cyber news and events, be sure to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to the cyber newsletter. | https://medium.com/ldcu/cyber-sprint-notes-5-b1a02c9eb71f | ['Local Digital Collaboration Unit'] | 2021-06-08 11:55:26.970000+00:00 | ['Local Digital', 'Cybersecurity', 'Cyber', 'Cyber Sprint Notes', 'Local Government'] |
Moments from The Verve profile of The Awl, ranked. | Why are the most important people in media reading The Awl?
In February, at the Code/Media* conference in Dana Point, California, some of the most powerful people in media found… | https://sippey.medium.com/moments-from-the-the-verge-profile-of-the-awl-ranked-863015abca8c | ['Michael Sippey'] | 2020-05-02 03:43:17.211000+00:00 | ['Ranked', 'Theawl', 'Theverge'] |
Shuffle, Split, and Stack Numpy Arrays | Although there are packages such as sklearn and Pandas that manage trivial tasks like randomly selecting and splitting samples, there may be times when you need to perform these tasks without them.
In this article we will learn how to randomly select and manage data in NumPy arrays for machine learning without scikit-learn or Pandas.
Split and Stack Arrays
In machine learning, a common way to think about data structures is to have features and targets. In a simple case, let’s say we have data about animals that are either dogs or cats. The task at hand is to prepare an array for machine learning without the use of helpful libraries.
In this example, consider a spreadsheet-like array were each row is an observation and each column has data about that observation. The rows represent samples and the columns contain data about each sample. Finally, the last column is the target, or label for each sample.
Figure 1 — One way to think about features and targets in an array for machine learning. Image from the author, credit Justin Chae
To get started on a machine learning project that predicts cats and dogs. The array might have a few columns and rows or thousands (or millions!) — whatever the case, the major steps are going to be the same: split and stack.
Split Dataset
You may need to split a dataset for two distinct reasons. First, split the entire dataset into a training set and a testing set. Second, split the features columns from the target column. For example, split 80% of the data into train and 20% into test, then split the features from the columns within each subset.
# given a one dimensional array
one_d_array = np.array([1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]) # randomly select without replacement
train = np.random.choice(one_d_array, size=8, replace=False) print(train) """ output
[ 3 5 10 9 6 8 4 7]
"""
Moreover, instead of always picking the first 80% of samples as they appear in the array, it helps to randomly select subsets. As a result, when we split, we actually want to randomly select and then split.
To randomly select, the first thing you might reach for is np.random.choice(). For example, to randomly sample 80% of an array, we can pick 8 out of 10 elements randomly and without replacement. As shown above, we are able to randomly select from a 1D array of numbers.
Random sampling is especially desired if the first half of the data contains all cats, since it prevents us from training on only cats and no dogs.
# a example array of data extended from Figure 1
# with shape (10, 4)
animals = np.array([[1,0,1,0],
[1,1,0,1],
[1,0,1,0],
[1,1,0,1],
[1,1,0,1],
[1,0,1,0],
[1,1,0,1],
[1,0,1,0],
[1,0,1,0],
[1,1,0,1]]) train = np.random.choice(animals, size=8, replace=True)
print(train) output
ValueError Traceback (most recent call last)
in <module>()
----> 1 train = np.random.choice(animals, size=8, replace=True)
2 print(train)
mtrand.pyx in numpy.random.mtrand.RandomState.choice()
ValueError: a must be 1-dimensional
""" """ValueError Traceback (most recent call last) <ipython-input-44-ecab0b58674d> in ()----> 1 train = np.random.choice(animals, size=8, replace=True)print(train)mtrand.pyx in numpy.random.mtrand.RandomState.choice()ValueError: a must be 1-dimensional"""
Oops — np.random.choice() only works on 1D arrays. As a result, it fails to sample from our animals array and returns an ugly error message. How to work around this issue?
First option. Turn the problem sideways and instead of sampling the array directly, sample the array’s index, then split the array by index.
Figure 2 — Randomly sample the index of integers, then use the result to select from the array. Image from the author, credit Justin Chae
If the array has 10 rows, the idea is to randomly select numbers from 0 through 9 and then index by the array by the resulting lists of numbers.
# length of data as indices of n_data
n_data = animals.shape[0] # get n_samples based on percentage of n_data
n_samples = int(n_data * .8) # make n_data a list from 0 to n
n_data = list(range(n_data)) # randomly select from range of n_data as indices
idx_train = np.random.choice(n_data, n_samples, replace=False)
idx_test = list(set(n_data) - set(idx_train)) print('indicies')
print(idx_train, idx_test)
print('test array')
print(animals[idx_test, ]) """ output of split indices and the smaller test array
indicies
[5 4 6 3 2 1 7 0] [8, 9]
test array
[[1 0 1 0]
[1 1 0 1]]
"""
Second option. If the goal is to return random subsets of an array, another way to accomplish the goal is to first shuffle the array and then sample it. Note that unlike some of the other methods, np.random.shuffle() performs the operation in place. Given the shuffled array, slice and dice it however you want to return subsets.
Figure 3 — Randomly shuffle the entire array, select from the array. Image from the author, credit Justin Chae
With this second method, since the array is shuffled, simply taking the first 80% of rows represents a random sample.
# shuffle the same array as before, in place
np.random.shuffle(animals) # slice the first-n and rest-of-n of an array
tst = animals[:8, ]
trn = animals[8:, ]
Split Array
Previously, we split the entire dataset, but what about the array, column-wise? In the example animals array, columns 0, 1, and 2 are the features and column 3 is the target. Sure, we could just return the 3rd column, but what if we have 5 or 100 features? In this case, negative indexing is a wonderful friend.
# negative index to slice the last column
# works, no matter how many columns
trgts = animals[:,-1]
print(trgts) """ output is a flattened version of the last column
[0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0]
"""
In the example above, the negative index slices the last column off, but it is now a 1D array. In some cases, this is desirable; however, the features and targets arrays have different shapes — this is a problem if we want to put them back together again. Instead, we can take care to slice the numbers of rows with negative indexing to reserve the 2D shape.
# len data as indices of n_data
n_data = animals.shape[0] # n_samples based on percentage of n_data
n_samples = int(n_data * .8) # m_samples as the difference (the rest)
m_samples = n_data - n_samples # slice n_samples up until the last column as feats
train_feats = animals[:n_samples, :-1] # slice n_samples of only the last column as trgts
train_trgts = animals[:n_samples, -1:] # ... repeat for m_samples
Stack Array
At this point, we’ve shuffled and split the dataset and split the features from targets. Now, how about putting everything back together again? To stack left-right and up-down, we can use np.hstack() and np.vstack().
Figure 4— A single array split four ways to train and test with features and targets. Image from the author, credit Justin Chae
To put Humpty Dumpty back together again, stack horizontally and then stack vertically.
# combine side-by-side
train = np.hstack((train_feats, train_trgts))
test = np.hstack((test_feats, test_trgts)) # combined up-down, returns original array
orig = np.vstack((train, test))
Structure Arrays
If you can’t or don’t use Pandas and only have NumPy, there are some ways to leverage the power of NumPy with the ease of Pandas without actually importing Pandas. But how?
Figure 5— Make a NumPy array structured with column names instead of just indices. Image from the author, credit Justin Chae
I found there are some cases where it is important to track the actual name of the feature (or the column) throughout the program. One way to do this is to pass around a list of names with the array, but it is a lot to keep track of. Instead, I found it extremely helpful to transform the array to be structured.
With a structured array, column index 0 is also indexed by the word ‘fur’ and so on.
# import a new library in addition to numpy
import numpy.lib.recfunctions as rfn # column names as a list of strings
col_names = ['fur', 'meow', 'bark', 'label'] # an array
animals = np.array([[1,0,1,0],
[2,1,0,1],
[3,0,1,0],
[4,1,0,1]]) # necessary to set the datatype for each cell
# set n dtypes to integer based on col_names
dtypes = np.dtype([(n, 'int') for n in col_names]) # use refunctions library to set array to structured
structured = rfn.unstructured_to_structured(animals, dtypes) print(structured['fur']) """ output
[1 2 3 4]
"""
For more on operations with structured arrays see Joining Structured Arrays; these methods discovered via Stack Overflow at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55577256/numpy-how-to-add-column-names-to-numpy-array.
Summary
In this story, I present some of the NumPy functions that I learned and relied on while taking a university course in machine learning. The course restricted the use of pre-built libraries such as sci-kit learn and Pandas to reinforce specific learning objectives. These are just some of my notes that I hope are helpful to others seeking a few tips and tricks on NumPy with machine learning.
Thanks for reading, hope it works for you. Let me know if I can make any improvements or cover new topics. | https://python.plainenglish.io/shuffle-split-and-stack-numpy-arrays-83f82033bf17 | ['Justin Chae'] | 2020-12-26 17:13:09.432000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Data Structures', 'Machine Learning', 'Numpy', 'Programming'] |
BECOMING A MORE INCLUSIVE LEADE | Being an inclusive leader is one of the most effective ways to help your company succeed. When implemented consistently, inclusivity boosts employee productivity and morale. Inclusive leaders from every sector of business have proven that the approach nurtures an environment of connection, respect, and involvement. Here are five practices to use when you are working towards being a more inclusive leader.
Acknowledge Unconscious Bias
As with personal relationships, you will find that each of your employees has norms, rituals, values, and beliefs that are integrated into every facet of their work. To be an inclusive leader, take note of any biases that you have about your employees as you observe their behaviors. Challenging these thought patterns helps you get to know your employees as real people and unlocks potential for growth and overcoming challenges in your business.
Leave No Rules to Chance
You set the tone and norms for your business, and you need to make sure that your employees are on the same page. To be an inclusive leader, write down rules that reflect how you expect your employees to interact with each other and your customers. Even the most fundamental rules should be clearly written and referred to as needed. In an inclusive work environment, you will bring together people from different backgrounds and cultures that may define what is considered cultural norms outside the workplace. Thriving in an inclusive company means that everyone knows what is expected and follows through on those expectations.
Hold People Accountable
An important practice that is used by inclusive leaders is to hold all staff to the rules and norms that you outline for your business. Even the smallest misstep should be addressed quickly and appropriately. You not only clarify expectations to the individual but also let your staff know that you are willing to maintain an environment that is safe and comfortable for everyone.
Understand Diverse Perspectives
Being a more inclusive leader means that you take the time to consider everyone’s perspective. Culture, gender, race, religious beliefs, and many other socioeconomic factors influence an individual’s perception, thoughts, ideas, and comfort level. Overcome your assumptions that everyone has the same comfort level as you or other staff in any given situation.
Value Differences
Differences in ideas, approaches, beliefs, and other aspects can be the root of conflict within any business environment. Teach yourself and your employees to value differences because they help to define comprehensive strategies and solutions. Model behavior that respects and encourages differences in your company if you want to be an inclusive leader.
Originally published on Russ Ewell’s website. | https://medium.com/@russewell/becoming-a-more-inclusive-leade-35cf93df8cbd | ['Russ Ewell'] | 2020-12-10 15:18:55.526000+00:00 | ['Inclusion', 'Diversity', 'Leadership', 'Russ Ewell', 'Workplace'] |
Sharing Joy: The Universal Antidote to Gloom | Photo credit: Prateek Khanna
At IWBI our team has been reflecting lately on some of the ways we can tackle the feelings of anxiety and overwhelm that many of us have experienced over the last year.
In leading teams and now an entire organization I’ve come to understand that it’s important to bank as much resilience as possible in good times, so we are better able to withstand any storms that blow our way. In 2020, our collective personal and professional reserves have been depleted by a pandemic-induced health crisis, the economic crunch that followed in its wake and a host of other insults and injuries to both people and planet.
We’ve never been in greater need of mental and physical resolve.
Yet, stockpiling spiritual and emotional capital can be tricky when joyful experiences feel few and far between. And even if you do manage to find your pleasures amidst the pain, you may be self conscious about basking on your raft of happiness, when it feels as if all around you, people are struggling to stay afloat.
In my recent piece on practicing gratitude, as a part of a deliberate effort to boost positive thoughts and feelings when the negative threatens to overwhelm, I briefly touched on how even fleeting moments of happiness are often tainted by feelings of guilt during a crisis.
In theory, joy shouldn’t be complicated — but in practice it so often is. How can we legitimately enjoy episodes of good fortune when so many are denied it? It’s why we are reticent about sharing news of a promotion with a friend who can’t seem to land a job or the excitement over a relationship milestone when someone close to us is struggling through a painful breakup.
Many people have found ways to thrive during the pandemic but are unable to fully celebrate even the small successes because they feel a sense of shame.
If we let fear dictate our response, we’re missing an opportunity not only to allow happiness to suffuse our own consciousness but to pass it on to others who are in need of good news themselves. We need to be reassured that in the simple act of sharing joy, we can also spread a valuable antidote to the negativity that’s creeping into all our lives. Throughout 2020, my coach Kasey has consistently encouraged me to give myself permission not just to be happy, but to be visibly and proudly happy. And in doing so, inspire others to do the same.
Embracing happiness also opens us up to being more future-focused. As we make our New Year’s resolutions or simply consider how we can keep moving forward, we can start by acknowledging that while COVID-19 has upended our lives, it doesn’t have to derail our hopes and dreams.
I had a revelatory experience in the midst of the pandemic. In September, my parents left home to go on a month-long RV trip. After a period of pre-quarantining and rigorous testing, my sister and I blended our pods and relocated to their house. The pure joy I felt when I was able to hug my 18-month-old niece was profound.
That month had a significant impact on my approach to happiness — spurring me on to prioritize that which sparks joy and to be unapologetic in experiencing it.
Marisa and I decided to get married because we were ready to take the next step forward in our relationship and we didn’t want COVID-19 to stop us. We wondered if others would be able to share in our good news or if we should even share it at all. One by one we started making calls to friends and family and almost everyone of them had the same response: they thanked us for shining a light into the darkness and giving them something to celebrate in 2020. Though she’s never had more on her plate, my best friend leapt at the chance to officiate our wedding, telling us how overjoyed she was to focus her energy on something so purely positive.
It wasn’t the wedding of our dreams but it was perfect nonetheless.
As strange as it seems, Marisa and I agree that we are happier than we’ve ever been in our lives. We’re so grateful for the many people who fought long and hard for our right to marry — and feeling buoyed by the support of friends, colleagues and well-wishing strangers alike. Embarking on a lifelong journey with your soulmate is a cause for celebration at any time but doing so this year somehow feels like an even greater triumph for love.
Rachel Hodgdon is President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people first places to advance a global culture of health. | https://medium.com/@rachel-hodgdon/sharing-joy-the-universal-antidote-to-gloom-89f29f442a76 | ['Rachel Hodgdon'] | 2020-12-14 15:19:26.571000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Wellness', 'Joy', 'Mental Health', 'Covid 19'] |
The Case Against Protest Music | The Case Against Protest Music
The difference between great protest music and sloppy virtue-signaling
Photo by Vladimir Fedotov on Unsplash
Protest music is inherently offensive and thought-provoking. Music intentionally steers people away. Protest music that balances impact and seriousness is far and few between. Despite these challenges, some artists get it right. For example, Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” is expertly executed. Unfortunately, most protest music is sloppy and annoying to hear. Instead of persuading the listener, it is antagonizing them. This piece will attempt to find that balance.
Oversaturating the Market
Proponents of protest music believe that big artists hide behind their stardom. Stars like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Drake are more concerned with mindless party music than progressive political messages. If that were true, and popular mainstream artists never spoke out on important issues, then this article would not exist. In reality, the opposite is true. From “Express Yourself” to “If I Were A Man” mainstream elites have always and will continue to speak for marginalized and underrepresented communities. A lot of artists feel like “the other”. Therefore, music is their most effective communication medium. There is no lack of protest music in the mainstream. The reality is that the sub-genre is currently saturating the market.
The Ethos of Music
Protest music contradicts music’s ethos. Music is meant to expose feelings both known and unknown. It is supposed to unite people despite their difference. Bad protest music sets people apart and creates “us’s” and “them’s”. To be clear, this is not a blatant rebuke of all protest music. Nor is this against protests music’s necessity in society. If protest music is going to properly balance accessibility and entertainment then there are some general tips to adopt.
Tips For Effective Protest Music
While inequality and oppression warrant societal and political backlash, protest music doesn’t have to contribute to the response. However, if artists are adamant then here are some protest music guidelines. For one, artists should use intimate stories to show compassion and understanding. Second, musicians should relate to the opposing side and find common ground. Joyner Lucas’s successfully implemented this on his single “I’m Not Racist”. Furthermore, Joni Mitchel used clever wordplay and incredible wit on her classic protest song, “Big Yellow Taxi”. Billie Holiday captured America’s hearts and minds through thought-provoking metaphors on “Strange Fruit”. Sometimes protest songs are just too catchy to ignore. For example, Woodie Guthrie’s “This Lands is Your land” is an undeniable jam. Unfortunately, these songs are the exception. Still, when making poignant protest music, future artists should use them as guideposts.
Obviously, people feel obliged to make protests music during the current administration. It is not clear however if people are just following a trend or genuinely concerned about some issues. Generally, the output has been sloppy and derivative. It’s hard to hear authentic protest music from its cheap imitation. Despite these challenges, there is always hope. If artists empathize with opponents and creativity spread their music protest music can enter a new golden era. | https://medium.com/an-idea/the-case-against-protest-music-4cff79d6f012 | ['If Ever You Re Listening'] | 2020-12-13 03:02:35.448000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Woodie Guthrie', 'Protest', 'Tracy Chapman', 'Sjw'] |
Here you need to know about wedding on Limo car hire in London | Limos are one of the most booked cars for weddings, christenings, and proms. A comfortable and luxurious ride can make your day perfect and the experience memorable. Not to mention the epic pictures you can take with a car of your choosing. If you are looking for a cheap limo hire London you can certainly find quite a few options that are budget friendly.
While hiring luxury cars can cost you quite a bit, you can save significantly by searching for a company that charges for hours, has packages and offers affordable options. In addition to this booking beforehand may save you quite a bit. Since prom dates, weddings and other celebratory events are planned ahead, you easily have the opportunity to book a luxury car when the prices aren’t hiked and the availability is high.
There are several companies that offer cheap limo hire London. You can place your bookings according to the theme of your event. For instance wedding parties usually opt for white limos that can complement their day time event, while silver and black are usually booked for evening events.
Even companies who offer cheap limo hire London to have cars that are fully equipped with flat screens, surround sound speakers and a highly courteous chauffeur. There are options for s fully stocked mini bar with your preferred drinks. The ambiance is both luxurious and comfortable for parties, weddings, proms- you name it.
You can also book extended limousines if you plan to host a lot of people. These cars are extraordinarily spacious and you can enjoy your ride in comfort. Besides if the bride’s dress needs extra space then why not.
Apart from this for wedding car hire London you can browse through a number of affordable options. You can find one of kind vintage and exotic vehicles to drive the bride home. Not to mention the beautiful pictures and candid memories that re-framed by a car of your choice.
Who doesn’t enjoy a ride in a Rolls Royce? Bentley or Flying Spur? You can certainly book one of these cars for your special day. You can even opt for a Hummer limousine or a Chrysler if it suits your requirements.
A one of a kind car will surely make your wedding day fun and the memories pleasant. There are couples who enjoy car pictures and prefer their ride to be a part of pre-wedding photos. Paying on an hourly basis certainly provides you the opportunity to book a car of your choice.
One of the most popular options for wedding car hire London is Limo Hire UK they have a fleet of gorgeous cars that are well kept and offered at lower prices than most companies in the business. | https://medium.com/@limohireuk1524/here-you-need-to-know-about-wedding-on-limo-car-hire-in-london-38967c6393f1 | ['Limo Hire Uk'] | 2019-04-11 12:27:05.655000+00:00 | ['London', 'Care', 'Hire', 'Limo', 'Weddings'] |
Taking lives quietly: The ragging pandemic of Sri Lanka | The local university ragging system has been a long established ‘cultural tradition’ in Sri Lanka, but is it now just a tradition and not a cult?
Starting off as a bit of harmless fun and an initiation ritual, ragging has evolved into a nationwide cult that has created waves so devastating that the past few years have seen several cases of injuries, complaints, torture chambers and even deaths. And yet this phenomenon continues raging.
Think of ragging as a similar practice to hazing carried out in places like regions such as North America, France and Portugal. Dubbed an “initiation ritual” by some, ragging is predominantly seen in higher educational institutions across South Asian countries. Namely, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A typical ragging scenario involves abuse (verbally or even physically), humiliation and harassment of new university students or junior students (aka first year students). The ragging is carried out either by students who are one grade above or by very senior students.
How did it start?
Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), ragging is not a new concept. In fact, the very first forms of ragging can be traced back to the 7th-8th Century A.D.
In Greek culture, for example, new entrants to sports events were often subjected to various types of humiliation and harassment under the pretext of “building team spirit” and to “build a strong character”.
Over time, this technique of ragging was passed down from generation to generation where it reared its ugly head in the military forces and how new soldiers were trained. But it wasn’t done there. Eagerly on the lookout for fresh new victims, ragging also made its presence felt in the education system.
US Universities for example, carried out ragging as a means of initiating students into various groups. Here, budding students would have to carry out a certain type of task in order to pledge their “loyalty” to the group they were looking to join. As time went on, these so-called traditions were picked up by other countries. As this happened, the severity of ragging also increased in leaps and bounds.
What’s the situation then and now?
While much of the developed world has seen a disappearance in ragging, the same cannot be said for third-world and developing nations. Heading these nations in terms of ragging is none other than Sri Lanka. Primarily seen in Government universities, ragging takes on a number of forms.
For example, first year students may be required to dress a certain way or refrain from using certain accessories such as belts. They are told to act a certain way, eat a certain way, talk and walk a certain way and even sit a certain way. Those with a keen eye would observe that this is a tactic used by the military to break a person down so that they can be moulded as required.
With verbal torture, for example, you take away a person’s right to speak for themselves and also damage their personal space. Students are asked questions about themselves that delve deeper into their personal space as time goes on. Failing to comply with these “initiations” usually result in the student being a social outcast from the rest of the students. In more serious cases, students are subjected to physical and sexual abuse.
The culmination of all these types of ragging takes its toll on the mental stability of university students. They spend a majority of their lives sheltered in school. Stepping into university can definitely be a daunting process, especially if you’re socially awkward or are not sure how to interact with other people, perhaps of the opposite gender. With all these emotions and variables in play, the mind of a new university student is simply bombarded with nre information, leaving their state of mind in a precarious situation. As such, a number of first year students subjected to ragging drop out of university, and/or are diagnosed with PTSD and depression.
Depending on the initial mental state of the student, some are even driven to commit suicide rather than endure the ragging that goes on. This is despite the University staff vehemently emphasizing that ragging doesn’t exist within their hallowed grounds. If cases of ragging are brought to the attention of lecturers, they simply turn a blind eye, or are rumored to secretly support it.
What has happened recently?
As of August 2019, there was an actual discovery of torture chambers being discovered in some state universities. Added to, approximately 1989 students left state universities due to vicious sexual and physical abuse.
The Chairman of the University Grants Commission Prof. Mohan de Silva was quoted stating that “The situation has gotten out of control in state universities”. For example, February 2019 saw an incident where senior students from the the Faculty of Management of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura were hurling verbal abuse at junior students, preventing them from attending lectures. Similarly the following month in March, a freshman at the Diyagama Campus of the University of Moratuwa committed suicide because he was unable to withstand the anguish of the ragging that he was subjected to.
But the horror doesn’t end there. In June, four students of the Eastern University were hospitalized due to injuries sustained from the ragging they were subjected to. This was followed up by another student from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Ruhuna who opened up about the ragging that he and other freshmen were subjected to.
How do we stop it if we’re a part of the university system?
It is of vital importance that ragging be stopped. But how does one do that? Most of the time, students who undergo ragging are too afraid to speak up because of the backlash it can cause. Lecturers turning a blind eye and a deaf ear also play their part in demotivating students from standing up or speaking up against ragging.
On the other hand, anti-ragging movements such as the one seen at the University of Peradeniya are also a safe haven for those who want no part played in ragging, provided they can keep their heads straight while observing the situation in the ragging circles. These movements absolutely forbid ragging and welcome all students and provide them with a rag-free university life. On the flip side, anti-ragging movements are also labelled as social outcasts and students are urged to refrain from communicating with any member from an anti-ragging movement. Doing so can also result in extra ragging being carried out to the members in the movement.
Having an online portal to report cases of ragging can also help raise awareness and provide an online safe haven for ragging victims as well. In fact, the UGC launched a Ragging Complaint Portal for this very same purpose. However, the sheer amount of personal information needed from the person lodging the complaint can also discourage people from making complaints. On one hand it’s true that this is done so that no one can misuse or abuse the portal. But on the other hand, if the details of these complaints were to fall into the wrong hands, then it also spells disaster to the innocent people who just want to put an end to ragging.
Another bold but powerful step is to intervene. If you’re a student at a university and you are aware of ragging going on, take the initiative to intervene and stop the ragging. Even if you stop a student being ragged for a day, that’s one less day that he/she has to undergo the trauma of a rag. The most important element in an intervention is to break the social stigma around keeping quiet. “Oh it’s a common thing to have ragging here” is not an excuse. Remember, ignorance is not always bliss.
What can we do as the general public?
As members of the general public, we have it in ourselves to put an end to ragging. But how? Well it can be as simple as saying “No” to ragging. If we teach our younger generation that saying “No” is a valid reason, then that’s the stepping stone to stop ragging. The important factor is to strip away the power of ragging movements. We don’t need to resort to violence. We simply need to outmaneuver and outsmart them. If you know someone or see someone being ragged, make a scene. Post it on social media. Put it as your Instagram story. If it comes down to naming and shaming, then so be it.
Is ragging necessary? Or justifiable?
Why carry out ragging? Therein lies an important question. Unfortunately, it just so happens to be a question that we cannot provide a direct answer to. But there are a number of possible reasons that might point us in the direction of why ragging is carried out. If you look at State or Government universities, these are educational institutions that levy no charges for students coming there to carry out their education.
Ragging is not necessary, neither is it justifiable. It does nothing to boost the attractiveness of a University’s hallowed grounds. Being a part of a ragging movement does nothing to improve your self image neither nor the University’s. Long story short, ragging is an inhumane act and participating in ragging someone else, regardless of the scenario is a disrespect to human life and in turn humanity.
Among the moderately rich and powerful who gain entrance to state universities are also those who are from financially unstable families. Both these parties have good reason to initiate ragging. The rich because they think they can buy their way through life and the less privileged who see themselves as evangelists proclaiming the hardships that they’ve been through and are adamant that all students should see life through their eyes and be thankful.
Whatever the reason might be, seeking justice for any casualties caused by ragging is usually met with a lot of shouting and general agreement before it is quietly swept under the University’s rug and then slowly forgotten about. The only reminder being the scars of those who survived and the painful memories left with those who lost loved ones to ragging. | https://medium.com/@paramiejayakody/taking-lives-quietly-the-ragging-pandemic-of-sri-lanka-81cf7168bdef | ['Paramie Jayakody'] | 2020-12-19 10:02:28.156000+00:00 | ['University', 'Sri Lanka', 'Writing', 'Ragging', 'Bullying'] |
How to Enhance Your Windows Batch Files by Adding GUI | How to Enhance Your Windows Batch Files by Adding GUI
Let’s modernize your old-fashioned Windows batch files with the help of PowerShell and .NET
Photo by Bahman Adlou on Unsplash
We normally use Bash scripting on the Linux platform to perform various types of automation tasks. Similarly, we could write batch scripts on Windows. However, Microsoft introduced PowerShell scripting with the new versions of Windows by adding a way to use the modules of the .NET framework. PowerShell is having some advanced features such as object-based output, pipelines, and a lot of new commands compared to the old command prompt application. If you have several Bash scripts on Linux, commands such as zenity and notify-send can be used to modernize those scripts by adding graphical elements.
