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Children | Pic by Margaret Weir on Unsplash
Children
Some Other Life
I never wanted children
worried you could die
giving birth to someone
who’ll eventually die
You never wanted children
worried they would die
giving me all your love
I was also your child
We never wanted children
thinking life was hard enough
yielding to our pleasures
living together as one | https://medium.com/blueinsight/children-664b30642e07 | ['Patrick M. Ohana'] | 2020-11-08 20:02:29.163000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Death', 'Blue Insights', 'Love', 'Children'] |
Django — middleware authentication | In this article, we shall see how to authenticate the users in the middleware. In my Django project, I wanted to authenticate the users in the middleware instead of authenticating them in the views functions. If you are using Django Rest Framework the authentication automatically happens in the middleware. But, if we are not using the DRF or want to authenticate manually in the middleware you can make use of this article.
Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash
In order to add a middleware function, we have to create a function somewhere in our project and add the name of the middleware class to the settings.py file under the MIDDLEWARE list.
I have a student app like this in my Django project.
app structure
I have added a new file called middleware.py. I will be creating a class that will check if the user is authenticated here.
The middleware
In Django middleware, there is a method called process_view(). The process_view() method is called just before Django calls the view. You can name the middleware class whatever you want but the method name should be process_view() only.
The syntax of process_view() method is,
process_view(request, view_func, view_args, view_kwargs)
The arguments are
request: A request is an HttpRequest object. The same object which we will obtain and process in our view function. view_func: This is the function itself and not the name. The function from the views.py file that our urls.py routes our request to is the view_func. args and view_kwargs: view_args is a list of positional arguments that will be passed to the view, and view_kwargs is a dictionary of keyword arguments that will be passed to the view.
So this is how our middleware class will look like.
from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.utils.deprecation import MiddlewareMixin
class ProcessRequestMiddleware(MiddlewareMixin): def process_view(self, request, view_func, *view_args, **view_kwargs):
# do something
The process_view() method should return either None or an HttpResponse object. If it returns None , Django will continue processing this request, executing any other process_view() middleware and, then, the appropriate view. If it returns an HttpResponse object, Django won’t bother calling the appropriate view; it’ll apply response middleware to that HttpResponse and return the result.
How to make it work?
We are going to make use of this HttpResponse object to return a response object, in the middleware itself with a status code of 401 if the user is not authenticated.
The status code 401 indicates that the request has not been applied because it lacks valid authentication credentials for the target resource.
Check if the user is authenticated
First, we will retrieve the user object from the request object like this.
user = request.user
The user object has an attribute called is_authenticated which will return a boolean value indicating if the user is authenticated or not.
user = request.user
if user.is_authenticated:
return HttpResponse(status=200)
else:
return HttpResponse(status=401)
Putting it all together our middleware will look like this.
The next important thing is to add our middleware to the MIDDLEWARE list in the settings.py file.
MIDDLEWARE = [
'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
'django_user_agents.middleware.UserAgentMiddleware',
'student.middleware.ProcessRequestMiddleware'
]
I have highlighted my custom middleware. This is how you should declare your middleware to the settings.py file. Unless declared here, the middleware will not work or has any effect on the requests.
Conclusion
Hope this article is helpful. Happy coding! | https://medium.com/@allwin-raju-12/django-middleware-authentication-879d5e6391d1 | ['Allwin Raju'] | 2020-12-07 06:45:25.582000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Django Middleware Auth', 'Django', 'Django Authentication', 'Django Middleware'] |
Özgürlüğün Göbeğindeki Kadim Öğreti | 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/t%C3%BCrkiye/%C3%B6zg%C3%BCrl%C3%BC%C4%9F%C3%BCn-g%C3%B6be%C4%9Findeki-kadim-%C3%B6%C4%9Freti-b8111a72e714 | ['Baris Kursat'] | 2020-12-25 10:56:11.021000+00:00 | ['Öğreti', 'Türkçe', 'Askerlik', 'Olimpos'] |
Book Review: Truly, Madly, Deeply | Truly, Madly, Deeply
A Novel
by Karen Kingsbury
Atria Books
Christian | Women’s Fiction
Pub Date 02 Dec 2020
I am reviewing a copy of Truly, Madly, Deeply through Atria Books and Netgalley:
After Eighteen year old Tommy Baxter declares that he wants to be a police officer to his family, his Mother Reagan won’t hear of it. She’s still mourning the death of her own father on September 11 and she’s determined to keep her son safe from danger. Tommy’s Father is proud of of Tommy’s decision. He believes his son would make a kind and compassionate cop.
In the meantime Tommy has fallen in love for the first time, his relationship with Annalee Miller almost feels to good to be true. Tommy starts to seriously thinking about the day when he can ask her to marry him. When Annalee begins feeling unwell and tests reveal the unthinkable, they pray for a miracle.
While Annalee is fighting for her life, Tommy becomes more determined to learn more about the circumstances surrounding his birth and the grandfather he never knew. In the process secrets come to light that rock Tommy’s world and he becomes determined to spend his future fighting crime and bringing peace to the streets. Or perhaps this is just another way to fight a battle he cannot win, Annalee’s battle!
Will Annalee get her healing, and Annalee and Tommy get their happily ever after?
I give Truly, Madly, Deeply five out of five stars!
Happy Reading! | https://medium.com/@michellereneekidwell-95261/book-review-truly-madly-deeply-4fb4f72133e1 | ['Michelle Renee Kidwell'] | 2020-12-26 07:09:54.128000+00:00 | ['Christian', 'Book Review', 'Contemporary', 'Romance', 'Fiction'] |
Open Letter to 2020 | I am sorry that someone made you feel like you were difficult to love, some job caged you from the contributions you had the potential to make, some experience engrained in you, awful memories of this year.
I am sorry your efforts, your livelihood, and your hopes were dashed and left unceremoniously shattered into pieces.
… But this all will pass. We will continue and we will wake in a few hours to greet a new morning that may mean more than any morning before this; The refreshing awareness that it represents hope for a new chance.
A chance to be healthier, a chance to build a strong body, mind, and soul.
A chance to be wiser, a chance to share that wisdom with the world.
A chance to be kinder, a chance to help those for whom their wars persist.
I am sorry for the people who will miss out on who you will be tomorrow, the jobs who only now will see our unquantifiable return on investment, the painful experiences whose healed wounds only remind us of what we have and can survive.
I am excited for the person who receives your loving heart next, the job that nourishes the seeds of your potential, and the experiences that will define who you will become from this new year forward.
For the hardships we endured getting here, the futures we lost for new ones gained, and the memory of all of those that we lost along the way, LIVE 2021. | https://medium.com/@jaymontojo/open-letter-to-2020-8fe6e949a9a7 | ['Jay R. Montojo'] | 2020-12-31 17:08:18.042000+00:00 | ['2020', 'Creative Writing', 'Hope'] |
AYS Daily Digest 14/07/21: A Political Battle on the Lithuanian-Belarussian Border | AYS Daily Digest 14/07/21: A Political Battle on the Lithuanian-Belarussian Border
More people flee Afghanistan as Taliban gains traction // 1,146 drowned in Med this year // BBC investigates pushbacks in Aegean // Austria repeals bad labour law // Belgian hunger strike finds ally in trade unions // Protests planned in Spain, Denmark, UK & elsewhere Are You Syrious? Follow Jul 15 · 16 min read
FEATURE — In political war, Lithuania and Belarus use people on the move as pawns
Lithuania has erected a 550-kilometer razor wire on its Belarussian border to keep people from entering the country. (Source: Reuters)
In the midst of a political spat with its neighbor Belarus, the parliament of the Baltic state of Lithuania has passed a draconian law allowing for the mass detention of people on the move in the country. Over the past week, hundreds of people from the Middle East and Asia have entered Lithuania from Belarus.
We have seen this terrible tactic played out time and time again over the years: in critical moments of tension, two countries with histories of animosities using human bodies as pawns to exert political pressure on one another. Back in March 2020, for example, Turkey announced it was ‘opening the borders’ to Greece, causing thousands of people on the move to head to the Turkey-Greece land border. The border, it turned out, was not opened, and many people remained stuck for days in a no-man’s-land area, their lives uprooted and their dreams quashed once again.
Now, a somewhat similar situation is playing out in an entirely different part of Europe, and not along a well-trodden transit route. Over the past week, as we reported in a recent digest, hundreds of people seeking safety in Western Europe have come through an unlikely entry: the Lithuanian-Belarussian border. While there certainly have been people on the move transiting through this area for quite some time, it is relatively rare to speak to someone who has made it to the West through this route.
What seems to be happening along this border now boils down to politics. Lithuania is accusing Belarus of flying people to its capital, Minsk, and arranging for their journeys to Lithuania, an accusation Belarus denies, according to media reports.
Belarus has come under increasing criticism from the international community following massive protests last year following the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko in what is widely agreed upon to be a rigged vote. Since then, the regime of ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ has been cracking down on civil society in the country, jailing journalists, activists and ordinary protestors. Lithuania is one of Belarus’ chief critics.
Regardless of the surrounding politics, in the last week or so, hundreds of people have crossed from Belarus into Lithuania, and the latter country was quick to react harshly. However, as recent events have shown, those at the receiving end of Lithuania’s clampdown are the people on the move themselves.
Lithuania has begun to build a border fence along its border with Belarus. But it gets worse, actually. On Tuesday, July 13, the Lithuanian parliament voted in favor of a new law that will allow for the mass detention of people on the move in the country. Some 84 members of the 141-seat Parliament said ‘yes’ to the legislation that will prevent the release of any person on the move from detention for six months after their arrival in Lithuania. Six months.
The law will also severely restrict the right of appeal for those whose asylum claims have been rejected, and says that people can be deported while their appeals are being reviewed.
“The law is a potential human rights violation, and it does not correspond to EU directives,” Lithuanian Red Cross program director Egle Samuchovaite told media.
“It enshrines the current bad situation in Lithuania’s detention centers in law and leaves vulnerable people in an even more vulnerable situation.”
In Brussels, Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis had a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in which they agreed that Belarus was using people on the move as a “weapon”.
“When refugees are used as a political weapon…I will talk to my colleagues in order for the European Union to have a common strategy,” Landsbergis said in Brussels.
Landsbergis is correct that people should absolutely not be used as political weapons, but the response of the Lithuanian parliament is deeply, deeply disturbing and should be a troubling sign for all EU nations.
The law was passed extremely quickly and comes off as a knee-jerk reaction to a ‘crisis’ situation. Furthermore, we should add that not only was this decision made in the face of vehement objections of organizations such as the Red Cross and other NGOs, but the law most certainly violates international human rights law on a number of counts.
We will continue to follow the disturbing developments in Lithuania-Belarus in the coming weeks. | https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-14-07-21-a-political-battle-on-the-lithuanian-belarussian-border-d3b15a1b19c0 | ['Are You Syrious'] | 2021-07-16 17:09:52.270000+00:00 | ['Migration', 'Digest', 'Borders', 'Refugees', 'Pushbacks'] |
Simple Linear Regression in Python (From Scratch) | Simple Linear Regression in Python (From Scratch)
Coding a line of best fit
Simple linear regression is a concept that you may be familiar with already from middle school or high school. If you have ever heard of a slope and an intercept, or y = mx + b, then you have already learned about simple linear regression!
What is Simple Linear Regression?
Simple linear regression is a statistical method that we can use to find a relationship between two variables and make predictions. The two variables used are typically denoted as y and x. The independent variable, or the variable used to predict the dependent variable is denoted as x. The dependent variable, or the outcome/output, is denoted as y.
A simple linear regression model will produce a line of best fit, or the regression line. You may have heard about drawing the line of best fit through a scatter plot of data. For example, let's say we have a scatter plot showing how years of experience affect salaries. Imagine drawing a line to predict the trend.
The simple linear regression equation we will use is written below. The constant is the y-intercept (𝜷0), or where the regression line will start on the y-axis. The beta coefficient (𝜷1) is the slope and describes the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The coefficient can be positive or negative and is the degree of change in the dependent variable for every 1-unit of change in the independent variable.
For example, let's say we have a regression equation of y = 2 + 0.5x. For every 1-unit increase in the independent variable (x), there will be a 0.50 increase in the dependent variable (y).
Simple Linear Regression Using Python
For this example, we will be using salary data from Kaggle. The data consists of two columns, years of experience and the corresponding salary. The data can be found here.
First, we will import the Python packages that we will need for this analysis. All we will need is NumPy, to help with the math calculations, Pandas, to store and manipulate the data and Matplotlib (optional), to plot the data.
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
Next, we will load in the data and then assign each column to its appropriate variable. For this example, we will be using the years of experience to predict the salary, so the dependent variable will be the salary (y) and the independent variable will be the years of experience (x).
data = pd.read_csv('Salary_Data.csv')
x = data['YearsExperience']
y = data['Salary']
To get a look at the data we can use the .head() function provided by Pandas, which will show us the first few rows of the data.
print(data.head())
YearsExperience Salary
0 1.1 39343.0
1 1.3 46205.0
2 1.5 37731.0
3 2.0 43525.0
4 2.2 39891.0
Above is a scatter plot showing our data. We can see a positive linear relationship between Years of Experience and Salary, meaning that as a person gains more experience, they also get paid more.
Calculating the Regression Line
While we could spend all day guessing the slope and intercept of the linear regression line, luckily there are formulas that we can use to quickly make these calculations.
To estimate the slope 𝜷1 of the data we will use the following formula:
To estimate the intercept 𝜷0, we can use the following formula:
Now we will have to translate these two formulas to Python to calculate the regression line. First I will show the full function, then I will break it down further.
def linear_regression(x, y):
N = len(x)
x_mean = x.mean()
y_mean = y.mean()
B1_num = ((x - x_mean) * (y - y_mean)).sum()
B1_den = ((x - x_mean)**2).sum()
B1 = B1_num / B1_den
B0 = y_mean - (B1*x_mean)
reg_line = 'y = {} + {}β'.format(B0, round(B1, 3))
return (B0, B1, reg_line)
First, we will use the len() function to get the number of observations in our dataset and set this to the N variable. We can then calculate the mean for both X and Y by simply using the .mean() function.
N = len(x)
x_mean = x.mean()
y_mean = y.mean()
Now we can begin to calculate the slope 𝜷1. To shorten the length of these lines of code, we can calculate the numerator and denominator of the slope formula first then divide the numerator by the denominator and assign it to a variable named 𝜷1. We can just follow the slope formula given above.
B1_num = ((x - x_mean) * (y - y_mean)).sum()
B1_den = ((x - x_mean)**2).sum()
B1 = B1_num / B1_den
Now that we have calculated the slope 𝜷1, we can use the formula for the intercept 𝜷0.
B0 = y_mean - (B1 * x_mean)
Now if we apply this linear_regression() function to our data, it will return the intercept, slope and the regression line rounded to 3 decimal places.
Calculating How Well The Regression Line Fits
To determine how well our regression line fits the data, we want to calculate the correlation coefficient, commonly referred to just as R, and the coefficient of determination, otherwise known as R² (R squared).
Coefficient of Determination (R²) — The percentage of variance explained by the independent variable (x) with values between 0 and 1. It cannot be negative because it is a square value. For example, if R² = 0.81, then this tells you that x explains 81% of the variance in y. Otherwise known as the “goodness of fit”.
Correlation Coefficient (R) — The degree of relationship or correlation between two variables (x and y in this case). R can range from -1 to 1 with values equal to 1 meaning a perfect positive correlation and values equal to -1 meaning a perfect negative correlation.
Below is the formula for Pearson’s correlation coefficient:
Pearson Correlation Coefficient (R)
We will have to convert this formula into Python code. Once we calculate Pearson’s correlation coefficient, we can simply square it to get the coefficient of determination.
We will need to store the number of observations (rows in data) in the variable N again. Next, we will split the formula into two parts: the numerator and the denominator. We can then return the correlation coefficient.
def corr_coef(x, y):
N = len(x)
num = (N * (x*y).sum()) - (x.sum() * y.sum())
den = np.sqrt((N * (x**2).sum() - x.sum()**2) * (N * (y**2).sum() - y.sum()**2))
R = num / den
return R
Applying these functions to our data, we can print out the results:
B0, B1, reg_line = linear_regression(x, y)
print('Regression Line: ', reg_line)
R = corr_coef(x, y)
print('Correlation Coef.: ', R)
print('"Goodness of Fit": ', R**2) Output: Regression Line: y = 25792.20019866869 + 9449.962β
Correlation Coef.: 0.97824161848876
"Goodness of Fit": 0.9569566641435087
Plotting the Regression Line
This part is completely optional and is just for fun.
Using Matplotlib, we can now plot our resulting regression line with our data.
plt.figure(figsize=(12,5))
plt.scatter(x, y, s=300, linewidths=1, edgecolor='black') text = '''X Mean: {} Years
Y Mean: ${}
R: {}
R^2: {}
y = {} + {}X'''.format(round(x.mean(), 2),
round(y.mean(), 2),
round(R, 4),
round(R**2, 4),
round(B0, 3),
round(B1, 3)) plt.text(x=1, y=100000, s=text, fontsize=12, bbox={'facecolor': 'grey', 'alpha': 0.2, 'pad': 10})
plt.title('How Experience Affects Salary')
plt.xlabel('Years of Experience', fontsize=15)
plt.ylabel('Salary', fontsize=15)
plt.plot(x, B0 + B1*x, c = 'r', linewidth=5, alpha=.5, solid_capstyle='round') plt.scatter(x=x.mean(), y=y.mean(), marker='*', s=10**2.5, c='r') # average point
Now we can use our calculations of the regression line to make predictions with new data that we come across. To create the predict() function, we just follow the formula for the simple linear regression line and plug in the values that we calculated as well as the new X value. This function will return the prediction y.
def predict(B0, B1, new_x):
y = B0 + B1 * new_x
return y
I hope this helped you learn or review the process of simple linear regression. Multiple linear regression and polynomial regression will be topics I will touch on in later articles. | https://towardsdatascience.com/simple-linear-regression-in-python-numpy-only-130a988c0212 | ['Aidan Wilson'] | 2020-11-22 23:26:27.227000+00:00 | ['Data Analysis', 'Machine Learning', 'Python Programming', 'Data Science', 'Statistics'] |
5 Money Habits I Learned From My Parents | And how they’ve set me up for financial success.
Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash
As children we learn from seeing our parents’ behavior as much as we do from what they teach us directly. And that’s especially true when it comes to money. Culturally we don’t really talk to our kids about money but despite that, habits and perspectives are ingrained from a young age.
I was fortunate that my parents had good money skills, but it wasn’t until I got out into the real world that I realised many of the money habits I’d learned from them weren’t universally held.
Here are five habits I‘ve taken from them. Some are specific actions; others are attitudes towards money. But each have had an impact on the way I manage my finances.
1. Envelope System
It goes without saying my parents had a budget. But they stuck to it using the envelope system — where you divide your money into different envelopes, one for each item on your budget, which helps you stay on track.
I have distinct memories of going to the bank with my mother to withdraw money for the following few weeks, with a note in her hand of the exact number of notes in each denomination needed — how many 20s, 10s, 5s. Once she had the money, she’d then divide it up into the respective envelopes so each held the exact right amount.
When I first moved out on my own, money was incredibly tight. My budget was calculated down to the dollar, as otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get by. Knowing that, I marched myself to the bank, withdrew my money for the week and got the exact change needed so I could stay on track. I honestly think without this method I would have easily overspent and had to ask my parents to help, or worse get into debt.
The envelope system isn’t new, but in the cashless world we live in it seems as though it’s been quickly forgotten. I still use it today, though digitally. I have multiple online savings accounts (seven in total) each to hold money for a specific part of my budget; vacations, gifts, property maintenance etc.
For me, there are three main benefits of using the envelope system, particularly when you’re trying to build discipline when it comes to money:
Less Worry: I don’t have anxiety about whether I can cover upcoming expenses — I know I can because I’ve put it there.
I don’t have anxiety about whether I can cover upcoming expenses — I know I can because I’ve put it there. Better Choices: Seeing a smaller amount of money and knowing that’s my limit helps me make better choices when spending my money.
Seeing a smaller amount of money and knowing that’s my limit helps me make better choices when spending my money. Prioritization: If I’m in a position where I don’t have enough money, I’m better equipped to make a decision —if I want to spend more, I have to decide which envelope it’s coming from, rather than a general pool of money, which makes it much more tangible.
2. Frugality
I know now that growing up we were comfortable when it came to money. But as a child I didn’t always know that was the case, based on what I could see. My parents were very frugal in spending their money. This isn’t to say they were tight or cheap, but they certainly didn’t waste money.
Our clothes were always from big box stores, and were often given as gifts for birthdays and Christmas. As we grew up and became more ‘fashion conscious’ (I use that term lightly) we were encouraged to use our own money from our allowance or part time jobs to pay for the clothes we wanted. That made us really think about what was important and whether we wanted to use our own hard-earned money to pay for it.
Another good example of this was groceries. Wherever possible we bought generic store brand items, and when Aldi opened in our neighborhood we became loyal customers. There were times where I would be embarrassed that all the other kids at school had the real brand versions while I had the cheap ones.
At the time I couldn’t understand why my parents wouldn’t just buy the “real” thing, but I know now that they were just being smart with their money and putting it to better use elsewhere.
When I moved out and had to fend for myself, I quickly realised I was conscious of how I was spending my money, being careful not to waste it or pay more than I had to on things that weren’t really worth it.
3. Focusing On What’s Important
When my parents did spend money it was always strategically, and they focused on what was important. As kids, we went on a lot of vacations — at least 4 a year. But we never stayed in a hotel. Sometimes we’d be staying at friends’ houses, but most of the time we would be camping.
Just after I was born my parents bought a small camper van, big enough to fit the five of us. This became our moving hotel, sheltering us as we travelled around the country. As we got older, tents were added to give us extra space and privacy.
This could be written off as being overly nostalgic, but at the time it didn’t even occur to me that there was any other way to vacation. Now, I realise my parents made a choice by taking us camping. They gave us (and themselves) the chance to have a fun and relax, without the high price of a hotel. We had that camper van for about 15 years, and it was well worth the investment.
I’m not suggesting everyone start camping, that’s just an example, but it’s a lesson in knowing what is (and isn’t) important and making conscious decisions to spend your money accordingly.
4. Investing In The Future
The reason my parents did all the above wasn’t just to spend less; it let them put that money to work. They were investing in the future and setting themselves up for success.
They made it a priority to pay off our home as soon as possible, doing so after only 8 years. This was only possible due to their good money habits and choices.
They then began to buy investment properties which paid for themselves with the rental income, and helped them build their wealth quickly. At the same time, they prioritized their retirement savings and also invested in shares.
Again, none of these actions are particularly groundbreaking, but from a young age I could see my parents putting in the work that would pay off later in their life. And that was the key lesson — they didn’t wait for a perfect time to make good decisions with their money. They were disciplined and took a long-term view from the very beginning.
This led to me following in their footsteps; avoiding getting into debt and focusing on saving for retirement and building up my savings and investment portfolio from a very early age.
5. Not Feeling Guilty
The final point might be a surprise based on what I’ve said above, but I think it’s an important one. There was never any guilt associated with spending money.
For example, we’d go out to dinner for birthdays or special occasions and the cost was never something that came up. We weren’t made to feel guilty that we were splashing out, even indirectly.
This is because my parents were on top of their financial situation, knew that they were making good decisions and were on track for financial success. The money they were splashing out was set aside for that exact purpose, and they worked hard for it, so they were able to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Often an attempt to have good money habits can result in an attitude that all spending is bad. This could have very easily become the case for me; but instead I‘m able to enjoy spending my hard earned money without the associated guilt many people have.
All of these lessons made sure that I could balance good money habits with a healthy appreciation for using money for what it’s there for — living. | https://medium.com/swlh/5-money-habits-i-learned-from-my-parents-46068e8915c8 | ['Jacob Shaw'] | 2020-06-17 06:09:02.593000+00:00 | ['Budget', 'Life Lessons', 'Money', 'Family', 'Habits'] |
Baby Sleep at 4 Months — What is Happening? | Baby sleep at 4 months is changing. It is an end of what I like to call ‚4th trimester’; the whole new level of development is starting right now! That is why you need to understand what is happening to know what changes you can make right now. By far, your baby can differentiate between day and night.
Timing
During this time, babies need an average of 14 hours of sleep per day. Baby sleep at 4 months can last eight hours straight at night. By 5 months he can sleep even for 10 or 11 hours.
Feedings
Baby should be either sleeping through the night without feeding or eat only once at night. Depending on the baby and the sleep duration.
Bed
Also, 4 months is usually the stage when a baby becomes too big for the bassinet. It is the perfect moment to be moved to own crib, or even his own room, where the baby can sleep without interruption.
Naps
Two or three naps if how much you need. Ideally, four and five months old babies should nap for 90 minutes or longer twice or three times a day (3rd time can be shorter). If your baby is still catnapping — this is not right.
Hints
It is the time should be able to capture that magic moment when the child is tired, ready to sleep, and would easily fall asleep. Observe your baby for signs of slight quieting and a hint of calmness. Adjust your sleep schedule to those signs!
Deep sleep
Your 4-month-old will enter deep sleep relatively quickly now — within 30 minutes. A child’s sleep cycle is about 45–50 minutes. So if you are rocking your baby to sleep for 30 minutes, he might wake up 15 minutes later. That is why self-soothing is so essential.
Sleep training
Since you already know that self-soothing is a key to your calmness — learn how to do that. Pick a sleep training method that is harmless to you and the baby. I prefer no CIO methods; wich means you don’t leave your little to himself. I recommend my ‚How to teach a baby to fall asleep alone’ guide.
Regression
Baby sleep at 4 months may bind with sleep regression. For some babies, the 4-month sleep regression is relatively mild, and with HWL sleep training you can skip it entirely. For others, it is a very rough phase marked by lots of crying, that you can mild with learning a child to self-soothe.
As you can see, baby sleep at 4 months is a big topic. It is kind of a milestone for most babies, and it is important to be prepared and support your little one at every step.
Susan Urban | https://medium.com/@contact_96166/baby-sleep-at-4-months-what-is-happening-975c9024a826 | ['Susan Urban'] | 2019-03-11 11:37:50.534000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Baby', 'Sleep Training', 'Baby Sleep', 'Sleep'] |
Free of Charge | Oregon State Bar Bylaws assert that only lawyers in “good standing” may switch to pro bono status. However, the term “good standing” is not defined anywhere and only appears that one time in the entire 80 pages of Bylaws. In other words, “good standing” means whatever the OSB wants it to mean when push comes to shove.
In the case of Deanna Wray, “good standing” was apparently unaffected by the criminal and disciplinary investigations of her for allegedly secreting a child victim of sex abuse. In the case of Mark Johnson-Roberts, “good standing” overcame the punitive job action he suffered for helping two unethical attorneys avoid accountability.
How on earth could these two be considered lawyers of “good standing?”
The answer appears to be hiding in plain sight in OSB Bylaw 6.101 (b), which states that attorneys who elect pro bono status may provide free legal services to indigent clients under OSB certified programs or may volunteer their service to the OSB itself, as “bar counsel.”
In the latter circumstance, the client is therefore the Oregon State Bar.¹ For those unfamiliar with the legal profession and its rules of professional conduct, there is nothing more sacrosanct than a lawyer’s duty of confidentiality to their client. Under that inviolable duty, a lawyer cannot be compelled to disclose anything short of information necessary to prevent a crime or substantial bodily harm/certain death — and then, only if they are actually ethical enough to disclose it.
Deanna Wray (Left) and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. Photo: Oregon Women Lawyers Foundation
Wray and Johnson-Roberts could have chosen inactive status for the same cost (in bar dues) as going pro bono. Johnson-Roberts could have chosen retired status to align with the myth that his farewell notice was trying to perpetuate. Both could have even resigned their bar licenses.
But instead Deanna Wray and Mark Johnson-Roberts went pro bono. And, gasp!, neither has faced any criminal charges.
It is entirely plausible (if not probable) that the two went pro bono, at the Oregon State Bar’s urging, in order for them all to enjoy the shield of confidentiality that the attorney-client relationship provided.
Importantly, that confidentiality would extend over any work that the two performed in the OSB’s custodianship over their friend Lori Deveny’s law practice — an ongoing five-alarm shitshow that has been so badly mishandled as to appear very much deliberate.
Mark Johnson-Roberts (Left) and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (Right). Photo: Oregon Women Lawyers
The custodianship was apparently Johnson-Roberts’s terrible idea to begin with — and it ended up protecting Deveny more than her former clients or the public. He certainly had motivation to continue working on the matter to ensure that the OSB crossed the finish line intact. Likewise, Wray and the OSB would want a buffer zone between her and law enforcement in regard to Deveny. After all, it was the discovery of their scheme to hide a witness which has caused the slow trickle of Deveny’s bank statements and other information into the public record-sphere. These statements happen to discredit the OSB’s claims in their custodianship against Deveny.²
Johnson-Roberts also appears to have continued his stellar “work” on Megan Moeller’s cases, by using his position to continue to interfere in civil cases that arose from her brief but damaging campaign of fraud. That interference threatens the very existence of the OSB and their mandatory insurer, the Professional Liability Fund, due to their already precarious standing under federal antitrust law.³
The public continues to be harmed by the OSB’s politically-motivated failure to regulate the legal profession and their deteriorating regard for transparency. If only someone would rein them in. | https://medium.com/@stephanievolin/free-of-charge-fca23f9a73e6 | ['Stephanie Volin'] | 2021-01-04 22:38:58.798000+00:00 | ['Misconduct', 'Criminal Justice', 'Lawyers', 'Pro Bono', 'Oregon'] |
7 Recomendaciones para una Fan Page Atractiva | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/viral-amplifier/7-recomendaciones-para-una-fan-page-atractiva-a5717cec3c2c | ['Guadalupe Lima'] | 2017-10-13 18:45:24.427000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Cinemagraphs', 'Trends', 'Social Listening', 'Engagement'] |
Configuring your Rails backend app to get a blob from your vanilla js frontend single-page app to Google Cloud storage | Configuring your Rails backend app to get a blob from your vanilla js frontend single-page app to Google Cloud storage
For a bootcamp project my teammate and I came up with a fun idea. We’d decided to hack together a multitrack audio recorder. We looked at some sweet documentation on MDN and it seemed like, even though we’d have our work cut out for us, we’d found the libraries that would work. Since we were working with audio files, we thought it would be great to have some sort of cloud storage solution worked out instead of saving the stuff locally. I‘m really interested in cloud services so I jumped at the chance to get our project working with Google Cloud. It was a huge learning experience, here are some of the takeaways I have from the experience that you might find helpful, too!
That one cloud looks like Object Storage that’s Secure, Scalable, and Durable! The other one looks like Moomin.
The Big Picture
In our frontend app, we stored media streams accessed through Javascript’s Mediarecorder object as blobs. We sent the blobs as raw form data to Rails, where the controller created a new gCloud object containing metadata about the file, including the link where the file will be stored in cloud storage. After successfully creating the gcloud object, the controller used the carrierwave gem to send the object to the local model and to send the blob itself to cloud storage.
An overview of cloud storage implementation
Set up the backend part 1
We were relying on a Rails server with SQLite. Be sure when you set up the rails server to set it up as an api:
rails new my-app-backend --api
In the gemfile, add gem ‘gcloud’ . The gem is for everything cloud services offers and is huge, so be prepared to wait when you bundle install .
While you test this locally, be sure to uncomment the gem ‘rack-cors’ line in the gemfile and uncomment the code in initializers/cors.rb .
Set up Google Cloud
Set up an account with Google cloud. The free tier was plenty big for my needs. I was surprised at all the cloud services they let people play with for free, there’s more fun to be had here. When you set up Cloud Storage, set up a project and a bucket. Buckets are where files get written to and read from, so be sure to set the privs. The best way to secure access for rails is by creating a service account and key. The documentation linked here is really top-notch, go and visit the docs, they walk you through with very friendly graphics. Follow their recommendation and choose a JSON certificate. Put it in a directory in your backend and go ahead and add it to your .gitignore right away so you don’t upload that certificate to github. Also, don’t forget to include that gcloud gem in your gemfile !
After this, figure out your strategy for file management in rails.
… or at least check out Active Storage first!
(DON’T) Set up Carrierwave
So, it’s my first time and I hastily chose the solution of using Carrierwave with Rails. If you are still in the assessment stage, Rails 6 has ActiveStorage and it looks really well supported and documented. However, if you’ve already committed to Carrierwave here’s what I can say about some of the curveballs:
Use the carrierwave google storage gem. gem ‘carrierwave-google-storage’ in your gemfile.
in your gemfile. Use an environment variable to point to the service key . I set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS to the path for my service account key. It was recommended by carrierwave to set env var’s for the bucket and the project name, but I was having trouble getting those to work properly and decided to forego the potential security issue since it was a class project and not going live.
. I set to the path for my service account key. It was recommended by carrierwave to set env var’s for the bucket and the project name, but I was having trouble getting those to work properly and decided to forego the potential security issue since it was a class project and not going live. The config/carrierwave.rb file — The documentation I found had some extra stuff, but I got things working just setting the config:
It looked kinda like this
Set up an Uploader for Carrierwave Generate an uploader for the data model that will hold the links to google cloud by rails generate uploader ModelName . The only line I had in the uploader class in app/uploaders/carrierwave.rb was storage :gcloud . In app/models/model_name.rb , add the line mount_uploader :string_field_name, ModelNameUploader
Generate an uploader for the data model that will hold the links to google cloud by . The only line I had in the uploader class in was . In , add the line In your model_name_controller.rb all the commands you’ll need to insert the blob into the bucket and have the info available in your db will look something like this:
Please note the project name has a string of numbers after it. This is the project string that appears in your service key. Google will require you to use your projectname as it appears in that key.
… still with me? Great! We are done with the backend!
POSTing the blobs from the frontend
There was one other issue that we had, passing the blob from the frontend to the backend via fetch. Thanks to Dakota Lillie, a total saint, for this blog, which laid out the secret sauce quite clearly. Pass the blob as formdata, don’t use headers, don’t use stringify.
The first argument to the append is what rails will use as the key in your params. The second argument is the blob, the third argument is an optional filename.
No headers, No Stringify, No Problem!
It was tempting to use a friendly filename instead of a randomly generated one, but Google has some strict requirements for what can be a filename in the bucket. I found it easier to add an extra field to the data model to handle friendly names.
References/Recommended resources: | https://medium.com/@s-satsangi/configuring-your-rails-backend-app-to-get-a-blob-from-your-vanilla-js-frontend-single-page-app-to-cca893d90dbd | ['Sharad Satsangi'] | 2020-12-14 02:09:04.675000+00:00 | ['Rails', 'Google Cloud Storage', 'Carrierwave', 'JavaScript'] |
Best Way of Content Writing Marketing Tips | Best Way of Content Writing Marketing Tips
Perusing a book which gives you information. what’s more, the substance in the book or page has that much intriguing data to understand you. at the point when you need to be a substance author there are a few hints accessible to make the amazing substance. the substance has diverse formate. for example, advanced structures like video, sound, text, yet as a substance author, you should utilize text formate. also, more tips are accessible beneath the section about substance composing. peruse completely. to learn.
How to Choose a Topic:
Referenced are the sorts of substance composing. however, here we going to see the strategies to compose content. for composing content. we should make an arrangement for choosing the theme to be which is moving one, and what point will get quick reach, there are a few determinations for choosing a blog title. that is first picking the point what you need for your business, and select an important subject and it likewise should be a valuable and popular one.
Make Good Title and Description:
Subsequent to picking your point at that point select one great topic which you like, and first notice a title. that should be more appealing to individuals, with incredible catchphrases for your business.
also, the title should be a long-tail sentence with watchwords. furthermore, next, make a portrayal with catchphrases. that should be pertinent to the point and title. and furthermore, utilize a decent slogan or statement. notice underneath the portrayal with creator name. that makes it more alluring for your Blog, search in google for the best slogan. however, note one thing the title ought not to resemble a duplicate composed.
Look for good Image and presentation:
Presently select a picture that should be pertinent to the substance you compose, you can locate a superior picture in freepik, in the wake of choosing a significant decent picture. apply in your blog content, and furthermore notice alt tag and the watchword for that picture. which is utilized for SEO. furthermore, the introduction is significant. make your blog with a decent introduction. since that won’t make you exhausted while perusing a blog.
Conclusion:
Thus I wrote the content for how to write content from my knowledge. I hope you will get good useful stuff to write a blog, and for knowing more about whole digital marketing things here a good learning institute available NIDM(National Institute of Digital Marketing).
Best digital marketing Course in Jayanagar. | https://medium.com/@jayanagarnidm/best-way-of-content-writing-marketing-tips-cbde94460844 | ['Nidm Jayanagar'] | 2020-12-28 11:35:12.611000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Digital Marketing Agency', 'Digital Marketing Tips', 'Blog', 'Content Marketing'] |
The Wheel of Time Still Has A Long, Long Way To Go For TV | Great news for the long-suffering fans of The Wheel of Time! Rosamund Pike has been cast as Moiraine, the enigmatic female Gandalf of the series. And the showrunners have decided to use Moiraine’s story as the “in” for viewers, rather than the white-bread boy Rand al’Thor.
Image: Amazon
If you didn’t get hooked on The Wheel of Time in the early 90s, you may not get it. The series is dated now, but was everything to every fantasy fan in 1992.
Despite Tolkienesque nods, it presented a thus-far-unimagined fantasy concept: only women could use magic. Any men who did so, in Robert Jordan’s world, would become insane.
But in order to restore balance to the world, a particular man — Rand al’Thor — had to use magic, racing the clock against his insanity.
After a few great books and a few, well, readable ones, the series fell off into an endless slog, writer Robert Jordan tragically passed of a degenerative heart disease, and finally it wrapped up in three pretty-good substitute-drafted books by workhorse Brandon Sanderson.
Of course a major studio snapped it up in the wake of Game of Thrones’s success.
But it’s 2019 now. Game of Thrones is of a piece with Rome, Boardwalk Empire, Deadwood & The Sopranos — sprawling literary epics of antiheroes and politics, admired precisely because they hacked apart old TV cliches. (They made new TV cliches in the process, but that’s another article.)
That’s not The Wheel of Time.
The 90s Are Not The 2020s
Remember when I said it’s dated?
Don’t get me wrong. I looooooove the series, often more than it deserves. But even if they follow Moiraine rather than Rand, Jordan’s first few books, with farmboys and an innkeeper’s daughter on their quest to stop the Dark One, are more like The Shannara Chronicles than Westeros. Very D&D, Tolkien-lite, what-your-grandma-thinks-fantasy-is. And right now, Shannara Chronicles sits square in that dusty box of forgotten fantasy TV. Reviews were mixed, ratings were middling, and the old “cheesy fantasy tropes” complaint rang loud.
In the 1980s, Jordan was writing fantasy for a market that clearly wanted Tolkien pastiches, so he started on an empty road, with a menacing black rider. There’s much more there — the Gandalf, Radagast and Saruman figures of the series are all genderflipped, Jordan used magic to put a skewed view on misandry and misogyny, and the series shows remarkable depth in historical and social parallels. There are layers of alien cultures, especially among the Aiel and Seanchan.
The show needs to hit with that first, and that’ll be tough, given the story structure.
The Brandon Sanderson books deal with the fascinating questions of how to ally humankind against the Dark One. The Seanchan Empire, built on a perniciously magical slavery, is evil as, and more intractable than, the Darkfriends. The Seanchan question inspired Sanderson to write a new fan-favorite sequence in the second-to-last book, showing that even the nigh-invincible Aiel couldn’t win against the Seanchan.
If that sort of “lesser of two evils” thinking could come into the series earlier, it would show the books’ staying power.
That’s good news given the current approach, since Moiraine and the Aes Sedai always sacrifice goodness in favor of expedience. But how much of Rand’s story can be changed before the estate, or the fans, revolt? The series’ plot was always about Rand growing into his role as Dragon Reborn, which means that even if we start with Moiraine, we need to see a lot of Books 1 & 2 right up-front.
It’s Too Long
Fifteen books! All with lengths comparable to George RR Martin’s novels (Martin’s third and fifth books surpass the word count of even the longest Jordan novels, but not by much).
This in a world where successful TV dramas run from five to seven seasons. Assuming one book per season, Breaking Bad would be over and done by the time a WoT series would get through the events of The Fires of Heaven.
So where to cut? Most fans could live without the much-reviled kidnapping of Faile, but what about Queen Tylin, or the Bowl of the Winds, or even Rand’s polyamorous romance? In the books, Rand and his farmgirl friend Egwene start as a sort of couple, before they grow apart. I can imagine a producer insisting that Rand and Egwene remain a couple, one torn apart by their dual loyalties and fates.
That doesn’t even sound bad. It sounds like the inspiration for a pretty good fantasy series, but it’s not the WoT we know.
It’s Not Even A Little Bit Queer
Brandon Sanderson made some efforts to repair the absence of queer characters in the series, but a TV series would have to go a lot farther for 2019 audiences, a world where gay, romantic & sexual minorities have achieved greater visibility. Lesbian relationships in the White Tower are depicted as a quirk of teenagerhood that most women grow out of. If Moiraine and Siuan’s youthful relationship were brought forward into adulthood, it would still only be one tiny piece of the world.
If we follow the idea that Rand’s romance might get rewritten, would fans be willing to see a romance between Elayne and Aviendha in its stead?
To some degree, even good representation won’t address root problems. The up-and-coming generation is more willing than ever to question the classic gender binary that saidin and saidar are based on. Jordan never wrote any transgendered characters. (Aran’gar, a man forcibly transported into a woman’s body, doesn’t count.) Can a trans man or woman touch the corresponding part of the One Power to their identified gender if it’s different than what they were assigned at birth? What about non-binary people? It’s troubling that the only genderfluid power is the True Power, which comes from the Dark One.
Time… (Hey!) Will Tell
The series, if done right, may hit in just the right place for the 2020s. Game of Thrones was a bleak, dark series that ended on a main character’s betrayal. The Wheel of Time, from the beginning to the end, flirts with true darkness, but always reasserts the value of hope, and always brings out the nobility in its characters.
Fantasy fans are a little sick of grimdark, one would think.
