title
stringlengths 1
200
⌀ | text
stringlengths 10
100k
| url
stringlengths 32
885
| authors
stringlengths 2
392
| timestamp
stringlengths 19
32
⌀ | tags
stringlengths 6
263
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Privately Sharing Power BI Reports on SharePoint | A great way to do this would be to append your report to a SharePoint modern page so that other relevant data (documents, links, and even a discussion board) is readily available to enhance your work.
PowerBI reports can now be securely embedded within SharePoint modern pages.
Performing the Embed
The embed is pretty straight forward.
First, you have to generate the link to the report using the “Embed to SharePoint Online” option.
Then, go to your SharePoint page, add the Power BI web part, and paste the link in the web part’s properties. For those unfamiliar with this process, great supporting information can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-embed-report-spo
The only potential pain point is when it comes down to actually sharing the page and report with other users within your organization.
Requirements for Sharing Privately
The keyword here is privately. The ability to publicly share your reports and data is always possible for Power BI free and Pro users without limits or restrictions. However, at some point you will likely need to share information that must remain within your organization or that is restricted to a subset of users, and in that case you will be limited to the two options below.
Option 1 (Best for Very Small Organizations)
Upgrade every user within your organization to Power BI Pro. The obvious downside here is that you may end up overpaying for certain users to just “read” data. In fact, not only do you need a Power BI Pro account to publish a report/dataset, but you would also need a Pro license to read private reports. Yes, you read that right: without a Pro license, accessing a private Power BI report embedded (or not) into SharePoint will result in an error message.
At $10 USD/license/user, this option only really makes sense if you have some business critical or oriented needed for BI and
Option 2 (Large Businesses)
Use Power BI Premium! As described by the Power BI team, Power BI Premium can “enable anyone — whether they’re inside or outside your organization — to view all Power BI content including paginated and interactive reports without purchasing individual licenses.” Sounds good, right? Well, the premium license is $4,995 USD/month to support roughly 2,000 users of varying usage. Additionally, a couple of Pro licenses will likely be needed to publish the report (for the “data” or “analytics” team of your organization). While the pricing does sound pretty steep, when you do the math for a per-user basis, your organization can gain access to Power BI reports for $3–$5/user/month.
You can use this calculator tool to get an estimate of the monthly bill: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/calculator/
What About Medium-Sized Businesses?
Well, this is a bit of a grey area. There is no middle ground, unfortunately, and you’ll end up having to choose between the options I described above. There are some alternatives, but they are less than ideal:
Alternative 1 — Instead of providing the display of the report, you can share the .pbix file for users to open with the Power BI desktop. Again, not ideal, but this can be a solution if you have a tight budget.
— Instead of providing the display of the report, you can share the .pbix file for users to open with the Power BI desktop. Again, not ideal, but this can be a solution if you have a tight budget. Alternative 2 — Set your data and reports to have anonymous labels and unidentifiable information so that publishing your report publicly does not reveal any private information about your company/users/sales, etc. You can then embed the report into your SharePoint pages and create the labels in the page (instead of in the Power BI reports). This trick will suffice if you only have a few reports out there.
I have a third alternative option if neither of the above work for you. If you are interested, feel free to email me and I will share the information. | https://medium.com/niftit-sharepoint-blog/privately-sharing-power-bi-reports-on-sharepoint-468f5c3465cf | ['Khoa Quach'] | 2019-05-09 06:02:37.725000+00:00 | ['Tutorial', 'Microsoft', 'Report', 'Sharepoint', 'Power Bi'] |
My pleasure. | I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense only — silence, exile, and cunning. | https://medium.com/@johnemarksesq/my-pleasure-6c46baf1d05e | ['John Edward Marks', 'Jem'] | 2020-12-16 12:15:24.186000+00:00 | ['Thanks', 'Kindness'] |
How to create a Choropleth Map Plot in Python with Geoviews | To understand what we are looking at, the higher the number, the higher a country scores in terms of freedom. As you can see there is a score in each category which combined lead to the overall score . Thus, there is no need to get into the details of each category and so we will just use the overall score in this tutorial.
Let’s refer to that dataframe as ef_df from now on.
The dataframe is almost perfect. I will just add two lines of code for better understanding and to fix an issue with some strings I found out.
ef_df = ef_df.rename(columns={'name':'country'})
ef_df['country'] = ef_df['country'].apply(lambda x: x.strip())
Now we are ready to move on to the next element required in order to create a choropleth map plot. That is a is a shapefile (.shp) that contains the boundaries (the shapes actually) of the countries we are interested in.
I don’t really know if there are better shapefiles from the one I will use, but you are free to search and find them on the web. The one I will use can be download from the NaturalEarthData website.
We can read the shapefile using Geopandas and we will name that dataframe shapes_df .
shapes_df = gpd.read_file('C:/.../your_directory/ne_50m_admin_0_countries.shp', driver='ESRI Shapefile')
From shapes_df we need only 3 columns: ADMIN , TYPE , geometry .
The geometry column is of utmost importance as it contains the geoinformation, i.e. the country shapes. Therefore we will run the following line.
shapes_df = shapes_df[['ADMIN', 'TYPE', 'geometry']]
Now the shapes_df will look like this.
As I said, I don’t know if there is a better shapefile available on the web, but in this one, we will also have to run the following line to correct some country names in order to match the country names on the ef_df dataframe.
shapes_df = shapes_df.replace({'Czechia': 'Czech Republic',
'Republic of Serbia':'Serbia'})
Now we can finally merge these two dataframes into one. From the ef_df we will keep only the country , index year , and overall score columns and only for the the index year = 2019.
merged_df = gpd.GeoDataFrame(\
pd.merge(\
ef_df[ef_df['index year']==2019][['country','index
year', 'overall score']], shapes_df,
left_on='country', right_on='ADMIN'))
The merged_df will look like this.
Before we proceed, please make sure that the geometry data types are either Polygons or Multipolygons by running something like that.
merged_df['geometry'].geom_type.value_counts()
Just to make sure
Now, we are ready to plot our choropleth map using the geoviews.Polygons method. First, let’s assign to poly the gv.Polygons and to carto the basemap.
polys = gv.Polygons(merged_df, vdims=['country', 'overall score']).\
opts(color='overall score', cmap='reds_r', colorbar=True,\
width=1000, height=600, tools=['hover', 'tap'], alpha=0.7,\
hover_line_color='black',line_color='black',\
hover_fill_color=None, hover_fill_alpha=0.5,\
xaxis=None,yaxis=None) carto = gvts.CartoDark.opts(alpha=0.6)
Now if we run them together like:
polys * carto
we get our choropleth map:
We can clearly see which countries are considered to be more free in economic terms (light colors) and which ones are not (darker colors).
Bonus: Using Geoviews we can combine even more plots into one.
To show you that, I will use a dataset that contains the country capitals and their respective geo-locations, i.e. latitude and longitude. I found that dataset here. I will refer to that as capitals_df.
After some cleaning and merging, we get to that looking like this.
Now, we can use the gv.Points method we saw on the previous post and assign it to points.
points = gv.Points(capitals_df, ['longitude', 'latitude'],\
['capital']).opts(
opts.Points(width=1000, height=600, alpha=0.8,\
tools='hover'],\
xaxis=None, yaxis=None, color='white',\
size=7))
In the end, we will run the following command.
polys * carto * points
and we will get the combined plot.
That’s it for today. Hope you found it useful. Till next time! | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-visualize-data-on-top-of-a-map-in-python-using-the-geoviews-library-part-2-e61a48ee6c3d | ['Christos Zeglis'] | 2020-01-03 14:29:52.411000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Education', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization', 'Interactive Maps'] |
Node.js Internals: Event loop in action | In this part, we will go through some Node.js code snippets to see how the event loop behaves and how it affects code execution. But first, let’s recap how the event loop actually works by using a diagram from this talk by Bert Belder.
How the event loop works: Event loop phases. Reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1ENiZwmJ_J2a09DUmZROV9oSGc/view
How the event loop works: JS microtasks queues. Reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1ENiZwmJ_J2a09DUmZROV9oSGc/view
Timers
Let’s start with a simple example: calling setTimeout.
This code will print “Start” on the console. Then it will call the setTimeout function and the timer will be added to the timers’ heap, managed by Libuv. It will then print “End”. In the background, Libuv is handling the timeout. After two seconds the timer expires and the callback is added to the timers’ queue. The event loop will check the timers’ queue and will execute the callback, which will print “Timeout callback executed” on the console. On the next iteration, the event loop will check if it still has work to do (which will result in false) and the process will exit.
When working with setTimeout, we have to keep in mind that the timeout value that we put as an argument represents the least amount of time we will wait until the execution of the callback. In our case, the timer will expire after two seconds, but the actual execution of the callback might happen a little later, depending on the load of the operating system and the number of callbacks in the queue. Let’s modify the code slightly and see what happens.
If we execute the code several times, we will get different results for the time required to execute the callback. The change will be even more significant if there are several timer callbacks to execute.
Sample output:
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node simple_timeout.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed after 2005806422 nanoseconds
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node simple_timeout.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed after 2005835179 nanoseconds
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node simple_timeout.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed after 2002222318 nanoseconds
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals>
Immediates
Judging by the event loop diagram, the immediates phase is located right behind the I/O phase, so everything we put in a setImmediate callback will be processed after executing I/O callbacks and polling. Let’s add a setImmediate function call in our code. But first, we will slightly modify the setTimeout function and put a timeout of 0 milliseconds.
We are certain that “Start” and “End” will be printed first. About the next piece of code, one might judge that the timeout will expire (since it is 0 milliseconds), the timeout callback will be executed first, then the immediate callback will be executed. Actually, this part of the output is uncertain. If we execute it multiple times, we might see that the timeout callback and the immediate callback switch places.
Sample output:
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed
Immediate callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed
Immediate callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed
Immediate callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed
Immediate callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
Timeout callback executed
Immediate callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
Immediate callback executed
Timeout callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals>
Based on Node.js docs, if both setTimeout and setImmediate are called from within the main module, the output is non-deterministic because it depends on the system performance (how many processes are running on the machine). Also, instant timeouts do not exist in Node. If we look at this piece of code which represents a Timer object, we see that if the timeout value is 0 or bigger than TIMEOUT_MAX (i.e. max integer value), the timeout becomes 1 millisecond (i.e. minimum delay for a timeout in Node).
Adding I/O
If we want to make the above output deterministic, we can put the setImmediate and setTimeout inside an I/O callback.
Let’s see what happens step by step:
The main module execution starts. The first statement prints “Start” on the console. The readFile method of the fs module is invoked. This is an asynchronous call, so it won’t block the execution of the statements below it. “End” is printed on the console. The file is read on the background (managed by Libuv). Since there is nothing else to be done, the event loop will block and poll for I/O. When the file is read, the callback will be added to the I/O queue and the event loop will immediately schedule it for execution. Inside the callback, we call setTimeout first, then we call setImmediate and then we invoke console.log. A timer will be added to the timers’ heap and a callback will be added to the immediates’ queue. We move out of the I/O phase of the event loop and the “File read” statement will be printed on the console. The next phase is the immediates’ phase. The queue is checked and since we have a callback ready, it is executed, and “Immediate callback executed” is printed on the console. On the next iteration of the event loop, the timers queue is checked. There is already a callback, which is executed, and “Timeout callback executed” will be printed on the console. On the final iteration, there is nothing else to do so the process will exit.
This way, we make the output deterministic. We know for sure that the immediates callback will be executed before the timeout callback since it is executed right after the I/O phase, whereas the timers phase is at the beginning of the event loop and the callback will always be executed on the next iteration of the loop.
Sample output:
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
File read
Immediate callback executed
Timeout callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
File read
Immediate callback executed
Timeout callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
File read
Immediate callback executed
Timeout callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals>
Microtasks
We already know that next-tick and resolved promises are not shown on the event loop diagram because they are not part of Libuv. Instead, they belong to Node (yellow JS blocks on the first event loop diagram) and are represented as an event loop on their own (second diagram). This means that whenever we call process.nextTick or Promise.resolve, the callbacks will be executed immediately after the current phase of the event loop. The event loop will block until the microtasks’ queue is empty. Let’s modify the code and add some microtasks.
The execution goes on like this:
Firstly, all synchronous code will execute, which means that “Start” and “End” will be printed on the console. We also schedule the following code for execution: First next-tick, first promise resolve, a file read, third promise resolve, and third next-tick. All the corresponding callbacks are added to their own queues. So, we have two callbacks on the next-tick queue, two resolved promises on the promises’ queue and we have initiated a file read. After the event loop starts, it sees no callbacks on the timers’ queue. It moves on to the JS block (next-ticks and promises queue). It has two callbacks on each of them. Next ticks have a higher priority than resolved promises’ queue, which means that both next-tick callbacks will be executed first and the two resolved promises’ callbacks will be executed next. The event loop moves to the I/O phase. Here it calculates if it will block and poll for I/O and how much time it will spend blocking. As a reminder, the event loop will block only if there is nothing else to do next (no expired timers, immediates, close handlers, etc…). If we had an immediate callback waiting to be executed (called from the main module), it would most probably execute that and on the next iteration of the event loop, it would go on and block for I/O. However, this is not the case here. In our example, the event loop will block for I/O immediately after promises’ callbacks are executed. The file is read and an event is emitted, which adds the I/O callback on the I/O queue. Event loop will immediately schedule this callback for execution. Inside the callback we call setTimeout, setImmediate, log the result of the file in the console, call process.next tick and finally a Promise.resolve. Let’s see how this block is executed. It will start by executing the console.log statement, which is a synchronous operation and belongs to the JS blocks. In the same block, we have two callbacks scheduled for execution, the second next-tick callback, and the second promise-resolve callback. Although promise-resolve is called first, it’s callback will be executed second (because next-tick has higher priority like it was mentioned above). So, the final output for this step would be “File read”, “Second next-tick callback executed”, “Second promise was resolved”, in that order. The event loop moves to the next phase, the check phase where all immediate callbacks are executed. “Immediate callback executed” will be printed on the console. The event loop will start the next iteration and in the first phase, it will execute the expired timer’s callback. So, “Timeout callback executed” will be logged. Since there is no more work, this is the last iteration of the event loop. The process will exit.
The complete output:
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
First next-tick callback executed
Third next-tick callback executed
First promise was resolved
Third promise was resolved
File read
Second next-tick callback executed
Second promise was resolved
Immediate callback executed
Timeout callback executed
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals>
Note:
As you might have noticed, the way microtasks are designed makes it possible for the programmer to block the execution of the event loop. For example, if we recursively call process.nextTick the next-tick queue will be filled infinitely and all these callbacks will be scheduled for execution before the next event loop phase. The next phase will never be reached.
Close handlers
The final phase of the event loop executes close handlers’ callbacks. Let’s add one small piece of code on our example, to track when the process exits.
The output will be the same as in the previous example, except for the close callback that will be executed on the final iteration of the event loop, just before the process exits.
Full output:
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals> node gist.js
Start
End
First next-tick callback executed
Third next-tick callback executed
First promise was resolved
Third promise was resolved
File read
Second next-tick callback executed
Second promise was resolved
Immediate callback executed
Timeout callback executed
Process exited with code 0
user@Users-MacBook-Pro ~/Node-Internals>
Final thoughts
As it is shown in the examples above, code in Node.js can be executed differently from the way it is written (i.e. statements are not executed in the order they appear in code). Understanding the event loop and the details behind it can help us avoid unexpected behaviors and write correct and more performant code. | https://medium.com/softup-technologies/node-js-internals-event-loop-in-action-59cde8ff7e8d | ['Gerald Haxhi'] | 2020-08-14 16:14:45.334000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Libuv', 'Nodejs', 'Event Loop', 'Example'] |
How To Start Making Money With Adsense | How To Start Making Money With Adsense
statistics Adsense is considered as one of the most powerful tool in a website publisher’s arsenal. It enables a person to monetize their sites easily. If used properly, it can generate a very large and healthy income for them. However if you are not using them rightly and just maximizing the income you squeeze from it, you are actually leaving a lot of money on the table. Something all people hate doing.
How you can start earning money with Adsense can be done easily and quickly. You will be amazed at the results you will be getting in such a short period of time.
Start by writing some quality content articles which are also keyword incorporated. There are a lot of people given the gift of being good with words. Writing comes easy for them. Why not make it work in such a way that you will be earning some extra cash in the process.
There are actually three steps to put into mind before you begin writing your ads and having an effective Adsense.
Keyword search. Find some popular subjects, keywords or phrase. Select the ones which you think has more people clicking through. This is actually a keyword selector and suggestion tool that some sites are offering to those who are just their Adsense business.
Writing articles. Start writing original content with keywords from the topics that you have achieved in your search. Take note that search engines are taking pride in the quality of their articles and what you will be writing should keep up with their demands.
Quality content site. Build a quality content site incorporated with Adsense ads that is targeting the subject and keywords of your articles and websites. This is where all that you’ve done initially will go to and this is also where they will prove their worth to you.
The proper positioning of your ads should be done with care. Try to position your ads where surfers are most likely to click on them. According to research, the one place that surfers look first when they visit a certain site is the top left. The reason behind this is not known. Maybe it is because some of the most useful search engine results are at the top of all other rankings. So visitors tend to look in that same place when browsing through other sites.
Some of those who are just starting at this business may think they are doing pretty well already and thinking that their clickthrough rates and CPM figures are quite healthy. However, there are more techniques and styles to generate more clicks to double your earnings. By knowing these techniques and working them to your advantage, you will realize that you will be getting three times more than other people who have been previously doing what they are doing.
Finally, Adsense has some excellent tracking that allows webmasters and publishers to track their results across a number of site on a site by site, page by page, or any other basis you wanted. You should be aware oft his capability and make the most of it because it is one powerful tool that will help you find out which ads are performing best. This way, you can fine tune your Adsense ads and focus more on the ones being visited the most rather than those who are being ignored.
Another thing you should know. Banners and skyscrapers are dead. Ask the experts. So better forget about banners and skyscrapers. Surfers universally ignore these kinds of ad formats. The reason behind this is that they are recognized as an advert and advert are rarely of any interest that’s why people ignore them.
To really start making money with Adsense, you should have a definite focus on what you wanted to achieve and how you will go about achieving them. As with any other kind of business ventures, time is needed coupled with patience.
Do not just ignore your site and your Adsense once you have finished accomplishing them. Spare some time, even an hour, making adjustments to the Adsense ads on your sites to quickly trigger your Adsense income.
Give it a try and you would not regret having gotten into Adsense in the first place. | https://medium.com/@adityarajgiri3114/how-to-start-making-money-with-adsense-2519205c70c2 | ['Aditya Raj'] | 2020-12-23 11:21:16.447000+00:00 | ['Best Youtube Channel', 'Online Marketing', 'Passive Income', 'Automation'] |
The issues behind at-home genetic tests | About 26 million individuals in the world have already taken an at-home genetic test. These tests are very simple and appealing: for less than $100, anyone can receive a small colorful kit at home, spit, send it back, and get a nice detailed report of their genealogy and disease risks. Hard to refuse, isn’t it? However, what happens after the results are sent to individuals? The genetic data of each person taking the test are stored in genetic databases owned by a few multinational companies. According to the MIT Technology Review, if the growth rate of this industry continues, these companies could own the genetic data of 100 million people in 2 years.
A major concern for individual rights
The first concerns are about individual rights. DNA carries very private and sensitive information, not only because it is inherent to the individual, but also because it reveals insights about people, about their present and potential future health status. This brings significant scientific potential and richness, as well as a real risk.
In 2018, the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline paid $300 million to 23andMe to use the genetic data collected by the latter for research purposes. This collaboration was justified by the necessity of collecting genetic data to allow scientific progress, but the question of the privacy of the 5 million users of 23andMe is highly questioned. A major challenge of this new technology is thus played out at the level of an individual’s private life. The right to privacy is a fundamental right, protected at the State and international level, and DNA is considered as one of the most private information of all. There is therefore a clear and significant risk if an individual’s genetic information is disclosed to the public.
« If people are concerned about their social security numbers being stolen, they should be concerned about their genetic information being misused. (…) When information moves from one place to another, there’s always a chance for it to be intercepted by unintended third parties », Peter Pitts, president of the NGO Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
Who are these third parties that Petter Pitts mentions? The individual is not the only one that has interests over his own genetic information. Other actors as employers, insurance companies, banks, immigration agencies, have an interest in possessing a client’s genetic information.
Genetic testing and “third parties”
DNA is a treasure, which has a real commercial value, and is therefore sought after by many “Third Parties”.
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
The economic benefits of genetic testing
There are several economic, health, and safety reasons that may justify the use of genetic testing by third parties.
In the field of employment, employers want to maximize the productivity of their employees and minimize the risk of illness, or even absenteeism. In times of recession, employers could simply determine who to keep in the company by looking at who is most likely to be a liability in the future.
Administering such tests could also have major benefits in terms of occupational safety and health. For instance, in jobs where the employee is in a position to harm others (e.g., an airline pilot), genetic testing to verify an employee’s risk of mental illness would be very useful before hiring him or her.
Similarly, insurance companies have a major interest in administering genetic tests to potential clients. Accessing one’s genetic information would be a very efficient way to know without error or fraud the risk of a potential customer.
Open access to the genetic information of millions of individuals would also be a great asset for the field of research, which faces restrictions on access to data.
Photo by Sushil Nash on Unsplash
The use of genetic information by third parties creates an environment of denial of equal opportunities, based on factors that can neither be controlled nor changed: genes.
These applications present a high risk of data misuse. In addition to the violation of fundamental individual rights, such as the right to privacy, this type of use of personal data can cause a widespread phenomenon of genetic discrimination. Employers, insurance companies, banks, or immigration agencies when granting loans or visas could take into account factors that the individual does not know about himself, and could be in violation of the right to non-discrimination.
A person with high-risk genes (such as breast cancer BRCA genes for example), although these genes may be dormant, may be denied employment, a loan, health insurance, or charged an overpricing on the basis of their genetic information.
Today, insurance companies or banks already take into account the risks presented by a customer when determining a price. However, all the factors taken into account are known by the individual (age, sex…) or determined by himself (lifestyle, if he smokes…). Taking genetic information into account would be a further violation of individual rights, basing discrimination on factors of which the individual is unaware. The serious risk of this new type of discrimination is to create a new social class based on genetic information.
Photo by Miko Guziuk on Unsplash
Historical misuse of genetic Information
Although these situations may seem completely hypothetical and exaggerated, they have already happened in history. The use of genetic data is closely linked to the doctrine of eugenics, based on the belief that science must be pushed further to improve humans and promote genetic superiority. The most obvious example of the extensive use of the doctrine of eugenics is Nazi Germany, where genetic information (limited to the means of the time of course) was used for a genocidal purpose to eliminate the « genetically inferior » (the disabled, the ill…). This example may seem far-reaching, some might say. However, the eugenicist movement also has very important roots in the United States. In the 1920s, during large waves of immigration, gene selection was very popular. Large State fairs were set up, highlighting « Grade A individuals » who could win prizes. At that time, many sterilization laws were also introduced in the United States against those considered « genetically defective ». 32 American states introduced forced sterilization laws based on genetic selection between 1907 and 1937.
It was a decision of the United States Supreme Court that federally instituted genetic selection. Through the case of Buck v. Bell (1927), the Supreme Court authorized State-sponsored sterilization, justified by the eugenicist doctrine. It was recommended for « unfit people », including those who were considered « intellectually inferior ». It was during this case that Justice Holmes pronounced his famous statement « Three generations of imbeciles are enough » to justify sterilization laws based on genetic information. Nazi lawyers during the Nuremberg trials also referred to Buck v. Bell as a precedent for legal sterilization and as an example of « race protection laws in other countries ». The case was never explicitly returned or invalidated. What would happen today if this decision, by the highest court in the country, was combined with rapid technological advances and the massive collection of genetic data from millions of users?
These dangers to the fundamental freedoms of individuals, the risk of a new kind of generalized discrimination, as well as the abuses that have already taken place, show the need to regulate genetic testing technologies. | https://medium.com/@clementinemariani1/the-issues-behind-at-home-genetic-tests-af920230ea4b | ['Clémentine Mariani'] | 2020-11-09 17:58:38.298000+00:00 | ['Law', 'Discrimination', 'Inequality', 'Genetics', 'Technology'] |
Transforming Google Translate | Given the global popularity of Google Translate, we knew we had to prepare for change aversion. There are a lot of great articles written about the topic that provide strategies for minimizing the change aversion response. But as it is often the case with projects of this scale, there are some lessons that can only be learned through hindsight. Here are my top takeaways from redesigning the Google Translate website.
1. Your users are your crystal ball
If you’ve read about change aversion, you’ve likely come across a chart like this:
It shows the different possible outcomes after a change is introduced, but it doesn’t help you predict the outcomes for your change. This lack of clarity and control frustrated me initially. But with each iterative experiment, I realized our users were naturally guiding us through their actions and feedback toward the best possible outcome.
During our experimentation stage, Google Translate website users were submitting feedback submissions ranging from laudative to castigating. It wasn’t always an easy read, but my team and I spent hours reading as many of them as we could and responded by filing bugs or tweaking the design. For example, by reading through the comments we realized we had inadvertently changed the tab order for some elements, causing productivity headaches for our everyday users, so we changed it back. Similarly, we tightened up the information density of the page after we heard loudly that people preferred seeing more information on the screen.
It’s tempting to obsess over having the perfect design before showing it to real users. But it’s better to focus on designing a phased experimentation plan that allows you to collect and respond to user feedback at scale. As long as you have a mechanism for doing that, your users will help you figure it out.
2. Soliciting preference in usability studies can be a trap
Usability testing your new designs can help you catch its biggest issues and give you a broad assessment for your design direction. Typically these studies are done with low sample sizes– a dozen participants or fewer. While it’s tempting to ask usability study participants which design they prefer, the results are not statistically reliable and can mislead you into a false sense of security.
We did several rounds of qualitative user research studies for Google Translate’s new website, discovering and correcting usability issues early on. We also solicited participants’ design preferences, who overwhelmingly preferred the new version. But we were mindful not to draw strong conclusions from the preference data, and it was just as well — the actual spread of user preference after our initial roll out did not quite match what we had seen earlier in user testing.
3. Let A/B testing be your arbiter
With the new design, we wanted to bring more vibrance to Google Translate’s website. In our early iterations we used colorful illustrative icons (created by the talented Alexander Mostov), but early experiments with those assets in our mobile apps didn’t show good results. So we dropped them in favor of simpler Material icons. | https://medium.com/google-design/3-ux-takeaways-from-redesigning-google-translate-3184038f43bf | ['Pendar Yousefi'] | 2019-05-21 16:28:42.247000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'Case Study', 'Google', 'Redesign', 'UX'] |
Paul Simon at Ground Zero, “The Sound of Silence” | You probably caught this yesterday, but in case you missed it or would like to rewatch, here’s Paul Simon singing “The Sound of Silence” at the 9/11 Memorial. | https://medium.com/the-hairpin/paul-simon-at-ground-zero-the-sound-of-silence-5422e5e4d449 | ['Edith Zimmerman'] | 2016-06-01 19:44:06.828000+00:00 | ['Paul Simon', 'Music'] |
รีวิว Barcamp Bangkhen 5 | SiamHTML
The collection of articles for front-end developers | https://medium.com/siamhtml/%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A7-barcamp-bangkhen-5-e7f96d1ba33c | ['Suranart Niamcome'] | 2017-10-24 05:22:39.294000+00:00 | ['Highlight', 'News', 'Barcamp'] |
Shower | If you liked my piece and want to read more so, here’s a link to another of my Chalkboard’s piece! | https://medium.com/chalkboard/shower-74e158ffd852 | ['Ak', 'Aaska Aejaz'] | 2020-02-29 21:15:26.606000+00:00 | ['Humanity', 'One Line', 'Peace', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Religious Freedom'] |
NASA Shares New Photos of ISS Shot From SpaceX Crew Dragon | NASA has shared a brand new set of photographs exhibiting the Worldwide House Station (ISS) in orbit.
The pictures had been taken by astronaut Thomas Pesquet aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft because it carried out a flyaround of the orbiting outpost earlier this month.
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
The flight happened initially of the journey residence for Pesquet and three fellow Crew-2 astronauts following a six-month keep aboard the area station.
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
The photographs had been taken with a Nikon D5 DSLR digital camera, the identical digital camera that Pesquet used to seize lots of his wonderful Earth photos throughout his time aboard the ISS.
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
Pesquet’s ISS photos present the satellite tv for pc from a number of angles, with each the blackness of area and Earth 250 miles beneath serving as a backdrop.
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
Distinguished in many of the photographs are the area station’s giant photo voltaic arrays that assist to energy the ability.
The ISS went into operation twenty years in the past and capabilities as a space-based laboratory that enables astronauts from a number of nations to conduct scientific experiments in microgravity circumstances.
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
The area station is touring at about 17,500 mph, orbiting Earth as soon as each 90 minutes or so.
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
The station is 356 toes (109 meters) end-to-end, “one yard shy of the complete size of an American soccer discipline together with the tip zones,” NASA says.
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
The area company describes the ability’s residing and dealing area as “bigger than a six-bedroom home (and has six sleeping quarters, two loos, a health club, and a 360-degree view bay window).”
Thomas Pesquet/ESA
To seek out out extra about how astronauts spend their time aboard the area station, try these fascinating movies made aboard the ISS during the last 20 years.
Editors’ Suggestions | https://medium.com/@ndtvweb.com/nasa-shares-new-photos-of-iss-shot-from-spacex-crew-dragon-a1f75e6653e0 | [] | 2021-11-30 06:36:26.702000+00:00 | ['Photos', 'NASA', 'Dragon', 'Crew', 'Is'] |
soft. | It’s bit of a stretch to link ice cream (soft-serve, get it?) and self-reflection — you might be in for a treat.
It’s your first year of university. You’ve been told that you can reinvent yourself, but you don’t know really know what you’re doing. You haven’t quite figured out how to be vulnerable and you view your own negative emotions as an sign of weakness. Someone spray paints the word “soft” on your residence room window and you get angry. Sounds familiar? Maybe not… but you’ve probably figured out that it was me that got angry.
Being labelled anything is less than ideal. And when you’re still in the early stages of learning what it means to be self-aware (I will forever be on this journey, in case you were wondering), it feels especially hurtful to be assigned an identity you have actively worked to distance yourself from. There’s a lot of back story on why I never wanted to be called “soft” in the first place, but I won’t get into that right now. I want to focus on the idea of adjusting one’s values. I was eventually able to recognize where my “soft = weak” belief came from (childhood: the classic culprit) and why it was problematic for me to subscribe to it. “Soft” has been sneaking its way back into my being (which only I get to determine) ever since and I am proud of that.
Why am I feeling what I’m feeling and what can I do about it?
To me, that moment serves as evidence that I have grown since first year (phew!). At the time, I would not have asked myself, “why are you reacting this way?” But in a conscious attempt to be more self-reflective, this is a question I have considered a lot recently. For me, this question can lead to an exploration of what I value, where that value came from and if/how that value has changed now. I’m curious about many things and at the top of this list as of late are my own thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard to do this thinking. I have come to realize how deeply engrained beliefs that I was raised on really are. I have struggled to move past the feelings of powerlessness and recognize that only I can do the leg work to re-evaluate these beliefs in order to move forward. I will back up this statement by clarifying that I am incredibly grateful for my parents, and I know that they raise me and the sibs with the most loving intention.
The cool part about being human is that, for the most part, we have the ability to choose. We can’t choose how life happens around us, but we can certainly choose how we react to it (especially once you know what’s going on below the surface). And how empowering is that? This can be anything from:
“Hmm… that person just pushed me in the subway. Maybe they’re late to an important meeting that will determine the future of their career and family, so I won’t roll my eyes and let it disrupt my commute.”
or on a different wave…
“Hmm… I think I am comparing myself to other peoples’ career paths too much. That doesn’t recognize how hard I’ve worked in a field that I care about. That’s okay. I just need to chill and be more proud of myself.”
On being intentional
If I’m not careful, I can have a pretty constant stream of thoughts running through my head. Being able to identify the roots of these thoughts has helped me validate and filter through them and respond (or not respond) in a way that I actively choose.
Whether it’s a streaming consciousness about the way we react to life’s smallest obstacles, the fundamental questioning of our values, or some reflection somewhere in between, a little intention can go a long way.
Know where you are. You can only start from where you are. | https://medium.com/@sarahec/soft-25dee494c524 | ['Sarah C'] | 2019-04-20 02:54:17.959000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Vulnerability', 'First Post', 'Dont Know What Im Doing', 'Values'] |
The City Between Mountains and Sea | Thinking back at the time I spent in Cape Town I don’t remember much of the city itself. I remember mountains. I remember beaches. I remember lots of wind. I remember endless roads along the coastline. I remember passing an ostrich on the ocean road and tasting salt in the air.
That’s what I think of when someone mentions the capital of South Africa.
I’ve visited the city on the southern point of Africa twice. From the second visit, I lost all the pictures. Somewhere along copying them from the camera onto my tablet, then onto a USB-Stick and later onto the hard drive they got lost. The folder never made it onto the hard drive.
What I remember most from my second visit is that the whole cape was in full bloom. It was spring in South Africa and the mountains were covered in mostly yellow flowers.
I guess that would be a reason to go back there. To take new photographs and save them this time. To make new memories. To visit new places and those I’ve liked the most previously. | https://medium.com/show-your-city/the-city-between-mountains-and-sea-f179ef7fad65 | ['Anne Bonfert'] | 2020-12-27 08:40:37.902000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Cape Town', 'Show Your City', 'South Africa', 'Outdoors'] |
!!2021/𝐿𝐼𝒱𝐸⪼•”USA vs Russia(Livestream), TV channel>>>>2021 | Live Now:: https://tinyurl.com/y783azuc
Watch Live Direct: https://tinyurl.com/y783azuc
As we inch closer to Christmas and the start of the 2021 World Junior Championship (WJC), anticipation and excitement are beginning to mount. Hockey has not been on our televisions for almost three months and fans are starting to become anxious. The NHL finally has a target date of Jan 13, but before that happens, we have some junior hockey to watch.
The 2021 tournament is the 45th edition of the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship and it will take place in Alberta within the confines of the Edmonton “bubble” that was established in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. The festivities will begin on Dec 25 instead of the usual Dec 26 tradition we have grown so accustomed to and conclude with the gold-medal game on Jan 5, 2021.
How to watch World Junior Ice Hockey Championships 2020 live stream online
All of Canada’s games will be played at Edmonton’s Rogers Place. TSN owns exclusive broadcast rights for the World Junior Championship in Canada and will show every game live during the tournament across its various television channels. Canadian viewers can find a live stream for games online at TSN.ca or through the TSN app and TSN Direct.
From Thursday, December 25, 2020, to January 5th, 2021, the world’s top Ice Hockey youngsters will battle it out for the right to be called the best in the world. It’s the 14th time in the history of the championship where Canada acts as a host.
Live on Sky Sports & On-Demand on PremiumTV Get Instant Access start streaming instantly
2021 WJC Hockey Pools | World Juniors Pools
Like in years past, the lineup for the 2020–21 World Junior Championship consists of two groups of five teams. So, here’s how the groups are formed and the 2021 WJC Hockey full schedule of the tournament:
The 2021 WJC was scheduled to be played in the cities of Edmonton and Red Deer before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the hockey world a few months ago. Now it will all happen within the same “bubble” that boasted a grand total of zero cases during the playoffs that were played in August and September. The same rules that were successful in the NHL will be replicated in the 2021 WJC.
Best ways for cord-cutter fans IIHF World Juniors 2021 Live Stream Online
The United States are clear favorites to win the tournament. They’re expected to once again be crowned IIHF World Junior Champions. For some, the World Juniors competition is even more exciting than the Winter Olympics 2021. Which team are you rooting for? Share your expectations and predictions below.
Full 2021 World Junior Championship schedule
(All times Eastern)
FRIDAY, DEC. 25
Switzerland vs. Slovakia 2 p.m. TSN3/5, NHLN
Germany vs. Finland 6 p.m. TSN3/5, NHLN
Russia vs. USA 9:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
SATURDAY, DEC. 26
Sweden vs. Czech Republic 2 p.m. TSN1/4/5, NHLN
Germany vs. Canada 6 p.m. TSN1/4/5, NHLN
USA vs. Austria 9:30 p.m. TSN1/4/5, NHLN
SUNDAY, DEC. 27
Finland vs. Switzerland 2 p.m. TSN1/4/5, NHLN
Slovakia vs. Canada 6 p.m. TSN1/4/5, NHLN
Czech Republic vs. Russia 9:30 p.m. TSN1/4/5, NHLN
MONDAY, DEC. 28
Austria vs. Sweden 6 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Slovakia vs. Germany 9:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
TUESDAY, DEC. 29
USA vs. Czech Republic 2 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Canada vs. Switzerland 6 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Austria vs. Russia 9:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30
Finland vs. Slovakia 2 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Switzerland vs. Germany 6 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Russia vs. Sweden 9:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
THURSDAY, DEC. 31
Czech Republic vs. Austria 2 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Canada vs. Finland 6 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Sweden vs. USA 9:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
SATURDAY, JAN. 2
Quarterfinal 12 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Quarterfinal 3:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Quarterfinal 7 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Quarterfinal 10:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
MONDAY, JAN. 4
Semifinal 6 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Semifinal 9:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
TUESDAY, JAN. 5
Bronze-medal game 5:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
Gold-medal game 9:30 p.m. TSN, NHLN
To watch the World Juniors 2021 Game of the event in Canada, you’ll need access to either ESPN or Fox Sports 1. You can access either of these two networks with free trials to the following:
Sling TV
AT&T TV Now
Hulu with Live TV
Video
YouTube TV | https://medium.com/@amikubakara/2021-usa-vs-russia-livestream-tv-channel-2021-20a0bdbfb0bf | ['Russia Vs Usa Live'] | 2020-12-25 21:24:48.106000+00:00 | ['Hd', 'Hockey', 'USA', 'Russia', 'Live'] |
Here are the Top things you should know before attending a Coimbatore Tamil wedding! | Here are the Top things you should know before attending a Coimbatore Tamil wedding! Kovaipandhal Aug 27·3 min read
The venue of a Coimbatore Tamil Hindu wedding is sometimes a temple or a banquet hall, although it’s sometimes also held within the great outdoors. The guests who attend the marriage must expect the seating to be assigned, being attentive of the actual fact that the family sits within the front. The bride and also the groom sit with a priest on a stage that’s called a mandap or a manavarai. The wedding decoration with attractive flowers makes the huge difference in such a Coimbatore Tamil wedding.
2) Regarding the time-frame, a typical Tamil wedding in Coimbatore lasts for around an hour and a half. They’re usually followed by either lunch or dinner looking on the time that’s set for the marriage, so the best wedding planning and arrangement are well priorly framed, as per the Tamil wedding Tradition.
3) Were you wondering what to wear to a Tamil wedding? Well, don’t worry anymore as we’ve you covered. At Coimbatore Tamil weddings, women are mostly seen wearing very traditional sarees. that feature the non-Tamil guests in addition. The hair is sometimes adorned with flowers or involved in an exceedingly neat bun. Men who are from the bride or the groom’s immediate family usually wear white dhotis that are the standard men’s garment. They also wear a white shirt that features a golden border. The remainder of the male guests are usually expected to decorate in formal attire. Gold may be a common divisor between both men and girls at a Tamil wedding. A tip is to avoid dressing up in black at a Tamil wedding because it is taken into account bad luck. These wedding decorations and planning are carried out well planned by the family elders recently times by the best Wedding decorators and planners in Coimbatore.
4) Food at Tamil weddings is usually a grand affair. Most of the Tamil weddings serve vegetarian dishes. They include dishes like rice in combination with vegetable curries known in tamil as sambar, rasam, buttermilk, Tamil sweets and the vegetable fries called poriyal. Alcohol is prohibited during the marriage ceremony.
5) Regarding the marriage gift, most couples choose to receive monetary gifts based on their traditional way. Attending a Tamil wedding is like moving into a world of royalty. Tamil weddings embrace the employment of red hues and gold and pay plenty of attention to the small details to the beginning of your matrimonial bliss. The most effective features that make a Tamil Wedding unique are the employment of saffron and red colors to lend lots of richness to the decoration as these colors are symbol of sensuality and purity, especially at this scenario of post pandemic the wedding planners and decorators in Coimbatore have started to arrange the feel of such elevated new normal mood. Tamil weddings are very traditional weddings that are based around the Vedas that are the oldest sacred texts in Hinduism. However, they also incorporate barely modernism for both the groom and therefore the bride before they embark within the world of matrimony. The ceremony of a Tamil wedding is, in itself, a reasonably long process with an elaborate guest list. These are some very staple items you need to comprehend when attending a Coimbatore Tamil wedding. Most matrimonial sites wouldn’t acquaint you with these important facts. However, for several more such interesting trivia, you’ll keep visiting our kovaipandhal.com for wedding-related info. | https://medium.com/@kovaipandhalcbe/here-are-the-top-things-you-should-know-before-attending-a-coimbatore-tamil-wedding-6d6dc67a0994 | [] | 2021-08-27 08:28:08.195000+00:00 | ['Wedding Decorations', 'Weddings', 'Wedding Decor', 'Wedding Planning', 'Wedding Planner'] |
How to Show Love During the COVID-19 Pandemic? | Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
Dalai Lama
As the above quote states, we cannot survive without love and compassion. In the current situation we need these two concepts more than ever. Hoarding food and toilet paper leaves nothing for the most vulnerable within our nation. I’ve seen the photos of empty shelves and I must admit that struck a bit of fear into my heart. I was actually surprised how horrible the grocery stores became.
However, it not just the food and water hoarding but the amount of people who are still on the streets during a pandemic that could possibly overwhelm our health system. If you are blessed to be healthy, please be thankful but don’t put others at risk.
80 percent of the infected only exhibit mild symptoms or none at all, but those who become deathly ill are in that 20 percent. Consider that 20 percent when you are on the beach or saying I won’t become infected. Please, remember your mom or grandma and consider what life would be without them.
Embrace your humanity by staying home as much as possible. Thank God for each day this silent monster doesn’t come to your door. Call a friend and check on them and offer each other a bit of human kindness through conversation.
While you are at home with the kids, spend quality time together. Have a specific time of day when the devices are off. Relax and watch a movie together or pull out a board game that’s collecting dust. Fill your home with laughter and remember the preciousness of family.
I know it’s been said before, but we are at war with an enemy we can’t see. COVID-19 doesn’t carry a gun or raise a fist. It lays in your body and takes away God’s most precious gift- your breath. It steals the air we’ve taken for granted and enjoyed.
We must lay in the fox hole together. We must fight with the human diligence used in WWII. The best method to mitigate the spread is to shelter in place. By doing that, you are possibly saving lives. Several states have shut down all non essential businesses, so I hope the amount of people out and about begins to dwindle.
Please, be safe, my readers and friends. It’s up to each of us to do our part to defeat this biological enemy. | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/how-to-show-love-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-e03077bb6f9b | ['Estacious Charles White'] | 2020-03-22 00:55:31.109000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Humanity', 'Empathy', 'Compassion', 'Love'] |
Three Affordable Home Reno Projects | Who says you have to break the bank to give your home an update? Here are some quick, cost-effective renovation projects that will go a long way.
Upgrade Your Bathroom on a Budget
You don’t need to gut your entire bathroom if you want to give it a new look. There are plenty of small changes you can make that will make the room feel new. One of the most cost-effective makeovers you can give your bathroom involves resurfacing your vanity and getting a new mirror. Next, you want to decide on what type of natural stone would look great with the color scheme and materials already in your bathroom, and then find a mirror that complements them. Since most bathroom vanities aren’t too large, you can get high quality surfaces without spending too much money.
For a less stylistic and more practical change, you can install a new bathroom vent fan to help cut down on moisture. New fans are much quieter than they used to be, and they’re a lot more effective. If taking warm showers completely fogs your bathroom mirror, or worse, soaks your walls and doorway with condensation, then it’s time to upgrade. This will help you reduce moisture and get rid of that musty standing-water smell. But most importantly, it will keep mold spores at bay, preventing what could become a costly and dangerous problem.
Spice Up a Room with Stylish Lighting
Getting rid of yellow lights and old fixtures can help reduce the dingy feeling of an older home and completely change the atmosphere of a room. Look for some stylish modern light fixtures to accent one of your rooms. A dimming function can give the room a more relaxed feel. If you’re looking to give your room more energy, consider looking for a bright white light. Either way, choosing the right lighting option can accomplish this without paying too much.
One cheap but trendy lighting option is a halogen light track. Have you ever seen those rail track lights at museums that highlight certain pictures or objects? Those are halogen track lights, and they make for great additions to your home. You can put them in the kitchen to brighten up countertops, in your hallways to highlight some paintings or photographs, or anywhere else that you think needs some extra light. The bulbs are pretty small, but they put out a brilliant white light that can energize a room.
Boost Your Home’s Curb Appeal
Why only focus on the inside of your home? You can improve your home’s style by working on landscaping, adding some greenery, repainting your front door, or accessorizing your entryway. One option that gives you a lot of bang for your buck is repainting your front door. Go for a bold color that matches the rest of your home but still sticks out. If you adorn your entryway with potted plants and maybe even some flowers that correspond with your house or door paint color, then you’ll add some curb appeal. Finally, consider updating the path to your door. Maybe line it with greenery, bricks, or update the stonework completely! | https://medium.com/@seanfrancistucker/three-affordable-home-reno-projects-f68651e87f7d | ['Sean Francis Tucker'] | 2019-01-23 19:38:37.336000+00:00 | ['Home Decor', 'Interior', 'Home Improvement', 'DIY', 'Renovations'] |
Motherhood as the Path to Enlightenment | Motherhood as the Path to Enlightenment
A mother’s reflection on her children as her gurus
Photo by Oleg Sergeichik on Unsplash
“Love children especially for they too are sinless like angels; they live to soften and purify our hearts and, as it were, to guide us.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky
There are many paths to enlightenment. Some people sit their butt on a cushion and meditate, learning to understand how their mind works. Others join a monastic order and take vows. Some go into months-long retreats.
I did not choose one of those paths to enlightenment. In fact, I did not choose my path at all; it chose me. My path to enlightenment began the moment I heard my son’s first cry. I did not know that I had just given birth to my guru, much as the Madonna gave birth to her savior. I only saw this beautiful, slightly blue baby with a misshapen head and thought “My life will never be the same.” What changed that day was not only the direction of my life, but the path that I was destined to take toward wholeness — wholeness that I did not know I didn’t possess.
To become enlightened, we have to set aside our small sense of self, otherwise known as “ego”. When I had my children, I did not recognize my need for enlightenment. I thought I was the one who was going to educate them, giving them insight and understanding into how to “do Life.” Little did I know that it was me that needed that insight. They came not to be taught, but to be the teachers.
Awakening is painful because it means we loosen our grip on our perception of who we are. As we begin to see what is real, versus what is created by our ego’s need for self-protection, we come closer to wholeness. Many people never learn to untangle their ego from their authentic self. I had no choice. No one had prepared me for the way my children would work their way into my heart and split open the hard shell that had been covering it.
My children were little Zen masters, pointing me toward myself, asking me to see myself in a way that has been sometimes painful, but always freeing. From each one I learned lessons that I needed in order to find my way back to what is real within me. I have learned, slowly, to shed the defensive walls I had built around myself.
When my son was a little guy of about 4, one day he and I were out putting a fresh coat of paint on the shed. He was painting silently with a pensive look on his four-year-old face. With a big paintbrush in his hand he was making slow, steady strokes back and forth on the side of the shed.
Suddenly, with an emphatic tone, he said, “So much.” I could tell this was a thought that was a precursor to something important, so I looked over at him and waited. He turned to me and said, almost dreamily, “So much to learn about in this world, isn’t there, Mommy?”
He has never been more right. I did have so much to learn about, and he and his sisters would be the ones to teach me.
Henry Ward Beecher, a nineteenth century reformer and clergyman, said “A mother’s heart is a child’s classroom.”
This may be true, but it is also true that a child’s spirit is a mother’s classroom. It is because my children came into the world that I have become the person I am today. They came to lead me, guide me, teach me and wake me up. If I have any measure of enlightenment today, it is because they took this job seriously. They came into my life with the express purpose of cracking me open, enabling me to shed any idea I ever had about who I am and who I was meant to be.