A few days ago, I was adding a new feature to Neutralinojs to display toast notifications on Windows. I had several options: implementing by using a library like WinToast, implementing from scratch, and achieving the same result by starting a process of PowerShell with a code-block. The third option was so quick, and the same concept can be applied to modernize old-fashioned Windows batch files too. If we write a batch file for a non-technical audience, it is always nice to use some GUI to enhance usability. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-enhance-your-windows-batch-files-by-adding-gui-7287d89ebad6 | ['Shalitha Suranga'] | 2020-11-30 13:43:03.927000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Powershell', 'Software Development', 'Technology', 'Windows'] |
Use Digital Technology to Improve Employee Engagement | s a leader, you’ve probably thought about all the ways in which digital technology can enhance communication with your clients — but there’s another side of the coin to consider. Digital technology can also facilitate better communication between your employees and one another, and between your employees and you.
Digital technology can even be a catalyst for team building. The question is, how can you leverage technology in your workplace so that it actually improves collaboration and engagement? How can you ensure technology is a tool, not just a distraction?
As a keynote speaker and leadership expert, I’ve spoken on this topic to a number of team leaders — and here are some of the tips I often provide them.
Measure employee engagement . Look into a software suite called Officevibe, which promises increased employee engagement in just a few minutes each month. The software allows your employees to weigh in with their feedback and suggestions for new workplace initiatives; you can not only get feedback but also quantify and track your progress as you strive toward new goals.
Look into a software suite called Officevibe, which promises increased employee engagement in just a few minutes each month. The software allows your employees to weigh in with their feedback and suggestions for new workplace initiatives; you can not only get feedback but also quantify and track your progress as you strive toward new goals. Provide tools for collaboration. You might use a project management tool, like Wrike or Baseline, to help your team members share ideas and files and work together on a particular project — an especially good tool for those who have remote employees. You might use something like Incentive to make collaboration more social. Or you may simply use something like Dropbox to ensure easy access to files and documents.
You might use a project management tool, like Wrike or Baseline, to help your team members share ideas and files and work together on a particular project — an especially good tool for those who have remote employees. You might use something like Incentive to make collaboration more social. Or you may simply use something like Dropbox to ensure easy access to files and documents. Use technology to boost workplace wellness. There are some great programs that make employee wellness actionable, measurable, and fun. Limeade.com is just one of many that are worth looking into.
There are some great programs that make employee wellness actionable, measurable, and fun. Limeade.com is just one of many that are worth looking into. Get feedback. You can conduct easy, anonymous employee surveys with tools like TINYpulse, allowing you to have a better sense of what your employees are thinking — and letting them know that their voices are heard and that they are important.
Technology can be a great enabler of increased teamwork and collaboration — and an amazing way to boost engagement within your team. | https://medium.com/@drrickgoodman/use-digital-technology-to-improve-employee-engagement-56ad768302d7 | ['Dr Rick Goodman'] | 2020-12-23 16:31:48.834000+00:00 | ['Employee Engagement', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Self Improvement', 'HR', 'Leadership'] |
Dear Writer, don’t give up just yet — the best is yet to come | It’s easy to want to quit
All of this discouragement from others and ourselves is enough to drive anyone to quit.
Thinking we don’t deserve to be heard can make anyone put down the pencil and close the laptop. It’s enough to convince us to give up when we’re this close to reaching our goals. But…
Don’t give up because tomorrow might be the day you’ve been waiting for.
Maybe you’ll finally reach one hundred followers. You’ll finally have the guts to share the story you’ve had locked up in your computer for the past six months.
You’ll put together a piece that goes viral. Perhaps the client of your dreams will finally hire you. You’ll hear back from someone who wants to run with your book. You’ll get the comment you’ve been waiting for.
You never know.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
Tomorrow might be the day your dream finally comes true. And if it doesn’t happen tomorrow, it could happen the day after that.
That’s why you can never give up. You’ll always have tomorrow to look forward to.
If you keep pushing, then that day will come. But that’s what matters — that you keep trying.
Meanwhile, we have to find the good in everything
Positivity is for writers too, you know? I know that’s hard to believe considering how much time we spend in our heads, usually in some sort of self-loathing, but we really need to work on that.
Some assholes won’t believe in us until we’re rich or famous (or both), but we also have some awesome people in our corner that deserve to be acknowledged.
We have to be grateful for the ones that clap, like, comment, share, repost, retweet, and all the other “re-s.”
When that isn’t enough to make you feel good and to keep propelling you forward, focus on the writing.
Writing is the best thing ever. I think we can all agree with that.
No matter what I think about myself, no matter how difficult the process, and despite the days I want to quit because I feel lonely and I’m tired of being on the damn laptop all day, I love writing with everything in me.
I love being able to express myself through words, making up characters, and that I can stay in bed to work. I love the stupid clicking noises of the keyboard people who write about writing always mention. I love geeking out about cool words, doing research, and editing.
I love the whole fucking thing.
When all else fails, I will let my passion for writing drive me forward.
Let writing be your guiding light. When no other form of motivation works, let your love for writing push you to keep going — if only until tomorrow. | https://medium.com/the-brave-writer/dear-writer-dont-give-up-just-yet-the-best-is-yet-to-come-157e17c54b5d | ['Itxy Lopez'] | 2019-08-19 20:58:24.224000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Motivation', 'Advice', 'Self-awareness', 'Writing'] |
The State of Crypto in Nigeria | What does Nigeria know about cryptocurrency?
Regarding the awareness of cryptocurrency in Nigeria today, Israel believes that it’s mostly millennials and Gen Xers between the ages of 18–40 who are most interested in crypto.
“It’s mostly the younger generation today. Usually when I have a friend who’s interested, I tell them to read up on BitCoin Talk. Once they do that, I can start introducing them to trading. But I always tell them how important it is to do their research.”
BitCoin Talk continues to serve as a hub for crypto interest since its 2009 inception, especially as the use of crypto continues to expand across the globe.
Bitcoin Talk users avidly discuss the potential of Bitcoin in Nigeria
A quick search on the site brings up hundreds of threads about the future of Bitcoin in Nigera, covering everything from adoption potential, to trading tips.
Bitcoin itself dominantes as the most used cryptocurrency in Nigeria with ether still lagging behind. Other ERC20 tokens are virtually unheard of.
“Stablecoins are still not widely used or well known. Other ERC20 tokens aren’t either. The main problem is that the Naira isn’t accepted on any major exchanges where you can get ERC20 tokens, and in turn the peer-to-peer trade interest is very low. People know about Bitcoin and know they can make money trading. There’s little interest to save it, and there’s really nowhere to spend it in Nigeria.”
As mentioned before in “The Good, the Bad, and the Ingenuitive: what it is really like to buy and sell cryptocurrency across the globe,” many Nigerians first became aware of cryptocurrency after the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox Ponzi scheme that implicated many Nigerians in 2016. Despite this shaky first impression, the country has become very interested in Bitcoin, and began to see cryptocurrency as the future of finance in Nigeria.
According to Israel, most Nigerians use Bitcoin (and on a lesser scale, ether) as a means of making additional revenue as a crypto trader. But without major exchanges to trade on, how are they trading? | https://medium.com/dether/the-state-of-crypto-in-nigeria-389524a2d3ad | [] | 2019-05-27 07:59:33.314000+00:00 | ['Nigeria', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Ethereum', 'Updates'] |
My first Application in kivy | If you have started learning kivy and your all basic concepts related to kivy are cleared, then you will be excited to build your very first app and looking for a basic idea to build an app.
My suggestion to build a basic app like a calculator because it is easy to build a calculator for a person who’s new to the framework and as well as it will help you understand various new concepts related to the kivy framework.
And one of the main reasons i chose calculator is that when we fail to do our first task successfully we tend to drop learning the language. So my advice is to start with an easy task that can be completed and that will motivate you to learn this framework further, as small achievement gives you great motivation to strive for more
Build an attractive Interface
Before building your application interface, you must keep in mind that your application interface should look attractive and also be simple enough which can be operated by a non-technical user.
Start building
We all are very much familiar with a calculator and must know that a calculator interface consist of numbers of buttons like count(0–9), operators(+,_,*,/), etc.
Problem
Now, most of the newbies will start creating each button separately by writing each button object but this will increase the lines of code and will make your program complex.
How to solve this problem?
If you have experience of any programming language you must be aware of the loop concept and we are going to apply that concept here.
By using for loop we can create multiple buttons by writing a few lines of code and can set different parameters for each button separately.
let me show you how it will work:
from kivy.app import App
from kivy.uix.floatlayout import FloatLayout
from kivy.uix.textinput import TextInput
from kivy.uix.button import Button
from kivy.core.window import Window #window size
w,h=Window.size #class for first screen class Display(FloatLayout):
string=""
def __init__(self,*args):
super().__init__(*args)
self.text_field=TextInput(font_size=60,hint_text="Enter the values here",text="",size_hint=(0.8,0.05),pos_hint={'x':0.1,'y':0.85})
self.add_widget(self.text_field)
btn_list=['C','(',')','/','7','8','9','*','4','5','6','+','1','2','3','-','0','','.','=']
Y=0.5
X=0.025
n=1
for i in range(20):
if n==18:
pass
else:
self.btn=Button(text=btn_list[i],size_hint=(0.2,0.1),pos_hint={'x':X,'y':Y},)
self.add_widget(self.btn)
self.btn.background_color = (1, 1, 1, 1)
self.btn.color=(0,0,0,1)
self.btn.font_size=w*0.05
self.btn.bind(on_press=self.calculation)
if n%4==0:
Y-=0.125
X=0.025
self.btn.background_color=(1,0.49,0.31,1)
self.btn.color=(1,1,1,1)
else:
X+=0.25
if n==17:
self.btn.size_hint_x=0.45
if n==20:
self.btn.background_color=(0,1,0,1)
n+=1
def calculation(self,instance):
pass
#Main class
class calci(App):
def build(self):
return Display()
calci().run()
Output
Explanation
In the above code, we have created one text field where all the calculations part will be displayed.
And then we’ve created a list carrying the button name we want to add in the interface and then started a for loop in which button is being created one by one but we need to put text and position as variable because every button will have different text as well as different position. As you can see we are putting text from the above list that we have created and position is also varying from button to button. We have also given different colours. Like this different parameter is passed to different buttons.
Now, these all buttons should perform a function but if you have noticed that we have bound all the buttons with the same function. So how will the function differentiate which button is clicked by the user?
For that, you will have to understand the concept of instance.
What is an instance?
When we bind a button with a function then it will send all its information like its text, size, position, etc. on doing that binded action.
And all of the information will be store as an instance in that function, so you have to mention a parameter in that function as instance or by any other name.
Now, we will prepare that function so that our application will work according to the demand of the user.
def calculation(self,instance):
a=instance.text
if a=="=":
try:
self.string=self.text_field.text
self.text_field.text=str(eval(self.string))
self.string=self.text_field.text
except SyntaxError:
self.text_field.text="syntax error!"
self.string=""
except TypeError:
self.text_field.text="pass wrong input!"
self.string=""
except NameError:
self.text_field.text="syntax error!"
self.string=""
except:
self.text_field.text="syntax error!"
self.string=""
elif a=="C":
self.string=self.string[0:-1]
self.text_field.text=self.string
else:
self.string+=a
self.text_field.text=self.string
Replace this function with the function of the above code and your application will start working.
Output
Explanation
So what’s going on in this function is, initially, the function is identifying which button is clicked by the user by checking it’s text which is present in instance parameter.
And then if the equal button is clicked, the function is picking the text field input and solving it using an inbuilt function in python which is eval().
eval() function is used to solve the mathematical expression by BODMAS rule.
If it will face any kind of exception then it will be handled by exception handling and will show output according to the type of error.
If the Clear button is clicked, it will decrease the text field value by one letter.
Else every button will do the same thing that adds their value in the text field. Similarly like this you can allot functioning to every button.
That’s how this function works and calculates the values. In this way you can build your own calculator and add more functions to it like trigonometry, power, root etc and also you can make it more attractive. | https://medium.com/tek-society/my-first-application-in-kivy-bdf2a560287f | ['Yugam Sachdeva'] | 2020-10-15 12:18:34.651000+00:00 | ['Crossplatform Mobile App', 'Android App Development', 'Python', 'Application Development', 'Kivy'] |
How to Cultivate the Best Mentors | How to Cultivate the Best Mentors
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon and Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy filming during an episode of 30 Rock in October of 2010. Photo by Ali Goldstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
The Leadership Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question “How do you find a mentor?” is by Michael Massari, senior vice president of national meetings and events for Caesars Entertainment.
Having a mentor can provide countless advantages, such as guidance in reaching your goals, a unique perspective to help solve a problem, or encouragement when challenges arise. Before you begin the process of finding a mentor, it is important to identify what you want out of the relationship. This will allow you to pinpoint the qualities and qualifications to look for and help your prospective mentors determine how they can assist you in reaching your goals.
Here are a few tips for finding the right mentor:
Build your network first
If you are a young graduate or junior-level employee, make a list of leaders within your company or industry that possess qualities and knowledge that you desire. Instead of directly asking one of these leaders to be your mentor, get on their radar. Find ways to provide assistance or knowledge. Demonstrate your commitment to helping them and grow the relationship so that it is mutually beneficial before you begin to ask for guidance. If you do this right, you won’t need to ask anyone to be your mentor; it will just happen organically.
Establish a genuine connection
After you have identified a few leaders as potential mentors, make sure that you possess a genuine connection with them. This means being comfortable spending formal and informal time with your mentor. The formal time is in the workplace, where you show that you can deliver on a professional level. The informal time is over lunch or coffee, when you’re able to discuss your goals and ambitions. A great mentor can last your entire career, so it’s key that the leader you choose is someone you truly look up to and with whom you can communicate honestly.
Many make the mistake of choosing a mentor solely based on the position they hold. Your mentor must be someone you look up to because of their personal and professional insight, rather than their job title.
Find more than one
While some may believe your goal should be to have one solid mentor, I think it’s important to have many. By having various mentors, you’ll always have a group of people able to provide you with unique perspectives and diverse opinions when different problems arise.
If possible, try to expand your circle of mentors beyond your own industry. By having a group of advisers with diverse backgrounds and skillsets, you will always have a go-to person to consult no matter the situation. For example, I am not a finance professional, but it is crucial for my work that I have knowledge of the subject. For that reason, I have a mentor in the financial field who I am able to consult for those specific matters. By expanding my group of mentors beyond my own industry, I am better equipped to tackle any challenge that may arise.
I’ve learned through personal experience that while a great mentor is not always easy to find, the advocacy, honesty, and advice you will gain greatly outweigh the time spent finding one.
If you’d like to read more articles like this, recommend this one by clicking the heart below. | https://insiders.fortune.com/how-to-cultivate-the-best-mentors-926f6ebcbb6e | ['Michael Massari'] | 2017-04-27 18:30:40.973000+00:00 | ['Career Advice', 'Mentorship', 'Leadership', 'Networking', 'Advice'] |
🇸🇪 MySwedish fluency bits #45, Att gottgöra någon | 🇸🇪 MySwedish fluency bits #45, Att gottgöra någon
Hello beautiful reader ❤️. This is another chapter of our brand new series — Swedish fluency bits. This is a series of short lessons based on native expression. I hope you will like it!
Att gottgöra någon
See the example below to understand how we use this phrase in a sentence.
Jag ska gottgöra dig ikväll för mitt beteende igår. I will make it up to you for my behaviour last night.
🇸🇪 That is all for today. See you in the next lesson! 🇸🇪
Don’t miss the opportunity to buy a brand new ebook by MySwedish with more than 100 native expression used on a daily basis in Swedish -> myswedish.net
To get the most of this lesson ✅ write down the expression three times and use it in a sentence. Combe back tomorrow and make sure that you remember the expression | https://medium.com/myswedish-fluency-bits/myswedish-fluency-bits-45-b%C3%A4ttre-sen-%C3%A4n-aldrig-bcbf75bdedd5 | [] | 2020-12-27 08:31:16.468000+00:00 | ['Language Learning', 'Swedish', 'Myswedish', 'Language'] |
Debugging Tips for Neural Networks | Often times the bottleneck in a neural network-based project isn’t the network implementation. Rather, after you’ve written all the code and tried a whole bunch of hyperparameter configurations, sometimes the network will just not work. I’ve been there before. After some time dealing with finicky networks, I’ve collected a few methods that have helped me debug them. These methods aren’t a guarantee of any sort — even if you do everything I suggest, there’s a chance your network will still be broken. I hope, however, that these tips will in the long run decrease the time you spend debugging your neural networks.
Check for gradient issues:
Sometimes the gradient is the cause of the problem. There are several useful gradient-related debugging methods:
Numerically compute the gradient for each weight. This is commonly called “gradient checking” and is useful to ensure the gradient is being computed correctly. One way to do this is to use finite differences. More details can be found here.
This is commonly called “gradient checking” and is useful to ensure the gradient is being computed correctly. One way to do this is to use finite differences. More details can be found here. For each weight, compare the magnitude of the gradient to the magnitude of the weight. We want to make sure the ratio of the magnitudes is reasonable. If the gradient magnitude is much smaller than the weight magnitude, the network will take forever to train. If the gradient magnitude is about the same or larger than the weight magnitude, the network will be very unstable and probably not train at all.
We want to make sure the ratio of the magnitudes is reasonable. If the gradient magnitude is much smaller than the weight magnitude, the network will take forever to train. If the gradient magnitude is about the same or larger than the weight magnitude, the network will be very unstable and probably not train at all. Check for exploding or vanishing gradients. If you see a gradient go to 0 or nan/infinity, you can be sure the network will not train correctly. You need to first figure out why the exploding/vanishing gradient is happening, for example perhaps because the step size is too big. Once you figure out why the gradient is exploding/vanishing, there are various solutions to fix the issue, for example, adding residual connections to propagate the gradient better or simply using a smaller network.
If you see a gradient go to 0 or nan/infinity, you can be sure the network will not train correctly. You need to first figure out why the exploding/vanishing gradient is happening, for example perhaps because the step size is too big. Once you figure out why the gradient is exploding/vanishing, there are various solutions to fix the issue, for example, adding residual connections to propagate the gradient better or simply using a smaller network. Activation functions can also cause exploding/vanishing gradients. For example, if the magnitude of the input to a sigmoid activation function is too large, the gradient will be very close to 0. Check the inputs to your activation functions over time, and make sure that those inputs won’t cause gradients to consistently be 0 or a large magnitude.
Check training progress often:
Checking the training progress of your network often will save you time. For example, assume you are training a network to play the Snake game. Instead of training the network for days at a time and then checking to see if the network has learned anything, every ten minutes run the game with the current learned weights. After several hours, if you notice that the agent is doing the same thing every time and getting zero reward, you know there might be something wrong and have saved yourself days of wasted training time.
Don’t rely on quantitative outputs:
If you only look at quantitative outputs, you could miss useful debugging information. For example, when training a network for speech translation, make sure you read the translated speech to make sure it actually makes sense. Don’t just check if the evaluation function is decreasing. As another example, when training a network for image recognition, make sure you check the labels that the network gives by hand. The reason you shouldn’t rely on quantitative outputs is twofold. First, there could be an error in your evaluation function. If you only look at the number outputted by the faulty evaluation function, it could be weeks before you realize that something is wrong. Second, you may find patterns of mistakes in your neural network output that wouldn’t show up quantitatively. For example, you might realize that one particular word is always being mistranslated, or that in the top left quadrant the image recognition network is always wrong. These observations in turn can help you find bugs in the data processing part of your code, which otherwise would go unnoticed.
Try a small dataset:
Another way to determine whether your code has a bug or the data is just hard to train is to fit a smaller dataset first. For example, instead of having 100,000 training examples in your dataset, trim your dataset so there are only 100 or even 1 training example. In these cases, you expect a neural network to be able to fit the data extremely well, especially in the case of one training example. If your network still has high test error, you should be almost certain that something is wrong with your network code.
Try a less complicated network:
If your full size network is having trouble training, try a smaller network with fewer layers. This has the added benefit of training faster. If the smaller network succeeds where the full size network fails, that suggests the network architecture for the full size model is too complicated. If both the simple and full size network fail, you might have a bug in your code.
If you aren’t using a framework, check against a framework:
If you’ve written the code for the neural network from scratch instead of using a machine learning framework, there’s a chance that something is wrong with your implementation. Fortunately, you can check if this is the case by coding up the same network architecture in a machine learning framework. Then put print statements in both your implementation and the framework version and compare the outputs until you find where the difference in the print statements starts occurring. That is where your error is. For example, let’s say you have a network with ten layers and the error is in the seventh layer. When you print the output of the first layer in your network and compare it to the first layer output in the framework implementation, they will be the same. So you move to comparing the outputs of the second layer. Still the same. Then you move to the third layer, and so on and so forth until you see differences start occurring at the seventh layer. Therefore you can infer that the seventh layer is the problem. Notice that this method will only work for the first iteration of the network, because the second iteration and beyond will have different starting points due to the differences in the first iteration output.
The example above assumes that the error occurs in the forward pass of learning. The same idea can be used if the error occurs during backpropagation. You can print the gradients for the weights layer by layer, starting from the last layer, until you see a difference in the framework gradients and your implementation gradients. | https://towardsdatascience.com/debugging-tips-for-neural-networks-f7dc699d6845 | ['Wilson Wang'] | 2021-05-31 04:37:11.777000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Neural Networks', 'Data Science', 'Debugging', 'Machine Learning'] |
Conscious Entrepreneurship: May I introduce Tonya McKenzie | Conscious Entrepreneurship: May I introduce Tonya McKenzie
Tonya McKenzie is a California native with over 20 years in sales, marketing, and public relations. Her first job out of college was with an agency and she later went on to work for a YMCA with a very small marketing budget with big needs. Public relations became her primary tool to increase brand awareness for the organization and it’s programming. Later in her career, after becoming a director for the Chamber of Commerce, she worked for a publication in Los Angeles.
Understanding that advertising clients needed a combination of marketing, PR and advertising, Tonya became an entrepreneur which also allowed for her to have the flexibility to increase her leadership through multiple appointments and elections. Tonya is currently the president of North Redondo Beach Business Association, Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce Board Member, holds an appointed city position, holds a seat on the police engagement committee, and is vice president of the Black Public Relations Society, Los Angeles. Tonya founded and runs Sand & Shores, a niche PR firm that caters to civic organizations, law enforcement, and other nonprofits.
CONSCIOUS ENTREPRENEURSHIP — What meaning do you give this term?
Conscious Entrepreneurship is a holistic approach to purposeful businesses with soulful perseverance as the fuel for growth. A business minded individual that gives weight to factors other than profit but still manages to grow and be successful is my definition of a conscience entrepreneur. Purpose, mission, good will, and the concept of leaving this world better than they got it drives these savvy businesspeople. They make decisions with their mind, body and soul.
MENTORS — We all need a little help along the journey. Who has been an invaluable mentor for you? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
Tim Byrd, my old YMCA boss was an incredible mentor to me as I tried to navigate my way through the YMCA organization. No matter what I knew about business or marketing, understanding how an organization with decades of branding and tradition operated was essential to being able to pull off the kind of accomplishment that we were aiming for. Finance, budgeting, fundraising, and programming was something that helped me through while putting me in the position of leadership. One thing that I learn is that when people of authority put you in position to shine, they are trusting you to do well, excel, and represent them and their decision making. They are trusting you with their reputation. You job is to maximize your opportunity. Take all of the passion and heart that you have to push through, be a thought leader, and contribute advancing the cause.
TO THRIVE — When you see yourself thriving: Do you see yourself opening up opportunities for others along the way to participate in your success, and how?
Thriving for me isn’t just the ability to help others, it’s the action of helping others. True success is when I am doing well and building teams to do the same by extending their success to others. If I have not communicated the necessity of mentoring and extending success, I am not doing my job completely. Thriving is doing well for self while up helping others. It’s about legacy. How are you leaving the world better than you got it? That should be our charge everyday. That is the real measure of success. Those are the metrics that should be measured.
CAUSE— What are the causes close to your heart, and you are supporting right now? Can you share a story how you got involved? How did it make you feel?
I am a child gun violence survivor. I have spent the last decade of my life speaking out and contributing to causes that support post trauma recovery, youth leadership and policy change for better gun safety laws. I finally took the step to chronicle my experiences in my first memoir, A Child’s Memories of Cartoons & Murder. This book has given me a path to speak to other groups and get involved in various other organizations. I spent time at juvenile hall speaking with the kids. I continue to look for opportunities to connect with organization that do the work to leave this world better than they got it for trauma survivors.
THE FUTURE — How do you see the face of entrepreneurship in 5 years? How do companies /brands need to adapt to secure their place in the future?
Entrepreneurship is a consistent field. It will always require a high level of dedication, consistency, and diligence. The only thing that seems to change is technology. Based on this Covid crisis that has been global, understanding that “good will” being a part of your brand will be more recognized. The companies and organizations that have done well throughout this have been the ones that infuse a high level of humanity in their company’s mission. Have great products and services that connect with your target audience and contribute to the greater good. It has become much more obvious that this is no longer optional. It is a necessity.
ADVICE — What kind of advice would you like to give to an aspiring entrepreneur who feels limited due to their background or lack of resources?
Aspiring entrepreneurs need to know that they must be all-in on their mission, understand their purpose, and always look to provide amazing customer service. Following this train of thought will lead to raving fans, a thriving business and great public relations activities. When you touch one person at a time with your services and products, essentially solving a problem for them, you gain credibility and a person in the public to sing your praises and bring you new business. Quality over quantity will ensure success. Just make sure that you always tell your story and use the success in a positive way. Find a mentor in your genre. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Take what works and customize it for your business. It’s not easy but it’s a formula that works, especially for new entrepreneurs.
DRIVE — Do you sometimes feel bad for “wanting more out of life”, and if so, why? What is your personal motivation that leads you through the hardships of entrepreneurship?
I never feel bad about wanting more out of life because I am a giver. The more I accomplish, the more I can give to others and bring attention to causes that I care about. My desire to accomplish more may come from the fact that I am daily happy to still be alive. I have never understood why the offender in during my childhood left me alive as a witness. However, I am glad that he did and show my gratitude every single day by working hard, giving make, and enjoying every moment of this life. Taking a risk on myself by starting my own business is something to be applauded every day. Having a business doing something that I enjoy and is clearly needed to help businesses, civic organizations, and nonprofits pushes me through the tough moments. If Sand & Shores was not in existence, there would be a gap in the industry. Knowing that the work that I do makes a difference is a motivating factor. Being able to use my success to help others is a major driver in my business and personal life.
CHALLENGES — Entrepreneurship is very challenging. We each have our own coping mechanism. Mine is humor. What is yours? Can you share a story?
Laughter and wine is my coping mechanism when things get touch. I am really driven and focused. When things are not operating by design, I can get frustrated and very intense. A great cabernet and something funny can fix just about any tough moment. First, I loosen up and pull my shoulders out of my ears and then I find something funny to watch, a funny podcast to listen to, or crack a joke. The best part is that I am not afraid to laugh at myself. That is a skill. I encourage everybody to adopt it. I had a branding awareness presentation for a company that I was doing work for. I had been having some technical issues customizing the presentation. The program kept crashing. When I went to log on an hour early for a tech-check, I realized that our time difference was not on my calendar. So, I did not get a practice run. I poured a small glass of wine, calmed my nerves and knocked the presentation out. Later, I shared with the group that I had got the time wrong. One of them told me that they were trying to figure out why I was sweating when I first got on camera. We all had a good laugh about it and others shared their stories of having time zone issues. Telling your story always brings down barriers and brings up the comfort level and stories for others. It makes for great team building and comradery. There are always laughs to be had.
YOU — Is there anything you would like to share that we have not asked you here?
I recently started a group on Facebook and LinkedIn to help other women succeed in business, embrace conscience entrepreneurship, and social selling. Lady Boss is free and open to every women that needs to bounce ideas off of each other, find solutions to business problems, and celebrate wins. We must celebrate each other.
THANK YOU!
