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The A-Z of Foodtech Incubators, Accelerators & Grants | At Trellis Road we’re always thinking about how we can be helpful for early stage high-impact foodtech startup founders, and one question that we often encounter is how to finance great ideas and products during the early days.
Whilst we’re always happy to recommend great founder friendly investors in our network, we also encourage founders to also look into the many other great financing sources out there. Here we’ve put together an A to Z list of over 50 incubators, accelerators and grants relevant for foodtech startups that are looking for capital and meaningful support.
In addition, this is a really useful database with lots of smaller accelerators or investment funds based all over the world, with details of available funding and any application requirements.
As always with these things, it’s an ever-changing landscape so please add a comment or get in touch ([email protected]) if there are others that we should add to the list.
The A-Z of Foodtech Incubators, Accelerators & Grants
A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) — Singapore: this government-funded agency offers different funding options to support individuals, resources, ideas and major initiatives. Its Alternative Protein program, for example, grants up to S$15M ($11.4M) per proposal, which must meet Singapore’s food security and food resilience goals. To be eligible, a company Director should hold at least 0.7 FTE primary appointment in a Singapore publicly funded research or tertiary education, run a laboratory or research program that carries out research in Singapore and have a track record of leadership ability in coordinating research programs and providing mentorship to research teams, as well as having productive research outcomes. Typical grant size: variable.
Accelerance — Denmark: the number one accelerator in the Nordics, established for nearly ten years, with a startup survival rate of over 88%. The program is funded by the Danish government and by leading Danish and International corporates with the goal of attracting talent and creating growth, so there are no fees and they don’t take any equity. The training is remote, but you do need to register your company in Denmark and have some activity there to qualify. Its Waoo corporate matchmaking program is seeking startups working with data, including predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, proactive customer service, data processing & cleaning and P2P mesh connectivity; application deadline is 4th February. Typical grant size: €67k for tech startups.
Batch Ventures — UK: this accelerator is a pretty specific program to back innovation in baked goods, as it’s a partnership between Mission Ventures and the UK’s largest bakery brand, Warburtons. It offers a free 12 week intensive business review, and investment of £50k-£250k is available in exchange for a minority stakeholding. Typical investment size £50k-£250k.
Big Idea Ventures New Protein Fund & Accelerator — USA & Singapore: this fund invests twice a year alongside providing mentors, advisors, a test kitchen and industry connections to ensure its companies’ products can be scaled to meet global demand. The accelerator takes five months and is very intensive, though the next program may start virtually if the current global situation doesn’t resolve itself. The latest cohorts include startups such as Novel Farms, Inc, Orbillion Bio, Biftek.co, Gaia and Peace of Meat, all working on cell-based meat or cell culture media. BIV also just announced that it is teaming with Ashika Group to launch an alternative protein fund in India. It takes applications constantly, so get yours in to be considered for the next cohort.Typical investment size: variable.
Blue Ocean Xlerator — Netherlands: BOX provides a support network for the admin side of a startup: writing a business plan, bookkeeping, funding, housing, negotiating contracts and monitoring networks, which all take a lot of time when you really need to be focusing on tech and creating a foothold in the market. At BOX you work alongside 35 colleagues and fellow entrepreneurs with relevant knowledge and experience and the same drive, and need to bring a winning mindset. You can apply any time. Typical grant size: N/A.
Brinc — Six Worldwide Locations: this accelerator offers various programs in different locations. It comprises six weeks of on-site training followed by six weeks remotely, and the fund will invest $80,000 for a negotiable equity percentage. The catch, though, is that each startup needs to pay $30,000 to be included in the cohort. Applications are always open because the programs are so frequent. Typical investment size: $50k after fees.
Chobani Food Tech Residency — USA: this incubator is focused on helping packaged food and beverage brands to scale their businesses, and includes tailored programming based on the needs of the startups, held at Chobani’s premises. Applications are currently closed, and the program only caters to applicants from within the US. Typical investment size: $25k.
Dao Foods — China: this accelerator’s Venture Fund 1 will support and invest in 30 alternative protein companies over the next three years. It invests 500,000 RMB in each company in a bid to increase the velocity of quality alternative protein development in China, which it views as a ‘huge business opportunity with massive social impact.’ Typical investment size: $75k.
Eatable Adventures — Spain: it was the first food entrepreneurship community, first European early-stage food investment network, and has worked with over 25,000 startups and over 500 projects each year since its inception. Its accelerator program takes four months, is intensive and hands on, and connects startups with its international mentor network. Typical grant size: N/A.
EIC Accelerator — EU: part of the European Innovation Council pilot to support market-creating innovations, with a budget which has nearly doubled since 2018 and now stands at €819M. If successful, projects will receive between €0.5M and €2.5M in the form of grants, and should take 12–24 months to complete. There is now an option to obtain extra financing through equity sacrifice, as well as access to business innovation coaching and a community platform for successful applicants. To be eligible, companies must be established in an EU member state or a Horizon 2020-associated country, and must be a for-profit SME. Typical grant/investment size: variable.
EIT Climate-KIC — EU: invests in clean technology, agriculture and green energy and takes an ‘open innovation’ approach to mentorship. It works on an innovation model of knowledge exchange and technology transfer it calls the ‘knowledge helix’. Typical investment size: €20k.
EIT Food — EU: this umbrella covers several Food Business Creation Programs, including a Seedbed Incubator and a Food Accelerator Network for coaching and support, plus various seed funds as well as Innovation Prizes for early-stage agrifood startups, and even Legal & Accounting support. To apply for the FAN, agri-food startups must be in pre-seed stage, a registered company with technology and customer readiness levels between 5 and 8, active in the EU or EU associated countries and committed to the program. Typical grant size: €100k for the winner.
Fishing Tech — Spain: connecting the experience and contacts of leading companies in the fishing industry with innovative technology startups and companies around the world. Applications are open now, and there are zero equity requirements. Typical grant size: N/A
FoodBytes! — USA: historically a physical pitch competition, FoodBytes! has gone virtual in 2020, continuing to deliver on its mission to build lasting connections between forward- thinking startups, corporates and investors in food & agriculture. 45 startups take part in a virtual bootcamp, which is three weeks of work spread across a couple of months, then the top 15 pitches are live-streamed to a global audience. No pressure! Typical grant size: N/A.
Food’Inn Lab — France: the aim of this incubator is to create more links between research teams, students and entrepreneurs of AgroParisTech, with office space, labs and test kitchens provided. Typical grant size: N/A.
FoodStars — The Netherlands: an option with a community feel. In exchange for 2% equity share, FoodStars will provide a 12 month program which covers a company deep dive, mentorship and training, networking and use of co-working office space. Applications are always open, or you can refer any startups you may know who may be a good fit. Typical grant size: N/A.
Food System 6 — USA: a non-profit based in the San Francisco Bay Area whose mission is to support impact-driven entrepreneurs as they transform how we grow, produce, and distribute food. All participating for-profit companies contribute 1.5% equity to FS6 upon acceptance into the program. Typical investment size: $25k.
Foodtech.ac — Poland: the program, which takes place in Warsaw, held its most recent Demo Day in December. It requires two full days each week plus additional ‘homework’, and costs around $250 to get involved. Typical grant size: N/A
FoodTech Accelerator — Italy: the team selects 10 startups each year to build and accelerate concrete pilot projects in a 15 week program, including the use of office space in Milan. Previous cohorts include plant-based egg producer Zero Egg, which just launched its products in the US. The applications for this year are closed, but get working on your pitch for next year when applications open again in June. Typical investment size: €20k.
FoodTECH HUB — Brazil: it has a rigorous, five step selection process, but it has a variety of programs for all aspects of the food tech industry. Its four month startup program provides mentorship as well as access to the best venture capital funds in Brazil and abroad, alongside access to national and international events. You can register your interest at any point. Typical grant size: N/A.
FoodX Accelerator — USA: claims to be the number 1 food innovation accelerator in the world, with access to startup capital as well as the potential for follow-on funding, alongside 160+ industry mentors. The applications for the next round have closed, and the program is planned to be virtual until it becomes safe to travel to NYC. FoodX has already helped grow over 100 startups and has funded over 30 seed rounds, and previous cohorts include artisan plant-based meats company The Abbot’s Butcher, plant-based jerky company Kojo and algae-based food company nonfood. Typical investment size: $75k.
Forward Fooding — UK: the first ‘foodtech community’ in London, this innovation hub supports entrepreneurs as they ‘digitize’ their business, to create truly digital brands. There’s a shared workspace, a whole program of workshops and events, plus a media studio, dedicated to content creation. Applications to join the community are always open. Typical grant size: N/A.
Green Development and Demonstration Program (GUDP) — Denmark: this is the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark’s food and agriculture program, and is focused on both economic and green sustainability development. Research institutes, manufacturers and food startups can apply for grants for development and demonstration projects with or without a research share with a duration of up to 4 years and with a total grant of DKK 0.25–15 million (approx $30k-$1.8M). Typical grant size: variable.
Good Food Fund — UK: This recently-established accelerator is focused on addressing childhood obesity, and has six brands currently active in its program.The 12-month program is free to the participating brands and includes expert coaching against specific business needs, as well as the potential for investment at the end of the program. Typical investment size: variable.
Hatch — Norway, Hawaii, Singapore: focused on aquaculture and alternative seafood innovation. It’s been established for two years and has already invested in more than 30 companies and raised its first $8M fund. The 2020 program is happening right now, and it’s being delivered via a blend of virtual and physical interaction. Typical investment size: $100k — $1M.
The Hatchery — USA: The Hatchery is a startup community space, where tech companies can use the state-of-the-art kitchen facilities plus access courses and events, networking opportunities, financing and mentorship. It takes applications constantly, so why not sign up to be considered? Typical grant size: N/A.
Horizon 2020 — EU: this has been the biggest EU funding program for research and innovation over the last few years with a budget of €80Bn, and despite its name is still currently ongoing. It covers many different high-impact sectors, including Excellent Science, Societal Challenges, Future & Emerging Technologies and Science With and For Society. It was the first of the EU programs to recognise alternative proteins in 2020, and is open to all-stage startups in the hope of accelerating the best possible results. Typical grant size: variable.
IndieBio — USA: one of the ‘big guns’, each of the teams in the intensive four month program receives seed funding, lab and co-working space and dedicated mentorship, as well as becoming a part of IndieBio’s large alumni network. It has accelerated 136 companies to date, with 42% female founders which is higher than in most programs. Typical investment size: $250k.
Innovate UK — UK: part of UK Research & Innovation, and covers a wide variety of funding opportunities for startups across many different industries, handily listed in its funding finder. Grants are variable, but sizable, so if one crops up in your area of interest it is definitely worth applying. Typical grant size: variable
Innovation Fund Denmark — Denmark: has many different programs including, but not limited to: Innofounder Graduate for applicants with a maximum of 24 months since graduation, which is a 12 month program for individuals with a monthly grant of DKK 15,000 ($1.8k), a grant of DKK 35,000 ($4.1k) for development, a mentor, a free work space and workshops; Innofounder Experienced for applicants with significant work or research experience, which is a 12 month program including a monthly grant of DKK 30,000 ($3.5k) plus a grant of DKK 100,000 ($11.8k) for development; InnoBooster for startups as well as established businesses with a grant size of DKK 50,000 ($5.9k) to DKK 5M ($590k). Typical grant size: variable.
Ivoro — Spain: primarily an innovation hub, though did hold an accelerator in 2017. Successful applicants can use its Lab Kitchen to further develop and fully test concepts, and you can register your interest at any time. Typical investment size: $150k.
Katapult Accelerator — Norway: this three month program is now a digital one, and it gets great reviews, with some startups claiming 600% growth through the training. Its fifth batch held its Demo Day in September, and though applications for the next batch are technically closed, you may still be considered if you register your interest. Typical investment size: $150k
Katapult Food — UK: part of the ‘Katapult World’ ecosystem, it provides a 3 month fast-paced, hands-on program based in London, plus access to a global network of mentors and investors. Typical investment size: $150k
Kickstart — Switzerland: an annual innovation program in Switzerland that brings together later-stage startups with corporations, foundations, universities and cities in order to foster deep tech innovation. It takes place in Zurich from September to November, and is only open to Swiss startups. Pre-registration for the 2021 program is open now. Typical investment size: $10k.
Kitchentown — Germany: provides a working space in the heart of Berlin for FoodTech entrepreneurs, with shared and dedicated facilities alongside expertise from professionals in the foodtech industry to help startups prototype and produce new innovation. It admits startups on a monthly basis, there are no application deadlines. Typical investment size: €30k.
Le Village by CA — France: France’s premier accelerator, it provides a network of support, creating links between startups and national businesses, to further innovation and create employment. Typical grant size: N/A.
Mista — USA: rather than an incubator or accelerator, this is a new innovation platform for the food industry. It’s an optimiser, enabling start-ups and established corporations to optimise ideas, products, people and investments, and providing customised solutions for business needs. Applications are always open. Typical grant size: N/A.
NIA Coupon — Thailand: this project provides financial support to innovative SMEs and startups, in the form of coupons up to a total value of 1.5M Baht (around $50k) to be used for commercial development purposes. To be eligible, business innovation models must be scalable, and run by a registered resident of Thailand who owns at least 51% of the share capital. Typical grant size: up to $50k.
Norrsken Impact Accelerator — Sweden: this new impact accelerator was just announced and will run it’s first 8 week programme in Stockholm during the summer 2021. In addition to a $100k investment the startups receive support from successful and experienced entrepreneurs, including unicorn founders. The accelerator is sector agnostic and is open to startups in any area of impact, but this year the cohort will have a special focus on food-tech and agri-tech. Typical investment size: $100k. Note: We (Anna & Erik, founders of Trellis Road) are Venture Partners of the Norrsken Impact Accelerator so we’re obviously very excited about the program and are convinced it will bring tremendous value to the selected startups. Applications are open so fire away!
One Bio — South Africa: the One Bio seed investment fund invests in early-stage biotech startups. Speed to market is critical, so startups need a prototype or form of IP which can be translated to a marketable product as quickly as possible. The fund allocates 85% of its resources to South Africa and 15% to the rest of Africa. It considers applications year-round. Typical investment size $30k — $1.2M, based on the achievement of defined milestones.
The Pearse Lyons Cultivator — Ireland: the world’s leading late-stage agtech accelerator, with four core focus areas: natural immunity, profitable production, sustainable agri-food and optimised nutrition. A three-month innovation program for the top 10 leading agtech startups from across the world. It’s always looking to connect with innovators, so you can apply at any time. Typical investment size: €15k.
Pepsico’s Greenhouse Accelerator — USA: One major focus for this year’s cohort will be on food innovations and technologies that “improve the aging process through wellness and health management.” Companies worldwide are eligible for the program; they must have a product or service currently available in the market, and have more than $1 million. Each startup gets a $20k grant, but one of the cohort will receive an additional $100k grant at the end of the program. All of next year’s events will be virtual. Typical investment size: $20k.
PlantStation — USA: its facility has two fully equipped kitchens, one for the creation of gluten-free products and one for plant-based food products, for use by food entrepreneurs looking to create, test, and produce food innovation. Entrepreneurs pay an annual fee to use the space, so you can apply at any time.Typical grant size: N/A.
ProVeg Incubator — Germany: one of the world’s leading accelerators for mission-driven plant-based and cultured food startups, shaping the future of food by exclusively supporting pioneering companies that are developing disruptive alternatives to animal-based products. It recently announced its latest cohort, and for the first time over half are female-led companies. It accepts the most impactful food startups from all over the world, in all stages of development, and applications to be part of its next cohort are open now until 7th February. Typical grant size: €20k, with the possibility of up to an extra €180k of investment in exchange for 9% equity.
Rockstart — Netherlands: dedicated to AgriFood startups, driving positive change towards a holistic food supply system. There are various different programs for different areas of industry, and previous cohorts include an impressive bunch of innovative startups such as Saillog, whose AI tech allows farmers to identify and treat plant diseases and pests. Typical investment size: €20k.
ShakeUpFactory — France: based in the world’s biggest startup campus, Station F, it’s a six month accelerator program designed to help startups scale their companies. It has an impressive list of ‘graduates’, including Ynsect, whose total financing now stands at $425M, the largest amount ever raised by a non-American agtech business. It’s taking applications now so sign up to get involved. Typical grant size: N/A.
StartLife — Netherlands: since 2010, StartLife has built, supported and funded over 300 startups in foodtech and agtech, with €137M of investment, and has a pretty stellar team of business coaches. It’s constantly accepting applications. Typical investment size: $40k.
Startupbootcamp — Italy: ten high-potential startups complete an intense three month program and achieve progress which would normally take 18 months, ending with a Demo Day to introduce them to investors, industry leaders, corporate executives, mentors and press. Living expenses are covered, office space is provided, plus a bunch of other perks and discounts alongside the program, so it sounds like a pretty sweet deal in return for 6% equity. Typical investment size: €15k.
Til Sjávar Og Sveita — Iceland: “For the sea and the countryside”, this is a business accelerator for innovative companies in agriculture and fishing tech backed by Icelandic startups. Typical grant size: N/A.
ToasterLAB — France: focused on agtech, with 12 months of personalised acceleration support, plus free office space and accommodation during the intensive phase (2–3 months), based in Dijon. It costs €6k to join, but you don’t have to sacrifice any equity. Applications are open now and the deadline is 25th January. Typical grant size: N/A.
Unicef Innovation Fund — global: provides up to $100k equity-free funding to open source frontier tech solutions showing promising results. The funding is intended for prototype testing and validation, and access to a tailored one-to-one mentoring program with the Innovation Fund’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence Mentors is provided in a program which takes place over 4–5 months and concentrates on topics such as value proposition, competition map, stakeholder map, sales and activities, pricing and business models, growth plan, financial projections, and business and impact focused metrics. Plus, the team page has everyone’s baby pics, so that’s fun. Typical grant size: up to $100k.
Union Kitchen — USA: with more of a focus on packaged goods, this Washington DC accelerator assists with all parts of the food tech supply chain to help brands build products which consumers want to buy. The program’s Kitchen, Distribution and Stores provide the platform to build and grow a company, while also lowering the need for additional capital investment. Union Kitchen has worked with over 650 businesses since 2012, which have collectively created over $350M of revenue. Applications are always open. Typical grant size: N/A.
Urban X — USA: selects up to ten urbantech startups every six months, to take part in a 20 week program for startups facing the unique challenges working with and within cities, particularly in regulated industries and government procurement. Applications for cohort 10 close 8th April. Typical investment size: $100k
X-Europe — Europe: covers all types of futuristic tech, but has a specific accelerator for agtech currently underway. It offers mentorship and training, both in-person and online, plus social media exposure and access to investors. Applications for its Smart Cities & Sustainability cohort will open in March. Typical grant size: N/A.
The Yield Lab — USA: seeking to invest in early-stage agtech companies. Not currently accepting applications for its accelerator programs, which are two-day intensives, but it’s still worth getting in touch for other potential investment opportunities. Typical investment size: $100k.
+Impact Accelerator — The Nordics: this accelerator focused on circular economy will run a batch focused on agrifood starting in March 2021. Accepting startups from the Nordic countries. All sessions are tailor-made for each startup’s specific needs and will be offered digitally. The program will have a physical hub in Stockholm for startups wishing to relocate for the program. Applications are open until February 8th. Typical grant size: N/A. | https://medium.com/trellis-road/the-a-z-of-foodtech-incubators-accelerators-grants-df1d154029fa | ['Anna Ottosson'] | 2021-01-19 08:19:18.298000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Foodtech', 'Accelerator', 'Impact Investing'] |
Are design systems an industrial design function of digital products? | There are two sides to the world of design systems.
One side leans towards the systematisation of graphic design, UI design or a visual language. This is to create order, meaning and harmony across design assets and to provide rules to design any new material from. I look at this as an extension of a graphic standards manual or even a detailed brand guidelines document.
The other has more of a focus on design rationalisation, standardisation, delivery and adoption. For example, making common components reusable across a product line and creating detailed usage guidelines for the design and build process. The goals for this are as much around reducing duplicate work and cost savings as they are about creating a consistent user experience.
Of course, without question all design system teams will have elements of both of these things, just to different ratios.
However, when it comes to actually funding design system teams, they tend to only exist because of the economic benefits of the latter. This is a specific function that design system team performs that is not usually covered by other areas of the business or organisation. This is the side of design system work I want to talk about today .
What is industrial design?
When you search the term ‘industrial design’ the first definition you’ll find is:
“Industrial design (ID) is the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer.”
I don’t know about you, but from working in the design system space almost exclusively for the last 5 years I’d say that is a pretty good description of what design systems teams actually do.
So, could a design system be an industrial design function of a digital product?
Designing for the assembly line
If we go back to post-war Germany and look at the design and manufacture of Volkswagens you will actually start to recognise a lot of the same concepts we talk about in modern digital design systems.
For example, while not always obvious to the viewer, the component design of almost all Volkswagen models in this era are fundamentally the same.
The flagship product
The Beetle, or ‘Type 1’ was the first and only car Volkswagen produced for many years. If we think about the Beetle as an example of your flagship digital product, the approach to this product would undoubtably define the foundations for any future additions to the line.
For Volkswagen, they solved the design of the engine (flat four aircooled) and gearbox, they had chosen methods of suspension (torsion bars), brakes etc and defined an individual and instantly recognisable visual style, all with the Beetle.
A VW Beetle from 1956
Then, while on a visit to the Volkswagen factory a Dutch VW importer by the name of Ben Pon sketched out the concept of a new addition to the line. He imagined reusing the foundational design of a Beetle to create a utility vehicle.
This sketch would become the iconic Volkswagen Type 2 ‘split screen’ bus. The Type 2 would go on to sell millions of units, with just this iteration in production for over 17 years. | https://medium.com/@iknowdavehouse/are-design-systems-an-industrial-design-function-of-digital-products-54ad8719889e | ['Dave House'] | 2020-12-16 18:39:22.112000+00:00 | ['Frontend', 'Design', 'Design Systems'] |
Charles- I loved this. | Charles- I loved this. I just made it off parole. I often say, since my release from prison, that it was a blessing in disguise. I needed the time for me, something needed to give in my life.
Every inmate has a personal journey you can let it beat you, or choose the time to reflect and make it into something positive. I share your philosophy, I think you nailed it in working through your own journey to the other side. We use to say, “ trust the process.”
Congratulations on your freedom, giving back (another thing I also try to do as well, helping someone truly trying to turn their life around. ) I met some very good people in prison, not everyone is a career criminal. We made a mistake, and I hope for anyone to own it, the first step to making a change. The world is full of possibilities, and we can come out better for it or let it take you down. I share my story too, your story was very cool, wisdom for anyone in life to overcome and succeed.
Thanks for a great story. | https://medium.com/@skbrooks1027/charles-i-loved-this-61264aae31b5 | ['The Crazy Chronicles'] | 2020-11-22 08:09:29.585000+00:00 | ['Overcoming Obstacles', 'Prison', 'Life Lessons', 'Positive Thinking'] |
Views Down | Views Down
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
I received a blanket email recently from a Medium superstar on the subject of his and other popular writers’ descending view count. He sounded concerned. I, likewise, have noticed the same trend — what with my own view count decreasing 20% in the last month. And I’m new and presumably on the ascension curve. Oh well!
But the news isn’t all bad. What I’ve noticed of a gratifying nature is this: While my views are down, my member reading time is up! And predictably, my percentage of reads vs. views is on the rise as well. So even though fewer people are checking out my stories, I’m making more money — if that’s a metric I care about.
In my never-ending desire to understand the platform stats so I can maximize the effort, my analysis of this current trend tells me that my increased member reading time is an indication that the reduced number of readers who do come to my stories aren’t doing so haphazardly. They know who they’re reading.
This in turn tells me I have a few real followers. And that's a good thing. A very good thing — as that’s been my goal: to generate traffic organically. Ya know…that relational versus transactional thing.
After 200 stories, I still don’t think I’ve been curated once. And I’ve not been published in any of the majors yet — and may never be. But slowly, little by little, it all seems to be working out.
I simply write every day — and then publish what I wrote immediately. I rarely write and then submit. That just hasn’t been a rewarding experience. Generating a following organically has. So that’s the route I take — for better or worse.
It might not work for some. But it is for me. Just something to consider. Maybe it could work for you, too.
More posts about writing and marketing strategy: | https://medium.com/illumination/views-down-2adca16d07b6 | ['William', 'Dollar Bill'] | 2020-12-07 15:46:28.342000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Education', 'Marketing', 'Freelance', 'Culture'] |
Jay-Z Doesn’t Want You To Lose Hope | Jay-Z Doesn’t Want You To Lose Hope
It’s not about optimism — it’s about seeing an opportunity in spite of the madness that surrounds us.
Trigger Warning: This week’s column deals with suicide and suicidal ideations.
“A loss ain’t a loss, it’s a lesson
Appreciate the pain, it’s a blessin’” — Jay-Z, “Smile”
What a week, huh?!
I’m back with another edition of what I’m hoping is slowly becoming your favorite weekly fix, “What Would Hov Do?,” my Medium column where I sift through some of your daily struggles with the help of S Dot Carter. With the election essentially still up in the air, many of us are dealing with a mixed bag of emotions. And some of us may be struggling more than others.
This week, our anonymous reader is having a hard time dealing with everything happening around them. “I Love My Cat” writes:
“The only thing for years that ultimately stops me from committing suicide is the thought of my cat wondering where I am — is this enough purpose to be here? My life has been full of trauma, chiseled down with sharp tools, to that one thing — a cat who (seemingly) needs me. I think there’s a metaphor here. And no, I ain’t kidding. The sadness, the despair is real. I need another reason, preferably reasons, and I’ve looked everywhere, within and without. What would Jay-Z say about knowing when it’s time to give up?”
I’ve struggled with suicidal ideations from as early as elementary school. I’ve written at length about those struggles on LEVEL, a Medium publication for Black and Brown men. The world can feel like a lot, and sometimes that weight can feel like too much to bear. In those instances, hope, faith, and “staying the course” can sound like empty platitudes, pretty-sounding phrases that don’t address how we’re feeling and the despair that comes along with it. We genuinely feel hopeless in those moments, like there is nothing or no one to live for.
In Sharon Salzberg’s book, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, a Buddhist practitioner suggests we stop looking at our past trauma as a blessing and view it as a given. We should eliminate the real feelings of pain and turmoil within our past to reframe it in a way that feels more favorable for our minds. In the same breath, on “Smile,” off his latest album, 4:44, Jay-Z says that we can hold space for what we could consider failures, the things that have caused us grief and heartache, and view them from a less harsh lens.
We tend to offer grace to everyone but ourselves, forgiveness to everyone but ourselves, and love to everyone but ourselves.
We have to examine the truth of our struggles. And that means that we accept the hardships and potential for real change within them. Trauma can distort reality, and we can ignore the small victories: Working limbs, lungs that breathe air, the cat that loves us when we don’t love ourselves, the sunshine we get to see, and the tea we get to taste.
While I was in therapy, a gratitude journal saved my life. It allowed me the ability to list what I was truly grateful for. And that meant E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G: The time I helped someone with directions, solving a math problem, remembering to pick up the laundry, and finally cleaning my apartment. It reminded me that there was a lot more good in my world than the weight of the dark and hardship that had taken over my daily life. Hov’s instruction is not about optimism or positive thinking — it’s about seeing an opportunity despite the madness surrounding us.
We need you. Your cat needs you, too. Keep fighting; keep trying. We’ll be better for it. Just ask Jay-Z.
If you or someone you love are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, available 24 hours in English and Spanish, at 1–800–273–8255.
For the newbies out there, feel free to get familiar with some of my previous Medium work here. And here. Oh, and here, too. | https://iamjoelleon.medium.com/jay-z-doesnt-want-you-to-lose-hope-f5a1a45fc0f9 | ['Joel Leon.'] | 2020-11-06 19:59:32.294000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Music', 'Life', 'Mental Health'] |
RISE Wallet 1.0 released | After over half a year of active development, we’re pleased to announce RISE Wallet 1.0 being available on the web and for desktops. We wanted to make a secure, easy to use and modern wallet which would work seamlessly across all platforms. To achieve this, we used TypeScript (the same language the RISE blockchain is written in) along with React and Material-UI. This article will walk you through the the new features, as the new version brings many new features.
New layout
Redesigned with accessibility in mind and taking advantage of Google’s battle tested Material-UI components, the new wallet have a familiar look and it’s easy to use.
Multiple accounts
One of the biggest new features is support for multiple accounts. You can add as many as you wish and then customize the order by using names and pinning.
New sign in flow
Mart has already discussed the new sign in flow in details a while back. In a nutshell, we won’t ask for your secret mnemonic or the passphrase until the last moment, when it’s actually required. This reduces the risk of having it leaked.
Support for Ledger Nano S
You can now use your wallet for the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet allowing to import and sign transactions for the accounts stored on the device. This feature requires Google Chrome or a desktop version.
Support for mobile
Responsive design and carefully crafted password forms will let you easily send new transactions from your phone, while making use of your device’s secure keychain. The following video shows using Touch ID to sign a transaction with both the mnemonic and the second passphrase.
Desktop versions
To bring another level of security, you can download RISE Wallet as a desktop app for MacOS, Windows and Linux. Below is a screenshot on Win10. Downloadable binaries can be found on the project’s GitHub release page.
Translations
We’re looking into translating the app to other languages through a CrowdIn campaign. At the time of writing this, only English and Estonian languages are complete. If you would like to participate for your own language, become a translation contributor.
Address book
You can now assign names to frequent contacts and then quickly fill the Send RISE form, even by using only your keyboard (SHIFT+S). Contact names also appear in transaction details. Important thing to note, that data is being persisted only on your local machine.
Network switcher | https://medium.com/rise-vision/rise-wallet-1-0-released-3cb65be5b88f | ['Tobiasz Cudnik'] | 2019-01-17 15:18:09.324000+00:00 | ['Rise', 'Crypto', 'Web', 'Blockchain', 'Wallet'] |
7 Famous Pop-Culture Masks You Will Love | Pop-culture has a knack for creating cult followings over various attributes of famous films. There are a few accessories that evolve to define the whole premise of a movie. Masks are one of the greatest examples of this phenomenon. Let’s take a look at the most famous pop-culture masks.
Zorro’s Mask (Zorro series)
Zorro’s mask is definitely the most simple out of any on this list, but it’s so iconic they made an entire movie based around it (The Mask of Zorro). It’s all about how whoever picks up the mask assumes Zorro’s mythos and all that jazz, but really it’s about watching the beautiful mask.
Hannibal’s Muzzle (The Silence of the Lambs)
It’s not so much a mask as a jail cell for Hannibal Lecter’s mouth, but it’s by far one of the most terrifying ones on this list. It physically restrained Hannibal from eating people’s faces, but it never did contain him for long. Also, another great mask from Silence of the Lambs is the guard’s face that Hannibal uses to escape.
Scream Mask (Scream)
The Scream mask is certainly one of the most iconic masks in a genre full of them, but its Munch-esque design made it truly memorable. But as it turns out, it’s just a bunch of different people wearing it running around with knives, so it’s much less terrifying than say, Freddy Kruger invading your dreams.
Predator’s Mask (Predator)
An ancient mask from out there in the galaxy, Predator warriors use its many HUD features to stalk and kill prey, and also to conceal their horrendously ugly faces.
Guy Fawkes Mask (V for Vendetta)
It’s quite rare for the protagonist of the film to wear a mask, and it’s even rarer for that person to never, ever remove it, even at the end. But V’s Guy Fawkes mask has become the stuff of legend in a very short time since the film’s release.
Batman’s Cowl (Batman series)
We cannot say that the specific mask from Batman Begins is the quintessential Batman mask, but it is one of the better looking. It’s the only superhero mask worthy of making this list and has always been iconic no matter who was wearing it. Yes, even George Clooney.
Darth Vader’s Mask (Star Wars)
Most definitely the most iconic mask in movie history, Lord Vader’s helm went through many concepts before arriving at the final product we know today. And yes, it kept him alive, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t look sweet. But as slick, as it was, it only concealed the decay inside, as we saw at the end of Return of the Jedi. | https://medium.com/@amz_1/7-famous-pop-culture-masks-you-will-love-44b7fc48e3f9 | [] | 2020-02-20 07:15:11.100000+00:00 | ['Masks', 'Movies', 'Culture', 'Cult', 'Pop Culture'] |
Why Our Laws Against Discrimination Have Failed | Why Our Laws Against Discrimination Have Failed
Photo by Max Anderson on Unsplash
In 1945, Carey McWilliams wrote an article urging the radical idea of enacting laws against race discrimination: Race Discrimination and the Law.[i] McWilliams there argued that it was the law which lead to racist attitudes, so that anti-discrimination laws would lead to more tolerant attitudes. He concluded the article by saying:
“What we, need, above all, is a new federal civil rights statute, cast in the form of a Fair Racial Practices Act and enforced by modern administrative methods as a matter of public policy rather than by individual action as a matter of personal privilege.”
In modern terms, the emphasis on “public policy” means addressing systemic racism rather than the “personal privilege” of individual reparations for past actions. In medical terms, this means attacking the disease, not just its symptoms.