Ultimately, Jordan’s series, like any long work, has significant weaknesses and significant strengths. Let’s hope the showrunners are able to, like Game of Thrones did in its early seasons, trim the excesses of the books while leaving in strong bones of the story. | https://medium.com/fan-fare/the-wheel-of-time-still-has-a-long-long-way-to-go-for-tv-c652fe19a6a | ['Spencer Ellsworth'] | 2019-08-05 16:58:17.809000+00:00 | ['The Wheel Of Time', 'Robert Jordan', 'Brandon Sanderson', 'Rosamund Pike', 'Books'] |
Google Walkout for real Change is standing with Dr. | Google Walkout for real Change is standing with Dr. Timnit Gebru who was one of very few Black women Research Scientists at the company, which boasts a dismal 1.6% Black women employees overall. Her research accomplishments are extensive, and have profoundly impacted academic scholarship and public policy. Dr. Gebru is a pathbreaking scientist doing some of the most important work to ensure just and accountable AI and to create a welcoming and diverse AI research field. Instead of being embraced by Google as an exceptionally talented and prolific contributor, Dr. Gebru has faced defensiveness, racism, gaslighting, research censorship, and now a retaliatory firing. The public also needs to stand with the Google Walkout for Real Change. Read more about how you can get involved to support ethical Artificial Intelligence development, resist the silencing of blackvoices and prevent Union busting by Google to silence employee voices. #ISupportTimnit #BelieveBlackWomen | https://medium.com/antiracist-nursing-news/google-walkout-for-real-change-is-standing-with-dr-46ebb0188d58 | ['Courtney Allen-Gentry Rn Msn Phn Ahn-Bc Hwnc-Bc'] | 2020-12-19 15:42:07.709000+00:00 | ['Google', 'AI', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Ethics', 'Black Women'] |
5 Obvious Signs You Need a Mental Health Day | 1. You feel “off”
While feeling “off” might not sound very specific, most of us should be able to tell when something seems different about yourself.
Perhaps it is a visible reduction in productivity, perhaps you begin to become more forgetful and distracted, or perhaps you feel like something is missing from your daily life. When you begin to sense that there is something that doesn’t feel right, it is a good time to take a short break to figure out what is wrong (especially when it goes on for a prolonged period of time).
2. You no longer enjoy the things that you used to like
In addition to sensing that something doesn’t feel right, another common sign of mental weariness is when you begin to stop enjoying the things you used to.
Of course, we might find ourselves losing interest in certain hobbies from time to time. However, the process of losing interest in hobbies is normally obvious and should take a while (like how children lose interest in watching children’s cartoons slowly).
That’s why, if you find that you’ve suddenly lost interest in activities (especially out of nowhere) you’ve always loved, it could be a sign that something could be wrong. Furthermore, if this waning interest happens to many different activities all at once, you might want to take a mental health day and/or seek help to see if there could be anything affecting you.
3. You’re shutting yourself in at home
A common trait that many suffering from mental illnesses share is the withdrawal from their social life.
As fighting with the demons of mental issues takes a huge toll on one, many will find that they have become more fatigued when dealing with mental illnesses. This can decrease one’s productivity (leading again to point 1 about feeling “off”) and causing work to pile up. This increased pile of work could start to overwhelm and put one into a downward spiral of having to dedicate more time to work (and an increasing amount of stress), reducing the time and energy available for socializing.
Another reason that could lead to the withdrawal from friends and family is the fact that many individuals suffering from mental illnesses believe that others simply do not care. They might feel that others are unable to understand their situation or push others away in fear of “being judged”.
Lastly, some also find themselves staying home more simply because they no longer enjoy the activities that they used to. Without the joy that comes with participating in these hobbies or interests, these individuals would prefer to simply stay at home instead.
4. You find your sleep schedule changing drastically
Everyone has a different sleep schedule. Some prefer to sleep early while others might prefer to sleep only when it’s 3 in the morning. However, when you begin to find your sleep schedule changing, it might be a good time to take a mental health day in order to step back and find out if anything is wrong.
From sleeping too much suddenly to not being able to fall asleep normally, a drastically different sleep schedule could be a manifestation of mental health issues. Furthermore, as a constant sleep problem can affect your physical health as well, it will be extremely worth it to take note of changes and find the root cause before it causes other problems for you.
5. You experience a change in your appetite
Just like a dramatically different sleep schedule, a drastic change in one’s appetite could be a sign of one’s mental health needing attention. This can come in two different directions: wanting to eat everything in sight or completely not wanting to eat (of course, these are but two extreme ends on the spectrum).
Of course, mental health issues do not necessarily come with all 5 of these symptoms. In fact, some individuals could experience none of this (and could also be experiencing other physical symptoms that aren’t mentioned).
However, these 5 common signs serve as a prompt that can remind you to take a break and seek help if necessary. Whenever you find yourself experiencing a shift in your own personal behavior (or routines), take a step back to take a breather and ask yourself if you need help.
By normalizing taking care of one’s mental health, it becomes easier for all of us to help one another detect possible symptoms and for us to seek help when we have to. And when we begin to treat mental health issues just like physical illnesses, perhaps we can create a society where seeking help is common. | https://medium.com/wholistique/5-signs-that-tell-you-its-time-to-take-a-mental-health-day-8048ee15a4b4 | ['Jerren Gan'] | 2020-12-25 08:39:31.228000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Psychology', 'Work Life Balance', 'Self Improvement', 'Mental Health'] |
Becoming Co-Creators: Building a future we want to inhabit begins by believing that’s possible | On September 11, 2001, I was 24 years old and convinced that I was a fraud.
A few weeks after the attacks, I remember opening the full color front page of the Sunday paper. Almost three thousand faces of the dead stared back, lives prematurely ended in that act of unspeakable violence.
“Bear witness,” I whispered.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I balled up the paper, buried it in the bottom of the recycling bin, and tried to forget what I saw.
A sensitive child growing up in a loud world, I’ve always been quite skilled at repressing pain. With 9/11, I went through the motions of grieving alongside our nation, believing that if you can outrun fear, it can’t swallow you whole.
But pain bats last. And I was left exhausted from denying my sorrow, ashamed for trying to avoid it, and diminished by my belief that I wasn’t strong enough to handle any of it.
I had yet to learn the paradoxical truth about suffering.
Denying suffering destroys you. Opening to it awakens our compassion, which is the gateway to the most powerful force in the world:
Love.
Coronavirus, with its human and economic wreckage, evokes an eerily similar response as 9/11. The toll still unknown, but devastation is assured.
All will be well
Over these almost 20 years, I’ve practiced inhabiting the places that scare me. I’m still plenty afraid, but, mercifully, have more awareness when I start to fear the fear.
The funny thing about fear is how is dissipates — softens, loosens — when we bring gentle attention to it. A quieter truth emerges. Something akin to your Grandma Helen’s needlepoint above the kitchen sink: “This too shall pass.”
Lately, friends sheltering in places have called confessing to waking up to a mystifying calmness amidst the swirling chaos.
Unlike my 9/11 avoidance, their peace doesn’t deny terrible crisis. Instead they’ve cultivated a quality of aliveness that illness, devastation, even death, can’t touch.
14th century mystic Julian of Norwich said “all will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well.
Against all reason, they believe her.
Sacred is at the heart of sacrifice
Coronavirus is demanding sacrifices from us, great and small. “Sacred” is at the root of sacrifice, meaning to cut open, to give something up. Not because a vengeful God requires sacrifice, but because the friction of shedding ignites the fire of purification necessary to reveal the gold within.
When everything is given up, everything can be given.
As a global body, we’ve been careening forward unsustainably for far too long. The horrible truth is that some of us will pay a higher price than others. Those least responsible are most at risk. For it’s not the corporate titans who’ve chosen profit over people, but the laborers with no safety net who are most vulnerable.
Sacrifice hurts, even for those of us lucky enough to ride this thing out with our basic needs met. But great sages throughout time teach that the inside in the fire of tribulation is a womb that gives birth to a renewed spirit inside us. There is a stirring in the womb of life. A loudening rumble that the great pause of Coronavirus lets us hear.
Tip the scales towards equilibrium
The history of emergencies is that short-term fixes become entrenched ways of life. Consider our pre and post 9/11 flying norms of shoe removable and liquid restrictions, as one example. Decisions that would normally take years are made in days.
Make no mistake. There are real systems that profit from isolation and alienating us.
As Rebecca Solnit says, people who find their deepest meaning and satisfaction in their connection to each other don’t make good consumers.
We must act decisively so short-term measures tip the scales towards equilibrium, mercy, and community care, not tightening authoritarianism. Becoming co-creators of the future we want to inhabit begins with believing that’s possible. We have far greater power and resilience than we realize. How quickly we’ve adapted to thrive in this new environment with no preparation, under enormous stress.
Normal wasn’t working for us
Individually, we’re sharing with each other, talking to our neighbors from a safe distance, checking in on the vulnerable. Evenings are spent playing games, cooking meals, or enjoying the solitude of long walks. By no longer commuting to work or chauffeuring kids, we’re reducing our carbon footprint, and rediscovering simple joys.
Nationally, impossibilities have become possible. Astra Taylor reports on Coronavirus’s impact on public life.
“All along, the homeless could’ve been housed and sheltered in government buildings; water and electricity didn’t need to be turned off for people behind on their bills; paid sick leave could‘ve been a right for all workers; paying your mortgage late didn’t need to lead to foreclosure.”
Parents thrown into homeschooling may now be more invested in the most effective ways to engage curious learners, rather than relentlessly pursuing Harvard. Telemedicine can transform healthcare, just like online learning could spark innovation to reduce the astronomical costs of higher education. After being forced to abandon our (atrophying) public spaces, we can create space anew. Modern day parlors, French for “a place for speaking,” living rooms where our social imagination can be nourished, and we find our way back to each other.
Maybe we don’t want to go back to normal. Maybe normal wasn’t working for us.
“Now I deem the world To be a womb In this womb I have seen such serenity in the midst of the flames I saw a whole new world.” — Rumi
Just one year ago, we watched in horror as Notre Dame, known as our great mother, burned. As her famous spire crackled and fell, Parisians poured onto the streets holding candles and singing songs of praise and mourning, compelled to metabolize their grief in public.
What if they harnessed the generative power of their grief and turned to each other to rebuild their home? Instead, this vital work was given over to a small group of outsider experts, funded by a handful of powerful billionaires.
We did not heed her prophetic warning.
Christians recently celebrated Easter, where the darkness of the tomb gives way to light. Death is overcome by life eternal.
Here again, we’re at the time of the census.
Mother Mary gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem where she’d traveled for the census to stand up and be counted.
What we thought was a tomb is a womb.
The future we imagine is laboring hard, pregnant with anticipation, but she will not birth herself. We’re her midwives. Like Mary, let’s stand up and be counted. Let’s find each other and work together to give birth to a new way of life.
Shannon Mannon is the Founder of 3-Minute Storyteller which invigorates our communities with conversation and inspires social healing through storytelling. If you’ve got a story to share, shoot me an email [email protected] | https://medium.com/@smannon/becoming-co-creators-building-a-future-we-want-to-inhabit-begins-by-believing-thats-possible-ea02e70f50db | ['Shannon Mannon'] | 2020-04-22 21:09:40.506000+00:00 | ['Resilience', 'Compassion', 'Empowerment', 'Mindfulness', 'Community Engagement'] |
Crypto During Coronavirus: Make The Right Decisions Now | It goes without saying that things have been a bit chaotic over the past few weeks. At dlab HQ in New York, our office is one of thousands that are closed amidst a city-wide shutdown the likes of which were difficult to imagine as little as two months ago. As the longer-term reality of the new normal settles in, we’ve been working diligently with our staff and our portfolio companies to figure out how to best navigate this unfamiliar environment. We understand that this is a challenging time for everyone and sincerely hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy. We’ll get through this, and we will be stronger for it. But first we have to survive, and surviving means reprioritizing and adapting.
How long will this situation last? Is COVID-19 a 6-month problem or a two-year problem? How long will recovery take, both operationally and economically? What does it mean for startups in our ecosystem attempting to raise financings this year? It’s honestly hard to know, as we simply don’t have sufficient data; but it’s clear that the effects will be material. This is truly an unprecedented situation and we need to be mindful with our next steps, both as a fund and as a community. It’s important in times like this to slow down before you speed up.
The pandemic’s effects on cryptocurrency and the entire blockchain ecosystem are even harder to pin down. What does life in a post COVID-19 world look like, and what kind of a role will crypto play? We’re going to find out. Here at dlab we continue to be excited about the growth of blockchain technology, its potential for societal change, and its applicability to the challenges that we find ourselves facing in a post-pandemic world. Although we’re certainly concerned about the current seed funding climate, we remain optimistic that great founders, as always, find ways to defy the odds and flourish. Now is as great a time as ever to work on technology that solves real problems the world is facing; problems that will become even more pronounced in the weeks and months ahead. We’re proud that our portfolio includes a number of companies addressing needs in disaster response, supply chain traceability, remote user security, worker credentialing, and employee compensation, among others. We’ve had conversations with dozens of companies for our latest batch who are doing fascinating work applying this technology stack to the healthcare, research, food and agriculture, and supply chain industries. This is work that matters now.
So how do we, as a program, respond to an event like this? At SOSV, we’ve been telling our startups that, first and foremost, they have to survive. This usually means making some difficult decisions: downsizing, focusing, and eliminating distractions. Often it means taking a step back from ambitious new projects in order to support your core. This is true of the companies we back, but it’s also true of us as an investor and as a studio. Our primary responsibility is to our founders, so we’ll be putting a lot of other efforts to the side for the next few months in order to provide additional resources, virtual programming, and hands-on support to them. We’ll be working hard to ensure the best possible outcomes for their businesses, and by extension, for the world around us. In order to focus our energy here, and because of the uncertainty of the next few months, it’s clear that the most responsible thing for us to do is to delay the start of our upcoming accelerator program.
Another change precipitating this delay is the exit of our partner, EMURGO. In this uncertain global situation, they’ve had to make the difficult decision to refocus on their own core business, which means they will no longer be co-investing in new dlab startups at the accelerator stage. They remain fully committed to the success of the ten portfolio companies we have co-invested in together, and we look forward to continuing to work with the EMURGO team as mentors and advisors for future dlab prospects.
The last few weeks have certainly been a time of change and priority re-assessment for everyone. However, it’s hard not to be optimistic when you’re surrounded by the kind of founders, partners, and mentors that we’re lucky to have in our network. Even if we’re all physically isolated for the moment, it’s always a pleasure to see you on a zoom call or in a slack room. The hangouts and virtual coffee conversations have been great so far, even if the actual coffee isn’t as good as the stuff downstairs at Culture Espresso on 36th.
Finally, if you’re a startup who has applied to our upcoming dlab cohort: Please know that we appreciate your patience and understanding during these uncertain times. We’ve been blown away by the quality of the applications we’ve received for this program and we’re truly excited to continue our conversions over the coming months. Please don’t be bashful if we can help in any way; you know where to find us via email or telegram. Likewise, if you’re a pre-seed or seed-stage startup in the space that we haven’t yet spoken with, we’d love to talk with you. We’re currently accepting applications and our current plan (accepting that there are maybe one or two major things outside of our control in these crazy times!) is to make selections in the Fall for a program kickoff in Q4.
Thank you. Please stay healthy, happy, and safe. Make the right decisions. And don’t stop building stuff that matters. | https://medium.com/dlabvc/crypto-vs-coronavirus-make-the-right-decisions-now-fd972e87d4a7 | ['Nick Plante'] | 2020-11-29 15:43:05.611000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Startup', 'Accelerator', 'Investing', 'Coronavirus'] |
Optimization or Simplicity? | What’s the difference?
Optimization is doing multiple things at once with good timing. Getting one step started then beginning another step with the intention of revisiting the first step. Sometimes you’ll have three or four steps happening at once. It saves time but a failure or delay on any step can throw the whole system into chaos. You’ll have multiple failure points and more stress.
Simplicity is doing one thing at a time. Getting one step finished before moving on to another step. It takes extra time but a failure or delay will not cause other steps to fail. You’ll have fewer failure points at any given time and less stress.
Basically, when you’re optimizing and multi-tasking you’re leaving simplicity in the dust.
When will they work best?
Since your first time will be your worst time it’s probably best to start with simplicity. As you gain experience and confidence you can begin looking for ways to optimize and save time.
Working as an individual you’ll likely have success optimizing systems to match your skills. You’ll be aware of the details of each step and have some ability to slow down or speed up steps as needed.
As you add people to the group you may need to re-simplify the system and allow timing to be more flexible. They may not have the same skills and experience that you have. Allow them the time to gain confidence and then look for optimizations you may not have seen.
What about large, complex projects?
Of course these are tricky because they need to be completed by multiple people in a timely manner. This is where a project manager comes into play.
The project manager can optimize the timing of a series of simple steps that are delegated to the group. Think about it like building a house where each of the sub-trades only need to know about their tasks without focusing on the overall house.
You can probably see that a project manager needs to be more adept at planning and communications than the actual skills of completing the tasks.
Which way should you go?
Most of us have a bias towards either optimization or simplicity, whether we know it or not. Every project is different so be aware of your bias, experience, and skill set as you start out.
Whether you prefer simplicity or optimization it’s a good idea to leave some buffer room for errors and delays. They will happen.
Efficiency demands a level of optimization however simplicity can be more foolproof. It’s a basic risk and reward decision. | https://medium.com/@realmikeridler/optimization-or-simplicity-a302dfb406e2 | ['Mike Ridler'] | 2019-06-17 13:20:31.655000+00:00 | ['Optimization', 'Systems Thinking', 'Efficiency', 'Project Management'] |
Flutter- A Basic Introduction | The Landscape
Mobile apps had recently constituted a major chunk of the global user base, accounting for more than 70 percent of net usage. The advantage of apps is the simplicity of surfing the web directly, without compromising functionality . Web Apps recently have blured the line between apps, and websites. The app market is now valued at $106 billion, with an annual rise of 18 percent.
This sharp growth can be attributed to higher penetration within large consumer base in US, China, India, coupled with lower data costs.
App development is now considered a lucrative career field, divided between two titans, iOS and Android. There are also upcoming players to this niche space such as KaiOS ( Linux based), Taizen ( Samsung Electronics) and Fuchsia OS ( Google, Beta phase).
Why Flutter
Developers are usually provided with two tracks for app development — Native and Hybrid. The native frameworks are namely Android Studio from Google with Java and Kotlin Support, Xcode from Apple with Objective C, Swift.
Native apps have many benefits which includes, but not limited to
Higher performance Better integeration of libraries Huge and dedicated developer support forums Less bugs and errors.
However if one wants to release in both platforms simultaneously, native coding can become a challenge. One way to address this is by having a dedicated team, for both Android and iOS development. But this can increase cost overheads, and time constaints. A difficult task for startups, or a medium sized company having less resources.
Enter Hybird development, the motto being “ Write once, run anywhere”. Here the developer can write applications which runs in both environments without lengthy code base, or plugins. Some hybrid framework even support web capabilities. This will be invident from the upcoming sections.
The notable hybird Frameworks include React Native, developed by Facebook, Xamarin from Microsoft, Ionic and Mobile Angular UI, which are web based. Now we come to the topic at hand, Flutter. Being a late entrant into this space, the google team wanted to create a framework constituting the best practises, and marginalizing the errors, from previous releases.
Flutter framework supports iOS, Android and just recently, web app development using a single code base. The development language is Dart, which from experience, is relatively easier to learn. Some of the other advantages include
High performance as native apps Fast debugging A detailed library support, with regular updates UI is one of the best, as Google has incoporated default Material design techniques ( Shadows, bordering)
How it works
You will always hear the term Widget, when designing with Flutter. Widgets are the core building block with Material App ( incooprating material design) as the root and Scafold Widget (Container to hold other Widgets)
There is a widgets prebuilt for most purposes, ranging from TextFields, to Animation and even Search to Progress bars. The benefits of this is that you can easily incoporate additional features, by importing these prebuilt widgets, reducing coding time, and complex debugging.
There is a dedicated Widget library provided by Flutter, https://pub.dev/ where functionality can be incoporated based on your need. Also the library is regularly updated, and checked for issues.
Some features like in app purchases and advertisements, were tricky in hybrid development. Flutter recently solved the issues, with additions to the widget library ( in_app_purchase 0.3.4+16 and firebase_admob 0.10.3 )
Going into cloud services, integeration with AWS, and Google cloud including Firebase,was a breeze and worked with less, to no issues.
Fuchsia OS which was mentioned earlier, uses Flutter as the development environment. So learning the framework also has that added benefit.
But what about…
That being said, there are certain grey regions for Flutter. Mainly the Design layout, and Coding base are merged together, which can be a slight inconvenience, for migrating native developers (Android studio and Xcode has clear destinction on this front). Also version clashes can occur, specially for Xcode emulators, which might show errors on deployment.
Another thing is for higher feature development such as ML model integeration, can be little tricky. On this, there might be future changes and corrections.
Final Verdict
Given the pros and cons, it is upto the developer to choose his or her framework of choice. And that being said, the options are plentiful. | https://medium.com/@jeugenejohn/flutter-a-basic-introduction-acff05629f4 | [] | 2020-12-21 08:51:00.723000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Android App Development', 'iOS App Development', 'Coding'] |
The Democratic Debate was a Dystopian Nightmare | Start with this: from The New York Times to Twitter, the main criticism against Michael Bloomberg is that he has made billions. That is somehow a crime on the Left now. Throughout my life, I have only seen people elected to the presidency by selling the promise for a better life. Bloomberg was raised by a middle class family. He used his smarts to build a business. He was successful at it, just like Bill Gates or Kylie Jenner. And yet, it is accepted truth that this is now considered a crime. Even though Bloomberg not only spent almost a billion helping to flip the House in 2018, but his commitment to fight climate change surpasses anyone else’s on that stage. You’d never know that from how that night went. In fact, you’d think he was Donald Trump himself.
Elizabeth Warren is doing so badly in the polls that Twitter has tried to artificially boost her status with hashtags and high fives after her vicious attacks against all of her rivals last night. One expects she was trying to stand out, as Trump did in the 2016 GOP primary where he destroyed all of his competitors. But the problem is — she’s a woman. Women can’t get away with that. She has her male supporters, for sure, but that strategy is far too confrontational for the broader coalition. After last night, just as when Kamala Harris showed too much anger, she will be hated. But worse, anything she can be Bernie can be better, which is why he’s rising in the polls and she isn’t. Warren doesn’t have it. Sorry to say, but selfie lines and zingers at Bloomberg ain’t gonna cut it.
Trump’s approval rate is hovering at a steady 49% on Gallup, his best ever. Democrats did themselves no favors by largely coming off as vicious and hateful, lacking in compassion and empathy. Most of us don’t like bullies. While Twitter, Facebook and the MSM that feeds off those sites seem to like that, for most of us, we feel badly to see someone attacked. I suspect that is why Trump is doing better than anyone could imagine. Our attacks against him, whether justified or not, are backfiring. It is all noise.
I was greatly disappointed in the Democrats last night. The whole thing appears to be helping just Bernie Sanders, who will go up against Donald Trump in the season finale of the Trump Show. Bernie’s selling hard core socialism and has not even admitted he would accept anyone fairly getting the nomination with enough delegates. That means he and his supporters will Bern it all down if he isn’t the chosen one.
The Stop and Frisk criticisms of Bloomberg are fair. Even the sexual harassment criticisms are fair. But the Democrats and the hive minds that follow them can’t just stop there. They have to annihilate him completely. He is now commonly referred to as a “racist” and a “sexist.” There never seems to be any sort of deeper conversation about it. Those ad hominem attacks fly off the shelves on Twitter. And suddenly it becomes fact. So now the Democrats feel comfortable selling the delusion that Bloomberg is “as bad” as Trump.
Worse, attacks against Trump as an actual racist now seems like yet one more waft of hot hair in a bubble of mass hysteria because everyone is a racist. Biden, Pete and now Bloomberg. Here a racist, there a racist, everywhere a racist racist.
Fuck the climate, right? FUCK THE CLIMATE. Because who cares. If none of them can win, we’re at a tipping point and we likely can’t turn back. The GOP has won. They’ve taken everything, ripped through everything, dismantled everything, and all we have is desperate Elizabeth Warren, whose narcissism was revealed at last in her bitterness that she could not triumph in a crowded primary. So she has to take everyone, including any Democrat who can actually beat Trump (Bernie can’t) with her. What a shame. What a dystopian nightmare.
But hitting at him because he happened to make a lot of money is not just damaging to the Democrats but it goes against everything this country has, up until now, stood for. It is as though Bernie popularity has convinced Democrats that Americans are ready to abandon patriotism and the American dream and swap it out for the Scandinavian dream.
But that, too, will send them back to Trump. Ask yourself if you or anyone you know wouldn’t want to trade places with Mike Bloomberg. If you had billions of dollars to stop Donald Trump, fight for climate change, donate to Democrats to flip the House, wouldn’t you want to? If you knew none of the Democrats could win but you might have a shot at it, wouldn’t you want to?
No, instead Democrats are making the case that they want to take their chances with the losing side. As usual.
And that’s why last night’s debate was a dystopian nightmare. With Biden and Bloomberg, Pete and Amy destroyed, and Elizabeth Warren helping Trump with her attacks on the others, all roads lead back to Bernie — and that road only leads back to Trump. | https://medium.com/@sashastone/the-democratic-debate-was-a-dystopian-nightmare-ffe0eb98876f | ['Sasha Stone'] | 2020-02-20 17:29:20.640000+00:00 | ['Democrats', 'Bernie Sanders', 'Trump', 'Debate', 'Mike Bloomberg'] |
Seyifunmi Adebote, Others To Speak At UN’s #Youth4ClimateLive Series — IG Live | Seyifunmi Adebote, a young environmental leader in Nigeria will be speaking through the UN Youth Envoy’s Instagram account as part of a panel on a special Instagram Live on Friday, August 21st between 06.00 pm-06:45 pm WAT. This is part of activities to set the stage for #Youth4ClimateLive Episode 3: Driving Youth Action.
Other youth speakers on the panel include India’s Environmentalist and Wildlife filmmaker, Malaika Vaz and Dominican Republic’s Climate and Youth Activist, Claudia Taboada. The IG Live session will be hosted by Ahmed Badr on Connect4Climate’s channel in partnership with the office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth as part of the #31DaysOfYOUth campaign and the #Youth4ClimateLive Series.
Seyifunmi Adebote
As a run-up to Pre-COP26 in Milan, Italy and the COP26 which will now hold in Glasgow, the United Kingdom from Monday, 1 November 2021 to Friday, 12 November 2021, the Youth4ClimateLive Series is hosted by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, in collaboration with Connect4Climate — World Bank Group and the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth.
Seyifunmi’s innovative approach to climate education through his widely-listened-to Climate Talk Podcast has earned him this spot on Friday’s Instagram Live. He is expected to address a global audience, discussing “What Meaningful Youth Engagement means”, and highlighting effective climate-focused initiatives and opportunities in Nigeria and internationally. | https://medium.com/climatewed/seyifunmi-adebote-others-to-speak-at-uns-youth4climatelive-series-ig-live-49d2de1fb73b | ['Iccdi Africa'] | 2020-08-20 23:09:20.912000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', 'United Nations', 'Renewable Energy', 'Wash', 'Youth Development'] |
Learn to Make a Web App With ASP NET Core and Vue | In this article, I will teach you the basics of making your own web app, by creating a checklist app. ASP NET Core will be used to create a CRUD API and Vue will be used to create the frontend UI. Using the knowledge gained here, you should be able to apply it to start making your own web apps. You can find the complete solution in the GitHub repository.
We will first start with building the API and then move on to the Vue client.
Creating a checklist API
Start by creating a new ASP NET Core Web API project in Visual Studio.
Let’s start by creating the checklist item model. Create a folder called Models and inside create a file called ChecklistItem.cs
public class ChecklistItem
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Text { get; set; }
}
We have given it an Id, which will uniquely identify this item when we save it to a database, and a Text property which will contain the text that we enter for the checklist item.
Next, we will configure the database. To help simplify this tutorial I am using an in-memory database. This is fine for testing and demonstration purposes, but for a real life app you will need to configure your own database (in terms of code, this is as simple as changing the data provider in the EF Core options).
First install the following NuGet packages:
Microsoft .EntityFrameworkCore
Microsoft .EntityFrameworkCore.InMemory
Then create a new file at the root folder of the project called AppDbContext.cs:
using ASPNETCoreVueChecklist.Models;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore; namespace ASPNETCoreVueChecklist
{
public class AppDbContext : DbContext
{
public AppDbContext(DbContextOptions options) : base(options)
{
} public DbSet<ChecklistItem> ChecklistItems { get; set; }
}
}
EF Core is a object-relational mapper (ORM), which simplifies the process of interacting between C# code and the database. The AppDbContext class provides a way to access the records within the database. By providing it with a property called ChecklistItems, with a type of DbSet, this configures EF Core to look for a table in the database called ChecklistItems, with columns defined by our model.
Then to configure our app to use this AppDbContext class and to use an in-memory database, go to the ConfigureServices method of Startup.cs and add the following lines of code:
services.AddDbContext<AppDbContext>(options =>
{
options.UseInMemoryDatabase(nameof(AppDbContext));
});
Finally, we need to create the controller, which in ASP NET Core defines the endpoints for our API. Start by creating a ChecklistController.cs file within the Controllers folder:
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc; namespace ASPNETCoreVueChecklist.Controllers
{
[ApiController]
[Route("[controller]")]
public class ChecklistController : ControllerBase
{
private readonly AppDbContext _dbContext; public ChecklistController(AppDbContext dbContext)
{
_dbContext = dbContext;
}
}
}
As it stands, the controller has an ApiController attribute, which configures the controller to be used for an API (instead of a standard ASP NET MVC controller), the Route attribute states that all endpoints will be prefixed by the name of the controller (checklist), and we are injecting an instance of our AppDbContext class into the controller so that we can use it to access our checklist items.
I will now walk you through adding each of the CRUD methods to the controller, starting with Create:
[HttpPost]
public async Task<int> Create(ChecklistItem item)
{
_dbContext.ChecklistItems.Add(item);
await _dbContext.SaveChangesAsync(); return item.Id;
}
The above method has the HttpPost attribute, which means it can only be accessed by sending the Http request using the POST method. This is standard for creating records in APIs. We create a new instance of ChecklistItem using the text parameter that is passed to the method. We don’t need to worry about setting the Id ourselves as a unique Id will automatically be set when we save the item to the database. The following lines add the item to the database and then save it. We finally return the new item Id back to the client.
Next we will move on to Read. Typically with such an API, there are two read methods: one to list all items, and one to return one item that matches the supplied Id.
[HttpGet]
public async Task<IEnumerable<ChecklistItem>> Get()
{
var items = await _dbContext.ChecklistItems.ToListAsync(); return items;
} [HttpGet("{id}")]
public async Task<ChecklistItem> Get(int id)
{
var item = await _dbContext.ChecklistItems.FirstOrDefaultAsync(item => item.Id == id); return item;
}
The first method is set to return a list of all checklist items when the HTTP GET method is used on the controller (/checklist). The second is similar apart from we set it to require the Id of the checklist item in the URL (/checklist/1). This will take the Id as a parameter and search the database for an item with that Id. It will then return that single Id back to the client.
The next method is Update:
[HttpPut("{id}")]
public async Task<bool> Update(int id, ChecklistItem item)
{
var existingItem = await _dbContext.ChecklistItems.FirstOrDefaultAsync(i => i.Id == id);
existingItem.Text = item.Text;
var result = await _dbContext.SaveChangesAsync(); return result > 0;
}
Typically updating is done with the HTTP PUT method and we are setting the route to require the Id of the item we wish to update (checklist/1). First we retrieve the item that we wish to update, modify the text, then save it back to the database. The return value of SaveChangeAsync is an integer representing the number of items that got updated. Therefore by checking if the number of updated items is greater than 0, we know that the update was successful.
Finally we have the Delete method:
[HttpDelete("{id}")]
public async Task<bool> Delete(int id)
{
var item = await _dbContext.ChecklistItems.FirstOrDefaultAsync(item => item.Id == id);
_dbContext.ChecklistItems.Remove(item);
var result = await _dbContext.SaveChangesAsync(); return result > 0;
}
Similar to the previous methods, the Id of the item the is to be deleted is included in the URL, but this time we use the HTTP DELETE method. It might seem a bit peculiar, but in EF Core the way to delete items involves: first retrieving the item from the database, setting it to be removed, the saving the database (which deletes the record).
The final thing that we need to do is to go to the Startup.cs file and add a CORS policy to the Configure method. This should appear between the app.UseHttpsRedirection() and app.UseRouting() lines. This allows the web API to accept requests from our client (NOTE: the default port for new Vue apps is 8080, but if yours is different update the code to use the port of your client).
That is now our API completed. We have implemented all the CRUD operations, which can be accessed via various HTTP methods. We will now move on to creating a Vue frontend, which will be able to access these API methods.
Creating a checklist client
First make sure that you have the Vue CLI installed. If not, please visit this page. Then navigate to the root folder of your project and run the following command to create a Vue project:
vue create checklist-client
Start by creating an empty Checklist.vue file in the components folder. Then go to App.vue and update it to simply display the Checklist component.
<template>
<div id="app">
<Checklist/>
</div>
</template> <script>
import Checklist from './components/Checklist.vue' export default {
name: 'App',
components: {
Checklist,
}
}
</script>
Next open up the Checklist.vue file. We’ll start by creating an input to create checklist items:
<div>
<input type="text" v-model="newItemText" />
<button
</div>
</template> @click ="onClickSave"> Save
export default {
data() {
return {
newItemText: ''
}
},
methods: {
async onClickSave() {
await fetch('
method: 'POST',
data: this.newItemText
}) export default {data() {return {newItemText: ''},methods: {async onClickSave() {await fetch(' <a href="https://localhost:5001/checklist'" class="ci ik" rel="noopener nofollow">https://localhost:5001/checklist'</a> , {method: 'POST',data: this.newItemText}) this.newItemText = ''
}
}
}
</script>
Here we bind our input to the newItemText data property, meaning that any changes to the value will be reflected in the input and the property. We also create a save button, which calls the onClickSave method when it is clicked. Within the onClickSave method, we send a POST request to our API at the /checklist endpoint. The data is simply the text that was contained within the input field. If the request is successful, then the input text will be cleared.
Please note that the port I have used may not be the same as yours. Please check your own API project to see which port your API is running on.
At this stage, we can create new checklist items, but we can’t see them. Lets create a list of items pulled from the database. Start by creating a data property called items:
data() {
return {
newItemText: '',
items: []
}
},
And then create a loadItems method within the methods object:
This will make a HTTP GET (this is the default for fetch so we don’t need to explicitly define it) call to /checklist. We then process the response as JSON and set the resulting list of items to the items property that we just created.
We want to load this data when we first visit the page. To do this, we make use of the mounted method (this sits at the root of the Vue object. Please see the GitHub repo for more clarity), which gets called when the page first loads:
async mounted() {
await this.loadItems()
},
In addition, we should add this line (await this.loadItems()) to the end of the onClickSave method so that the list updates when we create a new item.
We will then create the list items in the markup up to display the items that we have just fetched:
<ul>
<li v-for="item in items" :key="item.id">
{{ item.text }}
</li>
</ul>
The final thing we need to do is to allow the user to delete existing items. Let’s create a method to allow us to do that:
await fetch(`
method: 'DELETE'
}) async onClickDelete(id) {await fetch(` https://localhost:5001/checklist/${id}` , {method: 'DELETE'}) await this.loadItems()
}
And then create a button on each list item that deletes that list item. The item Id is passed to the onClickDelete method, which in turn is passed as a URL parameter to the /checklist/:id endpoint.
{{ item.text }}
<button
</li> {{ item.text }} @click ="onClickDelete(item.id)"> Delete
And that’s it. Make sure both projects are running and open the Vue project in the browser. You should now be able to create new items, see a list of existing items, and delete existing items.
Conclusion
In this article I have showed you how to create a basic CRUD API using ASP NET Core, and hook it up to a Vue frontend to create a checklist web app. The GitHub repo can be found here.
I post mostly about full stack .NET and Vue web development. To make sure that you don’t miss out on any posts, please follow this blog and subscribe to my newsletter. If you found this post helpful, please like it and share it. You can also find me on Twitter. | https://medium.com/swlh/learn-to-make-a-web-app-with-asp-net-core-and-vue-ccf4e9a28b2a | ['Sam Walpole'] | 2020-12-19 22:20:17.266000+00:00 | ['Dotnet', 'Vuejs', 'Aspnetcore', 'Vue', 'API'] |
The Working Philippine Youth — Diego Manalastas — SMP&CO Strategy Review | Photo by Patricia Beatrix Villanueva on Unsplash
I recently read an article by Kahlil Greene on the HBR, and in his piece, he wrote an open letter to his future employers about what values and work culture works best for someone like himself — an American Gen Z-er.
It was a great piece and got me thinking about that experience from the perspective of the Philippines.
I’ve seen a lot of disconnect between the older generations and the youth today, and I’ve observed it isn’t because they’re so different, but rather they just don’t quite yet understand each other.
So what does it mean to work and thrive with the youth of today? Who are they, and what do they aspire for?
If the youth is the future, let’s look at what present we’ve given them so far.
Today’s strategy insight will be a commentary on what I believe needs to be communicated about the youth of today from my unique perspective as a youth in the industry myself.
Photo by Eugenio Pastoral on Unsplash
The Philippines Today-ish
Let’s start here — the Philippines has an interesting demographic makeup: at present we have a median age of 25.7 years old, much younger than 38.7 years of the US; we have 35.47% college enrollment rates, the highest in PH history; and overall our economy despite COVID is still expected to be one of the fastest-growing in the region optimistically hopefully that we can return to our 6–7% YoY growth rates.
On the up and up, the Philippines is still on a path for growth, but a fragile and unequal one.
Our 20 Somethings’ Wild Ride
Zooming back into the young 25-somethings. It’s important to understand the context of their world when they were growing up.
They themselves have had quite an exciting life so far:
this present median Philippine population was born after the restoration of democracy post-Marcos, but during the Asian Financial Crisis;
they first travelled in a post-9/11 world;
saw the overthrow of an administration during EDSA Dos;
started saving and opening bank accounts during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis;
made friends and socialised online via Facebook and instant messaging;
shopped in stores and on e-commerce;
banks on mobile but has cash in the wallet;
came into adulthood on a wave of stark social division and changes the world over;
studied offline and online;
and now have come into the workforce in the most disruptive pandemic mankind has seen in more than a century;
To add insult to injury let’s add the preview that this generation is also expected to solve the Climate Crisis or else the world will end.
I know that was a lot, but it’s crucial to contextualise how the Gen Z-ers and Millenials in their 20s and early 30s grew up in order to understand their hopes, dreams, fears, and attitudes about society and the economy.
Our dear young people have barely made it to their 20s, and have already experienced war, revolution, economic crises, societal change, and work-study paradigm shifts.
The youth today, have a mix of hopeful optimism brought about by technology and a shared sense of global citizenship; but punctuated with a jaded melancholy for the future of this generation and those that will come rest on how well we address the problems today.
Photo by Taylor Brandon on Unsplash
The Complexity of Today
Based on these context points, it’s pretty clear that the workforce will have to absorb a young, highly educated, and far-dreaming generation of workers that have cultural, social, and economic norms that may differ from that of the older generation. So what does all that matter for employers and businesses?
Well, the youth of today exist in a complex and global society. Based on surveys and interviews of people between the ages of 21 and 30 in the Philippines, things like economic prosperity, education, civil liberties and rights, the environment, and inclusivity, all ranked highly in their list of priorities.
These are not lip service or trendy values for this generation; these are deeply held and sincere beliefs. Young people want to work and thrive in an environment that not only allows them to express these values but works towards a world where they can see these values in action. The time of platitudes has long since passed.
Admittedly it is a far leap to change generational paradigms and ways of doing things just because the young people are doing things differently now.
So nearing the end of this commentary, I want to propose a first step — talk.
Talking
Talk to your young workers and youth in leadership positions and understand what kind of future do they want to build. This first act of communication and understanding will allow everyone to start with common ground. Older generations and younger ones want the same things but often disagree on how to get it done. I mean, who doesn’t want prosperity, freedom, and a future we can be proud of?
It’s critical to work around common values and understand long-term objectives so that plans and strategies can be made. In business, the goal is to generate as much value for as long as possible, so intrinsically linked is the idea of building a future. If we can talk with our younger workers and get their thoughts and insights about common goals, they might teach us something, while we teach them something back as well. Ask your young people for ideas, and involve them in decisions that will have broad-ranging effects for the future.
Now is not the time to antagonise anyone, now more than ever between COVID, the economy, and the Climate Crisis, we should be working together to keep the economy and society resilient for future prosperity. | https://medium.com/the-smp-co-strategy-review/the-working-philippine-youth-diego-manalastas-smp-co-strategy-review-af05ee7a9037 | ['Diego Manalastas'] | 2021-07-02 03:11:42.698000+00:00 | ['Commentary', 'Youth', 'Philippines', 'Economics'] |
My Ex-Girlfriend is a Clone: A Work of Erotic Fiction | My Ex-Girlfriend is a Clone: A Work of Erotic Fiction
There was something … different. I knew not what. Her body felt the same against mine. It felt nice. Warm and welcoming like most female bodies are. I ran my hands over her back. Her neck. Her hips. Gently squeezing her calves. Soft, yet a tad plump. Perfection. Her flesh. I lifted her hand off the mattress. Examining her fingertips. Sparkling silver nail-polish. Just under a week old. It was my favorite of all the ones Amanda used to wear.
Taking the hand in mine, I cupped her palm over my mouth, kissing it in the center. Savoring the warm-moistness of her skin.
Yes … skin. Her skin. Warm … tender skin. Lush, soft and smooth. Like warm silk. This was a perfect copy. A perfect … body-double.
Whilst kissing her moist lips, I ran the tip of my finger over them.
If there was a clue to be had, it will lie there. I let Amanda’s body fall down onto the mattress, unzipping her jeans and slipping them off. She wasn’t wearing underwear.
As Amanda was now lying on her back I began to mount her, half grasping/half squeezing her tits in the process. Back before the break-up and even during our post-relationship um … “fuckscapades” … she practically hyperventilated in ecstasy each and every time I wrapped my large hands around those breasts.
I unbuttoned her blouse. Then slipping my hand under back, I lifted her torso towards me and slid the sleeves off of her. One arm at a time.
Oh, my GOD, those TITS. Large-dark nipples. Undulating JUST ENOUGH. I gently let her fall backwards onto the sheets. Her head hit the grey pillow with a soft thump.
Then I looked down, and glared into her eyes. Yes, her EYES. They were still open. Still the same glamorous and intoxicating gaze.
Yes … swift and soul-piercing. There it was. The same evil-cunning.
The eyes were what I fell in love with. But her gaze had caught me first.
And THAT is what I had fallen in LUST with (among other things).
There was no difference.
This isn’t my ex … I thought. What am I missing here?
She was definitely hot like the other one was … Five foot four. “Fun-sized,” as they like to say on all the social-networking sites now. Medium length blond-hair with that ultra-hot cosplay coloring in her bangs that she HAD to have known was going to drive the men absolutely bat-shit CRAZY.
The blossoms were in her cheeks. Her skin had that same glossy-shine in the lamplight. Perfectly toned shoulders and hips from her regular visits to the gym.
(The same gym we both attended before the toxic and dramatic break-up.)
Generously thick (but not fat), legs, calves and thighs that without fail, always seemed to cause a wonderful cloud of HEAT to settle at the center of my chest for MONTHS even after we broke up.
I lay down on top of her nude body, pressing my enlarged and erect member
against her clitoris. Lacing my fingers through hers, I pinned her hands against the mattress above her head. I took in a whiff of her perfume. Yes … that cheap Sonia shit that they sell at Ross. Magnificent. I loved that stuff … but only on her.
Where did this come from?
For all intents and purposes … she was the same ex-girlfriend that I’d been having ex-sex with for the last five months.