Follow Tonya McKenzie on Instagram. | https://medium.com/@demeekoch/conscious-entrepreneurship-may-i-introduce-tonya-mckenzie-1650186b692b | ['Demee Koch'] | 2021-01-27 18:35:50.435000+00:00 | ['Female Founders', 'Public Relations', 'Women In Business', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Black Women'] |
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❏ THE STORY ❏
Its and Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is a and aspiring musician who like only to honor his God through the energy of music. Leaving his Indiana home for the warmer climate of California and a college or university education, Jeremy soon comes Bookmark this site across one Melissa Heing (Britt Robertson), a fellow university student that he takes notices in the audience at an area concert. Bookmark this site Falling for cupid’s arrow immediately, he introduces himself to her and quickly discovers that she is drawn to him too. However, Melissa holds back from forming a budding relationship as she fears it`ll create an awkward situation between Jeremy and their mutual friend, Jean-Luc (Nathan Parson), a fellow musician and who also has feeling for Melissa. Still, Jeremy is relentless in his quest for her until they eventually end up in a loving dating relationship. However, their youthful courtship Bookmark this sitewith the other person comes to a halt when life-threating news of Melissa having cancer takes center stage. The diagnosis does nothing to deter Jeremey’s love on her behalf and the couple eventually marries shortly thereafter. Howsoever, they soon find themselves walking an excellent line between a life together and suffering by her Bookmark this siteillness; with Jeremy questioning his faith in music, himself, and with God himself.
❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the procedure of delivering or obtaining media this way.[clarification needed] Streaming identifies the delivery approach to the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies especially to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio tracks CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the web. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of this content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, an activity in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user may use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as for example live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
This brings me around to discussing us, a film release of the Christian religio us faith-based . As almost customary, Hollywood usually generates two (maybe three) films of this variety movies within their yearly theatrical release lineup, with the releases usually being around spring us and / or fall respectfully. I didn’t hear much when this movie was initially aounced (probably got buried underneath all of the popular movies news on the newsfeed). My first actual glimpse of the movie was when the film’s movie trailer premiered, which looked somewhat interesting if you ask me. Yes, it looked the movie was goa be the typical “faith-based” vibe, but it was going to be directed by the Erwin Brothers, who directed I COULD Only Imagine (a film that I did so like). Plus, the trailer for I Still Believe premiered for quite some us, so I continued seeing it most of us when I visited my local cinema. You can sort of say that it was a bit “engrained in my brain”. Thus, I was a lttle bit keen on seeing it. Fortunately, I was able to see it before the COVID-9 outbreak closed the movie theaters down (saw it during its opening night), but, because of work scheduling, I haven’t had the us to do my review for it…. as yet. And what did I think of it? Well, it was pretty “meh”. While its heart is certainly in the proper place and quite sincere, us is a little too preachy and unbalanced within its narrative execution and character developments. The religious message is plainly there, but takes way too many detours and not focusing on certain aspects that weigh the feature’s presentation.
❏ TELEVISION SHOW AND HISTORY ❏
A tv set show (often simply Television show) is any content prBookmark this siteoduced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or internet and typically viewed on a television set set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are usually placed between shows. Tv shows are most often scheduled well ahead of The War with Grandpa and appearance on electronic guides or other TV listings.
A television show may also be called a tv set program (British EnBookmark this siteglish: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A tv set Movies is The War with Grandpaually released in episodes that follow a narrative, and so are The War with Grandpaually split into seasons (The War with Grandpa and Canada) or Movies (UK) — yearly or semiaual sets of new episodes. A show with a restricted number of episodes could be called a miniMBookmark this siteovies, serial, or limited Movies. A one-The War with Grandpa show may be called a “special”. A television film (“made-for-TV movie” or “televisioBookmark this siten movie”) is a film that is initially broadcast on television set rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video.
Television shows may very well be Bookmark this sitehey are broadcast in real The War with Grandpa (live), be recorded on home video or an electronic video recorder for later viewing, or be looked at on demand via a set-top box or streameBookmark this sited on the internet.
The first television set shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within an extremely short range from the broadcast tower starting in the. Televised events such as the 944 Summer OlyBookmark this sitempics in Germany, the 944 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famoThe War with Grandpa introduction at the 9 New York World’s Fair in the The War with Grandpa spurreBookmark this sited a rise in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 944 World Movies inspired many Americans to buy their first tv set and in 94, the favorite radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “Mr Television” and demonstrating that the medium was a well balanced, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The firsBookmBookmark this siteark this sitet national live tv broadcast in the The War with Grandpa took place on September 4, 94 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in SAN FRAStar Trek: Discovery CO BAY AREA was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets.
❏ FINAL THOUGHTS ❏
The power of faith, love, and affinity for take center stage in Jeremy Camp’s life story in the movie I Still Believe. Directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) examine the life span and The War with Grandpas of Jeremy Camp’s life story; pin-pointing his early life along with his relationship Melissa Heing because they battle hardships and their enduring love for one another through difficult. While the movie’s intent and thematic message of a person’s faith through troublen is indeed palpable plus the likeable mThe War with Grandpaical performances, the film certainly strules to look for a cinematic footing in its execution, including a sluish pace, fragmented pieces, predicable plot beats, too preachy / cheesy dialogue moments, over utilized religion overtones, and mismanagement of many of its secondary /supporting characters. If you ask me, this movie was somewhere between okay and “meh”. It had been definitely a Christian faith-based movie endeavor Bookmark this web site (from begin to finish) and definitely had its moments, nonetheless it failed to resonate with me; struling to locate a proper balance in its undertaking. Personally, regardless of the story, it could’ve been better. My recommendation for this movie is an “iffy choice” at best as some should (nothing wrong with that), while others will not and dismiss it altogether. Whatever your stance on religion faith-based flicks, stands as more of a cautionary tale of sorts; demonstrating how a poignant and heartfelt story of real-life drama could be problematic when translating it to a cinematic endeavor. For me personally, I believe in Jeremy Camp’s story / message, but not so much the feature. | https://medium.com/star-trek-discovery-s3e11-cbs-all-access/s3-e11-star-trek-discovery-series-3-episode-11-full-online-b2f37e5cac1b | ['Sleep And Spam'] | 2020-12-23 04:28:33.008000+00:00 | ['TV Shows', 'Series'] |
LeetCode — Next Greater Element III | Problem Link: https://leetcode.com/problems/next-greater-element-iii/
Integers
Problem Description:
Given a positive integer n , find the smallest integer which has exactly the same digits existing in the integer n and is greater in value than n . If no such positive integer exists, return -1 .
Note that the returned integer should fit in a 32-bit integer if there is a valid answer but it does not fit in a 32-bit integer, return -1 .
Approach Used: Mathematical, Logical, Arrays
Explanation: For finding the smallest number we need to start from right. Since we want to make the number bigger we will have to shift a bigger digit(right) to smaller digit’s position (left of bigger digit). The base case (when we return -1) will come when all digits are in non-increasing order. If this is not the case and we start from right we will encounter a position where the digit on its left is smaller than the current digit. This is the position where we need to do swapping (current_position-1). Let's call this position x. We will find the smallest digit on the right of this position since we want to make the smallest possible number bigger than the current number. We will swap these two digits (x, smallest digit on the right of x). Then sort all the digits on right side of this position(again to make the smallest possible number bigger than the current number). This will give the next biggest integer. In the end, we need to convert the array back to a number and take care of corner cases(overflow from Integer’s maximum value 2³¹)
Code: (Java)
public int nextGreaterElement(int n) {
//make an array of all the digits in the number.
//The size of the array will be equal to number of digits in the input
int[] digits = new int[Integer.toString(n).length()];
//since we want to store digit in the natural ordering(left to right)
//and we are extracting from last digit (right to left)
//we will start storing from last index
int index = digits.length-1;
//so that original input is not changed to 0
int temp=n;
//loop that will extract all the digits and store in the array
while(temp!=0){
//temp%10 will extract the last digit in remaining number
digits[index] = temp%10;
index--;
//reduce the number by 10
temp/=10;
}
int i;
//find the first position where a smaller digit is encountered on left than current digit
for(i=digits.length-1; i>0; i--){
if(digits[i]>digits[i-1]){
break;
}
}
//if we reach last, then all digits in number are in decreasing order
//and hence a bigger number cannot be formed
if(i==0)
return -1;
//find the smallest digit on right of this which is bigger than first digit in non-decreasing order
//we will swap these two digits
int x = digits[i-1], smallestIndex=i;
for(int j=i+1; j<digits.length; j++){
if(digits[j]>x && digits[j]<digits[smallestIndex])
smallestIndex=j;
}
//swapping the first digit in non-decreasing order from right with smallest digit on its right
digits[i-1] = digits[smallestIndex];
digits[smallestIndex] = x;
//sorting all the digits on right of this index to get smallest possible number
//bigger than original number
Arrays.sort(digits, i, digits.length);
//to chck for overflow (Integer max value is 2^31 -> 10 digit number starting with 2)
//not the best approach
if(digits.length==10 && digits[0]>2)
return -1;
//convert the array back to an integer
int res=0;
for(i=0; i<digits.length; i++){
res = res*10+digits[i];
}
//if final result is negative, it means there is an overflow
if(res<0)
return -1;
//return final output
return res;
}
Complexity:
Space complexity: O(length_input) . Since we store all digits in an array
Time complexity: O(length_input)
Here length_input is the number of digits in the input number. | https://medium.com/@siddhantjain-sid/leetcode-next-greater-element-iii-bcc2ae344eb8 | ['Siddhant Jain'] | 2020-12-24 13:33:07.837000+00:00 | ['Competitive Programming', 'Leetcode', 'Data Structures', 'Number Theory', 'Algorithms'] |
What makes an accent appealing? | Accents are tricky things. When we start to learn a language, we need to decide which accents we want to follow. For example, Spanish from Spain or Latin America? French from France or Canada? There are no good or bad accents in the world. The perception of accents largely depends on our social and cultural associations.
What is an accent?
An accent is how someone shapes her mouth, moves her lips and flaps her tongue while forming words. This is basically how a person speaks.
Everyone has an accent. Your accent gives information about your age, social status, ethnicity, and whether or not the language is the speaker’s native tongue. It secretly reveals your identity.
Babies are quick language learners. Infants as young as 5 months can tell the difference of accents. They tend to respond to people speaking in their native accents because subconsciously, they want to seek to join a community of like-speaking people who share similar cultural values and will be able to communicate with others.
This accents are hints to find your own tribe.
How do we perceive if an accent is appealing?
This is largely subjective. People use accents to categorize people based on a general set of attitudes and behaviors that they think the accents represent those speakers.
According to a survey, many appealing accents are western languages because they associate with wealth and a history of colonization.
French and Italian are the most attractive language. This is not difficult to understand because these two languages are considered as romantic and love languages.
Contrastingly, German is not considered as a sexy language because people associate it with machinery and discipline,which German are famous for.
For a lot of American ladies, British accent is the hottest because it is associated with posh status and diplomacy. So when someone speaks the Queen’s English, it portrays an image of educated scholars and properness.
Thus, accent hierarchy does exist. When people favour certain accents and decide what’s appealing and what’s not. Those who are not in the group would be considered as inappropriate and become less -preferable as a language. For example, Russian, Dutch and Turkish.
Choose what suits you most
Although not all accents are weighted equally, it is not the main concern in learning a language. You should choose an accent that suits well in your situation.
For example, if you intended to study or work in Spain, then learning Spain Spanish will be a wiser choice.
Or if you are interested in French culture, then French accent is your option.
Don’t let certain accents stop you from learning a language. | https://medium.com/@loredane/what-makes-an-accent-appealing-2ce09fea9107 | ['Loredane Nolent'] | 2020-11-23 15:37:54.178000+00:00 | ['Accent Reduction', 'Komai', 'Polyglot', 'Language Learning', 'Accents'] |
The Fascinating History of the Color Blue | By Dov Michaeli, MD, PhD
A friend of mine turned my attention to an interview with Guy Deutscher, an Israeli linguist who published a fascinating book, “Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages.” In it, he advances the argument that the basis of language is informed by the way we perceive and name colors.
The book was translated into 8 languages and was selected by the New York Times, The Economist, and the Financial Times as one of the best books of 2010. It is wonderfully written and provides many examples to support his thesis. As I read it, it got me to thinking about one particular color — the color blue — because of it’s fascinating history that perfectly illustrates Deutscher’s thesis that perception of color informs our language.
Water, water everywhere, and not a hint of blue
Even if you haven’t read the Homeric epics of the Iliad and the Odyssey, you must have heard his famous, and enigmatic, description of the “wine-red sea”. Wine-red? Has anybody ever seen the sea in anything even remotely resembling this color? Could the famous blue of the Aegean Sea, where the Homeric events took place, ever be other than brilliant blue? Literary scholars struggled mightily with this strange depiction. Some attempts were so convoluted as to be laughable, but none were persuasive.
Coming to think of it, another ancient document, based on oral folklore and epic poetry, was written at about the same time in history, the 5thcentury BCE. Yes, you guessed it: the Bible. Surprisingly, both the Bible and the Iliad and Odyssey describe the sea in many ways, like “big and wide”, or “stormy”, or “silent”, or “resting from his anger”, but never blue. (All you Biblical mavens, hold the gotcha emails: The color “tehelet”, mentioned in the Bible was wrongly thought to mean blue. It is now known to be the color purple, extracted from sea shells found on the beaches of Israel and Lebanon).
Let’s dig a bit deeper in historical times: In the ancient tablets of Ugarit ( 8thcentury BCE), where many of the biblical tales originated from, there is no mention of the color blue. In the stories about the myriad fights between the Canaanite god of the sea, Yam, and the god of the earth and thunder and rain, Baal, there are many depictions of the sea, but never its color. We can go even farther back in time. The linguist Lazarus Geiger noted almost a hundred years ago that ancient Indian epics dating to about four millennia ago, like the Mahabharata, describe the ocean in many ways, but never mention the color blue. And the same is true for ancient Chinese writings.
To compound the mystery, the colors red, black, and white are mentioned many times in the ancient manuscripts, and in the later one, like the Bible and the Koran, green and yellow are mentioned as well. In fact, biblical Red is described in many of its hues (“argaman” — dark red, just like Homer’s sea, “shani”-pink, “siqrah”-deep red). And so is Green: olive green, grass green. But not a hint of blue. So what gives?
Early research
William Gladstone was a famous British prime minister at the beginning of the 20thcentury. But what is less known is that he was a classical scholar, and published a seminal 1700-page study of Homer’s epic poetry. In a 30-page chapter, he describes Homer’s strange choice of colors (sheep wool and ox skin as purple, honey as green, horses and lions as red). The sky is studded with stars, wide, having an iron or copper hues. But, not one mention of blue.
Gladstone concluded that ancient people simply saw the world in colors different from the way we see it now. He theorized that the present capacity to experience colors is thanks t the rapid evolution of the structure of the eye. This, we know, is unlikely, because the time span is too short. Bear in mind, though, that he proposed it as the idea of evolution was just getting underway. Lazarus Geiger, the linguist, discovered that in the modern European languages words for ‘blue’ are derived from ancient words for ‘black’ or ‘green’. Black and red predominated in the ancient texts of India. Later texts added yellow, green, violet and blue, in that order. This progression suggested to Geiger as well that some kind of evolutionary process was going on.
A few years later, a Swedish anatomist of the eye discovered that many people suffered from a hitherto unknown deficiency: color blindness. Presto: An ophthalmologist by the name of Hugo Magnus concluded that ancient people were all color blind in today’s terms, and with time, as the eye absorbed more colors, its sensitivity to them increased, and that newly acquired trait was passed on to subsequent generations. Today, we know that acquired capabilities cannot be passed on genetically.
Enter the anthropologists. They wanted to see how primitive cultures that lived with limited or no contact with modern civilizations perceive colors. And they found what they were looking for. In 1898, the psychiatrist W.H. R. Rivers went to the Torres Straits Islands, between New Guinea and Australia.
There he investigated the Islanders’ perception of colors. He was astonished to hear the elders describe the sky as black, and a child describing the color of the sky as dark as dirty water. He and other anthropologists concluded that early humans and isolated cultures were not color blind. They see all the colors that we see, but consider them as simply hues of white or black or red, not worth inventing a special word for.
Modern research
Rivers, the psychiatrist cum anthropologist said that “there must be something that caused those natives to see the brilliant blue as duller and darker than we see it.”
Enter neurobiology. Today, we know that this something resides in the brain. Deutscher believes that ‘black’ is a wider term for the Islanders than for us, that they see blue as simply a hue of black. Is this unusual? Not at all. I see red in many hues. My wife sees peach and orange and strawberry as distinct colors.
But there is another factor at play here. Scientists believe that it is not just a simple case of nomenclature; the Islanders indeed perceive the sky a bit darker than we do. When we get used to seeing two hues as different colors, language trains us to see them as different entities. And the brain then exaggerates these differences, especially at the border areas between them.
And thus blue, which we perceive as lighter and totally distinct from black, is in reality probably a bit darker and closer to black. In a sense, the “obvious” distinction between black and blue is a figment of our imagination. Modern neurobiological research is providing ample evidence for that.
Why were black, white, and red the first colors to be perceived by our forefathers? The evolutionary explanation is quite straightforward: Ancient humans had to distinguish between night and day. And red is important for recognizing blood and danger. Even today, in us moderns, the color red causes an increase in skin galvanic response, a sign of tension and alarm. Green and yellow entered the vocabulary as the need to distinguish ripe fruit from unripe, grasses that are green from grasses that are wilting, etc. But what is the need for naming the color blue? Blue fruits are not very common, and the color of the sky is not really vital for survival.
This is truly fascinating. First, here is a totally unexpected phenomenon: language influencing brain function. But even more “disturbing” is the realization that the way we see the world is somewhat of an illusion, a product of a trick played on us by none other than our own brain.
Which brings us full circle to the ancient Greeks and Plato’s allegory of the cave. He posited that reality is an illusion, it is like the shadows of cave dwellers cast on the walls of a cave by a fire at the cave’s opening. We, standing outside the cave, see the shadows only, not the real occupants.
Reality, as we see it, is illusory.
Mind-boggling.
This post was first published on 07/19/2011. It has been updated, retitled, and reposted for your reading pleasure. | https://docweighsin.medium.com/the-fascinating-history-of-the-color-blue-2af9d7145418 | ['The Doctor Weighs In'] | 2018-07-30 09:43:24.736000+00:00 | ['Neurobiology', 'Design'] |
PAID Network contract hack — deep dive | On March 5th 2021, PAID Network’s smart contract was hacked. The attacker gained control over it and new tokens were minted. This was followed by the hacker dumping the tokens in the market.
I will deep dive into the sequence of events which took place. More details will be updated here as and when I discover them during my research.
Goal: The main goal of my research is to not only identify the root cause of the hack but also to ensure that such attacks do not happen in future and we strengthen DeFi security. Also to help the PAID network team and the DeFi community.
If you want to collaborate with me on this research, contact me through Twitter (@CryptoShine)
So let’s start.
Note: I have shared exact timestamps, transaction ids and all the relevant information which you can use to look up on etherscan.
PAID network uses upgradeable smart contracts. This was disclosed by them in their audit and transparency report as well on Jan 26th 2021.
Creation of Proxy contract
On Jan-25–2021 09:26:31 AM UTC, PAID Deployer created the ProxyAdmin contract which was deployed at address: 0x7bb7580edb70170daf8a24afc6aaef93db720c24
Transaction: https://etherscan.io/tx/0xa78f7447a763d2952184cb1c2f643d2d858db14a6f6245001d0aff21141bf2d3
Transfer of Ownership
On Mar-05–2021 05:37:11 PM UTC, PAID network’s Deployer transferred ownership to attacker’s Ethereum address: 0x18738290af1aaf96f0acfa945c9c31ab21cd65be
Transaction: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x733dd279b3d24f3415f3850b8eceafc651c1998163dcd0352b9e83c46e2b33d9
The ProxyAdmin contract at address: 0x7bb7580edb70170daf8a24afc6aaef93db720c24 uses the transferOwnership() function to transfer the ownership.
This function uses a modifier, onlyOwner. In solidity smart contracts, you can use modifiers to ensure that it can only be called if a specific condition matches. In this case, the condition is that it can only be called by the owner as shown below.
Interaction with Proxy contract by attacker
First implementation upgrade
On Mar-05–2021 05:40:30 PM UTC, the first interaction with this Proxy contract was done by the attacker from address:
0x18738290af1aaf96f0acfa945c9c31ab21cd65be
Transaction: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x44a1c8649660a46382895d20b19b9a20cb8b0fd2406b655677459e489866c2f8
In the screenshot below, you can see the attacker calling the Upgraded() method in Proxy contract to upgrade the implementation to 0xdd08213d28a453c92454868c4daed51b3387e114
Second implementation upgrade
Soon after the first implementation upgrade, the attacker deployed a new implementation contract.
On Mar-05–2021 05:56:20 PM UTC, attacker deployed a new contract at address: 0xb828e66eb5b41b9ada9aa42420a6542cd095b9c7
On Mar-05–2021 05:59:43 PM UTC, upgraded the implementation contract as shown below.
Transaction: https://etherscan.io/tx/0xe4678ca53b308bb35f6fd393ca369e853f936788cd6c318cd38b0a25bec88b70
Malicious contract analysis
Now let us look at what the malicious smart contract deployed by the attacker actually does. Firstly, the contract is deployed as a bytecode on the blockchain and the source code is not available. However, it is possible for us to decompile the bytecode and reverse engineer it.
The bytecode looks like shown below.
Here is the decompiled bytecode
I have put the complete decompiled bytecode here: https://pastebin.com/9LbxbP7a
This is only for research purposes !!
Let us look at the mint() function inside this new implementation contract.
I have highlighted the relevant code section. As can be seen in the code, the mint function specifically checks that the caller address == 0x18738290af1aaf96f0acfa945c9c31ab21cd65be
This is done to ensure that no one else can invoke the mint() function in this contract other than the attacker.
Analysis of attacker’s address and Tornado.cash usage
This address was exclusively used by the attacker to deploy the malicious contract, to mint the tokens and to sell the PAID tokens.
For all these operations, the attacker would require some ETH.
On Feb-24–2021 08:28:32 AM UTC, the attacker transferred some ETH to his address for the purpose of gas expenditure.
The attacker was careful enough to use a transaction privacy service at tornado.cash which removes the on-chain link between the source and the destination address.
I’ll add more details here when I can.
Appendix
Attacker’s ETH address: 0x18738290af1aaf96f0acfa945c9c31ab21cd65be
Malicious implementation contract addresses:
0xdd08213d28a453c92454868c4daed51b3387e114
0xb828e66eb5b41b9ada9aa42420a6542cd095b9c7
PAID Network Deployer address: 0x6ba10437fd18899a4d920b60a9663b9a1d7a1120
ProxyAdmin contract
0x7bb7580edb70170daf8a24afc6aaef93db720c24
CryptoShine | https://medium.com/@cryptoshine/paid-contract-hack-deep-dive-4dd89e1414f5 | [] | 2021-03-06 08:08:08.553000+00:00 | ['Solidity', 'Ethereum', 'Smart Contracts', 'Defi'] |
Syntropy Italia Giveaway Natalizio. | Computer Science undergraduate at the University of Bologna. Syntropy Ambassador. Passionate about the crypto-universe and blockchain. | https://medium.com/@rash3r/syntropy-italia-giveaway-natalizio-74d9f91193d | [] | 2020-12-23 20:51:49.561000+00:00 | ['Giveaway', 'Noia Network', 'Airdrop', 'Blockchain', 'Syntropy'] |
Cheap Pardon | The Road to Reconciliation
Cheap Pardon
Image by ThatWillBuffOut
Most of what passes for forgiveness is actually a cut-rate imitation, an easy, breezy amnesty you extend, not because it’s earned, but because you don’t want to deal with it. This kind of forgiveness preserves the connection you have with the person who offended you. You don’t have to fight, express your feelings, or watch anyone squirm. You don’t have to prolong the awkward scene of the offender, down on his knees, asking forgiveness, or the equally uncomfortable situation of having to explain how you are hurt to one who is clueless, defensive, and in her own denial.
Once you’ve acknowledged that someone you love has hurt you, the difficult decision of what to do about it comes next. Some people think they’ve found a short cut. They give pardon away cheaply, believing then everything can just go back to normal.
It’s one thing to grant a kind of provisional forgiveness, where you acknowledge it when someone says they are sorry, but withhold full forgiveness for when they complete their amends. It’s another thing to accept the apology as atonement, rather than a promise of atonement. Provisional forgiveness may be what permits the person who hurt you to get close enough to complete restitution. But, when you short-circuit the process, neither one of you get a chance to heal the wound.
You might feel good about yourself, offering grace at discount prices or think you turned the other cheek, gave the shirt off your back, and welcomed the prodigal sinner. You did what you thought you were supposed to do. The problem is, by rushing the process, neither you nor the offending party took the opportunity to fully assess the situation. You may not have defined the problem, acknowledged the injury, or confronted your own complicity. You wiped the slate clean before anyone got to read what was written.
Cheap pardon may seem to preserve the relationship, but it prevents you from achieving a more intimate bond. Magic happens when partners see each other naked, in all their ugliness, and decide to love anyway. That is very different than pretending the ugliness is not there.
Easy forgiveness lets the offender off the hook, while you still have to deal with the offense. It’s a self-inflicted injury on top of an injury. It gives him a green light while you are still waiting at red.
An alcoholic who’s serious about his recovery in AA, for instance, does not need cheap pardon. It hurts him. For instance, right in the middle of the Twelve Steps, are seven that have to do with taking a moral inventory, admitting wrongs, and being ready to make amends and remove shortcomings. A recovering alcoholic working his program goes through those steps slowly, carefully, and thoroughly. When you let your alcoholic rush through them, they’re skipping important aspects of their recovery. Don’t be surprised then if they fail to stay sober or, even if they do abstain, remain the same selfish son-of-a-bitch they were, back when they were drinking. You’re not at fault, but you haven’t helped the matter when you let him off the hook.
How do you know when the forgiveness you are offering is too easy? How do you set a price for pardon? Ask yourself the following questions:
• Do I deny the violation when others see it clearly?
• Do I beat myself up and blame myself when he mistreats me?
• Do I make excuses for the offender before she gets a chance to?
• Do I accept apologies without restitution?
• Do I say I forgive an incident, but get angry or bring up that incident again?
• Do I reflexively repair relationships despite how I feel?
• Do I even know how I feel?
It’s easy to get into the habit of granting cheap pardon. If you know someone, anyone, long enough, a million things will come along that annoy you, or concern you, or make you uncomfortable. Learning to live together involves learning to overlook things, to go with the flow, to not make a big deal about nothing. However, when you find that you are alienated from yourself, don’t know your own feelings, or continuously act against your own interests, you’re not properly learning to live together; you are chopping off pieces of yourself to make room for him.
We all know people whose feelings are easily hurt, who wear their hearts on their sleeves, are enraged when others don’t follow their agenda, and are hypersensitive to anything that wounds their pride. These people continuously feel injured. They’re always looking for apologies, so they can get others under their control. You don’t want to be like that. You’re afraid that, if you don’t grant cheap pardon, you’ll turn into that guy: narcissistic, entitled, and embittered. Therefore, you grant amnesty easily, sometimes before it’s even asked.
The thing is, even if you are a person who is easily wounded, cheap pardon would still not be the way to go. It’s enough that you feel hurt, that your girlfriends say you’re hurt, that your best buddy doesn’t believe the things she’s done to you. Whenever there is any indication of harm, no matter how ill-founded it may be, you still need to get on the difficult road to real reconciliation and not take the shortcut of cheap pardon. As with many things, it’s the journey that’s as important as the destination. | https://medium.com/hello-love/cheap-pardon-4be4b9691c21 | ['Keith R Wilson'] | 2020-12-17 14:37:38.778000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Trauma', 'Codependency', 'Forgiveness'] |
The Budget Trails: Tracking utilisation of funds at the district level | By Subrat Das
Over the last two decades, Central schemes across important sectors like education, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, agriculture and rural development, and social protection for the marginalised sections have been constrained by under-utilisation of available funds. Given the limited fiscal space available to the government and competing demands for public resources from a large number of sectors, India cannot afford constrained utilisation of the available budgetary resources in any sector. In order to monitor the performance of schemes at the district level, the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA Committee) was instituted in August 2016. Despite this, problems in resource absorption in the social sector schemes have not been addressed comprehensively and dearth of evidence from the ground have impeded effective reforms.
