title
stringlengths 1
200
⌀ | text
stringlengths 10
100k
| url
stringlengths 32
885
| authors
stringlengths 2
392
| timestamp
stringlengths 19
32
⌀ | tags
stringlengths 6
263
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
How My App Failed Before Making It to the App Store | Phase 1: Scope Creep
When I was thinking about the project, I’d get excited. Why only me, there must be lots of other people who’d want this, too! And, while I’m learning things, why not learn other things as well? I’ve been meaning to learn Lisp as well: let’s build the server in Lisp.
Warning to future me: The smallest experiment I think I can run is rarely the smallest experiment I can run.
So, now I’m building this blazing fast app that has a server built with Lisp.
My rationalization for the server: HackerNews loves Lisp. So, if I build something with Lisp, it will get more upvotes, which means more people will come to the landing page, and so, more sales. This is hilarious in retrospect.
Through all of this, I already had a design for the app in mind. Swipe left if you don’t remember the card’s answer. Swipe right if you do. Tap to show the answer. On startup, you get this card view.
You can then go to a second screen with a list of cards, a way to add cards, and remove them.
The quickest thing — Revise, hence one-click. The slowest thing — Thinking about new cards to add, hence two-click.
Of course, if there are a server and sync, I’d need a login as well. Oh, and what about export? That gives people confidence that their cards won’t get lost.
And since I’m competing with Anki, a quick import from Anki.
This was daunting, given how little time I had (an hour after work every day — I didn’t want to stop other projects because of this). | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-my-app-failed-even-before-making-it-to-the-appstore-f639c467b185 | ['Neil Kakkar'] | 2020-04-21 00:37:38.456000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Startup', 'Mobile', 'Failure', 'Productivity'] |
The inconvenient truth | The inconvenient truth
This may well be the most important blog I’ve written this year….. the image below depicts my tension between work and leisure, balanced on a fulcrum. I must ask…
“To gain more time in my ‘happy place’ what inconvenient truths about my work and who I am might I need to accept!”
2020 an unprecedented year
One of the most over used words of this year…unprecedented! But thats because this year has been just that. Most if not all of us in business (small, medium and large) have suffered a drought of work, losses, a silence from clients. We’ve all probably had those moments of fear, we’ve all eaten into our reserves to survive and some have not made it this far. I am thankful I have – BUT I like you must ask myself…
“Whats my inconvenient truth”……
Am I really that good, will people actually pay for what I offer, is my service actually needed or is it just my blind belief that its important and valuable which keeps me going forward…what is the truth?
What lies are you telling yourself
Growth comes from acceptance of who we are and how we are. Success comes from being honest with ourselves about what works and what doesn’t. Its not just about ‘hard work’, perseverance and all those other great character trait words. Its about knowing honestly if you have something people value enough to pay for.
You may well be great at what you do but are people in a place to buy? Have you just got a great idea but your ability to bring it to market is lacking? Is your service a must have that people see as a nice to have so don’t buy? Are you caught up in your own enthusiasm and romance for your product that you are blind to what others see? Are you ‘almost there’ with loads of leads which actually means you might never get there?
I’m asking you these questions, not to knock your motivation but to get you focused on a New Years resolution that will serve you.
Be brave and Be honest with yourself
Its time to really check in, be brave and ask yourself the questions that you don’t really desire to hear the answers to. Sit with those answers and consider is the lack of traction related to – your price point, timing, competition in the market, the narrative story that goes with your pitch, marketing or is it just not valuable enough to people.
“There is no point being the best book in the library if no one is going there anymore…”
My advice, get out (metaphorically), be found, be of value, but be honest…. If its not working it might mean you need to change direction. Sometimes this can be hard as it feels like admitting defeat, but see it more like pivoting, responding to market need. The honest truth is people buy what they want more than they buy what they need, people often only look for fix’es when things break (and not before), people search for a net only after they have fallen….
“sadly sometimes there is more opportunity in the repair of things than the maintenance”
Have a look at your self, your team, your services and pivot….
Kurt Ewald Lindley – telling myself the truths that will build a more successful business and give me more time in my happy place | https://medium.com/@CoachDeveloper/the-inconvenient-truth-356ed39e6339 | ['Kurt Ewald Lindley'] | 2020-12-18 11:06:48.085000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Future', 'Business Development', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Life Lessons'] |
6 Super Basic SEO Tips I Think Every Website Owner Should Know | A summary of Google’s beginners guide to SEO, which was graciously handed down to us mere webmasters (back in 2010).
Introductions
I’ll keep this short so we can jump right in to the post. My name is Christian and I’m a freshly minted freelancer writer. I just started writing about SEO, and organic marketing strategy.
I want to talk about SEO as a methodical science, even though most recommend to describe it as a mythological creature. I hope you guys enjoy reading my stuff, and find some value in it!
Enough about that, let’s jump right into it.
Super Basic SEO Tip #1
Can I interest you in some Meta Tags?
Meta Tags are like the little 1 and 2 bit Lego blocks of SEO, and these lil’ guys might have something to do with what you site looks like on search engine results page. I’ve included some screenshot taken by Google to help illustrate what I mean.
Source: Google
The first blue line is almost always what you set as the <title> tag in the <head> element of your page. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that is. Just trust me, that’s where it belongs. Try to make each title tag unique, like a little code snowflake.
The smaller black text under the title is almost always what you set as the <meta name=“description”> in the <head>, right under the title if you’re OCD (like me).
Benefits of titles:
With titles, you get to tell search engines what that page is about.
Simultaneously, you tell users searching for you what you got.
Explicitly controlling what your pages look like on Google listing just plain looks better than Google picking a snippet programmatically.
What to include in titles:
Name of your website
Physical Location of the business
Maybe, a few key services or offerings.
What about descriptions?
Similar to titles, description tags let you tell search engine what to put as the little black text under the title on their results page. Use this tag to include a summary of the content a visitor can expect to find on that page. This tag also helps search engines develop context to what your site offers.
Bottom line:
Always include unique title and meta description tags for each and every page. For large sites consisting of thousands of pages, you can think of implementing programmatic solution like dynamic titles and descriptions.
Super Basic SEO Tip #2
Improve your site structure.
Have you ever seen a URL like this:
Source: Google
Search engines are nerdy enough to understand it; humans however, not so much.
In an effort to keep their customer’s happy, search engines prefer showing sites with URL’s that are “human readable” over sites that are not. Like this:
Source: Google
Making URLs Human readable is a major key to improving your site’s structure and SEO.
Benefits of human readable URLs:
Improved organization
Could lead to better crawling and indexing
Provides a better visitor experience
Another important element to your sites structure is the navigation. You think designing the navigation in a way that makes it easy for people to get from the homepage, to very specific content, in a logical and understandable way.
Google recommends using a breadcrumb navigation like this where possible:
Source: Google
These menus make it easy to see what page your on, and how you got there. It also makes it easy to hop around and explore different areas of the site, who doesn’t want that?
Quick question…
Have you ever chopped off the end of a URL, hoping to get back to a general listing page or something, only to land on a 404 error page?
Source: Google
In know I have. Don’t let that happen on your site.
Try it out, go to an article on your website, delete the article bit off the end, hit enter, and see where that takes you. This is a cool little thing, I never really noticed I did this until I read about it in Google’s SEO beginner guide. Apparently it’s more common than I thought.
If it is happing on your site, you can fix it by creating index pages for each directory you create on your site. For example, the 2010 directory of the site above might be full of article.html pages, but no index.html page. If you add an index.html page within that directory, you’ll see that page when you delete the article.html bit off the end of the URL. Every site is different though, so check with your local webmaster.
Super Basic SEO Tip #3
This is where stuff starts getting good.
If I had to pick the #1 most impactful element to effective SEO it would be quality content. You’ll hear this alot, but it’s very true.
Creating quality content that is compelling, engaging, unique, and or useful is the #1 most influential factor to your websites SEO.
“Here we go, another post about creating creative, creations blah blah blah…”
Hold on, I anticipated that question and included my 3 super secret tips to creating quality content:
Be yourself *gag*
Create for your people
And finally, anticipaaaaate!
I’m really laying it all out here for you imaginary friends. But, let me elaborate on that last one: Anticipate.
Try this with me — close your eyes and pretend you’re that one person that reads your writing. *giggle*
Imagine what they’re thinking about. What are they worried about? What would inspire them to read your post (other than your magnificent title)? What are they looking to gain?
Whatever thoughts cross your mind, write them down.
Open your eyes and address those thoughts in your post. This is how I think of anticipation, my secret weapon.
A couple additional points regarding content:
Illustrate your point with quality images
Use next gen image formats like webp
Describe the image as best you can in the “alt” text
Use descriptive link text don’t link words like “click here”
Use heading tags like <h1> <h2> sparingly, where it makes sense
Super Basic SEO Tip #4
Less exciting, but there are still some gems in here.
Use robots.txt files to tell bots not to crawl certain folders. This makes sense for image folders that you don’t want showing up on search.
Protect your sites reputation using “nofollow” links. If you ever need to link to a page you’re not proud of for whatever reason (I wont judge), slap a rel=“nofollow” in the link element. That will prevent bots from giving your reputation over to that site.
Super Basic SEO Tip #5
Here’s where the 2010 guide starts to show it’s age.
So I’ll just share what I know instead.
Google created a nifty mobile-friendly test tool where you can type in your website URL and get a complete report on how mobile friendly your site is. Getting a high score on this tool is a good first-step in optimizing your sites SEO.
Super Basic SEO Tip #6
Last but not least, I’m going to talk about ways to share and promote your website in the right ways.
You’ve probably heard about backlinks. But if you’re like the old me, you probably wouldn’t know how to describe what it is, or much less, how to do it.
A backlink is essentially a link that goes to your website from another website. Naturally, the number of backlinks to your site grows over time, as your site becomes relevant and people share your stuff.
Search engines understand that you’d like to let others know about the hard work you’ve put into your content. So effectively promoting your stuff will lead to your content getting picked up by people, and publications that are also interested in your same subject, hopefully sharing and further spreading your content.
That means, become a master at being recognized online.
“How do I do that?”, you might ask.
Here are my 3 tips to sharing your content and getting recognized online:
Give, give, give, then give some more great quality content.
Distribute all that generous giving to on different channels with automation tools like Zapier.
Open up and connect with your peers, that’ll make you better at what you do.
Place yourself everywhere you’d like to be seen, for me it’s medium, instagram, and twitter.
Do all these things (in your own way), and you’ll be on the way to online recognition.
In conclusion
That concludes this list of 6 super basic seo tips. I hope you found it useful! I try to post daily so stay tuned for the next article.
Cheers,
Christian | https://medium.com/@bychristiangomez/6-super-basic-seo-tips-i-think-every-website-owner-should-know-2debdb12e3f | ['Christian Gomez'] | 2020-12-10 11:37:56.082000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'SEO', 'Tips And Tricks'] |
22 Kotlin Extensions for Cleaner Code | 22 Kotlin Extensions for Cleaner Code
Be more productive when building your mobile apps
Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash
I’m a mobile developer, and one of the reasons I switched to Kotlin immediately after it appeared is because of its support of extensions. Extensions allow you to add methods to any existing class, even to Any or an optional type (for example, Int? ).
If you extend a base class, all derived classes automatically get this extension. You can also override methods from extensions, which makes this mechanism even more flexible and powerful.
I use Kotlin 1.4.0 for Android in Android Studio 4.0.1. And I assume that all methods will be called from Kotlin, not Java. Even so, most of the extensions will work in other versions of Kotlin, some of them in other environments. | https://medium.com/better-programming/22-kotlin-extensions-for-cleaner-code-acadcbd49357 | ['Alex Nekrasov'] | 2020-09-03 15:01:16.375000+00:00 | ['Android', 'Kotlin', 'Mobile', 'Programming'] |
Make Machine Learning Work for Your Company: An Overview | “Machine learning” is hot. Apple is “building a machine learning system to rule them all.” YouTube uses machine learning to remove objectionable content, while telecom empires apply ML algorithms for predictive maintenance and improving network reliability. And, of course, there are plenty of TedTalks.
For all the hype around machine learning, it still seems like a distant and futuristic concept for many in their everyday work lives. However, this technology — which is defined as a computer learning from experience to improve at a task without explicit programming — can be implemented at your company today regardless of size or industry. The underlying thread of ML for business is the potential to help companies operate more efficiently and competitively.
To illustrate this potential, here’s a brief overview of applications:
Marketing
The discipline has always been a bit of an art, but machine learning can elevate your creative intuition with a strong scientific foundation. Marketers are already using machine learning to target the right audience at the best time, test different combinations of copy in real-time, and personalize landing pages with optimal product and pricing.
Human Resources
In the knowledge economy, finding and retaining the best employees is more important than ever. Fortunately, machine learning can help. Algorithms can be used to remove bias from the hiring process, rank resumes, and identify candidates similar to your most successful employees. It can create custom experiences that attract applicants, automate feedback throughout the hiring process, and even answer candidate questions in real-time. Post-hire, machine learning enables employers to identify which of their employees are most likely to turnover creating an opportunity to intervene. Here’s an interesting case study on how Blue Orange uses ML to solve problems across the hiring process.
Customer Service
You’ve probably already experienced machine learning applied to customer service — in the form of chatbots. While not all chatbots incorporate machine learning, the ones that do can identify when it’s appropriate to use specific responses, gather required information, and escalate to a human agent. Additionally, natural language processing helps human agents quickly find answers that are buried in heavy text. These applications fundamentally increase customer service speed and customer satisfaction.
Fraud Prevention and Detection
Increasingly sophisticated fraud attempts, aided and abetted by new technology, call for increasingly sophisticated fraud prevention and detection. Machine learning’s anomaly detection capabilities make it well suited not only for recognizing old patterns of fraudulent activity, but also detecting new types of activity as they emerge. The resulting reduction in chargeback levels is especially valuable for e-commerce businesses.
Cyber Security
Likewise, the constant evolution of cyber-attacks renders machine learning an important tool for cyber defense. Because it does not rely on past attack data as much as conventional approaches, machine learning is able to keep pace with hackers and more accurately predict cyber threats. Additionally, the sheer volume of cyber attacks makes machine learning an important tool for managing staffing expenses.
In Summary
Machine learning is already an indispensable tool for many industries. If ML is the future of business, then the future is here.
Here’s a helpful framework for understanding machine learning: https://blueorange.digital/machine-learning-an-introduction/
If you want to dig in on specific applications for your business, feel free to reach out to us today. | https://medium.com/@BlueOrangeDigital/make-machine-learning-work-for-your-company-an-overview-bf98d2764a07 | ['Blue Orange Digital'] | 2020-02-07 14:12:27.474000+00:00 | ['Predictive Analytics', 'Data Engineering', 'Data Science', 'Cybersecurity', 'Machine Learning'] |
18/50 2 Turkey and 2 Bean Soup | Mild in Flavor but Hearty in Substance
Ingredients
2 T canola oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 T ground cumin
1 lb ground turkey
1 ¼ lbs roasted turkey breast, cut into ½” cubes (around 1 ½ cups)
4 c turkey (or chicken) stock
1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz can great northern beans, drained
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
½ t dried marjoram
¼ t dried savory
Directions
1 In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Stir in cumin; cook 5 minutes. Add ground turkey; cook until no longer pink. Add cubed turkey, broth, beans, jalapeno, marjoram, and savory. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer covered for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2 Uncover; simmer 15 minutes more. Vigorously stir a couple of time to help break down great northern beans to make soup thicker.
I didn’t change the original recipe too much for this soup but I did change the title! This is a good turkey and bean soup; I just really don’t like the term “white chili”. (I also have issue with calling a sweet potato a “potato” but this post isn’t about potatoes!) Using both turkey breast and ground turkey gave the soup great taste and texture. The use of two different beans is smart: the garbanzo beans hold up to the long simmer time the soup needs and the more delicate great northern beans break down in the soup making the broth thicker without having to stir in a cornstarch slurry. The turkey flavor is pronounced, and the other flavors are subtle but developed. Using a homemade turkey broth (that was made by another so I don’t have the recipe to share) added a lot to the flavor of the soup since there were herbs and onions already simmered into it. I can’t say that I was excited about or loved this soup, but 2 Turkey and 2 Bean Soup is a satisfying soup recipe for Thanksgiving turkey leftovers or anytime a low-fat, high-protein soup is wanted.
If you’d like to see the original recipes my posts are based on or read Taste of Home’s article that inspired my 50 Soups in 25 Weeks blogging, go to: https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/soups-to-keep-you-warm-this-fall/. | https://medium.com/@kristimcilvain/18-50-2-turkey-and-2-bean-soup-7687fbeca5c2 | [] | 2020-12-09 20:33:57.786000+00:00 | ['Soup Recipe', 'Soup', 'Food', 'Recipe', 'Turkey'] |
Ring In The New Year With Security Tools from MetaCert | Ring In The New Year With Security Tools from MetaCert
Don’t get blindsided by a scam; MetaCert will keep you safe from phishing attacks.
Everywhere there’s a buck to me made someone is trying to cheat someone else, and while that unpleasant reality might not leave a good taste in your mouth, MetaCert has your back, with tools that will allow you to differentiate between legitimate web resources and scams.
Forging into the new year, whether you’re just getting into cryptocurrency, or you’re a veteran hodler, chances are good you’ve heard about the ripoff schemes plied by malicious actors. Part of the problem lies with a mixture of sophisticated methods used by scammers paralleled with a sentiment of urgency that comes from the fear of missing out. These factors conflate with misinformation campaigns designed to ensnare newcomers to the scene.
One of the things throwing fuel on the fire is a basic lack of understanding. People who are just getting inducted into the scene often do not know how to manage public versus private keys, or which cryptocurrency exchanges are the right ones to set up an account at, and how to move their digital assets to a cold storage wallet. This basic lack of understanding means people are likely to ask questions, which makes them targets for malicious actors who use misinformation to socially engineer an attack.
Another problem is that supposedly trustworthy sources of information often fail to weed out the scammers. For instance, compromised Twitter accounts, sometimes even those verified by the platform itself, have been known to successfully place promotional ads featuring links to known phishing scams. If people see an advertisement for a cryptocurrency scam as a promoted tweet, they will be more susceptible to believing that type of scam is legitimate; while they may not fall for it immediately, they may later reference that instance and fall for a different scam, misinterpreting the information from seeing a scam in a promoted tweet.
Twitter needs to do a better job preventing scams like this from being widely distributed to its users.
One hopes that eventually this issue is something that will be managed from the inside out as cryptocurrency systems begin to scale outwards and compete with legacy remittance systems. Once that happens the user interface side is less likely to feature hexadecimal code keys which can be difficult for the human eye to differentiate from another.
Until that day comes, you can continue to rely on security tools from MetaCert.
An Ecosystem Swarming With Threats
After a significant mainstream boom in 2017, nearly every chat service and social media site was crawling with crypto scammers to the point where MetaCert had to take action.
Shortly after MetaCert developed tools for Slack that eradicated the phishing on the platform, MetaCert CEO and Founder Paul Walsh accurately predicted that scammers would migrate to another platform; Telegram. Again, MetaCert sprung into action, and created a bot that identifies dangerous resources such as malicious URLs and cryptocurrency addresses associated with phishing campaigns.
Today, MetaCert’s powerful tools allow users to easily differentiate between legitimate and dangerous resources at a glance.
The Anatomy of the Scam
Phishing scams today are often difficult to discern from their legitimate counterparts. In one case a user would have need a microscope to identify a tiny pixel above character to differentiate the scam site from the real one. Other times scammers use automated systems to get a green lock signifying SSL certification on their phishing site, and consumers fall for that. The truth is, without a valid verification system, it’s practically impossible to tell at a glance whether a site is safe or not until it’s too late.
Don’t simply trust the padlock!
The Green Shield of Trust
MetaCert has verified legitimate web resources with a green shield of trust, seen by subscribers to the Cryptonite browser plugin. That means you’ll see the green shield of trust whenever you visit a verified cryptocurrency related website, social media account, wallet provider, and/or cryptocurrency exchange.
In 2018 we continued to expand our database of over 10 billion classified uniform resource identifiers across over 60 categories thanks to the participation of our community and our hard working team. In 2019 we intend to expand our verification services beyond crypto to encompass sites also targeted by phishing scammers including mainstream companies, payment portals, and more.
Soon the green shield of trust will also signify you’re safe when you’re buying things online, paying bills, or otherwise managing finances through online banking services, so you’ll always know you’re in the right place on the web.
Remember, if the shield is black, that means the site hasn’t been verified and might not be trustworthy, so use caution.
$150 Worth Of MetaCert Tokens As A Special Bonus
Your subscription to Cryptonite today will get you more than a year’s worth of safety. For the first 2,000 subscribers to Cryptonite we’re offering $150 in MetaCert Tokens, to be distributed following the end of our public sale. You’ll know right away if you’re one of the first 2,000 subscribers:
To subscribe to Cryptonite now, follow these instructions.
Email Security
MetaCert is still beta testing our email security tool that is sure to revolutionize the way you see links in your email. Many phishing emails contain links, or images with hyperlinks. MetaCert’s email security tool uses a color coded system to warn you against known threats, or potentially malicious links. Every link that appears in your email will feature a shield beside it; if the shield is green you’re safe, and if the shield is red you know it’s a phishing link. Again, if the shield is black, that means the resource hasn’t been verified, and that you should use extreme caution clicking on it.
Sign up for our email security tool for iOS today, and see how we’re changing the way people see links in their email.
This report was brought to you by MetaCert.
Join the conversation with us on Telegram, and find out why MetaCert is the new shield of trust for web resources. You can also check out our white paper and technical paper, and follow us @MetaCert on Twitter.
MetaCert Protocol is decentralizing cybersecurity for the Internet, by defining ownership and URL classification information about domain names, applications, bots, crypto wallet addresses, social media accounts and APIs. The Protocol’s registry can be used by ISPs, routers, Wi-Fi hotspots, crypto wallets and exchanges, mobile devices, browsers and apps, to help address cyber threats such as phishing, malware, brand protection, child safety and news credibility. Think of MetaCert Protocol as the modern version of the outdated browser padlock and whois database combined. | https://medium.com/metacert/ring-in-the-new-year-with-security-tools-from-metacert-71ea04db3a9a | ['Jeremy Nation'] | 2019-01-02 20:33:15.956000+00:00 | ['Cybersecurity', 'Business', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Technology'] |
Everyone Needs to Pay Attention to the British COVID Mutation. | Everyone Needs to Pay Attention to the British COVID Mutation.
Original illustration by the CDC
Yesterday, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that a new strain of COVID-19 had emerged in the country late September which “might be as much as 70% more transmissible.” Today, the U.K. Health Minister called the new strain “out of control.”
This new strain has accounted for more than 60% of new cases in the past week in London (which are up 40% week-over-week), and “20% of viruses sequenced in Norfolk, 10% in Essex, and 3% in Suffolk.”
There is a lot we still do not know about this new strain and the data is still early and subject to review. Therefore, it is possible the new strain is not actually 70% more transmissible. And for context, the U.K. (and in particular England) recently relaxed their COVID restrictions.
However, given the rapid increase of this strain’s share of COVID cases in London and South East England, I believe it is highly unlikely that this new strain is not, to some substantial degree, more transmissible. And early analysis from NERVTAG — the British new virus advisory group — indicates as much.
Hopefully, scientists will be soon be able to determine the true threat of this new strain. But if true — if this new mutation of COVID-19 is 70% more transmissible — then the pandemic’s home-stretch will be a lot worse.
Here’s why.
70% Higher R0 = Disaster
The most obvious way in which a higher transmission rate would make the pandemic worse is by increasing the number of total cases which would thereby increase the total number of deaths.
Death by Transmission Alone
Using a Susceptible, Exposed, Infected and Resistant Model created during the early months of the pandemic by Gabriel Goh and others —designed to determine the effectiveness of lockdown durations — we can get a crude estimation of what a 70% increase of the R0 for COVID-19 mean.
Note: The model was used because it was the only interactive one I could find and was useful enough for illustrative purposes.
(Full disclosure: I am not an epidemiologist, virologist, public health expert, or master statistician. The following numbers and the analysis in this article should be taken as a rough estimation — an illustration. However, I have read a dozens of journal articles, government and intergovernmental reports and playbooks, and a few books on public health crises and SARS-COV-2. I also wrote my master’s thesis proposal on COVID-19 pandemic.)
A 70% increase in the base assumption of the model’s R0 (the number of people who will be infected from a single infected person) from 2.5 to 4.25 would increase the total number of projected deaths by 70%. | https://medium.com/@claygraubard/everyone-needs-to-pay-attention-to-the-british-covid-mutation-d731ef854864 | ['Clay Graubard'] | 2020-12-21 19:03:17.010000+00:00 | ['Covid-19', 'UK', 'Mutation', 'Pandemic', 'Public Health'] |
DeepMind’s gigantic leap: Solving 50 years old quest of biology | DeepMind, an AI technology company offshoot of Google AI, has already amazed the scientific community showcasing AIs that have learned to play a variety of complex games with superhuman skill, from Go and StarCraft to Atari’s entire back catalog. It has now made an astronomical leap in solving previously unsolvable biological challenge. Determining the protein’s structure through its amino acid sequence.
Christian Anfinsen, 1972 Nobel laureate in Chemistry has postulated the theory that a Protein’s amino acid sequence should fully determine its structure. It sparked a long 50 years swedge to correctly model protein structure computationally based on one-dimensional amino-sequence. Which took a half-century to correctly 3D model protein structure because theoretically protein folding takes astronomical random shifts before synthesizing into a final 3D structure.
In 1969, Levinthal's paradox, a thought experiment which estimated 10^300 possible conformations for a typical protein if modeled using brute force technique probably take the age of the known universe to correctly configure all protein’s structure.
We have been stuck on this one problem — how do proteins fold up — for nearly 50 years. To see DeepMind produce a solution for this, having worked personally on this problem for so long and after so many stops and starts, wondering if we’d ever get there, is a very special moment. — PROFESSOR JOHN MOULT , Co-founder & Chair of CASP, University of Maryland
The latest version of DeepMind’s deep learning framework “AlphaFold” can accurately predict the protein structure within the width of an atom. CASP uses the Global distance test (GDT) to measure the accuracy of the protein’s structure. GDT is a percentage of amino acid residues (beads in the protein chain) within a threshold distance from the correct position.
The 14th version of CASP results shows AlphaFold scoring at 92.4 GDT across all targets. This means that the latest version of DeepMind’s algorithm has an average error of approximately 1.6 Angstroms, which is comparable to the width of an atom (or 0.1 of a nanometer). It scored 87.0 GDT for the hardest protein targets in the most challenging free-modeling category. Which is quite promising.
This exciting advancement in the field of AI opens up new doors for the biologist to test computational modeling to unfold some of the challenging biological quests.
One of few drawbacks concerning to AlphaFold is the time taken to successfully predict the structure as compared to other rival computational modelling techniques i.e. Al-Quraishi’s model which is millions of times faster but with least accuracy as of “AlphaFold”. But it is preferable where time is money.
I was also a part of CASP 14, but my model far from reaching the maturity of AlphaFold or Al-Quraishi’s model. They’re astonishing, computational beast solving the unsolvable biological challenge.
I'm along with other fellow scientists are highly optimistic about advancements in AI technology in solving several biological challenges. i.e. Drug discovery, understanding of diseases, and in future pandemic response efforts to synthesizing the vaccine.
DeepMind’s significant contribution in field of AI as well as in Biology still needs tetra folds of improvement. Not every structure predicted is perfect. There’s still much to unfold, including how multiple proteins form complex structures, how they interact with DNA, RNA, or small molecules, and how we can determine the precise position of all amino acid side chains.
AlphaFold shows the promising potential of AI as a toolbox to further experiment with the mysteries of life. It is also a gigantic leap for DeepMind’s corporate race to become benchmark setter in the community. | https://medium.com/the-21st-century/deepminds-gigantic-leap-solving-50-years-old-quest-of-biology-9304cf9f7dd2 | ['Hamza Abdullah'] | 2020-12-04 15:45:58.457000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Biology', 'Technology'] |
Can LSD Cure Mental Illnesses? | Can LSD Cure Mental Illnesses?
The psychedelic-assisted treatment explained.
For a guy who suffers from anxiety, LSD has crossed my mind multiple times so far for an alternative treatment. I assume many of you have considered it, as well. Psychedelics, such as DMT, LSD, psilocybin, and ayahuasca are slowly, but steadily being introduced into the psychotherapy-treatment world.
For some, it may seem drastic and certainly illegal, but for others, it may be the only way through. Sometimes we are ready to do what it takes to cure mental illness. Many of you would relate.
In the past years, micro-dosing on psychedelics has become more or less like a trend. Due to the substances’ properties and effects, their usage greatly enhances the effects of ordinary psychotherapy as we know it.
What exactly is psychedelic-assisted therapy?
As you may have already guessed, in simple terms, it’s therapy practices that involve the small doze usage of psychedelic drugs, such as DMT, LSD, MDMA, psilocybin (the active compound produced by mushrooms), and mescaline ( hallucinogen obtained from the cactus Peyote). This kind of research, although more widely known today, has been used as back as the 50s and 60s.
In the late 60s, however, such drugs were widely restricted. The usage of psychedelics was prohibited when it concerned medical and psychiatric research.
However, since the late 90s and early 2000s, the interest and practice of such therapies has renewed. Due to the advances in technology and ultimately health-care, professionals were able to collect and interpret more data regarding the topic. This all led to a better understanding of the drugs’ implications. In 2014, LSD and psilocybin were listed as Schedule I controlled drugs, thus researches could find out more about them.
Although huge effort has been put on the better understanding of the psychedelic-assisted therapies, their effects are still considered to be strongly dependent on each individual and the environment the drug was used in. Nevertheless, numerous studies argue that it may have positive effects, rather than none. | https://medium.com/illumination/can-lsd-cure-mental-illnesses-b96f929b5ab0 | ['Viktor Marchev'] | 2020-06-11 21:42:47.612000+00:00 | ['Therapy', 'Mental Health', 'Psychedelics', 'Lifestyle', 'Drugs'] |
You Want It Darker? | You Want It Darker?
Try Bad Moon Rising or just stick with the Tulsa playlist…
An old sign in Trumpistan…
“Where words leave off, music begins.” ― Heinrich Heine (as quoted in Peter’s Quotations, 1977)
Leonard Cohen’s Estate was “surprised and dismayed” that “Hallelujah” was played at the Republican National Convention in August and suggested that they might have considered approval of “You Want It Darker” instead. And now John Fogerty has joined the long list of musicians who oppose the president’s use of their music.
After “Fortunate Son” was played at a campaign rally in Michigan this week, Fogerty posted a video on Facebook and Instagram saying, “It’s a song I could have written now, and so I find it confusing, I would say, that the president has chosen to use my song for his political rallies when in fact, it seems like he is probably the fortunate son.” Unlike Cohen’s Estate however, Fogerty didn’t suggest an alternative.
While “Bad Moon Rising” seems appropriate…
It’s “Deja Vu (All Over Again)”
“Who’ll Stop the Rain”?
We all know “Mr. Greed”
Wasn’t “Born on the Bayou”
Nor “Run Through The Jungle” “Long As I Can See the Light”
Maybe “Bad Moon Rising”
Is “Down on the Corner”
or “Up Around the Bend”?
“I Saw It on TV”
We shouldn’t dismiss the Tulsa playlist…
Some hard truths in there. So line up the boats, and full-speed ahead! | https://medium.com/k%C3%BChner-kommentar/you-want-it-darker-9bdb5217bb0 | ['Wilhelm Kühner'] | 2020-09-12 20:32:05.315000+00:00 | ['Music', 'White Supremacy', 'Politics', 'Political Satire', 'Covid Diaries'] |
The Trick to Early Morning Productivity Hacks | We all want to find ways to be more productive and maximize our days. We hunt for lifehacks on how to improve our performance and find article upon article advising us to wake up at 3, 4, or 5 am to work out, meditate, do yoga, hit the gym, etc. before actually “starting” the day (going to work?).
We’re inundated with people telling us how they wake up at unspeakable times in the morning and go to sleep running on fumes, convincing us to do the same over and over again until we see similar results. We’re bombarded with people, like Gary Vaynerchuk telling us to hustle, hustle, and hustle some more! Here’s the thing too many people get wrong about these supposed lifehacks — the message isn’t the problem. What you’re taking from it is.
As the old saying goes, take advice with a grain of salt (or skepticism, if you’ve never heard that term).
Why We Should Wake Up Early
Waking up early isn’t about beating sunrise or being able to brag to your friends — who, by the way, probably couldn’t be paid to care any less — about how maximized your days and work schedule are.
Waking up early with the intent of maximizing your day isn’t actually about the day, your work, or your schedule. It’s about you!
Once we get our “real” day started — which is the time when we go to work — our entire process becomes about everything and everyone but ourselves. We have to think about our bosses, our employees, our coworkers, our customers, and our families.
In a world where many of us define our existence on who we know, what we do, and what we’ve accomplished, we fail to remind ourselves that what makes our contributions so eye-opening, the work so valuable, and the ways we process so original, is the unique perspective we lend to the world around us.
Waking up early and doing all of these activities isn’t about the activities at all. It’s about making time for and reclaiming control of the most valuable asset we have — our imaginative minds. Sometimes to do that, we find clarity by activating our bodies with physical activity.
Taking time to start the day with our own interests in mind — the point of all this stuff, anyway — helps set our minds free, recentering ourselves, and subsequently giving ourselves a platform of clarity to launch the rest of the day from.
Maybe you’ll use that time for yoga. Maybe you’ll go to the gym to work on the summer body you’ve put off for the past six summers. Maybe you’ll start up your Xbox and play a game. But you should if you want to because that time is yours to use in any way you please. It’s not for your boss or your followers, and definitely not for the project you’re a little behind on.
So while the idea of getting up early might seemingly be about maximizing your day by accomplishing a bunch of things before others even wake up, it’s really about giving yourself the permission to reclaim valuable time for yourself and no one else.
That’s pretty hard to do when your alarm clock is set for a time that only allows you to possibly make breakfast but ultimately just get ready for work and head out of the door.
Photo by Andy Beales on Unsplash
You’re More Than Just the Work You Do
Consumerism has encouraged us to believe that who we are is defined by which job title we have, which car we drive, how large our home is, and a ton of other vanity metrics we subconsciously compete for.
You only have one life to live. So while we do need to work to pay bills, public recognition for our work is fantastically flattering, and fancy cars (but really, the attention and favorable assumptions about us that come with them) might be great, focusing on these things might not be the best way to attain them and, even more so, using them as the basis of our merits might actually only send us further down the rabbit hole of emptiness or faux fulfillment in vanity appraisals.
That’s why a lot of the same people who will peddle these types of productivity hacks will also tell you that work (or your thing) isn’t about the money. On one hand, it’s easy for them to say because for many of them the comfort level they have, wise money management practices, and sometimes generational wealth (don’t believe everyone’s definition of broke is the same as yours), make money a non-factor for them.
On the other hand, you could make the argument that money is such a non-factor for them because they understand that with unique work, disruptive perspective, and a dynamic process comes compensation. Regardless of where they work, the product will always be them and, therefore, will recreate itself as they grow.
That has nothing to do with a job title or what car you drive. It has everything to do with having full agency over who you are and allowing yourself the luxury of not depending on the vanity of things to define yourself like so many of us do.
Photo by Icons8 team on Unsplash
Don’t Blame Gary Vee (or any other “motivational” characters)
Gary — like many others who produce content to inspire their followers — has an immense library of videos and articles in which he tells people that if they want something, they have to hustle for it harder than they’ve ever hustled, every single day, no excuses. For him, that means working (last I checked) 18-hour days. People see his content and while some admire his tenacity and use him as inspiration to do the same, there’s a sizable chunk of his audience who admonish him at times because they feel that what he is encouraging is glamorized burnout.
The important thing to remember when seeing and hearing these things is this — they aren’t telling you what to do. They’re not promising equal or similar success by doing what they do. They’re simply telling you their story, process, or vision. It’s up to you to decide how much of that you want to use in your own life. What motivates them might not motivate you.
The path to success is not a solid line with solid rules that lead to solid results. If that were the case, we would all be successful because we decided to do sun salutations in work clothes at 3 am in front of our local bodegas and coffee shops before the sun rose to salute back.
Photo by Icons8 team on Unsplash
Time is a Construct of Limitation and Freedom
This brings me to my last point — not everyone is a morning person and it’s perfectly fine to not be.
While I definitely get a jolt of clarity from waking up at 6 or 7 am and getting in a quick run, I have also put down some of my best work at between 1 am and 4 am while in the dark, blasting death metal and smashing away at my keyboard.
You have to find the balance for yourself and give yourself permission to jump out of the box. We spend so much time trying to fit in so people can easily define us based on their limited imaginations that we undervalue our own definitions of self.
There is no right time for productivity. In my opinion, there is only time taken to not be distracted from self.
Not a morning person? Cool! Use your peak imaginative hours to put in work, even if that means you don’t have time for 5 am runs through the South Bronx all winter. Instead of waking up super early, use the time at night to create and give yourself a template to start the following day strong with (which I would advise you do even if you are a morning person).
I’m not about to tell someone who is currently a bartender with aspirations for more who is working from 5 pm to 2 am and gets home at 4 am to change and go to the gym because, you know, early. For them, maybe 10 or 11 am is that time.
Taking time to be selfish has a bad rap. But like anything else, moderation is key. So before you go ahead and read a ton of articles filled hacks to help you maximize your productivity by doing activities you’ll probably fall asleep doing, take 10 minutes, a half-hour, or an entire hour to dedicate some time to yourself because all the work you do is not who you are, but that work is derived from fostering imagination and embracing your unique additions to the process. | https://andrewofnewyork.medium.com/early-morning-productivity-hacks-have-nothing-to-do-with-waking-up-a-zombie-373d649ec1bd | ['Andrew Rowley'] | 2020-03-26 14:07:20.872000+00:00 | ['Work Life Balance', 'Motivation', 'Work', 'Productivity', 'Life'] |
Positive Social Relationships, Mentorship, and Constructive Dialogue: Connected Camps Governance Strategy for “Kid-Friendly” Minecraft Servers | With millions of youths around the world playing it on networked computers and videogame consoles, and a vast repository of knowledge spreading on the Internet across videos, wikis, and blogs, Minecraft has become one of the most popular indie games of our time. The diverse mechanics, rich interactions, and sandbox quality of this open ended videogame have captivated youth imagination and passion for building, exploring, and learning. When connecting to Minecraft servers, youths enter a virtual world where they can build all kinds of structures, play mini-games, program machines, get lost in adventures, and engage in a variety of activities that are creative, social, and fun.
Since its release in 2009 by the Sweden game studio Mojang, researchers, teachers, and parents have realized the educational potential of Minecraft. The possibility for structuring learning experiences that are engaging and meaningful for youth within the virtual world has inspired many to use the game in classrooms, libraries, and homes. From storytelling to coding, to engineering, practitioners have experimented with a wide range of activities in formal and informal educational contexts. Embracing that potential, Connected Camps has offered paid and free learning programs on Minecraft servers since 2015. Through these programs, youth (8–15 years old) are able to learn about a variety of subjects, such as game design, architecture, and computer science, and develop social skills like collaboration, empathy, and conflict resolution.
Much like other youth-oriented online platforms and virtual worlds, Minecraft servers are not exempt of the challenges that harmful speech, trolling, and other kinds of uncivil behaviors pose. In order to reduce the presence of these challenges and create a safe environment for youth, Connected Camps has designed and deployed a governance strategy that includes a moderation scheme, a Code of Conduct, and, a “white list” (no one can be anonymous, all players on the server have to register on a list).
Although this strategy is common to Minecraft servers that are considered “kid-friendly,” the Connected Camps approach has a special focus on fostering positive social relationships, community, and mentorship. In contrast to other “kid-friendly” virtual worlds that focus on policing, rule enforcement, and protecting youth, Connected Camps’ governance strategy emphasizes constructive and productive dialogue between players and moderators. This approach has allowed Connected Camps to create and sustain a safe environment where youth can exercise their creative agency, have fun, and learn technical skills, while engaging in a type play that is responsible and pro-social.
Background
In this case study, which is part of a larger effort that analyzes three different youth-oriented online learning platforms (Connected Camps, DIY.org, and Scratch), we present an analysis of the governance strategy and moderation scheme designed and implemented by Connected Camps. We conducted three semi-structured interviews via telephone and video-conference with one Connected Camps staff member per interview between October 2016 and May 2017. The governance strategies we analyzed, therefore, correspond to those deployed in that particular moment of time in the evolution of Connected Camps programs. We interviewed Catherine Fox, and Malakai Unland, two Assistant Camp Directors and lead counselors; and Gregry Livingston, one of the Camp Directors and Lead Curriculum Designer.
The case study is part of the Coding for All project — a collaboration between the Youth and Media project at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, the MIT Media Lab, and the Digital Media and Learning Hub at University of California-Irvine, with support from the National Science Foundation.
Connected Camps: “Like Summer Camps but Online.”
Connected Camps is a private company that offers enrichment learning opportunities for youth (8–15 years old). It was co-founded in 2015 by three women entrepreneurs (Mimi Ito, Katie Salen, and Tara Brown) with ample experience in the academic, game design, and maker movement sectors. Building upon the tradition of informal and out-of-school learning, Connected Camps aims to support interest-driven, peer-supported, and production-centered learning. These programs embrace the design principles of connected learning environments by fostering hands-on activities, social relationships, interest-powered learning, and connections across contexts. Connected Camps allows youth to pursue their interests in technology and Minecraft, socialize with peers and mentors, and learn about various STEM-related subjects.
According to Gregry Livingston, one of the Camp Directors and the Lead Curriculum Designer, Connected Camps builds on the model of in-person summer camps. That is, an experience that is fun, social, and educational. He said,
“It’s fun, it’s collaborative, it’s social. We’re learning-focused, but it’s got kind of a campy light fun feel. It is about getting together and having a good time. In-person summer camps are probably the most similar communities to ours, but we’ve gone online, so it’s just totally different.”
The three kinds of programs Connected Camps offer include 1) the Kid Club, 2) summer camps, and 3) after-school labs. While the Kid Club is free and open year round, the latter two are paid and run for specific periods of time (usually over the course of one week for two hours per day) during the summer and the school year. Despite the relatively short duration of the summer camps and after-school labs, after youth complete the paid programs, they usually continue to be engaged with the Connected Camps community through the Kid Club server. Summer camps and after-school labs have specific themes such as engineering, architecture, and computer science, and are structured around learning activities that are facilitated by counselors. Although the Kid Club does not have a particular subject focus, the program has counselors that moderate the the virtual world.
Connected Camps programs are community-based and their size varies according to each program. According to Catherine Fox, one of the Assistant Camp Directors, there are between 12–40 kids on each of the paid programs, and between 20–30 on the Kid Club (however, the number of kids registered for the free server is far bigger — climbing to 3,000 users in 2016). The gender distribution also varies according to the type of program, and in some cases Camps are designed to be only for girls.
Each of the Connected Camp programs is run on a specific Minecraft server that has been set-up with pre-built structures, buildings, plug-ins, and mini-games. Although each of the servers offers three modalities of Minecraft gameplay (creative, survival mode, and mini-games), most Connected Camps activities take place in creative mode, which offers an array of building and learning activities.
Campers, as the kids that participate in Connected Camps are known, register using an online form where they provide parents’ contact information, and agree with a terms of service contract. In cases where youth are under 13 years old, Connected Camps requires parental verification.
Governance of a Virtual World
Moderation and governance are key for building and maintaining a safe, friendly, and positive environments on the Minecraft servers. Connected Camps governance strategy emphasizes mentorship and constructive dialogue, focusing on learning and educating, versus policing and punishment. This approach is reflected through the ways activities (chat and actions) are monitored and moderated on the server, how conflicts are solved, and how the Code of Conduct is enforced. The governance strategy has been developed by adults, mainly Connected Camp directors and assistant directors, and is inspired by research on formal and informal, online and in-person learning environments.
Code of Conduct: Policies, Rules, and Community Guidelines
Connected Camps Minecraft servers has a “Code of Conduct” that outlines the rules of behavior in the virtual world. The Code of Conduct represents the set of social norms, policies, and community guidelines that campers must follow in order to play and interact on the server. Youth agree to follow the guidelines at the start of each program, and parents review them when they register their children on Connected Camps. The Code of Conduct is published online and has four basic rules, stated as actions, in clear and easy to understand language:
1) Don’t grief.
2) Be nice and respectful.
3) Keep personal information private.
4) Help keep our community welcoming, kind, friendly, and inclusive.
Each rule is explained with further details, and with concrete instances of the behavior that is allowed, or not, on the server. The first rule about grief, for instance, includes examples of actions that “ruin another player’s experience” (e.g., destruction of buildings, stealing items, using a modified client). The practice of griefing, common on many Minecraft servers, involves actions that irritate and anger other players, and although usually malicious, these behaviors can also have aspects of “trolling,” or making jokes.
The second rule of the Code of Conduct addresses the importance of being nice and respectful, and describes the kind of language that is not allowed in the virtual world. It includes hurtful, disrespectful, improper, and foul language that can cause harm, and create conflicts among the players. The third rule is about privacy and prohibits using real names or posting contact information “like phone numbers or addresses.” Finally, the fourth rule includes several examples of the kind of actions that foster a friendly environment and encourages campers to participate in community-building activities (e.g., assisting other players; reporting any violations of the Code of Conduct to the counselors or moderators).
The Code of Conduct reflects the values of Connected Camps. The platform fosters a culture of mentorship, learning, and friendship, and supports community-building. The Code was created by adult directors and assistant directors, and is based on research on “kid-friendly” virtual worlds, youth-oriented online platforms, and off-line learning environments. As Gregry Livingston, one of the Camp Directors, explained, the Code of Conduct helps shape the Connected Camps community. “We’ve tried to represent our values in it,” he said, such as the importance of positive social relationships, and peer-supported learning. The Code’s fourth rule, particularly, highlights the emphasis that Connected Camps places on social relationships, community, and mentorship. The rule rule includes two direct calls for helping, and empathizing with, other players.
- “Lend a helping hand when someone asks for help or is struggling to achieve a task.” - “Give other campers the benefit of the doubt. Many disputes between campers are due to misunderstandings, differences in perspective, and inexperience.”
The last line reveals the constructive approach that Connected Camps has for solving conflicts among campers. By encouraging players to acknowledge differences in perspectives and skills, the Code of Conduct promotes diversity and empathy within the Connected Camps community.
New campers generally spend time in a “noobie area” where they can explore and become familiar with the norms and guidelines of Connected Camps servers. As Catherine Fox, one of the Assistant Camp Directors, explained,
“Kids will quickly learn what the norms are and what the rules are by how we respond to their actions. If they do something that might be allowed in other servers but not necessarily allowed on ours, they will learn that pretty quickly when someone complains or a moderator will come over and be like, ‘hey, I am not sure if you knew this, but you are not supposed to be doing that on this server.’ And a lot of the time they will be like, oh, okay, and they will not do it anymore.”
Moderation Scheme and Dynamics
From chatting to destroying blocks, from collecting materials to playing mini-games, kids perform a wide range of activities within Minecraft virtual world. Connected Camps moderation, therefore, is complex and occurs along two dimensions. On the one hand, moderation happens at the level of a public synchronous text chat. Hurtful, disrespectful, and foul language is not allowed on the server. On the other, moderation occurs at the level of player actions on the virtual environment. Griefing or the destruction of other players’ buildings, as well as the stealing of others’ items, are prohibited on the Connected Camps servers.
Like other “kid-friendly” Minecraft servers, Connected Camps are moderated during all hours of operation. A scheme has been designed and deployed in order to moderate both the public chat, and players’ actions within the virtual world. The moderation scheme includes coordinated efforts among camp directors, assistant camp directors, lead counselors, and volunteer counselors. All of these actors are are not only moderators but also counselors and mentors to the campers. As Malakai Unland, one of the assistant camp directors, explained,
“We’re all moderators but more than that, we’re counselors. So we help counsel the kids. We all have moderator privileges on a server but myself, and Catherine, have elevated privileges, as well as the Camp Directors”
The moderation scheme has a hierarchical structure that facilitates the coordination of tasks among all actors. At the highest level, there are Camp Directors (6) and Assistant Camp Directors (2), who are paid and manage the operations of all Connected Camp programs. They plan and design the learning activities and curricula, and supervise the activities of a team of counselors (moderators) that varies in size according to the different programs. Assistant Camp Directors are also in charge of solving technical problems on the servers, and contacting parents. “We have some additional permissions on the server so we can do more technical things that other people don’t have access to,” said Catherine Fox, one of the assistant camp directors. She added, “We might contact parents, while the lead counselors would not really do that.”