She was the same. But still … different.
It was rather exciting exploring the differences.
I CLAMPED my lips down upon hers. Ah, the warm dampness of her mouth.
Forcing her lower-jaw open, I jammed my tongue into her throat.
And there it was. The last bit of proof that I needed. I would notice others, but this was the CLINCHER. The PROOF I needed that my ex-girlfriend was a hot clone.
I tasted her breath. My own breath became hot as a result.
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?
She hadn’t used mouth-wash before I had broken into her apartment.
OH, MY GOD, SHE USED TO DO THAT SHIT ON PURPOSE.
She had admitted in the past that it was because it always made me turn into
a wild rabid BEAST just before I started BUCKING inside of her. She loved that.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled us both up
Into a sitting position. Now, to go pleasure hunting.
It wasn’t as if I was really cheating on my ex with her killer. This was more or less her exact duplicate after all. The same person … but not really.
Tossing her limp arms up over my shoulders, I now plunged my fingertips into her hair, clamping my mouth over her neck, getting a whiff of her hairspray.
Suave Extreme from Target. Yep, they thought of everything alright.
Yanking her hair back with playful roughness (Amanda used to melt when
I did that), I clamped my mouth over her neck. Roughly suctioning my lips, gums, teeth and tongue generously over her supple flesh for several minutes.
She remained pliant and docile.
Funny thing. My ex-girlfriend was evil to begin with … She murdered children. She was a vicious evil killer.
And now … this … this DARK SIDE? I always loved fucking Amanda despite what I knew she was. If anything … it ENHANCED my arousal. But this was downright … DEPRAVED…DEMONIC …
With each new realization … fresh new lightning bolts of LUST came crashing through my loins.
It was plain and simple.
This was almost the perfect body double. Amanda had been murdered … By a duplicate. And then … mysteriously … REPLACED.
And now I had the hot body of that replacement in my arms. Her hot body was in my arms.
The intensity of the chance encounter was immense.
I had Amanda-Clone’s legs wrapped around my waist. Now I shoved her slightly back, exposing her vast and inviting pussy to my large cock.
I jammed myself home into hot-Amanda-Clone’s tight clit, and began to
slamming my jack-hammer of a dick into her repeatedly, bellowing moans of satisfaction and excitement to the ceiling. The orgasms erupted like massive
electric shocks, traveling all the way up and down my spinal column.
Now I pushed Fake-Amanda back down on her back, and grasping her by the ankles, pulled her down halfway to the middle of the bed and thrust my large and stiffened dick into her wet and inviting mouth.
OH, FUCK YES. AMANDA WAS GOOD AT THIS,
BUT THIS … IS … OH …
OH, MY GOD …
FUUUUUUUCK … THERE’S NEVER BEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS.
EVER.
OH, GOD, AMANDA-COPY, MY EVIL CLONE EX-GIRLFRIEND …
“Let’s go exploring. Are you who you’ve been saying you are, lover?”
With Amanda lying still on the mattress, I reached over and rifled through her purse, retrieving her phone quickly. The password hadn’t been changed.
“Interesting,” I whispered. Obviously she wanted to continue passing herself
off as the original Amanda. Changing her password would have been a dead giveaway. Hmm … lol. Dead giveaway. No pun intended, hah.
And sure enough, right at the top to “Black Command OPS HG:”
“Hey, what’s up? I took care of it. Target has been acquired, neutralized
and replaced. Now casing William, the hot ex-boyfriend.”
This 21 year-old-girl was nothing more … than a body without a soul.
And here I was …FUCKING HER … And loving it.
“A body without a soul,” I blurted out, as I came in her mouth for the fifth time. “My sweetheart, clone-ex-girlfriend.”
My vanilla-yogurt-colored cum was still dribbling down her lips and chin.
Four hours and probably several more orgasms later, I had splooged twelve times. I didn’t think I had that much cum in me.
This one’s a keeper. — I thought to myself with an aura of sardonic and wicked irony. I’d like to make a habit of this.
I’d like to keep getting laid …
And who better than the hot evil bitch clone of your ex-girlfriend that killed your hot evil ex-girlfriend?
I soon followed her into dream-land.
Body without a soul or not.
This body would be mine. | https://medium.com/@randystephens40/my-ex-girlfriend-is-a-clone-a-work-of-erotic-fiction-b47e976c35d0 | ['Randy Stephens'] | 2020-12-23 21:21:39.675000+00:00 | ['Fiction Series', 'Sex', 'Erotica', 'Fiction Writing', 'Dark'] |
Logic 101: The burden of proof | The default position is always disbelief. Period. Logic and reason falls apart if we fail to understand this concept.
The burden of proof identifies the default position in the step-wise process in our understanding of True things. This is where the logical obligation to provide evidence rests. This is a fundamental aspect of rational thought and reasoning.
If we present a claim toward Truth, then the burden of proof falls squarely on the idea we have presented.
If the evidence presented does not satisfy the burden of proof, then the belief in the claim is not logically justified. The claim therefore cannot be considered True (yet).
Disbelief (skepticism) is logically the default position for any claim, always. To shift the burden of proof causes anything we can imagine to become true to us. This is not logical as everything cannot be True. The position of skepticism (or the position that does not claim a relationship between ideas) is known as the null hypothesis. | https://medium.com/perspectivepublications/logic-101-the-burden-of-proof-b2c35b9888e8 | ['Jonathan Wayne'] | 2017-03-31 20:17:24.695000+00:00 | ['Philosophy'] |
Pt. 2: Gender, Race, & Workplace | International Women’s Day
Q: If inattention to balancing work & play can wreak havoc on our mental & physical health, how else can it unfurl in the workplace?
MADELINE Farquharson, berlin: Unfortunately, I think most women have experienced gender bias in the workplace. I found that this was particularly the case in a couple of my workplaces, and often becomes a problem when working abroad as you’ve got different cultures to take into account. Many women feel even more motivated to push boundaries and stereotypes, but the fact that it needs to come from a negative space is quite sad, to me. It definitely changed the way I work, and I need to always check that I am not censoring myself due to sexism.
Pati Mazurckzak, senior brand marketing manager at hibooks
PATI Mazurckzak, berlin: I have experienced it in Poland (when playing basketball was my job) from a male coach who did not know how to approach female athletes. He would use abusive language, and screaming was his way of correcting players’ mistakes. As an athlete (particularly a female athlete), you always think that you have to stay strong, not show too much emotion and tolerate everything. You’re meant to trust your coach and believe that his advice is for your own good and helps you to be a better player. I was too young to know how to react to those kinds of behaviors. This experience made me quit playing professionally and have a few years [of] break from basketball.
MADELINE Farquharson, berlin: There’s already a conversation in place about how women get negative labels (emotional, bossy, pushy) where men get more complimentary attributes (driven, leader, motivated) for the same actions. I hope that workplaces can encourage proper leadership and sensitivity training, and that companies can cultivate a culture of being conscious of the words we use and the power those words have.
“Gender bias sometimes is not intentional. It just so happens that situations make it look like that.” — Amrita Koley, senior ios engineer at hibooks
AMRITA Koley, berlin: I think most of these discriminations derive from people not voicing these scenarios. If I thought that someone is passing a sexist comment, I would calmly explain it to that person that these things can offend someone so that they are careful next time.
MADELINE Farquharson, berlin: I also would encourage women to speak out when they feel comfortable to confront moments of bias or sexism, a difficult task but a necessary one for change. [In terms of] intersectionality, I experienced strange racial bias in China, but it was not representative of struggles worldwide and I believe it’s more important to uplift the voices for women of color and their stories throughout their career.
LINH Le, berlin: In my childhood, I was often mocked as “Chinese” on the playground… a couple of years ago, I was spit [on] by a random Nazi on the street. So, there are apparently still so-called “no-go areas” in Berlin or East Germany for me, where I feel uncomfortable and unsafe. At the same time, now that Berlin is even more multicultural than before, people address me [first] in English …and react, often surprised, by the fact that I speak German perfectly or was even born and raised in Berlin.
ISABELLA Way, los angeles: Coming from a background as a performer where you are judged primarily on your age, ethnicity, looks and so on, I have always been extremely aware, maybe to a fault, of how I am perceived by others.
“This picture was taken by my former classmate for my friend’s international photography project called CELEBRATE WOMEN. She has photographers around the world take images of women and female-identifying persons with something that they connect with their identity. I chose my travel journal.” — Madeline Farquharson, customer experience agent at hibooks
MORWENNA Loughman, london: As a profession, acting is obviously rife with issues of equality. In terms of gender, whether it’s the lack of roles for women, invisibility of female directors and writers, the kinds of roles that are available, being asked to do inappropriate things in auditions — you name it, the issues are everywhere. It was another reason I stopped acting actually. I was 21 when I graduated from drama school, and whether it was TV, radio, theatre, all the roles for that age bracket were ‘girlfriend of X’, ‘little sister to Y’. None of the female characters even had names.
ISABELLA Way, los angeles: When you, yourself, are the commodity, you have to have a solid understanding of what you are selling and what people are buying, which is not the healthiest way to go through life. Because of that, I really try to bring up and support my co-workers as well as advocating for myself.
During my time as a performer, I have seen the creative landscape change in terms of diversity and I hope that as the casting and voice director at hibooks, as well as [having] my hand in producing [and] production, I can support diverse talent, voices, and stories, through my actions and leadership. I feel like if you are in a position to make that choice, you have to try, as that’s where diversity in media can be changed for the better.
Isabella Way, production coordinator at hibooks
KAVE Bulambo, berlin: Let’s just try to google women of color in tech Berlin and see what comes up. Nothing. You can literally count the number of women of color in tech and then go even further and count the number of black women in tech. The statistics are too embarrassing to share. I believe in the power of representation, and so far, women of color are underrepresented in tech, which results in a mindset of questioning even the few that are in the scene.
LINH Le, berlin: I did have to deal with some prejudices of being a female engineer in a male-dominant work environment, where I had to prove my skills before I was accepted. There was even a colleague, who carried sexist and racist ideas, which gave me a very hard time.
KAVE Bulambo, berlin: My biggest challenge, and I think for all minorities, has been being the loner, which affects one’s ability to express their true selves unless they develop confidence over time. Once one’s personal confidence is affected, it is also seen in their work and their interaction within the organization. So at first, I would like to encourage more women from minority backgrounds to get into tech and to believe that they have a role to play in shaping the industry. Secondly, organizations need to be intentional about their diversity strategies by going beyond campaigns and actually taking concrete measures to increase diversity.
KATELIN Williamson Spector, new york city: When it comes to women, publishing and tech have exact opposite statistics. The publishing industry is about 80% female while tech is the reverse. Strangely there’s a sense in both industries — though for different reasons — that not as many women are in leadership positions as there should be.
MORWENNA Loughman, london: Working in publishing was an interesting shift — the big five publishing houses are seemingly run by women, particularly in editorial where women outnumber men nearly three to one. And yet you look at the people at the tops of those companies, in the senior roles — the CEOs, the executives and the boards — and they’re all men, and that’s just gender.
“Favorite photo: Book Autograph with Lois Lowery.” — Louise Henriksen, product owner at hibooks
Publishing in the UK struggles hugely with diversity in every sense. In the UK childcare definitely plays a huge part, a lot of women in publishing literally can’t afford to go back to work. It’s completely bonkers. It blows my mind that these huge publishing corporations don’t have better provisions for childcare, whether that’s subsidizing it or having childcare facilities onsite.
KATELIN Williamson Spector, new york city: Every company and every industry benefits from having diverse decision makers. We all bring a different set of experiences with us and working together can combine those experiences into the best products for the most people.
VANESSA Chiu, san francisco: Everyone has a unique perspective to bring to the workplace that is invaluably built on personal experiences, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or any other social category. There have been times where, as a female and/or as an Asian American in the legal profession, I’ve felt the bias and inequality because of these social boxes; but more often…the same social categories have been attributes in establishing a connection with a client or navigating dispute resolution.
ISABELLA Way, los angeles: I think women and companies can improve gender and racial equality in the workplace by championing women, by supporting and mentoring them in their overall careers (beyond their current role). I think this can be done by supporting personal development as well as making sure to stay on the pulse of the company.
KAVE Bulambo, berlin: When [my business partner and I] first started My Career Path, the idea was to help migrant women moving to Germany understand the labor market and what possible career options they could have…[Now] we have clients seeking career coaching and we partner with organizations helping migrant women, mostly refugee women, and offer our services at no cost at all.
VANESSA Chiu, san francisco: Our company not only strives for diversity but goes the additional step to foster inclusion for the different perspectives that naturally come from embracing diversity. Promoting diversity is one step; but creating a collaborative environment that values participation is the next step forward.
Morwenna Loughman, senior commissioning editor at hibooks
Everyone’s input is solicited and considered when it comes to improving how our team functions; our workplace culture; and, just as importantly, the quality of our products and interactions with our users. This is evident in our global workforce, how we grow our relationships with authors and our audio storytellers, our catalog collections, and how we communicate with customers.
MORWENNA Loughman, london: hibooks has been a completely different experience, in the very best way. I’ve never worked somewhere so diverse, it’s awesome working with people from all over the world who all have very different experiences and perspectives. Also, to be part of a company from the earlier stages and to be able to, in a small way, help to shape the culture and policies (at least in London). I just wish we could all see more of each other. | https://medium.com/hibooks-people/pt-2-gender-race-workplace-d15d83005cf2 | ['Diane V. Nguyen'] | 2019-03-21 21:41:58.712000+00:00 | ['Gender Equality', 'International Womens Day', 'Workplace Culture', 'Women', 'Diversity'] |
The Great British Baking Show: Random Forests Edition | The Great British Baking Show: Random Forests Edition
Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash
If only machine learning could be as delicious as it is oftentimes perplexing. While learning data science concepts, I’ve found that it’s a good idea to approach it the same way as learning baking: start simple, grab the basic ingredients, and combine them together yourself one by one until you get a feel for it. APIs are a wonderful resource, but if all you know how to do is use them, it’s a bit like buying muffins and a can of frosting to make cupcakes and calling yourself a baker.
Welcome to the tent.
For your first technical, Paul and Prue would like you to make a bread vs. cake classifier
You’re probably thinking: I’ve had cake before. I’ve eaten loads of bread. I don’t need some hoity-toity algorithm to tell me the difference.
Think again.
Banana bread. Babka. New England cornbread. Little brioches in cupcake wrappers with a light dusting of icing sugar and a chocolate straw. Daunted yet? You should be. The wide and diverse world of baking is the kind of stuff machine learning was made for.
Let’s start by gathering some training data. As with any good classifier, you need to make sure you have both samples that are obvious exemplars of their class and samples that are somewhat on the edge. I’ve color-coded it so that yellow is bread and blue is cake.
You don’t get a perfect tree in the forest
That’s a quote from the ever-chill Selasi justifying his matte chocolate finish, but it applies so well to random forests as well. The power of a random forest comes from the fact that each tree is never allowed to be perfect — this is due to bagging (bootstrapping + aggregating), which means that both the samples and the features for each tree in the forest is only a subset of the full set of samples and features. In the case of samples, they’re bootstrapped, which means the samples for each tree is drawn with replacement, so duplicate samples can be used for each trained tree.
Since no single tree sees the whole set of samples or features, but the final answer is aggregated from the majority vote of all trees, random forests guards against overfitting while taking advantage of the “wisdom of the crowd” effect.
Get ready, get set…BAKE
We are going to show what happens during the training of one random forest, which will end up having just three trees made from four training samples and three features.
For our first round of bagging, we bootstrap the samples. Note how one of the bread samples, corn bread, ended up getting duplicated because we chose 4 samples (the size N of the total sample set) randomly with replacement.
We also select a proportion of the features, highlighted in purple.
Now flour ratio and frosting have to compete to be the top node in the first tree by being the best separator of B and C. The values of the leftmost feature, flour ratio, spans from 0.24 to 0.4. We take the smallest value of it and first try a split at FR > 0.24.
Amazingly, we get a pure split on our first try! FR > 0.24 for flour ratio perfectly separates breads from cakes, which makes for a Gini score of 0.0 at each split (see below for an explanation of what this is). Let’s see what happens with the next split, FR > 0.38.
This split generates impure splits because the top split has 2 B’s and one C, even though the bottom split has just the one C. The top split would end up having a Gini score 0.444, which is very impure, indeed.
If we look at the only available split for the next feature, F==N, you see that it’s just as impure.
Thus, we go back to our first lucky split, FR > 0.24, and make our first tree:
Since it produces two pure nodes, we’ve hit a stopping criteria. After all, if your node contains ["C", "C"] , how do you split that any further? We ship the tree off to the forest and move on to the next one.
Commercial break: What’s a Gini score?
def _prob(s, j):
return len([x for x in s if x == j]) / len(s) def gini_score(s, classes):
return 1 - sum([_prob(s, j)**2 for j in classes])
A Gini score is not a classification score like precision or recall because it doesn’t care if you got anything right or not, it only measures impurity, or how balanced a group of different classes are in a set. When classes in an array are pure, it doesn’t matter which classes they are, it will give the same answer:
classes = ["B", "C"] gini_score(["B", "B"], classes)
> 0.0 gini_score(["C", "C", "C"], classes)
> 0.0
However, when it gets to be impure:
gini_score(["B", "C", "C", "C"], classes)
> 0.375 gini_score(["B", "C", "C"], classes)
> 0.44444444 gini_score(["B", "C"], classes)
> 0.5
We won’t go into it now, but the Gini score assumes class balance here, and to some extent, imbalance can be mitigated by using a weighted Gini score.
Bakers! You have one hour left! You’re halfway through
The next tree begins the same way as the last: with bagging. If you look carefully, you’ll see that the set of samples this round is slightly different because every round of bootstrapping is random. Instead of two corn bread samples, we have two devil’s food samples.
As with last time, we randomly select two features and have them compete for best splitting power of the bootstrapped samples.
As with last time, let’s try the first split of the leftmost feature, SR > 0.23.
This is an impure split, with Gini scores of 0.444 and 0.0. Let’s try the next split, SR > 0.25.
This is unfortunately also impure, with Gini scores of 0.5 and 0.0. You can see that this is also the case if you try to split by frosting.
It seems that, despite being imperfect, SR > 0.23 wins by a narrow margin. However, it doesn’t just stop there. We can use the splits of the first split to make more splits, creating the branching tree structures popularly associated with this algorithm.
The top split didn’t need more splits: it only had one sample. The second split could now be split by the other feature, frosting, by F==N. It turns out that when you do this kind of branching split, you now have pure splits at the leaf nodes. The resulting tree looks like this:
Bakers! Your time is up. Please step away from your forest
The wisdom of the trees
We’ve manually trained two trees together, but let’s add in another tree for good measure and take a look at the forest we’ve created.
We want to use this forest to see what we want to predict for a sample that has no label on it yet. This sample is very closely based on one of our original samples:
What does the classifier think, cake or bread?
Let’s take the first tree. It needs to look at whether FR > 0.24. At 0.61, it is quite a bit larger, so we classify it as cake, since the tree terminates there.
The next tree (this is actually a tree trained off-camera) also just looks at one feature, frosting. Our sample has no frosting, so this tree says it’s bread.
Our last tree starts by looking at sugar ratio, and we can see that it falls to the left side of the split on the tree, since 0.26 > 0.23.
That node is split by frosting, and F==N on the unlabeled sample makes it go to the left split, finally classifying this sample as bread.
The judges deliberate and decide
Huzzah! We have our answer. Since this sample was based off of brioche, it makes intuitive sense, despite the absolutely appalling number of samples and features. Also, as a special bonus, note that if you had one of those cupcake brioches with the frosting sugar, it would in fact have turned the predicted label over to cake ;)
Conclusion
I hope this recipe for a random forest has inspired some of you to try it yourself at home. See you next time in the tent! | https://towardsdatascience.com/the-great-british-baking-show-random-forests-edition-406e8ed0ad7a | ['Pamela Wu'] | 2020-11-29 15:35:40.755000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Decision Tree', 'Random Forest', 'Baking', 'Editors Pick'] |
How to become a copywriter (curated resources) | I am a full-time freelance SaaS copywriter. I’m regularly asked how to get started as a copywriter. I created this curation piece as a place to store my thoughts / ideas / tactics for being a successful copywriter.
I plan to update this document regularly as I write new articles about the craft and business of writing. If you want regular writing advice from me, you can also subscribe to my newsletter: The Craft and Business of Writing.
I tried to cover all the big, intimidating subjects I wished someone had taught me when I was just starting to freelance, including:
How to set your rates as a freelance copywriter
- Where to find freelance projects
- How to prep for tax season
- Picking a niche vs being a generalist
- Where to learn copywriting formulas and best practices
- And much, much more
2. Think Like a SaaS Copywriter: How to Write Website Copy that Converts (With Examples)
In this article, I covered eight tactics Sarabeth and I regularly use to improve conversions when writing copy for SaaS websites. They include:
Let customers write and structure your copy
Use customer-first language
Make your copy memorable by avoiding jargon
What will the reader miss out on if they don’t choose you?
Write to your customer’s stage of awareness
Show the human side of your brand, without forgetting you’re a business
Make it easy to purchase from you
Show some social proof
3. 11 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs (Yes, Even Now)
Here, I went deep into some of the most common tactics we’ve used to find freelance copywriting clients. Here are all the points:
Browse social media search engines
Join industry-specific Facebook Groups
Find growing markets
Tap into your network
Tie your income to results
Teach your skills
Try freelance sites
Go local
Create a referral program
Solve problems in public
Partner up
4. 26 Tips for Becoming a Top-Paid Freelance Copywriter
In this article, I detailed the best tactics I know for commanding higher rates as a freelance copywriter. They include: speaking at industry events, niching down, value billing (instead of hourly), and learning technical skills. | https://medium.com/@alexander-lcwriting/how-to-become-a-copywriter-curated-resources-2ac2e9902889 | ['Alexander Lewis'] | 2020-12-01 15:14:35.333000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Copywriter', 'Freelancers', 'Copywriting', 'Copywriting Tips'] |
Tears of My Secret Place (Poem) | It is the darkest
Of nights, tears flow down
My eyes,
And Lord, you know
What they mean;
You know more than I do.
Deep down,
I truly want to change,
But….
Lord, I am tired;
Tired of saying, “I will stop… this year”,
And do worse than the previous.
My spiritual life, O Lord,
Is in a state
I can’t even comment about it.
Beyond this poem,
Lord, I come again
To say, “Lord help me, I am tired.”
“Woe is me!”, cried Prophet Isaiah;
Same is me, O God,
If I am not saved from this path.
Please, heal me, O Lord,
And I shall be healed;
Save me and I shall be saved;
For thou art my hope.
Tears of My Secret Place | https://medium.com/@favourolumese/tears-of-my-secret-place-poem-350fc9801299 | ['Favour Olumese'] | 2020-12-27 11:57:29.684000+00:00 | ['Need Help', 'Pray', 'Addiction', 'Jesus Helps', 'Sin'] |
Ideas to Turn Any Room in Your Home into A Theater | Thinking of transforming your living room into a theater, or maybe that extra bedroom you’re using only to store junk in? There are a few simple things you can do to turn these spaces into your own private movie theater.
Video — A quality big-screen TV is a must, of course, and wall-mounted options most closely mimic the theatrical experience. Another idea, if you have access to a video projector, is to plug your laptop into the projector and show films on the wall!
Audio — A decent sound system is also key. At the very least, you should have a two-speaker set up with a subwoofer. Ideally, a 5.1 surround sound system (five speakers, plus a subwoofer) with three in front, and one on each side creates the best experience. You’ll also need a proper home theater receiver to control your audio and video devices, such as DVD or Blu-ray players.
Lighting — Dim the lights! The dimming of house lights has become a universally recognized trigger for the anticipation of a stimulating audio/visual entertainment event. A good trick for an upgraded look is to install lights behind crown molding around the room. It’s easier on the eyes and exudes a more theatrical ambiance. Looking for a simple update? Try installing a dimmer switch. It’s relatively inexpensive, and a dimmer instantly takes your theater to the next level.
Paint or curtains — You could paint your room in muted, darker colors like burgundy or navy blue to cut down on light reflecting on your walls. If you have a small space and don’t want dark walls to make the room look even smaller, use light-blocking curtains or blinds. They’re easy to put up and take down, and they block glare from streetlights or passing cars. They also do wonders to improve your TV’s contrast.
Furniture — Put your furniture front and center. Be sure to position your seating at the optimal viewing distance for your TV. For a 50-inch HDTV, sitting about 6 to 10 feet away is ideal. To give your space that extra “wow” factor, consider a set of reclining theater-style seats.
Seat Risers — If you’re handy, you could build a riser for tiered seating. Use plywood to construct two small platforms for your living room chairs to sit on, then move them behind the couch. For ready-made options, we have risers meant for multiple rows of seats, and they’re available in several different sizes with optional step choices to suit your needs.
Decor — Display movie-themed artwork or posters to give the space a theatrical vibe. Wall sconces and columns, along with acoustic tiles, add the finishing touch if you’re aiming for an unmistakably dramatic feel.
If you’re into the DIY route, there are all sorts of options to transform any room in your home into a cozy home theater. If you want to take it to the next level for a more luxurious look, we’re here to help. And … ACTION! | https://medium.com/@4Seating/ideas-to-turn-any-room-in-your-home-into-a-theater-9778be7e9848 | [] | 2019-12-27 11:37:53.782000+00:00 | ['Theater Seats', 'Home Theater Seating', 'Home Theater'] |
Case Study: The Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building | The historic Arts and Industries Building (AIB) is the second oldest Smithsonian museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. To celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Smithsonian and announce the next chapter of the Arts and Industries Building, a series of future-focused events and exhibits will be staged to prepare for permanent renovations and reopening.
Labeled as “The Future Project,” this dynamic space reimagines the traditional museum and plans to be a new destination for the Smithsonian to explore questions around where our species is headed while conveying a thoughtfully optimistic vision for the future. While part of the Smithsonian brand family, The Future Project needed a flexible identity and dual-purpose logo that could stand on its own and serve the needs of both fundraising and promoting the Arts and Industries Building.
Beyond Definition was tasked with building an identity for The Future Project since the Arts and Industries Building had been out of use since 2004. Our team collaborated with the Smithsonian to inject life back into a space that had previously inspired millions of visitors with a series of collections for 125 years.
Outcome
Our team developed two versions of The Future Project logo and established a brand identity through clean typography and a strategic color palette. We wanted visitors of the renovated space to feel immersed in a completely new experience, starting with the messaging and narrative displayed in the logo. Version one, used for fundraising, showcases the Arts and Industries Building’s exterior in an isometric view. The second version, which will be used for promotion, shows the same view with the roof off, revealing the exhibit’s interior space. The resulting identity and logos for The Future Project launch the Smithsonian into the future, reflecting energy and excitement for the next chapter of the Arts and Industries Building while amplifying the Smithsonian brand.
Phase 1: Diagnostics & Discovery
Since The Future Project did not have a previous brand to build off of, our team collaborated extensively with the Smithsonian to capture their ideal vision for the upcoming dynamic exhibit hall. In order to conceptualize a logo that felt fresh and unique, while still existing under the Smithsonian brand umbrella, we studied the history, community, and architecture of the Arts and Industries Building. Much of the brainstorming process was dependent on imagination and visualization for what this space previously represented, and what it will mean for visitors in the future.
Phase 2: Logo Development & Integration
To bring the logo to life, we pulled in elements of architecture to capture a simplified interpretation of the Arts and Industries Building. This was accompanied by a warm color palette with a gradient effect that looks as if it is shining a light on the future.
The new brand elements are dedicated to experience, living at the intersection of the past, present, and future that the Arts and Industries Building will represent.
The final logos were then used to establish the design for a promotional brochure for The Future Project, drawing on the Smithsonian’s mission to engage and inspire millions of people. | https://medium.com/beyond-definition/case-study-the-smithsonian-arts-and-industries-building-9ea9a4359232 | ['Beyond Definition'] | 2020-12-20 15:47:29.391000+00:00 | ['Case Study', 'Marketing', 'Design', 'Smithsonian', 'Logo'] |
Roman J Israel Esquire (2017) | The lead actor and the writer.
Roman J Israel Esquire (2017)
A movie review by Thomas E. Krawford Jr.
Cast: Denzell Washington, Carmen Ejogo, Colin Farrell, Tony Plana, and Amanda Warren.
Director: Dan Gilroy
Synopsis: Denzell Washington stars as Roman J. Israel Esquire, a sheltered criminal defense attorney; working in a two-person progressive law firm in contemporary Los Angeles; who suddenly finds himself out from behind the shadows; when his employer suffers a debilitating heart attack at the beginning of the film, and Roman unwittingly wades into the waters of the system of jury trial, appellate, and courts of appeal in the wrong big city; ultimately yielding to mortal consequences for himself; but perhaps also triumph of sorts; a long-lasting testimony to his ideals; his most closely held beliefs; beliefs he tragically felt he had betrayed at the end of his life.
Review/Argument
Dan Gilroy brings to the screen the story of Roman J. Israel ESQ.; a criminal defense attorney in modern-day Los Angeles who sees himself as an attorney; a progressive activist attorney that is; working in a two-person law firm in contemporary Los Angeles. Its genre is that of a legal drama, but there are some glaring inconsistencies with this simple classification; inconstancies between the protagonist's arc and that of the story as it develops throughout the motion picture, that demands much closer scrutiny on the part of the reviewer and the audience.
For starters, there are those reviewers out there who come to the point they choose to make from the outset; that the lead character in the motion picture does indeed place on the Spectrum as someone who exhibits Asperger’s Syndrome; a highly active form of processing disorder; one that renders this kind of disability virtually invisible to the untrained eye.
Then there are those critics who see that the protagonist is merely frumpy; nothing more complicated than that, with no mention whatsoever of the nature of ebbs and flows, characteristic in the Spectrum of Autistic Disorders; and of course in those women and men who place somewhere along that spectrum.
The one thing both perspectives do not fully grasp, both about the movie in general and about people with Autism in particular in our contemporary world, is the adage: if you can’t see it, how do you know it’s there?
Autism presents, generally speaking, of course, like an invisible disability.
Contrary to this quick and easy assessment, however, it is just as much a debilitating social and political incapacity as it is a very personal challenge; one that stays and doesn’t go away, no matter how hard many parents, friends, and or co-workers might wish it out over the course one’s life; or otherwise soft-pedal the issue in the workplace, for instance, to the point of equivocal absurdity.
Moreover, neither perspective considers the physical, mental, and spiritual toll it takes on any person who places somewhere on the Spectrum; when all three cases, for their different reasons; seek to achieve and support what often amounts to and is usually achieved as; an oatmeal sort of normalcy; a mutually supported realization of general social acceptance. In the protagonist’s case, normality is seen in how he is generally viewed by the other characters in the story. It’s almost as if he’s some delicate family heirloom, forever on display in a dusty living room buffet cabinet everyone has forgotten, and no one pays attention to; figuring as it were, that: “He’ll be o.k. He’s smart!”
Autism is visible; it is a disability, whether it’s evident to the naked untrained eye or not.
I am willing to bet that both in my own and Roman J. Israel’s circumstance, Autism is not; was not openly acknowledged; first by mother, father, or both; then by the individual; the lead character in the film; or has luck would have it, myself. In both cases, throughout an often-confused life, either in a fictional crime drama sense or in real life; not acknowledging Autism, openly and honestly, almost becomes a double disability; one that rarely leaves the affected person any moment of peace; either at work, at play or even at night, when sleep is the only lingua franca.
Indeed, there may come the point in that individual’s understanding of their place in the world; their lot in life; where questions we all struggle with; like why we are here; points to times where we may or may not make a fundamental choice that ultimately affects both our lives and lives of those around us; times that leave us with an uncomfortable, yet intimate kind of sense, that no matter what happens, we have done the best we could under the circumstances; even though, individually, those times of tough choices; choices we make with no full understanding of the consequences of those choices; to ourselves, our friends and families; and most importantly here for our purposes in this review; for both the character of Roman and myself; our ideals. The things we believe we would sacrifice almost anything to achieve finally. The things we feel as though we had worked on nearly our entire life.
In hindsight, of course, these kinds of times are moments of personal crisis; where we are given a choice; to either seriously believe our ideas are much greater than us; or succumb to the inevitability of our shared human natures; natures full of flaws; natures full of strengths; natures full of unknowns.
We recognize the cost of our choices at that point, and we make those choices regardless, fully knowing what we could gain and what we could lose, even if the price we pay is our very life.
We gamble.
We all do; all of us risk something, something of value at one point or another.
Don’t we?
The character portrayed by Denzell Washington in the movie gambled that the legal system under which he served was so broken and disconnected, that it would never come calling one day for the payment; for what the protagonist or one may argue; the counter-protagonist believed was a sin of impropriety on his part; when in actuality; not knowing the intricacies of California Law; one could reasonably guess that his act; as depicted in the film, was merely an ethical violation; since at the time Roman J Israel Esq, betrayed Carter J Woodson; Woodson was not yet his client at the time of the alleged betrayal.
He gambled on plea bargain reform, and he lost, and he believed he lost, and that’s where the motion picture takes us. What should’ve been perceived by the audience as the film’s tragic turn; tragic at least for the life of Roman J Israel Esquire, unfortunately, became the film’s fatal flaw in terms of critical acclaim, and I know why?
Throughout the story, we, the audience, are shown glimpses of nature and the narratively suggested upbringing of the protagonist, Roman J. Israel; his almost savant nature; his general disassociation from recognizing the feelings of others; and his constant use of ESQ (esquire) which is indeed a courtesy title generally used when corresponding with a fellow attorney who is also an esquire; whereas with Roman J. Israel; he used the crown all the time he introduced himself, and it’s here that the film does not adequately capitalize on what could have been a cornucopia of back story (possibly flashback); critical information; necessary links between Roman’s past; his present and his future in terms of the story; as depicted in the 2017 film of virtually the same name; Roman J Israel Esquire; an African American adult male with an invisible disability.
So, what can we, as the audience, take away from the motion picture? What can we say about it? We know there are many more critics out there who didn’t like or appreciate the movie than there are who did, but what can we say about this 2017 feature film in terms that make sense to us, as people, not as well-intentioned critics or equally well-informed intellectuals and journalists?
Well, as an audience, perhaps we can agree that someone who believes in the existence of a Supreme Court of Absolute Universal Law is unusual; but why so impressive? Of course, the answer is obvious; no such legal institution exists. Yet, if one were to judge themselves according to such a personal standard so impossibly high to meet, as Roman J. Israel does indeed do; then Roman J. Israel Esq., although not hopelessly dissociative, is a character who, no matter what we think about him or the challenges he faces; because of both his nature; and what may also be a denial of that nature; from his upbringing to his understanding of himself as a lawyer; a man, or even, a black American; one who finds himself, throughout the motion picture; seemingly hopelessly lost (at least from his point of view); then we must see ourselves in between the narrative of a dream; to the moment where that dream does or does not come true. Yet, as a critic, we have to take a much more narrow and inherently less-lethal perspective than the protagonist ultimately and tragically commits himself to pursue.
As contemporary critics, we the audience must concern ourselves with a much narrower perspective than the immediate past would give us agency to perceive; and document as empirically substantive, a collective, and individual response to the George Floyds, the Brianna Taylors, and Roman J Israel’s of the world of 2020.
As a free-thinking individual in a society such as this one; where thinking freely is considered a virtue, especially in Roman J. Israel Esquire; we’re not looking at George Floyd, Treyvon Martin, or Brianna Taylor; for example, as guideposts of behavior going forward. We see these events unfold in our world as confirmations that our world, as we have come to understand it to be, is a world embroiled in change, whether we like or accept the change or not.
How do we reconcile the lead character’s behavior, as portrayed in the film, to our current understanding of social justice? As this reviewer argues, the uncomfortable answer has been the solution all along; to not see Roman J. Israel Esq, as another outside our scope of belief; but to be witness to the blame we all share as merely being human beings; complicit in the range from the most significant common general circumstance of the folly of human avarice; to the least common individual result of merely being finite beings prone to error.
So, what can we say about Roman J. Israel Esq. as a film? As a film, it falls short of telling the story of a character who had a story worth telling, but it doesn’t fall short because of its lack of mindfulness. It falls short because of its lack of commitment to a character we are not used to seeing in our familiar contexts of good guy versus bad guy scenarios, modern motion picture narratives.
In this film, we see that Roman is both the good and the bad guy, at least in his mind; and he is so because I believe, somebody raised him to believe that his Autism (his nature) was faulty at its core; and as such, it needed to be denied by himself, his family, and the rest of the outside world.
Yet, at the same time, I believe as Roman believed in the movie; that his ideals and arguments about his profession as a criminal defense attorney were sound and valid beyond reproach; and in my case, I too share the same conviction about most of the things I choose to believe in professionally; not necessarily about my behaviors which I am sad to say, are generally never entirely perfect; but whose actions are; professionally or otherwise?
Thomas E Krawford jr.
Ann Arbor Mi
December 2020 | https://medium.com/@tkrawftmich/roman-j-israel-esquire-2017-53cefb6cdd19 | ['Thomas Krawford'] | 2020-12-09 02:20:49.906000+00:00 | ['Autism', 'Social Justice', 'Movies', 'Helping Others', 'Mental Health'] |
How To Lose Belly Fat Fast & Cure Diabetes! | A Info Buddy | How to Lose Belly Fat Fast
Hi, I’m going to give you the best reasons why it’s so hard to lose belly fat. Important knowledge is Lisa’s diabetes, which is why we’re alerting this canal, But this direction is not just about diabetes, with talk about weight loss, metabolism, etc. So, let’s delve into why this is so hard to lose, I am belly fat, belly solid is actually a hormonal gland.
Yes, you heard that right, It’s actually the overweight cadres in our torsos, extremely belly overweight, the visceral flab, that we call this and it’s rune fatten. The parts that come out of your belly, Visceral fat, actually act as a hormonal gland. They exude a lot of enzymes, cytokines, and proteins, which actually originate from insulin deficiency.
They are actually protecting themselves, especially in that area, where you do everything you can, but that requires belly fat. You develop that fatty. Well, you will go. But I will tell you, this solid is very difficult to remove because it protects itself from a lot of cytokines.
So the best way to avoid this problem or the best way to prevent it is to not gain belly overweight. We’Ll be talking about that in a second, But I’ll tell you about my belly. Fat is a hormonal gland that protects itself.
Well, we all adored desserts and alcohol right, So social gatherings, you are familiar with, parties, you are familiar with birthdays And on daylights of every kind of anniversaries, we are always subject.
You know, making this difficult decision is the decision to eat and not to eat, to booze and not to suck. It’s a tough decision all around us. So every time you say, oh it’s for once it won’t hurt me it’ll hurt yourself, And that bit of booze and any sweeteners any carbs becomes straight to your belly. Your belly fat will accept that gently and won’t let it go.
low-spirited estrogen positions lead to belly: overweight So it’s no wonder my department is full of women trying to menopause to understand why they are gaining load, even though they haven’t changed anything in “people’s lives”, and I don’t denounce them because when estrogen heights lower, regrettably, your mas switches the force out of your buttocks And? Out of your mas towards your belly.
Read More | https://medium.com/@sriarul768/how-to-lose-belly-fat-fast-cure-diabetes-a-info-buddy-513e0f487647 | [] | 2022-01-04 12:16:30.863000+00:00 | ['Belly Fat', 'Fat Loss', 'Lose Weight Fast', 'Fat Burning Foods', 'Lose Weight'] |
4 Best Crypto Coins to Invest in 2020 | www.george-p-nyamanga.com
Since it’s development in 2009, cryptocurrency has gained a lot of popularity around the globe. With digital currency gaining popularity, many people have been left with some tough questions to answer for instance;
Which is the best cryptocurrency to invest in?
Why should I invest in cryptocurrency?
In this article, we are going to look at some of the best cryptocurrencies you should consider investing in 2020, but first allow me to take you through some of the reasons why should actually consider investing in cryptocurrencies
Why you should invest in crypto
Accessibility
Digital coins are widely accepted around the globe hence making it easy to access and trade with in any part of the world.
Security
Insecurity and scalability issues are a thing of the part in the digital currency world. Most currency exchange platforms have taken security issues of their network seriously thus making it easy to avoid frauds, as a result improving customer confidence.
Faster transaction
Most of the cryptocurrency transactions are done almost instantly, so miners and traders don’t have to waste any time at all.
Best crypto coins to invest in 2020
Here are some best crypto coins you should consider investing in 2020
Bitcoin
In 2019, bitcoin finally stabilized after experiencing serious ups and downs for nearly three years. At the beginning of the year, bitcoin was valued at $8994.85. This could make it one of the most stable coins in 2020. Secondly, bitcoin is most likely to bring a dominance index of between 65–70% as compared to other coins.
Ethereum
This list of most promising crypto coin can’t be complete without mentioning Ethereum. The value of Ethereum is expected to rise before the year because of the increasing demand for its blockchain.
Neo
The current value of NEO in the exchange market stands at $15, but expectation are that it might grow significantly in 2020. With its current demand on a steady rise, it is without doubt that it is likely to attract more traders and investors.
Ripple
Some experts call ripple the “king of banking infrastructure”. It is tipped to be successful after it partnered with major financial market players. For instance, western union and visa might soon integrate ripple as their under the hood technology.
Wrap up
Digital currency is still a new concept to many. But for someone looking to invest in cryptocurrencies, it is advisable to keenly follow and stay updated with the current trends and understand when to buy or sell. | https://medium.com/@phageonltdinvestments/4-best-crypto-coins-to-invest-in-2020-f0fc6c348265 | ['George P Nyamanga'] | 2020-10-09 06:53:51.763000+00:00 | ['Ethereum Blockchain', 'Bitcoin Wallet', 'Bitcoin Mining', 'Neo', 'Ripple Effect'] |
Merry Christmas 2020 | 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/the-musing-llama/merry-christmas-2020-489e30dcc976 | ['Deborah Digges'] | 2020-12-27 04:34:50.219000+00:00 | ['Comics', 'Drawing', 'Christmas', '2020', 'Humor'] |
Node.js vs PHP: what to choose for back-end? | PHP and Node.js can be used to develop mobile applications of any complexity. However, they are based on different concepts and architectures.
We at Sannacode use both technologies frequently to develop websites. So we decided to help you to choose the right tech stack for your app.
How is Node.js different from PHP?
PHP is a scripting language created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. It was the number one language in Web 1.0. An example of PHP’s success is content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal that are used for millions of blogs and web portals. It has a lot of advantages:
Huge codebase — A large code base makes it easy to program in PHP. It allows you to create various Internet resources ranging from control systems to powerful frameworks such as Facebook.
Designing for WEB — unlike Java or Python, PHP scripts explicitly intended for the Web. They contain all the necessary functionality to work with HTML, servers, and databases.
Exceptional Flexibility — In addition to the recommended HTML language, it integrates perfectly into JavaScript, WML, XML, and many other languages.
Node.js is a new web development technology. Unlike PHP, Node.js is not a programming language. It is a runtime environment that uses JavaScript to write server-side applications. Introduced in 2009, Node.js showcased the power of JavaScript in developing event-driven, data-driven applications in the Web 2.0 era.