McWilliams helped draft such a “Fair Employment Practices Act” (FEPA) which would have outlawed discrimination based on “race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry” in employment. This appeared as Proposition 11 on the 1946 California ballot. It was defeated by nearly a three-to-one margin, based on the argument that “intolerance is a matter of individual conscience that cannot be changed by legislative coercion.” The same bill was introduced, and defeated, in the California legislature every year thereafter, through 1958. Years of organizing, education, litigation, and political activism by a broad coalition (including a young Cesar Chavez), finally bore fruit in 1959. Newly-elected Governor Pat Brown made good on his campaign promise to pass FEPA.[ii] Five years later, Congress followed suit, with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, based on the California law, but adding “sex” to the list of prohibited bases of discrimination.[iii]
Over six decades later, have we come any closer to eliminating discrimination or the racism which underlies it? The legal prohibitions against discrimination have undoubtedly contributed to changes in attitudes over that time. But there has also been a backlash, which in the last few years has grown into a firenado. Even supposedly-progressive California resoundingly defeated a Proposition to restore affirmative action in public employment, education and contracting, on the same ballot which overwhelmingly favored Biden over Trump.[iv]
The racist and xenophobic attitudes underlying discrimination have not gone away, but have only been redirected. I believe that this is partly due to the fact that we have not followed all of Carey McWilliams’ advice. Rather than enforcing these laws “as a matter of public policy” we have turned them into individual actions as a matter of “personal privilege.” When put this way, the law is viewed as creating a competition between individuals rather than a tool to raise the welfare of all.
Legally, the “public policy” attack on systemic racism usually goes under the rubric of the “Disparate Impact” theory. As the Supreme Court explained in the early years of Title VII, “The Act proscribes not only overt discrimination but also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation.” Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 431 (1971). Twenty years after Griggs, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 codified the Disparate Impact theory into Title VII.
The “personal privilege” view of discrimination law usually comes under the rubric of the “Disparate Treatment” theory. The Disparate Treatment theory typically focuses on the individual, so that the “inquiry regarding an individual’s claim is the reason for a particular employment decision” involved. Cooper v. Fed. Reserve Bank of Richmond, 467 U.S. 867, 876 (1984). Thus, in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011), the Supreme Court denied class certification, despite evidence of systemic discrimination against women in promotions, because each class member would have to separately prove that the reason for her lack of promotion was her gender.
This topsy-turvy focus on the individual is illustrated by the case of Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557 (2009). The Supreme Court there held that a city had to award fire-captain positions according to a multiple-choice test which was admittedly discriminatory, and never shown to have any relation to real-world job qualifications, simply because white applicants relied on the test and studied for it. The Court justified this result in order to avoid “upsetting an employee’s legitimate expectation not to be judged on the basis of race” which would be “antithetical to the notion of a workplace where individuals are guaranteed equal opportunity regardless of race.” 557 U.S. 557, 585.
In concurrence, Justice Scalia suggested that the entire disparate impact theory should be thrown out, as contrary to the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. 557 U.S. 557, 594. According to Scalia, an individual’s personal privilege trumps society’s interest in ending systemic racism. While the “Court’s resolution of these cases makes it unnecessary to resolve these matters today,” the supposed “war between disparate impact and equal protection will be waged sooner or later.” 557 U.S. 557, 595–96. With Scalia’s protégé, Amy Coney Barrett, joining the Court, that war is now upon us.
Private attorneys, such as myself, must share the blame for this emphasis on the personal privilege of seeking individual reparations, rather than the public policy of fighting systemic racism. There is not as much money in attacking systematic racism as there is in seeking monetary compensation for individual acts of discrimination. In seeking monetary compensation, the most oppressed low-wage workers offer the least payout for lawyers. Our choice of cases and remedies drives the course of the law.
Administrative agencies should be pursuing this “public policy” as McWilliams suggested. Yet those agencies are not only underfunded, but have been timid in using their limited resources for such broad relief, and under certain administrations have affirmatively sabotaged efforts to fight discrimination. Legal-Aid organizations who receive funding from the Legal Services Corporation, which should be championing the most oppressed workers, are absolutely prohibited from filing class actions, representing undocumented workers, and many other activities which could further this public policy against discrimination.
Even the independent organizations that were once at the vanguard of the fight against racism, such as the NAACP, have become reactionary. I call them reactionary in the literal sense of the word — they simply react to actions taken by others, rather than affirmatively bringing cases as part of a long-term strategy to advance the law.
Instead, it is the forces of racism who have taken to heart the strategies of Thurgood Marshall and Carey McWilliams; they are the ones now thinking through and executing long-term strategies to change the law. For example, they have successfully weaponized the First Amendment so that “religious” employers now have “free rein to discriminate because of race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, or other traits protected by law” without having to “cite or possess a religious reason” for the discrimination at all. Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S.Ct. 2049, 2072 (2020) (Sotomayor, dissenting).
It is time for us to regain the initiative and the long view of this struggle, rather than just reacting to the horrors of the day. It is time for us to fix the problems of systemic racism, rather than just applying the ointment of reparations to its wounds. It is time to take up the struggle “as a matter of public policy, rather than by individual action as a matter of personal privilege.”
The war against racism cannot be won by giving reparations to its individual casualties. Fighting systemic racism means changing the system itself. It is a problem of society to be solved, not of individual debts to be paid. Only when we attack racism as a matter of public policy will we once again make any progress against it.
Art by Jerolyn Crute Sackman
NOTES
[i] Race Discrimination and the Law, 9 Science & Society №1 (Winter 1945). The purpose of that particular article was to enlist social scientists into the fight against racial discrimination. This, at least, was successful. Social science research was pivotal in winning cases like Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), ordering the desegregation of schools.
[ii] Calif. Stats.1959, c. 121, now in Calif. Government Code §§ 12900–12996.
[iii] Pub. L. 88–352, now in 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e through 2000e-17. “Sex” was added as either a joke, or a poison pill, by Southern Senators. Their pill backfired.
[iv] Proposition 16, put on the November 3, 2020 ballot by the Legislature through ACA-5. | https://aninjusticemag.com/why-our-laws-against-discrimination-have-failed-a85c4e83a6d4 | ['David Sackman'] | 2020-12-21 20:36:15.356000+00:00 | ['Employment', 'Discrimination', 'Supreme Court', 'Anti Racism', 'Law'] |
We Just Launched our 2020 Platform | Today is a big one for the movement we’re building together.
We just launched the IfNotNow 2020 Platform. Together we will spend the next year asking every American public official to join us fighting for a better future — not just for American Jews, but for all people.
Because if we’re going to win, we need a vision for the future.
Click here to check out the full IfNotNow 2020 Platform — on our new website! — and join us in pushing our public officials to follow our lead in fighting for a brighter future.
The crisis in Israel/Palestine has never been more urgent, with the Trump Administration and the Netanyahu government making it worse by the day. As Gaza and Israel spiral out of yet another round of violence, we are reminded of the clear need to change decades of failed policies.
We must fight for this future.
In this future, Jews will join hand in hand with Palestinians to press for an end to a decades-long occupation. We will speak for ourselves rather than deferring to an outdated American Jewish establishment which defends the indefensible. We will love one another and our neighbors and build a society and world based on the values of freedom and dignity.
So what’s in the IfNotNow 2020 Platform? There are two parts.
1) Defund Occupation: The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in military funding every year — and we don’t even know exactly what horrors of the occupation it goes to support. We suspect that the money is used to demolish homes, detain children, shoot unarmed protestors in Gaza and more. We are rising up with moral clarity to ensure that our money funds freedom and not occupation.
2) Fight Antisemitism and White Nationalism: Far too often, American public officials respond to the threat of antisemitism by invoking their unconditional support for Israel, implying that the safety of Jews and the political interests of the Israeli government are one and the same. We need them to condemn and fight antisemitism and white nationalism wherever it appears — for the safety of the American Jews, other marginalized people, and all those who call this country home.
Both of these should be common sense policy for any public leader, and yet we’ve seen far too many of our leaders fail to do either. It’s time for us to take responsibility for our own future and make our voices heard.
We don’t just have a platform — we have a plan. This weekend 75 of our top leaders are gathering in Chicago to get organized and make a strategy to ask public officials across the nation to sign on to the IfNotNow 2020 Platform.
When our leaders see the next generation of American Jews uniting around this vision, they will be provided a choice: lead with us or prove themselves irrelevant.
Check out the entire platform on our website to see what we’re asking of our leaders and learn how you can help fight with us.
In this dark moment, I’m excited to be building towards this powerful vision.
Emily Mayer
IfNotNow
P.S. The world is already starting to take notice of this platform release! Check out the NBC News article about the announcement. | https://medium.com/ifnotnoworg/we-just-launched-our-2020-platform-5c4e11fd89b3 | [] | 2019-11-15 21:19:21.681000+00:00 | ['Israel', 'Palestine', 'Activism', 'Judaism'] |
Stereo 550 ft. Madigan’s Attic | Q. What got you into performing?
Doug: I’ve always liked carrying a tune and singing along when I saw other people do it, so I thought I’d learn enough songs to do a little bit of performing myself. Bruce, you can speak to that?
Bruce: Yeah, my sister and I used to sing with my mom when I was a kid. That’s where I learned to harmonize which turned into performing when I was in grade school and I just never stopped.
Bob: I’ve never been too far away from music and performing was just the next step in the evolution.
Q. How did you three come together?
Doug: Well, seven years ago I had a duo performance scheduled for St. Patrick’s weekend and my counterpart dropped out at the last minute. So, I asked Bob if he’d be interested in playing because we used to sing in choir together. And Bob knew Bruce so he looped him in on it too. I asked them if they could cram and learn enough Irish tunes to keep the gig — needless to say, we did it. After that performance, we decided to learn other stylings of music to round out the set and play year-round. And here we are.
Bruce: The funny thing about that story is Bob called me up and said, “So Bruce, do you know Irish music?” and I said, “Like to listen to? To play? No, not really…Let’s do it.” So, we did.
Q. How do you decide what songs to cover?
Doug: Well, we send links to each other and think about songs that fit the acoustic trio — something we can make our own, if you will, that has enough instrumentation to cover all our bases. We thumbs down probably more than 50% of songs because somebody doesn’t want to do it. In that case, we just move on and pick a different song.
Bruce: We’re pretty ruthless about it. If something doesn’t work, okay that’s it, let’s cut it. It’s either a good song for us or not.
Bob: Yeah, we know pretty quickly if it’s going to work for us or not.
Q. What’s your favorite song that you perform together?
Doug: We have a few different favorites, but it really depends on how well we think the song will go over with folks. Drift Away is great because people get to swaying and everyone seems to like it and sing along. But there are so many others, especially silly songs like If I Had a Million Dollars that folks automatically warm up to. The songs that we personally like to play are a little more “college radio” obscure, such as the Decemberists or other Indie rock bands. We really feel that kind of music fits right in our sweet spot, but they’re not as recognizable for the majority of folks.
Q. Who or what is your greatest influence?
Bruce: The Beatles.
Doug: Well, early on my greatest influence was Neil Young because the songs were great and the chord structures and harmonica parts were very approachable. To this day, I also have a sweet spot for America’s Greatest Hits, I cannot lie. I love 70’s pop music as well.
Bob: I don’t think I can nail down any one particular artist as my greatest influence — I like to listen to a whole bunch of different music. I do tend to gravitate toward really good harmonies and instrumentation, focusing on musical components like that rather than a particular artist or genre. | https://medium.com/gtb-tweets/stereo-550-ft-madigans-attic-9710960dd68c | [] | 2019-06-13 20:23:54.752000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Madigans Attic', 'Stereo 550'] |
Democratizing Your Favourite Films with Spokkz — Spuul’s Tokenised OTT Content Streaming Platform | Many media types are available on Spuul & Spokkz
Spuul is often likened to the Netflix of Bollywood — both Spuul and Netflix are over-the-top (OTT) content-streaming platforms. However, Spuul has made a bold move that is one step ahead of its kind. With its newest platform, “Spokkz”, Spuul is bringing blockchain into the content-streaming world, tokenising payment and doing away with conventional subscription plans.
Viewers no longer have to pay monthly subscription fees. With Spokkz, you can crowdfund and pay to watch content via Spokkz tokens and receive bonus rewards when your chosen content performs well. You also get rewarded SPKZ tokens for sharing your favourite content with other community members. It is comparable to “cashback” for watching and supporting videos.
Spokkz is Spuul’s endeavor to cultivate a more engaging community of creators and consumers by turning the passive, often solo, activity of watching videos into a fulfilling and collaborative partnership.
To have a stake in this close-knit community, follow Spokkz on its social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpokkzOfficial
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/Spokkz
Medium: https://medium.com/spokkz
Telegram: https://t.me/SpokkzOfficial
Bitcoin Talk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4480708
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWtrnwbeAUwNDzTcilDWCBQ | https://medium.com/spokkz/democratizing-your-favourite-films-with-spokkz-spuuls-tokenised-ott-content-streaming-platform-d2f42820b16c | [] | 2018-07-13 05:29:31.783000+00:00 | ['Entertainment', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
Why Industries Use Kubernetes?? | In this article discuss about that What is Kubernetes and How it is very useful for the scenarios of the companies.
What is Kubernetes ??
Kubernetes is a portable, extensible, open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation. It has a large, rapidly growing ecosystem. Kubernetes services, support, and tools are widely available.
The name Kubernetes originates from Greek, meaning helmsman or pilot. Google open-sourced the Kubernetes project in 2014. Kubernetes combines over 15 years of Google’s experience running production workloads at scale with best-of-breed ideas and practices from the community.
History Of Kubernetes :-
Kubernetes was founded by Joe Beda, Brendan Burns, and Craig McLuckie, who were quickly joined by other Google engineers including Brian Grant and Tim Hockin, and was first announced by Google in mid-2014. Its development and design are heavily influenced by Google’s Borg system and many of the top contributors to the project previously worked on Borg. The original codename for Kubernetes within Google was Project 7, a reference to the Star Trek ex-Borg character Seven of Nine. The seven spokes on the wheel of the Kubernetes logo are a reference to that codename. The original Borg project was written entirely in C++, but the rewritten Kubernetes system is implemented in Go.
Kubernetes v1.0 was released on July 21, 2015. Along with the Kubernetes v1.0 release, Google partnered with the Linux Foundation to form the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and offered Kubernetes as a seed technology. In February 2016 Helm package manager for Kubernetes was released. On March 6, 2018, Kubernetes Project reached ninth place in commits at GitHub, and second place in authors and issues, after the Linux kernel.
Up to v1.18, Kubernetes followed an N-2 support policy (meaning that the 3 most recent minor versions receive security and bug fixes)
Why You Need Kubernetes And What It’s Working Features ??
Containers are a good way to bundle and run your applications. In a production environment, you need to manage the containers that run the applications and ensure that there is no downtime. For example, if a container goes down, another container needs to start. Wouldn’t it be easier if this behavior was handled by a system?
That’s how Kubernetes comes to the rescue! Kubernetes provides you with a framework to run distributed systems resiliently. It takes care of scaling and failover for your application, provides deployment patterns, and more. For example, Kubernetes can easily manage a canary deployment for your system.
Kubernetes provides you with:
Service discovery and load balancing Kubernetes can expose a container using the DNS name or using their own IP address. If traffic to a container is high, Kubernetes is able to load balance and distribute the network traffic so that the deployment is stable.
Kubernetes can expose a container using the DNS name or using their own IP address. If traffic to a container is high, Kubernetes is able to load balance and distribute the network traffic so that the deployment is stable. Storage orchestration Kubernetes allows you to automatically mount a storage system of your choice, such as local storages, public cloud providers, and more.
Kubernetes allows you to automatically mount a storage system of your choice, such as local storages, public cloud providers, and more. Automated rollouts and rollbacks You can describe the desired state for your deployed containers using Kubernetes, and it can change the actual state to the desired state at a controlled rate. For example, you can automate Kubernetes to create new containers for your deployment, remove existing containers and adopt all their resources to the new container.
You can describe the desired state for your deployed containers using Kubernetes, and it can change the actual state to the desired state at a controlled rate. For example, you can automate Kubernetes to create new containers for your deployment, remove existing containers and adopt all their resources to the new container. Automatic bin packing You provide Kubernetes with a cluster of nodes that it can use to run containerized tasks. You tell Kubernetes how much CPU and memory (RAM) each container needs. Kubernetes can fit containers onto your nodes to make the best use of your resources.
You provide Kubernetes with a cluster of nodes that it can use to run containerized tasks. You tell Kubernetes how much CPU and memory (RAM) each container needs. Kubernetes can fit containers onto your nodes to make the best use of your resources. Self-healing Kubernetes restarts containers that fail, replaces containers, kills containers that don’t respond to your user-defined health check, and doesn’t advertise them to clients until they are ready to serve.
Kubernetes restarts containers that fail, replaces containers, kills containers that don’t respond to your user-defined health check, and doesn’t advertise them to clients until they are ready to serve. Secret and configuration management Kubernetes lets you store and manage sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and SSH keys. You can deploy and update secrets and application configuration without rebuilding your container images, and without exposing secrets in your stack configuration.
Pros of Kubernetes
Leading docker container management solution
Simple and powerful
Open source
Backed by google
The right abstractions
Scale services
Replication controller
Permission management
Simple
Cheap
No cloud platform lock-in
Self-healing
Open, powerful, stable
Supports autoscaling
Promotes modern/good infrascture practice
Scalable
Reliable
A self healing environment with rich metadata
Quick cloud setup
Captain of Container Ship
Custom and extensibility
Expandable
Easy setup
Backed by Red Hat
Everything of CaaS
Runs on azure
Cloud Agnostic.
How Many Companies Use Kubernetes In Their Production Environment ??
2253 companies reportedly use Kubernetes in their tech stacks, including Google, Shopify, and Slack.
Google .
. Shopify.
Slack.
Robinhood.
Stack Share.
Delivery Hero.
Stack.
How Industries Use Kubernetes ??
1.Case Study Of Babylon:-
Challenge
A large number of Babylon’s products leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence, and in 2019, there wasn’t enough computing power in-house to run a particular experiment. The company was also growing (from 100 to 1,600 in three years) and planning expansion into other countries.
Solution
Babylon had migrated its user-facing applications to a Kubernetes platform in 2018, so the infrastructure team turned to Kubeflow, a toolkit for machine learning on Kubernetes. “We tried to create a Kubernetes core server, we deployed Kubeflow, and we orchestrated the whole experiment, which ended up being a really good success,” says AI Infrastructure Lead Jérémie Vallée. The team began building a self-service AI training platform on top of Kubernetes.
Impact
Instead of waiting hours or days to be able to compute, teams can get access instantaneously. Clinical validations used to take 10 hours; now they are done in under 20 minutes. The portability of the cloud native platform has also enabled Babylon to expand into other countries.
2.Case Study Of Booking.com:-
Challenge
In 2016, Booking.com migrated to an OpenShift platform, which gave product developers faster access to infrastructure. But because Kubernetes was abstracted away from the developers, the infrastructure team became a “knowledge bottleneck” when challenges arose. Trying to scale that support wasn’t sustainable.
Solution
After a year operating OpenShift, the platform team decided to build its own vanilla Kubernetes platform — and ask developers to learn some Kubernetes in order to use it. “This is not a magical platform,” says Ben Tyler, Principal Developer, B Platform Track. “We’re not claiming that you can just use it with your eyes closed. Developers need to do some learning, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure they have access to that knowledge.”
Impact
Despite the learning curve, there’s been a great uptick in adoption of the new Kubernetes platform. Before containers, creating a new service could take a couple of days if the developers understood Puppet, or weeks if they didn’t. On the new platform, it can take as few as 10 minutes. About 500 new services were built on the platform in the first 8 months.
3.Case Study Of App Direct:-
Challenge
AppDirect provides an end-to-end commerce platform for cloud-based products and services. When Director of Software Development Pierre-Alexandre Lacerte began working there in 2014, the company had a monolith application deployed on a “tomcat infrastructure, and the whole release process was complex for what it should be,” he says. “There were a lot of manual steps involved, with one engineer building a feature, then another team picking up the change. So you had bottlenecks in the pipeline to ship a feature to production.” At the same time, the engineering team was growing, and the company realized it needed a better infrastructure to both support that growth and increase velocity.
Solution
“My idea was: Let’s create an environment where teams can deploy their services faster, and they will say, ‘Okay, I don’t want to build in the monolith anymore. I want to build a service,’” says Lacerte. They considered and prototyped several different technologies before deciding to adopt Kubernetes in early 2016. Lacerte’s team has also integrated Prometheus monitoring into the platform; tracing is next. Today, AppDirect has more than 50 microservices in production and 15 Kubernetes clusters deployed on AWS and on premise around the world.
Impact
The Kubernetes platform has helped support the engineering team’s 10x growth over the past few years. Coupled with the fact that they were continually adding new features, Lacerte says, “I think our velocity would have slowed down a lot if we didn’t have this new infrastructure.” Moving to Kubernetes and services has meant that deployments have become much faster due to less dependency on custom-made, brittle shell scripts with SCP commands. Time to deploy a new version has shrunk from 4 hours to a few minutes. Additionally, the company invested a lot of effort to make things self-service for developers. “Onboarding a new service doesn’t require Jira tickets or meeting with three different teams,” says Lacerte. Today, the company sees 1,600 deployments per week, compared to 1–30 before. The company also achieved cost savings by moving its marketplace and billing monoliths to Kubernetes from legacy EC2 hosts as well as by leveraging autoscaling, as traffic is higher during business hours.
………………………Thanking You…………………………………………… | https://medium.com/@pm68199/why-industries-use-kubernetes-b48cc3c8e93d | ['Prateek Mishra'] | 2020-12-25 08:36:19.717000+00:00 | ['Github', 'Docker', 'Cloud Storage', 'Kubernetes Engine', 'Kuberenetes'] |
Advanced System Design — Scale TinyURL | Advanced System Design — Scale TinyURL
Discussing how to scale the barebones TinyURL system using Load Balancer and Database Horizontal Partitioning, and related topics like partition key design strategy, partition vs replica vs backup, SQL vs NoSQL.
Image credit to Jason Chen
The system diagram below shows what we currently have. The single web server handles all the HTTP requests from the clients, and the single database stores all the data and handles all the read and write requests. Let’s trace the workflow and see how we can scale each component in the diagram, starting from the web server.
Image by Author
Web Server
HTTP requests are stateless, which means each HTTP request contains enough information for it to be understood and handled by a web server. This allows us to have more than just one web server to serve all the HTTP requests. Once we have multiple web servers available, the users’ HTTP requests can now be routed to any web server in the system (there is a concept of sticky session, which we will cover later). To achieve this, we will need to add another component, Load Balancer, who takes care of the dispatching between the Users and the Web Servers.
Multiple Web Servers behind a Load Balancer (Image by Author)
Introducing Load Balancer
The role of a Load Balancer is to distribute incoming requests to different Web Servers, and then return the HTTP responses to the users. There are various approaches a Load Balancer can take to route the requests to different Web Servers, such as Random, Least Busy, Round Robin, Sticky Session, etc.. For TinyURL, there is no particular requirement on how a request should be dispatched. We can just use Random or Least Busy for simplicity.
On a site note, Sticky Sessions are used when requests for a same user session should all be sent to one web server, this allows the server to have session data available for all subsequent requests.
Now that we have added more web servers, our web server cluster technically can handle infinite amount of HTTP requests. Another benefit is that we will no longer have Single Point Failure due to the single web server failure. While dispatching should be really quick due to minimal computation, we may still add Load Balancers to avoid Single-Point-Failure from any Load Balancer failure as well.
Database Server
At the very beginning of the design phase, we estimated that one database server should be able to handle the estimated query per second (QPS) and also be able to store all the data. To recap, here is a list of estimated numbers:
Active Users: 1 million
Average Write QPS: 10
Average Read QPS: 100
Storage: 40G per year
What if we are now told the market is much better than we originally expected?
Our one single database server can no longer store all the data or efficiently handle all the read and write requests .
The solution is to store our data on multiple database servers instead of one single database server. In order to store the data on different database servers, we need a way to partition the data (partitioning, aka, break the whole dataset into separate chunks), and then store different chunks of data on different database servers. You may also see partitioning being referred as sharding elsewhere. For consistency, I will use “partitioning” for the rest of this article.
What is partitioning?
Specifically, horizontal partitioning, which means each row of data shall be stored in the same server, but different rows of data may be stored on different servers. Sometimes vertical partitioning can be used to break up columns in the same table, but our TinyURL table only has two columns, so we won’t need vertical partitioning in this case.
Partition vs Replica vs Backup
It is worth noting that partition is different from replica. The purpose of partitioning is to spread the full dataset on multiple database servers so that each server only stores a portion of the data and handles a portion of the read and write requests. The purpose of replicas is to have multiple copies, normally three, of the full dataset, and each replica can share some read load. Replicas can also be used to restore another replica when one replica fails.
Replica is also different from backup. Replicas are synced online as soon as data gets written, and that’s why replicas can share the read load. Backup is performed offline at a specified schedule. Because backup files are offline, they can only be used for restore purpose, but can not share any read load.
How is partitioning achieved?
By a technique called “Consistent Hashing”. The basic workflow is:
Identify one column (which will be identified as the Partition Key column) Calculate the hash value of the column. A hash function can be used for this calculation. There are many types of hash functions, but they all have the same goal: return a different integer given a different partition key *. The returned integer is in range [0, Hash Size). In real world use cases, the Hash Size is often ²⁶⁴.
* Please note that mathematically, it is possible that a hash function may return the same integer for two different partition keys, and this is called hash “collision”. Because ²⁶⁴ is an extremely large number, we will have to think that the possibility is extremely low that you never run into collision in real world use cases. The hash value determines which database server the row of data should be stored on. For simplicity, the diagram below shows how one row of data should be mapped to a different database server based on it’s hash value. This type of diagram is called “Consistent Hash Ring”. Any hash value that falls in the range of [0, ²⁶⁴/3) should be mapped to database #1, any hash value that falls in the range of [²⁶⁴/3, 2*²⁶⁴/3) should be mapped to database #2, etc..
Simplified Consistent Hash Ring (Image by Author)
In real world implementation, the Consistent Hash Ring is actually broken into many virtual segments, e.g. 1000, and each segment belongs to a specific database server. The diagram below shows a simplified ring with just 2 virtual segments for each database server for demonstration purpose.
Simplified Consistent Hash Ring with virtual segments (Image by Author)
How to determine the Partition Key?
The best practice is to first identify how the data will be read. This is because the partition key determines which database server a data record should be retrieved from. The goal is to be able to include the partition key in the majority of your read requests so that they become single partition read. Single-partition read only has to look at one specific partition, thus is much faster and cost less resources compared to a cross-partition read. For a cross-partition read, multiple/all partitions need to be scanned, which is resource intense and costly.
For the TinyURL design, one of the most common read requests is to retrieve the long URL given a specific short URL key. The lookup request looks something like this below. So we will use ShortUrlKey as our partition key for the Url table.
Please note that using ShortUrlKey as the partition key means we won’t be able to do single partition read when we look up a specific Long URL. We will discuss how to cover it later.
Revisit SQL vs NoSQL
In the last article, we compared SQL vs NoSQL for the barebones TinyURL service. Now that we have to add partitioning into the picture, let’s add a few new criteria to the comparison table below.
Image by Author
As you can see, even though it is possible to support horizontal partitioning, the developers may need to design and implement the consistent hashing workflow and worry about data migration when more database servers are added. NoSQL, such as Cosmos DB and Cassandra, will handle partitioning automatically and the developer only needs to determine the sharding keys.
If we are going to use NoSQL so we can take advantage of the automatic partitioning feature, I would have two containers (equivalent to tables in SQL):
A ShortToLong container, with Short URL Key as the primary key. This container will serve read requests that look up a long URL by a short URL key.
A LongToShort container, with Long URL as the primary key. This container will serve read requests that check if a long URL already exists and returns its short URL Key if it does exist.
For each write request, make sure the same record is written into both containers. This does produce some duplicated data, but because NoSQL is extremely fast in write I/O and technically can be scaled out infinitely, we do not need to worry about storage size. In Azure Cosmos DB, you can create a stored procedure to make the two writes transactional. For more information, please see Microsoft documentation.
Scalable TinyURL System
Finally, let’s see what we have come up with so far.
Image by Author
You will notice that every component in the system is now scalable and can handle large-scale workload.
Users (hoping that they will grow organically)
Load Balancers — Dispatching is fast. Having a set of load balancers allows us to dispatch large amount of requests without having to worry about single point failure by any single load balancer.
Web Servers — For TinyURL service, because each HTTP request is stateless and we do not need to track any sticky sessions, our web server cluster should be able to process large amount of requests. And it is very easy to add/remove web servers as we need. If you are using Azure or AWS, scaling out web servers is made a simple configuration!
Database Servers — With the help of partitioning, we can now scale out the number of database servers. Each database server will share some portion of the data storage and some read load. It is possible to scale infinitely as long as the partition key has high cardinality, aka, lots of distinct values.
Cache Server — It is possible to have distributed cache servers if the amount of data you want to store in cache can not fit into the memory of one single server.
Conclusion
System Design is not easy as it covers lots of topics and also requires the software engineer to have in-depth understanding on how each component works and also the protocols that connect each component. To overcome this, we started small and designed a barebones working solution first. With that, we started identifying the performance bottlenecks and optimized the major workload (read load in this case). The last step we took was to scale each individual component starting from the users. Hope you have enjoyed the design journey this far.
Many thanks for reading! | https://shawn-shi.medium.com/advanced-system-design-scale-tinyurl-fe0628597128 | ['Shawn Shi'] | 2020-11-13 04:23:48.407000+00:00 | ['Horizontal Partitioning', 'Sharding', 'Scale', 'System Design', 'Tinyurl'] |
The Coronavirus May Mess With Thyroid Levels, Too | The Coronavirus May Mess With Thyroid Levels, Too
Image: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Asthe devastating outbreak of Covid-19 spread in Italy in March, doctors became curious if the ruthless virus, which seemed to wreak unpredictable havoc on the body, was mucking with important organs like the thyroid. At the Ca’ Granda Main Polyclinic Hospital in Milan, it was feasible for them to investigate this because they routinely test critical care patients’ levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH, which is an indirect indicator of thyroid health. So Ilaria Muller, MD, PhD, an endocrinologist at the hospital, began comparing blood test results from patients admitted to that critical care unit with data from other patients in the previous year to see if there was a difference in their thyroid hormones.
The thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland that sits below the Adam’s apple at the base of the throat, performs crucial functions in the body. It secretes hormones that maintain a person’s metabolic rate, fertility, and digestive system, just to name a few of its many responsibilities. Damage to this organ can cause a wide range of symptoms, including weight gain and brain fog, and has even been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage and heart disease.
After excluding people with preexisting thyroid conditions from their analysis, Muller and her colleagues ended up with data from 85 critical care patients from March and April of this year, all of whom had Covid-19, and from 78 people admitted to that same unit during those months in 2019. The study, published July 30 in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, found that 13 of those people with Covid-19, around 15%, were experiencing thyrotoxicosis, a condition in which there is an excess of thyroid hormone in the blood. This can happen when the thyroid is damaged, causing an unusually large release of stored up hormone reserves. By comparison, only one of the 78 patients from the 2019 group had evidence of thyrotoxicosis.
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The researchers believe that Covid-19, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, might be a risk factor for an atypical form of thyroiditis, which is characterized by inflammation of the thyroid that can lead to thyrotoxicosis. Viral thyroiditis, also known as subacute thyroiditis, is a mystery in that doctors aren’t sure exactly which viruses can cause it, but researchers have found circumstantial evidence linking it to everything from influenza to hepatitis. “Lots of viruses can affect the thyroid,” Muller says. “So why not SARS-CoV-2?”
Curiously, the people with Covid-19 in critical care with thyrotoxicosis had high levels of the thyroid hormone thyroxine, but not the elevated triiodothyronine levels typically seen in viral thyroiditis. They also never experienced any neck pain, which is a key feature of viral thyroiditis. (I know this symptom very well personally because I experienced this condition a couple years ago and had a giant, excruciating bulge at the base of my neck when I was finally diagnosed.)
Muller notes that thyroid cells have the ACE-2 receptor on their surface, which SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter cells. She suspects that in severe cases the virus is able to infiltrate the thyroid, but this might not happen commonly in milder cases: Only one of the 41 Covid-19 patients without preexisting thyroid conditions who received low-intensity care at the hospital in March and April had test results indicating thyrotoxicosis.
Mounting evidence
Other groups have uncovered evidence suggesting Covid-19 might disrupt thyroid hormones. A study published in July from another Italian team looked at data from almost 300 people with Covid-19 and found evidence of thyrotoxicosis in around 20% of them, particularly those who seemed to have systemic inflammation from the infection.
Gherardo Mazziotti, MD, PhD, an endocrinologist and associate professor at Humanitas University of Milan who led this work, explains that the long-term effects are still under exploration. “It is reasonable to hypothesize that the thyroiditis induced by SARS-CoV-2 is transient,” Mazziotti says. He adds, though, that “we cannot exclude” that in some cases it might cause lasting, chronic thyroid dysfunction. Viral thyroiditis is generally just a transient condition, but in anywhere from 5% to 20% of cases the thyroid damage means that patients require lifelong thyroid hormone replacement medication. Muller and her team followed up with eight of the people with Covid-19 in their study who had signs of thyrotoxicosis. Ultrasounds of their thyroid glands showed signs of abnormalities, including three patients in which these scans showed spots indicating that some cell death might have occurred.
“These studies indicate that patients with Covid-19, especially those with severe illness, should be monitored for signs and symptoms of thyroid problems and that there should be a low threshold for checking thyroid blood tests.”