My children are 27, 31 and 34 as I write this. They are still teaching me. I will be forever grateful to them for leading me into the light. | https://bethbruno2015.medium.com/motherhood-as-the-path-to-enlightenment-761117db6877 | ['Beth Bruno'] | 2020-05-10 12:59:27.817000+00:00 | ['Children', 'Spirituality', 'Self', 'Motherhood', 'Parenting'] |
Recept Spongebob krabburger | Owner of Convivio. Fine food ambassador in Holland. Best selection of mediterranean products and food stops. You are what you eat.
Follow | https://medium.com/vivio/recept-spongebob-krabburger-ca1486c30072 | ['Convivio - Sam'] | 2018-01-29 15:10:26.565000+00:00 | ['Kids', 'Cooking', 'Recipe', 'Burgers', 'Food'] |
Future of Work Workers — Overview | We all work differently with the Covid-19 pandemic. Are you working from home? Or are you wearing a mask to work? My family lived through SARS in 2003, and we are all are going through the Covid-19. WHO issued the guidance to “Do The Five.”
Traditional offices typically don’t offer social distancing. In my line of consulting work, my team and I usually have to compress myself in a small meeting room on a client site. Because some of us take a plane each week, you can imagine how often the flu germs spread among us. It has been a new experience for me to work in isolation, physically, leveraging technology to communicate. It is my sincere wish that the epidemic will pass, and we are all healthy and back to normalcy in a few weeks.
This epidemic is a preparation for the future of work, in which workers collaborate in different locations. We can break it down to:
Where — Where are workers getting their jobs? How — How are they getting their work done? What — What is the worker’s new identity? And how are they getting paid and benefit?
The future is bright. Let’s dive in. | https://medium.com/@msjulieho/future-of-work-workers-overview-9560b87149c7 | ['Julie Ho'] | 2020-03-15 17:28:19.295000+00:00 | ['Virus', 'Pandemic', 'Work From Home', 'Future Of Work'] |
Selecting Items From a List in Python | Creating a list and being able to select items through the list is very important. Selecting items is easy and simple, so let's get started.
I have my example list here.
If I want to pull out the first item, apple, I call my variable, list1, use square brackets, and enter a zero.
If I want to select the second item in the list, enter a one instead of a zero in the brackets.
The best practice for selecting the last item is to use a negative one. This is because you may add/take away items to your list, so using a negative one will always give the last item.
You can also pick multiple items in a list. In this example, we call on our variable, list1, and the items zero through two. Python pulls the first and second items only. The brackets' semicolon tells python to pull items in the list from the first noted number (zero) to the last number but exempt it(three). So we see below, python pulls the first item in the list and the second, but not the third item.
Practice experimenting with these techniques and commit it to memory. The best way to remember how to do this is to keep practicing! | https://medium.com/swlh/selecting-items-from-a-list-in-python-eac4669ec8ca | ['Joseph Hart'] | 2020-12-07 22:35:10.030000+00:00 | ['Python Programming', 'Python3'] |
Best Birthday Wishes 2019 For Him And Her | Best Birthday Wishes 2019 For Him And Her
*Let’s fall in love again tonight in honor of your special birthday, sweetheart.
*The entire world loves a lover. Enjoy the world on your birthday as it enjoys you, lover.
* If the sun never shined again and the storms never went away. As long as I still have you I can truly say, I am blessed. Happy birthday, baby.
* I may not be physically present to stand by you while you cut your cake, but you’ll be in my thoughts today! Happy Birthday.
*May every soul you touch bring comfort and peace. May every friend you hug bring joy and solace. On your special day, my wish for you is to have everything that your heart desires because you are worth it. Happy Birthday I love U.
*I’m really blessed to have you in my life, as nothing could be more special than the day when you came into this world. So thank you and a very happy birthday to a very special person.
*
It is easy to fall in love with you. And staying in love with you is even easier. I love celebrating birthdays with you, and I am looking forward to celebrate another one next year. Happy Birthday my all.
Best Birthday Wishes 2019 For Him And Her
Best Birthday Wishes For Him And Her
Follow Us | https://medium.com/@latesthapening/best-birthday-wishes-2019-for-him-and-her-ecaf917df44a | [] | 2019-12-09 14:36:53.997000+00:00 | ['Birthdaywishes', 'Birthdaystatus', 'Birthday'] |
Y’all, Fuck Jeff Bezos | The Dixie Fire — Northern California’s most pressing blaze so far this wildfire season — has burned over 60,000 acres and is just 15% contained. Parts of the East Bay have declared record-breaking levels of drought; the ocean waters off the Pacific Northwest got so hot during this month’s heatwave that it triggered a massive marine die-off event; cetaceans (i.e. the dolphins, porpoises, and whales of the world) continue washing up along the San Francisco Bay due to fatal collisions with cargo and fishing ships.
Nowhere in San Francisco can you afford a studio apartment on a minimum hourly wage — or even if you made twice that amount. About 1.5 million Bay Area residents are either “at-risk” or are experiencing hunger. California’s homeless population is in excess of 162,000 people as of the most recent figures (which are widely believed to be conservative estimates). 34 million people live below the poverty line in the United States.
Today, Jeff Bezos and three accompanying crew members boarded the phallic-shaped New Shepard spacecraft to penetrate the planet’s atmosphere at three times the speed of sound. It’s unclear as to how much exactly it cost to send the 59-foot penis rocket into earth’s orbit, but we do know for a fact that Bezos, himself, funded Blue Origin — the aerospace company he founded in 2000 — at the sum of $1 billion a year while serving as CEO of Amazon.
Donning a Joanne-era hat, the man responsible for ostensibly defining the e-commerce market as we know it rang a large bell after touching down in the West Texas desert Tuesday morning to celebrate he and his crew’s safe return. That brief moment of release was quickly followed up with the sentiment that he had “the best day ever.”
Jeff Bezos didn’t necessarily thank Amazon employees and customers today… as much as he did point out his exploitation of them for his own personal gains. It’s a level of narcissism that is truly out of this world.
With him was a crew that included his brother, Oliver Daemen, the 18-year-old son of a Dutch hedge fund manager (who took the place of an anonymous person at the last minute), and Wally Funk, an 82-year-old test pilot who trained as an astronaut in the 1960s — and is now the oldest person ever to make it into space.
“I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this,” said Jeff Bezos — whose net worth still hovers around $205 billion after leaving his post as CEO of Amazon earlier this year — about his voyage into space Tuesday during a press conference. And in that short, yet profoundly tone-deaf statement, the 57-year-old white man from New Mexico showed his worrisome inability to read the fucking room.
By acknowledging that “every Amazon employee” and “every Amazon customer” paid for “all of this,” Bezos, more or less, admitted that those people who contributed to his dizzying wealth paid for this frivolous joy ride; his shot at becoming a space cowboy before turning 60.
He thanked all the Amazon employees who’ve risked their lives during this pandemic to work in unsafe distribution centers — afraid of the financial pitfalls that may come from missing a day’s work.
Let’s not commend the tireless work of Amazon employees and spending prowess of customers by taking a dildo into space.
He thanked the Amazon delivery drivers who’ve come out of the woodwork to admit they’ve resorted to peeing in bottles, making sure packages are delivered on time, all while at the mercy of omnipresence surveillance technologies.
He acknowledged the customers who have fallen prey to Amazon’s play on our brain’s instant reward system that’s now, somehow, synonymized quality of life with same-day shipping — drastically increasing our rates of mindless spending.
He applauded the carbon-heavy e-commerce model he’s built; the same infrastructure that was the demise of local independent bookstores across the United States and released 51.17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere last year.
Jeff Bezos didn’t necessarily thank Amazon employees and customers today as much as he did point out his exploitation of them for his own personal gains. It’s a level of narcissism that is truly out of this world.
So, no: Don’t commend the tireless work of Amazon employees and spending prowess of customers by taking a dildo into space. That’s not how being a whole human being works.
Instead, actively advocate for workplace safety and livable wages amongst your employees — chiefly among them being those who are on the warehouse floor. Create transparency around the consumerism habits Amazon has created, and the environmental impacts generated by expediting purchases (amongst other convenient means of supply transport). Don’t hide behind the guise of lofty charity donations thrown at nonprofits trying to, quite literally, fix the cataclysmic, dehumanizing problems you’ve had a large hand in creating
Until those things are resolved in tangible ways, the sentiment still stands: Y’all, fuck Jeff Bezos. | https://thebolditalic.com/yall-fuck-jeff-bezos-6d83c72b0db7 | ['Matt Charnock'] | 2021-07-20 22:52:33.484000+00:00 | ['Amazon', 'Bay Area', 'Climate Crisis', 'San Francisco'] |
How To Alert A User Before Leaving A Page In React | This past week I had to figure out how to stop a user before leaving a specific page for broadcasting a concert and, if they choose to close the tab or navigate to a different page, hit an API endpoint that ends the concert.
This was a difficult problem because there are multiple ways a user can leave a single page of a website and they aren’t related. Closing a tab, going to a different URL, or even refreshing the page are different from clicking the HOME or PROFILE buttons.
Furthermore, I wasn’t able to find any way to customize these alerts or hide the default browser messages and create my own. Ultimately, I found that, in React at least, trying to intercept a user before they leave a page is a frustrating undertaking. Proceed with caution.
When I took the ticket to work on this problem, my first thought was to place any logic I needed for this task in the return value of a useEffect callback function like this:
useEffect(() => {
return () => {
// hit endpoint to end show
}
}, [])
The empty array means this returned function will only run when the component unmounts. But, I need to give the user the option to stay on the page. There’s no way to cancel an unmount that I know of. After some digging, I found React Router’s Prompt component.
Prompt component
The Prompt component is a nice component available in the React Router API. All you have to do is tell the Prompt component when to prompt or alert the user and what message to display in the alert. Then, just place the Prompt at the top of your component;
const Component = () => (
<Container>
<Prompt
when={isPrompt()}
message={() => 'Are you sure you want to leave this page?'}
/>
<h1>This is a component.</h1>
</Container>
)
Then, I placed the logic to end the concert in the cleanup function in my useEffect callback like I discussed before:
useEffect(() => {
return () => handleEndConcert()
}, []) const handleEndConcert = async () => {
await fetcher({
url: endConcert(concert.id),
method: 'PUT'
})
}
Unfortunately, there’s no way to customize the Prompt beyond the message content or to hide the alert box and make your own. The most popular solution to this problem I found is to add a click listener to any links/buttons that route to different pages that triggers the custom alert box.
I chose not to do this at this time because that sounds like a lot of work and it still doesn’t cover all of the ways in which a user can leave a page. To intercept a user before they close a tab or go to a different website, I would have to use an entirely different API.
beforeunload and unload events
To detect if a user is closing the tab or navigating to a different website, you have to use some good ol’ vanilla JavaScript. To warn users before closing the tab/window, refreshing the page, or entering a different URL, add an event listener to the window that listens for beforeunload :
useEffect(() => {
window.addEventListener('beforeunload', alertUser)
return () => {
window.removeEventListener('beforeunload', alertUser)
}
}, []) const alertUser = e => {
e.preventDefault()
e.returnValue = ''
}
In the callback function, alertUser , I’m preventing the default behavior, which in this case would be closing the tab or one of the other ways to leave the page. I’m not sure why setting the returnValue to an empty string is necessary, but it didn’t work before I added that.
This stops the user before closing the tab and displays the default If you leave this page, changes may not be saved message (or something like that) that you’ve probably seen on other websites.
I’ve now warned the user before leaving the page. To run some logic after they choose to leave the page, I need to add another event listener to the window , this time for the unload event:
useEffect(() => {
window.addEventListener('beforeunload', alertUser)
window.addEventListener('unload', handleEndConcert)
return () => {
window.removeEventListener('beforeunload', alertUser)
window.removeEventListener('unload', handleEndConcert)
}
}, []) const handleEndConcert = async () => {
await fetcher({
url: endConcert(concert.id),
method: 'PUT'
})
}
If the page does unload, the handleEndConcert function runs.
Including everything together, the very basic Component would look something like this: | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/how-to-alert-a-user-before-leaving-a-page-in-react-a2858104ca94 | ['Mike Pottebaum'] | 2020-10-26 17:11:22.996000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Javascript Tips', 'React', 'JavaScript', 'Reactjs'] |
Fasted vs. Fed Workouts: Which is Better? | Fasted Workouts
What is a fasted workout?
Although it may seem pretty self-explanatory, let’s first elucidate what a fasted state encompasses. Simply put, a fasted state is when your body hasn’t eaten for several hours (usually 8–12 hours), but with some people, that timeframe can be even more condensed. It really depends on how quickly your body can digest meals. The most common time to work out in a fasted state is first thing in the morning when your last meal was the night prior and you can sleep off the fed state. However, if you are a person that prefers working out in the afternoons or evenings, it is still possible to workout fasted by allowing your body a certain gap in time from your last meal.
Benefits of fasted workouts
The first and most common benefit is that fasted workouts could potentially, burn more fat. In fact, several studies have shown that you can essentially burn up to 20% more fat working out in a fasted as opposed to a non-fasted state. Depending on your meal the night before and how late you ate, you should have a bit of glycogen left in your body to use to fuel your morning workouts while also burning fat. Did you catch my tone of uncertainty in the first sentence? The reason being is if you’re only doing fasted workouts for the potential weight loss benefit, you might want to reevaluate your stance — especially if you find your workout difficult to get through without eating before-hand. Here’s why.
In fitness YouTuber Jeff Nippard’s video Does Fasted Cardio Burn More Fat? (What The Science Says), he explains that just because you might burn more fat during the cardio session in a fasted state, it doesn’t mean that you will lose more fat overall.
He goes on to explain the results of a study titled, “Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise,” where 20 young women were put on a 500 calorie deficit per day diet over a four-week period. The women were split into two groups: one group performed one hour of fasted cardio three times per week and the other did one hour of cardio in a fed state. After four weeks, there was no fat loss difference between the groups, meaning they were equally effective. To summarize, even though it is well established in the scientific community that fat oxidation increases post-fasted cardio, over time, there doesn’t seem to be any particular differences in body composition.
However, it’s important to note that there isn’t conclusive evidence on shorter-term effects. Here’s the takeaway: If you only do fasted cardio for the potential weight-loss benefits, it doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re fasted or fed so long as you’re in a calorie deficit at the end of the day.
Another perk of not eating before a workout is the whole issue surrounding digestion, as I previously mentioned. It can be a lengthy process to not only digest your meal but also be able to use that food for fuel. Your body is drawing blood to help with digestion vs. using that energy to kill your workouts. When working out fasted, you can avoid the issue of how much to eat and how soon before a workout altogether.
Another popular reason to use a fasting strategy is performance-related. When you start working out fasted, you’re teaching your body to access different fuel sources. Instead of using sugar or glycogen, your body is tapping into your fat stores to use as energy. In the Evidence Based Athlete’s article, Does Fasted Cardio Enhance Fat Loss?, Brandon writes:
Long term fasted cardio appears to lead to chronic molecular adaptations favoring fat oxidation. Mechanistically this implies that fasted training may help athletes like those that compete in endurance events since fat is an important fuel for those activities OR those that compete in a sport like CrossFit that requires some flexibility in fuel substrate utilization.
The preferential fuel substrate utilization may give endurance athletes more of an advantage in training or on race day.
Lastly, fasted cardio can help improve insulin sensitivity. Basically, the more your body operates in a fasted state, the less insulin your body releases. What does this mean? Well, in short, insulin can help you accumulate fat and high insulin levels are associated with diabetes. Brandon writes, “if you have blood sugar regulation issues including exercise-induced hypoglycemia, type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, etc. — this may very well help improve those conditions.” A quick disclaimer: This isn’t to be taken as medical guidance. Please educate yourself and consult an accredited professional.
If you’re new to the fasting game, a quick word of advice: Like any adjustment to a new diet or training regimen, your body is going to need some time to adapt. For so many years, you’ve been eating before your workout, so it’s going to be a bit of a shock to the system. When I got back on the fasting train after a long break, it took around 3 days of fasted workouts to get my body to adjust again. I found myself suffering energy-wise one day, and then experiencing severe hunger pains the next.
My Experience
After the end of a long relationship with a person I cared deeply about, I wanted a big change. My workouts felt monotonous; performing the same routine day in and day out. My diet was okay, but I was eating out a lot (as in visiting my favourite Indian restaurant about three times a week…yikes). I was also consuming alcohol too often and needed to cut it down.
That’s when I started researching everything I could on diet and nutrition. One of the first diets I wanted to try out was IF—specifically, doing my workouts (strength and cardio) in a fasted state. I read a library of articles on how fasted cardio can help you burn more fat.
I figured I had nothing to lose, so may as well give it a go. I started implementing new exercises I learned from YouTube and also doing my workouts in a fasted state. Within a month I started noticing material differences with my physique; specifically, more vascularity and leanness.
When I first jumped on the fasted workout train, I did suffer for more than three days, as I mentioned above. It actually took me a few weeks to fight through the hunger pangs and random bouts of low energy in my workouts. Slowly, however, my body acclimatized, and I started to reap the many rewards of working out fasted.
My mind felt more alert and clear. I felt more energetic and didn’t have to wait around for my food to digest. I could just hop to it whenever I was ready to workout. Gone were the days that I would be able to feel the oats sloshing around in my stomach while I ran.
I leaned out and started to build muscle, letting go of the long-held belief that I would lose mass if I worked out in a fasted state. I also took branched-chain amino acids (BCCAs) before and during my workout, which helps preserve muscle.
The fasting regimen isn’t perfect. There are days where it doesn’t work for me and I need to workout in a fed state. I’m flexible and would recommend that you try to be as well. Basically, I’ve figured out a mental checklist of what needs to happen in order for me to have a successful fasted workout:
Eat a good amount of carbs the night before (~50–75g). I usually eat my last meal around 8–8:30 p.m.
In order to have enough glycogen to do my workouts with zest, I need to work out within two hours of waking up or I get too hungry and my workouts suffer.
My workouts are under two hours (any more and I need to eat). These are for my regular workouts (strength, cardio). If I’m doing a run for two straight hours or longer, I’ll definitely need to consume some intra-workout calories.
I curb my appetite in the morning with coffee and a mixture of BCAAs and creatine.
My menstrual cycle fucks up everything, so approximately a week before, I get very hungry. If I ignore my body’s signals, I’ll get bitchy, so I tailor my fasted workouts around my hormones.
When you shouldn’t work out in a fasted state
Like anything, there are of course some stipulations and some warnings that I would be remiss without mentioning.
If you’re a runner, then there’s the obvious (and dreaded) “bonk,” which basically means that your body has depleted its glycogen stores in its entirety and it’s now switched over to fat-burning mode. The bonk is also synonymous with the wall. If you haven’t experienced it yourself, every kilometer starts to feel like hell. In a marathon, this is typical at about the 30K mark, but it varies. If you’re planning to do a race or a long training run then do yourself a favor and eat beforehand. Also, carry nutrition on you in the form of gels, chews, or whatever else you can squeeze into your belt or pockets.
Similar to the point above, if you’re trying to optimize performance, you might want to consider working in a fed state to give your body the required energy to push through high intensity and tough workouts.
Then there’s the health perspective. In my article, My 2 Week 16:8 Intermittent Fasting Experiment, I outlined words of caution for particular groups of people:
Pregnant or nursing mothers, the elderly with chronic conditions, children, those struggling with eating disorders, or individuals with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes need to be closely monitored when adopting an IF regimen.
I know I’m being redundant, but I need to stress the importance of doing your own research aside from this article. | https://medium.com/better-humans/fasted-vs-fed-workouts-which-is-better-5864b00e7035 | ['Emily Rudow'] | 2020-08-21 19:21:41.734000+00:00 | ['Nutrition', 'Fitness', 'Running', 'Sports Nutrition', 'Diet'] |
Now Is the Time To “Yango” | Yango Ride Branded
About a few days ago I started seeing some ads in my feed on Facebook. The ad was asking me to download some app to hail ride as low as GHS 2.00. At first, I did not download it, I felt I had uber on my phone already so no need for another app. Considering the fact that they all serve the same purpose. I woke up the next day to see a car parked in front of my door and was branded “Yango”, the same ad I saw on Facebook. This made me more curious. The car parked in front of my room was a friend who I know uses his car for uber. So I decided to ask him what this “Yango” thing is all about. The long and short of it was that there is a new ride-hailing company in town and everyone is jumping to it.
So later that day at work I downloaded the app to see how it looked like. I kept it on my phone for some reason I don’t even know. Later that evening, I was at a friends place and it got very late, it was around 9 pm.
The Yango Moment
Becoming adventurous, I decided to hail a ride using “Yango”. The price estimated was GHS 4.00. Half the price on uber; a young guy like me who is so much concern about saving money, I decided to Yango. For once I taught it was a joke. What came to mind was, what if you pick and at your destination, the price doubled or even tripled ?. I had some extra cash so I forged on. Now to put things in perspective, if I was supposed to go my normal route of “Trotro” (the usual bus we pick here in Ghana) I had to pick two cars. The first would take GHS 2.5 and the second would take GHS 1.70, totalling GHS 4.20. At this moment I was in a shock, picking Yango means I will save GHS 0.20 plus comfort plus straight to my door ?. As smart as I was I choose to Yango.
The Business Side Of Things
Whilst in the car, I started engaging the driver asking questions like how was your experience so far, how did you get started, are you making money? etc. To my surprise, the guy said after the GHS 4.00 cash that he was going to take from me, he gets to get a bonus from the company every week. This sounds like magic to me. Now here is the question, Uber a billion dollar company is charging far more than that and not doing this kind of promotion so how come Yango is doing this?. For me, I see the business in everything. Whether the unit economics works for Yango or not, the car is my own and I can stop doing it when things get worst, I taught to myself.
The next morning after church service, I decided to try the “Yango” thing again because the last time I had a better offer. I ordered again from Global Evangelical Church, Adonai Chapel to Dzen Ayor where I stay. The estimated fare was GHS 7.00. Something I usually pay GHS 15 for uber ?. The ride came and as usual, I got into a conversation with the driver. The driver showed me his dashboard and how you get to know how much you make so far on that trip at any particular point on the trip. He also said, “Just yesterday I on my uber app and for like 20 minutes, no request came but on my Yango and I instantly got a request”.
Next Move
Instantly I knew there is an opportunity. If you have a car fuel efficient, now is the time to Yango, head to Yango Android and Yango iOS. Try it out, register, as a driver try it out, make some few cedis before things get worst. For those who will miss this opportunity, don’t be worried. There is one thing I learnt from my mentor Warren Buffett (one of the billionaires I admire a lot), you just have to do a few successful investments you don't have to be in all. About some years back I picked some nuggets from one of the books I read, Think Like a Billionaire, Become a billionaire by Scot Anderson. | https://medium.com/@kuame/now-is-the-time-to-yango-888cfa9e62dc | ['Bright Ahedor'] | 2019-06-17 20:34:58.037000+00:00 | ['Accra', 'Transportation', 'Uber', 'Yango', 'Ridesharing'] |
Boys Will Be Boys: Brett Kavanaugh, Rape, & 1980s High School Culture | Giuliano Bugiardini, Rape of Dinah (1554).
Rio Americano High School sits at the east end of American River Drive in a tony part of Sacramento. In the 1980s, Rio was the wealthiest public school in Sacramento, supported by a tax base generated from expansive California ranch houses and mutant versions of the English manor. Most of the kids who went to Rio were children of doctors, lawyers, and people high up in state politics. One of my friend’s father owned Sacramento’s biggest construction firm. Another acquaintance’s dad was dentist to governors and attorney generals.
Me? I was one of the school runts, a kid from the other side of the river, lower middle class and falling. My dad lived in a workingman’s apartment on the edge of the district. I claimed his address so that I could go to Rio and play in its 5-watt radio station, the only reason I stayed in school. My immediate circle of school friends was four punk rockers — O.C., Kitty, Mark O., and Percy. Deathryder served a year and was out. And there were some surfers, nerds, and new wavers with whom we punks were in friendly alliance.
Our enemies were the same enemies all awkward, introspective kids have — the jocks, the preppies, and the future frat boys — let’s say the Brett Kavanaughs and Mark Judges of the world, the chummy, respectable, entitled moral-slobs that we battled every day. Stand in front of your locker, back to the hallway and you were sure to feel a shove when these creeps walked by. If you were a girl, that shove would come with a grope. The girl would scream and the boys being boys would laugh ha ha. If you were a nerd alone in the locker room, these are the guys who would trap you down and make you smell their balls. If you were a girl, especially if you were drunk, pinned to the ground, hand over your mouth, you got to experience their “horseplay.”
O.C. and I learned early on that the way to keep the assholes from screwing with us was to screw with them. We did that by acting crazy, countering every taunt of “Devo punk rock faggot!” by screaming “I know where you live, I know where you sleep!” The one time I was jumped by jocks, I pulled hair, I bit, I clawed eyes, I punched their balls. I did not “fight fair” and they left me alone for the rest of my high school years. O.C. had much simpler solution, upon first threat, he swung his skateboard. Kitty also got into the crazy act, though her Soo Catwoman look already scared the shit out of the preps.
Because we were the school’s ultimate outsiders, we only had to deal with the school assholes when we were at school. We didn’t go to their parties or the five person drinking sessions held when mom and dad were away for the weekend. We didn’t go on their ski trips or European group vacations. We weren’t members of their country club. We escaped all the informal gatherings at which alleged predators like Kavanaugh and Judge looked for drunken prey. But, we knew all about them. Everybody did.
Being an outsider meant that I was confidant to girls who dealt with harassment and attacks. Come Monday, in science class, my lab partner “Rebecca Munson” would recite the weekend’s crimes. “Brad Harrington” had pushed “Sandy Roche” into a closet and groped her. “Barbara Hanson” got her top ripped off by “Phil Raymond” and “Peter Hughes” at a pool party. “John Klaus,” “Bart Jenson,” and “Spaulding Stills” pulled a train on “Cynthia Marlowe” while she was passed out. Rebecca’s recitation was hushed but a matter-of-fact, more resignation than condemnation, more reluctant acceptance than righteous anger. It was boys being boys.
None of this should surprise anyone who went to high school in the 1980s. Reagan’s America was an entitled jock running wild. Donald Trump rose to prominence in Reagan’s America. “Political correctness” didn’t exist — women and people of color who objected to being called “cunt” or “nigger” either weren’t heard or silenced. LGBT people? Ha! Gay men were being slaughtered by AIDS while Reagan hid mum. “Date rape” wasn’t rape. It was boys being boys. Discussion of date or acquaintance rape was restricted to feminist circles. It wasn’t until the late 80s that the first major study on date rape occurred and then a decade or so for date rape to be seen the majority of Americans as rape.
If you don’t trust me, check out the culture. Privileged young men and their debauchery are stars of the Brat Pack novels. The misogyny of comedians Eddie Murphy and Andrew Dice Clay doesn’t age particularly well. Try watching Porky’s, the 80s in the 50s film about teenagers trying to get laid. Or Risky Business, in which Tom Cruise plays a wealthy high school pimp. Or Fast Times at Ridgemont High, about teenagers trying to get laid. Or Weird Science, featuring two teenage boys who create a woman so that they can get laid. Or Revenge of the Nerds, where we learn that if geeks act like jocks and preps, they can get laid too. There’s The Last American Virgin, Can’t Buy Me Love, hell, the 80s is littered with teen comedies that tell young men that the surefire way to get laid is through trickery and deceit, or, failing all else, date rape. Think I am exaggerating? Let’s look at two popular films from the era.
First is John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles. Like most of Creepy John’s films, Sixteen Candles is about teenage high school students trying to get laid. The set up is pretty typical: Cute and somewhat awkward girl wants the attention of wealthy, handsome, popular boy, but Popular Boy doesn’t acknowledge Cute Girl. Cute Girl reluctantly befriends obnoxious, Virgin Geek, who is also trying to score “out of his league” — Geek wants to get with Popular Boy’s beautiful, Popular Girlfriend. On the way to everyone getting what they desire, we bond characters by laughing at things like the racist humiliation of Asian exchange student “Long Duk Dong.” We finally get to the Big Party, where Popular Boy is disgusted by his girlfriend’s drunkenness. Popular Boy wants someone pure. He wants Cute Girl. To rid himself of soiled Popular Girl, he convinces packs her in to his Rolls Royce with Virgin Geek, telling her that Virgin Geek is him. Drunk, Popular Girl knows no better. Virgin Geek and Popular Girl wind up in a church parking lot. Virgin Geek fucks Popular Girl, who still thinks that she is with her boyfriend, Popular Boy. The next morning, Popular Girl wakes up next to Geek. She knows that something sexual has happened and that she was not fully conscious when it occurred. This is shared with the Geek. No one feels horror, shame, embarrassment, or regret. There are no apologies, for no one acknowledges that non-consensual sex has occurred. Rather, the date rape is played for laughs. It is a triumph for the young man, who now has won the affections of the woman he raped.
Number two offender is Animal House, a movie near and dear to former juvenile delinquents like me. Though Animal House — a spoof on frat society in the 1960s — was made in 1978 about, its influence on 1980s teen and screwball comedies is huge. Animal House is the first great melding of post-60s anti-authoritarianism, celebration for the outsider, and attacks on the elite with girl-crazy guy culture, teen rebellion, and midnight movie humor. The writing is sharp and funny and there’s brilliant performances. Bluto Blutarsky’s fight speech is one of the great comedy moments on film. Animal House also has a few problems, primarily the scene in which freshman college student Larry “Pinto” Kruger is fooling around with the mayor’s daughter, drunken teenage Clorette DePasto.
The scene occurs during the toga party. Larry and Clorette are making out. Larry tries to unhook Clorette’s bra but can’t figure out how to do it. Clorette sits up to unhook it herself. As the bra comes off, she passes out. Larry looks at Clorette laying topless and unconscious on the bed. A flash of smoke and the Devil is at Larry’s shoulder, “Fuck her. Fuck her brains out…You know she wants it.” With a shimmer and a pop, an effeminate angel appears on the opposite shoulder, “For shame, Lawrence, I’m surprised at you.” The Devil playing obnoxious, the angel as prim sissy engage in comedic debate. Larry shrugs and looks to the angel. The Devil, disgusted, insults Larry, “You homo!” and disappears in smoke.
Yes, Larry did the “right thing” by not raping Clorette. However, Larry’s “predicament” wasn’t “to rape or not to rape,” but, whether to be a “manly man” or a “sissy boy.” He chose “sissy boy,” so we get to laugh at the Devil calling Larry a “Homo.” Clorette’s vulnerability to rape is the set up for a lame fag joke. By playing date rape for a laugh, John Landis, Harold Ramis, and Doug Kenney present Clorette’s near rape as acceptable.
As bad as making a chucklefest of date rape is how the filmmakers frame Larry’s decision within the context of the film. The Devil and the angel are crude stereotypes of the disgustingly crude rebel and the annoyingly upright goody-goody. Divorced from the context of the whole film, the caricatures are no big deal. The Devil and the angel are equally obnoxious. If the tenor of the movie was that we all sit in a moral center where we constantly struggle between our impulses, gross Devil and prissy angel are just lazy illustrations of the pull of “good and evil.” However, there is no moral center in Animal House. The main message of the film is that having fun by embracing disgustingly crude rebellion is a high (low) calling! Animal House’s heroes are the law-breakers, the villains are law & order. Delta House is the Devil. Dean Wormer is an angry angel. Larry’s decision to do the “right thing” goes against Delta House’s ethos.
My critique is not that of a humorless, “politically correct” academic. Animal House was one of the most influential films of my youth. I’ve watched it at least fifty times, most recently a few months ago. It is on my comedy Mt. Rushmore with The Jerk, Airplane, and Caddyshack. As a teenager, I memorized John Belushi’s dialogue. Deathryder and I used its pranks as inspiration. Its anti-authoritarianism influenced my anti-authoritarianism. But, fact is, one of the film’s central gags frames the debate over whether or not an unconscious woman should be raped as normal male behavior.
When Animal House was released, there was a lot of fuss among preachers, teachers, and moralists about “the message it sent to young people.” Few could abide by its attacks on authorities. Much was made about the film’s “grossness” and “toilet humor.” People debated whether the Bluto’s “zit” joke was “appropriate” for youth. Prigs complained the film’s “Eat Me” float encouraged mindless rebellion and disrespect for the military. At my junior high, the vice principal called a school assembly specifically to tell us that food fights would not be tolerated at Kit Carson Middle School. Not one word was said about date rape.
Before I go further, I want to make it clear that I am not a moral relativist. There is right and there is wrong. There are also grey areas, but those tend to be clear, too. Murdering another person is wrong. Killing someone who is trying to kill you is most definitely a moral grey area, though I’d say it’s acceptable self-defense. I do not believe that when something occurred has any bearing on what is moral or not. Right or wrong is constant.
Slavery is wrong. It is wrong in the 2010s. It was wrong in the 1800s. It was wrong in the 1500s. It was wrong in the 1500 BCs. Though slavery is eternally wrong, for most of human history slavery was the norm. Normalcy is not morality. What is considered normal is not right or wrong. Normal is the “usual, typical, or expected.”
In the 1980s, date rape was normal. It was so normal that, as noted, what we now consider date rape wasn’t acknowledged as rape. Hell, it wasn’t acknowledged at all. It wasn’t talked about because no one, besides its victims and a handful of “extremists” thought it worthy of discussion. Date rape wasn’t rape. It was “boys being boys.” It was “horseplay.” It was “stealing home base.” It was “ripping one off.” It was “taking advantage.” It was “pulling a train.” It was anything but rape, and it was normal. It was not unusual. It was not atypical. And, among many drunk, entitled teenage boys, it was expected. Date rape was a male rite of passage. It was something to brag about in the locker room, as was “grabbing her by the pussy.”
Despite what liberals, conservatives, moralists, and good meaning people want you to believe, rape was normal male behavior. I gave you some examples in film of how rape was portrayed as just a thing guys do, just boys being boys. Let’s go way back in time: Ancient Greek myth celebrates rape in the story of Leda and the Swan. A controversial interpretation sure, but the Christian God’s impregnation of the Virgin Mary can be read as a celebrated act of rape.
Rock & roll? Pop? The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” is about raping a slave. Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night” is about an older man coercing a teenage girl into sex. Devo’s “Triumph of the Will” is one of many “I know your ‘No” means “Yes”” songs. George Michael’s “Father Figure” is an ode to pedophiliac rape. You’d think that as rock & roll and pop “matured” artists would temper their enthusiasm for rape. You think wrong. Sublime’s “Date Rape” from 1992 explains that “if it wasn’t for date rape I’d never get laid.” Nine Inch Nail’s “Closer” (1994) is either a song about “sexual frustration” or rape. And, over the last decade we’ve heard Chris Brown’s “Back to Sleep,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Jamie Foxx’s “Blame it on the Alcohol,” and Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” Dive into hip hop, metal, and punk, we’ll come up with hundreds more.
Hell, in high school I joined a punk band who had a song written from a rapist’s point of view. It wasn’t a celebration of rape. It was more like horror movie shock, but, still, nobody, me included, considered the song out of the ordinary. We didn’t have a phrase for all this back then, but we do today. It is called rape culture.
When boys and girls are raised thinking date rape is not rape but something so normal that it is celebrated in culture, normal boys like Brett Kavanaugh will (allegedly) rape. The victims will stay silent for years because deep in the victim’s subconscious is the idea that what happened is normal and, for many people, especially young people, what is normality and morality is confused. Subconsciously, what is perceived as normal is also seen as “right.” It takes a person years and much self-work to sort all of this out, especially when the sorting is done in a culture which tells us that a victim shouldn’t have dressed a certain way or was somehow responsible for their rape.
When someone says or implies that Kavanaugh and Judge’s alleged attack on Christine Blasey Ford was “boys being boys,” when placed in context, in the 1980s, “boys being boys” is true. Boys being boys attacked a girl. People who say, “That didn’t happen at my high school!” are blind to what was going on then or are liars now. Rape happened at your high school. Your peers were both the rapists and the victims.
Racism happened at your high school. The two Black girls, the Mexican boy, and the twelve Asian kids that you went to school with were harassed and attacked for their race and ethnicity. Homophobia happened at your high school. Name me one openly gay kid at school in the 1980s. Name me one closeted gay kid who did not live in terror of being found out. Misogyny? Ask the girls who slut-shamed for having sex or being raped. All this happened at your high school. And most of us were silent because we were confused, we didn’t know right and wrong from what was perceived as normal, we didn’t know how to act on what we knew was wrong, or we were too scared to go against our peers and act. All that happened. You know it. I know it. So, let’s drop the charade and admit that in the 1980s (and beyond) boys got away with date rape because it was considered normal.
Only by accepting that boys and girls were raised in a culture that did not acknowledge date rape as rape and accepted it as normal male behavior, can we change things. When we hear “boys will be boys,” we know exactly where this defense is coming from. When the boys will be boys club concocts incoherent theories deflecting blame and defending date rape we know what era normalcy is being based on. We are not just battling the present, but also the past. We aren’t just fighting for Blasey Ford’s right to speak up, but we are taking on a culture.
White people spent much of the past decade living under the lie that we lived in a “post-racial” world. We had a Black president, so everything was “ebony and ivory.” We were fools. Men and some women fuming that “This wasn’t my high school” and “NotAllMen” are, again, playing the fool. They are more concerned with self-appearance and parsing words than dealing with real world problem of rape and misogyny. We cannot be sucked into petty arguments over language, otherwise we are playing whack-a-mole with symptoms. We squash “boys will be boys” and now have to deal with “horseplay” or “rough sex” or whatever lame ass thing comes out in defense of Kavanaugh and others. Forget that, let’s get to the disease and root it out.
This essay originally appeared in the September 19th issue of Soriano’s Comment, №24. Free Subscriptions available here. | https://scottsoriano.medium.com/boys-will-be-boys-brett-kavanaugh-rape-1980s-high-school-culture-sorianos-comment-24-7ebfcbe1263 | ['Scott Soriano'] | 2018-12-13 05:36:44.799000+00:00 | ['Brett Kavanaugh', 'Christine Blasey Ford', 'Politics', 'Rape', 'Supreme Court'] |
USDZ共有:武装したSFキャラ | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/bs3-3dmodel/usdz%E5%85%B1%E6%9C%89-%E6%AD%A6%E8%A3%85%E3%81%97%E3%81%9Fsf%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%A9-3e1414291b18 | [] | 2020-11-21 05:58:26.623000+00:00 | ['Augmented Reality', '3d Modeling', 'AR'] |
Make The Easy Decisi | For many people, the decision to make a donation to a charitable cause is an easy one. If you don’t have enough extra income to make charitable contributions, however, there is still a simple way that you can make a significant contribution to Giving Center. If you’ve got a car that no longer runs or if it’s time to upgrade to a better vehicle, donating your car can be an easy decision.
There are many options for people when it comes to replacing an old vehicle. Selling it yourself or trading it in can be stressful if you don’t know its fair-market value or you need to make repairs to it first. Selling a broken down car to a scrap yard can be difficult too. The cost of towing it to the yard may not balance out the payment you’ll get from selling it for scrap metal.
With all that in mind, it’s good to know that there is an easier alternative to all the stress of haggling with buyers on the price, towing the car yourself, or worrying that a dealer isn’t giving you a fair price.
Giving Center Can Help You Out
Giving Center, a registered IRS 501 ©(3) organization, is a car donation program that will take all the stress off your hands when it comes to getting rid of your unwanted car. Here’s how car donation through Giving Center works: You make the generous decision to donate your car, you contact us by calling 1–888–228–7320 or filling out an online car donation form, and then Giving Center arranges to have your car towed away or picked up. All you have to do is contact us. We take care of all the details!
How You Prepare For Your Car Donation
Once you’ve made the decision to donate your vehicle and you’ve called to schedule your vehicle pickup, there’s not much that you have to do. Don’t worry about fixing the car up or washing it before it’s picked up. Simply remove any of your personal items from the car and wait for your car to be picked up.
One of the most frequently asked questions is about whether or not you need your car’s title in order to donate it. Vehicle title laws vary from state to state, as some states require titles and others do not. In most cases we will need the title, but don’t give up on donating if you can’t locate it. Just give us a call at 1–888–228–7320 and our Title Department will do its best to find a solution!
The Result Of Your Generous Vehicle Donation
When your car is picked up, it will either be sold, recycled, or worked on and donated to a needy individual or family. The proceeds from its sale or recycling go to Giving Center, helping them to grant more assistance to those in need. In return, you’ll receive a 100% tax-deductible receipt at the time the vehicle is sold.
In addition to a tax deduction, another result of your donation is that you will be contributing to the green movement. When a car is recycled, many of the parts can be reused and the metal can be recycled into new materials. Far less energy is used to produce metal using recycled materials than is used to produce metal from new, raw materials. Recycling a car also helps the earth because it means that the car isn’t sitting out in the elements, potentially releasing hazardous materials into the environment over time. Auto recyclers are able to safely remove all hazardous materials from a car. To learn more about car recycling, check out our article about the benefits of car recycling.
The most important impact of your donation is that it helps Giving Center grant more assitance to locals in your community. The proceeds from your donation will help individuals, families, veterans, students, and many others have their wish come true. | https://medium.com/@katie-givingcenter1/make-the-easy-decisi-79b6d12e2f29 | ['Katie Givingcenter'] | 2020-10-19 22:04:51.578000+00:00 | ['Helping Others', 'Nonprofit', 'Donate', 'Charity'] |
AYS Daily Digest 04/06/2021: Letters and memos from Greece | AYS Daily Digest 04/06/2021: Letters and memos from Greece
Greece wants to tackle border crossings with sound cannons // Syrians deported from Lebanon to Syria // Germany refuses solidarity with Italy // German nun fined for providing church asylum // New evictions in Bosnia and France Are You Syrious? Follow Jun 5 · 8 min read
Greek authorities are increasing efforts to prevent people from crossing the border. Credits: Twitter/@DimKairidis
Greece: Letters and memos
Several EU member states, including France, Germany and Italy, have complained about Greece’s failure to take back people who have moved on to other Western European countries. In a joint letter seen by politico, the speak about a “rapid increase” of people who were granted asylum in Greece travelling to other countries and asking for asylum a second time — in Germany alone, some 17,000 people have done this successfully since July 2020. “Some national courts,” the letter said, “consider that Greece is not ensuring that these persons are given suitable accommodation and provided with a minimum level of physical subsistence.” A Greek official denied the accusations, saying that Greece was fully compliant with its obligations and is not responsible for so-called secondary flows.
In an open letter to the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs of the Commission of the European Union, Koraki demands an end to EU funding for the Greek government. In particular, they refer to the ongoing human rights violations such as pushbacks:
We must request that, given the ongoing shocking, illegal and unacceptable behaviour by the Greek government towards men, women and children who are attempting to use their right to live, learn and work in safety, you could perhaps at least suspend further payments to the Greek government until these cases — cases the Commission itself wants to be investigated — are taken seriously and heard by the Greek government?
Regarding pushbacks, the Supreme Court Prosecutor has sent 15 First Instance Prosecutors a criminal complaint for the investigation of 147 cases of pushbacks with more than 7,000 people affected betweetn March and December, Racist Crime Watch reveals. But a memo leaked from the Migration Ministry shows that officials are trying to intimidate their own staff and ordering them to not take part in any court trials of possible illegal acts. Anyone doing this will face disciplinary action.
At the same time, there are media reports about the Greek border police intending to use sound cannons and drones on a new border fence. “It is part of a system of steel walls that is being installed and tested along with drones on the 200-kilometre border with Turkey for migration defence”, site36 writes. The EU has clarified that it is not involved in this project and expressed its concerns, but at the same time it is funding projects using drones for border surveillance on land, water and air.
Greek authorities have started vaccination campaigns on the Aegean islands. Every Thursday and Friday people will be offered the opportunity to get a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to RND. But only 15 percent have shown interest in the programme so far, the Migration Ministry said. It is estimated that some 30 percent already have antibodies and another 30 percent are minors, who cannot be vaccinated at this time.
Worth reading: | https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-04-06-2021-letters-and-memos-from-greece-9c89d0d33e58 | ['Are You Syrious'] | 2021-06-05 17:12:25.028000+00:00 | ['Refugees', 'Digest', 'Migration', 'Frontex', 'Greece'] |
What are the Top Benefits of Using Python for Web Development? | Over the last few decades, the popularity of Python web development has skyrocketed. Software development companies who use Python for web development are liable for this exponential rise.
Every day, the realm of software development advances. Generally, the IT industry needs more efficient approaches, and the programming language you choose determines your company’s performance. That is why, today, we will discuss one of the most prominent programming languages for web development: Python.
Python is a high-level object-oriented programming language. It is thought to be the fastest-growing programming language. But for how long will it last? In this blog, we’ll go over its benefits and why it’s so prominent. We’ll also make an attempt to look into the future of python web development.
So without any further ado, let’s get started.
But before discussing the benefits of using python for web development, let’s quickly discuss!
What is web development?
Designing, developing, and maintaining websites is a broad definition of web development. A frontend, which deals with the user, and a backend, which includes logic and correlates with a database, are typical components of web development.
Moving on,
What is Python?
Python is a versatile, open-source programming language centered on readable code. It does not require a compiler to run; alternatively, it includes an interpreter that allows teams to quickly test and shows the effects of their changes and can also be used on a variety of platforms and devices.
Python remains among the most widely used programming languages, as per TIOBE. And Python is used on nearly a million websites, according to BuiltWith.
Since it entails object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming, it is typically used in large enterprises. The following are some of the perks and features of using Python:
Standard Functionality — The number of essential functions were included in by default in libraries. They’re useful for almost any programming task. Python makes the work easier for developers by offering solutions for data science, image and device processing, and other tasks.
The number of essential functions were included in by default in libraries. They’re useful for almost any programming task. Python makes the work easier for developers by offering solutions for data science, image and device processing, and other tasks. Variable — Python, unlike many other languages, does not involve the definition of variables. They are generated at the time of their initialization, which is when the variable is given its first value. The type of assigned value determines the type of variable.
Python, unlike many other languages, does not involve the definition of variables. They are generated at the time of their initialization, which is when the variable is given its first value. The type of assigned value determines the type of variable. Portability — Python is a versatile language that can run on a variety of platforms and devices (Windows, Linux, macOS, and so on) without requiring a lengthy code revision.
Python is a versatile language that can run on a variety of platforms and devices (Windows, Linux, macOS, and so on) without requiring a lengthy code revision. Speed — Speed and efficiency are higher thanks to increased opportunities for technological management process, object-oriented architecture, and deep integration. Python is an excellent choice for building complex multi-protocol web applications.
Besides, Python is a general-purpose programming language that can be used to create almost anything. Python is used by businesses worldwide for cognitive technologies, web development, scientific and quantitative computing, gaming, and a variety of other applications. Moving on, let’s have a look at it!
Who uses Python for Web Development?
Python is commonly used in a variety of fields, including e-commerce and advertising, social entertainment and media, healthcare, banking, and financing.
Python is used by countless organizations for its simplicity, scalability, consistency, and rapid development in one form or another. Here are some examples of companies that make intensive use of Python. Take a look!
Google — Google, for instance, is among the key Python users. Python was used to build the very first prototype of the Google search engine as well as the entire technology stack. Python is also one of Google’s three primary programming languages, alongside Java and C++. The language is used by YouTube, Google App Engine, and code.google.com, among many other services.
Google, for instance, is among the key Python users. Python was used to build the very first prototype of the Google search engine as well as the entire technology stack. Python is also one of Google’s three primary programming languages, alongside Java and C++. The language is used by YouTube, Google App Engine, and code.google.com, among many other services. Instagram — A social media service that uses Python to allow its 4 million users worldwide to view, upload, store, and share their works in an individual digital account.
A social media service that uses Python to allow its 4 million users worldwide to view, upload, store, and share their works in an individual digital account. Netflix — Python is used extensively by Netflix, from data processing to protection and risk identification to administrative purposes.
Python is used extensively by Netflix, from data processing to protection and risk identification to administrative purposes. Facebook — Facebook is yet another popular Python user. Python, in addition to PHP and C++, assists Facebook in effectively and securely maintaining, managing, and scaling their systems. Python is also used by Facebook for machine learning. Machine learning algorithms are being used on Facebook to coordinate systems for the News Feed and identify objects in images.
Apart from the above, some other popular companies using Python are:
Uber
NASA
Dropbox
Slack
Paypal
Reddit
Bloomberg
GitHub
Moving on, let’s move forward and check!
What are some of the most well-known Python Web Frameworks?
If you’ve chosen to build a website in Python, you’ll need to settle on a framework. We’ll go through every essential element of Python for web development as we’re a leading Python Software Development Company.
Python has a large number of well-supported frameworks that speed up development and enable you to complete projects faster. Each has a specific use, so take a look!