The main advantages of this software platform include:
Excellent performance — programming in Node.js allows creating apps with non-blocking input and output, processing multiple requests simultaneously.
Asynchronous work — with the simultaneous connection of hundreds of thousands of users, node js intelligently allocate resources and ensure all systems’ smooth operation.
Node.js vs PHP performance
Even the most demanding PHP developer rarely cares about speed, but Node.js performance tends to be better. Of course, performance is a consequence of experience and team development. However, Node.js has several advantages:
1. Fewer dependencies
All requests to the PHP application must be directed to the webserver to run the PHP interpreter, which processes the code and serves it up. Node.js doesn’t need so many dependencies. Although you are using a server-side framework like express, it is pretty lightweight and manages a portion of your application.
2. Fast interpreter
Node.js is smaller and more agile than PHP. It is due to the legacy of Google, which made a massive contribution to the performance of the JavaScript engine — V8.
3. Apps run constantly
PHP follows the usual client-server model. Each page request initiates the application, loads the database connection parameters, retrieves the information, and displays the HTML code. In Node.js, the application is constantly running and only needs to be initialized once. For example, you can create a single database connection object that is reused on a new request. True, there are ways to implement this behavior in PHP using unique systems such as Memcached, but this is not a standard language feature.
4. Event-driven, non-blocking I/O stream
PHP and most other server-side languages use a prominent blocking model. When you request to retrieve information from a database, the request will execute and complete the process before moving on to the following statement. It’s different in Node.js. In Node.js, you don’t have to wait. Instead, you can create a callback function that listens to the process and executes it after the activity completes.
Although Node.js applications are noticeably faster than PHP, there are some pitfalls.
Node.js/JavaScript runs on a single thread, and most web servers are multithreaded and process requests in parallel. Writing asynchronous code is tricky and has its challenges.
Before PHP 7, it was easy to say that Node.js wins in terms of performance when discussing PHP and JavaScript. However, PHP 7 is built on the PHPNG engine results in a 2x performance increase and a 50% increase in memory consumption (compared to PHP 5.6).
Node.js is still faster than PHP when there is no need to process data in real-time. Therefore, when you need to create chats, games, videos, or large data streams, you can opt for PHP.
When to use Node.js over PHP?
To understand when to use Node.js, you need to know that the Node.js app can access a wide range of global objects, including documents or windows. As a result, the program can access the user’s hard drive and file system and libraries and software solutions located on the computer, which significantly expands the interaction capabilities.
This platform is often used to create web services that require an intensive exchange of information with users, including for the implementation of chats, collaboration systems, social networks, etc. Many programs written in Node.js consist of a server and a client.
To understand the reasons for this use, it is worth dwelling a little more on asynchrony and the possibilities of the event-driven paradigm. At the same time, the essence of programming comes down to the fact that you tell the program what actions it should perform and what function it should call after performing these actions. But while Node.js is waiting for the code to execute and the function call, it may well be busy with some other tasks. In this case, the thread will not be blocked while waiting for the request.
Thus, the application can request the server database, and while waiting for a response, process some other requests. As a result, thousands of connections are processed simultaneously, each of which wastes very little time and resources. It significantly speeds up the exchange of information with the server and, as a result, the operation of the browser application.
As a conclusion
PHP is the most popular general-purpose programming language used for web development. There are thousands of PHP sites running on their servers. Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are still entirely PHP-based. We also used PHP for our website sannacode.com.
PHP may lag behind JavaScript, but PHP is still in the top 10 most popular languages when it comes to learning internal languages, according to a Stack Overflow poll last year.
However, recent research shows the growing popularity of another server-side language, Node.js. We are increasingly using Node.js for client projects. You can see them in our portfolio.
Naturally, this information is not enough to make a final decision. We recommend that you consider the features of your product and the strategy of product development when choosing a tech stack. You can contact Sannacode specialists for a free consultation. | https://medium.com/@sannacode/node-js-vs-php-what-to-choose-for-back-end-d87a236c08fd | ['Sannacode', 'Web', 'Mobile App Development'] | 2021-05-12 12:17:10.602000+00:00 | ['Node Js Development', 'Nodejs', 'PHP', 'Php Development', 'Backend Development'] |
Learn the Preliminary Details Behind Support Vector Machines | Learn the Preliminary Details Behind Support Vector Machines
With Examples in R
Vlad Shapochnikov via Unsplash
Introduction:
Support Vector Machines are a popular tool used in several branches of Machine Learning. In particular, they are extremely useful for binary classification. Support Vector Machines have their basis in the concept of separating hyperplanes, so it is useful to first be introduced to this concept.
In this article, I introduce the method of classification via separating hyperplanes. We start off simple and describe how even linear regression can be used to make simple binary classifications. We then move on to using separating hyperplanes and ‘optimal’ separating hyperplanes. Finally, with this background, we are in the position to introduce support vectors and the powerful Support Vector Machine. We also include examples using R, and discuss how one can fit kernel based algorithms in R using the kernlab (Kernel Based Machine Learning) package.
Much of the mathematical details, and the toy example datasets in this article come from The Elements of Statistical Learning II edition (Hastie). The data, and more information on the subject can be found on the textbook's website. The data can be downloaded from the data tab of the above link, where it is called “ESL.mixture”.
Let’s start with a simple. You can load in the following toy dataset into R from this link. The dataset consists of observations each with a pair of coordinates (x1,x2). Each observation also has an outcome, y, which we denote in the plot by colour (red (y=1) or blue (y=0) denoting its class).
Figure 1: A Toy example of data from an unknown distribution (x1,x2) where the class is indicated by colour (blue y=0, or red y=1). Image Citation: Created in R by author.
Figure 1 is a plot of the toy example dataset. It appears that red and blue points are somewhat separated, but clearly there would be no way to perfectly separate the classes with just a simple line.
Suppose we were given a new observation with coordinates (x1,x2). How should we classify this new point? Clearly, the location of the coordinates will help inform our choice of assigning our new observation to red or blue.
One simple method would be to fit a linear regression line to the data and classify the new point based off if the point lied above 0.5, or below it.
If we want to classify based on the 0.5 threshold(the midpoint between the two classes), we could fit the linear regression line and solve in terms of x2; as seen in the below code and plot.
Figure 2: The same toy example of data from an unknown distribution (x1,x2) where the class is indicated by colour (blue y=0, or red y=1). We fit a linear regression to the response and defined new classifications based on if the new point was above or below the line. Image Citation: Created in R by author.
We could then classify a point based on whether it was located above (red) or below (blue) the regression line.
But is this the optimal way to make classifications? Well, we don’t know the true underlying distribution, so it would be impossible to conclude definitively. But in reality, it would be extremely unlikely that this simple classification would be ideal.
We come back to this toy dataset later on, but for now, we move to the more general problem.
Separating Hyperplanes:
As we noted in the toy example dataset, no line could perfectly separate our two classes. But consider a more simple case, where such a line could actually be fit.
Figure 3: A different simple example dataset. Shown in orange is the linear regression line and in blue are two separating hyperplanes found using the perceptron algorithm. Image Citation: This is Figure 4.14 in the Elements of Statistical Learning II.
Let's go back to Rosenblatt 1958 and the Perceptron. The perceptron algorithm can be used to find separating hyperplanes (provided one exists). The method for which they find the plane involves stochastic gradient descent.
Figure 3 demonstrates three lines fit to a simple two class dataset. The orange line is the least squares solution fit to the data, and it doesn’t even separate the two classes. The two blue lines both perfectly separate the classes, but are not identical. This is due to the fact that the perceptron algorithm finds one solution and then stops (due to random starts it can obtain different solutions).
Using the perceptron algorithm is better then just using simple linear regression, and can actually separate the classes (provided it is possible). However, it still encounters problems. For one, it doesn’t tell us anything about the multiple different lines it can find (are some ‘better’)? And also, if no perfect separating hyperplane exists, the algorithm does not converge.
Optimal Separating Hyperplanes:
We saw that the perceptron can find a separating hyperplane (provided one exists). However, it doesn’t tell us anything special about the one it happens to converge on. The next big improvement is from Vapnik (1996), which forms the basis for the support vector machine. Vapnik described not only how to find the unique separating hyperplane, but how to find the optimal separating hyperplane or the ‘perceptron of optimal stability’. This has been shown to outperform simple hyperplane separation and often results in lower test error.
Figure 4: The same simple dataset as in Figure 3, fit with the optimal separating hyperplane. The three blue squares are points that lie on the boundary of the margin, and are known as support vectors. Image Citation: Figure 4.16 in The Elements of Statistical Learning II.
Figure 4 illustrates the optimal separating hyperplane classifier fit to the simple dataset. Three points lie directly on the outside of the margin, and are known as the support points. The red line is the solution from logistic regression, which is very similar, although not identical.
Support Vectors:
Figure 4 was a simple way to visualise the basic support vector machine. We now describe the details surrounding the support vector classifier, and what can be done when there is no way to perfectly separate the data.
In simple terms, SVMs find an optimal hyperplane to separate distinct classes. In the most basic case, this would be finding the line that best separates two classes. By ‘best separates’, we mean that the margin is maximised. The margin is the distance from the closest point in each of the two classes. Classifying new observations then depends on their location with respect to the decision boundary.
Consider a set of N training examples:
Figure 5: A set of N training examples.
Where there are only two classes for which y belongs to, -1 or 1. That is;
Figure 6: The two classes that each training set can belong to.
The support vector works by creating a decision boundary (hyperplane) such that the ‘margin’ is maximised:
Figure 7: The decision boundary that we wish to form.
Points that lie directly on the outside lines (and thus are key in determining the margin), are known as the Support Vectors.
Figure 8: This image shows a simple support vector classifier. We classify new points depending on their value of xtB+B. Image Citation: The Elements of Statistical Learning II (Figure 12.1).
New classes are thus predicted based on if they lie above or below the boundary (the solid middle blue line); i.e simply off their sign.
Figure 9: How we classify new observations (based off their sign). Image by Author.
When the data is linearly separable, we can perfectly separate the training data with a maximum margin hyperplane.
In cases in which we can’t separate perfectly, we have to allow for some violations. We then fit the model by using some cost function that allows for some misclassifications.
Details:
For those interested in more background details please read along, but feel free to skip this section if you are satisfied with knowing that the algorithm is solved using quadratic programming. The method in which this optimal hyperplane is found is not simple; It is a quadratic programming problem that involves Lagrange Multipliers. Thankfully, multiple packages in R and Python can do this automatically.
Essentially, we want to maximise the Margin M subject to the constraints that we lie on one side of the hyperplane or the other. Which can be simply written as a maximisation problem:
Figure 10: How the margin is maximised subject to constraints. Image by Author.
This is equivalent to the minimisation in terms of the parameters;
Figure 11: The equivalent form that allows for a simpler calculation of the optimal hyperplane. Image by Author.
In fact, it is the hyperplane which produces the maximum margin.
This is all solved numerically.
Back to the Toy Data:
Let’s return to the mixture example from the toy dataset we discussed above. In R, the package Kernlab allows us to easily fit support vector machines. We have to specify a few parameters.
Type: We specify C-svc (the default setting) for SVM classification.
Kernel: We want to first fit a linear kernel (linear decision boundary) so we use the vanilladot linear kernel
C: The Cost Parameter (Determines how points around margin are treated). We try first with C=10000. Larger values of C focus the margin on points close to it, while smaller C focuses more on points in the outliers, far from the margin.
Figure 12: A plot of our linear SVM using C=10000. Image created in R by author.
The above plot visualises our linear support vector machine which aims to separate the two classes. Since it is not perfectly separable, we have a parameter C that acts as a regularisation parameter
Figure 13: Summary of our linear SVM. Image created in R by author.
The model obtains a training error of 0.27. Considering that the toy dataset was visually non-separable, that isn’t too bad. There are a total of 125 support vectors. These are points that line on the boundary or within the margin.
We try the same thing but with C=0.01;
Figure 14: Another linear SVM fit but with C=0.01. Image created in R by author.
This produces a similar plot, but the training error is slightly reduced to 0.265. We have more support vectors now, 172. This is due to the fact that we have a wider margin for this particular C value.
Figure 15: Results of our second linear SVM. Image created in R by author.
Above we fit some linear Support Vector Machines. But our data didn’t look linearly separable. Can we improve on our 0.265 training error? The answer is yes. SVMs are popular for this reason, as they can be greatly improved and extended via what is known as the ‘kernel trick’ (which are just a form of basis expansions).
Basis Functions and the Kernel Trick:
Clearly our toy dataset was not linearly separable. One of the main applications of support vector machines is that we can easily extend them via the ‘kernel trick’. This involves transforming the initial observations, using some sort of dot-product like transformation and THEN finding the optimal separable hyperplane. Above, we simply worked with the observations as they came in the form (x1,x2).
But, suppose for each observation we instead worked with
Figure 16: The Gaussian or Radial Basis Function transformation. Image by Author.
This is known as the Radial Basis Kernel and allows us to fit more complicated models.
Look what happens when we apply the simple radial basis function to our original data:
Figure 17: The results of applying the radial basis function to each set of observations. Image created in R by Author.
Which can then be fit linearly and back transformed to the original dimension. We specify our kernel now as ‘rbfdot’ (instead of linear as before).
Figure 18: Plot of SVM fit using the radial basis function (Gaussian Kernel) with a C=1. Image created in R by Author.
Figure 19: Summary of our toy data fit with a Gaussian Kernel. Image created in R by author.
Which has an even lower training error of 0.155. The number of support vectors is reduced to 115 as less points lie inside the margin. The Cost parameter C can be tuned using cross-validation if you want to search a grid of possible values, but C=1 is the default.
Summary and Conclusion:
Support Vector Machines are an important and useful tool that was originally used for binary classification. However, they can be applied to many machine learning algorithms. The history and method by which they were developed is also interesting. The mathematical details behind the SVM are solid and have a firm foundation in linear algebra. They are worthwhile algorithm for those interested in Data Science and Machine learning to study in more detail.
SVMs extend the idea of separating hyperplanes and find the optimal separating hyperplane. In low dimensions, this has an intuitive way to understand, in higher dimension, we can’t visualise it, but the math is a simple extension.
SVMs can be extended to a non-linear decision boundary using ‘kernel tricks’ (or basis expansions) to fit more complicated boundaries. Common other kernels include the Gaussian (Radial Basis Function). These methods work by transforming the data first so that we can fit what appears to be a linear boundary in the transformed input space.
Despite the theoretical background and more difficult interpretation in words, SVMs are widely used in industry. In particular, they find usage in medical related data, neurological imaging and more.
In this article, we considered the initial use of SVMs, which is to binary classification. However, SVMs are a topic of ongoing research and several extensions have been developed. You can use SVMs to perform regression and even use them to perform clustering via unsupervised learning.
Thanks for Reading!
Did you enjoy this article or learn something new? If so, please check out my other Medium articles and consider sharing the article or leaving a clap. If you would like to connect, add me on LinkedIn. Also please leave any comments/corrections/questions below, and check out the sources.
Github Code:
Sources:
[1] Hastie, Tibshirani, Friedman (2009). The Elements of Statistical Learning II.
[2] F Rosenblatt (1958). The Perceptron: A Probabilistic Model for Information Storage and Organization in the Brain.
[3] V Vapnik (1996). Support vector regression machines
[4] Noble, W. S. (2006). What is a support vector machine?. Nature biotechnology, 24(12), 1565–1567.
[5] Furey, T. S., Cristianini, N., Duffy, N., Bednarski, D. W., Schummer, M., & Haussler, D. (2000). Support vector machine classification and validation of cancer tissue samples using microarray expression data. Bioinformatics, 16(10), 906–914.
[6] Geron, Aurelien (2020). Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras and TensorFlow.
[7] A Karatzoglou, A Smola (2004). Kernlab- An S4 Package for Kernel Methods in R. | https://towardsdatascience.com/learn-the-preliminary-details-behind-support-vector-machines-f51599f0772e | [] | 2020-12-08 23:18:42.498000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Statistics', 'Data Science', 'Machine Learning'] |
Find Daily Rituals That Work For YOU and Get Happy Now | We’ve all heard the advice. Eat vegetables. Exercise more. Meditate. Connect with friends. Keep a gratitude journal.
And all of that is fantastic advice for finding happiness and purpose in daily life. Tons of lives have been enriched by following these guiding principles.
Just maybe not yours.
Have you been there? You’ve tried four meditation apps, two kinds of completely overpriced meditation cushions, and indulged in heaps of self-criticism, but “keep a regular meditation practice” is a New Year’s resolution that you have (aspirationally, and without success) put on your list for the past three years.
Or maybe you joined a gym, went for a few weeks, and never darkened the door again.
Or your one experience with cooking for yourself merely served as confirmation that kale is really, really gross.
And all of this has left you feeling exhausted, not to mention completely without motivation to try something new. Maybe, you tell yourself, you’re just not the kind of person who can keep commitments.
Right?
Or maybe, you’ve been choosing the wrong commitments.
You’ll never be successful if you’re trying on someone else’s priorities and hoping they become your own.
In order to find success at living the life you want to live, you’ve got to choose the rituals and habits that help you–not the influencer with smiling photos, not your uber-productive cousin, you–achieve your goals. You are the most important factor in your own success. Shouldn’t you set goals that align with your strengths?
Exactly.
Let’s get going.
It Doesn’t Matter What Your Rituals Are–Just Have Some
This is your game-changer.
That meditation practice you’ve tried for years to keep? Maybe it’s not working, not because you can’t meditate, but because meditation doesn’t work for you.
Maybe you’re not eating clean food because kale isn’t your jam (trust me, you’re not alone on this one). Well, you know what adults can do? Not eat kale! Grownups don’t have to eat foods they hate. They can decide that they truly hate kale and never eat it again, because (and this is major) there are plenty of other healthy vegetables in the garden. Find one that works for you and eat it!
This is the most important factor to keep in mind whenever you’re trying to change your habits in general, or institute daily rituals in particular. What you do matters less than the fact that you are regularly doing it. In his book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, Mason Currey catalogues dozens of daily schedules from prominent creators.
Guess what he found.
Their rituals were all over the place. No two artists started or ended their days in the same way, and yet they were all productive and usually content with their work. The one thing they had in common is that they had rituals–but the actual contents of those rituals were all over the map.
So, what should you be doing?
It’s up to you! You get to decide what in your life needs changing, what needs expansion, and how you want to get there. And the best part? If one idea doesn’t work, you have the power to change your mind.
Here are some ways you can begin to find what works for you and get happier and more productive instantly.
Set The Bar Low
Happiness researcher Gretchen Rubin says, “I try to make it as easy as possible to do the right thing.”
Is your goal of exercising six times a week–when your activity level has bordered on “slug” for years–really going to happen?
What if, instead, you started small? Try committing to stretching for five minutes each morning for a week You can make it even easier by unrolling a yoga mat right next to your bed the night before. Wake up, roll onto the floor, and discover how easy it can be to keep promises to yourself.
Find The Fun
Maybe the resistance you’ve felt to keeping your commitments is that…listen closely…you don’t actually want to keep them.
The important question here is: Why aren’t you listening to your intuition? The fact that you are not doing the things you set out to do doesn’t mean you’re broken. In fact, it can be a pretty accurate indicator that the problem isn’t you–it’s the habits themselves that do not serve you.
So what do you want to do? Keep it simple in two steps:
Ask yourself, “What would make me feel alive, refreshed, and successful?”
Do those things.
Maybe you’ve resolved to learn to play the piano because you think it will make you happy, but what you really should be doing is committing to giving yourself more time for watercolor painting because that is the creative activity that already brings you joy.
Many people want to engage in a spiritual practice regularly. As with anything, always ask yourself: What sounds like fun? If you commit to meditating or gratitude journaling everyday when you know that walking mindfully is more your jam, you’ll probably not succeed. Commit to getting outside, and your “commitment” will feel like a delicious indulgence.
Remember Who This Is All For
Daily rituals are not for anyone but you. Too often, we take on commitments because of how we hope they will affect how other people see us. It’s incredibly common, but totally pointless.
Don’t think about how it might look on Instagram. Don’t think about how it might inspire or impress other people. Don’t think about how proud your family would be (or how shocked!).
Think about you. If you don’t intentionally do what’s best for you, who else will? Happiness, after all, comes from knowing that no matter what each day brings, you know you’ve got your own back.
Keeping commitments that resonate deeply with both who you want to become and you you are right now will lead you into peace, happiness, and more creativity than you ever dreamed. | https://medium.com/@aubreylfreely/find-daily-rituals-that-work-for-you-and-get-happy-now-b78d5360d0f | ['Aubrey Freely'] | 2020-01-17 20:06:20.502000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Freedom', 'Health', 'Habit Building', 'Happiness'] |
The №1 way to create EASY career satisfaction | I know you’re fiercely independent. Everything you’ve achieved in your life so far has been down to you, your hard work, your grit, your determination, your fight.
But what if it didn’t have to be so hard?
Imagine going into work every day feeling strong, empowered, relaxed & excited to see what opportunities & challenges are there for you to get your teeth stuck into — imagine how much better you could perform.
Imagine knowing that in the midst of the chaos, you’re surrounded by a team & boss that make you feel capable, supported & safe — imagine what kind of inspired, innovative ideas you could bring to the table.
An environment where getting it done is better than being the one who takes credit for doing it (or takes the fall if it goes wrong).
We get so caught up in the grind/hustle mentality of our culture (especially corporate culture) that we learn to believe that every achievement, all the results we see only come from hard work — so we keep working harder even if it’s on the wrong things.
And what better way to make things hard for ourselves than by doing it alone?
But you can embrace & enjoy a challenge, without feeling totally drained by it. Your work can be good, without being hard. And you don’t have to put yourself on an unreachable pedestal of perfection to do great work & see great results.
The truth is, it’s not about you (no offence). It’s not about what you look like or how you dress. It’s not about being seen online the longest or looking like the most confident one in the room. When it comes to what your boss wants to see when you ask for a promotion…
It’s about getting the job done.
Your salary is tied to the expected output or result for your role — it’s not about you, how hard you work or how many hours you put in… so if you can figure out a way to get it done faster — & more importantly — easier — good for you!
When we look at things this way, it’s much easier to see how the results we’re working towards don’t necessarily have to have been a struggle to achieve. And when we take our ego out of the equation & realise that the result is more important than the process, suddenly so many more options become available to you that will get you there in half the time (with half the stress).
I know first hand that actually changing that perspective can be much easier said than done, which is why bringing somebody on board to help you rewire your thinking & find the best way for you to make things easier while maximising your performance, is a no-brainer.
Having spent more than 60 hours coaching 1:1 clients in the last 6 months alone, I’ve seen how quickly things can change in their lives & how they’re feeling, when they invest in this kind of approach — because by having somebody to guide you & help you make sense of it all, you can really embrace a more positive mindset & see just how easy things can be for you.
You want to feel rewarded for the time, energy & brain power you’re contributing at work, because you want a career that you’re proud of, where you feel like you’ve achieved something every day. The promotions & progression that are so much easier to achieve then is rewarding, but that sense of peace & satisfaction is priceless.
I can imagine that right now, for how much work you’re putting in — you probably feel underpaid!
So start looking for ways to get to the same result that aren’t such a drag — the quickest way to feel more compensated in your job is to cut out the crap that you don’t need to be doing (which in fact puts a spotlight on where you’re adding real value so your time feels put to much better use!)
Delegate to your team members, communicate with your clients, & cut out the busywork that’s doubling your hours & not turning into results.
Look for the solutions that get you to the outcome in the quickest time, & celebrate your achievement in getting there (rather than glorifying the hours you put in alone to do it) as well as how amazing everything turned out, because you brought in the best ideas from the best minds to get there.
You can apply this approach to making your working life easier as well as making your career journey more satisfying (& doing a better job along the way!)
Applying for a promotion doesn’t have to mean work takes over your life in the lead-up, because the only way to prove you deserve it is to show that it’s all you care about. Use your time wisely to demonstrate the experience, expertise, skills & big-picture thinking you’ve learned along the way — to show you have what it takes to deliver on the next level.
Find someone to help you see the best route to take, the one that’s going to have the biggest impact with the least effort (& time!), & hold you accountable to taking the right action to make it happen.
For many of my clients, working with me is their first experience of working with a coach — before they would always struggle alone, hustling harder, working longer, without a strategy & without the confidence they needed to believe they were already good enough to succeed, or get what they wanted from their careers.
If you want to start making it easier for yourself to achieve the success (& satisfaction) you crave in your career, so you can get more time back in your day, enjoy the work you do without constant stress & pressure, & step up the career ladder without sacrificing your self-care or social life, why not book a complimentary, no-obligation, 30 minute call with me today to discover how I could help you make that happen in the next 3–6 months — visit my website for more information & to book. | https://medium.com/@charlottecrabtree/the-1-way-to-create-easy-career-satisfaction-bd2bb0339c56 | ['Charlotte Crabtree'] | 2021-05-25 15:26:43.148000+00:00 | ['Career Paths', 'Work Life Balance', 'Careers', 'Career Advice', 'Career Development'] |
Make your Angular App Accessible: Skip to Main Content | Make your Angular App Accessible: Skip to Main Content
Angular Accessibility Part 2
Accessibility plays a vital role in any Single Page Applications. As Angular growing by leaps and bounds, supporting the accessibility in Angular Application becomes quite complex until we know all accessibility concepts.
Here I am coming with the different guidelines to implement accessibility in Angular Applications.
One of the main concepts to support accessibility is Skip to Main Content. When we are dealing with multiple pages it is better to have one place where we can maintain the whole reusable accessibility feature.
Before starting the implementation techniques, Let’s check common rules to follow while implementing accessibility.
You can also checkout how to create reusable functions to implement accessibility in Angular Application.
Let’s move to our main discussion
One of the main features of accessibility is to skip to the main content. Let’s check out how we can implement Skip to Main Content in Angular.
When keyboard-only users interact with the website they use the tab key to jump from one link to another link. If we have a lot of content in our application and user want to move to the main content available on the page, instead of clicking so many tabs it is better to give them access to reach the main content. Providing the skip to the main content solves this purpose.
Here is a demonstration of what keyboard-only users must do to navigate a page without a skip to the main content link. The below approach worked really well for me to implement skip to main content in Angular Applications.
Step 1. Create header HTML and skip to main content link
Step 2. Add CSS and make that link visible only on focus
Step 3. Create a header component and add reusable methods
Step 4. Create common accessibility service and add common methods
Step 5. We are now ready to use our reusable methods
As we can see we added the ngAfterViewInit life cycle to get the currentValue. Once we get the current value unique to the page we are setting focus to a main-content class of the HTML We can access the accessibility service in HTML and can call sendelementId to update our currentValue. When we redirect to another component we can exactly use the same method on the ngAfterViewInit life cycle of the sample component to subscribe to the current message and focus the ‘Main-Content’ Id which we added in HTML.
We will meet again with one more reusable component to support the accessibility in Angular.
Are you preparing for interviews? Here are frequently asked interview questions in Angular. It covers the Latest interview questions for Angular and Frontend development. Let’s check how many of these questions you can answer? | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/improving-the-accessibility-of-your-angular-app-87ca732b6de3 | [] | 2020-12-23 00:25:50.516000+00:00 | ['Typescript', 'Web Development', 'Front End Development', 'Accessibility', 'Angular'] |
MAKE MONEY ONLINE/Voice Buddy | MAKE MONEY ONLINE/Voice Buddy
Voicebuddy is The Last All In One Text To Speech Option You’ll Ever Need. VoiceBuddy encomposses the best of both worlds when it comes to text to speech technology. Simply stated, they’ve combined Google Wave Net and Amazon Polly into one software platform and added a ton of features as well.
PRICE:$30.59
AFFILIATE LINK:https://jvz7.com/c/1101129/341631 | https://medium.com/@davidabrahamgopal/make-money-online-voice-buddy-edece545b4c5 | ['Ramachandran Gopal'] | 2020-12-20 18:09:16.143000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Money', 'Online Marketing', 'Make Money Online', 'Work From Home'] |
Learn by Doing: The 8 Best Interactive Coding Websites | While there are all sorts of resources people use when learning to code — screencasts, videos, books, tutorials, online courses, and more— in this article I will only focus on some of the best and most popular interactive websites that have you learn by solving challenges or building projects online. While most online resources do have some interactive tests or challenges you can take that allows you to actually code, some focus heavily on having you practice which I believe is the best way to get better at coding.
Watching videos and reading tutorials online will only get you so far. To become a great programmer, you’ll need a ton of practice. So for beginners, I recommend solving lots of code challenges and working on several small projects.
This list is a combination of my own research and some help from people in online coding communities such as Coderbyte, r/learnprogramming, Newbie Coder Warehouse, and Medium.
Complete Beginner to Novice Level
At this point, you’re completely new to coding or have been learning to code for a few weeks. Try and learn the basics of HTML and CSS, but don’t go crazy trying to memorize all the tags and properties for them. Learn some JavaScript and practice coding so you can pick up the syntax at this stage. You should be comfortable solving a few basic coding challenges and you should know the syntax of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (or Python, Ruby, etc.) fairly well.
Code School
Great for beginners. Contains videos and simple interactive challenges. Codecademy
For complete beginners that are initially learning a language. A good website for learning the basics about HTML and CSS. freeCodeCamp
Contains a lot of tutorials and interactive challenges that will help you learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Example here. Treehouse
Another great option if you’re a beginner starting out learning to code. They offer video courses along with some interactive challenges.
Novice to Intermediate Level
Maybe after one to two months of learning to code (if you’re studying regularly), you should start practicing — a lot! You need to become comfortable with writing basic algorithms that involve hash tables, arrays, looping, string manipulation, etc. If you’re interested in web development, then you should also be able to create simple UI’s and websites fairly quickly with some basic HTML and CSS.
Coderbyte
Practice solving code challenges here and implementing different algorithms and data structures. You can also view other people’s code solutions to see how they solved challenges. DataCamp
If data science interests you, then this website has a great online editor where you can code in Python and R. HackerRank
Another website to practice solving code challenges on with a lot of tutorials about different algorithms. CodinGame
This website offers users the ability to solve coding challenges that are directly tied to online games. A pretty cool concept.
Intermediate to Advanced Level
Once you feel like you have a grasp on the basics of programming (e.g. learned some HTML/CSS/JS + maybe a back-end language and some database) and are able to solve code challenges comfortably (e.g. The 5 hardest code challenges for beginners) and have created some small projects, then I think the following resources will help guide in the right direction to becoming a great software developer. | https://medium.com/coderbyte/learn-by-doing-the-8-best-interactive-coding-websites-4c902915287c | ['Daniel Borowski'] | 2018-12-11 06:03:43.982000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Web Development', 'JavaScript', 'Coding', 'Learn To Code'] |
Get any UX job with a stellar portfolio presentation by reading this | Get any UX job with a stellar portfolio presentation by reading this
Advice I received from people at Amazon, Microsoft, Google and more
This article was co-written with Angela Nguyen ❤
Link to talk (Youtube)
Link to follow up article with additional tips
Featured on Marvel, Fall 2018
You passed the initial phone interview and now comes the final test to show potential employers what you are capable of: the portfolio presentation.
Portfolio presentations are the norm for any design position. It shows employers your thought process through design problems and how well you communicate to others. It’s the perfect opportunity to prove that you are the most qualified designer for the job.
If you never gave a portfolio presentation before, it might feel pretty intimidating (I know because I have been in that position) but don’t worry! I have given a fair amount of portfolio presentations and I still get nervous before each one. You can’t avoid portfolio presentations, or any presentation for that matter (especially working in the design industry), but you can definitely get better and conquer your fear of presenting.
Here are steps and tips which have come from my experience of interviewing at different tech companies as well as my friends/mentors who work at some of the biggest companies in tech. As a student, I have interviewed with Microsoft, Amazon, Intuit, Google and more, enhancing my understanding of the interview process as well as my presentation skills. I have one more year of school left with an internship lined up for the summer. I am writing this article with the help of my good friend and co-author, Angela. Angela currently works at Amazon and has had the opportunity to interview with tech giants, receiving multiple offers after graduating. For the integrity of the companies and the people working there, we will not be specifying what each of these companies are looking for, but will provide tips on how you can execute a kick-ass presentation of your work.
1. Before the portfolio presentation:
Prepare the slide deck
When I am given the task to prepare a portfolio review, I ask if there are any requirements in regards to the structure of how my presentation should look or what information my potential audience would want to know most about. Some companies want you to emphasize your design process while other companies will provide resources to help you prepare your presentation based on specific guidelines. Regardless of what is expected, I first create a basic framework for my presentation. Based on which company I’m presenting to, I’d later make changes accordingly.
Here is the basic frame work we typically start with when designing for any portfolio presentation:
Title Slide
Introduction
Overview of projects
Outcome (the what and why of your project aka elevator pitch)
Brief (problem)
Outline (approach)
Process (struggles and success)
Outcome
Next steps (what would you do differently if given the chance? Remember, a project never ends after the due date)
Learnings
Appendix
The Title Slide
Here’s a slide before beginning your presentation. It helps when people are settling down or still coming into the room. You can use it as a breather too! Introduction
Never jump into your presentation without introducing yourself. Interviewers want to know who you are! Typically, your interviewers are meeting you for the first time so this is an opportunity to make a good impression, just as though you were meeting a new friend. I like to give my design statement in my introduction. I also bring up past places I’ve worked, to give a context of the types of projects or environments I’ve experienced. Overview of Presentation
Your design work should cover a wide range of problems and approaches, as well as describing the what, why and how of each project and your contributions. Every company puts emphasis on different things, whether it’s on teamwork or a more user-centric process, so the kinds of projects you show should change depending on who you are presenting to. Before diving deep into a particular project, I give an overview of my presentation to give the audience a heads up on what I will be showing. The overview assures employers that you’re going to cover a range of things, as to not keep them in suspense on whether or not you’re going to talk about something they had in mind. It is okay to be picky about the projects you present. Portfolio presentations are a great opportunity to tell your audience about a project you really enjoyed vs not so much. Sometimes we learn more from the project that wasn’t so great and employers want to know how you handled that situation. Projects (Address the Big Picture)
Start by showing the final outcome while giving the elevator pitch; not going into details but showing a surface level of what the project is and why. Emphasize your design statement or high level takeaway on your projects. This way the audience can keep in the back of their mind what you’re talking about, just not to leave them hanging when you’re going through the millions of hours and efforts in the process portion. Interviewers know how designers invest their time into every project. It’s about sharing how the idea evolved over time.
But overall…
Here is helpful resource that has 10 rules to instantly improve your presentation.
Things to think about when curating your presentation
Questions to keep in mind
Your presentation has a purpose. Every slide and every word that comes out of mouth should provide insight and meaning to how you think. Here are questions I use when I create a framework for my presentations in order to have a better sense of what I will be presenting to the audience.
What is your project about?
In team projects, how did you contribute?
Who are you designing for?
What is the main problem you were trying to solve?
How did you execute your project?
Why is this part of the process important and how does it help you in understanding the problem?
How does your solution connect to the problem?
What are the key things you want your audience to learn?
Presentation Design
Regarding the design of your presentation, you do not want to incorporate too much text into it. You probably have heard the saying in that if you add a huge amount of text into a presentation, people will divert their attention from you to reading the slide itself. You do not want to take people’s attention away from you because the point of a presentation is to have people listen to you. If you have less text and more pictures, it allows people to wonder and focus. pictures are the teaser while you are the one giving meaning to those pictures. Now that is what people came for.
More show in slides, Tell in person
Don’t show all of your process if it doesn’t add to your story. You only want to highlight the aspects that were especially fundamental to understanding the problem and creating the solution.
Be Concise
You only have a limited amount of time to present so you need to get to the point. You want to intentionally explain how each part of your process helped you in getting to your solution, solving the problem, and understanding your user.
Don’t stumble and get to the point .
What is the point of showing a picture of a system flow or insights from your research? You want to intentionally explain how each part of your process helped you.
Stories are powerful
Tell a story about your design process, explaining the WHY instead of WHAT behind your decisions. We have a tendency to state what we did, but we do not always connect it to our users who should be our main focus surrounding the design. You also want to frame your story as though you overcame great obstacles because people love hearing stories with high stakes and fulfilling, meaningful endings.
At the end of every project (especially towards the end of the presentation), have a strong ending, present the solution, summarize findings, and have a message whether it is emphasizing your design ethos and/or how your skills can help the company. This is your chance to not leave people confused or hanging. You want to be able to address any lingering questions during the presentation so after the presentation can be more emphasized on the interviewers getting to know you.
Be honest and upfront. Not every project went smoothly and it’s okay to call that out in your process. Employers wants to know how you handle problems and how you would fit in their design team. They care more about how you execute the content versus what the content is.
Remember the most important thing is that you are presenting the work YOU did. If you cannot explain YOUR work, then how can other people understand it? This is a guarantee to leave a bad impression and not job.
The speaking part of the presentation
Practice
Practice, and if you aren’t great at public speaking, practice A LOT. Practice presenting your portfolio to other people in order to build confidence and develop a flow on how you will be storytelling. In the context of presenting anything important, repetition is key. Always go through your presentation with someone to pin point where you lack to emphasize key points; the person you practice with might even have helpful tips for you!
Time
Be VERY flexible. A senior designer from Microsoft taught me the importance of being very intentional about what you say under constraints. This will allow you to present your ideas and process more efficiently and effectively. If you had 5 minutes or even 1 minute to pitch your design to someone, say a product designer or even the CEO of said company, how would you explain your work to them? Tailor the presentation based on the time you have, such as creating a hierarchy and outline. What are the three most important things about a project? Are they the pros of a project, next steps, learnings, etc. By time boxing your presentation as well as framing the way you present your information based on importance (what is lvl 1 stuff to talk about, lvl 2, lvl 3), it allows you to find the core of your project and the key points that will most likely draw attention.
2. During the portfolio presentation:
Be thoughtful
Always enter and leave with a good impression. Show your appreciation and enthusiasm for being invited to present. Provide your audience with your resume or an outline of your agenda so your interviewers can easily follow along your presentation.
Relax
Breathe and show good body posture. When nervous, we tend to do worse on performance because we can’t focus. My teacher wrote an article that talks about the importance of moving while speaking and how that can contribute to a great presentation. It helps you ease your nervousness while engaging to the audience.
Break your information down
Prime your interviewers to make sure they know what to expect before diving head on into your projects. Your interviewers are probably looking at your work for the first time or if they have looked at your work, they most likely have not looked at it in depth. Don’t expect them to remember every project without telling them directly.
Before you go into presenting your projects, it’s okay to state the obvious such as “Hey this my work and I want to walk you through it.” It’s also beneficial to give an overview of what you are going to talk about to and give a scope of how long and what will be in your presentation. An example of this is breaking down your projects to show diversity or your skill set (Project 1: UI, Project 2: UX Project 3: UX Research, etc.) It is better to tell them what they will be seeing BEFORE so they have an easier time to process everything, especially during a short time period. The interviewers have to understand everything about you in less than one hour.
Talk slowly
When speaking in general between slides or ideas, leave breathing time for not only yourself but for the audience to ask questions. A presentation is best when it becomes a discussion. And you don’t want to rush through talking anyway because it doesn’t allow the audience to digest what you are saying, causing them to zone out and not follow you. The purpose of a portfolio presentation is to have people follow YOU.
Show excitement
“Don’t give a speech, put on a show”
By showing excitement, you give an impression that shows how much you want the job. Even beyond that, showing excitement is what makes other people excited. It can also influence your performance in a positive way. People want to work with someone who is passionate and isn’t afraid of tackling challenges, such as presentations!
Open the floor for questions
It is important to present under the time given so you can have more time for Q and A. Be careful when asking questions in between projects; it can risk your presentation from shifting completely into a Q and A session.
Be prepared to answer questions and always have questions for the interviewers. They want to know what you are curious about and if you have any questions that spark interesting discussions about the company or what they do.
3. After the portfolio presentation:
Ask for feedback
Most big companies will not provide feedback when they share your results, but during the interview, it is perfectly reasonable to ask for feedback on a project if the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes after describing a project, the interviewer will provide their feedback because it’s almost instinct for designers to help other designers. If the company doesn’t explain their policy about feedback after the interview, it never hurts to ask.
Keep in touch
Always follow up with an email to everyone in the room, within a week, to say thank you. It also helps remind them to follow through on your interview process. You can even hand out business cards at the end of your presentation. It is like a nudge that indicates “Hey, let’s keep in touch.”
Conclusion
In the portfolio presentation, you get assessed based on your skills (background in design, experience, design thinking), personality (is this person someone who can take feedback, work with the team) and your ability to present (can this person explain things clearly, tell compelling story about their work, communicate).
These days, skills alone aren’t enough to get the job.
Just like choosing the best candidate, a portfolio presentation is a multi faceted experience to show employers the whole package of who you are and the potential of what you can bring to the table. Designers who can make great work AND communicate are better than those who do one or the other.
We hope this little guide to creating an amazing portfolio presentation and what to do before, during, and after will help you in your design interviews. Good luck!
For a detailed view on interviewing for design jobs, read Andrew’s article:
If you want to master the top interview questions in every design interview, read my article:
If you want to improve your portfolio, read my article as well as Christina’s
If you have any questions about design, message me on LinkedIn and I’ll write about it!
To help you get started on owning your design career, here are some amazing tools from Rookieup, a site I used to get mentorship from senior designers:
Links to some other cool reads: | https://uxplanet.org/get-any-design-job-with-a-stellar-portfolio-presentation-by-reading-this-1b9ede9a479a | ['Tiffany Eaton'] | 2019-11-26 17:52:53.784000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Design', 'Life Lessons', 'UX', 'Startup'] |
Challenging the Unknown | Life is hard. Sometimes it gives us an unfair hand and leaves us wondering what happened as we try to pick up the pieces of our broken dreams. Experiences like these can make us feel lost and scared and cause us to put up walls around us to protect ourselves, refusing to leave the safety of our comfort zone. Challenging the Unknown by Alfredo E. Phipps, Jr. addresses what it feels like when our world falls apart around us and how we can move forward with confidence and purpose. The story follows several characters whose lives intersect when they are invited to attend an event led by a teacher that will change the direction of their lives forever. Join us on the journey and learn how to embrace uncertainty and enter into the possibilities that await you, mustering the courage to take a leap even when life seems scary.
ISBN-13: 978–1735800721
“Challenging the Unknown” by Alfredo E Phipps, Jr.
Available on: Amazon, B&N, Apple Book, Kobo, Goodreads, Indigo | https://medium.com/@alfredoephipps/challenging-the-unknown-9ea3d37ca9b6 | ['Alfredo E Phipps'] | 2020-12-27 22:51:26.420000+00:00 | ['Fear', 'Challenging Times', 'The Unknown', 'Challenging The Unknown', 'Fear Of Failure'] |
How And Where To Buy Cheap ‘Ryzen PC’ In Manila, Philippines During Lockdown? | In my ulog video above, i covered all the options that you have, if you are located in ‘Manila, Philippines’ and wanting to purchase your Ryzen PC, whether ‘Ryzen 3’ or ‘Ryzen 5’ as soon as possible.