Despite the spots on some of the ultrasounds, all the people with Covid-19 in Muller’s study seem to have recovered thyroid function. She says that her team plans to do stress tests in the future to see if their thyroids are still able to work optimally when challenged. It’s too early to say whether there is any link between the abnormal thyroid levels seen in some severely ill Covid-19 patients and reported Covid-19 effects such as a racing heartbeat and hair loss, which can occur with thyroid hormone changes. But Muller says there’s ample evidence for doctors to consider screening people with Covid-19 for thyroid abnormalities to see whether these individuals should be followed up once they recover to ensure the organ is working well. (She also notes that preexisting thyroid conditions do not appear to be a risk factor for Covid-19, according to her preliminary analysis.)
In addition to these studies, there have been at least a trio of case reports from Italy linking the novel coronavirus to thyroiditis. Meanwhile, a July study from researchers in China found thyroid level abnormalities, although these didn’t have the classical signature of thyroiditis. However, the authors noted that these patients did not have their thyroid levels checked when they were admitted to the hospital and were already receiving steroids, which can affect hormone levels.
Some endocrinologists say it’s too early to know if the link is solid. Erkam Sencar, MD, an endocrinologist at Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, remains skeptical that Covid-19 carries a heightened risk for thyroiditis. “As an expert examining a large number of thyroid patients, I have not observed an increase in [viral thyroiditis] cases,” he says.
Sencar also cautions that there might be confounding factors in these studies such as patients’ exposure to the iodine injection they receive to improve the image of CT scans used to assess lung health. Iodine can have a big effect on thyroid function. Furthermore, he notes that subacute thyroiditis typically occurs two to six weeks after viral infection. The timing of the thyroid hormone changes the researchers are seeing with Covid-19 are concurrent with the infection, so this makes him skeptical that it is explained by something like subacute thyroiditis.
Muller says that it’s unlikely the Covid-19 patients in her study received iodine before their blood was drawn upon admittance to the hospital and that this contrast agent isn’t always used in the kind of CT scans they receive. She also stresses that she and her colleagues were careful to call this condition “atypical” thyroiditis given it doesn’t seem to fit the pattern of subacute thyroiditis. The Covid-19 patients might have some elements of what’s known as nonthyroidal illness syndrome, a condition in which the body has difficulty converting thyroid hormones.
Other endocrinologists say that it might be useful to watch for thyroid hormone abnormalities in Covid-19 patients. “These studies indicate that patients with Covid-19, especially those with severe illness, should be monitored for signs and symptoms of thyroid problems and that there should be a low threshold for checking thyroid blood tests,” says Victor J. Bernet, MD, chair of the endocrinology department at the Mayo Clinic Florida and president-elect of the American Thyroid Association. Bernet notes that autopsies of patients who died in the outbreak of SARS, a disease closely related to Covid-19, in the early 2000s found signs of thyroid inflammation when evaluating thyroid tissue under a microscope.
James Hennessey, MD, director of clinical endocrinology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, suggests a similar approach and says doctors should be aware about this possible link “so that thyroid function testing be performed in a timely manner” when nonspecific symptoms such as a rapid pulse rate suggest a potential thyroid basis. | https://medium.com/@abvora/the-coronavirus-may-mess-with-thyroid-levels-too-8a05363cf44b | [] | 2020-12-19 11:36:04.196000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Culture', 'Body', 'Science', 'Covid 19'] |
3 key takeaways from HPE Labs | One of my most recent projects entailed spending eight months as the lead designer at HPE Labs, a security and management company in Bristol, to bring the user interface (UI) of their management dashboard right up to date.
As a rich and varied role, it seems only fitting that I share some key aspects of the experience to provide some insight into the way I work.
The contract itself was split into two projects: Loom and the Executive Dashboard. Whilst the former required an improvement to an existing UI, the latter was a from-the-ground-up task that required the development of a brand-new dashboard in line with the modern brand guidelines.
HPE’s developers and engineers had been working on the project for four years prior to my arrival and they hadn’t collaborated with a designer until that point. Enter the onboarding process.
A project seldom starts with you — understand its past
It was important for me to get to grips with the project and its past as quickly as possible — after all, I was the one who was furthest away from the inception of the idea at this stage.
If a project has been on-going for four years, it’s important to ask as many questions as you can to get up to speed with the team and its thinking.
It transpired that serious limitations with the existing UI were at the core of the project, so I had to ensure that I could bring its focus back onto the users and their high expectations of UIs in 2017 and beyond.
In the end, it was only by understanding the project’s past and the limitations that held it up that I could work to develop a revolutionary new user experience (UX) with a completely new and intuitive UI made for touch and large-screen displays.
Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate
None of that would have been possible if either I didn’t integrate with the project team or the team weren’t receptive to my questions. They brought a designer on for a reason, so that could only be conducive to a positive outcome.
Collaboration for designers works two ways and the creative process must be flowing. This doesn’t just mean with developers and engineers; it means close collaboration with the brand police as well when it comes to brand guidelines. If we don’t stick to them from the off, we’re sent back to the drawing board when we send our work for approval.
The importance of taking your time
Of course, deadlines normally dictate our approach to ‘taking our time’, but there is a lot to be said for genuine, on-the-spot testing with real users. This is exactly what we did with the Loom and Executive Dashboard UIs for HPE.
I was lucky enough to be working in the same building as the people who would be using the UI I was designing after I’d left, so we had the privilege of immediate testing and feedback to inform our decisions.
It’s not always possible to take your time with such an iterative approach, but when you do get the chance, make the most of it.
Ultimately, my eight months at HPE Labs gave me a great opportunity to grow and develop as a designer outside of the usual agency environment. I was humbled by the belief and trust that the team put in me from the off and was impressed by the fact that they create the sort of environment in which like-minded creatives can thrive.
It really allows for a more desirable outcome if everyone works together, but it starts with the first steps you take into the office as a consultant if everyone is going to be on and remain on the same side. | https://uxdesign.cc/3-key-takeaways-from-hpe-labs-cdbecb345e2a | ['Simon Mccade'] | 2019-03-29 10:49:30.238000+00:00 | ['Research', 'UI', 'Design', 'Collaboration'] |
The Sexual Bill of Rights | The Sexual Bill of Rights
Twelve basic sexual laws that must be obeyed
No, these laws aren’t written on my body yet, but they might as well be. Photo by Moncell Allen on Unsplash
Congress of the United States begun and held at Medium, between author Christine Stevens and author Sarene B. Arias who suggested such bill is needed.
THE Conventions of a number of writers in Sexuality who agree that a sexual Bill of Rights will best ensure the beneficent of knowledge gained heretofore in Medium.
RESOLVED that the following Articles be proposed, viz.
Article the first… Sex is a Positive
A woman’s sexuality shall be viewed in a positive manner and not be used to judge or condemn her as in past decades, centuries, and indeed millennia of patriarchy. All women have the right to be and behave sex positively, without shame, regret or guilt. A woman’s desire is not to be impugned. A woman’s body is allowed pleasure. A woman’s mind is allowed sexual thoughts. She need not pretend she does not think of sex. She need not pose as a virgin, nor suffer the label of whore. A woman need be seen as a woman solely, beyond that pathetic binary.
Article the second… Orgasm is a Right.
A woman is entitled to orgasm during sex. A woman’s male sexual partner shall not concentrate solely on his own desire. A man must do what a man must to enable, cause or otherwise contribute to this great goal — her climax. Failure to participate in this project is not to be looked on kindly.
Article the third… No, She Need Not Swallow!
While she may, if she chooses, ingest the ejaculate of the male, this is by no means a foregone conclusion or a virtue or anything he may expect. It can be an occasional treat if she wishes. Or not. She may spit it out, too, if it be bitter tasting. Pineapple might help with that, nobody knows for sure. But no, letting it drip languidly out her mouth, down her lip, and onto her chin while she stares vacantly shall forthwith only happen in porn, sorry.
Article the fourth… Her Body, Her Self!
A well-regulated Birth Control, being necessary to the security of a free from pregnant State, the right of the woman to keep and bear birth control pills, IUD devices, Plan B’s, diaphragms, shall not be infringed. But more than that, the man shares exactly half the responsibility for the well regulation thereof. In other words, bring a rubber. Finally, it being her body and her self, she is allowed to pleasure herself without guilt or recrimination — a lot!
Article the fifth… Consent Be Required.
No penis shall, in time of peace be quartered in any vagina, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. Said consent must be on the part of all participants. That’s right, said consent can be withdrawn at any time during the sex act if it starts for whatever reason to be unpleasant. The act of wearing suggestive or provocative clothing is not consent to be harassed. No matter how sexy she is, she must not and never be harassed and bothered and annoyed by crudity and rudeness. Thank you good sirs. Give women peace, or ’tis too much to ask?
Article the sixth… The Many Genders and Sexualities.
She may be lesbian, bi, pansexual, demisexual, trans, non, asexual, cisgendered, in, out, drag, femme, butch, gender non-conforming, fluid, queer, intergender, pangender, intersex, queer, questioning, transitioning and whatever pronoun they/them/their wants to be. Nor shall any person be put in jeopardy of life or limb, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, nor shall private property be taken from because of any of that. Deal with it!
Article the seventh… She May Just Lie There.
If she is tired it is her prerogative to not leap about acrobatically to please a male. She can chill if she chooses, and may not be called a “dead fish” for sometimes preferring stillness. Complain about something else, sir, but not that. Lest ye be observed in all thy physical frailties and inadequacies in retort. The sexual partner is not in Cirq de Soleil. Sex in fact is not a circus. And she not a performer in it. She needn’t be in the mood, by the way. And you don’t need to guilt her if she rebuffs your advances. As much as she needn’t feel guilty for wanting sex, she needn’t feel it either for not wanting it. Don’t sulk, it’s not attractive.
Article the eighth… Exclusivity is Not Required.
Monogamy is not a virtue, ’tis but one choice of many. One-nighter is all it might have been, sir. Refrain from comment, good sir. Marriage is but one destination — the ship might dock at other ports. She needn’t love only you. She might be polyamorous. As far-fetched as it may seem, she may be attracted to another human being other than yourself during the course of fifty or eighty years. Stranger things have happened. She is permitted to act on said attraction if that’s the arrangement. There are many arrangements that can be made. Communication matters. Finally, vis a viz gentle sir Robert Lipshutz, the commencement of any activity under article 8 be governed by the mutual consent provisions of article 5.
Article the ninth…Kink is Just Kink.
Look, it doesn’t mean anything if she wants you to pull her hair. Explore it with her. Don’t get all weird about it. A spirit of playfulness must be brought to these matters. Remain open to clamping her nipple. Or her clamping yours. Kink is part of sex. If you’re not into it, fine, but pray forsooth, don’t judge.
Article the tenth….Porn is Fine.
But sex isn’t porn. Don’t expect it to be. And while we’re on the subject, don’t get so porn addled that you become impotent and can no longer serve her. Moderation, please. Remember, quiescence is the enemy of intercourse. Your erection is not her problem. Take a pill if you need to. She has a right to have you hard.
Article the eleventh….She is not an Object (Unless She Wants to Be).
She’s not your plaything, but she might like to play at being your plaything. She’s not your sex doll unless she’s feeling dolly. She’s not your centerfold but yes she might be posing. She’s your paradox, ‘kay? Get used to it.
Article the twelfth…She Has a Right to Know Your Sicknesses.
All sexually transmitted and otherwise infectious shall be pre-disclosed, along with any and all mental quirks she need know about. It’s fine to act non-psychopathic even if you are, but dropping her a little hint seems fair. Nobody likes to be surprised by Mr. Hyde after a good shag with Doc Jekyll. Be considerate. Thank you.
Please append hereto any other rights you deem inalienable vis-à-vis sex. Thank you.
ATTEST,
Christine Stevens, Speaker of the House of Sex | https://medium.com/sexography/the-sexual-bill-of-rights-65b7b395bb18 | ['Christine Stevens'] | 2020-12-23 19:20:55.140000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Relationships', 'Sexuality', 'Equality', 'Sex'] |
Essential developer tools for improving your Python code | The tools
Project configuration
Of course some configuration is needed to align all tools and in- or exclude some parameters. Every tool has its own set of configuration parameters and configuration formats, however there is a trend where tools are conforming to the pyproject.toml format (see PEP 518 for more information). For every tool below I’ll mention relevant configuration parameters in a pyproject.toml section whenever possible. As a bonus I’m putting the final pyproject.toml in a Github repository for your convenience.
*note: the ‘app’ folder in the examples below refers to my project folder.
Code style and formatting
For code style and formatting I am using isort, Flake8, Bugbear, Black and Mypy. I’ll discuss them in detail below.
isort
Github repository
What does it do?
It sorts your import statements from this:
from pytz import timezone
from app.const import NAME
from datetime import datetime as dt
to this:
# Standard library imports
from datetime import datetime as dt
# Third party imports
from pytz import timezone
# Local application imports
from app.const import NAME
Pretty neat huh?
Configuration
[tool.isort]
multi_line_output = 3
include_trailing_comma = true
force_grid_wrap = 0
use_parentheses = true
line_length = 88
skip = []
import_heading_stdlib = 'Standard library imports'
import_heading_thirdparty = 'Third party imports'
import_heading_firstparty = 'Local application imports'
import_heading_localfolder = 'Local folder imports'
known_first_party = ['app']
How to install and run?
pip install isort
isort .
Flake8
Github repository
What does it do?
Flake8 is a wrapper around pyflakes, pycodestyle and Ned Batchelder’s McCabe script essentially checking for conformance to the PEP 8 code style standard.
If any non-conformances are detected the tool will output a warning with an error code. Here are some examples of the errors it outputs:
app/main.py:14:7: E111 indentation is not a multiple of four
app/main.py:14:7: E117 over-indented
app/main.py:15:7: E111 indentation is not a multiple of four
app/const.py:1:20: W292 no newline at end of file
Note: Several plugins exist for flake8 extending its functionality (including for some of the other tools mentioned here e.g. ‘flake8-isort’) however I prefer to keep the execution of these tools separate which makes configuration and execution easier.
Configuration
Flake8 doesn’t support pyproject.toml configuration yet so we need to create a .flake8 configuration file in the project root instead:
[flake8]
ignore = E203, E266, E501, W503
max-line-length = 88
max-complexity = 18
select = C,E,F,W,B
filename = app/*.py
Note: the B select is for Bugbear error codes.
How to install and run?
pip install flake8
flake8 <project_folder_name>
Bugbear
Github repository
What does it do?
Bugbear is a plugin for flake8 containing some rules for errors and warnings that do not fit within pyflakes or pycodestyle. An example of this is rule B009:
Do not call getattr(x, 'attr') , instead use normal property access: x.attr . Missing a default to getattr will cause an AttributeError to be raised for non-existent properties. There is no additional safety in using getattr if you know the attribute name ahead of time.
Configuration
Just adding the B to the select configuration parameter of flake8 should suffice.
How to install and run?
pip install flake8-bugbear
flake8 <project_folder_name>
Black
Github repository
What does it do?
Black is an (awesome) opinionated code formatter adhering to PEP8 (as much as possible).
It turns this:
def print_hi(name):
date_time = tz.localize(
dt.now())
print(
f"Hi, {name} it is currently {date_time}"
)
def print_hello(
name
):
print(
f"Hello, {name} "
f"how are you?"
)
into this:
def print_hi(name):
date_time = tz.localize(dt.now())
print(f"Hi, {name} it is currently {date_time}")
def print_hello(name):
print(f"Hello, {name} " f"how are you?")
✨ Magic! ✨
Configuration
[tool.black]
line-length = 88
target-version = ['py38']
include = '\.pyi?$'
exclude = '''
/(
\.eggs # exclude a few common directories in the
| \.git # root of the project
| \.hg
| \.mypy_cache
| \.tox
| \.venv
| _build
| buck-out
| build
| dist
| migrations
# The following are specific to Black, you probably don't want those.
| blib2to3
| tests/data
)/
'''
How to install and run?
pip install black
black <project_folder_name>
Mypy
Github repository
What does it do?
Using Mypy you can add type hinst (PEP 484) to your code and check your code for type errors.
Fun fact: Jukka Lehtosalo, the creator of Mypy, worked together with the creator of Python (Guido van Rossum) on Mypy at Dropbox. More info here.
Examples of such type errors:
app/main.py:15: error: Missing return statement
app/main.py:25: error: Argument 1 to "print_hi" has incompatible type "str"; expected "List[str]"
Found 2 errors in 1 file (checked 3 source files)
Configuration
Mypy doesn’t support pyproject.toml yet, so we have to create a mypy.ini file in the project root containing:
[mypy]
python_version=3.8
platform=linux
files=app/
ignore_missing_imports=true
How to install and run?
pip install mypy
mypy <project_folder_name>
Software testing
For software testing I am using Pytest and coverage.py.
Pytest
Github repository
What does it do?
Pytest is a framework for software testing Python code. One of its features I like best is that it allows you to create re-usable pieces of test code (fixtures) that can be combined in a single test.
Configuration
Pytest has support for pyproject.toml configuration:
[tool.pytest.ini_options]
minversion = "6.0"
addopts = "-ra"
testpaths = [
"app",
]
python_files = "*_test.py"
junit_family = "legacy"
note: any file with a name ending with _test.py will be automatically tested when running pytest.
How to install and run?
pip install pytest
pytest <project_folder_name>
Output of a successful test:
➜ pytest app -ra
===================== test session starts ========================
platform darwin -- Python 3.8.5, ..., pluggy-0.13.1
rootdir: /, configfile: pyproject.toml, testpaths: app
collected 1 item app/main_test.py . [100%] ===================== 1 passed in 0.05s ==========================
Output of a failed test:
pytest app -ra
===================== test session starts ========================
platform darwin -- Python 3.8.5, ..., pluggy-0.13.1
rootdir: /, configfile: pyproject.toml, testpaths: app
collected 1 item app/main_test.py F [100%] =========================== FAILURES ==============================
________________________ test_print_hi ____________________________ capsys = <_pytest.capture.CaptureFixture object at 0x1056d5fa0> def test_print_hi(capsys):
from app.main import print_hi # Happy flow
name = "Chris"
print_hi(name)
captured = capsys.readouterr()
assert captured.out.startswith(f"Hi, {name} it is currently") # Invalid type
name = 1
> print_hi(name) app/main_test.py:16:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ name = 1 def print_hi(name: str) -> str:
if not isinstance(name, str):
> raise TypeError("name is of invalid type")
E TypeError: name is of invalid type app/main.py:17: TypeError
===================== short test summary info =====================
FAILED app/main_test.py::test_print_hi - TypeError: name is of invalid type
======================= 1 failed in 0.07s =========================
Coverage.py
Github repository
What does it do?
Using coverage.py you can measure the % of code executed, for example when running pytest. These metrics give you an indication how much of your code is covered by software tests. Of course, the coverage percentage does not indicate the quality of software testing.
Configuration
[tool.coverage.run]
branch = true
command_line = '-m pytest'
source = ['app/']
[tool.coverage.report]
precision = 2
skip_covered = true
fail_under = 90
How to install and run?
pip install coverage[toml]
coverage run
coverage report -m
Example output of the coverage report:
coverage report -m
Name Stmts Miss Branch BrPart Cover Missing
------------------------------------------------------------
app/main.py 14 1 6 1 90.00% 24->25, 25
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 28 1 6 1 94.12% 3 files skipped due to complete coverage.
Security
For checking security vulnerabilities I am using Bandit and Safety.
Bandit
Github repository
What does it do?
Running Bandit on your code enables you to identify known security issues (e.g. the use of assert statements as checks which are removed when compiling to byte code). A listing of all checks can be found here.
Configuration
Bandit does not support the pyproject.toml yet so to configure it one has to create a .bandit file in the project folder root.
[bandit]
targets = app/
recursive = true
skips = B101
Note: the B101 test is skipped because it (also) triggers on assert statement used in _test.py files. There is a request to ignore B101 when the assert is in a test file.
How to install and run?
pip install bandit
bandit --ini .bandit -r
Example output:
bandit --ini .bandit -r
[main] INFO Using ini file for skipped tests
[main] INFO Using ini file for selected targets
[main] INFO profile include tests: None
[main] INFO profile exclude tests: None
[main] INFO cli include tests: None
[main] INFO cli exclude tests: B101
[main] INFO running on Python 3.8.5
Run started:2020-11-29 15:27:27.049118 Test results:
No issues identified. Code scanned:
Total lines of code: 28
Total lines skipped (#nosec): 0 Run metrics:
Total issues (by severity):
Undefined: 0.0
Low: 0.0
Medium: 0.0
High: 0.0
Total issues (by confidence):
Undefined: 0.0
Low: 0.0
Medium: 0.0
High: 0.0
Files skipped (0):
Safety
Github repository
What does it do?
It scans your installed dependencies for known security vulnerabilities. By default it uses the safety-db database with known vulnerabilities.
Configuration
No detailed configuration needed for running Safety.
How to install and run?
pip install safety
safety check
Example output: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/essential-developer-tools-for-improving-your-python-code-71616254134b | ['Chris Bergman'] | 2020-12-02 12:52:17.717000+00:00 | ['Pytest', 'Tools', 'Code Quality', 'Python', 'Software Development'] |
Leadership: Motivating Millennials at Work | We are not sure what really motivates Y generations in the workplace. I think I found a way.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
I am a senior corporate leader from X generation and love working with people from the Y generation because they bring so many diverse perspectives both to business and life. However, I am frustrated to hear many industry leaders and business owners say that they have no hope in millennials. After speaking with these leaders from X generation and baby boomers, I have noticed that they just do not understand the millennials and their great potential. Therefore, they are afraid of the unknown and do not know how to lead and motivate them.
I will share my leadership experience to motivate, and best unleash the unrecognized strengths, talents, and potential of the millennials.
We cannot solve something we do not know. Therefore, let us make a shortlist of critical characteristics describing the millennials.
Who are millennials?
In 2019, Gallup Inc., MSW Research, and the Resolution Foundation used 1980–1996, PricewaterhouseCoopers used 1981 to 1995, and Nielsen Media Research defined millennials as adults between the ages of 22 and 38 years old.
They are also called Indigo Children by spiritualists. Spiritualists say they are the game changers who will plant the seeds of the transformation into a Golden Age. The Z generation, the cyrstal children, will be the ones that will make the change. That makes millennials reformists who not only come up with hypotheses and philosophies but also take action. They want to change the world as pragmatic idealists.
What are the key characteristics of millennials?
They are global citizens, who feel the obligation deep inside them to make the world a better place for them and everyone. That makes them all-embracing and value diversity, inclusion, and equity. Therefore, they are the most entrepreneurially-minded generation ever. Statistics show that two-thirds of millennials want to start their own business.
They think and act holistic, which makes people call them conscious capitalists. They are not after the interest of a small group but for all stakeholders from a 360-degree perspective.
You cannot ask them to work 9-to-5 like the previous generations. They want flexible working arrangements and freedom, such as remote working, part-time work opportunities, cross-functional career moves, and flexible career journeys anwork-life balance.
They are authentic and real with a high-level of integrity. It is essential to stay true to who they are, their values, and their individuality. Accordingly, they want others to respect their differences and embrace their unique potential to make a difference in the world.
They want open communication and honest relations because they know their life purpose and values. Hence, they do not have time to lose with fake relations and toxic people.
They are liberal and do not just accept the status quo.
They are not after the wheel of blind consumption and buy what they need.
They are interested in processes and services that work and speed their interactions. It is the reason why they love technology so much.
They may look individualistic but can work as a team very effectively. Their multi-tasking abilities accelerate the way things are done.
They are not religious but are more spiritual. Universality is what they are looking for.
How can we motivate and influence them as a leader?
The style and the character of millenials can easily make anyone feel uncomfortable at first sight. Still, millennials are as human as all other people are, but with different needs, drives, and motives. They are as they are. They are unique and bring unprecedented value and potential to life that is already changing the world.
Like all young people, milennials also want to explore life and learn new things. They want to be understood, valued, and loved. But they meet their needs differently because they are much more free and open-minded than previous generations.
There is one single thing that they respect and follow. WISDOM. They will not follow you unless you have some wisdom in you as a leader. You do not have to be a sage to lead them. However, unless you have this wisdom in you, they will not follow you and will even rebel. They are less attached to social norms, cultural guidelines, and traditions, so you cannot control them with the methods of previous generations.
How does wisdom influence and motivate millennials?
Accept them as they are and never judge. Instead, involve them in decisions, ask for their opinions, and let them take responsibility.
Make sure you give them the room they need to be themselves and support them with coaching and mentoring. Let them decide how they do things. Please do not force them to do things your way. Let them be authentic and even learn from them.
Spend time with them outside work to learn from their different point of view. Be the first one to offer help in their tough times. Similarly, be the first to celebrate with them when they achieve great things.
Ask their ideas and support instead of giving orders.
Be very clear at the beginning about the goals, deadlines, deliverables, tools, and resources. Make them a part of this planning process and let them develop their plans and present them to you. You will see that you will get more working together then you are working alone.
They are young and may not know the best course of action. They will also have times when they will not have the courage to move forward. Offer coaching and mentoring, and they will accept it if they see you bring something unique to them.
Make sure you build trust before everything. Have a high level of integrity and exhibit it in every breath.
When you coach and mentor them, make them think with open and powerful questions. Let them find their answers and make their decisions. Do not use coaching and mentoring to manipulate them but instead use it to help them find their meaning, values, and true potential.
As a leader, make sure you know enough about psychology to understand their unique personal gifts and talents and give them the right jobs. similarly, know the various ways that motivate each individual and reward, recognize, appreciate, acknowledge accordingly.
Give them the chance to succeed instead of isolating them. Let them shine. You will not regret it.
Allow them to challenge the status quo and act as devil`s advocate while respecting the key rules of living together. Let them innovate.
LEARN EVERY DAY AND DEVELOP YOURSELF as they will learn and improve faster than you. They respect people who develop themselves.
I used wisdom as the key to above-mentioned leadership actions because only wisdom can make a leader transform from winning alone to winning together and serving others.
I am glad to have Y and Z generations in the world. Over the last several years, a newer generation, alpha generation, also joined us. The world is changing physically, economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. It is a transformation that requires transcending from ME mentality to WE mentality, and we cannot make progress without Millenials.
Old ways of doing things will not bring success in this new world, so we better learn to learn from our precious children.
Cheers,
Kenan | https://medium.com/betterism/the-best-way-to-motivate-millennials-at-work-18aaacbcecfa | ['Kenan Kolday'] | 2020-06-11 12:01:01.117000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Relationships', 'Management', 'Leadership', 'Entre'] |
Perception of Herself | Perception of Herself
Poetry of defying physics
Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash
my grandmother was right
when you’re dead, that’s it
she was ahead of her time
that was the understood version
of who we knew her to be
but maybe she did not want
to be remembered
her own perception of herself
could have defied the conservation
of energy as memory
lifted away
thoughts like sheets flapping
on the line
just to remember her words
I locked them in with wax,
a transfer of heat
and determination
and I was dead-set
on knowing death
on knowing nothing
on feeling nothing
on feeling dead
I laid on the carpet
willing away the library ceiling
bright bulbs challenging my theory
I had the power to resist being created
at all
I had the power to flatten myself
against the earth
no teacher calling time
could destroy what
was never here
at all
you are reading this
you brought a filed
nail to slide under
the wax and let me out
even as weakened kinetic
energy, my father
squeezed my hand
transferring light to me
as he failed to breathe
my grandmother was wrong | https://medium.com/scrittura/perception-of-herself-f32b2c47dbaa | ['Samantha Lazar'] | 2020-11-29 06:06:24.337000+00:00 | ['Conservation Of Energy', 'Prompt', 'Poetry', 'Life', 'Death'] |
The First Microbiologist | The First Microbiologist
An illustration of Verro, the subject of today’s article. Source: Wikicommons
The Romans are recognised worldwide for their military achievements. At its height the Roman Empire reached five million square kilometres under Emperor Trajan, making it one of the largest empires in history.
Although often overshadowed by the Greeks in terms of technological advancements of the period, the Romans did make some significant progress in the field of the sciences. Many of the educated elite of the Roman Empire went on to discover and theories about things only proven centuries later. Marcus Terentius Varro, henceforth Varro, was one such example.
Ceasar’s Civil War
Varro was born in Rieti, a city in the heart of the Roman Republic close to Rome. This meant that as the Romans saw success in their conquering of Europe and thus developed their capital, Varro got to enjoy some of the luxuries that come with such rapid expansion.
Varro was even more fortunate than the average citizen of Rieti as he was born into a family of “Equites”, the name given to the Roman knights. Due to his privileged status within Roman society, Varro received some of the highest quality of education available to Roman citizens at the time. Although his love for learning didn’t immediately shine through this process surely sparked his interest in the sciences.
Map showing areas of the Roman Empire controlled by the different sides of the civil war. Source: Wikicommons
When Varro reached the age of 67 the civil war between Julius Cesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey, ignited. The son of Roman knights found himself on Pompey’s side as the leader of one of his armies. Pompey went on to lose the civil war against Ceasar leading to all of Pompey’s old allies either being executed, exiled, or in very select cases, pardoned.
Varro became one of these very select cases as Caesar decided to pardon him and even make him the head of the public library of Rome in 47 BC. As the Republic gave way to the Empire, Varro would discover his love for studying and writing.
After gaining the favour of the next leader of Rome, Emperor Augustus, Varro went on to pursue his passion under the wing of Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo, henceforth Stilo. With the help of Stilo, Varro produced around 74 works written in around 620 books according to a modern estimate. We, unfortunately, do not have an exact number as many of his works were lost. Of these works, one key one survived the ages until today. This work will be the focus of our article today.
“Minute creatures”
Varro’s works touched upon most areas intellectuals of that era would explore and write about. Of these areas, biology was one which was rarely talked about due to its perceived link to the lower class through farming and animal husbandry. Even so, Verro took an interest in the subject. Through his work, he came up with the theory that there are minuscule creatures which we cannot see which cause disease after entering through our nose and mouth. He describes this in this quote:
“There are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause serious diseases.”
This means that not only did Varro theorise about the existence of microbes around 2000 years before their official discovery but he also theorised that the main ways these microbes enter the body are through the nose and mouth. Varro also thought that these “minute creatures” travelled through the air and water, an impressive feat as the only way to predict such a thing would be to look at water with the best magnifying technology at the time. Even then these “minute creatures” could be thought of as particles of dirt in the water rather than something which leads to disease.
Old technology, modern theories
I find it very impressive that a scientist more than 2000 years ago was able to come up with a theory which was explained nearly two millennia later. When looking back at ancient and medieval history, it is very surprising to find that, even back then, our ancestors knew more about the world than we think.
The most impressive and well known of such examples would have to be Eratosthenes, a Greek polymath who worked out the circumference of the earth with a 1.4% error margin only 100 years before Varro was born. When looking at the past we must remember that even back then, our ancestors were curious and curiosity will always lead to surprising discoveries! | https://historyofyesterday.com/the-first-microbiologist-9d9a42e08cf8 | ['Calin Aneculaesei'] | 2020-12-23 00:01:15.867000+00:00 | ['Biology', 'Science', 'History', 'Innovation', 'Roman'] |
Innovating in the Sharing Economy: A Sequel to Parasite ? | Innovating in the Sharing Economy: A Sequel to Parasite?
By Will Lee
As a South Korean, I was proud to see award-winning film director Bong Joon-Ho make groundbreaking history with his latest dramatic thriller film, Parasite, by being the first director of his nationality to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 72 years of festival history.
A thrilling and satirical suspense drama which follows the brazen story of a poor four-membered family infiltrating a rich household, some film critics have noted that Bong’s latest film almost feels like a resentful declaration of surrender to the status quo of patrician caste and mounting societal aspirations. Parasite displayed withering commentary of the lower class — those who do not have financial wealth become “parasites” in society and must be pushed out.
I felt that the various themes raised in the film echo existing issues in our society today, an example being the ongoing turmoil between Korean taxi drivers and ride-sharing service providers. These are not problems caused by new technologies, but issues regarding societal perspectives on the sharing economy. It is clearly necessary to innovate, but is it right to encourage the development of new technologies and industries to shatter and destroy existing structures? Do people view taxi drivers as expendable manpower now that they are no longer the ones driving the personal transportation industry? If we follow this train of thought and apply this logic literally, we will eventually come to the dire conclusion that when artificial intelligence exceeds human capabilities, our humanity too must be dismissed.
However, I choose to believe that artificial intelligence should exist as a tool to enrich and enhance the qualitative value of human existence. With the introduction of innovative business models like the sharing economy and the fostering of new technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain, we can create a world where individuals do not need predetermined conditions to feel a true sense of ownership in society.
However, the current concept of ownership is one rife with social conflicts and inequity due to class differences. When I see “ownership” being determined in nominal values throughout my life in school, the military and the workplace, I found that it isolated people in a rigid, black-and-white framework which pigeonholed them into categories of “people who have it” and “people who do not have it” and limited their freedom to grow.
Years of deliberation on my discomfort about this nominal sense of ownership led me to ask: “Is it possible to create a society where every individual can both have ownership and grow at the same time?” I went abroad in search of an answer upon completing my military service and after gathering extensive experiences from UK, New York, San Francisco and Singapore, I finally found my solution in artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
One aspect of this solution is to utilise blockchain technology to simplify and divide the ownership of large assets, such as real estate, to allow more people to have easier access to asset ownership. A good illustration of this solution would be our present partnership with Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (IFEZ) for future research and development collaborations for a blockchain hub city. The objective of our collaboration is to create a global hub to not only establish a competitive, incubator environment for entrepreneurs, but to also attract foreign investors from countries like Singapore to Incheon and South Korea. This physical hub would also allow these participants to have fractional ownership of the building via blockchain technology, based on their contributions and operational results.