In this context, we need to recognize that the process of implementation of social sector schemes can be broadly divided into two stages: the first is that of utilisation of fund outlays (i.e. budget allocations) for delivering outputs and services, while the second stage pertains to the use (or uptake) of publicly delivered outputs and services that over a period of time impacts the outcome indicators. It can be argued that the first stage tends to get constrained mainly by supply-side bottlenecks (like, delays and uncertainty in fund flow up to the service delivery level, under-utilisation of funds available for schemes, and poor quality of utilisation etc.), while the second stage gets affected both by supply-side factors (like, limited coverage, poor quality of outputs and services delivered) and demand-side factors (such as, need for changes in social behaviour, gaps in public awareness about the programmes, and so on). Addressing the supply-side bottlenecks alone will not suffice as long as there are challenges on the demand-side, but demand-side interventions alone will not suffice either.
A series of knowledge products brought out recently by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) and the Tata Trusts, called the Budget Trails, unpacks a host of common supply-side bottlenecks constraining the process of utilisation of budgets in the social sector programmes. CBGA and Tata Trusts carried out a two-year project focusing on the extent and quality of fund utilisation in ten Central schemes in 2017–18 and 2018–19, in five districts across four States (viz. Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha), with the support of the District Administration in each of the selected districts. It would be worthwhile to take note of the insights and policy takeaways emerging from this comprehensive exercise, if we are serious about the budget outlays ultimately resulting in the development outcomes we are aspiring for.
The narrative that large proportions of allocated funds remain unutilised in the social sector schemes needs to be amended now; districts have shown considerable improvement in resource absorption capacity in most of the Central schemes compared to what is reported in the literature for earlier years. In schemes like SSA, ICDS, MGNREGS, NSAP, SBM-Grameen and NRDWP, the districts studied have reported impressive levels of utilisation of the funds available; with over 90 per cent fund utilisation reported for the financial years 2017–18 and 2018–19. There seems to be scope for more improvement in the extent of fund utilisation in schemes like NHM and MDM though. However, the quality of utilisation of funds (in terms of how even is the pattern of utilisation across blocks within a district, across different components of a scheme, and the distribution of total expenditure across the four quarters of a financial year) is not very satisfactory yet. The latter aspect needs a lot more attention in most of the social sector schemes.
Complex fund flow mechanisms need reforms; funds in some of the Central schemes in social sectors bypassing the District Treasury makes comprehensive assessment of the quantum of fund flow and utilisation in a district very difficult. Moreover, there doesn’t seem to be any advantage in the Autonomous Societies route of fund flow over the District Treasury route in terms of the pace of fund flow and utilisation in the schemes. Hence, there is a need for streamlining the fund flow mechanisms for expediting fund utilisation. District authorities should address the problems arising from delay in fund flow in some of the schemes by creating pools of revolving funds to enable short-term fungibility of resources across schemes. Too many checks and balances have resulted in constraining the implementation process in several social sector schemes — Union ministries and State Government departments need to provide more flexibility in scheme guidelines and norms (e.g. in selection of beneficiaries by district level implementing authorities); and state finance departments should enhance the delegation of financial powers to spending departments. There is also a need for addressing the gaps in availability of staff for implementation of programmes and their capacity (with regard to the changing guidelines in schemes, using technology etc.).
It would be worthwhile to note here that the limitations in resource absorption in the social sectors, at least to some extent, have resulted from the shortage of resources in those sectors (for recruitment of staff, in particular and their training) in the past. Hence, we need to recognize that the problems of under-funding and under-utilisation are interrelated. Moreover, there is an urgent need for improving significantly the budget and expenditure information architecture at the district level to improve transparency and accountability in the social sectors.
About the authors
Subrat works with Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability; views expressed here are personal. | https://blog.openbudgetsindia.org/how-well-are-budget-2020-21-allocations-going-to-be-utilised-7d7ca3e372ed | ['Open Budgets India'] | 2021-02-26 11:00:52.736000+00:00 | ['India', 'Budget', 'Public Finance'] |
futago house by sergey makhno architects | futago is a breakthrough in ukrainian private architecture. the construction of the project took 3 years and became a real chain of challenges and bold decisions.
“the location encouraged us to do everything possible to make the view from the windows the main highlight of the project. to do this, we got 30,000 tons of soil and raised both parts of the house to a height of five metres. hence, we got rid of obstacles on the horizon to fully enjoy the landscape.” explained the architects.
the monolith of the house was poured out of 20 thousand tons of concrete. the principal decision was to order the material from a ukrainian manufacturer because the logistics of concrete is complex and not ecological, especially in such sizes.
and when the windows became walls and the doors had to reach almost five metres in height, magic happened — a separate assembly of double-glazed windows was opened in odesa exclusively for the futago project, each of which weighed 1 ton.
“we built this project to overstep the existing boundaries. there are no matters that cannot be solved. there are no projects that cannot be implemented. futago is a clear example of this,” says olha sobchyshyna, the studio’s chief engineer.
as you approach the house, you get the impression that bulky concrete rectangles are hanging in the air — their vertical bases are hidden behind a strong fence.
the lower concrete horizontal serves not only as a support for the upper console but also as a terrace with a lawn and works by contemporary ukrainian artists: “space around” by nazar bilyk, “atlant” by yegor zigur, “kroli” by serhii makhno.
the house is equipped with the smart house system with a powerful ventilation system with air filtration and dust collection technology, thermoregulation, floor and glass heating. all these things are hidden from the naked eye behind a veil of cast concrete.
the basement level is occupied by office space — garage, technical kitchen, laundry room, etc. the first floor is occupied by a living room, and private areas are on the second one. the logistics are designed so that the flows of residents and technical staff do not intersect.
“this project has changed us and our client. i believe that it will also change the world’s perception of ukrainian residential architecture and give impetus to new architectural achievements,” says the architect oleksandr kovpak.
interior
the interior of one of the twins is still in the process of implementation so we will show the ready one that is located to the left of the main entrance. it is intended for the owners, and the second one is for guests. both have similar layouts and an area of 2,500 square metres.
living room
the living room greets you with panoramic windows of 4.5 metres in height and with a spanning view of 8 kilometres.
impeccable white serves as a canvas for the author’s design strokes. on the ceiling there is a one-and-a-half-ton lamp. just ahead, there is a blue kitchen with a countertop to cook and eat without taking your eyes off the surrounding scenery. concrete and white spiral staircases wind from the 1st floor to the bedrooms. the greenery from outside flows into the house. the boundaries between external and internal are blurred. the living room becomes a part of the scenery.
bedrooms
each bedroom has a separate bathroom and dressing room. all are united by a single concrete line but each has its colour: from caramel-sand to dark copper.
“rock” bedroom
the imitation of rocks oozes from the walls of the house, which shades the room with its caramel-sand overflows. on the guard, there is a ceramic dido by serhii makhno, making sure that the owners do not forget to turn off their phone, and protecting their sleep. every part of the house has an attribute of the name futago. in this bedroom, the twin vases remind us that the power of two is infinite.
“day and night” bedroom
the perfect match is about concrete walls, milk colours, modern ukrainian art and panoramic windows. the main accent in the room is the author’s sculptures “day and night” by serhii makhno as a symbol of the eternal choice between black and white, darkness and light. an additional line of windows with a promising view makes this room so special — everyone sees their own view.
“twilight” bedroom
in this room, black and copper shades are dominated to maintain the colour balance of the house. automatic black-out blinds allow you to turn on the night in the middle of a hot day, if you want to forget about the sun for an hour. hidden lamps on the ceiling resemble maasdam. however, the appearance can be deceptive — what if it is the surface of the moon?
american bar
the american bar is a hiding place on the basement floor, where urgent matters, endless meetings and notifications of messengers will not find the owners.
here you can spin in a dance to jimi hendrix’s blues solo, prepare the author’s cocktails, forget about life “from the outside” and enjoy. one button on the tablet in the smart house system is responsible for a real led show on the ceiling, and ripple, the author’s bar tile by serhii makhno, is responsible for the textured jazz.
we do not want this story to end…
we want it to be the beginning of the history of twin houses and a new page in the development of modern ukrainian architecture.
photo credits: serhii kadulin | https://medium.com/@thedesignstoryyy/futago-house-by-sergey-makhno-architects-e6df964e4de3 | ['The Design Story'] | 2020-12-23 16:15:53.764000+00:00 | ['Interior Design', 'Home', 'News', 'Architecture'] |
Killing Time | Cyril looked down at crowds gathered in Times Square from his hotel room. Happy couples. Joyous families. He checked his computer connection for the umpteenth time.
He’d come alone, as always.
The hour grew close. The Countdown Crew depended on him. With a sly, victorious smirk, Cyril reset the time — one second backwards.
And prepared to enter the new year slightly ahead of the throngs. | https://medium.com/centina-pentina/killing-time-c501f881ca2a | ['Tina L. Smith'] | 2020-12-31 06:47:23.094000+00:00 | ['Holidays', 'New Years Eve', 'Microfiction', 'Centina', 'Time'] |
Why your company needs a central hub for data insights | Photo by Gabriel Sollmann on Unsplash
Why your company needs a central hub for data insights
Scaling Data-Driven Decision Making
An Issue of Knowledge Management
Today, around the world, companies are investing in various methods to use data to help make decisions about their business. There is an explosion in the amount of data available to businesses. There is a huge upside for companies who learn to apply these data insights to drive greater business value.
However, most companies are only reaching a fraction of the potential value from these insights because not everyone in the company actually has access to the insights.
Why is this? There is a disconnect between technical teams, who look at and analyse the data, and non-technical stakeholders (aka everyone else) within an organisation. This is in most part because the tools used are very technical, and converting results to more readable formats for a wider audience remains a persistent hurdle. This results in a lot of one-to-one sharing via emails and presentations rather than larger-scale publishing.
How then can we effectively communicate insights across the organisation? The answer is with a central, formalised, knowledge management system. Take for example Airbnb — they actually built their own open-source tool to tackle this problem and help their company to scale the ability to make decisions using data.
In this article, I will make the argument that every company needs to be doing the same thing to facilitate better sharing and organizing of knowledge to drive discussion and learning across the wider organisation.
First, I will go through why we share insights and the difference between discovery and sharing.
Second, I will discuss the challenges that exist with current data-science tooling.
Finally, we will look at an example business before and after they adopt such a central knowledge hub.
Disclaimer: I am one of the co-founders at Kyso, which is our solution to the issue of undiscovered knowledge from data, a central hub for technical reports. Naturally, I would love for you to use our platform, but I am going to make the general argument anyway as to why you should set up some system for sharing insights — regardless of what that system is.
Why We Share & Discovery vs Sharing
If the goal of collecting data, modelling, and making predictions is to help everyone to contribute to organisational business objectives, then everyone needs access to the insights to make informed data-driven decisions.
How can companies ensure this happens across the entire organisation? A good way is to implement a system in which the process of creating reports from data analyses is as seamless as possible. In this way, the power of their insights is easily discoverable by other relevant agents throughout the business. Let’s call this democratising insights.
We share results to turn insights into action. But if sharing is only happening upon request instead of on a one-to-many based system, business agents across the wider organisation will be less effective in their respective roles. Why? Because the data insights relevant to their positions are not being communicated effectively to them. We want to be driving analytics-based actions across all areas of the business.
A major point of distinction we’ve made here is the difference between sharing and discovery. We all share analyses, typically one-to-one. We screen-share, email, make presentations, discuss results on slack, or over a coffee.
But these insights get siloed within all these different sub-groups. Alice shares with Bob, but the chain stops there. Allowing people to discover your work is really really important because someone else could benefit from these privately-shared insights, someone Alice hadn’t even thought of.
There is a huge benefit for different types of stakeholders across the business having the ability to discover these results, and use them for their own work. Discovery is a key issue that has already given rise to lots of different tools, from general knowledge hubs like Notion & Confluence to other platforms for more technical content like Github.
And therein lies the problem.
Challenges With Data-Science Tooling
The tools that data scientists use, like, for example, Jupyter & R notebooks, are used only by technical members within businesses, and the platforms they use for sharing, discovery, and reproducibility, like Github, are typically restricted to these technical stakeholders.
There is a need for something that bridges the gap, that connects the workflow of the data team to a general reporting system for the entire company.
As mentioned in the opening section, Airbnb built their own solution, which they open-sourced. Stripe also built an internal tooling system — while mostly for their technical teams, the objectives of its development were the sharing of results in a central knowledge repository.
The goal of central knowledge management systems like these is to get more & more stakeholders to better use and interact with data insights, and to facilitate wider communication of these insights across the business.
Case Study
Let’s imagine a scenario that many of you will be familiar with — an example organisation that would benefit from a centralised knowledge hub, specifically for data insights.
ACME Inc. is an online SaaS company, running a subscription-based model, charging per seat (or user) for teams using their product. They are an online messaging application, similar in some regards to Slack. The CEO, James, wants to get a better overview of their customers’ behaviour & asks Sarah, a data scientist, to make a report.
She starts working in a Jupyter notebook, importing company data from MongoDB, and plots out some key analytics on how users are using the product.
She plots a simple histogram of team size vs the number of teams.
She also graphs the number of posts (think articles on Notion or Confluence) by team vs the team size, and the same for the number of comments.
Sarah discovers that there is a super-linear dependence of the number posts on team size. Teams of >400 are using the platform proportionally more. The result is the same for the number of comments made.
If there is no central place to share this analysis:
Sarah just emails the report to the CEO, who reads it — and that’s it. Sarah might discuss the results with some of her immediate colleagues. The CEO might inform the board or investors. But the insights generated don’t get widely shared within the company because there is no discovery mechanism in place.
What if ACME Inc. does have a central hub?
Given that the entire world is now working remotely, perhaps they’ve even been compelled to set one up. Sarah posts the report to the internal knowledge hub — Notion, Confluence, or Kyso, for example. Everyone in the company can now discover and read it.
Mary from the product team comes across the report. Sarah & Mary have no direct connection but Mary discovers it on the hub. And being on the product engineering team, the above dependence is really interesting to Mary and her team’s goals. Why does this relationship exist? Perhaps because, as the size of a team increases, so too does the number of connections. Or perhaps it is a political issue — the larger a company is, the more likely a VP of engineering could be pushing internal usage of the app. This insight is clearly valuable to Mary and her team.
Sarah & Mary have no direct connection but Mary discovers it on the hub. And being on the product engineering team, the above dependence is really interesting to Mary and her team’s goals. Why does this relationship exist? Perhaps because, as the size of a team increases, so too does the number of connections. Or perhaps it is a political issue — the larger a company is, the more likely a VP of engineering could be pushing internal usage of the app. This insight is clearly valuable to Mary and her team. Patrick, from the Sales & Marketing department, also discovers the report. Because Patrick has a fixed monthly marketing budget, he may now decide to focus in on larger team lead sizes, or those that have the potential to be larger. Because the company charges per seat, this is clearly a relevant insight for Patrick.
Because Patrick has a fixed monthly marketing budget, he may now decide to focus in on larger team lead sizes, or those that have the potential to be larger. Because the company charges per seat, this is clearly a relevant insight for Patrick. How about Barbara from the infrastructure team? Maybe the cost of providing their service is not flat — and is worried that servicing more larger companies is much too expensive so they need to either make their systems much more efficient or she might make the argument internally to focus on smaller teams.
So we not only have a central system for sharing analyses but this system is now also driving communication between different departments. This is an example of a typical company and how moving from no system for curation to having a central place for results can transform how decisions get driven within the company.
All of the different stakeholders in different positions, using slightly different methods, are sharing and communicating their reports and projects on one unified platform.
Conclusion
When data is made available to all the relevant stakeholders (which is everyone in the company) with the right tools to turn the data into actionable insights, the total understanding of the value of data and analytics increases in the organisation. Everybody can start contributing to business value through more data-driven decision making at scale.
In connecting the work of data scientists to the everyday decisions made around the business, data teams will no longer be the bottleneck in the organisation, but rather the drivers of better business decisions. In doing so, they also create a higher understanding in the organisation as to what analytics can do for the business. New projects, for which subject matter expertise is required, will run much smoother and faster.
We commented at the beginning of this article on how companies today are gathering a lot of data across various business applications. Making this data available to their data engineers, scientists, and analysts is the first step to scaling data-driven decision making. The second step involves empowering business users with these results.
Only companies that truly understand both aspects will succeed in enabling their organizations to make data-driven decisions at scale and continuously improve. Putting analytics in the hands of the many will sustain or improve their competitive edge. | https://towardsdatascience.com/why-your-company-needs-a-central-hub-for-data-insights-e73a96bd648f | [] | 2020-06-19 17:12:40.009000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Reporting', 'Knowledge Management', 'Data Analytics'] |
The Great Museum Exodus | Image: 2 Travel Dads
Two years ago, in August of 2019, I wrote about The Great Museum Social Media Manager Exodus. In that time:
It’s been read 3,100 times and has 65 fans.
It’s now required reading in a number of graduate program syllabi.
It’s been cited in bibliographies and industry blogs.
People have approached me to say that the blog positively impacted how their team functions or how they treat one another.
It’s safe to say that the topic resonated. But it resonated with more than just “Museum Social Media Managers.”
tl;dr, the concerns laid out in the 2019 blog include:
Burnout and mental wellbeing are not proactively addressed. It’s hard to be under-resourced and unvalued, yet overworked. There’s work elsewhere — a lot of it.
These issues connected with social media managers from outside of the museum sector, especially in other nonprofits. The topic is also meaningful to other roles within museums who are under-resourced, unvalued, and overworked.
2019 was then. And 2021 is now. That was a pre-pandemic world, and we’re not quite to “post-pandemic” status. If these issues were true then, they sure as hell are exponentially worse today. The good news is that the topics of burnout, unionization, and unhealthy workplace norms are discussed more openly. The bad news is that change is not happening fast enough to prevent the best minds of our industry from leaving it — en masse. Let’s unpack both the good news and the bad news.
The Good News
Over the course of 2020, dialogue about mental health in the nonprofit sector became laser focused on the museum tech community as digital teams scrambled to establish #MuseumAtHome. Social media managers and web content producers became the linchpins keeping their museums relevant and afloat. Museum tech community members lamented the inundation of content ideas from staff while noting the irony of their otherwise misunderstood roles suddenly becoming invaluable.
For years, museum technologists have tried to help their colleagues “get it” — to understand that digital should be part of everyone’s job and not a catch-all silo. This idea was more often than not dismissed or seen as a pipe dream, until COVID closures prompted every department to depend on digital teams to get their content online. The speed and scope of this need, of course, quickly led to burnout among these teams. The good news is that we identified the issue and worked hard to bring awareness to it over the course of the year.
Podcasts: In January 2020 I shared about the need for self-care among museum social media managers on the Social Pros Podcast. In December I was selected as one of the top ten highlights in their 2020 wrap-up. Host Adam Brown noted that the episode was the tip of the spear in discussing mental health in social media — even before the pandemic. The topic had became a recurring theme throughout the year.
Emotional Labor has now rooted itself as an inherent vice in a museum career, far beyond baseline concerns for those who work with trauma-related content. (You know, the “normal” stressful stuff in museums, like war and genocide.) For back-of-house museum workers, the emotional weight often came from endless new strategic decisions, shifting policies, project changes, and nuanced messaging. Meanwhile, front-of-house staff were left questioning the value of their health and wellbeing when choices around museum re-openings and mask mandates were painfully collections-centric or financially driven. The Emotional Labor is now the psychological toll of dealing with anti-maskers and indoor crowds — all for the sake of the “mission” …or the bottom line. Thankfully, these issues are coming to light. For example, in December 2020 a powerful panel of cultural sector pros took to the People. Change. Museums. podcast to share about this increase in Emotional Labor and how it might affect the field.
Conferences: In November 2020, MCN Virtual’s theme was centered on Sustainability in all its forms, mental health included. The program illuminated the scope of 2020’s impact, with sessions on staff resiliency, empathy, emergency planning, and unionization. Vibrant backchannel conversations unfolded about the mental impact of layoffs, closures, and administrative decisions.
Speaking of Unions: Unionization has increased among museum workers since 2018. Recent Bloomberg Law data has found that, “workers from at least a dozen museums successfully voted to unionize via a National Labor Relations Board election in the past three years.” To compare, only one group of museum staff voted to formally unionize via NLRB from 2011–2018.
Museum workers are now coordinating across institutions — and outside of them — to support one another. Established in 2015, Museum Workers Speak is a collective of museum activists focused on improving working conditions in cultural institutions. In May 2020 they established the Museum Workers Relief Fund to financially support colleagues who had been laid off, furloughed, or otherwise impacted by COVID-19.
It has become clear to us that when our institutions will not stand in solidarity with us, we must stand in solidarity with one another. — Museum Workers Speak
Surveys: In March 2021 the American Alliance of Museums released the results of their expansive survey Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 on People in the Museum Field. This work built on AAM’s earlier efforts to increase dialogue around self care in museums, including an August 2019 webinar with Seema Rao, author of Self-Care for Museum Workers.
Among the 2021 AAM survey findings:
“One-fifth of museum staff think it’s unlikely they’ll be working in the museum sector in 3 years and cite burnout a significant barrier to remaining in the field.”
Nope, the idea of museums losing 1/5th of those in our field is not good news. However, it is good news that word is getting out about the dire situation. As we all know, change won’t come if those in positions of power don’t have a full picture of the problem.
The Bad News
The exodus continues.
It started primarily with museum social media managers and has now snowballed into all manner of museum technologists, educators, marketers, curators, and administrators. What’s worse? Many of those leaving the field are the preeminent leaders of our industry.
It’s easy to assume that this is all the result of layoffs. However, we’re now at the point where our colleagues are choosing to leave. They’re leaving thankless jobs, or underpaid positions, or toxic workplaces. How did it come to this?
1. Mission-guilt is fading.
For those who were left behind to pick up the pieces after the 2020 layoffs, it was hard to shake the mistrust in museum leadership. Many of their friends who were laid off cited poor treatment during the process and pressure to sign restrictive NDAs and non-competes. It’s no wonder the museum staff who are left behind no longer experience the sparkly, altruistic veneer of mission-driven (over)work.
Museum workers are used to being taken advantage of for our selfless love of the mission. Working 60 hour weeks is part of workplace culture. Burnout is normalized. All of that altruism can only go so far. It’s exhausting to feel guilty about not giving 150% of yourself for the mission. There comes a point where it’s just not worth it anymore.
2. Staff appreciation increased. Resources didn’t.
Administrators had the chance to build on the momentum of digital-first projects and the newfound appreciation for colleagues who work in tech and social media. Even with limited funding, 2020–2021 was the fiscal year to make the most of board and staff buy-in for digital projects. Beyond the disbursement of money, it was the moment to step up and support all staff with resources for emotional wellness, work-life balance, and proactive space for self-care. Did either of these things happen? No. Instead, in most cases more was expected of tech- and comms-adjacent team members with fewer resources and with little support. Platitudes only go so far.
3. There’s no patience for fake virtue.*
If museums had a chance to show their true colors, summer 2020 was it. Important lessons were learned, like how essential it is to secure permission to use an artist’s work on social media to represent a newly contextualized social issue. Museum leaders went to great pains to publicly “do the right thing” with magnanimous statements while ignoring their own organizations’ uncomfortable racial histories and problematic objects. Staff who are otherwise proud of their work are left managing the cognitive dissonance resulting from their organization publicly airing its now-obvious tone-deafness.
Numerous influential Black and brown women have made their toxic experiences publicly known amidst rightful fury over their organizations’ two-faced proclamations. The Guggenheim was denounced by Chaédria LaBouvier, the Detroit Institute of Arts by Andrea Montiel De Shuman, the Indianapolis Museum of Art by Kelli Morgan, and Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art by LaTanya Autry. And this is just a short list of a much larger group of brave men and women who have spoken out, putting their mental health and reputations on the line within a system that remains entrenched in white-centrism.
4. Who wants to be a cog in a broken machine?
The recurring theme here? Words are not being matched with action. Whether it’s a public-facing statement in a social post or gratitude and praise in an internal meeting, the lack of actual action is making it exceedingly clear that the machine is broken. Decision making is broken, team culture is broken, internal workflows are broken, and now trust is broken.
To even make it this far in a toxic, hierarchical organization one tends to fall into the role of a cog in the machine. Staying quiet, doing your work, and focusing on the mission. But who even wants to be a cog when it’s now so clear that the machine is broken?
Has there been progress?
Higher-ups aren’t acting. But we are. In addition to the progress mentioned above, like unionization, fundraisers, and dialogue, we continue to find ways to support one another in the absence of organizational leadership.
Social Media Managers have begun formally taking “content pauses” to focus on strategy, get ahead on production, or simply take a mental break. The Monterey Bay Aquarium set this important precedent and supported others like the Field Museum in following suit — showing others that if these large organizations can take a stand, they can too. These breaks should have been a baseline expectation as the responsibilities of social media managers continually increased. We’re just now catching up.
Digital teams are beginning to think more seriously about Agile project management within their internal workflows. Why is this progress? Because the Agile methodology incorporates a consistent space for reflective discussion on successes and challenges. This reflection is centered on the goal of effectively managing each team member’s capacity to ensure there’s enough time to reasonably accomplish tasks. What seems like a simple premise for time management is extremely difficult to maintain within museum work culture. Steps to become more Agile will directly lead to improved emotional wellbeing — not to mention an awareness of impending burnout.
If museum boards and leadership hope to prevent the flood of resignations, they will need to act big and act fast. But honestly, the solutions aren’t that difficult to come by. Those museum professionals who are still hanging on have already been paving the way. Just take a look around, listen, and do something.
* This article has been updated to remove a problematic, appropriated term and replace it with a less harmful word.
** An additional edit was made to accurately attribute the premise of the social media manager break to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
I appreciate the grace shown in pointing these important details out to me. | https://medium.com/@lorileebyrd/the-great-museum-exodus-b3bc1b899621 | ['Lori Byrd-Mcdevitt'] | 2021-09-14 04:08:10.178000+00:00 | ['Unions', 'Work Culture', 'Social Media', 'Self Care', 'Museums'] |
A One Party System | We will soon get the stories, the quotes, and the scoops that, all along, most Republicans hated Trump. I implore both the average American and the press to do their utmost to ignore this attempt to save-face. While the last five years have seen an increasingly hostile and destructive Republican Party, their hatred of American ideals and the American people started much earlier.
When I first got interested in World War II, the thing that made me wonder the most was, “How?” How did a man like Adolf Hitler come to power? How did Stalin so completely remake a massive country purely for his own benefit? You may choose to ascribe to the Great Man theory of history but that alone could never account for the undertaking. You would need help in a situation like that. You would need people so blinded by the prospect of more power that sacrificing millions of lives would be worth it for even an iota more influence.
The GOP is not the party of small government or personal responsibility. It is not the party of religious liberty or the pro-life movement. It is the party of vindictiveness. The overall theory of the GOP is, “For thee and not for me.” The historic shamefulness of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination and the invention, out of whole cloth, of voter fraud are just two examples. In a system already rigged towards rural whites (consequently, the same group of people least likely to actually be affected by people of color or immigrants), they can’t comprehend the idea of a fair fight.
While cranky whites will gladly wear the cloak of victimhood (while claiming everyone else is “playing the victim), Republican Party officials see the gold in the hills. Someone from the Midwest, like me, is not in any way affected by drag queens doing a story hour at a library in California. In practical terms, it means nothing to me. And yet, this is the crux of conservative messaging.
Identity politics is politics. White, black, Asian, gay, straight, rich, poor, gun-owning, college-educated, first-generation, WASP, cop. These are all identities and all play a part in how people see and move through the world. When a white guy in rural Ohio votes for the GOP, he is no more rational than a black woman in Georgia — he merely has the presumption of rationality.
Without these disparate identities, the Republican Party would have no hope of electoral success. Rather than marketing ideas, they market fear and disgust. Poor black people moving into your white neighborhood, dangerous MS-13 gang members living in your city, terrorists sneaking across the border. All bogus and all completely vital to their messaging. You are more likely to die from a right-wing white terrorist than a Muslim terrorist by astronomical proportions.