Django — Django is indeed a Python web framework that “empowers steady development and smooth, pragmatic design.” It is an open-source, elevated framework. It’s simple, secure, and flexible. Django has a large community and extensive documentation. Django provides a robust set of components for creating stable, interactive, and simple-to-maintain websites.
Django is indeed a Python web framework that “empowers steady development and smooth, pragmatic design.” It is an open-source, elevated framework. It’s simple, secure, and flexible. Django has a large community and extensive documentation. Django provides a robust set of components for creating stable, interactive, and simple-to-maintain websites. Falcon — Falcon, is a Python framework that adds the potential to quickly create stable backends and micro-services to more generalized Python modules.
Falcon, is a Python framework that adds the potential to quickly create stable backends and micro-services to more generalized Python modules. Flask — Flask is elegant and straightforward, and lightweight, which means you can add plugins and modules as you code rather than having them supported by the system. Flask is a lightweight platform for creating websites, blogs, forums, and other web apps quickly and easily. Major corporations such as Netflix, Linkedin, and many others use Flask, rendering it a general and efficient web framework.
Flask is elegant and straightforward, and lightweight, which means you can add plugins and modules as you code rather than having them supported by the system. Flask is a lightweight platform for creating websites, blogs, forums, and other web apps quickly and easily. Major corporations such as Netflix, Linkedin, and many others use Flask, rendering it a general and efficient web framework. Pyramid — Pyramid is a framework for building large-scale web applications that is remarkable for its developer versatility.
Other noteworthy frameworks include:
Web2Py
CherryPy
Twisted
Turbogears
Botley
Sanic
Japronto
Since we addressed python and its frameworks, now let’s move forward and discuss the core part of this blog. Shall we? Let’s go!
Why is Python particularly well-suited for Web Development?
Python is used to create the majority of highly challenging applications and websites, such as Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, and others. There are good reasons over prefer Python to other programming languages. Let’s look at some of the best reasons to use Python for web development.
1. Less Code Complexity
Python, unlike Java and C++, helps you to build a web application with less code. When it comes to developing large and complex web applications, this function is extremely important. Another intriguing aspect of Python is its clarity and performance. Anyone with no or limited knowledge of Python can read the Python-based software. Python is the most appropriate language for web application creation because of its versatility.
2. Portability
Python’s functionality and portability enable it to perform well in terms of dynamic semantics and rapid prototyping. It can be easily integrated into a variety of applications, including those written in different programming languages. As a result, you’ll be able to quickly patch new modules and expand Python’s core terminology. Besides, it has the ability to bind a variety of components.
3. Easy Prototyping
It also enables you to easily create ideal prototypes for your software. Working on prototype creation and ad-hoc programming functions is simple with Python. Working on prototype development and ad-hoc programming functionality is simple with Python. Python is the perfect language for web development because of this feature. You will save time, money and get a functional prototype for your web application. Python allows you to build feature prototypes more quickly.
4. Adaptability
Python is compatible with UNIX-based computer systems, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Also, it operates on IBM, AIX, Solaris, and VMS, among other platforms.
5. Extensive Support
You aren’t limited to the online community for assistance. Developers may also use the vast libraries to deal with different situations. Python includes libraries for all, including operating system interfaces, web server tools, statistics, and more. It makes it simple to add features to your web applications. Python apps use a variety of modules, so you won’t have to write any code from scratch. Python libraries can extend applications as well. It saves a lot of time because the code can be reused for other applications.
Moving on,
Python is a stable, scalable, well-built, simple, readable programming language that has all you need to create the ideal web application. Matellio makes it easy to hire top Python developers for your web development processes.
Why choose Matellio for Python Web Development?
We have extensive Python software development services and have completed projects in a variety of industries and sizes of businesses. Matellio is the company to choose from if you need a committed team of Python developers who have an outstanding proven record of customer loyalty.
We choose Python Framework, which would be perfect for your business and project requirements as a professional Python development company. So, sophisticated codes or software are developed in less time, leaving more time for Quality assurance and Testing.
Why choose us?
Transparency — Matellio, as the development partner, tends to keep customers informed about the development process. Our project manager communicates weekly/daily updates to clients on a routine basis to keep you informed about the status of your project.
Matellio, as the development partner, tends to keep customers informed about the development process. Our project manager communicates weekly/daily updates to clients on a routine basis to keep you informed about the status of your project. Pricing — Every project for python web development starts with a strategy in mind. We have competitive prices. As a firm, we assist our clients in determining the best investment strategy for their projects.
Every project for python web development starts with a strategy in mind. We have competitive prices. As a firm, we assist our clients in determining the best investment strategy for their projects. Support — Matellio also offers maintenance and post-delivery assistance for its projects. It is paramount that the software we create continues to fulfill customer needs and generate revenue for our clients. As a result, we’ve put in place a reliable maintenance and support system.
Matellio also offers maintenance and post-delivery assistance for its projects. It is paramount that the software we create continues to fulfill customer needs and generate revenue for our clients. As a result, we’ve put in place a reliable maintenance and support system. Delivery — Many of our clients have been satisfied with Matellio’s ability to reach project deadlines. Matellio provides its client with a project plan that includes project deadlines before beginning production. Timelines, as we all know, are crucial in generating investor confidence in your product.
Recommended Read — What Skills to Look for When Hiring a Python Developer
Conclusion
Python’s potential in web development is optimistic. It will maintain its dominance over the other programming languages. If you’re thinking about using it or being used for a software development project, this is an excellent option. We hope that our article provided you with a better understanding of the details of this programming language as well as its potential prospects.
If you’re looking for proficient python developers, contact our experts to hire a python web developer to meet your development requirements.
Thanks for reading. | https://medium.com/@apoorv-gehlot/what-are-the-top-benefits-of-using-python-for-web-development-99e8fd851201 | ['Apoorv Gehlot'] | 2021-09-10 06:37:56.052000+00:00 | ['Web App Development', 'E Commerce Development', 'Software Development'] |
Mobile App Development Company in Pune | It’s hard to imagine how a business empire can sustain without mobile apps! Mobile apps are the elite swords of the virtual world, allowing businesses to rip open new boxes of opportunity and widen their customer reach.
At Data EximIT, we have an expert team of Mobile Application Developers team to deliver customized, advanced, and flawless Applications. We are one of the top mobile app development companies in Pune offer comprehensive and custom-built solutions and services to startups and enterprises by leveraging our years of experience shipping high-quality digital products.
Whether it is native app development for Android and iOS or taking the cross-platform approach, we fully leverage the underlying platform’s technology capabilities to create fun, engaging, and user-friendly mobile experiences.
We Build World-Class Mobility Products. Visit at www.dataeximit.com | Write to us at [email protected] | Call Us: +161–97–986983 | https://medium.com/@khushbu-muchhadiya/mobile-app-development-company-in-pune-ec3059feccde | ['Khushbu Muchhadiya'] | 2020-12-08 05:49:34.598000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Developers', 'Pune', 'Mobile Apps', 'Mobile App Development', 'App Development'] |
Are Social Media Superstars Frauds, Or Victims of the Venomous Blue Tick? | Don’t do it!
So I’ve tried twice to be gifted the blue tick, and was rejected. After the second “Hell No!” I decided never to ask permission to validate my worth, because it’s ludicrous to buy into the notion that you have to be ordained by the priesthood of social media, before your views can be endorsed.
In the past few weeks, Twitter has become a basin of hellish fodder, as activated issues stemming from the disorder of things when all hell breaks loose, has revealed the dark side of being an influencer with a massive platform — that’s built on the admiring gaze of followers — who only want consistency and predictability in exchange for their unwavering loyalty.
Twitter is my feeding ground — it’s where I love to play, and the fun is elevated by the ability to garner enough attention for what I do, without the avalanche of judgment and barrage of insults that always hit below the belt.
It’s also an observatory center, that permits me to freely take notes, as I witness how verified folks endure the stormy weather patterns, that often greet daily activities.
At first, my station on the sidelines, was merely to prepare for the day when the blue tick would become my reality, but since that day will never come, it’s all about empathy for those constantly warring faceless enemies, and the gratitude that I escaped such a fate.
Social media has always posed a challenge for me, due to my reluctance to be “social” with an agenda. I’m wedded to the organic connections that are funneled through face-to-face encounters that seal a level of trust that can’t be easily thwarted by the snappiness of clicks.
The major issue with crowded platforms is the ease with which we can toss away former alliances that were either built through viral retweets or the now rarified form of intimacy, that deserves more than the passive/aggressive stance as the sign of abrupt dismissal.
In the past few weeks, I tried in vain to take a much-needed break from Twitter, as I found myself front and center in a battle that I didn’t even instigate.
It all began with the scandalous takedown of a beloved social media superstar, who wrote a book about the etiquette of being authentic, and garnered an audience of Black women who were sold on her particular brand of delivery.
An ill-fated tweet and the swift response to it, unleashed a firestorm that galvanized pretty much everything that followers believed to be true. Turns out that the art of engagement doesn’t have to be embedded in presenting your “authentic” self, as long as your affinity for performance art is intact.
And so the season for Black Americans vs. Africans was in full bloom, as it became clear that influencers have a tendency to play the role they’ve selected for fame and blue ticks, without the inherent level of respect for the admirers who are banking on the fact that you’re genuinely invested in the culture — that gifted your prominent status.
At first the dragging was hard to watch — almost like having a front row seat to a firing squad that never ends, even after you’ve been splattered with body parts and reddish fluid.
But ironically, the ceremonious event birthed something even more tragic.
I can attest to the fact that friendships made offline, were destroyed online, as the hashtag #DOS or #DescendantsofSlaves or #AmericanDOS began to trend as a reaction to the appalling evidence of how an African in America allegedly mocked her dedicated audience — using the same portal that made her a star.
Suddenly, those who share her heritage in any form, are deemed the enemy, even if they never participated in the falsehood of presentation or allyship. And the online riots have gotten so intense that Nigerian-Americans are being assembled at the chopping block — for a crime that was committed by an unrelated individual who happens to call our country — home.
Her downfall undoubtedly alerted users of the specific dangers of online fame, especially when your anointment has been utilized as a veil to present what the crowd yearns for, when privately, there’s a vastly different way of thinking that provides the engine of enlightenment.
The battle of Black and Blacker, still wages on, and the stakes are higher with casting announcements and the broader view that those who can’t claim a certain history, need to make way for homegrown versions, who were born for the limelight that’s currently being hacked.
In the midst of this very violent row, is another storm that has made landfall, and this time it’s big!
It involves the management of the hip-hop exhibit at the National African American History and Culture Museum, under the direction of Timothy Anne Burnside, who happens to be a White woman.
I won’t lie that when the topic started trending, I was immediately triggered by the audacity of a White woman, manning a space that doesn’t warrant her input.
It goes back to the days when a struggling writer had to contend with the fact that her era wasn’t flexible enough to recognize the vitality of diversity, so she was shit out of luck. There’s also the never-ending reminder of how White women will always matter in every genre of life.
White women don’t have to fight to be heard, or tread lightly when entering spaces that are specific to a culture, because they have the entire world at their finger tips. All they have to do is enhance their aesthetic to fit the area of their choice, and the backing of the men who serve as guard dogs — only helps to validate their entry.
I resent the fact that the Kardashian/Jenner women, can effortlessly boost their features in a bid to capture well-positioned Black men, who want White women that are Black enough for their weakened mindset.
I resent the fact that Iggy Azalea is a more respected in the rap world, based on her willingness to dilute the Whiteness of Amethyst Amelia Kelly, in favor of a moniker and inflated body parts, that booted the legitimacy of Azealia Banks.
I resent the atrocity of the art world, and how it only admits the blueprint of White privilege as it pertains to stolen treasures, and how centuries after colonialism left invaded territories straddled by the aftermath of brutality, and epic abuse, there is still a refusal to reject the status quo by re-writing the wrongs and implementing justice.
When we still have White people in illustrious domaines that cater mostly to White people, explaining why they can’t give up the prized evidence — uprooted from the glass cases of far away kingdoms that they historically fucked over with greed and supremacy — that’s when all bets are off.
My irritation about the hiring of a White woman to oversee a genre that she’s knowledgeable about because she could afford the privilege — is a symptom of exhaustion that comes from never being able to amass the limitless possibilities of my White counterparts.
There’s also the bitter truth of how Black men have played a significant role in creating the gateway for White women, in ways that leave Black women who look Black — in the swirling dust.
The debate spurned a realization that those with the symbol of verification, aren’t necessarily the ones that will assuage your heated dispositions, every time you look to them for guidance and wisdom.
The hardest lesson to learn is delivered during a crisis, when you’re hit with the truth of how social media stages a belief system that only thrives when you’re blindly being led by verifications — that only light up when the sacrifice is minimal.
When the query hits too close to home, the agreement shifts into revised territory without permission.
This is by no means an attempt to rail on the notables of social media, but rather a method of exposure, to reveal how techies masterminded the avenue of a catastrophic climate.
The online verification process was initially reserved as a recommended option for A-listers, who were braving the torrential forecast, that accompanies the decision to join the club.
Also, people have a lot of time on their hands these days, and this increases the likelihood that bogus accounts will be parading as the real thing. And so the best way to battle the epidemic is to curate pages that bear the only symbol that matters.
Six years later, and the requirements have been edited to include those who represent the trend of the moment. And if you’re able to devise newly-minted hashtags that take off like a surefire rocket — then you can enjoy the celebrity lifestyle that initiates your worthiness.
Everyone wants to be aligned with a winner, and so your numbers go all the way up, and suddenly you’re the voice of a movement.
Platforms are privy to the power of “woke” Millennials and the slightly older contenders who got lucky. It can’t just be about celebs who have managed enviable careers, it has to now include the masters of activism or those who are experts at performing for clicks.
The competitors vying for blue check marks are fiercely fighting for approved recognition, and you can’t assume that the work that was done back when labor was valued, will automatically make you a shoo-in, just ask, Grammy-nominated singer and hit-maker, Freddie Jackson.
But is it really “for the kids?” or is the honor systematically given to those who can activate Moments with their special brand of awareness, that can give the business of systemic injustice the algorithms of victory.
Are social media superstars fraudulent in activity or unfortunate victims of the venomous tick?
Maybe a combination of both with more emphasis on the curse of the blue symbol.
When I applied to be verified, the process was awkward because the questions that needed to be answered convinced me that I was out of my league. I felt I needed the tick in order to convince potential employers of my viability as a popular blogger who needed no introduction.
But when my application was denied, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief, because I knew I wasn’t built for the responsibilities that come with that level of fame and adulation. I was certain that I wasn’t capable of leading the charge under the contract of never deviating from the rulebook without consent.
I knew that the blue tick represents infallibility, and the bankability that you will never be in the position of having to apologize for being human under the duress of setup accounts — that are geared to run you into the ground, and the plethora of threads that are branded for your imminent disposal.
We were sold on the lie of how regular people can seamlessly become the champions of our heart, without question, and with the authority of a goddamn symbol, and the gathering endorsers who encourage the desire to add ourselves to the sea of believers.
But, it doesn’t take long for our senses to be riled by the reality of imperfections, and how we can’t blame the ones who tried but failed to live up to unrealistic expectations.
Is it worth it to be bitten by the tick of our discontent, or is it reasonable to dispense with the worship sessions, and go back to simply relying on the durable quotient of personalized durability, and how that practice saves us from the betrayal of misplaced emotions that already have a home — within us.
Maybe it’s time for a longterm cure, and the good news is that we don’t have to beg for it.
We just have to reactivate our humanness. | https://nilegirl.medium.com/are-social-media-superstars-frauds-or-are-they-victims-of-the-venomous-blue-tick-c0a0fc8403de | ['Ezinne Ukoha'] | 2018-09-25 11:59:13.192000+00:00 | ['Twitter', 'Social Media', 'Media', 'Equality', 'Influencers'] |
by Martino Pietropoli | First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.
Follow | https://medium.com/the-fluxus/wednesday-eyeglasses-for-men-19be277100e4 | ['Martino Pietropoli'] | 2018-01-03 01:31:26.476000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Cartoon', 'Wednesday', 'Fashion', 'Comics'] |
What I want to tell you about Solstice | Photo by Nazrin B-va on Unsplash
December 21st, 2020. Winter Solstice. Grand Conjunction. Aquarian Age.
To be honest, I don’t know what most of this technically means, though there are many experts out there who could break it down for you quite easily.
What I want to tell you about Solstice has to do with what I know for sure — ENERGY.
I am wired to read energy. I see it, feel it, hear it, and make sense of what’s presenting on that energetic level so you (and I) best know how to work with it. My lens is mostly fine tuned to energy psychology — how to best navigate the dynamics that exist underneath the surface of life, namely in the relationships we have with ourselves and others.
I’m a combo of messenger, mirror, and translator. Not just the deliverer of information, but what to do about it. Kind of like if pragmatism and woo had a baby, it would be me.
Energy often shows up to me in more nuanced ways than what is seen or said physically. When there’s a shift, I sense it, definitely personally, and often collectively. My first go to internal question is — What’s up with the energy and how can we optimize within it?
About 6 months before the upcoming Solstice, my inner radar was LIT UP. Something big is coming. Given the clarity that came through around this, I knew it was important to share it with you so you can be as present, conscious, and grounded for what’s going on, as it is a big part of why you’re here right now. The timing of you being alive during this highly charged energy period is absolutely a soul driven choice. Your spirit wanted to experience it.
Now, what’s up with the energy…
An energetic view of the last 10 years
Let’s hop back in time to see the layout energetically for the past 10 years. You’ll notice a lead up to right now.
2010–2012 New moves, decisions, bigger transition points. Almost as if life is gearing you up for the next phase. Except you don’t step right into that next phase, not as you envision it. It takes awhile. Your clarity isn’t as crisp or detailed as you’d like it to be. Sometimes, it feels sludgy and slow trying to get ahead. But it also seems like a definitive turning point in life.
2012–2015 You begin to settle in, and think this is the new way, but just as you get cosy in this new reality, unexpected challenges are taking place in what feels like a more than usual fashion. You keep finding the sweet spots and things to be grateful for, but you’re starting to feel like what the heck, lay off of me life!
2016–2019 Similar period to the first, new transitions again, you think you’ve found your groove, but this time a more MASSIVE clearing and big changes — in relationships, of questioning your role within the world, of knowing who you are and what you’re about, beginning to feel more confident but only after at least one dark night of the soul where things haven’t gone according to your ego’s plan.
2020 Lots of commotion on the collective level. You are compelled to find your still point. Why? Because you have to. You are being asked to level up your discernment so you can intuitively know what is relevant and resonant for you to pay attention to, as fear narratives abound everywhere, and many are freaking out (sometimes, including you).
You get crystal clear on what’s important to you. Decide you are no longer willing to compromise your truth or your life. No more masks (ironically as they begin to be required in some places). There’s major changes happening. Your personal world over the past decade has prepared you for the global shift that has gone this year. Now, you find your gratitude, your breath, your connection with Spirit, and you’ve found your real power. This then informs you around what’s coming up next.
Timeline Shift & Choice Point — December 21st, 2020
Imagine for a moment, the trajectory of your life from a linear perspective. See a line, with your past on the left half of the line and your future on the right half of the line. Your present is you, right now, a little dot in the middle. You walk the line of your life, right? Ah, if only life were that simple!
What’s more realistic of how we operate in the world is with each foot on two different timelines. One foot is firmly on the timeline of fear around the future, including limited thinking loops, hold back habits, and traumas of the past driving your bus. Your perception and behavior reflect this.
The other foot is solidly (hopefully) on the timeline of a future vision that represents your hopes, dreams, and desires. You consciously make an effort to think thoughts which support the outcomes you’d like and act accordingly as well.
These two projected future timelines run parallel to the one we call your life. It makes it a little tricky to effectively move ahead when your feet are navigating different ground beneath them. It’s not one solid walkway where you can move at a rhythmic or aligned pace.
So, what happens on December 21st?
Those two timelines you’re standing in, they split further away from each other, the gap widens. It is a distinct timeline shift. You may even feel a “ca-chunk” like a land mass splitting apart. No joke. Especially if you are energy aware and sensitive to subtlety. Heads up!
Many are thinking of the timeline shift on the 21st in greatly polarized ways — from the dark to the light, from fear to love, from 3D to 5D. Take your pick. It certainly has an underlying sense of — are you going down with the titanic or are you grabbing a lifeboat. Except that lifeboat is YOU.
It’s you putting both of your feet onto your actual timeline, not the ones running parallel to it. You becoming present to the choice point here and saying “THIS. This is what I’m committing to creating. For myself. For the kind of life I’d like everyone to experience (think needs met, systems supporting, bridges built, integration happening, wholeness underway).”
You are here to play your role in this — together, with all of us who also chose to be here at this time. It’s a shift from me to we, not in theory or philosophy, but in reality and practice. Those — in the minority — who have led the way up to this point will now be joined by many others, including you, should you choose. The energy of life and consciousness itself is asking you to choose, not just for your life but with the collective in mind.
What I do know about Aquarian energy is that it’s a time for groups and the collective in general to rise. It’s the masses saying no more to a matrix mindset. There’s a soul reclamation going on. Major change is happening on every level and in every system — economy, politics, health, environment, education, how and who we love. We are craving the freedom that is our divine birthright. Different people obviously have different ideas around what that means. It’s our job to start and better contribute to this conversation; exploring the role of our relationship to power and to each other.
It will be a revolutionary ride — December 21st. 2021. The next decade.
This is what I want to tell you about Solstice.
Choose well. Hat tip to our guides and the divine, always lighting the way for us and reminding us there is one.
Originally published at https://www.vasmith.com/blog/2020/12/18/what-i-want-to-tell-you-about-solstice | https://medium.com/@pragmaticpsychic/what-i-want-to-tell-you-about-solstice-144bab789110 | ['Vanessa Smith - Vasmith.Com'] | 2020-12-19 16:52:35.610000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Astrology', 'Transformation', 'Consciousness', 'Intuition'] |
Stop concocting unscientific excuses for ignoring brain injuries from football | Note: this essay was originally published in the Chicago Sun-Times, whose permission to repost I greatly appreciate : https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/10/19/18443165/stop-concocting-unscientific-excuses-for-ignoring-brain-injuries-from-football
NFL football is a game of inches, a “bruising ballet” and powered by iconic statistics.
Fans recognize the number 55 as the most touchdown passes in a year (Peyton Manning), 197 as the most receiving touchdowns in a career (Jerry Rice), and so on.
But for scientists, lawyers and players and their families concerned about life or death after football, a new statistic looms over the others: 110/111. This fraction represents the number of deceased NFL players found to have a pattern of brain lesions known as CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), out of the nearly-identical number of all NFL players tested for the disease to date.
110/111 is a curious kind of number — both potentially misleading and yet highly informative. Using these case reports to estimate how widespread CTE and its hallmark symptoms of mental decline and mood disturbances will be over the next several decades is tricky because the sample isnot representative; the 111 whose families sought autopsies for their next-of-kin tend to include those players who suspected they might have CTE because of symptoms they suffered during retirement.
Unfortunately, advocates on both sides are desperately misusing the 110/111 statistic. A few claim we will eventually learn that a “shockingly high percentage” of all NFL players will develop CTE, but this may over-rely on the skewed nature of the first 111 autopsies.
More misleading, and more abhorrent, however, are the arguments made by many physicians and lawyers to the effect that 110/111 means nothing.
For the past several years, I worked with colleagues at Harvard Law School to craft recommendations for how government agencies, particularly the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), could help to reduce the risk of CTE (our work was publishedearlier this year in the Arizona Law Review). But in the course of that work, I repeatedly encountered experts outside the risk and public health disciplines who would not accept mainstream risk-based observations as to why the 110/111 series of case reports — along with other human and animal studies — are ominous about the odds that a player will develop CTE.
Critics lacking public health training are routinely making four illogical claims to “manufacture doubt” about this emerging issue.
First, I was buffeted with repeated claims that “some players never developed CTE despite long careers.” I hope it’s obvious that this is a completely useless fact. A risk factor never has to result in disease or injury among everyone for it to cause grave harm in a few or in many victims; that’s the very definition of “risk” (as opposed to certainty).
Imagine the claim that “smoking can’t cause lung cancer because I heard of someone who smoked for 60 years and died in a car crash” and the derision that would, or at least should, dismiss that fallacy. Similarly, our draft OSHA study was criticized because we didn’t mention the mirror-image observation — that it may be possible to develop CTE without ever having experienced repeated head trauma. Again, change this utterance to “smoking can’t cause lung cancer because radon can,” and one should shudder at the illogic.
Besides, it’s not even clear that a single human being has ever developed CTE without some history of head trauma: the Mayo Clinic examined 264 specimens from a brain bank, and found CTE in 21 of the 66 persons who had been contact-sport athletes, but not in even a single one of 198 matched control subjects without contact-sport experiences.
Other skeptics, using two similar spasms of illogic, actually argue that although CTE is associated with devastating symptoms, the brain lesions themselves may be “tiny abnormalities [that] might not have any specific clinical significance.” Again, anecdotes about a specific person with CTE lesions and no symptoms, or the opposite fact that many people can have similar symptoms without CTE lesions, are just noise, not signals of anything relevant.
And it turns out, we can learn much about the true risk of CTE among football players by starting with, though not accepting at face value, the series of 110 case reports. We can readily estimate thelowest possible risk, simply by exploring the unrealistic best-case scenario that not a single additional CTE case will ever be found among the rest of the players who were in the League at the same time as the 110 were.
Using individual player data from the NFL on the number of his team’s snaps each player was on the field for, and on the length of his career in the League, I estimated that there was a total of about 12,000 player-careers worth of on-field activity (about 26,000 different players suited up during this time period, but many of them played only occasionally and in a very few games). So 110 cases out of 12,000 players yields a best-case risk of 0.0092, or just under a 1 percent risk.
A 1-in-100 chance (at the bare minimum) of a grave disease caused by environment or occupation is a huge risk that any law or regulation would deem unacceptable. The Supreme Court instructed OSHA in 1980 that occupational disease risks above one chance per thousand must be worthy of regulation, and Congress has instructed the EPA in various laws to regulate cancer and other risks exceeding one chance per million.
What, then, could OSHA do to reduce this significant risk of disease, in football and in other occupations (logging, commercial driving, the military) where repeated head trauma is commonplace? OSHA could propose regulatory limits for the cumulative head-trauma forces workers could undergo, just as it has regulated various chemicals based on case series of as few as seven workers afflicted with cancer or sterility, and having a common exposure.
In the 2014 court decision in Secretary of Labor v. SeaWorld, the D.C. Circuit ruled that OSHA indeed can reduce risks in entertainment industries just as it does in manufacturing, over the lone dissent from new Supreme Court appointee and self-described “textualist” Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote that Congress “must have silently intended” to exempt entertainment when it established OSHA, even though Congress never wrote anything of the sort.
But regulation is sometimes clumsy, especially when remedies are largely untested and need to adapt to changing circumstances and evolving science. At the other extreme, agency partnerships with industries and other forms of self-regulation have a generally poor track record of accomplishing much more than freezing in place the status quo.
One promising middle ground between the dictatorial and the useless is a concept we pioneered at OSHA in the late 1990s: “enforceable partnerships” wherein government, industry, and labor cooperate to develop a detailed but flexible code of practice for anticipating and controlling health and safety risks, and where industry agrees that government can enforce the code of practice as if it was a private contract.
If football can evolve to remain thrilling and inspirational without being a grave gamble for those who work at it, as I hope it will, all the stakeholders (especially the physicians) need to stop playing defense by concocting unscientific excuses for inaction, and start drawing up plays that will better preserve the game and its workers’ health.
[Adam M. Finkel is a pioneer in improving methods for the quantitative risk assessment of occupational and environmental health hazards. He is a clinical professor of environmental health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and was both the chief scientist and a high-ranking enforcement official at OSHA during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.] | https://adamfinkel424.medium.com/stop-concocting-unscientific-excuses-for-ignoring-brain-injuries-from-football-80bf63d86207 | ['Adam M. Finkel'] | 2019-05-24 00:15:29.677000+00:00 | ['Football', 'Risk Assessment', 'Concussions', 'CTE', 'Junk Science'] |
Here | Photo by Nilay Ramoliya from Pexels
Here.
I take responsibility.
Of the past and the present and the future.
Of everything, I have been and I will be.
I take responsibility for the choices and their consequences.
In isolation, I take responsibility for my solitude.
In indecision, I take responsibility for my words.
In rejection, I take responsibility for my ability to recover.
In recovery, I take responsibility for my losses.
In this phase of growth, I take responsibility for the mere mortality of my body.
In this limited existence, I take responsibility for my relentless unlimited soul.
I take responsibility for not having taken responsibility for the things that matter to me the most.
I take responsibility for every single time I accepted less than what I know I deserve.
I take responsibility for lacking courage in the moments I needed courage the most.
Self-respect.
I discover self-respect through the words coming out of my soul.
I embrace self-respect through the unchartered territories that I have already traversed.
Within me, there is a surging, uprising voice that is conquering every voice that has ever made my spirits feel weak, feel timid.
I am discovering self-respect in my voice, as I learn to voice everything I did not voice yet, on my behalf.
I see now, through my limited ability to understand life and the world as it is, only through the mere experience of being human.
On my spectrum of extremities, I discover balance in my self-respect.
Here I am myself.
Here I am alive.
Here I have self-respect.
Here I have courage.
Here I am free.
Here I am speaking my truth.
Here I am walking yet another new territory.
Here I am alone.
Here I am complete.
Here, I sit with my self-respect.
Here, I find myself complete. | https://medium.com/@rumanashaikh/here-f5e55b64d6dd | ['Rumana Zs'] | 2021-03-15 22:14:06.832000+00:00 | ['Self Respect', 'Life', 'Courage', 'Love', 'Self'] |
8 Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Recover from Disordered Eating Behaviours | 8 Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Recover from Disordered Eating Behaviours
Truth be told, I tried to recover my menstrual cycle and to get rid of my past disordered eating behaviours for more than a decade. I read every book available (but I always skipped the homework), I tried every new “lifestyle change” I came across, I went to yoga, and became a yoga teacher, I studied nutrition and dietetics, and I saw countless of specialists.
I spent more money than I care to admit, but the reality is that I wasn’t ready, as I kept making the following mistakes, as if I was stuck in a never-ending cycle I couldn’t get out of.
I Weighed regularly
At the beginning of my recovery, I weighed myself fairly regularly. I made myself believe (although I knew deep down inside that I was cheating all along) that stepping on the scale was a good thing, as I could monitor my progress and see how fast it would take me to gain weight. Right! As if it was THAT easy!
The truth was, especially in the very beginning, that if I saw the number going down, I would put on a sad face, but cheer inside. If instead, the number had increased more than I intended to, I would restrict my caloric intake for the rest of the day, or I would compensate by walking on exercising for longer.
There is no way to sugar coat the pill; if you really want to monitor your weight, let a doctor, or a nutritionist to do so. You can set up a monthly appointment and take it from there.
The reality is that you won’t get your period back by monitoring every gram you put on (which is sometimes due to stress, dehydration, and lack of sleep), and you give yourself a headache instead.
I kept Body checking
Body checking is so triggering, and such a difficult habit to break. Sometimes we do it unconsciously, and we don’t even realise we are sending the wrong signals to our brain. To give you an example, when I started recovery, I kept touching my hip bones whenever I was under stress or nervous. It didn’t occur to me that it was a nasty habit I had to drop, as much as the constant mirror checking.
I had to become aware of it before moving forward and taking the next step. Whenever I found myself reaching for my bones, I stopped my hands mid-air and circled the table and took a break instead. Whenever I caught myself staring at my belly with a less than excited face, I hugged my body and stated 5 things that were just perfect with myself; my sense of humor, for example, or my single yellow tooth that makes me stand out of the crowd.
Find your way to break the habits, but make sure you write it into this week to-do list.
I Downloaded a fitness or food tracking app
When we start recovering, usually, our determination is through the roof, and we don’t want to half-ass anything. We are ready to get our cycle and health back. And so, we do everything in our power to control the amount of food we eat and the time spent exercising. We are so keen that we even download a fitness and food tracker app, or we rely on an expensive watch. We really want to make sure that our caloric intake is enough to compensate our 10 miles run: as we all know, calories in=calories out.
Well…yes and no. The truth is that recovery is all about energy availability, and our body will ovulate and menstruate when it feels safe enough to do so. Adopting a controlling, stressed out, maniacal attitude towards what we eat and how we move, won’t really help us, and it is not sustainable in the long run.
Try instead to tune in with your body’s desires and give a rest to your beautiful and clever brain.
I kept following triggering accounts
You finally decide to recover and put all the ducks in a row, but at night time, after a tiring day filled with activities, when your attention spam decreases dramatically, you indulge in “harmless” scrolling of fit/clean eating accounts. You have always done it, and you are sure they don’t trigger your old habits. Or you may sit and flick through a gossip magazine, with all those half-naked celebrity bodies and their 500 calories celery diet, or you may google intermittent fasting or the latest trend that pops up into your mailbox.
Stop it right now. DELETE. DELETE. DELETE.
Your brain is very sophisticated, and it does whatever it can to make sure you thrive and survive; if you spend time on these sites, it will automatically think they are essential for survival, and it will keep reminding you of what you have just read and learned. Don’t do it. Same goes for reading the caloric labels on food. Don’t! You don’t need it right now.
I avoided sharing my recovery
In all honesty, this point is tricky and subjective. If you are used to do things alone, or if you don’t trust the people around you, please do so (and find new friends). But it is so much easier to recover when you can talk it out with the people that love you. You will have shitty days, waves of guilt, and you will also overcome immense obstacles and feel that you can achieve whatever you want in the world. Wouldn’t it be better to have a pal that support you and stand by your side?
On the same token, I tried to recover 45,000 times without the help of a nutritionist, dietitian, or counselor. I found it very hard not to have anyone to keep me on track; I would get to a point and then hide back into my old habits. As soon as I joined a program, shared my story, and found the right fit for me, it took me only a few months and less stress to get my cycle back. It was more expensive than to do it on my own, but it was so much more rewarding, and it allowed me to become a mother in a short period of time.
I Avoided making goals
Goals setting is super important in life, business, and in your recovery. How do you know if you are walking the right path if you don’t have any goal in mind? It is like setting up a business with no idea of how much money you want to make or how many hours you want to work per week; it is messy, frustrating, and utterly confusing.
So, what about you dust off your journal, and you start writing your goals now? What do you want to achieve? When do you want to get your period back? Goals are different for everyone, but they are so important to track your progress and motivation. And don’t avoid them for fear of failure. Let’s say that you want your menstrual cycle back by June, and you don’t make it. What’s the worst-case scenario? Look at what you have achieved by having a goal in mind. Maybe you are less afraid of eating out; maybe you feel more energetic, perhaps you have given away those tiny skinny jeans. Hurray! That’s a reason to celebrate, not to put yourself down.
I didn’t have a strong why (s)
This is different from setting goals. This is the start-up point.
Why do you want to recover? Not your best friend, cousin, or that girl you met on the FB chat. What is going on in YOUR life?
It is not enough to recover because you want your menstrual cycle back; please dig deeper, spend time to find out the reason(s) you are on this life-changing, yet super challenging journey. Don’t start before you have your whys set in stone.
Write them down, repeat them every day, and rewrite them when you think you have grown, and it is time for a change. And give yourself the permission to feel the feeling; maybe you are lying to yourself that you want your menstrual cycle back, but in reality, you would like to have a baby by the end of the year. Say it, and make it happen.
I didn’t work on my mindset
Let’s say that you decide to overcome your disordered eating behaviours and hypothalamic amenorrhea, but you still under eat because you like going to sleep with an empty stomach, or maybe you keep up your fitness regime, and you sign up for the next marathon, or you sleep a few hours because you are working your brain to the ground, and you accept that new promotion that comes with a bit of extra money and tons of responsibilities.
Recovery comes first; you need to prioritise it and be aware of it. It is a full-time job that requires you to make sacrifices and change your lifestyle for a better outcome in the future.
If you don’t change your mindset, if you don’t believe that you are recovering, and if you don’t act like someone that wants to recover…Sorry, but…you are just wasting your time. | https://medium.com/life-without-an-eating-disorder/8-mistakes-to-avoid-when-trying-to-recover-from-disordered-eating-behaviours-f602c1599ad8 | ['Claudia Vidor'] | 2020-12-03 02:48:54.730000+00:00 | ['Body Positive', 'Wellness', 'Eating Disorders', 'Body Image', 'Mental Health'] |
The Ultimate Guide to All Your Credit Line (Line of Credit) Questions | Finance Strategists | Look no further for all your questions about credit lines. We’ve answered 121 of the most common credit line questions for you. Before getting into the specifics, here’s a helpful video animation on what a line of credit actually is:
Line of Credit Animation Video from Finance Strategists
A line of credit, or LOC, is money lent to an individual or business which the borrower pays interest on. Depending on the type of LOC, the client either receives a lump sum, or is allowed to “draw against” their line of credit to make purchases, until the credit limit is reached. Typically lines of credit are given by banks, such as when an individual is issued a credit card.
1. Bad Credit Line Of Credit
Is it still possible to obtain a line of credit from most banks, even if you have a low credit score. However, the terms may not be as favorable. A bad credit line of credit may have you paying higher fees and interest, for example, or you may have to secure the LOC with physical assets.
2. Business Line Of Credit
A business line of credit is like an unsecured credit card businesses get from banks; they have a spending limit, which the bank decides, and they can spend up to that limit per month. The funds accumulate interest until paid off. Businesses often use lines of credit for short term funding.
3. Business Line Of Credit Requirements
The requirements for a business line of credit are different from lender to lender. In general, most lenders require having been in business for at least 6 months, at least $25,000 in annual revenue, and a credit score of around 500. However, some traditional lenders may have steeper requirements.
4. How To Get A Business Line Of Credit?
To get a business line of credit, you must first compare your options and check their requirements. Once you find one you qualify for, you must gather certain financial documents, such as bank statements, financial statements, and some legal documents. One you have your documentation and a willing lender, you can apply.
5. No Doc Business Line Of Credit
A no doc business line of credit is like a line of credit offered by banks but it requires less paperwork. These lines of credit are offered by alternative lenders that operate differently from traditional banks. These lenders also tend to offer a number of other short-term financing solutions for small businesses.
6. Stated Income Business Line Of Credit
A stated income business line of credit is a revolving credit line for which there is no income check requirement. These lines of credit offer businesses with limited income history an opportunity to receive businesses financing. These lines of credit often come with higher interest rates and a collateral requirement.
7. How Does A Business Line Of Credit Work?
A business line of credit is a revolving line of credit that is offered to businesses for financing purposes. A business has a credit limit, which is decided by the lender, and may spend up to that amount before needing to pay down the balance. They accrue interest on outstanding balances.
8. Is A Business Line Of Credit A Good Idea?
A business line of credit can be a great idea for business with a need for short-term funding. With a business line of credit, you can borrow up to your credit limit before having to pay down the balance. Business lines of credit are offered both by banks and by alternative lenders.
9. Business Line Of Credit Rates
The exact rate for a business line of credit will depend on your credit score and the lender you choose. As of 2020, SBA lines of credit offer interest rates as low as the Prime Rate plus 1.25%, traditional banks offer interest as low as 7%, and online lenders as low as 14% but up to 90%.
10. Business Equity Line Of Credit
A business equity line of credit allows a business to leverage the equity of their commercial or residential real estate for a revolving line of credit. These lines of credit have terms ranging from 12 to 180 months, making them useful for both short and long-term financing.
11. Business Line Of Credit Vs Loan
A business line of credit provides a pool of funds up to a specified credit limit that can be paid down and spent again, whereas a loan offers a lump sum. Lines of credit carry interest on the funds that are spent, and have a minimum monthly payment, whereas loans have a fixed monthly payment and a fixed interest rate.
12. Business Secured Line Of Credit
A secured business line of credit is a line of credit that is secured by some form of collateral, such as real estate. Secured LOCs have the advantage of being safe for banks, so they often have higher credit limits and lower interest. They can be a good option for new businesses with limited credit history.
13. Small Business Line Of Credit
A business line of credit is like a credit card that lenders provide to businesses. Small businesses can take advantage of them as well but may be charged more interest if they have a limited credit history. However, many lenders offer favorable rates even to very young businesses.
14. Line Of Credit For Small Business
One option for a line of credit that is ideal for small businesses is a secured line of credit. If you have property or real estate that you would be willing to secure the LOC with, you may be able to get a higher credit limit and lower interest. Other options include online lenders, who typically have lower credit requirements.
15. Unsecured Business Line Of Credit
An unsecured business line of credit is a line of credit offered to businesses that is not secured by collateral. An unsecured LOC is the most common form of business lines of credit. Unsecured lines of credit tend to be more expensive due to the comparatively higher risk.
16. Unsecured Business Line Of Credit For Startup
It can be difficult to get an unsecured business line of credit as a startup. If you have limited credit history, banks may see you as too risky. However, there are many alternative lenders, such as online lenders, that have less strict credit requirements and can serve you as well as a bank.
17. Unsecured Business Line Of Credit No Doc
A no doc business line of credit is like a regular line of credit, but without requiring as many documents. No doc lines of credit are often unsecured, meaning they are not backed up by physical assets. Usually, a no doc LOC will be supported by the personal credit of the business operator.
18. Business Line Of Credit Vs Credit Card
There are a few differences between a business line of credit and a credit card. Business lines of credit typically have stricter requirements, but have a higher credit limit. Because of this, business lines of credit are often used for big purchases and credit cards for frequent everyday purchases.
19. What Is A Business Line Of Credit?
A business line of credit is similar to a credit card. It is a revolving loan that has a credit limit, and businesses can spend up to that limit before needing to pay the balance down. Lines of credit have stricter requirements than actual business credit cards, but also offer a higher credit limit.
20. Commercial Line Of Credit
A commercial line of credit, also called a business line of credit, is a revolving loan that works like a credit card. Businesses can borrow up to a credit limit, and they carry interest on outstanding funds.These lines of credit are often unsecured, but secured LOCs exist as well.
21. Commercial Real Estate Line Of Credit
A commercial real estate line of credit is a commercial line of credit that is secured by some form of real estate. Often, businesses will leverage the equity in their property or building to secure this line of credit. Secured lines of credit often offer higher credit limits and lower interest.
22.Equity Line Of Credit
An equity line of credit is a line of credit that is secured by the equity in a home or property. These are often Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC) for personal loans, but businesses may take out equity lines of credit as well.
23. How To Get An Equity Line Of Credit?
To qualify for an equity loan, you must have equity available in your property. This means that what you owe on the property must be less than its value. For Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC), you can typically borrow up to 85% of the equity in your property minus what you owe.
24. Equity Line Of Credit On Investment Property
It is possible to take out an equity line of credit on an investment property, but the qualifications are more stringent. You will likely need a credit score of at least 680, a significant amount of cash at the ready, and a history of successful real estate investment.
25. Do You Need A Reason To Open An Equity Line Of Credit?
You do not need a reason to open an equity line of credit, but there are strict requirements to qualify and opening one can have serious implications. Using a home or property as collateral for a line of credit puts the assets in needless risk.
26.Equity Line Of Credit With Bad Credit
It is possible to qualify for an equity line of credit because you are securing it with the equity in your property. The purpose of a credit score is to quantify how likely and able someone is to pay back an outstanding balance; hence the term “credit.” But secured LOCs do not often have strict credit requirements.
27. Commercial Equity Line Of Credit
A commercial equity line of credit is an equity line of credit that is used by businesses. An equity line of credit is a line of credit that is secured by the equity in a piece of property. Often, businesses will leverage the equity in their real estate or building to take out this LOC.
28. How Does An Equity Line Of Credit Work?
An equity line of credit is a line of credit that is secured by the equity in real estate or property. A business will often leverage the equity in their property or building to take out the LOC. An individual may use a HELOC, or home equity line of credit, to take out an equity LOC.
29. Equity Loan Vs Line Of Credit
An equity loan and equity line of credit are both financial vehicles secured by real estate; however, a loan is a lump sum and a line of credit is more like a credit card. A line of credit also only charges interest on funds spent, where a loan charges monthly payments and thus consistent interest.
30. Home Line Of Credit
A HELOC, or a Home Equity Line of Credit, is a line of credit that is secured by the equity in your home. These loans often offer more favorable terms than traditional loans or LOCs because the lender has your house to seize as collateral in the event of default.
31. Home Line Of Credit Rate
As of June 2020, the average rate for a HELOC, or Home Equity Line of Credit, is 5.34%. The exact rate, as well as the credit amount and time to repay, all depend on the individual borrower and the value of the equity in their home.
32. Current Interest Rates For Home Equity Line Of Credit
As of June 2020, the average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.34%. Your particular interest rate will depend on many factors, including your credit history and the amount of equity in your home. Your home’s equity is its value minus any amount still owed.
33. What Are The Disadvantages Of A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
The main disadvantage to opening a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is that you are putting your house up as collateral. If you cannot pay your outstanding balance, your home is liable to be seized and sold to pay back your creditors.
34. Home Equity Line Of Credit
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a line of credit that is secured by the equity in your home. A line of credit is like a credit card, except that it usually has more stringent payment rules. A HELOC generally offers favorable terms in exchange for the added securitization.
35. Home Equity Line Of Credit Requirements
Typical requirements for a home equity line of credit are:
Equity in for of at least 15% to 20% of home’s total value
Debt-to-income ratio between 40% and 50%
Credit score of at least 620
Strong history of paying bills on time
Individual requirements will vary by lender, but these are common qualifications.
36. How Do Home Equity Line Of Credit Work?
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a line of credit that is secured by the equity in your home. The equity in your home is its value minus any amount owed. By securing the LOC with your home, you can generally get more favorable terms, but you risk losing your home if you default.
37. Home Equity Line Of Credit Tax Deductible
Home equity line of credit (HELOC) interest is not tax deductible unless used for purposes that directly and substantially maintain or improve the borrower’s home that was borrowed against. Pure cosmetic changes are likely not tax deductible. This has been the case since 2017, since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed.
38. Do You Need An Appraisal For A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
Yes, you will need an appraisal for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC. Your lender needs to know the true value of the equity in your home, as well as the amount still owed against it, in order to provide you with a line of credit.
39. Home Equity Line Of Credit Bad Credit
You can still get a home equity line of credit (HELOC) even with bad credit. Because the line of credit is secured by the equity in your home, lenders are more willing to offer lines of credit to riskier borrowers at rates lower than those of traditional loans or lines of credit.
40. How Much Are Closing Costs On A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
How much closing costs are on a home equity line of credit varies between lenders, but you can expect to pay 2% to 5% of the value of the loan. Some of the associates fees are an application fee, appraisal fees, processing fees, and a credit report fee.
41. Is A Home Equity Line Of Credit A Good Idea?
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, may be a good idea depending on your circumstances and purpose for applying. By taking out a HELOC, you are putting your home at risk if you default, so it is important to be sure you can pay. Generally speaking, home improvements are the best use of a HELOC.
42. Increase Home Equity Line Of Credit
It is possible to increase the limit on your home equity line of credit, or HELOC, by refinancing the loan and restructuring the terms. It is possible to extend the length of a HELOC by applying for an extension. Both options carry some financial risk, so consider carefully.
43. How Does A Home Equity Line Of Credit Work?
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, works by allowing you to secure your line of credit with the equity in your home. The equity is the value of your home minus any money still owed. By using your home as collateral, you get better rates than a traditional loan or LOC.
44. Home Equity Line Of Credit Interest Rate
As of June 2020, the average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35%. Your exact rate will vary depending on your particular circumstances and the amount of equity in your home. If you are using your HELOC for home renovation, the interest you pay may be tax deductible.
45. Is It Better To Get A Home Equity Loan Or Line Of Credit?
It is better to get a home equity loan if you know exactly how much money you need, whereas a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is better if you will have a period of ongoing costs with no definite amount, such as during a home renovation.
46. Difference Between Home Equity Loan And Home Equity Line Of Credit
The differences between a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, are the same as the differences between a loan and a credit card; a loan is a lump sum, and an LOC is a revolving credit line. Both charge interest.
47. Home Equity Loan Vs Line Of Credit
A home equity loan offers a lump sum, versus a line of credit (HELOC), which offers a revolving credit line. Home loans also have a fixed interest rate, where a HELOC has variable interest. Home loans charge interest on the whole amount of the loan, but HELOCs only charge on the money you spend.
48. Home Equity Loan Vs Line Of Credit Pros And Cons
Home Equity Loan
Pros:
Fixed interest rate
Easy to budget fixed payments
Lump sum
Cons:
Interest charged on whole amount
Rates are generally slightly higher
Vs
Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
Pros:
Revolving funds
Interest only charged on what you spend
Cons:
Variable interest
Easy to overspend
49.Home Equity Line Of Credit Vs Refinance
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a type of second mortgage, vs a refinancing where the terms of the existing debt are renegotiated. A refinancing pays off the existing mortgage and opens a new loan with new terms, whereas a HELOC leverages the equity in your home to open a line of credit.