To expand and promote this idea for startups and small and medium enterprises primed for new and innovative industries, I also had the opportunity to meet many government officials and share new ideas and perspectives with them. At one of the recent meetings, I was asked about the potential of the sharing economy and this was my response:
“Gyeongnidan-gil at Itaewon, Seoul was once considered the role model of our local economy. Passionate entrepreneurs came together to reform an ordinary residential neighbourhood into a bustling hub of food and entertainment and attracted visitors and tourists from all over the world. However, what is happening at the moment is that these same individuals who have contributed to the newfound popularity of the area are unable to fully reap the benefits of their efforts. The influx of visitors led to rising rental prices with these businesses being kicked out due to their inability to keep up with the rent hike, while landlords of the area enjoy their increasing profits. This vicious cycle caused by gentrification can be solved by blockchain technology by giving business owners a small stake of ownership in the area that they are hosting their business. This will allow them to break out of the shackles of skyrocketing rental fees and focus on their contributions to the local economy.”
Later that evening, after concluding the meeting and watching Bong’s film, Parasite, I reflected on these thoughts and wanted to wrap up this article with the following questions:
Do people who do not fit into swiftly changing structures, like taxi drivers, deserve an opportunity to keep up? Or are they condemned to be “parasites” where they must be pushed out due to their inefficiencies and lack of innovation? Instead, can we all not try to grow towards adopting more humane innovations and utility of technology, where everyone is granted equal chances to grow? | https://medium.com/blue-whale-foundation/innovating-in-the-sharing-economy-a-sequel-to-parasite-e71ee00fe2ae | [] | 2019-07-02 02:00:13.960000+00:00 | ['Content', 'Sharing Economy', 'Blockchain', 'Bwx', 'Blue Whale Global'] |
Everything Is Marketing is Everything | If you wait long enough, everything seems to evolve into a crab. Biologists call this “carcinisation”. On the internet, sooner or later everything seems to evolve into a marketing platform. In this article, I will show you how that happens, what consequences it has, and what it might mean for you.
Let’s start with some examples.
Facebook is an obvious one — a platform started basically as a clone of Hot-Or-Not, a platform for rating the attractiveness of your school mates — evolving into an easy way to build a personal blog/website, struggling to find its business plan even as it had millions of users. It finally found it: it is now one of the top advertising platforms worldwide, topped only by Google.
Google is, of course, known for its search engine — so much so, that “to google” is now a verb synonymous with online search. But what is their main revenue? It is advertising, plain and simple. Most of it comes directly from the search engine (“Google AdWords”), 10% or so comes from google affiliates that post the ads on their websites, and similar. And an ever-increasing part comes from Google-owned YouTube.
YouTube is a platform to upload and watch videos. For many, it has now become the main entertainment/infotainment channel, replacing traditional TV. How does it make money? By advertising of course. Just like “traditional” TV channels did before it.
So much for the obvious examples. How about this one: it started as an online bookshop, deemed by many to be a crazy idea. Now it sells everything and the kitchen sink (literally) and is arguably putting brick-and-mortar stores out of business. But did you know that Amazon makes a full 10 billion a year from advertising, taking the third place behind Facebook and Google? That, of course, apart from the fact that it serves as a major online marketplace, a logistics provider, an IT infrastructure provider, and more.
It is no surprise that “Yahoo!”, known mainly for its search engine, makes its revenue through advertising — see google — but did you know that Apple — yes, the iPhone manufacturer — has an advertising network and is making 2 billion a year from that?
This phenomenon is not limited to websites: the predominantly Asian mobile chat platforms WeChat and LINE are not only messenger apps like WhatsApp, they are also advertising platforms. And literally everything else: ride and delivery services platforms (like Uber or Grab), online market places, and, of course e-wallets, aka payment services.
By the way of Grab, the South-Asian Uber competitor: of course you can order delivery on Grab now. And Groceries. And book hotels. And coupons. In short, something that started as a ride-share application is now also quickly evolving into a crab, err, a general-purpose advertising platform. Payable, of course, via a built-in e-wallet. (Yes, Libra is coming quite a bit too late into the game. I have my suspicions as to why.)
Why does it happen?
One word: exposure.
Every platform that is used by many people daily has those people’s attention. Take Amazon, and its dozens of competitors (eBay, Lazada, Shopee, …). People go there to buy things — and do so regularly. People search for things there. People rate things there. These are all obvious points to insert advertising and targeting algorithms. After all, Amazon knows everything about your online shopping habits. Who is paying for the ads? Why, Amazon users who sell their products there, because Amazon is also an online marketplace: most products on Amazon are sold by people like you and me, who have to compete with one another in an attempt to gain exposure. Unlike Amazon, that also actually sells its own products, its competitors Ebay, Lazada, Shopee et al, are nothing but online marketplaces.
A lot of those things are true for Facebook — people go there to talk to their relatives and friends, but stay to click on articles about tagged and analyzed topics. It includes a chat application that you use to stay in touch with your friends and relatives — which of course knows the general topics that you are chatting about. Even if it does not understand the exact content of your chats yet, it can easily scan your conversations for keywords, and knows if you need to buy kitty litter once again, and allows some affiliate marketer to hand you a sponsored link. Though by now, it also has groups dedicated to trading things, ie, it, too, has become an online marketplace. Like the aforementioned LINE and WeChat.
Something similar is true for Twitter — you might not reveal some of your more private topics on there — some people do — and probably not going to buy things directly on there, but you reveal enough about your interests that the information is useful for advertisers, who will happily take you off Twitter to some darker corner to present you with their selection of watches.
And while you will probably not reveal quite as much to a ride-share service, you are still looking at that app every single day if you commute to- or from work, so it can sell you stuff. Two more words: captive audience. In fact, the same is true for any well-run, well-visited portal, as long as it actually provides an additional value to the user that he can’t easily get elsewhere. The latter is important:
If a portal serves no purpose but to gather clicks and ad views, it might do so, but it is going to be a lot less successful than pretty much any actual service. If the news site you visit is just going to dump ads on you, you are not going to visit it for very long, especially if there is an equivalent site that doesn’t.
This, coincidentally, also happens if you do offer a useful service — as soon as someone else has better exposure than you do. For example, Uber is close to useless in Thailand, because both Grab and LINE are better known and thus it is far easier to get a ride with one of those.
Wait… LINE? Isn’t that a Chat app? What do they have to do with Uber?… Yes, LINE is the dominant chat application in Thailand — dominant to the point where almost everyone has it, and almost no-one has anything else. They have a merchandise store with enormous teddybears and rabbits in the middle of Bangkok. Thais use it obsessively. You can’t walk very far without someone’s phone screaming “LLLine!” at you. Which means, the app gets incredible amounts of exposure. Which it, in turn, used to slowly grow to include everything — including a market place, an e-wallet that is now officially accepted by the BTS Skytrain system in Bangkok, and — a ride sharing and delivery plug-in that is slowly displacing a number of competing services. Including Uber.
Similar things are happening in other markets as well: for example, you can follow the jostling between Booking.com and AirBnB. You might think that they really cater to different markets — hotels vs. private people — but there are hotels that offer some rooms on AirBnB, and private people offering their one room on both. Both sites have ads for more than just rooms for rent — Booking.com will offer you everything from flights over airport taxi to guided tours and travel insurance, whereas AirBnB will also sell you packaged “experiences” at your destination. Which sometimes are also guided tours. In the end, both are simply niche advertising websites with some extra features and a lot of exposure. What they really charge the host for, is the exposure, because everything else they offer is relatively easy to imitate, and therefore easy to compete with.
Which is why there are firms like Agoda that successfully compete with both.
And why Uber spent almost 4 Billion (!!!) on marketing before its IPO.
What do we learn from this?
Everything online that has exposure has the potential to become a marketing platform, but — unless it is truly a household name, or has a truly unique product that allows it to rely on word of mouth— it needs to put effort into maintaining exposure, and one of ways to do this, is marketing. It seems, marketing is an ouroboros, a snake consuming itself.
Ouroboros (image: Alchemy UK)
What does it mean for a Startup?
Here is where things get unpleasantly fuzzy. Remember that 90% of all new online businesses fail within the first 120 days, and one of the largest reasons for this is lack of exposure — be it lack of marketing, or hundreds of competing products that all vie for people’s eyes. If you don’t make yourself visible, it doesn’t matter how superior your technology, or how good your product is, nobody will find you: there are literally millions of websites and millions of apps to chose from.
But it is good to remember that marketing and exposure are not the same thing, and sometimes don’t translate well into one another — for example, the above-mentioned Uber discovered to their chagrin that 80% of their marketing spending was apparently for nothing. On the flip side, some companies excel at creating exposure without any marketing whatsoever. One of the masters of this is Elon Musk, who maintains presence in the media by creating large amounts of controversy, just like some media stars used to do before him. But you don’t need a million Twitter followers to be able to do this. For example, a little-known German company called Teekampagne — that is the world’s largest importer and one of the largest distributors of Darjeeling tea — was started by a German university professor, who created their original exposure simply by announcing their business plan in a newspaper. The business plan was completely outrageous for its time, and was picked up and torn apart by the press: Imagine that — a mail-order tea store, one that even sells one single brand of tea! — which of course announced the Teekampagne, and their entire one-item catalogue, to the whole of Germany, 80 million people — entirely for free. In contrast, check and see how much you would pay for 80 million views of your online ad.
At the same time, if your company manages to grab eyes, you might limit yourself to selling online ads from different platforms, like millions of entrepreneurs before you — or you might expand your own offering to provide people with what they might also need while they are here. You could rely on Google AdSense, or you might offer your customers the opportunity to advertise to your other customers. To sell something. You, too, could become an Ad-ridden app, a marketing platform — or an online marketplace for goods and services, like WeChat, LINE, or, yes, Grab.
Because in the end, on the internet, everything evolves into a Grab. | https://medium.com/swlh/everything-is-marketing-is-everything-89a71a2d41dd | ['J. Macodiseas'] | 2020-11-15 18:11:05.399000+00:00 | ['Advertising', 'Marketplaces', 'Market', 'Startup', 'Marketing'] |
Energy Sustainability S-Curve | The past few months have seen a flurry of announcements in the sustainability space. For years, companies have paid lip service but now things seem to be getting serious and real dollars are being committed.
Let’s look at 3 major pieces driving energy sustainability
Renewable Electricity Generation mainly Solar PV
Enormous amount of Solar PV manufacturing capacity is being added. Below is slide from Canadian Solar, one of the big 6 solar PV manufacturers. They are increasing their module capacity from 16.1GW to 25.7GW ! Similar story is playing out at other large manufacturers like Jinko Solar and Longi.
By the end of 2021, total cell and module capacity is forecast to add up to 366 GW and 377 GW, respectively. However, it would be more than double the forecast demand of 143.7 GW PV InfoLink analysts expect for next year. In essence, there is massive demand supply imbalance which will lead to prices falling and further increase in deployment.
Battery Storage Capacity
During Tesla Battery Day, Elon Musk announced they would be able to reduce cost per kWh by 56% in next 3–4 years. CATL and LG Chem are both working on increasing battery capacity.
Electric Vehicles
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. That might finally be happening with GM announcing $27 billion capex on EVs and autonomous cars, Volkswagen announcing 73 billion euro investment into future technologies, Diamler announcing 70 billion euro investment mainly into electrification and digitization
There are a large number of startups also trying to get a piece of the pie like Rivian, Nio, Xpeng, Fisker, Li, Workhorse, etc.
Tesla’s market cap at the time of this post is 600 billion! Nio, a tiny EV startup in China is worth 65 billion — almost twice the market cap of Ford. It is likely that this is a bubble and may not last. However, the enormous rise of Tesla and the amount of spotlight all things green getting is sure to make all the traditional automakers look like idiots and force them to join the FOMO.
S-Curve for EV Ownership
S-Curve
Each of these segments is in the early ramp stage of the S-Curve. Each has proven to not be a fad. Enormous amount of capex and R&D is focused on improving the technology. As technology improves, costs fall, regulation increases, we might finally be close to peak oil with oil usage peaking in the next decade and have sustainable energy take over ! | https://medium.com/@anilshanbhag/energy-sustainability-s-curve-2454f97dfd82 | ['Anil Shanbhag'] | 2020-12-09 14:59:54.114000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Tesla', 'Jinko', 'Canadian Solar', 'Solar Power'] |
WuLab@VLDB 2018 | The 2018 Very Large Databases (VLDB) conference is in just a few days. Fotis Psallidas will be representing the WuLab at the conference and presenting his research paper. We also are honored to receive a Test-of-Time award! This award is given to the VLDB paper published ten years earlier that has had the most influence since its publication.
This blog post introduces both research projects, and we hope you will read the full papers. If you are attending VLDB, find Fotis in the halls and say hi!
Smoke: Fine-grained Lineage at Interactive Speed
Fotis will present an incredibly fast query engine called Smoke that supports tracking and querying lineage. What I love about this research is that it turns the prevailing expectation about lineage tracking on its head. Contrary to popular belief, Smoke shows that tracking data lineage is not simply query processing overhead that should be avoided. Instead, by tracking and indexing lineage very efficiently, it can be used to speed up future queries quickly enough to power highly interactive applications! Below, I describe the research highlights.
Background: Fine-grained lineage is metadata that tracks the dependency information between input and output records of a query, and has a wide range of applications such as debugging, explanation, auditing, security, and more. In fact, our recent HILDA paper outlines interesting connections between lineage and interactive applications. However, the challenge is that actually tracking lineage for individual records can be incredibly expensive — especially for query engines that are already very fast.
Modern query engines can run SQL analytical queries so quickly that they are often bottlenecked by how fast hardware is able to read and process data. But tracking would require writing a huge number of pointers to track the relationship between each output record and its corresponding input record for each operator in the query. This can easily cripple query performance. On our micro-benchmarks, traditional approaches to track lineage can slow down a single GROUPBY operator by over 250x! In contrast, Smoke reduces the slow down to as low as 0.3x — an >800x reduction.
The main contribution is a set of design principles when creating a query engine to support lineage tracking and querying. These principles include tight integration of lineage tracking logic within the physical query plan using query compilation, very efficient lineage index representations that are essentially integer arrays, and to leverage data structures that are already constructed during query execution to also track and index lineage data — because the best work is work that someone else does!
Exciting Results: One of our exciting results is that Smoke can track and query lineage so quickly that it can be used to power highly interactive use cases such as visualization and data profiling applications. We show howusing Smoke to run these applications can be as fast or faster than state-of-the-art, hand-optimized implementations!
For instance, we implemented the following cross-filter visualization over the US flight delays dataset and compared it to a baseline approach called LAZY, which does not perform any optimization and simply re-runs the relevant SQL queries to re-compute and re-render the views upon each interaction. We also compare with visualization optimization technique based on Data Cubes, which are data structures that precompute interaction results before loading the visualization. BT is running Smoke to generate a backward index from output to input records, while BT+FT uses Smoke to also create a forward index from input to output records. We simulated every possible interaction in the visualization and measured the total amount of time it took the system to respond to each interaction. | https://medium.com/thewulab/wulab-vldb-2018-82c00cb2599c | ['Eugene Wu'] | 2018-08-21 16:21:57.560000+00:00 | ['Database', 'Vldb'] |
Blue by ADT home security system review: ADT takes another shot at the DIY security space | Blue by ADT home security system review: ADT takes another shot at the DIY security space June Dec 7, 2020·6 min read
Early last year, security giant ADT bought LifeShield, a home security brand that changed hands a few times over its 16-year life before ending up in the pocket of its current owner. LifeShield wasn’t a runaway hit with this reviewer—I gave it 2.5 stars in late 2018—and ADT seems to have had some level of agreement with that assessment. The brand was quietly killed when ADT announced its successor at CES in January 2020, and finally LifeShield’s replacement, Blue by ADT, is actually here.
Two years is a lot of time to learn from the mistakes of the past, and to be sure, ADT has figured out much of what made LifeShield such a problematic offer. For starters, the entire business model has changed. LifeShield’s hardware was essentially free. You instead paid for it as part of a $30- to $40-per-month monitoring plan, which you were locked into for three years.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart home systems, 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.Blue by ADT takes the entirely opposite approach. You buy the hardware up front (and you own it instead of lease it), and professional monitoring is completely optional. If you choose to upgrade to professional monitoring—the same service you get with a traditional ADT system—it’s $20 per month flat, with no long-term contract required.
ADT The Blue by ADT Starter Plus System, $300, includes the hub, four door/window sensors, and two motion sensors. ADT sent several optional components, including cameras, in addition to the starter kit.
Blue by ADT is available in several bundles. The $300 Starter Plus System, which the company sent me, includes the base station (which includes a numeric keypad and siren), four door/window sensors, and two motion sensors. I was also sent two flood sensors (an extra $35 each), a doorbell camera, an indoor camera, and an outdoor camera. Those three devices cost $200 each as add-ons. So, the total cost for the system as reviewed would $970. That’s not the cheapest price for a DIY security system, but it’s not outrageous; plus, you can start with just the basics and add the extra components over time as your budget allows.
[ Further reading: The best home security cameras ]It took some effort to get going with Blue by ADT, starting with the unboxing. Like LifeShield, Blue is dramatically overpackaged with every component seemingly locked up in its own box and a bag inside that box, ad infinitum. I had to open or remove six different boxes or inserts just to get to the power adapter for the hub—and that’s just the first component. I’m all for keeping products safe and secure during transit, but this is just too much.
Ben Patterson/IDG The Blue by ADT hub has a numeric keypad on top for arming/disarming the system. The hub also has a Wi-Fi adapter onboard, along with a Z-Wave radio.
Once I finally got everything unboxed, I immediately ran into my biggest issue with the system. After registration, a firmware upgrade pushed to the hub caused it to freeze, to the point where I couldn’t interact with it at all. ADT wisely lets you manage your system via web browser as well as its mobile app, so after the app stopped responding I tried to work with the unit via my PC. Alas, things went further south from here.
Adding sensors became erratic, and the system began duplicating them, to the point where I soon had four clones of the same flood sensor appearing in the system. I took the matter up with tech support and even they were unable to factory reset the hub. Eventually I was sent an entirely new collection of the same components, with which I started over in my testing.
Christopher Null / IDG The primary interface provides a rundown of sensor activity and still frames from your cameras.
After unboxing everything once again, I became nervous when a firmware update on the replacement hub also caused the Blue by ADT app to hang, even though I waited 45 minutes for the update to complete. Finally I quit the app, relaunched it, and tried again, and on my second try the update was at last successful and I could interact with the unit as intended.
In working with Blue by ADT, I quickly found that it keeps one of LifeShield’s best features: Sensors come pre-paired, so all you need to do is remove the plastic tab that blocks the battery from engaging and they quickly appear in the app with just a couple of taps. There are some misleading instructions—the app tells you to insert a battery in one sensor even though it’s already installed—but it’s otherwise pretty straightforward. Pro tip: The sensors also automatically update their firmware after they’re powered up, so give them 15 to 30 minutes to settle down before you start running through any advanced settings and configuration.
For the most part, I found the Blue by ADT security products to be effective and capable. The hub and cameras both use 2.4GHz Wi-Fi to connect to your router, while the sensors all use the Z-Wave protocol to communicate with the hub. (As with other Z-Wave systems, such as Vivint and Abode, you can connect additional Z-Wave devices to the hub with a little finagling.)
Mentioned in this article Ring Alarm Read TechHive's reviewMSRP $199.00See it The only major trouble I encountered in day to day operation was a hiccup with a door sensor, which would register when it opened but not when it closed. This eventually led to a persistent alert in the app that the door had been left open, feven though it wasn’t. A number of force quits (and force open/close door operations) would right things, but the problem kept recurring throughout my testing. I later had a similar problem with the indoor camera abruptly going offline, forcing a power cycle to bring it back. My other main issue with the app is that it can be generally unstable, freezing completely at random times and requiring a force quit to recover. None of these are major problems, but in looking for a security system, most users want absolute reliability, or as close to it as possible.
Other than those issues, the hub normally had no issues picking up activity from both the motion sensor and the cameras, and the flood sensor was quick to alert me when water was present. Alerting is one of the things that Blue by ADT does best. When the flood sensor is tripped, for example, the sensor itself starts beeping, the hub starts beeping, a push notification is sent to your phone, and an email is dispatched, all by default. Text messages are also an option, and professional monitoring would add another layer of security on top of this. Most of these notifications can be disabled if it becomes too much, but you’ll need to do some digging around in the app to find all the various options.
ADT ADT offers three cameras—an indoor and outdoor model, plus a video doorbell—as optional add-ons to the Blue by ADT home security system.
Blue’s cameras are all capable if somewhat pricey 1080p units with 130-degree fields of view that come with one day of free cloud storage, which is expandable to 60 days if you pay $3 per month per camera or $13 per month for unlimited cameras. TechHive contributor Martyn Williams previously reviewed the indoor, outdoor, and doorbell cameras, and nothing seems to have changed since his writeups. One quirk in using the cameras with the Blue by ADT Hub is that they’re a bit siloed from the rest of the system during setup. For example, even after you’ve set up the Hub’s Wi-Fi, you must re-enter the same settings to configure a camera. After that, you do have access to sensors and camera feeds in a single interface, which is always handy.
Blue by ADT also includes a basic but functional rules engine to automate various behaviors, but the most use I got out of this was in setting up a rule to automatically disarm the alarm every morning at dawn. You’ll likely get more use out of automations—tying sensors to (non-Z-Wave) lights, for example—from Blue by ADT’s support for IFTTT, Alexa, or Google Assistant.
Blue by ADT isn’t the cheapest home security option on the market, but the company is clearly hoping that you’ll be willing to pay a little extra in order to be connected with the ADT brand. This easily makes the most sense if you’re planning to upgrade to professional monitoring, where ADT adds the most value to this equation. Otherwise, if you plan instead to go it alone, you can save a good amount of money by looking at cheaper options—especially if you need cameras—without really sacrificing any features or security.
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/@june78691166/blue-by-adt-home-security-system-review-adt-takes-another-shot-at-the-diy-security-space-f7b0dcd256ec | [] | 2020-12-07 12:44:20.024000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Mobile Accessories', 'Music', 'Security Cameras'] |
Agile Software Development. A ‘big picture’ look at software… | A lot of my background has been in the project/program management side of the house, and so I was naturally drawn towards an exploration of the big picture side of software development. A methodology that I had come across years ago, that still seems to still be prevalent in software development, is the Agile Process. There are many flavors of Agile, but they are all based on the same basic principles of short, regular iterations that produce a working deliverable(s) at each step. Think “skateboard” to Maserati! The process is dependent on clearly defined, but open communications paths and tightly knit, cross-functional groups, all focused on delivering a product, which the client and stake holders can clearly understand and provide feedback to. This is intended to make the process highly ‘agile’ and able to shift priorities to meet the immediate needs of the client. Most of the processes start with some form of ‘User Stories’ that will drive and guide the team.
The Core of Agile Development
One thing that separates Agile from other approaches to software development is the focus on the people doing the work and how they work together. Solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams utilizing the appropriate practices for their context. https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/
Agile is a framework for software development that provides core, driving principles outlined in the Agile Manifesto:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
There are a number of variations of Agile methods:
A narrative on each one of these is beyond the scope of this blog(links are provided above). Some are more appropriate for small teams, where others are meant for large projects where scalability is a big factor. One source cites over 42 different methodologies! Obviously, a lot of thought has been given to how best to approach software development. The biggest take away is that once entering the world of software development , you are likely to run across some form of Agile development, where terms like “Burndown/Burnup charts”, “Sprint Backlogs”, “Scrum masters”, and daily “Standups” become a whole other language to learn! | https://medium.com/@scotthlee/agile-project-management-acb9a47cfd | ['Scott H Lee'] | 2020-12-22 18:17:04.421000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Scrum', 'Agile'] |
RIGID DIETING ISN’T THE SOLUTION | RIGID DIETING ISN’T THE SOLUTION
I’ve grown up playing sports and always lived an active lifestyle. I wasn’t overweight but as I hit my twenties I was regularly going to the gym and realised that my diet was also important to changing how I looked.
I began researching more about nutrition but unfortunately much of this was taken from non-evidence based sources. I adopted a number of dietary myths and became obsessive about my food choices. An obsession with ‘clean eating’ (known as orthorexia) I would live Mon-Sat eating certain foods and wouldn’t entertain eating out or consuming something that wasn’t deemed ‘clean’.
As a byproduct I lost a lot of weight, both fat and lean body mass. Not only did I look ill but I’d become physically weak, always freezing cold and lost any form of athleticism.
‘The greater I restricted my dietary choices the greater I binge ate.
Now you may read that last sentence and think, ‘that’s just mentally weak and a lack of discipline’.
But when your body is starving and you are living day in day out in a huge caloric deficit, having a taste for any form of highly palatable, calorie dense foods such as ice cream felt like day release from the nutrition hell I was imposing on myself.
For a while this worked for me, over-restriction through the week and bingeing on the weekend. Whilst validating it as a ‘cheat day’ (by the way is a ridiculous term).
Overtime the bingeing became more frequent and I was constantly failing and found myself out of shape (for me).
Rigid dieting is associated with eating disorder symptoms and higher BMI.
Since then I have invested a lot of time and money to develop my knowledge from some of the smartest nutritionists around.
Which had enabled me to greater coach my clients and improve their results.
I’ve also helped myself as I now maintain my body composition with relative ease with no extremes or over restriction. Currently at a place where I’m more athletic than I’ve ever been and enjoying how I train, eat and live.
Flexible dieting is often misunderstood as many people make out that it’s a case of fitting as much pizza and donuts into your diet as possible. When applied it’s based on nutrient dense whole foods but with the unconditional permission to consume any food at anytime.
This means no restriction on eating out, no necessity to constantly prep meals and overall dietary freedom. | https://medium.com/@ultimategoal/taking-the-stress-over-restriction-out-of-your-diet-fda854c046b8 | ['James Mccarthy'] | 2021-01-02 19:55:16.399000+00:00 | ['Fat Loss', 'Flexible Dieting', 'Diet', 'Nutrition', 'Fitness'] |
How to Build an LRU Cache in Less Than 10 Minutes and 100 Lines of Code | How to Build an LRU Cache
For the purposes of this article, I will be using Python to implement the LRU cache. It’s succinct, easy to read, and a lot of people know it. However, if Python isn’t your thing or you’re curious about how to implement it in other languages, you can check out my examples repository.
Requirements
Before we start building our cache, we have to understand what the requirements are. The first will be the API. Which methods do we need to implement?
While production quality caches are feature rich, we’ll keep it simple. You’ll only need to create two methods:
get(key)
set(key, value)
But that isn’t all. The LRU cache itself has a number of requirements:
When the max size of the cache is reached, remove the least recently used key. Whenever a key is fetched or updated, it becomes the most recently used. Both get and set operations must complete in O(1) time complexity (meaning that no matter how large the cache is, it takes the same amount of time to complete). When fetching a key that doesn’t exist, return a null value.
With these requirements in mind, we can get to work.
Photo by ConvertKit on Unsplash
Data structure
The first question that we need to answer is, which data structure should back our LRU cache? After all, a cache is not a data structure itself.
Since the cache uses get and set and needs to operate in O(1) time, you might’ve thought of a hash map or dictionary. That would indeed fulfill some requirements. But what about removing the LRU key? A dictionary doesn’t allow us to know which is the oldest key.
We could use a time stamp as part of the dictionary value and update it whenever the key is fetched. This would tell us which key-value pair is the oldest. The problem is, we would need to loop through all the dictionary entries to check which is the oldest — breaking our O(1) requirement.
So what’s the answer?
This is where I should let you in on a secret. We’re actually going to need two data structures: one for fetching the values (dictionary/hash map) and one for keeping the items sorted by frequency of use.
The second data structure
So what should the second data structure be? If you thought of an array, you’re getting close.
We can use an array to keep the items sorted. And each key in the dictionary can reference the index of a value in the array. Whenever a key is fetched, we can move that value to the front of the array, pushing the rest of the items back, and update the index in the dictionary.
However, there’s still a small issue. Under the hood, arrays are a continuous row of data cells. If we need to move values to the front of the array and push the rest down, that operation will get slower as the array increases in size. In other words, inserting items at the beginning of an array takes O(N) time.
Image Credit: Author
But we are close. We just need a data structure with the same sorting benefits of an array that can also get, set, and delete data in O(1) time. And the data structure that fits all of those requirements is a doubly linked list (DLL).
A doubly linked list is the same as a linked list, except each node in the list has an additional reference to the previous node as well as the next node.
Each key in the dictionary will reference a node in our linked list. This way, we’ll be able to easily fetch data, as well as update and delete it. | https://betterprogramming.pub/how-to-build-an-lru-cache-in-less-than-10-minutes-and-100-lines-of-code-fddad56d7af5 | ['Sunny Beatteay'] | 2021-08-23 16:05:05.258000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Programming', 'Python', 'Software Development', 'Coding Interviews'] |
Use of TanDEM-X and Sentinel products to derive gully activity maps in Kunene Region (Namibia) based on automatic iterative Random Forest approach | Use of TanDEM-X and Sentinel products to derive gully activity maps in Kunene Region (Namibia) based on automatic iterative Random Forest approach GIScience Heidelberg / HeiGIT ·Nov 26, 2020
Gullies are landforms with specific patterns of shape, topography, hydrology, vegetation, and soil characteristics. Remote sensing products (TanDEM-X, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2) serve as inputs into an iterative algorithm, initialized using a micro-mapping simulation as training data, to map gullies in the […] | https://medium.com/@giscience/use-of-tandem-x-and-sentinel-products-to-derive-gully-activity-maps-in-kunene-region-namibia-685080a2de5f | ['Giscience Heidelberg'] | 2020-11-26 11:05:58.285000+00:00 | ['3d', 'Research', 'Digital Earth', 'Lidar Group', 'Publications'] |
COV Token Utility On PrimeXBT Is Now Live! | COV Token Utility On PrimeXBT Is Now Live! COVESTING Follow Dec 9 · 5 min read
After an extremely successful launch roughly three months ago, Covesting has now implemented the full integration of COV token utility into the Covesting copy trading module on PrimeXBT.
Our copy trading technology enables a peer-to-peer network where users can follow other traders (strategy managers) who battle for the top spot on the Covesting leaderboards. A five-star rating system and fully transparent metrics updated in real-time bring competition to the trading community, while allowing other platform users (followers) to make informed decisions about who to follow.
COV token implementation will encourage a more engaged community with exclusive benefits offered to those who activate its various utility functions. It is designed to be used by strategy managers to reduce trading fees, improve the success fee split that goes to followers, while a regular buyback and token burn program will ensure the deflationary nature of COV.
Since the module’s debut, we have witnessed a constantly growing interest towards Covesting as a product from the trading community and potential B2B partners. After witnessing how traders have made Covesting a regular staple of their trading experience and how appreciated the service is by its users, our team is more excited about the future of Covesting than ever before. With so many additional features planned in the coming months, we are confident that our product will continue to see high demand and wide usage as the module reaches its final form. These are exciting times ahead indeed!
Learn About The Utility The COV Token Implementation Unlocks
Covesting has since repositioned itself as a B2B software development company, and considering the success of the partnership with PrimeXBT, the decision speaks for itself. PrimeXBT was the ideal partner to debut the Covesting copy trading module on, and now is the first home to COV token utility implementation.
COV token section inside PrimeXBT platform
For full details, please check out the dedicated COV token section within the PrimeXBT dashboard, which can be found here: https://primexbt.com/my/covesting/token
In this section, the system will automatically be updated with the most accurate COV token details, such as token burn transactions, remaining token supply, recent token price, market capitalization, and more. From here, platform users will be able to see an overview all available COV token utilities and activate the ones they desire at their choosing. Moreover, users aren’t required to already have COV tokens within their balance to activate one utility or the other — they can use their account’s available BTC balance to purchase COV tokens for immediate utility activation.
COV token contract address: https://etherscan.io/address/0xada86b1b313d1d5267e3fc0bb303f0a2b66d0ea7
Decimals: 18
Symbol: COV
Key benefits of COV utility token:
Strategy Managers
● Trading Fee Reduction: Strategy managers can reduce their trading fees for one month by up to 25%, 50%, or 75% by paying a fixed amount of COV tokens. Please note that the discounted rates as well as activation fees may change from time to time.
Followers
● Success Fees Improved: The percentage split that followers earn from all profitable trades will be increased in favor of followers (by reducing PrimeXBT platform split). Full details of the current offer will be available in the Covesting COV token dashboard.
● No %1 Entry Fees: Followers from now on will encounter a fee for each single new following they make. By activating this specific COV token utility, these fees can be completely eliminated.
Holders
Covesting aims to burn up to 50% of the fees generated within its copy-trading module at regular intervals. Fees will be calculated after excluding affiliate earnings, fee discounts, and other revenue impacts. Such token burns at regular intervals largely benefit holders of the COV token, by effectively lowering the total supply in the market and enabling a deflationary attribute.
“We are excited to launch the COV token utility within the Covesting module and unlock the full potential of the platform,” commented Covesting CEO Dmitrij Pruglo.
“Now that the COV token is launched on PrimeXBT, we will begin exploring new partners to bring the Covesting module to and expand its community reach globally,” added COO Tim Voronin.
The Covesting team continues to refine the Covesting experience in every way and is continually examining ways to improve platform safety or performance. New features have a strong focus on risk management due to the nature of the platform. Our most recent additions were a maximum follower cap on initial followers’ equity and a minimum equity requirement for strategy managers to further reduce the risk associated with leveraged trading.