There is always a mix of campers, adult moderators, and teen volunteers on the virtual world that helps to keep the space safe and enforce the Code of Conduct. That means that kids are always in the company of Connected Camps staff, and their activities are always being monitored. Moreover, campers can communicate with counselors at anytime via the chat and report any issues and violations of the Code of Conduct they encounter. Usually there are between two and four lead counselors on any of the Connected Camps servers, and between two and six volunteers. In total, during the 2016 school year, there were 12 lead counselors for the Kid Club, and 16 for the summer camps and after-school labs.
The team of moderators includes paid and volunteer counselors. While the paid counselors are young college students, the volunteers are high school students . Both groups are passionate about Minecraft, technology, and working with kids, and are trained by Connected Camps assistant directors and other lead counselors. Paid and volunteer moderators participate in a variety of activities in the virtual world, such as welcoming new players and modeling positive behavior. However, paid moderators, also known as lead counselors, are in charge of running the Connected Camps programs, facilitating learning, and handling conflict resolution. They also are given technical privileges on the server, such as removing text that violates the Code of Conduct in real time, muting and expelling players who break the code of conduct, and building large structures via server commands. As Malakai explained,
“Lead counselors have something called ‘world edit,’ which allows them to build large structures via server commands. So if they want to give a kid a protected area to build in so the kid doesn’t have to worry about anyone stealing anything, they can make a protected area and then give that to the camper.”
Volunteer counselors are recruited online and through the Connected Camps programs. Their major task is to assist the lead counselors, usually in coding and building structures, and helping the campers on the server. Malakai noted, “Basically if there is any kid that needs some one-on-one attention, volunteer counselors may help them out for a little bit. He added, “If there is a kid that would benefit from maybe not necessarily the lead as a role model but maybe somebody who is just a little older than them, sometimes we can use a volunteer counselor in that capacity as well.”
Moderation Tools
Connected Camps moderation scheme also relies on a range of tools. For moderating the chat, counselors use automated filters that detect words previously identified as harmful, inappropriate, and offensive, and that violate the Code of Conduct. The filters automatically replace those words with alternative, funny terms (e.g., “donuts”), a series of stars (“****”), or simply do not allow the text to appear on the screen. According to Malakai, the automated text changes send a signal not only to the moderators, but also to the campers. Malakai said,
“if kids say something inappropriate, it gets changed on the chat and it’s almost kind of embarrassing for the kids. If kids try to say something offensive, the filter will star it out or it just won’t send. If a kid is upset to that certain degree it’s noticeable and then we can bring them into a private chat and discuss it with them. The counselors can generally see what they were trying to say mostly just due to context.”
All the directors, assistant camp directors, lead and volunteer counselors maintain constant communication with each other using a private text chat on the Slack platform, outside the Minecraft servers. On this channel, Catherine indicated that chat members “keep everybody in the loop about what is going on,” addressing technical problems, learning activities, and moderation issues. Additionally, assistant camp directors and counselors use Team Speak voice chat, a software tool that allows them to communicate verbally in real time while moderating the servers. As Malakai noted,
“Often times there are things that you can’t really communicate via text in a reasonable amount of time or that may come off wrong without verbal communication.”
The Team Speak tool is also available for campers in some of Connected Camps’ paid programs, and allows counselors to provide more detailed instructions during the learning activities that they facilitate.
Conflict Resolution Practices: Developing a Productive-Constructive Approach
Aligned with the values of mentorship, positive social relationships, and learning, Connected Camps’ approach for solving conflicts and addressing uncivil behavior is based on productive and constructive dialogue. The camp director and two assistant camp directors we interviewed emphasized that the overall moderation approach is productive and constructive. In instances of conflict among campers or behavior that violates the Code of Conduct (e.g., griefing, stealing, being unfriendly), through constructive dialogue, moderators try to help users understand that their behavior might be affecting others and is not allowed on the server.
“We try to do a good job of encouraging positive habits, though, and helping them figuring out constructive ways to solve their own problems, and address issues,” said Gregry Livingston.
Essential to figuring out constructive ways of solving problems is empathizing and understanding. As Malakai described,
“We don’t want to be a police force, but instead help kids understand each other so that the issue doesn’t happen again in the future. So if a camper is grieving, we try to figure out also why the camper feels the need to grief as well as helping them to understand that there is a person behind that computer.”
Connected Camps counselors prioritize dialogue over punishment. Although they can ban users, and expel (“kick out”) campers that violate the Code of Conduct from the server, counselors try to always talk directly to the kids and figure out why the uncivil behavior is occurring. To facilitate this process, counselors have designed an area within the virtual world where they can talk in private to the campers who break the rules. Known as the “Cool Down Zone,” this space allows counselors to engage in productive and constructive dialogue with the campers, discuss relevant issues, and persuade them about following the code of conduct. According to Catherine,
“We can put them in a cool down zone, which, is kind of like a timeout area, like a bubble that is separate from the rest of the server. So we can chat privately and try to resolve the issues there. We help them like talk to each other in a more productive way, and we would actually try and understand the situation first and get both sides of the story before like making suggestions. Rather than the counselors being the person giving the orders, they would actually be the campers coming to their own conclusions and resolutions with each other.”
Although the constructive-productive dialogue between campers and counselors takes more time and effort than direct punishment and banning, this type of moderation practice and the results of it are positive. Dialogue oriented towards reforming violators, as Mimi Ito points out, is the backbone of a kid-friendly online community. Through the dialogue process and feedback campers gain skills on how to handle conflicts by themselves. As Gregry explained,
“The conflict resolution framework is more about having the kids help solve the problems by identifying what they are, and communicating about that. And understanding the other person’s point of view.”
However, in some rare cases, Connected Camps counselors have to ban kids from the servers. As Malakai explained, they will issue bans if a camper performs “a particularly egregious offense against the server, or if it’s a repeated offense against other camper.” Before permanently banning any camper, counselors try the “cool down zone,” and also issue “kicks,” or temporary bans that last for a specific period of time (e.g., from few minutes to a day, depending on the case). Malakai noted, “Counselors issue kicks if a camper is being obnoxious in some way. If they’re spamming fireworks or spamming someone else, I will give them a warning. If they don’t stop, I will issue a kick.” When temporarily banning users from the server, Assistant Camp Directors may contact parents via email and ask them to have a conversation with their child about the specific recurring issue. If, after coming back to the server, the user continues to violate the Code of Conduct, counselors can permanently ban the camper.
Training Moderators : Intergenerational Mentorship and Role Models
Lead and volunteer counselors apply to Connected Camps using an online form, and are selected according to their experience with and interest in Minecraft, academic backgrounds, and their technical and social skills. They are interviewed by the assistant camp directors, and if selected, are trained in moderation and conflict resolution.
Training involves learning the Code of Conduct and procedures for enforcing it, using the different moderation tools, and practicing a range of techniques for solving conflicts through dialogue. Training in conflict resolution, particularly, is an ongoing and challenging process for counselors, which is constantly being updated and refined as Connected Camps staff better understand how to solve conflicts in a “productive-constructive” manner. As Gregry explained,
“it’s been challenging to show moderators how to do it, because every circumstance is unique. You can’t just give them one script and ask them to do it. You know, you give them parts of it, and you can have conversations with them. So it’s been an ongoing process.”
Learning to moderate Connected Camps Minecraft servers, therefore, is an evolving process. Lead and volunteer counselors learn to take more responsibilities as they spend more time on the servers, and through hands-on and situated experiences, gain knowledge about how to approach different circumstances and contexts. The more time they spend on the servers, the more responsibilities they assume. As Catherine explained, she asks the counselors to assume greater responsibility so they have opportunities to apply the conflict resolution techniques. She explained,
“I try and get them to take on most of the responsibility on the server, because I am trying to be there more as like support for them rather than me doing all the work and they just kind of hanging out.”
The hierarchy of the Connected Camps moderation scheme supports intergenerational mentorship among the college and high school student counselors. As counselors of different ages are on the server at the same time, they get direct advice on how to deal with issues via the text and voice chats from the most experienced moderators, and also can model their behavior following the one of their peers. Catherine, Gregry, and Malakai, all agreed that a crucial aspect of the moderation training was having good role models and mentors with diverse skills. As Gregry pointed out,
“having good role models, hang out with them for six hours on the server, and really show them how to run a camp would help them to be moderators, so they can be the number one person in charge. Often we’ll have three lead counselors on at once. And one of them, I’m going to try to make sure that one of them is someone who’s really proactive and really on point and is going to really show the other two how moderation is done so that the other two can learn.”
Modeling how to solve conflicts and moderate, furthermore, expands also to the interactions of lead and volunteer counselors with campers. “At the same time, they’re going to show all the kids how it’s done,” commented Gregry. “They’re being a role model for their peers who might be a freshman in college, and a sophomore in high school. They’re going to be a role model for all of the ten year olds in the program, too,” he added.
Conclusion
Connected Camps has created and sustained a safe and “kid-friendly” virtual environment on its Minecraft servers by designing a governance strategy that includes a Code of Conduct, a moderation scheme, and a “white-list.” The Code of Conduct and the moderation dynamics, particularly, emphasize building positive social relationships, constructive dialogue, and engaging in mentorship, highlighting the platform’s educational and learning approach.
Although the Kid Club, after-school, and summer camps servers are always monitored and moderated by an intergenerational team of counselors and assistant camp directors, Connected Camps governance is not based in punishment. In contrast, it has an emphasis on learning, educating, and community building. Connected camps moderators solve conflicts and enforce the Code of Conduct using constructive and productive dialogue and focusing on building positive social relationships. By doing so, Connected Camps Minecraft servers become environments where youth cannot only learn a range of technical skills, but also spaces for ethical and social development, for learning about about empathy, solving conflicts through dialogue, and how to help each other. Given the diversity of skills that campers and counselors bring to the Connected Camps servers, and the multiple challenges that emerge on the virtual world, opportunities for helping each other are not scant.
Connected Camps environments, moreover, foster connected learning, a kind of learning that is interest-powered, production-centered, and socially embedded. Both campers and counselors encounter opportunities on Connected Camps Minecraft servers to exercise their agency and creativity, explore their interests and passions, and grow cognitively, socially, and ethically. | https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/positive-social-relationships-and-mentorship-connected-camps-governance-strategy-for-kid-friendly-94a6f98502da | ['Andres Lombana-Bermudez'] | 2017-11-18 16:54:00.785000+00:00 | ['Moderation', 'Learning', 'Youth', 'Education', 'Minecraft'] |
TRAIN A CUSTOM YOLOv4-tiny OBJECT DETECTOR (Using Google Colab) | 3) Create & upload the following files which we need for training a custom detector
a. Labeled Custom Dataset
b. Custom cfg file
c. obj.data and obj.names files
d. process.py file (to create train.txt and test.txt files for training)
I have uploaded my custom files for mask detection on my GitHub. I am working with 2 classes i.e. “with_mask” and “without_mask”.
Labeling your Dataset
Input image (Image1.jpg)
Original Photo by Ali Pazani from Pexels
You can use any software for labeling like the labelImg tool.
labelImg GUI for Image1.jpg
I use an open-source labeling tool called OpenLabeling with a very simple UI.
OpenLabeling Tool GUI
Click on the link below to know more about the labeling process and other software for it:
NOTE : Garbage In = Garbage Out. Choosing and labeling images is the most important part. Try to find good quality images. The quality of the data goes a long way towards determining the quality of the result.
The output YOLO format labeled file looks as shown below.
Image1.txt
3(a) Create and upload the labeled custom dataset “obj.zip” file to the “yolov4-tiny” folder on your drive
Put all the input image “.jpg” files and their corresponding YOLO format labeled “.txt” files in a folder named obj.
Create its zip file obj.zip and upload it to the yolov4-tiny folder on your drive. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/train-a-custom-yolov4-tiny-object-detector-using-google-colab-b58be08c9593 | [] | 2021-08-31 19:29:02.435000+00:00 | ['Object Detection', 'Yolov4 Tiny', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Computer Vision'] |
Gutenberg’s Big Idea | Johannes Gutenberg brought his girlfriend, Gisela, into his shop and showed her his latest invention.
“What is it, Johannes?”
“I call it a printing press. It can produce exact copies of a book at a rapid pace.”
“Incredible. You will become rich.”
“Probably.”
“What will you print first? The Bible would be a good idea.”
“Perhaps so. They are quite popular. But I have an even better idea. I plan to print one million phone books.”
“What are phones?”
“Let me show you. I am quite proud of this one.”
Sadly, the phone didn’t catch on for quite some time. | https://medium.com/centina-pentina/gutenbergs-big-idea-f4c0437b67ab | ['Mark Starlin'] | 2020-12-03 11:17:13.852000+00:00 | ['Microfiction', 'Printing', 'Humor', 'History', 'Centina'] |
I will design a WordPress eCommerce or business website for you | I will design a WordPress eCommerce or business website for you MH Mynul ·Dec 26, 2020
I will design a WordPress eCommerce or business website for you or will give a stunning look to your business or speed optimization to your site. I believe in long-term work with clients and grow up their business that’s why I give my best design to my clients.
I’ll design professional and responsive eCommerce and business websites or eCommerce shops according to your expectation.
I have 3+ years of experience in developing responsive WordPress eCommerce and business sites.
I am sure you would be definitely amused after seeing your site.
Package Includes:
⤷ Mobile-friendly Responsive layouts minimalist WordPress website
⤷ Pop-up form integration
⤷ Social link integration
⤷ Facebook pixel integration
⤷ Additional features according to your requirements
Hire me On Fiverr: https://lnkd.in/eKNgGrQ | https://medium.com/@wordpressmynul/i-will-design-a-wordpress-ecommerce-or-business-website-for-you-2c539c459416 | ['Mh Mynul'] | 2020-12-26 17:08:38.702000+00:00 | ['Website', 'Dropshipping', 'CMS', 'WordPress'] |
Memories | Day 36/100
Exams are finally over and my son’s school will remain closed until early January. What a year it was! We all struggled to cope, yet waded through. As we await the new year with lots of hope, it’s also a time when memories come flooding by.
As a child, we used to have our very own Christmas celebration at home. No fancy party and people coming in but getting the small Santa and an equally small Christmas tree out of the closet and placing it along the greeting cards that used to come in from friends, relatives and office colleges of elders at home. It was also a time when we planned and made our own cards to be posted to our friends. Oh! What a lovely time we had and how busy we thought we were with so many cards to be made and sent on time. The childish innocence and thrill we experienced then are somehow lost on the way as we grew up. Technology has destroyed people to people contact and has introduced instead fancy replacements through which we pretend we are happy! Sometimes, it feels bad that our children can never live those moments that we did but I guess every generation has it’s own charm. Of course, we must acknowledge that life became liveable this year despite a pandemic only because technology kept us connected and sane. And the memories we have formed over this year will also be re-lived by us and our children for many more years into the future.
That’s the magic of a memory. It transports and allows us to re-live the past; sometimes sweet and sometimes nightmarish. One look at an old photograph and we can literally hear the sounds and feel as if it’s being enacted again in front of our eyes. And as long as we have a functional mind, no one can steal our memories away! Now, isn’t that wonderful?
With that positive note, wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful, COVID- free, healthy new year!! | https://medium.com/@janakisrini/memories-d8110bf54906 | [] | 2020-12-23 12:18:55.805000+00:00 | ['100 Days Writing', 'Festivals', 'Memories', 'New Year', 'Mind And Memories'] |
What are your weaknesses telling you? | How to twist them to your benefit.
I may have invented procrastination on planet earth. Last minute tasks say I’m the best friends they ever had. Avoiding to do things — study for school, deliver work projects, have serious conversations — used to be my everyday normal.
All my life I wanted to fix myself from my shortcomings. The self-rejection is not fun though; it is more harmful than being rejected by others, even if we don’t realize it that we attack ourselves like sneaky bastards.
On my journey of self-improvement I decided to listen to what my procrastination was to teach me. I decided to back up myself, because if I’d do something that I dislike that much, well, there must be a reason. So, I listened. I listened with an open mind and an open heart. I listened when meditating, journaling, to my body senses and reactions. I listened with self-care and I neglected my own judgment every time it would kick in, as well as the judgment of others when they complained I was late of even trusted friends telling me off well-intended.
And I got the answer. It doesn’t matter what it was exactly, because it was a different reason for each task. Having a meaning to my so annoying behavior felt like a relief. A whole new world opened in my eyes showing me my fear behind things, the fact that I didn’t not ask for what I wanted, prioritizing others constantly and the lack of trust in myself and the world.
Did I like the answer? No! The relief would be so much shorter than the disappointment and sadness of realizing how I’ve been harming myself. For example, I would prefer strict bosses because that’s how I would manage to be on time. I would ask subconsciously for all the sternness, the micromanagement and the mistreatment, because I would only deliver under pressure and hard conditions. Isn’t that sick?
The reason though why I was able to go deep was because I decided I was done with the self-judgment. This is not to imply that I was careless with my faults or mistakes. But, in order to move on you have to know what’s keeping you chained at the ankle. We are trained to see the wrong in us — and others — waiting at the corner. We have normalized blame labeling it as raising the standards high. All to make us close up internally, lose sight of what’s really causing us any problem and end up looking for positive feelings outside of us.
Please, go easy on yourselves. Try to understand what’s going on behind the scenes with not a single drop of judgment. Listen to your body for headaches, pain, injuries, sense of instability, hand weakness, gut and skin issues or whatever else. We feel our feelings in our body so we embody all negativity; all positivity too, thank God. Educate yourself on what feels how and take care of the issue. Be proactive; no need to let things go out of hand and more importantly don’t normalize health problems even the smallest ones. Our body is constantly giving us messages for the problems that we decide to ignore.
It would be so easy to tell you typical health guidelines like eating clean of sleeping well, but before you promise yourself you will do so, it is way more beneficial to realize the reason behind your lack of the respective action. Needless to say that the same goes for substance abuse, pushing hard all the time, having codependent relationships or commitment issues.
We all know what’s wrong for us. The point is to find out our reason why. Respectfully. Acceptingly. Forgivingly. It’s the only way out of vicious cycles of repeating the same mistakes over and over. My procrastination — among others — issue could be your perfectionism issue or codependency or whatever else you wish you didn’t have. The typical negative root feeling behind is fear. So what are you afraid of? What bad thing would happen to you if you didn’t have you limitation? What’s your weakness helping you for? What is it that protects you from?
It is not easy to carry the same weaknesses forever. It is extremely disappointing, discouraging and makes you feel inadequate. We want to get rid of them because we are simply sick of them. We imagine us not having them at all. I used to daydream of me being so eager and motivated and fearless. The moment I felt the simplest resistance at doing something I was frustrated. I wanted it to end and never be like that again. But, with an open mind you see that your flaws are actually your biggest guides.
Every flaw is part old wound, part skill that you developed over time. Once you deal with the unresolved problems you are left with an amazing tool that makes you sharp and uniquely capable. We developed our weaknesses — insecurities because we had a reason to. We needed them to protect us from harmful situations and they did so. We were smart enough to find a way to protect us, as twisted as this may sound. The thing is that we probably don’t face similarly unsafe circumstances anymore, but we are left with the beautiful gift we once developed for our own good.
What procrastination has gifted me with is an extremely intuitive mind. I am the best at crisis situations because I remain calmer than a robot. I am extremely efficient with tasks of short notice, I can multitask like no other and I can think 20 moves ahead. I prioritize very effectively, so I never lose time on unimportant things. I am very selective to what I want to do and who I want to please. I am at ease.
Every pain is a seed for a strength. I came to accept who I am and let go of any judgment and criticism. I am my biggest supporter no matter what now. That is what shifts you from always investigating — and therefore focusing on — the problems, basically letting your point of attention to be negative towards looking on how things really work inside you, what your true needs are and how to use your negative experiences to your advantage. | https://medium.com/@liyeree/what-are-your-weaknesses-telli-you-f1c01966014c | ['Liyeree Stathopoulou'] | 2020-12-26 20:52:31.968000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Self Improvement', 'Strength', 'Acceptance', 'Self Love'] |
Building Cohesive and Performant Remote Teams | The first challenge was dealing with multiple timezones. In the past, I have dealt with three timezones, especially on the opposite sides of the globe. The work was divided in such a way that there is a little or no overlap between the timezones and regular sync ups used to help align teams across geographies. In this company, the timezones were not like before, but overlapped between two to four hours. The nature of work required close collaboration between team members with different specializations on a daily basis. Do I overload my day by starting early and ending late to cater to all timezones? Is that sustainable?
The second challenge was the selection of appropriate tools to communicate and collaborate for a given context . In my previous jobs, I used email as the first medium of communication, which resulted in a havoc of emails to catchup. The last few minutes of my day were spent to catchup on emails and respond. It was difficult to figure out which email required my immediate attention during the day. In this company, Slack was used as a primary tool to communicate, but the deluge is in the form of messages popping up in different channels. How do I deal with the flood of notifications? When do I use Slack, email, zoom, or a shared document?
The next challenge was how to connect and build relations with each individual who I work with on a daily basis. Additionally, I had to discover methods to connect each other while bringing community purpose. It is important to build a cohesive team where people know each other well including their strengths and weaknesses while also trusting and supporting each other when needed. Team lunches, water cooler conversations, informal discussions, and hallway conversations used to facilitate bonding with each other in an office setup. How will I address this challenge with remote teams? Do I meet over zoom with everyone everyday?
The last challenge that I encountered and want to highlight is, how to build a performant team where people collaborate, share and communicate on design and architectural changes in a way that is as effective as being present in office. What is the alternative for white boarding, walking to a team member who is in your neighboring pod, and huddling up in a meeting room to quickly align?
How do you deal with such challenges at your work? Share your thoughts in the comments, while I prepare my next blog in this series that focuses on each challenge and how I addressed it. | https://medium.com/@radarapu/building-remote-teams-41371c34e9ab | ['Reddy Babu Adarapu'] | 2021-09-06 19:21:40.502000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Slack', 'Collaboration', 'Team Building', 'Remote'] |
Dancing With A Crab | Poetry prompt response: #supportlocalrestaurants
Dancing With A Crab
The Chili Crab — a gastronomic fantasy
It is listed at number 35 on the World’s 50 most delicious foods list compiled by CNN Go in 2011.
The idea of eating the once alive
reptilian vile looking
MUD CRAB
haunts me in my shadows
and lurks me mentally
like my neighbor’s creepy hound.
But after a much-heated argument
and tear causing persuasion
a friend of mine finally convinced me
to try out the one and only
“supposed gastronomic fantasy” —
The Chili Crab.
In my perspiration soaked dinner chair
I was very much anticipating
a very awful dinner
accompanied by the sirens of Poison Control
and an allocated ward in the ICU.
I was so sure of my nauseating thoughts
that I could already conjure the vomit in my mouth
prepared to leave my lips as soon as the crab was set on the table.
And there it was
that orange Lil fella
placed onto the table
set at 1.2kg, excluding the massive porcelain plate, it came with.
As soon as the waiter walked away,
I could see the twinkle in my friend’s eye
haha, madman.
He indulged savourly in the Crab
as though it was his last meal on this crab-eating planet.
“Try it out, cmon. YOLO right”
Sure then.
I placed the gigantic pincer in my mouth
and made my teeth around the shell
to land on soft, tender meat.
At first, I wasn't sure whether I was
tasting the chili sauce
or my friend’s drool coating,
but it definitely tasted sweet
which rules out the latter, I think.
Anyways.
It was probably one of the best life decisions
amongst my other horrible life decisions.
Because the moment I rested my tongue on the fragment of shells,
the crab meat swirled around my tongue
with a hint of chili,
and a hint of pasty starch
together forming a bold flavor of the Mud Crab.
The meat dances on my tongue
and I was afraid of swallowing it
because I wanted to taste it longer.
But because of the tenderness of the crab,
after a swim in my saliva,
it stops dancing.
And in a ballerina motion,
it tiptoes to the back of my tongue
and sinks.
Describing the flavor of something out of this world
is very much impossible using words.
So if you ever find yourself in Singapore,
try out the Chili Crab,
It's a gift from the heavens. | https://medium.com/the-brain-is-a-noodle/dancing-with-a-crab-8273fec7414b | ['Daniel A. Teo'] | 2020-12-25 15:28:18.263000+00:00 | ['Food', 'Prose', 'Poetry', 'Prompt', 'Asia'] |
All about the money? | Money is a hugely important part of our lives (rightly or wrongly). But have you ever stopped to think about your own attitude towards money? Do you love it? Hate it? Obsess about it? As business owners we can’t avoid it — we have to at least consider how to make it… almost every day.
Just quickly, we’re going to explore how your attitude towards money has been formed and how it might be shaping your everyday financial decisions. We’re also going to have a little look at ‘money manifesting’ and the ‘Law of Attraction’, which some of you may have written off as irrelevant to you, but which are actually rooted in a lot of common sense. Finally, we’re going to give you three very simple strategies that could help you start to bring more money into your life, without even leaving your chair.
WHAT’S YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONEY?
There are two main attitudes towards money: one of optimism and abundance (positive) and one of scarcity and pessimism (negative).
With a negative attitude towards money, you won’t try hard to get it, you will miss opportunities and could even make some poor calls that end up with you losing money. Conversely, with a positive attitude towards money, you will be open and willing to have it in your life and actually attract it in various ways.
Your own attitude towards money is important because it inevitably shapes your financial behaviour and, in turn, your financial success.
Fascinatingly, your attitude towards money will have been mainly formed from beliefs during your childhood and experiences in your adult life.
For instance, when you were young, how did your parents view money? Did they fight about it? Did one use the money to control the other? Were your parents wealthy and gave you everything you wanted?
Now that you’re older, how do you view money? Do you love it? Do you despise it? Do you believe that you deserve to be wealthy?
The good news is that because your attitude towards money has been learned over time, it can also be unlearned and adjusted. Once you become aware of any limiting beliefs you have when it comes to money, you can begin to address them.
It’s incredible to think that simply your attitude plays an important role in attracting money into your life or driving it away.
‘MONEY MANIFESTING’ AND THE ‘LAW OF ATTRACTION’
While you may or may not have heard about money manifesting, chances are you have heard about the Law of Attraction. While the two aren’t always spoken about together, the latter definitely has the power to influence the former.
Let’s start with the Law of Attraction.
In a nutshell, the Law of Attraction says that you will attract into your life whatever you focus on. In other words, whatever you focus your energy and attention on will come back to you. For example, if you focus on good and positive things, you will automatically attract more good and positive things into your life.
What if you want to attract more money into your life? Can you leverage the Law of Attraction to literally manifest money and realise financial wealth? Many people say you absolutely can…
However, before we begin to look at manifesting money in a bit more detail, it’s important to note that it’s about much more than just wishing you had something (money in this case) and it suddenly appearing in your lap. You need to take some steps to see the Law of Attraction really start working.
THREE SIMPLE STEPS TO HELP YOU MANIFEST MONEY
Identify your limiting beliefs and address them
Before you can even begin to start manifesting money, you need to identify and address your limiting beliefs about it — also known as ‘money blocks’.
Instead of remembering all those times you were told throughout your childhood that “money doesn’t grow on trees” or “money can’t buy happiness”, focus instead on positive affirmations — simple, positive statements that can have a profound effect on your conscious and unconscious mind.
These positive affirmations might seem a bit silly to start with, but remember, what you say to yourself becomes what you believe, and what you believe has a greater chance of becoming a reality.
Here are some examples of positive money affirmations you could say to yourself every day:
I am a money magnet
Money flows freely to me
My skills, time and knowledge are worth a lot of money
My business allows me to live the live I want
I have the power to create my own success and fortunes
Be clear about what you want
The next step is to set some clear money goals. Now we’re not talking about things like, “I want to have loads of money and travel the world”, that’s far too vague. Be more specific and think about why you want more money. Maybe you want to buy a new house, pay off all your debts, go on holiday somewhere exotic or purchase that motorbike you’ve always wanted.
With specific goals in mind, you can now figure out how much money you need to achieve them. It’s inevitably a lot less than you’d get if you won the lottery and it will be very specific. Once you’ve worked it out, write it down. This number is where your focus and energy will be targeted.
The power of gratitude
Never underestimate gratitude. There is so much research being done at the moment into resilience and positive mindset that finds — although we’re not absolutely certain how — that you will be rewarded with more of the things you are grateful for. Maybe it’s simply because the things you are grateful for will also be the ones that you pursue harder?
However it actually works, it seems like a good attitude to have anyway, so why not try being thankful for the money you do have, the opportunities you do get to make more and the times when those opportunities do come to fruition.
If doing this helps you further overcome your limiting beliefs and solidifies money as a positive, good and beneficial force in your life, then surely that’s all good?.
It’s got to be worth a try? What’s the worst that can happen?
Further reading if you’re interested in the potential power of money manifesting and the power of The Law of Attraction:
https://www.thelawofattraction.com/what-is-the-law-of-attraction/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-blame-game/201609/the-truth-about-the-law-attraction
Rhonda Byrne , The Secret
Dan Kennedy, No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs: The ultimate no-holds barred kick butt take no prisoners getting rich
Join the Shifties Community on Facebook | https://medium.com/@shifties/all-about-the-money-d56360c67a78 | ['Shifties Community'] | 2020-12-18 10:21:28.337000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Budget', 'Personal Finance', 'Money Management', 'Finance'] |
When Random Acquaintances Die | Death has got to be the most bizarre emotional sensation. I’m not referring to the person who passes on, but to those of us left behind to reconcile with it even if they’re someone we’re not close to.
Coming to terms with a person being there one day and permanently gone the next is difficult to rationalize. It leaves a gaping hole in what was “normal” before.
One day recently, as I sat here quietly plunking away on my keyboard I heard a piece of paper slide under the front door of my condo. The condo board often slips us notices to advise residents of various things happening in the building.
I picked up the piece of paper but this time it wasn’t about a fire inspection or garage cleaning day. Instead, the message revealed that the president of our condo board passed away suddenly.
I was stunned. I had literally ridden the elevator with him two days earlier just as I have many times before. He lived only a couple doors down from me.
He’s not someone I was close with but as the president, this man had been inside my condo unit many times over the years. I’ve passed him and his wife multiple times in the hallway and enjoyed lovely conversations.
Now he’s just gone. I’ll never run into him at the mailbox again.
I felt an overwhelming desire to reach out to his wife but what would I even say? We’re such surface acquaintances that I wouldn’t feel qualified to knock on her door, yet I feel a terrible sadness for her loss. Instead, I slipped a card under her door and left it at that. | https://medium.com/illumination/when-random-acquaintances-die-fd45dbeedc72 | ['Kristi Keller'] | 2020-06-06 18:14:24.670000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Relationships', 'Death', 'Loss', 'Friendship'] |
Food makers in Portugal decide to go Kosher — Here’s why | Serra da Estrela, Portugal’s tallest mountain range, has emerged as a real powerhouse for kosher food, as reported by The Times of Israel.
It is an unexpected development for a region with about 50 Jews. However, while Jews there are not so many, 20% of Iberians of the area are thought to possess Jewish ancestry.
The kosher food production is in fact a way for them to get closer to Judaism and also a successful business choice.
In 2017, one of Serra da Estrela’s oldest producers of olive oil, Casa Agrícola Francisco Esteves, located in the town of Manteigas launched a kosher label just in time for the Jewish festivity of Hannukkah. In 2010, the town of Belmonte started hosting an annual kosher market in the days before of the Jewish new year’s festivity, Rosh Hashanah. In a nearby town, the Braz Queijos cheese factory got a kosher certificate for most of its products in 2009. In 2004, a winery in the area became Portugal’s first kosher-certified wine in centuries.
The kosher trend shows Portugal’s growing awareness of its rich Jewish history. About hundreds of thousands of Jews lived in Portugal before 1536, when Portugal’s church joined the Spanish campaign of expulsion and Inquisition.
On the other hand, the food producers’ choice of turning kosher is also motivated by a desire to revive the Portuguese and Spanish economies where the unemployment rate is really high.
On a national level, both Portugal and Spain have undertaken moves to atone for the Inquisition. In 2015, both countries permitted some 5,000 descendants of Sephardic Jews to obtain Spanish or Portuguese nationalities. | https://medium.com/jewish-economic-forum/food-makers-in-portugal-decide-to-go-kosher-heres-why-87af067aa4f2 | [] | 2018-01-01 13:46:29.230000+00:00 | ['Kosher', 'Jef', 'Spain', 'Portugal', 'Ethics'] |
Step Inside the Legendary Frankenstein’s Castle | Situated on a hilltop some 10 miles away from the town of Gernsheim lies the legendary Frankenstein’s Castle overlooking the Rhine. The stories and movies that followed were inspired by a young girl named Mary Shelley. It began in 1814 after she celebrated her 17th birthday while briefly stopping off in the town for a rest before proceeding on.
Mary and her now husband Percy Bysshe Shelley had run away secretly to France and Switzerland to get married. Upon returning to England by riverboat traveling through Germany they decided to stop off for a brief rest before proceeding on. As the story goes, Mary more than likely looked up and saw the castle sitting on top of a steep cliff.
Cobble walkway leading up to Frankenstein’s Castle
During the course of their three-hour stop in Gernsheim, it’s not likely that they attempted to climb up to the summit. However, it is quite possible that she overheard some of the gruesome stories regarding the alchemist and physician Johann Konrad Dippel, who was born in the castle. Dippel had created a type of animal oil which he claimed to be a common medicine furthermore speculating the involvement of transferring souls between dead bodies with the assistance of a funnel.
Window view from the castle overlooking the town of Gernsheim
Although there is very little supportive evidence that Dippel was the guiding factor for the novel, the coincidences are somewhat creepy. In comparison, Mary Shelley’s social environment does consist of a connection to Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin’s experiments with electricity would certainly be an inspiration for the animating process for bringing the monster to life.
On the other hand, the connection to anatomist Erasmus Darwin is by far the most certain among all of them. He is reported to attesting to the fact that those events associated with the Gothic tale are “not of an impossible occurrence”. It was outlined within the introduction to the original version of the novel. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the published novel. | https://tonydezenzio.medium.com/step-inside-the-legendary-frankensteins-castle-172c9747761f | ['Anthony Dezenzio'] | 2018-10-23 14:01:02.418000+00:00 | ['Novel', 'Frankenstein', 'Horror Stories', 'Castles', 'Writing'] |
God Loves the Poorly Educated | We don’t have to look back thousands of years to witness God’s preferential love of the poorly educated. A famous case occurred on May 13th, 1917 when an apparition appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. All children were illiterate.
The children reported seeing a woman who was “brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.”
Due to the apparition’s appearance and how it admonished them to pray the Hail Mary, the children assumed the vision was of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Jesus’ mother was a minor character in the gospels. In the Gospel of Mark, which scholars of early Christianity agree was the first gospel written (approx. 65 AD), Jesus’ mother is mentioned only once. As readers of the New Testament, we encounter Mary in the Gospel of Mark when she and Jesus’ brothers try to hold an intervention for him.
²⁰Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹When his family[b] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
- Mark 3:20–21
Jesus’ first recorded encounter with his mother was less than reverent. Rather than welcoming her, he disavowed her publicly.
³¹Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
³³”Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
- Mark 3:31–35
How had Mary come to be regarded by the 20th Century Catholic Church as a powerful goddess when it is clear, by reading the gospels written in the 1st Century, she was a passive side character who Jesus himself did not respect?
(Note: For the purpose of this discussion, let’s ignore how praying to anything other than God the Father breaks the 1st Commandment. We will overlook how every Christian who has ever said a Hail Mary has broken the 1st Commandment every time; and since it is doubtful a Christian has gone into a confessional and confessed to saying a Hail Mary as if confessing a sin (many priests even give a certain number of Hail Marys as penance), most Christians have given false confessions, which is a mortal sin. In Catholic teaching, mortal sins are a fast track to Hell unless repentance is performed before death.)
There is a man who developed a theory that explains how the character of Mary underwent such a transformation. His name was Leonard Shlain. | https://medium.com/@johndefelici/god-loves-the-poorly-educated-a41bf40b2641 | ['John Defelici'] | 2020-12-24 17:52:12.485000+00:00 | ['Literature', 'Christmas', 'Bible', 'Neurology', 'Christianity'] |
An overview of time series forecasting models | An overview of time series forecasting models
Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash
What is this article about?
This article provides an overview of the main models available for modelling univariate time series and forecasting their evolution. The models were developed in R and Python. The related code is available here.
Time series forecasting is a hot topic which has many possible applications, such as stock prices forecasting, weather forecasting, business planning, resources allocation and many others. Even though forecasting can be considered as a subset of supervised regression problems, some specific tools are necessary due to the temporal nature of observations.
What is a time series?
A time series is usually modelled through a stochastic process Y(t), i.e. a sequence of random variables. In a forecasting setting we find ourselves at time t and we are interested in estimating Y(t+h), using only information available at time t.
How to validate and test a time series model?
Due to the temporal dependencies in time series data, we cannot rely on usual validation techniques. To avoid biased evaluations we must ensure that training sets contains observations that occurred prior to the ones in validation sets.
A possible way to overcome this problem is to use a sliding window, as described here. This procedure is called time series cross validation and it is summarised in the following picture, in which the blue points represents the training sets in each “fold” and the red points represent the corresponding validation sets.
Time series cross-validation. Credits to Rob J Hyndman
If we are interested in forecasting the next n time steps, we can apply the cross validation procedure for 1,2,…,n steps ahead. In this way we can also compare the goodness of the forecasts for different time horizons.
Once we have chosen the best model, we can fit it on the entire training set and evaluate its performance on a separate test set subsequent in time. The performance estimate can be done by using the same sliding window technique used for cross validation, but without re-estimating the model parameters.
Short data exploration
In the next section we will apply different forecasting models to predict the evolution of the industrial production index which quantifies the electrical equipment manufactured in the Euro area.
The data can be easily downloaded through the fpp2 package in R. To make the data available outside R you can simply run the following code in a R environment.
library(fpp2)
write.csv(elecequip,file = “elecequip.csv”,row.names = FALSE)
The dataset corresponds to monthly manufacture of electrical equipment (computer, electronic and optical products) in the Euro area (17 countries) in the period January 1996-March 2012. We keep the last 2 years for testing purposes.
The time series has a peak at the end of 2000 and another one during 2007. The huge decrease that we observe at the end of 2008 is probably due to the global financial crisis which occurred during that year.
There seems to be a yearly seasonal pattern. To better visualise this, we show data for each year separately in both original and polar coordinates. | https://towardsdatascience.com/an-overview-of-time-series-forecasting-models-a2fa7a358fcb | ['Davide Burba'] | 2020-11-24 09:54:52.132000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Time Series Analysis', 'Machine Learning', 'Time Series Forecasting', 'Statistics'] |
BlockBank partners with Modefi to provide trustless, transparent, and secure data | BlockBank is innovating to bring opportunities in DeFi and more mainstream banking applications and we are excited to partner with Modefi to provide truly decentralized, secure, and precise oracle solutions allowing BlockBank to offer a more accurate and broader diversity of data.
BlockBank leverages Artificial Intelligence, adding it to the traditional banking and DeFi system making the entire ecosystem more secure, private, and decentralized. The platform will be AI-powered, which means it will monitor and understand social intelligence, risk mitigation, analytics, batched transactions, and smart contracts.
Modefi integrates major oracles and data providers to use them as complementary entities instead of treating them as competition. Integrating multiple oracles into the platform gives clients using Modefi’s Decentralized Aggregated Oracle Solution the ability to obtain trustless, transparent, secure, and decentralized data.
Modefi’s Oracle Solutions will enable BlockBank’s AI to utilize the most up-to-date, precise, and unique on-chain data. Increasing the number of data sources ensures that data within the BlockBank app, both user-facing and internal, is going to be correct, timely, and independently verifiable by multiple sources. This allows the AI engine to use datasets built on a multi-layered foundation, resulting in predictive and prescriptive outcomes that can be truly trusted. | https://blog.blockbank.ai/blockbank-partners-with-modefi-to-provide-trustless-transparent-and-secure-data-4997875eb20f | ['Anastasija Plotnikova'] | 2021-06-08 13:19:41.555000+00:00 | ['Data', 'Oracle', 'Security', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
PPP — 8 Weeks later the Bankruptcy Avalanche comes Crushing Down | PPP — 8 Weeks later the Bankruptcy Avalanche comes Crushing Down
Image Wikimedia Commons — Canptocamp.org
The economy has been hit by the consequences of the COVID19 pandemic and we are currently facing 36 million unemployed and rising. Most people have heard that about 45% of the total US economy is made up of small businesses.
Almost 60 million people are employed by small businesses and that does not count people who are not employees — i.e. gig workers, 1099 workers, sole proprietors, etc.
Long story short, the impact of small business on the economy, and the general workforce is huge.
What blew me away a few days ago was the announcement by the Federal Reserve chairmen that 40% of people making $40,000.00 a year or less are now unemployed. Guess where most of them work? Yes, in small businesses. Don’t forget our food is harvested by seasonal workers that our government does not like and does not support. Some people say that’s 11 million people and they are not participating and working when the country is shut down.
Few politicians want to acknowledge that, they are far removed from normal people working hard every day and earning a living at or below the US average of about $60,000.00 per year. They, both democratic millionaires in the US Senate and Congress, as well as Republican Millionaires in both houses, decided that it would be a good appearance to give small businesses some help in the current economic crisis.
To make it feel even better they called the law they passed the “CARES Act”. The idea was to protect employment and help out for short term business pain. So, they included two programs in the CARES Act.
The PPP or Payroll Protection Program. It gives a small business owner a loan that will be forgiven if he or she keeps or hires back workers that were on the payroll before the crisis started in March 2020. The EIDL or Economic Emergency Disaster Loan Grant. It said that each small business or gig worker/sole proprietor could submit a request to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and get $10,000.00 without a lot of paperwork or proof of damages from the crisis. This is a grant, meaning the small business does not need to pay the money back and can use it to keep running operations, pay rent, mortgages, equipment, lease fees, and whatever else is needed to maintain operability for the day the economy opens again.
Sounds good, don’t you think?
Yes, it does, but it was obviously created by people who have very few ideas about how a small business works, what the term “flexibility” means. On top of all that, they refused to put strong oversight to make sure their intentions are actually executed by the SBA.
How did it go so far and why is there an avalanche of bankruptcies coming to crush the economy?
Well, the SBA unilaterally decided that the need for the EIDL grant was not, as written in the law, determined by the small business owner but by them. The law said a small business owner could ask for a $10,000.00 grant and would receive it within 72 hours after properly submitting an application.
I did exactly that.
Without any oversight or any rhyme or reason, the SBA declared that each business that could not prove that it has more than 1 employee or no employees at all ( meaning all gig workers, sole proprietors or individual small business owners who only had 1 employee) would only receive $1,000.00 instead of the requested $10,000.00.
You probably think that the supposedly well-intentioned politicians would jump to the side of the small business community and make sure the SBA follows the law! You would be very mistaken and wrong. Nobody did anything. The program has come and gone and the really small businesses did get $1,000.00 regardless of what they requested. Can you imagine how long a small company can keep running at $1,000.00? I can tell you not long — not even a month.
OK, but there is still the PPP. That is a huge program, right. Yes, and 45% of the hundreds of billions of dollars went to companies that requested $1 million or more. By the strict definition if you have a payroll of $1 Million in 2 months you could still be considered a small business, but it’s not the small shop or company on Main street.
So here is the deal that creates the avalanche. The PPP money has to be used at 75% exclusively for payroll to employees. If you hire back fewer employees than you had in February or March of 2020 you get punished and the loan will not be fully forgiven. The remaining 25% can be used for rent, utilities, etc.
The biggest catch that creates the avalanche? From the day a small business owner gets that PPP loan you have 8 weeks to spend the money.
Think about that. You have a restaurant or a consulting company like I do and since March 14th we have been in lockdown. Now we are slowly starting to open again but in no way will we be back to anything remotely resembling the situation we experienced in January or February 2020.
What’s the consequence? In June, when the PPP window of 8 weeks has run out for pretty much all recipients, there is no choice but to fire people you kept for 8 weeks and in many cases, close shop, declare bankruptcy. Many owners will look at the remains of what they build in years and sometimes decades.
That’s where the avalanche is coming from. Just when the economy is supposed to restart, most small businesses will run out of PPP money and have no choice but to fire their employees and go out of business. That’s what politicians call “taking care of the small guys”.
That leaves the question of what individuals and small businesses could have done. For many years I have seen that we don’t have any real protections in the small business community, gig workers, sole proprietors. We can’t get health care plans that are affordable. We don’t have the same access to retirement plans. We have no access to cheap credit like the big guys do.
Cindy Cornett Seigle — Flickr
It is pretty obvious that the way to remain successful as an individual with a family or a small business is to create a way that is independent of government support.
That means money needs to come in even in the worst of crisis and value needs to be in place and remain in place even in the worst crisis.
That can only occur with assets. Some people tried to cover their behinds by investing in stocks, mutual funds, and ETF’s. The problem with that is that the crisis is the trigger to massively reduce the value of these kinds of assets and everybody wants to sell, suppressing value.
There is a better way. I created the Ideal Wealth Grower system and am growing a community of like-minded people, many with an entrepreneurial background.
The system allows normal people with my help and mentorship to invest very reasonable amounts of money in the one fundamental asset we all need. Basic shelter. Owning nicely renovated single-family houses and developing a portfolio of assets that way is the best protection I have seen when bad times hit.
Residential real estate investors came through the great recession very well and had a huge advantage when many foreclosures were available to buy for cheap. Since then the market has grown but the opportunities are still out there.
No loud, in your face marketing. Just a steady, considerate approach to develop assets, equity, and most importantly, passive income. People will always have to live somewhere.
I am a big fan of creating win-win-win situations. The small business owner or saver wins by accumulating assets and equity and providing a great service to other people. The tenants win because they get to live in really nicely renovated houses for a fair rent. The taxpayers and society win because companies and individuals don’t have to wait for handouts, poorly designed bail-out plans, or ill-devised support programs that run out of money before they can have any serious effect.
It is my mission to help those who see the benefit of passive income learn how to reach their goal and create economic independence.
We can all learn and work together to overcome the current crisis.
I hope the avalanche will not destroy too much of our economy and leave behind opportunities to start in a new direction based on assets and passive income. | https://medium.com/the-ideal-wealth-grower/ppp-8-weeks-later-the-bankruptcy-avalanche-comes-crushing-down-f3420947e0c6 | ['Dr. Axel Meierhoefer'] | 2020-06-24 14:25:07.248000+00:00 | ['Small Business', 'Bankruptcy', 'Investing', 'Real Estate', 'Passive Income'] |
Oracle Big Data Cloud, Event Hub and Analytics Cloud Data Lake Edition pt.3 : Spark-Powered Data Flows, Automated Machine Learning and Thoughts on Sparkline SNAP | Oracle Big Data Cloud, Event Hub and Analytics Cloud Data Lake Edition pt.3 : Spark-Powered Data Flows, Automated Machine Learning and Thoughts on Sparkline SNAP Mark Rittman Follow Jun 2, 2018 · 1 min read
In this series of three blogs on Oracle Analytics Cloud Data Lake Edition I’ve setup an object store data lake in Oracle Cloud using Oracle Big Data Cloud and Oracle Storage Cloud, and ingested streams of real-time event data from IoT and social media sources into Oracle Cloud’s object storage service using Oracle Event Hub Cloud Service.
Read more at the new home of the MJR Analytics blog. | https://medium.com/mark-rittman/oracle-big-data-cloud-event-hub-and-analytics-cloud-data-lake-edition-pt-3-95d38c9e5148 | ['Mark Rittman'] | 2018-10-16 19:50:05.921000+00:00 | ['Oracle', 'Oracle Cloud', 'Data Lake', 'Analytics', 'Big Data'] |
Trump the Election Troll | An online troll attacks people to evoke emotional responses; activity that is considered online harassment. I’ve never taken trolling seriously; I’ve always shrugged it off and dismissed it. In observing Trump’s behavior since loosing the elections, I identify it as trolling. He uses Twitter to make false claims and to threaten other officials (the example below concerns the Georgia run-off, not Trump’s own loss):
What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is. Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way. Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW. Otherwise, could be a bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th.
12:03 AM · Dec 14, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
He lost the elections and has turned to trolling to evoke his following to be up in arms. Unfortunately, the effect of online trolling may lead to physical altercation and harm. Of course, beyond trolling the elections, Trump has his personal lawyer attempting a reversal of a democratic procedure. At the moment, I’m more concerned about the trolling and the continued divisiveness that his online and media trolling is having upon the nation.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to merely dismiss Trump’s trolling as I do with other trolls. Yesterday morning an old friend and journalist txt’d me “did you see how trump is sending alternate electors to Congress? He is now full fledged working on a coup. No respect for our constitution or democracy.” Having woken up concerned that the final Electoral College count may not reflecting the states won by Biden — 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 and worried that Biden’s win would not be certified, this txt increased my anxiety. In response to my anxious reply, she soon wrote “No. It will fail. But it’s just so disgusting.” So I relaxed, but I was feeling the effects of a troll and I was annoyed at being susceptible to Trumps trolling the 2020 Elections.