While the option of Facebook marketplace exists, even if you got a trusted dealer, they are likely to have you wait for days or weeks to deliver your ‘Ryzen PC’ to you. If you had to use marketplaces like Shopee or Lazada, that takes days too!
At ‘Gilmore’ in Quezon City, you can purchase your Ryzen PC as soon as today.
Even so, you will have needed to search a store that actually has ‘stock’ (of Ryzen), in conjunction with ‘all the parts that will make up your computer’. These PC stores at ‘Gilmore’ like to sell ‘PCs’ in ‘bundles’. This way, they can make ‘profit’ in such a way that allows to pay a reasonable price. Assuming that they do not have all the PC-parts that you want and have had to seek out those parts from other stores, the price you will end up paying for your Ryzen, will be drastically high.
In these lockdown period, Ryzen is quite scarce across ‘stalls’ even in Gilmore. Many who have ‘Ryzen PCs’ have old-stock and are likely to hoard it to sell to the highest bidder as ‘customers are quite scarce too’. Besides, there are many people as ‘Ryzen customers’.
Where do you go to then to buy ‘Ryzen PCs’ in Manila during this lockdown, at a reasonable price?
If you have seen the video above, i have answered your question in it. At the bottom of that video, i have also added the exact address and contact-information of a store in Gilmore of Quezon city, that is a supplier of PC-parts, especially ‘Ryzen’ and that will offer you a reasonable price from the outset.
If you haven’t my video above yet, here is where you can buy ‘Ryzen PCs’ in Manila during this lockdown, at a reasonable price:
KCAM store — ‘2ND floor, #25 Gilmore avenue, Cor. aurora blvd, Valencia 4, Quezon city. (Telephone: 86318307/87210359)
I compared ‘prices’ from a range of stores within ‘Gilmore, Quezon City’ to attain this conclusion. While you may find another store with a reasonable price in Gilmore, they may not have all exact parts that you need and where they have had to obtain these parts from other stores, your final-payment becomes high. | https://medium.com/@surpassinggoogle/how-and-where-to-buy-cheap-ryzen-pc-in-manila-philippines-during-lockdown-f4623be83e79 | ['Terry Ajayi'] | 2020-07-19 17:34:56.221000+00:00 | ['Ryzen', 'Philippines', 'Manila', 'How To', 'Amd'] |
My 5 perspectives of 2020 | 1. He/she who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Credits: Pexels
This quote originates from Friedrich Nietzsche, and I first came across it in Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. In this engaging book, Frankl describes his thoughtfully raw experiences in the Nazi concentration camps during WWII, and how he managed to miraculously survive them. While there was an undeniable element of luck involved in all this, the message that stood out more distinctly lay in the fundamental realms of human pscyhology — you may not be able to control what happens to you, but you can control how you think about or react to these occurrences. And it is this autonomy that allows you to go one level deeper, to the core of your being, to identify your why. This why then helps you to effectively deal with whatever comes your way.
When you have that purpose to live for — in Frankl’s case, driven by the love for his wife who he still believed to be alive, and his desire to finish writing his book — this allows you to draw upon an innate power to keep moving forward. If Frankl can do it in the harrowing camps of death, and fast forward to today, if we are still so blessed with the gift of life and the power of choice, why can’t we spend a little more time to think about our why?
To contextualise this further with an analogy — I have always thought that it was implausible to wake up at 5am to work out and start my day more productively. But the pressure of extrinsic circumstances actually led me to do so not once, but a few times: during the days when I had to report early for army reservist duties in November this year, I actually woke up at what I thought was an ungodly hour to get my workout in. So, it is possible — because I had a defined schedule, and there are consequences for not keeping to that schedule, it shaped my actions in a way that I otherwise thought to be impossible.
I think that the underlying moral of the story is that that all you need is a reason to do something. We may start with external triggers to help us take the first step, but the ultimate transcendent state is when you are driven by an innate why. When you do not require motivation any longer, you are truly motivated: you have your why firmly set in stone. | https://medium.com/@aldentanhz/my-5-perspectives-of-2020-a01be795544f | ['Alden Tan'] | 2020-12-27 12:50:37.320000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Reflections', '2020', 'Self Improvement', 'Life'] |
Were You Called Down to Earth? | Were You Called Down to Earth?
A poem and intuitive dance
Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash
Do you remember
you weren’t always here on earth?
We were tethered so tightly to Source
bundled in bliss
But we chose to heed this call
to realize our union through separation
as we stumbled down to earth
Remember
life wasn’t always this dense
this confusing
this chaotic
this polarized
Remember where you came from
so you can help from a better space
with more kindness
compassion
and gentleness
Remember
this
gentleness. | https://medium.com/spiritual-secrets/were-you-called-down-to-earth-40a041b5b08a | ['Bingz Huang'] | 2020-09-30 03:52:12.630000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Poetry', 'Inspiration', 'Energy', 'Spiritual Secrets'] |
How to show collaborative skills on a resume | How to show collaborative skills on a resume
“Any time I’m looking at a candidates resume, I look for words like “collaborative”. Simple enough. But what you want to see is that it’s not “I, I, I.” And that’s very common because people think that if they don’t promote themselves, they won’t be seen for what they’re actually doing.
That’s the opposite of what needs to happen when you’re working for tech companies. Something as simple as group projects. Even if you’re an experienced professional, I’m looking at you talking about team interaction. And leadership. People think leadership means management, and it doesn’t. Sometimes being a servant leader, get my hands dirty and play my roll, is more effective.
But I go beyond the resume. I’ve had instances where someone is great on paper, but if I brought them onsite, my hiring managers would be perturbed. Because that person would not be able to get that you have to collaborate and be comfortable with group thought.”
From the XFN Conf 2020 panel: “Show Your XFN: How Companies Hire for Collaboration” | https://medium.com/xfn-community/how-to-show-collaborative-skills-on-a-resume-620b2abd0ef2 | ['Nicky Depaul'] | 2020-12-18 23:04:34.741000+00:00 | ['Professional Development', 'Advice', 'Resume Writing', 'Recruiting'] |
Daughters of Char Chinar- Book Review | The story of a south Asian society, where rape is, not a crime but a punishment. Nafisa and Meher are two identical twins, who are incredibly beautiful in a land where beauty is a curse, in a town of strict patriarchal setup.
Jirgas are judicial tribal courts composed of male tribal elders, that mix Islamic and tribal customs, to pass judgment on accused criminals. One tenant of such jirga courts is that an accused male may offer as compensation to his victim or their family, a virgin female from his family, for revenge rape. Though it is banned by the country’s laws, such jirga courts operate with impunity in Pakistan’s tribal districts.
The book begins at the scene of a jirga court where Nafisa is abducted and brought by her father and grandfather, even though her father abandons her and Meher at their birth. Her father has murdered a man of a neighboring clan in a hit-and-run accident. As recompense, he offers them twenty of his best goats and his ‘unsullied’ 24-year old daughter.
Then the story moves back to 24 years earlier while these two little girls were growing up it was proved that they were not only extremely beautiful but also talented and smart. Initially when they were born their mother died while giving them birth so they were given to the cook who brought them up. I love the strong bond between the Twin Sisters, and the author, Almas Hussain has very well structured the book and the characters. Most of the characters in this book are strong and the fight against injustice towards women has been maintained as a central theme. Also, the book is fast-paced and this book will remain with me for quite a long time. | https://medium.com/@moonlightandwords/daughters-of-char-chinar-book-review-f1e9bee26dde | ['Shreya Ghosh'] | 2020-12-25 14:50:52.927000+00:00 | ['Book Recommendations', 'Book Review', 'Indian Authors'] |
Too vulnerable or Too cocky? | Social Media
Too vulnerable or Too cocky?
Who are you?
Between being vulnerable and being cocky — where do you draw the line? When you are showing your most sensitive side, and the other person is showing this egotistical and pretentious side of theirs, how do you react?
When you talk about, how your thoughts don’t align with your parents and how you are still struggling to adjust to the new city and the varied people around you, but this colleague talks about their wonderful lifestyle, sorted decisions and the expensive little pooch they got.
If life is just so perfect, then why do you have to shove it into other people’s face?
My problem with such people isn’t because I envy their so-called perfect life. In fact, it is the opposite; I pity their short-sightedness. It’s what I despise, not being sensitive about the other person, not following a conversation and creating a perception of a fancy life. If only were you honest, would I know how shitty it is on the other side of the grass as well?
I am not saying this because I derive pleasure from knowing how others are not doing as well as I am. I am saying this out of the frustration of this larger than life, big-headed, self-aggrandizing people of my generation who know little but brag a lot. I derive nothing out of you. We can never have a real conversation, leave alone connecting at a deeper level.
It is also how I see social media these days — at two polarising ends.
Some people are too flashy, loud and outspoken (for their own good) on one end and some who are too vulnerable, honest and crass on the other. Vulnerability helps in understanding a person, their life stories, and connecting at a deeper level.
I love how Shannon Ashley writes — her writing is honest, and it shows. She deeply personifies the topic and instantly grabs a reader’s attention. But unfortunately, not all social media influencers are the same.
Especially in this like, comment and subscribe world that we live in, a lot of it is just click-bait and admittedly so by the influencers themselves. Sometimes in their quest to open up with their followers, they show you somewhat overtly personal and sensitive stories. It also risks getting pity followers than real ones and drives you as a consumer into a conundrum of dark, unfortunate stories one after another.
On the other extreme, you have influencers who are far fetched from reality or at least that’s what they want to drive across their followers — sorry but what will an over-the-top perfect beachside body in a highly photoshopped background try to convince me — that you were reading a book and having a good time, really ?
No way! Having traveled to various places, I can say one thing for sure — you either read a book and don’t care how you look or even remember to take a photo or you just shoot from a million different angles for that perfect photo, you can never be both at the same time.
Again, I have nothing against those who chose being this vain, pompous and disdainful self. But there might be a little merit in learning from your vulnerable counterpart to let go of that mean attitude, downplay your act and be modest of your escapades. And the same goes for the other extremes too — be humble, honest and open about your experiences but don’t lose that wit, don’t be dark and somber all the time.
Let’s try and balance the two for a change.
I sometimes want to look my best, pose for a photo and share it just for the likes and sometimes I want to share my deepest thoughts and ideas, without a damn about the photo — Am I allowed to do both without being too vulnerable or too cocky? | https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/too-vulnerable-or-too-cocky-80297b6a6bc7 | ['Asmita Karanje'] | 2019-12-11 10:04:39.834000+00:00 | ['Vulnerable', 'Médium', 'Facebook', 'Instagram', 'Social Media'] |
Circle of life | As a child when I used to hug my father, my arms were not long enough to encircle his broad chest completely. As the years passed by, my circle around him grew and I got used to the warm and cushioning effect of his body.
Then a day came when I hugged him for that last time. Feeling his ribs against my chest and the shallowness of his breath I just sensed that the time has come to let him go. As I pressed further against him I realized that my arms were encircling him more than fully. At that point, I wished if I could melt into him or him into me. Don’t know what happened that day, but as of today I feel very full and sometimes even overflow. | https://medium.com/house-of-haiku/circle-of-life-b4f059e2fd7 | ['Dr Bhupesh Gupta'] | 2020-12-25 02:15:26.143000+00:00 | ['Circle Of Life', 'Haiku', 'Blood Relationships', 'Daddy', 'Loved Ones'] |
Simplified for Complexity | Building products and services is a complex task. At Finlabs, we as a team, have a wide range of experience from working at telecommunication giants, to advertising behemoths, to Fintech startups, to Innovation labs, not to mention our own individual technology passions that breach into our professional lives. In short, we live and breathe this stuff, and have done so for a very long time. What does that length of exposure and experience bring to the table? A deep intuitive understanding of the nuances and pitfalls that can ultimately shape the outcome of what started as a “great idea”.
This is where we see the quagmire of complexity having a very negative effect on many of the products and services we see in today's market. The reality is that the “ideas” are not coming from those of us that build them. Because of od that, these ideas are not fueled by the nuts and bolts of how to get them done. They are driven by opportunities, impact, and desires. And frankly, that’s as it should be. Even within our own ranks at Finlabs, we’ve witnessed this divide between the visionary thinkers looking to craft an emotional connection and the practical builders who are focused on making things work (and not break) first. We are also conscious that without the freedom to dream and create these fantastic ideas, the products we are building will fall short. We need to bind the two worlds together and that’s what we have done successfully at Finlabs. | https://medium.com/finlabsoy/simplified-for-complexity-77d8281ab37 | [] | 2020-04-22 18:49:37.697000+00:00 | ['Service Design', 'Product Development', 'Product Management', 'Software Development', 'Product Design'] |
I really like this piece. | I really like this piece. I love people who are honest and upfront about their failures just as much as their successes. I actually admire it and listen more to people who can say they have failed because It helps me to see that they are human and on a journey. No one really becomes a success over night either. Being able to see the bigger picture is a great thing. Many of us look back at what we thought were failures and nothing is entirely wasted whether that was failing a course or wasting money trying to start a business. We all come out the other side learning something about ourselves. | https://medium.com/@zoe-eccles/i-really-like-this-piece-2bcad6887050 | [] | 2020-12-13 21:31:20.186000+00:00 | ['Failure', 'Failure To Success', 'Bigger Picture', 'Failure Stories'] |
Discover Use Cases: Making the Case for NFT Usability Beyond Speculation | You’ve made it the gates… Now what?
Who would have known that a GIF of some rectangular cat shitting out rainbows could be sold as a unique digital art piece for a whopping $590,000? Or that the first tweet posted by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was sold to a Malaysia-based businessperson for an eye-watering $2.9 million? Sure, it’s cool in some way, but at the same time, there are others who think of them as just a speculative fad aimed at making a quick buck over nothing — after all, the media doesn’t really do NFTs justice and often only discusses them when looking at outlandish deals.
NFTs have become the craze in the crypto world and have evolved from simply tokenizing unique art pieces to all manner of digital assets, including digital identities, in-game properties, and even sports cards.
Why use blockchain and NFTs altogether? Does doing so have a particular benefit? Well, it’s important to remember that transactions involving blockchain-based NFTs take place in a universally accessible ledger that tracks all transactions, meaning if you were to purchase a digital identity on Cyberpong, you would receive a token representing exclusive ownership of that identity.
Given the nature of NFT transactions, trading and holding NFTs have allowed for verifiable tokenization as a way of building trust on the ownership of an asset.
For players of games like Cyberpong, holding an NFT can also mean gaining unique access to virtual worlds without the duplication of log-in credentials — essentially a unique virtual identity within a game.
Conclusion
Yes, it’s true that the NFT market in its current form is far from perfect, and more work needs to be done before it heads towards being fully adopted as a mainstream tool.
Whether you live for NFTs and see them as the next frontier of digital ownership or simply see them as a way to make some extra cash selling hot anime babes, NFTs have taken the world by storm!
Read the rest of our blog here: https://www.cyberpong.net/discover-nft-use-cases-with-cyberpong/ & follow us on our social channels!
Website | Twitter | Discord| NFT Marketplace | https://medium.com/@cyberpongworld/discover-use-cases-making-the-case-for-nft-usability-beyond-speculation-887f62f2ecf1 | ['Cyberpong - Dare To Try'] | 2021-08-10 06:54:20.536000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Use Case', 'Nft', 'Metaverse', 'Defi'] |
What Works Cities Assessment Guide | What Works Cities Assessment Guide
Certification Criteria
What Works Cities Certification is the standard of excellence for data-driven local government. The program’s 45 criteria outline the people, processes, and policies foundational to a well-managed city.
The criteria are grouped by eight foundational practices:
Data Governance
Evaluations
General Management
Open Data
Performance & Analytics
Repurposing
Results-Driven Contracting
Stakeholder Engagement
Under each foundational practice below, you’ll find a description of that work, followed by the questions that will be asked about your city’s practices. Use this guide to better understand the value of each practice, what is required to be able to answer “yes” to each question, and what supporting documentation will be required to verify your responses.
Completing an assessment is the first step to receiving exclusive, pro bono support from What Works Cities to continue building a more effective local government. The program is open to any U.S. city with a population of 30,000 or higher.
You can find definitions of terminology used below in our Certification Glossary. You can learn more about the methodology behind What Works Cities Certification here. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
Data Governance
DG1. Your local government maintains a detailed and comprehensive data inventory that makes its data more discoverable and accessible.
Checklist (Must meet 3 of 4):
Your local government has a documented methodology for routinely collecting and updating the data inventory.
In the past 12 months, the inventory has been updated.
The inventory covers datasets from more than 80% of the departments in the local government.
A version of the data inventory is published online.
Required Supporting Documentation:
A copy of the data inventory.
A documented process for collecting and updating the data inventory.
DG2. Your local government maintains a documented list of data governance responsibilities and meets at least quarterly to carry out those responsibilities.
Checklist (Must meet 2 of 2):
Your data governance process is guided by a statement of purpose or documented set of goals and objectives.
Committees engaged in data governance meet to carry out data governance responsibilities at least quarterly.
Required Supporting Documentation:
Minutes or agenda of your two most recent data governance meeting.
Open data or data governance documents that describe the roles and responsibilities of the data governance team.
Statement of purpose, relevant clauses of enabling policy that identify the goals and objectives of a data governance body, or other official documents identifying the goals of your data governance process.
A schedule of your upcoming data governance meetings.
DG3. Your local government has and carries out documented policies or practices to improve data quality.
Checklist (Must meet 3 of 4):
Your local government identifies data quality problems by conducting a data quality audit.
Your local government implements processes to improve identified data quality problems.
Your local government documents standards for internal data so that certain common fields (e.g., street address) are consistent across the organization.
Your local government establishes feedback channels for data users to identify data quality issues.
Required Supporting Documentation:
A summary of your local government’s process to improve data quality.
A description of what happens when local government staff identify a low-quality dataset and the process for improving the dataset before it is published.
An example of a dataset that has been improved through this process.
DG4. Your local government has documented policies or practices to protect the privacy and confidentiality of government-held data.
Checklist (Must meet 2 of 3):
Your local government has a documented process to reduce the possibility of inadvertently releasing private or confidential data.
Your local government offers staff information or training about how to assess and reduce security risks associated with your data.
Your local government has a process for engaging residents and other external stakeholders in the government’s security risk management program.
Required Supporting Documentation:
Internal memos or training materials that inform local government staff who manage and use data about how to protect the privacy and confidentiality of residents.
DG5. Your local government has a documented and user-friendly process to expedite the sharing of data — including protected data — both cross-departmentally within the local government and with trusted outside partners.
Checklist (Must meet 3 of 4):
Your local government has a written process documenting how to share data internally or with trusted partners.
Your local government has a user-friendly method of collecting requests to share data and requires data-holders to respond in a timely way.
Your local government limits data-sharing agreements to datasets that are non-eligible for open data; otherwise, datasets are publicly shared.
Where there is a risk of liability, your local government uses data-sharing or data use agreements.
Required Supporting Documentation:
Copy of a current data sharing agreement.
Copy of relevant policy or process document.
An inventory of data sharing agreements.
Return to top. | https://medium.com/what-works-cities-certification/what-works-cities-certification-assessment-guide-5c514f1dff1b | ['What Works Cities'] | 2020-11-04 15:25:10.178000+00:00 | ['Cities', 'Local Government', 'Government Innovation', 'Data'] |
Blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies | There has been perhaps too much talk about blockchain recently, which doesn’t change anything about the fact that it is an exciting technology with the potential to disrupt industries across the board.
However, the technology behind blockchains is actually far less revolutionary than it might seem based on the buzz surrounding them. All of the utilized technologies — the internet, cryptography and transport protocols — have been known for decades. It is not the technology itself that is revolutionary, but the way it is used. Especially public blockchains with an elegant double-spend solution are able to validate and secure anything from cryptocurrency transactions, to healthcare and government records and proof of ownership.
Blockchains are special databases that are distributed and accessible to anyone, operate without a central administrator and require consensus for making entries. In a public blockchain, consensus is reached mostly through a computationally demanding voting process carried out by users, who are rewarded for this activity with unique tokens (cryptocurrencies). Unlike data in traditional databases, data recorded in a blockchain cannot be modified.
Why blockchains are so special
As digital data is generally easy to copy, before the invention of blockchains there was a risk that a dishonest party would use the same digital asset more than once. The consensus algorithm (especially Proof of Work combined with tremendous hashing power), the existence of a complete transaction history stored in a blockchain, and accessible to anyone has rendered this virtually impossible.
By solving the problem of double-spending through consensus of the majority of network participants, blockchains also enable two parties who are distrustful of each other to carry out transactions in a secure manner without an intermediary, such as a notary public, a settlement bank or a database administrator.
Eliminating the intermediary has also eliminated the central most vulnerable point in the system, which was the focus of most hacking efforts. Transactions carried out by blockchains without a central authority are also beyond the reach of censorship. As a result, blockchain users do not run the risk of ending up in a situation similar to that seen in the traditional financial world in 2010, when Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal started blocking donations to WikiLeaks. Compared to traditional databases run on designated servers, blockchains also have a number of other advantages including, among other things, zero downtime for maintenance or because of a power failure.
Blockchains aren’t just cryptocurrencies
However, it is not all roses with blockchains. Their operation is, for instance, much slower and costlier, which makes using them a sensible choice only when there is a reason to distrust the central authority. Despite this, their possible uses extend far beyond the financial system, which tends to be the most cited example of how they are used. Their principle of decentralized consensus can help build more robust systems whenever ownership is concerned or attestations required.
The future of blockchains lies, for example, in highly automated control of hierarchical processes. Cryptocurrencies are not just currencies; technically, they are a control signal. For example, for a vending machine to give you a candy bar, the transaction and the action of dispensing the candy bar are both carried out as part of a single indivisible automatic cycle. Most manufacturing or business processes or sets of processes can be expressed in this way. Volkswagen is one of the first companies to explore the use of this benefit.
This brings us to another interesting application of blockchains and cryptocurrencies — smart contracts. Any human-made contract that can be expressed as an algorithm can be administered by a blockchain, which automatically monitors compliance with the terms of the contract.
If you were, for example, late with your car lease payment (through cryptocurrency), it would bar you from starting your car until the payment was made. Apart from smart contracts and the administration of ownership rights, blockchains will also find use in supply chains, digital rights administration, and real estate registers. Now to the principles: decentralization and shared supervision. The shared supervision of blockchain entries specifically enables otherwise opposing parties to cooperate in a mutually satisfactory way. The Open Music Initiative and Ujo Music are blockchain projects using this principle to simplify the enforcement of rights and the administration of compensation for musicians and rights holders. Blockchain solutions can also help defuse tensions and overcome power struggles, for example, when establishing a branch consortium. With sufficient decentralization and openness, blockchain networks can easily follow in the footsteps of the internet and WWW, thus becoming new public services. There are numerous examples, including the new “internet currency” Bitcoin and the decentralized world supercomputer called Ethereum and other similar platforms (NEO, EOS).
Tamper-proof and immutable
Entering data into a (public) blockchain is like setting it in stone, as it is preserved practically forever. As a result, blockchains can be very useful for keeping real estate registers (existing projects include BenBen, Bitfury, Velox.re, and the Dubai Land Department Blockchain project) because they prevent fraud (such as illegal handling of real estate) and reduce the cost of logging entries and maintaining the given register. Blockchains can be used for storing academic diplomas, which makes them permanent and easy to verify. Blockchains can also help streamline financial audits, authenticity certification, sharing of copyrights to works of art (like the Ascribe project) and tracing of the origins of retail goods. A platform called Provenance, for example, enables you to trace the origin of foodstuffs and their ingredients. Another example of blockchain usage is VETRI, working independently of any central authority and handing control over personal data back into the hands of individual users.
The invention of blockchains has also given rise to promising new fields, such as decentralized forecasting. Blockchain-based solutions enable the publication of forecasts and the rewarding of their authors (as well as those who bet on them) without censorship. There is, for example, an open-source decentralized prediction market called Augur, which uses Ethereum blockchain smart contracts. Blockchains’ permanence and resistance to falsification open up new possibilities in asset management, offering similar advantages as double-entry bookkeeping: better order and a lower risk of mistakes. In the energy sector, RWE and EEX use these properties of blockchains in their joint Grid Singularity project. The Brooklyn Microgrid is another interesting example of a blockchain system that enables automated direct sale and purchase of energy generated by solar panels on residential buildings. VETRI once again functions as a marketplace that connects identity holders and data consumers through blockchain smart contract technology and matches supply and demand, all commission-free.
Find out more about the value of your personal data: | https://medium.com/vetri/blockchain-beyond-cryptocurrencies-19a52a7b2d66 | [] | 2018-12-17 08:36:00.414000+00:00 | ['Blockchain'] |
Machine Learning: Detecting Dropped Pacifiers | I recently became a parent. As expected, it’s been full of challenges, one of which being sleep. Our little one is a decent sleeper but has one requirement any time she goes down: a pacifier. Not just any pacifier, her pacifier. If she drops it, we place it back in her mouth so she can fall asleep or stay asleep. My wife and I oblige each and every time because, hey, there’s nothing more peaceful than a sleeping baby. That being said, we’ve had to constantly keep one eye on the baby monitor to keep watch for a dropped pacifier.
Each time I replaced the pacifier, I had a thought. There must be a way technology can solve this. I’ve always eyed machine learning from afar but never had the time or a problem to apply it to. Now was the perfect opportunity so I dove right in. I had heard of this nifty machine learning platform called TensorFlow so I figured that would be a great place to start. Lucky for me, they already had an API for object detection and easy-to-follow instructions on training a custom object detector.
Labeling with LabelImg
After setting up my workspace, the first step was sourcing some images to train the model with. I had set aside a handful of various shots from the baby monitor we used. I started with roughly 50 shots of various baby poses including both pacifier in and pacifier out shots. Easy enough. Then it was time to label… and label… and label some more. I used LabelImg and worked through each and every image. If the pacifier was in, I labeled the baby and the pacifier as “baby_pacifier”. If it was out, I separately labeled “baby” and “pacifier”.
tensorboard showing progress
After labeling, munging the resulting XML into TFRecord files, and splitting my dataset into a train and test set, I was ready to train a model. I first went down the path of training my own model from scratch but quickly realized that may require thousands of images and hundreds of hours to train. I went back to following the instructions and used the pre-trained model referenced there as a starting point. We were off to the races…very slow races that is. Since I did not have access to a NVIDIA GPU and didn’t want to bother with cloud TPUs, I ran the training job locally on my laptop. In order to measure progress, I also started an evaluation job using the test dataset and spun up a TensorBoard instance to visualize everything. The training job performance left much to be desired but, low and behold, I started seeing results a few hours later.
first successful-ish detection
Though it was working, it consistently mislabeled objects even after ~50k training iterations. Unsure of what to do, I took a wild guess and decided more training data was needed. +300 labeled images and many wasted hours later, we were back at it. After another day’s worth of training, I was finally seeing consistently solid results from the test set. Also, the model was able to accurately label most new images I fed it. Cool. So now we have a working model that can differentiate between a baby and a baby with a pacifier. Now what?
Enter MediaPipe. In its own words, MediaPipe “offers cross-platform, customizable ML solutions for live and streaming media.” I had experimented with it a few months back to do pose tracking on live video and knew it had out of the box support for object detection as well as consuming live video with back pressure for slow models. By converting my SavedModel to a TensorFlow Lite model, I was able to use it as the model for MediaPipe’s object detection example. I did struggle briefly converting from SavedModel to TensorFlow Lite but using the latest build of TensorFlow via tf-nightly did the trick.
After overcoming that hiccup, I was able to successfully stream video from my baby monitor and detect whether the little one had a pacifier in or not. Unfortunately, it would work for a minute but then would fall behind. It quickly became evident that the model I used was just too slow for live video. I remembered a document I stumbled across in my research outlining the performance of the various pre-trained models offered by TensorFlow. I decided to redo the model using the fastest model listed: SSD MobileNet v2 320x320. Two days later, I finally had a working model that was able to keep up with live video!
object detection on video
So far so good but that solution still required me to watch a video and wait for a box to change. Being a SRE at my day job and inspired by a tweet, I figured a natural next step would be to wire up some metrics tracking the confidence of each label and trigger an alert when it changed. To accomplish this, I extended MediaPipe with a custom calculator that exposed Prometheus metrics and configured my home Prometheus server to scrape it. Though it did work, I found it difficult to craft the right query to detect a drop in the “baby_pacifier” label and an increase in the “baby” label while handling rapid changes over a short interval. Back to the drawing board.
baby metrics
My next attempt was something a little more rudimentary. I extended MediaPipe to output any detected labels to standard out. I then wrote a small Go program that parsed MediaPipe’s output, detected when the label changed from “baby_pacifier” to “baby” and sent me a push notification. To prevent rapid spurts of notifications, it debounced over 5 seconds before sending a notification. To my relief and to my wife’s eye roll, it worked for the first time in production over dinner that evening.
In summary, rather than “nap when baby naps”, I did what any not-so-sane parent would do and I over-engineered a solution to a problem I didn’t really have. I applied machine learning to train a TensorFlow model to detect the difference between my newborn daughter with and without her pacifier. I fed that model live video using MediaPipe and wrote a program that parsed its output to trigger push notifications if a pacifier drop occurs. Needless to say, the many hours it took to build this has saved me countless minutes over the past few weeks. | https://medium.com/swlh/machine-learning-detecting-dropped-pacifiers-c9bfab80934e | ['Hank Jacobs'] | 2020-11-08 05:29:35.408000+00:00 | ['Mediapipe', 'Machine Learning', 'Machine Vision', 'TensorFlow', 'Object Detection'] |
Why Do Some People Shut Down Emotionally After A Breakup with an Ex-Narcissist ? | Why Do Some People Shut Down Emotionally After A Breakup with an Ex-Narcissist? ben gael Mar 22·4 min read
but the great thing about being a human is that we adapt and overcome. at least i did. it got easier for me to be over it all and move on wo a word.
HO
There are various things that can make somebody experience mind-boggling torment, and separation is a unique little something. At the point when somebody encounters a separation, it can feel like their entire has arrived at the end.
It will not make any difference in the event that they had been with the other individual for a matter of months or years, as the agony can clear them out. One would then be able to have gone from feeling large and in charge, to feeling like they are in the lower part of the world.
Wrecked
In any case, regardless of whether they didn’t feel along these lines, how they currently feel is still prone to be profoundly extraordinary. One could then have an actually solid body, a body that is canvassed in muscle, yet it will not affect how they feel.
Outwardly, at that point, they will look solid, yet they will feel amazingly feeble within. In the event that they don’t have a body this way, they can in any case feel far more vulnerable than they really look.
A Loss of Control
Prior to this point on schedule, they may have been genuinely adjusted, and they may have likewise discovered it genuinely simple to deal with their feelings when this wasn’t the situation. Presently, their feelings will be wild, and it very well may be pretty much inconceivable for them to settle their feelings down.
Truth be told, it could feel like they are presently all adrift and there is almost no that can be done. Probably the best need would then be able to be to do whatever they can to recover command over their inward world.
One Option
What one could wind up doing, to encounter support, is to contact their companions. It will at that point be entirely certain that they won’t want to shroud how they believe; they will alright with being powerless.
The strength that they are right now missing inside will be given by individuals in their day-to-day existence. Similarly, that platform will hold up an unsteady structure; these individuals will hold up their flimsy inward world.
Two Ways
As these individuals can be there for them thusly, it will well on the way to show that these individuals additionally have a decent connection with their own feelings. They are then not going to be genuinely detached or accept that there is anything amiss with being sincerely defenseless.
Intuitively, they may likewise understand that nobody is their own island and that there will be minutes in everybody’s day-to-day existence when they need passionate help. Along these lines, in the event that they were not positive, they would likewise contact others similarly.
The Healthy Approach
At the point when one isn’t positive and they contact others, it will prevent them from detaching from how they feel. This will empower them to work through the torment that they are in.
This may require a couple of months or it could take significantly more, yet the primary concern is that they will permit this cycle to unfurl. Sooner or later, they will no doubt slowly begin to settle down, which will allow them to discover another person.
Another Outcome
Then again, one could wind up utilizing their brain to separate from how they feel, and this is probably going to imply that they will seldom come into contact with their torment. Also, in any event, when this torment comes into their cognizant mindfulness, they will before long do what they can to push it back down again into their body.
This may imply that there isn’t anybody in their life who they can open up to, or it could simply show that they don’t learn about happiness with coming to other people. In any case, this agony will remain caught inside them.
A Divided Being
What this will do is permit them to settle down without working through their enthusiastic torment. The drawback with this methodology is that it will presently don’t be feasible for them to work in general individual.
Not exclusively will they put some distance between their ‘awful’ emotions, they will likewise put some distance between their ‘positive sentiments. They would then be able to appear to be somebody who is level, and they may even seem to be cold.
Bogus Highs
Through being withdrawn from the very things that permit at that point to feel invigorated, they can wind up being attracted to things that will misleadingly bring life into them. This may imply that they will wind up being attracted to liquor, drugs, have unending easygoing experiences, as well as they, may continually travel to another country.
The disadvantage is that the flashing sensation of aliveness that they get by taking part in such things will presumably make it much harder for them to deal with their ordinary state. It is then simple to perceive any reason why they may get dependent on these things.
Mindfulness
In the event that somebody like this was to connect with their agony, they may see that they feel too embarrassed to even think about contacting others. Hushing up about this agony by disengaging from it, will at that point have been a route for them to safe face.
Considering this, it will be fundamental for one to acknowledge that there isn’t anything amiss with connecting for help. Also, regardless of whether someone else attempts to disgrace them, it would basically show that this individual has their own injuries to determine.
In the event that one can identify with this, and they need to transform them, they may require the help of a specialist or a healer. | https://medium.com/@brklnbright/why-do-some-people-shut-down-emotionally-after-a-breakup-with-an-ex-narcissist-835bc3dbe0e | ['Ben Gael'] | 2021-03-22 19:17:01.676000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Love Letters', 'Singles', 'Breakups', 'Love'] |
Hydrogen a Finalist For Another Blockchain Award! | This time, it’s our friends at WealthManagement.com that have included us among only three finalists in the Blockchain/Cryptocurrency category at the 2019 Industry Awards!
Our competition includes SS&C Technologies, a $15 Billion publicly traded company. We are so honored just to be included in the final list; let’s see if we can bring home another trophy for our case!
The award announcement gala will be held September 12th at the Zigfield Ballroom in New York City. It looks like Mike will have to turn his Hydrogen t-shirt into a Hydrogen tuxedo. Now that would be a fashion statement! | https://medium.com/hydrogen-api/hydrogen-a-finalist-for-another-blockchain-award-574f8469a8a4 | [] | 2019-06-08 15:45:24.874000+00:00 | ['Announcements', 'Blockchain', 'Awards', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
In case, just in case … we ever forget. | Sky News
The criminal, criminal idiocy
of those ridiculing, denying,
downplaying Republicans
& their enablers, sycophants,
ever-knowing heads-that-talk,
on Fox …
oh, yes … Fox!
OAN, Twitter, Parler,
& such, & on & on …
…
As of this day,
December 3rd, 2020,
273,476 folks have died,
& over 144 million
carry the virus.
All those who denied the mask,
shrugged off ‘the flu’,
reasoned with ‘heck, death is natural’,
argued as political hacks,
ignored science as ‘free-men’,
safety as ‘patriots’,
just plain decent common-sense
& care & respect for their fellow
travelers in this fragile world,
… as tyranny, leftism, & elitism,
…
& Trump,
oh yes Trump …
with his early bluster, denial,
petty ignorance & ill-preparedness …
…
& so here we are …
273,476 as of this morn,
& let us not forget
those whose in-action,
ignorance & denial,
have a responsibility here,
at this moment,
that cannot, cannot,
ever … be forgotten.
Cnn.com
Time.com
with tears, long distance farewells,
pain, heartache, sadness & sorrow …
never forgotten.
… & never forget. | https://medium.com/resistance-poetry/in-case-just-in-case-we-ever-forget-bdef73f7e4f6 | ['Matthew B.'] | 2020-12-04 11:14:20.964000+00:00 | ['Resistance Poetry', 'Fox News', 'Trump', 'Republicans', 'Coronavirus'] |
State Pension UK: Millions missing out due to simple errors — check now | FREE now SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter fornow We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.
State Pension payments provide retirees with important financial support once they reach an eligible age to receive the sum. The payment is overseen by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and for many Britons is the primary source for their retirement income. With the state pension hinging on the amount of National Insurance contributions a person makes throughout their lifetime, many will be planning ahead to ensure they receive the full amount from the government.
Trending
READ MORE Attendance Allowance: Britons could receive over £4,600 in yearly help This currently stands at £175.20 per week for pensioners. However, recent research by Lane, Clark, Peacock has shown as many as seven million people could be making mistakes which could slash their state pension entitlement. The reductions are likely to vary, but in some instances could leave Britons with nothing at all in the form of state pension. The key issue to bear in mind is the failure to claim the… | https://medium.com/@grigorijsemenuk4/state-pension-uk-millions-missing-out-due-to-simple-errors-check-now-798061fe55c9 | [] | 2020-11-23 18:57:51.767000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'UK Politics', 'Coronavirus', 'Education'] |
THE ASTRO READ — Celebrity news from an astrology point of view | The Eclipse Week that was: Ariana Grande engaged. Will this engagement lead to happily ever after?
The Astro Read is a new installment on Astronatic that will highlight recent celebrity news, connecting it to astrology. It will provide more regular coverage of astrology celebrity news in between the time that I take to do my more typical celebrity profiles (e.g, Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Age of Aquarius in Hollywood, etc.).
This Astro Read highlights celebrity happenings (and really revelations) that occurred around the December 14th solar eclipse in Sagittarius. Solar eclipses tend to reveal information, lead to exits, and sometimes bring about new beginnings.
Now on to some happy news. The announcement of Ariana Grande’s engagement wrapped up the eclipse week of Dec 14th.
It’s no secret that Ariana has had her struggles when it comes to relationships. This is Ariana’s second engagement, but is the second time the charm? And what are Ariana’s tendencies in relationships?
In Ariana’s natal chart, Venus (the planet that represents love) is in the grounded Earth sign of Taurus. Ariana is probably the type of person that is looking for a committed relationship and is capable of commitment herself. But like most people, Ariana’s chart shows the challenges that could come up in her pursuit of a relationship. In her chart, Venus is trine Uranus which leads to her romantic relationships happening suddenly. Her Venus placement creates challenges in her personality that could potentially lead to relationship trouble: her tendency to become jealous and possessive and possible difficulties in being able to compromise.
Ariana has 4 retrogrades in her chart (Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto), which is more than the typical person has. Her retrogrades can cause her to be demanding of herself, have escapist tendencies (whether through spending time alone, spirituality or possibly drugs and alcohol). Based on this, she needs a significant other in her life that is attentive and also allows her alone time. And she definitely needs someone that is a grounding influence.
The biggest challenge (in my opinion) is Chiron (the asteroid that represents inner wounds) being in harsh aspect to her Venus. Those with this type of aspect fear rejection from their significant other so they give and give in relationships, oftentimes without getting as much in return. They also tend to be attracted to those that need help in some way or are dependent on them.
Juno (the asteroid that represents marriage) is right next to Chiron in Ariana’s natal chart. This could mean that marriage could bring about her Chiron internal wound or heal it.
Is her now finance, Dalton Gomez, the right guy for her to marry, the guy that could heal her Chiron wound?
It’s a good sign that Dalton’s sun sign is in Leo — which is the same sign that Ariana’s Juno (the asteroid representing marriage) is in. Ariana and Dalton’s Mars and Venus matchups are for the most part good. Ariana has her Venus in Taurus, and Dalton has his Mars in Libra — Libra and Taurus are signs that are ruled by the planet of love (Venus) and are signs that are compatible. Ariana’s Mars is in Virgo, and Dalton’s Venus is in Leo — this is a good (not great) matchup that could work. Dalton’s Venus in Leo means that he needs frequent adoration, and Ariana will probably be able to provide that. Dalton will have to adjust to how he will get that adoration from Ariana once the pandemic is over, and Ariana will probably on the road more with her music career.
Ariana is prone to face challenges in relationships due to her Chiron, but this engagement could possibly be the happily ever after she has been looking for.
Other articles in The Astro Read: Week of December 14th:
Thanks for reading this article!
Feel free to click the 👏 button, leave a comment, and/or share this article with those that you think will find it interesting.
To stay in the loop on Astronatic updates and new articles, feel free to do the following: | https://medium.com/@astronatic/the-astro-read-celebrity-news-from-an-astrology-point-of-view-96902b5419e7 | [] | 2020-12-22 23:37:29.189000+00:00 | ['Astrology', 'Spirituality', 'Culture', 'Ariana Grande', 'Celebrity'] |
Email subject line secret | How do you come up with email subject lines?
Well, however you’re doing it now, I probably have a better way.
Over the years, I’ve probably written thousands of content and promotional emails. I’ve studied the subject intensively.
And there’s something I’ve learnt about crafting amazing subject lines.
Use curiosity.
Let me show you a few examples. We wrote these subject lines for a client who helps people quit smoking.
Here’s one of his email subject lines:
‘Cravings.’
That’s it.
Like I said, the client owns a quit smoking business. This one word was enough to grab attention and make people want to read the email.
Another subject line was ‘Failure.’
The email began as follows:
‘Quitting may be disheartening. If you’re a smoker who’s trying to quit, you may understand the discouragement…’
If you’re a smoker who wants to quit, how do you not continue to read?
So here are two tips for crafting strong subject lines:
use curiosity use only a few words (mobile devices limit space)
Then, of course, your first sentence of the email has to pull your reader in…
Get this done and you’ll get people reading your emails. | https://medium.com/@fubbimav/email-subject-line-secret-ce6a35a74da8 | ['Alexi Neocleous'] | 2020-11-26 00:46:44.338000+00:00 | ['Broadcasting', 'Content Marketing', 'Email Marketing', 'Contenthacking', 'Email Marketing Tips'] |
Motorious Dream Car Picks: Classic Pickups | Last week, we looked through our substantial inventory to find a handful of the best classic 4x4s offered for sale here on Motorious. This week, we’re going to check out some classic work trucks.
We enjoy seeing these former beasts of burden restored to perfection. Classic pickup trucks like these built the country back up after World War II, and they’re an unmistakable part of the American landscape.
Image Via Fusion Luxury Motors
We’ll get started with perhaps the biggest icon of them all, the second generation Ford F-Series. If you were to ask someone to picture a classic pickup truck, this is what most people would see when they closed their eyes.
This 1954 Ford F-100 was completely restored in 2017. The truck looks perfectly stock, but its Y-block V8 was treated to a few era-appropriate speed parts. We definitely approve — vintage speed equipment is way cool.
Image Via Fusion Luxury Motors
We’d really like the color. Apparently, it’s a stock Ford shade called Sea Haze Green. This subdued shade of seafoam may be our favorite factory color for these trucks.
Image Via Streetside Classics
Classic Chevy pickups are equally well-known — and well-loved. This 1948 Chevrolet 3100 Thriftmaster is a prime example of (arguably) the most famous classic Chevy pickup shape.