What’s Next For Covesting, And How To Acquire $COV
After the runaway success of the Covesting copy trading module launch on PrimeXBT, Covesting aims to provide its software solution to other third-party exchanges and trading platforms through further expansion of our white labeling services as a fintech software developer.
Currently, the COV token is available on Kucoin or Uniswap under the $COV ticker, and in order to provide a seamless experience where users aren’t required to leave the platform to purchase COV, PrimeXBT will also enable the ability to allow users to buy the necessary amount of COV tokens for immediate utility activation and to get the most out of the Covesting experience.
Please note that the COV token is not available in the United States and other jurisdictions where the transactions of ERC-20 tokens and specific cryptocurrencies such as COV are prohibited by law.
To learn more, visit the Covesting module on PrimeXBT today, and stay tuned to the Covesting blog for more details as they are available. | https://medium.com/covesting/cov-token-utility-on-primexbt-is-now-live-dcb56c7cdcf1 | [] | 2020-12-09 09:34:36.415000+00:00 | ['Utility Tokens', 'Covesting', 'Cov'] |
RTA 902 Blog #3 | As tough as it is to explain social media to your grandparents, it would be even harder to explain it to someone who hasn’t lived through it yet. Social media as a concept seems simple, but the power it holds and its importance in today’s society is so large that it’s tough for even my current self to wrap my head around. I say this to note that explaining this phenomenon to a 10-year-old Kyle is an interesting task. After all, I’m still only 21. I have a lot still to learn, and more real life experience to acquire, but as of December 2020, this is the letter I would write to my younger self about both the good and bad of social media.
Dear 10-year-old Kyle,
In about a year you’re going to be begging your parents to let you get Facebook. They may show a bit of resistance, but you are going to keep pushing at it, because everyone else in school has an account, and the last thing you want to do is be left out.
A few years after that you’ll begin to fully embrace the power that your phone gives you. You’ll join Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and several other apps that will be very popular for a year and then disappear.
All these platforms will excite you, they will keep you interested, and don’t get it twisted, they will consume you. It’ll be the first thing you check when you wake up, and before you go to bed it will be the last thing that crosses your mind.
As your older self, I could lecture you about how it’s unhealthy to spend all day on social media and how there are other more productive things you could be doing, but I won’t. Every other kid in your grade will be just as obsessed as you, maybe even more so, and so I want you to know it’s not your fault. As a society, we will progress to the point where the world revolves around these social media applications, and you will become a piece of that puzzle.
The purpose of this letter is not to scare you, or tell you to delete everything off your phone. It’s to tell you to be smart.
Social media is going to help you make new friends, it’s going to help you stay connected, and it’s going to give you hours of entertainment for free. There’s no point in hiding this fact: social media is often a good thing. You can create a career through social media, you can stay connected to distant relatives through social media, and you can learn about great causes and charities through social media. These applications are not inherently bad, they are useful, and you will use them often. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
This is what I will tell you though from my old age of 21: (you’re about to graduate and enter the real world, how scary is that?) social media is a lie, and as long as you can remember that social media is pretend, you will be set. This may seem a bit melodramatic, but let me explain.
Every single time you open Instagram you’re going to see pictures of happy couples, big smiles, happy families and amazing get togethers. Looking back on it, I have wasted a lot of time looking at these images while contemplating my own life. In these pictures, everything is perfect, and well, your life won’t be perfect. The thing is though, no ones is. Behind those smiles are real life stories. Know that everything on Instagram is staged, most things on Snapchat stories are for validation, and followers DO NOT equal friends. You will be pressured into thinking you have to live this perfect lifestyle that you see from everyone else on your Instagram feed, but don’t fall for the trap. A still image or tweet is not indicative of what’s really going on.
Social media is for fun. If you can remember it as such, and ensure that it doesn’t take over your life or affect your mental health negatively, then I think you’ll be all set for the next decade and beyond.
Enjoy it all. You’re growing up in the most misunderstood generation of all time, and I think most would agree it’s the hardest generation to grow up in. Don’t let that scare you though. Behind all these social media accounts are eyeballs, and possibly future jobs for you if you play your cards right.
Social media is a good thing as long as you are responsible; thankfully I have no doubt that you will be. Good luck and stay safe!
From,
21-year-old Kyle
P.S Get excited, the Raptors are gonna win a championship sooner than you think. | https://medium.com/@kyle-oliveira/rta-902-blog-3-3a26e8cb544e | ['Kyle Oliveira'] | 2020-12-03 01:42:27.840000+00:00 | ['Twitter', 'Instagram', 'Snapchat', 'Social Media', 'Letters'] |
Five Christmas Films and Specials You Can Watch on Disney+ on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day | Five Christmas Films and Specials You Can Watch on Disney+ on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
TechNadu
Whether you are hanging with family or spending this Christmas Eve/Christmas alone. Boardwalk Times has you covered on what specials and films you should watch on Disney+.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special
We get epic performances from the cast and the special even gives a special look at season two of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Honestly, I think the cast of HSMTMTS should continue this holiday special tradition. We can never have enough holiday specials!
LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special
Another holiday special?
You’re darn right another holiday special. LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is a hilarious special for Star Wars fans and it has plenty of story that will get you in the Life Day (Christmas) spirit. Plus, Boardwalk Times new series Boardwalk Times Easter Egg Hunt covered easter eggs and hidden details from the special.
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The hilarious spin on a true Christmas classic in the only way The Muppets could. The film is hilarious and a classic itself in my opinion.
The film is actually the first film produced by The Muppets after the deaths of Richard Hunt and Jim Henson. It’s also the first Muppets film distributed by Disney.
Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas
The film features five different segments with some of our favorite characters in CGI form for the first time. Check this one out if you’re nostalgic for the old design of Mickey Mouse and 2004 early CGI animation.
Godmothered
Yes, it’s a newer film but I think it’s a great holiday film to enjoy with the entire family. It reminds me of Disney films of old. It’s a fun-loving Disney Christmas comedy and Isla Fisher and Jillian Bell are absolutely hilarious.
Bonus: Non-Disney film “It’s A Wonderful Life”
I have to include this on the list. I don’t even care that it’s not Disney. If you haven’t already you have to watch It’s a Wonderful Life.
It’s streaming for free on Amazon Prime and heck I’m sure it will be on TV stations all over on Christmas Eve and Christmas. It’s easily one of my favorite Chistmas films and a bonafide classic.
Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is one of the greatest films ever made. With epic performances from James Stewart, Donna Reed, and Henry Travers. It’s a great film and perfect for the holiday season.
Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times | https://boardwalktimes.net/five-christmas-films-and-specials-you-can-watch-on-disney-on-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-b68386413ff5 | ['Zach Perilstein'] | 2020-12-24 17:32:20.962000+00:00 | ['Disney Plus', 'Disney', 'Christmas', 'Editorial', 'Holiday'] |
Long-Distance Relationships in College | Is It Possible to Have a Long-Distance Relationship in College?
While it’s possible to have a long-distance relationship in college or university, it may not be the best thing to do. Being in college and university is something you experience probably once in your lifetime.
It’s a really fun and exciting experience. You share your living space with others who can become your friends for life. People around you and on your course have the same interests as you and do similar things. And of course, there are many club parties and house parties that are hard to get away from, even if you try.
In a long-distance relationship, you will have to prioritise spending time with your partner or going out with friends. You may try to balance all things but it’s not going to be fulfilling, nor is it going to be easy.
There is a very strong emotional aspect of being in a long-distance relationship while in college. On one side if you go to college, you will be torn between doing all the things we mentioned above and staying home and video calling your partner who is miles away.
On the other side, it’s your partner who is probably not having that much fun either. He or she doesn’t have so many temptations or opportunities and is likely feeling lonely, waiting for your call. They may end up feeling jealous, and you may feel guilty.
If you are going to different colleges at the same time, it’s even more unlikely you’ll find the time to talk to each other often.
Long-distance relationships in college are not only hard, but they may also be unhealthy and unnecessary.
So yes, it’s possible to have a long-distance relationship in college, but is it worth it and is it for you? | https://medium.com/long-distance-relationship/long-distance-relationships-in-college-29e58e854466 | ['Couples Coaching Online'] | 2021-06-08 02:15:34.576000+00:00 | ['Couples Coaching Online', 'Longdistancerelationship', 'Relationship Advice', 'Relationship In College', 'Relationship Coach'] |
A Chilling Encounter | A Chilling Encounter
On the Arctic ice danger is lurking everywhere
Photo by Susanne Schwarz on Unsplash
The polar bear locked eyes with Graham and charged. It thundered towards him with ferocious intensity.
Graham had seconds to act. He raised his rifle, arms trembling.
Not today, buddy! He pulled at the trigger.
Nothing. With chilling dread, he looked down to see his finger was frozen stiff. He couldn’t fire.
Graham turned as white as the vast Arctic landscape. But the bear stopped.
What the..?!
Then he heard an almighty crack; the ground shook violently and a chasm opened in the ice, sending Graham plummeting down into a crevasse.
The bear watched, before turning and padding softly away. | https://medium.com/centina-pentina/a-chilling-encounter-85320a84e5a5 | ['Anthony Halliwell'] | 2020-12-22 15:57:54.057000+00:00 | ['Adventure', 'Short Story', 'Short Fiction', 'Flash Fiction', 'Centina'] |
I Was Yours | Sometimes I wish I could take it back,
the youth and the energy I wasted,
watching now as you debase with abandon
(this is not carpe diem —
this is the footfall of your downward spiral)
no savor for the breath of the breeze given freely,
taken, as if owed your selfish eye, squandered,
as if it came in endless supply,
but, girl,
you’re going to come up short in the end
and you,
maybe you’ll forget how kindly I gave my touch to you
amidst the breadth of your thinly given skin,
remembering only the most recent wreckages you left,
robbing me of even that deserved consideration
and you,
maybe I’ll be lost in the crowd of those courting fools
who thought they loved you, without a clue
how little that meant to you, how easy it was for you
to think there would always be the next
and you,
maybe when you’re older and wise enough
to understand how rare it is to be wholly wanted,
how remarkable to be gratefully sacrificed for,
it won’t be my discarded heart you recall for your regrets
and you,
maybe I won’t ever be the one to make you think
how your dramatic claims of personal blame
were nothing more than thinly veiled indictments
of anyone but yourself
and you,
maybe you’ll never make the connection between
how I made you feel and how I could have made you feel
while you describe me in every breath except the one
where you would finally attach my name
and I,
I was there, on even your worst days, your throw-away,
always seeing the best in you, embracing the whole of you,
in your corner, believing, despite my beaten faith —
I was there, and I was yours. | https://medium.com/literally-literary/i-was-yours-55e9c5e11164 | ['Heath ዟ'] | 2019-05-13 17:23:38.896000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Life', 'Love', 'Life Lessons', 'Relationships'] |
Losing Weight | Food Assistance and Food System Resources
Nutrition for Health
It’s natural for anyone trying to lose weight to want to lose it very quickly. But people who lose weight gradually and steadily (about 1 to 2 pounds per week) are more successful at keeping weight off. Healthy weight loss isn’t just about a “diet” or “program”. It’s about an ongoing lifestyle that includes long-term changes in daily eating and exercise habits.
Once you’ve achieved a healthy weight, rely on healthy eating and physical activity to help you keep the weight off over the long term.
Losing weight is not easy, and it takes commitment. But if you’re ready to get started, we’ve got a step-by-step guide to help get you on the road to weight loss and better health.
Even a modest weight loss of 5 to 10 percent of your total body weight is likely to produce health benefits, such as improvements in blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood sugars.
For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, a 5 percent weight loss equals 10 pounds, bringing your weight down to 190 pounds. While this weight may still be in the “overweight” or “obese” range, this modest weight loss can decrease your risk factors for chronic diseases related to obesity.
So even if the overall goal seems large, see it as a journey rather than just a final destination. You’ll learn new eating and physical activity habits that will help you live a healthier lifestyle. These habits may help you maintain your weight loss over time.
For example, the National Weight Control Registryexternal icon noted that study participants who maintained a significant weight loss reported improvements in physical health as well as energy levels, physical mobility, general mood, and self-confidence.
Disclaimer: This particular article has an affiliate link for an enjoyable reading. | https://medium.com/@evans1-2/losing-weight-97416b059077 | ['Evans Boateng'] | 2021-12-18 09:29:17.407000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Wellness', 'Wellbeing', 'Weightloss Foods', 'Weight Loss Tips'] |
College Admissions and the COVID-19 Challenge | By Gay Snow, Esq.
How to Apply to College During COVID
These days, parents and students are a wee bit stressed applying to college during COVID. It is stressful enough applying to college. But during a pandemic? My goal is to help you relax a bit, by simplifying the college application process.
Applying to college is akin to playing a game. I call it the Admissions Game. An applicant wins an acceptance to a top college by understanding precisely what the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions wants in applicants. The Dean of sets forth the rules of engagement, fondly known as the ‘Admissions Requirements’, and selects the winners at the conclusion of the game.
Sadly, many student players do not read the admissions requirements that are written by the Dean. Failure to follow these requirements results in game over, rejection.
For the last few years, including this current admissions cycle, the Dean is searching for smart students from diverse backgrounds who participate in meaningful activities that not only impact their world, but the community in which they live. It is true, the Dean is adept at determining which students legitimately engage in activities that matter to them. The Dean knows when an applicant is ‘resume dressing’. It is not a flattering look; I do not recommend this approach.
Wait a minute… you ask what is resume dressing? Simply stated, where a student participates in activities that do not reflect who they are as a person. The elaborate activities the student participates in throughout their young life, unfortunately does not reflect the one winning game piece the Dean wants.
The Deans of most colleges seek out students who boast real, legitimate #PASSION. We are talking about that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’. An indescribable quality that makes the student unique and distinguishes them above and apart from the other applicants.
In the age of COVID, many extracurricular activities have been derailed. However, it is the ever curious, resourceful student who creates opportunities, rather than waits for them to happen.
And just like that, this applicant met the Dean’s COVID admissions challenge!
WISEWORDS: The question of the day for all potential college applicants that is asked by the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions: What did I do during the pandemic and did I make a difference in my community?
For additional insight on the college admissions process, please check out my book on Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J1V4QLF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 | https://medium.com/@gaysnow/undergraduate-admissions-and-the-covid-19-challenge-785ad0f36534 | ['Gay Snow'] | 2020-12-15 20:32:59.078000+00:00 | ['High School', 'Colleges And Universities', 'Education', 'Common Application', 'College Admissions'] |
How I Survived a Three Month Sex Marathon With European Strangers | In the span of three months, I traveled to ten different countries.
In the span of three months, I traveled by plane, train, and bicycle around Copenhagen, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, and finally Spain.
And in that span of three months, I slept with over 15 different men.
I understand that to many readers, this number will probably come as a shock. Sometimes, I still look back on that year and think, “Geez, how did I survive all those months without getting pregnant or murdered?”
And more importantly, I question, “How did I not develop feelings for any of these men?”
Well, it’s pretty simple.
After coming out of a divorce, the last thing on my mind was a romantic relationship. My body was exhausted from all the crying and the fighting and the emotional pain that comes from cutting ties with someone you supposedly love. But on the other hand, my body was craving something it desperately lacked.
Sex. Lots and lots of dirty, gross sex.
I approached each date like a curious newborn. No expectations. No pressure.
It wasn’t worth my time or energy to freak out about meeting complete strangers who spoke different languages in a foreign country I’ve never been to.
Surprisingly, most of the men were attracted to that mindset. Well, maybe it wasn’t that surprising. I’m fully aware of the reputation that American girls have while traveling through Europe on Tinder.
But this newfound feeling of freedom allowed me to simply let go.
I didn’t care if I told a bad joke or embarrassed myself pronouncing cocktail names in Swedish or Italian. I didn’t mind telling them I was unemployed and that I felt alone, lost, and unfulfilled in my life back in America. I had no problem telling them I was a 28-year old divorced woman.
And most importantly, I didn’t care that they knew I only wanted sex.
My dates responded in ways I would never expect.
Several of the men took me for second or third dates while I was still in town. One of them brought me to meet his family. Three of the men told me they loved me. Two of them traveled to meet me in other countries during my trip. One of them called me a whore.
And one of them I’m currently engaged to marry.
So I guess a passion-filled sex marathon can indeed lead to love.
Opening your heart and soul to complete strangers can be a weird, uncomfortable feeling. It’s nerve-wracking to let others see you at your most vulnerable. And it’s even scarier to admit something others might chastise you for — like your desire for carefree casual sex.
While this approach to dating may not be revolutionary, it’s still not the norm. At least not in America.
We should all feel like we can express our deepest and darkest desires. We should all be open to sharing our failures, no matter how painful or depressing they may be.
And most importantly, we should all feel like we can have unattached sex-fueled marathons with gorgeous foreigners whenever we want. | https://medium.com/sex-and-satire/how-i-survived-a-three-month-sex-marathon-with-european-strangers-9b29bde30a20 | ['Ms. Part Time Wino'] | 2020-10-26 17:05:04.931000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Tinder', 'Sexuality', 'This Happened To Me', 'Self Improvement'] |
Head Full, Stomach Empty | Swallow by Tonya Plank is an entertaining and engrossing read about an ambitious young lawyer in New York City, with all the necessary stuff about long hours, extreme pressure, and cut throat competition, along with the attendant splurges of materialistic gorging that a hard-working young lawyer feels she deserves (especially as the novel is set in go-go economic orgy that existed prior to 9/11). But it is also a moving exploration of a condition known as Globus Hystericus, in which an internally overwrought patient feels as if something is always in the way of food and drink going down her throat, and at times, of words coming out. In other words, the person is literally choking on psychological issues.
Recent law school graduate Sophie Hegel cannot swallow because her whole life she’s been surrounded by or surrounded herself with controlling, domineering and judgmental men (and a few competitive, sometimes nasty, women). She suffers from extreme lack of self-confidence, despite having gone to Yale Law School, doing very well there, and now scoring a prestigious public interest fellowship at the Public Defender’s Office. When the ball-in-the-throat thing starts (she calls it “FB” for fist ball, which is really confusing, given that FB now stands for one thing and that is Facebook but anyway, I’m just quibbling), Sophie loses the ability to eat and enjoy food, and just when she needs it most, she finds herself losing her voice, like in court or in the middle of an argument with fiance Stephen RichMan/Law Partner/WASP.
But it’s not all bad having Globus Hystericus. Sophie loses tons of weight and becomes a size 0, achieving model status and a new outlook on herself. Pity that she is hungry all the time, faints in court, and still suffers from chronic lack of confidence. Her habit of getting whiny when challenged (her words, not mine), started to get real annoying but I liked dear skinny old Sophie anyway. Her heart is in the right place, as a lawyer for those who have no one else to turn to and her efforts to help her clients are sincere. Sophie works hard, as she has worked hard her entire life, but she just cannot get away from feeling that she comes from white trash (i.e., Arizona — again, her words, not mine) and that she will never fit in to the sophisticated, hyper-educated, and uber-ambitious New York legal world. But of course you will, honey — the question is WHY DO YOU WANT TO? Sophie has a lot to figure out for herself and by the end of the novel she is well on the way to growing up and growing out of Globus Hystericus.
I do worry that this novel will do more to compound female body image problems than illuminate them. Sophie keeps insisting she is not anorexic and yet she starts to love being really really really skinny. All of the female characters are described by their physical characteristics, including weight and height, and weight is an indication of both class and level of attractiveness, but the only man described in glowing physical terms is a male stripper; he is as objectified as the females. There is one fat and drunk creepy lawyer guy: fat is equated with low-class behavior by Sophie, as she sees both her mother and her sister as decidedly low-class and chronically overweight. At the end of the novel, one of Sophie’s best friends has lost ten pounds following Sophie’s diet “trick” of only eating teeny tiny bites and eating really really slowly. Sophie says she looks “amazing.” And you can too: is there a diet book in the works?
Nevertheless, I had a great time reading this book, it held me from start to finish, through high and low levels of exasperation with Sophie and annoyance with her friends and irritation with the judges before whom she must attempt to argue for her clients and disgust with her pretentious fiance, and I was satisfied by the ending. Swallow will be a good read for women who have been first year lawyers or other young professionals — or who would like to be — and will smooth a path down memory lane for those of us who have been there, done that, and are happy to have moved on. | https://medium.com/nina-sankovitch/head-full-stomach-empty-bf808218656a | ['Nina Sankovitch'] | 2016-09-26 18:02:14.095000+00:00 | ['Novels', 'Lawyers', 'New York City'] |
Android-How To Deal With Different Screen Sizes using AutoDimens Plugin | At the beginning of my android development journey, I have built my first app.I thought it was ready to publish it in the play store. But when I tested it in another device, It didn’t behave the same,the view was bigger or not visible at all.
Android devices comes in all different shape/sizes yo your layout,views needs to be flexiable. Yes, you’ll not face this problem if you use only match_parent etc attributes but if you wanna used fixed value it’s going to occur.
There’s plenty way to solve that issue but if you’re beginner it might be too complex and it may scare you. I had those feelings and after googling, reading for days found out a handy tool to use which is really friendly for beginners.So, today we are going to see how we can use that handy tool which is called AutoDimens. It’s basically take our “value”dp values and calculate it automatically then the view will be stretched depends on the screen size. Also, there’s dimenify plugin but with dimenify you need to add all the screen sizes one by one so, I prefer this one. Furthermore, in some cases and depends on the size of the view it might work so you need to create different layout folder. But that’s another topic so let’s get start.
Go to File=>Settings=>Plugins, search and install AutoDimens. After you have Autodimens installed we’re ready to start.
Let’s say you have a view in your activity_main.xml file
<ImageView
android:id="@+id/imageView3"
android:layout_width="150dp"
android:layout_height="200dp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"/>
now we are going to see how to use that plugin. Go to res=>values =>right click and select new=>values resource file
file name:dimens.xml and select Dimension from Available qualifiers as in the picture
now our dimens.xml file created in the values folder. Now let’s take example of 50dp we’ll add
<dimen name=”dp50">50dp</dimen>
for the view we have created we’ll make the values as following and our dimens.xml file will be like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<dimen name="dp150">150dp</dimen>
<dimen name="dp200">200dp</dimen>
</resources> The next step is right click on the dimens.xml folder and click AutoDimens and click ok then ok again. and the output is create dimens file succesfully.
now if we go to values => we’ll see dimens folder and it has 24 dimens files created with AutoDimens plugin for different screen sizes.
If you check any of the file you’ll see the value changed itself lets take a look at dimens.xml(sw1024dp) and it’s as following
<resources>
<dimen name="dp150">426.6667dp</dimen>
<dimen name="dp200">568.8889dp</dimen>
</resources>
There’s one last step to do, we’re going to change the view’s width and height properties to make those dimens values work. In that case imageview going to be:
<ImageView
android:id="@+id/imageView3"
android:layout_width="@dimen/dp150"
android:layout_height="@dimen/dp200"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true" />
Moreover, if you want to make the font to work the same you just need to add once the spesific value in the dimens.xml folder between resources tag. Example I added value for 10sp
<resources>
<dimen name="dp150">150dp</dimen>
<dimen name="dp200">200dp</dimen>
<dimen name="sp10">10sp</dimen>
</resources>
and for that we should not forget to change the text value of the textview/view and write @dimen/sp10
2.solution to use sdp library. You can check it from here:
I used AutoDimens plugin in my cards vocabulary app.
Thank you for reading! Let me know if you felt like this or if it helped or didn’t help. If there’s any question or anything else you’d like to hear about please don’t hesitate to put in a request. | https://medium.com/@hasancobanoglu1/android-how-to-deal-with-different-screen-sizes-using-autodimens-plugin-676653422d19 | ['Hasan Çobanoğlu'] | 2020-12-05 22:43:47.046000+00:00 | ['Android App Development', 'Android Apps', 'Android', 'Plugins', 'AndroidDev'] |
What is a Trading Account “ TOP FUTURE POINT | What is a trading account and what is its use to day we will know. Many newcomers are entering the investment wonderland. They are opening new demat and trading accounts. You may notice that your neighbor has started discussing stocks with you. You may also be tempted to initiate deals in stocks yourself. However, there are some trading ABCs that you need to be well versed with before taking the plunge. Trading accounts are an important aspect of the stock markets, and understanding them is where you can start.
What is a Trading Account?
A trading account is your gateway to buy and sell equity shares, bonds traded on stock exchanges. As the name suggests, you can trade shares and securities in the stock market electronically through a trading account. can do business. In earlier times the trading in the stock market was done through open outcry system. Digitization has replaced these timesaver systems with something as convenient as a trading account.
How does a trading account work?
Your trading account is a link between your demat and bank account. It allows you to sell your shares by debiting your demat account and crediting the money in your bank account. Conversely, in case of share purchase, it is your Demat account Credits the shares and debits the money from your bank account.
You can get your own trading account through registered brokers. Your trading account is mapped to a unique trading ID which enables you to transact in the stock market. You need not worry about the security of your transactions and the safety of your money as each trading account is password protected. ICICI Direct is a registered broker who can help you open an online trading account online.
Why should I have a trading account?
Initially, as per the SEBI guidelines, if you want to invest in the stock markets, then it is mandatory to have a trading account. When you have an online trading account, you have trade access to many products from multiple stock exchanges that you can buy and sell from anywhere in the world . trading accounts Share Market There has been a radical change in the process of trading. It helps you to capture profitable opportunities in a timely manner through lightning-fast dealings out of your comfort zone.
Fees for opening an online trading account
There are enough stockbrokers providing trading accounts in India. Service quality, features and charges can be the appropriate parameters to choose the best among them. Trading account fees are usually nominal. Usually, you can break the trading account fee structure,
one time account opening fee
account processing fee
annual maintenance fee
There are several plans available for opening a trading account. And your account opening charges depend on the plan you choose. Broadly the account opening fees range from 0 to 975.
Eligibility Criteria for opening an online trading account
Opening an online trading account is easy as the eligibility criteria are comprehensive.
Age
You must be at least 18 years of age to open a trading account and have trading access to it. If you are a minor, you can also have a trading account, but you will not have trading access to buy or sell orders directly with the stockbroker. The natural guardian has to operate the account of the minor till the minor turns 18. And you can only use it to sell securities that the child has passed on through investments in IPOs, inheritances, gifts, corporate actions, etc.
Pan Card
You must have a valid PAN card.
Demat and bank account
You need a functional demat and bank account to have a trading account. One can work here by submitting any of these — a canceled cheque, bank passbook, latest 6 months bank statement.
KYC documents
It would be best if you had complete KYC for the trading account. You can do this by presenting a few common documents to your broker:
Income Proof:
This is what you need if you want to trade in futures and options. Your income can be proved by submitting any of these — Latest 6 Months Bank Statement, 3 Months Salary Slip, ITR Statement, Demat Statement.
Identity and Address Proof:
You can provide documentary proof for any one of the following — PAN Card, Aadhar Card, Driving License, Passport, Voter ID, You can also submit up to 3 months old utility bill or bank statement for address proof
You also need your passport photo and signature on the white paper which matches with your PAN card.
End
It is never too late to start a business. There are always wealth creation opportunities waiting to be explored. But before opening a trading account, it is advisable to apply your documents and understand the facilities offered by the trading platform. This homework will keep your account opening process smooth and facilitate your trading system in the best possible way.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is meant by trading account?
Trading account is in operation, or in case of trader failure. These are linked to the trading account, khata or d account of the trade. Once credited in advance, the shares will be credited to the demat account. And deposit it in the demat account on the stock market.
What is meant by trading?
Trading means to buy any item or service at a low price and then sell it when the price of that product or service increases. The main objective of trading is to earn profit in a short time by purchasing any item or service.
How to open trading account?
Fill out an account application form Submit your KYC documents which will include your ID and address proof Allow your application to complete the verification process Get your trading account information and start trading
What are the types of trading?
What are the types of Stock Market Trading?
Scalping Trading.
Intraday Trading.
Swing Trading.
Positional Trading.
How is trading done?
It is very important for you to have a trading account and a demat account for trading. Because without them you cannot trade. If you have this, then now you have to buy shares from the stock market at low prices with the help of trading account and when the price of that share increases, you have to earn profit by selling it at a higher price.
Which is the best app for trading?
best trading app in india
Upstox Trading App…
Zerodha Kite Trading App…
HDFC Securities Mobile Trading App…
Angel Broking App Trading App…
5Paisa Trading App
How much is a share?
An “Equity Share” is one in which the dividend is not fixed and in which the investor i.e. the shareholder is considered as the owner. Suppose a company sold its 100 shares in the market. An investor bought 50 shares out of it, it means that the investor is now 50% shareholder of that company.
Which stock should I buy?
An investor should have information about which company’s share you are buying, how is its market position, what has been its position in the stock market for some time now. Buying shares like a gambling game just by looking at the low price and expecting profit from it can give you profit for some time.
How many stock markets are there in India?
There are a total of 21 stock exchanges in India, of which the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are the largest. Both offer stocks in India and with volumes and exchanges continue to grow and attract foreign investments.
Which is the largest stock market in the world and where is it located?
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is the world’s largest stock exchange with the market capitalization of its listed companies at US$11.92 trillion as of August 2010. The average daily trade value in 2008 was approximately US$153 billion.
When did the stock market start in India?
The work of the stock market in India had started even before the year 1857. But the Mumbai Stock Exchange was established in the year 1875. The Mumbai Stock Exchange was the first stock exchange not only in India but also in Asia. Earlier it was known as Native Share and Stock Broking Association.
Where is the headquarters of National Stock Exchange?
National Stock Exchange (NSE) — Located in Mumbai, one of the two major stock exchanges in India.
Why is the stock market created?
The stock market is a market where shares of companies can be bought and sold. Like any other market, in the stock market, buyers and sellers meet each other and negotiate and negotiate. Earlier the shares were bought and sold by oral bids and the buyers and sellers used to do verbal deals only.
What happens when the stock market falls?
If the share price is falling in the market, then the Sensex falls. The performance of the company is an important reason for the rise and fall of share prices. … Similarly, if the company is going through a crisis or difficulty, then its share price decreases.
What is share giving example?
Shares The stock of a business is divided into shares, the aggregate of which must be declared at the time of the formation of the business. Because of the total amount of money invested in the business, the stock has a fixed declared face value, commonly known as the share’s par value.
What are the benefits of opening a demat account?
There is no significant advantage of having more than one demat account. Yes, different brokerage houses may have different facilities. Apart from this, you can track your long and short term investments separately. This will not cause confusion and you will be very cautious about buying and selling of shares. | https://medium.com/@Topfuturepoint/what-is-a-trading-account-top-future-point-63485888b9a6 | ['Vikash Kumar'] | 2021-12-19 14:17:46.632000+00:00 | ['Accounting', 'Trading', 'Trading Account'] |
How to Build a Multi-Tenant Application Using Spring Boot and Hibernate | How to Build a Multi-Tenant Application Using Spring Boot and Hibernate
Build an application where one instance serves multiple tenants or users
Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash
In this tutorial, we will learn how to build a multi-tenant application using Spring Boot and Hibernate. We will show how to build a multi-tenant application in which tenants are using a shared database and shared schema.
This story is a result of a successful attempt to make an ordinary application turn to a multi-tenant application with as little changes as possible to the existing application. This story is influenced by the following tutorial and aims to improve the specified implementation proposed by it. Instead of using HandlerInterceptorAdapter and limit ourselves to HTTP access, we will use annotation with the interceptor approach. That way we will not be bounded to HTTP access only.
Disadvantages of the solution proposed in the article for a shared database, shared schema approach:
The solution works only for REST APIs. If you are listening to a Kafka topic or consuming messages from the RabbitMQ, it won’t work.
The proposed solution for a shared database shared schema with a Hibernate Interceptor is too complicated. I could not get it working on an existing application.
A proposed solution:
Works for all interfaces. Exposed API can be REST API, SOAP API, Kafka listener, Queue consumer, or something else.
We will take an easier approach without having to work with Hibernate Interceptor.
The story is accompanied by a working project hosted on GitHub. | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-to-build-a-multi-tenant-application-using-spring-boot-and-hibernate-718e16bfd456 | ['Igor Vlahek'] | 2020-08-27 23:44:57.968000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Spring Boot', 'Java', 'Startup', 'Spring'] |
A Sack of Christmas Books | Looking for some more holiday-themed books to read over your Christmas break? Take a look at these!
Dog-Free Dinner
This holiday short is only available through my website or by picking up Auntie Clem’s Bakery 1–12
Vic is looking forward to Christmas with her new Bald Eagles Falls family. Erin — not so much. But she wants to make it a special day for Vic.
An unexpected turn in events changes all of their carefully-laid plans.
This Christmas short, part of the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series, is only available through my website. The series — and your holiday — won’t be complete without it.
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Santa Shortbread
Somebody is stealing Christmas gifts from the Bald Eagle Falls children. At the rate that presents are disappearing, there soon won’t be a gift left in Whoville. Err, Bald Eagle Falls.
Gluten-free baker Erin Price and her friends are on the case to try to unmask the Grinch and bring him to justice, and toys to the children. But time is not on their side. Soon it will be Christmas Eve — will the winner be the Grinch or Santa?
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Delusions of the Past
What kind of a monster poisons a psychic’s cat?
When Starlight first fell ill, Reg thought that she was the cause of it. She should have been watching him more carefully. She should have found out about household plants and chemicals that could hurt her familiar. She was clearly a negligent owner.
But it soon becomes clear that there is some darker force at work, and Reg is going to need all of her resources to find the culprit before it is too late if she is to have any chance of saving her furry companion’s life.
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If you are looking for something grittier that is set around Christmas, though not Christmas themed, have a look at these:
She Wore Mourning
A dead child.