50. Home Equity Line Of Credit Vs Cash Out Refinance
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a type of second mortgage, vs a cash out refinance which replaces your existing mortgage with a new loan of a greater amount. The proceeds from that loan pay off your existing mortgage and the remaining funds go to you.
51. What Is The Current Interest Rate On A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
Currently, the average interest rate on a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35%. Your exact rate will vary depending on your circumstances and the amount of equity in your home. Interest rates for HELOCs may also fluctuate based on the prime rate for borrowing.
52. What Is A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a revolving line of credit secured by the equity in your home. Your home’s equity is its value minus any money still owed. Securing your line of credit with your home generally allows you better rates than traditional loans or LOCs.
53. What Is The Average Interest Rate On A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
As of June 2020, the average interest rate on a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35%. Your exact interest rate may vary depending on your circumstances and the amount of equity in your home. However, HELOCs generally have more favorable rates than traditional loans.
54. How Does A Line Of Credit Work?
A line of credit works by allowing you to borrow funds from a revolving pool. You can spend the funds continuously so long as you continue making minimum payments and paying down the balance. Unlike a loan, with a line of credit you only pay interest on funds that you spend.
55. How Does A Checking Line Of Credit Work?
A checking, or overdraft, line of credit is a line of credit attached to your checking account to protect against overdraft charges. An overdraft LOC allows you to only be charged interest on the overdrawn amount, rather than the high overdraft fees you would normally incur.
56. How Long Does It Take To Get A Line Of Credit Approved?
How long it takes to get approved for a line of credit depends on what kind of line of credit it is. Home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs,are usually approved within 4–6 weeks. Personal lines of credit are generally approved much more quickly.
57. How Much Of A Credit Line Increase Should I Ask For?
How much of a credit line increase you should ask for depends on many factors. In general, it does not do your credit any favors to increase your limit unless the increase is definitely needed. You should be aware that increasing the limit on one card may impact your ability to increase your others.
58. How To Increase Your Line Of Credit?
Generally you can increase your credit limit on a personal line of credit simply by requesting one. Depending on the increase requested, you may be granted one without heavy scrutiny. Some banks may also provide you a credit increase automatically if your credit habits are good.
59. Line Of Credit Interest Rate
The average interest rate for a personal line of credit is 8% — 10%. The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit is around 5.35%. Your exact interest rate will vary depending on factors such as your credit score and whether or not your LOC is secured.
60. Line Of Credit Interest Rates
Personal line of credit interest rates range from 8% — 10%. Home equity line of credit (HELOC) interest rates average around 5.35%. Your exact interest rate will depend on factors such as your credit score and whether or not the line of credit is secured.
61. Line Of Credit Home Loan
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a revolving line of credit that is secured by the equity in your home. It differs from a home loan by acting more like a credit card; it has a pool of funds that you can withdraw from, pay down over time, and then spend again.
62. Line Of Credit Loan Rates
A personal line of credit typically has an interest rate of 8% — 10%. A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, has an average interest rate of 5.35% as of 2020. Credit cards, which are another type of unsecured line of credit, often have even higher interest rates.
63. Unsecured Line Of Credit Loans
An unsecured line of credit is different from a loan in a few ways:
Lines of credit offer a stream of funds that can be spent, paid back, and spent again, where a loan provides a lump sum
Lines of credit have variable interest rates where a loan has a fixed rate
64. Line Of Credit Vs.Loan?
Line of Credit
Pros:
Continuous funds
Interest only charged on money spent
Slightly lower average interest rate
Cons:
Variable interest
Easy to overspend
Vs.
Loan
Pros:
Consistent payments
Fixed interest
Easy to budget for
Cons:
Interest charged on money even if not spent
Slightly higher average interest rate
65. Line Of Credit Vs Loan
Line of Credit
Continuous funds
Variable interest
Interest accrued only on money spent
Monthly minimum payment
Generally for a shorter term
Better for ongoing, hard to predict expenses
Vs
Loan
Lump sum
Fixed interest
Interest accrued on whole amount
Consistent monthly payments
Generally for a longer term
Better for single or fully known expenses
66. Overdraft Line Of Credit
An overdraft line of credit is a line of credit that is attached to a checking account to prevent overdraft charges. An overdraft is when a transaction goes through on an account with $0, leading to a negative balance. The LOC absorbs the charges so the client can pay them back later.
67. Bad Credit Personal Line Of Credit
Having bad credit can make it difficult to get a personal line of credit. What’s worse is that if you apply, your credit score may go down even further when your lender performs a “hard inquiry” into your credit status. Low APR credit cards tend to be cheaper and easier to get, making them a potential alternative.
68. Personal Line Of Credit Rates
The average interest rate on a personal line of credit ranges from 8% — 10%. Your exact rate will vary depending on your circumstances, your credit, and whether or not you secure your line of credit. Personal lines of credit generally have lower interest rates than credit cards.
69.How Does Personal Line Of Credit Work?
A personal line of credit works by allowing a borrower access to a continuous stream of funds, up to a certain limit. Once the limit is reached, some amount of the funds must be paid back before they can be spent again. Interest is charged on outstanding balances that are carried.
70. Personal Line Of Credit Interest Rate
The average interest rate for a personal line of credit is 8% — 10%. Your exact rate will vary depending on your credit and whether or not your line of credit is secured. Personal credit cards generally have a higher interest rate than lines of credit, but are also much easier to get.
71. Personal Line Of Credit Interest Rates
The average interest rate for a personal line of credit ranges from 8% — 10%. These rates are less than those of a credit card, but personal LOCs generally require higher credit scores to get. There are a variety of alternative lenders, such as online lenders, that may be able to offer you a good rate even without an ideal credit score.
72. Personal Line Of Credit Loans
A personal line of Credit is different from a loan in a few ways:
It is a revolving line of credit instead of a lump sum
It has a variable interest rate rather than fixed
You pay interest on the money you spend rather than the whole amount
73. Personal Loan Versus Line Of Credit
Personal loan has some differences versus a line of credit. For example, lines of credit offer continuous funds, whereas a loan provides a lump sum. Loans also have fixed interest where lines of credit have variable interest. Lines of credit are ideal for continuous but uncertain costs, and a loan is ideal for single or known costs.
74. What’S Easier To Get Personal Loan Or Line Of Credit?
Personal loans and personal lines of credit are similarly difficult to get. Both require a healthy credit score, good credit history, and a certain demonstrable income. The bigger concern is how they should be used; lines of credit are ideal for continuous but uncertain costs, and a loan is ideal for single or known costs.
75. Personal Line Of Credit Vs Loan
Personal Line of Credit
Continuous funds
Variable interest
Minimum monthly payment
Interest charged on money spent
Ideal for ongoing but uncertain expenses
Vs
Loan
Lump sum
Fixed interest
Regular payments of the same amount
Interest charged on whole amount
Ideal for single or known expenses
76. Personal Loan Vs Line Of Credit
Personal Line of Credit
Continuous funds
Variable interest
Minimum monthly payment
Interest charged on money spent
Ideal for ongoing but uncertain expenses
Vs
Loan
Lump sum
Fixed interest
Regular payments of the same amount
Interest charged on whole amount
Ideal for single or known expenses
77. Personal Line Of Credit
A personal line of credit is a revolving source of funds that acts like a credit card. Funds may be spent up to a certain limit, and can be spent again once paid back. You accumulate interest only on funds you spend, and have a minimum monthly balance to pay.
78. Does A Personal Line Of Credit Show On Your Credit Report?
When you apply for a personal line of credit, your lender may wish to do a hard inquiry on you. This is an in depth look into your credit score and history, and it may impact your credit score. Generally, if your credit is poor, it is better to consider other options for access to cash.
79. Revolving Personal Line Of Credit
A revolving personal line of credit is a source of continuous funds that works like a credit card. You can spend up to a certain limit, and the funds can be spent again once paid back (hence “revolving”). Interest is accrued on outstanding balances, and you have a minimum monthly payment.
80. Personal Secured Line Of Credit
A secured personal line of credit is the same as a regular line of credit except that it is secured by some form of collateral, usually a car or a home. A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is an example. Because of the securitization, these LOCs generally offer more favorable terms.
81. Unsecured Personal Line Of Credit
An unsecured personal line of credit is a line of credit that is not secured by collateral. Most lines of credit are unsecured, meaning that they are only backed up by your credit history and score. Secured LOCs, like a home equity line of credit (HELOC), are the alternative.
82. Personal Line Of Credit Vs Credit Card
Personal Line of Credit
May be secured or unsecured
No rewards programs
Generally much lower rates, but harder to qualify
Ideal especially for large, ongoing, and uncertain expenses
Vs
Credit Card
Almost always unsecured
Often award rewards programs
Easier to qualify, but often has higher rates
Ideal for consumer spending and building credit
83. What Is A Personal Line Of Credit Loan?
A personal line of credit is different from a loan. Some differences are:
Line of Credit
Continuous funds
Variable interest
Interest charged only on funds spent
Ideal for ongoing, uncertain expenses
Vs
Loan
Lump sum
Fixed interest
Interest charged on whole amount
Ideal for single or known expenses
84. What Is The Difference Between A Personal Loan And A Line Of Credit?
There are a few differences between a personal loan and line of credit:
Loan
Lump sum
Fixed interest
Ideal for single or known expenses (such as the purchase of a home)
Line of Credit
Continuous funds
Variable interest
Ideal for ongoing, uncertain expenses (such as home renovation)
85. What Is A Personal Line Of Credit?
A personal line of credit is a source of continuous funds that works like a credit card; you have a limit that you can spend up to, and the funds can be spent again after being paid back. You incur interest on spent funds, and must make a minimum monthly payment.
86. Line Of Credit Interest Rates?
The average interest rates for a personal line for credit range from 8% — 10%. The average rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35%. Credit cards generally have the highest rates of any line of credit. Securing an LOC may get you a lower rate, but may also be a greater financial risk.
87. Revolving Line Of Credit
A revolving line of credit is a line of credit with funds that can be spent again once repaid. Most lines of credit, such as personal lines of credit, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and credit cards are revolving. Interest is only accrued on the funds that you actually spend.
88. Non Revolving Line Of Credit
A non revolving line of credit is essentially a loan. You get a specific amount of money, and you generally pay a fixed interest rate with regular monthly payments. Once the funds have been spent, the money is gone. Examples of non revolving lines of credit are student loans and mortgages.
89. Is A Credit Card A Revolving Line Of Credit?
Yes, a credit card is a revolving line of credit. The term revolving means that once you have paid back the funds you spent, you can spend them again. Most lines of credit are revolving, including personal lines of credit and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).
90. Unsecured Revolving Line Of Credit
A credit card is the most common example of an unsecured revolving line of credit. Revolving means that once the spent funds have been paid back, they can be spent again; unsecured means that the funds are not secured by collateral. The interest rates on these are generally higher than secured or non revolving loans.
91. Online Line Of Credit For Bad Credit
An online line of credit can be a good option for those with bad credit. Typically, getting a secured line of credit doesn’t require an outstandingly high score; an unsecured LOC, however, can be difficult to get from a lender without good credit. Luckily, many online lenders don’t have strict credit requirements.
92. Business Line Of Credit Bad Credit
Is it still possible to get a business line of credit even with bad credit. Many alternative lenders, such as online lenders, do not have credit requirements that are as strict as traditional banks, while still offering a worthwhile line of credit. If your business has a limited borrowing history, improving your personal credit may also help.
93. Business Line Of Credit Loan
A business line of credit is different from a business loan. A loan is a lump sum, whereas a line of credit is an ongoing stream of funds, like a credit card. Lines of credit only charge interest on funds that are spent, rather than the whole amount.
94. Business Line Of Credit Loan Forms
The forms needed for a business line of credit application vary from lender to lender, but you can expect to need some or all of the following:
Driver’s license or another form of ID
Bank statements
Balance sheet
Profit and loss statements
Credit scores
Business tax returns
Personal tax returns
95. Traditional Line Of Credit Business Loan Description
A business line of credit is an ongoing stream of funds granted to businesses by a lender, traditionally banks. The line of credit works like a credit card; businesses have a credit limit, are charged interest on the amount that they spend, and must pay back funds before they can be spent again.
96. Unsecured Business Line Of Credit Without Personal Guarantee
An unsecured business line of credit can be difficult to get from a traditional lender without a personal guarantee; a promise to pay business debts without your own collateralized assets in the event of default. However, many alternative lenders, including online lenders, may not require one. If you don’t want to risk your assets, shop round for a lender that provides what you need.
97. Small Business Line Of Credit No Personal Guarantee
Getting a small business line of credit with no personal guarantee is difficult to do with traditional lenders; however, many alternative lenders, such as online lenders, do not require a guarantee or any other collateralization. If you aren’t willing to risk your personal assets, an online lender may be the route to take.
98. Business Line Of Credit No Personal Guarantee
It is possible to get a line of credit without a personal guarantee. A personal guarantee is a promise to pay back any debts with one’s personal assets in the event of default. While most traditional lenders require this, many alternative lenders, such as online enders, don’t have requirements that are as strict.
99. Small Business Line Of Credit Bad Credit
It is still possible to get a small business line of credit even with bad credit. Many alternative lenders, such as online lenders, have less strict requirements than traditional lenders like banks. Under some circumstances, you may also be able to leverage a line of credit with your personal credit score, if your business has a limited credit history.
100. Business Unsecured Line Of Credit
An unsecured business line of credit just means that your business LOC is not secured by collateral. If your credit score is sufficiently high, you may qualify for an unsecured line of credit. These typically have slightly higher rates than secured LOCs, but there’s no risk of losing any assets.
101. Start Up Business Line Of Credit Unsecured
Getting an unsecured line of credit as a start up business may be difficult. With limited credit history, you may have to leverage your personal credit history or put up collateral to get the LOC you want. Alternative lenders may be more lenient, and many online lenders have less strict requirements.
102. Home Line Of Credit Rates
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35% as of 2020. Your exact rate will depend on factors such as your credit score and the amount of equity in your home. Generally, you can get the best rate by maintaining a good credit score, knowing the value of your home, and being willing to shop around.
103. Line Of Credit Rates
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit is 5.35% as of 2020. The average interest on a personal line of credit is between 8% and 10%. Credit card rates tend to be even higher, around 16%. Your particular interest rate will vary depending on factors like your credit score.
104. Unsecured Line Of Credit Rates
The average interest rate for an unsecured personal line of credit is 8% — 10%. Interest on unsecured lines of credit tend to be higher than on secured lines of credit, such as a HELOC (5.35%). Credit cards tend to have the highest rates, around 16% on average.
105. Equity Line Of Credit Rates
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35% as of 2020. Your exact interest rate will depend on various factors, such as your credit score and the amount of equity in your home. You can get the best rates by maintaining a good score, paying off money owed on your home, and being willing to shop around.
106. Home Equity Line Of Credit Rates
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35% as of 2020. Your exact rate will vary depending on factors such as your credit score and the amount of equity in your home. You can get the best rate by maintaining your credit score and paying back any money still owed on your home.
107. How Long Does It Take To Get A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
It typically takes 2–4 weeks from application to get a home equity line of credit, or HELOC. It may take longer depending on the circumstances and complexity of the line of credit request. An easy way to keep things moving is to get your paperwork done quickly; for example, appraising your home on your own.
108. How Long Do I Have To Pay Off A Home Equity Line Of Credit?
How long it takes to pay off a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, depends on your interest paid, the size of your monthly payments, and the purchases you make with it. A HELOC has both a draw phase and a repayment phase, which lasts 10–20 years.
109. Business Line Of Credit Interest Rate
The interest rate for a business line of credit may be as low as the prime rate plus 1.25% for SBA lines of credit, as low as 7% at traditional banks, and from 14% all the way up to 90% for some online lenders.
110. Business Line Of Credit Interest Rates
The interest rate for a business line of credit may be as low as the prime rate plus 1.25% for SBA lines of credit, as low as 7% at traditional banks, and from 14% all the way up to 90% for some online lenders.
111. Rates On Business Line Of Credit
The interest rate for a business line of credit may be as low as the prime rate plus 1.25% for SBA lines of credit, as low as 7% at traditional banks, and from 14% all the way up to 90% for some online lenders.
112. Equity Line Of Credit Interest Rates
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35% as of 2020. Your exact rate will depend on factors such as your credit score, the amount of equity in your home, and the lender you choose.
113. Equity Line Of Credit Loan
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a line of credit that is secured by the equity in your home. In the event of default, your lenders will have a claim to your house, and may repossess and sell it to pay back the debt you owe.
114. Is A Line Of Credit A Good Idea?
A line of credit may be a good idea, depending on what you want to use it for. Even though the debt on an LOC isn’t due immediately, it is still a good idea to only spend money that you can definitely pay. If you want more freedom to make discretionary purchases that you can still pay, then a line of credit may help you.
115. Rates For Home Equity Line Of Credit
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35% as of 2020. Your exact rate will depend on factors such as your credit score, the amount of equity in your home, and the lender you choose.
116. Home Equity Line Of Credit Fixed Rates
Some banks offer a fixed interest rate on home equity line of credit, or HELOCs. These have some pros and cons; typically, the interest on a fixed rate HELOCis higher than an equivalent loan, and some lenders require monthly minimums. However, these LOCs are also resistant to inflation, and can be useful in a rising rate environment.
117. Home Equity Line Of Credit Interest Rates
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35% as of 2020. Your exact rate will depend on factors such as your credit score, the amount of equity in your home, and any money still owed on your house.
118. Home Equity Line Of Credit Loan Rates
The average interest rate for a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is 5.35% as of 2020. Your exact rate will depend on factors such as your credit score, the amount of equity in your home, and the lender you choose.
119. Home Equity Line Of Credit Vs Loan
Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC)
Continuous stream of funds
Variable interest
Minimum monthly payments
Interest charged on funds spent
Generally smaller sized principal
Vs
Home Equity Loan
Lump sum
Fixed interest
Mandatory monthly payments
Interest charged on whole amount
Generally larger principal
120. Home Equity Loan Vs. Line Of Credit
Home Equity Loan
Lump sum
Fixed interest
Mandatory monthly payments
Interest charged on whole amount
Generally larger principal
Vs
Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC)
Continuous stream of funds
Variable interest
Minimum monthly payments
Interest charged on funds spent
Generally smaller sized principal
121. Line Of Credit Loan
A line of credit is a continuous stream of funds that can be accessed by writing specific checks. It works kind of like a credit card; you have a credit limit that you can spend up to and are charged interest on the outstanding funds. Once you pay the balance down you can spend the funds again.
122. What Is Better Home Equity Loan Or Line Of Credit?
Whether a home equity loan or line of credit is better for you depends on a few factors:
Do you know how much money you need or are you unsure?
What are you using the money for?
How long will you need the money for?
How will you pay your debt back?
123. Line Of Credit Loans For Bad Credit
If you have bad credit it can be difficult to get approved for a line of credit at a traditional lender. Some alternative lenders, such as online lenders, have less strict credit requirements and may be able to get you what you need. If you are set on a traditional lender, you may wish to either securitize the loan with collateral or improve your score to get a better rate. | https://medium.com/@info_80815/the-ultimate-guide-to-all-your-credit-line-line-of-credit-questions-finance-strategists-5290f1e74d0 | ['Finance Strategists'] | 2020-07-20 17:38:04.625000+00:00 | ['Animation', 'Helping Others', 'Money', 'Credit', 'Finance'] |
Why & How to Change your Factory | Finding the right manufacturing partner is always difficult. The factory you work with to launch your product might not be the ideal company to help you scale and sustain a high level of production.
As your company grows, the services your contract manufacturer (CM) provides is expected to grow and expand. As you grow, your manufacturing partner is expected to scale up their own operations by growing their production, quality, engineering, supply chain and other teams to support your growth. If they are unable to or have provided poor services, a change will be necessary.
Most companies have thought of changing their factory, but usually, no action is taken. Most companies also underestimate the amount of value their contract manufacturers can add. Nowadays, your manufacturing partner is not just expected to provide production and quality but also engineering, supply chain, project management and more. Why not leverage these services?
With my experience, there are several reasons why people want to switch. The most common reasons for the change are the following:
Reason 1: My current factory can’t scale up
Some factories have no interest in growing into a larger facility. This means that if you grow, your factory will not be able to absorb these orders. On the other hand, a factory might be in the mindset to scale up, but lack the correct supply chain, space and financial position to support you. This is unfortunate but if they can’t help you to scale up, you need to transfer production to someone that can.
Reason 2: There are too many costing issues with my current factory
Price conflicts are very common in our world. Therefore, having the support of an engineering team that can launch cost down projects is key. Decreasing the price does not mean the factory decreasing margins, but instead it’s the study of decreasing your COGS. A manufacturing partner can analyze how using alternative materials and processes can affect your price without negatively affecting quality.
Reason 3: Quality issues often come up and they are unable to solve them quickly enough.
Solving a quality problem is not temporarily re-working a problem. It’s finding the root cause and finding solutions which leads to eliminating the problem. Having quality problems will lead to decreased margins, extended lead times and increased complaints. Following the proper quality practices will eliminate quality problems. Unfortunately not all factories educate their staff with proper quality practices.
Reason 4: They don’t have an adequate engineering and technical team
A main reason why brands love working with CM’s is that they can leverage their resources and expertise. One department a brand leverages most often is their engineering team. Having a factory with a strong engineering team will support you with DFM, cost down, developing additional products and more.
Reason 5: They lack proper communication skills
This reason can usually be off the list if proper due diligence was performed. Unfortunately, people still complain their point of contact lacks proper English and communication skills. Both should have been a huge red flag before you launched production. However, understand that communication is a two way street. Exercise patience when explaining key parts with your factory.
Switching manufacturing partners is not easy but working with one that lacks the size, skill sets and resources to support your growth is 10x worse. If your factory is hindering your growth by any of the reasons listed above or any others, a change will be necessary for you to pursue your ambitious dreams. Just imagine how much your profits could have been increased, how many additional products you could have launched or how much better your reputation would be if you had chosen the best manufacturing partner.
Throughout my career, I have helped a number of brands switch their supplier. Some of the time, it’s bringing production into my factory, while other times it’s guiding a friend through the process so he can transfer production to a factory that is best suited for him.
All in all, the steps are the following;
Step 1: Understand your Needs
The following questions will help you to understand your position.
What is your current financial position compared to where you expect to be in the next 12 months?
What is your future demand? Can your current supplier absorb extra orders?
How many products do you expect to launch within 12–24 months?
Is your factory providing you with services and products that can affect your brand image in a negative way? Such as poor quality, poorly engineered products, etc…
Is your current supply chain too messy?
Before proceeding to the next steps, you have to understand whether or not you need to change. The main question is: will your brand suffer financially or be unable to grow as you would like with your current partner?
Step 2: Due Diligence
Let’s take this time to see what else is out there. Sometimes when you have been doing something the same way for years it can be stuck in your head as the correct way. However, don’t let ignorance get the best of you. This is the best time to explore other options and see what else is out there. Look for the following:
Can anyone refer a factory that is suited for you?
Let’s stay away from Alibaba, Made-In-China and some of these other marketplaces for factories, unless your product is commoditized.
Once in communication, be transparent about your situation. If you tell the factory you are not looking to switch quickly, they might lose interest in you. A sign of patience is key to building a successful long term partnership.
A trip to visit them might not be practical unless your current supplier is within driving distance. If you’re in the area, why not pay them a visit?
Use a supplier evaluation checklist to audit them.
Learn from mistakes that are making you look to change.
If they are able to pass these tests, it’s time for them to sign an NDA to proceed.
Step 3: Test their Capabilities
By now, you have found a few factories that you can work with. They have passed your audit and you feel they are an improvement of what you currently have. Factories, especially those in China, are famous for saying they want to build a partnership and they will do anything to get and keep your business. However, talk is talk and taking action is a completely new game. If you want to test their capabilities, you will need to provide them with some confidential information. But if your due diligence was thorough, this should not be a huge issue.
Take these steps in order to see if they have the capabilities to make your product.
Quotation — Can they provide a competitive quote?
Samples — Can they provide you a high quality sample?
Documentation — Can they provide you with acceptable payment terms, tooling terms, lead times, quality specifications, etc…
Step 4: Analyze your Financial & Product Position
This step is when you can start to compare apples to apples. You’ll have the quotation from your new supplier and the investment needed to move, such as opening up additional tools if transferring your tools is not an option. If your move is financially driven, when is your break-even point? Take into account the investment needed, such as opening up tools and then calculate how many pieces you need to make to break even. If your move is product driven, can they help you to launch the amount of products for your 12–24 month window?
Step 5: Pre-Production
You can move to pre-production if all of the steps have been completed and the finance side of your business makes sense to switch.
Confirming the contract (confirm the price, quality and lead time for x product)
Opening up tools
Developing the golden sample — What production is based off of
Develop production line flow
Step 6: Launch, Sustain & Repeat:
After the pre-production step is confirmed, you will have the green light to buy the raw materials, and get the new supplier into production. Understand that launching a new product of anything always takes time and care. Once these early kinks are cleared up, strive for sustained production and look to continuously repeat the cycle.
Results & Benefits:
Staying with a supplier that is underperforming will hurt your business and continue to do so going forward. Carefully finding your new supplier can have positive results after the first order. You can expect the following results from the switch:
Higher profit margins
Improved engineering & technical support
Quicker development speed
Additional SKU’s
Relationships like Apple leveraging the skills and resources of Foxconn is not just for the fortune 500 companies. Companies of all sizes, even startups, can lean on CM’s and optimize themselves by using their team.
If you’re not utilizing your CM as much as you could feel free to chat with me. I will be happy to listen to your story and provide some free and unbiased advice. | https://medium.com/@jared_28422/why-how-to-change-your-factory-f8b68c3bf1ec | ['Jared Haw'] | 2020-01-14 00:06:45.332000+00:00 | ['Engineering', 'Consumer Goods', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Supply Chain', 'Contract Manufacturing'] |
Can you ‘Watch the Thinker?’. What it is and how to get there | Can you ‘Watch the Thinker?’
Photo by Matteo Di Iorio on Unsplash
When most people think of the meaning of Enlightenment, they associate it with something along the lines of peace and happiness.
Though reaching/being Enlightened can have peace and happiness, there is more to it.
Eckhart Tolle defines Enlightenment as “your natural state of oneness with being” or, “state of connectedness”.
What does Tolle mean by “Being”?
Tolle describes “Being” as something you can know only when the mind is still. He says that Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.
Oof.
Sounds more complicated than it actually is.
Being can easily be felt by the simple practice of Meditation.
You can feel what Tolle describes as a state of connectedness by calming the mind and reducing all the mindless chatter.
“State of connectedness; that is essentially you and yet is much greater than you” -Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now
Photo by JD Mason on Unsplash
Obstacles to Enlightenment
Tolle says that the greatest obstacle to experiencing the reality of Enlightenment is an identification with the mind.
Identification with the mind is not being able to separate your thoughts from yourself as a being.
There are 3 questions that can get your mind jogging to see if you are identified with your mind or not.
Do you equate thinking with Being ? And Identity with thinking?
Equating thinking with Being and Identity creates an aura of separateness between you and yourself. You and The Universe. You and nature. You and God.
It is important to realize that you are not your mind. You are not one with involuntary internal dialogue, mindless chatter and worries of the past and future.
You must be free of your mind whenever you want to achieve Enlightenment. Being able to simply turn off your thoughts at will, sit in peaceful solitude, and nothing running across your mind is part of what Enlightenment is.
Observing your thoughts, when you have them voluntarily, as a third party is described as ‘watching the thinker’ by Tolle.
Watching the thinker is when you are able to observe your thoughts without actually being influenced by them. When nasty, ugly, negative thoughts come up, you are able to flick them away without disturbing your mood or altering your decisions. | https://medium.com/@missmani/eckhart-tolle-and-being-5f00682bf6ba | ['Missguided Manifestor'] | 2020-12-05 18:15:14.338000+00:00 | ['Eckhart Tolle', 'Universe', 'Meditation', 'Spiritual', 'Spiritual Growth'] |
Christmas Coal | Christmas Coal
Your Actions Have Consequences…
We always talk of Santa
Like he’s a jolly guy,
In a big red suit he “Ho ho ho’s”
With a twinkle in his eye.
He gives children all sorts of toys
from the generosity of his soul,
but the question no one wants to ask
is, “Where does he get the coal?”
Well, he has elves in his workshop
who make toys and live just fine.
But deep beneath, are the unlucky few
slaving in a dark coal mine.
Their overseers crack sharp whips.
They all will get black lung.
They swing a pick till their hands bleed.
It isn’t all that fun.
So children I implore you,
This year, please behave!
For if you don’t more elves will go
to mine coal in a cave. | https://medium.com/literally-literary/christmas-coal-dc2b6fd77060 | [] | 2020-12-14 05:32:37.400000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Humor', 'Comics', 'Poetry', 'Holidays'] |
How to create a simple accordion menu with Nuxt.js | Creating the accordion menus
In your IDE have a look at the project structure. I am not going to go into detail about this, but have a look at the docs for more information (https://nuxtjs.org/guide/directory-structure).
We will be using the index.vue file under the pages directory, as seen at http://localhost:3000/.
index.vue file we will be using
Cleanup this file by removing all the code and replacing it with:
<template>
<div></div>
</template> <script>
export default {
}
</script>
Now that we have a blank slate lets add the data for our accordion menu, by replacing the code in the script tags with:
<template>
<div></div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
data () {
return {
harryPotterCharacters: [
{
characterName: 'Harry Potter',
characterShortBio: 'Harry James Potter (b. 31 July 1980) was an English half-blood wizard, one of the most ' +
'famous wizards of modern times. He was the only child and son of James and Lily Potter (née Evans), ' +
'both members of the original Order of the Phoenix. Harry\'s birth was overshadowed by a prophecy, ' +
'naming either himself or Neville Longbottom as the one with the power to vanquish Lord Voldemort. ' +
'After half of the prophecy was reported to Voldemort courtesy of Severus Snape, Harry was chosen as the ' +
'target due to his many similarities with the Dark Lord. This caused the Potter family to go into hiding. ' +
'Voldemort made his first vain attempt to circumvent the prophecy when Harry was a year and three months old. ' +
'During this attempt, he murdered Harry\'s parents as they tried to protect him, but this unsuccessful ' +
'attempt to kill Harry led to Voldemort\'s first downfall. This downfall marked the end of the First ' +
'Wizarding War, and to Harry henceforth being known as the "Boy Who Lived."'
},
{
characterName: 'Hermione Granger',
characterShortBio: 'Hermione Jean Granger (b. 19 September, 1979) was an English Muggle-born witch born to ' +
'Mr and Mrs Granger. At the age of eleven, she learned about her magical nature and had been accepted into ' +
'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hermione began attending Hogwarts in 1991 and was Sorted into ' +
'Gryffindor House. She possessed a brilliant academic mind and proved to be a gifted student in almost ' +
'every subject that she studied.'
},
{
characterName: 'Ron Weasley',
characterShortBio: 'Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley (b. 1 March, 1980) was an English pure-blood wizard, the ' +
'sixth and youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley (née Prewett). He was also the younger brother of ' +
'Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and the elder brother of Ginny. Ron and his brothers and sister ' +
'lived at the Burrow, on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole.'
}
]
}
}
}
</script>
What we did: We created a simple array of objects, and each item holds the characters name and a short biography.
Now it does not look like we have done much, but your data is available immediately. Install Vue Devtools for either Chrome or Firefox by going to https://github.com/vuejs/vue-devtools. Once installed, you can open the browser developer tools as per usual, and you will now see you have a new option called Vue. Once you open it and continue through the structure, you will see your array of Harry Potter characters on the right.
Vue developer tools with our array of data
Now to show your data without us having to go into the developer tools change the code in your template tag with the following:
<template>
<div class="m-20">
<div
v-for="(character) in harryPotterCharacters"
:key="character.characterName"
>
<p class="bg-gray-800 text-white p-6 cursor-pointer">
{{ character.characterName }}
</p>
<div class="bg-gray-100 p-6">
<p>{{ character.characterShortBio }}</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</template>
What we did: We updated a simple div with a v-for, so we can loop through our array of objects and then display the relevant data. I also added some Tailwind CSS classes to make it look a bit more pleasant.
The start of our accordion menu
Now for the functionality to open and close the accordion items, we start by changing our code in the template tag to the following:
<template>
<div class="m-20">
<div
v-for="(character, index) in harryPotterCharacters"
:key="character.characterName"
>
<p class="bg-gray-800 text-white p-6 cursor-pointer" @click="characterItemClick(index)">
{{ character.characterName }}
</p>
<div :data-character-id="index" class="bg-gray-100 p-6">
<p>{{ character.characterShortBio }}</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</template>
What we did:
We have now added an index in the v-for. The index will automatically assign the correct index number of the accordion item. We added a click event listener to our character name div. When you click the character, it will pass the accordion item index which lets us know which character biography to show. We add this to our div that contains the character biography via a data attribute called data-character-id. We will now be able to know which div to look for when the character gets clicked.
For the click listener to work, we need to add the event in methods, after your ending curly brace for your data() in the script tag add a comma and the following:
methods: {
characterItemClick (characterIndex) {
const characterInfoElement = document.querySelectorAll('[data-character-id="' + characterIndex + '"]')[0]
if (characterInfoElement.classList.contains('block')) {
characterInfoElement.classList.remove('block')
characterInfoElement.classList.add('hidden')
} else {
characterInfoElement.classList.remove('hidden')
characterInfoElement.classList.add('block')
}
}
}
What we did: We are searching the whole document for the data attribute called data-character-id with the index that we passed through. We then check to see if it is hidden or not. We then add and remove classes on that element. Please note, I am using standard Tailwind CSS classes for display: none and display: block. If you did not choose to use Tailwind CSS, then you will have to create these classes on your own in style tags at the bottom of the page.
When you now go to http://localhost:3000/, you will have a functioning accordion menu with each item working on their own to open and close.
Here you can see the index.vue file as a whole. | https://megantipps.medium.com/how-to-create-a-simple-accordion-menu-with-nuxt-js-878a48985a7e | ['Megan Tipps'] | 2020-12-02 17:21:09.176000+00:00 | ['Vue', 'Accordion', 'Nuxtjs', 'Nuxt', 'Vuejs'] |
Speed = Collaboration + Visibility | Although medical device companies have been working closely with their supplier/partners in the past years, there has been an increased focus on Collaboration and Visibility. Since the pace of business has increased exponentially, businesses must be able to respond to new market demands with agility and innovation. Facing increasing demand for sustainable products and production, companies are relying on their partners more than ever before. Companies aren’t collaborating with partners merely as providers of finished goods or packaging, but as strategic partners that can help create products that are competitive differentiators. Collaboration is a critical element of a supply chain. Organizations need to work as an integrated network of companies, with access to the same latest information, working towards a shared mission to deliver results and be ahead of their competitors. If one good partner can enable a company to build its brand, expand its reach, and establish its position as a market leader — imagine what’s possible when an organization works collaboratively with the rest of their partners and suppliers. ComplianceQuest recently collected information from its 2018 Survey about Supplier Collaboration Capability Maturity for improving their supplier management solution tool. It shows that companies, overall, are trying to improve their collaboration capabilities. However, the average shows that companies are just at the tip of making this continuous improvement journey. As the Supply Chain continues to grow in complexity we can see that this will be a critical path to ensuring overall product quality.
Key findings from the report:
Overall partner/supplier program — 55% of the companies responded they had excellent programs in place. However, 45% declared they are still progressing in improving their overall program.
Partner/Supplier communication and exchange — Communication and exchange of documents and data were very poor with a total of over 60% still using very manual methods.
Visibility into partner/supplier quality and operational performance — Out of all the questions concerning visibility over their Partner/Suppliers, not one showed progress and over 60% still were manual with no to little visibility over partner/supplier quality and operational performance.
Companies appear to be doing well in developing and maintaining their programs around Quality and partners/suppliers, either driven by internal business initiatives or to meet regulations. However, the goal of the collaboration is to increase visibility throughout the value chain to make better management decisions and to ultimately decrease value chain costs. The lack of technology usage is impeding progress in communication/collaboration and seeing partner/suppliers’ overall performance in near real-time. With technologies such as Modern Cloud Enterprise Quality Management Systems, Cloud ERP, AI and Big Data, companies can quickly advance visibility across the end-to-end supply chain and provide key people with the information needed to make business-critical decisions with the best available information. Good partner/supplier collaboration can cut down on uncertainty, reducing the need for controls and increase the efficiency of transactions. Best-in-class organizations will leverage business networks to create a digital community of partners executing coordinated processes in a more responsive, flexible, efficient and informed way. Working with partners/supplier in increasing speed to market = collaboration + visibility.
At ComplianceQuest, the phrase next-generation is not just marketing speak. It is a key part of our quest to build a truly useful, cutting-edge EQMS workflow for our customers across sectors.
Visit www.compliancequest.com to schedule a demo or speak with an expert. | https://medium.com/@compliancequesteqms/speed-collaboration-visibility-85c829de72cc | [] | 2020-12-19 13:56:29.990000+00:00 | ['Collaboration', 'Speed', 'Supplier Management', 'Market', 'Visibility'] |
Sadhguru | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/sadhguru-jv/sadhguru-48c54f0c9547 | [] | 2020-12-24 12:59:29.565000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Yoga', 'Life Lessons', 'Meditation', 'Quotes'] |
The Top 5 Web3 JavaScript Functions for Ethereum DApps | The Top 5 Web3 JavaScript Functions for Ethereum DApps
getAccounts, sendTransaction, estimateGas, and more
Photo by Paul Esch-Laurent on Unsplash.
Web3 bridges the gap between the traditional internet and the Ethereum blockchain. It enables users to interact with your DApp through a browser. When using JavaScript for your front end, knowing the ins and outs of Web3JS is essential.
Here is a list of some of the most useful and commonly used functions in Web3JS. | https://medium.com/better-programming/the-top-5-web3-javascript-functions-for-ethereum-dapps-7bc108bfd37 | ['Alex Roan'] | 2020-05-12 13:58:13.231000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Dapps', 'Blockchain', 'Programming', 'Ethereum'] |
Leo Orenstein, Senior Controls Engineer: “If you want to do something challenging, go for autonomous trucking.” | This month’s employee spotlight is on our Senior Software Engineer, Leo Orenstein, who is designing control code for Starsky Robotics trucks. As the controller is a safety-critical multibody vehicle weighing over 40 tons and over 20 meters long that is supposed to operate autonomously on a public highway, there is no doubt it’s a hard problem to solve. Leo says he is enjoying every single part of it and looking for more people who are not afraid of challenges to join the team.
Leo, let’s talk first about your role at Starsky. What are you and your team working on?
I’m on the Planning and Controls team at Starsky. What we are doing is taking very high-level context behaviors such as “keep driving”, “change lanes” or “pull over because something has happened incorrectly” and turning them into specific commands that a self-driving truck can actually follow. The output will be “turn the steering wheel 13.48 degrees right” or “press the throttle 18.9 degrees”.
In other words, we take these pretty abstract ideas and translate them into a language that our computer hardware system can understand and follow. It’s a two-step process. It starts with Planning to identify these abstract things and break them down into tasks that are more detailed but still not quite reconcilable. Then Controls helps turn them into real commands.
I’ve been doing both Planning and Controls, bouncing between them, depending on what’s more critical at the time. Right now, I’ve been working more on the path planning side, and I find it incredibly interesting. It’s a relatively new field as opposed to Controls which is pretty well-established as it has existed for about 70 years now. Path planning has more liberty and is more open for experimentation.
How big is your team now?
There are six people on the Planning and Controls team at the moment, and we are hoping to recruit another team member by the end of the year.
You have hands-on experience of working in many different industries, including Oil and Gas, Transportation, Mining, and Aviation. What was the most interesting job you had before Starsky?
I was working at General Electric’s research center and that was a really interesting job because it was very diverse, and that was where I gained experience in so many different fields. There was this thing that we used to say to each other back then: “If you don’t like what you’re working on, don’t worry. It’s going to change soon.”
It did change a lot. For example, in the same month, I went to an offshore oil rig, a sugar cane plant, and an iron ore mining facility, because I was working on all these different projects. It was intense, but I enjoyed that variety. The work itself was interesting enough, but I especially liked working on different subjects, going from one to the other and quickly switching between them. Each project was unique. Industries, companies and their problems were completely different, and every time I managed to find the right solutions for them, it felt great.
As a person who has worked in both large corporations and small start-ups, can you compare these two experiences?
I’m definitely a start-up person. I have little question about this now. I like the agility of a start-up. I know this is a cliché, but it’s true. I believe in the idea of trying things. If you have an idea, try it. If it doesn’t work out, find something else and then try again.
At large corporations, you have cycles. Let’s say, we start working on a project. Three months in, we know it won’t work. However, it has funding for the whole year and it’s in scope. So, even though we know it won’t work, we keep trying because that’s the plan. I find this dreadful.
Of course, start-ups have their own issues too. For instance, whatever was working when there were 10 people in a company is not going to work when there are 20. It’s not going to work again when there are 50, and if a company doesn’t realize that, the issue becomes quite pronounced.
Besides that, it’s not a secret that big companies have more well-established processes. Sometimes it’s enough to just click on a button and have magic happen. Not a lot of magic happens in a start-up. If something is being done, you probably either know who’s doing it or going to be doing it yourself. I like working on lots of different things as this is the only way to actually get to know your product and understand how the magic is made.
“If you have an idea, try it. If it doesn’t work out, find something else and then try again.”
How has Starsky helped you in your professional development, and what advice would you give to prospective Starsky candidates?
Before I joined Starsky, I thought I was a decent coder. Then I figured out I was wrong. From a technical perspective, Starsky is a really great place to learn. The company has a very open, collaborative environment and the best culture for learning. It basically says, “if you don’t know things, that’s okay, let’s find out together.” It’s part of Starsky’s DNA. So, if you are joining the autonomous driving field from another industry, go for Starsky. We understand that no one knows all the answers, and we are willing to work with new people to ramp up our collective knowledge.
That being said, trucks are the hardest control problem I ever faced. It’s a very complex system. Even for human drivers, it’s a difficult thing to operate. There are many external factors affecting it and a lot of things can go wrong, so you need to be very precise. For instance, we can all of a sudden get a gust of crosswind. It’s almost impossible to predict it and quite hard to measure it, and just as sudden as it appeared, it may go away. However the truck cannot allow this to push it to the side. So, you need to figure out a way to overcome all these changes and make sure that the truck still responds well.
What’s great is that this is not a research project. We often say to each other: “Is there a simpler way of getting it done?” That’s because we are building an actual product rather than just trying to find a theoretical solution. So, we are looking for people who care a lot about turning things into reality. If you do care, if you are ready to push the boundaries, and if you want to do something challenging, then go for autonomous trucking.
“We are building an actual product rather than just trying to find a theoretical solution.”
What do you find the most challenging in developing autonomous driving systems?
Safety is the most challenging part. In general, the more well-defined a problem is, the more feasible and easier it is to solve. With a safety-critical system like an autonomous truck operating on a public highway, it’s like trying to solve a problem where absolutely anything can go wrong. So, you have to take a very disciplined safety-engineering approach and make sure you are covering all your bases. You need to find out all the failure cases, document them and implement safety mechanisms for all these scenarios. Even if your algorithm works 99.99 percent of the time, it will still be failing once a day. So, you need to make sure that the whole system is really bulletproof.
Can you share a few interesting facts about yourself to let people know you better?
I like to cook a lot, and I actually went to cooking classes for about a year at the time I was doing my master’s. I was studying, working and doing cooking classes. That was pretty intense. The breaking point was when someone asked me to open a restaurant with them. The guy had a restaurant space and asked me to open a brewery in it. I did the math and decided that it would be too much risk for me, so I passed on that opportunity.
That’s pretty much when I left cooking, as I figured out that I love it as a hobby. My wife tells me that the only thing that can really get me mad is getting something wrong when I’m cooking. I’m a very chill guy, but if I get the recipe wrong, I get crazy mad for the whole day.
Also, on a personal note, I’m having a baby soon. And I really appreciate how supportive of that Starsky has been. Not only do we have parental leave, but people truly understand the importance of that. I know that some companies don’t really care — even though you’re having a baby, you have to deliver a product in the first place. It’s more like taking parental leave but being on Slack while doing it. At Starsky, you are not simply getting the leave, but you are actually encouraged to enjoy it and bond with your family.
***
If you want to join the Starsky team and help us get unmanned trucks on the road, please apply here. | https://medium.com/starsky-robotics-blog/leo-orenstein-if-you-want-to-do-something-challenging-go-for-autonomous-trucking-944897d999ba | ['Starsky Team'] | 2019-10-22 17:48:26.542000+00:00 | ['Autonomous Cars', 'Careers', 'Startup', 'Self Driving Cars', 'Engineering'] |
Tips for journaling | Let it all out.
Write about anything. Let your thoughts flow freely.
Write regularly.
Try to journal on a regular basis. Every day is ideal. Aim for 20 minutes.
Look for a time and place when it’s quiet and you’re relaxed. You may find it’s easy to write in bed before you go to sleep. You may have fewer distractions and can look back on your whole day.
Try new things.
Write letters to yourself. Write to loved ones who are no longer with you. You can even write comforting words to yourself that you think your loved ones might say to you, Howell says.
Don’t get too negative.
If you find yourself jotting down only negative thoughts, try to shift your writing in another direction.
It’s OK to write about things that aren’t positive, but put a limit on it. Don’t do it longer than 20 minutes and avoid rereading your negative writing.
Make it easy.
Set yourself up for success. Keep a pen and paper handy. Put your journal near your bed, in your bag, or in your car. Or write on your computer or tablet. | https://medium.com/@chikuapp19/tips-for-journaling-d16e1dce3319 | [] | 2019-09-22 18:12:12.146000+00:00 | ['Diary', 'Journaling', 'Writing', 'Mental Health', 'Mood'] |
BDD — Testando o comportamento do sistema (Parte 1) | Written by
a.k.a. Ralph Avalon — https://github.com/ralphavalon — Developer at OLX — Passions: Best programming practices, Clean Code, Java, Python, DevOps, Docker, etc. | https://medium.com/labs-olx-brasil/bdd-testando-o-comportamento-do-sistema-parte-1-6c7acbf70152 | ['Raphael Amoedo'] | 2019-02-28 15:05:23.730000+00:00 | ['Test Driven Development', 'Tech', 'Bdd Development', 'Tdd', 'Bdd'] |
How to choose the right NodeJS partner? | You can find millions of organizations around the world, providing all kinds of software solutions; these organizations also claim themselves as a one-stop solution provider for whatever development requirement you have. With all the aggressive marketing activities taking place online, it is really hard to choose the right NodeJS Development company. NodeJS being one of the modern-day web back-end development technology, it is eminent that you end up choosing an expert company which has a strong NodeJS portfolio and expert developers who have thorough knowledge in back-end management, database management, and API integration.
When it comes to choosing the best NodeJS organization, the one who can actually present you with real-life solutions — It becomes one of the most critical jobs.
Here are the first and foremost things you have to take into consideration when hunting for a right NodeJS partner :
1) Choose the organization who just don’t claim to be the best, but who has a proven history and have already built faster, scalable, and real-time network applications, using NodeJS.
2) Review the client list for NodeJS projects and if necessary, don’t hesitate to reach out to them for feedback.
3) Make sure the developers have in-depth knowledge and extensive experience and are also updated with the latest additions to the technology.
3) Developers should also have skillful expertise in ExpressJS, SailsJS, MeteorJS, and other NodeJS Frameworks.
4) Should have skillful expertise in cloud infrastructure.
5) Cost-effective services: The estimation process has to be transparent and ensure that there is a balance between the estimation and the requirements.
6) High coding standards: Try to get an understanding of the coding practices that is followed by the NodeJS development company.
7) The company must have a clear understanding of the project management tools, processes and should also ensure that the respective NodeJS developers are familiar with the same for flawless development.
To sum up, it is not recommended to choose a NodeJS development company by only considering how good the website looks or how good the pre-project services are. Go for in-depth research to ensure that all the points mentioned above are checked. There are thousands of great NodeJS specialist companies and it isn’t hard to find the right one.