The true GOP message is simple: hypocrisy now, hypocrisy forever. Let’s look at Republican hypocrisy, lest we lose track:
Pro-life to protect the children yet actively put children in cages Pro-life yet not wearing masks and directly contributing to people dying Free speech warriors yet indignant at kneeling at the flag Small government, unless, of course, you are talking about someone’s uterus Nominating and confirming Amy Coney Barrett and stonewalling Merrick Garland Claiming voter fraud is rampant yet being the only ones to actually perpetrate it Derision of millenial and liberal “snowflakes” while claiming persecution at every point on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, etc. Refusal to accept the outcomes of free and fair elections if they don’t like the results Personal responsibility yet refusing to hold the President of the United States responsible for a single thing. This one is just for the Congresspersons: refusing to acknowledge efficacy and veracity of the benefits of universal healthcare while having universal healthcare
Those are just ten things. And, you may notice, few of them have to directly do with Trump. The Republican Party is rotten. It’s every tendril carrying a seed of corrosion and evil that has the potential to infect everything it touches. We will soon be inundated with feel-good stories about kindly Republicans, secret anti-Trump Republicans, Republicans who just want to get back to normal. But what normal?
We need another party in order for this government and political system to work. They don’t believe that. They see their route power blocked and obscured by democracy and freedoms. They will continue to oppress those who would otherwise see them out of office. Ask them where they were and what they did as hundreds of thousands of Americans died because their partner in all of this was too busy golfing and tweeting. They deserve nothing but to be relegated to history. | https://medium.com/@cpmcmahon20/a-one-party-system-ec92cfd06827 | [] | 2020-11-27 11:53:44.982000+00:00 | ['GOP', 'Democratic Party', 'Coronavirus', 'Republican Party', 'Election 2020'] |
How Getting Gray Hair At The Age Of 25 Has Shaken Up My Yellow World | I usually don’t initiate a discussion. Especially when I think it will be an unpopular opinion. Mostly I try to avoid having conflicts. Disagreement can scare me.
I would say I am a people pleaser. Sometimes, I want for people to like me, maybe even to love me. All of them. And if they don’t, I question their sanity. That being said, I am someone who strives to be polite, friendly, warm, positive, and considers putting effort to look my best. These are all characteristics of myself that I’m quite familiar with. My philosophy used to be “Anything not too loud and not too controversial will do.”
That was until there was an event in my life that made me look at the world different.
It all started with finding one gray hair at the age of 25: My intention with this article is not to share just another success story of how I’ve overcome one of my deepest insecurities, I instead want to share my thoughts as I’m in the midst of it, feeling strong one day and balling my eyes out the other. I hope to unpack in this piece how it’s affected me, how I have been influenced my culture and media and what I am learning from it.
I felt very lonely at the beginning of this journey, I still sometimes feel this way. Therefore it’s crucially important for me to break the gray-hair stigma and start a discourse about it and show others that they are not alone.
How it all started
Shock. Conscious effort to ignore. Confusion. Excuses. Anything that would shift my mind from the fact I saw 3 gray hairs on top of my head back in March 2020. Would I have known I would see a reflection of myself now every morning with more and more gray hair I can’t possibly spray over fully, I probably wouldn’t have been so hard on myself.
Gray hair. It’s a topic I’ve been challenged with for over 8 months now. As you already know, I’m 25 years old and my hair is turning into gray faster than I thought it would. Before March 2020, I was sure I wouldn’t get gray hair before I turn at least 50 years old because…, my mom is 49 and she still doesn’t have a single grey hair. So I wasn’t worried at all. AT ALL.
The next thing I know — I wash my hair, brush it out and see something light in my hazelnut brown hair — a few gray hairs! Are you kidding me? No way! It must be my diet. Let’s do more sports and eat more greens. Let’s google what to do to reverse grays into my natural hazelnut brown color again. Right.. That didn’t exactly work as expected. But I tried my best to do anything the media was telling me to do to stop this process of graying.
But I tried my best to do anything the media was telling me to do to stop this process of graying.
Funny enough, preventions, home remedies, aimless explanations about what caused my hair to start turning gray didn’t really help. I was trying to find comfort, I was meaning to connect with people who would be going through similar experiences, advise me on how to deal with it, and quite frankly, face the harsh reality. Most importantly, mentally. I wasn’t ready and I’m sure no one was. I had no idea who to talk to and, obviously, fully relied on whatever online magazines would tell me. Basically, if you have gray hair on your head, you’re stressed and here are some pills for you. They’ll solve the issue. Or, better, change your lifestyle. Stop smoking, stop drinking, invest some time into your morning and evening routine, drink celery juice and you’ll reverse your gray hair to your natural color overnight. That inevitably led me to the feeling of loneliness, anxiety basically became my best friend. I started thinking something is really wrong with me, I got paranoid that I was dying.
It’s a journey I can’t escape from and am happy to embark on it
Unapologetically gray hair has become a part of me, it has joined my life without being asked to. Gray hair was brave enough to come to my life and shake up my self-esteem; the perception I had of myself; my understanding of youth; as if it wasn’t enough, it even made me face my biggest fears. Death, for example.
Death wasn’t a topic I would see, hear or talk often, to say the least. Living in a big city that is full of life, energy, chaos, I don’t have space for death, I need to live fast. And I need to make sure I use all the opportunities that come my way.
Death wasn’t a topic I would see, hear or talk often, to say the least. Living in a big city that is full of life, energy, chaos, I don’t have space for death, I need to live fast. And I need to make sure I use all the opportunities that come my way. Therefore it’s no surprise that me seeing myself age visually in the midst of my youth really hit me home. Up until that moment, the first thing people would say about me after commenting on my height (surprise: some people are taller than the average), would be my age. I was used to always being the youngest person anywhere I would go to, consequently my youth and my identity were merged together. As they were integrated into each other, they needed to be separated at some point, too. I chose not to have my identity be defined by my age, by my youth, by any of this. It was too risky and naive to think I could put an equality sign between my visual appearance and my self-worth. I had to learn it the hard way — nothing is permanent. Not my body, not my skin, not my hair colour. My identity is and will be defined by my beliefs, my actions and my values.
Today, my hair is not getting more hazelnut, instead they’re turning into cashews. All nuts are great but cashews now are my least favorite. Did I think I would face this problem before turning 25 years old? Absolutely not. Did I think I would be sitting in front of my boyfriend, crying and telling him that I don’t want to die at the age of 25? Most definitely not. However, that all happened. And it didn’t feel great but the premature aging aspect made me sit down and think; think deeply about who I am without my naturally brown hair, who I am without external validation of my looks and what I actually want to do regardless of my looks. I realized the fragility of the time we all have on this earth. That led me to more courageous decisions, aspirations in life and the desire to live every single day. Every single day.
Ageing is just another evidence of us being alive.
Ageing is just another evidence of us being alive.
I’m sharing this story so that other people facing this problem wouldn’t think they’re alone in this. Premature grey hair is still a big taboo in our forever-young-and-beautiful society and as I couldn’t find anyone to talk to about this, I hope you find my story helpful. You’re not alone.
Ieva Luskeviciute | https://medium.com/@ievaluske/how-getting-gray-hair-at-the-age-of-25-has-shaken-up-my-yellow-world-b320f7090c52 | ['Ieva Luskeviciute'] | 2020-12-03 21:07:58.756000+00:00 | ['Beauty', 'Prematuregrayhair', 'Media Criticism', 'Beauty Tips', 'Youth'] |
Django User Authentication in 5 Minutes | Django User Authentication in 5 Minutes
A neat UI alongside a lucid back-end to build a perfect authentication system
Let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill in understanding and coding authentication in django. Authentication, as we all know, is a basic necessity required for the users’ to pass through, before they encounter the actual treasure or the application in general. It’s a protective gear to be worn by an application to ensure secure access to it. Here, I’m going to walk you through 5 simple steps that shall help you in integrating authentication with your django application.
Background photo from Unsplash
To start a django project -
django-admin startproject auth_django . if windows,
django-admin.exe startproject auth_django .
Step 1: Handling settings in settings.py
Assuming we’ve a project set up, let’s quickly define a few authentication URLs in the settings.py file in the project (auth_django) folder (an app isn’t being considered due to the simplicity of the application).
# Login & Logout URLs
LOGIN_URL = '/login/'
LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = '/home/'
LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URL = '/login/'
Also, initialize the path to templates/ folder in ‘DIRS’.
TEMPLATES = [
{
'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates/')],
...
]
Note: Create a folder named templates/ in parent auth_django/ directory.
Step 2: Defining Views in views.py
Django Views is where the logic resides. Create views.py file in auth_django/auth_django/ path. We define two views — one to help the user register, and the other, to display the home page. Login and Logout views are taken from the predefined auth_views (to be seen in Step 3).
The home view renders a success page. @login_required is to make sure that home isn’t accessible to unauthenticated users’. The register view initially displays a UserCreationForm that prompts the user for username, password and confirm password. When a user submits the form, the details are captured and validated. If validation is successful, details are saved in the default database (SQLite) and the user is taken to the home page via authentication.
Step 3: Initializing URLs in urls.py
Authentication URLs are all associated with views in urls.py. home and register URLs are mapped with the views in views.py. login and logout are mapped with the inbuilt auth_views. as_view() is a method in the class LoginView/LogoutView which returns a callable view.
Step 4: Creating Templates
Users’ understand the application through templates. login view by default uses registration/login.html in templates/ folder. Thus, we define all the templates in registration/ folder.
base.html — Encloses external libraries
2. login.html — Login Form
3. register.html — Registration Form
4. success.html — Home page
Project Directory Structure -
Project Directory Structure
Step 5: Code Harvest!
Handy commands:
To migrate the database -
python3 manage.py migrate
To run server -
python3 manage.py runserver
User Registration Window
User Login Window
Home Page
I hope this article has helped you. Thanks for reading! | https://medium.com/swlh/django-user-authentication-in-5-minutes-4db08c5c459a | ['Samhita Alla'] | 2020-11-02 06:46:13.433000+00:00 | ['Django Framework', 'Python', 'Django', 'Authentication', 'Bootstrap'] |
A Baby’s Cry | A Baby’s Cry
“Baby Blessing! Baby Blessing!!”, the doctor screamed. Exasperated and frustrated, he returned to my cot. I was answering my name the whole time but he hardly looked in my direction. My mother was nowhere to be found. I thought of the most likely places she could be, “mothers lodge” — a fancy name for a remote room mothers could stay, “under the stairs” — the best bet in terms of proximity to the neonatal ward or roaming the hospital trying to locate pay-points before submitting a frequently requested blood test.
Let’s get back to my obviously tired always-on-call doctor. Within a few minutes, the doctor had called out two other names — no answers. My neighbor chuckled and gave me that “should we tell him?” look through his cot. The doctor seemed to be searching for something while fiddling with a bag of scary-looking medications hanging from the edge of my cot. “This line has tissued and there is no cannula”, he mumbled to himself. I braced myself for what would happen next — an experience any SBU or SCBU baby dreads…. “intra-tissue medications”. In this strange new world, filled with different shades of blue lights, it didn’t matter where or how your medications entered — as long as they ended up inside your body. Luckily for the on-call doctor, the annoying nurse who readily detected tissued lines as a hobby was off-duty for the day.
I prayed silently — who knew a baby could pray? I hoped my mother would show up just in time or the nurse would find a spare cannula somewhere, somehow…..my prayers went unanswered. I just missed my first miracle. I hadn’t learnt how to speak, so how could I communicate with them? Waving my hand only worsened the pain I felt — my swollen hand, held in place with a firm cardboard. The doctor grabbed my hand and in went the drug — I screamed and my fellow babies joined in unison oblivious of what was going on. We sometimes cried for one another without knowing the reason — after all, injury to one was injury to all.
The doctor shook my legs a little bit and the pain seemed to ease. I stopped crying and suddenly craved breast milk. Soon he was scribbling away on the loose sheaf of papers placed precariously beside my cot — I wished I could pee on it. How come they’re always writing? Then again, the nurses wrote more. Our frequent needs seemed to interrupt their constant need for writing. They held regular parades with one another three times a day discussing each baby as they nimbled along — it was called “handing over” although nothing was handed or received.
Oh! I missed the comfort of my mummy’s womb. It was dark but warm and fuzzy with nothing except the soothing sound of her rumbling intestines. I could tell when my mum ate beans or “moi moi” (beancakes) — her antenatal clinic favourite. She always claimed she ate these things for my sake and since I couldn’t speak for myself, everyone seemed to believe her. In any case, it was far better than this large room with its blinding lights, strange noises and constant movements. The noises were amplified during “ward rounds” — with multiple strange-looking faces, some nice, others not so nice. Some talked, others nodded, the youngest customarily wrote. I always wondered why they had to ruin my mid-morning nap. Sometimes they argued about different things, as they held me up or turned me over — if I was pale or not, yellow or not, warm or not — they spoke impressive words like “jaundice” and “sepsis”. I later found out they had a long fancy name — Paediatricians!
But how did I get here? one may wonder! We all had different unique stories behind our admission. We loved crying — it was the only way to get attention and show we were alive. Our cries meant different things and it was the job of our mothers or whoever happened to be on duty to figure out what each particular cry meant. You could even be sent here for not crying after you were born, for crying too much if something was wrong with you or if you arrived way ahead of your time. The first was the worst — you got your tiny chest pounded and pressed all in the name of resuscitation while all sorts of tubes slid down your throat and stomach sucking every bit of amniotic fluid you had managed to swallow. In the end, you had to cry — whether it was from the harsh reality of the country you now found yourself or because you were tired and wanted them to stop. Your cries made them smile — they all clapped and cheered. They turned you upside down and slapped your butt some more — a weird way to welcome a child into the world.
Sometimes we were many, other times we were few. Sometimes they kept you under the blue light, other times they didn’t. Some cots disappeared — we couldn’t tell if the babies went back to heaven or home to their parents. It’s been a lot of ups and downs — one minute they’re poking you all over for blood samples or shaving your cute hair, the next minute they’re pushing food down a tube, into your stomach, all without your consent. You beg your veins to cooperate — they had a way of shrinking away in fear as if they knew what was coming. The best part was when they “discharged” you. It meant you had been pricked enough, drugged without ceasing, weighed, and found worthy. You had taken your fair share of the hospital’s antibiotics and deemed fit enough to go. Your parents wore happy smiles — that’s if they were able to foot the bill.
If they weren’t, you could stay longer and catch some infection making you wonder if you were a curse rather than “baby Blessing”. As they clean and dress you up, you’re glad to escape the newborn “prison”. Other babies stare at you from their cots — they wonder when their day will come. As you reflect on your 3-week “detention”, you smile at the doctors and nurses hoping to thank them when you’re big enough to speak. For now, the future beckons — what will it be like? What if we babies could say our minds? Share our hopes, dreams, and fears? For now, all we’ll do is smile, eat, sleep and most productively, cry! | https://medium.com/@marvelousibanga/a-babys-cry-3ec355b35fbb | ['Marvelous Ibanga'] | 2020-10-28 08:39:30.867000+00:00 | ['Nicu', 'Newborn', 'Preemie', 'Health', 'Paediatrics'] |
Sleepy Joe’s American Dream | Is sleepy Joe’s idea of America nothing but a dream?
The 2020 presidential election was humorous to say the least. A never-ending comedy of errors, duly punctuated with a host of laughable litigations of voter fraud that left non-Americans laughing from afar whilst counting their blessings. After the live debate had taken place many were left more confused and pessimistic of the future that lay ahead. Sleepy Joe is in most people’s view a better prospect for the U.S and the free world.
Sleepy Joe is ambitious with his plans for America. The first of his obstacles in office will be to save the country from a worsening Covid-19 pandemic. With plans to increase testing, his decision making will be somewhat easier in this area as it is in the interest of the Republicans and the Democrats to see the end of the pandemic.
Mitch McConnell is a bigger obstacle for Biden. McConnell the U.S Senate leader, a Republican — will be hesitant to act on any of Biden’s plans. Obama went through a similar fiasco.
What else is in store for Mr. Biden?
Climate change, racism & the economic recovery in short. A short yet a challenging list.
Biden hasn’t been shy with international affairs and has already been poking his finger across the pond at Trumps doppelgänger Boris. Biden has long opposed Brexit and his Irish roots will keep him interested in the on-going Brexit talks with the EU.
Its a pivotal moment for the U.S, much is to be overcome and achieved. With all that is going on in the U.S at the moment - I’d rather a sleepy joe than a moody, unpredictable and self-centred Trump. | https://medium.com/@aamirsyed94/sleepy-joes-american-dream-43863b49d0f5 | ['Aamir Syed'] | 2020-12-09 12:11:11.449000+00:00 | ['Donald Trump', 'Covid 19', 'Joe Biden', 'Climate Change', '2020 Presidential Race'] |
Denzel made journalist Katie Couric ‘uncomfortable’ with her questions | For those who are unaware of the trending topic, Katie Couric was “uncomfortable” with Denzel Washington challenging her line of questions about “Hollywood folks” getting involved in politics. But from the 2004 dateline interview, there was already some banter going on regarding everything from the evils of money, Jesus, communism and the War in Iraq. In other words, this group discussion (with Meryl Streep and Jonathan Demme) wasn’t lightweight to begin with.
But the part that Katie Couric was up in arms about was this:
To read the full interview, visit NBC Dateline.
After reading this back-and-forth and hearing that Katie Couric felt “the experience was ‘uncomfortable’ and said she believes Washington ‘totally misconstrued a question I asked and kind of jumped all over me,’” my first thought was: “I can think of five more interviews with celebrities I personally interviewed that were way more tense than this.” I didn’t start working in traditional journalism until 2008 (and 2005, if you count independent sites). Meanwhile Katie Couric has been doing this since the ’90s. But never mind me. Journalist Gayle King literally got spit on during an interview with singer R. Kelly and joked about it on Showtime’s “Desus & Mero.” This happened all while the Chicago artist (who is currently in prison for multiple sex crime charges) was shouting and punching the air, and she kept her cool.
If there was ever an entertainment interview to be “uncomfortable” in, that’d be the one. Now this doesn’t mean that journalists should just expect to be put in awkward circumstances, but anyone who isn’t a newbie to the industry shouldn’t be particularly surprised when they are.
Photo credit: Create Her Stock
Still though, the bigger question for me is why Denzel Washington having a semantics debate seemed to rile her up more than so many other topics in her wheelhouse. One obvious example is the entire case with fellow journalist Matt Lauer and an alleged rape incident from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. I will not comment on that particular case one way or the other, without sufficient evidence of wrongdoing. But again, that should make the average person more “uncomfortable” than an actor picking a debate about the use of the phrases “Hollywood folk” and “one of those people.”
Even when Katie Couric was on “The Wendy Williams Show*,” she brushed off the under-the-desk button “perk” in some NBC office dwellings — including Matt Lauer’s office. In her own words, “I think a lot of stuff gets misreported and blown out of proportion.” But she appeared content with executives who had buttons to physically open and close doors — while she did not.
Now mind you, I wouldn’t mind having an office with the Mr. Spacely button that controlled who came and left my workspace. I get it. I would, however, be a bit concerned about why only certain people had one while others didn’t and what was going on behind their doors versus mine. Again, that is more of a hot button issue (literally) than a debate about celebrities as voters.
Of course no one can force one person to brush aside an issue as irrelevant or unimportant while another can view it as “uncomfortable.” But I do have a semantics concern with the phrasing “jump all over me.” In a time when #MeToo is making gains that were previously being ignored — if you ignore who is in the White House, yes, I said it — a responsible journalist should understand that calling a former interviewee out by name and painting a picture of feeling like she was being attacked in the middle of what seemed like an ongoing friendly banter is irresponsible. And that makes me, as a journalist, very uncomfortable.
Photo credit: Create Her Stock
While it would make more sense to have a private conversation between the journalist and the interviewee — as people and fellow voters, regardless of their work industry — after the interview is over, airing something that trivial out to the public just doesn’t seem productive. But if it works for her, I guess we won’t need an “overheard in the newsroom” for that one. She just let us hear her thoughts in public — more than a decade after one of the two parties moved on. But it leaves me wondering if she was really “kind of shaken” by an interviewee challenging her, or was the bigger issue the look of the “Hollywood folk” who did it?
* I can only count a handful of times that I’ve watched this show, but that particular interview ran across my Google searches and left a lasting impression. | https://medium.com/we-need-to-talk/denzel-made-journalist-katie-couric-uncomfortable-for-her-questions-a69af87b7738 | ['Shamontiel L. Vaughn'] | 2020-05-31 17:56:52.361000+00:00 | ['Race', 'Journalism', 'Feminism', 'Katie Couric', 'Denzel Washington'] |
There’s More to Eating Matzah Than You Think | This morning I read an article written by Kat Kou called, There Are Good People Out There, in which she talks about creating interactions without expectations by changing the way we view others. She mentions the idea of doing things for others with no personal motives and how this comes about by changing the way we see those around us. As I write this, I am celebrating the holiday of Passover, and Kat’s article called to mind one of the fundamental aspects of the holiday.
People of all faiths around the world are aware of some of the main parts of Jewish holiday of Passover. Even if you don’t know anything else, you are likely familiar with the practice of not eating bread during the length of the holiday. Some may also be aware of the surface reason for this.
When Pharaoh finally agreed to allow the Jews to leave Egypt they didn’t want to tarry since they feared he could change his mind at any second. After all, it had taken ten plagues which resulted in all kinds of chaos and hardship, including the death of Pharaoh’s own first born son to get him to agree in the first place. So there was no time to let the bread rise as the Jews rushed to leave Egypt and when they baked it, it became matzah. Yet this speaks more to why we specifically eat matzoh, not why we don’t eat bread.
With regard to the question, there is a misconception about what it is exactly, that Jews are prohibited from eating. Matzoh can technically be considered bread as it is made of water and flour and baked. Today we even have flatbread which, when toasted, can look quite similar to Matzoh.
So then it’s not actually bread that’s the problem. The problem is the leavening agents such as yeast. This is what Jews aren’t allowed to eat on Passover. Or drink for that matter, as beer is off the menu as well, being made with yeast. So what’s so offensive about leavening agents that Jews have to avoid it at all costs during this holiday?
The difference between bread that is leavened and matzah is that leavened bread rises while matzah lays flat. Leavened bread represents arrogance, egotism, and the tendency to get puffed up with self importance. People characterized by a leavened personality fail to understand that their accomplishments were not just their own doing, that no matter what they may have achieved in life, others had a hand in it. “Leavened” people perceive themselves as better than others and as entitled to special privileges and benefits as a function of how very special they are.
A side-effect of this viewpoint is that leavened people are so self absorbed, they fail to see others for who they are, have no interest in knowing about the special nature of those around them and see no need to be concerned with others wellbeing. Just as they’ve come to believe they have accomplished all their achievements solely through their own wherewithal, so too do they believe that others should take care of themselves and their own needs by themselves.
Even when they are capable of helping others and even when it will cost them nothing, they won’t do so out of principle. This is the multimillionaire who allows their sibling to become homeless because they don’t think it’s right or fair to be expected to help them out. It’s the person who bought far too much food who refuses to give it to someone who is hungry on the street despite the fact that it will go bad before they reach home. It is each of us who have it within us to say things to others that will help build them up and feel good about themselves but don’t do so, even though it costs nothing and takes only mere seconds of their time.
Matzah on the other hand, represents humility, the ability to understand we are all connected and responsible for each other. The “Matzah personality,” is someone with the constant desire to relate to others and the willingness to commit to helping others better themselves and their lives even as the matzah person does likewise.
Whereas the leavened personality is falsely causing themselves to always remain loftily about others because they believe themselves to be better, the matzah personality always sees that there is a possibility to rise higher but only through hard work on correcting their own flaws and putting others first even as others do for them.
So for eight days (in the diaspora, seven in Israel), we eat only matzah in order to have the time to work on ourselves, to gain insight and understanding into that which is standing in the way of our ability to truly connect with others and provide the kindness they deserve. During these days we also work to find ways to strengthen ourselves so that when we once again are confronted with the seductive promise of an easy way to self-fulfillment and happiness while justifying it being at the expense of others, we are able to resist the temptation.
The Takeaway
I think one of the most important implications of these ideas was expressed by Kat in the article I mentioned at the beginning. When we see others positive behavior as nothing more than efforts to manipulate the situation to gain something, we actually prevent people from practicing random acts of kindness. If our acts of kindness are turned into something ugly and negative then we will be reluctant to continue performing them.
This isn’t because we aren’t able to get something out of them — this is the thinking of the leavened soul. It’s because when we try to do something nice for someone such as providing money when they don’t have enough to cover a cup of coffee but someone comments on it making it seem like a come-on for example, the recipient may not accept the help.
Losing out on the cup of coffee isn’t the worst part of this. Instead of feeling the glow from knowing that someone wants to help, wants to connect, that someone stepped outside of themselves and their own needs to really see them and do something that said they are important, they will feel unworthy of kindness. They may also feel like someone just perceived them as an easy mark. This could lead to them being less likely to want to interact with others in the future to avoid that kind of hurt. The person who had been trying to extend kindness might avoid doing so in the future to avoid causing unintentional hurt.
At the same time, the opposite is true. I think that making it not just okay to be kind to others in a selfless manner but making it something that is valued, remarking on it when we see it, can go a long way to correcting some of the evil that we find in this world.
It takes the ability to step outside oneself, to shed the arrogance and self-serving nonsense to realize that all of us are equally important in the world and that we all benefit when we treat each other with kindness. Being able to view others positively comes from seeing ourselves positively which is a realistic view, not one of entitlement. We need to find way to steal ourselves against the unhealthy forces that aim to falsely build us up and make us feel like we are above others and automatically deserve everything good and desirable in life no matter who is hurt in the process. Only then will we be able to see the good in everything and everyone around us and be able to experience all that life holds.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like reading these: | https://medium.com/one-table-one-world/theres-more-to-eating-matzah-than-you-think-c1baf7eaa88b | ['Natalie Frank'] | 2019-04-25 20:58:52.827000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Mental Health', 'Psychology', 'Judaism', 'Mindset'] |
The Gig Economy and How to Leverage it in 2020 | The Gig Economy and How to Leverage it in 2020
Before the advent of the gig economy — there was a time where people were nomads who roamed the land in search of food. A few centuries later, people discovered that they could create more food by domesticating certain plants and animals. When the industrialization age came, people started massively migrating to cities where more jobs were available. Fast forward to 1926, and the five-day, 40-hour week began, led by Ford Motor Companies. Today, we’re witnessing another significant movement called the gig economy. Here’s the gig economy and how to leverage it in 2020. ReadWrite Follow Mar 3, 2020 · 6 min read
In essence, thanks to the advance of technology, the way work is viewed and performed has drastically changed. Roughly 150 million employees across North America and Western Europe have left their 9-to-5 jobs to join the gig economy.
For employees, the benefits are crystal clear: more flexibility, work/life balance, and higher rates.
But what does the gig economy mean for businesses? Can they leverage it in order to enjoy some benefits? The answer is yes.
Exceptional employees are waiting to be found.
Think about this: You’re building a tech product with an in-house team of software engineers. However, you need to hire two more to speed up the process. Unfortunately, you realize that it’s challenging to hire two senior engineers as there’s a major shortage in your local area. It would take too long and would be too pricey. What other options do you have?
You can always hire a gig worker outside of your zip code.
The talent shortage is not limited to a few businesses like yours. It’s a global issue. One survey by Gartner found that 63% of 137 senior executives find talent shortage to be a key concern for their organization.
If the skills you’re hunting for are in short supply in your home country, nothing prevents you from scouting experienced engineers in other countries. When it comes to working arrangements, there are no boundaries.
You can easily find gig employees on talent platforms or marketplaces/communities. Talent platforms like Fiverr are an amazing solution that connects businesses and professionals. Here, you can find freelancers with various skills and with hourly rates that range from $5-$100+.
On the other hand, talent marketplaces and communities differ from platforms in a way that they offer exceptional talent in a specific field. For example, Adeva, one of the fastest-growing companies in this sector — is a community for flexible, on-demand tech talent. They vet every tech talent before they enrolling them in the platform to provide additional value to the customers. They claim that they work with the best talent in the world.
Hire gig workers to lower your costs
A report by Glassdoor found that the average cost to hire an employee in the U.S. is $4,000. What’s more, companies need around 24 days to fill an open position.
When hiring a new employee, there are external and internal costs to consider. External costs include:
Job sourcing.
Background checks.
Recruitment technology.
Pre-hire assessments.
Marketing.
Some internal costs include:
In-house recruiting staff.
Systems (for example ATS).
Referral Awards.
In short, your company will likely spend thousands of dollars on hiring one engineer. Even worse, that engineer might not turn out to be the best fit for the company.