A mother deep in mourning.
Private Investigator Zachary Goldman’s life isn’t all roses, but he tries to put his own shattered life behind him to investigate the death of five-year-old Declan Bond.
Declan’s death has been ruled an accident, but his grandmother thinks there is more to it. She fears Declan’s mother will not be able to find peace until Zachary can give them an answer once and for all.
But as Zachary digs into the circumstances surrounding Declan’s death, he finds that all is not as it seems, and somebody doesn’t want him to find the truth.
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He Was Walking Alone
He met with tragedy.
Richard Harding was walking alone when he was struck by a vehicle and died.
A tragic accident that was no one’s fault.
But if that was so, then why was his girlfriend so sure that it was intentional homicide?
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And more
Here are some other authors whose books you might enjoy!
The Secret Santa Mystery
A Secret Santa–with a secret!
Security expert for a British bank by day, horse trainer at night, Izzy Paterson is a multi-tasking, dressage-riding computer whiz with an addiction to strong coffee and a penchant for CSI on Netflix. So when the Secret Santa at her office Christmas party hands her a perplexing riddle, she just can’t ignore the mystery.
Penned by a modern-day Robin Hood, the anonymous rhyme hints at financial misconduct that could put the future of everyone at her work in danger.
Despite herself, Izzy is drawn into solving the puzzle, delving into the furthest reaches of the internet in her quest to track down the mysterious wrongdoer. Can she solve the mystery before the company implodes, or before her adversary takes things from the virtual to the physical–and still get home to Scotland in time for Christmas?
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The Case of the Black Tulips
There’s a new detective duo in Victorian London…
When Katherine Demeray opens an unsigned letter addressed to her missing father, she is drawn into a quest to find the terrified letter-writer and learn the secret of the black tulips.
Struggling to support herself after her father’s disappearance, Katherine has neither time nor money to solve the mystery alone. She has no choice but to seek help from a woman she has only just met; awkward socialite Connie Swift.
As the letters become increasingly frantic, this unlikely team of amateur detectives must learn to work together, while struggling to navigate the rigid rules of Victorian propriety, their families’ expectations, and the complicating interference of men.
Confronting danger as they venture into new and frightening territory, Katherine and Connie risk arrest, exposure, and even their reputations to solve the Case of the Black Tulips.
$0.99
Sweets and Santa
Christmas mystery, magic, and matchmaking.
It’s Joanie’s first Christmas as a bakery owner, and although her recipes are perfect, her holiday window decorating skills leave something to be desired.
As items around town disappear, the spirit of the season gets overshadowed. Rumors swirl as residents speculate whodunnit. And when one of the missing pieces is an engagement ring last seen in her shop, Joanie’s reputation as a baker and matchmaker is put in jeopardy.
Joanie thought her new town was safe, but is it? Is it all a prank, or tied to the Christmas gnomes that get moved each night, or is something more sinister going on?
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The Case of the Snow White Lady
There is no such thing as a vampire … or is there?
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are summoned to Dartmoor by an old schoolfriend of Watson’s, Bill Holcombe. His sixteen year old daughter Amelia, who died a month previously, has been seen wandering the village at night. Witnesses swear that she catches animals and sucks their blood. The whole neighbourhood fears the ‘Snow-White Lady’, and Holcombe is desperate to prove she is not a vampire.
The great detective’s famous scepticism is put to the test in a mystery where boundaries blur between the living and the dead…
FREE
Seaglass Christmas
Long before Elm Sunday became a powerful sea priestess, she was the world’s greatest kid detective.
Eight-year-old Mercy-Faith “Elm” Sunday loves mysteries and now she has one. But if Santa and her parents didn’t send her the rare seaglass, who did?
Welcome to Little Blessing, the charming seaside town in New England where preparations are underway for the annual holiday events. Despite a year of behaving badly, Elm has visions of sugarplums and a truckload of presents under the tree. The Brownie scout is also determined to earn her “Philanthropist” badge and solve the “mystery of the seaglass” before Christmas.
Accompanied by her nemesis Snow Whitedove Smith, Elm learns about a mythical shipwrecked treasure. If she finds it, she will be richly rewarded, earning the admiration of everyone in town. Unfortunately, Elm’s not the only one looking for it — and the investigation is getting dangerous!
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Murder at the Playgroup
Pippa Parker never wanted to move to the chocolate-box village of Much Gadding in the first place. When she meets the locals, she’s absolutely sure. There’s just one problem; she’s 8 months pregnant.
The village is turned upside down when Barbara Hamilton, pillar of the community, is found dead at Gadding Goslings playgroup. No one could have murdered her except the people who were there. The police suspect all of them, including Pippa herself…
With a baby due any minute, and hampered by her toddler son, can Pippa unmask the murderer? Will Much Gadding return to normal? And does anyone in Much Gadding even know what normal is?
FREE
Santa Got Run Over by a Vampire
Father Christmas has just been damned to darkness.
Jane Devereux is adjusting to her new life as a nocturne fabulously. She runs the most popular nightclub in the French Quarter and is married to the hottest vampire in New Orleans.
When she accidentally runs over Santa Claus and has to turn him into a vampire to save him, her perfect undead life begins to crumble like a week-old sugar cookie.
Whoops.
Jane has three days to teach Santa the ways of the vampire and get him back to the North Pole in time for Christmas Eve.
Oh, and if that’s not stressful enough, her dad is coming for Christmas.
And he doesn’t know she’s a vampire.
Or that she’s married.
Double whoops.
CHECK IT OUT | https://medium.com/@pdworkmanauthor/a-sack-of-christmas-books-e6ae9ed160b8 | ['P.D. Workman'] | 2020-12-25 03:35:34.147000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Mystery', 'Christmas', 'Holiday', 'Reading'] |
Why Our Avocado Plant is Unlikely to Ever Yield Fruit | As a child, I remember carefully inserting toothpicks into the pit of an avocado so that we could balance it over the top of a glass of water, the liquid just tickling the bottom half of the large brown seed.
It always seemed so crazy that a bit of the food we ate (on the semi-rare occasions when we purchased avocados — those were expensive!) could just start growing, from nothing more than being left alone in a cup of water.
Strangely enough, I never remember what happened to all those sprouted avocados. Did we just throw them out? Did they die? Are they still sitting in pots, somewhere, waiting for me to eventually return to my childhood home and rediscover them?
The memories came up more recently, when my wife returned from a friend’s house bearing a new avocado seed — and sure enough, there were the three toothpicks, the glass of water, all just the same as when I was a child.
This time, we didn’t lose the avocado seed at some point. It sat on our kitchen counter for months, and we’d watch as roots extended down into the glass and a little leaf emerged to orient towards the afternoon sun streaming in through the window.
We carefully followed the instructions that we found online; once the shoot had its second leaf, we chopped it off. It felt almost like murder, at the time, but the plant regrew, sprouting a second shoot that put out more leaves.
After another few weeks, it was time for the seedling to be planted in something with more nutrients, space, and holding power than the jam jar over which it had been balanced until now. We transferred it to a pot, which now sits on our back stoop.
An avocado tree, currently about two years old. Note the little knob at the base, where the original stalk was cut in order for the second one to grow.
Now, the plant’s been growing a few years. Looking at it one afternoon, I started wondering: are we going to eventually get some avocado fruit from this tree? Will it eventually flower? Or is it going to be forever ornamental, like a dog too friendly to guard?
I did a bit of reading — and it turns out that, sadly, our avocado tree isn’t likely to yield much.
Here’s the science of why we can’t just buy one avocado from the store, grow it into a plant, and get infinite avocados (#hacked).
These Avocados Are Liars, Seed Speaking!
In gardening, there’s a concept called “true to seed.” In general terms, a plant is “true to seed” if growing its seeds yields another plant with the same characteristics.
Some fruiting trees, like peaches, apricots, almonds, and most citrus trees, are generally true to seed. Plant the seeds from a citrus tree, and you’ll get another tree that produces very similar citrus.
But other fruiting trees, like apples — and avocados — are not true to seed. Instead, these plants are hybrids, and are carefully selected crosses. There’s no guarantee that their offspring will produce similar fruit.
Both of these animals are dogs, but they’re different breeds. Cross them, and you’d end up with a mix (or an angry pooch, which is far worse). Photo by Alvan Nee.
A great way to think of growing “true to seed” is to consider dogs. There are many different breeds of dog, which have very different characteristics — consider a dachshund versus a husky, for example, or a corgi versus a terrier as pictured to the left.
If you breed a corgi with a husky, you’re going to get puppies, because they’re both dogs and can interbreed — but those won’t be corgi nor husky puppies. Instead, the puppies will be a mix of the two breeds, with some characteristics from each parent. | https://medium.com/a-microbiome-scientist-at-large/why-our-avocado-plant-is-unlikely-to-ever-yield-fruit-28bcdc74d0a3 | ['Sam Westreich'] | 2020-06-26 23:56:20.136000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Food', 'Gardening', 'Science', 'Biology'] |
Interview with Sarah Mirsaidi. An interview with Sarah Mirsaidi… | It’s always interesting to learn more about the lives of fellow womxn in STEAM so that we can connect to them and learn more about the work they do. Recently, I had the chance to interview Sarah Mirsaidi, a high schooler and the blogging director at Girl Genius and part of multiple STEAM organizations. Her experience is a guide and example of what it is like to be a womxn in STEAM, including the challenges and the accomplishments.
Tell us about your identity as a womxn in STEAM.
I’m still discovering and developing my identity as a womxn in STEAM. In my opinion, identity is fluid and changing, and it’s okay to be confused or unclear about your identity. Here are some things I do know, though: I’m a middle eastern girl who is fascinated by the worlds of biology and chemistry, and as of right now I want to pursue a career in neurology.
What sort of projects have you recently undertaken?
Recently, I have become involved with an STEAM-based organization at my high school called Project Biopolis, which is dedicated to fighting inequality in STEAM by providing underserved youth with quality science education in biology, chemistry, and physics. We are working to create an elementary/middle school science curriculum for a small school in Belize that was extremely unprepared to transition to distance learning because of the coronavirus pandemic. I work to create quizzes, tests, and activities for these students, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to help them during this difficult time.
In addition to Project Biopolis, I am the Director of Blogging at Girl Genius Magazine, a publication dedicated to empowering womxn in STEAM, and the Co-Director of Awareness at Simply Neuroscience, a student-run organization focused on expanding global neuroscience education. The Awareness team is currently working to create an online introduction to mental health and awareness course in collaboration with another organization named Plannr Consulting. This course will be available on Beyond the Five’s website during the 2021–2022 school year!
What is your favorite category in STEAM?
My favorite category in STEAM is definitely science because of my love for both biology and chemistry. However, I also really enjoy the Art category because I find topics like literature, philosophy, and ethics to be really interesting. One of my favorite things to study is the intersectionality of the sciences and the arts/humanities, which is one of the main reasons I want to become a doctor. In my opinion, to be a great physician you need to be able to apply concepts like ethics, civics, and sociology to the science work you are doing.
Do you have any words of advice for girls just entering the world of STEAM?
Take a chance. I always held myself back from getting involved in STEAM because I was scared. I was scared I wasn’t smart enough and that I would fail. During quarantine, I finally took the leap of faith and got super involved in STEAM outside of my academics, and in a few short months I was able to partake in so many cool projects and meet so many inspiring girls. Just know that you can do anything you put your mind to. Yes, you will fail, but failure is not the “end all be all.”You will get back up and continue moving forward. Don’t let fear be the reason you don’t get involved in STEAM. I regret not getting involved earlier, but I’m glad I took a chance and finally got involved.
Interviewing Sarah Mirsaidi was overall an interesting and educational experience for me. I had no idea about her work with Simply Neuroscience, an organization which actually fascinated me since I have my own interest in neuroscience. I’m sure others can similarly learn from her experience and from the experiences of other womxn in STEAM. | https://medium.com/girl-genius-magazine/interview-with-a-sarah-mirsaidi-e4f00865c49 | ['Nikki Agrawal'] | 2020-12-09 03:56:41.432000+00:00 | ['Women in STEM', 'Steam', 'Womens Rights', 'Women In Tech', 'Interview'] |
Selenium 4: New Features and Updates | For those who are still wondering what the new features and capabilities are that are being brought and how it will impact and improve your day to day work, then please read on.
Webdriver will be W3C protocol compatible
If you are an automation professional you would already know that usage of the web driver is not restricted to Selenium.
It is also widely used in appium and iOS drivers.
The latest version of Selenium thus comes with W3C standard which would make it compatible with the implementation of the webdriver across multiple platforms.
More details regarding the bindings and the protocols are available in the GitHub if you wish to dive deeper.
Selenium IDE TNG
One major drawback which Selenium suffered all these years is that it does not support parallel execution.
Well, not anymore. With Selenium 4, they have plugged that gap. The new IDE supports a lot of new features and much-improved browser support.
This is apart from the robust record and plays options that have been built into the new version.
The new and improved IDE is completed dependent on the webdriver, which as mentioned above is also W3C compatible.
Improved Selenium Grid
For those of you who have actually worked with the Selenium grid, you know how difficult it is to get the setup up and running.
There are so many challenges involved.
Hurray, the makers heard you. So now you have a much-improved grid which also allows you to run your tests in multiple devices at the same.
What is more is that in Selenium 4, the grid acts as both the hub and the node, thereby avoiding the issues arising out of connecting these together.
Also Read: 52 Best Software Testing Tools of 2019
Improved Analysis
Another important update in Selenium 4 is with respect to the logging, debugging, observations, hooks, etc.
The latest version of Selenium promises to offer details of hooks, request tracing, etc, which help in better analysis of the problems and help in fixing them at a much faster rate.
It will also give the testers a better of the requests that are initiated, the hooks to which it is latched and much more.
With the new and improved analysis feature, the tester would be equipped with much more data to share with the development team for fixing an issue.
Detailed Documentation
Documentation is a very important part of any tool.
It really helps in self-learning the tool as well as fixing some very common and basic things that we may have missed.
The latest offering of Selenium comes with very detailed documentation which is easy to understand, follow and implement.
You will not need external help again if you go step by step with the documentation available.
With more and more companies switching to automation using free tools, Selenium is the forerunner.
Though primary java it supports python as well…
The new features will definitely add more value to this product which now widely used not only by testers but also by developers.
Now with the alpha build out, it is very likely that we will get the official confirmation for release of Selenium 4 very soon. Waiting with the abetted breadth | https://medium.com/@testbytessoftware/selenium-4-new-features-and-updates-5c0aae253462 | [] | 2019-06-17 11:27:42.989000+00:00 | ['Selenium', 'Mobile App Testing', 'Mobile App Development', 'Test Automation', 'Software Testing'] |
9 Situations Where Parents Hurt Their Children and Don’t Even Realize It . | Nowadays, there are so many different recommendations about how to raise children correctly and they are often quite controversial. But doctors and psychologists continue to conduct new experiments, analyze the results, and then make new lists of recommendations. In the beginning, these tips may sound strange, but when you learn more about the details, they turn out to be pretty useful.
we reviewed the studies about children’s health and made a list of things that are harmful to children, according to experts. check these situations.
9. Tickling children
It has happened many times that adults have wanted to make children laugh and so they start ticking them. But a researcher from the University of California found out many years ago, that tickling doesn’t cause the same sensation of happiness as a funny joke does. It is only an illusion of happy laughter.
In this case, children laugh uncontrollably as the result of a reflex. But the problem is, children, laugh, even if they hate being tickled.
8. Putting toys in the baby’s bed
Not all parents realize that for a good sleep, babies only need a good mattress, a sheet, and a small blanket in case it gets cold in their room. Sometimes, a pillow can be used (a small and flat one). However, according to studies, before a certain age, children don’t need pillows.
Also, kids don’t need any special decorations for the place in which they sleep due to the fact gentle toys, or toys of any type, can end up in trouble at any moment. they’ll wake the child up or maybe purpose respiration issues if the baby by accident puts their face onto the toy.
7. Using a night-light when your baby is asleep
Leaving even the dimmest light on in a child’s room for the whole night is not a good thing. The growth hormone that is produced while you’re sleeping, is better manufactured by the body in total darkness. The reasons for using a night-light can be different. Most of the time, parents do it for their own comfort: it is easier to change diapers this way. Some moms and dads are just scared of darkness, so they leave the light on to prevent the baby from developing these phobias and they think night-lights can help.
Tracy Bedrosian, a neurologist at Ohio kingdom college, recommends that those who can’t stop the use of the mild should replace it with the proper kind of mild. experiments confirmed that inexperienced mild actions the biological clock for approximately ninety minutes and the blue light movements the clock for approximately 180 mins, so it turns into an awful lot more difficult to sleep nicely. the purple and the orange light don’t suppress the manufacturing of melatonin as tons as green, white, and blue mild do and don’t disrupt your circadian rhythms.
6. Shaking your baby
Every parent has been in a situation when it was hard to put children to bed without shaking them. Sometimes, this process takes such a long time that moms and dads are already exhausted, but their baby still isn’t.
Pediatricians declare that it’s far viable to avoid these problems if you train your baby to observe a slumbering time table from birth and put off any external and internal irritations like starvation, moist diapers, noise, uncomfortable garments, and things of this nature. if you may avoid shaking them, ensure you don’t do it for a long time and that your emotions areEasy.
5. Hiding mirrors from children because of popular superstitions
There’s a famous superstition that warns parents in opposition to showing children mirrors due to the fact “they may get sick.” this is a certainly extraordinary idea, in keeping with pediatricians and psychologists from everywhere in the world. medical doctor Suzy inexperienced, the founding father of the positivity institute, recommends that dad and mom play with their youngsters the usage of a reflect because it facilitates the development of self-cognizance, something this is uncommon inside the animal international.
At different a while, kidsHave exceptional reactions to their mirrored image within the mirror, however, it’s miles continually a charming and fine experience for them.
4. Creating a sterile environment for children
We’re used to thinking that cleanliness is extraordinarily important. however, researchers from one of a kind nations agree that once the surroundings are simply too clean, it’s miles awful for the kid’s improvement. sterile environments sluggish down the formation of a strong immune gadget that is ready to fight infections, and that they promote hypersensitive reactions like asthma, rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis.
The most important mistakes that mother and father make are cleansing the condo too frequently and too much and prohibiting their youngsters from getting into touch with pets. the earlier a toddler offers with a potential allergen, the quicker their immune device will discover ways to treat it as an everyday issue.
3. Teaching children to use the potty too early
The potty is a very controversial topic. the maximum critical aspect is to no longer observe the recommendations from people that aren’t experts. don’t expect your youngsters to simply start the use of the potty while they may be one or one and a half years antique. at this age, they nevertheless don’t recognize how to correctly react to the signals of their bodies.
Infant urologist Stephen Hodges says, “sooner or later, the kid will learn how to manipulate their indicators. this is when they may start to use the potty. the bladder desires about 3 or four years for ordinary development. unfastened urination — as an instance, inside the diapers, certainly facilitates the development of the bladder.
2. Letting children walk barefoot on flat surfaces
children start to walk at about the age of 1, on common. while this happens, some mother and father rush to stores to buy a few domestic shoes and other mother and father permit their youngsters to stroll barefoot. researchers nevertheless don’t agree on that is quality, but they do agree that now not all surfaces are precise for walking.
It’s miles incredible if children have a threat to walk barefoot on sand, grass, or smooth rocks. however, it is not very beneficial to stroll on flawlessly flat tiles at home. this way, the muscular tissues of theft don’t broaden nicely the entire load is placed on the tendons. this may lead to problems inside the development of the foot.
1. Making children finish their meals
Many grandmothers (and a few mother and father) end up really unhappy while their kids don’t want to complete their food. they start seeking to convince the children, blackmailing them, or even threatening them. so, the plate finally ends up being clean, however, the only those who are glad are the dad and mom.
Few human beings know that this conduct contributes to the improvement of terrible food conduct. there no way they can discover ways to recognize their bodies, however, they do discover ways to overeat.
Except, there’s definitely no need to offer children numerous food at once because it’s too much work for their digestive gadget. they want just one meal and one drink.
Best Life Insurance for Children
Baby existence insurance is typically an entire existence policy, which means it includes a cash fee account that increases in price as your toddler grows up. you could additionally provide existence coverage for a kid by adding a child lifestyles rider on your present term or permanent existence coverage policy. many companies offer baby lifestyles coverage policies, but if you are seeking out the maximum affordable provider, we endorse beginning your seek with mutual of Omaha, as it offers the great rates among insurers we analyzed; | https://medium.com/@belamibois1990/9-situations-where-parents-hurt-their-children-and-dont-even-realize-it-58bb50ada914 | ['Natalie Glovo'] | 2020-01-15 15:09:25.421000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Parents', 'Parenting Advice', 'Parenting', 'Baby'] |
Fingerprints of Future Funk: Toshiki Kadomatsu and After 5 Clash | Fingerprints of Future Funk: Toshiki Kadomatsu and After 5 Clash
The Japanese guitarist’s fourth album, After 5 Clash marked his sonic evolution while laying the foundation for future funk.
For five weeks in 1983, pop singer Anri had the biggest song in Japan. “Cat’s Eye,” the lead track from her 1983 sixth studio album Timely!!, took the top spot between September and October on the Oricon charts. A synth-heavy theme song for the eponymously-named anime, the song took a new life on Anri’s album, dropping the electronic production in favor of a striking horn and bass composition that blew its predecessor out of the water.
You could argue that the original version of “Cat’s Eye” could never make the impact that its album remix would. Composed as an intro to a show that predates the golden age of anime, Anri’s redressing of the track was almost inevitable.
“Cat’s Eye” didn’t have to sell records — it had to sell shows. Produced by Kazuo Otani, who would go on to arrange themes for Glass no Kamen and several Anpanman movies, the original theme was a perfectly serviceable accompaniment to the technicolor sun bursts and wistful stares of the Cat’s Eye intro.
But Otani’s rendition isn’t the version that earned the spotlight. In August 1983, a month after the anime debuted, “Cat’s Eye” would be resurrected at the hands of Toshiki Kadomatsu, whose leanings toward funk and disco production elicited powerful vocals from Anri and jumpstarted the track towards its No. 1 spot on the charts.
Funky Beginnings
The groundwork laid by Kadomatsu on the refreshed single was simply a musical starting point. Over the course of the 10-track record, Kadomatsu crafted guitar licks and arrangements that would eventually become standard samples in the ever-evolving genre of future funk. The two-track intro to Timely!!’s b-side — “I Can’t Stop the Loneliness” and “Shyness Boy” — is among the most frequent fodder of future funk catalogs, the songs finding their way into cuts like Adrianwave’s “It’s Good to See You Again” and Night Tempo’s “Can’t Stop the Loneliness.”
Though Kadomatsu was just 23 at the time, his production of his own work and Anri’s began to tell the story of Japan’s evolving music culture. Prior to producing Timely!!, Kadomatsu had four projects to his name. His debut album, Sea Breeze is a coastal cruise, drawing from breathable horn sections, steady basslines and wispy vocals that would be cozy next to the smooth jazz and soft rock of the day.
Though Sea Breeze would set the standard for Kadomatsu’s follow up projects Weekend Fly to the Sun and On the City Shore, the album’s fifth and sixth tracks foretell the late-night experiment that would define Kadomatsu’s eventual influence in future funk.
On “Yokohama Twilight Time,” Kadomatsu trades in his distinctly high-noon stylings for the night, telling stories whose backdrops feature city lights reflecting off of harbor waters. The bass line becomes distinctly sticky and slap happy and he interrupts his lyrics with a sweeping saxophone solo, shirking the finely manicured structure of previous songs.
This theme continues into his next albums by way of distinctly metropolitan tracks like “Rush Hour” with its four-on-the-floor beat, or “Space Scraper” and its soulful backup vocalists. Kadomatsu wouldn’t dive head first into these themes until 1984, but once he did, he produced an album that serves as a master class for both Japanese funk and the genre eventually known as future funk.
Step into Midnight
The first 20 seconds of After 5 Clash are a trap. A simple guitar loop and humble base and percussion lure you into thinking that Kadomatsu’s 1984 record is a wash-rinse-repeat affair in the vein of his seaside arrangements from years past.
But when his vocals cut through the mix — “If you wanna dance, tonight/ If you wanna do it baby, love me tonight,” he croons — you realize that Kadomatsu has traded in his swimsuit for a white ensemble, complete with a Valentine’s red tie suitable for the hearts he plans on breaking. No longer is his guitar for sandy shore love songs, but for breakneck grooves that are rushing toward midnight.
After 5 Clash’s distinctly funky sound isn’t a freak accident. Kadomatsu was acutely aware of the musical topography of the day. In an interview with DJ Osshy in 2018, he noted that getting sonic access to Roppongi dance floors meant emulating western music. Kadomatsu was absorbed with tunes from the United States in the 1960s, and used the region’s funky underpinnings to subvert stale pop offerings in the 1980s.
Kadomatsu’s tonal shift is most apparent to start the b-side. Synths squirm across “Step into the Light,” an apparent tribute to the short-lived New Jersey funk outfit Unique and its debut single, “What I Got is What You Need.” Keiko Toh and Yurie Kobuku, the latter of whom also appeared on Anri’s Timely!!, bookend a shimmering hook with Kadomatsu, while Eiji Nakahara offers a delightfully cheesy rap about funk’s mantra — having fun and dancing the night away.
The track is fundamental in helping Kadomatsu’s career reach into the 2010s. Its layered construction makes it prime sample fodder. The driving bass line provided by Jun Satoh is cordial to contortions, evidenced by Levantine’s repurposing of it in “Thunderbird.” Likewise, Night Tempo and 悲しい Android Apartment’s “That Funk” is both an apt description of Kadomatsu’s work and a testament to its receptiveness to pitch and tempo changes.
After 5 Clash’s title track, while tame in comparison, continues to display Kadomatsu’s genre fluidity by shifting gears towards a reverb-friendly R&B tune that personifies last call.
Tracks like “Airport Lady’’ and “Maybe It’s Love Affair,” further play into Kadomatsu’s effortlessly cool atmosphere. The former is welcomed by the scene setting roar of a jet engine, adding to the album’s metropolitan appeal, while the latter surrounds a glossy chorus with Tomohito Aoki’s unnameable basslines.
Ultimately, the beauty of After 5 Clash is that the album features a patchwork of musical styles. It’s an album that excels at influencing future funk, a genre rooted around plundering for samples the same way Kadomatsu cruised the globe looking for inspiration. | https://medium.com/the-gleaming-sword/fingerprints-of-future-funk-toshiki-kadomatsu-and-after-5-clash-66e6542c48aa | ['Brandon Johnson'] | 2020-10-13 15:07:52.488000+00:00 | ['Internet Culture', 'Future Funk', 'Music', 'Japan', 'Disco'] |
How To Run With a Jogging Stroller | Running with a jogging stroller is hard work! But it is worth it! By exercising and getting outside, you’re getting feel-good endorphins, spending quality time with your kids, and setting a positive example for a lifetime of good health.
But running with a jogging stroller can quickly go awry if you aren’t prepared. Your baby may be screaming. Your toddler may need to use the potty. Your kids may be fighting. You may get annoyed with all the stops. But don’t despair! I am here to help!
I’ve answered all your questions and rounded up the best tips for running with a stroller so you can run longer and everyone can have a good time.
When can I run with my baby in a jogging stroller?
Most pediatricians and jogging stroller companies advise waiting until your baby has good neck strength to run with them in a stroller. Thus, you can safely run with your baby in a stroller when your baby is around 6 to 8 months old.
Now, that is a really long time for a mother runner to wait…and many (myself included) did not wait that long.
In an unscientific poll of about 200 mother runners, half of moms waited until their baby was half-a-year-old to run with them in a stroller. The other half started stroller running at about 6–8 weeks postpartum.
These mother runners used a car seat adapter for their jogging strollers which allows the car seat to fit into the stroller. This means, your baby will sit, facing you, in the car seat which sits on an adapter bar that you clicked into the stroller. (Bear in mind that the adapter you purchase is specific to the brand of car seat you own.) The car seat provides neck support the stroller cannot.
Stroller manufacturers recommend not running with the car seat attached to the stroller because it makes it top-heavy. However, mother runners shared they ran on smooth flat surfaces, away from traffic, at slow speeds, and did not feel like they put their babies at risk. The mother runners who started stroller running at 6 months postpartum cited reasons related to wintry weather or pelvic floor issues for waiting that amount of time.
I am not a doctor. Talk to your pediatrician and your OB/GYN to ensure stroller running is safe for you and your baby!! I got cleared by both and it was a lifesaver because stroller runs were the only way I could ensure my firstborn would nap.
Where can I run with my baby in a stroller?
Safety is obviously the name of the game when running with a stroller. Choose flat surfaces with minimal turns and traffic. Quiet, smooth stretches also aid in long naps giving you more time to exercises.
Is it harder to run with a jogging stroller versus without?
In a word, YES. Running with a jogging stroller is difficult, to say the least. Often when I’m pushing the double BOB stroller up a hill, I hear my kids taunt “Mom, are you even running right now?” Yes, yes I am, sweethearts. But the workout is no joke.
Studies support that running with a stroller doesn’t just feel hard — it is hard. One study in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness found that running with a stroller results in a significantly higher heart rate, perceived level of exertion, and lactate concentration. Another study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine added a higher VO2 max to the mix.
What are some benefits of running with a jogging stroller?
Because you are running slower with a jogging stroller but working just as hard (or harder), that means you can get a great cardio workout with less taxation on your body. That means less chance of running-related injury.
Stroller running also has the added benefit of making running without a stroller feel easier.
When you’re used to pushing all that extra weight of a stroller and trying to keep kids happy for the long haul, running without a stroller feels like a breeze. You feel free and light without that drag.
What is proper running form for running with a jogging stroller?
Laura Norris, coach with The Mother Runners and Laura Norris Running, notes that proper running form requires slightly more thought with a jogging stroller.
“Hold the stroller with one arm and pump the other arm. Alternate arms throughout the run. Think of running tall (no hunching over the stroller) with a strong drive from the hips,” advises Laura.
Does stroller running burn more calories?
Research shows runners can run slower than their usual pace but still burn the same amount of calories as if they were running faster without the jogging stroller. That’s because of the extra exertion I mentioned previously. You’re working harder even though you are running slower.
On average, a 150-pound person can expect to burn about 30 more calories per half hour of running. That’s according to a study by researchers at Seattle Pacific University which broke down the number of calories burned by how you push the stroller:
pushing the stroller with two hands increases the number of calories burned by about 5 percent,
pushing with one hand increases it by about 6 percent,
and the push-and-chase method increases it by about 8 percent.
Here is a calculator to estimate calorie expenditure based on pace, distance, and pushing technique.
Can I train for a race running with a stroller?
You can run with a jogging stroller and still train for a race even if you aren’t hitting the mileage or speed your training plan calls for. I mean, after all, mother runner Alyssa Bloomquist, was able to log almost all her miles with her jogging stroller and qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon.
How? The key is to think of time over distance and heart rate over pace.
According to Bobby Holcombe, running coach and founder of Knoxville Endurance, heart rate zone training is where it’s at when training with a cutie in tow. Here’s how it works:
Say you have a training plan that calls for 3 one-mile repeats with one-minute interval rest. Instead of trying to run those at your threshold pace, run them at your threshold heart rate which is about 85–88 percent of your max heart rate.
To calculate your heart rate zones, check out this calculator, or use the standard formula of 220 minus your age. (Or get really fancy and get a max heart rate or VO2 test for accurate zones.)
Many Garmin watches have heart rate monitors built-in, but they aren’t always accurate since they take your pulse on top of your wrist. The best monitors use a chest strap which you can buy to go with your Garmin watch or separate like this Polar one.
Related: How to use heart rates zone to train with a stroller
What are the best running strollers?
Speediest
Kidrunner
The Kidrunner is unlike any stroller you’ve seen — it clips in the back via a harness so you pull your kiddos like they’re in a sleigh (yes, making you the dog.)
PRO: Lyndy Davis, a two-time Olympic Trials Qualifier, says that she couldn’t feel her child behind her at all.
CON: While making the load feel much less heavy, you aren’t able to see your kids or hand things to them.
Kidrunners run just under $350 but you can save 10 percent with the code Themotherrunners.
Second Speediest
Thule Urban Guide
Thule Urban Glide has many pros.
PRO: It is collapsible, lightweight, easy to maneuver, smooth, and Thule has amazing customer service. Katie Taylor, mom of one, who ran a 5k at a 6-minute clip with her baby in tow says she is “obsessed” with this stroller.
CON: It isn’t cheap. Prices range from about $430 to $700.
The most bang for your buck
BOB Revolution SE
Hands down, the BOB Revolution SE is the most popular brand of running strollers. The BOB is more affordable than the Thule with the price ranging from$350 to $300.
PROs: The Revolution has tons of storage, a canopy, wrist strap, and a front-wheel you can lock so you have more stability on the run. It also has shock-absorbent tires and a suspension system so you can go off-road if needed.
CONs: The downside of this stroller is that it’s large and not as easy as others to collapse.
Runner-up
Mountain Buggy Swift
The Moutain Buggy Swift is similar to the BOB in that it is easy to maneuver and can handle rough terrain.
PROs: It’s much more compact than the BOB which is a plus. Like the Thule, it can be collapsed by one hand. The Mountain Buggy has cute print options and the ability for a stroller board to be added for older children to hop on the back. It’s also lightweight, weighing five pounds less than the BOB and three pounds less than the Thule (20 pounds).
CONs: It has less storage and a smaller canopy.