Good Luck! | https://medium.com/@Cubet_Techno_Labs/how-to-choose-the-right-nodejs-partner-1f3f93a60e7a | ['Cubet Techno Labs'] | 2020-07-28 13:27:11.347000+00:00 | ['Node Js Development', 'Node Js Web Development', 'Nodejs', 'Nodejsdevelopmentcompany', 'Backend Development'] |
Hate Crime | Caring is not in fashion, the old just gets replaced with the new
the police keep saying ‘keep the peace’
while targetting a certain few. | https://medium.com/journal-of-journeys/hate-crime-72a7b3c0f855 | ['Michelle Torez'] | 2020-12-09 11:23:14.749000+00:00 | ['Police Brutality', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Equality', 'Racism', 'Poetry'] |
Does Calorie Counting Work? Science Increasingly Says No | The Calorie Myth
Calorie counting has become a religion in Western countries — but we’re getting it all wrong
Credit: Andrii Zastrozhnov/Getty Images
Here’s a recipe: Take one bad idea, coat it with a veneer of science, and chow down heartily. It may taste great but the long-term effects on your health include serious indigestion.
The bad idea in this recipe is the calorie. On the surface, calories seem straightforward. You use them to measure how much fuel you put in your body and how much energy you use when you walk, run, or even just sit on the couch breathing. If you pump your body full of calories and leave it idle, all that extra fuel sloshes around inside you. It doesn’t get used and instead, it becomes the fat that pads your skin and engulfs your organs.
This is more or less the central myth of Western diet. The word “myth” here doesn’t necessarily mean that calories aren’t real. It just means that calories are a story around which we organize our Western beliefs and values — just like ancient societies that had their own culture-shaping myths about why it rained and which spiritual beings ran the show.
But here’s the problem: If you take even a moment to learn about how the calorie was invented, how calories are measured, or what they actually represent, the whole story starts to unravel — fast.
Inventing the calorie
The calorie was created in the early 1800s as a unit of energy measurement. If you’re a science nerd, you already know about the kilowatt hour, a unit commonly used to measure electrical energy. You’ve also probably heard of the all-purpose joule, which is used for just about everything a physicist touches. The calorie was created as a convenient unit for measuring thermal energy (in other words, heat). By definition, one calorie is the energy it takes to heat a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.
How can a unit that measures the change of water temperature tell you something about food?
(Technically, I’ve just described a Calorie with a capital C. The original calorie with no capital C is the energy needed to heat a measly gram of water. But outside of academic papers, no one uses the tiny lowercase calorie anymore. Because after all, do you want to eat a 452,000 calorie donut? For this story, we’ll be talking about the Calorie with a capital C.)
All of this doesn’t answer the obvious question, though: How can a unit that measures the change of water temperature tell you something about food? To answer that, we need the help of Wilbur Atwater, a chemist born in the mid-nineteenth century, shown below looking rather sedentary.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Atwater did something that sounds bizarre at best: He burned different types of food in a sealed chamber, which he submerged in a vat of water. This device is called, somewhat dramatically, a bomb calorimeter.
Basically, as your meal burns to ash in the bomb calorimeter, the temperature of the water around it increases. If you measure the change, as Atwater did, you can calculate, using calories, how much the burnt food warmed up the water. Assuming the human body is a similarly efficient food-burning machine, you can use this experiment to figure out how much energy the body can extract from, say, a bacon sandwich.
Diagram from the 10th Volume (second period of 1892) of the French popular science weekly ‘La Science Illustree’
If this process seems strange to you, that’s because it is. This was 1896, after all. Most doctors still thought attaching leeches to your body was a reasonably good way to cure herpes. But Atwater’s research with the bomb calorimeter had a lasting effect. It’s why we still talk about burning calories today. | https://elemental.medium.com/the-calorie-myth-f9e5248daa0c | ['Matthew Macdonald'] | 2020-11-20 18:59:34.340000+00:00 | ['Food Science', 'Diet', 'Food', 'Health', 'Trends'] |
Best clustering algorithms for anomaly detection | DBSCAN
DBSCAN is a density based clustering algorithm (actually DBSCAN stand for Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise), what this algorithm does is look for areas of high density and assign clusters to them, whereas points in less dense regions are not even included in the clusters (they are labeled as anomalies). This is, actually, one of the main reasons I personally like DBSCAN, not only I can detect anomalies in test, but anomalies in training will also be detected and not affect my results.
There are two key parameters in this models:
— eps: Maximum distance between two points to consider them as neighbors. If this distance is too large we might end up with all the points in one huge cluster, however, if it’s too small we might not even form a cluster.
— min_points: Minimum number of points to form a cluster. If we set a low value for this parameters we might end up with a lot of really small clusters, however, a large value can stop the algorithm for creating any cluster, ending up with a dataset form only by anomalies.
The way this algorithm creates the clusters is by looking at how many neighbors each point has, considering neighbors all the points closer than a certain distance (eps). If more than min_points are neighbors, then a cluster is created, and this cluster is expanded with all the neighbors of the neighbors. But, since one picture is worth more than a thousand worths I’ve borrowed this picture from this Medium post explaining DBSCAN:
Image obtain from the post “DBSCAN: What is it? When to use it? How to use it?”
Now we have the clusters…
How can we detect anomalies in the test data?
The approach I’ve followed to classify the point as anomalous or not is the following:
1 — Calculate the distance from the new points to all the Core points (only the Core points, since they are the ones actually defining the clusters) and look for the minimum (distance to the closest neighbor inside a cluster).
2 — Compare the distance to the closest neighbor inside a cluster with eps, since this is the limit between two points to be consider neighbors, this way, we find if any of the Core points are actually neighbors with our test data.
3 — If the distance is larger than eps the point is labeled as anomalous, since it has no neighbors in the clusters.
Gaussian mixture models
Probabilistic model that assumes all the data points are generated from a mixture of a finite number of gaussian distributions. The algorithms try to recover the original gaussian that generated this distribution. To do so it uses the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, which initialize a random of n initial gaussian distribution and then tweaks the parameters looking for a combination that maximizes the likelihood of the points being generated by that distribution.
Figure obtained from Angus Turner’s blog: “Gaussian Mixture Models in PyTorch”
One of the problems of Gaussian Mixture Models is that the number of clusters needs to be specified, another possibility is to use Variational Bayesian Gaussian Mixture, to avoid this problem.
Of course, just as K-Means, since the initialization of the clusters is random we can end up with a local minimum that is not optimal for our problem. That is something that can be solved with multiple executions and then creating an average of the probabilities. However, this solution is not optimal if the model needs to be put into production, I’m still looking for the best approach to solve this problem when a model needs to be deployed in a streaming environment.
Variational Bayesian Gaussian Mixture
I don’t want to get into much detail here, there’s the scikit-learn page with the full explanation for that. But this variation is worth mentioning. The idea behind this model is similar to Gaussian Mixture, however, the implementation is different, here, instead of EM, variational inference algorithm is used.
Here, only a maximum number of clusters needs to be specified, the algorithm then can find the actual number of clusters and set the weight of the non-relevant ones very close to zero.
Of course this alternative is not perfect either, there are many hyperparameters to chose, more than in Gaussian mixture actually. One of the most important is the weight_concentration_prior, which will largely affect the number of effective clusters you end up with.
How can we detect anomalies in the test data?
Once the algorithm it’s trained and we get new data we can just pass it to the model and it would give us the probability for that point to belong to the different clusters. Here, a threshold can be set, to say that if the probability is below that value the point should be consider an anomaly. In the case of Bayesian Gaussian Mixture there is an important thing to keep in mind: Not all clusters should be considered, remember that the algorithm disregards non important clusters giving them a weight close to zero (they are not removed, but you can know which ones should be removed), what I’ve done in the past is check the probability of the point belonging only to the important clusters, to do that I’m setting a threshold for the cluster weights, to remove the non-important ones.
Why not K-Means?
While K-Means is maybe the best-known and most commonly used clustering algorithm for other applications it’s not well suited for this one.
The main reason for this is that it’s only well suited when clusters are expected to have quite regular shapes, as soon as this is not fulfilled the model is not able to successfully separate the clusters.
Another reason is that all points are fitted into the clusters, so if you have anomalies in the training data these point will belong to the clusters and probably affect their centroids and, specially, the radius of the clusters. This can cause you to not detect anomalies in the test set due to the increase in the threshold distance.
Another posibility is that you even form a cluster of anomalies, since there is no lower limit for the number of points in a cluster. If you have no labels (and you probably don’t, otherwise there are better methods than clustering), when new data comes in you could think it belongs to a normal-behavior cluster, when it’s actually a perfectly defined anomaly.
Another disadvantage in this case is the need to specify the number of clusters a priori, we’ve already discussed that there are some parameters that are not easy to tune in the other algorithms, but I find this one to be specially tricky. Since the data we can change with time, the number of clusters can also vary, and once we have deploy our model into production there is no easy way to decide that other without human exploration.
How can we detect anomalies in the test data?
Not everything is bad for K-Means, it actually is the simplest case for the testing phase, since we have the centroids of the clusters and the shape is expected to be quite regular we just need to compute the boundary distance for each cluster (usually it’s better not to choose the maximum distance to the centroid, in case we have outliers, something like the 95th or 99th percentile should work, depending on your data).
Then, for the test data the distance to the centroids is computed. This distance is then compared with the boundary of each cluster, if the point doesn’t belong to any cluster (distance > boundary) it gets classified as an anomaly.
To sum up
I’ve presented here some clustering algorithms and explain how to use them for anomaly detection (some of them being more successful than others), obviously these are not the only methods, and I might be bias towards some of them based on the data I’ve dealt with.
I really think DBSCAN and (Bayesian) Gaussian Mixture models are the most useful clustering algorithms for this application. If you’re getting started with anomaly detection it’s worth it to find out more about them, if they aren’t useful to you now at least is something new you’ve learnt. | https://towardsdatascience.com/best-clustering-algorithms-for-anomaly-detection-d5b7412537c8 | ['María García Gumbao'] | 2019-06-04 13:01:18.342000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Clustering', 'Data Science', 'Time Series Analysis', 'Anomaly Detection'] |
Clean Killjoys, A Lack of Chill, and Crop Tops | Hi guys! Classic Hairpin advice column “Ask a Lady” is back and I am very excited to announce that this time the Lady is me, your friend Monica Heisey. As an anxious and bossy person (great combo), I basically live to over-analyze situations and offer life suggestions based on that analysis. I have even written a how-to book about generally being alive, a little volume called I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better, which you can buy in Canadian bookstores after April 28th and in American bookstores in September.
In the meantime, I have tried my best to answer a few pressing questions from friends and readers here, online, on the Hairpin dot com. I would also love to hear your alternative solutions to these problems in the comments, because really the best part of asking for advice is cherry-picking your favourite answers from a number of thoughtful options. Let’s do this!
Since the New Year started I’ve been making a concerted effort to adopt a healthier lifestyle. I’m working out for the first time in years and eating “clean,” and it feels really good; I’ve seen some results and I’m interested in pushing myself and seeing what I’m capable of. I really love it, but my friends pretty clearly think it’s lame. If I opt out of pizza or going for wings or something (honestly #snackwave is making me feel like such a killjoy), they act like I’m not fun anymore. I tried suggesting some of them join me for a workout and was met with blank stares. Am I being a stick in the mud or are they being awful or is it somewhere in between?
This is an issue near and dear to my heart, butt, and thighs. I completely understand the feelings of both “oh my god, I’m trying out a fitness thing right now, can I live” and “we are trying to eat nachos as a group, it’s an important time for us all and everyone is quietly noticing that you’re not eating the nachos and it hurts our feelings.”
However, to be honest, I recognize the latter feeling with more shame than the former. The truth of the matter is that everyone (but especially women, lucky us) is accosted with all kinds of confusing, judgemental, and contradictory messages regarding food, bodies, work, and fitness all day every day. If you do not have some kind of base-level complex about what you eat or how you look or the ways in which you exercise or do not exercise, you are an advanced and evolved higher being in my eyes. I consider myself pretty aware and work hard to combat negative feelings associated with food, looks, and fitness, but it’s hard to break the habit of comparing myself to others or thinking too much about changes in my weight, or imagining the kind of perfect life I would have if I just bought a juicer and committed already. I have a very complicated relationship with the amount of athletic wear my sister sports on a regular basis. It’s like she’s always coming from or about to go to the gym. Her active lifestyle is, of course, exactly none of my business. It does not, in theory, bother me that she is more fit than I am, that she is more comfortable in yoga pants, that she has more stories about “boot camp.” But it is something I tend to Make A Note Of when she’s around.
There is a possibility that your friends are doing the same note-taking about your new lifestyle; that when you come to pizza night with healthy snacks you brought from home all they are seeing is a big celery with a face, reminding them that they got a FitBit for Christmas and haven’t taken it out of the box. This is not 100% their fault (see above, re: daily confusing, judgemental, and contradictory messages), but it is also 1000000% not yours. It is also possible that they just miss having another person to split the cost of an extra-large plain cheeser.
Whatever the reason, try to gently point out to your friends the next time they’re making you feel like you’re not fun anymore because you’re trying something new. “It’s bumming me out that you guys are not being supportive right now,” is something you might consider saying. After all, if you had a new job or were trying a new class or a new sexual partner and it was making you feel amazing, your friends would be cheering you on big time, right? Inviting them to come work out with you is maybe a step too far — it’s okay that they don’t share your interest, I will never attend “boot camp” — but the impulse came from a good place, and your friends should be trying for the same. They might think your new choices are a bit of a downer, but they don’t have to make those choices, they just have to respect them.
I have no chill when it comes to text messages. I spend so much time stressing out about how and when and what time to text people I’m interested in, and I never even come off as breezy or cute as I want to. Basically, how do I text???
The Great Question of Our Time. I am going to be honest with you here: my policy with regards to texting goes against most conventional wisdom on the subject. While it is true that carefully constructed flirty messages or mysterious and aloof one-liners or crowdsourced repartee can be very effective in a flirting context, these are, I think, a recipe for disaster. What happens if you ensnare the object of your affections and then have to text them without your sassiest friend on hand to compose your witty retorts? What do you do when you’re IM-ing IRL, a practice formerly known as “talking”? With any kind of potentially romantic or sexual interaction, the only real option is Balls-To-The-Wall Weirdness as soon as possible. They must be prepared.
Obviously do not be weirder than you are for *effect* — no one (at least not anyone worth having sex with) wants to text Natalie Portman in Garden State — but be as true to your Truest Self as possible, even if that means relinquishing some of the “who is cooler” power. Do not pretend to have chill where there is none. Do not affect a distance you do not feel. Certainly do not let someone just spell the world “cool” like “kewl” without making fun of them if you (rightly) think that is very, very worth making fun of. There is no correct way to text a person, and you should just do it however feels best to you. If you want to drop your crush a message even though they haven’t said anything in a while, just do so, come on, you are not a baby. If they are freaked out by your expression of interest in the form of not waiting for them to text first, that is a flaw on their part. The world is full of people to text and if you do not feel worthy of low-key, high-quality flirtatious text-based conversation, we need to talk about your self-image, hello.
In the words of Madonna Louise “Esther” Ciccone: express yourself, don’t repress yourself. We’re all on our phones all the time, this is a known fact. It is a lot more obvious an effort to space your texts out in an aloof-seeming way than it is to just respond to someone when their message reaches you. The sooner we all agree on this the sooner we get to stop having the conversation “how long should I wait to text if they waited like three hours last time?”! [NB: Please know this advice is coming from a woman who recently received the message “it is hard to get sexually excited about this nude as you have photoshopped Drake in traditional Hebrew garb over your nipples.”]
Can I pull off a crop top?
Yes.
Monica Heisey is a writer and comedian from Toronto. Her work has appeared in The Toast, The Cut, Rookie, Gawker, VICE, Playboy, and many other web and print publications. Her first book, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better, comes out Spring 2015. Writing about herself in the third person is a nightmare. | https://medium.com/the-hairpin/clean-killjoys-a-lack-of-chill-and-crop-tops-ac5579b906d | ['Monica Heisey'] | 2016-06-02 06:13:45.634000+00:00 | ['Ask Everyone', 'Advice', 'Ask A Lady', 'Ask a Lady'] |
Cryptocurrency — The SEC’s Position — Part 2 of 5 | Video posted: Dec. 3, 2018
Darin Mangum
Cryptocurrency- The SEC’s Position Video Part 2 of 5. In this video I discuss the how the Securities Exchange Commission looks at Cryptocurrency investment offerings or any blockchain investment. It is important to know where the SEC stands and how to be compliant with their position in order to stay free of unwanted investigations and possible fraud charges if your Private Placement Memorandum is not in order.
As a Private Placement Memorandum Attorney, I specialize in keeping your blockchain, ICO / Offering out of scrutiny with the SEC and other regulatory bodies.
I offer a no cost or obligation consultation about your PPM offering / business venture. Thanks for watching and subscribing! :-)
Phone: (281) 203–0194
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ThePPMAttorney.com
FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL ADVICE. I’M NOT YOUR ATTORNEY UNLESS A DULY EXECUTED ENGAGEMENT LETTER EXISTS BETWEEN US. © 2018 DARIN H. MANGUM PLLC. | https://medium.com/@darinmangumlaw/cryptocurrency-the-secs-position-part-2-of-5-1bec13605dbd | ['Darin Mangum'] | 2021-06-08 14:51:33.062000+00:00 | ['Compliance', 'Initial Coin Offering', 'ICO', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Anatomy of Bitcoin Transactions | In this post, we will deconstruct a Bitcoin transaction. A typical Bitcoin transaction is made up of inputs, outputs and a few other things, just like any other transfer. In Bitcoin, these senders and receivers are identified using addresses that can be viewed as bank account numbers. The difference between the bank account numbers and Bitcoin addresses is that the account numbers are integers, but Bitcoin addresses are hexadecimal numbers that cannot be linked to a person’s identity.
Let’s say Alice wants to send some Bitcoins to Bob; she would ask for Bob’s address. The addresses of Alice and Bob are as follows:
· Alice’s address- 18kwhcbb3J1rMkCcsbaVv1jJX5BdvqcCf5 (Base58 encoded)
· Alice’s address- 0055186DA52ACA9E8F0AC4B476AC447CD7704B13EB472047C4 (decoded)
· Bob’s address- 1BZmjFAHBmfexsY3dposiyD2vFGb3BZ4jm (Base58 encoded)
· Bob’s address — 0073E3E7ECED8184211684C98F367E7B6AF82F091868D3E9FC decoded)
(Note: Base58 encoding is a binary to text scheme which used to represent a large integer in the alphanumeric text)
As discussed earlier, a Bitcoin transaction contains inputs and outputs. In addition, it has version and lock time. Thus, a transaction looks like this:
· Version number
The version number is the current version of Bitcoin and the value stored in this field is 01000000, which is a hex representation of value 1. This value can change if there is a change in protocol in which the transactions are modified. If a miner node has a version 1 client, then he can only verify transaction of type version 1. The size of this field is 4 bytes.
(Note: The version number is stored using the little-endian format. Thus, the least significant number is stored at the least or first memory address. So, if we convert 01000000 number into a 32-bit integer, the value is equal to 1. If you want to learn about little endian click here)
· Lock time
Lock time is the date when this transaction becomes valid. It is generally set to 0, which means it is valid ASAP. If you set it to 0, the value stored in the field is 00000000. This field is also of 4 bytes.
· Inputs
In Bitcoin Blockchain, a transaction contains the input field, which[VK1] contains a reference to the past transactions. Here, there are only 2 ways of earning Bitcoin:
o Mining
If you are mining and add a Block to the Blockchain, you get a reward. This reward is called a Block reward. Block rewards are generated from thin air. There is a special type of transaction that called a Coinbase transaction, which the miner puts in the block while mining, where the miner assigns the block reward to themself.
o Sent by another user
The second way of getting Bitcoins is if someone sends some to you. So, when you want to spend some Bitcoin, you need to prove that you hold the Bitcoins that you are spending. This is done by referencing old transactions in which you got the Bitcoins and have them saved with you. For this example, let’s say, Dave sent 1.2 BTC to Alice. This transaction is unspent, so Alice will use it as an input to this transaction in which she is sending Bob 1 BTC. This input field contains 5 things:
a. Transaction hash of the previous transaction
b. Index for specifying which output of that transaction is been used
c. The length of the signature script
d. The signature script
e. Transaction sequence
a. Transaction hash of the previous transaction. The transaction is used as an identifier of the previous transaction. This field length is 32 bytes. This transaction is also called UTXO and is double hashed using SHA-256; the resultant is called transaction hash. Let’s say the previous transaction hash is 8190374a5a1feb54…..
b. Index for specifying which output of that transaction is been used. The previous transaction that has been used as an input in this transaction may contain multiple outputs. So, this field specifies the index number of the output, which is to be used as input.
c. The length of the following script. The script is the signature script used to verify the sender. This field is used to specify the length of it.
d. This is the signature script. It is generally 106 bytes long. Whenever a user sends a transaction, it contains a signature script which is run by the miner for verification. (Note: In our example, we have put the output of the script which is the opcode version of the script. The script is as follows:
<sig><pubKey> OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG)
e. This field is irrelevant unless transaction lock time>0. Its value is generally FFFFFFFF.
Number of inputs
This field is used to tell how many inputs are used in the input field. A transaction can contain more than one UTXO. Because the transaction may not be enough, for example, if you want to send 6 BTC to someone and you 4 UTXO of 1.5 each. Here, the number of inputs will be 4 and you will have 4 transaction hashes and 4 indexes accordingly. In this example, we have only one 1 input. Thus, the transaction would look like as follows:
Multiple outputs
Just like inputs, there can be multiple outputs as well. Thus, if you are sending someone Bitcoins and the input value is greater than what are you sending, the change will be returned to your address. An output transaction will be created, which allows you to send the change to your address. Thus, in this case, you will have 2 outputs. Apart from the example given, you can have multiple receivers in a transaction as well. If you wish to send some Bitcoins to multiple people, you can do it in one transaction. The value of this field for this example will be 01.
Output
The output contains the receiver’s address and the amount of Bitcoins being transferred. It contains 3 fields.
o The amount to be transferred
o The length of the script
o The address script (Note: The pay-to-public-key-hash type of transaction, where the payment is done to the public key hash).
a. The output of Alice’s transaction will contain Bob’s address and the amount of Bitcoins being transferred, for example, 1 BTC. But, the unit used to transfer BTC is in Satoshi, were 1 Bitcoin = 100000000 Satoshi. So, when Alice is sending Bob 1 BTC, she is sending 100000000Satoshi. But, this value is stored in hexadecimal number in the field and the output will contain a hexadecimal form of 100000000 Satoshi, which is00E1F50500000000. The amount field is 16 bytes in length.
b. The length of the following script is generally of 25 bytes and its hexadecimal representation is 19.
c. This is the locking script. To spend the BTC sent by Alice, Bob should have the respective public key. When Bob tries to spend this UTXO, it will be verified if Bob holds the public key, which when hashed will give the same value as the UTXO script’s public key. This field is generally 25 bytes long. (Note: The picture contains the output of the script. This script is as follows: OP_DUP HASH160 <public key> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG)
This is what a Bitcoin transaction looks like. Now, go through this article again and make sure you have internalized the concepts. | https://medium.com/blockchain-editorial/anatomy-of-bitcoin-transactions-e5ad47f01e31 | ['Verified On Chain'] | 2018-09-25 05:23:14.987000+00:00 | ['Transactions', 'Pay To Public Key Hash', 'Blockchain', 'P2pkh', 'Bitcoin'] |
Is Your Blood Pressure Too High? | Photo by Nicola Fioravanti on Unsplash
It’s called the silent killer — and for good reason. High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can cause a host of serious health issues without you even knowing it.
“Studies over the past few decades show that untreated hypertension over time leads to an increased risk of stroke, heart failure, ischemic cardiovascular disease and kidney disease,” explains Dr. Matthew Rivara, a physician at the Hypertension Clinic at Harborview Medical Center.
What’s perhaps even more troubling is how many people this affects. According to the American Heart Association, more than 100 million Americans — that’s about half the adult population — have high blood pressure.
If that statistic is stressful enough to make your blood pressure rise, take heart. There are numerous ways to manage hypertension and lower your blood pressure, Rivara says, both with and without medication. Here’s what he wants you to know about your blood pressure and your health.
What is blood pressure?
While you’ve likely had your blood pressure checked before — either at your doctor’s office, a pharmacy or at home — you may not know exactly what blood pressure is or what those numbers stand for.
“Blood pressure is basically a combination of how hard the heart is pumping blood to the rest of the body and how much the blood vessels in your body are constricting,” Rivara explains.
Every blood pressure measurement has two numbers: The top number (systolic) is your blood pressure when your heart is contracting, while the bottom number (diastolic) is your blood pressure when your heart is relaxing between beats.
The other tricky thing about blood pressure is that while research shows it’s linked to cardiovascular and kidney disease, most patients don’t have any symptoms.
“The only way it comes to light is if you have your blood pressure checked,” Rivara says.
What’s a normal blood pressure?
Remember those systolic and diastolic numbers? They help doctors figure out if your blood pressure is healthy or not.
Although some medical organizations refer to slightly different guidelines, Rivara says there are three main blood pressure categories you should know about: normal (less than 120/80), elevated (120–129/less than 80) and hypertension (130/80 or higher).
If your blood pressure is above 130/80, your doctor will further categorize you into stage 1 hypertension (130–139/80–89), stage 2 hypertension (140/90 or higher) or hypertensive crisis (180/120 or higher).
There’s a catch to all this, though. Various factors like stress — and sometimes even anxiety about seeing a doctor — can temporarily raise your blood pressure, which isn’t exactly helpful in terms of getting an accurate reading.
That’s why a doctor will only diagnose you with hypertension if your blood pressure measures in the high range on more than one occasion.
“A single elevated blood pressure doesn’t mean you necessarily have hypertension,” Rivara explains. “If we measure it once, we’ll have you come back in a couple of weeks or a month to see if we can confirm you have a high blood pressure.”
Who’s at risk for high blood pressure?
The other sneaky thing about the silent killer is that it can affect just about anyone.
Age, weight, diet and lifestyle can contribute to hypertension, as well as certain conditions like chronic kidney disease. High blood pressure can also run in families, so it could be something you have even if you don’t experience other risk factors.
“We know high blood pressure is probably due to the influence of many genes and a combination of lifestyle, diet and environment,” Rivara says.
On the flip side, certain conditions like pregnancy, infection and endocrine problems can result in abnormally low blood pressure, which can lead to symptoms like dizziness, nausea and fainting. These are specific circumstances, though, and not something you should be concerned about when it comes to your overall blood pressure health.
“Unless you’re experiencing symptoms of low blood pressure, in general, the lower the numbers, the better,” Rivara says.
How can you lower your blood pressure?
Let’s say you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension or elevated blood pressure. While you might be concerned about what this means for your overall health, Rivara says there are several things you can try to naturally lower your numbers.
“Unless the blood pressure is very elevated, often the first step is to focus on non-medication therapies,” he explains.
Revamp your diet
Healthy dietary changes can have a huge impact, reducing your blood pressure by anywhere from five to 10 points. Rivara recommends a three-pronged approach: limiting sodium, limiting alcohol and increasing fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
To do this, try to stick to no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium per day. If tracking nutritional content isn’t exactly your thing, you can make wholesale changes like cutting out processed frozen food and fast food meals that are high in salt.
When it comes to alcohol, follow the guidelines for moderate drinking: Women should have no more than one alcoholic beverage per day, while men should have no more than two per day.
In terms of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains, planning to cook more at home is an easy way to incorporate these healthy foods into your meals. You can also make simple adjustments like swapping refined white breads and pastas for whole-wheat options instead.
Get to a healthy weight
If you’re overweight or obese, which is a risk factor for hypertension, getting to a healthier weight can also make a noticeable difference in your next blood pressure measurement.
“Even modest weight loss can result in substantial blood pressure improvement,” Rivara explains. “In round numbers, you can reduce your blood pressure by up to one point for every one kilogram — around two to three pounds — of weight lost.”
Increase your aerobic exercise
Another non-medication therapy that’s proven to help lower blood pressure is good old exercise.
Adding in 30-minute bouts of aerobic exercise — activities like jogging, cycling or swimming that get your heart rate up and make your heart stronger — three to four times a week can knock an elevated blood pressure down by as much as five points.
That amount may not seem like a ton, but it’s pretty significant if you’re on the bubble between having normal, elevated or hypertensive blood pressure.
When is blood pressure medication right for you?
There are situations, however, when your doctor might recommend medication to help treat and manage your high blood pressure.
“We think about medications for two main reasons,” Rivara says. “One would be if someone with mild hypertension has not had an improvement with non-medication therapies. The other is if someone starts with stage 2 hypertension, in general, we recommend starting medication therapy. But if someone feels strongly about working on lifestyle changes first, we’ll work with them to do that.”
If you decide to start blood pressure medication, you and your doctor can discuss potential side effects and future plans (like if you’re planning to get pregnant) to figure out what might work best for you. As you get older or your condition changes, you may need to consider changing or adding medications, too.
“Medication therapy for hypertension has been shown to improve health outcomes for patients,” Rivara says. “For anyone with hypertension, it’s more important than ever to maintain regular contact with your primary care provider to get help monitoring your blood pressure and health.” | https://medium.com/right-as-rain/is-your-blood-pressure-too-high-e4020016693e | ['Angela Cabotaje'] | 2020-02-07 23:04:32.220000+00:00 | ['Blood Pressure', 'Heart', 'Hypertension', 'Cardiovascular Disease', 'Health'] |
TLDR Understanding the new cgroups v2 API by Rami Rosen | TLDR Understanding the new cgroups v2 API by Rami Rosen
Cgroups v2 is a new API designed to make it more suitable for container resource limitation.
There are currently 12 cgroup controllers in cgroups v1.
Reason to redesign is inconsistencies in API and behavior:
…number of inconsistencies and a lot of chaos. For example, when creating subgroups (cgroups within cgroups), several cgroup controllers propagate parameters to their immediate subgroups, while other controllers do not.
Current state:
Cgroups v2 declared non-experimental since kernel 4.5 (March 2016!)
v1 was not removed from the kernel, so, both cgroups v1 and cgroups v2 are enabled by default. You can use a mixture of both of them.
Hint — DON’T!
Systemd uses cgroups for service management, not resource management, many years now — each systemd service is mapped to a separate control group, grouped into three “slices”: system.slice — default place for all system services, the user.slice for all user sessions, and the machine.slice for virtual machines and Linux containers. Each system service resides within it’s own slice inside the system one. Like, `/system.slice/httpd.service`, for example, for Apache.
In cgroups v1, you could assign threads of the same process to different cgroups
Crazy, right?
but this is not possible in cgroups v2.
Thank God!
Not all 12 controllers avail in v2: /sys/fs/cgroup2/cgroup.controllers shows the supported controllers.
The main difference (imho)
In inroups v2, you can only create subgroups in a single hierarchy. In cgroups v2 you can attach processes only to leaves of the hierarchy. You cannot attach a process to an internal subgroup if it has any controller enabled. The reason behind this rule is that processes in a given subgroup competing for resources with threads attached to its parent group create significant implementation difficulties. In cgroups v1, a process can belong to many subgroups, if those subgroups are in different hierarchies with different controllers attached. But, because belonging to more than one subgroup made it difficult to disambiguate subgroup membership, in cgroups v2, a process can belong only to a single subgroup.
Just some picture :)
Tldr: an attempt to make it more straight forward, but still awaiting adoption. | https://medium.com/some-tldrs/tldr-understanding-the-new-control-groups-api-by-rami-rosen-980df476f633 | ['Pavel Trukhanov'] | 2018-08-05 08:06:53.919000+00:00 | ['Docker', 'Linux', 'Kernel', 'Containers', 'System Administration'] |
Paint It Black: 7 Dark & Moody Kitchens to Enjoy All Year Long | It’s the color of choice for tuxedos, limos and chic little dresses. Black is luxurious, mysterious and it has gravitas — and in 2019 it’s been bringing all that badness to kitchens all over the world.
This fascination with dark, moody kitchens is a natural reflex to the white kitchens that have been so dominant for the past decade — so are all the other colors trending now.
“Everyone is looking for spaces that are moody and cozy and comforting,” says Sarah Robertson, principal designer at Studio Dearborn in Westchester County, New York. “Black makes the walls recede.”
Black is also a natural foil for the light wood and stone floors that are popular right now, too.
Even if you’re not thinking about taking your home kitchen to the dark side, you’ll still be inspired by these seven examples of black kitchens. Some are small, some are sleek and modern, others are cozy and comfortable. But no matter how you look at it, black is beautiful.
Photo credit: Tatiana Shishkina
Black Russian. This ultra compact, 24-square-meter (that’s 250 square feet) apartment designed by Tatiana Shishkina of Inroom Design in Vladivostok, Russia has just a slip of a kitchen. But with its textured walls, jewel-like appliances and white shelf and simple dining counter, it says so much. The best part may be the way she used skeletal stairs to divide the kitchen from the rest of the flat.
Photo credit: Ken Fulk
Black gold. Ken Fulk’s wonderfully warm black kitchen spans classic, farmhouse and midcentury. He collaborated with KitchenAid to outfit the Tribeca loft that’s his new East Coast headquarters. The matte black cabinetry features bright bin pulls and brass luggage corners.
Photo credit: Nicole Hollis
All black everything. California designer Nicole Hollis went all in on black to create this stunning kitchen for her San Francisco studio. We love how the shiny glass tile adds light and reflectivity. Using a range of finishes from the glossy to matte creates its own kind of palette, even though everything is black — save the salt. | https://medium.com/studio-dearborn-kitchen-design-journal/paint-it-black-7-dark-moody-kitchens-to-enjoy-all-year-long-e21fdbbdd2cf | ['Maria C. Hunt'] | 2019-10-31 17:35:06.152000+00:00 | ['Kitchen Interior Design', 'Design', 'Kitchen', 'Black Kitchen Ideas', 'Interior Design'] |
AYS Weekend Digest 05–06.06.2021 — Denmark’s Cruel Policies Expose European-Wide Failure | AYS Weekend Digest 05–06.06.2021 — Denmark’s Cruel Policies Expose European-Wide Failure
Photos from No Name Kitchen and SOS Refugiados’ distribution campaign. Photo credit: No Name Kitchen
FEATURE
Criticisms of Denmark’s recent cruel laws expose European-wide flaws in the system
Denmark has been in the news recently because of its recent laws making its notoriously cruel asylum system even harsher. However, Denmark should not be treated as an outlier in Europe. Rather, its policies are just a more extreme version of Europe’s existing cruelties.
Some are pointing out that the Danish government’s decision that Syria is a safe place to return for some sets a worrying precedent that protection for people with refugee status is something temporary. On average, people need protection for 17 years, because conflicts do not end overnight and countries do not rebuild like magic. Even once someone may not need refugee status anymore, it is still cruel to rip them away from a family and life they have built in their new home.
Another Danish law that is under fire is the recent one passed by parliament that would send people to third-party countries while their asylum claims were processed. The UNHCR came out with a statement saying it “strongly opposed” this measure to externalize asylum.
The details of the law are not completely clear yet. For example, Denmark would have to create individual agreements with the countries it would outsource people on the move to, and there are no definite countries as of yet (although there is speculation an agreement with Rwanda is in the works). The Danish government justified this decision by saying it will save lives on the Mediterranean, through the questionable logic that people will learn they will be processed outside of Europe and not come. If the myriad other cruel ways Europe treats people on the move has not been enough proof that “deterrence” does not work, it is hardly likely this law will “work” either.
Denmark is not alone in its careless violations of human rights in the name of deterrence and eliminating pull factors. The same logic is also behind the EU’s new sea operation, replacing Operation Sophia, that will be based in eastern Libya where there have been no crossings since 2017. The EU claims that it will stop the mission immediately once it proves it’s becoming a pull factor, but it’s impossible to prove that — because those factors rarely, if ever, matter. That logic decimated Operation Sophia, led to the criminalization of sea rescues, and is now being used by Denmark to justify shipping asylum seekers to a third country to be forgotten.
If you want to learn more about the usage of deterrence in Europe as a whole, check out this helpful webinar from the European Society of International Law, happening this Thursday.
Denmark’s recent asylum decisions can be looked at in tandem with the situation on the Greek border. Greek border guards are using a sound cannon at the Greek-Turkish border in Evros. The device, mounted on an armoured car, is portable and emits sounds at the volume of a fighter jet along the border. Greek officials argued that they need the latest technology to prevent crossings at the border. However, human rights advocates are saying that the sound cannon is an example of torture. The equipment received lukewarm criticism from European officials late last week — criticism that is even more lukewarm when one considers how much the EU funds the Greek border.
However, the sound cannons should not be looked at in isolation, nor should Greece be the “enfant terrible” of European politics. This is just the latest tactic in persecution of people on the move, which is just as vile when done with high-tech torture as it is when it is couched in the rhetoric of law. The sound cannons are not just a loud machine but another part of the European apparatus to keep people on the move out, such as the Danish laws to send asylum seekers to a third country.
While physical brutality continues to be part of European border policy, the recent turn towards detached technocratic human rights violations is no less cruel. While individual countries have become the testing grounds for these policies, European policies as a whole have enabled this turn.
IRAQ
Turkish forces bomb Kurdish refugee camp
The Turkish army’s drone strikes killed several people in a camp near the Iraqi town of Makhmour. Witnesses on the ground say the strikes purposefully targeted a kindergarten. Erdogan had publicly threatened to bomb the camp, which the Turkish government claims is a recruitment base for the PKK, a few days prior. Unfortunately, Turkish government forces attacking Kurdish civilians in the area has been sporadic but common in the past few years.
SEA
SEA-EYE 4 detained…again
Italian authorities detained the Sea-Eye 4 again in Palermo after a 12-hour control. Their “violation”? They rescued too many people. The coast guard claimed that the ship’s rescue equipment was inadequate. Of course, rescue boats would not be overcrowded if national navies actually participated in rescue operations instead of leaving people to die.
Meanwhile, Admiral Pettorino, the commander of the Italian coast guard, went off-script during a speech and said that saving lives is a moral and legal obligation, calling on Italians to continue their thousand-year maritime tradition with morality. However, this rhetoric is clearly empty words as it is his coast guard currently detaining the Sea-Eye 4.
Rescue round-up
Salvamento Maritimo rescued a small boat with 37 people on board a few hundred kilometers off the coast of the Canary Islands. Those rescued included one baby.
Most of the people on board were from sub-Saharan Africa, although their port of departure is still unclear. Recently, more and more people are leaving for the Canary Islands from Western Sahara, which is worrying as there are no humanitarian organizations in the area.
Sadly, the news from Moroccan waters is less happy. AlarmPhone was contacted by a boat in distress with 45 people on board. Unfortunately, 15 died during the rescue operation by the Moroccan Navy, which survivors called “a disaster.”
GREECE
Another pushback from Lesvos
Aegean Boat Report (ABR) reported about yet another pushback case from Lesvos which occurred in late May. A group of 49 people landed near Panagiouda, then split up. One of the groups was picked up by the police, rounded up into a van, searched, beaten, then pushed back into Turkish waters by a Greek coast guard vessel. The second group was able to make it to the Mavrovouni quarantine camp. For more on this situation, including identifying footage and photographs, check out the reportage from ABR here.
Pushbacks in Greece are unfortunately nothing new, but the fact that Greek prosecutors will investigate them is. 15 prosecutors agreed to investigate the Greek Helsinki Monitor’s (GHM) complaint detailing 147 cases of pushbacks that occurred in 2020. The GHM also succeeded in exempting the Athens Naval Court Prosecutor from the initial investigation because of previous instances of biased investigation.
The Moria 6 have been unfairly accused of burning down Moria camp and face a trial full of legal irregularities and prejudices. Sign a petition to help them here.
SERBIA
Help No Name Kitchen!
No Name Kitchen is looking for donations to continue their Health on the Move project, which helps people on the move access necessary medical treatment they cannot normally get due to racial discrimination and medical neglect. Read more about the project, including how to donate, here.
ITALY
Food distribution in Trieste
Photo Credit: Lorena Fornasir
SPAIN
Updates from Ceuta
No Name Kitchen and SOS Refugiados were able to provide people stuck in Ceuta with food and basic needs thanks to generous donations. Read more about their work here.
If you want to learn more about Spanish migration policy, and how it led to thousands of people getting stuck in the North African exclaves and the recent event where thousands entered in a single day, check out this interview between Begüm Başdaş and Maria Serrano.
FRANCE
Victory in Paris
After protests by the collective Requisitions, 523 people were finally taken in by the state and will be giving housing. Most were people on the move. For four days and nights, the people were camping in Jardin Villemin, claiming their right to housing as guaranteed by French law.
This protest was able to succeed in part thanks to the tireless work of volunteers and solidarity workers. If you are based in Paris, you can contribute to valuable work by volunteering with Solidarite migrants Wilson. They need people to help with cooking and food distribution.
AUSTRIA
300-strong protest in Graz
200 to 300 people met in Graz over the weekend to protest the murderous border policy. Their demands included the end of deportations, deportation centers, the decriminalization of sea rescue, and other solidarity demands. The protest snaked through Graz and stopped in front of OVP headquarters and the police detention center.
There will be another demonstration next Friday.
GERMANY
German nun faces fine for giving women church asylum
Germany is continuing to ramp up persecution of church figures that take advantage of the legal loophole of church asylum to help people on the move. A nun, Juliana Seelmann, was forced to pay hundreds of euros for giving shelter to two women escaping sexual trafficking in Italy. Hers is the latest case in several situations where German authorities have punished church figures for sheltering asylum seekers, ignoring years of legal precedent.
Despite its criminalization of solidarity workers and disregard for the lives of people on the move, Germany is still attempting to play the moral high ground. Its embassy in Afghanistan tweeted its “concern” about violence against civilians, particularly Hazara people. However, since 2016, Germany has deported over 1,000 people to Afghanistan. Its words, when the state is so ready to deport people and fine anyone who tries to help them, mean nothing.
UK
Home Office silencing people on the move through retaliation
People housed in the Napier Barracks have been told that if they speak out about conditions in the camp, which are so bad that it’s even been deemed illegal by the High Court, it will affect their asylum applications. This is a clear violation of people’s freedom of speech and a form of harassment. People that have spoken to the media have been singled out:
They were told by staff that there is a full list of people in the camp and that names have been circled who are known to have spoken to journalists[…]
Among other details about the inhumane conditions in the camp, it’s worth mentioning that known victims of trafficking were sent to the barracks despite assurances to the contrary. There were also fears of a new COVID-19 outbreak after conditions had not been changed since the last one, and a new, more contagious variant is spreading in the UK.
This is one of the latest examples of the Home Office restricting the rights of people on the move, as this article outlines.
Instead of providing people with actual dignified living conditions, the UK is spending money on a new drone for the RAF to track alleged “people smugglers,” but which will really be used to criminalize ordinary people trying to cross the English Channel.
Right to Remain created these series of videos outlining how to get a positive UK asylum decision in several languages. Learn more here.
GENERAL
UNHCR subject of protests, people say it disregards humanity
People on the move in camps from Egypt to Jordan have protested against the UNHCR several times. One of the most infamous examples was the Zaatari camp riot in 2014. A recent study outlined this phenomenon. They found that people were dissatisfied with systemic issues within the aid organization, such as lengthy resettlement processes, as well as staff attitudes. Many staff are condescending and unprofessional, often treating people on the move in a dehumanizing fashion. The UNHCR defended itself by saying it was doing the best it could with limited resources, but limited resources do not explain dehumanizing treatment by staff.
This is a global issue that goes beyond the UNHCR itself, and all of us involved in the aid sector should consider our relationships with this work and the people we work with.
WORTH READING
This story follows a group of people on the move in Athens training in martial arts to blow off steam. Across the world, martial arts have been a valuable source of community and empowerment for people in precarious situations, as seen by this story about Yazidi women in Iraq.
This article tackles the rise in British nationalism, which encompasses xenophobia and anti-immigrant policies and much more.
This article tackles common myths about the “vulnerability” of people on the move and seeks to highlight the agency and actions of women on the move.
WORTH ATTENDING
The Refugee Festival Scotland will be taking place later this month with plenty of outdoor, in-person events. Learn more about the festival here.
WORTH WATCHING
Last week, Border Criminologies hosted a conference called “Landscapes of Border Control and Immigration in Europe.” The panels were recorded and can be accessed on their YouTube page.
Find daily updates and special reports on our Medium page.
If you wish to contribute, either by writing a report or a story, or by joining the info gathering team, please let us know.
We strive to echo correct news from the ground through collaboration and fairness. Every effort has been made to credit organisations and individuals with regard to the supply of information, video, and photo material (in cases where the source wanted to be accredited). Please notify us regarding corrections.
If there’s anything you want to share or comment, contact us through Facebook, Twitter or write to: [email protected] | https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-weekend-digest-05-06-06-2021-denmarks-cruel-policies-expose-european-wide-failure-4eeba02b8c6b | ['Are You Syrious'] | 2021-06-07 13:25:11.083000+00:00 | ['Digest', 'Refugees', 'Denmark', 'Migrants', 'Asylum Policy'] |
Have I Lost My Sense of Humor? | Have I Lost My Sense of Humor?
The truth about knowing better, doing better, and my missing funnybone
Seriously? Photo by Michelle Tresemer on Unsplash
Something shifted in me, and I’ve noticed recently that things other people seem to find funny don’t seem funny to me anymore. It came to a head on Monday, and I posted on Facebook that I felt like I’d completely lost a large portion of it, at the least. After being asked which part, I revised my statement. Maybe it’s not so much my sense of humor that’s gone missing, but my tolerance for bullshit?
Meme screenshot courtesy of author.
Several months ago, someone posted a meme in a group I’m in, encouraging women to send a photo of a speculum to their partners then share their responses in the comments. Among the replies were a lot of men using words like “vagina spreader,” “vagina stretcher,” and “that thing for your pussy.” Everybody seemed to think this was a hilarious exercise in mens’ ignorance. Except me. I shrugged it off- perhaps I was being too sensitive, a wet blanket ruining the fun of men not knowing what a vulva is or that a speculum allows a doctor to look at your cervix.
Sometime during the same month, another viral post with the most ridiculous things men had actually believed about periods came across my feed. I’m not saying that I found zero humor in some of the anecdotes. Largely, though, it felt increasingly sad and horrifying that there are so many men out there who have no idea how close to half the bodies on earth actually work.
To be honest, the idea of having grown sons who don’t know how periods work or what happens when a woman gets her annual exam is mortifying to me. I would be beyond ashamed to find out that my children didn’t know the basic functions of the human body or care enough about their partners to know about basic medical procedures. Additionally, when is the last time you met a woman who didn’t know how a prostate exam was performed? Why do we find it cute/funny/acceptable as a society that men don’t make the same effort? | https://medium.com/rachael-writes/have-i-lost-my-sense-of-humor-7273d2fee130 | ['Rachael Hope'] | 2019-08-14 19:55:46.336000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Social Justice', 'Human Rights', 'Feminism', 'Society'] |
Critical Introduction to Probability and Statistics: Fundamental Concepts & Learning Resources | From Probability Theory to Statistics
Statistics was antedated by the theory of probability. In fact, any serious study of statistics must of necessity be preceded by a study of probability theory — since the theory of statistics grounds its foundation. While the theoretical ends of statistics ought to agree that (at least to serve as a common feature) it depends on probability; the question as to what probability is and how it is connected with statistics have experienced certain forms of disagreement [8].
Whereas there are arrays of varying statistical procedures that are still relevant today, most of them rely on the use of modern measure-theoretic probability theory (Kolmogorov) while others express near relative as a means to interpret hypotheses and relate them to data.
Probability is the most important concept in modern science, especially as nobody has the slightest notion what it means (Russell, 1929).
What does probability mean? The mathematical notion of probability does not provide an answer to this. Hence, the formal axiomatization of probability does not guarantee that it be held meaningful for all possible worlds [11].
Interpretations of Probability Theory [10–11]
Since the notion of probability is deemed one of the foremost concepts in scientific investigation and spans its relevance to the philosophy of science in the analysis and interpretation of theories, epistemology, and philosophy of the mind, the foundations of probability [and its interpretations] which is held of utmost relevance in honing our understanding in statistics, bear, at least indirectly, and sometimes directly, upon scientific and philosophical concerns.
The probability function — a particular kind of function that is used to express the measure of a set (Billingsley, 1995) — may be interpreted as either physical or epistemic. In addition, the American Philosopher, Wesley C. Salmon (1966) provides a set of criteria for coming up with an adequate interpretation of probability which is briefly reviewed as follows [11]:
Admissibility — if the meanings assigned to the primitive terms in the interpretation transform the formal axioms, and consequently, all the theorems, into true statements.