Like the Ford above, it was recently treated to a painstaking restoration. Since the work was completed, this truck has been driven less than 3,000 miles.
Image Via Streetside Classics
It’s a safe bet to say that this truck’s working days are over. We’re sure that it earned its keep when it was new. It’s stood the test of time, and it’s earned its cushy retirement.
Image Via GAA Classic Car Auctions
Now, we’re going to look at something a little bit newer. This beautiful, two-tone 1959 Dodge D100 Sweptside is gorgeous to behold.
The unique styling of this truck is immediately eye-catching. If there ever was a time for tailfins on a truck, it was the late 1950s.
Image Via GAA Classic Car Auctions
According to the add, fewer than 100 of these trucks were built. Only around 30 or so are believed to exist today.
This mat not be the classic pickup we dreamed of owning as a kid. However, it’s certainly high up on our list now.
Image Via TNT Classic Cruiser Ranch
The last truck on our list is a classic Studebaker, specifically a 1961 Champ pickup. The brand may be long gone, but the styling of the Champ pickup has endured in the hearts of truck fans.
This truck was recently restored as well, and it certainly looks the part. In fact, it may be the best looking Champ we’ve ever laid eyes on.
Image Via TNT Classic Cruiser Ranch
We’d be proud to call this truck ours. While it’s by far the least expensive truck on our list, it’s still a great truck that we’d be proud to call our own. | https://medium.com/motorious/motorious-dream-car-picks-classic-pickups-942ccf9f54cf | ['Sam Maven'] | 2020-12-30 18:00:03.605000+00:00 | ['American', 'Trucks', 'Features'] |
3 🔑’s to Understanding #Brexit | 🏴 nationalism hijacked by a petty sub-set of oligarchs, their servants & the mis-led who imagine threats by the 🇪🇺 to 🇬🇧 identity into an organising focus for self-interest
2 The ruling Tory Party’s business model:
A Adopt policies (privatise public goods; £b in covid related fast-track contracts that would breach EU law) that enrich its supporters
B Thus enriched supporters in the House of Lords (& shady back-room influencing groups) dominate State decision-making
3 Poets’ ✍️ fantastical 😭 articles in the school newsletters of this narrow brand of 🏴 nationalism (eg. Spectator & The Telegraph) spew anti-🇪🇺 disinformation for decades, thereby becoming legislators.
Disinformation concealed as Fake 🇬🇧 Patriotism.
Fake-promotes 🇬🇧 identity, while 🏴 & 🏴‘s Parliaments & rights completely ignored.
True 🏴 nationalists need To Take Back Control from these misanthropic oligarchic elites (& their poets) who have hi-jacked 🏴 & 🇬🇧 nationalism.
Let’s return to the multicultural, open & positive version of 🇬🇧 & 🏴 identity modelled in the 2012 🇬🇧 Olympics opening ceremony.
100 Disastrous Brexit Moves | https://medium.com/political-risk/3-s-to-understanding-brexit-1719a412568b | ['Stephen Douglas'] | 2020-12-24 08:50:47.905000+00:00 | ['United Kingdom', 'Brexit', 'Disinformation', 'Nationalism', 'European Union'] |
AI Can See You. Here’s How: | How do you train a CNN?
Training a CNN is quite complicated, but I’ll try to keep it simple! I’ll be explaining it in a few sections:
Inputs
Kernels
Pooling
An Example Of A CNN Used To Detect Handwritten Digits (Image by Sumit Saha on Medium)
Inputs
Any neural network needs some sort of input to be able to do anything. Since we’re using CNNs for computer vision the most likely form of input will be images or videos. But let’s stick to images for now.
Black and white images
First, the pixels will be put into a 2D tensor, think a grid. Each pixel will be assigned a value from 0–255 depending on how light or dark it is. Darker pixels will be closer to 0 and lighter ones will be closer to 255.
A 5 From The Famous MNIST Dataset With The Pixel Values (Image by Cecelia Shao on Medium)
Obviously, black and white images are much simpler given that this is a simple 2D matrix. Other images, like colour images, are a 3D tensor.
Color images
Color images follow a very similar process to black and white images. As most people know, the three primary colours (for digital) are RGB, or red, blue, and green. This is exactly how colour images are broken down. You can think of it as 3 sheets of coloured film stacked to make one image.
3x3 Colour Image (Image by Brandon Rohrer on KDnuggets)
A colored image should have 3 channels, one for each colour. Collectively, this is also called a tensor. The numbers of channels are like the number of “layers” of a tensor.
Kernels
A kernel is a matrix that is foundational to CNNs. They are used for feature extraction in images. There are also many variables in kernels that can be tweaked including size and step.
Size. The size of a kernel just means how tall or large it is, in pixels. These can be adjusted for many reasons, including how specified or generalized you want the next layer to be.
Step. The step of a kernel determines how large of a step the kernel will take. A step of 2 means it will move 2 pixels down each time.
So what do kernels do? As I mentioned before, the kernel is used to extract features from images. You can think of a kernel as a magnifying glass that reports what it sees on each part of an image. The size would determine the size of the lens and the step would determine how much the magnifying glass would move each time.
The 3x3 Orange Square Is A Kernel With A Step Of One (Gif by Sumit Saha on Medium)
The values of a kernel multiply to the values of the pixels of an image in something called element-wise multiplication. The sum of the results from the element-wise multiplication produces a new image, now smaller and more specific to one kind of feature.
In the first few layers of a CNN, the kernels are likely more generalized, like for recognizing lines, then it will be progressively more specific, like recognizing corners, then circles, then ears, then faces. | https://medium.com/swlh/ai-can-see-you-heres-how-425dd3ca7322 | ['Eason Wu'] | 2020-11-19 14:15:06.040000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Convolutional Network', 'Technology', 'Computer Vision'] |
Utopia the Land of Nostalgia | Hiraeth — longing for a place where we want to be.
Lollipop swirls and bouncy curls,
I dreamed of a utopia, with bright lights and love.
It would wait for me at every turn.
For a child, this place overflowed with euphoria,
I’m filled with hiraeth to return.
To visit this whimsical land I once knew,
A place where the sky didn’t have to be blue;
it could be purple or pink or any psychedelic hue.
The clouds whirled with compassion in an ever-changing sky,
No one kept grudges — matters were quickly settled.
Utopia was where you could laugh till you cry,
Or float down the river in giant flower petals.
The people searched for adventure high and low,
According to our dreams, the land would grow.
The animals spoke to us as friends,
Our homes would change with our imagination.
There were only beginnings and no ends.
Utopia was like a much-needed vacation.
In the winter, the snowflakes were millions of
glittered sparkles in iridescent colors.
Hundreds of waterfalls awaited us in the summers.
Cotton candy was fun to jump upon, and ice cream was in abundance like a flowing sea.
All the people were thoughtful and polite;
no violence of any kind.
You could be silly and laugh without even a scold.
The chill beneath your feet was shiny silver and real gold.
The land of Utopia where life was so free
Hiraeth — longing for a place where we want to be,
grab my hand and follow me. | https://medium.com/literary-impulse/utopia-the-land-of-nostalgia-49d9c14c00f6 | ['Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers'] | 2020-09-13 12:29:15.381000+00:00 | ['Literary Impulse', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Fantasy', 'Poetry', 'Hiraeth'] |
Both Friday | Both Friday
Just a hundred yesterdays ago I wondered if Owen would talk. I had to believe he would, I told him he could do it, and I had to stay positive about it, but I still questioned it. The doctors told me he might not talk but I kept reminding Owen he could do anything he set his mind to. And today my boy is talking up a storm, singing in French, and screaming at the tv in Spanish. Well, it seems like he is screaming in every language now. The connections he is making are incredible. He was singing, “red orange yellow green blue”, with an episode of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and playing his xylophone that has the colors as the notes. He was hitting the colors as he was singing. He was full of energy today, much more than me. He doesn’t understand that I can’t handle all of his emotions and my emotions at the same time. He also doesn’t understand that I can not instantaneously do something he wants. He will stick his tablet right in my face or in my hands wanting me to help him, screaming if I don’t jump to attention. I try to get him to understand we have to work together and that he has to wait a minute sometimes. I tell him to ask for help so I know that he wants me to do something. It’s still a hard concept for him. He did his own countdown for bed but kept adding five more minutes to the timing. I tried to do bedtime a little differently hoping it wouldn’t take three hours again, instead it took two and I fell asleep waiting for him to fall asleep. The fake snoring gets me every time. I dream of what’s to come for tomorrow and I know that he will keep growing and growing. Find your strength, believe in the hope of tomorrow, and know that you are important. Smiles to all and donut daze! | https://medium.com/@lynnbrowder/both-friday-82aa5a7066c6 | ['Lynn Browder'] | 2020-12-19 05:02:48.012000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Parenting', 'Autism', 'Life Lessons', 'Inspiration'] |
Email Needs a Reply-By Date | Email Needs a Reply-By Date
Lean Manufacturing Ideas to Fix Email
Image by Wavebreak Media on BigStock
Instant Delivery is Bad Design
In 2003, Blackberry released an exciting new feature — emails would be pushed to arrive instantly at your device. No more need to “check email”. Ding! Here it is. In the smartphone era, emails arrive with a push alert in your notification stack. Desktop clients like Outlook work the same way.
Instant delivery is the model for asynchronous communications of all kinds — Text messages, WhatsApp messages, #Slack notifications, SnapChats. Tech companies compete to deliver the fastest, and be the most synchronized across devices. All messages get our attention — whether urgent, important, or not.
This is terrible design. Humans pick up their phones 80+ times a day, usually in response to an alert or inbound asynchronous communication. Every interruption costs us time and focus. A 3-second interruption doubles mistakes at work. Having a smartphone face-up on the desk leads to a 26% productivity drop.
Messages are shown in the order they were received, with the newest on the top of the stack. So a newer message that was mailed to the whole company and needs no response is put ahead of a message from your boss that needs a quick answer.
It’s a great system for spammers and marketers — they can interrupt us at any time, and get the same priority as an email from a colleague that needs a quick response. But it’s a terrible system for humans trying to manage their workflow.
Learning From Supply Chain
I worked at GE Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were a pioneer in Lean Manufacturing — with impressive efficiency and coordination across a worldwide network of suppliers.
What matters is making things arrive when they are needed in the process. Arriving too early is almost as bad as arriving too late. You start with the delivery date to the customer, and work backwards to make each step in the process lead up to that successful delivery.
It just makes sense. Workers and facilities have the materials they need at the time they need to do the work. Products move through the supply chain, so the carbon-fiber fan blades arrive for assembly just when they’re ready to be mated to the rest of the engine.
But we don’t do this for our knowledge workers. Emails and other asynch communications arrive as soon as the sender wants to get them off his desk. Imagine if you organized a manufacturing supply chain based on shipping goods at the most convenient time for the sender. Manufacturing plants would have to search through mountains of un-organized materials on the loading dock to keep the production line going, with plummeting productivity and wildly unpredictable delivery times to their customers.
This disaster is exactly the situation for office work. Employees have to juggle a huge and unrelated inventory of email work-in-process while new and often unimportant requests are constantly interrupting. We’d never tolerate this in manufacturing. Why do we tolerate it in knowledge work?
Image by maksimenko a.v. on BigStock
Demand Flow for Asynch Communications
There aren’t any technical obstacles to designing asynchronous communications to use a demand-flow approach. It can be layered on top of older communication technologies like email or #Slack; or it could be the basis for a new kind of inbox. The advantages to workers could be enormous.
When you compose and email, there should be two new items you can optionally set: Respond-By Date, and Estimated Time To Respond. So I might say I need a response by tomorrow at 10am, and I think it will take you under 5 minutes to respond. Or perhaps it’s one of the many emails where no response is required — so I flag it as “No Response Needed.” We might experiment with other tags, such as an importance rating.
Now your inbox can be ordered by respond-by-date instead of arrival date. Instead of having to sort messages for urgency and importance, now the urgency is sorted for you. If there’s an importance rating (or even the current “important” flag in Outlook), it can sort by importance also.
Now let’s tackle the interruptions. Logistical powerhouses like Wal-Mart don’t just let trucks show up whenever they want. A delivery early or late results in a penalty.
Many productivity experts give the same advice for email — set aside certain times of the day to check email, so it can’t interrupt you all day. Since your inbox also runs your calendar (Outlook, Gmail, iCal), there should be a type of recurring calendar item called “Respond to Emails”.
If you set up these kinds of appointments, your inbox can adjust to not show you constant notifications, but only to bring itself up and get messages at these times. You might set up additional rules, so a few named people (your boss, a few colleagues) can break through and interrupt you at any time. Or, you might set a rule that if it’s from inside the company and a response is needed before the next email check period, it’s able to break through.
Image by SpicyTruffel on BigStock
Demand Flow User Example
Let’s see how some examples would work. I’ve set up three sessions on my calendar to respond to emails — 8am to 8:15, 11am to 11:30 and 4pm to 4:15. That’s one hour- about the amount of time a typical office worker spends on email during the day.
It’s 9:00am. A marketing email comes in from a supplier. It’s not marked with a “Reply-By Date” so it doesn’t alert or interrupt me. It’s sent to a folder of emails marked “No Need to Reply — External Sender.” An email from HR about a change to expense policy arrives and goes into a “No Need to Reply — Internal Sender” folder.
Now it’s 10:15am. An email arrives from a colleague with a question. He expects a response by the end of today, and estimates under 5 minutes to respond. This is sent to my inbox, where it’s placed in priority order based on the date the response is needed, not based on the arrival time. But I do not get an alert and my inbox is greyed out and not visible to me.
If I wanted to see my inbox and respond to email during a non-scheduled time, I have chosen some small-but-annoying obstacles to make that harder, such as having to enter my password or waiting 2 minutes before the email program loads. You might not choose any obstacles — it’s your choice.
When 11am arrives, my email program opens up and takes focus on the screen. It shows my inbox in priority order, based on the time the response is needed. It also shows the estimated time to respond, so I can speed through the easy ones before tackling the harder ones.
One of my emails has an estimate of several hours to complete — a customer needs a complete set of quarterly reports. I right-click the email and get a dialog box to put that on the calendar to complete tomorrow afternoon. It’s not “email” anymore, it’s a separate scheduled task.
I don’t get through everything by 11:30am, but that’s OK. I got through with everything that needed a response before the next email working period, and that’s all that matters. If I had gotten everything responded to in less than 30 minutes, that would be the time to review the No-Need-To-Respond emails.
My email program sends me a push alert to my phone at 3:30pm. Why? Since my 11:30 email session I’ve 5 gotten emails that need a response today — and each is estimated at 10+ minutes to respond. That’s more work than I have time to do in the 4pm slot. So the alert is letting me know that the work arriving is overflowing the time allotted. I can decide whether to switch into email earlier.
These examples show how a small change to email metadata can turn email from an all-day interruption into a well-managed part of the workday. With the right metadata and rules in place, my inbox turns into something like a virtual assistant — keeping my day on track and interrupting at on the right times when the interruption will help more than it hurts.
Image by Mikhail Grachikov on BigStock
The Need for Accountability
There’s a second piece to the puzzle — how to police the system and prevent abuse. Everyone will want to mark their emails as “Respond Immediately”. Customers and co-workers have an incentive to overstate the urgency of their requests and understate the time required.
Human assistants deal with the same problems every day. They develop an informal “reputation” score for each person and learn to put a priority weight on that person’s requests. Understanding who needs priority access (and who is a time-waster) is a key part of the assistant’s job.
Your inbox will never be as smart as a human assistant — but it has access to the data from everyone at the company, so it has a much better view of the data. Some people rant and rave over small problems, others minimize urgency even when a problem is getting severe. Instead of learning this from a few interactions between Node A and B of the network, if you can see how Node A interacts every other Node in the network, you get an accurate picture in much less time.
Accountability in Action
One approach is for email clients to collect a two-click rating from users at the time any message is responded to. The user would need to say how much the agree with the sender’s need-to-reply deadline and how much they agree with the time-to-reply estimate. The inbox client vendors would collect this information on a per-sender basis.
Employees would be able to see their own (anonymized) ratings, and company managers would be able to see the ratings of the people they manage, providing accountability and transparency within the organization. Company IT administrators would be able to see trends and data within the organization.
Many problematic emails will originate from outside the organization. What’s interesting is that the major email vendors could collect data about a sender from many organizations they send email to. If John Jones at Company A is getting flagged by 80% of the people he talks to at 25 different companies — he’s a problem. The group vote wins.
True SPAM emails are essentially from unknown senders, with a new email address each time. The system described here is not aimed at solving this issue. There are a variety of efforts underway, most of the aimed at nailing down a sender identity.
Conclusion
Email and other asynchronous communications deliver communications in an un-managed way that causes huge losses in productivity and quality for the people who receive them. This is equivalent to a supply chain in which materials are shipped at the sender’s convenience.
The recipient bears all the cost and work of being interrupted, determining the importance of an communication and whether it needs a response, determining when a response is needed, and managing the inventory of messages.
The same demand-flow and just-in-time approaches that have improved manufacturing and supply chain can be applied to office communications.
With a small amount of added metadata and functionality, inbox clients can require senders to specify whether a response is needed, the response deadline, and the amount of work estimated to respond. With this metadata in place, inbox clients can protect their users’ focus and attention, and help users manage their workflow in an efficient way. | https://medium.com/curious/email-needs-a-reply-by-date-65ebcf0e9b96 | ['Jesse Hercules'] | 2020-09-17 22:25:57.316000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Workflow', 'Communication'] |
Long | Long
A friend of mine whose kids are around the same age as mine was celebrating some of their birthdays yesterday and said, the days are long but the years are short. While other people may know this too, this is certainly a truism of parenthood. At a point which simultaneously feels like both yesterday as well as a lifetime ago, and my kids were very young, I promised myself that I would never just try to get through the day, to wish for the day to end. I committed that I would be present in every moment of my day (and my life), regardless of what was happening and whether whatever it was was good, bad, painful, embarrassing, ugly, exhilarating, shameful, whatever. I always knew that time is fleeting and that the years are short. I have wanted to sit in the space of all the moments so I wouldn’t miss them — in that time or later while looking back. I couldn’t do it every single day, but I can only remember a few where I surrendered and just went to sleep early. And the best part about it is that the next day I got to get up and try again. Just like today.
When Walter De Maria created the Lightning Field, a seminal work of land art, he proclaimed that, “the invisible is real.” One of the most powerful aspects of this work, which I have been so blessed to be able to experience in person, is that it is successful regardless of whether you ever see it actually activated. The knowing behind this possibility provides insight into the effectiveness of being present and acknowledging time. | https://medium.com/@heidizuckerman/long-a7cb1d7f9468 | ['Heidi Zuckerman'] | 2020-12-19 20:51:59.988000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Life', 'Wisdom', 'Connection', 'Love'] |
Why I Broke It Off Like That | Don’t worry, the memories of Disneyland will always stay with me forever.
You must have felt so baffled at the time. We were living in different states. I was suddenly not responding to your text messages.
From texting you daily, calling each other twice a week, and then absolutely nothing at all. I become distant with you. That was the beginning of an end.
Many times in the relationship, it was a one sided relationship. And it was a painful one too. I was always opening up the conversation. The one calling first. You said it was because I had the most interesting days. That made me feel dreadful and awful. I don’t know why. Like you were trying to insinuate something. I guess you could blame it on the anxiety at the time.
I called you about finally meeting a psychiatrist after having anxiety issues for years and you knew about these issues. And when I told you, you were shocked, your voice on the phone gave a tone that I was not expecting from a best friend of 3 years. I needed help.
But I guess you didn’t see that way. Anxiety sort of became my personality. A lot of people saw it that way too. So I came to a conclusion as to maybe that was why you were shocked when I told you about receiving medical help.
I can’t deny that I didn’t play a part in this broken relationship. I was truly a mess. I was having trials with anxiety medications and almost nothing was working for me. It took almost six months to finally find a concoction that suited me. Not replying to text messages, never on my social media. But thankfully, I had amazing friends who I call my true friends now who brought me food, called me daily and brought me out to my favourite activities which were window shopping, cafe hopping and just walking around.
We’ve been best friends since we were in highschool. We went to Japan together. Spent the whole day on the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland. Some days we would spend more than ten hours in school and I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for those memories.
So, what went wrong? To be honest, we grew up. You see, if there is one thing that you can’t be certain about, it’s the future. I never expected to be the person I am today. I didn’t expect to go to therapy at 20. Be best friends with university coursemates and the casual friends that I had in school. I grew up. We grew up. And it’s not that we became whole different people. We just have different priorities now. And that’s not bad.
My adulthood has made me fearless of letting go. Letting go of the things that could potentially detroriate my mental health and also negatively affect the people around me. But with you, I don’t want to let our memories go. I want to let you go in a way because I don’t want to keep holding myself back from making new friends. I don’t want to be traumatized making new friends just because of one relationship.
You gave me a blessed learning and incredibly meaningful experience for me, and that doesn’t make you a bad person, I promise. You gave me so many memories that I will cherish forever. I will always have a piece of you in my heart. I only hope for the best for you. Your sense of service has always been something I admire, so I hope you will always preserve even with the hurdles right in front of you. | https://medium.com/@rashifa/why-i-broke-it-off-like-that-66a73630944b | ['Rashifa Aljunied'] | 2020-12-23 08:00:58.524000+00:00 | ['Breakups', 'Best Friend', 'Depression', 'Mental Health', 'Friendship'] |
Penetration Testing | A penetration test’s aim is to check the security processes of a tech system
A penetration test’s aim is to check the security processes of a tech system. In short, a penetration test is an orchestrated and authorised cyberattack. Its task is to identify weaknesses in the operating system, in the application itself, or in the configuration process of a particular service.
A penetration test allows Quality Assurance engineers to check the reliability of the security system and the effectiveness of the protective mechanisms. In addition, this type of testing allows the organization to put in place countermeasures to protect the company from security attacks.
Let’s take a closer look at penetration testing, or ‘pen test’ for short.
Penetration Testing Objectives
Penetration testing is used to fine tune a security system that has been set up. Penetration testing always has a specific purpose and it’s usually one of the following:
To identify systems that can be hacked
To try to hack a system
To provoke a data leak
By testing such areas, teams can find the weakness in their security systems early on, so that they can put in place countermeasures to protect the company from cyberattacks in the future.
Penetration Testing Consists Of The Following Stages:
Planning and preparation
Identifying — the team chooses its aim
Attempt penetration
Analysis and reporting
Clear traces of the operation — the test should not leave traces
Re-testing
Penetration Testing Methods
External testing
The aim of an external test is to access and extract valuable data from outside of the system. Testers try to gain access to very sensitive data through weak spots like email and file shares.
Internal testing
Internal testing usually comes after external testing, because this simulates real life. This is the natural next step a hacker would take once they had breached the external security systems, and gained access to the internal system.
In this case, a tester who has access to the application behind the firewall simulates an attack. A QA could play out a scenario whereby the data of employees is stolen by means of phishing, for example.
Blind testing
In this case, the tester only knows the name of the organization, and they then proceed to initiate a cyberattack on it. At the same time the security team can see the attack playing out in real time and they can think of ways to stop the breach.
Double-blind testing
Employees involved in the testing have no knowledge of the attack. And as it would be in real life, they would not have much time to re-strengthen their security defenses.
Targeted testing
In this scenario, a tester and cybersecurity workers collaborate. This allows the team to receive real-time feedback from the hacker’s perspective, so that they can find the best solution(s) to prevent breaches.
Penetration testing tools
Here’s a list of tools used during penetration testing:
Kali Linux — well optimized for attacks, you are guaranteed help during penetration testing.
Metasploit — an indispensable assistant for protecting systems from intruders.
Wireshark — a versatile tool that’s used for analyzing the traffic that goes through a network.
Nmap — a kind of a network mapper that allows you to determine which ports are open and how they are used.
Hashcat — the fastest and most advanced password recovery tool, it can be used to crack hashes making it an indispensable tool for penetration testing.
How Often Is Penetration Testing Done?
According to the 2020 Penetration Testing Survey, 97% of cybersecurity professionals believe that penetration testing is of ‘some importance’ to ‘important’ for a company’s security. In addition, 47% of cybersecurity professionals reported that their company conducted a penetration test monthly or quarterly.
Why is penetration testing not completed more often? The main difficulties are actually finding qualified and experienced professionals to work with and working within a budget. Specialists who know how to conduct penetration tests are not easy to find.
The very nature of this type of testing means that a specialist has to immerse themselves in the system, application and architecture. So, sometimes penetration testing can take time to complete, and it can take even longer to find a solution to prevent unwanted attacks, plus, this can all be costly.
Penetration Testing — What Next?
So, you’ve performed a penetration test, what’s the next step?
The next step is to integrate the results that you’ve found. This includes reporting all the information that you discovered along the way. This is an essential step in the process. The results noted must be detailed and written down concisely, so that the organization can take them into account.
Afterwards, the information can be used to update systems, or to address weaknesses that were discovered during the testing process. This may prevent and limit potential cybersecurity attacks in the future. | https://medium.com/@careerist/penetration-testing-31c782ffd2f3 | [] | 2021-12-22 06:43:25.132000+00:00 | ['Penetration Testing', 'It', 'QA', 'Software Testing', 'Tech'] |
Sony A7R IV — First 61MP Full-Frame Camera Ever | Sony is setting the standard as a leader in the increasingly competitive full-frame mirrorless camera market. The company has unveiled the Sony a7R IV with a monstrous 61-megapixel image sensor.
With its latest Alpha-series camera, Sony breaks new ground and presents an innovative take on full-frame mirrorless cameras. The Sony a7R IV is the world’s first 61MP full-frame mirrorless camera, with a burst shooting speed of up to ten frames per second.
The Sony a7R IV is a 35mm full-frame mirrorless camera with a 61-megapixel sensor.
According to Sony, the new a7R IV raises the bar for image quality and operability standards for cameras. The a7R IV packs a brand new BSI CMOS image sensor which makes it the first true sensor upgrade for Sony’s Alpha range of cameras since 2015.
Sony’s a7R IV comes with a 61-megapixel sensor but can produce 240MP image files using the in-built sensor-shift multi-shot mode. Furthermore, users can get 26MP photos even in the APS-C mode, which the company says is the “highest resolution APS-C capture today.”
The camera offers 15 stops of dynamic range as well as five-axis image stabilization. Sony says the new sensor enables an extreme level of detail even with deep image zooming.
The a7R IV’s predecessor, the a7R III, has a 42.4MP sensor, which is smaller than products like Panasonic’s S1R — 47.3MP and Nikon’s Z7–45.7MP. With camera trends steadily shifting from DSLR to mirrorless, Sony buttresses its claim as the innovator in the market with the a7R IV.
Sony a7R IV Features Eye AF
The Sony a7R IV features the company’s signature eye-tracking for both humans and animals. Its sensor-shift multi-shot mode combines 16 separate pixel-shifted images which amount to 963.2 million pixels of data to create 240MP image files. The a7R II lets you shoot 26MP photos even in APS-C mode.
When in full-frame mode, the autofocus system provides 567 phase-detection AF points which cover 74% of the image area. Whereas, only 325 phase-detection points almost entirely cover the APS-C area when in APS-C mode. This translates to almost 100% vertical AF coverage and over 100% horizontal AF coverage.
The a7R IV guarantees an extreme level of detail as it offers the same Real-Time Tracking AF as in the a9. Furthermore, instead of the 61MP making this camera really slow, Sony says it’s capable of shooting up to 10fps at full resolution with continuous AE / AF tracking for up to 68 images.
Sony a7R IV Offers Real-Time Eye AF for Video
The new Alpha-series camera features Real-Time Eye AF for videos, the first in one of the company’s cameras. The camera captures full-frame 4K videos oversampled from 6K. It offers a full-pixel readout in Super 35mm crop or a pixel-binned signal from the full width of the sensor.
The audio recording system also got some impressive enhancements. The a7R IV packs a brand new digital audio interface that captures a digital audio signal. Sony is introducing two new accessories to utilize the new system — an ECM-B1M shotgun mic and an XLR mic adapter kit. The new ECM-B1M mic features a built-in analog to digital converter and a brand new multi-interface hot shoe found only on the a7R IV.
Other enhancements include an ultra-high-resolution 5.76M-dot electronic viewfinder, a redesigned grip, and dual UHS-II SD card slots. The new a7R IV has enhanced resistance against dust and moisture, supports USB Type-C for tethering and high-speed built-in WiFi with a wireless tethering option.
Availability and Pricing
Although the Sony a7R IV is to arrive in September, interested buyers can pre-order it for $3,500, along with a new vertical grip (VG-C4EMO) for $400 and the new shotgun mic (ECM-B1M) for $350. Also, the new XLR mic adapter kit (XLR-K3M) will launch in October for $600. | https://medium.com/lumoid/sony-a7r-iv-first-61mp-full-frame-camera-ever-7f9f9fbf333d | ['Lumoid Staff'] | 2019-07-28 10:07:02.052000+00:00 | ['Photography', 'Sony', 'Gear', 'Cameras', 'News'] |
Knot Theory | Knot Theory
A poem about the connection of us and the biosphere
Photo by EDGAR TORRES on Unsplash
We’re all whittled from the same tree root
rings that mark our sorrows and love
branching dendritic harmony
sings its glorious battles
one daybreak at a time
Yet our forests are left hungry
Dried up canvas
And a painter
Whose soul has run dry,
we discard our guilt,
a plastic wrapper at a time a
As we stare blankly into our holobooks
to dim those virtuoso visions
of the mind’s inner eye
Asleep, we walk the valleys
a heap of dead leaves
crumble beneath our boots,
like an old man in winter.
And do you feel the winds
rattle, that raven’s caw?
grasping their existential reminder
that the meek shall die, too,
with the strong,
in the last days
of a dying earth. | https://medium.com/assemblage/knot-theory-301179953873 | ['Bradley J Nordell'] | 2020-12-21 13:03:25.351000+00:00 | ['Connection', 'Future', 'Earth', 'Biosphere', 'Poetry'] |
Dear Math (a rant),. I love you, but damn you’re such a… | I love you, but damn you’re such a bitch!
I wish I was one of those people who could ace their tests almost effortlessly. I used to, but that time of my life was known as the innocent days of first grade when we knew nothing about how fucked up our lives were gonna become once we grew older. All we knew was ‘I wanna become a doctor when I grow up’. Seriously, I was so dumb then that I thought ‘military man’ was just a fancy word for the milkman. Now that I look back, it made sense why so many boys wished to become military men (imagine 1st grade Ishana thinking “Wait these many people want to deliver milk?” )
One of the many innocent things in our lives was also math. It was those days when we could just go on with our lives knowing that all we have for exams is to do with addition, subtraction and just about… all of that. Yeah, those were our difficulties, but I’d fare fine because nothing can defeat being shouted at and having to pull an all-nighter because your mom says your life depends on knowing what 200 times 3 is. Somewhere along the way of growing up, my perfect streak of a centum in math slipped (oops, a tear just rolled down my cheek). And that’s where the shit-show that is now my academic-life began. Welcome, ladies and mental men to my mind. It is a stormy, junky place. Did you know my I.Q drops every time I just take a look at the paper? That’s nothing compared to how my mind mentally regresses 5 years every time I try to solve a sum, not to mention how much my self-esteem drops seeing the results of my nightmarish exam and how much I draw closer to wanting to die.
Seriously, I don’t care about a2 + b2 enough to make my parents proud and you have no idea how much it ruins entire familial relationships. Yeah, me and my parents fight over mere numbers and how I can be so stupid as to not know how to comprehend them. Of course, this is just another Tuesday for the contemporary student, but in case this article hasn’t made you realise it so far… I am not like other students. I’m worse. I have probably the worst traits a new age student could have. I procrastinate, I hate my language subjects, and most fatal trait of all- I am fragile. Really, really fragile. And because I will do anything to escape the stress of not knowing how to use numbers and am desperately in need of content ideas, here is a rant for all you beautiful people who are so academically incompetent that making totally irrational rants is the only thing keeping you alive — because that’s what is keeping me alive.
Dear Math, I love you but you’re a bitch. You make life hard. I have no idea how is knowing the properties of rational numbers in integers supposed to help me in life when I have a cranky boss, annoying parents, crippling depression and no one that values me. All I see fit for you is help in paying bills, which — let’s be honest, I’d rather burn and throw away. You make me feel academically insecure and also convince me that I am as dumb and useful as a turkey (they are the dumbest creatures on the planet, by the way). How would it hurt you to not gave rise to such a complicated world? I know I’m irrational towards you but I deserve this moment because I am so at the verge of losing my sanity and am so bad at math that I feel entitled to such a moment as the only cure to my incompetence. OH! ALSO, TO THE IDIOTS WHO ARE GOOD AT MATH, I F***ING HATE Y’ALL. I WOULD PAY TO SEE NUMBERS SAVE YOUR ASSES WHEN YOU ROT TO DEATH ALONE **SMILEY FACE**. Yours Truly, Ishana.
And now, it has been made official, how much I have a bone to pick with this subject… and how much I need to study… And my need for anger management.
P.S,; it is no coincidence I wrote this mere minutes after my math tuition.
Hey everyone! Been a while! This isn’t the type of content I usually post (seriously, you don’t see me this unhinged on Medium), I swore a lot on here and said things that could be hurtful to a few people, but I was frustrated and the only way to let go was this. Besides, it’s a fresh change in content (which is coming back, I am working on literally 50 drafts at the same time). Till then, to those that took the time to read this, thank you! I hope this gave you the smiles (or if it brought back unpleasant memories, sorry!)…
Till then,
Ishana xox | https://medium.com/@ishanadoesntknowtowrite/dear-math-a-rant-ddc65db10c4c | ['Ishana'] | 2020-12-16 03:31:53.826000+00:00 | ['Math', 'Humor', 'Rant', 'Maths Tuition'] |
Top 100 New Year 2021 Easy Resolutions list | 2021 New Year Resolutions for Happy Life
2021 New Year wishes. Every passing year is a ray of hope for the betterment of an individual. Here is the list of the 100 best resolutions for this new year that are easy and achievable for everyday life.
Reading this list once a day will train your mind and help you to achieve your target.
2021 Top 100 new year resolutions
Feel free to print and paste on your clipboard or even your fridge door for regular memorizing.
1.SMILE
2. Stop judging yourself
3. Let love guide you, not FEAR
4. Listen to yourself
5. Never allow what happened to you before affect how you feel now
6. You have the power to choose the emotions you want to experience
7. There is no conspiracy against you, except for the one created in your mind
8. Meditation
9. Sungazing
10. Stop idolizing celebrities
11. Honor nature
12. Introduce more harmonious tones into your frequency
13. Learn to speak to yourself with love, not hate
14. First thing to do in the morning is to say, Thank you nature
15. Go for a walk every day
16. Start your day with peace, not war
17. There is a message the sun has for you every single day, go and get it
18. Get out of your room, away from artificial lights
19. If you use your phone a lot, put a quartz crystal at the back of your phone
20. Limit how much time you’re on the phone
21. Listen to the sounds of nature
22. Intermediate fasting (autophagy)
23. Have a gratitude journal
24. Hug someone today
25. Surround yourselves in environments that are good for your mind
26. Remember that you are the power and you always will be
27. Eat to live
28. Stop counting yourself out, start counting yourself in
29. Surround yourself with people who make you feel like sunlight
30. Spread other people love
31. Always have unconditional love for yourself
32. Stop quitting
33. Learn a new word every day
34. Read a page of an inspirational book
35. Spend time with friends
36. Learn to say NO
37. Be specific in words
38. Move out of your comfort zone
39. Have 8 glasses of water per day
40. Walk every 45 minutes
41. Use less horn
42. Use vehicle sparingly
43. Eat sprouts every day
44. Prefer organic products
45. Say no to sulfates in products
46. Use recycled products
47. Take a cloth bag for shopping
48. Keep track of all your expenditure daily
49. Plant a tree on birthday
50. No bad words usage
Also, read What the zodiac sign says about your intelligence!
51. Make use of time wisely
52. Breath deep in
53. Remove shoes while eating
54. Use cotton dress at night
55. Walk barefoot on grass
56. Chant OM
57. Close your eyes every 45 minutes while working on the screen
58. Blink more
59. Oil your hair thrice a week
60. Watch your thoughts
61. Keep your hands and feet clean before sleeping
62. Don't avoid 15 min siesta
63. Charge your phone when your battery completely low
64. Follow earth hour
65. Giveaway your old clothes
66. Gift a plant on occasions
67. Prefer cruelty free vegan brands
68. Eat whole grains
69. Minimize water waste
70. Dusting and organize your room daily
71. Organize your wardrobe
72. Plan to visit orphanage regularly
73. Be kind to servers
74. Practise humor in conversations
75. Don't use hot water for hair wash
76. Try to volunteer for NGO
77. Respect mentally challenged people
78. Respect transgenders
79. Don't buy a product because it is tagged cheap
80. Text a friend instead of calling
81. Clean your vehicle for yourself
82. Visit your doctor when needed, no postponing
83. Be normal for hatred comments
84. Buy less plastic
85. Send handwritten letters
86. Avoid negativity
87. Play with a pet
88. Cook for yourself
89. Make your bed every morning
90. Stretch your body
91. Write your thoughts every night
92. Try do-it-yourself methods
93. Try to make natural compost out of the kitchen waste
94. Try herbal alternatives for small ailments
95. Massage your body with coconut oil once a week
96. Take the stairs instead of the lift
97. Spend time with nature
98. Create a memory book
99. Think less
100. Be kind to others
I hope you find this 2021 new year resolutions list useful.
If you are curious about what 2021 brings to you read this astrology horoscope 2021 predictions.
If you want to meet the best astrologer in India and want to know about your 2021 life predictions, click the link.
Let me know what you think I missed here in the comment box below.
Also, don't forget to follow this page for more such interesting content. | https://medium.com/@astrologi/top-100-new-year-2021-easy-resolutions-list-8e219b815936 | [] | 2020-12-25 05:25:11.909000+00:00 | ['New Year', '2021 Resolutions', '2021', 'Resolutions', 'Ideas'] |
Brother, Can You Buy Me Some Coffee | I am not a thief. (Ding, ding, ding)
However, I will “borrow” your idea, put it in “my” words, and call it my story.
I’ll justify it by saying that there is nothing original under the sun.
Roz Warren had a brilliant idea, I think.
Do I mean it was brilliant, or that it was Roz’s idea; I’ll never tell.
But the fact remains.
The brilliant idea — Darn it, I let the cat out, didn’t I — is to set up an account at ko-fi.com and link it to the little blurb at the end of our stories. This way whenever someone reads her words or reads mine, it would say to buy her, or me a cup of coffee.
But then she realized, as has every other Medium writer, that no one pays attention to the blurb.
So she had another even brilliant-er idea. Why not tell everyone that it is there; and that it’s a great idea for whoever reads and likes her shhtuff, to buy her (or me in my case) a cup of coffee.
BTW, you should definitely read her brilliant idea that I am “borrowing,” and more importantly, buy her some coffee; after all, she is a much better writer than I am. (Don’t tell her I admitted that.)
Anywho, yeah, there is a little blurb at the end of this story where you’ll find the link to my Ko-Fi account, and I would definitely appreciate you buying me a couple of coffees — I need to pay interest on what I borrowed.
I know, I know. You’re thinking: “Well, Roz is a celebrity. She has her work published in 14 Chicken Soup for the Soul books, (really? they have that many? or is it that the book with her story sold 14 copies?), besides, buying her a coffee is something I can put on my CV. But, who are you?”
I call myself Mister Weirdo. What kind of a nut case would do that?
That is my whole point. I am a nobody, a bum. I need that coffee, Roz could afford her own. But it’s not about whether one can afford it or not, it is about showing appreciation.
For the last dozen years or so, I made balloon animals and gave them away. People gave me money for them. Heck, there were even times when people gave me money to go away. So I figured, it would be worth it; kind of like blogging for tips instead of twisting for tips.
Thanks, Roz, for letting me borrow your idea.
As always, thank you for reading and responding.
Here are a couple of related stories:
Graphic created by Rasheed Hooda using Canva
Rasheed Hooda is a published author, who has contributed to many of Medium’s top Publications; Start-up, The Ascent, P.S. I Love You, Rogues’ Gallery, and ILLUMINATION, to name a few. He is also a Top Writer on several topics. If you like his work you can buy him a cup of coffee.
Testimonial by other writers. | https://misterweirdo.medium.com/brother-can-you-buy-me-some-coffee-240fde1ed085 | ['Rasheed Hooda'] | 2020-09-26 00:36:29.813000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Life Lessons', 'Tips', 'Humor', 'Writing'] |
The Ideal Infographic: How to Convey Your Message While Attracting Clients (PART1) | Infographics are a visual marketing tool that helps tell your customers a story. However, not all infographics are created equally. Read below to find out how you can create an infographic that is share-worthy and will captivate your target audience.
by Isaiah Bradford
The advent of infographics has provided marketers a medium that is visually appealing as well as educational. Infographics utilize visual data, charts, and statistics in a layout that consumers can easily understand. They help turn complicated or boring data into an engaging and easy-to-understand format. The key to creating an effective infographic lies within its design.
Here are a few important factors to keep in mind when creating infographics:
1 — Outline the Story You Want to Tell
Prior to the design stage you must decide what story your infographic is going to tell. Analyze your data to help decide the narrative you want to share. Make sure your story is focused as this will help you to select a layout that accommodates the info being shared.
Once you have extracted the data you’d like to share, it’s time to create an infographic outline. Your outline should include details such headers, data, written information points, and design details.
2 — Decide Which Layout Works Best
After you have completed your outline you can decide on what design layout will best showcase your data. The 8 most popular layouts include:
Visual
List-Based
Geographical or Maps
Comparison
Statistical
Process
Hierarchical
Flowchart
For a complete breakdown of each design style be sure to check back for the release of The Ideal Infographic (Part 2): How to Select the Right Infographic Design for Your Data!
3 — Be Bold with Your Words
When writing headlines and subheaders select vocabulary words that you know will catch your audiences’ attention. While sparking intrigue, the language should also be straightforward and to the point. Keep your written content thought-provoking and useful.
Select fonts that are legible and chic. A maximum of three fonts should be used to keep cohesion.
4 — Add Icons and Animation
To ensure your infographic stands out against stark social media backgrounds consider replacing traditional elements with icons. For example, if your topic is a cocktail recipe, instead of numbering or bulleting the ingredients, replace them with icons that represent each individual item.
Icons can also be added to simply spruce up a section.
Another way to easily add dimension to your infographic is with animation. Animation can be used symbolically like in the cocktail icon example above or to add an additional fun element to your infographic.
5 — Intrigue Your Audience by Going Interactive
What better way to get your audience engaged than by going interactive? Interactive infographics allow users to interact with your design. Allow your audience to uncover information on their own by clicking, scrolling, unfolding, and zooming throughout your design. The interactive element will help increase engagement and encourage users to share your infographic with others. | https://medium.com/the-faselis-blog/the-ideal-infographic-how-to-convey-your-message-while-attracting-clients-part1-44afcface6e3 | [] | 2020-10-27 08:02:41.694000+00:00 | ['Attract', 'Clients', 'Ideal', 'Infographic'] |
Find your niche in the on-demand industry with Medical Marijuana Delivery App | While sharing the new business plan that is, the cannabis delivery app, I’m sure that the maximum reaction you would have got is weird looks. Apart from that, there would be a question arising like why do you want to invest in a risky industry such as this.