Prices range from to $320 to $450.
Best double stroller
Phil & Ted’s Sporty Inline
There’s no way around it. Pushing a double stroller is HARD WORK.
But Phil & Ted’s Sporty Inline makes it as easy as possible by taking the load off.
PROs: Phil & Ted’s double is the only inline running stroller — meaning it can convert to a double stroller from a single. It’s easy to maneuver, can go off-road, and weighs much less than its competitors — clocking in at 26 pounds versus 30+ pounds of others on the market. Mother runners also rave about Phil & Ted’s customer service. Mother runners who are city slickers loved how sleek Phil and Ted’s is, not taking up sidewalks, and how easy it is to collapse.
CONs: This stroller only has a weight capacity of 44 pounds and is recommended for ages zero to five. Price ranges from $375 from $500.
12 Genius Tips for Running with a Jogging Stroller
Here are some stroller running tips from mother runners, ranging from elite to casual runners, who have mastered making stroller running fun for all!:
Pack Lots of Snacks.
Moms know better than to go anywhere without a plethora of snacks for kids. Bring chips, pouches, crackers, cheese sticks, granola bars, apple slices, oranges, and sippy cups. Be prepared to rotate them as you run.
Have Special Stroller-only Toys.
Novelty is the name of the game when it comes to stroller running. So have toys that only make their appearance during stroller running time. You can also bring a tablet for stroller-only screen time if you need extra help getting some miles in. But Erica Hopper, mom of two, warns, “make sure it has a protective case if it happens to get dropped or thrown out.”
Related: How to Train for a Race Running with a Stroller
Put Safety First.
Keep safety top of mind when jogging with your child: Make sure your jogging stroller has a safety wrist strap that attaches to the handlebar (or, if it doesn’t, buy one) and always use it. Another safety tip: Some running strollers allow you to lock the front wheel to keep it from turning suddenly during a run. Once you’ve gotten on your route, do this.
Dress for the Weather.
During this time, it’s not smart to run in very cold (below freezing) or wet weather as that can run down immune systems. If you do go out in unpleasant weather, remember that while you may stay toasty warm from all that running, your kid may get cold. Consider buying a protective shield from Amazon if it’s going to be windy or rainy. On hot days, overheating can be a problem, so don’t overdress your kids, apply sunscreen and use a stroller visor or sunshield to keep them shaded.
Take the Road Less Traveled.
Avoid roads with lots people (so that you can ensure your social distance) and traffic. A truck driver once tried to run me off the road while shouting obscenities. I learned my lesson that it’s safer to be on roads with fewer cars and trucks.
Make It Fun.
Count squirrels with your kid, look for dogs and cats, play “I spy” or try to wave to as many people as possible. “I run my kids past entertaining spots like construction sites,” says mom of two Lindsay Adams. Also, listen to music like Disney soundtracks and don’t be afraid to sing loudly with your kids.
Related: Benefits of Running with a Stroller.
Bait Them.
Tell your kids you are going to end at a park and let them run around. Some mother runners let their kids run the last half mile with them. I have a route that I run with my kids that includes several spots that they can get out and explore before we keep going. We used to stop at playgrounds but we are not during the coronavirus time. If you do, be sure to use lots of hand sanitizer and discourage kids from touching their faces! | https://medium.com/@whitneyheins/how-to-run-with-a-jogging-stroller-7cac520fc67 | ['Whitney Heins'] | 2021-02-23 13:36:35.472000+00:00 | ['Running', 'Motherhood', 'Mother Runner', 'Jogging Stroller', 'Stroller Running'] |
6 Mistakes You’re Making Right Now That is Slowing Your Weight Loss Progress | Photo Credit: Pexels
1. Blindly Increasing Your Activity Levels
One of the fastest ways for your metabolism to hit a wall is increasing your activity level blindly in the gym while on a weight loss diet plan. This is because your body has several mechanisms in place to try to maintain its current state. When you push too hard (e.g., cardio twice a day) during a hypocaloric diet, the body fights back and adapts by lowering your energy expenditure. This means a depressed metabolism and sluggish central nervous system output, which means less fat burned overall.
A great way to fix this is to start your weight loss efforts gradually, then increase duration, difficulty, and frequency as your body plateaus. It’s more beneficial to add more than it is to start too fast and wreak havoc on your metabolism.
2. Reducing Carbs to None
Studies have shown that dietary carbohydrates are an important factor in the levels of T3, a thyroid hormone that controls metabolism. Studies where subjects consumed zero carbohydrates for two weeks resulted in a 47% decline in their metabolism. In addition, performance in the gym can and will be negatively impacted because glycogen is part of what’s used in the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy currency of the body. Along the same lines, 120–130g of carbohydrates per day has been shown to help maintain a healthy amount of T3s. The lowest amount of carbohydrates that has been shown to cause little change in the levels of T3 was shown to be 50g.
A great way to avoid this is not to jump on a carb-crash diet. Studies show that two lower-carb days per week (less than 100g) is more beneficial for fat loss. Try two consecutive days per week, never going lower than 50g
3. Not Getting Enough Meals
The higher your body fat levels, the more circulating leptins in your body. A significant part of leptin’s job is informing the brain (via the hypothalamus) how much energy the body has stored (body fat) and coming in (calories, specifically carbohydrates). If leptin levels are low, your brain signals the body to lower your energy expenditure. One of the mechanisms through which it does this is through lowering your metabolism. Leptin levels can drop by 50% after a week of dieting, which slows your metabolism.
A great way to fix this is by scheduling a refeed day consisting of low-fat, high-carb meals that raises leptins back up to normal levels which will raise metabolism back up. The leaner you get, the more frequent the refeeds should be scheduled.
4. Not Enough Food Choices
There isn’t any one food that can be considered best or better than another. Each food has an array of beneficial micronutrients that others may not have. Therefore, when you stopgap yourself to consuming only one food group — such as all chicken or fish — you highlight the micro-nutrient deficiency that is inherent in that food group.
A great way to fix this is take in a variety of clean, high-quality food sources such as poultry, beef, pork and fish, grains, legumes, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Try to avoid eating the same thing after a while because you will get bored and this will impact your weight loss journey.
5. Dismissing Calcium
During a fat-loss diet, people usually increase protein while decreasing carbs and fats. Prolonged high-protein/low-carbohydrate diets without calcium supplementation can result in a negative calcium balance. This is because the body’s acid-alkaline balance is now more acidic, thus calcium is leached from your bones. In addition, this can lead to kidney stones.
Remember to stock up on supplements and get calcium plus vitamin D3 which helps with absorption of calcium to prevent bone loss.
6. Keeping it Light
Most people have the mindset at the gym that using heavy weight will gain muscle and using lighter weights to lose fat or “tone” up. However, this train of thought is false when viewed from the perspective of your body. A calorie deficit represents a threat to your body status quo, or equilibrium. Thus its primary objective is to sustain what is needed and muscle isn’t a necessity.
Bear in mind that, in order to maintain as much muscle as possible, you must continue to lift heavy loads. The same pathways that cause the increase of muscle will be activated and used to maintain your previous gains. The deal broker is not to utilize the same volume you used to gain. To be specific, during a fat-loss phase, total volume should be cut by about a third and loads should be around 75–85% of your one-rep max. This, of course, is in addition to your usual cardio and active lifestyle.
Hope this helps as you are on your journey to self-improvement. | https://medium.com/gethealthy/6-mistakes-youre-making-right-now-that-is-slowing-your-weight-loss-progress-967de53b953 | ['Jeremy Colon'] | 2018-08-17 02:38:51.579000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Diet', 'Fitness', 'Fitness Tips', 'Weight Loss'] |
From Utopia to Reality: Marketing and the Big Data Revolution | Perfect information. First Degree Price Discrimination. You might know these terms from high school economics defining utopian conditions in the marketplace. One involves having instantaneous knowledge of all market prices, utilities, and cost functions. The other involves selling each customer a good as per his individual willingness to pay.
Read More | https://medium.com/data-analytics-and-ai/from-utopia-to-reality-marketing-and-the-big-data-revolution-7e1b6514a060 | ['Ella William'] | 2019-06-15 13:20:59.219000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Marketing', 'Analytics', 'Data Visualization', 'Data Science'] |
Fearless and inquisitive, Robert Fisk | Robert Fisk (12 July 1946–30 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish nationality. He was an international correspondent, and covered the civil wars in Lebanon, Algeria and Syria, the Iran-Iraq conflict, the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Islamic revolution in Iran, Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Fluent in Arabic, he was among the few Western journalists to interview Osama bin Laden, which he did three times between 1993 and 1997. The journalist began his career at the Sunday Express. From there, he went to work for The Times as a correspondent in Northern Ireland, Portugal and the Middle East, in which he was based on Beirut intermittently since 1976. After 1989, he worked for The Independent. Fisk received many British and international journalism awards, including the Press Awards Foreign Reporter of the Year seven times. Fisk also wrote books, such as Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War and The Great War for Civilisation : The Conquest of the Middle East.
Early Life and Education
Fisk was an only child, born in Maidstone, Kent. His father William (‘Bill’) Fisk (1899–1992) was Borough Treasurer at Maidstone Corporation and had fought in the First World War. At the end of the war Bill Fisk was punished for disobeying an order to execute another soldier; his son said, “My father’s refusal to kill another man was the only thing he did in his life which I would also have done.” Though his father said little about his part in the war, it held a fascination for his son. After his father’s death, he discovered him to have been the scribe of his battalion’s war diaries from August 1918. Robert Fisk was educated at Yardley Court, a preparatory school, then at Sutton Valence School and Lancaster University, where he edited the student magazine Carolynne. He gained a PhD in Political Science, from Trinity College Dublin in 1983; the title of his doctoral thesis was “A condition of limited warfare: Éire’s neutrality and the relationship between Dublin, Belfast and London, 1939–1945”.
News Correspondent
Fisk worked on the Sunday Express diary column before a disagreement with the editor, John Junor, prompted a move to The Times. From 1972 to 1975, at the height of the Troubles, Fisk was The Times Belfast correspondent, before being posted to Portugal following the Carnation Revolution in 1974. He then was appointed Middle East correspondent (1976–1987). In addition to the Troubles and Portugal, he reported the Iranian revolution in 1979. When a story of his was spiked (Iran Air Flight 655) after Rupert Murdoch’s takeover, he moved to The Independent in 1989. The New York Times once described Robert Fisk as “probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain”.
War Reporting
Fisk lived in Beirut from 1976, remaining throughout the Lebanese Civil War. He was one of the first journalists to visit the scene of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, as well as the Syrian Hama Massacre. His book on the Lebanese conflict, Pity the Nation, was first published in 1990. Fisk also reported on the Soviet–Afghan War, the Iran–Iraq War, the Arab–Israeli conflict, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the Algerian Civil War, the Bosnian War, the 2001 international intervention in Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Arab Spring in 2011 and the ongoing Syrian Civil War. During the Iran–Iraq War, he suffered partial but permanent hearing loss as a result of being close to Iraqi heavy artillery in the Shatt-al-Arab when covering the early stages of the conflict.
After the United States and allies launched their intervention in Afghanistan, Fisk was for a time transferred to Pakistan to provide coverage of the conflict. While reporting from there, he was attacked and beaten by a group of Afghan refugees fleeing heavy bombing by the United States Air Force. He was ultimately rescued from this attack by another Afghan refugee. In his graphic account of his own beating, Fisk absolved the attackers of responsibility and pointed out that their “brutality was entirely the product of others, of us — of we who had armed their struggle against the Russians and ignored their pain and laughed at their civil war and then armed and paid them again for the ‘War for Civilisation’ just a few miles away and then bombed their homes and ripped up their families and called them ‘collateral damage.’”
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Fisk was based in Baghdad and filed many eyewitness reports. He has criticised other journalists based in Iraq for what he calls their “hotel journalism”, reporting from one’s hotel room without interviews or first hand experience of events. His opposition to the war brought criticism from both Irish Sunday Independent columnist and senator, Eoghan Harris, and The Guardian columnist, Simon Hoggart. Fisk has criticised the Coalition’s handling of the sectarian violence in post-invasion Iraq, and argued that the official narrative of sectarian conflict is not possible: “The real question I ask myself is: who are these people who are trying to provoke the civil war? Now the Americans will say it’s Al Qaeda, it’s the Sunni insurgents. It is the death squads. Many of the death squads work for the Ministry of Interior. Who runs the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad? Who pays the Ministry of the Interior? Who pays the militia men who make up the death squads? We do, the occupation authorities. (…) We need to look at this story in a different light.”
Courtesy : Wikipedia | https://medium.com/@world-affairs/fearless-and-inquisitive-robert-fisk-9cbb7b127e5b | ['Political Affairs'] | 2020-11-26 15:36:01.361000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Journalists', 'Robert Fisk', 'The Independent', 'Middle East'] |
Best Wooden Furniture Shop in Pune — Airawat Handicraft | Vintages is new trend
The term vintage furniture is used to describe an old piece between 30 to 100 years; a furniture piece becomes classified as an antique in these many years. Antique handicraft shop in Pune, Vintage furniture is a new trend, and there is a number of reasons for its popularity. When it is said to name “vintage” the term is often used for furniture old between 30 to 100 years old. Furniture that is at least 100 years old is classified as “ANTIQUE”. Any piece that is circa the 1990s to present is just simply used furniture. An item should be at least 100 years old to be defined as an antique. Generally, if the furniture item is no older than an antique but not less than 30 years, it falls under the term vintage.
The main difference between the Antique and vintage is its age. Antiques are items that must be at least 100 years old. That means, as of the date of this posting, an antique item was made on or before April of 1918. … Vintage items are not as old as antiques. And can be less than 100 years but not less than 30 years time. Antique Handicraft Shops In Baner
Vintage furniture is valuable in the sense, a piece of furniture carved by an artist-craftsman or manufacturer who made very few pieces in that style may fetch a higher price.
The most valuable vintage furniture is rare. A unique color, carving motif, less universal glass, or otherwise atypical design increase the value of the furniture. Similarly, 1980 considered vintage. This year, all 1980 things are already 40 years old which is double the minimum age for a thing to be called vintage.
From the year is classed as vintage. A generally accepted industry standard is that items made between 20 to 30 years ago and 100 years ago are considered “vintage” and they clearly reflect the styles and trends of the era they represent. Items 100 years old or more are considered antique.
A modern vintage or vintage modern — a vintage-modern design style focuses on mixing the old with the new. Design style makes full use of items with a history that are either not part of a particular design style, combined with modern design. In general, though a classic is any vehicle older than 25 years while an antique is more than 100 years old. | https://medium.com/@airawathandicraft/best-wooden-furniture-shop-in-pune-airawat-handicraft-ec69b72c6fb4 | ['Narpatsing Bhati'] | 2021-11-19 08:00:42.442000+00:00 | ['Woodworking', 'Furniture', 'Craft', 'Handmade', 'Wood'] |
Class Warfare on Ice | But the 200-odd anglers who fanned out across Long Pond an hour north of Augusta one frigid morning in late January were a far cry from Roth’s paranoid ice man. The occasion was Long Pond’s first-ever Pike Derby, instituted following the state’s decision to open the pond to ice anglers despite the protests of shore-property owners. Most of the fishermen were dads and kids. Nearly all of the dads had learned ice fishing from their own dads and they expressed a nostalgic gratitude to a sport that allows a family to fly kites, throw footballs, and catch fish for less than $30 a day.
The Pike Derby’s organizers, Donald and Carla Lynch of nearby St. Albans, are well-versed in fisheries issues; they also have online networking skills to rival a Howard Dean operative. As affiliate members of the Wisconsin-based ice anglers’ website IceShanty.com, they summoned the flash-frozen mob to Long Pond entirely via the Internet. Standing on 20 inches of ice in -10 degree temperatures the morning of the derby, Don cheerfully chatted with contestants about the odds of a state-record fish being pulled out. Then his beeper went off.
“A fish!” he said shutting off the flashing light on his new electronic fish-trap. He sprinted across the ice, grabbed the line, and pulled in the first pike of the derby. The green-and-yellow fish flopped twice and then froze into a baseball bat with fins. “He’s not big,” said Lynch, “but it’s a start.”
IceShanty.com’s 8,500 registered users are not the first to try to spread the gospel of ice. But the books produced from within the community are markedly different from those written by outside observers in two ways. The first is that they are largely out of print. The second is their unabashed mission to convince the reader that ice fishing is worth doing at all.
In the introduction to “Ice Fishing for Everybody” (1948), one of the earliest books devoted entirely to the sport, Byron W. Dalrymple laments the widespread “dread and distaste of the discomforts which low temperatures bring” and urges potential sportsmen to “cast off prejudice and listen with an open mind.” In “Ice Fishing: A Complete Guide” (1992), Jim Compossela paints a romantic vision of a night in a frozen hut: “Bring your lover,” he muses, “and dine on duchesse potatoes and Cajun-style perch cooked on the ice.”
Every generation’s hard-water bard announces that technology has at long last defeated cold. Dalrymple writes, “A very great many kinds of jackets, Arctic overall suits, sheeplined boots, leather garments, etc., are slowly becoming available which previous to the war were never even heard of.” Jerry Chiapetta’s 1965 book “ABCs of Modern Ice Fishing” claims, “There are one-piece subzero suits which are relatively inexpensive, lightweight, comfortable, and even colorful and stylish.” And in the 1998 video “Ice Fishing Secrets II,” Doug Stange tells us, “There’s no reason to be cold out there any more.”
All of these books and videos convey an unavoidable truth: Ice fishermen deeply and truly love ice, even after they’ve fallen through. Paul Jacques, Maine’s deputy commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife still ice fishes ardently even though he fell through one night. “It just takes your breath away. But the key is you don’t panic. You panic and you’re probably gonna die. Once I hit the bottom I kinda looked up and I could see a spot that was lighter . . . I just pushed up and when I come up out of that hole I just put my hands on the ice and got myself up there and rolled until I hit the trees.”
Harold F. Blaisdell, in the ice fishing entry to the 1980 edition of McLain’s Fishing Encyclopedia, gets closest to the feeling: “Perhaps the greatest single source of fascination is the drastic change in the relationship between man and water brought about by the dramatic appearance of the ice itself. The waters which now lie hidden beneath the frozen surface immediately become a dark, sealed-off mystery and thus pose a tantalizing and compelling challenge to the fisherman.”
Or, as one Long Pond Pike Derby contestant put it, “You never know what’s gonna come up through that hole.” | https://medium.com/@4fishgreenberg/class-warfare-on-ice-fe2bab522e7a | ['Paul Greenberg'] | 2020-12-31 17:32:16.914000+00:00 | ['Class Warfare', 'Inequality', 'Fishing', 'Economy', 'Winter Sports'] |
Fear mongering: the weapon of every authoritarian Government. | Whether it be World trade centre collapse and the broadcasts of a video recorded showing an aeroplane striking the building and the following collapse or it be London bridge attack or Daesh (ISIS) slaughtering the innocent civilians on the streets of Iraq and Syria or Hindu-Mualim hate mongering in India or the War on afghanistan or the slogan that “Islam is the only evil” and so on. All this is a weapon handy to every government that wants to control the human beings to its fullest. The least expensive weapon and best friend of every evil doer is fear and anger. They use fear to let humans submit to their plans and make anger to cancel / stop the influence/guidance of those who don’t submit to the plans of those in power (the Real leaders who wish to do good to their people).
The year 2020 is one of the miraculous eye opener to every man of mind. The emergence of Coronavirus and the declaration of pandemic thereafter followed by the international lockdown (first of it’s kind in human history), followed by the race for vaccine and the use of that “criminal” vaccine in humans without adequate testing and proper approval, all is adding up to the fact that “fear is blinding us and therewith they only are controlling us”.
“The Coronavirus is with humans since the birth of mankind and the latest strain of it is most attacking and dangerous for those above 70 with existing pre-conditions, effecting 5 out of 10,000 and the vaccine that is being created is not beneficial for youth at all because youth doesn’t need it. This vaccine is gene-based and not like flu vaccines that are existing from before. Which means that it is going to affect the genetic make-up of the receiver. That can prove to be “dangerously” dangerous.” Dr. Sucharit Bukhdi, Award winner German virologist and researcher
So, wake-up and question those in power about the hate and fear they are spreading. Don’t listen to every word of theirs as sacred. They are running their circus @ cost of your belief and trust in them.
Question everything that is seeming th be unusual and don’t submit to the loving words that have backplan of enslaving you! | https://medium.com/@thefirdoosnatnoo/fear-mongering-the-weapon-of-every-authoritarian-government-d953ce59d9f9 | ['Firdoos Natnoo'] | 2020-12-20 15:21:45.607000+00:00 | ['Fear', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavaccine', 'Coronavirus', 'Control'] |
The first-class manner to shed pounds is to choose an all-spherical healthy way of life — from weight loss plan to sleep first-rate — and that consists of low, medium or high intensity physical pastim | The first-class manner to shed pounds is to choose an all-spherical healthy way of life — from weight loss plan to sleep first-rate — and that consists of low, medium or high intensity physical pastime. Ansari editing Zone Dec 23, 2021·12 min read
The first-class manner to shed pounds is to choose an all-spherical healthy way of life — from weight loss plan to sleep first-rate — and that consists of low, medium or high intensity physical pastime.
a way to shed pounds: 6 guidelines to shed pounds to combine with food plan and bodily interest:
1. do not pass breakfast
2. do not pass food
3. workout
4. No alcohol
5. Use a smaller plate
6. Drink plenty of water
Index:
what is the exceptional way to shed pounds?
6 ways for fast weight reduction
What are the nice sports to lose weight?
What does a dietician advocate?
_________________________________________
Premise
in step with the WHO , 41% of Europeans do now not have interaction in any sort of physical hobby , however they may be now not the most effective ones: the entire Western population and beyond is involved in a worldwide epidemic that still has a call, globesity.
the arena health organisation estimates that obesity globally has tripled when you consider that 1975 and that on the grounds that 2016 more than 1.nine billion adults on the earth are obese — and of those, 650 million are severely obese — a deadly disease that doesn’t spare the youngest, with over 340 million children and youth among the a long time of five and 19 deemed overweight.
To cure this epidemic, all of us can do their component and there’s an seemingly easy solution: lose weight. however what’s the quality way to shed pounds?
there’s no want to head round it, there are approaches: to intrude at the eating regimen and bodily pastime we perform, and on this manual we can see how. additionally due to the fact losing weight with a accurate eating regimen, further to doing us precise and making us sense better, is likewise precise for the planet: considering the fact that caloric foods produce extra emissions, requiring more water and more land to be produced.
remaining point of this premise regarding nutrients: similarly to the recommendation on the excellent way to shed pounds contained in this manual, it’s miles essential to understand that the weight-reduction plan is like a tailor-made healthy and should be modeled on the characteristics of the individual. thinking of his medical records, his existence habits, his carrying conduct, his tastes and even his vices, and should be tailored over the years .
Do-it-your self is to be avoided, as are the guarantees of superb and too short effects. There are not any shortcuts: consulting a expert health practitioner is the high-quality manner to really begin losing weight, in conjunction with training extra bodily pastime. And also examine this manual.
what’s the first-class manner to lose weight?
before coming across what’s the great manner to shed pounds, it is necessary to recognize how to shed pounds: how will we shed pounds? We lose weight — in a healthy manner — when there is a poor calorie balance .
The bad calorie stability is the fabricated from a very easy dating: if the calories we spend are extra than those we acquire at that factor, the calorie stability is bad. A bad caloric balance in flip results in a reduction of adipose fats as it triggers lipolysis and the resultant mobile lipid consumption.
for this reason, nutrition may be very important for losing weight and collectively with bodily activity it’s miles the great way to lose weight. nutrition for which it’s miles critical for one’s health to avoid do-it-your self , the shakes seen on Instagram, the diets found on Google, the apps, the advice of pals, however it’s miles necessary to rely upon a specialised medical doctor .
most effective at that point are we able to consider combining even more physical activity, whether it is low, medium or excessive intensity, and we will see it in element later.
We lose weight — in a healthy way — while there’s a bad calorie stability.To lose weight, consequently, we can intervene on two fronts to shed pounds: the primary the front is vitamins, the second is the intake of energy we eat. To devour more calories, the most effective answer is to eat much less and increase bodily pastime.
physical pastime does no longer necessarily imply cardio interest: we also can do loads by means of barely converting our every day habits:
walk to the supermarket in place of via vehicle.
walking up the steps, each at domestic and inside the office.
visit paintings by way of motorcycle instead of by way of public delivery.
Get off the metro one stop earlier and take a walk in your destination.
As a general rule, walk extra and each time possible.
what is the quality manner to lose weight?
earlier than discovering what’s the best way to shed pounds, it’s miles necessary to recognize the way to lose weight: how can we shed pounds? We shed pounds — in a wholesome way — when there may be a bad calorie stability .
The terrible calorie stability is the made from a completely easy courting: if the calories we spend are more than the ones we gather at that factor, the calorie balance is terrible. A terrible caloric stability in flip leads to a discount of adipose fat because it triggers lipolysis and the ensuing cell lipid intake.
because of this, vitamins could be very critical for losing weight and collectively with physical activity it’s miles the nice way to lose weight. vitamins for which it’s miles important for one’s fitness to avoid do-it-yourself , the shakes seen on Instagram, the diets located on Google, the apps, the recommendation of buddies, however it is important to depend upon a specialised health practitioner .
best at that point can we think about combining even extra physical interest, whether it’s far low, medium or excessive intensity, and we will see it in detail later.
We lose weight — in a wholesome manner — while there may be a poor calorie stability.To shed pounds, consequently, we will intervene on fronts to shed pounds: the primary the front is nutrition, the second is the intake of energy we consume. To devour extra energy, the best solution is to devour less and boom bodily activity.
bodily interest does not necessarily mean aerobic interest: we can also do loads through barely changing our each day behavior:
walk to the grocery store in place of through car.
strolling up the stairs, both at home and in the office.
go to work by bike in place of by using public shipping.
Get off the metro one stop in advance and take a walk for your vacation spot.
As a fashionable rule, stroll extra and every time viable.
how to shed pounds or the importance of calorie stability in weight loss: we lose weight — in a healthy manner — while there may be a negative calorie stability.Giving up some of the comforts we are surrounded by using can be a terrific start if we are starting from scratch.
looking to do something greater to burn off the extra energy we absorb — recall the terrible calorie balance? — we can exercise an aerobic resistance schooling — as an instance exercise bike , walking , Nordic on foot and lots extra — with excessive depth peaks, in addition to a high depth anaerobic type training — also called HIIT, excessive depth schooling — therefore all that is weightlifting or functional schooling.
distinctive feature, as in the entirety, lies inside the center, possibly in a combination of the 2 varieties of training, but especially in being cautioned through qualified personnel which direction to take and avoid doing it on my own, due to the fact you can not move everywhere on my own.
There are two methods to lose weight: eat much less (and eat higher ) and exercising . There are no hints or secrets and techniques, you just need motivation and the primary small outcomes will inspire us to hold. wanting the listing of little recommendations to inspire us and maintain our spirits excessive and assist us lose weight may be a long one, and we’re going to study it now.
a way to lose weight: 6 methods to shed pounds fast
losing weight too speedy isn’t an excellent concept, it hurts and all docs propose towards it. also as it isn’t always a question of lasting weight reduction but an illusion: because we do not lose visceral fat, but some thing else, whether or not it’s miles liquid, muscle, or something. but, there are some of small hints, cautioned via the NHS — the British fitness machine — that if we start from scratch and need to shed pounds, they can help us optimize consequences. continually deciding on a accurate diet and working towards physical activity regularly.
1. do not pass breakfast
Skipping breakfast is vain, on the contrary, it may lead us to consume snacks to avoid all through the morning. Breakfast should be made, not always in a continental style, even inside the Italian fashion with a coffee and a brioche and then interspersed with micro-meals inside the morning.
2. do not pass meals
If skipping breakfast is incorrect, skipping food is an even bigger mistake if we want to shed pounds. Fasting for lunch or dinner is a damaging and self-punishing degree this is clearly vain.
3. exercise
We stated it a touch even as in the past: the important element is to burn more calories than we enter our frame and a fantastic manner to do this is to transport. Get transferring. Going from easy and movement to a low, medium or high depth hobby is of course a very good idea.
four. No alcohol
something alcoholic need to be averted. Alcoholic drinks are a concentrate of calories in all bureaucracy, be it beer, wine or spirits. To be sure no longer to exceed in calories, consequently, an extremely good answer is to limit beer, wine and more. Or remove them.
5. Use a smaller plate
ingesting on a smaller plate while we are at domestic or on our lunch break at the office will make us smaller quantities. Smaller quantities equate to fewer energy ingested, making it less difficult to obtain terrible calorie balance.
6. Drink plenty of water
Water is a exquisite friend of the human frame, and now not most effective that: it also enables us lose weight.
What are the high-quality physical activities to shed pounds?
we’ve got reviewed some suggestions for losing weight via intervening on nutrition to acquire a bad calorie balance. Now we come to exercises and bodily activity: if the aim is to lose fat tissue — because weight = visceral fats tissue — the techniques with which we will try this are in particular two:
Low depth interest
the first is the traditional and pleasant acknowledged one: practising an extended-lasting and occasional-depth interest. In this case, after 20, half-hour of pastime we will start to selectively eat fats . for example, after an hour of walking, or an hour of low-depth cycling, fitwalking or Nordic on foot, we are able to realize that from 20/half-hour onwards we will have selectively fed on fat.
Medium or high depth interest
the second one gadget for losing fats is very powerful and can be completed effortlessly even supposing now not skilled, as long as we do it correctly. by using doing approximately 20 seconds of medium intensity exercise — on the bench, on the treadmill , on foot, swimming — we eat muscle power, that’s so-referred to as ready-to-use energy. If after 20 seconds of activity we prevent completely — without doing any form of energetic healing — the body resynthesizes this strength for immediate use by means of selectively consuming fat.
If we wanted to selectively lose fat then what could we do? two or three times per week in the gym with the tools we change:
20 seconds of activity with 20 seconds of rest, interested by 1/2 an hour.
Then 20 mins at low intensity, which we are able to do at the bench press, the treadmill or any cardio schooling equipment .
at some stage in the weekend we may want to then make an effort for a couple of hours of on foot or cycling, however at a totally slow tempo.
in this way — strolling or biking — we exercise every other pastime with which we will selectively burn fat by means of reaching a negative calorie stability.
What does a dietician advocate?
in step with Dr. Francesco Confalonieri, who focuses on sports activities medicine on the Santagostino clinical center in Milan , the only way to lose weight is to eat much less or consume higher : if we want to shed pounds, we can’t ignore following correct eating habits. bodily exercise can then be used for three reasons:
to get better fitness
to optimize the results of the diet
to selectively burn adipose tissue
specially, the remaining of the 3 points is critical because dropping weight , in itself, does not mean some thing: to shed pounds you want to lose fat, no longer normally weight , and this is the primary reasoning to do. To shed pounds quick then there aren’t only 5 ways, it’s far very vital to specify it: and, first factor, if there may be one aspect incorrect, it’s far to want to lose weight fast. because any nutritional method that promises to shed pounds speedy at exceptional — beyond the damage and facet outcomes it can create — drastically inhibits and blocks metabolism.
distinction among losing weight and dropping weight
So what happens at that point?
once I start eating commonly — or even a touch — I regain the load I misplaced previously with hobby.
dropping fats mass
I don’t need to shed pounds generically , I ought to lose fats, and now not simplest that, I must lose visceral fats, that’s some thing else again. To lose weight, a food plan blended with workout ought to be aimed at dropping visceral fat. It isn’t always possible to lose that an awful lot visceral fats in every week, this have to be very clear.
An instance: a weight-reduction plan that works very well — and i’m no longer speakme about seriously or pathologically overweight subjects, however overweight subjects in regular situations — permits at quality to lose one kg in keeping with week. For subjects who are heavily overweight, it can reach a kilo and a half of per week: but it is already plenty, if I need this loss to be stable.
To shed pounds, the purpose of a weight loss plan coupled with exercise should be: to lose visceral fatIf I needed to supply a few advice …
1. First recommendation anyone’s desires are man or woman
therefore we can’t make diets with portions that are the equal for anybody, because every people has his personal intake.
That stated, from the point of view of nutrients it is crucial to change the special kinds of nutrients as much as viable. As a primary rule — and challenge to specific situations — no nutrient taken less than twice a week is bad for you and any nutrient taken extra than two times a week is probably to be terrible. instance: I take milk or yogurt within the morning, however not every morning, so I alternate dairy products with soy milk and oat milk. At noon I eat carbohydrates to give strength to the frame, but I try and trade foods: I exchange 00 flour with wholemeal flour, and possibly with spelled, barley, couscous. inside the evening, however, I have to strictly avoid carbohydrates and have a dinner that is exclusively protein, but I have to change different varieties of proteins. So red meat, white meat — higher if fish — eggs, legumes, lean sliced, goat or sheep cheese. The more I exchange, the more peaceful i am.
2.
2nd concept: I favor carbohydrates inside the first 1/2 of the day and proteins within the 2nd 1/2 of the day
Carbohydrates in the first 1/2 of the day are a effective metabolism accelerator and that i eat them because I pass — and in particular I do sports activities — at the same time as in the evening the frame wishes proteins as it has to maintain tissues, organs, muscle groups, bones, healthy, particularly whilst the frame is less younger.