— if the meanings assigned to the primitive terms in the interpretation transform the formal axioms, and consequently, all the theorems, into true statements. Ascertainability — This criterion requires that there be some method by which, in principle at least, we can ascertain values of probabilities.
— This criterion requires that there be some method by which, in principle at least, we can ascertain values of probabilities. Applicability — The interpretation of probability should serve as a guide relative to the domain of discourse (or field of interest).
According to Salmon (as cited in Hájek, 2019), most of the work will be done by the applicability criterion. That is to say, more or less, that our decision for interpreting probability should cast the world which we are interested in. For example, Bayesian methods are more appropriately used when we know the prior distribution of our event space — for instances like rolling a dice where there is a geometric symmetry that follows a natural pattern of distribution. For most, experiments, however, Bayesian methods would require the researcher’s guess for setting some prior distribution over their hypotheses. This is where other interpretations may seem more appropriate.
Because we are more concerned with honing our deep understanding with statistics, I limit this article to the most relevant set of interpretations which can be classified into physical and epistemic class. For a more detailed interpretation of probability, the reader is invited to consult the entry from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Interpretations of Probability [11].
Physical where the frequency or propensity of the occurrence of a state of affairs often referred to as the chance.
where the frequency or propensity of the occurrence of a state of affairs often referred to as the chance. Epistemic where the degree of belief in the occurrence of the state of affairs, the willingness to act on its assumption, a degree of support or confirmation, or similar.
According to the University of Groningen Philosophy Professor Jan-Willem Romejin (2017), the distinction should not be confused with that between objective and subjective probability. Both physical and epistemic probability can be given an objective and subjective character, in the sense that both can be taken as dependent or independent of a knowing subject and her conceptual apparatus.
Meanwhile, the longheld debate between two different interpretations of probability namely being based on objective evidence and on subjective degrees of belief has caused mathematicians such as Carl Friedrich Gauss and Pierre-Simon Laplace to search for alternatives for more than 200 years ago. As a result, two competing schools of statistics were developed: Bayesian theory and Frequentist theory.
Photo by Ellicia on Unsplash
Note that some authors may define the classical interpretation of probability as Bayesian while classical statistics is frequentist. To avoid this confusion, I will dismiss the term classical to refer to the Frequentist theory.
In the following subsections, I will briefly define the key concepts between Bayesian Theory and Frequentist Theory of Statistics which I got from [14].
1.0 Bayesian Theory
The controversial key concept of Bayesian School of thought was their assumption for prior probabilities — which relies solely on the researcher’s naive guess or confidence towards their hypotheses. But there are also good reasons for using Bayesian methods over the Frequentist approach. The following highlights the key ideas as to why you should or should not use Bayesian methods for your analysis.
Bayesian inference depends on one’s degree of confidence in the chosen prior. Bayesian inference uses probabilities for both hypotheses and data; it depends on the prior and likelihood of observed data [14].
Criticism [14]
Subjective nature of selecting priors. There is no systematic method for selecting priors.
Assigning subjective priors does not constitute outcomes of repeatable experiments.
Reasons for using Bayesian Methods [14–15]
Using Bayesian methods are logically rigorous because once we have a prior distribution, all our calculations are carved with the certainty of deductive logic [14]. Philosophers of science usually come down strongly on the Bayesian side [15].
[15]. The simplicity of the Bayesian approach is especially appealing in a dynamic context, where data arrives sequentially, and where updating one’s beliefs is a natural practice[15].
By trying different priors, we can ascertain how sensitive our results are to the choice of priors [14].
It is relatively easier to communicate a result framed in terms of probabilities of hypotheses.
2.0 Frequentist Theory
While Bayesian methods rely on its priors, Frequentism focuses on behavior. The frequentist approach uses conditional distributions of data given specific hypotheses. Frequentist approach does not depend on a subjective prior that may vary from different researchers. However, there are some objections that one has to keep in mind when deciding to use a frequentist approach.
Criticism [14]
Struggles to balance behavior over a family of possible distributions.
It is highly experimental; it does not carry the template of deductive logic. P-values depends on the exact experimental set-up (p-values are the threshold of which inference is drawn).
P-values and Significance level (both are forms of a threshold for inferential decision) are notoriously prone to misinterpretation [14].
Reasons for using Frequentist Methods [14]
The frequentist approach dominated in the 20th century, and we have achieved tremendous scientific progress [14].
The Frequentist experimental design demands a careful description of the experiment and methods of analysis before staring — it helps control for the experimenter’s bias [14].
Comparison
The figure above is a comparative analysis made by Little (2005).
The difference is that Bayesians aim for the best possible performance versus a single (presumably correct) prior distribution, while frequentists hope to due reasonably well no matter what the correct prior might be [15].
Important notes
The competing notions between Frequentist’s approach to statistical analysis and Bayesian methods have been around for over 250 years. Both schools of thought have been challenged by one another. The Bayesian method had been greatly criticized for its subjective nature while the Frequentist’s method had been put into question for its justification of probability threshold of which it draws an inference (p-values, and significance value). It is worth noting that, albeit the Frequentist’s approach to Statistic prevailed in 20th-century science, the resurgence of Bayesian method has been greatly values in 21st-century Statistics.
For more detailed discussion for this matter, the reader is invited to consult [15]. | https://medium.com/dave-amiana/critical-introduction-to-probability-and-statistics-fundamental-concepts-learning-resources-95853e94308c | ['Dave Amiana'] | 2020-06-09 14:45:16.916000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Statistics', 'Mathematics', 'Philosophy'] |
Instacart design challenge: focusing on the bill splitting experience | 01. Establishing Context
Instacart is an on-demand grocery delivery platform bringing groceries and other home essentials right to your doorstep. To achieve this, Instacart is set up as a crowd-sourced marketplace with users connected to shoppers who shop for ordered items and deliver them to the customers. It is one of the few successful players in the current generation of “Uber for X” marketplace startups.
As a busy college student with 3 busy roommates, Instacart is an invaluable part of our lives and is crucial to how we get things done. My experience using Instacart in this context became the root of my proposed feature idea.
As cash strapped students with similar food tastes, we often buy our Instacart groceries from one account and with the roommate who has Instacart Express (we all split the cost on it) handling this. We order common household groceries together and then communicate, what other personal items we’d like to buy. I like extra virgin olive oil (an extra cost than regular oil) and my roommate likes capellini pasta (I think it feels like eating hair). These items are unique to us and since groceries is a cash sensitive item for us, we really only want to pay for what we are consuming. Once our order has been placed, we begin the tedious task of fairly and transparently splitting the bills so everyone pays for only what they bought (house groceries and any personal items).
What if splitting the bill could be handled as part of our checkout process?
It is here that my idea of exploring a way to introduce fairness, transparency, and delight into the bill splitting process after an Instacart order for multi-person households starts.
I believe that unique opportunities lie in the nooks and crannies of a users journey throughout the experience of a product. For Instacart, this opportunity lies in simplifying bill splitting for its users. There is also an added benefit in encouraging users to batch orders increasing the number of higher cost orders.
In this submission, I approached the problem using a modified version of Google Venture’s Design Sprint process focused on tighter iteration and feedback cycles. It was my goal to understand the problem(drawn from focused research), ideate possible solutions, iterate through designs, quickly test them and perform a retrospective to understand the way forward.
I should also note that this is not the only problem I played with. I also mentally experimented with the following ideas: | https://uxdesign.cc/kp-instacart-e74e0e20c10 | ['Tolu Olubode'] | 2019-02-09 20:41:48.516000+00:00 | ['Kleiner Perkins', 'Product Design', 'Instacart', 'On Demand', 'Ui Ux Design'] |
10+ Useful React UI Libraries For Your Project | React is a very popular JavaScript library for building User Interfaces. Using React makes the process of building UI very simple but you know what makes the process even easier? Using an already-made library.
Here are over 10 popular React libraries you might want to consider using for your project:
Blueprint Blueprint is a React UI toolkit used to create and manage data-intensive user Interfaces for desktop applications
Chakra UI Chakra UI is a React library which offers you simple, modular and accessible components which you can use as building blocks you need to build your React applications. All components are also dark mode compatible. Instead of spending hours to code and reinvent the wheel, you can easily use Chakra’s components to build your app.
Search UI Every content-based websites need some sort of search functionality for retrieving certain parts of content. Search UI is a React-based search framework for implementing world-class search functionality without having to code from scratch or reinvent the wheel.
Ant Design Ant Design is an enterprise-grade React UI framework containing a set of tools for creating beautiful and Intuitive User Interfaces for your web application. Ant Design is a great choice for building websites targeted for high-end clienteles.
Material UI The Material Design is an modern design language created by Google, which aid web designers create novel touch experiences in their websites via cue-rich features and natural motions that mimic real-world objects/materials in an immersive form. Material UI includes a set of React components for faster and easier process of web design. You can either build your own custom design system or start with the Material Design.
Reactstrap Reactstrap is a React-Bootstrap component library. It provides inbuilt Bootstrap components that make it very easy to create User Interfaces with its self-contained components that provides flexibility and inbuilt validations. Reactstrap is similar to Bootstrap, but with self-contained components. Hence, it’s easy to use and support Bootstrap 4.
Smooth UI As it’s name implies, this library is focused on user experience and accessibility. Smooth UI makes it is easy to design beautiful websites and applications with clean and smooth features to make for a satisfactory experience for the end user.
React DatePicker Something for event-based websites. React DatePicker is a simple, reusable and highly customizable React Component that allows you include date selection functionality to your websites. It’s very easy to use as well.
React Select Many websites have some sort of checkbox or select control for collecting simple information from the user. React Select houses a beautiful set of select input control with multiselect, autocomplete and other nice features
React toggle Toggles are an essential part of user Interfaces. A lot of websites use toggles to switch some feature on or off. React toggle is an elegant, accessible toggle component for React which also acts as a glorified checkbox.
Wysiwyg All modern content management platforms must have a modern text editor interface for users to type into. This is where wysiwyg comes in. This library is a multifeature text editor build on top of ReactJS and DraftJS.
Halogen One of the most popular ways of keeping users in a website happily waiting while a page or resources is getting fetched from the backend is with the use of spinners. Halogen houses a huge collection of loading spinners made with React.js.
I hope you will find something interesting in this collection. Thank you for reading and have a nice day!) | https://medium.com/@nill-webdev/10-useful-react-ui-libraries-for-your-project-f69ce8a1353d | ['Nill Webdev'] | 2021-06-18 12:36:16.401000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Golang', 'Libraries', 'React', 'Ui Ux'] |
6 lessons we learned from feedback sessions in Figma | Real-time collaboration is all the rage now. Design tools nowadays are focusing more attention on collaboration rather than on creation features.
And it’s true, working remotely, while still being the part of the hive, is extremely challenging when it comes to team collaboration. So, how did we collaborate before the pandemic forced us to stay at home?
How we started pre-COVID-19
We were looking for a collaboration solution even before we went remote. Primary reasons for that were projects that were growing in size. And more often than not, we were in a situation where we had to increase the number of designers working on the project. This was especially true for products with longer timelines or some large-scope website projects.
Our tech stack at the time relied on Sketch, Abstract and Zeplin. While this is something that still worked for the product part of our company (Abstract’s versioning is a life-saver for product design workflow), our Creative unit (peeps focused on interactive/websites) needed something that focused more on quick ideation rather than producing and maintaining a single source of truth. At this moment, the pandemic situation was getting worse, and it was evident that we’re going to need to adapt our workflow to work from home.
Some people like to talk at the same time as others
Lockdown and the need to work together (again)
So the start of WFH (work from home) was a copy/paste of our usual workflow. Each designer was working on their own in Sketch, and occasionally, we would have sync where we would show each other what we were up to. Over time, designers ended up being somewhat isolated from each other, and we were missing that knowledge-sharing component of our company. We quickly realized that we need some kind of collaboration mechanism, and we needed it for two reasons:
it enables designers to ideate in the same file
it facilitates real-time creative reviews
So… Figma? Yup, let’s do it in Figma.
Adopting a new form of Design reviews
Our weekly design reviews took a completely new shape. We prepared and shared our progress on progress meetings and exchanged feedback twice a week. That ended being a big part of our day, and we were discussing a lot in these meetings: visual design, project strategy, or client communication.
Real-time collaboration features in Figma helped us tighten the feedback loop in our projects, and you could see the quality of our work starting to improve.
But as a result, this ended up requiring a large investment of energy trying to maintain normal project workflow and implementing feedback from senior designers at the same time. Our process did not plan for that. At that moment, it became apparent that we’re going to have to reinvent our workflow more thoughtfully than just adopting an initiative pulled from an article on the internet and slap it on without changing anything.
So what are the lessons that we learned from our feedback sessions?
1. Know exactly what you’re looking for from a feedback
Receiving feedback in a general sense is a useful tool to see another person’s perspective. However, you should have clear expectations from a feedback session. Is it an improvement on visual skills? Maybe you need a tip or two on how to do effective research or inspiration? Once you define desired outputs, make those expectations clear to the rest of the team that’s going to do a critique. That makes for a more focused session, and it makes good use of everybody’s time.
In our case, we almost always defaulted to the visual communication critique since this is something that we decided would be the primary purpose of our sessions.
2. Define the actionable of a feedback
After receiving feedback from a team, you should be able to have clear next steps. That enables you as a designer to apply feedback and adopt new good habits. Feedback sessions should not leave you confused or overwhelmed.
3. When you receive feedback, you still hold the decision-making power
There will be cases where feedback you receive from other team members will be in direct conflict with each other. That’s perfectly fine because there is more than one correct solution to a given problem. It’s up to a project designer to decide what to implement and in what way.
Here are a few key reasons for this:
a) The lead designer has a lot more context: knows the client better, has a greater awareness of the client’s needs, knows possible limitations of the project.
b) Authority on how to implement feedback gives the designer power to maintain the vision that was established. If you react on everybody’s whim (however reasonable it might seem at that moment), it can water down a design.
Bear in mind that if a whole team agrees that something needs to be changed, you should probably do it 🙂
Unstaged photo of my colleagues in Figma
4. Keep an open mind
Feedback sessions should be a safe place to voice your concerns, and you should feel comfortable receiving feedback. Receiving feedback is not always an easy thing — and that is natural, as you’ve put an effort into something that is being critiqued. But remember the goal of feedback: getting better should be the focus.
When I receive feedback, I remember all the instances where different perspectives made me a better designer.
5. Maintain a positive attitude while giving feedback
As we expect that the person receiving feedback to keep an open mind, we also need to take care of how we voice our feedback. The point of feedback is to unblock, inspire, or share knowledge. You’re doing it wrong if you create a bad atmosphere in a session, and that can be counterproductive. Be direct, but also be neutral.
6. No big project strategy decisions
What also happened to us was that we fell into a trap of changing the workflow of a project after a feedback session. That is something that definitely should not be in the scope of feedback.
Folks at Figma said it best:
“Design critiques are not the forum for that [making major product decisions]; teams should have separate road-mapping processes to determine direction.”
What’s next?
We’re yet to unlock the full power of remote collaboration in Figma. As we integrated a new tool in client projects, some new possibilities opened up. A cool example of it would be presenting to a client via prototypes or streamlining our developer handoff process all within Figma.
It turns out that just by adopting a tool for a single thing solved many more challenges than we initially planned for.
That being said, it does take a little bit of getting used to (as is the case with most of the new things). Quick (and dirty) adoption of new tools can leave much of the processes in a need for an update.
You could say that WFH made us collaborate even more closely and it tested our internal processes, and we can honestly say that with those new experiences we became a bit more robust as a team.
PS. If you would like to see more od this kind of stuff feel free to follow me Dribbble, Instagram or Twitter.
_____
We’re available for partnerships and open for new projects.
If you have an idea you’d like to discuss, share it with our team! | https://medium.com/distant-horizons/6-lessons-we-learned-from-feedback-sessions-in-figma-c2da251d208f | ['Mario Šimić'] | 2020-09-04 06:48:11.540000+00:00 | ['Collaboration', 'Covid', 'Remote', 'Figma', 'Design'] |
We want your stories on the Code for America blog | Do you believe government can work for everyone in the 21st century? Great! Let’s get started.
About Code for America’s Medium blog. The blog showcases perspectives from our founder, staff, volunteers, fellows, government partners, and anyone who cares about building a government fit for the 21st century.
Areas we are especially interested in:
If you have a completed post you’d like considered for the Code for America Medium blog and you have already been added as a “writer” on the publication, submit a draft directly on Medium. If you have an idea for a post, a how-to, or a story you’d like to share and have not yet been added as a “writer,” email me at [email protected], and put “PITCH” in the subject line.
Pitches should be:
Original — How is this story unique to you? Why are you the best person to tell it?
— How is this story unique to you? Why are you the best person to tell it? Tied back to digital practices in some way — user centered, iterative, data-driven
— user centered, iterative, data-driven Focused on outcomes — Who did you help and how?
— Who did you help and how? Conversation-starters
Not sure where to start? Check out other posts on the blog to see what we tend to publish. | https://medium.com/code-for-america/we-want-your-stories-on-the-code-for-america-blog-90143cca4a26 | ['Jillian Robertson'] | 2017-06-29 00:53:59.985000+00:00 | ['Civictech'] |
Surviving in a World of Exponential Change - Part 1 | Human adaptability
Humans are arguably the most adaptive species on the planet. We can see it by examining the vast regions we have been able to live in as well as the size of our population. We were able to adapt to massive climate shifts, fight off larger predators, and live in everything from the cold, vast arctic to blazingly hot and arid deserts.
Much of this adaptability comes from our ability to develop tools and technology to master our environment. Some of the earliest recorded evidence of our use of tools date back to 3.4 million years ago with the discovery of cut-marked bones in Ethiopia. From the bones, it appears that sharp tools were used to cut the flesh from the bone and access the marrow inside.
Our ability to harness fire dates back to approximately one million years ago. This was the first time that we leaped beyond other species within the hominids. This ability set us on a trajectory to have tools hardened with fire, warmth from the cold, and protection from predators, among others.
Fast forward almost a million years and we just began to form large cities and civilizations. Sumer is the earliest known complex civilization, which formed approximately 5,500 years ago. From what we know, Sumerians understood geometry, astronomy, construction, and they developed agriculture and irrigation on a large scale. They also created societal systems such as legal, administrative, and trade. These skills were needed for the growing population of Sumer, which would be around one million.
Think about the scale of time in which humanity went from first using a tool to developing the first civilizations. The range was from approximately 3.4 million to 5,500 years ago. Many generations had come and gone, passing down the knowledge and letting it slowly evolve. Technological advancement was something that took time, sometimes tens or hundreds or even thousands of generations.
The Growth of Civilizations
Once we began developing complex civilizations, we were able to support larger populations. If we were to trace the evolution of society and the rate of advancement, we will see that the curve of population growth started an exponential rise starting just after urban civilizations were formed around the Bronze Age. Record-keeping, monetary systems, hierarchical structures, metalworking, and more enabled our species to go from nomadic tribes that required expeditions across vast expanses to survive, to one where we could settle, long-term, in river valleys, coastal regions, and more. We were able to control our environment to grow populations and manage our survival on a grand scale.
As we crossed into the Bronze Age, around 3,500 years ago, these localized civilizations expanded into empires. One of the first being the Akkadian Empire. This saw the merger of Sumerian and Akkadian cultures. This is also the period in which the Egyptian empire rose to prominence. New religions were formed and with it, the ability to manage larger societies was enabled. Even still, these changes and adaptations from a civilizational level happened over the courses of hundreds or thousands of years.
Jumping ahead to the “modern” era, we reach the period in which steep increases in population, economic growth, and technological change were all starting to occur. As early as the 1500s, the scientific revolution began to rapidly spread. This led to the enlightenment period and set humanity on an exponential course that turned a world population from that of 500 million in the 1500s, to almost 8 billion in 2019. One of the largest contributing factors was the use of science and technology to further master our world.
The reason the history of humanity and civilization needed to be talked about in this analysis of the exponential future, is to set up the time frames in which humans have traditionally needed to adapt to change.
Exponential Explosion
The exponential explosion is a period in which technology, as well as the world, changes much faster than anyone can track and manage. We are reaching a point of verticality, where an exponential curve becomes almost vertical. This is called a J-curve or “hockey stick” curve. When this happens, and arguably now, it is almost impossible for us to recognize the significance of the changes because we have no frame of reference, we are not used to the speed because the curve in the past wasn’t as steep.
“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” — Albert Bartlett (physics at the University of Colorado)
As curve steepens much faster than before, we will be less able to adapt to it. Think back to our travel throughout the history of change from earlier. For a majority of the past 3.4 million years, our rate of change has been largely flat, taking tens or thousands of generations to make significant jumps (in comparison to now). Our biological evolution takes thousands of years to have a meaningful impact. We can adapt to our environment, but are we built for the coming rate of change? Have our brains changed that much since society was much more simpler? These are things I will explore in a later article, but for now, let’s focus on the phenomenon itself.
Technology’s Example
Growing up around technology and working in the fields of software engineering, design, and artificial intelligence has equipped me, in some way, for the exponential explosion. A software engineer has to constantly learn new frameworks and programming languages to keep up with new capabilities. Designers have to quickly adapt to new human-computer interactions and the increased power available to products. Those working with artificial intelligence recognize and appreciate the inevitability of self-improving models. There are so many aspects of technology that we could focus on, but I will try to keep the narrative concise with a few examples.
Another aspect of this increase in the rate of change is the next generation of internet and cellular infrastructure. If you look at the last decade and what cloud infrastructure and virtualization has provided, it has enabled a new era of technological improvement and innovation. Before AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure, and others, businesses had to install and manage their infrastructure. Startups needed much more capital to build out their ideas. Now, for next to nothing, one can stand up a set of servers in the cloud and utilize world-class infrastructure. It has enabled a steeper growth curve.
When you look at the next generation of cellular infrastructure by the likes of Ericsson, Qualcomm, Nokia, and Huawei, you notice that it is being designed to be modular, virtualized, and upgradable. This will enable new cellular technology to iterate much more quickly. When new advancements in this infrastructure appear, it will be much simpler and cheaper to upgrade. Enabling new economies to form and industries to grow. One of those industries is the IoT (Internet of Things) future, which will be booming by 2025 with over 25 billion connected devices.
Let’s think back twenty years, the world was just learning about the internet and all of its economic potential. We were a bit too naive and the dot-com bubble exploded in the late 90s, but it was a temporary blip on the exponential growth curve. The internet changed the world in many ways, connecting half of the world’s population by 2017 and creating entire new sectors of the economy. The smartphone did something similar, creating new markets, app stores, and connectivity. Over 5 billion people have mobile devices, with 60% of those devices being smartphones. In the late 90s, it was hard to see the path ahead. What would the internet become, how would it change the world? We are at a similar precipice now. The only difference is that we are on a steeper part of the curve.
I’ve raised several questions throughout this introduction that I will try to answer in the next parts of this series. For now, I just leave you with this — do you think you are ready for super-exponential change? | https://medium.com/beyond-the-river/surviving-in-a-world-of-exponential-change-part-1-7be1c4304c6f | ['Drunk Plato'] | 2019-10-06 17:23:18.496000+00:00 | ['Future', 'Articles', 'Humanity', 'Technology', 'Change'] |
My Dating Apps, Wrapped | My Dating Apps, Wrapped
Other year-end recaps are no MATCH for this one.
In a relationship with: My Dating Apps
As we close out on a shitshow year, it is both fun and depressing to reflect on how we spent our time. I — like many who were single through a global pandemic (and long before) — used countless hours to swipe through dating apps, even though dating IRL was mostly off the table. Here’s what I imagine a combined usage might amount to in a year-end recap.
Top 5 dating apps you used to “meet” guys:
Tinder
Bumble
Twitter
Instagram
UberEats
Top 5 types you were into:
Guy who had a beard
Guy wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt
Guy who looked like he’d be into you
Guy who painted a very clear picture of himself through a well-crafted bio, distinguishable pics, and a vibe that screamed “I’ll ghost you in record time!”
Guy who was very specifically not holding a dead animal
Top 5 places you likely swiped:
The bathroom
The bed
The couch
The bathroom again
Wherever you were during the boring parts of a Netflix show
Number of times you swiped left:
115,000
Number of times you swiped right:
32
Number of times you realized you might have swiped left on your soulmate:
115,000
Number of minutes you spent swiping per day:
On average, you’d swipe until you eliminated every man within a two-mile radius of your home. (Quite a superpower to have from the toilet!)
Number of times you were forced to broaden your search filters because you ran out of potential dates:
Countless — expanding your search range became a regular part of this already romantic, inarguably charming, not-at-all tedious process.
Your top search parameters:
30–45 year-old men within two (2) miles
30–45 year-old men within four (4) miles
30–45 year-old men within ten (10) miles
22–82 year-old men within one hundred (100) miles
Literally anyone willing to pay attention to me
Top 5 ways you had a socially-distant first date after you matched with someone:
Apathetically telling your life story over a series of texts instead of in a dark bar after three cocktails as God intended
Awkward video call
Sitting on opposite sides of the park on your little blankets, judging how many cans of hard seltzer each of you brought
Being so socially distant that you just stayed home, never met, and continued to send memes to your friends about being single as fuck
Reaching a point of thirst that is so unrelenting, you took the risk of meeting in close quarters, and told no one. (The most extreme of 2020 fantasies.)
Top 5 guys who mysteriously continued to appear on all your dating apps, even though you swiped left on them multiple times:
We’ve hidden this answer so you don’t have to see any of them again.
Percentage of times you were attracted to a man featured in a dating app ad, but never seemed to find a similar one while swiping:
100%
Top friend whose advice you listened to the most about the matches you pursued:
We’re sorry, we can’t calculate this answer. You ignored all of your friends’ very solid, thoughtful advice.
Number of times your friends asked about “that cute guy you were talking to,” and you needed them to clarify further, until you both figured out it was just Kevin Tinder or Ryan Bumble or Jerry Hinge — all of which you had already forgotten about:
1,000
Likely percentage of men you met on a dating app and no longer talk to but who still watch all of your Instagram stories:
93%
Top 5 reasons you likely went lengthy periods without opening any of your dating apps:
You were briefly consumed and emotionally fulfilled by election results as they rolled in for weeks.
You actually matched with someone you liked and enjoyed, but after one of you found something shinier to admire, you needed time to restore your swiping energy.
You, instead, used Twitter and Instagram to unsuccessfully and embarrassingly flirt with and DM your crushes.
You woke up one morning and found you messaged all your dating-app matches: “Are you my boyfriend???” after a bottle of wine and took time away to reflect.
You found out it was impossible to cry to Folklore and swipe at the time.
The month you realized that trying to find love during a global pandemic is just as bleak as trying to find love when there isn’t a global pandemic:
March 2020 | https://omgskr.medium.com/my-dating-apps-wrapped-cf819e50c64a | ['Sara K. Runnels'] | 2020-12-10 17:35:10.998000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Love', 'Culture', '2020', 'Satire'] |
12 Healthy Things You Can Do to Lose Weight and Keep It Off | I’ve been writing about weight loss for years. But I have also counseled real people for decades, and here’s what I know: What makes headlines, generates buzz, or becomes trendy doesn’t always pan out in everyday life. I’ve talked to countless clients whose attempts with cleanses, extreme diets, and popular weight-loss tactics completely backfired, leaving them right back where they started (or worse).
While I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to losing weight, the reality is that there are a few truths that apply to nearly everyone. For one, if your weight-loss method leaves you feeling hungry, cranky, run-down, or socially isolated, it’s probably not healthy or sustainable. Losing weight should enhance your health, not come at the expense of your health. Also, if your weight loss approach doesn’t become a lifestyle, you’ll likely slip back into old habits, and the weight will creep back on.
So, what does work? Here are a dozen strategies that truly hold up in my experience working in the trenches. Each has the power to support healthy weight loss, while simultaneously enhancing health (the ultimate win-win), and they all have an essential criterion: stick-with-it-ness.
RELATED: What to Eat for Dinner if You’re Trying to Lose Weight, According to a Nutritionist
Eat real food
A calorie isn’t a calorie. Three hundred calories worth of cooked oats topped with blueberries, cinnamon, and nuts isn’t going to have the same effect on your body as a 300-calorie blueberry muffin made with refined carbs, sugar, and artificial additives.
In addition to offering more overall nutrition, whole foods are more filling, satiating, and energizing, and they create a different impact on blood sugar and insulin regulation, digestion, and metabolism. I have seen numerous clients break a weight-loss plateau or start losing weight simply by switching from processed foods to whole foods-even without eating fewer calories. The effect is backed by research, but it also just makes sense. If you do nothing else, upgrade the quality of what you eat, and make this goal the foundation of your weight loss (and ultimately weight-maintenance) plan.
Eat more veggies
According to the CDC, just 9% of adults eat the minimum recommended intake of two to three cups of veggies per day. In my practice, I see that even health-conscious people often miss the mark. But for both weight loss and optimal health, consistently eating more veggies is one of the most important habits you can foster.
Non-starchy vegetables-like leafy greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, and onions-are incredibly filling and nutrient rich, yet they provide just 25 calories or less per cup. Their fiber, prebiotics, and antioxidants have been shown to reduce inflammation, a known obesity trigger, and alter the makeup of gut bacteria in ways that enhance immunity and improve mental health.
I advise my clients to build meals around veggies, so they’re never an afterthought. Aim for one cup (about the size of a tennis ball) at breakfast, two cups and lunch, and two cups at dinner, with the portions measured out before cooking if cooked (such as spinach, which shrinks way down). At breakfast, whip greens into a smoothie, fold shredded zucchini into oats, add veggies to an egg or chickpea scramble, or simply eat them on the side, like sliced cucumber or red bell pepper. Go for salads or bowls at lunch, instead of sandwiches or wraps, with a large base of greens and veggies. At dinner, sauté, oven roast, grill, or stir-fry veggies, and make them the largest component of the meal.
There is no downside to this goal, and it has a healthy domino effect on nearly every other aspect of wellness, from healthy sleep to beauty benefits-in addition to truly working for sustainable weight loss.
RELATED: The 20 Healthiest Foods to Eat for Breakfast
Drink more water
You’ve probably heard this one a million times, and it helps. But in my practice, I find that most people don’t follow through. Water is needed for every process in the body, including healthy circulation, digestion, and waste elimination. Studies show that water does indeed help rev metabolism, and while the effect may be slight, it can snowball to create a greater impact over time.
Drinking water before meals has also been shown to naturally reduce meal portions, which may help prevent slight overeating, which inhibits weight loss. According to the Institute of Medicine, women 19 and older need 2.7 liters of total fluid per day (over 11 cups) and men need 3.7 liters (over 15 cups). About 20% of your fluids come from food, but that still leaves 8–12 cups based on the IOM guidelines, not including additional needs due to exercise.
As a minimum I recommend eight cups a day. Think of your day in four blocks: 1) from the time you get up to mid-morning; 2) mid-morning to lunchtime; 3) lunchtime to mid-afternoon; and 4) mid-afternoon to dinnertime. Aim for two cups (16 ounces) of water during each of these blocks. Set your cell phone alarm as a reminder if you need to. And if you’re not a fan of plain water, spruce it up with healthful add-ins, like lemon or lime, fresh mint, sliced cucumber, fresh ginger, or slightly mashed bits of seasonal fruit.
Eat on a regular schedule
This is a biggie. In my experience, a consistent eating schedule helps to regulate appetite and better support metabolism, energy, and digestive health. My clients who eat at erratic times tend to be more prone to over or undereating. Both are problematic, as undereating can stall metabolism and lead to rebound overeating.
For most of my clients, a good rule of thumb is to eat within about an hour of waking up, and not let more than four to five hours go by without eating. This may mean something like breakfast at 7 a.m., lunch at noon, a snack at 3 p.m., and dinner at 7 p.m. Once you get into a groove with meal timing, your body tends to respond with hunger cues at expected meal/snack times and crave balance, meaning a drive to stop eating when full. I also recommend allowing at least two to three hours between the last meal and bedtime. This provides time for digestion, and averts eating during your least active hours, when your body is preparing for sleep and unable to burn an unneeded surplus of fuel.
RELATED: What Is Veganuary? Everything You Need to Know About This Trendy Food Challenge
Be strategic about meal balance
The bulk of my last weight loss book, Slim Down Now, was based on the idea of building your meals like you build your outfits. When you get dressed, you need a top, bottom, and footwear. You can get away without wearing socks, but you wouldn’t wear two pairs of pants and no top, and you can’t wear two pairs of shoes at the same time.
In the same way, there are three core pieces that make up the foundation of a healthy meal: non-starchy veggies (think top); lean protein (think bottom); and good fat (think shoes). These foundation foods provide the building blacks that support metabolism, and the ongoing maintenance and repair of cells in your body-from immune cells to hormones, red blood cells, enzymes that digest food, hair, skin, and organs.
To this core trio, add what I refer to as an “energy accessory” (aka healthy carb), which you can think of as an add-on to a meal, like putting on a jacket over your top, carrying a bag, or wearing a hat or scarf. These good carb foods, which include whole grains, starchy vegetables, pulses (the umbrella term for beans, lentils, peas, and chickpeas), and fruit, provide energy to fuel the activity of your cells and help them perform their roles. Cutting them out completely can lead to fatigue, and rob your body of important nutrients, including fiber, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. But overdoing it on carbs can result in overfueling (over accessorizing), which interferes with weight loss.
To strike the right balance, match your carb portion to your body’s energy demands, much like putting on a heavier jacket when it’s cooler out, and a lighter hoodie when it’s balmy. This outfit analogy can help you see where you’ve been out of balance, and how to tweak meals that allow for weight loss while still nourishing your body. For example, the alternative to a burrito isn’t veggies and protein only-it’s something like veggies and protein along with avocado and a small scoop of brown rice.
Contrary to what many people believe, balanced meals do result in weight loss (albeit more slowly), and extremes aren’t necessary in order to shed pounds. This kind of sensible meal balance is also far more sustainable long term.
RELATED: What Is Keto 2.0-and Is It Any Healthier Than the Standard Keto Diet?
Time your meals sensibly
Intermittent fasting is currently a huge trend. While the research is young, it does look promising. However, in my practice, I still see a consistent pattern. People who eat most of their food during their more active hours, and eat less or fast during their least active hours, get better results than those who do the opposite. In other words, the timing of your “eating window” matters.
If you decide to try intermittent fasting and limit your eating to eight to 10 hours a day, eat when you’re up and about, moving, and exercising, not when you’re resting and winding down. Over and over I have seen clients lose weight by simply shifting the timing of their meals. For example, for clients who do practice time-restricted eating, those who eat between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. typically get better results than those who eat between noon and 8 p.m.-if they’re sedentary in the evening, that is. And I think it’s worth noting that I’ve seen many, many clients successfully lose wright and keep it off without practicing intermittent fasting or time-restricting eating at all, if they implement many of the other principles laid out here.
Cook at home more often
This one may be pretty obvious, but it’s tried-and-true. Takeout and restaurant meals are notorious for oversized portions and a generous use of starch and sugar. And it’s really difficult to not eat too much, whether that’s due to the tastiness, or not wanting to waste food-even if it’s more than your body needs.
The caveat to cooking at home is that it generally needs to be fast and easy, especially when you’re tired and hungry! I advise my clients to select a few staple meals, and keep the ingredients on hand. When you know what to make, how to make it, how long it’s going to take, what it will taste like, and how you’re going to feel afterward, you’ll be a lot more likely to get in the kitchen.
Healthy shortcuts and minimal ingredients are encouraged. A few go-tos my clients like include: ready-to-eat leafy greens tossed with salsa fresca, topped with a crumbled veg burger patty, sliced avocado, and a scoop of black beans; or a scramble made with veggies, extra virgin olive oil, Italian seasoning, sea salt, black pepper, eggs, or chickpeas, and a side of fresh fruit. Find a few meals you enjoy that leave you feeling simultaneously full, satisfied, and energized, and that aren’t too time intensive.
In addition to supporting healthy weight loss, you can also save a considerable amount of money, and you can use your cooking time to unwind, listen to a podcast, or catch up with your partner.
RELATED: 7 High Fiber Keto Foods
Re-evaluate alcohol
In addition to providing calories, alcohol tends to lower inhibitions and stimulate appetite. I think we’ve all experienced eating foods we wouldn’t touch sober, and/or overeating with abandon while tipsy. So alcohol is a bit of a double whammy when it comes to weight loss. Many of my clients who cut out the two glasses of wine or cocktails they typically sip with dinner have dropped a size without making any other changes.
But if cutting out alcohol altogether doesn’t suit your lifestyle, consider committing to a specific drinking strategy. Some of my clients limit alcohol to weekends only. Others curb their consumption to a one drink max per day. In some cases, finding new ways of socializing helps considerably. My clients that typically spend time with friends by eating and drinking have had success by expanding their activities to include outings that don’t heavily revolve around drinking like meeting for coffee, going to a museum, play, or doing something active, such as going for a hike or bike ride.
Develop a splurge strategy
It’s not realistic to go the rest of your life never having treats, including both sweet and savory favorites. Repeatedly I have seen that trying to do so causes people to give up, abandon their weight loss goals, and slide back into old, unbalanced habits.
Instead, build can’t-live-without goodies in a balanced way. First, identify your very favorites. I ask my clients to rank foods using a 0–5 scale, with 0 being ‘meh’ and 5 a special food they can’t imagine forgoing forever. If something doesn’t rate at least a 4, you’re probably going to be OK passing it up.
But make room for those true faves. For example, if French fries are your thing, combine them with a lettuce wrapped veg or turkey burger, along with salad, veggies, or slaw. If you’re craving a decadent cupcake, eat a generous portion of veggies and some lean protein for dinner, and savor every morsel of your dessert. This is not at all about willpower, diet “rules,” or restriction-it’s about balance, and it feels good.
Most of us have been programmed to live in the all or nothing, but the in-between is a much happier, healthier place to be. And trust me, you can do this and still lose weight. Let go of the notion that weight loss requires extreme limitations. The real key is consistency, and this approach, although seemingly unconventional, is highly maintainable.
RELATED: 8 Foods You Need in Your Kitchen for a Healthier New Year
Don’t starve yourself
I’ve eluded to this a few times, but let me be blunt: In my 20 years of counseling clients, I have never once seen someone lose weight and keep it off by starving themselves. Have I seen people lose weight this way? Yes. But, in every case they either got sick or became physically, emotionally, or socially unable to keep it up-and regained all of the weight (sometimes plus more).
As a health professional, my goal is to help people lose weight in a way that feels good, optimizes wellness, and reduces the risk of immediate and long-term health problems. Starvation checks not one of those boxes. I’ve seen clients pay tons of money to go to spas that underfeed and overexercise their bodies, try cleanses, extreme fasts, or adopt severely limited diets, and the side effects have been disastrous.
I completely understand the pull these types of methods can attract, but chances are you’ve already tried some version of this in your life, and it didn’t end well. If you’re tempted again, listen to your gut, and remind yourself that a quick fix is ultimately a dead end.
Differentiate mind hunger from body hunger
Many of my clients are surprised how much time we spend talking about this, but in my experience, it’s fundamental for both weight loss and a healthy relationship with food. Body hunger triggers signs that are physical in nature, like a slightly growling tummy and a need for fuel. Mind hunger has nothing to do with your body’s needs. It may be driven by habit, emotions, or environmental cues-like seeing or smelling food, or watching other people eat.
I use breathing, guided meditation, and mindfulness to help my clients differentiate between the two, and the results are profound. I’ve had many clients tell me they’re hungry one hour after eating a perfectly balanced meal. And when we drill down, they realize that it’s not hunger they’re experiencing, but anxiety, boredom, or maybe the desire for reward or comfort. We are practically programmed for birth to use food to meet non-physical needs. We celebrate with food, bring food to loved ones when something bad happens, use it to bond, show love, and even pass time. We also learn to self-soothe with food, and we pair eating with other activities, like watching TV or reading, which then become uncomfortable to uncouple.
Delving into your personal relationship with food, and the whys behind your eating choices, can provide a wealth of knowledge. If you keep a food journal, add your thoughts and feelings to it, including why you chose to eat when and what you did, and what body signals you were experiencing. Until you really understand your patterns, they’re nearly impossible to change. If you find that you often mistake hunger for emotional eating, test out some alternative coping mechanisms that address your feelings. You cannot transform overnight, but as you begin to replace food with other ways of meeting your emotional needs, you will alter how you eat forever. And for many people, this is the final piece of the weight loss puzzle.
RELATED: The Best (and Worst) Diets of 2020, According to Experts
Seek support
All of the previous tips focus on forming different habits, letting go of approaches that haven’t served you well, and developing a new normal. This doesn’t happen in a vacuum. And you may even have people in your life who are unsupportive or disruptive to your goals.
Find support from somewhere. It can be a professional like me, a friend, co-worker, neighbor, even an app, website, or a like-minded person you’ve connected with through social media. I’ve had so many clients get talked out of healthy approaches because someone in their life convinced them it wasn’t necessary or wouldn’t work. It’s difficult to see that happen when the approach in question felt right to the client and was helping them feel well. But this is bound to happen whenever you go public with any type of lifestyle change.
To counter it, find your person or people who will listen, allow you to vent, support your healthy choices, and even gently interject if your choices don’t line up with wellness-focused goals. Healthy weight loss is a journey, but it shouldn’t be a solo expedition. Find at least one resource to keep you from losing your way.
Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, is Health’s contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a private practice performance nutritionist who has consulted for five professional sports teams.
To get more nutrition and diet tips delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Balanced Bites newsletter | https://ponditnirmol.medium.com/12-healthy-things-you-can-do-to-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off-d91e854d9b44 | ['Nirmol Chandra Pondit'] | 2020-01-28 12:14:42.718000+00:00 | ['Lose Weight', 'Healthy'] |
Losing weight should not be the goal | Losing weight should not be the goal
Keeping losing weight as your goal will stop you from diving into the knowledge and practise of workout at gym. Many people want to lose weight, regardless whatever reasons, but losing weight becomes so strong for them to open their eyes to other aspects of workout such as grow muscle, strengthen the whole body. If you really want to enjoy doing workout, please learn to appreciate its beauty and its huge benefits in your whole life. If my main goal was losing weight, I wouldn’t have come so far. I was working out not because I need to lose weight and get more fit but because I felt my spirit needed it.
2021 was the year of change
Without any prior knowledge about workout, I bought my first Personal Training courses with some doubt about the future progress on my body shape on June 2020, by which time the body fat percentage was up to 39%. It was hard, really hard at the beginning. My body needed time to get used to the new movements and new weight I lifted. If losing weight was my goal, then I achieved it after one-year of ‘workout’ at the gym. However, the body shape was not improving in a meaningful way — no 6-pack abs, no appearing muscle. Strange as it was. Why losing weight was not exactly the same as building a REAL physical fitness?
At some point, it became overwhelming to come to gym after daily job and finished it within two hours before riding subway to my far-away home. I wanted to get in shape. But I was very, very skeptical about my body potential. It’s who I was supposed to be, having body fat equal to 39%.
My old bro told me that it would at least take two years for a beginner of workout to come close to the ‘6-pack abs’ shape. You couldn’t achieve it in such short period. Well, I boiled the self-doubt for a while, and then something critical came to my realisation that my poor diet must contributed a lot to my ‘slow growth’. It was a big mistake I had made during my many months efforts dedicated to the workout journey. At least it explained the reason why I still had ‘big’ belly fat after so many months efforts. That’s when the magic started to happen. It started from July 2021, and I posted about new diet on social media platforms, visible to all of my network connections and even the strangers on Instagram. Throughout exposing yourself to big audience, you would push yourself much harder to stick with it. It’s a way of manifesting what I want. Believe it or not, I gradually lost my belly fat to the extent that the muscles were awakened to working on their own, autopilot, so to speak. As the weeks went on, I was surprised to find out that I became desired to do my workouts and enjoyed them. They are my best friends. When I shared the toned belly image with my best friend, I could literally felt his proud. YES, desiring to making beneficial changes to our lives during pandemic is feeling great!
The huge benefits from my workouts
Achieving Physical fitness
Establishing a healthy diet
Building up confidence
Becoming more energetic
The new version of life
I could feel the difference while walking down the street, riding two-hour subway by standing with a kindle book to read, climbing many-steps stairs, carrying heavy bags, open heavy doors, etc. I also started to appreciate the analogy of workout used in various books. Workout is an attitude to your own life. You want to live your life intentionally.
What made me want to work out and keep it as a daily routine were all the benefits I feel, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Original article could be found on my blog website | https://medium.com/@amyjuanli/body-transformation-in-one-year-69fd9f1ebc3c | ['Amy Juan Li'] | 2021-12-31 11:22:27.825000+00:00 | ['Body Transformation', 'Workout', 'Fitness', 'Workout Routines'] |
Don’t Forget I’m a Vegetarian Even Though Thanksgiving is on Zoom This Year | Humor
Don’t Forget I’m a Vegetarian Even Though Thanksgiving is on Zoom This Year
Get over the burned tofu already
Photo by Meelika Marzzarella on Unsplash
To: Family <all>
Re: Thanksgiving Dinner 2020
Hi Everyone!
I am super excited to get this group email going so we can plan our individual, but-still-together, Thanksgiving. Let’s call it Zoomsgiving! Before we get too far into it, though, I want to revisit some emotional leftovers from last year.
Since Thanksgiving 2006, I have repeatedly told this entire family that I am vegetarian. But you’ve all continued to serve only turkey, year after year. I get that turkey is a tradition, and you all love it so much, but we could serve a meat alternative.
That does not mean chicken either, even though your friend who calls herself a vegetarian eats chicken fingers. I don’t. And since we will be on camera this year, you can’t deny you roll your eyes at me when I say that, so just don’t. I may be recording the meeting and I might be able to check.
Since the year I brought turkey shaped tofu, and one of you shoved it in the back of the oven and it caught on fire, I have felt shunned. We all know who pushed it that far back so they could fit their au gratin in when they showed up late. I paid for everyone’s dry cleaning and bought new curtains because yes, the smoke was unusual and yes, it did permeate everything. It was surprisingly acrid. But the firefighters were nice and Ashley even knew one of them from high school.
No one ever says anything when you-know-who brings all that cigarette-smell-tinged food. That is permeating. Also, I don’t believe anyone’s hair piece still smells like burned tofu turkey product. So you can stop saying that. Maybe just go with your bald spot instead? We all know you have one. And the oven was fine, once the fire extinguisher foam was cleaned out. I heard that one of you thought I should buy a new oven. Let late au gratin buy a new oven. Do you know how expensive dry cleaning is?
So yes, last year I brought a small hunk of seasoned tofu, in defiance of the ban. I had to. It was obvious that some of you would never remember I was a vegetarian, no matter how many times I told you. You only seem to recall when it comes to scorched tofu incidents that weren’t my fault. Remember at Ashley’s Sweet 16 party, when I’d already been a vegetarian for like four years? The only pizza there was pepperoni.
So, when dinner was served and everyone was passing the turkey, my tofu was nowhere to be found. Of course I asked where it was, and I wasn’t yelling. I was just asking. But everyone got all tense.
And one of you said, “Oh that white cheesy-looking watery stuff in the pan?”
“Obviously, yes,” I said, and then you all got quiet. It was silent even, and that never happens. You guys never seem to stop talking, especially about what singed tofu smells like. I almost thought about using the lull in conversation to mention all the migraines I’d been having, but then one of you asked Ashley’s college roommate about her new tattoo. Suddenly that tattoo was all the talk of the table and my tofu was trash. Just so you all know, you shouldn’t ask a guest to show you her new tattoo. You just shouldn’t.
I just had to sit, and say nothing, in front of your smelly casseroles and onion soup packet dips. All those things look gross to me. Yep, I heard a few of you call my tofu gross. It’s not. It totally takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with and it stops jiggling if you slice it thin, and cook it well enough. But not so well that it starts an oven fire, I know! That was one time!
So, a simple ask this Zoomsgiving: Can you all just make sure not to eat any turkey in front of me? I can finally escape that carcass in the middle of a table on virtual Thanksgiving. Also, a lot of you chew with your mouths open and I will be looking tight in your faces.
Which reminds me, several of you told me to get the tofu out of your face last year. I was just showing you what it looked like. What a total overreaction on your parts. But it is fine. Just keep your turkey off camera. I won’t ever again mention how my personal protein choice was deemed garbage by one of you, and I bet I know who. I haven’t been thinking about it since last year. It probably isn’t even one of the reasons I am still having migraines.
Let’s get this Zoomsgiving planned! Once you click on the pop up that certifies you agree to the no-visible-turkey-chomping rule, you can fill out the survey about what time we should eat “together.” I hear Ashley has a different roommate this year. Hopefully, she doesn’t have a new tattoo for you all to ask her about.