Today, Mitch McConnell finally acknowledged Biden’s win and even congratulated Vice President Elect Kamala Harris which helps me put anxieties induced by Trump’s trolling further to rest.
However, what is most worrying about Trump’s election trolling is the gathering of many hundred Trump supporters in DC this past Saturday. Watching the video of that gathering and the way these people applauded a helicopter that took Trump to the Army Navy Game reminded me of images of black and red clad Nicaraguans cheering Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. It is a confounding cult of personality. The last +4 years, I have been dumbfounded at the spell that this egomaniacal liar has upon a large number of U.S. citizens. I find him so disgusting and yet over 70 million people voted for him. And now his trolling activity only continues the divide in this country.
I expect that Trump will be historicized amongst the most wretched presidents of this nation state, but meanwhile, I have be part of a country divided; division that could begin to calm if the trolling stopped.
Some ten years ago when my ex-spouse was trolled by someone in the midwest (we are based in Brooklyn), because he felt that her research and creative work was his domain and was essentially jealous of all the attention she was getting, she felt threatened and forced us to set up an alarm system. This was an alarm system more commonly found in a home, not really necessary in a fifth floor apartment of a Brooklyn coop. However, his messages were so menacing that my arguing against the necessity of an alarm system was ignored. The alarm system was only a costly nuisance, but this is an example of the power that internet trolls can wield. This is nothing compared to when the troll is the president. | https://medium.com/@ricardo-miranda-zuniga/trump-the-election-troll-9698e3a6b3bf | ['Ricardo Miranda Zuniga'] | 2020-12-15 21:59:56.185000+00:00 | ['Trolling', 'Electoral College', '2020 Presidential Race', 'Trump'] |
INFOGRAPHIC — Over 50 brokers have signed up on Black Insurance platform worldwide already | We are pleased to share a visual status update on broker sign-up on Black Insurance platform — over 50 brokers with current gross written premiums (GWP) reaching 324 M USD have signed up (by August 31, 2018). Check out the infographic for their geographic distribution across the globe.
The TOP5 sign-ups by countries and GWP:
USA, 15 brokers, GWP $112 300 000
Canada, 3 brokers, GWP $75 000 000
Kenya, 4 brokers, GWP $32 900 000
UAE, 2 brokers, GWP $25 000 000
New Zealand, 2 brokers, GWP $23 000 000
Brokers can already get a live glimpse of the platform prototype. Check the prototype
Short video tutorial of the platform prototype is also available:
The Black Platform enables brokers to start their own insurance products with underwriting capacity from the Syndicates. There are limited spots to the first Black Syndicate when we launch the platform. | https://medium.com/blackinsurance/infographic-over-50-brokers-have-signed-up-on-black-insurance-platform-worldwide-already-1793b05d463 | ['Triinu Murumäe'] | 2018-09-04 06:34:42.764000+00:00 | ['ICO', 'Crowdfunding', 'Innovation', 'Insurance', 'Insurance Brokers'] |
A COLD WIND FROM THE EAST | A COLD WIND FROM THE EAST
PETER ANDREWS/REUTERS
In 1984 I took a long and solitary train ride across Europe. Leaving from Victoria Station in London, I traveled eastward for the better part of two days, crossing into communist East Germany, passing over the wall in a divided Berlin, before reaching the Oder River on the Polish Border. My destination was Warsaw, the capital of Poland.
In 1984 communist Poland was in a sorry state. Still under the remnants of martial law following the Soviet ordered crackdown on the Solidarity Movement, its economy was in shambles and its people demoralized. Alcoholism and suicide were at all time highs. For Poles, the future looked bleak.
Fast forward to today. The contrast is startling. Poland’s economy is now the 6th largest in Europe. Since the start of the great recession in 2009, Europe’s collective economy has sputtered while Poland’s has grown by double digits. A former Polish Prime Minister has been elected President of the European Council, the first leader from Eastern Europe to hold such a leadership position within the European Union.
But despite their growing prosperity and importance, the Poles are worried. Poland’s winters are always frigid, but today the Poles are feeling an especially cold wind from the east.
Five Centuries of Struggle
For the past five centuries the central geopolitical fact of Poland’s existence has been its relationship to its Russian neighbor in the east. During this time the two countries have struggled over what Polish historian Andrzej Nowak has termed “political, strategic and civilizational preponderance in Central and Eastern Europe.”
Polish fortunes in this struggle have waxed and waned over the centuries, but for the last two hundred years the advantage has been solidly with Russia. In the late 18th Century, the Russian Czars participated in a series of “partitions” which effectively erased the Polish nation from the map of Europe for 123 years. It re-emerged after World War I, only to disappear again as a result of a secret pact between Hitler and Stalin at the start of the Second World War. After the war, Stalin installed the Red Army and a puppet regime which ran the country as a Soviet satellite for the next 45 years.
Soviet rule was harsh. In 1940, 20,000 Polish officers and civilian leaders were taken to a forest near Katyn in western Russia and murdered. In 1956 and again in the 1970, attempts at popular Polish uprisings were crushed with the aid of the Soviets.
Then came Solidarity, Mikhail Gorbachev and Glasnost. With the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union a new, independent Poland was born.
Today, this new Poland is a full member of NATO and the European Union. Seizing the opportunity created by Russian disarray and weakness immediately following its independence, Poland moved quickly to integrate itself into the political, military and economic structures of Western Europe.
It proved a prescient move. As events in Georgia and Ukraine have shown, Russia is once again willing to resort to military force to impose its will on its nearest neighbors, those in a region it calls its “near abroad.” It is this that most concerns the Poles. They fear that after Ukraine, Poland is the most important target of a revanchist and nationalistic Russia.
Urging NATO to do more
Given this fear, the Poles have urged NATO and the west to respond forcefully to Russian aggression. In response to the Russian seizure of the Crimea in April 2014, the Polish Foreign Minister requested that NATO move two brigades of heavy armor, consisting of over 10,000 troops, permanently onto Polish soil.
NATO and the west, however, have responded cautiously to Polish requests. A number of western European governments fear that placing forces along the Russian border will only exacerbate the underlying causes of Russian aggression. Indeed, the leaders of Germany and France have opposed even supplying arms to the outgunned Ukrainians, apparently preferring a negotiated de facto acceptance of the Russian advances.
It is within this context that the election of former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as the new President of the European Council is important. Tusk made it clear following his election that coordinating a firmer response to the threat posed by a belligerent Russia was a goal for his Presidency. In an interview at the time he stated that the EU has been slow to realize that “Russia is not our strategic partner, Russia is our strategic problem.” Since taking office the European refugee crisis, the threat posed by ISIS and Brexit have dominated his agenda. It remains to be seen if this leader from what was once called “the other Europe” can help forge a consistent and credible western European response to Russia’s expansionist tactics.
It is true that Poland, and much of the Europe I crossed by train 30 years ago, have changed dramatically. Internal borders are completely open. Gone are the armed guards who came into my cabin in the night to check my papers while their dogs went under the carriages looking for hidden persons. And yet, despite these massive shifts, there are still some constants in the European landscape: northern winters are just as frigid, and Poland is still there, warning us of the latest chilling wind from the east. If history is a guide, we should listen.
(First published December, 2015)
John Hunter is an attorney and banker who has worked in both Europe and the United States. As a law student in the mid-1980’s he studied Eastern European political and economic structures in Warsaw and Poznań, Poland with the Kosciuszko Foundation. | https://medium.com/@john-hunter/a-cold-wind-from-the-east-b7adbb87c11e | ['John Hunter'] | 2021-01-10 02:35:23.189000+00:00 | ['Russia', 'Europe', 'History', 'Travel', 'Poland'] |
Creating EOS account via TokenPocket with Smart Contract | Hi guys and welcome to another lovely day, some few days back I received a message from a user not been able to create an EOS account.
Now unlike BTC, ETH, and other altcoins, creating EOS account is a little bit different as users need CPU, NET, and RAM to make the account active and functioning, and to achieve this it requires a cost which can be paid by a company, 3rd parties or a friend who already have an EOS based account.
TokenPocket offers different types of ways one can create an EOS based account with the help of a friend and also by themselves.
One of the most common ways is paid creation, this requires an activation code which can be bought with the use of WeChat or via PayPal but the problem is the hassle or rather the fact that some countries don’t readily offer the above services and others who have this have a hard time setting this up and thus other forms of account creation is required.
The next process I would recommend is the smart contract
Smart Contract
As the name says, it’s a smart contract which is carried out automatically when the required data is present.
The data, in this case, is an address and a memo which are both generated when you initiate an account creation via this option.
Getting Started
Download and install TokenPocket wallet if you don’t have it installed prior to now
TokenPocket is available on both IOS and Android respectively, simply search on AppStore or Google Play depending on your device preference.
You can also download TokenPocket from its official website here https://www.tokenpocket.pro/en/
Launch TokenPocket app from your menu
Select the EOS blockchain from the provided options
The option to create or import an account becomes available
As a new user, you will need to create a new account and for that reason, you have to select account creation
Select the smart contract option and a new menu comes up
Fill in the appropriate information using your provided data, for the username you can make use of random if you don’t have one.
Backup the generated private key properly to somewhere safe as this gives you access to your account after account creation
Click on next, an EOS address, and a memo will be generated alongside the required amount of EOS to pay.
Payment does not generally mean it must be from another EOS main-net account
You can make payment literally from any platform provided the option to add memo is available as this is required
Send the required amount of EOS to the generated address and memo
If all is completed you should have access to your account but to verify if the account is active you can search the name on https://bloks.io/
If the account is active, a result will be shown to you.
Remember after making the transfer, the EOS is used for staking CPU, NET, and to purchase RAM
CPU and NET can be un-staked and with regards to RAM, this can be sold back to get your initial EOS worth. Unlike CPU and NET, the price of RAM fluctuates, so it might be in your favor or not.
That is all for today, till some other time stay safe | https://medium.com/@otemzi/creating-eos-account-via-tokenpocket-with-smart-contract-698bd36d330e | ['Oteme Eghele'] | 2020-11-11 21:03:11.094000+00:00 | ['Cpu', 'Eos', 'Tokenpocket', 'Net', 'Ram'] |
Ask big questions by starting small | I reflected on my favorite meetings. An instructional coach, in a meeting on literacy for second grade, started by asking, “why do we read? As adults, personally, why?” last year. I haven’t forgotten my answer.
That’s the hook.
I’d been undermining the power of big questions. In fact, as a leader in meetings, I have stayed away from these big questions. I thought they were too distracting, luxurious. We had work to do. What was a big question going to accomplish? Shouldn’t we be talking about student data? Planning a grammar lesson?
Lately, I have been working on a new project to deploy a content creation team at a K-12 school. I had been thinking carefully about the impression I wanted to leave in our first meeting. How was I going to set the tone? Create meaning, purpose, and lean toward action?
I decided to start with a big question, “what is a story?” — an old trick I learned from my first internship in college as an assistant administrator for Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts.
Lovewell starts every program with this question — “what is a story?”. And, at Lovewell, there’s a big job to do: build an original work of musical theatre, in less than three weeks.
So why start with a big question? When I first saw the young artists of Lovewell, sitting comfortably in the gutted theatre that just days later would be transformed into a complex moving set, musing philosophically about stories, I thought, “this is absurd.”
In hindsight, it was essential.
So, to launch the new project, with new players, for the first ever cross-divisional content creation team for a K-12 school, I started small by asking— “what is a story?”
Of course, more goes into this. There is a funnel. We then want to know what is a story for our school? What pre-existing content/ideas can we use to get the most out of all that? Why this program? Why you? What stories are we actually going to write for next Tuesday? Write five, pick two.
If you want to run a fantastic meeting, I encourage you to ask big questions by starting small — and finish with a funnel that leads to action. | https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/ask-big-questions-b28c3d908fba | ['Phil Mendez'] | 2020-10-20 13:20:04.116000+00:00 | ['Teamwork', 'Team Building', 'Work', 'Meetings', 'Leadership'] |
Ethereum ditching Solidity for Vyper? | First things first, it’s called Vyper, not Viper.
Vyper is the successor to Serpent which is dead now ( *hissing fades* ). It is not yet ready to go mainstream since it’s still under development. Vyper was not created to replace Solidity, but to be used alongside since it shares the same bytecode in order to boost security.
Inspite of positive reviews pouring in for Vyper, some are questioning the need for another language to create smart contracts others are in agreement that security issues needed to be addressed.
Vyper looks logically similar to Solidity but syntactically similar to Python. It eliminates many of the Object Oriented Programming paradigms and hence requiring a new paradigm definition for transactional programming. It has eliminated class inheritance, function overloading, operator overloading, and recursion as none of these are technically necessary to create a Turing-complete language.
Should I learn Vyper instead of Solidity?
The answer is quite complicated.
Well If you want to be employed as soon as possible Solidity is the way to go. Currently, the most widely supported language out there for writing smart contracts is Solidity. It is currently the most documented and stable (um.. relatively) language out there. If you stumble upon something, there’s a huge supportive community and resources that will get you up and running.
If you’re a person who is brave enough to experiment with a new language, and don’t mind writing much simpler code, use Vyper. It’s relatively new but it can create more auditable/secure smart contracts WITHOUT the features, community support and documentation that Solidity has.
People who are pretty comfortable with Python will find the Vyper space better to breathe in. Vyper has a lot of features stripped down in order to enhance auditability. Smart contracts are supposed to be as simple and readable as possible, because these contracts can’t change and minor flaws can spell financial disaster on a massive scale.
Because of this, Vyper aims to provide the following features:
Bounds and overflow checking
Support for signed integers and decimal fixed point numbers
Decidability
Strong typing
Small and understandable compiler code
Limited support for pure functions
The majority of the developers are speculating that Vyper is going to be used alongside Solidity in the future.When Vyper is ready, you will choose to use it or to use Solidity. Ethereum is planning to use Vyper for its future smart contracts. ( Confused? So am I. Ethereum still hasn’t given any confirmation about the co-existence of Vyper and Solidity ). As far as the information flowing in as of now, Ethereum is planning to use Vyper for a majority of the the future smart contracts.
Vyper is more on the positive side as far as security is concerned (Duh.) .It is more transparent for all parties involved, and have fewer points of entry for an attack. The existing smart contracts are vulnerable to attacks and contain security flaws. This is the fate of more than 3000 smart contracts as of now. Vyper has the potential to play an important role in the future and security of Ethereum.
Keeping in mind the simplicity and security of this language, the following features have been omitted:
Binary fixed point
Recursive Calling
Operator Overloading
Class inheritance
Inline Assembly
Function Overloading
Infinite-length loops
Modifiers
You want me to answer the question? Honestly, I don’t know. At this point I don’t think anybody knows. There’s still a lot of time for Vyper to go live. Remember, the fittest always survive. Let’s wait it out and see what Vyper has in store for us.
If you wanna know more about Vyper, check out the official documentation here.
Cheers :)
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +432,678 people.
Subscribe to receive our top stories here. | https://medium.com/swlh/ethereum-ditching-solidity-for-vyper-6db70fd7754 | ['Ashwin Kumar R'] | 2019-03-12 14:51:55.069000+00:00 | ['Solidity', 'Smart Contracts', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
Acknowledge Injustice. Stop Looking For the Perfect Victim. | Dear Media,
Stop looking for the perfect victim before acknowledging injustice. The world is an imperfect place and we should all be comfortable with that. Systematic racism has gone underreported across the span of American history because black people have been inherently criminalized. Modern “policing is based on the mindset that people of color commit more crime and therefore must be subjected to harsher police tactics. Police argue that residents in high crime communities often demand police action” (Vitale, 2018, p.51). Criminalizing someone or a group of people is a typical way of discrediting someone’s experience. Once someone has been perceived as a threat, people are less likely to want to understand what happened from their perspective. That’s where the danger lies. People then perceive the individual being persecuted as a threat, and not a victim.
An example of this type of behavior can be found in the police’s characterization of young black and latino people as gang members. Calling an incident “gang related,” is an effective method of having the general public turn a blind eye towards how these people are treated and the follow-up of a case. Accusations of abuse by police officers are often justified on the basis of the crime the individual has been accused of. They claim they need to be harsh because these are harden criminals. This is inherently flawed since every person has the right to be respected. You cannot assume that because someone was violent they will be and are continuing to act violently. The police understand this perfectly. When they arrested Dylan Roof, a white man who had just shot and killed 9 black people in a church, they were respectful to him. He was even taken to get fast food before being booked into jail. Yet, black people are treated completely differently in that respect. In the 1990s, calling young black men “Super Predators” was often used to dehumanize young black men in the eyes of the public, seeing them as inherently more criminal and thus, more likely to be guilty. This led to the incarceration of minors who were charged “as adults”. Black people have been disproportionately characterized as morally flawed and it has to stop.
Women have been also been faulted for being imperfect victims. Upon accusing a man of rape, women have often been stereotyped as sluts and thus unworthy of public concern, attention, or airspace. This slut shaming has occurred in court and in the media to discredit their accusations of mistreatment and abuse. Once discredited, the public interest fades. These tactics of discrediting an individual to dismiss the person’s trauma without addressing it. There is no such thing as a perfect victim. That does not excuse turning a blind eye to offenses committed against every day people.
Men have also been treated disrespectfully due to their sexual history. After the death of George Floyd, there were many people who tried to attack his record directly. I won’t go into all of the details because that would be feeding into this negative method. However, one accusation was that he had acted in a pornography film. Bringing that up, in the context of considering his demise, is a blatant attempt to discredit the value of his life. That is simply unacceptable. It does not matter what he chose to do as a consenting adult. This does not take away the value of him as a human, a father, a brother, or a son.
We are living in a world where people often feel overwhelmed by the information they receive about incidents that happen in a variety of settings. As a result, people often subconsciously sort information, deciding which stories to keep at the forefront. The media must be conscious fo how black people are characterized and how their lives are appraised in the public. Provide a comprehensive picture of the individual, what they were able to accomplish, what their hopes and dreams were, and the positive influence they had on those around the. If you mention the bad, don’t do it without the context of their intricate lives
Vitale, A. S. (2018). The end of policing. London, UK: Verso. | https://medium.com/illumination/acknowledge-injustice-stop-looking-for-the-perfect-victim-32ade56c0fbf | ['Allison Gaines'] | 2020-07-09 13:44:35.232000+00:00 | ['Police', 'Media Criticism', 'Victim Blaming', 'Black Lives Mater', 'Criminal Justice Reform'] |
Americans Spend the Equivalent of the Red Cross’ Budget on Wrapping Paper | For years I’ve been contemplating the capitalist agendas hidden in Christianity’s most sacred holiday.
I was reminded of this today when I clicked on my Facebook Memories and a couple of posts popped up. It seems that for the last several years I’ve been questioning not only my personal beliefs in the Christmas holiday but also how much corporate America has been involved in curating it’s importance.
When I read what I wrote back in 2016, the first thing that came to mind was wrapping paper.
Wrapping paper is a costly and weird holiday tradition
I never understood wrapping paper. I remember back when I was a kid it was always my job to clean up the wrapping paper mess left behind by everyone. It was my job at nearly every Christmas gathering of the families, and I had several to go to. My parents were divorced, my mom’s parents were divorced and my step-father’s parents were divorced — that made for a lot of stops during the holidays, and for me a lot of wrapping paper to clean up.
It was probably my hatred of picking it up that sparked my idea of wrapping paper being the most useless part of Christmas but it is still something I feel strongly about.
It’s actual trash. It isn’t something the recycling centers are looking forward to. In fact, it’s actually not something that is beneficial for them at all.
It’s just trash and not something we really need.
We can wrap presents in other things, more useful and meaningful things, like scarves, letters we wrote to the person or pictures we drew for them.
Instead, we spend an astronomical amount of money on wrapping paper that just gets ripped up and tossed aside.
As with many statistics, the numbers on the amount we spend on wrapping paper during the holidays varies across resources so there aren’t direct numbers. To please the inevitable naysayers, I’ve chosen to use the median of the two lowest statistics I could find.
Those estimates show that Americans spend about $3 billion on wrapping paper each year.
Some show that Americans spend more double that on covering their gifts in paper they throw away.
Let me put that into perspective, that’s enough money to give every person living in America $1 Million dollars and still have $2.5 billion dollars left over. (nearly the entire budget of the American Red Cross)
More staggering is that if only 1/3 of the money we used to buy wrapping paper was donated to a fund we could still afford to make everyone in America a millionaire.
This statistic alone made me nearly positive that this is wrapped up in the capitalist giants that keep us thinking we need to make money to afford all these things that are often harming us and are sometimes quite literally trash.
As with all things that have become something the majority thinks they have to do to be happy and healthy, wrapping presents started as a classist practice that showed you could afford the luxury of the Victorian era. While wrapping things has gone back much farther than that, it wasn’t until we all started to see consumption as a sign of strength that it became the mainstream marker it is today.
Wrapping paper is just one of traditions we have that is no longer serving us. As we grow in population, we have a responsibility to continue to evaluate our practices and traditions to make sure they are still serving the collective and the planet that provides our resources.
Unfortunately, this evaluation process is not one that is regular nor prioritized.
Instead, upholding the status quo and carrying on the traditions exactly as they are is tied to respect. Doing anything outside of that is seen as disrespectful and in today’s society respect is definitely something you want to be sure other people think you have and are worthy of.
Tying these traditions of hooking up lights to the power grid (which is already overworked) and spending money on excess to respect makes it almost certain that the evaluation of the practices isn’t on anyone’s mind.
This enables us to just carry on spending our money on the things they tell us we need to be happy and successful, even if it’s just trash.
It’s not just that just our own minds that think we must uphold the status quo, it’s also embedded into the fibers of our society.
Every January, children get assignments to write about what they got for Christmas.
Just that alone puts pressure on parents to get enough gifts, maybe more than they can afford, because children compare themselves to each other based on these gifts — and school environments may even perpetuate that.
There are so many examples of these types of societal ways that keep us upholding the status quo and effectively staying in the hamster wheel of this capitalist life. While I realize that there are much bigger problems in the world than the cost of wrapping paper, I think it’s more about what the cost of the wrapping paper represents.
It represents proof that we do have the money to take control back but we are using it in ways that aren’t serving us.
It represents how we use our resources as a result of these societal systems.
It represents how conditioned we are in our beliefs about money — both how to get it and what we must get it for.
It represents a societal system that would rather charge us for actual trash than help us get what we need.
And ultimately, it shows us just how much power we do hold if we use these resources in better ways.
Instead of fighting the fight their way and waiting for them to listen to us, let’s just come together, donate our wrapping paper money, accept unwrapped gifts and then our reality will change. | https://medium.com/@intuitiveizzy/americans-spend-the-equivalent-of-the-red-cross-budget-on-wrapping-paper-39d4df28eb59 | ['Intuitive Izzy'] | 2020-12-23 17:53:10.645000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Money Management', 'Social Change', 'Holiday Tradition', 'Christmas'] |
“Finish the sentence” The Untold Secrets with ABOUT 100 QUESTIONS, TASKS, FINISHING SENTENCES TO FIND FRIENDS, EMPLOYEES, BUSINESS PARTNERS, AND THE RIGHT SPOUSE FOR YOU, Forever. | Finish the sentence
What should be finished? Should people be able to finish every sentence?
Finish the sentence: I wish I had someone to share…
Finishing someone's sentences is a memory.
In the working memory, there is speech, with all in and output going through the working memory people develop speech. All we speak of is taught, made up words by people, that we use, in the same group. A group of people uses the same language. So, all we say is telling, where we are from. Who taught us what.
So, you are from my group if you understand me.
All the people in the group, teachers, influencers, locals, regions, national, all with the same language and ideas. The same group.
With real empathy we do not finish the sentence, we listen.
So, even when you are in my group, we do need to listen to each other. We do mean to show we have listened and understood what is said, and give that back in our own words.
Well- being is being authentic, autonomous, and with your own unique self, as we are born unique, variants of the norm. And we will be a bit different in different circumstances too. The environment can change us. The environment also changes DNA.
What does it all mean?
People think, different things, but we are not a good listener when we finish each other's sentences is what we are taught it means. And, in science, finishing sentences means memory, simply memory, remembering what is said.
Could it be one with less empathy, finishes someone's sentences faster, and more wrongly, assuming this is it, while it had to be something else? Your real feelings, did they really find that out, your true self, your true feelings, and thoughts, within their own mind? Do you agree with them? Is it true what they say? Is it about what you would want to say, and would want them to know about you?
Aren’t we scared to not be able to finish the sentence of the man we love, he might think, we never paid attention?
Personality traits, for finishing someone's sentences
The harm finishing someone's sentences cause…
Able to listen, and give back what is said.
We need empathy, and be open, not fill in the answers. But we do need to be able to process what is said, correctly. And be able to leave and open, and fill in, depends on the moment.
One, listen and ask more.
Two, help to ask the right questions, so one grows from your questions, and becomes more and more him or herself.
Three, be able to process what is said, and give back, mirror, explain what you heard and make one feel heard.
Four, truly understand other people and have empathy. Talk with the person, without becoming the middle of the conversation, ask the questions, and let them answer and grow, during the conversation, and give back what you heard, and add your own experiences, that shows you understand them, you understand how they feel, you have been there, too, really. That there is a logic in the other person, they are not weird, you understand them.
So, able to ask the right questions. What should be asked, and when?
Just a meeting, questions you should ask.
Just, hiring someone, getting to know someone, want to work with someone. Questions you should ask.
Wanting to get to know someone, a friend, or just someone you like.
Wanting to date and marry someone, questions you should ask.
Are there different questions?
You can also stop people from finishing your sentences.
Stop halfway the sentence and look at them. Or say stop finishing my sentences.
Now answer yourself, sentences, so people get to know you.
When should someone know you? Research says it is anyway good to be deep, that is healthy for us. The happiest person is one with less small talk. Just up to a third of all conversations. ( Brown, 2017)
Questions should be clear, short, and conversational in tone (Bolderston, 2010)
When creating the questions think of:
Will these questions get us the information that we need?
Are they easy to understand?
Are any of them confusing?
Do they flow well from one topic to another?
Does the language we have used reflect that of the group to be studied?
Have we missed anything?
Also, think of to whom you ask them, and why do you ask them?
Ask the right questions so people get to know you. There are things you do not know about yourself, so what should you think of? (Ayen, 2018) You do not want to be a bad person, you do not know your motives well, outward appearance says a lot about you, you need some distance to know you, if you tear yourself down you will have more setbacks. Dunning-Kruger effect, you will think your better at all you do, then after learning a lot and being in the real situation will not think so much of yourself, and when you are an expert, you will be more realistic about yourself. You need your true self, your own beliefs, you deceive yourself without knowing, insecure people behave more morally if you think you are flexible you will do better.
Ask the right questions when you hire someone. (DeRue et al, N.D, Leading people, and teams.) Same as above, and these questions about the tasks the job has, and the task problems and personal problems that could lead to problems. You need to know the talents of the person, you choose at the door the employee, you do not need the problems to start when the employee starts to work, you need to know all before the job starts. Also, you simply need a plan to succeed.
Ask the right questions on a date, or to get married. You should wait to get married until 23 to not get divorced. (Lebowitz, and Akhtar, 2020) Also, you end up best when best friends they say, although I also read a while ago it does not matter if you knew each other a long time, or from the first day are married. It is about being compatible. A marriage today would be self-expressive, so questions about self-expression, the way people express, would be fitting. Less cheating would be with more independent spouses, not depending on money from the other spouse. Testing would be typical if one is not sure about the relationship. Appreciate each other, and cheer for the success of the other is a success factor. You are not one person over time, realize your spouse will be a different person. Different sides are what will happen. Sex, quality is more than quantity, so questions should be about quality. Happiest couples were married out of love and had no societal pressure, nor desire for a family. Opinions and behavior change over time, so be adaptable. Also, talk about social media habits before marriage.
What do you want?
Friends, we need something in common, and such a friend can become a marriage when it is my best friend. Work with someone, I need to know the tasks in the job I have for them, and their talents, the ability to do the tasks I have for them, and task and personal problems. We have to be ourselves, our true selves. We have to be compatible, and quality and self-expression are important in marriages.
SEL, Social-Emotional Learning
To be aware of the self, to have emotion management, empathy, conflict resolution, responsibility, perseverance. After I can do my SEL, “the kids” can learn SEL, when we all can do SEL, we can do any project better. So, in marriages it means we both need SEL, to do any project together better.
Our true selves through the sentences
We do want the spouse or best friend to finish the sentence, but let you answer your own way, without filling it in. Perhaps the same for our friends, it is not about being a strange, new thing, it is about compatible, sort of predictable, fitting, and our true selves. So, a deep connection between two true selves, that fit.
So, it has to be about my deepest me, and you have to fit, in any way.
https://www.jmirs.org/article/S1939-8654(11)00132-9/pdf
My deepest me: The questions need to be about these things:
What secrets I have, you need to know? ->authentic, self-expression, deep inside out for friends, to friend me with.
What if we have a side we do not know about? How do we solve, we have more sides? -> the article on the sides we do not know off, motives, etc (Ayen, 2018)
What are best friends? -> Agreeing on something.
How do we find out our motives? -> Through asking questions and finishing sentences?
How do you get some distance on yourself to know the answers about you? -> Referring to yourself as a second or third person, thinking of the situation from an external perspective, the perspective of an exemplar, expressive writing trying to analyze the situation.
How much do you tear you down? How much an expert are you on something? What are your talents? -> These are questions ready to be used in an interview.
How do we find your true selves through questions and finishing sentences? -> By finding the secrets inside, the authentic side with questions, and more sides someone can have. Input and output through the working memory on the topic, practicing and giving it time to develop. Asking all questions that come up using this information from the article. Asking lots of questions.
What are your own believes? Are you insecure and thus have morals? -> This question is ready for an interview.
What are the tasks for the job? What are you asking? What is your job? What are your task and personal problems? -> For these questions the task must be sequenced, broken down into small pieces, written out, and asked questions about. And also ask what the problems could be when these tasks are asked to be done. What tasks are there in a friendship? Marriage? And are always there in any job?
How do you express yourself? -> This question is ready for an interview.
Are you independent thus cheat less? -> This question is ready for an interview.
Why are we testing? Are we not certain? Why? -> This question is ready for an interview.
Do you appreciate and cheer for each other? What are you cheering for? And appreciating? -> This question is ready for an interview. And needs some examples to cheer for, that ask about things from this article.
What are your different sides? -> This question is ready for an interview.
What is your quality of sex? -> This question is ready for an interview.
What do you love? What are your reasons for marriage? Focus is on love, to let this succeed. ->This question is ready for an interview.
Are you adaptable? -> This question is ready for an interview.
What are your social media habits? -> This question is ready for an interview.
What will be the tasks, with kids, family, when you do get kids? How is love when you have kids? -> This question is ready for an interview.
What were your opinions as a child and now? How did you change? -> This question is ready for an interview.
SEL or cell? Locked up or social-emotional learning? -> This question is ready for an interview. And asked per SEL, thus questions about the awareness of self, to have emotion management, empathy, conflict resolution, responsibility, perseverance.
My deepest me as friend
We need something in common. We need to be compatible. Quality and self-expression. SEL. To be aware of the self, to have emotion management, empathy, conflict resolution, responsibility, perseverance. We do want to finish the sentence, but let you answer your own way, without filling it in. A deep connection between two true selves, deep love.
My deepest me at work
We will need to know the tasks to the job, our talents, and tasks and personal problems. We need to be compatible. Quality and self- expression. SEL. To be aware of the self, to have emotion management, empathy, conflict resolution, responsibility, perseverance. We do want to finish the sentence, but let you answer your own way, without filling it in. A deep connection between two true selves, deep love.
My deepest me in marriage
You need to be my best friend. We need to be compatible. Quality and self-expression. SEL. To be aware of the self, to have emotion management, empathy, conflict resolution, responsibility, perseverance. We do want to finish the sentence, but let you answer your own way, without filling it in. A deep connection between two true selves, deep love.
For all situations
We need to find the deepest secrets, the different sides, without giving wrong ideas to change the people for the worst, after. We need to know from their past, without creating a PTSD moment. It is about quality. We want listening, empathy, and enable a deep connection, between two compatible.
What is the true idea of friends, family, work, and marriage?
All these topics also, expose DSM, and personal problems. You will hear the unbalances and if it is not solved, or is solved. You will hear if it caused damages.
Perhaps we want to know natural DBT skills, too, a better motivation, work smarter, and a nature for SEL too.
We do not want criminals, nor create criminals. So, we set the environment the best way, and find out their environments in the best ways, also their, and our past environments and can make a sum and do maths. What do they need? What do we need? What do we together need? How do we learn? How do we develop?
Now, sorted it all out: The questions.
To get the questions in order.
There is a logic to the questions, the order, and to a bigger complex. Also well-being, and finding compatible, authentic, self-expression, and quality, with a movement, is important when we ask questions, and the article explains why. Also, mindfulness, observing, describing, participate fully in the moment games, to do, without judging, and questions, mirroring, listening tasks, and finding secrets, maybe secret to the one we ask these tasks and questions too, as well.
All have to be authoritative, it is the only correct approach and not creating DSM, all other approaches are creating DSM. Creating honor and honor codes, deeper thoughts, and more detailed ideas for marriage, jobs, and friends.
And with reasons: | https://jiskahachmer.medium.com/the-untold-secrets-with-about-100-questions-tasks-finishing-sentences-to-find-friends-employees-c85e89fc3766 | ['Jiska Hachmer'] | 2020-10-18 23:52:22.339000+00:00 | ['Finding Friends', 'Marriage', 'Employees', 'Finding Love', 'Finding Yourself'] |
Sebelum Menulis Copywriting, Kenalan Sama AIDA Dulu, Yuk | 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/tlabcircle/sebelum-menulis-copywriting-kenalan-sama-aida-dulu-yuk-416f94d9ae | ['Badiah Setyowati'] | 2020-12-11 06:27:40.830000+00:00 | ['Menulis Artikel', 'Aida', 'Copywriting', 'Copywriting Tips'] |
Ocean Protocol: How Blockchains can contribute to AI by enabling Decentralized Data Exchanges | Credits: Kelly Belter
Modern digital society has led to an increasing awareness of the importance of data, sometimes arguably labelled as the “new oil” or “the next natural resource” (Virginia Rometty, IBM CEO). Many firms consider data-driven decision making as a competitive advantage and therefore allocate significant resources to collect and proceed data, which is illustrated by the opening of new Business Intelligence departments and an explosion in demand for data scientists. Some of the most commonly used digital platforms such as Facebook and Google are free to use but in exchange collect data about users (who agree upon this data sharing policy when signing the terms & conditions). These companies are all among the most valuable companies in the world, confirming the benefits of owning data.
These companies perform so well thanks to the contribution of data to machine learning. In fact, for many years scientists have developed increasingly complex models to improve accuracy but faced diminishing returns. However, feeding models with much larger datasets has shown performances surges. It is now commonly accepted that some machine learning methods (excluding those that evolve in permanence via trial-and-error such as Reinforcement Learning) algorithms are greatly improved if fed with thousands, millions and even more with billions of data.
The problem is that except for the few big players that have data and are able to convert these into value, accessing data is a major challenge for AI practitioners. This lack of availability inhibits startups to train their algorithms. Some data collections can be found (including some for free) online but represent only a small proportion of the world’s data.
To face this challenge, startups like DEX (www.dex.sg), BDEX (Big Data Exchange), and ExchangeNetwork have created data exchange platforms where companies as well as individuals can buy and sell data. On these platforms, data providers upload their precious resources on the exchange’s database which then grants access to data users. Data can be retrieved using various types of access (e.g. API, download, and web-interface) and formats (e.g. JSON, CSV, and reports). Therefore, this solution enables the transfer of data between entities and can be seen as a major step towards data availability.
DEX centralized exchange interface
However, centralized exchanges present drawbacks that impede scalability and massive adoption. The main reasons are related to centralization and can be found in other centralized systems such as banks that have led to the development of distributed ledger technologies (e.g. blockchains illustrated by Bitcoin for payments without intermediary).
The major problem of a centralized data exchange is that data are hosted by a third-party (usually the platform itself or service providers on the cloud); this is something firms are not comfortable with as leakage of some of their most valuable data can cause disastrous consequences for their business. As an example, Yahoo’s database was hacked in 2014 and precious information about its users have fallen in the hands of malicious parties (by the way, we still do not know how this database was hacked). As a consequence, firms and institutions are reluctant to use such services because the risk surpasses prospected gains.
Centralized systems are also inefficient as they cause delays, incur costs, and lack transparency as well as auditability. The latter is also an important feature for a proper data marketplace as providers need to ensure compliance (more on this issue below). There are numerous articles and books about the need for decentralization, as well as about when a centralized system still remains a relevant structure. I would advise readers to have a look at these to better understand the disruption which is currently happening with the blockchain technology. In the case of data marketplaces, privacy- and security-related risks are in my opinion by far the biggest problem of Centralized Data Exchanges. It is also important to notice that people have lost control of their data. Decentralized exchanges, by providing peer-to-peer exchanges, empower individuals to get back their ownership, control, and even monetize their data.
This is why the Ocean Protocol foundation came up with the idea of a Decentralized Data Exchange protocol that would be the substrate for building decentralized data marketplaces.
Ocean protocol is the result of the fusion between BigchainDB and DEX in March 2017.
BigchainDB is a Berlin-based startup founded in 2015 that uses blockchain technology to build scalable decentralized databases with interoperability as one of the core design guidelines, meaning that it can be accessed by various blockchain protocols but also other distributed ledger implementations such as IOTA’s tangle.
DEX is a Singapore-based centralized data exchange operating since 2015 with more than 250 data providers. Frequently in contact with these data providers, they felt the lack of trust in centralized databases and thus the need for a decentralized system, as explained in the interview below with Chirdeep Chhabra, DEX’s CEO, and Founder as well as Board member of the Ocean Protocol foundation.
As mentioned on their website, the Ocean Protocol Foundation aims at creating a Decentralized Data Exchange protocol to unlock data for AI. Marketplaces will not be governed by the Ocean Protocol Foundation nor will the data be hosted by them. In fact, data will be distributed, while being under the control of the data providers or data custodians, and in some cases encrypted so that there is no single point of failure. In addition, participants will not only be able to transact directly with each other but will also have the possibility of creating new data marketplaces using the protocol. In fact, the Ocean Protocol Foundation does not see the product as being one huge data marketplace but rather many marketplaces developed by users (e.g. a marketplace specific to the healthcare industry), the protocol acting thus as a kind of “network of networks”.
For further information about Ocean Protocol, you can refer to their website and several papers. The business whitepaper is already there (a nice 69-pages reading), providing an explanation of their project, an exhaustive description of the team and their background including BigchainDB and DEX work, a roadmap as well as extensive information about the token distribution. It also mentions the already numerous partnerships (see picture below). I would recommend reading it and stay connected as the technical whitepaper will be released soon. The whitelist for the token distribution will open on February 15.
Participating Agencies and Authorities of Singapore Government
Service & Technology partners
During my visit in Singapore, I had the opportunity to meet Chirdeep Chhabra, CEO of DEX, and Founder and Board member of Ocean Protocol foundation, to discuss the current state of the data exchanges ecosystem and in particular the contribution of Ocean Protocol foundation. Here is the transcript of our interview.
Could you tell me more about your background and how did you come up with the Ocean Protocol idea?
Following my master in distributed systems at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), I worked at IBM research labs and later at ETH, Zurich, in what people now call the Internet of Things. Later, I studied at the London Business School and worked in multiple ventures in London, most often in the data field. At this point, in my environment there was no doubt about the potential of data anymore, it had become commonly accepted that it was greatly valuable for businesses. The questions had moved to how to create value from the data, how do we unlock their potential. Finally, I joined DEX and moved to Singapore which has the ambition to become the first smart city. DEX had thus started working with the government and several enterprises here to build a centralized marketplace for 4 years now.
One of the main problems in AI is the access to data: many AI companies came to me to connect them with people and organisations having these datasets. Actually, only a few companies have both datasets and machine learning algorithms (e.g. Facebook, Google). This is why we need some kinds of marketplaces to get access to data and enable transactions to happen. When I joined, I quickly realized that a centralized model was unable to scale. This is explained by the fact that entities would not give us their most valuable data for the simple reason that they cannot see what happens and then may feel that they lose control of their data.
As a consequence, I started to look at alternatives and especially how blockchain technology and tokens can contribute. I have known Trent McConaghy (founder of BigchainDB, co-founder of Ocean Protocol foundation) for a while so I contacted him in Berlin. I told him about the idea of data being converted into assets that are traded within a tokenized ecosystem. Trent was writing articles about that and we shared the same view so we ended up creating Ocean Protocol, together with other members.
I understand that Ocean Protocol is constituted of the DEX and BigchainDB teams. What are the roles and implications of each for the foundation?
We have a clear understanding of our strengths and so who is doing what. There are two elements: the protocol and the marketplace. Essentially, we act as a single team but within that team most of BigchainDB resources are focusing on the protocol and ours on the marketplace. We are building this marketplace in order to help users creating additional marketplaces with the open-source template.
How was the decentralization proposition accepted by your peers in the team? And by your clients and partners?
Within the team we are all very optimistic about it and believe that this complete change in direction is necessary. This new philosophy ensures that Ocean Protocol is built in the right way, with a network of marketplaces upon it. This is a design that is important for the development of safe and sustainable AI.
Concerning the second part of the question, we have been discussing that with many of our clients. Actually, last year we had a large workshop with a number of C-level executives, and Data and Privacy Officers, about data management and sharing. They understand the value of data but problems appear when it comes to understanding the mechanisms of data access, regulations and compliance. They must be able to provide a list of who accesses the data upon request by regulators. Transparency and immutability are important factors that complement the need for privacy and security of the data. Not having these characteristics fully operational was one of the biggest barriers before for DEX but there was much enthusiasm when we elaborated on the decentralization, trust frameworks and the Ocean Protocol proposition. Convincing companies that are already working with data to join has logically been relatively straightforward.
We also have meetings with other corporates, not traditional data companies, those producing data on a daily-basis but not using them. We try to convince them of the need for allocating more resources in AI, data analysis/business intelligence. As an example, firms need to predict both the supply and demand (e.g. if some types of crops will grow in the coming years, or the consumption of end-products). In addition, even if they produce more and more data, this is not enough to have accurate forecasts and stay competitive. They need external data for a rich insight and forecast. That’s why we need the marketplace where they can buy and sell data (it can also create new revenue streams) in order to complement the data they are producing. My conclusion is that if companies do not participate in the data markets they will be excluded from the future data economy and may be at risk of shutting down.
Is it a service that you will offer mostly to companies?
No, we don’t want to provide all the services ourselves. We are working hard on inserting inclusivity as a value for the design of the protocol. A marketplace based on a public blockchain can completely help democratize data access. We really want to not only benefit the big AI companies but also small ones, NGOs, governments and even individuals. If Ocean Protocol or other projects with similar goals fail, basically AI will be in the hands of a few people and this is in my opinion not good for humanity.
You have recently announced a partnership with the SingularityNET. How does it fit with your project?
SingularityNET is trying to make a marketplace for AI applications. But AI models and data have a very strong relation as AI needs data and reciprocally data are the most valuable when fed into AI algorithms. In addition, SingularityNET shares the same vision as ours: a vision where, like the internet, Artificial Intelligence does not belong to a few individuals.
You are working on a public blockchain. How do you see that in terms of scalability?
BigchainDB has built a scalable blockchain database. We have a history around that. Nevertheless, we understand that there are technical challenges and therefore we need to partner with other projects and scientists but as soon as possible also with the community using the open-source protocol.
In terms of growth, how do you see yourself penetrate the market?
We want to create a global community, having meetups all around the world. If there is a massive attraction in an area we will obviously respond by organizing specific events there.
One of the big advantages of Singapore is that we have already engaged with many companies and government agencies in the past. We hope to continue that and engage even more with other stakeholders here including AI companies, data scientists, SME’s and corporates. We believe that Singapore can reach its goal of becoming the first smart nation in the world with a good management of data. Engagement with government, companies and communities is promoted by the fact that people here have been very forward thinking in this field and they are happy to support what we are doing. Singapore is a very good test case for our project.
To expand to other countries and achieve more decentralization, we are partnering with PwC at the marketplace level in order to make sure to follow some compliance/regulatory structures that vary in relation with different jurisdictions. As an example, the EU will implement a new data regulation called the General Data Protection Regulation (see note below) which we need to make sure to comply with. It should not matter whether the marketplace is running in Germany or in Japan so we need to be cautious about different local regulations and make sure to take that into account in our design. I would even add that the Ocean Protocol is in line with this new regulation as it is exactly one of our objectives: enabling people to have full control of their data.
In terms of product development, we aim at coming with a first Minimum Viable Product by Q3 2018 and network launch by Q1 2019.
“The General Data Protection Regulation was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy. Approved on 14th April 2016, it will be enforced on 25th May 2018 at which time organizations in non-compliance will face heavy fines”. Source: https://www.eugdpr.org
Does that mean that I could also sell my data?
Nothing would prevent you of doing that. However, at the beginning you will have no credibility on the network, so you would need to be referred or put stake (Note: put money at stake means buying and betting tokens such that if one’s data appeared to be false or not actually her, that person will lose her stake (and could even be blacklisted), quite similar to how proof-of-stake achieves consensus in some public blockchains). This is why at the beginning we are starting with those that have larger and valuable datasets. Nevertheless, we are building the token economy with in mind the purpose of not allowing any kind of centralization so of course it will be possible.
What would inhibit me as a big player to create a monopoly?
The rewards that one gets as a result of his data being very popular is logarithmic. Therefore, you cannot take over control as there are incentives for people to work with new data (because of the logarithmic curve). This mechanism ensures that people work, curate and bring new data. Price will have probably little to do with the popularity of the data. In any case, it is not our job to attach that. Data providers have the right to judge which price to set and rules are defined for the data marketplaces by keepers.
It is also important to understand that policies can change depending on the marketplace as they can be subject to different regulations and purposes. There may be some marketplaces specific to some fields like healthcare and energy. As stated previously, we do not think that there will be only one global marketplace.
What is for you an interesting use-case/industry for a decentralized data marketplace?
In my opinion, the most impactful one is healthcare. As an example, in the context of the Parkinson disease some companies are working on AI application to define the right scale of accuracy for tremors measurements. This input is then used to estimate the right dosage, duration and how often patients need to take the medicine. If the condition is not managed properly, they may need to have an implant in their brain which costs about 50.000€. This is a very expensive operation that more accurate machine learning predictions could replace. However, to get a low error rate, we would need 10.000 patient’s data. It is clear that no hospital can provide such amount of data, but a decentralized data marketplace can. Thanks to distributed ledger technologies, the sharing of patient data will be enabled but data will still remain with the patient or within the hospital. An algorithm that has been developed in Singapore could be sent to a hospital in Munich (after making sure that the data are formatted accordingly) for training and returns to Singapore without bringing back data. Moving algorithms is cheaper than moving data. We just need to prove that no data is pulled, which we believe is not difficult to achieve. In this case compliance and regulation are satisfied, the AI is trained and the impact is happening.
More information about Ocean Protocol can be checked on their website. They also have two telegram channels (chat & news) to stay updated. Finally, several related articles can be found on Medium and if you prefer videos here is their youtube channel.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
This article is brought to you by the Bitcoin Center Korea. If you want to learn more about our activities and stay updated with Fintech-related news, please visit our website or our other social media: | https://medium.com/bitcoin-center-korea/ocean-protocol-how-blockchains-can-contribute-to-ai-by-enabling-decentralized-data-exchanges-4b34ff004171 | ['Raphael Hannaert'] | 2018-02-09 20:25:37.636000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Technology', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Diving into Real World DeFi | DeFi is the best business opportunity that I have seen in my career. It’s a hot market, delivering real consumer benefits. Fortunately, I have been able to persuade seven entrepreneurs to join me in building products for “real-world DeFi.”
Maxos is working on a pipeline of projects that we describe as a “venture studio”. This helps us to break the huge restructuring of the financial industry into specific projects that we can contribute to. We are using a weekly group call, a stage-gate process, and a set of private and public Discord channels.
I’m honored to be working with:
We will invite more people to join this group. Please let me know if you are interested. We are recruiting for React and Solidity and more.
About DeFi
DeFi or “decentralized finance” replaces banks, exchanges, funds, and insurance companies with software. Money and securities become objects that a programmer can use. Participants can pool their resources on short notice, create new money, and muscle out more centralized organizations. They are aiming for benefits such as:
Efficiency. It uses far less labor, mainframes, and real estate.