We are living in a place where the things that are ignored today will be trending tomorrow. One such example is the cannabis industry. By taking a look at the data, you will be noticing that this industry is having its skyrocketing growth for some years now.
Use of Marijuana in various countries:
Forty-six states in the USA have been legalized to use of medical Marijuana. Apart from this, many countries like New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Germany, and Canada have also been legalized. Most of these countries use medical Marijuana for recreational, medical, and spiritual purposes. But mostly, they are prescribed to patients suffering from Cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, and epilepsy.
By these, we can see that the demand for medical Marijuana is increasing and if you are here, then I presume that you want to develop a medical marijuana delivery app of your own. Before going into the development, here are the three factors you need to consider.
Do market research:
Before you get into the development of marijuana delivery apps, you need to have a piece of adequate knowledge about this business. While starting with your app, you need to do a complete study and find the locations where Marijuana is appropriately legalized.
Learning who your target audience is is the next crucial step for your business. From a marketing aspect, you should build a personal relationship with your customers. You need to provide them with tips, insights, and recommendations about medical Marijuana. By this, they will learn about Medical Marijuana and the advantages of the app.
Connect legal buyers with licensed dispensaries:
Using the map integration feature, the licensed marijuana dispensaries can be viewed by the legal buyers. For your medical startup, you need to filter the legal audience by checking the verified prescription that will be uploaded in the app by customers.
Using the ‘dispensaries near me’ option, the customers can easily purchase Marijuana. This will also attract more and more audience, which would indeed increase sales. Your app would be a one-stop destination for both the retailers and customers, and you can create your own ground.
Feed real-time alerts:
You need to create real-time alerts, for the latest news and updates about the rules and regulations of Marijuana via notifications. You can also make designs about the complete guide of other medical products to your users.
Business models of the app:
Marketplace:
This model is just like food delivery apps. You can develop an app by partnering with licensed stores in your own city or state.
Though the model will help you immensely in making a strong presence, to gain success, it is essential that your app must also be a platform for many legal dispensaries, delivery drivers, and customers.
The online marketplace can help you gain a commission for delivering each order from the vendor, and you can also make money by placing advertisements.
Single dispensary:
This business model will be best suited for those who already own dispensaries. For a licensed wholesaler or retailer, this model will help in gaining a large audience. You need to have your own on-demand cannabis delivery app that will help in boosting your sales. You must also make sure that the application is user-friendly and attractive.
Conclusion:
The medical marijuana delivery industry is ever-growing, and undoubtedly the market size will only increase further, as it would soon be legalized in many countries. So, get to the best development company and get started with your business in on-demand medical cannabis delivery now! | https://medium.com/@robinmiddle199/find-your-niche-in-the-on-demand-industry-with-medical-marijuana-delivery-app-6fb72f42d6a8 | [] | 2020-12-17 08:05:34.242000+00:00 | ['On Demand Cannabis', 'Marijuana', 'Cannabis', 'Business', 'Uberformarijuanaapp'] |
Gift Guide 2020 | Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
It’s no secret that 2020 is a completely different year than any other. For many families, it may not be realistic to give gifts or to splurge on anything due to the plethora of unforeseen changes. Yet, that doesn’t mean this year has to go without doing something special for those that we love. Here’s now.
Think back to your own experience of receiving a gift, whether that be from a friend or family member. Which of these gifts did you feel was most special? Most memorable? Something you wish you could relive getting again? Now put yourself into the shoes of the individual you are getting a gift for.
If it is in your means, give one bigger gift, rather than many small gifts.
Narrowing down to just one thing that the person wants can be a great way to get them exactly what they’ve been asking for and the rest can come at a later time. Everyone understands the struggles of getting gifts when work can feel unstable and many have gotten less money than before. But also, having that one gift that the person has been wanting can be so exciting and exhilarating. And, you will know it is not a gift that’s going to get forgotten quickly or go unappreciated.
Secret Santa, or a variation of it.
Spending limits, shopping only for one person, being anonymous about it sounds like a combination hard to pass up because of the current circumstances. And chances are, it’s going to only make the gift more creative and special rather than a basic gift is a huge win. All you have to do is know the person you’re shopping for and pay attention to what they talk about they wish they had.
DIY the gift.
If you happen to be more comfortable with the crafty side of gift giving, this may be perfect for you. There is nothing like the one special gift that you make for the other person. Whether it be because of their unique preferences or you want it to feel more special, DIY shows that you put time and care into the gift, not just pressed “buy now” on Amazon. Not only that, but it can be so rewarding making something with your hands and watching it transform into something another person can enjoy.
Gift experiences.
Especially for those that are older, the physical gifts become less meaningful as opposed to experiences. Whether the experience is a nice dinner with all of the family together or a trip for when all are allowed to travel, whatever the experience can be, it is worth more than any gift one can receive. Memories last a lifetime, especially now that we have a camera in our pockets and the ability to capture all of it. | https://medium.com/illumination/thoughtful-meaningful-gifts-for-christmas-2020-2cfdb0bc25d8 | [] | 2020-12-21 22:23:41.417000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Christmas', 'Holidays', 'Happiness', 'Gifts'] |
“Don’t be a dancer, make the music”- Preacher | SUSAN SERIES | MO WEEKLY #51
Last week Sunday, I sat in on a sermon, willingly.
To summarise the preacher’s message, using his unedited analogy of the music industry, we (the masses) spend a lot of time listening to “these songs”, raving about them, attending concerts, and inevitably enriching the pockets of the musicians. His point was that, they are making something of themselves while we just “waste our lives” listening. Whereas those who are aspiring to be musicians are not at these concerts but taking countless steps to be famous musicians like the ones we rave about.
He concluded stating that “instead of jubilating foolishly with no purpose, make your own music!” to screams of approval from the congregation, I even let out an “amen brother!”.
I would have considered myself foolish for taking a literal interpretation of his words if he wasn’t so literal about his utterances:
HE SAID: make your own music for people to dance to!
MY THOUGHTS: wait a minute…but you just said…, are you trying to trick us? shouldn’t the dancers also be making their own music? Or are you trying to put us on to stay ahead of the game? What are you? The Messiah?
Touch me wise one!
HE SAID: stop dancing foolishly and get into the studio!
MY THOUGHTS: I don’t think there are enough studios
MY THOUGHTS : If we are foolish for dancing, what and whom are we making music for exactly?
HE COULD HAVE SAID: do you think the first Christians danced to the tune of others? No! they made the music
BUT INSTEAD, HE SAID:The first Christians would cover their ears and run away whenever they heard the tune of unbelievers..
(then he proceeded to run from the altar to the back of the church and back to the altar twice)
MY THOUGHTS : Wow he did all that and isn’t even breathing heavily into the microphone in exhaustion, impressive.
I did not know what to make of what I had just experienced or what it all meant to be honest so I decided to have a chat with a good friend of mine; Susan.
Susan: If he wasn’t being so literal, one could say that he was trying to encourage hard work; not every time following but also leading…
Mo: not every time asking but also giving…
Susan: Funny you’d say that because from what I heard you’re not much of a giver…
Mo: topic!
Susan: sorry
Susan: not every time coming but also swallowing…
Mo: why?- …I’m just going to spell it as ‘coming’ when I write this…
Susan: I’ll be surprised if you include it at all but all of the above and more could have been implied from his sermon if he wasn’t being so literal. Which then begs the question: what was his sermon about?
Mo: Music is the pathway to salvation?
Susan: Do you think he discovered one of the books that wasn’t included in the Bible? Maybe it was all about music
Mo: There are more books?
Susan: yeah, the Bible is essentially the version of events ‘they’ want us to know
Mo: wow, this is all very enlightening but bring it home Sue
Susan: okay, it may seem random that I mentioned the additional books to the bible but the point I was getting at is that just as they excluded those books and our understanding is limited to the official books, the Preacher’s understanding is limited by his intellect and understanding of grammar
Mo: that is by far the loosest connection anyone has made to anything ever but do continue
Susan: shut up, it seems that we would never criticise our religious leaders that show poor reasoning because of the sacredness we attach to anything religious
Mo: yeah, that’s why you’d see some preachers that can’t even communicate adequately being thrown into the front of a congregation and you’re somehow supposed to not make fun of the way they speak. Why even put the congregation in that position to start with?
Susan: Exactly! For something so sacred they literally let ANYONE preach!
Mo: In conclusion, he’s dumb?
Susan: Irredeemably so | https://medium.com/cuble/dont-be-a-dancer-make-the-music-preacher-a93149e25fda | ['Moyosore Sheriff Quadri'] | 2020-11-13 00:44:27.744000+00:00 | ['Moseries', 'Satire', 'Humor', 'Religion', 'Sseries'] |
I Defeated Procrastination! | Do you also struggle with your procrastination habits? Or is it only me who keeps putting today’s work tomorrow and completes it just before the deadline? I know we all are always hooked up to hundreds of potential distractions in this age of mobile phones and laptops. And fulfilling tasks before the time is a miracle for us. So, how do you conquer your thoughts?
I can relate to this. Can you?
I came to know about “eat the frog with Pomodoro” today so I gave it a try and honestly speaking playing with Pomodoro was fun. I was a big procrastinator before knowing this Pomodoro technique, I even procrastinated when to play with Pomodoro and I was like “Tomorrow, I’ll give it a try.” And I keep on saying this whole week. And today finally I tried eating the frog and it was worth eating. (Before you say “eww, she ate a frog??” I want to tell “eating a frog” is a metaphor for “increasing your productivity.”)
Playing with Pomodoro means you just have to stay focused for 25 minutes. If you have to make a 3000 words assignment and you are unable to concentrate. Set a 25 minutes timer and as the timer rings, take a short break and then back to work and repeat. I am pretty sure we all can work on a task for 25 minutes uninterrupted.
All you have to do is:
1. Identify your frog🐸 (your one most important task)
2. Eat it 🍽 using Pomodoro (do it in the morning by setting a 25-minute-timer and don’t let yourself put it off for later. After every 25 minutes, take a 3 minutes break and then get back to the task. After 4 breaks, take a longer break and treat yourself.)
Mark Twain (one of greatest American writers)
Since I have played with Pomodoro, I’ll share my experience with you all. I identified the most important task which was cleaning my room and it was pending on for a month. So, I finally decided to try Pomodoro on my room which was a real mess. Books were on my dressing table and dresses were on the hooks behind the door. Make-up was scattered all over my room. Shoes were not in their place. It was a huge task to be done. I set a 25-minute-timer and started cleaning my room from arranging the books.
25 minute timer for my task.
First 25 minutes were not successful because my mother came into my room and after watching me cleaning my room, she made my fun asking “What’s the matter ? Are you okay? Are your friends coming? :D” because I usually do not clean my room unless she reprimands me. However, it distracted me and so I could only work for 19 minutes without any interruption. I was almost done arranging my books at their place. I took a break for those 6 minutes which were left from my first Pomodoro and then again set an alarm for the next 25 minutes. This time, to avoid all the distractions, I locked my room and put my phone on flight mode. As I was almost done with my books, I decided to organize makeup at its place. I thought it’s an easy task and I’ll easily complete it before 25 minutes. But no, although I completed this task in 24 minutes I was distracted as I started trying nail paints and lipsticks. I took a 2-minute break and treated myself with a glass of cold water. I then again set a timer for 25 minutes and chose to reset my wardrobe. I gathered all my clothes and put the clean clothes in the hanger and hung them up in the cupboard and I put those which needed to be washed in the laundry. This time I was not distracted by anything. And as the alarm rang, I was done with my wardrobe as well. I treated myself with chocolate this time. Now, cleaning side tables and putting shoes in their boxes were two big tasks for me. I set a 25 minutes timer again and get back to work planning “I’ll order pizza for myself after this as my reward.” This time I was in a hurry that I need to do it ASAP, so I put all my shoes in their respected places and cleaned my side tables. Although I took an extra minute, and then after 26 minutes, I was done with the last task too.
I treated myself.
I can’t tell how happy I was. I kept procrastinating this task for a month and by using this Pomodoro technique, I can’t believe I did it. I beat my procrastination habit so easily. It was fun and exciting playing with Pomodoro and it wasn’t difficult at all. In fact, it was easier to work taking short breaks than just working without enjoying it. Even, I managed to do more work by this technique as I didn’t plan to clean my side tables but since I had enough time, I did that too. And I will definitely use this technique for my later tasks as well. The peace I am having right now is unexplainable. The only thing I would suggest is “do not keep tracking the time.” As you put the alarm for 25 minutes, do not keep checking for how much time is left. It is a distraction too. Just stay focused on the task and put the timer aside.
If you also struggle with procrastination or have trouble deciding what to work on at any given time, then do give Pomodoro a try. I am sure you will witness yourself what I have experienced. Do share your experiences as well. | https://medium.com/@kashaf-noor146/i-defeated-procrastination-861429f53872 | ['Kashaf Noor'] | 2020-08-20 22:07:32.330000+00:00 | ['Amal Academy', 'Pomodoro Technique', 'Productivity', 'Procrastination', 'Eat The Frog'] |
On predictive UTXO management | What would be ‘Predictive’ ?
Here’s my view on how a system for UTXO set optimization might work, which I would call ‘Predictive’.
This will not contain definitive answers, but I will try to reason about the ways this problem can be addressed, to lay out directions of further research for our team², and to incite a discussion about the topic.
Context
The presented view will be in the context of a service that accepts and sends bitcoin payments, and wants to minimize network fee paid in the course of its operation.
The payments this particular service handles most likely will have a certain pattern. It will depend on the type of the service, on the behavior of their customers, on the payment sending policies, and other factors.
Number and value distribution of the payments will vary depending on the season, day of the week, time of day, and market situation. Market situations are hard to predict, but payment activity characteristics that depend on time periods can be modeled with historical data, which each service most certainly collects, and the predictions can be based on that model.
UTXO sources
The source of UTXO for a wallet of a service that both accepts and sends the payments are:
Incoming payments from their customers
Change outputs from outgoing payments
Top-up of hot wallets from cold wallets
You generally cannot control what payments your customers send to you — but you can try to predict the pattern of upcoming deposits: the number of incoming coins, their values, and their timing. And you can build a probability distribution from that.
You can completely control the transactions from the cold wallet, but the nature of the cold wallet is such that you want to touch it as rarely as possible, and accessing it just for potential fee savings is probably overkill.
The most suitable process for adjusting the UTXO set value distribution is when you build a transaction for an outgoing payment — you have some degree of freedom in what UTXO you will consume to collect the required sum, and the value of new coin you will send back to your wallet, as change output.
Optimization
The most economical way to spend Bitcoin is when you use the least acceptable number of inputs, and do not generate a change output, or generate a change output that will not be expensive to spend in the future. The larger the UTXO value is, the cheaper it is to spend, relatively to the value. On the other hand, generating big change outputs means that a bigger portion of your balance will be in a zero-confirmation state.
When you worked out the probability distribution for upcoming outgoing payments, you can choose the most probable value, and check if there are UTXO in your UTXO set that will fit to satisfy that out-payment. If the next payment will be sent soon, then it is likely that the network fee will not move that much, and you can even predict the exact value of UTXO to create as change output, so that you can send the next payment with a transaction of optimal size.
That change output will likely have to be spent before it confirms, as the next payment may come soon, and in this case, you have to watch out for ‘too-long-mempool-chain’ errors from your bitcoind.
You will not always hit predicted conditions, but if the probabilities for the target UTXO sizes are high enough, you may hit good fits often enough to save on fee.
You can create probability distribution for next N out-payments. N will be dependent on your UTXO churn — how fast UTXO set in your hot wallet completely changes. For payments that are not immediate, you can afford to wait for your change output to confirm, but your predictions may not be as good. This is because you need to predict network fee more far in the future, and new UTXO from incoming payments will also be a factor.
This uncertainty means you will have to store a range of slightly different UTXO that may fit your most-probable out-payments depending on the future situation.
UTXO Stacks
You can go with an approach of having ‘stacks’ of different-sized UTXO for the most probable out-payments. The UTXO in each ‘stack’ can all be slightly different to account for fee variation. The values of UTXO can also be the same within each ‘stack’, but then you will have to use some ‘free-standing’ UTXO in your wallet to make up for fee variations.
Same-sized UTXO is convenient, in that you can even top-up these ‘stacks’ when you send the funds from your cold wallet, and maybe, if you analyze your coin selection results over time, you can decide what UTXO sizes you most certainly want to have in your set.
The approach of analyzing the coin selection results is interesting in that there is much less uncertainty, because you are working with existing data, and not making direct predictions.
You can ask a question, “Historically, when we built the most economical transactions, what is the UTXO size that turned out the most convenient?”, and after an analysis, you could say, “For best results, based our historical usage patterns, we need to maintain these number of UTXO of these sizes”.
Potential risks
Storing extra UTXO in hot wallets to make building optimal transaction easier is a viable approach, but it also increases risk: you are storing more bitcoin in your hot wallet than necessary. Even if you implement spending limits for your hot wallet and secure it to the max — it is still an online wallet. So you need to consider your risk tolerance when going with this strategy. You also need to make sure your coin selection algorithm treats these ‘special’ UTXO differently from others, otherwise it may spend them before the payments they are destined for are due, and potential fee savings will not realize. | https://medium.com/simplexum/on-predictive-utxo-management-974be49506ca | ['Dmitry Petukhov'] | 2018-10-15 18:28:35.669000+00:00 | ['Blockchain Development', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain Technology', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
And what is coming next in the “Chilling adventures of Sabrina ?” [With Spoilers] | Hi guys !, This is the first post of this page, and for the coolest begging possible, let’s talk about one of the biggest Netflix’s successes on the last year: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The story is about Sabrina, a young woman that is going to have a hard choice, choose between your regular mortal life, or go deep on the witches world.
Sabrina is an orphan, their parents died in a mysterious accidental plane crash (which seems not to be so accidental at all) and after that, Sabrina was raised by her aunts, Hilda, who have a warm heart and Zelda, who have the coldest one. Sabrina Also lives with her cousin, Ambrose, who lives with a curse on him (for trying to explode the Vaticano, by the way) that doesn’t allow him to get out, at least physically, of the home soil of the Spelman’s house.
The first season ends with a lot of questions to answer. First of all, what is the big thing with Sabrina? (despite the fact she’s the main character, of course). She isn’t a regular witch, as we saw during many events of the first season. For starting, she’s so important, that awaken the devil’s own desire on her (that gotta to be big, right?). His desire was so big, that he put two people to keep an eye on her, Faustos, who is the High Priest of the church of the night, and Lilith, a demon that takes Mrs. Hardwell (a teacher of the Baxter High School) body to get close to Sabrina. Their mission is to ensure that Sabrina will sign her name on the “book of the beast”. Beyond that, in the second episode, after Sabrina denied singing her name on it, The dark lord made itself a call to her, and when she finally wrote her name down o the book, He was there to check out.
So, what is the thing between Sabrina and the Dark Lord? One small answer to this question is that the Devil knows that Sabrina is a witch with huge powers, maybe so big that can defeat him. So, Sabrina’s signature on his book means that not only she can’t fight against him, but have to attend to his wishes, without questioning. Of course, she could be so powerful that not even the book of the beast can hold her, what would be really good to see. Anyway, this still not answering why she is so powerful nor where came all this power.
Credits: Netflix USA
About answers, do you remember when the sisters cursed Brina? In that same episode, she was taking a shower when she suddenly had a vision. On this vision, Sabrina saw the hang witches, her parents, and most important of all, two babies. In this vision, she walked to two lying down babies, and removed the blanket of their feet, and saw that one baby had goat’s feet. This vision was interpreted by some fans like this goat-feet baby (like the Dark Lord have), have some blood tie with Sabrina, who was the baby lying down next to him. Maybe this creature could be a missing brother (let’s remember, isn’t unusual to witches to steal the other witches babies, like what aunt Zelda did with the High Preast’s daughter). According to this theory, Sabrina may have a deep connection with the Dark Lord, what will explain her powers and his interest in her.
Besides this big and confusing mystery, the first season also let’s other questions open to the second, like, what is going to happen with Sabrina’s romance with Harvey? Before talking about the future, let’s remember how everything happened: Sabrina and Harvey were a happy couple, Harvey’s brother died in a mine accident, he becomes miserable and sad, Sabrina did a resurrection spell and bring Tommy back of the death, Tommy comes back strange, without talking or eating, living like a vegetable or a robot (depending of your point of view), Anyway, Sabrina starts to feel guilty, and after a lot of arguments with her aunts and her cousin, she decides to tell the truth to Harvey, who became more miserable. Harvey kills her brother for the good. They broke up.
Credits: Netflix USA
Okay, after this short resume of what happened, let’s take a look in the possibilities for this couple in the future. For some episodes, Harvey, of course, was not the coolest person with Sabrina (not judging, only annalizing), saying some really heavy stuff like “When I look at you all I see is my brother” and that made her very sad too. But Harvey did regret of that, and ask her to a new begging, which she denied (again, not judging, this girl had just signed the book of the beast and gave her soul to Lucifer man, that’s a fair reason) for be afraid that be with him in this condition could be dangerous to him. Despite this horrible scenario, a good signal could be that they agreed to keep their friendship, or at least trying to do so.
In Christmas’s episode, we could note that still a lot of hurt feelings and sorrow between Sabrina and Harvey, and he just can’t leave what happened about his brother go. Besides that (as if these difficulties aren’t enough), Sabrina had talked about it with her mother, who basically told her to let it(Harvey, in case) go. For complicate this more and more, we have the Nicholas boy too, who already showed interest on Sabrina, and now that she is single, and with her name on the book of the beast, maybe little Nich will have finally the chance.
Well, of course, we know that usually the cute couple ends together, but is also good to remember that in recent years we have seen the opposite happen too. Movies like “La La Land” or “500 days of summer” had already broken all of us into pieces with their kind of broken heart finals. Anyway, I’m nothing saying that this is gonna happen, and personally, I hope not, because they are a really good couple, but I also won’t be surprised if this happens.
Continuing to talk about Sabrina’s friends, How Roz and Susie are will develop themselves in this next season? They aren’t witches, of course, but they still have some kind of connection with the supernatural that remains without a full explanation. Roz have visions about the future and about things that happen in places where she isn’t, and also are getting blind, both of that for a curse that witches of Greendale had put on the women of her family. Susie, otherwise, can talk with her dead relative Dorothea, who have connections with Witches too.
More than knowing how and why they have these gifts, or curses (again, it depends on the point of view), we will also need to know about what is going to happen with their friendship with Sabrina. Will these past stories reveal something so bad about Sabrina’s family past, that will destroy their friend tie?
Besides the questions involving Sabrina’s friends, the other characters of Spellman’s family have their questions to answer too, like, will Ambrose get rid of his curse and finally walks free (or with Luke)? And about her aunties, will we see a Hilda more reckless and a Zelda with a warmer heart? (remembering, she have a baby to raise now).
And a final question about the Spellmans. I have noted that they are coming more and more away to the path of night. In the firsts episodes, we all saw how they are like “shut up and praise satan”, but that was decreasing with the time. For example, when Harvey’s father tried to hit him, Zelda made he stop with magic, and in the Christmas’s Special episode, we saw Zelda herself going to help Susie against a demon, a thing that was unthinkable in the series begging times (we all remember the “no interfere in mortals problems” talk). The Spellman family are getting closer to the mortal world, and this must have consequences, for the evil and good, on this next season.
Credits: Netflix USA
And you, what you think? Let us now on the commentaries below and follow us to get everything about The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
*WRITE IT DOWN: Season two will be available on April 5, on Netflix. | https://medium.com/movies-and-stuff/and-what-is-coming-next-in-the-chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-with-spoilers-7138eec167b0 | ['Rodrigo Silva'] | 2019-01-02 19:56:40.628000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Series', 'Tech', 'Netflix'] |
SFC’s Supervision Weakness — Take Tianhe Chemical as an Example | Tianyi Kao, 20/12/2020
How can investors get their money back from the prospectus scam?
Tianhe Chemical’s prospectus
There are two main types of labilities for misstatements in the prospectus, civil liabilities and criminal liabilities, which are both under Cap.32 and SFO (Cap.571). I have two questions. First, I want to discuss when misstatements happen, whether remedies available to shareholders of listed companies in Hong Kong under relevant statutes or common law or both are practicable. Second, I want to discuss whether Misrepresentation in prospectuses has been subject to effective deterrence. I will analyze these two questions under circumstances of civil and criminal liabilities, over statements and comments on the extent to which SFC can affect, under example of Tianhe Chemicals, former 1619.HK, delist.
Let’s first look at civil liability under Cap.32, s.40, two elements are that a prospectus contains untrue statements and that persons subscribed for shares based on the prospectus have suffered resultant loss. Let’s look at civil liability under SFO, s.108 now. Person A is liable to pay damages to person B for any loss if person B is subjected to, under common law, Fraudulent Misrepresentation, Reckless Misrepresentation, Negligent Misrepresentation, Innocent Misrepresentation, when person A induces person B to acquire, dispose of, subscribe for or underwrite securities or to acquire an interest in or participate in a collective investment scheme (CIS). Regarding civil liability offense under SFO, s.277, market misconducts include not only disclosure of false or misleading information inducing transactions, but also persons involved in circulation, dissemination or authorization, offenders should pay compensation.
As for criminal liability under Cap.32, s.40A, where a prospectus includes any untrue statements, any person who authorized the issue of the prospectus shall be liable to imprisonment and a fine. Also, under SFO, s.298, a person shall not disclose, circulate or disseminate, or authorize or be concerned in the disclosure, circulation or dissemination of, information inducing another person to subscribe, purchase securities. Under SFO, s.107, a person commits an offence if he/she makes any fraudulent misrepresentation or reckless misrepresentation for the purpose of inducing another person to enter into an agreement of acquire, dispose of, subscribe for or underwrite securities.
Tianhe Chemicals, which was delisted at 9:00 am on 11 June 2020, was a US$8 billion company that went public on the HKSE as one of the biggest IPOs of 2014. At present, SFC, through the Market Misconduct Tribunal, has launched an inquiry procedure against Tianhe Chemical and its executive director Wei Xuan, and pointed out the company’s prospectus’ recorded sessions of sales revenue and the profit over the fiscal year from 2011 to 2013 has false or misleading information. About 53% of its total revenue of RMB 12.6 billion has been exaggerated, that is, approximately RMB 6.7 billion of revenue. SFC announced that it is seeking an order from the Court of First Instance in accordance with Section SFO s.213, remedy for aggrieved public investors against person unknown in securities fraud, with orders granted by court, including a restitution order under s.213(2)(b) of the SFO to distribute the amounts frozen in the bank accounts of the Companies to the victims on a pro rata basis, an order under s.213(2)(d) of the SFO for the appointment of an administrator to facilitate the distribution and consequential directions, and an injunction order under s.213(2) against the person(s) unknown for carrying on a business/advertising itself as being prepared to carry on regulated activities including on all internet websites within its control; injunctions against the Companies from disposing of any of the funds in their bank accounts, to request the restitution of transactions from the delisted Tianhe Chemical. Tianhe needs to refund to public shareholders including but not limited to the time when the inquiry process commences on June 2, 2020, in order to restore them to their condition before subscribing or purchasing the relevant shares, and to pay damages to the public shareholders. Note that Tianhe Chemicals was listed in June 2014 which is more than 6 years from now.
Will individual shareholders loss be compensated after SFC’s action? SFC successfully cited SFO s.213 to came to an agreement that Hontex International repurchase from 7,700 minority shareholders at the closing price before trading suspension in 2012. However, SFC’s progress is slow since Tianhe Chemicals’ IPO in 2014. A listing company signs agreements with sponsor firms. In the agreements, no responsibility is determined. There are few chances for the SFC to take further action. In addition, Ashley Ian Alder, Chief Executive of the SFC, also pointed out that the enforcement actions were aimed at sponsor’s fault. Note that fault does not mean violation. As for barriers of shareholder civil claims, time is the main concern. Cap. 347 Limitation Ordinance restricts the retrospective period for most of civil claims. Cap. 347, 4(1)(a) points out that the limitation period based on infringement is counted to 6 years started from the cause of litigation time. Sadly, another SFC-failed example is China Forestry, another delisted company. SFC filed civil restitution request to China Forestry, sponsors UBS and Standard Charted, auditor KPMG to revert the transaction to minority shareholders in 2017, but by October 2017, the civil retrospective period had expired. Furthermore, in order to enforced the power granted from s.213’s application to the Court of First Instance, SFC need to prove that the person has contravened any relevant provisions under SFO or Cap.32, and any notice, requirement or condition imposed pursuant to any relevant provisions, and terms or conditions of any license or registration under SFO. The last part is clearly hard to meet since there agreements between listing companies and their sponsors typically do not include many responsibilities.
Tianhe Chemicals, according to Anonymous Analytics, has created fake SAIC filings to match its prospectus, and in the process, presented two sets of books to the SAIC. Tianhe Chemicals’ stated profitability is derived from operating margins of over 60% while Tianhe’s competitors report operating margins well below 30%. Tianhe has five onshore subsidiaries of which only Jinzhou DPF-TH and Fuxin Hengtong had commenced business operations as of 31 December 2013. Tianhe conducts all its business through these two subsidiaries. SAIC income statements for these two subsidiaries showed that real revenue and net income are significantly less than prospectus’ numbers. SAIC filings show that in 2012, Tianhe’s actual revenue was 85% less than it claimed in its prospectus, and its net income was nearly 100% less. Evidence also showed that the amount of tax revenue collected by the relevant local governments is only a fraction of what would be needed to validate Tianhe’s reported financial statements. After SFC investigation, on September 2, 2014, Tianhe Chemical was suspended from trading. The joint sponsors were UBS, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. The three investment banks were condemned by the Securities Regulatory Commission and fined a total of HKD 727 million. UBS’s sponsor license was suspended for one year. The final ending for Tianhe and its Chairman/Executive Director, Qi Wei, is that SFC instituted proceedings in the MMT against Tianhe and Wei for market misconduct under SFO s.277. The SFC also suspended the share trading of Tianhe on 25 May 2017 under Section 8 of the Securities and Futures Rules. The shares of Tianhe were delisted by the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with effect from 11 June 2020. However, none of the directors, executives, CEOs, Accountants, professional accountants, auditors, and lawyers of Tianhe Chemical involved was punished yet! Under SFO, s.281, there is a civil liability that a person who has committed market misconduct shall be liable to pay compensation persons who have suffered loss as a result of the market misconduct, but regarding the jurisdiction, it is unclear how the court can enforce the punishment, because trial standard is not clear. This case is still in the inquiry procedure.
How can SFC best protect investors? SFC has limited access to court action, but it can increase IPO threshold and supervision. Also, SFC can punish insiders. Insider trading is an act of civil fault. Since it is a civil fault, the standard of proof is only to exceed reasonable doubt, and prosecution becomes possible. SFC has punitive measures for insider trading and misstatement in prospectus. For insider trading, Market Misconduct Tribunal will rule on civil standards of proof and can impose a variety of civil sanctions, such as ordering offenders to surrender their profits, issuing stop and termination orders and cold treatment orders, and revoking directors of companies in violation, etc. On the other hand, if the evidence is sufficient, the offender will also be subject to criminal prosecution. Once convicted, insider trading can be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of HKD 10 million. Investors can also claim their compensation through Investor Compensation Fund. | https://medium.com/@tianyikao/sfcs-supervision-weakness-take-tianhe-chemical-as-an-example-abc8ba01a84c | [] | 2020-12-20 05:10:36.424000+00:00 | ['Hong Kong', 'Tianhe Chemicals', 'Anonymous Analytics', 'Sfc', '小高投資'] |
4 Reasons I Blog Using Evernote | I’ve had websites since as far back as 2001. But, I took my first dip into the world of blogging in 2010. It was my business site and I wasn’t really sure what to write. I wrote a little about the business itself and I wrote about things I cared about. I wrote about apps and tech tips I’d stumbled upon. But, I wasn’t always consistent with writing. A big reason for the lack of consistency was related to the difficulty in constantly finding ideas. I didn’t use a blog calendar; I didn’t batch my writing and I didn’t really have a focus for my writing.
I had a Wordpress website and wrote my posts directly in the Wordpress editor. Eventually, I hired a virtual assistant to write my articles. She wrote some and I wrote some. They would all go into the wordpress editor. Or, I would write them in another app, such as Blogsy, which pushed them right into wordpress. I didn’t think anything was wrong with this approach until the unthinkable happened. I tried to export my content from one wordpress site to another without performing a backup. HORROR!! I know. The techies are reading this and cringing right now.
The export went horribly wrong and my files got corrupted somehow. OUCH! BIG OUCH! All my posts, over 3 years of content…GONE! I didn’t have it anywhere else. I was able to recover SOME of the information but it was all jumbled and it was going to be a monumental job to restore everything to a usable fashion.
Enter Evernote. I was already using Evernote for a lot of my storage, my web clipping, my ideas. In fact, here are some other articles I had written about Evernote:
Article #1
Article #2
Article #3
Since I was already using Evernote extensively, I decided to see if there were benefits to using it for my blogging. First, I found a wordpress plugin called Sentinote. Later I moved to a solution called Postach.io. While pretty neat, neither of them really fit what I needed. In both cases, I didn’t want to be locked into a specific notebook for my blog transfer. I wanted to be able to pull from multiple notebooks or create suggested topics in a notebook without having it pulled into the blog queue.
Eventually, I settled on simply writing my posts in Evernote and copying it into Wordpress. I did this because:
Context helps me. As I write, Evernote Context often pulls up neat references which include other notes I’ve written previously, online references from sources like TechCrunch, Fast Company, Inc and the Wall Street Journal. This often helps me grab another perspective which I can add to the article or post I am writing. As I am writing this, a couple of references are already popping up. Here is one for an Evernote Training I did for teachers about 4 years ago. Context is an Evernote Premium feature. I can write posts between multiple devices. Sometimes I start a post on my MacBook and then I’ll think about something else while I’m on the road. I’ll jot a few lines in my phone and then come back to it later. Email ideas right to my notebook. In the very rare occasion I don’t have my phone or my laptop, I can grab a device and email an idea to Evernote notebook of choice. I’ve had this happen when I trained in a government facility or a center where I couldn’t bring my equipment and could only use their equipment. I pulled up the information I needed and simply emailed it to my personal Evernote email address. Integrations. In addition to the other apps and plugins I mentioned, there are other applications like CoSchedule which have really neat integrations allowing you to write, schedule and post from Evernote.
I use Evernote for all sorts of stuff from managing my home to jotting quick ideas. But, being able to glance quickly at the content I have online is another benefit. I can quickly scroll through without having to log in to a webpage.
For the bloggers out there, what’s your go-to tool? Share with me in the comments what you use to write your blog posts.
ADDITIONAL: Wait a minute, I forgot to mention that I also post to Medium. So, once I write my post in Evernote, if I choose to post it to my blog, I use a plugin to cross-post to Medium also. | https://medium.com/leading-with-purpose/4-reasons-i-blog-using-evernote-494156b7872d | ['Robert Kennedy Iii'] | 2016-11-27 03:27:29.401000+00:00 | ['Communication', 'Productivity', 'Blogging'] |
How to Create a Homepage in Droopler | Droptica
The homepage is the most important element of a website. The first impression of the user depends on it — whether they’ll stay on the website, whether they’ll be interested in the company’s offer and the company itself. In just a few simple steps, we’ll show you how to create a homepage that will help you keep your visitors’ attention.
What elements should a homepage contain?
A prospect enters the homepage. You have a few seconds to interest them and make them continue to check out your offer. How can you do that? You need to correctly convey the most important information that will immediately answer the customer’s questions.
Banner with a call to action
First of all, you need to briefly describe what your company does. This type of information is often displayed in a banner at the top of the page. In this section, you can add a CTA (Call to Action). It’s a link which when clicked redirects the user to the destination area, e.g. to the next section of a page or to a contact form.
Blocks with content
You should also put blocks that contain information about what your company can offer to a potential customer and why they should choose your offer. Various types of representing information are suitable for these purposes: from simple text blocks to advanced interactive carousels that allow you to put more content into a fairly tight framework of one block.
Once you know what elements to put on the home page, the matter of creating the page in a fairly quick and easy way arises. Website builders — one of which is Droopler — are suitable for solving such a problem.
Create a homepage in Droopler
Droopler is an open-source website builder based on CMS/CMF Drupal. It contains ready-made components and tools that allow you to quickly create modern web pages. Droopler is simple to edit and easy to expand. Let’s try to create the most important elements of a homepage with its help.
Banner paragraph
As we’ve already mentioned, one of the most important elements of a homepage is a banner with brief information about the company at the top of the page. In order to add a block of this type, press the “Paragraph overlay” button on the top right of the page.
Next, you have the option to add a new block in the selected area. After pressing the “Add” button, select the “Banner” component in the pop-up window.
In the next window, you need to add a banner background. Additionally, you can add a title, subtitle, icon that appears at the top of the block and some brief text. It’s also possible to add the already mentioned Call to Action button and configure its main attributes.
In the “Settings” tab, you can choose the shape of the block: placing the text in the central part of the banner or on the left side with a translucent background. It’s also possible to set different colour versions of a paragraph and define your own colours to ensure good readability of the text. Additional options include configuring the margins and padding, as well as adding additional classes for the block.
After pressing the “Save” button, the first block of the main page will be put in the lower right corner of the window:
Carousel paragraph
A carousel is a type of block that contains a looped slideshow that can be controlled by the user. In order to create such a block in Droopler, select “Carousel” in the component list window.
As in the case of a banner, you can add a title, icon, description and CTA. In the “Settings” tab, it’s also possible to set the margins. In addition, you can define the number of columns — how many elements should be displayed in this block.
The carousel items are added in the “Items” tab. You can choose your own title, image, description and link for each of them. The same as for the entire paragraph, for every element, you can set separate graphic themes — change the colour of the background or text. The next picture shows a finished carousel.
About Us section
You can create a block with information about the company using the “Text page” paragraph type. It’s a simple section where you can enter a title, subtitle, add an icon, text and link. The available settings are the same as for a banner and carousel. After all the fields are filled in, the section will look like this:
Summary
In this article, we explained how to create the most important elements of a homepage in a fairly easy and quick way. We used Droopler — a modern website builder, which not only allows you to build websites without coding, but also facilitates Drupal development. | https://medium.com/@droptica/how-to-create-a-homepage-in-droopler-4aabd4e9d85a | [] | 2021-07-23 06:47:51.064000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'CMS', 'Website Development', 'Website', 'Website Design'] |
Wyze Noise-Cancelling Headphones review: Startlingly affordable | When you really want to zone out, leave humanity or your environment behind, you need active noise-cancelling headphones. Few headsets cancel noise better than these Wyze Headphones, which are also one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve worn.
You do pay a slight sonic price for this trick, but that simply means the sound goes from very good to merely good. The kicker: These phones cost just $50. Until I looked up the price at the end of my evaluation, I was thinking $150.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best headphones, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.Design and featuresThe Wyze headphones I tested come in basic black, sport low-latency/low-power Bluetooth 5.0, and as I said, are among the most comfy I’ve tested. The ear cup pads are extremely plush, and my ears never came close to making contact with the speaker grills. The adjustable headband is firm, but not too tight, and the cushion for the top of your head is as comfortable as the cup pads.
Wyse The Wyze headphone controls are easy to reach and relatively easy to use. That said, after the joystick control on the Marshall Major IV, all headphone button arrangements seem primitive by comparison.
The one area where I’m now going to be critical of all headphones is controls. The controls on the Wyze (noise-cancellation button on the left, power/up/down/enter on the right) are as well placed as any I’ve experienced, but after the joystick on the Marshall Major IV, everything else seems dated. That’s not a knock on Wyze, just a plea for all vendors to adopt a superior design.
[ Further reading: The best high-res digital audio players ] Mentioned in this article Marshall Major IV Read TechHive's reviewSee it The left cup is home to the 3.5mm input jack, and the right cup houses the USB-C charging port. The outside of the right cup is also used as a touch surface to control your voice assistant. Wyze includes both audio and charging cables, as well as a simple carry bag. There’s no 1/4-inch adapter or airline adapter included.
Wyse Wyse’s headphones come in a carrying bag with a USB-C charging cable and a 3.5mm male-to-male cable for wired use.
I’d like to compliment Wyze on its quickstart guide, which is succinct, but thorough and far easier to read than some of the tiny booklets other vendors provide. Kudos as well for all-paper/cardboard packaging and no shrink wrapping. You can easily recycle everything but the phones themselves. (Although that’s also possible in most locales, if you take the trouble.)
There is of course an app that allows EQ’ing the unit and choosing the level of ambient noise reduction.
Performance (noise abatement and sound)There’s no arguing the efficacy of the Wyze ambient nose reduction. As these are over-ear headphones, they block a lot of noise without an electronic assist. With active noise cancellation (adding a phase-opposite signal to the audio) enabled, they become very, very quiet. If I were on an airplane, they’re definitely one of the sets I’d consider bringing along.
Mentioned in this article Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass, wireless noise-canceling headphones Read TechHive's reviewMSRP $248.00See it On the other hand, activating noise cancellation slightly alters frequency response. The Wyze headphones sound very good without cancellation enabled, and merely good with it on. That’s the nature of the cancellation beast, but I will say I hear ever so slightly less difference in sonics between the two modes with my Sony WH-XB900H headset. Picayune.
IDG The Wyze Headphone app with noise-reduction settings and EQ.
Sans said noise cancellation, the bass was spot-on, round and punchy without sounding like a subwoofer. Unless of course, you’re a subwoofer fiend. (Is that still a thing?) Separation? They’re headphones. It’s perfect. The mid-range is clean and accurate, though I’d opt for just a tad more in the upper regions. There are just enough highs for my taste, though I wouldn’t say no to a pinch more. Younger ears will wonder what I’m going on about.
My above comments are on the default settings. The EQ seemed to work well with cuts and gain with the bass, but I didn’t notice huge gains in the mids or highs no matter how many dB I boosted. The sound doesn’t need much tweaking anyway, so no biggie.
Run time was very good, but I didn’t quite make the 20 hours Wyze claims. I saw around 16, but then I left them (off-ear) playing at a relatively high volume.
Overall, I’d have no problem using these headphones as my daily drivers if I wasn’t currently stuck on, yes the Marshall Major IV’s. But those don’t do noise cancellation, so I’ll take the Wyze on the plane, and they’re also in my listen-to-recording-mixdowns brigade.
ConclusionAs I’ve said several times now, the Wyze headphones are super comfortable and do a stellar job of shutting off the sound from the outside world. They sound good if not great in that mode, and very good when not cancelling noise. Head to head, I’d give a slight nod to the aforementioned WH-XB900n’s in terms of sound. Then again, the Sony’s are four times the price. $50. With an app. Sheesh. Buy ‘em.