Maybe her roommate will be a vegetarian, too. It would be nice to feel less alone in this family. But I hope she’s not a vegan. Everyone knows they are real attention seekers.
©Stacey Curran, 2020 | https://medium.com/muddyum/even-though-we-are-doing-thanksgiving-on-zoom-this-year-dont-forget-i-am-a-vegetarian-47169d2c4f30 | ['Stacey Curran'] | 2020-11-23 03:00:11.917000+00:00 | ['Vegetarian', 'Covid 19', 'Thanksgiving', 'Humor', 'Family'] |
How to create a Language Learning Application? | The story of “BaOui: Master French” mobile app started almost a year ago with a traditional French greeting “Bonjour, comment allez-vous?”, to which I’ve got the not less traditional “Bonjour, ça va bien!” response.
It was the only typical part of the whole project, which is now successfully finished, released to Google Play and App Store, and started to onboard its first paying customers. What an amazing journey it was!
Thanks to our dear clients, we’ve learned a lot about the “Language Learning” space, its rules, and challenges. We’ve got the priceless knowledge and experience, which now we want to share with you.
Language Learning Landscape
The best place to start the research is the Language Learning section in HolonIQ Education’s “Global Learning Landscape” report. There are 40+ companies listed already, but many are still missing.
“App driven language learning for kids and adults has made language learning, particularly English, one of the top app categories on all platforms.”
This quote can be easily verified using App Annie’s Top Apps live report for the Education category in Google Play and App Store. On October 11th, 2020, language learning apps take more than 20% of the Top 50 (Grossing).
It is a massive part of the EdTech market, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone. Learning a foreign language is probably one of the most useful and universal skills you can get in the modern globalised world.
Check Rosetta Stone’s article about ROI of language learning.
Content Comes First
Language learning is commonly associated with mobile applications when it comes to smartphones and tablets. Hence most people think, that having a great mobile app is enough to compete in the space.
But the truth is that content is even more important than application. Actually, you have to start with content, and design your app in such a way, that it presents your content in the best way possible.
This is exactly what happened with BaOui project, where all dialogs, grammar, exercises, and vocabulary were prepared well before even starting to work on the design (not saying about development).
Of course, we changed and updated content many times while designing and developing mobile applications, but its style and format always stayed the same. We’ve ended up with a super-authentic content-centric mobile language learning app, and not just a copycat of some existing competitor.
Imagine the scale: 50+ topics, 100+ dialogs, hundreds of exercises, and thousands of essential words, phrases, expressions, and slang terms. All crafted and recorded from scratch by bilingual founders.
Content Delivery
BaOui team put an enormous effort into creating the content, so it was about half-ready when we started to work together. Here we faced the first challenge: how to transform human-readable content into a machine-readable one, and keep it flexible for future updates?
Creating the authoring tool for an MVP project with a limited budget can be hardly justified, so we resolved the problem in a smart way: initial human-readable content (created in Mac’s Notes) was half-manually, half-automatically transformed into Markdown files, which we then parsed with scripts, and transformed to JSON format (perfect fit for computers).
The second challenge was about keeping the content in sync, so it could be easily updated by clients, and shipped to users at any moment. To address the problem, we leveraged GitHub repository for collaboration on the content, changes and updates verification, safely shipping everything to end-users.
And finally, we used Firebase to host all the content in a form of short lessons, which were grouped into topics. In such a way, we were able to flexibly deliver a learning experience to our users, both online and offline, for free.
Mobile Applications
Once the content was ready, application design and development came into play. It’s important to remember, that the main purpose of apps is to engage users, make them learn, and retain the new language.
So the app was split into 3 parts:
Learn : guide the user through different topics, which include dialogs, theory, exercises and vocabulary.
: guide the user through different topics, which include dialogs, theory, exercises and vocabulary. Practice : give a 24/7 access to essential words, phrases, expressions, so they are always there, when the user needs them.
: give a 24/7 access to essential words, phrases, expressions, so they are always there, when the user needs them. Review: repeat all learnt vocabulary, so it’s retained and can be used later.
As a result, we designed and developed 44 screens, which implement the full user flow, starting from authentication and onboarding, and ending by subscription and user feedback.
Sounds like a lot of work? Yes, it is! But thanks to Kotlin Multiplatform technology we were able to share the vital business-logic between native iOS and Android applications, which reduced the time spent on development by approximately 30%. In this article you will find more details about the KMP.
There is no better way to show up the app than demo done by our dear clients and satisfied users. Happy watching!
Conclusions
Developing a language learning application is a complex, but interesting process, which takes a lot of dedication from the whole team. We should always remember that software development is just a tool, which helps to bring ideas to life and scale existing solutions to solve bigger problems.
So always start with an idea, innovative learning approach, unique and engaging content. Once you have a clear vision, find a technology partner, which is capable of understanding and guiding you to the project completion.
Need an advice? Don’t hesitate to drop us a line on [email protected]. | https://medium.com/xorum-io/how-to-create-a-language-learning-application-97260b5bd3cd | ['Alla Dubovska'] | 2020-10-19 12:28:40.095000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Kotlin Multiplatform', 'Education', 'Android', 'Language Learning'] |
Introducing Python websockets and asyncio with a worked example | A quick beginner’s tutorial into Python websockets with a Deribit cryptocurrency example.
Photo by Stefan Gall on Unsplash
In this note, we’re going to run through some basics on running Python websockets, along with an example where we use websockets to receive live cryptocurrency data from one the largest Bitcoin futures trading platform Deribit.
Firstly, you need to install websockets.
Installing Python websockets
Installing websockets:
pip install websockets
Websockets requires Python 3.6.1 or greater. Perhaps you can create a new virtual environment and install websockets into this environment. This way, you don’t mess around with your base environment.
conda create --name myNewEnv python=3.7
conda install -n myNewEnv websockets
In the code above, we’ve created an new Python virtual environment called “myNewEnv” in which we install Python version 3.7. We have also installed websockets into this version.
What is websockets?
Websockets is a standard protocol for two way data transfer between a client and a server. Websockets does not run over HTTP, it has a separate implementation on top of TCP. This is the key difference to REST (representational state transfer) which uses HTTP.
It is a persistent connection between the client and the server — both parties can send data to each other at any time.
The best way to learn is to learn by an example. Let’s learn by the following example, where we open up a connection with the cryptocurrency exchange deribit and take some current market prices.
A simple example using the Deribit API
We are going to use Python websockets to get the market price of Bitcoin futures on Deribit. Some details on the Deribit API is in the link below, but for now you don’t need to read it. I will go though one single example in great detail so hopefully you get the hang of it.
Here is the code supplied by Deribit to access market data. We will go through this code line-by-line.
import asyncio
import websockets
import json msg = {"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "public/get_index_price",
"id": 42,
"params": {"index_name": "btc_usd"}} async def call_api(msg):
async with websockets.connect('wss://test.deribit.com/ws/api/v2') as websocket:
await websocket.send(msg)
response = await websocket.recv()
print(response)
asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(call_api(json.dumps(msg)))
Firstly you will notice the use of asyncio, so very quickly, let’s go a brief explain what asyncio is all about.
What is asyncio?
Asyncio is a programming design that achieves concurrency without multi-threading.
It is a single-threaded, single-process design. It uses cooperative multitasking, i.e., it gives a sense of concurrency despite using a single thread in a single process.
Basic asyncio commands
async — used to introduce a new native coroutine.
await — passes control back up the chain. Basically, I’m waiting for a result which is taking some time, so in the meantime, run something else.
The syntax for a coroutine:
async def call_api(x):
y = await receive(x)
return(y)
A simple example of using the async/await function that illustrates concurrency:
import asyncio
import time async def count():
print('one')
await asyncio.sleep(1)
print('two') async def main():
await asyncio.gather(count(), count(), count()) if __name__ == "__main__":
s = time.perf_counter()
asyncio.run(main())
elapsed = time.perf_counter() - s
print(f"{__file__} executed in {elapsed:0.2f} seconds.")
The output of the code above is:
Notice how all the ‘one’s are printed first before the ‘two’s. In a normal synchronous for loop this would not occur.
The Deribit API code is built upon the same syntax as the simple coroutine above.
async def call_api(msg):
async with websockets.connect('wss://test.deribit.com/ws/api/v2') as websocket:
await websocket.send(msg)
response = await websocket.recv()
print(response)
Here is what it is doing:
We create a coroutine called “call_api”. This coroutine allows for a variable msg to be parsed into it. msg is a JSON-RPC.
msg = {"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "public/get_index_price",
"id": 42,
"params": {"index_name": "btc_usd"}}
We can create a websockets connection with the following syntax.
async with websockets.connect(websocketResourceUrl) as ws:
In our case the websocket resource url is ‘wss://test.deribit.com/ws/api/v2’. Websocket resource urls always start with ‘ws’ or ‘wss’ (if secure).
Once we have created our websocket, we can sent through a message.
await websocket.send(msg)
In this case, it is to retrieve the index price of Bitcoin futures trading on Deribit. (Please note we’re retrieving it from Deribit’s testnet.)
We then proceed to print the response.
response = await websocket.recv()
print(response)
Output: Bitcoin futures price
And there we have it, the BTC price from Deribit. | https://medium.com/cassandra-cryptoassets/introducing-python-websockets-and-asyncio-with-a-worked-example-37ff43f62935 | [] | 2021-01-02 11:59:14.258000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Websocket', 'Bitcoin', 'Python', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Candi Dukuh | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/marcapada/candi-dukuh-53056d816c7b | ['Yacob Wijaya'] | 2017-04-04 09:00:45.913000+00:00 | ['Candi', 'Jawa Tengah', 'Semarang'] |
Give Yourself The Gift of External Perspective | Photo by winniebrucephotos on Canva
I’m not techie enough.
I don’t read enough.
I don’t work out enough.
I don’t work hard enough.
I’m not smart enough.
I’m not good enough.
My entire life I’ve been acutely self-critical. Whether nature or nurture’s to blame, I don’t know (I do, but that’s a post for another day). I can trace this feeling back to fourth grade. I was the third fastest runner in my class (the fastest went on to play men’s rugby at the international level, but that’s beside the point).
The fact isn’t that I wasn’t fast. It’s that I wasn’t fast enough.
When I was in middle school and high school, I found myself among a group of high-achieving “A” students. There I learned that I wasn’t smart enough. I felt this way even after I “skipped” grade six — it’s a long story — and I have trouble giving myself credit. But, for those few hours, little ol’ me was smart enough to trick the district school board and skipeth a grade. While normal people would celebrate and cherish these achievements (oh and do I envy you), I’ve relented my mild successes to luck or “a better time” when my brain wasn’t in what seems like a constant state of mental decay.
Most days, I feel like crap over the shit I do not know. I know it’s not healthy. But the more I learn, the more unnerving it is to look down that bottomless pit. It gets darker with each passing year. Like all of us, I am fallible. Fallible to the idea of the ideal human. Reading about Da Vinci does not make me feel better.
This brings me to something that I came across this weekend that for many would be so unmemorable but has instead lingered on in my head — like the smell of curry to a ski jacket (if you’re South Asian, you know exactly what I mean).
I came across a candidate’s resume for a vacancy in our company. Of course, as one would expect, it had all the “accoutrements” of a well-put profile (say it in a French accent or don’t say it at all).
As I flipped over to the second page, this individual highlighted some accomplishments that he was proud of — as he should be. One of those things was in humour (which I appreciated), and the other was legitimate (or at least I hope it was; otherwise the whole basis for this post is garbage).
This (younger) guy mentioned that he could run a 5K in under 25 minutes — and he seemed pretty chuffed about it.
Now for those who don’t run, running 5km in under 25 minutes is good time. It’s not something that’ll get you to the Olympics or a special ribbon at your local meet, but it does show that you’re a healthy specimen with a certain amount of physical strength/stamina.
Why is this important? Around six months ago, a friend got me into running. And despite my somewhat sporadic schedule, without fail, I almost always finish a 5K in under 25 minutes. About a week ago, I finished one in under 23.
Until I came across this accomplishment, I frankly thought I was a garbage runner (I have no idea why I’m gravitating towards trash but let’s go with it), constantly comparing myself to a younger self in high school or better athletes.
For me, this totally uneventful experience momentarily made me stop, think, and consider the deprecating internal narrative that I constantly feed myself. Never satisfied. Always in the pursuit for more — to do more — to do better — to be better.
But alas, I am a hypocrite. The yardstick with which I measure others’ accomplishments is far shorter than the one I use to measure mine. Perspective is wonderful but it’s not something that I’m used to, especially when the outcome of any deliberation favors me. God forbid, that’s almost like accepting compliments. It’s awkward.
Almost always, I think about how much better my life is compared to 95% of the world’s population. Broken bone? No problem. Depressed like Eeyore? No worries — after all, I have no right to quibble about anything. My issues are inconsequential; and so, by default, so too are my victories.
I have no idea about the fitness journey of this kid or what it took him to accomplish this task. Perhaps he recently got into an active lifestyle or perhaps it’s as simple as him being stoked about shedding off a few minutes. Whatever it is, I’m glad he’s proud.
And I should be too.
Sure, I don’t know how much more difficult his journey was than mine (or vice versa) — however, objectively speaking, finishing a 5K in under 23 minutes, is dare I say, pretty good.
So, as we hang up our boots for a year that seemed like a dystopian future out of a sci-fi novel, join me this holiday season and cherish the small wins, no matter how trivial they may seem. Cut yourself some slack. Try and see things from the perspective of others. You may be pleasantly surprised when you do. | https://medium.com/@hassan-sheikh/give-yourself-the-gift-of-external-perspective-e9807f92df89 | ['Hassan Sheikh'] | 2020-12-18 22:01:40.628000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Self', 'Life Lessons', 'Self-awareness', 'Perspective'] |
Trump threatens to wreak havoc on GOP from beyond the White House | President Donald Trump has spent the three weeks since he lost the election savaging a pair of GOP governors for not backing his claims he was robbed.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-shoujo-tsubaki-full-movie-hd-1992-online-free-123movies
Republicans are worried it’s just the start of what’s in store from the soon-to-be-former president.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-the-acrobat-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Trump’s attacks on Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Mike DeWine Ohio — both of whom are up for reelection in 2022 — has led to broader concerns within the party that he will use his post-presidency to exact revenge on perceived enemies and insert himself into races in ways that are not helpful.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-megan-is-missing-full-movie-hd-2011-online-free-123movies
While the 2022 midterm elections are a ways off, the president’s broadsides are giving fuel to would-be primary challengers in both states — raising the prospect that Republicans will be forced into ugly and expensive nomination fights that could jeopardize their hold on the two governors’ mansions.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-come-play-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Trump’s intrusions into Georgia and Ohio provide an early test case for how he might use his stranglehold on the conservative base to control the party long after he leaves the White House. Never mind that Trump will no longer be in power: Cross him, and you will pay.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-rogue-city-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
“The president’s jabs at Govs. Kemp and DeWine could invite primaries, and that’s exactly the chatter he wants to start,” said Republican strategist Mike DuHaime, who oversaw Chris Christie’s successful New Jersey gubernatorial campaigns.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-roald-dahls-the-witches-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
“The power the president holds over elected Republicans is due to his strength among GOP primary voters in every state and district right now. He may be able to make or break candidates in GOP primaries for years to come,” added DuHaime, who formerly served as a senior adviser to the Republican Governors Association.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-after-we-collided-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Trump lashed out at DeWine after the governor’s appearance on CNN on Nov. 15, when the Ohio Republican called Joe Biden the president-elect and said that for “the country’s sake it’s important for a normal transition to start.”
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-over-the-moon-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Trump responded on Twitter, writing: “Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Will be hotly contested!”
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-demon-slayer-mugen-train-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
“In the short term, President Trump’s attacks on these governors serves his interest in casting doubt on the election results. But if it invites serious primary challengers, it could hurt Republicans in the long run and drain valuable resources that would be used for a general election.”
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-spell-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Jon Thompson, former top RGA official site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-jingle-jangle-a-christmas-journey-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
The president has repeatedly gone after Kemp, imploring him to intervene to stop what Trump has baselessly claimed are irregularities in the state’s vote count. Trump complained on Twitter that “the whole process is very unfair and close to meaningless,” adding: “Where is @BrianKempGA?”
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-his-house-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
He also retweeted polling that show Kemp’s approval rating taking a hit. “Wow! Governor Kemp will hopefully see the light before it is too late. Must finally take charge!” he wrote.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-the-dark-and-the-wicked-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Then he tagged Kemp in a tweet in which he demanded that Republicans “get tough.”
Trump allies have joined the pile-on. Fox News host Sean Hannity said Kemp is “cowering in fear,” and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz accused the governor of failing to ensure the integrity of the election.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-on-the-rocks-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, meanwhile, devoted part of his podcast on Thursday to blasting Kemp.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-the-life-ahead-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
Trump’s influence in Republican primaries could extend beyond Georgia and Ohio. He has already vowed to campaign against Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a sometime Trump critic who said in June that she was “struggling” with the question of whether she supported Trump.
site : https://curio.instructure.com/courses/781/pages/full-watch-love-and-monsters-full-movie-hd-2020-online-free-123movies
“Few people know where they’ll be in two years from now, but I do, in the Great State of Alaska (which I love) campaigning against Senator Lisa Murkowski,” Trump tweeted at the time.
site : http://facebookhitlist.com/forum/topics/sdhdskhdskhdkshd
He added: “Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don’t care, I’m endorsing. If you have a pulse, I’m with you!”
Republicans view Kemp as more vulnerable to a primary challenge than DeWine, noting that the Georgian has seen an erosion in support among conservatives.
site : https://gibal85409.tumblr.com/post/635547106106605568/sdhdsiydsiyidsydsi
He came under fire over his decision to appoint Kelly Loeffler to Georgia’s Senate seat over a Trump favorite, Rep. Doug Collins. And after endorsing Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial contest, Trump has openly clashed with Kemp over his handling of the coronavirus. During an April news conference, the president said he was “not happy with Brian Kemp, I will tell you that.”
site : https://paiza.io/projects/cTYLgSBbVy8A0w2XmVSIhw?language=php
Trump allies have already begun to encourage Collins to challenge Kemp in 2022. When Hannity raised the idea during an interview on his radio show, Collins, who is leading Trump’s recount effort in Georgia, chuckled in response.
site : https://onlinegdb.com/SyTjO2Ocv
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. | John Bazemore/AP Photo
site : https://onlinegdb.com/rkUgFh_5D
Kemp has seen his approval rating dip to 37 percent, according to a survey released last week. Republicans worry that a damaging primary could leave him hobbled in a potential general election rematch against former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, whom he narrowly defeated in 2018.
site : https://onlinegdb.com/BJ4NFnuqv
MOST READ
Kemp on Friday certified the state’s 16 electoral votes for Biden, though he offered an olive branch to the president’s supporters, saying it was “unacceptable” that “thousands of uncounted ballots” were found in a post-election audit.
Trump, meanwhile, has long regarded DeWine as insufficiently loyal. During his 2018 race, the Ohio governor frequently skipped the president’s rallies in the state. It did not go unnoticed at the White House.
While DeWine has high approval ratings, he’s drawn opposition from Trump supporters over coronavirus restrictions he’s implemented. The 73-year-old governor was booed during a September appearance at a Trump rally.
Among the names being mentioned as a potential primary opponent is Max Miller, who’s played key roles in the Trump White House and on the reelection campaign. Miller, who’s from Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, and hails from a prominent Ohio political family, declined to comment.
Rep. Jim Jordan, another staunch Trump loyalist, has also been floated as a potential challenger to DeWine — though many Ohio Republicans think he wants to remain in Congress. Still, Jordan has drawn attention for his pointed criticism of the governor’s coronavirus response.
Former Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci, who aligned himself with Trump during an unsuccessful 2018 Senate bid, said he was open to challenging the incumbent governor. He criticized DeWine for calling Biden president-elect.
“I believe the least he should have done is allow the president to work through the legal process afforded to him under the law and assure all legal votes are counted,” Renacci wrote in a text message.
Trump has shown himself to be a powerful force in GOP primaries. His endorsements of Kemp and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2018 vaulted them to statewide office. The same year, he turned his fire on then-Rep. Mark Sanford, sinking him in his GOP primary contest.
And against the wishes of party leaders, Trump endorsed Kansas Republican Kris Kobach over a sitting Republican governor. Kobach defeated the appointed incumbent in the primary, then lost to Democrat Laura Kelly in the general election.
Trump’s deep base of conservative support virtually ensures that he’ll remain a force once he leaves office. And the fact that many of his backers are convinced the election was stolen from him could intensify their loyalty.
But party strategists worry that could spell trouble in upcoming elections.
“In the short term, President Trump’s attacks on these governors serves his interest in casting doubt on the election results. But if it invites serious primary challengers, it could hurt Republicans in the long run and drain valuable resources that would be used for a general election,” said Jon Thompson, a former top RGA official.
It isn’t the only way Trump could handcuff the GOP. The president’s flirtation with a 2024 comeback bid threatens to freeze out other would-be GOP candidates who’ve begun laying the groundwork for a national campaign.
All of which has heightened GOP fears that Trump’s post-White House political activities will make it impossible for the party to turn the page.
“I’d be thinking in terms of how do you help reelect Republican governors. Donald Trump doesn’t think that way. His worldview starts and stops with his own personal interests at the exact moment he’s typing out a tweet,” said Tucker Martin, who was a top aide to former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.
It’s an open question how involved Trump will get in future Republican primaries. People close to the president say he’s keenly interested in down-ballot races, and they expect him to play a kingmaker role.
Former Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) was skeptical that Trump would target Kemp. But who knows, he said.
“The president,” Westmoreland said, “is pretty unpredictable.” | https://medium.com/@sangenunu91/his-attacks-on-republican-governors-since-his-loss-offer-a-sample-of-whats-in-store-a75122b43faf | ['Sange Nunu'] | 2020-11-23 04:38:41.855000+00:00 | ['Donald', 'Trump', 'Republican', 'Governors'] |
5 Common Mistakes in Fintech Design and How to Avoid Them | 5 Common Mistakes in Fintech Design and How to Avoid Them Grecia Marin Follow Apr 15 · 5 min read
Social distancing increased digital banking adoption, and many fintech solutions had to be quickly reinvented and adapted to a new context. The world economy is moving towards virtual currency and the number of payment services increases by the day. Moreover, investing in financial markets is now much more accessible, as we have witnessed in the past Gamestop stock ride.
Customer experience is undergoing a revolution. The fintech world is undoubtedly growing and competition is fierce, pushing companies — and us, as product designers — to continually improve our current products.
In this article, I would like to share my experience in designing fintech applications, go over five common misconceptions in the industry, and some ideas to avoid them.
1. One size doesn’t always fit all 📏
You will realize this if you know your users in depth. At Wolox, our UX research team is devoted to exploring and defining the various emotions and needs of clients. Based on these insights, we define not only an appropriate tone but also how much information the user needs to successfully perform each task.
In my experience, some financial products require two different onboardings designs. For example, the process for an individual account may be different from a corporate one likewise for an investor and a new fintech user. Or, we could also need different onboarding processes depending on the nationality.
Trust your UX research team to shed some light on these possibilities and don’t always stick to a “one size fits all” mindset.
2. Yes, in fintech we’re also dealing with emotions 😻
Managing personal finances triggers an array of emotions. A lot of personal data may be requested in the onboarding process, and nowadays users are increasingly aware of the importance of privacy. If they don’t understand why some data is requested, they may feel suspicious, ultimately causing user drop-offs in the onboarding stage.
During the process, we should offer context about why this data is needed, and also we could guide the user on where to get it. Input helpers — small helping messages — are a good ally to make the user feel safe and confident.
Also, try to focus on positive emotions. Simple actions such as receiving, sending money, or setting an automated bill payment are good moments of joy that the app can celebrate conveying an appropriate message to the user.
And don’t forget that maybe your users are not experts in Finance. So, please, get rid of those jargon words and “translate” them into everyday language to ensure clarity.
3. Time is a precious thing, and your users know it ⌚
Users will have to provide an ID number, date of birth, address, etc. Make sure you only ask for the minimum amount of data requirements. Those that are not necessary for the onboarding process can be asked later on.
A good starting point could be to break down the onboarding process into steps focusing on one task at a time: personal information, financial status, etc. It will surely make the process much smoother and simpler.
We can also leverage technology to make the data verification process easier. For example, our user could scan an identity document to move forward faster. In that case, bear in mind to help them solve common issues with messages like this:
4. Accessibility: The more, the merrier! 👀
Accessibility lays a solid foundation for inclusion and is one of the most important values in products today. An accessible product is a product that will reach more people, will ensure higher levels of user engagement and, ultimately, greater benefits for companies.
Keep always in mind the Accessibility Guidelines for Web Content developed by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and its best practices:
Perceivable information: text alternatives, captions, and distinguishable content.
Operable user interface and navigation: keyboard access, enough time to perform tasks, well-organized content.
Understandable information and user interface: understandable text content that can be processed by text-to-speech software.
Robust content and reliable interpretation: marks ups for assistive technologies and information regarding non-standard user interface components.
5. Don’t play hide and seek with the user 🕵️♀️
Fintech apps may contain a large number of functionalities, operations, and customization options but, in general, the average user only focuses on a few. So, here is a piece of advice that you may have already heard of: less is more.
It is crucial that main functionalities and secondary had already been distinguished so that the former have easier access. In this way, the user will be able to perform frequent tasks faster.
On top of that, the visual language should not break patterns that the users are already used to. For example, standard icon shapes allow them to easily recognize its meaning and curb user mistakes.
Likewise, thoughtful use of white space (negative space) will prevent your interface from looking cluttered. In this way, you will help the user to scan the layout and easily find zones of information and elements of interaction.
Wrapping up
You are not a designer, you are a user advocate! Keep in mind your different user profiles, try to empathize with their emotions when interacting with the app, consider the value of their time and create an accessible and clear interface to avoid common pitfalls and ensure an impeccable product.
Creating a remarkable user experience can help people make informed and accountable financial decisions. Let’s change people’s lives one app at a time! 😉 | https://medium.com/wolox/5-common-mistakes-in-fintech-design-and-how-to-avoid-them-a8210ea9058 | ['Grecia Marin'] | 2021-04-15 14:59:31.853000+00:00 | ['Usability', 'Accessibility', 'Design', 'Fintech', 'UX'] |
Creating your first spider — 01 — Python scrapy tutorial for beginners | Extracting the data
Once we have all the books, we want to look inside each book for the information we want. Let’s start with the title. Go to your URL and search where the full title is located. Right-click any title and then select ‘Inspect’.
Inside the h3 tag, there is an ‘a’ tag with the book title as ‘title’ attribute. Let’s loop over the books and extract it.
We get all the books, and for each one of them, we search for the ‘h3’ tag, then the ‘a’ tag, and we select the @title attribute. We want that text, so we use ‘ extract_first ‘ (we can also ‘use extract’ to extract all of them).
As we are scraping, not the whole HTML but a small subset (the one in ‘book’) we need to put a dot at the start of the Xpath function. Remember: ‘//’ for the whole HTML response, ‘.//’ for a subset of that HTML we already extracted.
We have the title, now go the price. Right click the price and inspect it.
The text we want is inside a ‘p’ tag with the ‘price_color’ class inside a ‘div’ tag. Add this after the title:
price = book.xpath('.//div/p[@class="price_color"]/text()').extract_first()
We go to any ‘div’, with a ‘p’ child that has a ‘price_color’ class, then we use ‘text()’ function to get the text. And then, we extract_first() our selection.
Let’s see if what we have. Print both the price and the title and run the spider.
scrapy crawl spider
Everything is working as planned. Let’s take the image URL too. Right-click the image, inspect it:
We don’t have an URL here but a partial one.
The ‘src’ attribute has the relative URL, not the whole URL. The ‘books.toscrape.com’ is missing. Well, we just need to add it. Add this at the bottom of your method.
We get the ‘img ‘ tag with the class ‘thumbnail’, we get the relative URL with ‘src’ then we add the first (and only) start_url. Again, let’s print the result. Run the spider again.
Looking good! Open any of the URL and you’ll see the cover’s thumbnail.
Now let’s extract the URL so we can buy any book if we are interested.
The book URL is stored in the href of both the title and the thumbnail. Any of both will do.
Run the spider again:
Click on any URL and you’ll go to that book website.
Now we are selecting all the fields we want, but we are not doing anything with it, right? We need to ‘yield’ (or ‘return’) them. For each book, we are going to return it’s title, price, image and book URL.
Remove all the prints and yield the items like a dictionary:
Run the spider and look at the terminal: | https://medium.com/quick-code/python-scrapy-tutorial-for-beginners-01-creating-your-first-spider-13b1297886a2 | [] | 2019-09-15 07:09:33.894000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Python', 'Tutorial', 'Web Development', 'Coding'] |
Gobierno de Dubai lanza registro de negocios Blockchain | in The New York Times | https://medium.com/tooyoo/gobierno-de-dubai-lanza-registro-de-negocios-blockchain-bcb1e4c5b1eb | ['Tooyoo Club'] | 2018-05-03 18:48:13.592000+00:00 | ['Economy', 'Dubai', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
98.7 : ‘2 days on the Great ocean walk’ | Day1:
Apollo bay to Joanna
We ended up starting from the Marengo Holiday Park after some confusion with AllTrails stated the walk started here. We later found out that some start from the visitor centre in Apollo bay
Fairly easy walk along the coast, some ascent before heading back into the forest area. Though nothing to challenging aside from the duration and the distance
We all took a fair bit of water, I had like 4.5L in 2 bladder packs. We also had to carry food for Lunch, Dinner, breakfast and another lunch. Think the pack must of been weighing around 15kg with all the clothes, toiletries, headlamps etc.
We saw a Koala (First time since arriving to Aus 10 years ago), it was the only one we saw on the way. Though we did see a couple of Echidna on both days and a bunch of Wallabies on and off the track
It got dark around 8.30pm (early March) and we still had around 18.5km to get through until the accomodation and we had been told about a river crossing just prior to getting into Joanna bay and this was said to be between half to 1 meter in depth!. Night time water crossing were not something we had experience before so we were all a little dubious about what was likely to come.
River crossing that wasn't, we got to the crossing between tides and it ended up being about 5cm at most.
The ‘River’ crossing
Day2:
Leaving Joanna Seaside cottage
Joanna to 12 Apostles car park
As soon as you Get to the other side of the camp ground gentle ascent from about sea level up to just over 300 m. Some decent views over the farms though on the way up then the coast as you
Just West of Joanna
Then it was a load of fire trail and road before getting back onto the trail again, We did manage to find this on the way where we could refill our water, Not something you would generally find in the middle of no-where
Loads of stairs on the 2nd half though, lucky it was dry otherwise they would have been as slippery as hell. There must have been around 10 ascents and descent into the bays before heading back into the bush where we got dive bombed by bats or birds (it was hard to tell)
bombarding bat
And the weather stayed pretty decent until we reached the end of the trail walk (start of old coach road, about 7km). The heavens opened and the wind blew up a storm, Kind of expected this in Victoria though and it helped us pick up the pace for the final leg
Day3:
Recover and be tourists for the day and checking out ‘Bay of Islands’, ‘The Grotto’, ‘London Bridge’, ‘Lock and Gorge before finally checking out the 12 Apostles which was the first time we saw them on the whole walk.
London Bridge
Bay of Islands
The Crew
Distance covered 98.7km
Duration (moving) 27.5h | https://medium.com/@scottygriffiths/98-7-2-days-on-the-great-ocean-walk-a83740b83fa8 | ['Scott Griffiths'] | 2020-03-04 08:39:02.850000+00:00 | ['Tourist', 'Oceans', 'Hiking', 'Walking', 'Great Ocean Road'] |
Avoiding Burnout As a Software Developer during the Pandemic | Software Developers are very prone to burnout, especially if they’re overly ambitious early on in their career and try to be a ‘rockstar’ developer in the team. I know a lot of you might be shaking your heads and saying, “Pfft, burnout is a just a fancy term, I’m never going to burn out!”. But it’s very real, most senior developers have faced being burnt out at some point in their career.
Also, the current pandemic situation doesn’t seem to be helping much. Working from home is awesome, agreed, but no one ever told you about the sudden lifestyle change that comes along with it. Suddenly, everything changed, no more water cooler conversations, no brief social interactions with colleagues and no more whiteboard discussions (how else are we supposed to spend hours finalising a simple feature!?)
I, for one, miss the quick ping pong matches with my team at work. It’s a great stress buster, and you get to know your team mates beyond work.
My first experience with burnout was about 2 years ago and it was terrifying, it made me question my abilities as a software developer and my performance degraded over a period of a month.
Knowing how to deal with burnout is essential, and we’re going to talk about exactly how to ensure this pandemic or working remote in general doesn’t burn you out.
Create a schedule
Working from home can be fun at first, but work quickly takes over since you’re always a few steps away from your laptop, which gives your colleagues & clients the illusion that you’re always available. It’s important to have a fixed start and end time for your work day, setting adequate time aside for lunch and breaks. This is your ‘me’ time at work, so make sure you’re free of distractions during your breaks.
Create a designated office space
Now this is difficult if you live with family or in a small apartment, but your work space has to be different that the room that you spend most of your time in on a holiday.
You can’t work efficiently in a room where you also sleep or relax in. I didn’t think this would make much of a difference either, but it does. Try it. I usually work in my small balcony, and the fresh air makes a difference.
Setup virtual water cooler groups
Water cooler conversations are fun, you get to socialise with your colleagues and it gives you a break from the usual work day stress. To be honest, such small breaks improve your performance at work, I always go for a walk when it seems that I can’t solve a 🐛 in my code.
But now that we’re working from home, it’s all weird and quiet. Not seeing your colleagues everyday makes you socially distant. So, why not setup a weekly or even daily time slot to talk to your colleagues about that cool Netflix series you watched over the weekend?
Plan your tasks and priorities
When you look at your list of tasks that you have to accomplish in a day, figure out how much you can really get done that day. By being honest about what you’re going to be doing just today, you can focus on giving the gears in your brain some rest.
Actually make yourself a to-do list, stick to it, and don’t write so much that you always have tasks left over. By giving yourself dedicated time to relax, you’ll be able to get your tasks done driven with more purpose, rather than driven by the gloomy feeling of being overwhelmed.
Exercise!
Now that you’re at home, working all day, I’m pretty sure a lot of us don’t get enough exercise. Being at home all day really messes with your head, and you will burn out a lot faster than if you went to work everyday. Also, being at home takes a toll on your body!
So get out and refresh your body & mind! Go for a walk, grab a bicycle and explore your neighbourhood! | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/avoiding-burnout-as-a-software-developer-during-the-pandemic-edbbcc1b4737 | ['Varun Joshi'] | 2020-12-02 12:58:06.977000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Pandemic', 'Burnout', 'Software', 'Software Development'] |
Alexa Mimics Android, Debuts New Auto Mode and Commute Routine | The Amazon Alexa Auto Mode feature has been introduced that can enhance the user’s vehicle experience by allowing them to easily navigate, stay connected, and entertain the passengers while driving. The new feature works on Amazon Echo Auto devices and connects with users’ smartphones, and uses its screen to display information. The latest development equates Amazon Echo Auto with Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay. The company says that the auto mode has four screens — Home, Navigation, Communication and Play — and a menu bar that allows users to switch quickly with them.
It allows users to navigate, communicate and play media while driving — just like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The feature uses a smartphone’s screen and converts it into a source to display information on four different screens — home, navigation, communication, and play. There is a menu bar that allows users to quickly switch between these screens, ultimately improving the in-voice experience.
Home screen:
This is a central screen that provides one-touch access to the driver’s frequent actions with shortcuts to play and pause the current music source, navigate to locations, and make calls. A simple tap on the shortcut initiates the action, or the driver can use voice commands to control it. For example, the driver might say, “Alexa, continue my music to play songs”.
Navigate:
The Navigate screen provides access to locations stored in the Alexa app. Once you choose a place to travel, the Amazon Alexa Auto Mode feature opens a navigation app, like Google Maps or Apple Maps, and starts navigation. Drivers can only return to the Alexa app by giving voice, “Alexa, go back to the Alexa app.” Besides, drivers can also find space only by voice. For example, “Alexa, search nearby coffee shops.”
Trending Bot Articles:
Communication:
Another thing that Amazon Alexa Auto Mode does is allow drivers to call quickly, drop-in, or announce their Alexa devices. Amazon says drivers can ask Alexa to initiate action, and the feature will read a list of recently placed calls and devices.
Play:
Amazon Alexa Auto Mode also entertains users as they drive. This screen is shown to the most recent media using any Alexa device. Drivers can now choose a song to sing on the playing screen, which provides specific control for the type of media and service (Spotify, YouTube Music, etc.) used.
The auto mode was designed to help you stay focused on the road with visual, large touch targets and intuitive features, including shortcuts. Besides, it also guides you with shortcuts for the most common Alexa interactions used in a vehicle, such as saved Navigating places, calling contacts and Alexa devices, and recent media games. Auto mode will be rolled out for Android and iOS in the coming weeks. It will be available in India, US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Don’t forget to give us your 👏 ! | https://chatbotslife.com/alexa-mimics-android-debuts-new-auto-mode-and-commute-routine-a0f14e347654 | ['Tapaan Chauhan'] | 2020-12-17 15:44:27.003000+00:00 | ['Amazon Echo', 'Voice Assistant', 'Amazon', 'Bots', 'Alexa'] |
Valerie’s Dance | “What do people resort to sometimes? They eat, or they smoke — I mean I used to smoke…dance is a bit more positive rather than just eating. So yeah, I’m quite pleased I came”.
In 1985, Valerie, a nurse from Louth, Lincolnshire, is forced to move to London to search for agency work. A year later, she is admitted to hospital and officially diagnosed as bipolar, a condition she knows she has been suffering from for twenty years. She then remains under the care of her local community mental health team for another twenty-two years.
“I did go try to get help from the GP [earlier], but actually I don’t think they were all that well-versed in the psychiatric problems — this was ’79”, she explains, chatting to me after a craft workshop at her local Age UK centre. “I had problems…which occurred afterwards, different things, and I just became so unwell in the end that I couldn’t actually work.” Discharged in 2016, she began to struggle again early last year. “I was going through a really bad, difficult patch. I mean I don’t sort of have little blips, I go up and down like that. Earlier this year I started to become really…unwell again.”
Val now makes regular visits to her GP and attends classes at the Yalding Healthy Living Centre in Southwark. This hard-won balance belies the previous forty years of different medication, time in and out of work, a series of three-month psychiatric assessments and a stint with the Maudsley Hospital assessment team. Advised to attend classes at the centre as part of her 2018 care, she is now starting to feel even more benefits.
“I’m not really sure what started it [the 2018 bad patch]. Rex was diagnosed with prostate cancer last November. He hasn’t got any family, he’s only got me, so I was trying to support him. A lot of it was around bereavement, and getting away from isolation in my flat. I started coming in here, and I think one of the first few days I came in here I spotted there was a Zumba class — and it is a mood booster! And it actually started to make me feel a lot better.”
The Yalding Healthy Living Centre has been running a variety of dance classes for years. “It’s good exercise,” says Katrina Jinadu, centre manager and former support worker. “Keeps them from becoming too sedentary.”
Val, post-Zumba, in the Yalding Centre garden
Dance is, of course, a popular alternative way for older people to continue to exercise, and with 18.2% of the UK population aged 65 years or over in mid-2017, and that figure predicted to grow to 20.7% by 2027, such services are increasingly important. Studies concur that dance has wide-ranging positive effects, including improved lower body muscle strength, cardio-respiratory endurance, and body agility, as well as being popular among the older population (Hopkins, 1990).
Betty, a volunteer at the Redbridge Jewish Community Care Centre for the last twenty years and keen participant in weekly line dancing classes, reveals her true feelings: “exercise classes are fine but they’re a bit boring. I like to…feel it!”, she says, jigging her shoulders as if dancing to music. “My doctor told me it’s the best exercise you can do!”
Not to mention the mental agility: “actually…it improves concentration and balance when you’re doing something like that,” says Val. “[Concentration] can sometimes be a bit poor with mental health problems.”
Research in this field carefully distinguishes between “dance interventions”, the Zumba or other basic classes that are open to everyone, and other forms of therapy which use dance moves.
For the older population, falls prevention is a particular focus. Age UK have recently received funding for a “Sloppy Slippers” campaign, working with discharge and falls teams to offer a slipper exchange for those wearing slippers that are too big for them. And dance can be helpful here too.
Tim Joss is Founder and Chief Executive of Aesop, an arts enterprise with a social purpose. He manages Dance to Health, a pioneering community dance programme for older people, which combines evidence-based falls prevention principles with the creativity, expression and energy of dance. Val, meanwhile, swears by dance movement therapy, a specialised tool used by trained therapists and health professionals to combat mental health issues through the use of expressive movement and dance. She attended several dance movement therapy classes during her treatment.
“It’s just another means to get people to talk,” she explains. “Some people will be, you know, in a light-hearted frame of mind…there’ll be others who won’t want to lift their heads and they don’t want to say anything. But it’s actually — I noticed it did help people to get out of themselves and relax. People who have probably never spoken about their problems or what happened to them, they started to open up, other people would chime in. Because they were busy sort of moving, even if it was just going from one foot to another, it really helped.”
Yalding used to run classes like this. But as Val herself points out, “the sad thing is, with the cutbacks and the funding difficulties over the years, these more specialised therapies in a lot of places are not available anymore.” Katrina, too, is convinced of its effectiveness, but her hands are tied: “if I could find a good teacher for a good price, I’d have it back in a flash.”
Now, Val is a new member of the UpCycle You programme at the Yalding Centre, a weekly creative older women’s group conceived jointly with Peckham Levels artists. The group aims to upskill the members to create their own handmade goods: Val is learning to knit with a thick, multi-coloured wool, as well as using it as a cool-down time after her Zumba class. Comparing it to dance therapy, she says “it’s quite relaxing. You see it happening here where people will sit and chat and joke with each other, so…it’s not just sitting there and doing something practical, it gets people out of their shells!” | https://medium.com/@hebe.foster/valeries-dance-d3d669711ab2 | ['Hebe Foster'] | 2019-02-04 08:02:51.285000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Elderly', 'Isolation', 'Dance', 'Music'] |
9.20 Presidential Social Intelligence Battleground Tracker — Supreme Court Mention Volume & Sentiment | 9.20 Presidential Social Intelligence Battleground Tracker — Supreme Court Mention Volume & Sentiment
An aggregate weekly pulse of how potential voters in battleground states are discussing the Presidential candidates
Photo by Sebastian Pichler on Unsplash
Please check out the background post on this project if it is your first time reading.
— Our initial dataset from the week of 7.3 was detailed here.
— Data from the week of 7.11 was detailed here
— Data from the week of 7.19 was detailed here.
— Aggregate data to date through 8.14 was detailed here
— Language data from the weeks of 8.07 & 8.14 was detailed here
— Aggregate data through 8.25 was detailed here.
— Language data from 8.21–8.28 was detailed here
— Language data from 8.28–9.04 was detailed here
— Aggregate data through 9.5 was detailed here
— Language data from 9.04–9.11 was detailed here
— Aggregate daily support gained/lost data through 9.17 was detailed here
Battleground States in our Analysis: AZ, CO, FL, IA, ME, MI, MN, NV, NH, NC, PA, TX, WI
Date Source: All data is publicly available and anonymized for our analysis from Twitter, Facebook, Online Blogs, & Message Boards.
Technology Partners: Eyesover & Relative Insight | https://medium.com/listening-for-secrets-searching-for-sounds/9-20-presidential-social-intelligence-battleground-tracker-supreme-court-mention-volume-49d3663ca965 | ['Adam Meldrum'] | 2020-10-09 00:57:01.254000+00:00 | ['Donald Trump', '2020 Presidential Race', 'Social Listening', 'Supreme Court', 'Joe Biden'] |
15 Great Ways to Grow Your Business Fast | Tapmaster Hoboken LLC | Let’s face it. Scaling your business is hard. It takes considerable effort according to Tapmaster Hoboken LLC. In the beginning, it means wearing different hats. It means dealing with sales and marketing. It means understanding taxes and corporate compliance. It involves having to interact with customers daily. And so much more. At the end of the day, it takes its toll on you.
If you’re struggling to grow your business, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, it’s hard. But, what’s the alternative? A life-sucking 9-to-5 job? Surely not. Okay, maybe you’re longing for the security of a guaranteed paycheck. But, at what mental or emotional price will that come?
The truth? If you buckle down, clear your mind, and just look at things in perspective, you can easily identify ways you can grow your business and make more money quickly. While hundreds of business growth strategies likely exist, the following 15 will take your business to the next level quickly and efficiently.
Roland Frasier, a business growth strategist, has a unique approach to scaling businesses. As a principal of Digital Marketer and Native Commerce Media, and CEO of War Room Mastermind, he knows a thing or two about the online marketing world.
Frasier, who builds and scales seven, eight and nine-figure businesses tells me that there are loads of ways to grow a business quickly. But, only 15 core strategies that will truly make a real impact on your bottom line. Some are time intensive at the outset. That much should be expected. But, the benefits and profits will ultimately make them well worthwhile said Tapmaster Hoboken LLC.
Like anything else in life or business, you have to put in the time if you’re looking to reap the benefits. Don’t focus on the short-term outcome of your work. Look to the long term. Build sincere value and look to help your customers. Genuinely care. That should be the foundation. After that, it’s simply a matter of taking action and putting in the work to scale.
The first way to quickly grow your business is by building a sales funnel. If you don’t have a sales funnel, you’re making a monumental mistake. Sales funnels can help to automate your business. It helps you to scale and grow quickly and easily. Sure, there’s some front-end work involved. Obviously. But, once those processes are in place, it’s smooth sailing from there.
New Way to Boost Your Business Revenue
Frasier says that every sales funnel needs to be carefully conceptualized before it’s created. Consider the different funnels first and foremost. Whether it’s a free-plus-shipping offer or a high-ticket coaching funnel, it’s important to build your automated selling machine to quickly scale and grow your business.
Manually tracking transactions is hard. No one wants to do that. It gets too cumbersome as the business grows. If you want to scale quickly, use a customer management system. There are plenty to choose from. But, it depends on your line of work. Of course, cloud-based software like SalesForce is always a viable option.
QuickBooks can help you with accounting. Infusion Soft can also assist with sales and marketing. There are plenty of CMS systems, most of which integrate with other cloud-based services. Find what works for you and utilize it said Tapmaster Hoboken LLC.
When going to market, and you’re looking to get your offer to the masses, you need to research the competition. Frasier says he uses two platforms to conduct his research. The first is a Similar Web. The other, Ad Beat. Both provide competitive intelligence. It’s your chance for x-ray lenses into all landing pages, ad copy, and other stages of the funnel.
This allows you to uncover any advertiser’s online strategy. Find the ads that have been running for the longest and emulate those. That’s the quickest way you scale any business. If it’s proven and it’s working for your competitors, it’ll likely work for you.
Loyalty programs are great ways to increase sales. It costs up to three times more money to acquire new customers than it does to sell something to an existing customer. Other resources pin this number anywhere from four to 10 times more. However, any way that you slice it, acquiring new customers is expensive.
Frasier says that building a customer loyalty program will help you retain customers. It might also help you attract new ones as well. If there’s a clear incentive to spend more money with you, it’ll pay off in the long run. Build an attractive loyalty program and make it accessible to your existing customers and watch sales skyrocket over time.
Analyze new opportunities in your business by understanding you’re demographic better. Understand everything from distribution channels to your direct competitors and even an analysis of foreign markets and other potential industries. There are likely dozens of new opportunities you could pursue immediately with the proper amount of analysis.
One of the best and most effective ways to grow a business quickly is to build an email list. That means you need to have a lead magnet. Why else would people subscribe to your list? And, with a lead magnet, comes the necessity for a sales funnel. Look into companies like Aweber, ConstantContact, ConvertKit, Drip, GetResponseand others for building and managing your list.
Strategic partnerships with the right companies can truly make a world of difference. It could allow you to reach a wide swath of customers quickly. Identifying those partnerships might be easier said than done. But, look out for companies that are complementary to your own. Contact them and propose opportunities for working together.
In the e-commerce business selling products? Why not use Amazon’s FBA service? In the business of selling services? Why not use Upwork? In the business of renting vacation homes? Why not leverage AirBnB, InvitedHome, HomeAway, or other global platforms? Find a platform that’s reached saturation and use it to grow your business quickly.
Doing licensing deals is a great way to grow your business without too much-added effort. If you have a product that you can license to others and share revenue, that’s an ideal way to grow quickly. Taking a popular or successful product and bringing it to a company with a large footprint can help you achieve market saturation quicker.