Access. Any Internet citizen can be a producer or a consumer
Pace of innovation
The DeFi industry grew about 20X in 2020. This is exceptional in business history. The balance sheet or “assets locked” in DeFi software grew to about $20B. Token values also grew to about $20B. Revenues grew to about $1B. The expansion continues in 2021.
Investors are pouring money into DeFi projects. Many of these investors are diversifying their bitcoin gains, and looking for high-risk, high-return bets that might follow a trajectory like bitcoin.
Regulatory uncertainty positions DeFi as a high-risk, high return activity. It also aids rapid growth.
“CeFi” or “TradFi” is tied down by a heavy burden of regulations. Crypto and blockchains form a sandbox that regulators have mostly ignored so far. DeFi has built up around borrowing and lending crypto assets such as ETH and BTC. This is a small market that does not impact legacy banks. However, stablecoins have broken out of the box. Users are moving an increasing volume of their transactions out of the older bank network to stablecoins. This bypasses the web of AML checks that regulators have spent twenty years putting in place. Now regulators want to put KYC and AML checks on more DeFi transactions, and a conflict is brewing.
Resolving this conflict will be important for growing the DeFi market. Crypto assets represent less than 1% of liquid assets. DeFi protocols can grow about 100X if they can provide services for “real world” assets that are not crypto. This will expand our ability to finance centrally managed projects such as delivering vaccines and building out renewable energy.
About Real World DeFi
We are developing tactics to expand DeFi beyond cryptocurrency.
Unregulated DeFi is a rich source of innovation and global collaboration. It will be sad if regulators try to collapse DeFi into the same type of regulated organizations that they are used to. Keep DeFi great! We think that the conflict can be resolved with compatibility rather than over-regulation.
There are points where we can add compatibility between regulated and unregulated worlds. This allows us to combine the energy of unregulated (really self-regulated) DeFi, with the scale of regulated assets.
Some real-world compatibility tactics
For example, there is a demand in the world of DeFi for access to public securities. They can be used as collateral ($100T worth of collateral!), and feed into automated processes for margining, fund formation, derivatives and asset backed-security administration, and governance. Securities are heavily regulated, and many of those regulations provide useful consumer protection. However, any DeFi format for securities also runs into exchange regulations which are obsolete and unhelpful. “Digital” exchange operators that try to comply with these regulations end up making a bad product that does not take advantage of blockchain automation and globalization. Exchange regulations form a specific point of incompatibility. This is an opportunity to apply our “compatibility” idea. We can turn off transfers, and avoid exchange regulations. Instead, public securities can be redeemed by selling them into the regulated (and more liquid) public exchange system. Then we turn on pledging to enter the world of DeFi. If we can buy, redeem, and pledge the securities, we can retain much of the benefit of DeFi automation. This is the insight behind our Redeemer project.
Decentralization is a classic tactic. DeFi practitioners are developing a science of open-source organizations that are “sufficiently decentralized” to use tokens without triggering securities laws. This is important because there is no way to comply with the current generation of security exchange rules and also use a token the way that a token should be used, with exchanges between machines, payments, customer rewards, etc. We don’t know what “sufficiently decentralized” is, but we know how to get there. We need to be good at building open source software. We will apply our skills in distributed team management and continuous delivery.
Federated qualification: A lot of financial activities require an identified and qualified participant. In fact, there is a well-qualified buyer out there for almost any financial instrument. If we run into compliance concerns, it helps a lot to know about the qualifications of our buyers. The primitive solution is to make participant sign up on a project-specific portal, which is annoying. Dozens of projects are trying to supply more portable identification. This process works in the world of public securities, where exchange members agree to share their qualified investor information. Why is it not working in crypto? We’ll find out and figure out how to contribute.
Sandboxing: Our goal is to bring the full benefits of DeFi automation to securities investors, including automated exchange, lending, collateral management, pooling, and governance. This is currently not possible under rules governing public securities. However, it is easier if we start with a market for investors who are qualified as professional and sophisticated investors.
Choices at the point of sale: Futures, perpetuals, options, and other derivatives are heavily regulated in the US. DeFi projects that provide these instruments are typically either hiding behind a decentralized exchange, or banning US customers, or both. We note that regulations are mostly designed to control the sale of these instruments. The regulations provide some risk management and qualification around sales to non-bank investors. Our approach to these instruments will build in choices for sellers to qualify buyers (or not) and build in exchange restrictions (or not) at the point of sale.
Guarantees: MakerDao is producing freely transferrable stablecoins from restricted bonds by adding features such as margin calls and guarantees. This is the same thing that banks do to create savings accounts from riskier bonds and loans. We see a beautiful bank architecture that guarantees returns and convertibility for interest-earning stablecoins or “savings coins”.
Escrow: Our Launch Pools project provides a space to work with investors before making key compliance decisions. It costs money to set up a fund or a company to receive investors. Startups face conflicts between US investors that are forced to take equity in a new project, and others that want unregulated tokens. A launch pool keeps money (stakes) in refundable escrow while working through these issues. DeFi adds capabilities that were not possible in the old world of commitment letters, escrow, and SPACs. For example, investors can stake their own choice of interest earning and appreciating assets, rather than using a SPAC manager’s treasury account.
Please talk to us on Discord. | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/diving-into-real-world-defi-7253b82cbd3f | ['Andy Singleton'] | 2021-03-06 23:41:15.501000+00:00 | ['Financial Services', 'Open Source', 'Crypto', 'Venture Capital', 'Defi'] |
Why Stephen Curry is the Second Greatest Point Guard of All-Time | Stephen Curry has been one of the most influential athletes of all time. His on and off the court actions have captivated the hearts of millions of NBA fans around the world. His size frame is relatable to what an average person has as he is not a super tall and muscular athlete. Yet, his play on the court has been dominate and he has been unquestionably a top-five NBA player from the past decade. However, when it comes to his place on the all-time NBA rankings, I along with many feel as if he is consistently over-looked by top-tier NBA analysts and organizations.
Stephen Curry, however, at this current time, is the second-best point guard in NBA HISTORY. Many NBA legends and older analysts, however, can not get over this fact, which is mind-numbing. Players like Shaq and Charles Barkley constantly cite the fact that he is “soft” and would never have survived in their eras. The fact of the matter is that Stephen Curry is a two-time MVP, a three-time NBA champion, and the greatest shooter of all time. Analysts and players don’t look at how he has revolutionized the game of basketball on the court and instead make fun of his size.
Three players who are his “competition” for the second-best point guard are Oscar Robertson, John Stockton, and Isiah Thomas. In terms of accolades, Steph clearly has the advantage. The three of these players have a combined three championships and one MVP. In terms of MVPs, Steph has them beat with his two (and maybe more in the future) and also in championships with three (also maybe more). Looking past these accolades, we can look at these Steph’s leadership. Stephen Curry has been the second-best floor general this past decade behind LeBron James. That is why he and LeBron have met in the finals for nearly half of this decade because they are able to lead their teams to success as the clear alpha-dog. As tough-minded as the other three have been it is even close.
Stephen Curry led his team to 73 wins while at the same time being the unanimous MVP yet people don’t give him credit for that because he didn’t win a championship. Going 73–9 in NBA 2k is hard enough but doing it in real life is something else. But again, people are so hung upon that he didn’t win the championship.
It has become a common theme that people love to hate on greatness at the moment. Fans of former players try to protect their favorite player’s legacy at all costs by citing unrealistic matchups. The game has drastically changed from what it was twenty-years and is not different. The best thing that we as fans can do is either stop comparing former players to current players or look at the cold hard facts about what each player did. Simply saying a player could never survive in a certain era is not justification on why that player is bad. Basketball is constantly evolving and more than likely the game that we see today is not what will be their ten years from now. | https://medium.com/top-level-sports/why-stephen-curry-is-the-second-greatest-point-guard-of-all-time-b366bd60ce39 | ['Nibodh Vallapureddy'] | 2020-05-22 19:15:28.230000+00:00 | ['Opinion', 'Basketball', 'Controversial', 'NBA', 'Stephen Curry'] |
Chinese Consumerism: Failing or Evolving? | Pinduoduo is an innovative and fast-growing e-commerce platform that provides a dynamic shopping experience using “Pin”, a group purchasing model that integrates social experiences with online shopping. Over the last 3 years, Pinduoduo has experienced huge growth, riding on the crest of China’s social media wave. In a financial report released in Mar.13, 2019, Pinduoduo reported that total revenues in 2018 had increased by 652% (up from RMB 1, 744.1 million in 2017 to RMB 13, 120.0 million (US$1,908.2 million) in 2018) primarily due to an increase in revenues from online marketing services [1].
The success of Pinduoduo speaks to a new-found pragmatism amongst China’s youth. It has grown by leveraging their penchant for technology and innovative mobile applications while offering value and a competitive price point. Its success encapsulates much of the key themes driving growth in China’s consumer goods and e-commerce sector. Does its success also indicate a change in consumer preference towards cheaper products and a shift away from luxury?
‘Pin’, a team purchase format that integrates social experiences with online shopping experiences
The Uptrend of Pinduoduo, and Concomitant Downtrend of Consumerism
In the middle of 2018, Pinduoduo filed a prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). During this time Pinduoduo was also embroiled in a litany of negative press stories relating to poor quality control and dire customer service. Despite all this, in 2018 its active buyers still exceeded JD.com, who is now engaged in serious cost-cutting measures as it attempts to offset huge losses [2]. Under pressure from Pinduoduo, Taobao even launched its own low-price version, while Alipay launched a “Super value commodity” section on its front page.
the Alipay APP launched a “Super value commodity” sector
Pinduoduo targets demographics traditionally neglected by larger e-commerce platforms and is heavily reliant on purchases made by coupon clipper groups and middle-old aged women who like dancing in city squares（so-called Square-dancing grannies）. Using Pinduoduo these groups can team up with friends to save money on bulk purchase of cheap goods such as toilet rolls and groceries. Trust me, in the aggregate hundreds of dancing grannies in squares all over China is a force to be reckoned with. It is also why the annual spending per active Pinduoduo buyer in 2018 was only RMB1, 126.9(US$163.9), much lower than both Taobao and JD[3].
Changing Economic Outlook: Optimism giving way to pragmatism
Major changes in China are stressing China’s economy and leading Chinese consumers to tighten their purse strings. Growth in retail sales slowed in 2018 according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China [4].
The optimism, penchant for luxury goods and indifference to premium price tags that hallmarked China’s upward economic trajectory over the last decade is giving way to a more cautious outlook and more pragmatic consumption habits. In many ways, Pinduoduo ascension parallels this change and Pinduoduo is now the poster boy for how to succeed while facing China’s consumption downgrade.
Lumping all young people into the same boat and failing to recognize the nuances
With the slowing growth of retail sales, it is now crucial for the enterprise to understand consumers. The post-eighties, the nineties, and noughties generations have been major drivers for the success of China’s emerging new economy. Take out delivery, new retail, personalized shopping, etc. have all been driven by young people and their penchant for convenience, new technologies, and new experiences. However, oversimplification of consumer stratification has led enterprises to underestimate the nuanced requirements of the various subgroups of China’s young consumers.
Only enterprises that meet the diversified and personalized needs of these consumers can realize continued growth. Social e-commerce such as Pinduoduo is not the only new retail phenomenon in China and hybrid mobile applications which combine e-commerce with group purchasing, vlogging, reviews, user testimonials, and consumer feedback have become extremely popular. Just take a look at how well RED has done amongst young people in China. According to the market report published by Jiguang Big Data, RED has 200 million users and boasted the fastest rate of growth amongst all China’s main e-commerce platforms from 2017 to 2018[5]. The e-commerce platform offers feedback and product reviews combined with group purchasing [6].
The report represents the fastest growth speed of Red’s users according to Jiguang Big Data
Platforms are now also refining their search and advertising algorithms to offer consumers personalized recommendations based on their past purchasing preferences, search history, etc. The 699 million mobile MAUs (monthly active users) of Taobao in December 2018 demonstrates the success of ongoing enhancements in personalized recommendations to cater to a broader base of users [7].
China’s Young Consumers: Understanding is Key
According to the global post-95 consumers’ research report released by Accenture, the post-95 consumers in China have unique consumption views, including different life needs, shopping habits, and shopping channels [6]. They are also willing to try the new products and look for new experiences particularly if it is promoted by their peers or KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) in social media. Lifestyles of China’s younger generations deviate markedly compared to traditional values.
A Snapshot of the Younger Generations Lifestyle
This generation of young Chinese is a unity of contradictions. On the one hand, they are willing to buy cheap copies of higher quality goods. On the other hand, they are willing to pay a premium for novel products and new experiences involving cooperation between brands and popular IP. On the one hand, they have become jaded by the negative influences of mass consumption but on the other hand, they are receptive to creative ideas that recognize them as a unique and separate group.
Limited Lipsticks Launched by MAC and Tencent’s game King’s Glory are popular with young women in China
Consumer differentiation
So, back to the question at the beginning of this article, is China currently in the grips of a consumption upgrade or downgrade? At ChemLinked we think the question is overly simplistic. A better question is how have consumers changed and how can we better understand these changes?
In my next article, I will talk about some of the implications brought about by China’s “consumption differentiation”. Furthermore, we will discuss how to design marketing campaigns to help entrepreneurs to meet the needs of China’s younger generation.
References:
1. Pinduoduo Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2018 Results
2. JD.com Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Results
3. 拼多多创办三年上市，市值赶上 2/3 个京东
4. Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods from National Bureau of Statistics of China
5. 2018 E-commerce Industry Research Report by Jiguang Big Data
6. Accenture: Global Post-95 Consumer Survey
7. Alibaba Group Announces December Quarter 2018 Results | https://medium.com/@guoty1117/consumption-upgrade-or-consumption-downgrade-bbd617f9e64a | [] | 2019-06-14 09:19:18.815000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Branding', 'Enterprise', 'Consumer', 'Youth'] |
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Right Now” Rankings Entering 2021 | Back again for 2021!
Every year I compile MLB Network’s “Top 100 Players Right Now” in one place (in this here blog) which airs annually before the regular season begins.
Beginning in 2014, I decided to supplement those rankings by giving you a place to find all of the Top 10 Right Now lists as well.
PREVIOUS LISTS
2020’s Top 10 Right Now
2019’s list
2018’s list
2017’s list
2016
2015
2014
I’ll update this post over the weeks as the different positional episodes air on MLB Network in early 2021.
Monday, January 11: Relief Pitchers
Tuesday, January 12: Catchers
Wednesday, January 13: Center Fielders
Tuesday, January 19: Left Fielders
Wednesday, January 20: First Basemen
Wednesday, January 27: Third Basemen
Thursday, January 28: Starting Pitchers
Monday, February 1: Second Basemen
Tuesday, February 2: Shortstops
Wednesday, February 3: Right Fielders
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Relief Pitchers Right Now”
Liam Hendriks - Chicago White Sox Drew Pomeranz - San Diego Padres DEVIN WILLIAMS - MILWAUKEE BREWERS Nick Anderson - Tampa Bay Rays James Karinchak - Cleveland Indians Brad Hand - Washington Nationals Aroldis Chapman - New York Yankees Aaron Bummer - Chicago White Sox Tyler Duffey - Minnesota Twins JOSH HADER - MILWAUKEE BREWERS
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Relief Pitchers is Dan Plesac). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro, the former President of SABR.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into another Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Hendriks, Anderson, WILLIAMS, HADER, Pomeranz, Chapman, Karinchak, Edwin Díaz (NYM), Raisel Iglesias (LAA), Hand
Langs: Hendriks, WILLIAMS, HADER, Anderson, Chapman, Zack Britton (NYY), Iglesias, Karinchak, Pomeranz, Seth Lugo (NYM)
Gennaro: HADER, Anderson, Ryan Pressly (HOU), Hendriks, Giovanny Gallegos (STL), Britton, WILLIAMS, Chapman, Amir Garrett (CIN), Kirby Yates (TOR)
Kenny: Hendriks, Hand, Yates, Anderson, HADER, WILLIAMS, Chapman, Pomeranz, Harris, Iglesias
Plesac: Hendriks, WILLIAMS, Anderson, Hand, Pomeranz, Britton, Chapman, HADER, Duffey, Bummer
Social Media Fan Vote: Hendriks, HADER, WILLIAMS, Trevor May (MIN), Chapman, Anderson, Díaz, Garrett, Alex Colomé (CHW), Jake Diekman (OAK)
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Catchers Right Now”
J.T. Realmuto - Philadelphia Phillies Yasmani Grandal - Chicago White Sox Will Smith - Los Angeles Dodgers Willson Contreras - Chicago Cubs Sean Murphy - Oakland Athletics Austin Nola - San Diego Padres Salvador Perez - Kansas City Royals Travis d’Arnaud - Atlanta Braves Mitch Garver - Minnesota Twins James McCann - New York Mets
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Catchers is probably Dave Valle). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into another Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Grandal, Realmuto, Smith, Murphy, Contreras, Nola, Perez, Christian Vázquez (BOS), McCann, d’Arnaud
Langs: Realmuto, Grandal, Perez, d’Arnaud, Smith, Contreras, McCann, Murphy, Roberto Pérez (CLE), Nola
Gennaro: Grandal, Realmuto, Garver, Smith, Pérez, Contreras, d’Arnaud, Vázquez, Jason Castro (HOU), McCann
Kenny: Realmuto, Smith, Contreras, Grandal, Perez, McCann, Garver, Yadier Molina (FA), Tucker Barnhart (CIN), Gary Sánchez (NYY)
Valle: Realmuto, Grandal, Contreras, Perez, Smith, Vázquez, McCann, Murphy, Nola, d’Arnaud
Social Media Fan Vote: Realmuto, Molina, Perez, Grandal, Contreras, Smith, McCann, Posey, d’Arnaud, Garver
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Center Fielders Right Now”
Mike Trout - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Cody Bellinger - Los Angeles Dodgers George Springer - Toronto Blue Jays Alex Verdugo - Boston Red Sox Brandon Nimmo - New York Mets Kyle Lewis - Seattle Mariners Ramón Laureano - Oakland Athletics Trent Grisham - San Diego Padres Starling Marte - Miami Marlins Byron Buxton - Minnesota Twins
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Center Fielders is Mark DeRosa). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into another Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Trout, Bellinger, Springer, Grisham, Nimmo, Buxton, Luis Robert (CHW), Ian Happ (CHC), Lewis, Verdugo
Langs: Trout, Bellinger, Springer, Robert, Grisham, Buxton, Lewis, Marte, Laureano, Happ
Gennaro: Trout, Bellinger, Springer, Laureano, Aaron Hicks (NYY), Nimmo, Lewis, Happ, Verdugo, Grisham
Kenny: Trout, Bellinger, Springer, Nimmo, Laureano, Marte, Happ, Hicks, LORENZO CAIN (MIL), Verdugo
DeRosa: Trout, Bellinger, Springer, Lewis, Robert, Verdugo, Buxton, Happ, Laureano, Marte
Social Media Fan Vote: Trout, Bellinger, Robert, Springer, Buxton, CAIN, Lewis, Grisham, Laureano, Hicks
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Left Fielders Right Now”
CHRISTIAN YELICH - MILWAUKEE BREWERS Michael Brantley - Houston Astros Mark Canha - Oakland Athletics Marcell Ozuna - FREE AGENT Jesse Winker - Cincinnati Reds Dominic Smith - New York Mets Eloy Jiménez - Chicago White Sox Alex Dickerson - San Francisco Giants Clint Frazier - New York Yankees Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. - Toronto Blue Jays
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Left Fielders is Mark DeRosa). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into another Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: YELICH, Ozuna, Jiménez, Brantley, Randy Arozarena (TB), Gurriel Jr., Winker, Frazier, Smith, Canha
Langs: YELICH, Ozuna, Jiménez, Brantley, Smith, Arozarena, Winker, Gurriel Jr., Frazier, Tommy Pham (SD)
Gennaro: YELICH, Brantley, Smith, Ozuna, Canha, Jiménez, Arozarena, Winker, Dickerson, Andrew Benintendi (KC)
Kenny: YELICH, Jiménez, Ozuna, Brantley, Winker, Bryan Reynolds (PIT), Arozarena, Gurriel Jr., Smith, Frazier
DeRosa: YELICH, Ozuna, Brantley, Jiménez, Arozarena, Gurriel Jr., Frazier, Pham, Canha, Smith
Social Media Fan Vote: YELICH, Ozuna, Arozarena, Jiménez, Brantley, Gurriel, Jr., Dickerson, Smith, A.J. Pollock (LAD), Benintendi
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 First Basemen Right Now”
Freddie Freeman - Atlanta Braves Paul Goldschmidt - St. Louis Cardinals Luke Voit - New York Yankees José Abreu - Chicago White Sox Max Muncy - Los Angeles Dodgers Anthony Rizzo - Chicago Cubs Pete Alonso - New York Mets Matt Olson - Oakland Athletics Rhys Hoskins - Philadelphia Phillies Carlos Santana - Kansas City Royals
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the First Basemen is Sean Casey). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into another Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Freeman, Voit, Olson, Goldschmidt, Abreu, Rizzo, Alonso, Muncy, Brandon Belt (SF), Hoskins
Langs: Freeman, Abreu, Goldschmidt, Voit, Muncy, Rizzo, Olson, Alonso, Josh Bell (WAS), Belt
Gennaro: Freeman, Muncy, Alonso, Abreu, Olson, Voit, Belt, Bell, Rizzo, Trey Mancini (BAL)
Kenny: Freeman, Goldschmidt, Rizzo, Abreu, Olson, Alonso, Hoskins, Voit, Muncy, Belt
Casey: Freeman, Abreu, Voit, Olson, Rizzo, Alonso, Goldschmidt, Muncy, Hoskins, Mancini
Social Media Fan Vote: (Apparently this didn’t happen for First Basemen.)
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Third Basemen Right Now”
Anthony Rendon - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Alex Bregman - Houston Astros Nolan Arenado - St. Louis Cardinals José Ramírez - Cleveland Indians Manny Machado - San Diego Padres Justin Turner - FREE AGENT Matt Chapman - Oakland Athletics Josh Donaldson - Minnesota Twins Gio Urshela - New York Yankees Eugenio Suárez - Cincinnati Reds
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Third Basemen is Mike Lowell). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into another Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Rendon, Ramírez, Bregman, Chapman, Machado, Arenado, Urshela, Turner, Ke’Bryan Hayes (PIT), Rafael Devers (BOS)
Langs: Arenado, Ramírez, Rendon, Machado, Bregman, Chapman, Yoan Moncada (CHW), Hayes, Devers, Alec Bohm (PHI)
Gennaro: Rendon, Bregman, Arenado, Chapman, Ramírez, Donaldson, Turner, Suárez, Devers, Machado
Kenny: Bregman, Rendon, Ramírez, Chapman, Arenado, Machado, Donaldson, Turner, Kris Bryant (CHC), Suárez
Lowell: Rendon, Arenado, Ramírez, Chapman, Machado, Bregman, Turner, Donaldson, Suárez, Bohm
Social Media Fan Vote: Arenado, Machado, Chapman, Ramírez, Rendon, Bregman, Turner, Urshela, Moncada, Bryant
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Staring Pitchers Right Now”
Jacob deGrom - New York Mets Gerrit Cole - New York Yankees Max Scherzer - Washington Nationals Trevor Bauer - FREE AGENT Shane Bieber - Cleveland Indians Hyun-Jin Ryu - Toronto Blue Jays Clayton Kershaw - Los Angeles Dodgers Dinelson Lamet - San Diego Padres Aaron Nola - Philadelphia Phillies Walker Buehler - Los Angeles Dodgers
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Starting Pitchers is Ron Darling). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into another Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Bieber, deGrom, Cole, Yu Darvish (SD), Nola, Buehler, Bauer, Luis Castillo (CIN), Lucas Giolito (CHW), Kershaw
Langs: deGrom, Cole, Bieber, Bauer, Darvish, Scherzer, Buehler, Nola, Kershaw, Giolito
Gennaro: deGrom, Cole, Blake Snell (SD), Bieber, Giolito, Bauer, Darvish, Lance Lynn (CHW), Tyler Glasnow (TB), Castillo
Kenny: Cole, deGrom, Bieber, Scherzer, Ryu, Darvish, Bauer, Buehler, Kershaw, Max Fried (ATL)
Darling: deGrom, Cole, Bieber, Buehler, Darvish, Bauer, Jack Flaherty (STL), Giolito, Nola, Fried
Social Media Fan Vote: deGrom, Cole, Scherzer, Bauer, Bieber, Darvish, Buehler, Kershaw, Snell, Fried
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Second Basemen Right Now”
D.J. LeMahieu - New York Yankees Jeff McNeil - New York Mets Ketel Marte - Arizona Diamondbacks Brandon Lowe - Tampa Bay Rays Cavan Biggio - Toronto Blue Jays Jake Cronenworth - San Diego Padres Donovan Solano - San Francisco Giants Chris Taylor - Los Angeles Dodgers José Altuve - Houston Astros Ozzie Albies - Atlanta Braves
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Second Basemen is Harold Reynolds). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into a Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: LeMahieu, Lowe, McNeil, Altuve, Albies, Biggio, Marte, Luis Arraez (MIN), Tommy La Stella (SF), David Fletcher (LAA)
Langs: LeMahieu, Lowe, Cronenworth, McNeil, Kiké Hernández (BOS), Mike Moustakas (CIN), Altuve, Marte, Albies, Biggio
Gennaro: LeMahieu, Marte, Albies, Biggio, McNeil, Lowe, KOLTEN WONG (MIL), Taylor, Altuve, Arraez
Kenny: LeMahieu, McNeil, Altuve, Albies, Biggio, Lowe, Marte, Moustakas, Cronenworth, Arraez
Reynolds: LeMahieu, Altuve, Albies, Lowe, Marte, McNeil, Moustakas, Solano, Biggio, Cronenworth
Social Media Fan Vote: LeMahieu, Albies, Altuve, Fletcher, McNeil, WONG, Lowe, Cronenworth, Marte, Arraez
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Shortstops Right Now”
Trevor Story - Colorado Rockies Fernando Tatis, Jr.- San Diego Padres Xander Bogaerts - Boston Red Sox Francisco Lindor - New York Mets Trea Turner - Washington Nationals Corey Seager - Los Angeles Dodgers Carlos Correa - Houston Astros Bo Bichette - Toronto Blue Jays Javier Báez - Chicago Cubs Tim Anderson - Chicago White Sox
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Shortstops is Harold Reynolds). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into a Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Tatis Jr., Lindor, Seager, Story, Turner, Bogaerts, Anderson, Bichette, Báez, Correa
Langs: Tatis Jr., Story, Lindor, Turner, Seager, Correa, Bogaerts, Anderson, Bichette, Báez
Gennaro: Bogaerts, Lindor, Seager, Anderson, Tatis Jr., Story, Marcus Semien (TOR), Correa, Bichette, Turner
Kenny: Tatis Jr., Lindor, Seager, Turner, Bogaerts, Story, Gleyber Torres (NYY), Anderson, Correa, Bichette
Reynolds: Tatis Jr., Lindor, Story, Bogaerts, Turner, Correa, Seager, Anderson, Báez, Semien
Social Media Fan Vote: Tatis Jr., Lindor, Seager, Story, Turner, Báez, Anderson, Correa, Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson (ATL)
—
MLB Network’s “Top 10 Right Fielders Right Now”
Mookie Betts - Los Angeles Dodgers Juan Soto - Washington Nationals Ronald Acuña, Jr. - Atlanta Braves Aaron Judge - New York Yankees Bryce Harper - Philadelphia Phillies Mike Yastrzemski - San Francisco Giants Michael Conforto - New York Mets Joey Gallo - Texas Rangers Charlie Blackmon - Colorado Rockies Jorge Soler - Kansas City Royals
The rankings above are from MLB Network’s “Shredder” which takes into account a multitude of statistical factors (focused on a three-year sample; utilizes WAR, wRC+, Statcast metrics) with no human bias. Each episode also provides six additional lists: One from Brian Kenny, and one from an MLB Network analyst (who for the Right Fielders is Cliff Floyd). They also reveal the Top 10 lists of what they call the “Sabermetric Super Panel, ” including Mike Petriello and Sarah Langs of MLB.com, and Vince Gennaro.
They allowed fans to once again vote on social media and compiled their rankings into a Top 10.
Here are all of the individual Top 10’s with the first mention of a player in italics and any Brewers players bolded.
Petriello: Soto, Betts, Acuña Jr., Judge, Harper, Conforto, Yastrzemski, Teoscar Hernández (TOR), Austin Meadows (TB), Gallo
Langs: Soto, Betts, Acuña Jr., Judge, Harper, Conforto, Hernández, Gallo, Yastrzemski, Meadows
Gennaro: Soto, Betts, Acuña Jr., Judge, Harper, Conforto, Hernández, Gallo, Yastrzemski, Nicholas Castellanos (CIN)
Kenny: Betts, Soto, Acuña Jr., Harper, Judge, Conforto, Yastrzemski, Meadows, Gallo, Whit Merrifield (KC)
Floyd: Betts, Soto, Acuña Jr., Harper, Conforto, Judge, Myers, Hernández, Merrifield, Kyle Tucker (HOU)
Social Media Fan Vote: Betts, Soto, Acuña Jr., Judge, Conforto, Harper, Blackmon, Castellanos, Myers, Merrifield | https://medium.com/brewernation/mlb-networks-top-10-right-now-rankings-entering-2021-f3cc6b778fc3 | ['The Brewer Nation'] | 2021-02-11 04:35:40.863000+00:00 | ['Players', 'Top 10 Right Now', 'MLB', 'Mlb Network', 'Top 10'] |
Gradient Descent Update rule for Multiclass Logistic Regression | Gradient Descent Update rule for Multiclass Logistic Regression
This is continuing off of my Logistic Regression on CIFAR-10 article, so skim that for some details —especially the intuition on cross-entropy and softmax.
Here are a few details about the CIFAR-10 image dataset this article is being written in the context of.
CIFAR-10 has ten possible classes.
CIFAR-10 has 3072 features per example (color pixel values in an image)
I’d recommend a good knowledge of derivatives and simple neural network functions, like backpropagation for this part. Even if you do know those things, you won’t understand just from reading this. Work through the problem yourself, and solve the problems you encounter.
A second disclaimer — out of simplicity, all of this will be assuming a single training example.
To derive the update rules of the parameters, it helps to think of logistic regression as a simple neural network, with zero hidden layers.
Much of this proof is from this fantastic lecture: | https://ai.plainenglish.io/gradient-descent-update-rule-for-multiclass-logistic-regression-4bf3033cac10 | ['Adam Dhalla'] | 2020-11-29 09:17:16.875000+00:00 | ['Logistic Regression', 'Gradient Descent', 'AI', 'Mathematics', 'Neural Networks'] |
Why you should learn to code. | Computer classes in primary schools meant playing games and learning how to type. It was in grade 7 when I was first introduced to the world of programming. Back then we were taught some basic HTML and high-level programming language — BASIC. This sudden shift in knowledge load was nerve-wracking for me. Computer classes were no more fun. During that time I could never grasp the concept of programming or how it worked. I ended up rote learning the steps when exams neared. I whole-heartedly dreaded the subject.
Nevertheless, over time, my perception of coding has changed. I have come to learn that programming inherently is beautiful. It’s wonderful how just a bunch of instructions executed in sequence can make awesome things happen. Humans are always looking for ways to automate tasks that need to be repeated thousands of times over, to reduce as much effort and time as possible. And coding is just the way of doing it. Although I’m not a pro programmer yet, I still want to share why learning how to code can be a valuable skill in your toolbox. So let’s get into some points that will hopefully convince you to start coding if you haven’t yet.
1. Great Job prospects
First and foremost, the obvious one. There is no denying that technology is everywhere. Almost every industry across the world is moving towards a digitized format. Computing jobs are lacking IT professionals and software developers are high in demand. Even if you are not an IT professional, basic programming skills can give you the edge in an increasingly competitive market.
2. Develops structured and creative thinking
While solving problems, programmers first break them into workable pieces. Instead of starting to code right away, they come with logical solutions for the workable pieces. Then those pieces are combined into a singular functional unit. So, learning how to program develops the habit of structurally approaching a problem. You gradually train your brain to solve real-life problems similarly. You start giving logic and rationale to your instincts. So, instead of getting overwhelmed you start coming up with creative solutions. You will be quicker at pattern recognition and from this, you will be able to more readily adapt to a chaotic and changing landscape.
3. You can automate repetitive tasks
Programming makes your life easier. Once you learn how to program, you can cut down on so much manual labor. For example, you are an HR at your company. You need to keep track of every existing and new coming employees’ information correctly. Entering all of that data manually can get tedious in no time. But, you could write a short program and it could fill out all the information with a single click.
Lots of jobs require to use of Excel sheets daily. Some of the daily actions you perform can be as simple as adding contents of columns 2,3 and 4 and then finding the average of the result. Doing this continuously is chaotic and inefficient. Instead, you could write a small program that does all these functions at once. You will be saving time effort and increasing accuracy.
4. Coming up with ingenious solutions.
Most programmers come from a science background. They are trained rigorously in subjects like math, physics, and chemistry. Therefore, their solutions are heavily biased towards the former. But imagine if people from liberal arts were to combine their knowledge with coding. The solutions they come up with would surely be more creative. This way they get a platform to voice their ideas. Building the future should not be dependent on only scientists and engineers. There needs to be significant input from writers, politicians, artists who study our culture.
5. Work as a freelancer
You can start a side job working as a freelance. This way you have more than one source of income. When layoffs happen at your permanent job you won’t have to go running for another job opening. Plus, you’ll have the added flexibility of only saying yes to those projects you want to do. The job market is completely changing due to COVID-19. Many professions are being dissolved and people are trying to reach new opportunities to survive. It’s a wise decision to keep another option open.
6. It teaches you persistence
Programming and learning how to code is not as easy as learning to read or write. There will be times when you will want to give up completely. But once you start building things and putting your ideas into action, you will start seeing problems in the light of solutions. For me, there were numerous times when my code didn’t work and I ended up abandoning projects. But once you learn the hard truth that nothing worth learning is learned in a day, you stop wanting to give up anytime a hurdle appears. You stop giving up on other difficult situations in your day-to-day life as well. You become patient because you know there is always a solution. It just needs some more effort, just like it happens when you create a program, run it, and debug it several times to reach the perfect solution. You transform yourself into a solution-driven individual.
Having said all of that, I also want to point out that coding isn’t a basic necessity. Having the ability to program solutions will surely help you stand out in the job market. But it is not a basic skill or prerequisite that should be imposed on those who do not seek to do so. I’m sure most of us have seen instances where budding talents in other fields do not fulfill their potential by getting into STEM. The truth is, you should only learn programming if you’re interested or your job could benefit from such a skill. You should not let peer, parental, or societal pressure push you into something you don’t want to do. This not only hampers your career but also discourages people who want to get into this field. | https://medium.com/@asmita438/why-you-should-learn-to-code-d387180136a6 | ['Asmita Mallik'] | 2020-12-02 13:49:02.189000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Coding', 'Why Learn Codes', 'STEM'] |
Be a Better Listener | Many leadership development courses focus on communication with an emphasis on how to clearly articulate an idea. While this is important, it’s not the only component of communication. Communication is a two-way street — it involves not only articulating your own thoughts but also understanding what others are saying. Effective listening is a skill, and just like any other skill, it can be improved through intentional practice.
In his publication, Listening Effectively, John Kline outlines some practical suggestions for how to be a better listener. There are many of the more obvious tips such as taking good notes, making eye contact, and practicing good posture. I have chosen to summarize some of the more unique tips concerning what we think and feel about listening below:
1. Understand the complexities of listening. Listening involves more than simply hearing a message. It also involves understanding and message and, in many cases, remembering that message later. It’s not a passive activity. Think about the components of listening and work to understand them so that you can identify where you can improve.
2. Prepare to listen. This includes three phases: long-term, mid-term, and short-term. In the long-term phase, Kline notes that you need to widen your vocabulary. For coaches and teachers, this means learning new slang terms that may come about. Mid-term preparation involves doing the background research necessary prior to listening such as readings or slides, perhaps reviewing notes from prior meetings. Short-term preparation is immediate readiness — be prepared with pen and paper in hand so that when someone starts talking you are ready to receive.
3. Want to listen. This sounds like a basic suggestion but it’s important to remember. There are many situations in which we might feel like a hostage in a boring presentation, lecture, or even when someone drops by to chat. Going in with this mindset doesn’t do anything to promote effective listening. Reframe the situation in your mind and think about what you stand to gain if you listen well.
4. Delay judgment. Of course, there are situations where you must judge the speaker on the merits of what they are saying. However, typically, when we start judging we stop listening. Try to delay judgment until the end of the message. Make use of pauses between speakers to judge the message once it has been delivered in its entirety.
5. Accept responsibility for understanding. While the speaker bears a large responsibility in communicating a message effectively, listeners also have the responsibility of listening and understanding. Accepting this responsibility and listening with the intention of not just hearing but truly understanding the message is what makes good listeners stand out.
The fact is, good listening evokes trust in a relationship. People can tell when you aren’t really engaged in a conversation. As well, recalling information from previous conversations makes people feel special and heard. There is always room to improve your listening skills. Practice being an effective listener in your interactions today. | https://medium.com/horizonperformance/be-a-better-listener-aa574431686 | ['Julia Brown'] | 2020-11-04 20:41:07.847000+00:00 | ['Coaching', 'Leadership', 'Leadership Development'] |
Concepting Periodical | Welcome to the world of Concept Composing.
Adventure Poem for our first Periodical
Heyo! I’m Norm, a Concept Composer building a nascent Concepting function at Plaid. You’ve found our even more nascent Periodical series, where I’ll be discussing our explorations and learnings as the function evolves. What’s that composer role you mentioned? Great question!
A Concept Composer is someone who explores the form of an idea. They wade between exploring and documenting; composing into the unknown, and making sense of new ideas. The role was discovered by myself and Yatú as part of our research as Teal Process & Company. We like to think of the role as a combination of an artist, theorist, and designer.
The Concepting function at Plaid is a home to grow Concept Composers. Plaid’s provided a wonderful environment to explore ambiguity since I joined as a design intern in 2017. So while discovering this new role, I was always thinking about how it could be applied at Plaid.
I chatted with designers, design managers, and researchers on the team to understand how the role could best support the organization. Where we landed is the creation of a Concepting function that sits alongside our Research & Insights function. Here’s the initial primer I presented to the org!
In an organization like Plaid we’ve found two primary benefits of building a Concepting function.
To enable product teams by helping accelerate the development and testing of new ideas. To conduct research on how we explore, and build infrastructure to support exploration improvements.
Cones of Potential Value
As we’re less than a year in, there’s much more to discover. A sentiment I try to repeat is that the act of concepting happens all across an organization every day. Creating a Concepting function just provides attention to think more deeply about how an organization generates ideas.
If you’ve started exploring a similar role or function, I’d love to chat!
Til yonder times,
Norm & Co. | https://medium.com/plaid-design/concepting-periodical-c19a493cb7cf | ["Norm O'Hagan"] | 2021-09-10 17:42:15.048000+00:00 | ['Composer', 'Design', 'Role Definition', 'Concepting', 'Process'] |
How Exercising Two Hours Per Day Everyday Makes An Impact On You | Working out can be a burden at times, especially when you’re preoccupied with loads of work where you just don’t seem to find any time for a 3k run or so—it’s totally understandable and so many people have experienced this in their life.
Yet, after forcing myself to exercise at least two hours—5k of running and a pack of HIIT workouts—per day for the past year or so, I have come to a reckoning of not only the physical impact it had on me, but also the mentality shift in my psychological sphere.
Here are a list of impacts I found after persevering a year, squeezing daily workout hours into my fittingly long days, and I’m truly proud of the feat I have achieved.
Here are the some stuff I’ve experienced, and why you should also make sure to take a couple of hours a day to immerse yourself in sweat and physical training.
Better Mood
Have you ever woken up to the feeling of weariness and bewildered by the meaning of your life? I oftentimes find myself in a situation where you’re just mystified by what you have planned that day as if all the memories have been wiped away by a night of dreams.
This is when you know you need a quick morning run.
As you jot down the street, gazing at the surroundings you thought you’re accustomed to yet recalling waves of recollections twirling around your brain, you find yourself in a starkly different world—one where all stress and anxieties are eased away like the pencil blemishes rubbed away by an eraser.
The sweat and yourself catching breath brings about joy and promise. | https://medium.com/@raycheng07/how-exercising-two-hours-per-day-everyday-makes-an-impact-on-you-644eafa5ebe1 | ['Ray Cheng'] | 2020-12-23 18:11:47.656000+00:00 | ['Exercise', 'Running', 'Health', 'Workout'] |
Ecommerce Bakery & Cakes — UX Case Study | The emergence of online food delivery services such as UberEats, Foodora, and DoorDash has fundamentally changed the way consumers are purchasing food. Despite the eCommerce industry experiencing double digital growth year over year, there are still many products that are not traditionally viewed as items that are sold online. Cakes and bakery goods are one of the non-traditional items.
Myself and 3 other team members were tasked to conduct user research and deliver mid-fi prototypes for an eCommerce store that sold and delivered bakery and cake goods.
The Challenge:
We wanted to create an excellent buying experience that plays to the strength of online shopping while overcoming consumers’ hesitations about purchasing cakes and bakery goods online. Bakery and cake goods also pose their own unique challenges and the need to stand out from an extremely competitive industry became very apparent.
Research Phase:
Domain & Organizational Research:
To start, we did extensive domain and organizational research to get a better understanding of the industry as a whole. This allowed us to set our expectations and more effectively ask the right questions in our interviews and survey. We learned about the current status of the industry, its projected growth, and how consumer preferences are changing.
Interviews & Surveys:
Armed with a host of questions from previous research, we set out to interview 4 people that we felt would be good candidates to use an eCommerce platform we were designing. As we started to compile the research some trends and insights started to emerge.
Interview Findings:
Many interviewees never considered purchasing these goods online.
They were time-strapped and welcomed the idea that online shopping could bring.
They had objections and trust concerns about product quality and delivery.
organic ingredients were important factors with some interviewees stating that adhering to dietary requirements would help them make a purchase decision online.
From there we created a 13 question survey to paint a better picture of who our potential user is and what challenges they face. In total, we received 62 responses from our survey. The results reinforced our findings from our interviews. Despite these challenges, we found some opportunities and gaps in the market that an eCommerce store could potentially solve.
Survey Findings: | https://medium.com/mike-renton/ecommerce-bakery-cakes-ux-case-study-c6de43ff79d6 | ['M Renton'] | 2020-04-07 04:13:49.681000+00:00 | ['User Experience Design', 'User Research', 'Ecommerce', 'Case Study'] |
“Anxiety lives in the future.” | “What if this happens?” “What if that happens?” Imagined possibilities of terrible events, events that are not currently happening, but might.
Anxiety is a common topic in therapy. Even when anxiety is not the primary diagnosis, there are elements of anxiety that hide in depression, in disorders of attention and focus, and most certainly in trauma.
So where does anxiety live? “Anxiety lives in the future.”
This is something that I find myself saying often in my office. But what does this phrase mean, that anxiety “lives in the future”?
Let’s go back for a minute to our sophisticated brains and this “freeze/fight/flight” system. This system is present for survival. If there is a deadly threat running at us, then you want to freeze for a brief moment to assess the situation. After this initial response, then you are presented with two choices: get ready to fight or to run away as fast as you can (flight).
You want two choices, not twenty. If you did have twenty choices to cycle through, by the time you evaluate them all, this deadly threat has eaten you. You want fight or flight, either/or, all/nothing.
Then once you evade the threat or fight it off, at that point this system begins to calm.
Now, our brains are sophisticated. But, this system is not sophisticated enough to tell the difference between a future-oriented, imagined threat and a present one.
So what happens is that we imagine the deadly threat or the possible child abduction or the bankruptcy or the murderer lurking in the bushes and this system goes into gear . . . not because of an actual threat, but because of an imagined one.
The threat is not happening in the present, but our bodies and brains are reacting as if it is.
Is what we imagine a possible future? Sure it is. I would not advocate that we never plan for a possible negative event, but then there is a limit too.
Anxiety pushes us past these limits, imagining all sorts of horrible, future-oriented outcomes. Then we physically feel as if these things are happening in the present moment.
Remember that anxiety is a body event, which means that our heart rate increases; muscles tighten; we get a shot of stress hormones; our vision narrows; we think in either/or dichotomies; our breathing becomes shallow and tight so that we can be ready to fight or run. | https://medium.com/whenanxietystrikes/anxiety-lives-in-the-future-43301f864690 | ['Jason B. Hobbs Lcsw'] | 2018-09-28 19:48:40.883000+00:00 | ['Trauma', 'Mindfulness', 'Mental Illness', 'Anxiety', 'Therapy'] |
Team Names Inspired By Victorian Women | The Denver Broncos? Get out of here with those animal names! I want something with more weight. More history! Give me some more teams inspired by Victorian women, like the ones below.
Images licensed from Rawpixel, illustrated by author
The Corseted Conquers
The Corseted Conquers are as supportive of each other as their namesake is for women’s figures. Besides some tactics in the field that leave their opponents breathless, the Corseted Conquers are fearless and will squeeze in as many points as possible during the game.
The Maids of Mayhem
They’re going to wipe the court with your blood. Then they’ll have to clean up that blood because of their station. Still, the Maids of Mayhem aren’t afraid of hard work or overwhelming odds. They’ve got nothing to lose, so they’re going all-in because they’ve dead-set on polishing that trophy.
The Debutantes
There are two kinds of matches the Debutantes love. The kind that raises them up in society, and the kind against a worthy opponent. When they come out shouting, “Wanna dance,” you better not sign your name on their card. You’re in for a whirl as they whizz about the field scoring goals faster than the spread of gossip. If you’re lucky one will drop a glove and you’ll get to introduce yourself. Which might make them more likely too hurt you a little less when they crush you.
The Grim Governesses
These Grim Governesses are here to teach other teams a lesson. IN PAIN! “Spare the tackle spoil, the opponent,” is their motto. They’ve got brains and muscles built from a life with books. If you can’t handle getting schooled in losing then you best get out of the game.
The Victorious Virgins
No one’s ever besmirched their honor or beat them on the volleyball court. A relatively new team, the Victorious Virgins are ready for some good, clean, pure sportsmanship. Don’t think their lack of experience means they aren’t a force to be reckoned with though. This team is harder to beat than the social pressure to not have sex until marriage. | https://medium.com/jane-austens-wastebasket/team-names-inspired-by-victorian-women-82143974e990 | ['Kyrie Gray'] | 2020-10-09 00:14:39.363000+00:00 | ['Satire', 'History', 'Humor', 'Books', 'Sports'] |
Back on my bullshit & back on the ‘Brance | I started writing a play today.
Thinly, oh so thinly, based on my experiences in this past year.
Whatever.
Very little fiction is pure fiction — most fiction is cut with a fair amount of lived experience, lived truth.
So I’m doing absolutely nothing wrong. I am violating no “writer’s oath.”
I always love when Terry Gross (I love Terry Gross!) is interviewing a novelist and she says something like, “So the main character’s mother goes into a nursing home, and I know your own mother went into a nursing home — is there any connection?”
C’mon, Ms. Gross. Quit being coy. You KNOW there’s a connection.
No writer worth their salt WOULD NOT USE
their mother-in-the-nursing-home or their really-ugly-breakup or
their shocking-stage-iv-cancer-diagnosis as a prompt.
If you are a writer
and you never draw from your own suffering
you are only
making your job
tougher.
Trust me.
Don’t run out and get cancer or have a bad relationship or throw your mother in a nursing home, but if you ever have a tragedy
(and if you live long enough, I’m sorry, but you will),
and you’re a writer/filmmaker/playwright/dancer — whatever
— and you don’t use that tragedy to your art’s advantage?
You’re not thinking well.
It’s not exploiting your own suffering.
You can’t exploit yourself. (Well, you probably can, but that’s for a different post.)
You can only use your own very real bullshit to
help other people know they’re not alone
in their bullshit or at the very least,
to help other people know
there are other people out there
with bullshit way worse
than your own: so be NICE.
Today was day six “back on the ‘Brance” — back on the Ibrance, I mean.
I feel a little tired. Ibrance always makes me feel gross, but
that’s what caffeine and cannabis and hard laughter are for.
Tomorrow, after my online classes, I’m masking up and heading to campus
to have “one last class” in the room where I’ve taught for the past (nearly)
seven years.
My students will consist of six former students.
Some are done with college,
some are just beginning.
Some never went to college at all.
We’re going to mask up and stand in Room 13, with its beautiful view, and read some good quotes about life, about beauty, about truth. And then we’re going to say “see you later, room 13” — and maybe none of us will ever
see room 13 again. Maybe none of us,
including me, will ever see this room again
(for one reason or another) and
that’s absolutely okay.
Nothing, and I mean
NO THING
is forever.