Apart from hiring costs, companies have a myriad of other expenses to think about. A significant part of a company’s expenses comes in the form of real estate costs, employee benefits, and perks.
When you hire gig workers, your costs are dramatically reduced. There’s no need to spend big bucks on benefits, taxes, or office space. Recruitment, hiring, and interviewing costs are also reduced. What’s more, there’s no risk of investing in employees that later turn out to be a cultural misfit.
Reduced costs are also directly related to a company’s faster time to hire and lower turnover. Gig employees’ increased productivity is another factor that can save a company thousands of dollars per year.
Employees want more flexibility, so give it to them
The 20th century has gone, and with it, the belief that employees must spend eight hours in an office from 9 to 5. The modern employees have a different mindset than previous generations.
Millennials are considered to be the drivers of the work flexibility movement. They’ve expressed their ideas on how the ideal workplace should look like. According to them, the perfect workplace is the one that offers work/life balance.
And many companies have understood that happy employees are more productive employees.
A joined study by the Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom and James Liang, the CEO of Ctrip, China’s largest travel agency, tried to discover how productive are those employees who are allowed to work from home.
Over two years, they found that flexible workers:
achieved more
took fewer sick days
worked longer hours
were happier in their work
Millennials make up 40% of the current workforce. Many of them possess high-quality tech skills that are sought-after anywhere in the world. They are also equipped to hold executive and managerial positions.
Additionally, 80% of U.S. employees said they wouldn’t accept a job unless it offered flexible work options. In other words, companies that will allow flexibility to their workers will have higher chances to grow its talent pool and hire faster.
If you choose to embrace the gig economy, your company will be more appealing to Millennials but also the newer Gen-Z workforce. Your business will be in a better position than your competitors who will not embrace this trend.
Test gig employees before offering full-time employment
Let’s assume another scenario:
You’ve recently hired a new PHP senior developer for your company. You’ve wasted 26 days and spent roughly $3,000 to bring her on board. However, after a few months of work, you realized that her skills are not satisfactory and that her engagement is at a low level. The thought of firing that engineer and reliving the same thing with another employee makes your stomach turn.
Hiring a bad employee is a common occurrence. Nearly three in four employers say they’ve hired the wrong person for a position. What’s more, they lost an average of $14,900 for each bad hire.
Apart from spending thousands of dollars and compromised work quality, bad hires can affect other employees. Poor performers lower the productivity bar for other employees on the team, and their bad habits spread throughout the company.
This is where gig employment can help your business. A large number of companies hire gig workers as a means to test talent before offering full-time employment. They spend less money and less time recruiting and training expertise.
Once the company is certain that the gig worker possesses the right skills and is the right cultural fit, then they proceed with offering a full-time contract.
Speed up your project execution times
Every project has deadlines for delivery.
And many teams struggle to meet those deadlines. The reasons for failure can be numerous, including not having the right team in place or the correct number of people on the team.
When you have fewer employees than you need, you’re risking overworking them. If your employees are exposed to stress for an extended time, then you’ll soon start noticing a drop in their engagement, productivity, and presence. Moreover, job burnout is directly related to higher rates of job-changing among employees.
No one wants to lose their best talent to burnout and spend thousands of $$$ on disengagement. That’s why you must take the needed steps to prevent burnout.
Hiring gig workers is one idea. Contingent employees can help you meet aggressive deadlines and speed up your project execution times. Instead of burning out your full-time employees, consider adding a few gig workers on the team to help with the workload.
After the project is done, you can choose between assigning them a new project or ending the part-time contract.
Final Word
There’s no doubt that the gig economy is a chest of treasure for businesses. Companies of all sizes and across all industries stand to save costs and expand their talent pool if they embrace it. By joining the gig economy, companies can also appeal to the younger workforce that’s made up of Millennials and Gen-Z.
As the gig economy continues to grow, everyone that’s part of the world of work will have much to gain. It’ll be a future abundant in flexibility, innovation, and opportunity. In this future, everyone wins. | https://medium.com/readwrite/the-gig-economy-and-how-to-leverage-it-in-2020-173726f603e | [] | 2020-03-03 20:38:53.897000+00:00 | ['Gig Economy', '2020'] |
The Curse of the Codependent | Often when people talk about how loving their parents were, how loving their spouse is or how loving they are, they cite two things: caretaking and sacrifice. While these two traits are usually thought of as positive, they can be used in a negative context.
A codependent is someone who constantly gives and sacrifices for others. They are people-pleasers who suffer from low self-worth, have weak boundaries and are often not true to who they really are in order to preserve relationships. Such people often get into relationships with narcissistic people who constantly take.
Probably the best definition of codependency I’ve ever heard was from Noel Bell who wrote, “The greatest hallmark of codependence is that someone else decides how you feel about yourself.”
I was floored reading that because it reflected exactly how I lived.
Of course, not all codependents are the same. For example, some have better self-worth than others. However, they all suffer from a low level of self-worth that causes them to abandon their own needs for others’ needs.
“Codependents confuse caretaking and sacrifice with loyalty and love.” — Ross Rosenberg
The quote above highlights the issue for the codependent. They cannot see that caretaking and sacrifice, as they use it, is not love. At all. When they are giving and giving, it isn’t completely selfless. They are trying to get something out of it.
Caretaking to a codependent is: “Oh, you poor thing. Let me make you into something ‘better’, and by ‘better’ I mean whatever it is I value.” One’s self-expression is only deemed as okay if it doesn’t bother the codependent.
Sacrifice to a codependent is: “Look at what I do for you! And this is how you repay me?” The codependent will do things for people and try to use it as a token to redeem love. Some would call that conditional love. I call it business. I don’t really see how that’s love any more than it is emotional prostitution.
This is largely how I was loved growing up. It is how I learned to love. Unfortunately, people have been at the receiving end of my own emotional prostitution. But as they say, awareness is the first step to recovery.
So what are loyalty and love? Loyalty is, “I’m here.” Love is, “You are your own person. Go and be it.”
With this in mind, there is no room for caretaking and sacrifice as the codependent uses them. Your romantic partner isn’t a child. You can offer support, but it is not your responsibility to bend over backwards for them, especially in order to receive love from them.
Furthermore, if you think this person needs your help, that would imply that they aren’t the best fit for you, wouldn’t it? In that case, let them go and live their life.
The deeper solution to curb codependent tendencies is to improve one’s self-esteem, to see that one is worthwhile and worthy of love as is. It doesn’t have to be purchased from someone if you give it to yourself.
When you do that, you will stop looking for others to tell you how to feel about yourself and you won’t chase love anymore. You will not tolerate any and every kind of treatment, so your boundaries get reinforced. You will know that each individual is responsible for their own emotional wellbeing and not aim to make others happy. You will never feel disappointed in your decision to love others because you genuinely value them and require nothing in return. | https://alchemisjah.medium.com/the-curse-of-the-codependent-e9abdededa5b | ['Jason Henry'] | 2019-03-18 03:50:50.536000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Love', 'Sex', 'Self', 'Psychology'] |
Why I Still Freelance Despite Having a Full-Time Job | How to (kind of) Balance Work and Freelance:
Get organized — This part is really hard for me. I’m not a naturally organized person. I get scatterbrained easily, and I have a hard time choosing what system would work best for me.
But I learned that I need a small barebones system — it’s better than having no system at all.
I try to make folders in Google Drive or on my laptop with all of my drafts for one project in them. It’s important to have as many of your materials as possible in one place.
Some freelancers get planners, some freelancers get a huge calendar and put it up on the wall, and other rely solely on Google Calendar. There is no one right way that works for everyone, the trick is to find something that you know will work for you in the long run. I rely a lot on Google and my email and also putting post its over my work space in my room. It holds me accountable to things I have due, and it doesn’t feel like I’ve added an extra step of work.
Take on work you actually like — In the last few years of me freelancing, I’ve definitely taken on tasks that I’ve HATED in order to pay my bills. Now, I get to pitch and work on things that mean a lot to me. I also get to charge higher rates for my work because I don’t just accept the first rate that I’m offered. I’m not exactly crazy enthusiastic about every single thing I work with on the side, but I’m currently able to avoid assignments that used to make me miserable. I can also avoid lower paying gigs that I don’t enjoy because I have a steady paycheck coming in for now.
Having a full-time job, especially one in media isn’t easy, especially before big projects or events. So if you take on extra work, don’t hate it. Make sure it’s something strategic that you enjoy and that will actually benefit your career. I can focus on topics that I really care about now, and also take my time when pitching my ideas to editors.
Get ready for an interesting learning curve — I thought I was going to be writing articles in my sleep, but the demands of my full-time job do make me feel tired. It’s different from when I was an intern and actually had a little bit of downtime throughout the work day where I could apply for jobs and freelance and take outside calls for articles. There is no downtime at my job. I don’t really get an official break like I used to at my internship at the start of this year.
I’ve had to learn how to officially shut down my freelancing brain throughout the day.
I’ve never had to segment that before, but it’s necessary to concentrate while I’m writing fintech stories at work. I had to learn to plan out my freelancing while prioritizing my full-time job. My freelancing lives before and after work, but from 9 to 5:30 p.m. all of my energy goes to Bank Innovation. It’s easier to do both when they’re compartmentalized in a way that lets me concentrate on the task at hand. I didn’t know how to do that before I started this job, but it was a necessary skill to learn. | https://medium.com/the-post-grad-survival-guide/why-i-still-freelance-despite-having-a-full-time-job-9c695a824895 | ['Angely Mercado'] | 2019-12-21 08:53:51.151000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Freelancing', 'Work', 'Life', 'Life Lessons'] |
Getting Started with Plot.ly | Getting Started with Plot.ly
A Guided Walkthrough for Powerful Visualizations in Python
Authors: Elyse Lee and Ishaan Dey
Matplotlib is alright, Seaborn is great, but Plot.ly? That’s on an entirely new level. Plot.ly offers more than your average graph by providing options for full interactivity and many editing tools. Differentiated from the others by having options to have graphs in offline and online mode, it is also equipped with a robust API that when set up will work seamlessly to have the graphs displayed in a web browser as well as the ability for saving a local copy. One of the only frustration you’ll come across is dealing with many options to figure out the tools you want to use for your plots.
Overview
We’ll start with the basics of setting up plot.ly in Python. After that, we’ll get started with some basic visualizations ranging from typical box & whisker plots to choropleth maps, with code breakdowns along the way. We’ve made all visualizations in this guide using the Zillow Economics Dataset, which contains time-series data from 1996 to 2017 on various housing metrics aggregated by location. If you’re interested in the full code for this post, check out the GitHub link below; otherwise, all the code used to create the visualizations will be included for each visualization.
Our hope is that by the end, you’ll have developed a basic intuition for how the plotly API works, as well as a feel for the generalizable framework you can apply towards your own projects. You can find a link to a plotly cheatsheet here, and if you’re interested in fine tuning any of the parameters used for the visualization, you can access the documentation using the help() function. For more details on all types of plots and parameters, here is a link to more information on Plotly’s Python open source graphing library.
Setting Up
Plotly is a platform that runs on JSON, a format in which parameters are passed to the plotly API in dictionary formats. We can access this API in python using the plot.ly package. To install the package, open up terminal and type $ pip install plotly or $ sudo pip install plotly .
Plotly’s graphs are hosted using an online web service, so you’ll first have to setup a free account online to store your plots. To retrieve your personal API key, follow the link here: https://plot.ly/settings/api#/. Once you’ve done so, you can begin setting up plotly with the set_credential_files() function, as shown below.
import plotly plotly.tools.set_credentials_file(username=’YourAccountName’, api_key=’YourAPIKey’)``
Plotting Online & Offline
When displaying visualizations on plotly, both the plot and data are saved to your plotly account. Without paying for more space in cloud, you’ll have a maximum of 25 plots that can be stored on the cloud, but these images can easily be stored locally and deleted when making space for more.
There are two main ways to display plotly plots. If you’re using Jupyter Notebook or another interactive python environment (files with the .ipynb extension), the py.iplot() function displays the plots in the output below the cell. py.plot() , on the other hand, returns a url that can be saved, and also opens using the default web browser.
The Plotly offline mode also enables you to save graphs locally. To plot offline, you can use plotly.offline.plot() or plotly.offline.iplot() . Again, the iplot() function is used for Jupyter notebook, and will display the plots within the notebook. plot() creates an HTML page that is saved locally to be opened in a web browser.
Basic Structure
As we mentioned before, all plot.ly visualizations are created using Json structure which are list of parameters to be modified using API, so essentially you’ll see the parameters and general structure to make each plot which if you learn one, you can make the rest.
import plotly.plotly as py
import plotly.graph_objs as go
import plotly.plotly as py : This has the functions for communicating with the plotly servers
import plotly.graph_objs as go : This has the functions for generating graph objects. This is a useful module for calling help on to see all the attributes taken as parameters of an object. There are also different useful methods of the object available such as the update method that can be used to update the plot object to add more information onto it.
Generalized Structure
The graph_objs class contains several structures that are consistent across visualizations made in plot.ly, regardless of type.
We begin with trace , which can be thought of as an individual layer that contains the data and specifications for how the data should be plotted (i.e. lines, markers, chart type). Here’s an example of the structure of trace:
trace1 = {
"x": ["2017-09-30", "2017-10-31", "2017-11-30", ...],
"y": [327900.0, 329100.0, 331300.0, ...],
"line": {
"color": "#385965",
"width": 1.5
},
"mode": "lines",
"name": "Hawaii",
"type": "scatter",
}
As you can see, trace is a dictionary of parameters of the data to be plotted, as well as information about the color and line types.
We can compile several traces by appending them to a list, which we’ll call data . The order of traces in the list determine the order in which they’re laid onto the final plot. Typically, data should look something like this:
data = [trace1, trace2, trace3, trace4]
layout = go.Layout() : This object is used for the layout of the data including how it looks and changeable features such as title, axis titles, font, and spacing. Just like trace , it is a dictionary of dictionaries.
layout = {
"showlegend": True,
"title": {"text": "Zillow Home Value Index for Top 5 States"},
"xaxis": {
"rangeslider": {"visible": True},
"title": {"text": "Year from 1996 to 2017"},
"zeroline": False
},
"yaxis": {
"title": {"text": "ZHVI BottomTier"},
"zeroline": False
}
}
We can finally compile the data and the layout using the go.Figure() function, which eventually gets passed to the plotting function that we choose.
fig = go.Figure(data = data, layout = layout)
Bar Chart
go.Bar() creates a bar chart type figure. Within the go.Layout() function, we can specify important information such as barmode = “group” , which groups the different bars for each year together, labels for the x and y axes, and a title for the full graph.
Line Plot
go.Scatter() instantiates a trace of scatter type, as opposed to a bar chart or other form.
We can change the mode of the marker using the mode parameter. Even though we are using a scatter plot, we can generate a scatter plot which creates lines and markers (points) on the lines.
mode = “lines+markers”
Time Series Line Plot
Here, we’ve added a range slider that adjusts the domain of data that can be included in the main plot using the rangeslider parameter.
We’ve also passed a colors dictionary containing a unique color for each state. To do so, we used the seaborn color_palette() function, specified the color range, as well as the number of discrete values we need from the distribution. Because plot.ly will not accept RGB tuples, we can convert the output to HEX codes using the as_hex() function.
Multiple Scatter Plots
To create this layout, instead of appending the traces to a single dictionary, we create subplots using the make_subplots() function, and add the trace to a specific location on the grid using the append_trace() function.
Choropleth Map
With the choropleth, we can take a shortcut using the figure factory class, which contains a set of functions to easily plot more complex figures such geographical maps.
import plotly.figure_factory as ff
From the ff.create_choropleth() function, we pass a set of FIPS values, or geographical identification codes specific to each county, city, or state, where the values (ZHVI_BottomTier) correspond to the data to be assigned to that region.
Final Thoughts
As depicted from the examples of different types of graphs above, Plot.ly is a powerful tool for developing both visually pleasing and comprehensible plots for a wide range of audiences. It has many benefits including being widely accessible with having both offline and online modes, and containing functions that can display generated graphs in the notebook and in a web browser. With extra advantages in interactivity, Plotly is a great alternative to Matplotlib and Seaborn, and can boost impact for presentation.
Let us know if you have any questions! | https://towardsdatascience.com/getting-started-with-plot-ly-3c73706a837c | ['Ishaan Dey'] | 2019-06-14 19:04:29.685000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Plotly', 'Data Science', 'Python'] |
API Development With Flask for Beginners | Bus Data
For the remainder of this tutorial, we are going to build a CRUD API for managing buses of AA motors. Let’s define the information we need to collect about each bus.
Number Plate
Manufacturer
Model
Year
Capacity
Above is the data that will define each bus. We can create a Python list to help us store each bus’s information.
The above is a list of a dictionary, this is a way in which you will see collections of data being created in most languages to store complex data in memory. We will be using the above list from now on in our application.
Above, I have made a few changes to our code, adding a buses collection and making a few changes to the function.
Our hello function is now renamed to get_buses . The name gives us an idea of what the functionality of the function is, it will get us all the buses in our collection.
To see the result of our work, we need to restart the server using ctr+ c and using python app.py .
Get one bus
Now, let’s create another endpoint that retrieves just one bus.
Above, we added a new endpoint to get a single bus.
We captured the index of the bus we wanted to retrieve via the URL '/buses/<int:index>' so, in our URL, we can have http://127.0.0.1:5000/buses/1 and the “1” will be passed to the get_bus function, which will be used to get the bus at that location of our buses array and return it to us.
Add a new bus
Awesome, we’re getting a single bus. Now we are going to create an endpoint that will allow a user to add a new bus using our API.
Above is our code implementation of the endpoint that adds a new bus, you will notice some simple differences here.
The first that will jump into your face is that our @app.route takes a second argument called methods that specifies the kind of HTTP method we are expecting.
From the definition above for POST, you will remember that anytime we need to create a new resource, we need to use the HTTP method. Also, we import the request method from Flask which allows us to capture the data sent through the request body.
You will also notice that this time, we return the ID of the newly added bus, the ID is just the size of the list and a status code 200 to show that the resource was created successfully.
Let’s update the code to only return the bus we added, that’s better for good user experience and will make the life of our front-end developers better.
Update and delete
As you can see, update and delete follow similar patterns. For the update, we use the PUT HTTP method, we get the content of the update via the request method. We know the data to update by passing it through the URL, as we do for getting a single bus.
Delete is the easiest bit. We take the bus to delete from the URL and use the pop array method to take it out of the list and then return the deleted bus to the user. | https://medium.com/better-programming/api-development-with-flask-for-the-absolute-beginner-a2163b2bd8ca | ['Peter Ayeni'] | 2020-04-14 00:52:16.588000+00:00 | ['Flask', 'Programming', 'Python', 'API', 'Web Development'] |
STATISTICAL TESTING. Overview of most common Statistical… | Overview of most common Statistical tests
Image Credits : memegenerator.net
INTRODUCTION
Before moving into statistical testing, lets understand what statistic means. For that we need to understand what population and sample means.
Population: Includes all elements of interest
Sample: Subset of observations from a population
Measurable outcome from population is called a parameter, measurable outcome from a sample of the population is called statistic.
For example if you want to know average height of all men in United States. If you take a survey of each and every man in United states and take an average of all the heights then its called parameter. Since this is practically very hard, you collect data randomly from subset of men in the United states and calculate the average height of the sample then its called a statistic.
Statistical test is to make a decision on population parameter by using subset of data from the population. This is done through hypothesis testing. You can review hypothesis testing from the below article.
STATISTICAL TESTS
In this section we will go over the most commonly used statistical tests. This article will just give an overview rather than going into the math details behinds all these test.
ASSOCIATION TESTS:
They measure the association between 2 variables.
Measure how strong the variables are associated with each other. It ranges from -1 to 1. Correlation of 1 mean very strong association, Correlation of 0 means very weak association, Correlation of -1 mean there is a negative association.
Pearson Correlation: Tests for correlation between two continuous variables.
Spearman Correlation: Tests for correlation between two ordinal variables.
Chi-Square : Tests for correlation between two categorical variables.
COMPARATIVE TESTS:
They measure the difference between the 2 variables.
One Sample t-test: This test is performed when you want to compare the mean from a sample or sample mean to the population mean.
Two Sample t-test: This test is performed when you want to compare the means from two independent variables.
Paired Sample t-test: This test is performed when you want to compare the means of two related variables. Related groups can be similar pair across groups or the same group measured twice, like once before change and once after change. This is good test to do Pre-Post analysis.
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): This test is performed when you you want to simultaneously compare the means of more than 2 independent groups.
PREDICTIVE TESTS:
They measure if change in one variable predicts change in another variable.
Linear Regression: This test evaluates the cause an effect relationship. In this test you are predicting an outcome (“dependent variable” — effect) from one or more predictors (“independent variable” — cause). If there is only one predictor variable then its called simple linear regression, if there are two or more predictors then its called multiple linear regression.
NON_PARAMETRIC TESTS:
These test are used when the data do not meet the assumptions of parametric tests like data has to be normally distributed. These are distribution free requirement tests. Parametric test assess group of means, Non-Parametric tests assess group of medians.
Wilcoxon rank-sum test: This test is performed when you want test the difference between two independent variables. This test takes into account of both magnitude and direction of difference.
Wilcoxon sign-rank test: This test is performed when you want test the difference between two related variables. This test takes into account of both magnitude and direction of difference.
Sign test: This test is performed when you want test the difference between two related variables. This test takes into account only the direction and not magnitude difference.
Conclusion:
In this article we have reviewed | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/statistical-tests-f43663b1a4d4 | [] | 2020-10-06 14:27:05.547000+00:00 | ['Hypothesis Testing', 'Anova', 'Non Parametric', 'Statistical Test', 'T Test'] |
know yr body | by
Vina Vena Ash
DJ “Gellibene” Kingsbury
Jennifer Sarah Ashley
Preamble
Everyone at the clinic was wonderful. I was just angered at the idiotic rules set up just to get pregnant horse urine. I know the ramifications, I have been on it. I have 3 year old dated pregnant(estrogen) on my make-up table. I stopped taking the hormone regimen in 2017 because some random guy at the YMCA touched me. I punched him out, wanting to give him a blood eagle- but I worked in the day camp at the time. I know I am overweight, I am losing it as an art project right, I was just miffed at myself when I walked out in a cold & darken silence.
1
I went to a Planned Parenthood to get back on Estrogen (pregnant horse urine). I know I am transsexual. I just need to get my hormones in balance. I wanted to get my Estrogen legit. Pregnant Horse Urine needs to be easier to get in the United States. My hormones have been out of balance since 2004 when I had an ORCHIECTOMY(had my parasitic gonads removed). My teeth have rotted out(partly because of addiction to Code Red Mtn Dew), I am overweight( I gained weight when I got into university.) my emotions have been out of control(I didn’t write a new poem for a decade) I took time off from Long Form Improv, had a few nervous breakdowns(I couldn’t stand my own mind.) I just want/need/desire to have sum balance before I am released phrom this sdrawkcab suffocating mortal coil. I deserve sssssum happiness. I have given this consciousness a lot by just spilling my heart through poetry in 5 books. I have also made thousands of people laugh, which is just as spiritual of a release by singing HARE KRSHNA over & over & over again.
2
Today my blood pressure was 160/100. It made no sense. I had been walking the stairs on the daily basis since last time. I had drank no pop for a few days. I have eaten more fruit & vegetables, relaxed a lot. Less than a month ago I had a home visit phrom a Dr. & my bp was 121/80. I was amazed. I had just woken up, didn’t even take a shower. I was 441 lbs, & my HA1C is less than 5.7%. It was a no stress environment. I put too much pressure on trying to be “legit”, have a Dr. watch my hormone levels. There is an obvious correlation ‘tween the none stress environment of the home visit & the stress level of waiting on the ok prom a Dr. to “allow me” to go on hormones. Originally I was told I would have access to liquid estrogen(Pregnant Horse Urine) but than later on by the Dr. I was informed that it would be a pill. I was outraged by that change. But to echo it shouldn’t be hard to get hormones. I want balance. I want whatever change the regimen will bring. I have nothing left to lose anymore, I am 69 years of age for the next 22 years. I am gonna die at a point anyway. It’s my life- MY BODY MY CHOICE! !!
3
I am bored by my parasitic bacon bazooka, I want a pseudo lady garden. I will most likely have to go to Mexico to get the operation done in a few years. I am hoping by 50. I just want to live out the rest of my days in a cabin with a few cats & internet access. HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE IN THESE CURRENT DARK AGES. I walked out when my bp was read as 160/100, it made no sense. I’ll get my hormones no matter wut, I’ll die on this hill. I have nothing left to lose, I AM 69 YEARS OF AGE FOR THE NEXT 22 YEARS! !!
4
Aphter I stormed out in a darken silence, wearing all black. I went to the Family Dollar next door. I bought some perfume, nails, nail polish, a new brush, mtn dew & 4 peel off masks. I contemplated sum Mr. Hero, but I needed to save sum money for NYC, a city that no one ever goes to. My hostel In NYC had called & my room was canceled because they are over booked. So now i gotta stay between the train station & the work out place so I can sleep, shower & relax. I will go see a movie & stay there for hours. I will see a few friends & am doing a few open mics. Which will be cool. I haven’t performed in NYC since AAK Improv performed at DEL CLOSE MARATHON in 2012. It’ll be a fun time.
5
I gotta end this because I need to go eat. I haven’t eaten for 15 hours, I have to head to the train stahp soon to head to NYC, a city where no one goes. I am 69 years of age for the next 22 years. I just want to end up in a cabin, alone, with a few cats. I just want to write & perform. I want/need/desire to make a movie. I will get my pregnant horse urine, keep my levels at a safe place so I don’t get cancer. To many women of my generation x are dying of cancer. The transgender community is rising in deaths as well, mostly phrom murders by jealous men who can’t control themselves & their urges. I will go to mexico to look for a Dr to transform my parasitical custard launcher into a pseudo LADY GARDEN, pseudo hoo hoo, PSEUDO VERTICAL SMILE! !! I got to get packing for NYC, a city where no one goes. | https://medium.com/@donaldjosephkingsbury/know-yr-body-e00c4c0d744d | ['Donald Joseph Kingsbury'] | 2021-12-28 21:36:21.266000+00:00 | ['Mexico', 'Transgender', 'Planned Parenthood', 'Hormones', 'Orchiectomy'] |
How to Quickly Grow on Instagram in 5 Steps | 1. Plan Out Your Content Strategy
You most likely definitely realize it’s insufficient to post a couple photos or videos, and trust that the crowd will come surging in. Rather, you need to manufacture a substance methodology simply like you would for some other marketing campaign.
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Research the best posts in your industry and track your competitors.
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5. Connect With Influencers
As we previously mentioned, many brands incorporate user-generated content to connect with users, collaborate on content and promote one another’s Instagram. But these people don’t need one million users or have to be a celebrity to help you gain more exposure.
It’s smart to nurture and value your connections because just like your audience, influencers deal with robotic messages all the time. Try to build real relationships by meeting up at industry events or asking to host joint webinars.
.. and of course, don’t forget to try UpLeap for 300% faster growth on Instagram ► CLICK HERE | https://medium.com/@arkosarker/how-to-quickly-grow-on-instagram-in-5-steps-a2258a441efe | ['Arko Sarker'] | 2020-12-25 19:41:18.616000+00:00 | ['Instagram', 'Instagram For Business', 'Followers', 'Social Media Marketing', 'Instagram Marketing'] |
赤い林檎 Red apple | The words that come out from the heart are added to the walk scenery. Please feel free to follow me. ●Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/aoki_eita/ | https://medium.com/@aokieita/%E8%B5%A4%E3%81%84%E6%9E%97%E6%AA%8E-red-apple-f1a97de0ec35 | ['Aoki Eita 青木瑛太'] | 2020-12-27 23:22:38.662000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Aokieita', '青木瑛太', 'Words', 'Apple'] |
Deliver what matters, together. | Action plan for our communities.
As partner carriers on the Mothership network help businesses around the country ship essential goods, the health and safety of these carriers is of utmost importance. Mothership advises all of its partner carriers to take all safety precautions and to only accept shipments that are in the best practice for their business. Mothership is thankful for each and every partner carrier, and is honored to join in the mission to keep communities moving during this difficult time.