User warning: For goodness sake, don’t use noise-cancelling/blocking headphones that don’t provide the option to pipe in ambient sound in any situation where missing an audio clue could cost you your life. Jogging, strolling downtown, riding your bike? No. Watching TV, listening to tunes at home? Okay.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@maria11736449/wyze-noise-cancelling-headphones-review-startlingly-affordable-6d2124242fb9 | [] | 2020-12-24 06:01:24.353000+00:00 | ['Home Tech', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Streaming', 'Headphones'] |
Meet Sue Zheng, BlackRock Tech Fellow and Lead Engineer for Aladdin Trading | Sue Zheng, BlackRock Tech Fellow and Lead Engineer for Aladdin Trading talks about her experience as an engineer innovating the Aladdin platform over the last 20 years.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of BlackRock delivering Aladdin externally to clients, and you’ve been around since the beginning. Did you ever think you’d be at the same company for that amount of time?
When I started, BlackRock was a small shop doing fixed income only. 20 years ago, Aladdin, BlackRock’s investment management technology used both internally and delivered externally to other financial institutions, looked very different. Back then, I thought I’d probably work here for five years or so and then move on. The thing is, BlackRock innovates so much and so often that it feels like a new company every five years. New challenges are always popping up and we’re constantly finding new ways to meet client needs. We’re still pioneering in the field and in that way, it still feels fresh.
How are you pioneering today?
The Aladdin platform has offered cutting edge technology to traders for years. As the engineering lead for Aladdin Trading, I’m responsible for the transformation that allows traders to seamlessly scale up to support record volume and growing complexity. The resilience and stability of our centralized platform was crucial for traders at BlackRock and traders at our Aladdin clients to successfully work remotely during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Our latest focus includes Automated Order Routing (AOR) that allows traders to script sophisticated rules to create automation and free themselves up to focus on more difficult to trade orders. This also promotes the “citizen developer” movement, providing users the ability to self-service through code.
What do you like about working on Aladdin?
Aladdin is truly a multi-asset platform technology. When designing a solution, we must be thoughtful about extending it to cover multiple asset classes while still catering to asset class specific nuances at the same time. It’s an interesting balancing act and it’s part of BlackRock’s DNA. We like to challenge ourselves in thinking beyond original requirements to come up with a holistic solution that benefits the broader community. It’s great to see my work scale in that way.
As an engineer, what made you choose BlackRock?
I studied computer science and economics in college, so working at BlackRock was at the intersection of both those interests. What I liked about BlackRock from the beginning was that I was really encouraged to try different things and to get into the mind of the user. If there is a requirement, we don’t just build to the requirement, we must think about what problem that requirement was designed to solve. And if we can find a better way to solve that problem, we have the freedom to try it.
From the beginning, I noticed that by putting myself in the shoes of the users of Aladdin, I’m able to understand the problem better and be more confident in my solution. Sometimes that allows me to see problems and opportunities before users even report them. For example, one of my very first projects as a software engineering analyst at BlackRock was to build a generic search tool across the various Aladdin data sets. In testing the tool, I found that it was extremely cumbersome to navigate a large result set. So even though it was not part of the spec, I did some research and figured out how to add a floating header and dynamic aggregation to the result set so that I would have a better user experience when I used the tool myself. That was when I began to learn to bring empathy into the design process, which is a fundamental pillar of engineering at BlackRock.
What does it mean to be a Tech Fellow?
I have been an engineer at BlackRock my whole career, so the designation and recognition as a Tech Fellow is an honor and a responsibility. The title was awarded to 13 technical leaders at BlackRock earlier this year for our expertise, leadership, and mentorship of engineers. A key responsibility for a Tech Fellow is commitment to technical excellence while driving tangible outcomes. As I noted above, BlackRock continues to innovate in the financial services industry and this Tech Fellow cohort provides technical vision and leadership for our ongoing transformation as a leader in financial services technology.
In addition to our contribution as technical leaders at BlackRock, this group also continues to mentor technical talent across the firm and promote our strong culture of engineering.
What do you look forward to with your career building Aladdin?
We’ve done an incredible amount of innovation for clients over the past twenty years, but there are many opportunities in front of us to do even more. I’m involved in some exciting initiatives that will truly transform our industry, including the Aladdin Whole Portfolio view that combines public market and private market investing, increased adoption of automation through our AOR tools, re-architecting of our core trading platform. I’m looking forward to continuing our push to be the industry leading multi-asset platform and to pass along my experience to our engineering community. | https://medium.com/blackrock-engineering/meet-sue-zheng-blackrock-tech-fellow-and-lead-engineer-for-aladdin-trading-53a8f39a68dd | [] | 2020-09-15 03:49:38.820000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Trading System', 'Engineering Career', 'Mentorship', 'Tech Fellows'] |
RightMesh Bi-Weekly Update: April 18, 2019 | TL:DR
RightMesh parent company, Left, was named one of ‘Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers’.
Operations Director, Caryl Longden, spoke at the WNORTH Conference.
RightMesh CEO, John Lyotier, was invited to speak at SATELLITE 2019, the largest global connectivity technology event of the year.
Press
Parent Company, Left, selected as one of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers
Left, the parent company of RightMesh and one of Canada’s fastest growing companies, has been selected as one of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers by Mediacorp Inc. today. “We are incredibly proud of this national recognition of our unique company culture and initiatives,” said Tracy McDonald, Director of Talent and Culture at Left. “We build our culture by hiring people who express the same core values as we hold. Our Lefties (employees) are the heart of our organization, and this award reflects what they’ve helped build over the last nine years. We’re proud of our culture, our Lefties and our collaborative team dynamic across our brands.”
WNorth Conference
Caryl and Tracy at the WNORTH Conference
On April 11th-12th, our Operations Director, Caryl Longden, and our Director of Talent and Culture, Tracy McDonald, attended WNORTH in Whistler, Canada. This boutique-style conference was focused on providing a forum for women who are aiming for, or already on, a senior executive leadership track.
Caryl spoke on a panel on ‘Leading the Way in Disruption’ alongside Barinder Rasode from Grow Tech Labs, Ragina Landim Noppe from the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada, and moderator Erin Millar from Discourse Media, to a room of the top female business leaders in the country.
Overall, the conference was a great opportunity for women in business from the corporate, public and entrepreneurial sectors, to come together to enhance their leadership skills and engage in high-level networking.
Upcoming Events
ETHCAPETOWN , April 19–21st
Leading minds within the blockchain space will join over 200 international hackers and developers to collaborate on building a decentralized future using Ethereum. Our Manager of Global Partnerships, Brianna MacNeil, will be supporting the event as a mentor. Notable speakers and judges include Vitalik Buterin of ethereum, Mariano Conti of MakerDAO, and Anastasia Andrianova of Akropolis.
Leading minds within the blockchain space will join over 200 international hackers and developers to collaborate on building a decentralized future using Ethereum. Our Manager of Global Partnerships, Brianna MacNeil, will be supporting the event as a mentor. Notable speakers and judges include Vitalik Buterin of ethereum, Mariano Conti of MakerDAO, and Anastasia Andrianova of Akropolis. SURGE, April 20th
Brianna MacNeil will also be teaching a workshop at SURGE by UNICEF Innovation on ‘Blockchain for Social Impact’ in Cape Town, South Africa. This immersive event aims to teach teens and young people about blockchain and the role it could play in addressing global challenges.
Brianna MacNeil will also be teaching a workshop at SURGE by UNICEF Innovation on ‘Blockchain for Social Impact’ in Cape Town, South Africa. This immersive event aims to teach teens and young people about blockchain and the role it could play in addressing global challenges. SATELLITE 2019, May 6–9th
With over 15,000 attendees, SATELLITE2019 unites aerospace thought leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, end-users and engineers together in one place for the largest global connectivity technology event of the year. RightMesh CEO, John Lyotier, will be speaking on a panel alongside David Howgill, President of Huckworthy, J. Armand Musey, President and Founder of Summit Ridge Group LLC, and moderator Michael Potter, Co-Founder and Director of Geeks Without Frontiers.
We’re hiring!
Our team is continuing to grow! We’re looking for passionate problem solvers to join our growing team and help us connect the next billion.
Current open positions include:
How You Can Be Involved
Register for updates here to ensure you are kept in the loop of our Soft Mainnet Launch developments.
Join us on RocketChat — you can get clarifications, share your own use case ideas with us, and get involved in conversations with other community members and developers.
Stay in Touch | https://medium.com/rightmesh/rightmesh-bi-weekly-update-april-18-2019-68970c3b032d | ['Amber Mclennan'] | 2019-04-29 19:49:13.509000+00:00 | ['Mesh Networking', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Rmbiweeklyupdate', 'Blockchain', 'Mesh Networks'] |
What I’ve learned during my first month at Launch School. | PEDAC
The thing I’ve found most useful so far has been PEDAC. What is PEDAC? It stands for:
P roblem
roblem E xamples
xamples D ata structures
ata structures A lgorithm
lgorithm Code with intent
A big problem that I had in the beginning when trying to solve a problem was that like most Junior developers, I would just sit down and start writing code, see what worked, and gradually hack a solution together. This is very inefficient and stems from a lack of problem-solving ability combined with a lack of in-depth knowledge of the fundamentals of the language.
But after teaching you the fundamentals of JavaScript, Launch School teaches you how to approach problems systematically. First, you have to make sure you understand the problem. Take the time to read through the description well and make sure that you have understood exactly what is being asked for. I’m sure you can remember a time when you coded up a great solution to a problem, only to realize that you solved the wrong problem as you hadn’t fully understood what was being asked. So this is when you have to take the time to ask clarifying questions and get the problem straight in your mind.
Then check the examples. Is your understanding in line with the examples provided? Can you come up with some more examples? Are there any edge cases or requirements that you have missed?
What data structures will you use to represent that data while converting the input to output? (This is more used for more complex problems and is often left out when solving more simple problems).
Then you write your Algorithm. In this context, your Algorithm is a list of the steps that you will take to get the desired result. Because you have already thought about the input and required output, now you just have to decide how you are going to solve this particular problem and then put your ideas in writing.
And finally, you code up your solution. This sounds like a lot of work, and it is. It may even sound more inefficient than just sitting down and coding through the problem. And granted, for very short simple problems it can be overkill. But once the problems you are solving start to increase in complexity, PEDAC will become your new best friend.
Whenever I find myself struggling while coding a problem, it’s always because I didn’t put enough thought into my Algorithm and the steps required.
Without a strong understanding of the fundamentals, this would be impossible. Before I started studying at Launch School, I would go to StackOverflow any time I was stuck and copy a solution to a problem from there, and of course, I rarely understood what I was copying or how it worked. I can now proudly say that I haven’t needed to use StackOverflow at all this month, as I have learned how to break the problem down into smaller chunks, and when I am not 100% sure how something works, my new default is to go straight to the Documentation. | https://medium.com/launch-school/what-ive-learned-during-my-first-month-at-launch-school-6848e537db34 | ["Eamon O'Callaghan"] | 2021-07-22 05:37:15.769000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Learning To Code', 'Bootcamp', 'Launch School', 'How To Study'] |
Experience of a Lifetime. Becoming an International student has… | Being an International student has not always been the easiest, especially since I made the decision to move across the country to accomplish my dream of becoming a journalist.
It all started during the summer of 2018, when I learned that I got accepted to California State University, Northridge. Even though it felt like a dream come true, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go because a.) it was far away from home, and b.) I had never been to the United States before.
I was born and raised in Dubai, but I decided to complete my studies in Los Angeles. Growing up, I was always told that the United States is the land of opportunity to achieving your dreams. After living here for over three years, I think it is safe to say so because even though I have come across several obstacles that have made me question my career path, it has helped me understand why I needed to be here by myself.
The first photo I ever had taken of myself when I came to the United States, in 2018.
The first few months were most certainly the hardest part of my journey to studying abroad. I felt like my world was falling apart because I was 8,000 miles away from my parents and for some reason, I found it so difficult to make friends. I just always felt like an outcast because I couldn’t fit in since my English wasn’t perfect. Over time, I did manage to make a few great friends, who I now call my very best friends.
Another reason why it felt so difficult to fit in is because of my religion. Being a Muslim in the United States has always scared me because of the things I hear on the news. This was one of the reasons as to why I was not so sure if I wanted to fulfill my dream of studying abroad. However, my friends made me realize that the more I show my fears of being a Muslim here, the more I would let it get to me and I haven’t looked back since then.
I have always been the closest to my mom and dad, which is why it still feels difficult to live on my own without them. I will make them proud of me one day, but for now, I need to be here in order to do that.
Attached above is a photo of my mom (on the left) and me in Beverly Hills.
Toward my second year at CSUN, I found out that my father was admitted to the hospital because he had been really sick, which led him to having an operation. In that moment, all I really wanted to do was book a flight on the spot and leave. I was so furious at my parents for not telling me at first because they were looking out for me, but my mind was only set on my dad’s recovery.
I had to learn this time because life does not work that way. Instead, I did the best I could, so I would make it a point to FaceTime my parents every day and ask about their well-being instead of dwelling over the fact that I’m not there to support my father, even though I should have known that I was, but from afar.
One of the hardest things that I had to do on my own was manage my money. I say this because growing up, my parents would always manage everything for me. So, learning how to spend less and save more was really tough, which was how I would always get on the verge of being broke really fast.
Although I have so much more that I need to learn by myself, I am grateful that I was given an opportunity to accomplish a mission like this. Going from things being done for you, to doing the smallest things like laundry and cooking was not the easiest. I managed it on my own and that is the one thing that I learned while being here.
A photo captured by myself at Venice beach.
When it comes to adapting to the changes around me, it most certainly took me a while to get the hang of it. The people around here were so different compared to the people in Dubai. I think that Middle Easterners in general will sugar coat anything just to get it over with. Whereas people here are straightforward, and while I admire that about the people here, it does hurt sometimes. It felt like people would get mad at me for something as minor as not knowing my ways around here, but I never let it get to me.
Even though my journey hasn’t been the easiest, I did learn so much from it, knowing that I still have a long way to go. I get to make more mistakes and I get to learn from them too. Sometimes, I feel like I’m just wasting my time and effort here because my purpose of coming here was to study and graduate, but so often I would find myself doing other things like having fun, I would feel guilty about it.
I would constantly remind myself that I was just wasting all my effort and time here because of how quickly I would get demotivated to study, which made the road to recovery so hard. It took me such a long time to realize that I can do both. I can study and educate myself and I could have fun because at the end of the day, I won’t be here forever. I will eventually have to return home.
Lessons like this are what has helped me get through each semester. It was definitely not the easiest, but looking back has made me realize that it wasn’t hard. I learned how to get over my homesickness, which was key to being happy because being homesick would only lead me to stay demotivated. I am so glad that I decided to pack up and come to a country where nobody knows me, because this gave me an opportunity to start over and work on myself, which is something I could not do there. | https://medium.com/under-the-sun/experience-of-a-life-time-877f16b4562f | ['Noor Sufi'] | 2020-12-15 01:54:23.083000+00:00 | ['Personal Essay'] |
My Trip To Santorini — Steve Gosling — The Fernweh Blog | Blog By: Steve Gosling
If you are planning a trip to the whitewashed Greek island, make sure Santorini is the name that should be on top of your list. Your greek travel can no less be a dream come true once you visit and experience its prepossessing views. Being an adventurous traveler, my Santorini travel was one relishing the journey and an unforgettable experience. The daily working schedule was getting tough and I both my wife and I so wanted a break from our work stress. We were looking for a place to rejuvenate our minds and have a delightful time together. Without any second thought, Santorini was the place that came to my mind as I have heard a lot about this place. Well, the packing was done and the destination was a surprise for my wife. I knew she would like the place as I was more excited about our trip to Santorini. I am a person who loves to write about my travel and share my experience with the world just to let them know about the place and also at the same time try to ease out their planning. Check out my travel blog about Santorini that will convince you to book the tickets right away to this alluring place.
When to Visit?
If you are flexible with the dates, the best time to visit Santorini is April-May and Sep-Oct. I went in mid-May and it warmly welcomed us. Since the place receives more tourists at the beginning of June to early September, it wasn’t that crowded. The prices of the hotels, activities, accommodations, tourist attractions, etc were also at affordable rates. as they tend to increase as soon as the high season is about to start. Santorini is not ideal for winters much as a dip in a quick Mediterranean beach will not be a good idea. Also, most of the hotels, shops & businesses, restaurants are closed mostly.
Where to Stay?
Since I am an adventurous traveler, no matter how the place is, I am always looking for a room with a view. But unfortunately, my wife is a bit different and likes to go for a luxurious stay. Keeping the budget and her wish in mind, we decided to go for Dreams Luxury Suites in Imerovigli. It is one hotel that came out to be a complete package for us. With a quiet & peaceful environment, lavish bedrooms with impeccable views, we undoubtedly made a great choice. Having a fine dining restaurant, a huge outdoor swimming pool with a splendid view, refreshing spa, sauna, and beauty center, it is just perfect for a stay. Also, their incredible services were really appreciable and worked like a cherry on the cake.
What to do?
Santorini is not just about the views and sightseeing, rather it has a lot more to offer. My top recommendations for what all things are there and you should definitely not miss are both for adventure and not so adventurous kinda people. We started our day with a Wine tour, headed to cruise to Nea Kameni, and then it was time for ATV Tour and we ended our day with a magical sunset.
Wine Tour
For all the wine lovers, this is the place not to be missed. It took us almost half-day to explore it all and it was immensely satisfying. Since Santorini wines are considered to be the best wine in Greece, where we got a chance to taste the 12 different samples of wine styles that were served with cheese, salami and the Greek olives making your day the best of all.
Cruise to Nea Kameni
After the wine tasting, there headed to a boat cruise to Nea Kameni. Since the island was formed via a volcano, a visit to Nea Kameni was a must. It was an enjoyable experience altogether and we had a great time up there.
ATV Tour
I was super excited when we finally came to the ATV Tour. We rented an ATV (quad) to explore the island. Places that should be there on your checklist while you are on your ATV would surely include the Red Beach, Oia and Perissa Beach. I really enjoyed my day to the fullest on my ATV and surely the picture says it all. Look how happy I am when it comes to such adventures.
There were many more activities that we experienced like a footpath hike from Fira to Oia, scuba diving, and the Santorini cooking class.
Recommended Read: Explore the Tropical Paradise: MaldivesWhat to Eat and where?
Apart from exploring the place, serving your taste buds is also an important task. Once we were done with the activities, it was the delectable food that was missing and in Santorini it was bliss. I would personally recommend restaurants that are my favorite and serve the best food are Mezzo, Argo, Athenian House. For a perfect coffee date, Passaggio in Oia and Pure in Fira are the two places you should try out at least once.
Dishes that I am still struggling to get over were the Greek Salad, Roasted Greek Lamb, Moussaka, Saganaki, Spanakopita (try only if you like spinach), Tomato Gefthedes and the list will never end.
Clearly, it was one memorable trip and Santorini made our journey a memorable one. The surprising Santorini without any doubt really surprised my wife and she just loved the place and my decision as well. Get your bags packed, Greek is just a ticket away. | https://medium.com/@flightsbank.marketing/my-trip-to-santorini-steve-gosling-the-fernweh-blog-74fb1fdea9a7 | [] | 2019-08-01 07:46:43.692000+00:00 | ['Destination', 'Santorini', 'Places', 'Greece', 'Travel'] |
How the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Impacted the Travel Industry | Once upon a time, we nonchalantly booked plane tickets to the other side of the world, but that is no longer the case. Instead we must now tiptoe around travel bans or wait patiently for this pandemic to end. It’s clear that no industry has been quite as affected by the pandemic as the travel industry. From spring break to summer vacations, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted travel plans, closed down airlines, businesses, amusement parks, attractions, and cruise lines around the world — many of which rely heavily on tourism. How’s how the pandemic has impacted the travel industry.
100% of destinations around the world imposed travel restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus, according to research from UNWTO. With the travel industry contributing 2.9 trillion-dollars to the GDP in 2019, that number is set to drop significantly for 2020, resulting in a likely 60–80% drop compared to 2019. Tourism decline is especially harsh on destinations that rely heavily on the tourism industry. For example, states like Nevada, where casinos and hotels fuel the economy; and countries like Greece, where touristic islands like Santorini have seemingly become ghost towns, business from tourism is an essential part of these destinations’ economies.
The U.S. Travel Association forecasts that domestic travel will decrease by 45% and 75% internationally by the end of this year. This means that many businesses of these touristic destinations might not make it through the end of the year. The U.S. Travel Association is calling it the Great Travel Depression, with travel industry unemployment at 51%, twice the number during Great Depression’s worst year.
Millions of jobs around the world have been lost, with nearly 7 million in the U.S. alone. Jobs lost range from cafe employees and nightclub owners to tour guides and food service providers, but many lost jobs are particularly within the transportation industry. For example, major airline British Airways has cut up to 12,000 employees alone.
Though Spain reopened its border with Europe and the United Kingdom on June 21, flights have not returned to normalcy. Last June major Spanish destination Barcelona received 30,200 incoming flights. With an average of 1,000 incoming flights a day during June 2019, June 2020 has experienced a sharp decline. Currently, Barcelona is receiving slightly over 100 flights per day, a near 90% decrease comparatively.
Even as lockdown measures around the world ease up, many tourists are postponing their travel plans or canceling altogether. For example, according to research from Longwoods International, 69% of Americans say they are changing their travel plans due to the coronavirus pandemic. 36% of those American travelers have canceled their plans entirely. Furthermore, 29% changed to a drivable destination as opposed to flying, suggesting that many will opt for domestic travel.
Another area of the travel industry that has been largely impacted by the pandemic is hotels. A 96% decrease in hotel stays hit Italy as well as 68% in China, and currently 56% in the United States. However, high vacancies are seen across the world even as countries reopen borders and loosen restrictions.
An usually quiet Barcelona — Photo by author
Typically, visitors spend 300 million nights in tourist accommodation annually across Spain. However, that number is set to drop significantly due to the coronavirus pandemic as hotels across the country were closed from mid-March throughout much of June. Even now as European and British tourists are welcomed back to Spain, many hotels report high vacancies, and hotels that usually staggered between 80–90% occupancy are now experiencing a drop to around 25%, according to El País. The impact of COVID-19 on Spain’s travel industry is felt throughout the country, and quieter streets and empty attractions are a clear indication of that.
As for attractions, theme parks like Disney World and Disneyland have also taken a major hit. Both theme parks closed their doors in mid-March in response to the coronavirus. These closures are big — Disney’s four theme parks are among the five most visited in the world.
Though Disney World in Florida expects to reopen on July 11, California’s Disneyland will be postponing its original reopening date of July 17, due to the continuous rise in cases in the US. Of course, once Disney parks reopen strict health measures are expected to be set in place.
Major attractions around the world have seen several month-long closures. The Louvre in Paris, the world’s largest art museum, closed in March. Though typically The Louvre only shuts its doors three times a year and receives over 9 million visitors every year, its closure along with the Eiffel Tower and other prominent admission-required attractions in Paris have taken a blow to its economy. Fortunately for the city, the museum is set to reopen on July 6, though there’s no making up for the millions of visitors already lost throughout spring and what will continue to be lost, as tourism is at an all-time low.
The sector of the travel industry that may have it worst of all is cruise lines. The cruise industry accounts for $150 billion annually and reports over 1.7 million jobs worldwide. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a No Sail Order on March 14 and has repeatedly extended that order.
The Royal Caribbean cruise line does not expect to resume any of its sailing routes until September 16, after the peak season. However, certain routes like Canada and Bermuda will stay closed until the end of October. The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a loss of salaries and benefits for many cruise line employees.
Those who do travel this year can expect social distancing measures at airports, a mandate to wear masks on flights, and sanitizing hands before entering hotels, attractions, restaurants, and shops.
To sum it up, it’s uncertain how many businesses will survive this pandemic, especially small businesses like bars, cafes, and nightclubs that cannot offer many takeaway options to keep their businesses running amidst a pandemic. Tour guides, travel agencies, and even travel bloggers are seeing a potentially dire cut in income. It’s clear that every sector worldwide has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. What still remains unclear is when life will return to normal, especially for the travel industry.
For more information on travel restrictions worldwide, please advise this compilation from the New York Times. | https://medium.com/swlh/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-impacted-the-travel-industry-bce8d15bab55 | ['Christa Adams'] | 2020-07-24 08:50:25.224000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Coronavirus', 'Tourism', 'World News', 'Airlines'] |
Five Reasons I’m Grateful That I Went Vegan | Five Reasons I’m Grateful That I Went Vegan
I went vegan for the animals before I knew any of this other stuff. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. London Graves Follow Dec 23, 2020 · 5 min read
01. Trying New Things
Whether you’re an adventurous eater or not, it’s not a bad idea to expand your food repertoire to cover a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and so on. You won’t love everything you try, but you’ll find cool stuff you never knew existed. And it doesn’t even have to be fancy.
When I was a kid, I never ate oatmeal. We just never had it in the house. But I really do love it, and it’s extremely versatile. Do it up with some peanut butter and strawberry jam on top, and call it PB&J oats. I’m definitely not a fan of overnight oats, but a hot bowl of that goodness on a cold morning is amazing.
02. Meeting Cool People
There are so many ways to get help from the worldwide vegan community, even during COVID-19. Facebook is a good place to start, and I’m a member of several groups that post recipes, tips, questions, and more. Some vegans can be extremely judgy of newbies, but most of them are incredibly supportive.
This can be particularly helpful if you come from a place where vegans are rare, like I did. Rural Florida in the early aughts was not an ideal place to make the switch, but you play the hand you’re dealt. This was before Facebook really took off, and internet access wasn’t consistent. You make do with what you have, and the good news is, if you’re reading this, you probably have it somewhat better than I did at the time. At least in terms of connecting with other vegans and learning about how to do veganism well, things are much improved.
03. Learning About Nutrition
This was a big one, and a very unexpected bonus.
I didn’t care about the health benefits when I started out. I was 16, and I just simply did not care. And I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but it was what it was. I didn’t know anything about amino acids or gut health, and I was only just beginning to understand what a microbiome is and how critically important the bacteria that live in the GI tract are.
The other thing I found out, pretty quickly, was how abysmal (not to mention lazy) the nutrition education I got as a child was. They showed us the food pyramid, talked for a little bit, and that was that. No one cared how healthy greasy cheeseburgers and fried chicken were for a kid, but people wouldn’t shut up about how unhealthy plant-based living supposedly was.
04. Genetics and Health
It turns out I carry a gene that makes me somewhat more susceptible to developing colorectal cancers by way of consuming processed meats. My mom was diagnosed with anal cancer at age 41, and since I’m 31 now, I need to start getting regular colonoscopies to look for precancers. According to my gastroenterologist, you want to start looking out for that 10 years prior to the date of onset if you have a first-degree relative known to have had cancer of the GI tract.
While being vegan doesn’t preclude the possibility of developing cancer, when it comes to cancers of the GI tract, it can reduce risks. In this case, however, I’m pretty sure my mom’s diet had everything to do with her developing that particular cancer. She would later die of metastatic lung cancer, which I believe was jointly caused by the radiation from the first round and the fact that she smoked for 30 years, give or take.
But her diet was abhorrent. I’m not saying she never would have had cancer, had she been vegan or vegetarian, but hers was a diet rich in processed foods, especially processed meats and very low in fiber. That couldn’t have helped.
05. Environmental Issues
It had never occurred to me to think of the environmental impact my diet might be having, prior to going vegan. We can talk about land and water usage, as well as cow-related methane production, until the proverbial cows come home. It’s a huge problem.
The best explanation of these issues, I’ve found, was the documentary film Cowspiracy. It’s available on Netflix and Prime, and it’s very well-sourced and information-heavy. I was particularly intrigued by the discussion of grass-fed beef. There isn’t enough land on earth for everyone to eat grass-fed beef at the current rate of beef consumption.
People will stop using plastic straws to save the fish, but they won’t stop eating fish to save the fish. Overfishing is a serious issue, too, and they discuss it in the film as well. There’s also Forks Over Knives and The Game Changers. Earthlings is one I can’t fully comment on, not because I think it’s not a good film, but because I can’t get through more than 10 minutes, if that. I have an over-abundance of empathy, and it hurts me deeply to watch depictions of what goes on in animal agriculture. | https://medium.com/an-idea/five-reasons-im-grateful-that-i-went-vegan-40fc4128b26e | ['London Graves'] | 2020-12-29 11:42:54.120000+00:00 | ['Food And Drink', 'Healthy Lifestyle', 'Foodies', 'Vegan', 'Veganism'] |
Zytara to Issue ZUSD Stablecoin on DigitalBits Network | Zytara announced today the selection of the DigitalBits blockchain, alongside Ethereum for the launch of their Zytara stablecoin (ZUSD). Zytara seeks to launch a digital banking platform and payment network for Millennials and Gen Z gamers and esports enthusiasts that promotes financial literacy and inclusion for demographics long underserved by the traditional financial sector.
ZUSD will be a stablecoin created by Zytara and issued by Prime Trust, a state-chartered trust company in the United States that is also the regulated administrator for ZUSD. Each ZUSD will be 100% collateralized with a corresponding US dollar held with Prime Trust, redeemable through Prime Trust at a 1:1 ratio and subject to examinations by Cohen & Co, a national accounting firm, with reports that are made publicly available on a regular basis. ZUSD will initially launch on the Ethereum blockchain, followed by the DigitalBits blockchain as the company executes on its mission to incorporate multiple blockchains.
For full release, click here. | https://medium.com/digitalbitsorg/zytara-to-issue-zusd-stablecoin-on-digitalbits-network-1cdebc88caff | ['Rajiv Naidoo'] | 2020-12-15 15:03:47.021000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Partnerships', 'Report', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
Talking Taiwan Episode with Author, Musician, and Journalist Joe Henley | In this week’s Talking Taiwan episode, I spoke with Joe Henley, a Taipei-based author, freelance writer and musician about his latest book, Bu San Bu Si, and his first book, Sons of the Republic. In writing Bu San Bu Si, Joe clearly drew upon his multi-disciplinary background. The book after all is about a Taiwanese punk band and the struggles that the musicians face in reconciling their punk personas with Taiwan’s societal expectations. Joe , incidentally, has sung in punk rock and metal bands, and much of what he’s written in Bu San Bu Si was inspired by what he experienced in the Taipei punk and metal band scene.
We also talked about what motivates people with creative pursuits and how important money and fame might be in that pursuit. I asked him about his writing process and to offer advice to aspiring writers. Joe was unabashedly frank about what motivated him to write his first book, Sons of the Republic and talked about the subject of his next book.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
· Joe’s latest novel, Bu San Bu Si
· What the phrase “bu san bu si” means
· Joe’s writing process
· How Joe ended up in Taiwan
· How Saskatchewan (where Joe is from) compares to Taiwan
· How Joe adjusted from moving from Saskatoon to Taipei
· What motivated Joe to write his first novel, Sons of the Republic
· Joe’s career as a musician and freelance writer
· The topics of Joe’s future books
· Joe’s advice for aspiring authors
· Being a journalist vs. a novelist/author
· Joe’s two bands: Stench of Lust, and Revilement
Listen to my interview with Joe Henley by clicking HERE
This post originally appeared on www.TalkingTaiwan.com | https://medium.com/@felicialin/talking-taiwan-episode-with-author-musician-and-journalist-joe-henley-3401c73091c7 | ['Felicia Lin'] | 2020-02-13 19:59:15.809000+00:00 | ['Taipei', 'Punk', 'Authors', 'Novel', 'Taiwan'] |
My journey for the perfect stream | Google Chromecast Audio
Google Chromecast Audio. This is a very interesting device. Most of you familiar with the “usual” Google Chromecast, that one with the HDMI cable, meant for your TV. The Audio version as you guessed, is the same, just for your speaker connection. It has a 3.5mm socket for any 3.5mm cable. It can be your headphones or a cable to any Audio System. It uses the quite nice AKM AK4430 DAC. This DAC is quite enough for the casual listener.
Of course the idea of Chromecast is that instead of streaming your music from your phone, PC or any device, like with Bluetooth, you just command it what to play and it plays it by itself from the network. This way your device is free, doesn’t waste its battery and provides you the freedom you need.
In addition, this tiny “hockey puck” has an optical TosLink output, physically located inside the 3.5mm analog socket. This is really neat. You get two outputs in one physical place. I switched to the optical out, when I added the Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus to my Audio System. You can find in a price of a penny at eBay an adaptor from 3.5mm to JIS F05 optical connector.
Optical 3.5mm to JIS F05 adaptor
Since Google made a really good job in spreading the Chromecast standard, it is available in any Android device and many applications support it. Even if your app does not support it, you can cast the audio from your device with a built-in caster in the Android OS (but this option needs your casting device, like with Bluetooth). Of course it includes main music services like Spotify, Soundcloud, TuneIn, Tidal, Deezer, recently Amazon apps too and many more. You can monitor and control it with Google’s Home app. Controls like volume, treble and bass are available. Chromecast Audio can be powered by any USB socket available near it. It connects to your Wi-Fi but also can be used with any USB cable with Ethernet socket for improved network stability and response.
Chromecast power adaptor with Ethernet socket
Last thing, it is SUPER cheap! at this point, with all the features it presents, I had to finish my article and say how happy I am. But, unfortunately I’ll have to disappoint you with one cardinal disadvantage. Something like each fifth time I tried to command it to play something, my Spotify app or even Google’s native Home app could not see the device. I verified I’m in my Wi-Fi network, so this is not a network setup issue. My router told me it has it. All looks right, except that I can’t command it. It was very frustrating. I even researched on the web and found people complaining about the same issue. Investing so much in your Audio System by buying Studio monitors, Hi-Fi DAC, Premium Spotify account and in the end of day, you just want to relax with some music and you can’t. I had to restart the Chromecast or do some other tricks to bring it back alive. At this point I said “enough” and began to look for a better solution. | https://medium.com/@dreyer/my-journey-for-the-perfect-stream-9c02ae571791 | ['Roman Dreyer'] | 2019-05-11 12:03:43.368000+00:00 | ['Dac', 'Chromecast', 'Music', 'Streaming', 'Spotify'] |
I Bought a Pair of Nike’s Shoes for Disabled People, They’re Not Really that Accessible: A Review | When Nike released their heavily marketed shoes for disabled people in July of 2015, I was excited. All of the media (and there was a lot of media) proclaimed these shoes as being for disabled people. The thing was they really weren’t. At the time of their original release they were only available in men’s sizes 7 & up. This left out many women whose feet were to small (mine included). I wrote a post about it at the time, you can read it here. The shoes also didn’t come in children’s sizes. This meant that by and large the shoes were not for disabled people, they were for disabled men.
More recently Nike has expanded the line from the men’s basketball shoe to include men and women’s running shoes and children’s shoes. Selection unfortunately varies by country. In Canada where I am you can only buy medium width women’s running shoes while in the USA they also come in wide.
In Canada the selection of children’s shoes only includes basketball shoes while American children can also select running shoes.
The Canadian Nike website looks like this
Image description: A screenshot of the Nike online store for Canada showing the selection of shoes with Flyease technology. There are five pairs of shoes. Link to website here.
The American website looks like this
Image description: A screen shot of the American Nike online store showing the selection of shoes with Flyease technology. There are ten pairs of shoes. Link to website here.
There are even some countries where the shoes aren’t available at all like Australia.
I’ve been needing a new pair of gym shoes and decided to give the Nike’s a try now that they’re available in my size. They are only available online so I had to order them. They arrived last Friday and I’ve been wearing them for the last few days to get a sense of them.
First, I’m going to discuss why accessible shoes are so important to me.
Given the fact that I only have the full use of my right hand and only very little dexterity in my left, tying shoes is a time consuming chore. It’s also a skill I didn’t develop until well after my peers. I was around ten years old when I was finally able to tie my shoes well consistently but it still takes me at leat three times as long as nondisabled people.
I spent most of my early childhood wearing shoes done up with velcro. Unfortunately, this was the nineties, long before vecro actually started being used in fashionable shoes as a result, they were generally only available in sizes for toddlers, small children and adults (designed for the elderly. There were definitely a few years when I had outgrown the available children’s options but did not fit into adult shoes.
Despite what confused people on the internet seem to think, not everyone is falling over themselves to help disabled people when we genuinely need it (see the comments where people just can’t understand why I refuse to agree that disabled people should have to ask for prepared produce in this post on peeled oranges). So I had to graduate to laces but couldn’t actually deal with them. My mother didn’t want to be constantly tying my shoes for me, so she tied them loosely so that I could slip them on and off without untying them (this was not ideal as they were not a secure fit).
I distinctly remember one summer, going to a family event for my dad’s work, where one of his coworkers thought it would be hilarious to untie my shoes, admittedly, I’m sure he assumed I could retie them but I couldn’t ans my mum, dad and siblings weren’t close by so I just started to cry because I couldn’t really go anywhere until someone retied them for me.
As a kid I would have loved shoes that were accessible and designed to be fashionable. They wouldn’t have so obviously set me apart by having to wear shoes done up with velcro long after all of my peers had graduated to laces.
But back to the Nikes. Here’s what they look like
Image description: Front view of Nike’s Zoom Pegasus 32 Flyease running shoes. They are grey with magenta accents.
From the front, they appear like an average running shoe. The only hint that they might me different is that the laces are thin and have no visible way of adjusting them. This is because the laces are actually internally threaded through the shoes and are connected to the back zipper seen here
Image description: rear view of the Nike Zoom Pegasus 32 shoes. The zipper closure id visible along the heel of the shoe while the strap is attached on the inner side of the shoe, it is attached to the lace string which is visible on either side of the zipper.
The shoes are unzipped to allow the foot to enter and exit from the heel.
Image description: Back view of an unzipped Nike Zoom Pegasus 32
Image description: Side view of an unzipped Nike Zoom Pegasus 32. The heel is visibly separated from the shoe to allow top and rear access.
The wearer can then slide their foot into the shoe, you have to have your foot shoved as far forward as possible and then the zipper can be pulled across and the zipper strap secured with velcro.
When I bought these shoes, my intention was to particularly look at how well these shoes work with various orthotic devices. I have an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO), a Bioness L300 and a basic custom insole to compensate for leg length discrepancy. I was going to check how well these shoes worked with each device and report back with pictures. The problem is that these shoes don’t accommodate any of them.
I first tried the shoes with just my lift
Image description: a black custom made orthotic lift designed to compensate for leg length discrepancy.
After I had inserted the insole, I could barely get the shoe zipped up and the fit was so tight it hurt. I had to remove it. I suspect the shoes might work with a heel lift wedge, which is less invasive but I don’t have one at the moment and will have to find a supplier in Toronto.
I didn’t even bother trying the AFO because it takes up way more space in the shoe and I suspected trying might damage the zipper.
The heel sensor for A Bioness L300 isn’t as invasive as my lift (but I need to use the two things together). Even without the lift, the Bioness (you can read my thoughts on that product here) still isn’t compatible with these Nikes because the heel sensor has to be clipped to the inner side of the shoe.
Image description: A blue shoe with the Bioness L300 sensor clipped in proper position over the ankle on the inner side of the shoe.
As you will recall, the Nikes zip to the inside and the zipper would get in the way of where the sensor needs to be clipped. Not only does the clip require significan dexterity in at least one hand to operate, it also include internal spikes to hold it firmly in place. It is difficult to remove which detracts from the needed accessibility of the shoe and repeated removals and replacements would likely damage the zipper of the Nikes.
So these shoes are really only useful for people who have no additional orthotic needs. I’m not sure if the wide version of the shoes would better accommodate a lift but i can’t find out as that version of the shoe isn’t available in Canada. The basketball shoe may also provide more space but it isn’t available in my size so I’m not sure.
Now on to the merits of the shoes themselves.
They can indeed be zipped up one handed, but that hand will need some strength and dexterity. The motion isn’t smooth and requires some maneuvering but definitely took me less time than tying laces.
I could however only zip them with my right hand. My left hand could neither negotiate the zipper or the velcro, so be aware of that before ordering. Some hand dexterity and strength is required to properly operate the zipper.
Due to my hemiplegia my left foot is significantly smaller than my right but the shoe still fit comfortably despite my buying the size for my right foot.
That being said, be aware that the tightness of the shoe can’t really be adjusted. As I mentioned above the top laces are attached to the zipper, so if you loosen the shoe, you won’t actually be able to zip it up. You can tighten then a bit but it’s finicky and requires dexterity. I find this to be a major design flaw. The shoes really need to have top laces that can be tightened or loosens independent of the zipper. Doing that might make them more usable with orthotics, though as long as they zip to the inner side, they won’t be compatible with anything like the Bioness.
Other thoughts
While there is an inner covering to protect the foot from the zipper, I highly recommend that people wear socks as the zipper is hard and may irritate your foot.
Conclusions
These shoes are best suited to people who either have the full use of one hand or only minor limited dexterity. They are also best suited to people who don’t use orthotics of any kind.
As with my original thoughts on the Nike accessible shoes back when they were only designed for men, I maintain my conclusion that the claim that these shoes are for disabled people generally is false. They will meet the needs of only a very small portion of the disabled population. I unfortunately can’t really see Nike trying to rectify that any time soon or ever as they are to heavily invested in “Hey we identified a problem for disabled people and we fixed it!” style advertising. They are unlikely to acknowledge that in order to make a more widely accessible shoe, much more work needs to be done.
It is clear that they considered the needs of an individual (see the video in my previous post for background on how the shoes came to be) and didn’t really consider that an individual’s needs are not representative of the scope of people they have now claimed to cater to.
For these shoes to be more accessible they would need to zip to the outside edge (so as to be compatible with a Bioness), they would need to be able to accommodate a variety of orthotics. The shoes also need a mechanism to independently manage the tightness of the shoes that isn’t attached to the zipper. This last one might actually rectify the orthotic situation, at least for insole type orthotics, though likely not an AFO.
Ultimately, I do think these shoes will be good for some people and I will be able to use them as gym shoes because, running and cycling don’t aggravate issues caused by my leg length difference the way walking does but I won’t be able to use them for everyday use (unless I can get my hands on a heel wedge and it works, I’ll report back if I do).
The biggest issue isn’t even how limited the consumer base is with these shoes. They will definitely help some people. I would have loved them as a kid, back before I became an adult and my body was more forgiving of not wearing my corrective orthotics. Nothing is universally accessible and it’s unreasonable to expect a single thing to cater to all disability needs. The biggest issue is that in all the media, the shoe is presented as though it does fix all those problems. It’s the shoe for people with disabilities. Not the shoe for people with very specific needs because admitting that means that Nike admits to leaving people out.
The thing is we need to acknowledge that these shoes while a step in the right direction DO still leave people out and those people deserve to have their needs catered to. The first step in that direction is for people to express their needs and to have manufacturers acknowledge them and commit to working toward fixing them. The “Hey look we fixed it” mentality and overly inclusive language put out by Nike and happily parroted by the mainstream media are a major barrier in moving forward with further progress and it’s a barrier that needs to be knocked down. | https://medium.com/disability-stories/i-bought-a-pair-of-nikes-shoes-for-disabled-people-they-re-not-really-that-accessible-a-review-14f9d42c8966 | ['Kim Sauder'] | 2016-05-04 14:10:42.012000+00:00 | ['Accessibility', 'Disability', 'Shoes'] |
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