The biggest regret
with people and places
always comes from the omissions —
“should haves.”
Should have seen the Tower of London.
Should have stopped smoking.
Should have told ___ what s/he meant to me . . .
I have no space
for “should have,” so
I’m going to say goodbye, even if
it ends up being a simple
“see you later.”
I’m tired of goodbyes. I want more “see you laters.”
Because of COVID, and Trump’s mishandling, I haven’t
seen my sister in more than
a year and a half. And if you have a sister, or sibling
whose company you really enjoy, who you really love
you know fully
how long this is. Had I known
when I last saw her
in the summer of 2019
that it would be the last foreseeable time
we would see one another . . . well . . .
I probably would have never
let her or myself
go.
The sibling shit is real, my people.
If you have siblings, you know what I mean.
Anyway, I’m tired of goodbyes.
I’m ready to move to Tucson and start over, to
see Biden/Harris peacefully transferred into the White House
to have a dishwasher (as I told a friend today: deep, deep down
inside of me is a very, very basic bitch who wants a dishwasher
and central air and bedroom doors that
actually close.)
In my mind, no matter what happens to my body or my mind,
I am already somewhere else, somewhere better — I am awake.
Awake for
perhaps
the first time in my life. | https://medium.com/@allisonsabalosgruber/back-on-my-bullshit-back-on-the-brance-66d77a37e65 | ['Allison Gruber'] | 2020-11-16 03:17:43.724000+00:00 | ['Election 2020', 'LGBT', 'Breast Cancer', 'Meaning Of Life'] |
June 2020 CoupCast Update | While Sudan again tops the list of countries most at risk of coup, June’s top-10 features a number of newcomers and surprise inclusions. Madagascar and Zambia come in at second and third, respectively, for the first time this year.
By Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Source: Wikimedia Commons
CoupCast is a machine learning based early warning forecasting platform for estimating the risk of illegal leadership turnover each month for every country across the globe. These updates provide insight into technical changes/updates, notable events in the previous month, and a more in-depth overview of what to expect in the new month coming forward.
The official web dashboard for CoupCast can be found here and information regarding the underlying data (REIGN) and updates to our monthly data can be found here.
Feel free to reach out to either myself ([email protected]) or Clayton Besaw ([email protected]) for any questions regarding our CoupCast platform or analyses contained in the updates.
NOTE: We will be providing a paired down version of our CoupCast briefings over the next 6–12 months as we free up time/resources for a series of new projects on an interim basis.
June 2020 CoupCast Report
Data and algorithm updates
Updated precipitation (SPI) estimates using NOAA’s May 2020 PREC/L release (https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.prel.html).
Risk forecast overview for June 2020:
Though Sudan is no stranger to the top 10 list, this month again sees a variety of countries that are not commonly most at risk for coup. In particular, Madagascar and Zambia crack the top three, despite not having been in the top ten so far this year.
Looking at the complete 2020 trends in coup risk for this month’s top 10 countries, we can see that many of the less common countries have a bump in coup risk this month.
However, these risk trends are projected to flatten out the rest of the year. This is the case with both Madagascar and Zambia.
In contrast, we can see that countries like Sudan and Burundi have generally higher estimated coup risk, even if there are still fluctuations. Both of these countries are frequently in the top 10.
Looking at the global trend for 2020 we can see that we are in the middle of a general downturn in global coup risk that is projected to extend into the fall before gradually increasing later in the fall/winter.
This is reflected in the generally smaller scale of coup risk seen in the top 10 list. While the estimated risk of coup ranges between roughly 0.6% and 0.2% for the ten countries most at risk this month, in March this range was between 1.14% and 0.4%.
One other case to watch outside of those in the top 10 this month is that of Suriname.
The country just held an election on May 25 in which it appears the incumbent president Desi Bouterse lost. Bouterse faces 20 years in prison for ordering the murder of political enemies in 1982 and will no longer have immunity if he leaves office.
Following a switch in power, Bouterse could be incentived to again seize power if it appears the new administration will enforce his sentence. This is further problematic given that Bouterse himself ruled Suriname as a military dictator following the Sergeants Coup in 1980.
The deadline for swearing in a new president is August 13. | https://medium.com/the-die-is-forecast/june-2020-coupcast-update-857bba14a77e | ['Matt Scott Frank'] | 2020-06-02 14:01:02.874000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Forecasting', 'Civil Military Relations', 'Governance', 'Data'] |
The Anatomy of the Ultimate 1-Minute Pitch | The Anatomy of the Ultimate 1-Minute Pitch
Pitch quick or lose your audience
When you only have a minute, what do you say?
Before you create a full-blown deck, you need to know how to “QuickPitch.” Being able to tell your story in a minute or less in a way that captivates the audience and makes them want to continue is an art form. It’s a daunting task, but you need to be able to explain your idea clearly to potential investors, users, partners, or even friends and family.
Last week, I worked with a group of 66 very bright young global entrepreneurs at Draper University, and I saw first hand how many opportunities are lost with the “intro pitch.” They were each asked to introduce themselves in one minute. Over and over we heard unclear babble about their idea and how it would work. Some got ambitious and tried to insert an entire investor pitch into one minute — that didn’t work. There were a few standouts, but most of the 30 we heard on day one were simply unclear and lackluster.
What was missing? Engaging the audience in that minute. If they aren’t feeling compelled, excited, or moved in some way, you will be forgotten. When given a minute to pitch, most people are so driven by the time that they either talk really fast and squeeze in too much, or they say one line and only use a fraction of their time. Either way, they miss out on the most important piece — the why. Even in a minute, you can find the time to engage the audience’s heart and mind by illustrating the why.
So here’s the anatomy of the ultimate “QuickPitch” — or Elevator Pitch: | https://medium.com/better-marketing/pitch-quick-or-lose-your-audience-a130f76ef518 | ['Donna Griffit'] | 2020-02-10 16:09:01.874000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Storytelling', 'Pitching', 'Investing', 'Startup'] |
香港今新增74宗武肺確診個案 | A columnist in political development in Greater China region, technology and gadgets, media industry, parenting and other interesting topics. | https://medium.com/@frederickyeung-59743/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BB%8A%E6%96%B0%E5%A2%9E74%E5%AE%97%E6%AD%A6%E8%82%BA%E7%A2%BA%E8%A8%BA%E5%80%8B%E6%A1%88-1539fa96fe23 | ['C Y S'] | 2020-12-20 08:38:22.740000+00:00 | ['Hong Kong'] |
A TV Rant | Capturing “Reality”
A box simulates reality.
We crave more of it.
Distraction anybody? Over here, over here — distractions for sale. We’ll make you pay for it all. And you’ll want more to fuck yourself up even more: now and later — ad infinitum.
The government leased the airwaves to the Mainstream Media or MSM when there were only 3 broadcast networks: CBS, NBC and ABC with the caveat of providing 30 minutes of network news every evening. Later came PBS.
Broadcast meant it was free to the public.
HOLD ON wait a minute, what about commercials? So here we are watching “free tv” and getting enslaved by commercials, so not free.
Then comes cable. A foolish idea I thought, why pay twice for a free broadcast service? But we did and the phrase rang out from the people “thousands of channels and nothing to watch”.
Before Streaming (TV) the pabulum of “nothing to watch” filled the majority of screens:
· Westerns and Cop shows
· Sit Coms
· Game shows
· Rom Coms
· Dramas so called — Doctors, Lawyers, etc.
· News magazines
· Soap Operas (day) and later night or primetime
· Cartoons
· Adventure shows
· Kid shows
· Movies
· Documentaries
· Science shows
· Sports
And later:
· Reality tv
· Celebrity reality tv
· Stand-up Comedy
And now streaming, and for a little extra money- no commercials. And yet — “thousands of shows and nothing to watch”.
Wow and Binging
Let’s face it we’re fucked. Free broadcast television with commercials — pay for it. Cable charge for it and commercials pay for it. Streaming television on devices and computers a double triple shot: buy a computer or smart phone pay for it, get a ISP or cell phone network pay for it, and fucking commercials on YouTube and in some streaming platforms pay for it, pay extra for commercial free. What’s so fucking free about that?
And who needs more distraction? Well it’s the opiate of the peoples. Welcome to free prison.
______________________________________________________
And a nod to Alan Watts | https://medium.com/@the-kai9/a-tv-rant-1b0c871e7fa7 | ['Frank Ontario'] | 2020-12-26 22:32:07.840000+00:00 | ['Addiction', 'Television', 'Rant'] |
Arithmetic VS Political Critique | Prompts = Context, Irredeemable, Chess
Photo by Hennie Stander on Unsplash
Principal Eyebrows (Wendy could never remember his name, but he did have enormous furry caterpillars sitting over his eyes) glowered at her. She’d been caught again reading Das Kapital when she should have been practicing arithmetic.
‘You are irredeemable! You need to stop reading that!’
‘Why?’
‘Because it was time to do math!’
‘Do you realize that schools are forced labour camps and teachers are our captors?’
‘We’re what?’
‘I realize context is important. Had I been reading chess texts, I’d have the “Queen’s Gambit” defence, but a political work criticizing capitalism is deemed unacceptable.
‘I… go back to class…’
Links to other sites where I publish:
Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/one_hundred_words_by_parz
Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255
Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com
Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories
YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva
And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess
Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712 | https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories/arithmetic-vs-political-critique-23b67b94e3da | ['Parzival Sattva'] | 2020-12-04 09:17:07.203000+00:00 | ['Flash Fiction', 'Microfiction', 'Politics', 'Arithmetic', '100wordstory'] |
5x Faster Scikit-Learn Parameter Tuning in 5 Lines of Code | * Note: For smaller datasets (10,000 or fewer data points), there may be a sacrifice in accuracy when attempting to fit with early stopping. We don’t anticipate this to make a difference for users as the library is intended to speed up large training tasks with large datasets.
Simple 60 second Walkthrough
Let’s take a look at how it all works.
Run pip install tune-sklearn ray[tune] or pip install tune-sklearn "ray[tune]" to get started with our example code below.
Hyperparam set 2 is a set of unpromising hyperparameters that would be detected by tune’s early stopping mechanisms, and stopped early to avoid wasting training time and resources.
TuneGridSearchCV Example
To start out, it’s as easy as changing our import statement to get Tune’s grid search cross validation interface:
And from there, we would proceed just like how we would in Scikit-Learn’s interface! Let’s use a “dummy” custom classification dataset and an SGDClassifier to classify the data.
We choose the SGDClassifier because it has a partial_fit API, which enables it to stop fitting to the data for a certain hyperparameter configuration. If the estimator does not support early stopping, we would fall back to a parallel grid search.
As you can see, the setup here is exactly how you would do it for Scikit-Learn! Now, let’s try fitting a model.
Note the slight differences we introduced above:
a new early_stopping variable, and a specification of max_iters parameter
The early_stopping determines when to stop early — MedianStoppingRule is a great default but see Tune’s documentation on schedulers here for a full list to choose from. max_iters is the maximum number of iterations a given hyperparameter set could run for; it may run for fewer iterations if it is early stopped.
Try running this compared to the GridSearchCV equivalent.
TuneSearchCV Bayesian Optimization Example
Other than the grid search interface, tune-sklearn also provides an interface, TuneSearchCV, for sampling from distributions of hyperparameters.
In addition, you can easily enable Bayesian optimization over the distributions in TuneSearchCV in only a few lines of code changes.
Run pip install scikit-optimize to try out this example:
Lines 17, 18, and 26 are the only lines of code changed to enable Bayesian optimization
As you can see, it’s very simple to integrate tune-sklearn into existing code. Check out more detailed examples and get started with tune-sklearn here and let us know what you think! Also take a look at Ray’s replacement for joblib, which allows users to parallelize training over multiple nodes, not just one node, further speeding up training.
Documentation and Examples | https://towardsdatascience.com/5x-faster-scikit-learn-parameter-tuning-in-5-lines-of-code-be6bdd21833c | ['Michael Chau'] | 2020-08-29 04:18:05.183000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Scikit Learn', 'Deep Learning'] |
So, can someone tells me if this is right? | So, can someone tells me if this is right? Or if this is biased, illegal, and just completely morally wrong…..
My Father has Dementia. It has progressed to medium, maybe medium-severe stages. It has reached the stages where he thinks my mother is cheating on him and he thinks that she is stealing and hiding things from him. At this point she can do nothing right and he is constantly screaming and berating her. It is very colorful, violent, and damaging language. He NEVER STOPS. He breaks her things AND the house. He slashed her tires, rigged her brakes, and took all the batteries and spark plugs. He calls me and explains the different murder plots. He calls at ALL HOURS day or night to scream at the top of his lungs. He is ALWAYS ANGRY and ALWAYS SCREAMING and breaking things. He doesn’t ever calm down! Lately he has started involving me (Ami, 41-year-old) and my daughter (Ashton, 19-years-old; his granddaughter) in his plots of violence. And accusing us of stealing from him and lying, cheating, and trying to “lock him up to take his money”! 🙄 He has MULTIPLE guns hidden and every time my mother finds one and gets rid of it, he pulls out ANOTHER. She caught him online trying to order guns the other night.
(By the way: My mother (Darlene 65-year-old) is a diabetic!!! She MUST take insulin 3–4 times a day and eat a balanced meal, along with rest. It is imperative!!! It is deadly if she doesn’t)!
Anyway, a few weeks ago the threats of violence and murder plots actually turned into real violence. He drug her out of bed and chased her with a hatchet 🪓. He would have killed her if the cops had been any slower. He was axing his way through the locked bathroom door to get to her!!! This last instance is the fifth, the damn fifth time, that the police had been called because of his violence. Every time he has to ‘voluntarily’ agree to go to the psych ward for evaluation. He goes there and the ‘appointed’ nurse practitioner that is the mental health advisor for the county he resides in, always tells the lawyer and the family that he is NOT a problem and that he NEEDS to go home. She has forced my mother on numerous occasions to risk her OWN LIFE in order to take my Dad back home.
This last act of violence was especially extreme and just the LAST STRAW! For my Mother, and definitely for me, constantly worrying! When the cops took him to the hospital 🏥 this time, she refused to pick him up, for BOTH of their safety! The mental health nurse forced my Father to ‘sign’ paperwork to call the 2 of his children that refuse to put him in a nursing home, and EXCLUDED ME, and the other children that live close by and see and hear FIRST HAND the damage that is occurring. And how far gone he has become. The children that were called live in different states and see him twice a year, maybe! That will NOT give my Mom a voice or let her make an educated, precise, expensive, and safe decision. That would benefit everyone involved.
I need help!!!!
I could write a book about all the dilemmas and disagreements that are happening. I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND how the WIFE, my mother, doesn’t have ANY Say-So in where he goes, what happens, and his well-being!?! And how the nurse can act in a two-faced, biased, and derogatory manner!? | https://medium.com/@Sinrau/so-can-someone-tells-me-if-this-is-right-643b9da7fe80 | [] | 2020-05-06 12:34:15.021000+00:00 | ['Help', 'Elder Law', 'Law', 'Dementia', 'Dad'] |
The Serverless Vector Map Stack Lives! | TL;DR: With the release of AWS Aurora Serverless Postgres (with PostGIS support), building an entirely serverless map stack is now possible, including the database.
The world of serverless computing continues to expand. In my previous post, I discussed using AWS Lambda to run a vector tile server. Recently AWS announced the release of Aurora Serverless Postgres which presented an opportunity to continue the discussion around architecting an entirely serverless map stack.
Serverless Aurora Postgres
On July 9th, 2019 AWS released Aurora Serverless Postgres. Some high level, applicable bullets:
Postgres 10.7 installed with PostGIS 2.4.
The database can scale down to 0, as in the database is no longer running. This is not the default but can easily be enabled.
Data storage scales from 10GB to 64TB in 10GB increments. If you scale the database down to 0 Aurora Compute Units (ACUs), you will only be paying for storage.
Currently available in the following availability zones: US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), EU (Ireland), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo)
To be honest, I’m a bit skeptical of “Serverless Databases”, but I also like to explore new technology, so let’s see how this goes.
The vector tile map stack
When setting up a vector tile stack there are three core components:
Vector tile server: responsible for listening to incoming tile requests and orchestrating data fetching, tile encoding, tile caching and responding to the request. The tile server may also handle geometry processing (clipping, simplification, makeValid, etc.). Data provider: Data providers house the data which will be served to the end-user. Data providers come in many forms, for example, Postgres + PostGIS, GeoJSON, Shapefiles, GeoPackage, etc. Tile cache: Generating vector tiles is resource-intensive so if your map data is not highly dynamic then it makes sense to implement a tile cache. Tile caches come in many forms, for example, AWS S3, Redis, filesystem, etc.
The high-level architecture can be visualized as:
High-level vector tile architecture
Severless vector tile servers
The section title sounds confusing, but the first tool you’re going to need is a vector tile server that has been designed to work with AWS Lambda. Here are a couple of examples of which the first one I have helped develop and the second one I recently found by Henry Thasler.
Tegola Lambda
https://github.com/go-spatial/tegola
Native geoprocessing and encoding
Supported data providers: PostGIS, GeoPackage
Written in Go
Cloud Tileserver
https://github.com/henrythasler/cloud-tileserver
PostGIS used for geoprocessing and encoding (ST_AsMVT, ST_Simplify, etc.)
Supported data providers: PostGIS
Written in Node.js (typescript)
For additional details around configuring and running these tile servers, visit their project pages.
Aurora Serverless Postgres
Spinning up an Aurora Postgres Serverless instance is remarkably easy. In the AWS console, you simply navigate to RDS and select Amazon Aurora and then choose “Amazon Aurora with Postgres Compatibility”. If you have spun up an RDS instance before, then the majority of this setup will be very straight forward and familiar to you.
The Serverless nuances show up under the section titled “Capacity settings”. Here you will have the opportunity to configure the scaling options for your RDS instance. Scaling RAM is one of the interesting options here, but if you unfold the section “Additional scaling configuration” you will find an option titled “Pause compute capacity after consecutive minutes of inactivity”. Check this box and you can now configure scaling the database down to 0! That’s right, if the database is not being used for a configured amount of time, you can shut the entire database down and cease paying for the resources. As you will later see this comes with consequences, but for many situations, this might be entirely acceptable.
Once the database has been configured, you will receive a hostname to connect to and then you’re ready to connect to the database like you would any other RDS instance. I was pretty impressed with how smooth everything was to setup.
The Cold Start
This post would not officially be about Serverless technology without a mention of “cold starts”. There are plenty of articles covering Serverless cold starts but for the sake of this post a cold start refers to the time cost of instantiating serverless resources.
A cold starts happen when:
a function has not been invoked for some time (say 10 minutes)
scaling concurrency
Lambda + tegola_lambda + S3 + Aurora Serverless
The following architectures reference using tegola_lambda for the vector tile server. While other vector tile servers could be used their architectures may differ.
The Glacial Start
The following graphic outlines what I call the “Glacial Start”, an extreme situation when absolutely everything in the serverless stack is cold and the database is set to scale to 0.
Let’s run through the request flow:
A request comes into API gateway and it’s proxied to Lambda. If the function has not been invoked for awhile the function will have a cold start time of 0–2 seconds. When tegola_lambda is instantiated it will parse the config file and open a connection to the database. This process is only necessary during the cold start. Lambda functions live outside of VPCs, but typically you want your database to live within a VPC. Lambda creates a network bridge by dynamically instantiating Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs). This process comes with a cold start time of 8–10 seconds. Note that on September 3rd, AWS announced improved VPC networking for AWS Lambda functions which is addressing this issue. This will take time to roll out across all regions but this is a big step forward for Lambda when leveraging a VPC. At this point, tegola_lambda is opening up a connection with Aurora Serverless Postgres but the database has scaled down to 0. In my tests, the initial cold start time for connecting to the database was 30–40 seconds. This is a nontrivial amount of time for a production environment, but for a development environment, this could be completely acceptable.
Some quick math and you can see that a cold start request is taking between 38 and 52 seconds! API gateway times out after 29 seconds so our first request would inevitably fail. Not ideal, but again this less than ideal experience may be acceptable in some situations.
A less glacial start
So while we’re waiting for improved VPC networking for AWS Lambda functions to be deployed to all regions, AWS has provided an alternative suggestion: don’t put your database behind a VPC, but instead use IAM roles to manage access to it. The request flow is very similar to the last architecture:
Let’s run through the changes to the request flow:
The VPC line is now designated IAM. This indicates that the database is not deployed within a VPC but IAM policies are now the firewall. Notice that the ENI cold start time is gone.
Aurora Serverless no longer has a cold start time associated with it. Rather than having the database scale to 0 this strategy would run the database at the minimum resource requirements. The pricing for Aurora Serverless is a combination of Aurora Compute Units (ACUs) at $0.06 / per hour and storage at around $0.10 / GB / month. You can roughly estimate that it will cost a minimum of $100 a month to keep the database running.
Using IAM roles as the database firewall may be perfectly acceptable for some situations but I would prefer to keep my database inside a VPC. As you can see, this approach does get rid of the VPC ENI cold start hit, so depending on your requirements this may be an option.
Let’s add a Content Delivery Network
A Content Delivery Network does come with additional costs, but the end-user experience is greatly improved. Since the nature of serving up map tiles is lots of network requests, latency is an important consideration. Here are a couple of options that build on the architecture we have been discussing.
Option 1
This option is the most straight forward. Essentially you set up Cloudfront (or any CDN for that matter) to point to the API Gateway endpoint that was previously configured and you’re done. The request flow looks like:
Although this is quick and easy to set up, it has some downsides. For example, if you were to set the CDN to cache tiles for 24 hours, as the tiles expire you’re going to need to invoke Lambda calls which could encounter the cold start costs which were previously discussed. Additionally, if the tile has not changed then you’re being billed for running the Lambda function to just fetch the tile from the tile cache. We can do better!
Option 2
This second architecture is one that I have borrowed from Henry Thasler (author of the other tile server mentioned above) and I think it’s a great approach. Here’s the request flow:
Let’s walk through the request flow:
A tile request comes into the CDN and if it’s a CDN HIT the request is done. If it’s a CDN MISS, the request is routed to the tile cache (S3) which has been configured for static website hosting.If the tile is already in the tile cache, then it’s returned to the CDN and the request is done. If the tile does not exist in the tile cache then S3 issues a 307 redirect to our API Gateway endpoint which will then process the tile request, store a copy in the tile cache (S3) and respond to the request.
I love this design as it allows for a performant user experience that scales horizontally, and as your tile cache fills up the user experience improves. Also when you need to update data, you can purge parts of the tile cache thus causing the stack to regenerate the tiles. And to top it off, using a Serverless stack (including the database) the infrastructure will scale up and down on demand.
Some nuances to consider:
In order to have S3 return the correct headers (i.e. Cache-Control, CORS, etc.) you will need to setup Static Website Hosting and make sure the tiles have the correct meta-data associated with them.
Pointing Cloudfront at an S3 bucket will not trigger the 307 redirect correctly. To trigger this behavior point Cloudfront’s origin to the S3 bucket’s website endpoint.
Cloudfront will cache the 307 redirects unless you setup your cache control headers correctly. This is done by setting the Default TTL on Cloudfront to 0 and then making sure that the proper Cache-Control headers are set on the S3 object.
Would I use this for production?
My experience so far has been great but I have not stress tested this setup enough to be entirely confident in it. What’s great about the discussed architecture is that you can implement parts of the Serverless stack without needing to implement all of it and still run a very robust and performant vector tile stack. In summary here are a few recommendations:
Use a CDN . A CDN does come with additional costs, but the end-user experience is greatly improved. Since the nature of map tiles is lots of network requests latency does become noticeable.
. A CDN does come with additional costs, but the end-user experience is greatly improved. Since the nature of map tiles is lots of network requests latency does become noticeable. Use a tile cache. Unless your data is light and / or highly dynamic a tile cache should be leveraged.
Unless your data is light and / or highly dynamic a tile cache should be leveraged. Pre-seed the tile cache for lower zooms (0–10) . Typically the lower zooms provide global context and the data does not change often. Pre generate these zooms rather than wait for the user to request the tiles.
. Typically the lower zooms provide global context and the data does not change often. Pre generate these zooms rather than wait for the user to request the tiles. Don’t scale Aurora Serverless to 0 . The cold start time of 30–40 seconds is just too much burden to push to an end-user. Don’t leverage this feature unless the situation can accommodate the hit (i.e. a dev environment)
. The cold start time of 30–40 seconds is just too much burden to push to an end-user. Don’t leverage this feature unless the situation can accommodate the hit (i.e. a dev environment) If you’re brave, don’t put the database in a VPC and use IAM roles. This avoids the ENI cold start problem, but then again that is going to be less of a problem in the near future.
Well there you have it, the serverless vector tile map stack is entirely possible! Time to deploy the planet!
Frequent Asked Questions
Are there alternatives to API gateway?
On November 29, 2018, AWS announced support for ALBs to invoke Lambda functions. I have not yet fully deployed this architecture using ALBs but technically it’s possible. There is an update slated to land in tegola_lambda v0.11 which will add support for being invoked via ALBs triggers.
What about raster tiles?
I have not tried this with a raster tile server but the same architecture can be used for raster tiles. For example, check out Mapbox’s blog about using AWS Lambda with Rasterio. | https://medium.com/@alexrolek/the-serverless-vector-map-stack-lives-22835d341d7d | ['Alexander Rolek'] | 2019-10-23 12:01:02.027000+00:00 | ['GIS', 'AWS Lambda', 'Vector Tiles', 'Postgis', 'Serverless'] |
Solar energy from space: where else? | IMAGE: NASA (Public Domain)
The idea of generating solar energy in space and sending it to Earth may sound like science fiction, but is science fact: researchers have been exploring the idea for some time.
Space-based solar power (SSP or SBSP), involves deploying huge solar panels in the Earth’s orbit, where they are free from the barrier effect of clouds, positioned so they can generate power 24/7, eliminating the need to store energy in batteries for when the sun is not shining. The energy is then converted into waves and electromagnetic fields are used to transfer them to antennas on the surface of the Earth, where they are again converted into electricity.
Futuristic, sure, but not that futuristic: the technology is pretty much ready to go: in May the US army deployed a test module for solar capture in space, although for the time being the concept is still under study due to technological, logistical and, above all, economic reasons: energy produced on earth by means of renewable sources is already so cheap that this kind of power would probably only be used in remote locations, for example, or where generation by means of renewables is not possible. The prototype developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, called Photovoltaic Radio-frequency Antenna Module (PRAM), was put into orbit by the X-37B space plane.
Other researchers, led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, have also developed designs for an in-orbit system that should be able to perform this function.
Deploying a solar panel in space is no easy matter: not only must it be very large, at least about 10-square kilometers, but it must also be very light, so as to avoid excessive transportation costs. To get round this would require using ultra-light materials (just 280 grams per square meter) that unfold like origami and form a swarm that self-assembles at its destination, and that moves without the need for fuel. Another design, China’s Omega, should be able to be deployed by 2050, is a solar panel capable of producing and sending to earth no less than 2GW of power. Other smaller designs, designed to power space equipment on other planets, could be ready sooner.
Anybody who doubts the efficiency of renewables, whether because they are ill-informed or are still mired in the past, needs to understand the power of solar energy. The only question now is whether we harness it here or from space. | https://medium.com/enrique-dans/solar-energy-from-space-where-else-df7e497d0858 | ['Enrique Dans'] | 2020-11-23 20:18:35.197000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Future', 'Energy', 'Space', 'Solar Energy'] |
55 tips, tools and articles that will super-charge your Public Relations knowledge in 2018 | This is just one of the amazing tips from the Queen of metrics Katie Paine in this interview on PR News. We are big fans of Katie here at CoverageBook. She always explains clearly how to demonstrate organisational impact from your PR work. Check out this interview to begin to improve your measurement today.
We are passionate about exploring ways to demonstrate PR success, especially at an article-level because it’s not easy. So when Gary discovered the research of Frederic Filloux, a journalist and an entrepreneur in editorial and business-side news, we were intrigued. Could there be a future standard for article strength? What do you guys think?
2018 plans are underway and creatives are about to be brought to life. Just before you tie down the exact detail for content take a look at this research from content share experts BuzzSumo. The 20 most engaging types of content. Pow! Thanks BuzzSumo :)
Do you or one of your team members have their first client meeting coming up? It’s a daunting first task in PR.. but it doesn’t have to be. Here ex-PR consultant and CoverageBook team member Laura Joint shares her best tips in how to ace your first meeting.
Last month 3500 digital marketers arrived in Brighton for the UK’s biggest Search marketing conference. One of the attendees was Edelman London’s Tech PR Account Manager, Peter McIntyre. Here he outlines a talk from Yext’s Duane Forrester on what a future SEO job description. Elements of the role may look familiar to you…
Orin Puniello, part Ketchum Global Research & Analytics team shares why some PR measurement models will never tell you the whole truth. But inspired by preeminent statistician, George Box, Orin also outlines why asking the correct questions in measurement and evaluation is key.
It’s the season for reviewing the year’s PR activity and setting next year’s KPIs so metrics and models are hot topics. Should you introduce new evaluation strategies or stick with AVE? Before you do anything review evaluation expert Steph Bridgman’s A-Z of reporting. It’s gold-dust.
Does your PR coverage include links to owned content? Those links could be the key to prove customer engagement and sales. Yes, they can help you add a financial value to your reporting. Check out my post to find out how.
The way people ask questions online is the key to finding out how your target audience think and what they want to view online. It’s amazing how you can uncover nuggets of insight from real queries. But where are those questions? This post and a new feature on insight tool BuzzSumo holds a lot of the answers!
AnswerThePublic.com, our tool that demonstrates the way people ask questions on Google has had a refresh! We’ve added a new set of “comparison” terms into the mix to help develop data into insights that can help develop your ideas. We’ve also speeded thing ups so you can access results faster than ever. It’s free, why not give it a go now?
This post from Joe Pulizzi totally resonated with me. When I left comms agency work for PR technology I felt I had to unlearn many of the techniques I’d built up over 13 years. It’s easy to produce similar campaigns each year and a challenge to find time to learn. But could these habits be holding us back?
Oh wait…Content sharing and analysis heavyweights LinkedIn and BuzzSumo have just delivered it! Step forward one of the most useful papers you’ll read this year ‘The DNA behind the world’s most successful content’. A useful review and step by step guide on how to develop content that your audience wants and will read.
Gini Dietrich from Spin Sucks explores the notion of not having a universal financial value in PR and how a stack of tools can get to a valuable ROI. If you have paid, earned, shared and owned elements to your campaign check this guide out!
In the last few years the amount of tech I use to free up time has increased massively. I also feel I’m happier now more than ever. Is there is a link? YES! This article proves that more time is the key to happiness. Do you agree?
Search tools, insight and data can be confusing. But if you want your content to be found online then this kind of insight is essential. That’s why I was so happy to spot this easy to follow guide on MOZ last week. Keyword research step by step. If you’re creating content in PR take note of hacks one and two especially.
Google analytics users will now be able to obtain information about web traffic more easily and quickly with natural language. This update is ideal for people like us (busy people in PR!). It will take some time to work out the best questions but it still be quicker. And we’re fans of anything helping to automate long-winded tasks.
As a tech business we’re drowning in metrics from all of the tools that we use. We have access to a lot of data! But what does it all tell us? Measurement should be about learning & drawing insights, but that’s not possible if you switch between multiple metrics. Could just one metric be the answer?
Site analytics shows where site visitors came from. That means it’s possible to see how many people your coverage directed to your client’s content. Great. But the big problem is accessing the data. Here Gary shares a guide and email template to the people that hold the key…
Google has just announced one the biggest changes to the search engine in recent years. Search results and news on Google is about to be personalised to the user. This is big news in how your coverage is found, viewed and consumed online. Get up to date here.
Integrating social content is key to most campaigns but often we’re challenged by getting content built and on site. That’s why new tool WayIn is so exciting. Brand social activity into site content in real-time.
Ever wondered how digital businesses track and measure their marketing? Do they use AVE, erm NO they don’t! Let’s not sit and wonder let’s take a look! Avinash Kaushik,author and Digital Marketing Evangelist at Google takes us through 15 businesses marketing metrics. All from a variety of sectors too. Perfect.
If you’re using one of the big industry monitoring services you probably receive your online coverage clippings as a list of hyperlinks. That’s fine but what if you need to use or share the links? Hours are spent daily individually converting them…Until now. We just made a free tool to convert for you.
Our clever friends over at Buzzsumo reviewed over 100m Facebook posts recently. Not surprisingly posts with images were shared the most but it was a particular type of picture-led style that really grabbed their attention. Here Buzzsumo founder Steve Rayson shares what a picture list post is and how to nail it in your campaign.
Using a lovely ice cream analogy Jay Acunzo, founder of Unthinkable explains the behaviours that are helping the best in content marketing succeed. Including how they wouldn’t look at other experts as they’re just too busy innovating…
It’s no secret that I used to work in SEO and PR, so you may have heard me speak about Search insights before. This article, about the increased traffic going to The Sun site caught my eye. It’s a case study of how SEO hugely increased traffic to the publication and how content strategy led this. Is it time to include search insights into your campaign?
We interviewed Smoking Gun PR’s Managing Director Rick Guttridge to find out why they have been refusing to offer AVE’s in their PR measurement. Here he tells us how their strong stance led to two global AMEC awards and some very happy clients.
A great post from our friends at Mention on why “All-in-one” reporting tools don’t always demonstrate true PR impact . They also share 14 alternative tools you should have in your measurement armoury.
In my 15 years in communications I’ve worked in traditional PR agencies, digital marketing teams and a Search marketing agency. All of which are often competing for the same budget. Here I share three lessons in how to compete and eventually grow your PR budget.
We know that content is important in PR now but can we explain why? Here Gini Dietrich from SpinSucks delves into the Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned content model to explain why creating owned content is probably one of the most important areas in modern PR success.
New tool tip alert! I just tested True Social Metrics for a couple of campaigns and loved it. Easy to use, great insights and all of my social metrics in one place.
Read Gary’s tale of woe that motivated the team to release our latest free tool logowall.co
The communications landscape has changed. New breed competitors including content marketing, influencer outreach and SEO link-building agencies are now pitching and winning PR budgets. I hosted a PRSA webinar back in July providing actionable steps to take. Watch the recording now.
We’ve teamed up with PR evaluation expert and founder of Experienced Media Analysts, Steph Bridgeman to launch a new eBook; #PRMeasurent : How to take it to the next level. Steph delves into her years of media evaluation experience and shares a step by step guide in quantifying PR success. Don’t miss out download now.
Content marketing experts Velocity have done it again. This new Slide-share will stop you in your tracks and make you consider how to achieve cut through with your next campaign. If content is part of your next plan click the link and take note!
PR agency founder and author Rich Leigh releases his brilliant book ‘Myths of PR: All Publicity is Good Publicity and Other Popular Misconceptions’. It takes down some popular misconceptions about the public relations business. It has shot to the top of Amazon bestseller lists this week and I believe it’s a PR must-read.
Threepipe became the first UK PR agency to acquire an SEO firm last year. Its founder Jim Hawker believes it was the only way they could develop their digital skills to answer the SEO demands of their clients. But is this the case for the whole industry? Read Jim’s insights and my response on Paul Sutton’s PR blog. We don’t agree on all points — fight!
Kristina Libby, a professor at the University of Florida and co-founder of influencer marketing platform SoCu guest posts on PR News and explores keeping a social audience engaged. Kristina shares three considerations to keep in mind for your next customer community strategy.
The PR industry has worked hard to lose its reputation of bending the truth and inflating statistics but how honest are we prepared in campaigns? Here, content marketing experts Velocity Partners share six examples of when brands have been insanely honest and share why it worked.
It has been said by many (including me) that we lose our target audience’s attention in 8 seconds. Less than a goldfish. However, new research suggests that might not be the case. I guess if you’re still reading this we’ve just debunked the myth! But if you want the real proof and find out how it relates to your client’s content read on.
We discovered Right Relevance last week and we love it. Connect your client’s Twitter profile to analyse social influence and audience engagement. It’s also a great tool to help build out your target media lists for campaigns. And did we mention it’s free?
If you’re in b2b PR then listen up. Social content insight experts BuzzSumo have dug into their data and worked out the components to create LinkedIn posts that will engage and be shared. A free cheat-sheet and guide will help you create your most successful content yet.
If your agency is running paid ads on behalf of your clients you need to read this article. Online advertising has changed. Gone are the days when you paid for an ad and knew exactly where it would be and when. Now it’s in the hands of of the programmatic platforms. The results? Greater reach but also a potential reputation issue. Be aware.
If you’re not familiar with the bots it’s time to meet them. Pawan Deshpande, founder of Curata, joined SpinSucks this week. Here he explains what artificial intelligence is and how to introduce it into your content marketing strategy.
Still on the subject of content, Scott Guthrie posted a great article reminding all marketers to hop of the brand content production train and remember to stop, answer questions, solve problems and build relationships.
Richard Bagnall chair of the Association of Media and Evaluation Companies (AMEC) met with Stephen Waddington Partner and Chief Engagement Officer at Ketchum to discuss why 20% of organisations worldwide still use Advertising Equivalent Value (AVE). Here Stephen shares their discussion and asks if monitoring and measurement suppliers could be to blame?
AMEC chairman Richard Bagnall positions the argument against the metric here on Ragan. My favourite is no.13. Are you convinced?
Sometimes we just need to see how measurement has been done well, right? This deck does exactly that. Check out these great case studies from a past AMEC event. Successful measurement and not a rate card in sight.
Reach is an important part of measurement but you need to ensure you have the right figures to demonstrate awareness. Manchester-based PR agency Smoking Gun reveals how they measure PR success and why you need to be cautious with ‘reach’ data.
You get the coverage. Now it’s time to prove how it made your audience aware. But what next? Last week I spoke at a UK CIPR event about exactly that. Check out my slides where I share how to be realistic with your numbers and then prove the audience took action beyond awareness.
Ultimately AVE has been in reports as a way to get to a financial figure but as it’s not a great measure of success, what’s the alternative? The C-Suite wants to hear business impact and sales and analytics is the way to prove it. Read on if you like the sound of that.
Step inside the MVF PR team and find out how their data-led PR campaigns are driving traffic and winning awards.
Media lists, writing, monitoring, coverage reports, brainstorms.. Do you have a to-do list as long as your arm like me? Then read this great article on prioritisation on the Harvard Business Review. You’ll be feeling stress-free in no time.
Queen of measurement Katie Paine highlights that with fewer than 1 in 3 Americans trusting the media right now why are so many PR pros still mainly media focused? Only true outcome measurement will tell us if media placement works so ensure to measure right!
In order to improve PR performance this year and smash our KPIs we have to understand what we’ve achieved. Ensure you know how to analyse your results this year and not just report on them. Download our ebook PRetrospective now.
If you stay in the office late in your PR role then please look out for new book ‘Calm Company’ from Jason Fried, founder & CEO at Basecamp. Set for release later this year Jason promises to reveal how the employees at Basecamp are the most productive and successful than ever but also haven’t said “It’s crazy at work” for years. Inspiring.
All tips and articles were taken from the PR Resolution newsletter over the last 12months. If you would like to join the Resolution and receive the monthly newsletter from me in your inbox please sign up here.
Finally…
We’re working on something new. The never-ending cycle of coverage update emails can make you feel like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel.
Our next product might help.
Request early access http://hamster.coveragebook.com | https://medium.com/the-resolution/55-tips-tools-and-articles-that-will-super-charge-your-public-relations-knowledge-in-2018-45c0081eadca | ['Stella Bayles'] | 2018-01-15 10:30:39.121000+00:00 | ['Pr', 'Marketing', 'Pr Tools', 'Public Relations', 'Pr Resolution'] |
Deploying a Vue.js App to Heroku | Deploying a Vue.js App to Heroku
Image by Marouen Helali
Prerequisites:
To get started, use the Vue CLI to generate a new Vue app:
vue create <app-name>
If prompted for preset by the CLI, choose default.
cd <app-name>
Now that you are in your new project directory, let’s try to run this app to make sure everything is working as expected. But first, I like to run my web apps uniformly using npm start , and so does Heroku. Sadly, when initializing a Vue app, the start command is different ( npm run serve ). Let’s quickly change that. In your project folder, open the package.json file.
The curly braces block contained in scripts indicates the aliases for the commands to their right. Simply replace serve by start. You should end up with something like this:
{ "name": "vue-heroku", "version": "0.1.0", "private": true, "scripts": { "start": "vue-cli-service serve", "build": "vue-cli-service build", "lint": "vue-cli-service lint" }, .
.
. }
Let’s give it a shot by going back to the terminal and running:
npm start
Navigate to http://localhost:8080 and you should see the Vue-generated app.
Next, our Vue app is a simple front-end-only app. We can either serve it through a server, or we can serve the build files statically. Let’s go with the second option, which is much less cumbersome.
All that’s required to do is to add one file to our project and one buildpack to Heroku. Create a file called static.json in the root of your project repo. Add this content to it (official source):
{
"root": "dist",
"clean_urls": true,
"routes": {
"/**": "index.html"
}
}
At this point, we are done editing our project. We can go ahead and commit our changes to Git by doing:
git add . && git commit -m "Heroku config"
Let’s create a production build:
npm run build
Finally, here comes Heroku. Assuming you have the Heroku CLI, run:
heroku login
Press any key, and this will pull up a browser window for you to login:
We are ready to create a new Heroku app using the CLI. Run:
heroku create
A very important step is to run these two commands:
This will allow Heroku to serve our app as a static app.
Now we can finally execute the deploy command:
git push heroku master
Navigate to the remote URL and you should see your Vue app.
Here is mine. You will also find your deployed app in the Heroku dashboard, which contains a lot of useful information if you would like to explore more. Here is what my dashboard looks like for reference:
Here is a link to the Github repo that contains the Vue app that was used for this article, along with all the modifications.
Thank you for visiting, and keep on reading! | https://betterprogramming.pub/deploying-a-vue-js-app-to-heroku-d16f95c07a04 | ['Marouen Helali'] | 2019-11-22 22:33:25.819000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Programming', 'JavaScript', 'Vue', 'Heroku'] |
When Nirvana and Pearl Jam Stood Up for Feminism | Feminism and rock music have always had, at best, a spotty relationship. There was the horrific Led Zeppelin “mud shark incident,” 1980s hair metal (all of it), and even punk — with its ideal of complete inclusion — has had an awful history of misogyny.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t exactly been a ton of music that counteracts this ugly strand of rock’s history. Very few rock songs that have championed women’s empowerment have become bonafide hits. During the Women’s Liberation Movement there was Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” and Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.”, both of which hit the top of the charts. There was also countless songs in the 90s that people related to as quasi-feminist anthems — No Doubt’s “Just a Girl,” Alanis Morrisette’s “You Oughta Know,” and Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch,” to name a few — but these weren’t exactly political in any explicit sense. And that’s about it when it comes to feminist hits.
The most famous wave of feminist rock was the Riot Grrrl movement, led by Kathleen Hanna and her band Bikini Kill, originating in Olympia, WA in the 1990s. But as influential as the movement was and despite the massive amounts of media coverage it received, it was basically an underground scene. Unless you count Sonic Youth and Hole — both of whom were associated without being full-on Riot Grrrl bands — L7’s “Pretend We’re Dead” is the only thing resembling a smash to come out of the movement.
What’s often forgotten, however, is that Nirvana and Pearl Jam were feminist through and through. As the years go by, their very public attacks against sexism in the early 90s look even more remarkable than they did at the time. They were the two biggest bands in the world and they stood up for feminism in ways that today would set the internet on fire. And they were men! But they welcomed the challenge, practically egging on anyone who disagreed with them.
Although they’re mostly remembered for destroying hair metal and making mainstream rock respectable again, they should be recognized for using their platforms as the two biggest bands in the world to stand up for women’s rights. No one else on that big of a stage has come close in rock history. | https://medium.com/cuepoint/when-nirvana-and-pearl-jam-stood-up-for-feminism-96ec0b5c13 | ['Matthew Reyes'] | 2016-09-20 07:07:48.725000+00:00 | ['Featured Rock', 'Feminism', '1990s', 'Music', 'Rock'] |
An Introduction to Fiber, an Alternative to Express.js | An Introduction to Fiber, an Alternative to Express.js
Source: The author
Golang is trending. And with the rise of a programming language, libraries and frameworks for it are coming out. For Google’s Golang, there is even a web framework, which is very similar to Express.js — but it has the claim to be a better performing alternative.
In this article, we will look at the basics of Fiber and how similar it is to Express.js. We will also do a performance comparison and see which framework is faster.
You don’t need a lot of knowledge about Golang for this article — if you still want to take a little Golang-crash course, here is one.
Let’s Go
First, you need to install Golang; you can do it here https://golang.org/.
In your terminal, you can simply enter go version to test if the installation worked. Now we can already start to install Fiber.
To do this, start by creating a new project using the Go-CLI. It is a bit like the node world where we start with npm init. So we create a package.json for our project. In Go, this file is the go.mod.
go mod init
After that, we can install the Fiber framework for our project. We do this with the following command, which works like npm install.
go get -u github.com/gofiber/fiber/v2
Now we can implement a hello world with Fiber. For this, we create a main.go in the same folder as our go.mod already has. Here we write all our code.
package main import "github.com/gofiber/fiber/v2" func main() {
app := fiber.New() app.Get("/", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
return c.SendString("Hello, World :)")
}) app.Listen(":8080")
}
With go run main.go we can run the main.go.
If you now open localhost:8080 in your browser, you should see our first page.
Here we can already see how similar it is to Express.js.
In Golang, we always have to define a package; under it, we import the Fiber framework with Express.
Unlike JavaScript, Go depends on a main-function that is executed automatically — that’s why we define our code here. As in Express, we first have to create an instance that lays the foundation for our web server.
The app.get function should also look familiar to us. The first parameter is the route; the second is the function that handles the request. Ctx stands for context and contains all important information. We can access the context with the variable c. It is similar to res in Express.js.
c.SendString() can therefore be understood like res.send().
For example, we can use the context variable to output the base URL as follows: fmt.Println(c.BaseURL()) .
Another example that shows that the context variable works like res in Express is the following. So we can set an HTTP state for our response:
app.Get("/", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
return c.SendStatus(404)
// "Status for Not Found"
})
Once our web server is up and running, we can use nodemon for live reloading. No, I did not mistype — nodemon; we can also use it for Go.
It works like this:
nodemon — exec go run main.go — signal SIGTERM
Pretty practical, isn’t it? The server now restarts automatically if we change anything in the code.
URL Parameters
We can’t get around this principle — URL parameters are simply super handy to allow our server to respond dynamically to requests.
In Express.js, we only have to use a special syntax in the GET route to indicate that we expect a parameter. This is how it looks like in Express:
app.get("/user/:name", (req, res) => {
res.send("Hi user " + req.params.name)
})
And surprise, that’s what it looks like in Fiber:
app.Get("/user/:name", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
return c.SendString("Hi User "+ c.Params("name"))
})
If we call localhost:8080/user/max, we see the following output:
That’s how easy we can pass parameters via the URL — almost exactly like in Express.js.
Serving static files
Static files are files that are no longer modified by the server — good examples are CSS or JavaScript files that we deliver to our users.
To deliver static files in Express.js, we use the middleware function express.static. In use, it looks like this:
app.use('/app', express.static('public'));
Thus, we deliver the contents of the folder “public” when a user calls the route “app”.
In Golang’s Fiber, this also looks very similar.
app.Static("/app", "./public")
The same applies here. When someone calls /app, the content of the folder “public”, which is directly in our directory, is sent to him. A typical structure is, for example, the following.
So far, so good. We see that Fiber Express.js is extremely similar. But does it also offer a real advantage? Yes, especially the performance is Fiber’s strength.
To prove that, I have implemented a benchmark. With both technologies, I have implemented the same app. To be fair, I also adjusted the response headers to be the same size in both cases.
Here is the code of the app for Fiber:
app.Get("/user/:name", func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
c.Set("Connection", "keep-alive")
c.Set("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8")
return c.SendString("Hi User "+ c.Params("name"))
})
This is the code for the same app in Express:
app.disable("etag");
app.disable("x-powered-by");
app.get("/user/:name", (req, res) => {
res.send("Hi user "+ req.params.name)
})
The Express app is simply executed with node server.js The Fiber app, since Go is a compiler language, is compiled with go build main.go and executed with ./main .
wrk -t12 -c400 -d10s http://localhost:8080/user/max
The tool for the benchmark is called wrk. 12 is the number of threads we will use, 400 the number of concurrent connections. The load runs for 10 seconds.
The results are striking. Of course, I have made several runs, but here are the averaged results.