Partner carrier recommendations.
Partner carriers are hard at work accepting shipment jobs on our platform to ensure people get what they need most during the current pandemic.
We advise our partner carriers to not operate equipment if they have felt symptoms characteristic of COVID-19 (e.g., coughing, fever, shortness of breath) in the last 14 days.
Please visit the CDC’s website for more information on symptoms everyone should be aware of and how to address them. Extra health precautions like routinely washing your hands with soap and water and using hand sanitizer when needed, avoiding hand-to-face contact and wearing a respirator are important to practice both on and off the job, as well as being mindful of contact with other people and objects.
Customers and carriers should take precautionary measures with the loading/unloading of freight.
Wash hands with soap and water before and after all interactions with freight or people in general.
Take extra health precautions like routinely using hand sanitizer to disinfect hands and avoiding hand-to-face contact.
Wearing a FDA approved respirator is a good health practice to follow
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The Mothership team is working diligently from home in order to help prevent the spread of the virus and comply with direction from government leadership. We continue to be fully operational and continue to offer full freight services to all customers at this time.
If you are an existing customer that needs to ship, please log in to your dashboard and continue to book freight as you typically would. For any other questions or concerns, please reach out to our product specialist team to see how we can best support your business at this time and provide reliable freight services.
If you are a business looking to ship with us for the first time, please schedule a time here for a call to get on-boarded to our platform.
Driving the community forward and our business referral freight discount.
During this time we are committed to keeping our communities moving. If you know any business in need of freight services, please refer them to Mothership using your referral code, found in the “Rewards” tab of your dashboard.
Any business you refer will receive $50 off their first shipment. Please share your code with other businesses who might need discounted freight services, especially during a time like this, and please let us know if you or other businesses are interested in donating any of the items mentioned above in our Freight Support Program.
We thank you for your customer and partner carrier loyalty and consideration in helping drive this effort forward. | https://medium.com/official-mothership-blog/deliver-what-matters-together-d5a5d614f9ce | ['Iñaki Pedroarena-Leal'] | 2020-04-21 23:25:50.596000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Shipping', 'Technology', 'Covid 19', 'Donations'] |
Python Sales Forecasting Kaggle Competition | Sales forecasting is one of the most common tasks that a data scientist has to face in daily business. In this article, I am going to use a Kaggle Competition dataset provided by one of the largest Russian Software companies.
In this competition, we are given sales for 34 months and are asked to predict total sales for every product and store in the next month. I have picked one single shop (shop_id =2) for simplicity to predict sales for this example.
With this Pandas code, we can select our shop and plot the monthly sales for the whole period:
We run that script and we can see these plots:
Sales per month. Source: Author
Bars plot of the same graph. Source: Author
As we can see in the plots the sales volatility is quite large, with huge peaks and valleys in consecutive months.
The main technique used in time series forecasting is the ARIMA model and luckily Python offers a library with a lot of different options encompassing ARIMA models.
ARIMA stands for Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average and is a generalization of an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model. Both of these models are fitted to time series, ARIMA models are applied in cases where data show evidence of non-stationarity, where an initial differencing step (corresponding to the “integrated” part of the model) can be applied one or more times to eliminate the non-stationarity. ARMA models are used when the data is stationary (not seasonal or not having trends).
The AR part of ARIMA indicates that the evolving variable of interest is regressed on its own lagged (i.e., prior) values. The MA part indicates that the regression error is actually a linear combination of error terms whose values occurred contemporaneously and at various times in the past. The I (for “integrated”) indicates that the data values have been replaced with the difference between their values and the previous values (and this differencing process may have been performed more than once). The purpose of each of these features is to make the model fit the data as well as possible.
As we can see in the official documentation, the form of the model is as follows:
model = sm.tsa.arima.ARIMA(target, order=(1, 0, 0))
The ARIMA function takes two variables, the target variable that we want to predict and the order. The order is made up of 3 different parameters: (p,d,q). Where p, d, and q are non-negative integers and:
p is the order, the number of time lags, of the autoregressive model
d is the degree of difference, that means, the number of times the data have had past values subtracted
q is the order of the moving average model.
Now let’s implement a grid search function that will allow us to find the optimal values for our parameters. I will take the first 24 months as a train set and test the performance with MAE (minimum absolute error) in the following 10 months. Just like this:
When we run that code we can see the function returns this:
'the optimal (p,d,q) values are 9 with MAE: 57268.88088236949'
If we actually use those parameters we can plot our predictions against the real values:
That will return this plot:
Predictions vs Real values
We can see that the ARIMA model actually does a great job adjusting to our data, it obviously fits perfect the train data (months 0 to 24) but after that, it is completely impossible to fit all the swings in future months. Fortunately, the Kaggle competition only asks for a prediction for the one last month.
We can simplify our function to find the best parameters in case we want to predict only one month, doing this:
Now we obtain this when running the script:
the optimal (p,d,q) values are [2, 1, 3] with MAE: 219.79637413960882
As expected, the error is now much smaller.
So now that we know how to forecast time series using ARIMA, a question might come up immediately: why create a whole new method, i.e., time series (ARIMA), instead of using multiple linear regression and adding lagged variables to it?
Well, this is a very interesting topic. In fact, regression is the most used tool when forecasting, and one can actually fit a regression model to a time series, but there are several differences why this is not the best idea.
One immediate point is that a linear regression only works with observed variables while ARIMA incorporates unobserved variables in the moving average part; thus, ARIMA is more flexible.
AR model can be seen as a linear regression model and its coefficients can be estimated using Ordinary Least Squares: β^OLS=(X′X)−1X′yβ^OLS=(X′X)−1X′y where XX consists of lags of the dependent variable that are observed.
Meanwhile, MA or ARMA models do not fit into the OLS framework since some of the variables, namely the lagged error terms, are unobserved, and hence the OLS estimator is infeasible.
OK, that’s all for today, hope you enjoyed this article.
Happy coding! | https://towardsdatascience.com/python-sales-forecasting-kaggle-competition-40726b2ee047 | ['Diego Salinas'] | 2020-12-17 10:24:44.053000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Kaggle', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Time Series Analysis'] |
The Essential Guide for Solo Travel in Thailand | From beautiful beaches and rich rainforests, to majestic mountains and chaotic cities, Thailand offers an unbeatable diversity of landscapes and scenery, and well deserves its position as one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world.
Often considered the gateway to Southeast Asia, the large number of convenient connections to Bangkok makes Thailand easily accessible from anywhere in the world. Travelling within the country is tried and tested, due to the millions of tourists that have flocked to the Kingdom for decades. As a result, Thailand is geared towards travellers and offers many home comforts and amenities. Add to that the friendly locals, picture-postcard environment and mouth-watering cuisine, it’s not hard to see why Thailand is THE ideal destination for first-time travellers to Asia, especially those seeking to venture out on their own.
Whilst solo travel in Thailand is predominantly associated with the backpacking culture, in reality, the country offers something for travellers of all tastes, budgets and interests — without having to stay in cheap hostels and carrying a 50-litre rucksack on your shoulders!
Want to get away from it all? Kick back for a few days on a tropical island, sipping a fresh coconut. Want to get out of your comfort zone? Strap on your hiking boots and head into Thailand’s verdant jungles on a quest of finding a spectacular waterfall. Want to experience absolute freedom? What better way than overlooking Bangkok’s awe-inspiring skyline, cocktail in hand, from a 64th-floor rooftop bar? Want to completely immerse in a foreign culture? Explore ancient Siam’s splendid temples or embrace a chance meeting with one of the Kingdom’s friendly citizens.
Thailand is a fantastic destination to explore on your own — far beyond the cliched trappings of Khao San Road! To help you take the leap and inspire your personal adventure in the Land of Smiles, we’ve put together this Thailand solo travel guide, covering all the essentials.
Revel in solitude — What to do on a Thailand solo adventure
Picture the scene. You’re on holiday with your best friend. All you want to do is spend a few days relaxing on the beach and making a start on the reading list you’ve been putting off during your busy routine. But, every time you turn the page, your friend complains of being bored. After five pages, you reluctantly stuff your book back in the bag, wave goodbye to the comfortable deck chair and sign up for an activity to keep you both busy…and at least one of you happy. We’ve all been there — whether you’re travelling with your partner, friends or family, interests differ. You have to compromise.
Whilst there are many reasons why people choose to head out on their own, one of the main advantages of travelling solo is that you decide what to do. When to do it. And at what pace. And, if you change your mind? Nobody cares but you!
Famous for its tropical beaches and dreamy islands, the Kingdom’s south offers endless opportunities to spend a few days basking in the sun and working on that tan. Beyond deckchairs and ocean views, there are also plenty of activities to pursue on your own and avoid getting bored on your solo travels in Thailand. On Phuket island, spend an afternoon wandering its quaint old town or head out on a day trip and explore the picturesque Phang Nga Bay by canoe. Go island hopping in the Gulf of Thailand, hike through Khao Sok National Park and admire its picturesque lake or visit the Elephant Refuge and Education Centre in Hua Hin to learn more about these gentle giants.
Swapping beaches for mountains, Thailand’s hilly north is a great destination for active travellers and outdoor lovers. Discover the spectacular seven-tiered Mae Kampong Waterfall on a hiking journey through verdant rainforest, scale Thailand’s highest summit on a rewarding trek in the Doi Inthanon National Park or bike enthusiasts can explore rural villages on a two-wheeled adventure through San Sai District.
Whilst trekking on your own is not recommended, we do suggest hiring a private guide. This way, you can experience all the benefits of solo travel in Thailand; hike at your own pace, stop when you need and enjoy the safety of a professional and knowledgeable guide.
If you’re tired of the sounds of dragging feet — as your less culturally inclined companions lag behind — solo travellers who wish to immerse themselves in Thai culture have ample opportunities to admire the Kingdom’s plethora of historic sites. From Bangkok’s impressive Grand Palace and Chiang Mai’s towering Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, to Ayutthaya’s ancient structures and everything in-between, culture lovers will certainly get their fair share of ‘wats’ on a Thailand solo trip.
Those interested in more recent history can learn about Thailand’s blighted past in charming Kanachanaburi. The world-famous ‘ Bridge of the River Kwai ‘ and the notorious ‘Death Railway’ are enduring relics of the Second World War and essential sites for movie lovers and history buffs alike.
Besides ancient temples, Thailand’s capital is a veritable shopping paradise. Stroll through glitzy and gloriously air-conditioned Siam Paragon or the newly opened Icon Siam or indulge in a shopping spree at sprawling Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok offers more than enough opportunities for solo travellers to shop their heart out. For a more unique shopping experience, take a trip to Damnoek Floating Market and explore the bustling stalls along the meandering waterways. It’s the perfect opportunity to pick-up some souvenirs and practice your newly-honed haggling skills, without your friends chuckling nearby!
Regardless of destination, a must-do activity in the Land of Smiles is to dive into its world-famous cuisine. The ubiquitous street food makes eating out not only affordable but also a welcoming option for solo travellers in Thailand who don’t want to dine alone. If you’re overwhelmed with the myriad options of unfamiliar dishes, join a foodie tour to get a taste of the country’s fiery cuisine. Sample the iconic Pad Thai on a tuk-tuk tour through Bangkok, get a bite of flash fried seafood on a Koh Samui street eats tour or dig into Northern Thailand’s famed delicacies. With such vast and varied options, even the pickiest eaters won’t go to bed on an empty stomach.
The ultimate self-care ritual on a solo journey in Thailand is to indulge in a traditional Thai massage. Steeped in history, the practice is rather different to the oil massages more commonly found in the west. A usual session begins with changing into loose fitting clothes and transcends into a heavenly cocktail of kneading, stretching, pulling and bending. No trip to the Land of Smiles is complete without this invigorating experience! Prices depend on where you go; typically, a one-hour Thai massage at a basic parlour starts at THB 300 (around USD 9). If this type of massage is too unconventional, most places also offer oil massages. Whilst the centre of Thai massage is at Bangkok’s Wat Pho, parlours can be widely found in most cities. Just stay away from red-light districts and seedy places to avoid any “unwelcome” extras!
Meet other travellers
Whilst there are different reasons why travellers opt for a solo trip to Thailand, many still enjoy the company of other people — at least from time to time. Some might even travel on their own to get out of their usual bubble. If you are starved for conversation or miss the energy of a group, a good idea to get acquainted with like-minded wanderers is to participate in a join-in tour. Whether you want to head out on a thrilling rafting adventure along the fast-flowing Mae Taeng River in Northern Thailand, climb up Krabi’s spectacular limestone karts, create your favourite Thai dishes in a cooking class or discover the rich underwater world on a snorkelling trip, it’s an easy way to spend a day with people with the same interests. And, whilst everybody can go their separate ways, some encounters might even turn into lifetime friendships.
If you want to get past the small talk and get to know people better, why not sign up for a course? Thailand offers a large array of options; obtain your diving certificate in a week-long course on Koh Tao; balance body and mind at a yoga retreat in the jungle; or improve your strength through Muay Thai training in Bangkok. You’ll not only learn a new skill but form unique bonds with other travellers.
Lastly, solo travellers in Thailand who want to make a positive change and meet other people along the way can sign up for a volunteering program with an NGO. Check out Trash Hero and Precious Plastic to help clean up the country’s beaches and transform plastic into everyday objects.
Connect with locals
Getting to know some of the local people when travelling solo in Thailand can not only be a rewarding and pleasant experience but offers travellers a more insightful perspective into the local culture. As mentioned before, Thai people have a reputation for being friendly and welcoming — there’s a reason it’s dubbed the Land of Smiles — which makes taking the first step much easier.
If you need help to break the ice, why not swap your hotel for a homestay? It’s a great opportunity to really connect with your hosts and learn about their daily lives. In addition, Buffalo Tours’ ethical local life tours are geared towards travellers that want to connect with locals and get insight into the culture. Discover a different side to Koh Samui and chat to coconut farmers on the tropical island or visit the Akha and Yao hilltribe villages in Northern Thailand and learn about their fascinating traditional lifestyles.
Even though it’s possible to get by with English, learning some basic phrases in Thai will certainly be appreciated. Greet others with ‘Sawadee kha/krap’ (kha is the particle for female speakers; krap for men), express thanks with ‘Kop khun kha/krap’ and apologise by saying ‘Khaw thoht kha/krap’. Infuse it with a ‘wai’ (Thai greeting of placing your palms in front of your heart and bowing) for an extra local touch. Language is often considered a window into cultural values; in Thai, the common phrase ‘jai yen yen’ (meaning ‘keep calm’) is symbolic of the importance of staying calm, whilst ‘mai pen rai’ (roughly translated as ‘don’t worry’, ‘it’s okay’ and ‘never mind’) mirrors Thai people’s laid-back attitude.
Transport & Safety
Travelling within Thailand is easy. An extensive network of flights, trains, buses and minivans, connects most major cities and usually travellers have a choice of different travel means, ranging in price and duration. Whilst most of these options are pretty safe, being crammed into one of the racing minivans can be a scary experience. Buffalo Tours provides its own vehicles with functioning seatbelts, making for comfortable and safe short-distance trips.
In Bangkok, the easiest way to travel around is by BTS skytrain or MRT underground which cover most of the inner city. When taking taxis, insist on the meter beforehand to avoid pricey surprises.
In general, the Southeast Asian country is a very safe destination for solo travellers, for both men and women alike. Crime rates against foreigners are low, and whilst there are of course exceptions to this rule, in general most incidents can be avoided by applying common sense. Look after your belongings, keep an eye on your drinks and stay away from red light districts to avoid scams, and the odds are that you’ll be perfectly fine on your Thailand solo travels.
Don’t forget these essentials on your solo trip through Thailand
Cover up shoulders and knees when visiting temples and other religious monuments; a scarf is always a versatile companion.
On the same note, bring cheap sandals that can be quickly slipped on and off when entering temples.
Pack a jumper or long-sleeve shirt; nights in the north can cool down considerably during winter months, and air-conditioning on buses, trains or malls run at full blast all year round.
Ear plugs are valuable on long-distance bus or train journeys.
Travellers from 55 countries are allowed to enter Thailand via international flight for a period of 30 days visa-free. However, airport and immigration authorities might request a confirmed exit flight.
Though the tap water is not drinkable, bring a reusable water bottle to reduce plastic waste. Many hotels and restaurant have refill stations.
Download the Grab app on to your phone; it’s the Thai version of Uber and makes navigating through Bangkok even easier.
For women, tampons are not available everywhere and are usually more expensive than in the west.
We hope this guide has encouraged you to go out and explore the Land of Smiles on your own. If you need any help, reach out to Buffalo Tours and let our experts help craft your tailor-made Thailand solo travel adventure. | https://medium.com/@marketing.buffalotours/the-essential-guide-for-solo-travel-in-thailand-ab6728c2a1e5 | ['Buffalo Tours'] | 2019-06-26 07:28:48.622000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Thailand', 'Solo Travel', 'Thailand Tours', 'Travel Asia'] |
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.
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/@karinakapur64937/the-first-signs-of-alcoholic-liver-damage-are-not-in-the-liver-9cbd1e6e354c | [] | 2020-12-18 19:35:48.857000+00:00 | ['Addiction', 'Health', 'Body', 'Alcohol', 'Mental Health'] |
The most amazing risk management interview… ever… | During my recent trip to Australia, I had an amazing opportunity to sit down with Grant Purdy to talk about where risk management started in Australia, the origins of the AS/NZS4360 and the ISO31000 and why modern day risk management, as perceived by majority risk managers in non-financial companies, is an embarrassment to the profession.
Grant Purdy has specialised in the practical application of risk management to support decision making for nearly 42 years, working across a wide range of industries and in over 25 countries. He has been a member of the Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand Joint Technical Committee on Risk Management for over 14 years and was its chair for seven. He is co-author of the 2004 version of AS/NZS 4360 and has authored many other risk management handbooks, guides and books. He was also the nominated expert for Australia on the Working Group that wrote ISO 31000 and Guide 73 and later Head of Delegation for Australia on ISO PC 262 that revised ISO 31000.
I am not exaggerating, this is a must listen for all risk managers. Yes, I know, the sound is really bad and I am sorry for the technology. Grow up and endure the pain. This will be the most fulfilling 50 minutes in your professional risk management career.
Turn on captions in Youtube: click settings (low right corner) -> subtitles/cc -> english -> options -> size 400%. Or read the full transcript here: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/LZ7RH2yxG2UcBjTiPVwoeE3aSq16INkf1zSTCY-JX2KqdwLjVOM8TFfXoOm3ylCVGYaBrg
You will not regret this.
Alex Sidorenko: Hi, everyone. It’s Alex from RISK-ACADEMY, and, today, I’ve got an amazing opportunity to speak to Grant Purdy, who is, one of the godfathers of Australian risk management. And luckily, Australian school of thought on risk management made it to the global scene, but I think it kind of evaporated since. It’s disintegrated, I should say. So let’s come back to the basics and learn what was the original idea. And, just before we started recording Grant mentioned that he is working on the book with a colleague at the moment. Something that, the risk management standard could have been and I will Grant talk a little bit more about that, because I think that’s fascinating.
Grant Purdy: This is my 42nd year in risk management. It shows as well. And when I originally started in the profession, there wasn’t anything such as risk management. We didn’t need to define all these words because our purpose was only to help people make decisions about, plant items, the siting of houses near to major hazard plants, where goods should be rooted along roads, where our roads should be decided, airlines should be decided. And ultimately, you know, how people make decisions. Taking uncertainty into account.
Grant Purdy: And it was very simple in those days. People would come to me with a problem. For example, I was part of the Health and Safety Executive Team, that joined with the French and the Belgian in terms of the Channel Tunnel. And we were asked, “Was it acceptable not to have ventilation in the tunnel?” Or, “How can we deal with fires in the tunnel?” Or, “Can we transport gas cylinders on caravans as they go through the tunnel?”
Alex Sidorenko: There’s are very operational questions.
Grant Purdy: Absolutely. Because nobody had ever built a tunnel about then before, underneath the ocean. So we had to go away and understand the things that could happen and the chance of them happening, and what we would put in place and test out those things that might modify the uncertainty we faced. That our journeys would be successful. And, and that’s what it was about. It’s only really in the last, I suppose, 15 to 20 years that suddenly it’s become more proceduralized and we’ve almost convinced ourself that it’s not about making decisions, it’s about doing risk management. I’m as guilty as anybody else because I’ve been playing that game for many years, but increasingly with disquiet. And, and concern that we’d lost sense of what we’re here to do achieve. And the ultimate test has been for me to say, as my friend who’s writing the book with me says, if risk management is the answer, what is the question? And you can’t find what the question is. Because how on Earth did we end up with these massive confections? These odd, strange subjects? These bits and pieces that somehow don’t fit together? And we can’t even agree amongst ourselves as a profession what risk is, let alone what risk management is. And if you go outside the profession, you start to know more people who discover they use those words totally interchangeably.
Alex Sidorenko:
Grant Purdy: Even within the ISO domain. You know, there’s, I think there’s about 40 different definitions of risk in different standards.
Alex Sidorenko: Right. Until recently there was more than 70 or something.
Grant Purdy: So even in an organization that prides itself standardization.
Alex Sidorenko: Yes (laughs). The irony is just ridiculous.
Grant Purdy: It is. And we’ve run standards like ISO 31,000, where we say, you know, the most important principle is one, that should be integrated and, two, there should be supported decision-making. But then the rest of the standard is about a set process. That is not possible to integrate and it in no way relates to decision-making.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly.
Grant Purdy: I mean, how bizarre? How on Earth can you make a decision with a risk register?
Alex Sidorenko: Yes (laughs).
Grant Purdy: I mean, how can you do that?
Alex Sidorenko: I just want everybody to really listen to those words and hear them again.
Grant Purdy: I mean, how can you use a risk appetite statement to make a decision?
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: People say it informs decision, but they don’t because in reality, once these documents are written, they’re filed away. Nobody ever consults them. Nobody ever thinks about them. There may be an aroma left in the room once he’s passed through, but that’s all he can say.
Alex Sidorenko: And fascinatingly, the kind of the answer for many risk practitioners to that is that well, we should teach people to better use risk appetite statements and better use risk registers. Which of course is silly.
Grant Purdy: So you say to the, you know, ultimate customer, “Actually, everything you’re doing is wrong. Your language is wrong, your way of thinking is wrong. You have to fit it with my way of thinking.” Even though I’m supposed to be here to serve you. You’ve got the master/servant relationship somehow around the wrong way.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly. The risk management is supposed to be the support function, yet it constantly demands information from business.
Grant Purdy: It imposes on them a language, which is totally alien to what most normal people do. So my colleague and I, we’re writing a very short, little book, it’s for deciders. It’s not for box tickers. It’s for people like you and me who have to make decisions every day. It’s as simple as that. And when we did that, we realized we can’t use words like appetite and framework and register. We have to … I said, well, we have to use normal language that normal humans would use, to the extent that we don’t have definitions. Because you don’t need definitions if you use normal language.
Alex Sidorenko: That’s right.
Grant Purdy: You’d have to define these special terms, and then incocate them. So thinking about these special terms. You don’t need that. So that’s good. So that’s where we are. Seems to me the game we should be involved in is helping people gain sufficient certainty about when they make a decision, they, that will contribute to the organization’s purpose.
Alex Sidorenko: That’s a very interesting way of putting it. I like the phrase that Hans, the ex-CRO of LEGO uses. He calls it informed risk taking. So executives are going to take some risks. It’s part of their life.
Grant Purdy: Because the word risk is so majoritive I don’t use it. And uncertainty is also getting tricky. But if you think about it, what we all try to do in life, is gain sufficient certainty so we can sleep at night. That our ultimate purpose, however we define that, is going to be achieved. You know whenever we make a decision that, you know, we need certainty that the outcomes that we want will actually occur and that those outcomes will contribute to our purpose. When that ink dries, we know what our purpose is. And you see that I’ve stopped using the word objectives, because again, that’s become so ambiguous. It can be local limited objectives. But ultimately, if you will for an organization, there is only one purpose. What are we here to do? So almost a highest level outcomes. What are we here to create and what’s our mission statement? And all, all decisions have to be framed in terms of that. You can’t decide if you’re, you know, the railway provider in this stake, that someday your purpose is to make better sandwiches on your trains. How does that, how does that fit with being a railway operator? That’s often what happens. So being very clear about your purpose is stage one. And secondly, very clear of the decision you face. And that leads you automatically on to the keyword, which is brought to the assumptions.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly.
Grant Purdy: Understanding your assumptions and the uncertainties inherent in those assumptions is the key to making good decisions. Ultimately, you just have to make a call. You have to say, I’m willing to go ahead with this decision and I feel sufficiently confident that the outcomes will be as I predict and they will support me in my purpose. If you’re not, you do something about it. You change the decision. You fix everything. So you can see, we don’t need words like control or risk or register.
Alex Sidorenko: Where does risk mitigation plan come in? Because you just change the decision and then it’s, it’s mitigated automatically.
Grant Purdy: You changed the decision. That’s as simple as that.
Alex Sidorenko: Yeah, exactly. It’s interesting you say that, that as soon as you understand what the decision is, you then kind of identify what are the assumptions underlying that decision. Interestingly, that some of the tools that I’ve been talking about for so long, focus tools, are focused on dealing with assumptions. So simulations, scenario analysis, decision trees…
Grant Purdy: Absolutely. Well that’s, that’s where we started. And, if you like, a control is an assumption because you assume since it’s there, it’s working. You know, everything can ultimate … So an assumption. You assume it’s gonna be sunny tomorrow. You assume it’s gonna, you know, competitors are not gonna scrap your market. You’re gonna assume that your staff gonna be happy and work more. They’re all assumptions. And each of them has a level of certainty. Taking those into account when you make a decision. In other words, the proper use of the word context. What is the context for the decision is crucial. What we know of course is that people don’t always think about the internal related assumptions. They think of the external, but then there’s another layer, which is the wider assumptions, the geo-political. The, the global.
Alex Sidorenko: Macro.
Grant Purdy: The macro. And, and we know, we see it all the time, that organizations just don’t think about those wider things. So, you know, certainly in our book we have those three levels of assumptions you have to consider. Internal, which you may feel very uncomfortable about, but the fact is you have to confront the fact that not everybody does everything the way they should, or it doesn’t quite happen the way you’d like it to happen.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly.
Grant Purdy: Similarly, external to organizations, knowing what the influences and pressures are there. And then thirdly, the, the why the context, because those really big macro changes could really screw up everything. So, I can’t give you the whole book, because it’s still being written, but I can give you on a basis that you cherish it but don’t show it to anybody else for the time being. I can give you chapter one.
Alex Sidorenko: I would read it today.
Grant Purdy: The root of the book, is, is this diagram here, which is how organizations and individuals make decisions. That have clarity of purpose. And then when an opportunity comes along, and I’m using the opportunity in its proper meaning here, not just some sort of positive risk. Whatever that means.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs). Yeah, whatever that means.
Grant Purdy: An opportunity is just what it is. It’s a, it’s a situation that you could benefit from. If you did the right thing. So an opportunity comes along from your purpose, you have to make a decision and then implement it. And that leads hopefuly to outcome you expect. So there were two things that I haven’t mentioned here. One is that within the decision-making box, you just think of options, tentative decisions. We could do this, we could do that.
Alex Sidorenko: Alternatives.
Grant Purdy: And if we don’t, we must do that. We must always consider one of them could be doing nothing. And then we think about the assumptions associated with each one of those options, and possibly revise those in new light of information. And maybe adjust the decision accordingly.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly.
Grant Purdy: So that what we go ahead with is something which we feel sufficiently confident will lead to outcomes which are certain, which will support our purpose.
Alex Sidorenko: It’s, it’s almost like a decision adjusted for uncertainty.
Grant Purdy: Spot on. But there’s another element. Of course, that’s all right with new decisions. What about all the ones we make in the past? That we didn’t write down or we’ve forgotten. Because a lot of the way we think is very much influenced by past decisions. So we have to monitor for change. There has to be a regime of monitoring for changes in assumptions of prior decisions. We do that really badly. Incidentally, I was horrified to see the new ISO 31,000 has excluded in monitoring the review of really context type issues of assumptions. Now it only monitors and reviews the process itself, which is sort of self-defeating really. And the fundamental concept of review is that you keep an eye out for change. Change which will affect the decisions you’ve made prior. Now that does imply you know what those decisions are. So one of the things that we do in the book, is we give a methodology. Very simply methodology for actually tracking down prior decisions.