If you have a successful business, and you’re looking to grow quickly, consider franchising it. Although franchise costs are high and moving to a franchise model is complex and takes a lot of marketing know-how, it could make all the difference if you’re truly looking for quick growth.
Look into diversifying your offers. What complementary products or services or information can you offer in your business? To grow, you need to think about expansion. Identify new opportunities within your niche. Uncover the pain points. What else can you sell to your clients? Where else can you add value to the exchange?
Growing a business takes significant effort. If you’re dealing with razor-thin margins, consider building passive income streams. This way, you don’t have to worry so much about keeping the lights on, so to speak. Passive income will allow you to make mistakes and not have to lose your shirt. It’ll keep you in business and provide a basis to grow and market and scale quickly by giving you ample resources.
Sometimes, acquiring other businesses is a very quick way to grow your own business. If you can find competitors or businesses in other industries that would complement your own, you could use them as platforms to scale fast. Take a look within your industry and even outside of it to find a potential for potential opportunities.
Can you expand internationally? Can you take your existing offers and scale them internationally? What would it take to do business in Canada or Mexico or Europe? If you have a converting offer, international expansion could be a quick way to grow. You’ll incur some costs. Sure. But, the potential for profits could be massive.
Raise Your Business
Webinars are a great way to promote any product or service. It can also help you grow any business relatively fast. Webinars provide an automated selling tool for literally taking any product or service to market and reaching a wide audience quickly. The webinar medium is great for captivating audiences to clinch sale after sale, automatically. | https://medium.com/@tapmasterhobokenllc53/15-great-ways-to-grow-your-business-fast-tapmaster-hoboken-llc-e96dc18d7dd9 | ['Tapmaster Hoboken Llc'] | 2020-12-08 09:26:14.741000+00:00 | ['Business Development', 'Tapmaster Hoboken Llc', 'Business Intelligence', 'Business', 'Business Strategy'] |
Logistic Regression | Before we discuss logistic regression, I certainly hope that you do know what linear regression is, and here is a short summary for linear regression.
What is Linear Regression?
Linear Regression is a supervised machine learning algorithm which is used to predict a target value based on independent variables. When I say supervised it means that it needs labeled datasets to make predictions. The target value predicted using linear regression is a continuous value. How it works is that, Linear Regression model finds the best line that can accurately predict the output for continuous dependent variable. See the images below to get a clear understanding.
Here we want to predict the size of an object using an independent variable weight. The points in the graph are known datapoints/dataset. Now in linear regression we try to fit a straight line among the datapoints such that is accurately predicts the output. See image for clarity.
And based on this line we pedict the target value for any given unknown independent variable.
Logistic Regression
Now Logistic Regression is also a supervised machine learning algorithm and is similar to linear regression but the difference that instead of predicting continuous values, it is mainly used for classification problems. Here I’ve said that it is used for classification problems but remember it is a regression model. How it works is that instead of fitting a straight line to the data like linear regression, logistic regression fits an ‘S’ shaped logistic function into the data.’
Herein the given image the function y= f(x) is a sigmoidal function usually represented as
If you look at the function closely, you’ll realize that the value of the given function can only vary from 0 to 1 which is the main catch here. It is somewhat like probability. So, Logistic regression is a supervised learning classification algorithm used to predict the probability of a target variable. Mathematically, a logistic regression model predicts P(Y=1) as a function of X. It is one of the simplest ML algorithms that can be used for various classification problems such as spam detection, Diabetes prediction, cancer detection etc. Let us see an example for better understanding.
In the above graph we have data for obese and non-obese mice based on their weight. Now the logistic regression model fits a sigmoidal function on the data.
This means that the curve now tells us the probability whether a mouse is obese or not.
By now you must have figured out that a logistic regression model becomes a classification model only after we bring a threshold value to it. For example if the probability of a mouse being obese is more than 0.6, then we classify it as obese.
Types of Logistic Regression
Generally, logistic regression means binary logistic regression having binary target variables, but there can be two more categories of target variables that can be predicted by it. Based on that number of categories, Logistic regression can be divided into following types −
Binary or Binomial
In such a kind of classification, a dependent variable will have only two possible types either 1 or 0. For example, these variables may represent success or failure, yes or no, win or loss etc.
Multinomial
In such a kind of classification, dependent variable can have 3 or more possible unordered types or the types having no quantitative significance. For example, these variables may represent “Type A” or “Type B” or “Type C”.
Before diving into the implementation of logistic regression, we must be aware of the following assumptions about the same −
· In case of binary logistic regression, the target variables must be binary always and the desired outcome is represented by the factor level 1.
· There should not be any multi-collinearity in the model, which means the independent variables must be independent of each other.
· We must include meaningful variables in our model.
· We should choose a large sample size for logistic regression.
Code Sample
Let’s see how we can we perform logistic regression using python and which libraries do we need to import.
Scikit-learn or sklearn is a free machine learning library for Python where all machine learning models are implemented as python classes.
Training your model:
>>from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression
>>classifier = LogisticRegression(random_state = 0)
>>classifier.fit(xtrain, ytrain)
Using the trained model to predict data:
y_pred = classifier.predict(xtest)
We can further test the performance of the trained model
from sklearn.metrics import accuracy_score
print (“Accuracy : “, accuracy_score(ytest, y_pred))
Hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading. | https://medium.com/@iamr0h1t/logistic-regression-e0e63f7097d7 | ['Rohit Kumar'] | 2020-12-05 07:56:12.460000+00:00 | ['Basics', 'Learning', 'Regression', 'Machine Learning'] |
We’re hiring a data scientist. | Come help us build products at the intersection of technology, journalism and revenue to help sustain local news.
Photo by Henri Mathieu-Saint-Laurent from Pexels
We are a small but mighty team and we’re thrilled to announce we are hiring a Data Scientist for a 3-month contract with potential to extend. The posting is below (and you can apply via this link), but first, a little more about us.
As 2020 comes to a close, it’s important to recognize the vital work that local newsrooms have been doing, keeping us informed and safe through the COVID-19 pandemic and all the other major — and minor — news events of the year. At the Brown Institute’s Local News Lab, we have been working hard developing partnerships and technology to support these organizations. Our mission is to provide them with insights and products to optimize audience engagement and drive subscriptions (or donations or memberships) that ultimately help ensure their sustainability and survival.
Position Summary
The Local News Lab is a team of engineers, designers, data scientists, and journalists, working to build AI-powered, open-source products to help support local newsrooms and their businesses. We are located within the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at the Columbia Journalism School.
The Local News Lab is committed to developing and building solutions that center local newsrooms. Our team has over two decades of combined experience working in media, helping attune us to the ethical sensitivities in journalism. An Advisory Board of roughly a dozen representatives from both large and small newsrooms ensures we have input from a range of perspectives, as we move from experimentation to prototyping and production. Finally, we have a Partnerships Lead who is dedicated to the task of nurturing our newsroom relationships, so we can engage in ongoing dialogue and avoid an extractive, parachuting approach to our work.
As the first of a number of anticipated projects, we are developing an open-source smart paywall that deploys Machine Learning (ML) to go beyond one-size-fits-all solutions to audience engagement. We explicitly extend the idea of a paywall to include a variety of actions that a publisher can take to engage their readers and encourage subscription or donation. Currently, our team is exploring three avenues of data science work — paywalling likely subscribers, selecting premium content, and personalizing reader recommendations. We are looking for a data scientist to begin work on novel approaches, in addition to deepening this existing research. The end goal of this work is to deploy equitable and explainable models that help local newsrooms sustain their businesses.
Our team strives not only to produce equitable technology, but to work in as equitable a manner as possible. We make a concerted effort to distribute the administrative and emotional labor that often falls too heavily on those who are not cis men. We try our best to be inclusive of all genders and to make space for our POC and femme teammates during meetings and in decision-making processes. We don’t always get it right, but we hope to create an environment where everyone is comfortable sharing their feedback when we don’t.
Responsibilities
Develop pipelines that extract insights from news text and clickstream data in order to:
Enable newsroom strategists to make more informed decisions
Facilitate automatic decision-making, including, but not limited to, paywalling likely subscribers, selecting premium content, or personalizing reader recommendations
The successful candidate will be primarily responsible for the statistical components of the system and will serve as an authority on the topic among the development team members. Under the supervision of the Project Lead, the Data Scientist, together with the full development team, will hone the project’s formal specifications, and set technical milestones.
This is an externally funded position, contingent on performance and the continued availability of funding.
Qualifications
The ideal candidate has experience in one or more of the following domains:
NLP: entity extraction, resolution, and linking. Linguistic pattern analysis, such as LIWC, readability, sentiment. Topic modeling, such as LDA, text clustering
Network analysis: community detection, influence analysis
Experiment design: crowdsourcing, conducting and evaluating A/B tests
Reader analytics: experience optimizing metrics like impressions, CPM, conversions
Data science ethics: statistical fairness, model explainability, auditing for bias
Experience with software for newsrooms and the news industry is desirable but not required.
Feel free to contact our Project Lead, Al Johri if you have any questions about the role.
Click here to apply. | https://medium.com/localatbrown/were-hiring-a-data-scientist-4017088ef71d | ['Local News Lab', 'Brown Institute'] | 2020-12-22 18:17:25.004000+00:00 | ['Jobs', 'Data Science', 'Journalism', 'Hiring', 'Machine Learning'] |
3 CUAS Predictions for 2021 | In 2020 we witnessed consolidation across the CUAS market. Companies started to market AI/ML methods as part of their solutions and there was a desire from executive leadership across the military to shift focus towards autonomous and easy to use CUAS solutions.
As the UAS and CUAS market continues to evolve at exponential pace, here are 3 predictions that we expect to shape the market in 2021.
1. Total Cost of Ownership will influence CUAS decisions
Over the last 7 years, an estimated $1.3B was invested into CUAS — many investments attempted to adapt legacy technologies to the CUAS mission. Recognizing the shortfalls of this strategy, requirements have shifted towards automated solutions with lower cost and operational burden. Total cost of ownership is rarely discussed across the Government. Large defense contractors skillfully evolved their business models around long term sustainment, maintenance, training, and contractor-operated contracts requiring outsized investment. Decision makers will assess the overall investment of a solution beyond the hardware and software — looking at resource, training, sustainment, upgradability, and installation costs as part of the decision criteria.
2. Lessons Learned from 2020 deployments will inform future CUAS decisions
The government commonly uses structured evaluations with heavily-influenced test criteria to weigh and measure system effectiveness. In the CUAS market specifically, this has resulted in systems that failed to protect operators in large threat environments. As these systems made their way down range, Warfighters were left with solutions that were difficult to operate and failed to address the most commonly encountered UAS threats. With mountains of evidence based on real world deployments across dozens of CUAS solutions across multiple COCOMs, the DoD will make use of past-performance data and Warfighter feedback when making CUAS equipment selections in 2021.
3. CUAS technology providers will be required to prove true AI capability vs bold marketing claims
Data is the enabler of all AI and machine learning solutions. As AI and Machine Learning have become broadly used buzz words across the CUAS and government communities, there will be deeper technical investigation by decision makers to understand how AI capabilities differentiate one system from another. Detailed technical discussions between government and industry will provide CUAS decision makers with the information necessary to best protect end users and critical assets.
The feedback loop between end users on the front lines, military leadership, acquisition professionals, and industry will become tighter and more transparent in 2021. This will lead to further consolidation in the market but ultimately achieve a more cost efficient and efficacious solution. | https://medium.com/@pain.management/3-cuas-predictions-for-2021-5c40c6e386c7 | ['Chris Williams'] | 2020-12-18 16:12:31.073000+00:00 | ['Military', 'Innovation', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Business', 'Drones'] |
To ask her out, or not to ask her out? | Sometimes,
Well quite often actually,
I find myself,
Feeling deeply infatuated,
By a person,
Whom I’ve met only once,
A feeling,
Of fantasy,
That perhaps,
I will find love in this person,
Or something like this,
I will ponder this person in my head,
Beautify them,
Build them up,
Deconstruct them,
Tell myself,
WHY?!.
Have I done this to myself again,
And feel all around,
As if I’ve created an illusory,
Idea,
Of feminine,
Divinity,
I will be struck,
By love,
Or,
By fascination,
And unsure if I should do something about this,
I retreat into,
The world of my imagination,
But it happens,
That,
The other person,
Will show signs,
Which I may not perceive at first,
For I’m blinded,
By my self-concern,
However subtle,
The feeling arises,
That perhaps,
There is more to this,
Perhaps,
I’ve become more than I once was,
Truly,
I’ve grown,
Physically,
Mentally,
I’ve entered into my self,
And opened my heart,
And so now,
Would it be so,
Daunting,
To,
Make a move as they say,
I may get my heart broken,
Of course,
But the heart never breaks,
Well,
It feels pain,
So much pain sometimes,
It is the center of our emotions,
The feelings are ignited from within,
The oratory of your heart,
Align your mind with it,
And you shall discover treasures,
Like never before,
You heart is playing a song,
Sing it,
Write it,
Love it,
And it shall love you,
And from this comes courage,
The courage,
Which will,
Inspire you,
To ask her out,
Even though,
You may have your heart shattered in the process,
You will find below the shattered heart,
An even greater heart,
Which has been freed from its shell,
Love,
Lies Deeply,
In the heart of your bottom. | https://medium.com/@bruno-savoie/to-ask-her-out-or-not-to-ask-her-out-614ea6277642 | ['Bruno Savoie'] | 2021-08-27 19:26:30.093000+00:00 | ['Beauty', 'Feminine', 'Love', 'Heart'] |
America’s new traitors: Republican Congressman imperil American democracy | Just about the best historical comparison for today’s Republican leadership is to the southern politicians in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the weeks and months leading up to the American Civil War. But the things that motivated those pre-Civil War politicians were matters of great concern. The issue today is simple, whether to accept the will of the American people, follow the United States Constitution and ensure a peaceful transition of leadership. This should be no big thing. We’ve been doing it for several hundred years now. But the failure of our Republican congressional leadership to do this simple thing threatens the future of American democracy.
Slavery, or permanent human bondage, had come to be seen by the majority of people throughout the world as being deeply wrong. In the years leading up to the Civil War slavery and the slave trade had ceased to be of economic importance to the northern coastal states; but, for the South it supported the entire economy.
The designers of the United States left quite a bit of flexibility in the founding documents. The most egregious being, what exactly was the United States? Was it a unitary creature consisting of independent and separate but cooperating states? Or, were those states dependent divisions voluntarily engaged in a federated government? This mattered because of the issue of slavery, but it was an existential question that faced the leadership of the then United States.
Finally there was the question of where did your personal loyalty lie; which was faced by the politicians and the citizens of these of regions and perhaps more painfully faced by those officers and men who had served in the United States’ Army and Navy for much of their lives. The choice of were you to be loyal to the United States or were you to be loyal to the state of your birth and upraising had not been raised prior to this time.
While today, we generally understand that the choices made by the Americans who accepted the reasoning that led to the Confederacy was wrong, you cannot argue that the issues that were being debated in their minds were trivial.
On the other hand the single issue that today’s Republican leadership grapples with is that of whether to retain Donald Trump as president of the United States, in contravention of the results of an election that showed both through popular vote and in the Electoral College count, that the American people rejected Mr. Trump’s presidency. In refusing to acknowledge that Mr. Biden has won the presidency the Republicans are calling into question the entire constitutional structure of American government.
Refusing to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s election is not derived from issues of constitutional importance nor does it reflect conflicting moral judgments. Refusing to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s election appears to be motivated solely by pusillanimous fear of Mr. Trump’s political anger and the danger it poses to these Republicans’ future careers in government.
It is unlikely that Pres. Trump will be able to circumvent the Electoral College, ignore the popular vote, and retain his office. It is, however, an unfortunate reality that the support given to his shenanigans by the Republican congressional membership lends weight to his efforts. The servile allegiance of these gentlemen and ladies to Pres. Trump, as opposed to the American Constitution to which they swore allegiance, is more likely than not to have dire consequences in the future no matter how this current contest works out. And, if the unthinkable occurs and Pres. Trump is successful in holding onto his office; Republican Congressman will be complicit in a major step towards turning the United States into a dictatorship. | https://medium.com/@jcjacobsiv/americas-new-traitors-republican-congressman-imperil-american-democracy-8bd7963953a1 | ['John Jacobs'] | 2020-12-11 23:55:57.999000+00:00 | ['American Dictatorship', 'Congress', 'Political Idiocy', 'Treason'] |
COVID-19 Data Visualized | Current reporting shows rising coronavirus cases in most of the United States, parts of Canada, and much of Europe. The data is alarming. Communities are facing infection rates similar to those recorded during the pandemic’s height in July. Some are seeing their most morbid days yet. With so many statistics gracing headlines, it may be difficult to make sense of how the world is faring.
The following maps were drawn using compiled data from The New York Times and Johns Hopkins procured on October 16–18, 2020. Information is self-reported by state and nation, and may be false representations. Notable areas where numbers are suspected to be incorrect include China and Yemen.
Case trends based on past month | https://medium.com/the-particle/covid-19-data-visualized-4ae2c3e0afab | ['V Wegman'] | 2020-10-18 22:44:30.585000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Map', 'Covid 19', 'Covid'] |
Improving SEO and UX using Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages with Next JS | A Note on Contemporary Performance Expectations (UX & SEO)
There are series of expectations when it comes to both contemporary browsing experience and site performance for search engines. While Google reports 50% user drop-off rates if the site took longer than 3s to load (TTI) 😱, the search engines too prioritise sites that exhibit blazingly fast loading times (among a list of other qualities).
Here is an example of common minimum expectations when it comes to site performance
Here is an excellent article on Incorporating Performance Budgets into the build that discusses the best practices and user expectations as well as the techniques to aid in developments towards the set performance budgets.
Consider also checking out this presentation I’ve put together for the Front-end development, where it goes into detail on how the browsers parse bundled code and translate it into pixels on screen. The distinctions help understand which parts of the process can and should be optimised to achieve blazingly fast performance!
Improving Metrics with AMP & Next JS
Here is an example of 2 Sites , one that wasn’t developed with acute performance optimisation in mind (on the left) and it’s successor re-build developed using Next.js with Google’s AMP components.
Take note of both Time To Interactive (TTI) and overall performance scores which indicate how good the user experience would be and how high the search engines might rank the page | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/improving-seo-and-ux-using-googles-accelerated-mobile-pages-with-next-js-e22320bd331 | [] | 2020-06-27 08:26:42.394000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'React', 'UX', 'Programming', 'SEO'] |
How To Benefit From Google’s Mobilegeddon | Back in April, Google announced “Mobilegeddon,” a new ranking algorithm that boosts mobile-friendly pages in Google’s mobile search results. Naturally, there were some sites that benefited from the update, while others failed to adjust quickly enough.
Here are a few things that we’ve learned from this update and what improvements you can make to be on the winning side of Mobilegeddon:
Only Mobile Is Affected
This new algorithm did not affect Google search results for desktop or tablet users, that doesn’t mean that mobile-friendliness isn’t important. While computers and tablets are widely used across the globe, more than half of all Google searches are made through mobile. SEO in 2015 has been increasingly focused on mobile — and local SEO — and will likely continue that way for the forseeable future. After all, it’s all about relevance and being in the front of those ready to take an action!
Lightning Load Time Is A Must
Your audience expects instant gratification, especially millennials. Google wants to serve their users with the most user-friendly pages at the top of search results. Whether it’s an image, video or text on your site, do what you can to reduce page load time.
Touch Navigation Position is Key
When it comes to your website’s navigation icons, it is important to position them in an upper corner of your site. This makes the mobile user’s life easier when they are searching for a specific item, or page, on your site.
Google will never stop updating its algorithm; The best thing a business can do is ensure that it’s site is a well constructed with a responsive web design, so it can please the fast-growing segment of mobile media consumers. | https://medium.com/liqui-site-tech-news/how-to-benefit-from-google-s-mobilegeddon-7e69327d09e8 | [] | 2015-10-26 15:55:36.713000+00:00 | ['SEO', 'Google', 'Mobile Friendly'] |
Blockchain Trigger: a tool for automatic smart contract invocation | Note: this article is a suggestion of a trigger tool, which is not implemented yet. You can participate in improving the idea by sharing your feedback on its GitHub page.
The ecosystem of blockchain tools for creating decentralized applications is extensive and diverse. In this article, I will describe Blockchain Trigger, a service that could be integrated into Waves or any other blockchain protocol.
Blockchain Trigger is a tool that could resolve the issue of high entry barriers for users who want to call a smart contract. In this article about smart contracts, I described the practicalities of writing transparent code and integrating smart contracts into dApps. While setting a smart contract script is quite easy, its invocation remains an open issue:
Currently, a smart contract can only be invoked by a call from a centralized party, such as a dApp user.
Every time a user wants to call a smart contract, they need to sign a transaction and interact with the blockchain. This might as well be rocket science to a regular user, and certainly doesn’t help the mass adoption of blockchain technology.
Blockchain Trigger is a tool that enables a developer to set a script that will automatically be called when a preset condition is met. Any ecosystem participant can run Blockchain Trigger as a Waves Node extension and expand its functionality, also improving user experience.
Practical applications
The main functionality that Blockchain Trigger enables is automatic invocation of a smart contract without a user’s involvement. A given condition can be specified for calling a smart contract — for instance, hitting a certain block height, a change to a user’s balance, or reaching a certain point of time in the real world.
When the condition is met, any miner who launches Blockchain Trigger will call the smart contract, instead of a user. Let’s look at three examples of how this tool might be used to achieve unique functionality in a dApp.
1. Regular payments
One of Blockchain Trigger’s main applications is automated payments. An example of this is a dApp that automates rent payments for an apartment.
Task: A user needs to make a rent payment once a month.
Solution: The user opens a wallet (creates an account), after which they have to log in every 30 days to create and sign a payment transaction.
Blockchain Trigger-based solution: A user opens a wallet and attaches a smart contract script that corresponds to the relevant rental agreement. The script will automatically be invoked by Blockchain Trigger every 30 days, while the user only needs to make sure that the wallet has a sufficient balance.
Using Blockchain Trigger, we limit a user’s activity to just one event: “Create an account and set the smart contract”. Blockchain Trigger will do the rest.
2. Auto payments for Decentralized Finance
Similar mechanics can be implemented in the DeFi space. For instance, payments for Neutrino staking could be executed by a smart contract that is invoked on a daily basis by Blockchain Trigger, sending Neutrino stakers their additional USDN tokens. Similarly, payments to stakers by node owners could be automated with a smart contract invoked by Blockchain Trigger.
3. Gambling payouts
This use case could help resolve an issue that recently arose with an existing solution. A lottery run by Waves as part of the MRT Farewell Party had several winners. The prizes were not sent to them automatically: winners had to manually send a transaction to claim their WAVES. Blockchain Trigger would have helped to improve the game mechanics, as prizes would automatically have been distributed. This is the most reliable solution, since a user could otherwise buy a lottery ticket a month in advance, forget about it and, as a result, fail to collect their winnings.
Impact on participants’ revenues
Blockchain Trigger can be implemented as a piece of software that miners will be able to launch with Waves Node. A dApp’s owner can reward those who call smart contracts by sending them WAVES, as smart contract invocations bring miners an extra revenue.
To estimate rough revenues for Blockchain Trigger, let’s look at blockchain transaction stats. Based on public data available at http://dev.pywaves.org/txs/, over 2,000 InvokeScript transactions are called daily on Waves’ mainnet, which means 2,000 blockchain script executions. With the imminent activation of Version 1.2, failed transactions will also be written to the blockchain, doubling the number of relevant network transactions.
If 5% of these invocations are called by Blockchain Trigger, we will have 100 daily transactions and 3,000 monthly transactions. It’s hard to estimate the size of fees that dApp owners might offer for contract invocations, but if it’s the same as for smart contract invocation (0.005 WAVES and upwards), we get the figure of 3,000 * 0.005 WAVES = 15 WAVES. By comparison, a miner running Waves Node without any additions and with a generating balance of 10,000 WAVES will collect 50 WAVES a month.
This is a very rough estimate, but it still shows that running Blockchain Trigger with a node will bring miners worthwhile extra revenue.
Tech implementation
In the Waves ecosystem, Blockchain Trigger can be implemented as an extension to the Waves Node app. It would operate as a piece of software, launched independently and operating according to the following algorithm:
Verifying all SetScript transactions Adding scripts corresponding to a preset standard to the todo list Creating and sending an InvokeScript transaction if a condition for calling the smart contract from the todo list is met
The tech implementation and the smart contract standard are described in a proposal published on GitHub. Check it out and join the discussion in the comments!
Conclusion
Blockchain Trigger is another step towards lowering the entry threshold for users and enabling true mass adoption of blockchain technology, as it simplifies the dApp creation process by allowing automatic invocation of smart contracts.
The tool’s implementation in the Waves ecosystem would bring extra revenues to network participants. If the tool proves to be useful for the ecosystem, similar mechanics could be implemented in other blockchain protocols, which would be a major step towards cross-chain interoperability and greater popularization of blockchain.
Share your feedback in a GitHub discussion and join Waves Developers Chat! | https://medium.com/wavesprotocol/blockchain-trigger-a-tool-for-automatic-smart-contract-invocation-1cb2748c53be | ['Vladimir Zhuravlev'] | 2020-05-21 14:26:25.110000+00:00 | ['Wavesplatform', 'Decentralization', 'Blockchain'] |
Mergers and Acquisitions- what does Change Management mean for them? | A couple of years ago, I worked with a small Biotech which was focused on one core offering and were on the way to being acquired by a large research-based Pharma. The Biotech got to continue the pathbreaking work it was already doing in its one core offering, albeit with deeper resources at their disposal.
I was curious to see if there would be any culture change now that it had been acquired by a larger company and had much more at their disposal.
Glassdoor and Indeed reviews for the small biotech were favourable. It was interesting to see how employees acknowledged that the culture had evolved and they were quite at ease in accepting it as one of the outcomes of the acquisition.
But the acquisition itself wasn’t an easy task. Trouble stemmed within the various factions of the large Pharma, ‘from differing assessments of the Biotechs’ innovative capacities to conflicting philosophies of risk within its own management team. Their investors were on the verge of backing out because they didn’t agree with its research strategy, and its philosophy of risk. But the management at the large Pharma insisted that they were learning how to make wise choices in drug development, and improving its chances to create innovative first-in-class therapeutic products for unmet medical needs. Their CEO is famous to have said “What’s on the balance sheet is not as important as a culture of innovation and being able to bring something to patients which then creates value for everyone. The market and shareholders don’t always understand this, but it’s the only way for our company”
This resolved all the internal strife that they were facing and got in renewed focus on research; which ultimately led to the acquisition by the large Pharma.
This kind of culture was what the large Pharma was buying into, or probably the other way around. From the very beginning there was the obvious difference in size to consider and what that meant for a research based unit.
Innovation is largely stifled by large units, and the small Biotech ran on innovation.
How do you let an acquired company retain its culture because that’s the bedrock of their performance? How do you ensure that the acquiring company doesn’t assert territorial rights and expect things to change magically with their new teams?
What happens when organizations go through change?
When organizations go through change, resistance is to be expected and managed. Change management creates pockets of acceptance, of dissent and of resignation to fate. While it is tedious legwork to stitch in the process and structure pre and post change, it helps to manage the people aspect as a project too, this means the job roles and the culture. Experience suggests that it is supportive to inform the top and middle management upfront and to use them as multipliers.
Managing change needs to be tailored to the specific situation. Business leaders put people, culture, change management and communication as the top reasons for integration failure. Fortunately the large Pharma had a sophisticated understanding of acquiring companies and it put this understanding to good use.
They understood that people across the rungs, even those who have been actively rooting for the change have questions:
What do I actually do to get started? What approaches and tools do I apply, and when? What matters most?
The new integrated entity needs deliver on the base business, align strategies, put a new organisation in place, and realise synergies.
Managers need independence to stay invested in the outcomes of the change process. Personal motivation is a huge factor here — People choose their behaviors based on what they think will happen to them as a result. If you need people and managers to stay the course, focus on creating new experiences and new motives — clarify what’s in it for them, this may not always be pleasant news, as some jobs will be redundant and others will need to be reshaped. But usually there is tremendous learning during the integration phase and that’s valuable too.
Your objective is that the employees are running the change, owning the actions, decisions, consequences and results.
While managing change, it is better to be judged on the Final score card at the end of the change period rather than on every stroke, and not second-guessed in a way that is inappropriate.
It becomes even more important during the integration phase to define accepted behaviours.
In the various pockets of acceptance, dissent and resignation, induce peer pressure to not deviate from the desired behaviour. Teach them to use that social support and social motivation in their own favour.
Find opinion leaders and Influencers who will be mouthpieces and implementation champions for the change process .
The small Biotech was mainly about better innovation, better drug accessibility and usage — and that was of immense value to a global giant like the Big Pharma. That was essentially what they wanted to preserve and possibly nurture. And from what I see, they succeeded.
Not all change management processes need to be about changing the culture, some could be to protect the better parts too.
Sometimes the more original a realisation, the more obvious it seems later.
This article was first posted on LinkedIn on July 03, 2019. | https://medium.com/@shivangiwalke/mergers-and-acquisitions-what-does-change-management-mean-for-them-70fceac8d161 | ['Shivangi Walke'] | 2020-12-16 08:48:24.847000+00:00 | ['Change Management', 'Mergers And Acquisitions', 'Vitalsmarts', 'Shivangi Walke', 'Influencers'] |
How digital professionals can increase their revenues while helping small businesses maintaining their operations online | How digital professionals can increase their revenues while helping small businesses maintaining their operations online Fred Cills Apr 4, 2020·3 min read
Knocker finds small businesses without a website around the world automatically
At the time of writing of this article, you are probably locked in your place, staring at the singing birds and swinging trees through that small window at the other side of the room. There might not be birds, there might not be trees but there is still that a melody inside yourself repeating how lucky you are to have embraced the digital era a few years ago. The moment has come for you to shine!
You are a web developer. You are a business developer in a digital agency. You are a social media manager. You are used to working remotely from trendy coworking spaces in Bali or simply from home, your fluffy Munchkin cat on the lap. #stayhome movement has not changed much about the way you work aside from forcing you to make slight adjustments in your day-to-day routine. Snoozing is not a deadly sin anymore.
However, you find it harder to sign new projects. You cannot rely on networking much since most social events are prohibited. On popular freelance platforms like Freelance.com, Upwork or Toptal, competition is becoming really fierce since companies and startups are putting investments on hold and the number of job seekers rises up in the meantime. Increasingly more freshly jobless people are now looking for new options to make money online and of course, building simple websites for others is one of them.
Be more proactive in your web project search
You need to search for potential clients more proactively instead of clicking on the refresh button nervously every second, to only be the first among dozens to apply to that latest job. Millions of small businesses these days need better online visibility to maintain their activities at a minimum level, though they are not yet aware of it. The current crisis is a great opportunity for you, digital professionals, to increase your revenues while helping other businesses maintaining theirs. You just need to add a new string to your bow.
Automate searching for businesses that need your skills
With Knocker.io, you can search for businesses that do not have a website in a click. It works literally anywhere in the world. You want to get contact details of restaurants in Manhattan that do not have a website? Knocker serves them to you in minutes. Dental clinics in Ho Chi Minh city? Knocker can help again. Manufacturers in the Melbourne area without an online presence? Well you know the lyrics already, Knocker can give you their details too.
You need to set only 3 parameters to start a new search:
1/ Define a location 2/ Filter business types (see the complete list of supported types) 3/ Limit the maximum number of results
Easy 3-step workflow to configure your search
Knocker then sends the search results in CSV format to your email in a few minutes, after successfully completing the following tasks:
Identify businesses that match your search criteria Find out if a website exists by cross-checking data on search engines and popular place platforms like Google Maps, Facebook or Yelp Pick relevant business information & wrap them up nicely — because it matters to us! See the complete list of business fields that are returned.
You are then ready to reach out to these businesses without a website or with an invalid website (a social media page is not deemed valid), armed with your striking and energetic sales speech. They need your help, they will thank you for making the first step.
Try Knocker.io for free, the first 20 businesses are offered. We then charge $0.29/result only during the whole lockdown period.
Feel free to give us your feedback, Knocker needs its users to thrive! | https://medium.com/@knockerIO/how-digital-professionals-can-increase-their-revenues-while-helping-small-businesses-maintaining-1bc97afb94ab | ['Fred Cills'] | 2020-04-04 17:50:38.621000+00:00 | ['SaaS', 'Small Business', 'Automation Tools', 'Website Development', 'Lead Generation'] |
A Founder’s Story: Chris Li, CEO of BioBox Analytics (1/3) | I’ve always loved computers and software.
I remember booting one up in my aunt’s office back in 95' and loading an 18Mb video game from a floppy disk. But I never thought I’d be building software one day as a career. My goal was medicine or life-science research. Fast forward to my 20’s and I’ve just received an opportunity to work as a research student in a brand new research institute.
Dream do come true.
Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash
Biology, meet Bioinformatics
First week on the job, my boss says to me, “We’re a small lab, and bioinformatics is too expensive right now for us. Your project this summer is to do bioinformatics.” I had no idea what that meant, but I stood there, nodded and accepted the challenge enthusiastically.
After googling, “What is bioinformatics”, I sat back into my uncomfortable lab chair, and thought to myself, “What did I just get myself into?”.
I thought life-science research was about tissue-culture, mouse-models, complex biochemical manipulations, yet here I am trying to figure how to use a Makefile to compile this program?
“do Bioinformatics”
Looking back now, I still chuckle at the notion of “do bioinformatics”. Bioinformatics is the happy love-child of computing, software engineering, advanced probability and statistics, and biology. It’s a discipline borne out of necessity through a tectonic change in life-sciences research — next generation sequencing (NGS).
Find any major life-sciences high impact research paper in the last decade. You’d be hard-pressed to see one that didn’t use some form of bioinformatics. It’s now a foundational aspect of life-sciences research. Through NGS tech and advancements in computation biology, we’re now able to decipher information about biology that lead to the discovery of new genes, disease-causing mutations, and fundamental biological processes at an unprecedented rate.
But there is a cost to this knowledge, as an unintended side-effect emerged. These advancements made software literacy and programming chops one of the most sought after skills in biological research.
Fortunately, in my story, the summer of doing bioinformatics ignited in me a deep curiosity, passion, and borderline obsession with the cross-section of software, stats, ML, and biology. A few years later, by the time I entered grad-school, I was fully self-sufficient in bioinformatics and was able to leverage those skills to blast through the first two years and generate enough data for a reclassification. But throughout my grad school experience I saw first-hand what happens if you were less fortunate and didn’t have the time to train in bioinformatics.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
My email inbox and backlog of work was consistently full from collaborator and colleagues requests for bioinformatic support. I can’t count how many late nights I’ve had with colleagues crunching through numbers with them, whipping up figures, and translating their biological research question into a computational pipeline. Don’t get me wrong, I did this gladly and would do it whenever asked, because this is what science is about. Scientists help each other in the pursuit of knowledge, not trading tit-for-tat favours. But I could see their frustration from losing the autonomy of conducting/performing this work by themselves. The frustration from a request to collaborators or bioinformatic services being unanswered for weeks, only to have the results/figures come back different from their expectations, and trigger another round of this toxic cycle.
Photo by Q.U.I on Unsplash
It started with a napkin
One consequential Friday evening, me and my now co-founders met up after work and went across the street to the bar. A few too many pitchers later, we began discussing these issues and on a bar napkin, we drew out a hypothetical system to solve this problem. At the time, we didn’t think it would grow into what BioBox is today. We just wanted the emails to stop so we could get back to our own projects. It was a small simple web-app that loaded their data, and gave them the ability to run basic stats tests, plotting, and simple analyses. After a month of tinkering on weekends, I sent it out to a few colleagues and the results were amazing. Inbox — 0 new emails. Then the feature requests started coming in.
After a little more research into how pervasive this problem was, the three of us decided take the leap and we left our careers behind to found BioBox.
It’s been almost 2 years (at the time of this writing) since we committed to this path. The purpose of our company is to build a platform that provides autonomy back to the biologist by giving them all the tools they need to execute their bioinformatic analyses. In so doing, freeing up the bioinformaticians from requests like, “Please make my plot more red”, and getting their time back to focus on the things they love doing, like developing new algorithms, tools, and pipelines.
We live in a time where sequencing your entire genome is cheaper than your iPhone
We are blessed to live in an era of scientific progress where we’ve generated and collected more biological data than ever before.
But having data is not the same as having knowledge. Transforming data into knowledge relies on the creative/innovative thinking from our biologists and the efficiency/ingenuity from our bioinformaticians.
Pushing the boundaries of science is like rowing a boat upstream. It takes work, commitment, sweat, and energy from our scientists. At BioBox, we’re not rowing the boat for you, we can’t. Only you can. But what we can do is give you the best oars, boat, and gear to support you along your journey. This is the singular mission for us here at BioBox. | https://medium.com/bioboxanalytics/a-founders-story-chris-li-ceo-of-biobox-analytics-1-3-a2e5fd110521 | ['Christopher Li'] | 2020-12-10 13:49:44.249000+00:00 | ['Biotechnology', 'Genomics', 'Software Development', 'Founder Stories', 'Startup'] |
Evolution of YOLO — YOLO version 1 | Evolution of YOLO — YOLO version 1
YOLO (You Only Look Once) is one of the most popular object detector convolutional neural networks (CNNs). After Joseph Redmon et al. published their first YOLO paper in 2015, subsequent versions were published by them in 2016, 2017 and by Alexey Bochkovskiy in 2020. This article is the first in a series of articles that provide an overview of how the YOLO CNN has evolved from the first version to the latest version.
1. YOLO v1 — Motivation:
Before the invention of YOLO, object detector CNNs such R-CNN used Region Proposal Networks (RPNs) first to generate bounding box proposals on the input image, then run a classifier on the bounding boxes and finally apply post-processing to eliminate duplicate detections as well as refine the bounding boxes. Individual stages of the R-CNN network had to be trained separately. R-CNN network was hard to optimize as well as slow.
Creators of YOLO were motivated to design a single stage CNN that could be trained end to end, was easy to optimize and was real-time.
2. YOLO v1 — Conceptual design:
Figure 1: YOLO version 1 conceptual design (Source: You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection by Joseph Redmon et al.)
As shown in figure 1 left image, YOLO divides the input image into S x S grid cells. As show in figure 1 middle top image, each grid cell predicts B bounding boxes and an “objectness” score P(Object) indicating whether the grid cell contains an object or not. As shown in figure 1 middle bottom image, each grid cell also predicts the conditional probability P(Class | Object) of the class the object contained by the grid cell belongs to.
For each bounding box, YOLO predicts five parameters — x, y, w, h and a confidence score. The center of the bounding box with respect to the grid cell is denoted by the coordinates (x,y). The values of x and y are bounded between 0 and 1. The width w and height h of the bounding box are predicted as a fraction of the width and height of the whole image. So their values are between 0 and 1. The confidence score indicates whether the bounding box has an object and how accurate the bounding box is. If the bounding box does not have an object, then the confidence score is zero. If the bounding box has an object, then the confidence score equals Intersection Over Union (IoU) of the predicted bounding box and the ground truth. Thus for each grid cell, YOLO predicts B x 5 parameters.
For each grid cell, YOLO predicts C class probabilities. These class probabilities are conditional based on an object existing in the grid cell. YOLO only predicts one set of C class probabilities per grid cell even though the grid cell has B bounding boxes. Thus for each grid cell, YOLO predicts C + B x 5 parameters.
Total prediction tensor for an image = S x S x (C + B x 5). For PASCAL VOC dataset, YOLO uses S = 7, B = 2 and C = 20. Thus final YOLO prediction for PASCAL VOC is a 7 x 7 x (20 + 5 x 2) = 7 x 7 x 30 tensor.
Finally, YOLO version 1 applies Non Maximum Suppression (NMS) and thresholding to report final predictions as show in figure 1 right image.
3. YOLO v1 — CNN design:
Figure 2: YOLO version 1 CNN (Source: You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection by Joseph Redmon et al.)
YOLO version 1 CNN is depicted in figure 2. It has 24 convolution layers that act as a feature extractor. They are followed by 2 fully connected layers that are responsible for classification of objects and regression of bounding boxes. The final output is a 7 x 7 x 30 tensor. YOLO CNN is a simple single path CNN similar to VGG19. YOLO uses 1x1 convolutions followed by 3x3 convolutions with inspiration from Inception version 1 CNN from Google. Leaky ReLU activation is used for all layers except the final layer. The final layer uses a linear activation function.
4. YOLO v1 — Loss design:
Sum-squared error is the backbone of YOLO’s loss design. Since multiple grid cells do not contain any objects and their confidence score is zero. They overpower the gradients from a few cells that contain the objects. To avoid such overpowering leading to training divergence and model instability, YOLO increases the weight (λcoord = 5)for predictions from bounding boxes containing objects and reduces the weight (λnoobj = 0.5) for predictions from bounding boxes that do not contain any objects.
Figure 3: YOLO v1 loss part 1 — bounding box center coordinates (Source: You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection by Joseph Redmon et al.)
Figure 3 shows the first part of the YOLO loss which calculates the error in the prediction of bounding box center coordinates. The loss function only penalizes bounding box center coordinates’ error, if that predictor is responsible for the ground truth box.
Figure 4: YOLO v1 loss part 2- bounding box width and height (Source: You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection by Joseph Redmon et al.)
Figure 4 shows the second part of the YOLO loss which calculates the error in prediction of bounding box width and height. If the magnitude of error in prediction is the same for a small bounding box versus a large bounding box, they produce the same loss. But the same magnitude of error is more “wrong” for a small bounding box than a large bounding box. Hence, the square root of those values is used to calculate the loss. As both width and height are between 0 and 1, their square roots increase the differences for smaller values more than the larger values. The loss function only penalizes bounding box width and height error, if that predictor is responsible for the ground truth box.
Figure 5: YOLO v1 loss part 3- object confidence score (Source: You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection by Joseph Redmon et al.)
Figure 5 shows the third part of the YOLO loss which calculates the error in prediction of object confidence score for bounding boxes that have an object. The loss function only penalizes object confidence error, if that predictor is responsible for the ground truth box.
Figure 6: YOLO v1 loss part 4- no object confidence score. (Source: You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection by Joseph Redmon et al.)
Figure 6 shows the fourth part of the YOLO loss which calculates the error in prediction of object confidence score for bounding boxes that do not have an object. The loss function only penalizes object confidence error, if that predictor is responsible for the ground truth box.
Figure 7: YOLO v1 loss part 5- class probability (Source: You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection by Joseph Redmon et al.)
Figure 7 shows the fifth part of the YOLO loss which calculates the error in prediction of class probabilities for grid cells that have an object. The loss function only penalizes class probabilities error, if an object is present in that grid cell.
5. YOLO v1 — Results:
YOLO v1 results on PASCAL VOC 2007 dataset are listed in figure 8. YOLO achieves 45 FPS and 63.4 % mAP which are significantly higher compared to DPM — another real-time object detector. Though, Faster R-CNN VGG-16 has much higher mAP at 73.2%, its speed is considerably slower at 7 FPS.
6. YOLO v1 — Limitations:
YOLO has difficulties in detecting small objects that appear in groups. YOLO has difficulties in detecting objects having unusual aspect ratios. YOLO makes more localization errors compared to Fast R-CNN.
7. References:
[1] J. Redmon, S. Divvala, R. Girshick and A. Farhadi, You Only Look Once: Unified, Real-Time Object Detection (2015), arxiv.org
[2] R. Girshick, J. Donahue, T.Darrell and J. Malik, Rich feature hierarchies for accurate object detection and semantic segmentation (2013), arxiv.org
[3] K. Simnoyan and A. Zisserman, Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition (2014), arxiv.org
[4] C. Szegedy, W. Liu, Y. Jia, P. Sermanet, S. Reed, D. Anguelov, D. Erhan, V. Vanhoucke and A. Rabinovich, Going Deeper with Convolutions (2014) arxiv.org | https://towardsdatascience.com/evolution-of-yolo-yolo-version-1-afb8af302bd2 | ['Abhijit V Thatte'] | 2020-05-21 22:13:02.179000+00:00 | ['Object Detection', 'Yolo', 'Machine Learning', 'Computer Vision', 'Deep Learning'] |
Mistletoe Musings | I’m no libertarian — well, at least, that’s what I keep telling myself, to reassure the snowflake inside of me. At the same time, I also have, by all measures, a strong sense of civic duty, even more so in times like these. As a result, like so many others, I’ve spent the large majority of this year inside: even when lockdowns have eased, in perhaps the most un-British way possible, I’ve tried my upmost to stay, comfortably, within the realms of whatever myopic regulations Boris and his chums have drawn up. In most instances, to the ire of my family and friends, I’ve gone even further, self-imposing more draconian measures.
Yet today, I surprised myself.
For those of you, lucky enough to be living under a rock, London, like much of the South East, finds itself in Tier 4. As a result, there are strict rules in place, prohibiting different households from congregating, and also, travel to and from the city. The majority of Londoners, from what I can see — if my instagram feed qualifies as a reliable sample size, which I believe it does looking at Third Stage clinical trials for Russia’s Sputnik V ;) — are abiding by the rules. However, there are exceptions. Awkwardly, they include some neighbours and close family. Surely, trips to the sea aren’t essential, even more so given the weather.
Upon learning of these transgressions, my sister — who has seen the devastating impact of COVID 19, up close, and has borne (and continues to bear, like the other frontline workers) the seldom spoken, physical and emotional burdens of treating COVID 19 patients — was incensed. Incensed enough to lodge an official complaint to the Met Police. And I, to my surprise, talked her out of it.
As a I said, not a libertarian. Yet I cowered at the thought of reporting a ‘near and dear’ one (in the most loose sense possible). Why? Am I loyal to fault? Or is it something I learned from the ‘streets’? By streets, I mean, nearly a decade listening to Hip-Hop music: Jay-Z said it himself, “The labelling of a snitch is a lifetime scar / You’ll always be snitch, just minus the bars.”
More likely than not, it’s to do with the fact that my own personal definition of civic duty is narrower than I first thought. I am mindful of how my actions impact others, and in that sense, believe it’s my civic duty to police myself, and wherever possible, act in the public good. However, when it comes to policing others, all I can offer are sermons and platitudes. That isn’t to say, I believe actions should not have consequences; my neighbours and close family have every right to be fined and reprimanded.
Nevertheless, in the current environment, I firmly believe the onus on detecting such transgressions, lies solely with the Government, and the Government alone. This willingness to shirk responsibility is symbolic of the UK government’s wider COVID-19 strategy: from blaming Public Health England for the earlier mishandling of the pandemic to its reluctance in setting up Public quarantine and isolation facilities.
At the same time, it’s important for the government to lead by example, even more so given the unprecedented sacrifices, we’ve been asked to make. The inability to appropriately penalise transgressions by the Prime Minster’s top Aid, Dominic Cummings, and Cabinet Minister, Robert Jenrick, set the wrong precedent. It gave rise to the idea of exceptionalism, at a time when it was important to show that the burden of the lockdown was being borne equally, however idealistic that might have been in actuality.
Once again, in no way am I making excuses for those concerned, neither is this piece a means of rationalising my remorse, or an exhaustive critique of the government’s mishandling of the pandemic. Perhaps, my internal deliberation, is symbolic of something much bigger? The need to re-evaluate and draw the boundaries of civic responsibility, or more generally the social contract between a government and its people. | https://medium.com/@ayushvar-22/mistletoe-musings-9e13cc13dcf | ['Ayush Varma'] | 2020-12-27 21:37:50.376000+00:00 | ['Think', 'Lockdown', 'UK', 'Coivd 19'] |
Who Am I? | Author’s note: I find it fascinating how we — as humans — constantly question who we are as a person.
How do we define ourselves?
How does the world perceive us?
How do others see us?
We are… FLUID.
We morph, we change, we transform.
Every minute, every second of the day.
Sometimes, it’s minuscule, a shift so slight, in a blink of an eye, we have missed it completely.
Sometimes, we wake up to a realization that we are now far away from the person we were yesterday.
“When did I turn into this person?” We would ask ourselves every now and then.
After my mother’s death though, my understanding changes.
Whoever I am,
whatever I am,
in the end,
I will be just another collection of memories.
And with that understanding, came another understanding,
it is completely up to me what kind of memories I want to be when I’m gone.
In the end,
we are all,
who we choose to be.
It was a liberation. | https://medium.com/afwp/who-am-i-d21d068045bc | ['Agnes Louis'] | 2019-12-09 15:31:01.378000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Life', 'Identity', 'Self', 'Self-awareness'] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.