Fiber:
Thread Stats Avg Stdev Max +/- Stdev
Latency 2.57ms 698.98us 50.72ms 90.95%
Req/Sec 12.70k 2.10k 38.18k 96.43%
1521782 requests in 10.10s, 219.14MB read
Socket errors: connect 0, read 364, write 0, timeout 0
Requests/sec: 150603.89
Transfer/sec: 21.69MB
Express.js:
12 threads and 400 connections
Thread Stats Avg Stdev Max +/- Stdev
Latency 38.54ms 8.55ms 171.39ms 93.07%
Req/Sec 0.85k 151.82 1.00k 89.32%
102078 requests in 10.02s, 16.94MB read
Socket errors: connect 0, read 610, write 0, timeout 0
Requests/sec: 10189.99
Transfer/sec: 1.69MB Running 10s test @ http://localhost:8080/user/max 12 threads and 400 connectionsThread Stats Avg Stdev Max +/- StdevLatency 38.54ms 8.55ms 171.39ms 93.07%Req/Sec 0.85k 151.82 1.00k 89.32%102078 requests in 10.02s, 16.94MB readSocket errors: connect 0, read 610, write 0, timeout 0Requests/sec: 10189.99Transfer/sec: 1.69MB
Express.js with PM2:
12 threads and 400 connections
Thread Stats Avg Stdev Max +/- Stdev
Latency 19.77ms 25.89ms 503.95ms 93.01%
Req/Sec 2.11k 299.31 5.39k 88.73%
252083 requests in 10.03s, 41.83MB read
Socket errors: connect 0, read 151, write 0, timeout 0
Requests/sec: 25135.86
Transfer/sec: 4.17MB Running 10s test @ http://localhost:8080/user/max 12 threads and 400 connectionsThread Stats Avg Stdev Max +/- StdevLatency 19.77ms 25.89ms 503.95ms 93.01%Req/Sec 2.11k 299.31 5.39k 88.73%252083 requests in 10.03s, 41.83MB readSocket errors: connect 0, read 151, write 0, timeout 0Requests/sec: 25135.86Transfer/sec: 4.17MB
I still used PM2 because it is very useful for the production version of an app. By default, a Node.js will only use one CPU core even under load; PM2 helps with its cluster mode to reach its full potential. The results are nevertheless clear.
It is important to note that this is, only a single test — a comparison based on URL parameters. But there are so many other things that belong to real web applications, and often the performance does not depend on the backend framework but other factors. Furthermore, although fiber is more performant, the scenario of so many simultaneous requests is rather unrealistic in the real world.
Summing up
Trying out new technologies, marveling at performance is always fun.
The question is only what really remains of it. As already mentioned, one should not put too much emphasis on the results of the benchmark. In reality, it doesn’t make much sense to completely convert an existing Express.js app into Fiber — especially if you don’t have a great knowledge of Golang.
After all, every programming language brings its own problems and challenges.
I can recommend Fiber to anyone who already knows Golang or wants to implement a few projects in another language — the great advantage of the relationship between Fiber and Express is that you can immerse yourself in new technology without being completely unaware of it.
A particular advantage of fiber is that it is faster than Golang’s own net/http module. Fiber is completely based on another performance-optimized HTTP engine for Go. So if you want to implement a web server in Golang, it is advisable to use Fiber directly.
In the case of Express.js, this cannot be said. As this experiment shows, Express is not faster than a basic HTTP server in Node.js, without any frameworks or libraries. Especially smaller applications can and should be implemented without Express.js — at least from a performance point of view. | https://javascript.plainenglish.io/golang-fiber-426f52185fc4 | ['Louis Petrik'] | 2020-12-20 16:04:58.042000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'Golang', 'Web Development', 'Expressjs', 'JavaScript'] |
Charticulator | Charticulator
Microsoft Research has quietly open-sourced a game-changing visualization platform
Charticulator allows for truly bespoke visualisation through a drag-and-drop interface. Source: Charticulator
Data visualisation is an area where experimentation is rewarded. It is important to be able to rapidly prototype ideas when creating charts. It is easy to think up of impressive ways of building a graph to show a trend in a data set only to find out that, once created, it simply does not work as expected.
Even well thought out charts can turn into a mess when real data is added
Whilst open source tools such as Python and R have a large number of packages to support the creation of charts and graphs, iterating with code can be slow and introduces a steep learning curve. Given that visualisation of data is normally only a small part of a data scientist’s workflow, spending time understanding the specifics of a visualisation library can be painful.
Charticulator
The Charticulator platform not only enables charts to be created from data using a simple drag-and-drop interface, it enables full customisation of the elements within charts in the same way. The platform is open source (MIT license, source code here).
The way that all of the chart attributes can be built from data allows for almost anything to be created. When using the platform you can concentrate more on bringing your data to life than on the process of doing so.
If this sounds a bit abstract, it is probably better explained through the video below:
Building a bespoke chart in under 2 minutes (Source: Charticulator)
An added bonus
Whilst charts can be exported and saved in a number of formats, it is the ability to create a custom visual for Power BI which makes Charticulator even more powerful:
Export to Power BI to create and share outputs on interactive reports
The below video shows the process in more detail:
How to create a custom visual in Power BI using Charticulator. Source: Curbal
You can find Charticulator here! | https://medium.com/swlh/charticulator-b513d18e5f00 | ['Josh Taylor'] | 2020-10-11 21:37:56.573000+00:00 | ['Visualization', 'Power Bi', 'Data Visualization'] |
Charts from Google Sheets using Vizydrop | Google Sheets is very popular for creating spreadsheets. “Create, edit, and collaborate wherever you are“ as they said. Sometimes there is a need to visualize the data from the created spreadsheet. That’s why we implemented the way to do this task right inside Vizydrop. I am going to show how simple it is in this article.
1. Connect Google Account
First of all, connect your Google account to Vizydrop. Follow the following steps:
Start creating a new chart
Select Google Sheets in apps gallery
Proceed with the connection of the account by clicking the “Connect” button
Allow Vizydrop to connect to your spreadsheets in the authorization popup
2. Configure source
That’s a simple one. After connecting your Google account you will see a form of spreadsheet configuration. Select the desired spreadsheet and worksheet you would like to visualize. I am going to use stocks data set. You may find it here.
3. Configure the chart
Now the most interesting part of the process. It is a chart configuration. Drag and drop. Provide necessary calculations for dimension. It is all up to you.
You may try our platform at https://vizydrop.com or https://trello.vizydrop.com | https://medium.com/vizydrop/charts-from-google-sheets-using-vizydrop-495741cb7019 | ['Oleg Seriaga'] | 2019-04-05 07:47:39.069000+00:00 | ['Charts', 'Data Visualization', 'Spreadsheets', 'Google Sheets'] |
ThAdvantages of Being Useless | Jenness Pond: My constant companion my whole life
This essay is about learning how to be useless. As such, it dovetails nicely with a recent piece I wrote on these pages about striving for idleness. I agreed with Mark Taylor’s Buddhist notion that “idleness allows time for the mind to wander to places never before imagined and to return transformed.”1
Being useless, like idleness, is often equated with being old. And, indeed, that is what I am. I spend a lot of time in reverie, which most would call idleness. I have to keep pulling myself back to the present. However, I’m not meditating but practicing what has been called the curse of the old.
I forget where I put my keys. I can’t remember where I left my glasses. I walk into the kitchen from my office and then stand there perplexed, wondering: what was it I came here to do?
Barry Magid suggests that’s okay in a piece called “Uselessness: The Koan of just sitting.” His take is, rather than racking your brain to recover what you’re “supposed to be doing, just kick back and enjoy the moment. He writes that feeling useless can be a profound experience that we Americans rarely have. Instead, we feel compelled to keep busy doing things: Racing around earning money, having fun, helping others, whatever it may be.
We are convinced that everything must have a purpose. It doesn’t.
To “just be” — what modern society calls uselessness — means forgetting what we are doing, or in the words of the artist Robert Irwin, “Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees.” According to Magid, this kind of seeing involves a loss of boundaries and a letting go of ourselves as separate observers, placing us within the very landscape” we are inhabiting. Buddhism calls this interpenetration of self and the world: “being actualized by myriad things.”
By dissolving these boundaries, we become whole, developing a personalized sense of place, within a community of neighbors, geographical topography, and the more than human world around us. We overcome the curse of our Western heritage that artificially separates our thinking mind from the outside world. That, to me, is the essence of what it means to be alive. Charlene Spretnak in “The Resurgence of the Real,” reinforces this notion, warning us that our hypermodern world is robbing us of our three most critical birthrights: our bodies, nature, and our sense of place.
As I sit here on my deck writing this, breathing in deeply the almost erotic, earthy scent of spring, I feel one with my body within my sanctuary of place. Meanwhile, so many around me spurn the only flesh and blood body they will ever have, yearning instead for the perfect body projected on the screen of their mind by advertisements and social media. Nature becomes just another accessory, a movie reel backdrop to soap opera lives. Worse yet, as more and more of us scurry around, always looking for the next best place, we are chopping off the roots that make us human.
Indigenous people have always understood that sense of place is the sacred scaffolding upon which one grows a meaningful life. Perhaps, like it or not, that will be the final rallying cry of us Baby Boomers: To promote the importance of sense of place while extolling the benefits of idleness and uselessness.
xxx
https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/idleness-waiting-grace/
https://tricycle.org/magazine/uselessness/
“The Resurgence of the Real” by Charlene Spretnack: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company: 1997. | https://medium.com/@jeanstimmell/thadvantages-of-being-useless-d07676ddb224 | ['Jean Stimmell'] | 2021-03-22 18:33:09.130000+00:00 | ['Buddhism', 'Ecology', 'Sense Of Place', 'Growing Old', 'Photography'] |
Pendobrak Dikotomi Pengusaha vs Karyawan : Koperasi Pekerja | Good Job: The Growth of Co-operative Business in British Columbia | The Tyee
Editor's note: Rachel's story is based on an audio documentary she created last year. Scroll down to find the… | https://medium.com/334455-demokrasi-ekonomi/pendobrak-dikotomi-pengusaha-vs-karyawan-koperasi-pekerja-deffc25974f9 | ['M Sena Luphdika'] | 2020-01-22 14:46:58.832000+00:00 | ['Worker Cooperatives', 'Koperasi', 'Koperasi Pekerja', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
FAA Areodynamics of Flight refresher PDF | 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/first-draft-thoughts/faa-areodynamics-of-flight-refresher-pdf-41e2a1c33ad | ['Jon Walsh'] | 2020-12-13 13:04:17.968000+00:00 | ['Math', 'Flying', 'Physics', 'Adventure', 'Aerodynamics'] |
Virtual Coaching for LGBTQIA* Entrepreneurs in South Africa — Five Challenges and Five Lessons | Photo Credit: Ise Bosch (2019)
Following the Queer Pitch Days in South Africa in December 2019, we went on to launch our coaching programme. During the Pitch Days, we had identified six entrepreneurs who showed great promise from an impact and business perspective but who were not quite investment-ready yet. The programme aimed to provide each entrepreneur with the opportunity to work through their impact and business model, with a view to submitting an investment proposal at the end.
This initial programme is now close to its conclusion. We wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on some of the challenges it faced and the things that we were able to learn from it — not least in light of the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Programme Design
Instead of setting a fixed schedule, we designed the programme to be driven by the respective entrepreneurs and tailored to their specific needs. After each session, a set of next steps was agreed upon between coach and coachee. Upon completion of those steps, the entrepreneurs would become eligible for another session, and then another — up to a maximum of ten sessions. The aim was for the entrepreneurs to prioritise their actions according to their own schedule, which would generate deeper and more substantive discussions.
We had toyed with the idea of guiding the coachees through a business-plan writing exercise. In the end, we opted for a more pragmatic approach, using the business model canvas to evaluate and discuss the business models. We felt that the canvas provided the necessary depth to think through all aspects of the business without being overly formal.
In return for this mentoring, we asked the entrepreneurs to invest a similar amount of time back into their own communities. We left the format entirely open, to encourage people to think about what would most benefit their respective communities.
The Pivot
The programme was intended to take place via phone, via Skype and in person (more on this below), depending on the person’s location and needs. From the beginning, three of the entrepreneurs indicated that they would prefer a two-day workshop over individual sessions.
The Covid-19 pandemic hit South Africa in March, leading to a national lockdown being introduced on 26 March 2020. We were therefore forced to move to an exclusively virtual setup. By that time, the entrepreneurs had only had an initial meet-and-greet with the coach.
Our primary concern was whether an online-only experience would allow us to build a strong enough rapport with the entrepreneurs. Dissecting your business model and talking about your financials is daunting at the best of times, so to do it virtually with someone you have only just met is particularly challenging. We were also worried about access to digital connectivity, as some of the entrepreneurs either lived in remote areas where mobile infrastructure was patchy or they had to rely on public internet access points (e.g. libraries, universities) for financial reasons.
The Challenges
The original cohort of six entrepreneurs consisted of an events management business, a poultry farm, a launderette, a hospitality enterprise, a catering company, and a conference management firm. They were evenly split between rural and urban areas.
The entire cohort was severely impacted by the lockdown. The entrepreneurs from the events, hospitality, conference and catering industries had to completely shut down operations.
We encouraged all the entrepreneurs to think through the implications of the lockdown for their business model by evaluating different scenarios and considering various options. We wanted to stay close, as a sounding board, but purposely refrained from pushing them in any specific direction.
Over the course of the lockdown, half of the cohort dropped out of the programme. Naturally, we were disappointed, but we were also able to appreciate that each person has their own lived experience. After all, the design of the programme was such that it gave the coachees that option. We identified the five main challenges that the entrepreneurs were grappling with as: (1) mental health issues; (2) technology resources; (3) digital connectivity; (4) timing; and (5) other commitments.
We recognise that it is not easy for us, as outsiders, to understand the complexities and the dynamics that the entrepreneurs are dealing with — and in some cases we may never fully grasp them. Hence, this summary only reflects our own view on things, and the situation may be regarded differently by the entrepreneurs.
Challenge 1: Mental Health
Some of the entrepreneurs faced a very real threat to their livelihood due to a lack of income, resources and options. This immense pressure and stress weighed heavily on the entrepreneurs, and they experienced true helplessness and despair. It was encouraging for us to see that Queerwell and Queer Women in Business were offering webinars on mental health and providing people in need with access to the appropriate resources and channels.
Challenge 2: Resources
Early on in the lockdown, we enquired about the entrepreneurs’ access to computers and mobile phones. Unsurprisingly, not all of them owned a computer, and some relied on public-access computers at libraries, schools or universities. Of course, these services were no longer available during the lockdown.
In addition, some of the entrepreneurs came under significant financial pressure. They struggled to afford the necessary amounts of mobile data to do the research required for the programme (South Africa has some of the highest mobile data costs in the world). As a small contribution, we provided those in need with a data plan for the duration of the lockdown, and adapted the sessions. Instead of asking the coachees to prepare financial models and slides, the coach talked them through the required data inputting and filled in the missing gaps before sending back the latest version for the entrepreneur to review (often on a mobile phone). In this way, we were able to turn things around!
Challenge 3: Digital Connectivity
Despite the relatively robust infrastructure in South Africa, mobile and internet connectivity remain a challenge in remote areas. With 50 percent of our cohort living in rural areas, this was a real problem, and so significant additional commitment from the entrepreneurs was required for them to be able to continue.
Challenge 4: Timing
We are convinced that all our entrepreneurs joined the programme with the very best intentions. For most, if not all, it was their first coaching experience. For three of them, it was either not what they had expected, or this was not the right time on their journey. Over time, we hope to adapt our selection process so that we can better determine the right point in time for a coaching programme to begin.
Challenge 5: Other Commitments
A few of the coachees kept their day job while building their business on the side. They didn’t see an urgent need to pivot their business model as they could rely on alternative sources of income. Instead, they used this opportunity to focus on other commitments and see the lockdown out.
Lessons Learned
We deliberately made the support we provided flexible because we were very aware of how diverse the businesses and entrepreneurs were and that they were at different stages on their journey.
Lesson 1: Resilience
The level of resilience we saw from some of the entrepreneurs was truly inspiring. Those from the most vulnerable communities and remotest areas demonstrated an incredible ability to adapt quickly to the new reality. Those entrepreneurs were solution-oriented and determined not to be derailed.
The hospitality business transformed itself into a bakery, the poultry farm changed its marketing strategy to a B2C model. Both commented that even before Covid-19 they had constantly been facing obstacles and challenges. Covid-19 was just another in a long line.
One entrepreneur shared her own, very profound, mantra: “I ask myself ‘How can I do it?’ as opposed to making statements like ‘I can’t’.” She stated that repeating this mantra daily helped her brain set to work differently. With that mindset, she was able to pivot her business and make an opportunity out of what many of us would see as a massive challenge. “Covid-19 was a blessing in disguise,” she said. “Something that was permanently disguised as a problem became an opportunity.”
Lesson 2: Pick the Right Communication Channel
In our view, one of the key elements to building good rapport with our cohort was the communication channel. In South Africa, most communication happens via WhatsApp, which was the primary channel we used to stay connected. This gave the entrepreneurs ongoing informal access to their coach, allowing them to ask questions as they were working through their assignments and tasks, with limited use of data. It also took away the formality of email and allowed them to bounce around ideas in an informal manner.
Lesson 3: Let the Entrepreneurs Set the Pace
The pandemic affected the entrepreneurs in different ways. While some had a need to intensify the interaction, others first needed to process the situation on their own. We were happy that the programme had the flexibility that allowed it to accelerate or, alternatively, to give participants a breather. Ultimately, we wanted the coaching sessions to be detailed and substantive.
Lesson 4: Small Contributions Make a Difference
As mentioned above, two of the entrepreneurs struggled to afford the mobile data required to do their research. Providing them with a data plan for the duration of the lock down re-energised their momentum.
One of the entrepreneurs ran into cash-flow difficulties due to the lifecycle of their product and delayed customer payments. We were able to offer an interest-free loan, documented by a one-page IOU. Not only was the loan repaid in full within two weeks, the entrepreneur was able to expand their business by increasing production output.
Lesson 5: Financial Management Adds Tangible Value
Although the content of our mentorship programme was entrepreneur-driven, we did have one focus that was consistent across all of the entrepreneurs: financial management. It comes as no surprise that financial literacy with respect to one’s own business is crucial for entrepreneurs. What was surprising to us was how much value the entrepreneurs managed to derive from a fairly short session on financial management, and how they were able to immediately apply what they had learned to their own business.
Reflecting on the benefit of gaining a proper understanding of their business’s finances, one entrepreneur said: “The only way to know where the money is going and coming is by understanding financial management.” We couldn’t agree more!
Final Thoughts
This pandemic highlighted, once again, that the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) space is a delicate ecosystem in great danger of falling apart during times of crisis. These businesses have not yet had the chance to build foundations strong enough to withstand such an economic shock. Many had to close down, with a huge number of formal and informal jobs disappearing in a matter of weeks. Many entrepreneurs fell back into poverty or lost their livelihoods altogether. The after-effects will be felt for a long time, and it will take patience and dedication to rebuild the businesses — hopefully in such a way that they become more resilient and more sustainable.
Entrepreneurs require various types of support, ranging from strategic, financial and operational advice to different forms of capital — philanthropic, impact and mainstream. No one journey is the same as another, but all entrepreneurs aspire to build sustainable businesses that allow them to make a decent living and that contribute meaningfully to their society and their community. It is down to us as capital holders to ensure entrepreneurs get access to the support they need. | https://medium.com/@dreilinden/virtual-coaching-for-lgbtqia-entrepreneurs-in-south-africa-five-challenges-and-five-lessons-51326b90c38b | [] | 2020-12-07 08:15:48.802000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Mentorship', 'Ecosystem', 'South Africa', 'Impact Investing'] |
6 ways to secure the change you want! | At Mynd Mvmt we spend the vast majority of our time and energy on mastering purposeful change both for ourselves and, of course, for our clients. Each member of our team has, at one time or another, undergone their own deliberate, large-scale life improvement, overcoming what once seemed impossible. Fortunately for you, what we have discovered and continue to learn to master daily is the process of change, which, together with our various professional qualifications, means we truly have the ability to guarantee success — as long as you are willing to do the work!
My own personal journey has been quite the wild ride! I admit that some changes have been more difficult than others, but what I’ve come to learn is that deliberate life changes, big or small, require a concerted effort to consciously shift your behavior and your thinking. You see, that is where 90 percent of us who have tried to make these types of life changes, from weight loss to spending to bad relationship habits to substance abuse, have fallen short.
At Mynd Mvmt we call the idea that thoughts don’t matter the “Myth of Invisibility”, the belief that because our thoughts are invisible they are not important and don’t matter. Given what we know from studying change so closely, that idea is precisely where we’ve gone so terribly wrong. We try to change our behavior without changing our thinking, not knowing that it’s a total set up for failure. Change only comes when we make changes to our perception — and perception is a byproduct of what we think, feel and believe! It’s the sum total of what we’ve lived thus far and how we therefore think about and experience the world around us. If that does not change, nothing will change! It can’t. It’s not even possible!
Through blog responses and from the work we do with our clients, we’ve found that often the barriers people face when trying to make these changes are the same. There comes a time when we have to make a choice — that fateful day when the novelty has worn off. When the excitement over this new thing we’re doing is gone, replaced with the painful realization that the commitment we’ve made is hard, uncomfortable, and unpleasant, and it’s going to require real effort that we are not yet sure we want to make. That however is THE pivotal moment. That’s the moment where we have to really choose. Are we going to do what we’ve always done, or are we going to forge a new path?
Some of those turning points for me have included coming out as gay; moving across oceans, to different countries (twice); quitting smoking; battling stress, anxiety, panic attacks and depression; making major career changes (and quitting several jobs); making lifestyle changes such as changes to my diet and quitting drinking. None of them was easy and in some cases it may have taken multiple tries without a shred of evidence of success! With that in mind, however, I thought it would be appropriate to prepare you for some of the challenges you may face during the process that lies ahead. All of which are totally normal!
1. Your Environment Starts to Change
As you begin to build an awareness of your inner environment, your external environment begins to change. This is the result of you viewing the world through a different lens. Rather than having a “Problem Orientation” or a major “negativity bias”- a habit of the mind and body where you are constantly scanning the world around you for problems. Instead you adopt a “Solution Orientation” — beginning to see the obstacles in front of you as opportunities. This is when you’ll catch yourself in the midst of asking “why”, as in “why is this happening to me”, and instead ask yourself “what?” As in, “what am I going to do about it?”
2. Turn Inside, and Ignore the Outside
When committing to make changes it’s natural of course to want to see progress, but this is a terrible mistake that so many of us make. We find ourselves constantly keeping score. Evaluating where we are in the process of achieving our goal. You may find yourself asking, do my jeans fit better? Is my bank account changing? Is my relationship improving? Whatever it is you are trying to achieve, keeping score is the fastest way to slow down the process. Just know that the change is happening but that what you’re doing when you look for evidence of change happening is re-engage the desperate feeling of not having this thing you want so badly. Thanks to the nature of human perception, activating longing just activates the old wiring that got you exactly where you don’t want to be in the first place.When you catch this happening, and believe me it will, just say to yourself something like, I know the change I want is coming and I am enjoying the process along the way. Then quickly change topics. Move onto something else!
3. Practice Mindfulness
Hopefully by now you’ve recognized that meditation and or a routine mindfulness practice are the best chance you have for a successful change. Assuming you know this already you may notice mini battles taking place within your own mind. At times you may hear all the old players — the voices of self doubt, worry, anger self criticism, judgement only now you have the new voice too — your true voice — working overtime to tell those guys to” f*** off!” No you’re not developing multiple personalities. It’s all part of the process of learning to step more fully into the trust and faith that deep down you have in yourself. When this happens — stop fighting yourself! Just “take five!” Breathe. Ease off. Move your body mindfully, relax with a good book, throw yourself into a project, game, phone call, Netflix. A battle is just that, a battle! By definition it means you’re bringing resistance into the mix and that is never a winning proposition.
4. Stay Above The Fray
I often hear a saying in my head whenever I feel myself getting sucked into nonsense drama, “stay above the fray!” One of the major down sides of life improvement is leaving those you love behind. I have found this to be the hardest part of all! Just because you made the commitment to major life improvement does not mean those around you will too! In fact, as happy as your loved ones are for you, you may also inspire a spark of jealousy, shame, guilt — a feeling that they “should” be doing it too. One way or another we have got to find a way to protect ourselves from the pressures, opinions, and negative “vibes” of others. It may mean stepping back for a while. Sure there will be the outliers who are so inspired by the changes you’ve made that, at some point, maybe now, or maybe later — they will follow in your footsteps. The painful truth of the matter is don’t count on it! Just because you’ve been inspired to change your life, doesn’t mean others will share in your enthusiasm. Making matters worse friends and family who have known us a very long time will always see you the way they always have. To our friends from 6th grade we are still that person who passed notes back and forth in Mr Passetto’s homeroom. To our friends from college we’re the person playing beer pong, and doing Jagermeister shots at 3:00 a.m., and to our parents and family…well, you get the picture.
Recently, a friend of mine told me about an experience he had during his “dry January” this year. He was at a dinner party with his wife and a group of friends and the host of the party, an old friend, kept pushing him to have a drink. “Come on buddy, have a drink with me! It’s new year’s!” Despite him clearly stating multiple times that he did not want one, his friend persisted and could not let it go. Anyone who has stopped drinking knows just how hard it can be and having someone continuously push you to drink, just makes it so much harder.
It’s not only that those from our past see us how they remember us best, the more dangerous part of this is that when we spend time with them, they pull out of us who we were then too! This is what can make change feel nearly impossible, particularly in the face of family and old friends! Now, that doesn’t mean you should run home and break up with everyone you’ve ever known. It does, however, mean that some distance and time to yourself can be a really helpful first step. If you just stay the course, no matter what, these things have a way of working themselves out.
5. Find Your Tribe
There is a saying that if you want to know the character of a person look at the five people who they spend the most time with. As you change and grow, trust that those five people will change and grow too! If you’re not sure where to find your new people, pursue what you’re interested in most! Check out a meditation or mindfulness workshop! Take a 12 week class in something! Try your hand at yoga, financial planning, or anything you’ve always wanted to know more about! New information is a key part of the change process. Building community only solidifies the change you want to make, and make the process more enjoyable. One client I had, who was agnostic at the time, decided to do a spiritual survey of sorts. He began studying different types of faith and would take “field trips” to various places of worship. In doing so he made friends and discovered after a while that another world existed he had known nothing about. Trust that whatever you do, you will find your tribe. With a new and fresh outlook on life, what your old friends and family think and feel about you changing is no longer of much concern.
6. Being Happy Can Feel Overwhelming and Scary
Especially if you are not used to it. Recently, I have had some experiences where I feel overwhelmingly happy for a prolonged period of time and it’s terribly uncomfortable! It’s just weird and unfamiliar. You just don’t realize how often you are keeping yourself from being happy by pointing out all the ways in which things are not the way you want them to, or think they should, be. Many of us are convinced that if we’re too happy it means something ‘bad’ will happen. We have trained ourselves to look for the “shoe to drop”! First of all, if you keep focusing on that bad thing that might happen, it will definitely happen. However, this has more to do with your state of mind than it does with circumstances. Secondly, if you are in a state of happy and allow yourself to stay there, you are much more likely to deal with circumstances in a positive way (see point 1). Don’t fear happiness. Allow yourself to linger in it. The more you do, the quicker you will see the change you want. | https://medium.com/mind-movement/6-ways-to-secure-the-change-you-want-9312eb29f9c6 | ['Morten Jensen'] | 2020-04-10 20:24:33.851000+00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Truth', 'Awareness', 'Change', 'Change Your Life'] |
The Big Economic Shift: Democratic Candidates 2020 Energy and Environment Report | by Andrew Busch and Leah Hamilton
For the Democratic presidential candidates, there has been an intense focus on climate change and the energy sector.
A large number of the candidates’ policy proposals link in with or support the Green New Deal (GND). The GND was one of the broadest and most aspirational proposals put forward by Democrats to change both the energy sector and the economy, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gases and fossil fuel use. It is also the costliest ever proposed in the history of the country. It was introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February 2019, and out of the 2020 Democratic candidates we are covering, it was co-sponsored by Sanders, Warren, Harris, and Booker. Biden has also indicated his support for the GND.
The GND sets out several goals, including:
· to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers
· to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States
· to invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century
· to secure for all people of the United States:
clean air and water
climate and community resiliency
healthy food
access to nature
a sustainable environment
· to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (referred to as ‘‘frontline and vulnerable communities’’.
The GND then includes a number of proposed plans to bring about these goals, including:
· building resiliency against climate-change related disasters
· repairing and upgrading infrastructure in the US
· meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources
· upgrading to smart power grids
· upgrading existing buildings
· spurring growth in clean manufacturing
· working with farmers and ranchers to make agriculture more sustainable
· overhauling transportation systems
· mitigating the long-term effects of pollution
· removing greenhouse gases
· protecting threatened ecosystems and endangered species
· cleaning up hazardous waste
· identifying other emission sources
· promoting the international exchange of technology and expertise.
There are two main limbs to the GND: climate justice and investment. The issue of climate justice relates to how the potential effects of climate change will affect ordinary people. In terms of investment, the idea is that public investment would create green jobs.
Almost 50% of Americans worry “a great deal” about the effects of climate change. In addition, “215 of the world’s biggest companies, including giants like Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Nestlé, and 3M, see climate change as a threat likely to affect their business within the next five years,“ and a Carbon Disclosure Project report noted that 73% of companies that reported to them have oversight of climate-change related issues at a board level. Democratic candidates in 2020 are responding to these concerns from businesses and the public by putting forward policies that look into carbon emission reduction, resilience, research, and infrastructure changes. The GND is a framework that the candidates are using to pursue these aims.
Many of the candidates have slightly different ideas or nuances to their plans that mean they approach these issues with varying proposals. However, there is overlap in their plans to address environmental issues and the structuring of the energy sector. As an example, all of the 2020 Democratic candidates support rejoining the Paris agreement.
Key Takeaways:
1. All of the 2020 Democratic candidates support the GND in some way and propose numerous different approaches to implementing its framework.
2. A large focus is on reducing reliance on fossil fuels and the oil and gas industries, with a shift towards 100% clean or renewable energy through a focus on research, innovation, and regulatory changes in the manufacturing, transport, and agriculture sectors.
3. The final issues that all candidates attempt to tackle are climate resiliency, climate justice (focusing on those most potentially impacted by climate change), and “making polluters pay”.
Due to Harris dropping out of the race, the research will now focus on Biden, Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg.
Biden
Biden’s focus on environmental issues is long-standing and he has been described as a “climate change pioneer” by Politifact. He supports portions of the GND and notes it as a “crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face,” but has not explicitly endorsed it.
One of Biden’s primary plans is his Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice. In this plan Biden describes the issue of climate change as a “climate emergency,” and puts forward a number of proposals to implement the GND, as well as to “revitalize the U.S. energy sector and boost growth economy-wide.” He believes that the US can be made into a “clean energy superpower,” and that clean energy technology can be created and exported in a way that creates and preserves middle-class jobs in America.
The Biden Plan sets out five primary goals, including:
1. Ensure the U.S. achieves a 100% clean energy economy and reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050.
2. Build a stronger, more resilient nation (to climate issues).
3. Rally the rest of the world to meet the threat of climate change.
4. Stand up to the abuse of power by polluters who disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities.
5. Fulfill our obligation to workers and communities who powered our industrial revolution and subsequent decades of economic growth.
Biden also states that he would roll back the Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax cuts to pay for the above goals, with the aim of creating a clean energy future. The total cost of his plan is estimated to be $1.7 trillion in federal investment, combining this with private sector and state and local investments to total $5 trillion.
To enact his climate plan and the above five goals, Biden has also set out a number of more-detailed plans. For example, to enact his plan for net-zero emissions no later than 2050, he would sign a series of executive orders. He does not explicitly state what he would include in each executive order.
In addition, he would also demand that Congress enact legislation making a historic investment in energy and climate research and innovation, establishes an enforcement mechanism, and incentivizes the rapid deployment of clean energy technologies.
In addition, he would:
· Require aggressive methane emission limits for new and existing oil and gas operations.
· Use the Federal government procurement system to drive towards 100% clean energy and zero-emissions vehicles.
· Ensure that all US government installations, buildings, and facilities are more efficient.
· Reduce emissions from transportation by preserving and implementing the Clean Air Act and developing fuel economy standards.
· Establish new appliance and building efficiency standards.
· Require public companies to disclose climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions from their operations.
· Protect biodiversity and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Biden would also establish ARPA-C, a new Advanced Research Projects Agency focused on climate. The purpose of ARPA-C would be to help the US achieve 100% clean energy by using “game-changing technologies”, focusing on:
grid-scale storage at one-tenth the cost of lithium-ion batteries;
small modular nuclear reactors at half the construction cost of today’s reactors;
refrigeration and air conditioning using refrigerants with no global warming potential;
zero-net energy buildings at zero-net cost;
using renewables to produce carbon-free hydrogen at the same cost as that from shale gas;
decarbonizing industrial heat needed to make steel, concrete, and chemicals and reimagining carbon-neutral construction materials;
decarbonizing the food and agriculture sector, and leveraging agriculture to remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the ground; and
capturing carbon dioxide from power plant exhausts followed by sequestering it deep underground or using it to make alternative products.
Biden would also target airline emissions as a large source of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, he would promote and fund carbon capture and storage research and technologies.
He would also improve the deployment of clean energy throughout the economy, including energy-efficient buildings, electric vehicles, local transportation solutions, better agriculture practices, mitigating urban sprawl, and creating a national strategy to develop a low-carbon manufacturing sector. Tax credits and subsidies would also be available to businesses so that they can upgrade their equipment, factories, and processes, and be able to deploy these low-carbon technologies.
Another part of the Biden plan is to build a more resilient nation when it comes to climate issues. This includes developing building codes to build and rebuild before and after natural disasters and working with the insurance industry to manage and reduce risk, and the cost of transferring risk. For example, he would aim to lower insurance premiums for homeowners and would work with FEMA to expand the Community Rating System. He would also promote and expand the development of climate resilience industries (such as coastal restoration or resilient infrastructure design) to increase jobs.
He would expand both passenger and freight rail systems to ensure the United States has the “cleanest, safest, and fastest rail system in the world.”
Biden also notes a number of steps that he would take to expand the global response to climate change, including:
Convene a climate world summit to directly engage the leaders of the major carbon-emitting nations of the world to persuade them to join the United States in making more ambitious national pledges, above and beyond the commitments they have already made.
Lead the world to lock in enforceable international agreements to reduce emissions in global shipping and aviation.
Embrace the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, adding momentum to curbing hydrofluorocarbons, an especially potent greenhouse gas, which could deliver a 0.5-degree Celsius reduction in global warming by mid-century.
This plan also includes putting in place measures to stop other countries from “cheating on their climate commitments,” by interlinking trade policy with climate policy. For example, a Biden administration would stop China from subsidizing coal exports and outsourcing carbon pollution. He would also demand a worldwide ban on subsidies for fossil fuels. Biden would also reform the IMF and development bank debt repayment standards, so that projects with high climate costs would become riskier to take on. Further discussion of trade-related climate plans is discussed in our report on trade.
He also proposes a form of climate justice, essentially promoting policies to protect those who could be disproportionately affected by climate change. To do this, he would make it a priority for all agencies to “engage in community-driven approaches to develop solutions for environmental injustices affecting communities of color, low-income, and indigenous communities.”
Biden also has a plan to handle the impact of the energy transition on workers in industries such as coal miners and power plant workers.
In addition, Biden’s plan also includes:
over 500,000 public charging stations for electric cars;
incentivizing innovation in sustainable aircraft fuels to reduce airline emissions; and
improving commuter and freight train travel.
Biden would also aim to improve appliance and home-building manufacturing standards, to reduce emissions, and would “put in place a national program to target a package of affordable energy efficiency retrofits in American homes.” A further goal is to have low-income housing made more efficient, and for the US Department of Energy to increase their efforts to add new efficiency standards.
Finally, he would restore the full electric vehicle tax credit.
Sanders
Sanders’ plans on the environment and energy sector are the largest policy section on his website, titled “Green New Deal”. Some of these policies are also covered in other sections, but the majority of his plans are covered in this part.
His first proposal is to reach 100% renewable energy for electricity and transportation by 2030 and complete decarbonization by 2050. Part of this would be done by creating another Power Marketing Administration and expanding existing PMAs to build more solar, wind, energy storage, and geothermal power plants. $526 billion would be spent on creating a new, modern, underground, renewable electricity grid. As part of the plan to reduce electricity use, he proposes to improve home and business energy efficiency with regard to buildings and lower energy bills. Heating and cooling would also be brought onto the electric grid, instead of being fueled from natural gas, propane, or oil.
In addition, he intends to reduce emissions generally by 71% by 2030 and reduce emissions among less-industrialized nations by 26% by 2030. All energy generated as a result of GND plans would be publicly owned.
Sanders would not allow any new nuclear power plants to be built.
In addition, he proposes to create 20 million jobs for solving the climate crisis, primarily in the industries of “steel and auto manufacturing, construction, energy efficiency retrofitting, coding and server farms, and renewable power plants.” He also proposes to add jobs in the sustainable agriculture and engineering fields, as well as creating a Civilian Conservation Corps. Some of the jobs that the Civilian Conservation Corps would do include “building green infrastructure, planting billions of trees and other native species, preventing floods and soil erosion, rebuilding wetlands and coral, cleaning up plastic pollution, constructing and maintaining accessible paths, trails, and fire breaks; rehabilitating and removing abandoned structures, and eradicating invasive species and flora disease; and other natural methods of carbon pollution sequestration.”
He states that to create all of the above jobs, he would make a “historic” $16.3 trillion public investment “in line with the mobilization of resources made during the New Deal and WWII.” He does not lay out the specifics of this plan.
He would also make sure that displaced fossil fuel industry workers would be guaranteed “five years of a worker’s current salary, housing assistance, job training, health care, pension support, and priority job placement.” For any fossil fuel industry workers who are displaced by the plan, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit would be provided to employers who hire them.
Another of his efficiency proposals is to build “affordable and high-quality, modern public transportation”, and he would also set up grants and trade-in programs for the purchase of high-efficiency electric vehicles.” Electric vehicle charging infrastructure would also be expanded, at the cost of $85.6 billion. All school and transit buses would also be replaced with electric vehicles, and all diesel shipping trucks would be replaced with long-range electric trucks.
With regard to the transport industry generally, Sanders aims to massively increase public transit ridership. He would expand the high-speed rail system, with a focus on intercity rail. In addition, Sanders proposes to invest in decarbonizing the shipping and aviation industries as soon as possible.
He would also make large investments in sustainable agriculture practices.
Sanders would create a $40 billion Climate Resiliency Fund, intended to protect those who would be most affected by changes occurring as a result of climate change.
He would also put forward $200 billion towards the Green Climate Fund and would rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. The Green Climate Fund helps to promote the transfer of “renewable technologies, climate adaptation, and assistance in adopting sustainable energies” to developing countries, so that they can shift more rapidly towards low-carbon economies.
To pay for the GND, Sanders suggests:
Making the fossil fuel industry pay for their pollution, through litigation, fees, and taxes, and eliminating federal fossil fuel subsidies.
Generating revenue from the wholesale of energy produced by the regional Power Marketing Authorities. Revenues will be collected from 2023–2035, and after 2035 electricity will be virtually free, aside from operations and maintenance costs.
Scaling back military spending on maintaining global oil dependence.
Collecting new income tax revenue from the 20 million new jobs created by the plan.
Reduced need for federal and state safety net spending due to the creation of millions of good-paying, unionized jobs.
Making the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share.
One of his ideas to promote research and development in sustainable energy, is to expand funding into an initiative called StorageShot. He would put $30 billion towards this initiative. It is based on the previously successful program, SunShot, which was run by the Department of Energy in 2011. The intention of the StorageShot plan is to “invest in public research to drastically reduce the cost of energy storage, electric vehicles, and make our plastic more sustainable through advanced chemistry.” The aim of this would be to replace coal and natural gas plants that serve as base generation for the electricity grid.
Under a Sanders administration, particular trade deals would be renegotiated with the aim of reducing pollution. Agreements would be renegotiated in a way to “ensure strong and binding climate standards, labor rights, and human rights with swift enforcement.”
Public infrastructure would be retrofitted with climate resilience in mind. This would include readying public highways, bridges and water systems to ensure that they are ready for any climate impacts that may come. He would also invest in infrastructure and programs that are intended to protect the people and communities that will be most affected by climate change, including flooding, wildfires, extreme storms, drought, and sea-level rise.
One of the major proposals in Sanders’ policy is that he would “make the fossil fuel industry pay for their pollution.” As part of this, he would massively raise taxes on corporate polluters’ and investors’ fossil fuel income and wealth. In addition, he would raise penalties on pollution from fossil fuel generation and would require fossil fuel infrastructure owners to buy fossil fuel risk bonds to pay for disaster impacts.
He would also require corporations to audit and report their climate risks, which would contribute to a national report called the Climate Risk Report. This Climate Risk Report would be created by the SEC and the EPA. Corporations the violate domestic climate goals would be subject to sanctions.
Sanders would also end fossil fuel subsidies and would end all new and existing fossil fuel extraction from public lands. In addition, he would ban offshore drilling, and would stop the “permitting and building of new fossil fuel extraction, transportation, and refining infrastructure.” Old and abandoned fossil fuel infrastructure would be required to be cleaned up, and leaking infrastructure would be required to be repaired by fossil fuel corporations.
Under a Sanders administration, fracking would be banned, and mountaintop removal coal mining would also be banned. The import and export of fossil fuels would also be banned. Federal pensions would also be divested away from fossil fuels, and “financial institutions, universities, insurance corporations, and large institutional investors” would be pressured to move their investments away from fossil fuels and into clean energy bonds.
For imports, Sanders would place a fee on Carbon Pollution-Intensive Goods under the World Trade Organization General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Article 20.”
Several different government agencies would be reorganized and restructured to deal with a shift towards a clean energy economy, including the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Energy Information Administration, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Federal Emergency Management Agency. He would require these departments to work as part of a “centralized taskforce to phase out fossil fuels by expediting research, development, deployment, and technical support for polluting industries to ensure a smooth transition.”
He also proposes that all projects flowing from the GND would have “fair family-sustaining wages, local hiring preferences, project labor and community agreements, including buying clean, American construction materials and paying workers a living wage.” Workers in clean energy jobs would also be encouraged to form a union, by establishing Bernie’s Workplace Democracy Plan.
Sanders proposes to support family farms by investing in regenerative and sustainable agriculture. He would fund $410 billion towards carbon sequestration ideas, increasing resiliency, and focusing on design, technical assistance, equipment, infrastructure, and repaying debt. As part of his plan he would also invest $41 billion to help large animal feeding farms to transition towards more regenerative practices, and $41 billion to help socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers who have traditionally been underserved by USDA programs. Sanders also proposes the Rural Energy for America program to promote clean energy options for the agriculture industry. This would allow farmers to grow and harvest renewable energy alongside their crops.
For more about Sanders’ proposals in relation to agriculture, take a look at our report.
Sanders’ plan also sets out that communities that need extra assistance in the transition to a clean energy economy would be eligible for additional funding through regional commissions. $5.9 billion in funding would be distributed as follows:
$2.53 billion for the Appalachian Regional Commission
$506.4 million for the Delta Regional Authority
$304 million for the Denali Commission
$405 million for the Northern Border Regional Commission
$94 million for the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission
$2.02 billion for Economic Development Assistance Program
GND funding for parks and public lands would be distributed equally throughout urban, rural, and suburban areas, and urban sustainability initiatives would be undertaken to improve the environmental and social conditions of low-income neighborhoods and communities.
Finally, he sets out a number of environmental justice principles. This includes that “hazardous waste sites, chemical and industrial plants, aging lead pipes, and decaying infrastructure that endanger the health of all citizens will be fully regulated.” He would also expand permitting rules to measure cumulative environmental impacts and require polluters to remediate those impacts. In addition, all agencies would be required to comply with Executive Order 12898, which requires them to “identify and address the disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their actions on minority and low-income populations, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law.”
Sanders notes that the first two years of the GND would be a big upheaval, and he would focus the first portion of the transition on energy assistance, by passing the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, to “help low-income families pay their heating and cooling bills.” This would ensure that price changes due to the GND do not impact families as much. He would also invest $964 billion for low- and moderate-income families to invest in cheaper electricity for heating and cooling needs. Sanders introduced the Residential Energy Savings Act, which created a voluntary loan program allowing property owners or tenants to finance energy efficient upgrades to residential buildings.
Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have also proposed the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act. This legislation would fund $180 billion over 10 years, with the purpose of retrofitting and improving public housing to reduce the energy costs of these homes. Energy retrofits would include things such as “new cladding, efficient window glazing, and electric appliances.” This Bill was also co-sponsored by Warren.
Due to the link between energy and food, Sanders would also fund $215.8 billion for free, universal school meals.
Warren
Warren also has a large number of policies on energy and environment-related issues. For example, some of her plans include her plan for 100% Clean Energy for America, as well as her plan for Accelerating the Transition to Clean Energy. She also sets out a dedicated plan for Fighting for Justice as we Combat the Climate Crisis, and a plan for Leading in Green Manufacturing. She also has a separate plan titled Tackling the Climate Crisis Head On.
A lot of the plans from Warren have a significant amount of overlap, and some of her plans repeat the same proposals as other plans. Her plan for Tackling the Climate Crisis Head On aggregates a summary of a lot of her plans in one place.
In her Plan for Tackling the Climate Crisis Head On, Warren sets out the areas in which she proposes energy and environmental sector plans. This includes:
· Green Manufacturing
· Fighting Corruption
· Clean Energy
· Green Infrastructure
· Environmental Justice
· Protecting Public Lands
· Sustainable Agriculture
· International Standards
· Improving Trade
· Tribal Lands
· Clean Air and Water
She then goes into more detail on each of these plans. She first notes that her Green Manufacturing Plan “would invest $2 trillion over the next ten years in green research, manufacturing, and exporting.” Her Green Manufacturing Plan has three key arms:
· Green Apollo Program
· Green Industrial Mobilization
· Green Marshall Plan
The Green Apollo Program would commit $400 billion over 10 years to clean energy research and development. This program would also create a model based on the National Institutes of Health, to create National Institutes of Clean Energy. The type of research that will be prioritized is “research that can be commercialized to help close the gap in hard-to-decarbonize sectors — such as aviation and shipping — and in areas otherwise underrepresented in the existing R&D portfolio, like long-duration grid storage.” Warren would also expand existing energy R&D programs like ARPA-E.
The plan for Green Industrial Mobilization is primarily the idea of using federal procurement and needs to drive demand, investing a $1.5 trillion federal procurement commitment in “American-made clean, renewable, and emission-free energy products for federal, state, and local use, and for export.” This plan is intended to cover a wide range of technologies and would require federal contracts to receive energy efficiency designations.
Finally, the Green Marshall Plan is aimed at encouraging other countries to “purchase and deploy American-made clean energy technology.” The Green Marshall Plan proposes to do so by creating a new federal office “dedicated to selling American-made clean, renewable, and emission-free energy technology abroad,” and would use a $100 billion commitment to help other countries purchase this technology. The new federal office would offer financing options to foreign purchasers to create incentives to buy American technology.
Warren also notes that the impact of climate change, as well as the impact of a shift to a clean energy economy, will affect different communities in different ways. As a result, she suggests “prioritizing resources for frontline and disadvantaged communities,” as well as “benefits to uplift and empower workers who may be hurt by the transition to a more green economy.”
Her plan to Accelerate the Transition to Clean Energy involves “using the power of public markets to accelerate the adoption of clean energy.” The primary shift would be that she proposes that companies should be required to share “how climate change might affect their business, their customers, and their investors.” She notes that there are a lot of companies that could be hugely affected by climate change, as well as that there would be large effects for particular industries such as the energy industry, during the transition to clean industry.
She would also require the SEC to tailor the disclosure requirements by industry, so that, for example, fossil fuel industry companies would have to make more detailed disclosure.
In her plan for 100% Clean Energy for America, Warren notes that she is following an approach already set out by Washington Governor Jay Inslee, in the form of the ten-year action plan to achieve 100% clean energy. She ties this in with her Green Apollo plan to invest $400 billion in clean energy R&D, noting that her focus would be on a few key industries, because “electricity, transportation, buildings, and related commercial activity are responsible for nearly 70 percent of all U.S. carbon emissions.” She also notes that the Green Manufacturing Plan and Green Marshall Plan would be a part of this goal, and that she would fund an additional $1 trillion on top of Governor Inslee’s proposals, funded from the reversal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Her plan is to achieve:
By 2028, 100% zero-carbon pollution for all new commercial and residential buildings;
By 2030, 100% zero emissions for all new light-duty passenger vehicles, medium-duty trucks, and all buses;
By 2035, 100% renewable and zero-emission energy in electricity generation, with an interim target of 100% carbon-neutral power by 2030.