Alex Sidorenko: Yep, Which is already a fascinating fascinating point because if you take an average risk professional in a modern day non-financial company, how aware, how close are they to the decision making process? Well, usually not very.
Grant Purdy: No. Invariably. They’re not involved at all. And, and as I said that earlier, the artifacts in risk management process are not used by normal humans. Even simple humans couldn’t use a risk register to make a decision.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: I mean, how on Earth you got multiple columns of unintelligible clap-track with numbers and colors. Can you make a decision with that?
Alex Sidorenko: No.
Grant Purdy: And somebody at the end, you know, says, what does this mean? You can’t, you know?
Alex Sidorenko: I’ve I’ve come across something that just completely blows my mind. I mean, the Russian businesses really, take somethings literally. And I have seen two large corporations that have risk registers with 50 and 60 columns.
Grant Purdy: I have, I’ve been working for clients that had, in one case, it was 73 columns. The risk managers sole role was to complete this spreadsheet, continually we were updating it but it was never used for any other purpose other than, well, we’ve got a risk register.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs). Which probably took a year.
Grant Purdy: I’ll let you into a little secret. I did find a really good use for risk registers a few years back. My children when they were younger, had guinea pigs and rabbits. And I discovered that if you shred them, they make very good bedding for small furry animals.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: Moreover, once they’ve used it for bedding, and I won’t go into too many details over lunch, but the resulting material is really good in a compost heap. You can acquire good vegetables from it. So I’ve actually, you know, I’ve … Risk registers do have value, but only as bedding for animals. And if you think about it, if we’re still talking risk, risk is corrected because there’s a source of uncertainty and we’re faced with a decisions. So we can only possibly do a register, which is really just the minutes of the meeting. That’s all it is, should be just a record of a conversation about the decision we’re facing now. So how would that have relevance for future decisions? Not at all. So how can you possibly have a risk register that you created last year, having any relevance for what you’re doing this year?
Alex Sidorenko: But the key reason for that, is because this register was never created to a specific business situation.
Grant Purdy: No, they’re not.
Alex Sidorenko: They’re just, they’re just generic, catch-all, it’s like risk connected to broad objective of an organization in life in general.
Grant Purdy: One of the root problems, of course, is when you look at them, they don’t actually contain descriptions of risk. It, that’s if we knew what a risk was. Often they’re just winges or they’re just descriptions of sources of uncertainty that organisation faces. So, at the end of the day, you can do as much as you like in volition in your risk register, but you know, apart from bedding for small furry animals, I don’t really see any benefit. I know the history of this thing. I was there. Under the UK Factories Act in 1961 and proceeding acts, people have to have a general register. Which amongst other things, had to be lists of lifting tackle and things that had to be tested and how often the walls of the factory were painted, that sort of thing. Then we thought we’d be clever and in addition to having sort of lift and tackle and power plants and things like that, we’d get people to a list of hazards, you know? Things that could potentially hurt someone in the workplace. So far so good, you know? So far so good. But then we got really cute in part, and in, in the European community in the late 70s, early 80s. We thought why can’t we have this sort of hazards? Why can’t we grow and have some risks? And that’s when it started falling apart, and that’s where the risk register, it used to be a general register, then it was general register of hazards, and that’s when it came about. When I first did risk assessment, risk analysis, Spreadsheets didn’t exist. I was using a ledger. And I used to use columns in that ledger because I’d multiply numbers across the page and I’d lose hour five would go and how many people would be affected, and wind and weather? You, you’d use it. To work out the arithmetic across the page. And I think when we started using Spreadsheets, certainly I was using Spreadsheets very similar, you know? I was using them as a calculation tool. But then I think we got crazy, because we all liked Spreadsheets because we can format them and put numbers in. Actually, they’re bloody awful to record things in. I mean, when I do, when I have had to do sort of Spreadsheets, I’m not sure I would use Word. So I don’t have a limit of 50 words or 50 characters or this incredibly narrow column. I can’t squeeze everything in.
Alex Sidorenko: So if you are gonna talk about source or uncertainty and things that might happen that could affect what we’re trying to achieve, then why don’t we just use, you know, a Word document and, and, you know, just give a paragraph or two so that normal humans can understand the scenarios we’re talking about?
Alex Sidorenko: It’s, no, that’s, that’s amazing. And here we have a whole generation of risk managers who think, you know, in documents and risk register, in Excel is top of the world best practice. But we have also generation of vendors now coming and saying, “Don’t record your risk registers in Excel. Record it in the Cloud.” And that will make everything better.
Grant Purdy: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: Well, you know, it’s the blind leading the blind, as far as I am concerned. I had a conversation yesterday with a lady who said “When you did this in the past, you’d come up with six levels of consequence criteria. I thought it had to be a five by five matrix?”
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: And I’ve consulted all my colleagues in government in New South Wales, and they’ve all agreed it has to be a five by five matrix. And I said, “Well, no. We don’t even have to have a matrix at all,” you know? It’s just a device for combining consequence and likelihoods. And, and, you know, it surely is an attribute of the organization and the way we make decisions is to how many levels we want to grade these things. And if you want to use some sort of, system that, that had levels in it. We might not box that. In 1995 when we wrote the first Australian/New Zealand standard. We thought we were being really helpful by cutting in an appendix of the standard for indicative purposes only, a five by five matrix. It was the worst decision we ever, ever made. It wasn’t intended to work, it was purely an illustration. It was just sort of this is what a matrix looks. And it wasn’t the rating system, it was just a, a heap numbers, you would call it now, as a way of pictorially representing risk in terms of consequence and liability. But of course, you know it then got transmogrified and turned into, well it’s almost a religion now. And as evidence by this conversation I had yesterday, “It has to be five by five.” Oh, because everybody uses five by five.
Alex Sidorenko: Just to play with human people’s brains, whatever I do … I do a lot of training for the risk managers in Russia, and just to play with them. My first question usually is, what’s, what’s, what’s better, three by three risk matrix or five by five? And 90% of them start seriously debating which one is better. And, and it, are you all insane? It makes no difference, no rubbish.
Grant Purdy: Absolutely. You know, when I’ve, when I’ve had to compromise recently and go back to a risk register, Ihave to admit now, that I no longer discuss consequences and liabilities in, in meetings. I, I’ve been playing a trick on some of my clients for a while now, in that I’ve actually been doing the rating, because they want ratings. I actually do them myself inside the workshop. And you know, not one of the clients has come back and disagreed with anything I’ve ever done. because I don’t want to dilute the quality of the conversation that I have, right, about what are we trying to achieve here? What are the uncertainties? What are the scenarios we could think about what could occur and it could lead to that? And would that be acceptable? So that’s the sort of conversation I want to happen, and that’s what we have. At the end of it, they feel they’re confident to go ahead or they feel they need to make some changes in the decision. A different decision. To lead to a different outcome, which were more, would be more in line with their purpose.
Alex Sidorenko: I mean, I would never do that, wink wink. I actually do exactly the same from time to time.
Grant Purdy: No, and all that means at the end of the day, if they say, “Can you do a risk register?” “Of course.” But more importantly to the conversation we had. And risk registers are only, if you like as I said before, the minutes of the meeting. It’s just a stepping stone. What’s ironic, is that many organizations don’t store any of the pre-conditions for the risk assessments. They don’t store anything about the assumptions. They don’t even record the decision they were facing. They never agreed what the purpose was of the conversation is. They just reserve the risk register. A lot of them don’t even reserve the risk treatment plan that follows framework because they don’t have any actions. Somehow it’s almost as though this has some sort of magical significance once you create a risk register. I imagine them sort of waving it in the air and suddenly the world is a better place because you have this piece of paper from the risk register. It, it is bizarre how we’ve got to this state.
Alex Sidorenko: What I found fascinating is that people doing the risk registers and having all the discussions, the interviews, the workshop upfront, for the sake of having an updated risk register. Not, not as an instrument or as a tool to actually make a better decision, whatever that decision may be.
Grant Purdy: So we have a meeting, which we call a risk review. We do it once a year. And if you’ve got a really good excuse, you’re trying to find something else to do that day because everybody hates it. We all, they’re always running out of time, so we don’t actually get through them all. Invariably, they’re just about, you know, tweaking things here and there, but it’s absolutely irrelevant. None of it relates to decisions that people are taking now. Just a list of things we generated several years ago that we just embellish and tweak each year.
Alex Sidorenko: I call it stirring the risk register pot.
Grant Purdy: I’ve got Norman Marcs now, called in risk listing, you know, he’s got that from me and a few other people as well. Risk listing. It’s fruitless activity. When, you know, not only do you waste people’s time, but you do, you take up time that could be more useful to put into some other purpose. And you mislead your audience. People think this is what risk management’s about.
Alex Sidorenko: And I mean, as, as a kind of practicing risk management, the biggest challenge I always have, is a new managing director or a new CFO comes in and they all come in with the same thing. “We’ve done risk management at my old company, it was rubbish. I fired the risk manager.” “So what are you gonna propose differently?”
Grant Purdy: I do a lot of work with boards and, and they’re not better. They, they all say, “Oh. We want a risk registers as our report.” I say, “Okay. What are you gonna do with it?” “We look at it.”
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: “Yes. What is this going to do to you?” “Well, we need to know if the organization is exposed to unacceptable levels of risk.” It ain’t gonna do that. I encourage my clients to stop having risk meetings, you know? To even, not even have a risk committee. What they should do at a board level is ask intelligence questions of managers when decisions are made.
Alex Sidorenko: That’s before the decision is made. Exactly.
Grant Purdy: How, how are you certain about that level of certainty? What are you going to do to ensure that the outcomes are as you predicted? What are some of the scenarios? And after an event has occurred, what lessons have you learned? One of the things we’ve been doing recently is, is not just thinking about decisions, but think about disruptions. We realize that disruptions are inevitable, continuous, and often they’re fortuitous. Not just disadvantageous. Um, and often we create disruptions deliberately to make change in the organization. So the words change and disruptions become synonymous. So the, the after state is often much more preferable to the before state. Or can be. And the more you think about that, you realize there’s this whole edifice called business continuity management. While it’s flashy cousin called resilience. Which is based on absolutely false premise, which is we want to return things back to where they were before. Why would we want to do that? Why would you want to make the same mistake again for your sake? You want to move on. You know? You want to leverage the opportunity that’s been provided by the disruption and actually change things. At least not to go back to where you were before. Why do you want continuity? Nothing else is continuous, it has to be growth. That’s how we progresses. It spots opportunities and it moves forward. So why are you gonna deal with, you know [bends 00:28:25] but disruptive any differently? Why, why treat them as something you can get back to?
Alex Sidorenko: So true.
Grant Purdy: Crazy.
Alex Sidorenko: I think it’s one of the messages that’s coming out on the latest Taleb’s book saying that we learn from whatever changes are. That’s what makes organizations stronger. Just like it makes humans stronger.
Grant Purdy: I’ve always believed that, that, you know, 50% of risk management is about hindsight rather than foresight. In fact, the more you think about it, you realize that risk management so doesn’t help us look at the future at all. It’s all based on hindsight because the way we go through the process of doing it is always based on people’s experience and their knowledge. We never challenge them and say, “Is it possible? What would happen if this would occur?” “Oh, never have to move forward.” I said, “Well, that’s a normal response.” So, you know, no more risk management, true, is we don’t really based on things that will go wrong. The negative. And it’s based on looking backward of things in the past. Now, obviously, there’s benefits from learning lessons as we go through, but that, you know, really what we want to know is what a decision is, how certain are the outcomes and will they support our purpose? And, and often we can’t do that just by dredging up the past. Certainly if it means looking at last year’s risk register. God knows how you’re gonna make a decision. But it’s, it seemed to me so simple now. It’s crazy that we’ve got ourselves into this, this mire of language, of confections, and we’re being conned every day. And the societies that support the profession are the worst culprits here.
Alex Sidorenko: Oh. (laughs). Don’t even get me started on that. But that being said, it’s kind of weird. I mean, vendors are pushing silly ideas big time, but not like people are listening to them. Consultants and others are pushing this idea of implementing risk management and risk appetite statements. And that, that, that of course is silly, but again, they, they influence is very limited. And then, risk management society is an association’s and other kind of think groups, they kind of push their own agenda because they, they try to convince us that risk management is a profusion. When of it’s, I think, just a decision making tool. One of many.
Grant Purdy: Absolutely. How can you have a profession when we can’t even agree what the basic terms mean?
Alex Sidorenko: Yeah, exactly (laughs). And yet, all of those kind of influences, they’re not, none of them are individually that powerful. I mean, nobody cares what Russian Risk Management Association has to say. Any yet, risk managers themselves, make up their minds and just continue doing such nonsense.
Grant Purdy: It’s sad, it’s it?
Alex Sidorenko: It is, I find it bizarre.
Grant Purdy: It’s, I feel like I’m doing the Emperor’s New Clothes, but I shouldn’t need to do that. I mean, somebody should be shaking people and saying, “Hey, wake up.” There’s this conspiracy out there, you know, that one leads to the other. So, risk managers are trained on courses where they’ve indoctrinated this crap, and then, you know, society’s charged the money to go on these courses, and then to charge them money to have the qualifications behind their names. Associate of this and member of that. And then you’ve got the software people who don’t know really what any of it is about, but they’re just gonna sell software. So they’ll go with anybody. Then of course you’ve got the compliance people who say, “Well, I don’t believe it as I can see it”. And, and even the auditors, God bless them, you know? I still find auditors out there that say, “We limit risk,” you know what I’m saying? How on Earth can you audit risk, dear friend? Awarded some you believe is control, you might check this thing in place is modified risk, but you can’t audit a risk. You know? It’s just there, and risk is a risk. You can’t audit it. And who are you to, you know, identify new risks if you weren’t part of the decision making team in the first place? And you’re not even present when the decisions are taking place. So the best you can do is be in this sort of monitoring environment, but at the end of the day, is it better to have third parties doing monitoring for you or would you make it part of someone’s job? If you know the key assumptions that supported the decisions made, surely you should be keeping eye to see if those assumptions still remain valid. And if not, revisiting your decision.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly.
Grant Purdy: Because otherwise you’re gonna be as many organizations are. Stuck with decisions, which are 10 years out of date. This whole raft of policies that organizations have they never get ‘round to reviewing. They’re all decisions. Neat little … And they just, they just block up thinking. They slow organizations down. They clog ’em up.
Alex Sidorenko: But apparently, you can’t really monitor assumptions unless you come out with a KRIs. (laughing).
Grant Purdy: We, we had a, some friends and I had a little exercise going a few years ago where we, we’d come up with a new compound word. And add risk to lots of things. And I think I won that exercise. I’d come up with risk viscosity. And about that time, somebody came up with risk clock speed. Do you remember that?
Alex Sidorenko: Yep, I do remember.
Grant Purdy: Risk velocity.
Alex Sidorenko: Yeah, I think it was EY.
Grant Purdy: And then we got risk governance. The other thing of course we loved, is these three letter acronyms, you know? And, and, and really it’s ever year we invent another one so we can sell them the same box we did last year except it’s got a different wrapping on it. So we got ERM, the SRM, the ORM, IRM. The latest that, of course, came out in ISO9001 is RBT, Risk-Based Thinking. Which, the people who wrote the revision of 9000 didn’t know what it meant either. That doesn’t stop many of the people on the committee making a lot of money now running courses on risk-based thinking.
Alex Sidorenko: Of all the acronyms, I would have to confess that that one is closer to my thinking because it has decision.
Grant Purdy: It has thinking, I agree, but the people who wrote it had no idea what it meant. What I really wanted to do, because they originally said they wanted to distinguish from the 31000 risk management, they wanted to call it formal risk management. Formal, they didn’t want to say ad hoc, because that sounded like it wasn’t as good. So they, oh, risk-based thinkers. They wanted a sort of lesser form of risk management. It doesn’t have that formality. In other words, you don’t have to create a risk register. Thank God. But in fact, if, if they really thought it out, risk-based thinking, which is really about making decisions to gain greater certainty about outcomes, it actually what it’s about. But, look, we’re talking about the quality of fraternity here, you know?
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs). Don’t touch them.
Grant Purdy: Well, they have their own problems.
Alex Sidorenko: There, are too many of them.
Grant Purdy: There are. So look at, one of the attributes of getting older is you like things simpler. You know, you like simpler food, you like simpler pleasures in life. Like a nice wine or that’s sort of thing. And, and it’s occurred to me that I can help organizations make better decisions without using any of this crap. Without any of these confections. You can just talk to people normal and say, you know, as I’ve said here. What, what, what is your purpose? What is the opportunity? You at least define those because often people make a decision without having no clarity as to how it fits with the organization’s purpose. And do not define the opportunity clear enough so that they can convince others it really is an opportunity. Then ask them to at least think of some options, alternative decisions, to look at the assumptions against each one of those and come to a judgment on whether one of those decisions is the preferred one, or whether some other decision, some modified decision is the one they should go ahead with.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly.
Grant Purdy: Then, at the same time, put in a regime of monetary. So that they keep an eye on those critical assumptions to make sure they remain valid. And if they don’t, have a mechanism to revisit that decision. And it seems to me that that, that’s what process is, first of all, it’s natural, it’s what humans do without thinking ,really. But I’m not saying we do all those things well. But we do an essence of those all the time.
Alex Sidorenko: True.
Grant Purdy: But if we do more of that, we can get rid of all the risk registers and all the rest of the clunk. And actually truly create value. And there isn’t need to think about integration, which often means trying to force something ugly and forcing into some existing system, because this is the way that people manage. There’s no need for integration, because this is the way we do it anyway.
Alex Sidorenko: Yep, And the irony, the biggest irony for me, is that if risk managers who are truly honest with themselves and actually looked at how decisions are being made right now-
Grant Purdy: They would commit suicide, wouldn’t they?
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs). That.
Grant Purdy: (laughs).
Alex Sidorenko: But they would also discover, is that finance have been using scenario analysis and sensativity analysis for ages.
Grant Purdy: Absolutely.
Alex Sidorenko: They, they look at alternatives all the time.
Grant Purdy: Well that’s, that’s how we got into this game. Because when I first started doing this thing called risk management, I didn’t call it risk management. I was doing scenario analysis, I was just coming up with some what-if statements. I was testing things out. And, you know, doing some calculations. I didn’t call, didn’t give it a name. We just thought about things that might happen and how good or bad could it be, and what’s its chance in happening, and a lot of that was done about assumptions. When you found assumptions valid, could it mean need to know?
Alex Sidorenko: I remember at one of the last conferences in Europe, I met a risk manager of quite a big oil and gas company. And he was explaining how he uses heat maps to do business unit risk profiles, which of course is silly. You know, but then I asked, you do realize that your geo research team uses Monte-Carlo simulation with like thousands and thousands of scenarios to make better decisions? And here you are coming to them with this kindergarten stuff, trying to suggest that they need help to better manage their risk.
Grant Purdy: Oh, I think we’re starting to recognize that most of the decisions remain the important ones, are in the area of complexity. And, and using a two dimensional matrix to deal with complexities, it’s, it’s like trying to fly paper plane to the moon. It can’t work out. If, it’s just not gonna take off. It’s, you know, the way we have to approach things such as complex decision making within the project environment, requires a totally different skill set. A different paradigm entirely. And, and, things aren’t two-dimensional matrices and risk registers, they’re absolutely relevant. And we’re not talking about a small number. Most of the decision you have to make, involve an element of complexity. In other words, there are no rules to follow, nothing we can understand there. We’ve never been there before.
Alex Sidorenko: Which is, another thing that I found fascinating, is that when you use the traditional risk tools, the best you can come up with is a conversation about risks. So you can say I really should be doing this-
Grant Purdy: Absolutely.
Grant Purdy: Another conversation about the decision making. No, no, no. It becomes self-perpetuating. So that risk people talking and risk, and you have managers who have no training, of course, to talk about risk, but they don’t see any relevance for it. Now, I mean, if this is ever published in a shape or form, we’re gonna have people sending me rude letters and, and making wax dolls of me with pins shoved in and things like that. I mean, there’s enormous industry out there that breeds off this stuff. But it doesn’t create any value except for the people in the industry.
Alex Sidorenko: Exactly.
Grant Purdy: And they’re not … And I base that on, you know, when you actually go and talk to directors or boards and you talk to managers and it’s shocking. They don’t see any relevance of this stuff. No, they can’t. I mean, obviously you just can’t use this stuff to make decisions. It’s meaningless. All you can do is, as you say, is make decisions about risks. You can’t make decisions per se. And, and particularly if you’re using some sort of, ordinal system that just says, high, medium, low.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: All that. Now we see the relative system and for what? What can we possibly do to make decisions of substance in an organization that propel you towards your purpose when you’re using a relative ranking system? Which is really just sorting things into heaps, that’s what it is. Witchcraft. It’s almost a religion now. There are, you know, certain symbols that are hollowed and people bow before them.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: They, they, the incantations that have to be answered. That as high priests you have to be, to mourn for them, you know?
Alex Sidorenko: Well I’m definitely the witch hunter. I’ve destroyed so many common risk concepts.
Grant Purdy: Yeah, so am I. I’m absolutely blaspheme.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: I’m, I’m, the hands of the devil as far as these people are concerned. And, you know, I poke my head up on occasion. Norman, my good friend Norman, runs a blog. I felt lazy one day and I actually responded to some of these things and I had a debate. But I’m, invariably I’m put out of a debate just because it inevitably ends in the same point, which is some do say, I accept what you say but my regulator insists on doing this, or what you’ve said is not what I’ve been taught at universities, or I wouldn’t be allowed to do this in my organization because they expect to see this. And there’s little I can say there, other than if you’re not capable of thinking about this and you’re, you suffer quite frankly, the problem with ethics but you don’t actually believe any of this other than from some quasi-religious perspective. There’s nothing more I can do to help you if you won’t think yourself properly. You know, from first principles. You actually understand what this really means. I realize I’ve wasted another few hours when I could have been going, growing vegetables or helping somebody with real problems. So that’s that’s my perspective, which is, and, and, you know, I’ve been as guilty as anybody else. I’ve played this game and made money out of it for quite a few years. But increasingly, maybe the last seven or eight years I suppose, with a lot more concern, disquiet. Maybe 10 years, really. 10 … I was going through the motions but not really producing any true value. I was convincing myself and others, that somehow this this methodology which has no validity really at all, is somehow creating mystical value.
Alex Sidorenko: I’ll call this recording the, the confessions of a risk management.
Grant Purdy: I’ve never actually called myself, I’ve never actually had title risk manager. For one thing, I’ve always, even in the days when I was supporting the risk framework, I didn’t really want to be the risk manager. I’ve always been manager of risk management or something like that. Which is slightly less, more acceptable, but I don’t actually know what risk management is though. I don’t know what it is, even though I, you know, I’ve been doing it for 42 years. I don’t really know what those two words mean, and I don’t think many people do.
Alex Sidorenko: The, the best, answer to that question I ever got was, I picked up a book on decision making and decision quality. And I’ve read through the whole methodology on making decisions and eight out of nine chapters, chapter four was validating assumptions and testing alternatives. And that’s where everything about risk management fits.
Grant Purdy: That, that’s exactly what our book’s about. It’s very simple. It’s written not for risky people. You know. It’s really for deciders. That’s why it’s about deciders. For deciders. I mean, it’s just to help people make better decisions by understanding what certain was. How does certain come into the best possible decision? Albeit, there’s always gonna be uncertainty, you just do the best you can. And our feeling is that people could do a little bit more and end up with better decisions just by being, just getting you know, simple, active, writing down your assumptions. And often, you know, organizations that have to make decisions based on mergers and acquisitions, never write down an assumptions.
Alex Sidorenko: That’s very true.
Grant Purdy: Now, a number of organizations I find, don’t have a credible business plan. And, and the business plan they have, doesn’t give any note to the assumptions that underlie it in terms of market share changing direction of competitors’ activities and what customers need.
Alex Sidorenko: Well here is a quick reality check. How many risk managers, when they’re buying a new apartment or moving to work in a different country, how many of them, you know, write out their assumptions? And think about it?
Grant Purdy: No, nobody. They certain don’t write out a risk register, I can tell you that.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs).
Grant Purdy: Do you use a risk register when you move house? Gotcha.
Alex Sidorenko: (laughs). That’s spot on. Now, thank you so much, Grant. I found this extremely valuable. It’s a pleasure.
Grant Purdy: Well it’s, it’s simple stuff, you know? It’s simple stuff. There’s nothing clever about it.
Alex Sidorenko: It takes years, I think, to get to that. I mean, for me, for me it was an honest conversation with a CEO who I’ve presenting, I was brought into fix state audit. I brought it to general, findings. And, and I’ve created a risk management ERM framework. I had everything. Risk appetite statements risk committee, mitigation plans, risk heat maps, frameworks, policies, everything. Within a couple of months I had it all. And you know? The CEO said it makes no impact on my work. What’s the point? It, it’s, like, is it I’m okay with this, it’s colorful, it’s beautiful, but it’s useless to me.
Grant Purdy: Sure.
Alex Sidorenko: And he goes, “You have six months to figure something out”. “To do something that is actually meaningful for us, the board members, on making decisions.”
Grant Purdy: Well, I’m embarrassed but this stage in my life and career really has dawned on me that it’s actually very, very simple. And actually, I’ve gone back to the very beginning. It’s what I used to do years and years and years ago, which is I don’t have to worry about definitions. Just make better decisions by exploring scenarios, looking at certain uncertainties. It’s as simple as that. And particularly the assumptions.
Alex Sidorenko: I remember, the meeting in Brazil, the ISO TC 262 Committee, where there was a number of sub-groups. Then one of the sub-groups, the first one, was assigned the terms and definitions. They were like raising hands, who’s going to go into which group. And I’m like, that’s a pretty irrelevant group. Who cares what’s the definitions are? If you’re overall idea is understood, I mean, it doesn’t really matter. And most of the people signed up for that group, and I though that’s strange.
Grant Purdy: Because the argument goes on these minutiae definitions. I mean, as far as I can see, if you have to define a term, it’s, it’s an admission of defeat. It means normal humans won’t understand the word that you’re putting in there. If you have to define it, that means you are somehow converting or narrowing the meaning from original. One of the things I sometimes do some provocatively when I meet people in the risk management profession, is say, just explain what you do but don’t use the word risk.
Alex Sidorenko: I’ve just played it in my mind. I think I would be able to.
Grant Purdy: But a lot of people can’t.
Alex Sidorenko: Impossible without using that word. And even then, they can’t define it. Because none of us define it. The risk of something happening, the risk of it happens, that’s risky, I’m taking a risk, I’m exposing myself to risk, I’m risking that. I mean, we’ve got so many different ways of using the R word. And, and, none of them are consistent.
Alex Sidorenko: The, the best one I love was residual risk.
Grant Purdy: Well the one I particularly hate is inherent risk. Absolutely gibberish.
Alex Sidorenko: Oh no, every single year there’s someone in the LinkedIn community who goes, “So what is the difference between inherent and residual again? And how do we actually use it?” And, and, without a fail, that silly question gets the most responses and engagement from the community.
Grant Purdy: Yeah, yeah, that’s … Because, invariably, it’s because, well we have to do it. Again, the person I was talking to yesterday said, you don’t have inherent risk in system design, but we’ve got to have inherent risk. And how do we know if our controls need it?”
Alex Sidorenko: Yes. Oh my God.
Grant Purdy: Oh, for God’s sake. You know? Junk.
Alex Sidorenko: Junk. Exactly. I, I think that’s where we’ll wrap up.
Grant Purdy: All right.
Alex Sidorenko: If you, if you continue doing that, you might as well jump (laughs). Thanks, Grant.
Grant Purdy: Cheers.
For more videos like that subscribe to the official RISK-ACADEMY channel https://goo.gl/ksCybT | https://medium.com/@riskacademy/the-most-amazing-risk-management-interview-ever-10182e18e2c | ['Alex Sidorenko'] | 2019-01-02 22:32:19.704000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Grant Purdy', 'Risk', 'Alex Sidorenko', 'Podcast'] |
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