Like Biden and Sanders, Warren also proposes measures to help workers affected by the transition to a clean energy economy, noting that she would “ensure benefits to uplift and empower workers who may be hurt by the transition to a more green economy … [such as] … providing them with financial security — including early retirement benefits — job training, union protections, and benefits, and guaranteeing wage and benefit parity for affected workers.” New jobs created under her plans would also be unionized.
She also proposes the adoption of 100% clean electricity, by setting high standards for utilities nationwide, requiring utilities to achieve 100% carbon neutral power by 2030, and to achieve clean, renewable, zero-emission electricity generation by 2035. She also proposes the creation of a Federal Renewable Energy Commission, to replace the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to regulate the US electrical grid. Federal agencies would also be required to achieve 100% clean energy in their power purchases by the end of her first term.
She would also expand federal subsidies to speed up clean energy adoption and would “establish refundable tax incentives to speed utilities’ deployment of existing smart grid and advanced transmission technologies,” and would expand the coordination between regions and states.
Finally, in her 100% Clean Energy Plan she proposes 100% clean vehicles and buildings. To do this, she proposes setting standards for vehicle emissions, including 100% zero-emissions for all new light- and medium-duty vehicles by 2030. In addition, she would invest in the modernization of the manufacturing base and would expand consumer tax credits for the purchase of these kinds of vehicles. She also proposes a “Clean Cars for Clunkers” which is modelled on the Recovery Act trade-in program, to encourage consumers to replace fuel-inefficient cars with zero-emission vehicles. Other forms of transit would also be decarbonized, including maritime, rail, and aviation.
For clean buildings Warren proposes to adopt new zero-carbon building standards by 2023 and will link Federal agencies’ grant processes to energy and pollution standards. She would also eliminate all fossil fuel use in new and renovated federal buildings by 2025. Part of the Green Manufacturing Plan would also be used to purchase clean energy products for federal building purposes, such as retrofits and heating technology. She proposes to use a combination of tax credits, direct spending, and regulatory tools to also encourage private capital investments in energy efficient buildings.
Warren also has a plan to protect public lands and proposes “a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases, including for drilling offshore and on public lands.” She also suggests using these public lands instead for “providing 10% of our overall electricity generation from renewable sources.”
Warren also makes a number of proposals with regard to sustainable agriculture in her plan for A New Farm Economy, which can be read about in our Agriculture report.
Her plans on Environmental Justice include a recognition that some communities could be more negatively impacted by climate change than others. To resolve this issue, she proposes to improve environmental equity mapping, and to implement an equity screening for climate investments. She also reiterates her plan to support fossil fuel industry workers and those displaced by a shift towards clean energy. She also proposes stricter standards for water quality standards, including the Safe Drinking Water Act and the capitalization of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
She would also attempt to mitigate flood and wildfire risks by instructing FEMA “to fully update flood maps with forward-looking data, prioritizing and including frontline communities in this process,” and by improving fire mapping and prevention programs. At-risk populations would be prioritized in this process.
Finally, she would also “encourage the EPA and Department of Justice to aggressively go after corporate polluters.”
Warren states that the cost of her Green Manufacturing Plan would be covered by her Real Corporate Profits Tax, which ensures that “the very largest and most profitable American corporations don’t pay zero corporate income tax,” as well as by ending federal oil and gas subsidies, and closing corporate tax loopholes. As noted, many of her other climate plans are proposed to be paid for by reversing the tax cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Buttigieg
Buttigieg’s plans for energy and environment are included in several different policies. His primary plan is titled Rising to the Climate Challenge.
Buttigieg’s plan has three different pillars:
· Build a Clean Economy
· Invest in Resilience
· Demonstrate Leadership
His section on “Build a Clean Economy” is the most extensive. First, he sets out proposals for becoming a zero-emissions economy by 2050, including:
· By 2025, double the clean electricity generated in the U.S.
· By 2035, build a clean electricity system with zero emissions and require zero emissions for all new passenger vehicles.
· By 2040, require net-zero emissions for all new heavy-duty vehicles, buses, rail, ships, and aircraft and develop a thriving carbon removal industry.
· By 2050, achieve net-zero emissions from industry, including steel and concrete, manufacturing, and agriculture sectors.
He then sets out more-detailed plans for each of these goals. First, he proposes investment to help the US become a leader in clean energy technologies. He would create a price on carbon economy-wide, that would increase each year. A border-adjusted tax would also be applied to imported goods that had not been subject to a price on carbon where they were produced.
Buttigieg would quadruple clean energy R&D funding to $25 billion per year by 2025, and over $200 billion over 10 years. He would also create a number of clean energy investment funds, including:
· American Clean Energy Bank, with $250 billion of capitalization, to provide loans, grants, and guarantees to finance clean energy technologies, energy efficiency, and resilient infrastructure projects.
· Global Investment Initiative, with another $250 billion fund, to partner on clean energy and resilient infrastructure projects that use American technology and are built by American companies.
· American Cleantech Fund, which will be capitalized with $50 billion to support projects of new technologies that are too risky for the private sector.
He would also issue US climate action bonds, to help pay for clean energy and resilience deployment projects. In addition, he would abolish subsidies for the oil, gas, and coal industries, including the intangible oil and gas deduction, excess over cost depletion, and other subsidies.
Next, he proposes to prioritize energy efficiency in a number of ways. First, he would expand federal programs that offer affordable electricity access, including the doubling of the Weatherization Assistance Program funding, and $1 billion to the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program.
He also suggests a number of tax incentives, including an energy efficiency rebate to cover 30% of the costs of improvements for residential homes and apartments. In addition, he suggests a tax credit for commercial building efficiency, and a new CarbonStar program that would provide consumers with information on which products have a lower carbon footprint.
His next proposal is to transform the energy sector in several ways. His first proposal on this point is to establish a national Clean Electricity Standard (CES). This standard would set national standards that still allow states and regions to develop more-tailored solutions. However, the overall goal would be to meet the goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.
He would also incentivize clean energy deployment with tax credits for solar, wind, geothermal, and other clean energy technologies, as well as long-duration battery storage. He also suggests integrating high quantities of renewables into the grid, with a nationwide network of high-voltage direct current transmission lines, and rules set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that would help to work towards the zero-emissions clean electricity system by 2035.
On transportation, he would require that all new passenger vehicles be zero-emissions by 2035, and all heavy-duty vehicles be net-zero emissions by 2040. The electric vehicle tax credit would be expanded to a maximum of $10,000 per vehicle, with the aim of helping lower- and middle-income families to afford electric vehicles. He would also expand the EV infrastructure tax credit to build out charging infrastructure around the country.
Technology transition loan guarantees would also be offered to vehicle manufacturers, to help existing automobile assembly lines to shift towards different technologies. In addition, he would expand the use of biofuels, and would establish a national clean fuel standard.
Finally, he would expand on the Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge and would invest $100 billion over 10 years in surface transportation for cities, including modernizing subways and other transit systems. He would also aim to enhance heavy-duty vehicle efficiency standards to try to move towards 100% clean energy heavy-duty vehicles by 2040.
Buttigieg also suggests setting up clean industrial technology standards and modernizing the manufacturing process, with the aim that industrial plants in steel, cement, and petrochemicals (for example) would be net-zero emissions by 2050. To this end, $1 billion per year in R&D would be invested in advanced, low-carbon manufacturing research. He would also enact rules that aim to reduce methane emissions and would support a Buy Clean program for federal government purchases.
He also has plans for carbon removal by 2040, including direct air capture. This carbon would be stored underground and proposes to use this for carbon fiber material creation.
On farming and agriculture, he would support farmers to develop new tools and technologies to make agriculture more sustainable and productive and would commit $50 billion to R&D in agriculture for reducing carbon emissions. He would also promote research in soil carbon measuring technologies and soil carbon sequestration.
Buttigieg also notes that he plans to create high-paying clean energy and infrastructure jobs in this transition and would also incentivize strong labor standards and would provide transition assistance for displaced workers and families. He also notes that vulnerable and indigenous communities would be supported more strongly during this transition. Finally, he also supports establishing the US Climate Corps.
In his second section, on investing in resilience, he proposes establishing “Regional Resilience Hubs” to help communities, which will help to understand and manage risks. They will also be funded with $5 billion annually. Buttigieg would also make sure that all federal infrastructure investments are climate resilient and would develop federal guidelines for investments and implementation of approaches such as nature-based climate solutions. This is intended to build resilience to flooding, fires, and drought. He would also establish national Catastrophic Extreme Weather Insurance.
His final section addresses how he would demonstrate leadership in this space. He proposes using “every executive authority available” to take action to reduce emissions and require resilience in infrastructure. He would also sign a “Buy Clean” executive order for federal purchasing. In addition, he would strengthen SEC guidance on the disclosure of material climate risks faced by publicly listed companies. He would also hold a Pittsburgh Climate Summit.
He also notes that he views climate change as a national security threat. He would submit a more-ambitious US emissions reduction goal on an international level and would also take part in global efforts to reduce non-CO2 emissions. He would also pledge $5 billion per year to collaborate with foreign governments on climate issues and would double the US pledge to the Green Climate Fund. Bilateral and multilateral relationships on climate change, such as with China and India, would be focused on encouraging more climate discussions.
Summary
As stated in the Warren research, the Green New Deal would create significant changes to energy production and usage in the United States, with significant costs coming alongside. Many of the proposals are also reliant on technology that has not yet been invented. This is a strong short-term negative as the economy will need time to adjust to new energy priorities.
The major issue with GND, and the candidates’ various proposals, is the cost. The estimated cost of the GND is large and variable. There have been a number of different estimates for the GND cost, such as “ $51.1 trillion to $92.9 trillion, or $316,010 to $419,010 per household,” from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and up to $93 trillion from the American Action Forum.
In response, many Democrats note that the costs of not dealing with climate change could be much higher and have much more than monetary effects.
The pathway to pay for these costs is a difficult one, as spending will need to be limited in other areas. Otherwise, taxes will need to be raised, or fines (for example, for polluters) would need to be significantly increased.
Another issue is the balance of energy sources that candidates’ are considering, as there is a difference between “clean energy” and “renewable energy”. There are also major questions as to whether aiming for 100% renewable energy is feasible or realistic, especially to achieve in such a short time frame.
The problem with renewables including wind and solar is that they are variable. They are not “dispatchable”, i.e. available to dispatch as need requires. Rather, the amount of energy they produce changes day-by-day and hour-by-hour. This non-dispatchable energy needs to be balanced with dispatchable energy from other sources, including nuclear and non-renewables. Some suggest that non-renewable energy emissions could be balanced with carbon capture and sequestration, but this also comes with problems.
A major review performed by researchers for the Energy Innovation Reform Project found that effectively, above 60–80% decarbonization, the costs rise sharply and the benefits reduce. While 100% decarbonization may be possible, it may be much faster and much less expensive to get 80% of the way there, and retain the use of some non-renewable sources, as well as nuclear.
The candidates’ focus on 100% renewables or complete decarbonization of the economy may result in increased costs that are simply unnecessary. A better approach is a significant move towards decarbonization that is more balanced, faster, and more stable in terms of energy supply. With heavy use of natural gas and coal, decarbonization past 60–80% would not be possible, but their continued use in limited amounts as backup energy sources could help an economic and energy sector transition towards significant decarbonization in a much quicker way.
Another good approach to reach decarbonization is the expansion of the grid to support the sharing of variable renewable energy sources. This can help to balance out dips or variability in supply. One major positive proposed by Sanders is the StorageShot program, which aims to allow energy to be stored much more effectively. This kind of research could revolutionize the energy sector, and allow a much greater use of renewables, and their storage completely eliminates the issue of variability.
On the positive side, the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act could promote massive manufacturing and job growth in areas with large amounts of public housing. Many of these areas are so-called “red” states, and many blue-collar jobs would be needed to retrofit public housing in the ways proposed by the Act. For more about issues on housing, read our report.
Also, the creation of an energy department similar to ARPA-E would likely yield new innovations in electricity storage and batteries. If scale electricity storage could be achieved, then the need for fossil fuels would abate rapidly as solar and wind would be able to generate the needed power. If the candidates would divert more of their proposed spending to this task of solving storage, they would be able to solve the problem faster and have a larger, faster impact on the environment.
Essentially, the problem of greenhouse gases and climate change is one that the Democratic candidates are highly focused on, and their proposals are extensive in light of that. The large costs of the GND make it a difficult “political pill” to swallow, as it would create major disruptions to the energy industry and would also require economic policy changes to get the necessary funding.
A problematic question is also a matter of cost: what are the costs to the economy and the population if radical changes to the energy sector do not occur (such as through a framework like the GND)? While the economic costs of implementing the GND can be estimated, the costs of not implementing it are much harder to quantify. Determining the balance between these options is therefore a complex one, as the results of each argument “winning” are not necessarily simple to determine.
URL sources | https://andrewbusch.medium.com/the-big-economic-shift-democratic-candidates-2020-energy-and-environment-report-1d2a368a8fc | ['Andrew Busch'] | 2020-01-13 22:13:44.348000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Politics', 'Climate Change', 'Energy', 'Environment'] |
Ahh I’m Pregnant! | Photo by John Looy on Unsplash
I haven’t exactly spoken about my journey towards getting pregnant, so here it is.
I never knew I would feel so much pressure from my own self to get pregnant.
I used to say to other women and friends, “Don’t stress about it! It will happen when it’s the right time! If you stress about it it will only make the process worse and it wont happen.”
So much for practicing what I preach…
I never thought about what it would be like to try to get pregnant until it was my turn.
I had a few situations that were building up my stress levels and hindering my chances of getting pregnant and giving me false hope of being pregnant.
Here they are listed below, because what’s a blog post in 2019 without a list:
1- Crazy levels of stress at work — I was a teacher.
2- Wanting to be pregnant so badly that it was getting out of control in my mind.
3- Trying to time it perfectly so that I wouldn’t be pregnant in my best friend’s wedding.
4- Having an App on my phone that would give me the exact time of ovulation and all that jazz.
and those are just a few of the ones I remember — yeah, I was out of control.
Friends getting pregnant easily also doesn’t help, nor do the stories people tell of how they didn’t want to get pregnant but did by accident, making you want it to happen that much more.
I got so overwhelmed by all of my thoughts that I sat down and had a talk with myself.
I promise its not as crazy as it sounds…
Basically I made a decision to delete that stupid app and just literally have fun trying.
Once it happens it happens.
Although it is easier said than done, but I really wanted to do this for myself.
Fast forward 6 months later…
My husband and I had a performance at this one bar downtown and I was 4 days late.
I didn’t want to think too much into it because it had happened the month before but somehow I still hoped it was true.
I told husby to stop at the pharmacy and I will take the test in the morning if Aunt Flo didn’t show up.
I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, because I’m weird that way, and thought to myself, “meh, why not take the test, now?”
Three minutes later (though it felt like light years) there it was…
The pink plus sign on the stick.
I just sat there staring at it for a good five minutes and I couldn’t believe that it was true.
Am I really pregnant? Is this for real?
Then it clicked and I flew out of that bathroom and jumped on the bed scaring the living shit out of my husband screaming at him that I was pregnant.
Poor guy had a slight heart attack getting woken up like that and didn’t completely understand what happened — probably thought it was a dream.
Obviously, I couldn’t go back to sleep so I decided to call one of my best friends back in the States, let’s call her Wings, and share my news before I burst.
The moment I called, it was like Wings knew.
I mean why on earth would I be calling her at this hour?!
We had our chick-flick moment, laughed, cried, it was great.
Twenty minutes later, phone call over, I’m too happy and excited to go back to bed…
So what does a completely sane and stable newly pregnant woman do?
I clean around the house a little, dust, sweep, do the dishes, fold whatever laundry was left, and then set up the perfect breakfast to be able to re-share the news with the husband when he woke up normally, and all his neurons were firing properly.
Once he woke up, poor guy started telling me about this dream he had of me finally being pregnant and scaring the crap out of him — I mean, seriously, could he be more adorable?
The details were so on point and I just looked at him with the silliest look on my face, you know the one, that cheesy uncontrollable smile from cheek to cheek that children have when they see Mickey Mouse for the first time.
He looked at me, confused, and I finally said, “Honey, it wasn’t a dream. I am pregnant or at least that’s what the test says.”
Now, it was his turn to have that silly look on his face.
We hugged for a good hour in utter disbelief and then decided to keep it a secret and tell our families in a fun way on Christmas.
We went to Maliks Bookshop, a place to print and get customized items, and made everyone a special mug that revealed that Baby Sugar was coming August 2018 to households near you.
I, on the other hand, was a bit panicked on what I am supposed to eat at the Christmas dinner before we tell everyone the news, so I met up with my bestie, let’s call her Godmother (I don’t have to explain that nickname do I?)
She happens to be a dietician/nutritionist, which is such a blessing, and I told her the good news as well as got advice on what to do about the food.
I also had no idea as to how I was going to keep the secret till Christmas Eve, since I absolutely stink at lying and keeping secrets from my loved ones.
I kept it cool until we revealed the good news.
Reactions were explosive to say the least. Everyone was beyond happy and celebrated with us in their own special way. They all expressed how they cannot wait to meet the little one.
Clearly, the pregnancy was healthy, and went almost according to due date plan, but by now you all know that Melody has a mind of her own so she felt she was ready to meet and greet the world two weeks before her actual due date.
I will tell you more about the pregnancy itself on another day!
Woah, I rambled a lot — hope you enjoyed the fun times like I did.
Mama Sugar Out! | https://medium.com/@mandymehanna/ahh-im-pregnant-68247544a593 | ['Mandy Mehanna-Sugar'] | 2019-04-01 12:30:04.322000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Baby', 'Pregnancy', 'Family', 'Parenting'] |
Kevin Kelly of WIRED and Recomendo: On What Technology Wants and the Future of Virtual Reality — Ep. 12 | Kevin Kelly is the publisher of the incredibly weekly newsletter, Recomendo, and co-host of the Cool Tools podcast.
“What is this thing we call technology? In the cosmological sense, like, where does it fit in? How does it relate to life? And my current summary would be that it is an extension of life and therefore is not contrary to life. It’s an extended version of life — and that gives me hope, because it means that we can always make a greener version of whatever we make.” — Kevin KellyIn this episode of Outliers, I’m talking with Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) of WIRED magazine about his perspective on technology and its evolution. We discuss AI, AR, and how humans can benefit from partnering with and embracing tech.
📻 Listen now in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Breaker, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Kevin Kelly was the Founding Executive Editor of WIRED magazine and the Editor of Whole Earth Review. He’s also the author of several best-selling books, including Out of Control and What Technology Wants. His perspective on science and technology has been featured in writings for The New York Times, The Economist, and Time magazine, and he served as a futurist advisor for Steven Spielberg’s film, Minority Report. Kevin continues to produce content for his newsletter, Recomendo, his YouTube channel, and his weekly podcast, Cool Tools.
Topics Discussed
00:00:48 — The turning point for Kevin’s relationship with technology
— The turning point for Kevin’s relationship with technology 00:05:06 — Kevin’s thoughts on what technology wants
— Kevin’s thoughts on what technology wants 00:07:31 — Technology’s evolution in the directions of more complexity, more diversity, and/or more specificity
— Technology’s evolution in the directions of more complexity, more diversity, and/or more specificity 00:11:19 — General purpose vs. specialized technology
— General purpose vs. specialized technology 00:13:21 — Managing complexity through simplistic interfaces
— Managing complexity through simplistic interfaces 00:15:20 — The best designers can master complexity to render it simple for users
— The best designers can master complexity to render it simple for users 00:16:23 — Kevin’s start with Wired magazine
— Kevin’s start with Wired magazine 00:20:00 — The debate for optimism in technology
— The debate for optimism in technology 00:23:53 — Magic Leap and virtual worlds
— Magic Leap and virtual worlds 00:30:01 — Kevin’s next focus on generative art with AI
— Kevin’s next focus on generative art with AI 00:32:37 — Kevin’s work on Minority Report
— Kevin’s work on Minority Report 00:35:50 — A “centaur” team of human + AI tends to be better than just human or just AI
— A “centaur” team of human + AI tends to be better than just human or just AI 00:37:20 — How Kevin collaborates on his newsletter, Recomendo
— How Kevin collaborates on his newsletter, Recomendo 00:40:21 — Recent recommended books and documentaries
— Recent recommended books and documentaries 00:41:48 — A parting message from Kevin on embracing technology
For more, explore the full transcript of this episode. Transcripts for all episodes can be found here.
Links from the Episode
Kevin’s Books and Projects:
Key Insight
The only way for humans to be able to steer and direct the future of technology is to embrace it. Rather than rejecting this progress and the problems technology can bring, we can test, evaluate, adopt, and change the tools that arise, so we can play a part in how technology evolves.
Favorite Quotes | https://medium.com/@danielscrivner/kevin-kelly-of-wired-and-recomendo-on-what-technology-wants-and-the-future-of-virtual-reality-ep-c25db553d3fa | ['Daniel Scrivner'] | 2020-12-19 20:07:31.175000+00:00 | ['AR', 'VR', 'Technology', 'Podcast'] |
Strategy in the Post-Fixed Costs Economy | Strategy in the Post-Fixed Costs Economy
Evaluating strategic options in a world where businesses have never been easier to start, but never been harder to scale Ben Robinson Follow Oct 7, 2020 · 15 min read
We’ve talked often about the diminishing importance of supply-side economies of scale. In its simplest expression, digitization flips the industrial age equation. What was scarce in the industrial age was supply; what is scarce in the digital age is demand (attention).
In the industrial age, scaling supply meant mass production to spread the fixed cost of large capital investments over large volumes. And the industrial age was an age of mass produced, relatively standardized goods. This applied to goods and services provided by the private sector, but also to state-provided services, such as education and public services.
Since the advent of the internet, this is changing. We first noticed the shift in industries where both supply and distribution could be digitized (e.g. media) because supply became abundant faster and this highlighted our limited attention sooner. But it’s becoming increasingly apparent that all industries are being disrupted as software has eaten the world. More and more physical goods have software components to them, making supply more digitized. Where supply cannot be digitized, distribution nearly always can. And where supply-side economies of scale remain important, they can be borrowed.
Renting scale and the end of fixed costs
AWS was not originally intended to be a platform on which third-parties would run their businesses. But, thanks to Amazon’s business model, it was possible to open up that infrastructure service to others. In doing so, Amazon created a massive and highly profitable business which contributes 65% of group operating profits.
But, as big as the impact has been on Amazon, the broader societal impact has been truly dramatic.
Before AWS, companies had to make large upfront investments in computing hardware — a significant barrier to entry. But buying hardware was also a major source of risk: buying too much could bankrupt a company while buying too little could cause a major bottleneck to growth. And so, AWS removed both risk and cost for new businesses. As a direct consequence, it also contributed to the creation and success of hundreds of thousands of new businesses.
This boost to global GDP over and above the value captured by Amazon itself is difficult to calculate, but it’s certainly very significant. It’s probably not an overstatement to suggest, as Charlie Songhurst does, that AWS has been the single biggest factor in the rise of angel investing.
But AWS is not the only internet era platform. From Shopify to Stripe, examples abound of platforms that share their scale economies to remove the cost and complexity of doing ecommerce — allowing companies to form and start trading faster, with reduced risk and at lower volumes than would ever have been possible.
And not all internet-era platforms are providing digital services. As Rita McGrath, Columbia Business School Professor, discussed on a recent Structural Shifts podcast, by helping establish prices and create trust, digitization is making more and more non-digital assets tradeable on marketplaces. As she put it:
“What we’re seeing with the advent of the digital economy is that more and more transactions can be conducted in markets that used to require a firm.”
Uber was a pioneer in this regard, but we now see this “uber of x” phenomenon everywhere — even in the enterprise market.
In effect, it’s becoming easier to rent all services, physical and digital. All become liquid and on-demand. Capex gives way to opex or, as Younes Rharbaoui says: we have entered the post-fixed costs economy.
“Signs of a post-fixed costs economy are all around us: companies switching to full remote, increased reliance on independent workers & freelancers, on-demand software where cost matches usage, are all creating lean financial structures for growth.”
And, of course, like many other secular trends, the impact of the pandemic has been to accelerate it. If COVID-19 drew a binary distinction between online and offline services, lifting the former and sinking the latter, then it was disproportionately brutal in its treatment of those offline businesses with high fixed costs — oil companies, airlines, hotel chains and so on. From now on, all fixed cost investments will be more heavily scrutinized and, where they exist, variable costs alternatives will be more actively considered. Even Warren Buffett, a regular character in aperture blogs, is starting to consider the wisdom of some high fixed-cost business models.
The fact is, if fixed costs were already becoming passé, they definitely will be in the post-pandemic world — ushering in a faster transition to a new, internet-era economic structure. | https://medium.com/aperture-hub/strategy-in-the-post-fixed-costs-economy-fe2caab957f8 | ['Ben Robinson'] | 2020-10-11 18:32:33.104000+00:00 | ['Scaleup', 'Platform', 'Strategy', 'Business Models', 'Scaling'] |
Channeling Bruce Willis (Yippee-Ki-Yay) | Hollywood mastered the ‘elevator pitch’ a long time ago. They call it a log line. Here’s how they do it and why you need one.
Hey storytellers.
Can you describe your product in one sentence? In Hollywood that’s called a Log Line — one sentence that summarizes the movie from the protagonist’s perspective. It’s the Producer’s North Star.
In order to craft compelling stories about your product or service, you first have to boil it down to its simplest form — one sentence.
Example:
NYC cop visits estranged wife in LA and has to save the day when would-be terrorists seize the building.
I won’t insult you by telling you what movie that is.
The beauty of a log line is that everything else is up for grabs, as long as it serves that sentence:
Timing — Christmas? Sure!
Details — A robbery? Sure!
Comedic sidekicks — A smart-mouth chauffeur and Twinike-eating beat cop? Sure!
A log line for your product or service is about the solution you provide, written from your protagonist’s (i.e., customer’s) perspective. It becomes your North Star.
Let’s write a log line for Airbnb:
Travelers seek cool and alternative lodging to replace boring, cookie-cutter hotels.
How about another one? Let’s try OXO, the brand of housewares and kitchen utensils:
Home cooks, tired of uncomfortable kitchen utensils that break all the time, go for modern, durable, and affordable utensils they’re actually excited to use.
One more? Sure. Let’s turn back the clock to 2001 and write a log line for the original iPod:
With 1,000 songs in their pockets, everyone is free to enjoy all their music, anytime, and anywhere, no longer tied to CD players and stacks of discs.
Nail down your North Star. Once you do, you’ll have plenty of wiggle room for creativity as long as it always serves the log line.
Now it’s your turn.👇
Try your own log line and I’ll give you feedback. Can’t wait to check it out. | https://medium.com/behavioral-storytelling/channeling-bruce-willis-yippee-ki-yay-c0e981fd6403 | ['David Paull'] | 2021-06-08 21:07:07.729000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Persuasion', 'Marketing', 'Sales', 'Stories'] |
A Beginners Guide to Digital Bulletin Boards | A digital bulletin board is a TV that features your announcements and information.
Learn more:
https://www.novisign.com/blog/solutions/digital-bulletin-boards/
The flexibility that comes with a digital bulletin board is what separates it from a regular bulletin board. Aside from displaying primary forms of notifications, you can incorporate engaging videos, add scrolling tickers of text or news, weather updates, local areas traffic maps and social media feeds. | https://medium.com/novisign/a-beginners-guide-to-digital-bulletin-boards-4d5f24919edf | ['Eva T'] | 2019-12-26 09:01:01.409000+00:00 | ['Bulletin Board System', 'Novisign', 'Digital Signage', 'Digital Communication', 'Photography'] |
🧠 The Quantified Mind | 🎙️ Interview with Razi Syed, Founder and CEO of mettleAI
“Mettle” means “a person’s ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way.” After learning more about Razi Syed and his mission at mettleAI, the name fits pretty well.
Originally from Toronto, Razi studied business technology management at Ryerson University before dropping out after two years. He started working as a software developer, but after a while, it felt stagnant. He was interested in the theoretical side of computer science and didn’t think he could learn that on his own. He decided to give university another try, this time enrolling at Harvard to pursue a Bachelor’s in Computer Science. It was there that he developed the idea for mettleAI. And then, after his first year at Harvard, he dropped out again.
Why did you decide to drop out of school to work on mettleAI?
I built mettleAI passively in school until it became more work than could be completed without affecting my own personal mental health. I wasn’t set out with a preconceived idea to build a company. I was personally really passionate about the mental health space. I’ve battled mental illness and hard drug addiction, attempted suicide, and struggled to recover from treatment despite years of trying. At school, I began drilling down into what issues exist in psychiatry today and kept coming back to one major problem: it’s very difficult to measure mental health. When I reached out to researchers, professors, and clinicians in the field, I realized there was a lot of demand for something like this. We were hitting on some unmet need that other companies weren’t, which encouraged me to pursue this full time.
The need for objective measures in mental health is clear. How do we do it?
The way we measure mental health today is quite broken. We rely on patient self-reported data points, which leads to subjectivity and recall bias, and is burdensome for patients to complete. Providers then have to make decisions with poor data. With this lack of information, providers have largely avoided showing mental health metrics because they’re very bad. If you really dig into the success levels of treatments, 50% of people with a serious mental health illness fail to recover. We’re hoping to change this through continuous, objective data collection. We’re not looking to reinvent the wheel completely. By tying data to existing mental health assessments, we can procure data for a patient every two weeks, comparing results to their baseline scores and looking at behavior patterns that led to changes. At mettleAI, we’re not developing new measures — we’re collecting already validated data points existing within every phone and wearable out there, that are just not being utilized. We collect over 40 different data points, including things such as step count, calorie expenditure, heart rate, and sleep phases. We aggregate that raw data into a platform that quantifies things like stress, appetite, energy, and mood to equip healthcare providers with a richer picture of an individual’s mental health.
What does the mettleAI product actually do?
Initially we focused on the direct-to-consumer model as an app that patients could use to track their mood and other data. We quickly realized that market was already saturated, and that it’s difficult for new entrants to really stand out, especially with players like Calm and Headspace throwing millions of dollars at the problem. Instead, we saw an opportunity to build out a SaaS platform to help providers track patient outcomes over time. I’d call it a B2B2C platform; we’re working directly with providers to share data and insights on their patients, but patients also have their own interface to view treatment plans and medications, connect with providers, and access curated resources. With our platform, providers can see more patients, deliver better care, and more precisely track and improve outcomes. We’re largely focused on data aggregation, but we also provide some analytics. Still, we leave the intervention up to the mental health professionals. We do, however, help measure the effectiveness of the chosen intervention. This puts us outside the scrutiny of the FDA and other regulatory bodies, since we’re not a digital therapeutic.
How are you thinking about growth?
For one, we’re in the process of planning out clinical studies in Canada and the US. With our upcoming study at McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, we’re looking to prove that our platform can actually work in a clinical setting. Is it effective? Can we measure and track outcomes? Can we decrease ER visits or lower scores on mental health screening tests like the PHQ-9 or GAD-7? We’ve also started focusing a lot more on sales. With barely any outreach, we’ve secured 14 LOIs [Letter of Intents] and have a few additional customers in our late-stage pipeline, so we’re optimistic about what we can achieve with a dedicated effort. We’re starting with smaller, private practices with 1–2 providers. As we scale and generate the data we need to improve, we’ll look at larger health systems, and could eventually take the path of FDA approval as a digital therapeutic, which could open up reimbursement revenue from health plans.
Where do you see the future of mental health going?
I’m hoping we continue to see a shift to preventative mental health care. Medications for one symptom can have side effects that increase other symptoms, which leads to reactive prescriptions of cocktails of drugs that can do more harm than good. I don’t remember two years of my life because I was on six pills, three times per day. I also hope to see objective measurements bring us answers to some of the big questions that exist in psychiatry today: Why are certain folks more predisposed to mental illness? Why do some people relapse more than others? How do mental illnesses manifest differently in individuals?
Are there any other companies you admire working toward that future?
There are a growing number of companies working to commercialize digital phenotyping. Some great examples are Mindstrong, which is looking at typing patterns and has actually created its own smartphone keyboard, and Winterlight Labs, which is developing cognitive assessments using vocal biomarkers. I also really like Prairie Health. I like their personalized approach, starting with genetic testing and then providing high-touch treatment. Whether it’s genetic testing, analyzing the gut biome — I even recently came across a study where they developed a method to measure cortisol levels from earwax — I’m a fan of any company working to build an evidence-based mental healthcare system.
The movement to objectively quantify mental health is fully underway — you can’t manage what you can’t measure. It’ll be interesting to see which companies emerge here, and what new insights we can gain about the mind with better data. | https://medium.com/@tarockoff/the-quantified-mind-70a033a4ad12 | ['Daniel Tarockoff'] | 2020-12-25 04:06:51.386000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Startup', 'Mental Health', 'Psychiatry', 'Mind'] |
How Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud Is Changing The Landscape For Manufacturers | With every new year, manufacturing companies continue to advance and evolve their strategies to reach goals. The investment in technology has been increasing in the last decade, especially with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and, of course, cloud technology. More and more businesses have taken the leap into moving their key data to the cloud for easier access, and the manufacturing industry is no exception. Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud can help manufacturers to leverage cloud technology to grow their businesses.
Consider the place of the manufacturing industry in the U.S. economy. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, manufacturers contributed $2.37 trillion to the U.S. economy in the second quarter of 2019, not far from the all-time high recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018, which was $2.365 trillion. It is also important to consider that, with these numbers, manufacturing accounted for 11.1% of GDP in the economy.
This means the National Association of Manufacturers calculates that “for every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.82 is added to the economy. In addition, for every one worker in manufacturing, there are another four employees hired elsewhere.” Sectors such as retail, transportation, and business services benefit from this.
However, for decades manufacturing companies had to operate with technology that required higher investments for acquisition and maintenance. Data was siloed, which made it more difficult to increase productivity, efficiency, and profits. The 2010s brought the Fourth Industrial Revolution in full force, motivating these companies to innovate and incorporate technologies such as AI and cloud computing.
SaaS has helped bring productivity to new levels, allowing businesses to integrate systems and get the most out of information available, and making it accessible to their teams regardless of when and where they’re located. Salesforce has brought leads and customer data to the cloud, and with data integration technology such as Commercient SYNC, employees have access to this data whether they’re in Salesforce or in the ERP. Without needing to be in front of their desktop computers, or having to call the person with access to the system. A 360° view of sales and customers instantly, even from a mobile device.
This is one of the benefits Commercient’s customer Gecko Alliance sees by using Salesforce and connecting it with their ERP, Infor Visual, through SYNC. Gecko Alliance provides manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and technicians customized and complete solutions for spas and hot tubs, and they have been working with Commercient since 2017. Recently, they switched to Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud, and the results seen are amazing.
Commercient interviewed Elodie Martinez, Salesforce Administrator at Gecko Alliance, during Dreamforce 2019. When asked about the Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud, she said: “It covers a gap. I have not seen any app that is built the way that Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is built.”
Where have they seen more benefits? Below are three key areas Gecko Alliance has seen significant improvement through the Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud, and manufacturers can leverage as well:
1. Product Forecasting
One of the strengths mentioned by Elodie Martinez about Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is how strong it is on the forecasting side. Before, they were doing forecasting in the ERP, “and then we heard about Manufacturing Cloud so we have been running on pilot since Q3. Within a few months, you will see a lot more people using it,” said Martinez.
Forecasting in Infor Visual provided valuable data, but the main issue was that manufacturers don’t only forecast revenue, but also products and quantities. The possibility to track inventories, orders, and to be able to financially plan for either more or less product quantities accurately contributes to mitigating long-term risks. This is how software such as Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud and integrations like Commercient SYNC help manufacturing companies for better forecasting.
“What it does for us is currently we had multiple people entering the same data into different databases, so you had errors, wrong data, investing time in something less valuable, added task such as taking a number from an Opportunity and putting it into another system; you are not doing anything that is valuable for a company,” she explained.
Managing everything from separate apps, not even synced to Salesforce, used to bring these and other issues. Now things have changed, and their goal is to eventually feed that forecast into the ERP system, as forward orders, future orders and other data.
2. Customer Analysis
In addition to forecasting, Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud has helped Gecko Alliance with customer analysis. If they take actual quantities of the orders and feed that back into the Manufacturing Cloud then they have their forecast versus actual. Then they have real, live data SYNCing from Infor Visual to the Salesforce Cloud.
“It also allows us to see if I signed a contract with that many quantities, I have opportunities with that many quantities,” Martinez said. She also explained that this detailed analysis helps Gecko Alliance to detect any gaps between current orders and former orders, so they can forecast more accurately. They can even contact the customer and ask about the changes in the orders, which helps them to analyse better the customer’s behavior and see if there are ways to resolve any issues.
“With Einstein and analytics you can study your customer a lot more,” Martinez said. Teaching some people about what it is to do an analysis on a customer can be tricky, but with Manufacturing Cloud and Einstein Gecko Alliance expect to provide a more intuitive, user-friendly reporting experience, in order to reduce the learning curve as much as possible. This will provide them the necessary insights to make decisions based on accurate, up-to-date information.
Another benefit mentioned with Einstein is seasonality. “Depending on where you are in the world, China and Australia don’t have the same seasons we have here in North America,” Martinez mentioned when she explained why the orders may vary according to the current season where the customer is located.
Being able to understand these cycles helps Gecko Alliance and manufacturing companies to understand their customers better, which paves the way to a more transparent communication. This improves processes, workflows and, especially, customer experience.
3. Optimize Sales Processes With an Integration
Organizational changes can take some time, but once the users adopt the technology and embrace the new process, workflows improve and more gets done, faster. The Gecko Alliance Sales team started using Salesforce as “something they needed to do”. They started to use it, got to know the software and all the powerful features Salesforce offered for them when managing leads and customers’ information.
When they connected the ERP Infor Visual with Salesforce through Commercient SYNC, they reached a new level. Bringing customer information from the ERP to Salesforce gave them easier access to information such as orders and invoicing.
“In the last sales meeting, they all came back and said ‘we can’t live without it anymore. This is our true source of data, this is where everything we do is happening.’ It pushed Salesforce into the front end for them. They know that without SYNC they couldn’t be doing what they’re doing right now,” said Martinez.
For decades, manufacturers have relied on ETL or legacy systems to store key data, but these are not user-friendly, requiring a bigger investment and complex maintenance.
That’s changing. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, “manufacturers in the United States perform 63% of all private-sector Research & Development (R&D) in the nation, driving more innovation than any other sector.”
From advanced robotics in R&D labs to computer vision in warehouses and other devices, technology is making an impact on every step of the manufacturing process. Innovation used to focus on production or distribution, but now, thanks to technology such as Salesforce and SYNC, these changes are rapidly coming to other areas such as Sales, Accountings, Customer Service, Human Resources, and more.
Now, technology is here to help manufacturing companies to focus on implementing roadmaps that bring not only more business and profits but also opens the way towards a companywide digital transformation.
Check out Commercient on AppExchange today. | https://medium.com/inside-the-salesforce-ecosystem/salesforce-manufacturing-cloud-changing-the-landscape-for-manufacturers-6b1669e49cad | ['Isaura Martinez'] | 2020-03-17 15:01:01.288000+00:00 | ['Apps', 'Manufacturing', 'SaaS', 'Technology', 'Salesforce'] |
How “prezzo sito web” can help you scale your business online! (Medium) | If you are relying on free website builders, you may save costs for now, but end up jeopardizing your business’s growth in the long-run.
Only a professional web design agency with the relevant experience can build an efficient website capable of turning visitors into customers. Such a website should be SEO optimized, rank on Google’s SERP, and provide ease of use to the visitor.
Prezzo sito web isn’t just a web design agency — it offers more than that. Its experts carry a multi-faceted experience in the areas of SEO, graphics, UI/UX, and offer combined expertise of essential components of any digital marketing strategy. Its designers don’t just design websites; they go a step ahead.
Prezzo’s team holds a thorough understanding of what makes the user “click,” and utilizes data and proven techniques to trigger conversions instead of adopting the cliched “if it looks nice, they will convert” approach.
Prezzo sito web focuses on creating websites that enable customers to find you and your services 24/7 resulting in sales that never stop. A professionally designed website by Prezzo sito web could easily mean the difference between a conversion and a lost sale. | https://medium.com/@ahsanzafeerkhan/how-prezzo-sito-web-can-help-you-scale-your-business-online-medium-3197854724e6 | ['Ahsan Zafeer'] | 2020-09-02 08:19:50.661000+00:00 | ['Web Design Services', 'Web Design Agency', 'Web Design', 'Web Design Company', 'Website Development'] |
Path to Data Science | #4
Let’s do it the right way!
For any beginner, the first question that comes to mind is ‘What path do I take to get to know this’.
This article is an answer to that question with respect to Data Science.
Most people get excited by the idea of Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence and try to jump into that as soon as possible, but the reality is that it is hard grasp the concepts under those topics without a good knowledge of Math. Data Science tries to bridge that gap.
“We don’t require Math” isn’t a right thought process. Any skilled Data Scientist knows her math. We need to invest in our foundations to be able to perform well.
The order you typically need to follow is:
Programming & Databases
You need to be familiar with programming constructs like While loop, For loops, Variables, Syntax, Functions, how to call functions and so on. This is something that is expected from a person interested in learning DS. Knowledge of databases is also required.
What this blog course focusses on are:
Python packages like NumPy, scikit-learn, seaborn and other packages for visualizing and plotting graphs.
like NumPy, scikit-learn, seaborn and other packages for visualizing and plotting graphs. Descriptive Statistics : Under this, we will be discussing mean, median, mode and various plots of representing data.
: Under this, we will be discussing mean, median, mode and various plots of representing data. Probability Theory : In this, you will be introduced to different random variables like discrete random variables, continuous random variables, basic axioms of probability, what is a sample space, what are events, normal distributions and some other continuous distributions.
: In this, you will be introduced to different random variables like discrete random variables, continuous random variables, basic axioms of probability, what is a sample space, what are events, normal distributions and some other continuous distributions. Statistical Modelling : This involves concepts like Linear Regression, which we will cover as the course moves forward.
: This involves concepts like Linear Regression, which we will cover as the course moves forward. Inferential Statistics: You come up with a hypothesis and you robustly argue about its validity. An example is if you are working with a small sample and you believe that the blood cholesterol level is low, it involves how you argue based on the sample you have.
Only after familiarising yourself with these can you move on to courses like Machine Learning and Deep Learning.
This article covers the path to take while you’re on your journey of mastering Data Science. It falls under my Foundations of Data Science blog. Meet you in my next article.
Link: https://medium.com/@rithikagopikrishnablogs/tasks-of-a-data-scientist-f644c8be449 | https://medium.com/@rithikagopikrishnablogs/path-to-data-science-eee0d12d15b4 | ['Rithika Gopikrishna'] | 2020-10-09 04:39:35.892000+00:00 | ['Computer Science', 'Science', 'Computers', 'Data', 'Data Science'] |
Oh, Yarn! | 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/catness/oh-yarn-dda767f069d | ['Uzair Amir'] | 2020-12-24 20:32:58.522000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Cats', 'Poetry', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Poems On Medium'] |
Is BreadTube Being Overtaken By Tankies? (Maybe it’s Inevitable) | Welcome to BreadBusting, where we attempt to examine the problematic ideas that come out of BreadTube, and the ideology of Breadism more generally. Basically, it’s like Myth Busting, but for Breadism. We also talk about BreadTube adjacent phenomenon, that is, things that fans of BreadTube also happen to like or support, or have a strong opinion on.
Today, I want to talk about something that has been hotly discussed for a while in BreadTube circles. Tankies. There is increasing concern that BreadTube-adjacent communities are being overtaken by Tankies. So who are these Tankies? The term Tankie is generally used by left-wing people to describe leftists who defend Stalin-style authoritarian communism. It originated in a split in Western Marxism in the 1950s or 60s. Most Western leftists these days think of themselves as libertarian socialists, a term I sometimes dispute but I will use out of respect in the remainder of this video. Anyway, libertarian socialists support a version of socialism that they believe to be pro-freedom, and they believe that the authoritarian socialism of Stalin doesn’t represent their ideology. In recent months, the libertarian socialists, who represent the majority of the BreadTube fanbase, have noticed an influx of Stalin-defending Tankies into their online communities and spaces, and are understandably upset about it.
You see, these Tankies often have no respect for freedom at all. They sometimes outrightly dismiss free speech as an unimportant Western capitalist obsession, and openly wish that Americans weren’t so obsessed with liberty, for example. They can be very honest and blunt about their intentions. As for libertarian socialists? They don’t dismiss free speech like that. Not at all. But then, it’s not like they support free speech either, at least not to my satisfaction, as a free speech absolutist. In fact, BreadTube videos dealing with free speech, for example the one from ContraPoints from a while back, generally give plenty of justifications for limiting free speech. Breadists often like to use relatively extreme examples like Milo Yiannopoulos to justify limiting free speech for everyone else. That’s not exactly being sympathetic to free speech, right?
Another thing Tankies love to do is to tell people to read theory. Like read Marx, read Lenin, or read so-and-so. For Tankies, there can be no valid practice without theory. Of course, most of us live in the real world, and rightly treat all kinds of theory with skepticism. Therefore, I totally understand the liberatarian socialists’ refusal to get bogged down by theory. But then, BreadTube itself is full of theory. Almost every BreadTube video deals with some sort of theory. While libetarian socialists don’t often like Tankie theory very much, they like critical theory and postmodern theories instead. The fact is, both Tankism and Breadism are based around theory, just different sets of theory. For both Tankies and Breadists, without theory, there can be no practice. Just like how an engineer needs lots of mechanical theory to do his mechanical engineering, all aspiring social engineers need lots of social theory to carry out their social engineering plans on Western society.
The fact is, the Tankie invasion of BreadTube is inevitable, because so-called libertarian socialists and Tankies are not that different from each other. Both want to engineer Western society into a different state using social and economic theories, and both won’t let individual freedom and the free market of ideas take its own course. Thinking about it, libertarian socialism really isn’t as libertarian as the name suggests. While libertarian socialists don’t want to organize into a Stalin-style top-down hierarchy, they too often have no problem undertaking authoritarian actions like de-platforming speakers, as long as the action isn’t organized by a central hierarchy. But then, I guess the speaker being de-platformed doesn’t care about how the de-platforming squad is organized, they only care that their right to free speech is being trampled on. And trampling on free speech isn’t libertarian in any sense, right?
I guess if BreadTube doesn’t want to be invaded by Tankies, their only option is to draw a line and stop supporting authoritarian behavior of all kinds. I suspect that, if so-called libertarian socialists start to live up to their name, their communities and spaces won’t look so attractive to authoritarian Tankies anymore.
That’s all for today. I’ll be back next time to discuss another big idea. Subscribe if you want to follow our story. And remember to resist the hive mind and stay individualistic. The world depends on it. | https://medium.com/taraellas-liberal-conversation/is-breadtube-being-overtaken-by-tankies-maybe-its-inevitable-48ea8267b665 | [] | 2019-08-24 14:32:21.730000+00:00 | ['Socialism', 'Marxism', 'Politics', 'Breadtube'] |
What are the downsides of Tesla Cybertruck? | What are the downsides of Tesla Cybertruck?
What are the downsides of Tesla Cybertruck?
Well, having just seen the live demonstration, it frankly doesn’t look like a working truck. So there it is. After all the waiting, there’s what it’s going to look like.
As a general contractor and someone who must have either a truck or van to earn a living, here are my questions:
How do you put a rack on that thing?
I sometimes have to carry things 16′ and longer, which you can only do with a rack.
Where do you store your tools?
All the crap you have to carry with you for your jobs has to go somewhere. I don’t see a big frunk. (Maybe I missed it, but I don’t see one at all.) The tailgate has a ramp to the ground, which is cool, and a cover, which is uh, ok I guess. But it’s not really a place to store tools because as soon as the cover comes up everything is going to get rained on. And if you’re carrying supplies and you have your tools back there, and you can’t use the cover, it’s not really a place to put your tools.
Why does it have a short bed?
So the 4x8 sheetrock and plywood are going to hang over the tailgate. How is this useful?
What was the point of making it 4 doors?
I don’t take three other people to work with me. I need that back seat space for other things. Seats just take up space and risk getting ruined.
I really wanted to love this truck. The entry price is doable, the 500-mile version is very interesting, although out of my price range, it does not seem like it would be a functional working truck. I may be wrong, but that’s my first impression. | https://medium.com/@fahadahmd-bs/what-are-the-downsides-of-tesla-cybertruck-fbd20b3d04ea | ['Fahad Ahmad'] | 2020-12-02 02:56:48.854000+00:00 | ['Tesla', 'Cybersecurity', 'Tesla Cybertruck', 'Electric Car', 'Automation'] |
Blockchain for Dummies | If you thought that Blockchain corresponds to one of the previous ideas, do not worry. You will soon understand why you were wrong.
2. THE BLOCKCHAIN: WHAT IS IT?
Blockchain is the name of a whole new technology. As the name states, it is a sequence of blocks or groups of transactions that are chained together and distributed among the users.
“The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.”
– Don & Alex Tapscott.
In the end, it works as an immutable record of transactions that do not require to rely on an external authority to validate the authenticity and integrity of the data. Transactions are typically economic, but we can store any kind of information in the blocks.
Even when we call it ‘new technology’, its origins are accepted to date from 1991 when Scott and Stornetta published “How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document” in the Journal of Cryptography. However, it is now when its popularity has increased thanks to the success of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was published by Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2009, and the value of the currency reached its highest historic maximum of $19,783.21 on Dec. 17, 2017. Since that moment, Blockchain has been in the scope of everybody.
3. THE BLOCKCHAIN: HOW DOES IT WORK?
The value of the Blockchain technology comes from the distributed security of the system. For this reason, there are several characteristics that are completely necessary for developing or using a Blockchain.
We describe the 5 key concepts that are the basis of the Blockchain technology as we know it up to the date, based on the SuperDataScience course for Blockchain: | https://medium.com/swlh/blockchain-for-dummies-d3daf2170068 | ['Telmo Subira Rodriguez'] | 2018-12-02 06:36:00.629000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Learning', 'Innovation', 'Blockchain', 'Future'] |
Mohit Kothari, thank you for responding! That’s an excellent contribution. I agree. | Would You Rather be a Data Analyst or Data Scientist?
626 6 | https://medium.com/@datascience2/mohit-kothari-thank-you-for-responding-thats-an-excellent-contribution-i-agree-4cb051358690 | ['Matt Przybyla'] | 2020-12-18 20:31:46.933000+00:00 | ['Data Analysis', 'Machine Learning', 'Towards Data Science', 'Data Analytics', 'Data Science'] |
Premier League Power Rankings: Matchweek 14 | Premier League Power Rankings: Matchweek 14
By: Maxwell Argento
The schedule already being congested due to Covid-19 and the start of the festive fixtures means the next several weeks in the Premier League are coming faster than we expect. Looking beyond the league table to rank where every team currently resides is in order. Enjoy!
1. Liverpool (1st, 31 pts)
Winning 7–0 that casually against Crystal Palace on the weekend may just be the result that spurs the champions on and starts the beginning of another dominant run within the league. After having survived the injury bug they are quietly getting healthier and look to have their legs under them again. I know one thing for certain; whoever finishes the year with more points than Liverpool will be crowned your champion.
Liverpool’s Bobby Firmino providing his customary smiles during Liverpool’s trip to Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon, where they won 7–0.
2. Manchester United (3rd, 26 pts)
Three points from their game in hand and they will only be two points off champions Liverpool. If their home form can start to mimic their away form they won’t really drop many points. I currently have more faith in United’s strike force to score goals than basically any team in the league, which is saying something considering the quality of the top 6–7 squads.
3. Tottenham Hotspur (6th, 25 pts)
Can Tottenham’s traditional tendency of falling short be reversed by the serial success of Jose Mourinho? The last two results for Spurs surely have Tottenham fans feeling less confidence in their answer. When Harry Kane and Son Heung-min aren’t firing on all cylinders can they take enough chances to succeed under Mourinho’s system?
4. Manchester City (8th, 23 pts)
Have conceded the least number of goals in the league (12) but don’t seem to have enough answers on the other side of the pitch, which is never something you say about a Pep Guardiola managed squad. The sort of January transfer window City have should tell us a lot about how they see their season going beyond the New Year.
5. Chelsea (5th, 25 pts)
Chelsea certainly don’t look the same side they did two weeks ago, but will be very happy with their response in a 3–0 London derby victory over West Ham. Out of my top five teams in the league Chelsea are by far the least experienced (even when it comes to their manager) but still have more than enough quality in their side to claim a top four spot. Can the Blues continue to secure points and improve simultaneously? If so, Lampard’s men should look a near-finished article come the end of the year.
6. Leicester City (2nd, 27 pts)
It is no longer wise to consider Brendan Rodger’s side as anything other than a top-six team. It seems that whoever Leicester find to replace the players they lose every season come good, and Jamie Vardy is still one of the best out-and-out strikers in Europe’s top five leagues. James Maddison is playing so well he may not be long for Leicester colors, and Kasper Schmeichel is the most underrated goalkeeper in Europe.
Leicester City claimed a 2–0 victory on the road over Tottenham Hotspur behind a Jamie Vardy penalty, stamping their top-four intent.
7. Everton (4th, 26 pts)
Having one of the best managers currently alive in world football must be such a luxury for Everton, who finally feel they can stand up to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City in that regard. Every player in the squad seems to have improved under Carlo Ancelotti’s tutelage, but I have doubts over whether Dominic Calvert-Lewin can lead the line consistently enough throughout the course of 38 league games to get Everton a top-four spot.
8. Southampton (7th, 24 pts)
Ralph Hasenhüttl deserves to be Manager of the Year in the Premier League through 14 match weeks. Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse being in serious contention for spots in England’s Euro 2021 squad speaks to the big Austrian’s ability to get the most out of his side. Despite being ostensibly pretty vanilla tactically by using that 4–4–2, the Saints actually play some sumptuous football and have given the biggest clubs in the league some really tough matches.
9. Wolverhampton Wanderers (11th, 20 pts)
It’s all about how Wolves handle the festive period without their best player and talisman up front, Raúl Jiménez. Manager Nuno Espírito Santo always says he loves having a thin squad because it keeps everyone involved more, but during a season that requires more man power because of match congestion I wonder how fit Wolves will look when games 20–38 arrive on the calendar. Following up a 2–1 victory over Chelsea with a flat 2–1 defeat at Turf Moor against Burnley may be a brief look into the inconsistencies that await on the horizon for the team in gold and black.
10. West Ham United (10th, 21 pts)
David Moyes finally looks to have found his group of players that he can count on to carry out his system and fight for the badge on the front of the shirt as opposed to the last name on the back of it. Not having Michail Antonio fit for selection has been a real miss, but they seem to have dealt with his absense about as well as they could’ve. Will club captain and midfield stalwart Declan Rice leave in January, or will dreams of somehow claiming European football next season give the young Englishman motivation to stay? Losing 3–0 to Chelsea (whom Rice was formerly a youth player for) may be enough to show him that the grass may indeed be greener with another club.
11. Aston Villa (9th, 22 pts)
Watching their team’s wastefulness in the penalty box against Burnley would’ve worried fans of Villa, who were otherwise buoyed by their club’s performance through 12 matches played. The 3–0 victory yesterday over West Brom was the perfect way to put those worries to rest, despite doing it against ten men after a half-hour. They have more than enough quality to stay in the league, and will benefit massively from another year of profit that that affords. I am really excited to see how Villa carry on in the next few years, especially if they are able to hang onto club captain Jack Grealish, which will be their biggest test.
Dean Smith’s men handled a 10-man West Brom side 3–0, showing Sam Allardyce a loss in his first match in charge of the Baggies.
12. Leeds United (14th, 17 pts)
Every match they play within the league is a seductive watch. Will playing such an aggressive style with basically the same starting 11 eventually come back to bite Marcelo Bielsa, or are his squad just that fit? I would love to see Leeds back their team’s great start and give the Argentinian manager some funds to bolster his squad for the home stretch. A Premier League with Leeds United present is a much better Premier League, both for fans and television companies alike.
13. Crystal Palace (13th, 18 pts)
How will Crystal Palace respond to being humiliated in their own ground at the hands of Liverpool, conceding seven goals and scoring none? To me, the Palace archetype is that of a team that have more than enough quality to stay in the division but at the same time are hopelessly far away from challenging for the league title. That reality manifests itself in Palace’s performances being understandably inconsistent.
14. Arsenal (15th, 14 pts)
Another poor result and the entire Arsenal fan base will have to face the improbable reality that their team is in the middle of a relegation scrap. On the horizon; a London derby with rivals Chelsea and then what will be described widely as a “relegation six-pointer” with Brighton. Anything other than four or more points from six for Mikel Arteta and his leash may just run out of length.
15. Brighton (17th, 12 pts)
Graham Potter has his men playing the prettiest football out of the division’s bottom six clubs, but that doesn't make the threat of relegation any less real. Midfield standout Yves Bissouma has warranted interest from big-six clubs and will be a big loss for Potter come January if he does choose to leave. Their fixture list until the beginning of February is relatively unkind, so a result against Arsenal is a must.
16. Burnley (16th, 13 pts)
Other than Marcelo Bielsa, Sean Dyche is the best manager in the bottom half of the table, and will be able to keep his team up if his strike force can figure out consistently putting the ball in the back of the net. A goal each for Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood against Wolves is a great start. Skipper Ben Mee and winger Dwight McNeil will need to continue to be key performers for Burnley if they intend on staying up.
17. Newcastle United (12th, 18 pts)
Newcastle fans looking at their club sitting 12th in the Premier League with 18 points must be ecsatic, even though manager Steve Bruce will know that it has largely been achieved through smoke and mirrors. Having a -5 goal difference and only being able to rely on Callum Wilson for goals should worry Newcastle fans, who have Manchester City, Liverpool and Leicester City to look forward to in the league in their next three fixtures. Will zero points from those three matches spell the end for Bruce?
18. Fulham (18th, 10 pts)
Even though the last several weeks have been much better from Scott Parker’s men, it is always going to be hard for a newly promoted Championship side to come in and stay up, especially during a congested season. Will money be spent with the aim of keeping the team from London afloat, and will it even matter?
Nothing separated Fulham and Newcastle during a 1–1 draw that saw Joachim Andersen sent off in the 62nd minute.
19. West Bromwich Albion (19th, 7 pts)
Realistically and in every tangible way, West Bromwich Albion are a Championship club. The lone exception to that rule is their manager Sam Allardyce, who based off his record of never allowing a Premier League team under his management to be relegated, should be a breath of fresh air. The Baggies will surely concede less and become much harder to beat, but will they score enough to stay up? I doubt it.
20. Sheffield United (20th, 2 pts)
Is it a simple matter of Chris Wilder’s squad having been found out by their opposition, or were they just massively overrated last year? I suspect it’s a mixture of both. Only claiming two points from their first 14 matches unfortunately for the Blades means that a return to the Championship is a near-certainty. | https://medium.com/@maxwellargento/premier-league-power-rankings-matchweek-14-f85ba9cdd952 | ['Maxwell Argento'] | 2020-12-21 22:18:05.766000+00:00 | ['Europe', 'Writing', 'Sports', 'Premier League', 'Soccer'] |
High Rambling{志 | Page 1 of 0. Origin
I keep a lot of my thoughts to myself for fear of judgement of course. And the more I kept the sherade of trying to be so sweet, I ended up in the muck with the rest of the beasts. I took risks in pursuit of a short lived happiness, losing the way to the light in favor of the darkness. It scares me to think of what I’m running into, and what I can do with my being.
But I do know that life leads me through this game like maze. And I’m trying to surrender to the obvious omens it manipulates for me to see the truth in things.
That’s not to say I don’t make mistakes. Missteps will happen via weak Will.
So while I say this with the utmost certainty, I don’t know shit really.
This the beginning
Something abo[ut the universe changed in the way it expressed itself. I thought of how bitches are on bullshit. They worry so much about the petty and don’t focus on they money.
It’s a goddamn mood. Yes. But I didn’t think of how much detriment I’m in. My actions spoke louder today on the eve of my 28th birthday. My grandma called me after a time where she was giving me the cold shoulder. And impart on my behalf, I have been giving her a hard time by making myself into who I am. I know it sounds very fatalistic to my ears, its common in many who are breaking away into their otherness.
I chose to break away at a time of complete opportunity, and squandered it with vanity. I mean it was my fault that I ended up with lack of savings. I indulged, heavily. I was going to live my little boyhood out for one last go. And I did, I know that turning 28 and living outside of the mental age of 18 for an extended period with only me flapping was necessary.
I flapped and dropped and soared but I haven’t crashed. And that’s the magic today.
I’m Stu[pid
I make decisions that don’t make sense. I’m probably the one that receives the rewards and in the end truly be the Prince I imagine myself as. But that’s just one of many possibilities, as to which is certain, I do not know.
So here we go into the depths of me. A way I speak without having to fight the urge to keep me away from you. I rather you read or see, really. The visual cut is everything. I pick people foolishly, I’ve been a whore for a score…literally. And for some reason, something in me says I have nothing to worry about. Even though I dip into a moment of intense worry to apathy…but I take the waves as they come. In both waves, I make dumbass decisions. I don’t know why…the urge is consistent. But when I get over it I return to the idea of me being a ghost or at least carrying one.
I made the decision to inflict madness upon myself without realizing what I was opening myself up to. And in the period, I was still a dumb ass. And honestly, I might have to continue to fight it forever, or I grow with it. Nothing needs to be stopped, only modified. I had to modify myself to fit the flow of my nature in order to tame it. Caging created ghosts as these dreams turned into nightmare. They haunted me for years, I kept them to myself, out of habit and fear of perception. With trickery comes stupidity. The Fox and it’s tricks they say.
The Fox had its fun
I’m here as an ambassador. I was a good boy that carried a prediliction towards infliction. Purposeful in circumstance type shit. I am not a malicious one, she says. She’s a type of calculation I’ve learned to deal with in reverence. However as all vehicles have their failings, I trust the powers of the being, if that’s what we’re getting into. She also teaches me that I must make them feel my pussy. If they crave, they behave.
However along the way I’ve made some steps I wish I could take back. But I move with a better grip on my urge. However I do get the craving to feed every now and then. I’m like, bitch take a dip. So in order to remove myself from that I try to create clarity. In the past I’ve been dodgy, and even recently I haven’t been the most innocent in action. In thought there was lack of consideratioon and maybe overanalyzation in a few areas. But the truth of me is that I’ve evolved, immensely but my core program overrides my will to pursue in a particular character.
Sometimes its because it’s not my character, or because I’m thinking too hard about what it takes to feel like the idea of something beyond my understanding. To have a force moving us with conscious involvment is a given, we are that force as well. But there must be more around in different states and realms. How our world interacts with a greater design is the fantasy of my dreams, to the point it becomes phantasy. That’s where I found magic and the mystical realm of things. At least an understanding of it’s functioning. Before everything had such a fludiness and randomness. But the more aware I became in life the denser I got.
I needed to free myself of my ghosts and I still struggle with their attachment. However, I continue with the knowledge I will make mistakes with a weak Will. I bolster my Will with positive expectation. | https://medium.com/@moraystew/high-rambling-%E5%BF%97-9ce98c2e8a13 | ['Moray Ill'] | 2020-12-25 15:01:33.190000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Journal', 'Ramblings', 'Creative Process', 'Drugs'] |
A Show Of Haart But No Soul | Truth is far from reality (TV) in My Unorthodox Life
My Unorthodox Life, the latest reality docu-drama miniseries from Netflix, could have very well been a TedTalk. Instead, it chose to occupy 9 episodes of manufactured drama to tell a story. You’d wonder, how good of a story could it be?
Julia Haart, the matriarch, is a force to reckon with. She quit on her Jewish fundamentalist community and family and extrapolated herself from the frum (orthodox Jewish coterie) to build herself an empire, singlehandedly, and further elevate all their lives to bring them a step closer to living, breathing, eating, sleeping, gestating fashion and sex-positivity. She now leads an international talent agency, dabbles in fashion, encourages other members of her family, frum, and strangers to get out of the hell-hole of conservatism by showing them a good time in the real world. What’s not to like about this radically unorthodox story?
For starters, it’s wholly one-dimensional. Everything you see and hear is from the perspective of Julia, her kids, her current partner, and her best friend who doubles up as her favourite work colleague. It’s as if, I’ll ask my bestie, my folks, my sibling, my last hook-up and their sibling to root for my work and endorse me on LinkedIn for being a grade-A writer. Why at no point, does the show not engage with any other source material is a question that is lost on me.
I don’t mean that they should have brought about a Rabbi or an anthropologist or a narrator but any external source, written material, or archival data on the family history and Julia’s powerful initiation into the world of fashion and the new lifestyle would have made for a stronger story using external aids to add as facts. The device to tell this supposedly incredible story with just family and BFF falls flat on its face, especially since she’s an entrepreneur who led a shoe line and then successfully sold it, and at the time of the shoot launched her own label (E 1972). She’s a business mogul and her larger-than-life story could have been done with some amount of external people (a la Will Buxton in Drive To Survive) adding to that.
On top of that, there is no contradiction between Julia’s narrative and her perspective. As a Punjabi family kid, I find it hard to believe that all members of the family are constantly hyping one person. Very on-brand for Barjatya film production company screenplay, not an international reality TV show on Netflix. Even the Kardashian argue and have different POVs from each other.
The other reason why My Unorthodox Life really fails to make an impact is the screenplay that it chooses to weave with the characters. The Haart family has intriguing members — eldest child Batsheva, a digital content creator who married her fellow Frum sweetheart Benjamin (at 19), followed by the eldest son Shlomo (still a virgin at 24 and supposedly a problem for all the sex-positivity), followed by Miriam (aka Julia lite) and the youngest son, Aron, who believes with every fiber of his being that talking to women and watching TV is not encouraged in Judaism (he’s my favourite guy). If you take a step back and recalibrate yourself, the family members write themselves to be fascinating individuals you definitely want to learn more about.
In the pilot, you are given a sense of how these are all very different people and together as a family experienced something vastly different from most of us, and yet, nine episodes in, the whole feeling crashes and burns when you watch the glamour of the American dream overtake a story you’re here for. By all means, amp up the glam but if your foundation is patchy, then the fancy make-up won’t stay for long.
There is a thin line between making a point and manufacturing drama and the Haarts are unable to straddle that without falling down to the dramatic side. It’s as though, the family and the people they are married to, all vowed to be so extra that watching them “take on things” seriously make you question, “Is this empowerment, and am I doing my life wrong if I’m not wearing 9-inch heels with a mini skirt at home in the middle of a pandemic?” Maybe I am doing it wrong. Watching Julia in those outfits and picking from her closet made me want to dress up so that would explain my cycling shorts, crop top, and space bun look for the day.
I digress, but, the things they take on in the show include (and is not limited to)- a motion for learning to masturbate with dildo before having sex with another person, body positivity by throwing a funeral for insecurities (on a yacht, no less), introducing the men in the community to dating before they make up their minds to marry, and/or dedicate their respective lives to the frum, getting glamourous makeovers as a way of communicating a break up with the frum among others.
The way these things are highlighted makes for an exhausting watch and you constantly long for any reference to their old life so you can learn what they are fighting here. If I’m here for your “unorthodox” life and you give me pure hedonism and little context, then I’m gonna be fucking bored. The only glimmer of hope I saw in the “unorthodox” bit was Benjamin react to Batsheva wearing jeans since the women in the frum are not allowed to wear any pants or trousers, and instead, it encourages skirts or dresses that cover the legs and protect the modesty of the woman. The pilot gave lots of hope but it all flat out fizzled by the end of it.
Julia’s daughter Miriam, aka Julia lite, has mega Kylie Jenner energy, with her entrepreneurial gigs in the tech, whereas Batsheva is a lost Kardashian (Kim, perhaps) who’s trying to make her career come together via her influencer stardom on TikTok. Well done, girl bosses.
The sons are nothing to write about except they still come across as some part authentic with looking hella awkward on-screen negotiating their lives with the women in their family. The orthodox Jewish community encourages the males to be the authoritative figure but in Julia’s handbook (aka the regular life), nobody can tell her daughters and other women what to do (go Julia). Somehow, this bit is fleshed out via the awkwardness of the males to assimilate in the world they now inhabit, where people are equal (or atleast trying to be). Only Julia can tell people what to do, including scheming a dinner plan with her ex-husband to introduce his new girlfriend to her family. Everybody, say Shalom!
The highlight for me was seeing Julia’s BFF (not her assistant as a disgruntled Rabbi listed him in an article based on the promo) Robert Brotherton meet his biological parent, which was, well, worth the dramatic side character arc. It’s a whole different can of worms to open, but long story short, My Unorthodox Life is pretty much what Karan Johar did with Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, it’s all about loving your family and make of that what you will.
Given how little we actually know about the way Julia transitioned and how each W in her life came to her, I’m happy to believe that she binged her way through Karan Johan’s filmography (excluding Kaal) and then found her way to Kris Kardashian’s empire and her role as a momager in Keeping Up With The Kardashians. I am also cognizant of her credit as an Executive Producer on the show in aligning my conspiracy theory of this watchlist.
At the surface level, My Unorthodox Life scratches the SJW itch by countering religious fundamentalism with fashion and sex-positivity on steroids. With the number of dildo references and monologues on self-love casually included, you’d wonder if the show or the family is sponsored by an up-and-coming vibrator brand. But, as far as we know, they’re not. We get it, Julia, vibrators good and men bad, but you don’t have to make a whole reality docu-drama about a PSA like that. Twitter and Instagram are still effective to disseminate your girl-boss story and make a point about dildos doing one better than relationships. I agree with you.
The Girl Boss narrative is a slippery slope to trek on. You can very well climb your way to produce a motivational media object — a phony literary prize-winning book, a viral YouTube video, second innings with a career as a stand-up comedienne, an influencer with over a million followers — and yet all girl boss check posts have a thing in common — the stories are set straight. There’s never concealing of facts or truth from their audience. If a person comes from a space of privilege they talk about it, if they don’t come from money, they talk about it. If they have fucked up, they talk about it, if they are being extra and getting called out, they still talk about it.
Julia is a mega babe in control of everyone and everything — from her BFF’s dating life (and the lack thereof) to her son’s preference to be religious and her take on all these is the girl boss approach. However, Julia and the women in the family, in the ecosystem of being girl bosses, don’t quite balance the factual element well. You’re one search result away from knowing that Julia’s second husband Silvio Scaglia Haart (who took on her made-up surname after their marriage, which has roots from her maiden surname) had first acquired La Perla before he made her lead the business. You wonder how did a person who was not allowed to mingle with anybody other than women and her family go from selling insurance to running a fashion empire without any of those questions being addressed.
The facts are never revealed, the ideas are presented like small talk at a party. All that you’re told is her version of the truth; a version dangled like carrots in front of the cart to take you through 9 episodes of reality TV glamour — a trip to the Hamptons, Paris fashion week, LGBTQIA+ discourse, siblings drama, gay BFF drama. You’re never actually told anything other than very cerebral words describing Julia’s life with her ex-husband Yosef and her years as his wife who was unhappy. Sure, she was not allowed the same privileges as her husband, but what do we know about Julia besides when she got married and when she left her community, it’s all in the dark including why she was so miserable and whether her husband was for or against her leaving the community, and what followed. It’s very hazy and definitely shady because the show doesn’t address the fact that to get from where she was to where is, there would have been many support systems and people between, but it fails to address that. Her Wikipedia page tells more about her past life and the present than the show. You can uproot your life and make it big, but you cannot do it alone and these missing pieces of puzzle come as questions gnawing at the viewers’ sensibilities throughout.
What truly sucks about watching My Unorthodox Life is that the story that occupies the lives of Julia Haart, which makes for the core of the show, was lost and never explored beyond what she reveals in the first episode. The other episodes carry a sense of “afterlife” of Julia, and that’s okay because that’s her “unorthodox” life but it eliminates the narrative on who she is, and what she’s fought for years to achieve. If her story to inspire others and empower others in her community is all about her vacation to 13th-century castles in Europe and endorsing Louis Vuitton without actually saying very much about how she got to the point of being able to afford that lifestyle and doing what she did, there’s a very limited crowd she’s actually targeting. I’m thinking of the actual target audience: a woman from the frum, wanting to end her life or trying to leave, and watching Julia have so much fun without actually revealing details on how to quit and run away, really dilutes the point of doing the show and telling the world that you’re an inspiration.
Despite it all, I’d say, the show is worth a watch and definitely worth your time since it looks at a community from afar (in little moments) and gives some perspective, even if it is manufactured and has certainly riled the orthodox Jewish men as visible from their comments left on the Instagram profile of the Haart family members. For what it’s worth, Julia Haart is the new Kris Kardashian and she’s here to stay with her family, might as well ride this wave before it’s too late for you to know.
The series is available for streaming on Netflix in India.
Essay originally published here. | https://medium.com/@snobster/a-show-of-haart-but-no-soul-b0232b62c3f0 | ['Anisha Saigal'] | 2021-07-21 18:50:04.220000+00:00 | ['Julia Haart', 'Netflix', 'Jewish', 'Television'] |
How Oversimplifying a Complex World Drives us Apart | When I was in elementary school I learned that George Washington never told a lie. In the pinnacle of character-defining moments, I learned 6 year-old George admitted to his father that it was he who had chopped down the family’s cherry tree. “I cannot tell a lie,” he said, bravely. “I did cut it with my hatchet.” The fact that this oft repeated story is a myth, a lie, is ironic and significant.
I learned that Washington was six feet tall, which made him an imposing giant of a man in the late 1700s. I was taught that he was polite, brave, and eloquent and that the fledgling American citizenry practically begged him to become King of America, an offer he modestly refused.
My elementary school didn’t teach me that Washington inherited 10 slaves when he was 11-years old. Or that he owned over 120 slaves and managed a total of 317 at the time of his death. I didn’t learn that Washington rotated his slaves out of state every six months to prevent them from being freed under state law. I wasn’t taught that 22-year old slave Ona Judge escaped Mount Vernon when she learned Washington intended to give her away.
I didn’t learn those things in junior high. Neither did I learn them in high school. In fact, until I reached my later college years my perception of our first president was one of undisturbed perfection. My educators simply could not bear to teach, or perhaps believe themselves, the hard truths of America’s most revered Founding Father, even while transmitting myths like the cherry tree and the offer of kingship.
I do not suggest that Washington was not a great historical figure or that he does not deserve a place of honor and respect in the American memory. Whatever his faults, he is a uniquely American symbol of wisdom, modesty, restraint, dignity, and perseverance; a reputation he earned through his words and conduct. Washington’s farewell address is a stunning example of self-mastery and foresight. The enclosed warnings against regionalism and partisanship were powerful and wise then and uncannily relevant now. This particular warning against extreme partisanship is especially prophetic:
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Washington even recognized that slavery was wrong at the same time he operated a plantation dependent on slave labor. He expressed his hope for abolition in a letter to his nephew, in another letter to Robert Morris, and purportedly once said, “Not only do I pray for it, on the score of human dignity, but I can clearly forsee that nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our union, by consolidating it in a common bond of principle.”
Washington no doubt possessed praiseworthy qualities and serves as a deserving historical example in many regards, but he was not a god. Although he now seems larger than life thanks to centuries of patriotic deification, he was a flawed product of a flawed age. He was complicated, as real men and women of any time period tend to be. He, like so many others, was not left untarnished by the United States’ original sin.
I use Washington as my primary example, but history is rife with complicated people boasting varying degrees of virtue who have been sculpted into unblemished heroes or irredeemable villans.
I was taught that in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I learned he was a driven, industrious, brave man of faith. I was not taught that Columbus enslaved thousands of Tainos and, as brutal governor of Hispanola, had the dismembered bodies of native dissidents dragged through the streets.
Conversely, I was taught the Black Panther Party, formed in 1966, was a violent militant group. I did not learn the party was a self-defense organization in response to a culture of racially-charged police brutality in 1960s California. I did not learn the organization created a wealth of social programs, including providing free breakfasts to school children. I was not invited to consider how the racial injustices of a not-so-distant history and the perceptions of my mostly white community could affect my historical lens.
The examples go on and on.
Deifying and vilifying the giants of history exposes our reckless tendency to grossly simplify complicated people, topics, and events. We want heroes and villains, not complicated human beings. We want people to be “good” or “bad,” not a muddled combination of both. We have learned that heroes have no vices and villains no virtues. And so when we are confronted with a virtue or vice where it does not belong we pretend it does not exist, is not important, or we conversely refuse to acknowledge anything else with no sense of proportion.
Beyond propagating false or incomplete characterizations, we are training ourselves to be less able and willing to grapple with complicated modern-day topics. Instead, we are far more prepared to accept the simplified perceptions and misconceptions dictated by our communities. This drives us apart and makes it far more difficult to come back together over honest discussions of complex topics sometimes lacking any one right answer. It would seem Washington’s warning against regionalism and partisanship was apt.
When a new police shooting is caught on video, so many quickly retreat to our previously-defined corners, inflating the facts that suit us and disregarding the rest. That is simply done. No real consideration is necessary when we’ve already decided who is “good” and who is “bad.” Each time the abortion debate resurfaces, we fall back on predetermined opinions without honestly examining the widely varying circumstances and ethical dilemmas posed by a nation built around peacefully coexisting, diverse belief systems. When we face the growing tide of anti-Muslim sentiment, evidenced by a steady increase in hate crimes, our decisions are often dictated by our group-identity, not guided by an earnest diagnosis of our fidelity to the First Amendment. Each time a school shooting occurs we are so easily manipulated into a misleading dialogue where the only solutions are “all guns” or “no guns” with no moderation to discuss the fluctuating balance of security and regulation already in action via existing gun laws. These are complex conversations and, despite every opportunity, we aren’t really having them. And we often aren’t having them because an honest conversation acknowledging the complexity of an issue is not always advantagous in defending the hill we’ve chosen to die on. Instead we post up on our chosen hill, facts, complexities, and circumstances be damned.
During the time I spent as a criminal defense attorney, I was struck by how readily the public at large was prepared to immediately label my clients “bad” and their accusers “good.” Never mind the presumption of innocence, burden of proof, or the side-effects of extreme poverty and addiction often experienced on both sides of a criminal case. A full consideration of which would require a good look at complex legal principles and ageless social quagmires. It is so much easier and definite to determine that defendants are the villains from the outset, a presumption our fiction often reinforces.
When public officials wallow in blatant corruption and visible bad judgment, we have recently become accustomed to hear them excused as “good guys” or “good men.” This perplexingly implies that Good Guys are beyond reproach. If they are “good,” then surely they could not have done something all that bad. Good Guys can brag about sexually assaulting women — at least in the figurative, all-encompassing locker room. Good Guys can use public resources to enrich themselves. Good Guys can be autocrats and tyrants. Of course, being a Good Guy in this context isn’t about being moral or ethical. Being a Good Guy, in this context, means being likable to one particular person or belonging to (or being valuable to) a particular political party.
But it’s not enough to be a Good Guy. Being likable or a member of a cultural or political group is not antithetical to being unethical, crude, dishonest, or any number of negative traits. It allows one positive or shared trait to obscure a lack of so many others which are probably more important in the moment.
This recognition is hindered by our well-meaning, willful failure to acknowledge that even racists, dictators, abusers, and so on have family and friends who like and love them. The worst of us can still tell a good joke. The worst of us still go to barbecues and laugh around dinner tables. They, like all humans, are on a series of sliding scales of virtues and vices. Recognizing this doesn’t make poor conduct any less reprehensible, but mentally revoking another’s complex humanity for our own comfort prevents us from honestly approaching a conversation on common societal ills. Instead, we treat negative, durable human flaws as rare outliers and ironically become more prey to excusing misdeeds as the simple, unimportant foibles of Good Guys.
I am not proposing we adopt an extreme version of moral relativisim wherein nothing can be condemned. I would also caution against our all too common tendency to find malicious intent in trifles or deliver total, viral condemnation with no room for scope or forgiveness. But taking one another as complicated individuals and public issues as complex allows us to react with proportion and thoughtfulness instead of simple rage and hysteria. Sometimes that leads to condemnation; sometimes to understanding; and, sometimes, it warrants both. History’s true monsters are not any less monstrous when we acknowledge their complicated humanity, but it may help us understand how to produce less of them. The reverse can be said of our heroes.
Likewise, we should be wary of feeling so comfortable immediately determining public debates depending on which side — our side — is the “good side” before we exert any thought or effort. We should resist the tendency to simplify everything in the light most favorable to us and instead wade into the uncomfortable, but more honest middle ground where complex ideas can be considered and weighed on their merit.
There will still be selectivity in what traits and deeds we choose to promote. Returning to a historical example, I would suggest a flawed George Washington still deserves a measure respect for establishing and maintaining our young democracy on the shoulders of his temperance and judgment. He quite literally enabled the existence of our country, and we can grant respect for this valid and momentous contribution while also acknowledging his moral failures. This measure of respect is something I would not extend, for instance, to Robert E. Lee — whose primary contribution to history, despite some admittedly positive attributes, was leading the army forged to preserve American slavery. And for those who still, perplexingly, want to quibble over the primary cause of the civil war — he fought to divide and destroy the United States as we know it. He is the opposite of an American hero.
While the simplest solution may often be the correct one, we cannot arrive there unless we understand the problem first. Real problems, like real people, are generally more complicated than we would like them to be. And we will never be able to understand and respect one another across disagreements if we are unwilling to try and reach a basic understanding of foundational ethics, facts, and morals — all of which cannot always be honestly discussed and explored in the real world within the bounds of “good” and “bad” or “mine” and “yours.”
Maybe a good place to start would be an honest look at our history. We must carve out time and resolve to have these difficult conversations. Although some summary is necessary for the sake of digestibility, bypassing the complexities of reality altogether cannot be an option. Instead of writing and learning a comfortable fiction, children and adults alike, let’s teach ourselves how to earnestly analyze a sometimes uncomfortable truth. This kind of discipline and thoughtfulness is sorely needed in an age dominated by tribalism and ad hominem. Maybe then we can begin the real work of tackling a world of complicated problems without immediately falling back on our simplest, easiest prejudices. After all, we can’t become what we aspire to be unless we can square with what we are and what we have been. | https://craigblake.medium.com/how-oversimplifying-a-complex-world-drives-us-apart-caf26506ccdf | ['Craig Blake'] | 2020-07-07 18:54:20.549000+00:00 | ['Partisanship', 'Politics', 'History', 'George Washington', 'Racism'] |
Zoe Damacela’s Entrepreneurial Spirit | By 7 A.M. on a typical weekday, Zoe Damacela is already taking pictures of garments, looking over legal and tax documents, and updating the website for her self-named custom fashion design business she operates out of her Plex dorm room, Zoe Damacela Apparel. Her days end as late as 1 or 2 A.M. after a full line-up of classes, homework, press interviews, fashion events and afterparties.
Damacela’s schedule, at its busiest, amounts to a 19-hour day. Five hours later, she is ready to do it all again.
“Business came naturally for me,” said Damacela. “I was always selling things my whole life and my business ventures expanded little by little.”
Damacela, who started her first business venture at the age of eight, is a sophomore who doubles as an entrepreneur and fashion designer with aspirations to create an internationally recognized clothing brand. Damacela already has some impressive feats to her name: keynote speaker for President Obama’s Start-Up America Initiative, a cover article in the October 2011 issue of Seventeen magazine and mentorship by model and media personality, Tyra Banks. Her popular custom-made dresses sell for as much as $300; more detailed items such as wedding dresses can net as much as $3000.
It is Damacela’s entrepreneurial spirit that perhaps best accounts for her many impressive accomplishments. She is quick to point out her appreciation for the power of entrepreneurship, affirmed by her commitment to spreading its message beyond her own business ventures. Damacela is involved in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, where she speaks with people in low-income communities about the importance of starting entrepreneurial businesses.
Her experience as a keynote speaker for President Obama’s Start-Up America Initiative as an 18-year-old illustrated the accessibility of starting one’s own business, Damacela said.
“It was refreshing to have an 18-year-old teenage girl give (her) perspective on entrepreneurship,” said Damacela. “It goes to show how accessible it is, you don’t have to be a middle-aged guy to became an entrepreneur.”
“I’ve been an entrepreneur since the third grade.” Damacela added. “Entrepreneurship is so important because you don’t need any prior knowledge, experience or training to get started.”
Damacela started her fashion apparel line as a high school student at Whitney Young High School in Chicago with profits from her previous business ventures. Since then, Damacela’s business has taken off. Initially a self-run business to make clothes for her friends, Damacela said that her clothing business now includes a board of officers including her mother, Farah, who serves as Vice President, as well as a number of manufacturers and various interns.
The expansion in Damacela’s business has led to no shortage of attention.
In early November, Damacela was featured in Latino Fashion Week, an event that showcases designers every year in Chicago. Damacela showcased a 14-piece collection at the five-day event and received an award. In September, Damacela completed a fashion show for Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. And she is in high demand as an event speaker; Damacela recently gave a talk for the popular TED speaker series.
But Damacela’s business ventures have not been without difficulty.
“The most challenging thing is being taken seriously,” she said. “At a recent event where I was a speaker, everyone would come up to my mom and ask if she was Zoe. It goes to show that people still don’t take me seriously.”
Damacela may not have the name-recognition she deserves as a fashion designer and business owner, but they have not affected her future ambitions.
“I am going to try to sell more things online, which brings in more of a profit,” Damacela said. “I definitely plan on attending business school, launching internationally and getting more into children’s clothing and accessories.”
Photo Credit: Zoe Damacela | https://northwesternbusinessreview.org/zoe-damacelas-entrepreneurial-spirit-435223f6dc3b | ['Northwestern Business Review'] | 2017-03-22 19:28:26.199000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Careers', 'Featured'] |
3 Qualities That Make First Time Filmmakers Successful — Aaron Fradkin | Film Courage: I have a quote here and it reads “I selfishly like a lot of first-time directors because they over prepare, they’re super eager, and they have very little ego,” and that quote is from none other than Mark Duplass of the Duplass Brothers.
Aaron Fradkin, Writer/Director/Youtuber: I definitely agree with that as a new director you definitely have something to prove. I think it was David F. Sandberg [a.k.a. Ponysmasher on Youtube] that said prepare 200% just to get 100% results and I think especially first-time directors because they have something to prove they’re nervous, they tend to over prepare a little bit and when it comes to filmmaking that’s definitely not a bad thing…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
Related videos:
Best Advice For A Filmmaker Preparing To Make Their First Feature Film by Patrick Creadon
Advice To First Time Directors On Directing Actors — Andrew Guerrero
Most Difficult Lesson For First Time Filmmakers — Allison Powell
Advice To First-Time Filmmakers On Distribution by Jay Silverman
Investors Don’t Want A First Time Director — Peter Dukes
3 Harsh Truths For Anyone Who Wants To Be A Movie Director — Kenneth Castillo | https://medium.com/film-courage/3-qualities-that-make-first-time-filmmakers-successful-aaron-fradkin-ae141aad37e1 | [] | 2020-12-19 01:02:38.200000+00:00 | ['Cinema', 'Film', 'Movies', 'Television', 'Filmmaking'] |
Top 6 Reasons Why Mobile Apps Fail to Make an Impact in The Market | Although it’s rare that an app will be launched without minor bugs, always users love to use compatible apps. It’s important to invest in the questionnaire for gathering user behavior and perform app tests on various platforms before launch to ensure there are no major issues.
If an app isn’t tested properly, it will have bugs that impact user experience and is prone to crash. Users don’t like apps that crash that why the most negative reviews on platforms for downloading apps are related to apps crashing.
App testing aims to sell the vision and goal of the app which will help to improve the final app product. Testing must be done thoroughly, with a documented process in place, to ensure that your application is market-ready and feasible for operation.
Successful apps did not succeed to penetrate the market in one go. They started off small and step by step grew to a large number of users they retain now. Before the development of your app, you need to learn why others have failed and avoid making the same mistakes.
Do you have a great idea for an app project? Want to bring it to reality? Ellipsis Digital advises, collaborates and build mobile apps, websites and software solutions. Visit our website for more information.
BOOK A FREE FEEDBACK SESSION
We are offering free feedback sessions for owners, managers, decision makers and stakeholders of businesses and organisations an opportunity to review with them ways they could benefit from technology.
Follow this link to book a free session with our business analyst at Ellipsis Digital: http://tiny.cc/BookMeeting | https://medium.com/ellipsisdigital/top-6-reasons-why-mobile-apps-fail-to-make-an-impact-in-the-market-eb988f9eea62 | ['Ellipsis Digital'] | 2020-12-01 08:10:35.455000+00:00 | ['Tanzania', 'Impact', 'Organization', 'Business', 'Mobile App Development'] |
Permissionless Professors #4: Brian Balfour | We believe monetization is a hidden secret. Secrets hiding in plain sight. From the psychology of anchoring, the mathematics of power-law pricing tables, the application of demand elasticity, and the market positioning of your price — your path to better monetization awaits.
Follow | https://medium.com/monetization-manifesto/permissionless-professors-4-brian-balfour-19e04709426 | ['Gary Bailey - Monetization Manifesto'] | 2020-12-17 14:53:34.978000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Marketing', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Monetization'] |
COVID-19 swallows $400 million revenue of African airlines | Several African airlines such as South African Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Air Tanzania, Air Mauritius, EgyptAir, RwandAir and Kenya Airways have suspended flights to and from China.
By Our Correspondent
March 07, 2020: Since the outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in China, African Airlines have lost $400 million (£312 million), according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Several African airlines such as South African Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Air Tanzania, Air Mauritius, EgyptAir, RwandAir and Kenya Airways have suspended flights to and from China. Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines is still operating flights to and from five cities in China.
Raphael Kuuchi, vice president of IATA, told BBC that the impact of the virus is bound to get worse for African airlines — which last year posted losses of $100 million (£78 million).
So far, cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that countries with poor healthcare systems may not be able to cope with an outbreak, with many in Africa being of particular concern. | https://medium.com/@info-85820/covid-19-swallows-400-million-revenue-of-african-airlines-6432bf85c897 | ['Logistics Update Africa', 'Lua'] | 2020-03-07 09:41:41.090000+00:00 | ['Africa', 'Aviation', 'Logistics'] |
The Startup Failure Curve: 7 Important Stats to Know | Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash
Have you ever heard the statistic that 90 percent of businesses fail within the first year? Maybe you heard that it was in the first 5 years, or that it’s actually 80 percent of businesses, but chances are you heard a number like this at some point in your life, without much direct evidence to back it up.
It’s certainly true that the majority of new businesses do fail — only a minority ever find success — but the stats aren’t nearly as dramatic as some would have you believe. Instead, failure tends to unfold over a curve, and understanding that curve could help your business from falling victim to the most common pitfalls.
The Startup Failure Curve
So what are the “real” statistics for business failure? It’s a complicated question, because definitions of “failure” might vary, and to be certain, there are many different types of businesses, each with different survival rates.
Still, there are some critical facts we can use to better understand what the failure curve really looks like.
1. 66 percent of businesses with employees survive at least 2 years. According to the most recent report from the SBA, with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about two-thirds of all businesses with employees last at least two years. Those aren’t bad odds compared to the “90 percent” statistic that persists.
2. About half of businesses survive at least 5 years. The same study found that the same group of businesses tended to last at least 5 years at a rate of around 50 percent.
3. The economy does not directly affect the failure curve. These data come from a span of more than a decade, stretching back into the 1990s. The curve was not significantly affected by times of economic prosperity or by recessions, making rates of success and failure even more consistent.
4. Failure rates are similar across industries. Have you ever heard someone say that restaurants and bars are especially risky business investments, since they have a higher rate of failure than other businesses? The data suggest this isn’t true. The food service and hotel industry has a similar failure curve as the manufacturing, construction, and retail trade industries. The differences are negligible at nearly every point on the curve.
5. 25 percent of businesses fail the first year. As you might expect, the failure curve is steeper at the beginning, with 25 percent of small businesses failing within the first year, according to data compiled by Statistic Brain. This is likely due to the learning curve associated with business ownership; the longer you remain in business, the more you learn, and the more resilient you are to problems that could otherwise shake your foundation. It’s a period that naturally weeds out the weakest candidates as well.
6. Reasons for failure vary. According to the same data, a whopping 46 percent of all company failures were attributable to “incompetence,” a blanket term that can refer to emotional pricing, failure to pay taxes, a lack of planning, no financing knowledge, and/or no experience in record keeping. Another 30 percent of company failures were attributable to unbalanced experience, or a lack of management experience.
7. 75 percent of venture capital-backed startups fail. Of course, for VC-backed startups, the picture isn’t as pretty; according to one report, about 75 percent of all VC-backed startups ultimately fail. This could be due to a number of reasons, including the highly competitive nature of VC competitions and the volatility of tech startups that emerge on the scene.
When Failure Is a Good Thing
If you’re reading these statistics, and you’re still worried about your business being classified as a “failure,” keep in mind that failure can actually be a good thing. For starters, many businesses that fail in the first year didn’t have the potential for long-term success; early failure actually spares them significant expenses, and frees up their entrepreneurs to pursue more valuable opportunities.
On top of that, going through the process of starting a business and watching it fall apart can teach you valuable lessons, which you can apply to future opportunities; failed entrepreneurs who get back on the horse have a higher likelihood of success the second time around.
So what should you take away from all this? First, if you’ve thought about becoming an entrepreneur, but have been intimidated by the thought of becoming part of an overwhelming majority of failed entrepreneurs, reconsider your position; that majority isn’t nearly as strong as you might have previously believed. Every entrepreneur faces failure in some form, but it doesn’t always lead to the failure of the entire business.
Second, if you can make it past that trying first year, you can probably keep your business successful for years to come.
And finally, even if your business does fail, it isn’t the end of the world; you’ll have new knowledge and new experiences you can use to fuel your next venture. | https://jaysondemers.medium.com/the-startup-failure-curve-7-important-stats-to-know-f5a3fc617e43 | ['Jayson Demers'] | 2020-11-09 23:45:59.624000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneur', 'Startup Life', 'Startup', 'Failure', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Soulmate | What exactly is soulmate? Is it the person that is supposed to be with you all the time? Is it the person that is the first person that you think of every day? Is it the one that you wish you spend every second with?
I have a story to tell you about the so-called soulmate. It all started on the first day of high school. I was a new student so I was kinda alone and there was this one girl who approached me. Ever since then, my life has never been the same. From living a monochrome, dull life, it turns to a colorful and brighter than anything.
I never knew how much effect a presence of a person can be in my life. My family is not the most joyful family so I didn’t really understand what is the meaning of this thing called love. What it feels like to have someone care for you. But when she’s with me, I finally understand everything. I finally get the meaning of best friend.
2 years have passed and that’s where things go wrong. Well, not exactly wrong but yeah. I forgot to mention that she’s such a lively and friendly person. She’s literally the meaning of social butterfly. Back to our story, the class member has changed so there are a few new students from another class. So we became a group of 6. She’s slowly parting with me. It’s like she’s found her soulmate. It feels like she’s my soulmate, and then her soulmate is with the other person. Ever since then, it was never the same anymore. I felt like I was being robbed and the only thing that the robber left is a shredded piece of heart. I felt I was losing everything.
They became closer meanwhile me and my ‘soulmate’ slowly part our ways. We are still the same but the feeling is not there. There’s always a third person and I just feel like I’m not needed whenever they are together. Another 2 years have passed and I finally found my real soulmate. But it doesn't feel the same. The thing that I have with the girl was legit the meaning of best friend but it didn’t last long. That’s when I learn that nothing really lasts forever. It’s like no matter what happens, there’ll always be a special place in my heart for her. She can come and go away from and I’ll be grateful that she ever came. I never felt annoyed when I am with her. She’s like a gift from heaven for me. She is and will always be my yellow but I was her yellow.
Love, Daisy | https://medium.com/@daisyroses/soulmate-d069b88b3ea | [] | 2020-12-26 16:42:40.991000+00:00 | ['Friends', 'Highschool', 'Soulmate', 'Friendship', 'Heartbroken'] |
How Lukas Gage’s audition illuminates how Zoom interviews can affect lower-income individuals. | Instagram: @lukasgage
Last week a viral video surfaced of Lukas Gage calling out an unidentified director for making insulting comments about the 25-year-old Euphoria star’s apartment, making the comment that Gage’s apartment is “tiny” and making insulting comments about how cluttered the space is.
Throughout this outbreak, 40 million Americans have lost their jobs, and without a stimulus on the horizon, millions of these Americans have been evicted or in the process of getting evicted. Without a steady income or a stable home environment, these Americans may also be disadvantaged when searching for a new job due to Zoom interviews.
Many schools are doing school virtually, so many single parents may have loud sounds of children in the background. People also may be living with other family members in crowded living spaces. These individuals might not have access to a computer or the internet to even do the interview itself.
This new way of life can be scary to these people. They are feeling as though they are trapped in a vicious cycle after losing their jobs and homes. The final blow comes when they get turned down for job opportunities due to their inability to present themselves as they would’ve liked to or even been able to present themselves at all. | https://medium.com/@antpaschek/how-lukas-gages-audition-illuminates-how-zoom-interviews-can-affect-lower-income-individuals-b25b0a5150c5 | ['Athena Paschek'] | 2020-12-02 03:03:17.286000+00:00 | ['Zoom', 'Euphoria', 'Income Inequality', 'Jobs', 'Interview'] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.