3. three. 1/3 idea: I attempt to have extra meals an afternoon than the 3 classics
It would not imply that I need to move loopy having a big breakfast — the average Italian doesn’t like a large breakfast, wakes up at the final minute and is going to paintings or to the bar for espresso and croissants — but I attempt to make at least microsteps in the morning, or one after I wake up and one within the middle of the morning, alternating among carbohydrates and proteins. Then i’ve my lunch, within the afternoon i’ve a snack ideally based totally on seasonal fruit — so I devour fruit among food — and then, as we said, i have an almost exclusively protein dinner | https://medium.com/@fazzuansari66/the-first-class-manner-to-shed-pounds-is-to-choose-an-all-spherical-healthy-way-of-life-from-d45eae50a931 | ['Ansari Editing Zone'] | 2021-12-23 18:21:44.945000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Fat Loss', 'Weightloss Recipe', 'Viral', 'Weight Loss Tips'] |
YOLOv5 compared to Faster RCNN. Who wins? | YOLOv5 compared to Faster RCNN. Who wins?
Doing cool things with data!
Introduction
The deep learning community is abuzz with YOLO v5. This blog recently introduced YOLOv5 as — State-of-the-Art Object Detection at 140 FPS. This immediately generated significant discussions across Hacker News, Reddit and even Github but not for its inference speed. Two prominent issues were — Should the model be called YOLO and are the speed benchmarking results accurate and reproducible. If you are interested in Roboflow’s response then you can find it here.
All the controversy aside, YOLOv5 looked like a promising model. So I have compared it to one of the best two stage detectors — Faster RCNN. To do this comparison, I have taken 3 videos from with different contexts and run the 2 models side by side. My assessment includes observations on the quality of results and inference speed. So lets get started!
YOLOv5 model
The YOLOv5 implementation has been done in Pytorch in contrast with the previous developments that used the DarkNet framework. This makes it easier to understand, train with it and deploy this model. There is no paper released with YOLO-v5. My understanding is that architecturally it is quite similar to YOLO-v4. One different may be the use of Cross Stage Partial Network (CSP) to reduce computation cost. It is still not clear if YOLO-v5 runs faster than YOLO-v4 but I prefer Pytorch implementations and I am amazed with how easy it is to train with this model. My personal experience of running inference through it was also seamless.
The release of YOLOv5 includes five different models sizes: YOLOv5s (smallest), YOLOv5m, YOLOv5l, YOLOv5x (largest). The inference speed and mean average precision (mAP) for these models is shared below:
YOLO v5 stats from UltraLytics repo
Inference using YOLO-v5
The first step would be to clone the repo for YOLO-v5. Install all the requirments. I use Pytorch 1.5 and the code works without any problems.
You can download all the weights for different pretrained COCO models using:
bash weights/download_weights.sh
To run inference on a video, you have to pass the path to the video and the weights of the model you want to use. If the weights argument is not set, then by default code runs on the YOLO small model. Sample arguments I used are shared below:
python detect.py --source video/MOT20-01-raw-cut1.mp4 --output video_out/ --weights weights/yolov5s.pt --conf-thres 0.4
The output video will be saved in the output folder
Training using YOLO-v5
I haven’t personally tried training using YOLO-v5 on a custom data set but a good step by step tutorial is shared by Roboflow on Youtube here.
Faster RCNN Model
For the Faster RCNN model, I used the pretrained model from Tensorflow Object Detection. Tensorflow Object Detection shares COCO pretrained Faster RCNN for various backbones. For this blog I have used the Fatser RCNN ResNet 50 backbone. This repo has shared a nice tutorial on how to do inference using their pretrained model here.
Comparison of YOLOv5 model with Faster RCNN
The first scene I chose was a street driving scene considering the importance to self driving car industry. The results from both these models is shared below:
YOLOv5 model evaluated on Driving Video
Faster RCNN evaluated on Driving Video
YOLO model seems much better at detecting smaller objects — traffic lights in this case and also is able to pick up the car when it is farther away i.e smaller.
Run Speed of YOLO v5 small(end to end including reading video, running model and saving results to file) — 52.8 FPS!
Run Speed of Faster RCNN ResNet 50(end to end including reading video, running model and saving results to file) —21.7 FPS
These results are evaluated on NVIDIA 1080 Ti.
So far YOLO v5 seems better than Faster RCNN
YOLO v5 and Faster RCNN comparison 1
The next video is a basketball match video from youtube. The results of both models are shared below:
YOLO v5 on Basketball Video
Faster RCNN ResNet 50 on Basketball Video
The Faster RCNN model is run at a threshold of 60% and one could argue it is picking up the crowd with a single person label but I prefer YOLO here for the cleanliness of results. Both models have false positive on the abc logo.
I was also disappointed on how both failed to detect the basketball ball even though sports ball is a category in COCO. Their tally is now:
YOLO v5 and Faster RCNN comparison 2
For the final video, I chose an indoor crowded scene from MOT data set. This is a challenging video with low lighting, distant and dense crowds. The results from both the models are shown below.
YOLO v5 model tested on indoor crowded scene from MOT data set
Faster RCNN model tested on indoor crowded scene from MOT data set
This is interesting. I would say both these models struggle to detect people in the distance as they walk into the corridor. This could be attributed to low light and smaller objects. When the crowd gets closer to the camera, both are able to pick up overlapping people.
YOLO v5 and Faster RCNN comparison 2
Conclusion
The final comparison b/w the two models shows that YOLO v5 has a clear advantage in terms of run speed. The small YOLO v5 model runs about 2.5 times faster while managing better performance in detecting smaller objects. The results are also cleaner with little to no overlapping boxes. Ultralytics have done a fabulous job on their YOLO v5 open sourcing a model that is easy to train and run inference on.
This blog also shows an emerging trend with computer vision object detection towards moving to models that are both faster and accurate.
If you have tried YOLOv5 please share your experience in the comments below.
At Deep Learning Analytics, we are extremely passionate about using Machine Learning to solve real-world problems. We have helped many businesses deploy innovative AI-based solutions. Contact us through our website here if you see an opportunity to collaborate.
References | https://towardsdatascience.com/yolov5-compared-to-faster-rcnn-who-wins-a771cd6c9fb4 | ['Priya Dwivedi'] | 2020-06-30 17:26:51.548000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Computer Vision', 'Object Detection', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science'] |
Poor People Santa | Poor People Santa
photo of author and Santa 1970
Don’t think I ever believed in Santa,
But I still love the music and the lights.
A silly piece of Americana,
Nast’s image, with Coke’s colors still delights.
Being raised by two poor teenage parents,
They both worked two jobs to give us Christmas .
We had lights, a tree, and received presents.
What Santa delivered was suspicious.
Not wanting to hurt my parents feelings,
Maybe there’s no island of misfit toys.
But less poor cousins, in seasons greetings,
Nicer clothes and toys, same Santa deploys.
The children poorer still always miss out,
A department store Santa instills doubt.
Thank you Carol Burt for a timely reminder. I don’t hate Christmas but it’s getting harder to love it. | https://medium.com/@wjspirdione/poor-people-santa-7a6f16881f21 | ['William J Spirdione'] | 2020-12-18 11:18:08.480000+00:00 | ['Society', 'Sonnet', 'Poverty', 'Poetry', 'Christmas'] |
How I became a full-stack developer | How I became a full-stack developer
Learning to program is hard. It takes a long time. People seem to be trying hard to find a shortcut to learn it as fast as possible in a smart way. That makes sense because you don’t want to waste your time. But, that would be a pitfall. You don’t have to be so “clever” to master coding efficiently.
Let me tell you what that means.
Hi, I’m Takuya, a full-stack developer from Japan. I built a whole app alone, and I can write in almost any language I need. For example, I’ve written code in JavaScript, Java, Kotlin, Objective-C, Swift, and C++ for building my React Native app. I’ve also written Python and Lua to create a video art using DeepLearning. There is no strict definition of “full-stack” but, in my opinion, being a full-stack developer doesn’t mean you know everything.
Being a full-stack developer means that you can quickly adopt new technologies as much as you need as if you know everything.
Watch video: https://youtu.be/EC-FPKmFxr4
Understand the programming paradigms
Why is it possible? Because there are no significant differences between programming languages. The paradigms of coding are basically the same, such as Object-Oriented Programming, data structure, multithreading, etc.
For example, function signatures are similar regardless of languages.
Say, you got to find the index of the element in a certain array. In JavaScript, the signature of indexOf method looks like so:
array.indexOf(searchElement[, fromIndex])
The first argument is the element to locate in the array. And the second argument is the index to start the search at. You can call it like so:
['a', 'b', 'c'].indexOf('b') // => 1
['a', 'b', 'c'].indexOf('z') // => -1
It returns the index if found, otherwise, it returns -1 . In Python, the signature looks like this:
list.index(element, start, end)
And you can call it like this:
['a', 'b', 'c'].index('b') # => 1
['a', 'b', 'c'].index('z') # => ValueError: 'z' is not in list
Very similar, right? In PHP, it looks like this:
array_search ( mixed $needle , array $haystack , bool $strict = false ) : int|string|false
array_search('b', ['a', 'b', 'c']); // => 1
array_search('z', ['a', 'b', 'c']); // => false
If you already know indexOf method of JavaScript, it is not hard to understand how to call array_search in PHP or list.index method in Python. Right? So, as you understand a particular language deeply, learning another language can be easy by reusing your knowledge and experience.
This technique can be applied to frameworks as well.
Once you’ve learned React, you can reuse the knowledge for learning another similar framework like Yew of Rust. You can write a component something like this in Yew:
use wasm_bindgen::prelude::*;
use yew::prelude::*;
struct Model {
link: ComponentLink<Self>,
value: i64,
}
enum Msg { AddOne }
impl Component for Model {
...
fn view(&self) -> Html {
html! {
<div>
<button onclick=self.link.callback(|_| Msg::AddOne)>{ "+1" }</button>
<p>{ self.value }</p>
</div>
}
}
}
So, if you are already used to writing React, you should be able to understand Yew framework quickly. You will notice that there are a lot of common designs and paradigms between languages like that. That's because the developer communities are influencing each other.
My favorite one is that the idea of JavaScript's async/await has come from C#. It's interesting, isn't it? So, most ideas are the mixture of the existing ideas.
Stick with a particular stack
The point is that you should be deeply into a particular language and framework. In fact, how many languages and frameworks you can use don't matter. But how deeply you understand the language and framework is important. Because you should have tackled to solve difficult problems with them. Those experiences are the true gem that can be reused for other skills.
A lot of people are obsessed to talk about the "best" programming language and the "best" library and framework, etc. That doesn't make sense. Because they actually never exist. Instead, there are the optimal language and library for solving your problem. So, don't blindly choose what they told you.
Choose technologies based on the problem you are trying to solve and stick with them. So, try every technology that looks promising for you and decide which to use by yourself.
Make a lot of mistakes
So, there are a lot of common principles in programming.
And once you chose a dev stack, stick with it so that you can cultivate your own reusable knowledge-base. But how to get that knowledge efficiently?
That is to make as many mistakes as possible. I made countless mistakes while learning to code.
People usually try to avoid making mistakes by reading books and articles on the internet. Of course, knowing the best practices is useful.
Asking people questions is helpful. Yeah, I agree. Those are quick ways to find the answers. But, you will never understand ‘how’ they found the answers. You will never know ‘why’ they do in that way. You are just borrowing their time and effort by asking questions. On the other hand, making a mistake is the opportunity to understand them. Besides, making mistakes can be etched in your memory longer than just remembering the answers. That is something like muscle training.
When I started programming at age 13, I didn’t have much money to buy so many books. My home was not connected to the internet yet. So, the Japanese version of the Win32API help file was my bible. I’ve read it and try the Windows APIs again and again without knowing how to call them. Some APIs were not translated and I couldn’t understand the English descriptions, so I tried to specify possible parameters as many as I can come up with until it works. My app and my computer crashed many many times. I was so happy when I finally got it to work. And I’ve learned the API signature patterns little by little. That helped me understand new APIs, and also helped me design interfaces of my functions and methods. That’s how I learned basic design patterns.
My first PC
Making a mistake is definitely not embarrassing unlike studying at school.
That’s the necessary step to learn to code. I mean, you need to make mistakes. Don’t be afraid. That’s why I said you don’t have to be so “clever” to master coding efficiently. Cleverly avoiding mistakes is ultimately an inefficient way to learn. You broke your computer by mistake? That’s great. I did it many times, too. You wiped out data from the database by mistake? That’s awesome. I did it many times, too. So, you are doing great. Keep it up!
I don’t mean that you shouldn’t read books or search for answers on Stackoverflow. I mean that you should think with your head and use your hands.
It’s painful but will pay off
Ah, yes, it’s hard. It’s even painful sometimes. It might not be so muchfun when you scratch your head and mumble like, why doesn’t it work, why doesn’t it work..
But, trust me, your effort will pay off.
I was struggling to find good design patterns of Object-Oriented programming. My code was messed up with weird classes. But one day, I suddenly realized how to design classes well. This knowledge doesn’t depend on any OOP languages. And that will make you a full-stack developer.
So, that’s how I learned to code. If you were struggling to learn programming, I hope this video is helpful! | https://blog.inkdrop.app/how-i-became-a-full-stack-developer-5322e21433b2 | ['Takuya Matsuyama'] | 2021-04-26 02:41:29.193000+00:00 | ['Indiedev', 'Full Stack', 'Full Stack Developer', 'Skills Development', 'Programmers Life'] |
All is fair in faith and war… | All is fair in faith and war…
Imagine someone threatening to take your most prized possession away, something that you hold dear, something that defines you, or something apart of your own identity. Now imagine this item being your faith or belief practice. Would you not try your best to protect this privilege? Joël Edouard Follow Dec 1, 2019 · 4 min read
During World War II, propaganda posters were designed to encourage American citizens to contribute to the war effort. During the 1930s and 1940s, there were no emails, text messages, chat rooms, Instagrams, or Twitters. Therefore, the American government had used basic media to creatively reach the everyday people who may not have been able to serve in the military to contribute to the war effort. The American government commissioned artists to influence public support with posters that spoke to specific topics such as food rationing, war bonds, freedom, and religion.
The topic of religion was seen and used by the government in two ways. One way was by raising concern that the people’s freedom to practice religion was threatened. Another way was to use faith as a means to justify war.
This is the Enemy. 28"x20" Created by Barbara Marks. 1943. http://digitalmemory.stjohns.edu/digital/collection/WWIIposters/id/70
We see the first method used in the lithograph poster designed by Barbara Marks titled This is the Enemy. While there is little information found about the designer who created the illustration, we do know that the poster was created for the Office of War Information or OWI. The purpose of the OWI was to share wartime information with the public. This office thus implemented propaganda campaigns using not only posters but any and all media available (film, radio, press, etc). This is the Enemy contains an illustration of a Nazi soldier’s hand holding a knife that is piercing a bible. What catches the eye initially is the aggressive bright orange-red color of the background. The color supports the striking image of a knife going through a bible in that it is intense draws much attention to the illustration. The subject matter is emphasized by the use of dramatic light and dark colors seen in the hand and bible. This application of lights and darks creates dark ominous shadows. Beyond the subject matter, the colors used in the design have a strong contrasting relationship. For example, the artist used the red for the Nazi symbol and green for the phrase This is the Enemy. The dimensions of the poster are measured to be 28” by 20”, larger than most posters we see today. The content of this design is justified by Hitler’s hatred for Christianity.
An article in the Washington Post says, “in Hitler’s eyes Christianity was a religion fit only for slaves.” And continues, “Its teaching, he (Hitler) declared, was a rebellion against the natural law of selection by struggle of the fittest.” Information in the St. John’s Digital Archive Collection suggests that this poster was most likely mailed to St. John’s University during the war and displayed around the campus. Such a strong image would have impacted the students to develop a strong animosity to the “enemy” Nazi, especially because St. John’s is a catholic university. It must have been a very deliberate decision to share this specific poster with the university community. Mark’s poster can be seen as an example of how faith was used to shape public opinion and also justify war. This idea goes back to the question originally posed. If someone threatened to take away something that is a part of your identity, would you not try your best to protect that? Seeing the threat shown in This is the Enemy would provoke viewers to support the war effort, which was the mission of the OWI’s propaganda.
This use of faith for the purpose of propaganda is important to examine especially during a time when information wasn’t as readily accessible as it is today. Using an important part of one’s identity for these posters in some ways personalizes war for the everyday person who was not on the front lines, who may not have been fully informed, or who might have lacked a sense of “nationalism” or “patriotism”. If someone’s core beliefs are attacked and that is communicated to them directly they are more likely to be moved to support the war effort and oppose the “enemy”. The piece by Barbara Marks personified an actual issue during an important period in our history and communicated directly to a specific group of people. Thus, through art, faith became a means to connect people to war.
In the St. John’s Digital Archive Collection you can find this work and more posters that touch on not only religion but on many other topics.
WORKS CITED
“Office of War Information.” Office of War Information, www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3959.html
“Poster, This Is the Enemy, 1943.” Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18622269/.
Rosenwald, Michael. “Hitler Hated Judaism. But He Loathed Christianity, Too.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 23 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/04/20/hitler-hated-judaism-he-loathed-christianity-too/.
“This Is The Enemy.” CONTENTdm, digitalmemory.stjohns.edu/digital/collection/WWIIposters/id/70. | https://medium.com/make-it-red/all-is-fair-in-faith-and-war-93e20609962d | ['Joël Edouard'] | 2019-12-02 00:39:51.218000+00:00 | ['Propaganda'] |
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My Arcade Love | Photo by Sunyu Kim from Pexels
The cold blast of air from the vents,
The boredom sucked from our brain,
The click of those ticket machines,
All these feelings and acknowledgments before we lose each other.
The lights glowing from behind a glass case,
The glare of fluorescent lightbulbs,
The warmth of your arms that hold my waist when I throw a ball or a hoop,
Or my thoughts.
You laugh at my attempts to dodge your strikes at the air hockey pitch,
Kiss my head when I seem lost and bring me back home to the flashing colours of yellow and white – even though we don’t like eggs or loud noises.
The cool blue and purple ice cream colours make us laugh,
Before we try again, and I bury my face in your ordinary jumper,
Throw my head back and breathe you in along with the happiness and joy,
Even the canny voice of the man we both hate and shout at.
We both want to win,
Impress the other.
Skid across the bowling alley and slip on the polished floor,
You promise to get me a stuffed bear…and fail at it,
But I don’t care at all.
You, me, the bright lights and dancing behind the bowling alley aisles is enough to make me lose my mind along with my thoughts,
The bright pink, green, blue, white flashes of that arcade game,
Along with the smell of fried onions, popcorn and soda bubbles popping across the floor.
Take out our frustrations on all the machines, before screaming with laughter,
“Who cares who sees or hears?” You gently remind me, before kissing my head and smiling with your lips pressed against my skin,
Before we snag nearby simulator rides, blasters or mini mallets to compete, crying joyous tears and fall for each other even more. | https://medium.com/@erikafischerlaine/my-arcade-love-9efa6aedfe2d | ['Erika Fischer-Laine'] | 2020-12-15 16:46:45.771000+00:00 | ['Fun', 'Light', 'Poem', 'Romance', 'Arcade'] |
Valentine’s: Celebrate Love and Free Stuff. | Free ways you and your honey can support each other in your educational and professional journeys.
Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels
The best relationships are built on honesty, trust, openness…and free stuff — free foot massages, free dinners, and free love and support. So in the spirit of St. Valentine’s, we’re sharing some free ways you and your honey can support each other in your educational and professional journey. You gotta agree that there’s nothing more romantic than a honey that supports your goals and is your loudest fan on the bleachers.
The best relationships are built on honesty, trust, openness…and free stuff.
Being an awesome human being is a prerequisite for being with you, and this includes supporting your dreams and goals. It’s even more amazing when your person’s got your back and wants you to get that degree or “out-of-your-league” job even more than you do. There are endless things you and your sweetheart can do to support each other. Here are 5 that can benefit your relationship AND your studies.
Be your student
To truly learn something, you should be able to teach it to another person in layman’s language. Who better to do this with than the person you spend the most time with and who can give you honest feedback? This is especially helpful if your sweetie has zero clues of what the heck you do on the daily.
Be your teacher
Interested in being an interesting person? Interesting people usually have knowledge of multiple aspects of life and can talk about it. Your honey probably knows things that you don’t. Ask them to teach you about their specialty or delight you with one of their skills. This is also a good way to bond and gain more appreciation of how talented your honey is.
Expand your network
You may not know it but your honey may be a contact goldmine. If there’s something you need help with and they can’t help you, ask them if they know of anyone, even remotely. You never know who your honey is friends with, for better or for worse.
Be your tester or proofreader
Having another person to help you study works wonders, whether that’s quizzing you or proofreading your thesis. Sometimes we’re stuck in our heads, convinced that we’ve just drafted the next Harry Potter series. Outside feedback would be helpful.
Also, sometimes we have no self control and we just want the damn answer on the back of the notecard (been there too many times). When studying with your honey, tell them to hold off on giving you the answer, even if you go hard on the puppy eyes.
Late night/early morning coffee & donut run
Days where studying is more important than sleep and bathroom breaks are inevitable. It’s during these times that a sugar- and caffeine-filled snack will transform your life. A sweet sweet Valentine is always up for the challenge of finding the nearest open donut shop to help you crush that test, interview, or whatever.
The gift of knowledge, after all, is the best Valentine present you can give and get. True? Perhaps. Corny? For sure!
Let your honey know that you’re just as excited for, and about, them and give the same support. Now go and teach each other something new! The gift of knowledge, after all, is the best Valentine’s present you can give and get. True? Perhaps. Corny? For sure!
First published in the Journal of Leksi. | https://medium.com/care-anywhere/valentines-celebrate-love-and-free-stuff-6da105d67592 | ['Golda Manuel'] | 2020-02-14 20:40:45.878000+00:00 | ['Study Help', 'Professional Development', 'Valentines Day', 'Education', 'Study'] |
The Making of an “Unblockable Presidential Text Messaging Service” | The Making of an “Unblockable Presidential Text Messaging Service”
All it took was a president, a federal agency, two houses of congress, a hundred million dollars, and a global war on terror.
Federal Communications Commissioners inspect the latest in television, Washington, D.C., December 1, 1939
As with all slightly-nefarious bureaucratic dealings, it sounds dry when you say it out loud.
Who would object, one might reasonably ask, to a national network for disseminating safety information? And who would object, one might further inquire, to an opt-out provision for those carriers actually tasked with maintaining that network? And what is the problem, one might finally wonder, with an exception to the opt-out procedure for high-priority nationwide emergency governmental alerts? Who, one might more pointedly observe, cares?
But it all starts to sound not-so-small when you muscle those facts around and shove ’em into some context until they reveal a more interesting story. When you do that, you get headlines like this: “Do You Think Donald Trump’s Tweets Are Bad?” “Starting January 20, Donald Trump Can Send Unblockable Mass Text Messages to the Entire Nation.” “If Trump is president, he’ll make the Wireless Emergency Alert system his own personalized Twitter.”
So. Part of me loves the dystopian idea of cell phones quietly buzzing away with alerts saying things like “Crooked McDonalds drive thru operator would not give me honey mustard sauce. Sad!” as Washington, D.C. crumbles into ashy ruins. (Another part of me obviously hates this idea.)
Yet a third part of me, though, wonders how this came to be.
I must say, I am really glad I interrogated that third part of myself, because there are a lot of interesting little details in the saga of the development of the presidential emergency alert system. Join me, won’t you, on a journey through the winding halls of our federal government, with a few detours into the Global War on Terror and, eventually, the board rooms of the country’s biggest cell network carriers.
Our tour begins at the FCC.
The FCC is a really strange organization, and I was fortunate enough to spend a semester diving deep into its purpose and history in law school. But outside of law-school-confined, semester-long explorations of administrative rule-making in communications law, the FCC doesn’t frequently grab attention.
The agency had a pretty high-profile period in the early to mid 2000s when, under George Bush’s appointees, the commission made cleaning up “indecency” on television its number one priority. The FCC became a topic of public interest again soon after, in the late 00’s, when anyone who was tracking current events was talking urgently at dinner parties about “net neutrality” (the threat hasn’t gone away, even if the dinner party conversations have changed; I digress). The short of it is that the priorities of the FCC are set by the executive branch, which means that you can get a pretty clear picture of what a president considers the primary national communications concern from what their FCC is doing. So: George Bush worried about Janet Jackson’s breasts, Barack Obama worried about piracy and internet regulation.
Anyway, somewhere in the large eight-year window that was the FCC under Bush appointees, someone got it in their head that people didn’t watch over-the-air television as much as they used to, so our government needed something to supplement those screeching warnings that so often interrupted “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” (Your own experience may vary.) This desire was given its own shade of urgency in a world where we were expected to have a working knowledge of what color corresponded to how worried about a seemingly-inevitable terrorist attack we should be each day. Terror alerts ranged from an alarming bright orange to a VERY alarming bright red. Our risk, in turn, ranged from high to VERY high.
In such a dangerous world, in a time of global war against terrorism, one must stay informed. And what better way to keep people informed than flashing these alerts to cell phones?
With that wild idea, and in that climate, arose a bill tasking the FCC with creating just such an emergency cell-phone alert network.
The primary direction and architecture of this network was described and funded in an act called the “Warning, Alert, and Response Act.” It was introduced by the 109th Congress around 2008. It gave the FCC approximately $100 million to research, build, and implement the network. It mandated that the FCC create and regulate the technology, and it invited carriers to opt into using the technology (nearly all carriers have).
It also included a provision authorizing carriers to allow individual subscribers to opt out of the alerts if they so requested. But not all of the alerts: in Section 602(B)(2)(e), the act says that subscribers can block any alerts created by the system except those issued directly by the president.
There it is: one line in this gigantic piece of legislation describing this gigantic federal program, now getting people riled about unblockable presidential text messages.
The slate of legislation that contained this act was not actually about the FCC or cellular technology. Given the animating purpose, it’s no surprise at all that the bill carrying this thing was in fact about national security, as it seems everything was during that time. It was just one small brick in a complex structure of legislation primarily focused on, of all things, the security of America’s nautical ports (as well as a handful of amendments and updates to the real grandfather of the at-the-time war-on-terror status quo, the Homeland Security Act of 2002). And of course the timing was deeply influenced by Hurricane Katrina, another event that has had outsized impact on the legislative imagination but a disappointingly small impact on needed changes American lives; this also explains the port- and nautical-focused angle of the bill.
The portions of the bill creating this ostensibly safety-focused alert system were not even part of they bill at first. They were added via an amendment when this bill first appeared in the Senate after passing through the House. The amendment was proposed by a man named Jim Demint, whose name you might recognize. He’s been a prominent voice in conservative American politics for quite some time, and his aforelinked Wikipedia article could give you some more context on the guy.
So this piece of legislation worked its way through congress, picking up appendages like this one, as all legislation does, and eventually graduating into the real world. Once there, it sat quietly and likely infrequently read, waiting for the moment when it could shine, while the FCC and the major cell service providers put it all into effect.
The law’s moment to shine, it turns out, is now, when it gets rebranded as a mechanism for unblockable late-night texts from a commander-in-chief already prone to late-night missives.
For this story to go exactly as it did, it required a few ingredients. First, it required an executive agency that could coordinate large-scale programs like this. In this case, that agency was the FCC, which developed the technical specifications and negotiated deployment of the technology to the nation’s largest cell carriers.
Second, it required complicity from cell network carriers. All of the major carriers joined this crusade for public safety, creating this universal inroad to our inboxes. (Carriers could, of course, opt out, but they would need to alert customers if they did. I’m imagining the letter they’d send to their customers: “Thank you for choosing Verizon! If there’s a terrorist attack, you’ll be last to know!”)
Third, it required a climate of heightened concern for national security, in a time when the United States was firmly engaged in a “global war on terror,” and the citizenry was firmly terrified of basically everything.
There is no reason at all to think that Donald Trump is going to use this system in any surprising or abusive ways. But that’s not what makes this whole thing interesting. This is a story of how a presidential regime can consolidate executive powers in very tiny ways, such that the full force of those efforts is not revealed until years later. It’s a story of what happens when politicians work in concert to create a thing that the American people don’t even realize exists.
And we never do realize these things exist. Not until we see their surprising repercussions marshaling on the horizon. | https://medium.com/making-a-record/the-making-of-an-unblockable-presidential-text-messaging-service-297577325f2b | ['Stephen Goldmeier'] | 2018-10-03 18:26:48.965000+00:00 | ['Net Neutrality', 'FCC', 'Politics', 'National Security'] |
Wolfgrowth Review: The #1 tool for growing your Instagram | For me, the number one tool is Wolfgrowth.
Basically, wolfgrowth is an automation/bottling tool. It helps me automate my IG accounts quite easily and conviniently as it is a web based app and not a native app that runs from your PC.
It’s features ranges from post scheduling/automation, which is the number one thing I was searching for as I don’t have much time to stay active on the socials, automatic media engager, which makes your account engage with other people’s posts, an automatic follow/unfollow bot, an in depth analytics page and most importantly a mass story viewer/live reactions.
Why did I say most importantly though, it’s because this tool is what has helped me build my account mostly. This feature makes your account view a ton of stories daily, thousands of stories, and also reacts to the stories. When a weird account like yours views a person’s story, and REACTS to the story, the person out of curiosity opens up your profile and sees what kinda stuff you post. And since the tool makes your account view stories of people in your niche, chances are ,the person is gonna like what you post and therefore, the person follows your account.
This is amazing because all these people are people that are very active on IG, active enough to post stories, your followers would fully consist of active fans. This will undeniably help boost your account and help you blow up even, because, Instagram promotes content of active pages to the explore page, the explore page is the sauce when it comes to Instagram because there’s a huge snowball effect potential with it. | https://medium.com/@georgedibsz/the-number-one-tool-for-growing-your-instagram-as-a-business-f9f3a3da8f57 | ['George Dibsz'] | 2021-12-28 17:32:21.327000+00:00 | ['Instagram Marketing'] |
pruning speeds things up? | the weight associated with, synapses x2, to y4 or y2 to z1 are basically pointless to the results of the calculation, so as a result, it makes total sense to prune those, so for the next however many epochs, that value doesn’t need to be calculated. On 1,000 epochs, that saves 2 calculations per epoch just by eliminating 2 synapses for a total of 2,000 calculations saved on a tiny network that in 1,000 epochs will be 16,000 calculations for a net saving of 12.5%, on a bigger network, those numbers could easily be way bigger, and the net saving, much larger.
An example might look like this-
On 1,000 epochs, this is the difference between 12,000 calculations, versus 42,000. That’s a net saving of over 71% of compute, that is, assuming this pruning doesn’t degrade the results of the network (or at least, not by too much)
Conclusion — I guess an easier way to explain it is, human brains do it — probably to save and better allocate resources. I don’t think human brains operate in the same serialized nature computers do, but I guess the underlying reason is the same — save resources. The underlying computing reason is no different to taking a big file and zipping it, though, this doesn’t make sense until later, until the path of computation in this neural network is well understood and it’s clear which synapses and neurons can be removed. So, this is a much later consideration, but still, one that results in huge optimization. | https://medium.com/i-want-to-build-a-brain-in-a-computer/pruning-speeds-things-up-2611f08cd7f1 | [] | 2020-12-25 18:28:08.805000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Brain', 'Optimization', 'Neural Networks'] |
Life as a Cat | You’d think life would be fun,
but I shall tell you it’s not.
How could life be fun,
when constantly on the run.
Never knowing when’s the next meal,
and what’s my humans deal?
No I don’t want to be touched,
nor do I want to play.
Cuddle when they want?
Ha, I think not.
Alone I shall lay,
of course until I want to play.
Then I’m in your face,
awaiting a waving shoelace.
Grab a mouse or two
and throw them my way.
For I shall only enjoy,
when you fetch the toy.
Now that I see a smile,
I think it’s time to go awhile.
At the top of my tower,
is where I’ll spend my next few hours. | https://medium.com/the-pom/life-as-a-cat-f5f32ec67411 | ['M'] | 2021-01-26 17:23:07.678000+00:00 | ['Cats', 'Pets', 'Poem', 'Humor', 'Poetry'] |
Language Modeling With NLTK. Building and studying statistical… | Language Modeling With NLTK
Building and studying statistical language models from a corpus dataset using Python and the NLTK library.
To get an introduction to NLP, NLTK, and basic preprocessing tasks, refer to this article. If you’re already acquainted with NLTK, continue reading!
What are Language Models?
A language model learns to predict the probability of a sequence of words. But why do we need to learn the probability of words?
In machine translation, we take in a bunch of words from a language and convert these words into another language. Now, there can be many potential translations that a system might give us and we will want to compute the probability of each of these translations to understand which one is the most accurate. For example, looking at word orderings -
p(the lady is beautiful) > p(beautiful the is lady)
In the above example, we know that the probability of the first sentence will be more than the second. That’s how we arrive at the right translation.
This ability to model the rules of a language as a probability gives great power for NLP related tasks. Language models are used in speech recognition, machine translation, part-of-speech tagging, parsing, optical character recognition, handwriting recognition, information retrieval, and many other daily tasks.
Neural Networks in NLP — Image by Flickr on Unsplash
Types of Language Models
There are primarily two types of language models -
Statistical Language Models - These models use traditional statistical techniques like n-grams, Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and certain linguistic rules to learn the probability distribution of words. Neural Language Models - These models surpass statistical language models in their effectiveness. They use different kinds of neural networks to model language.
“You shall know the nature of a word by the company it keeps.” - John Rupert Firth
Now that we have a basic idea about language models, let’s build them. In this article, we will look at statistical language analysis using n-gram models, with and without smoothing. Then we will look at next-word prediction using different n-gram models and their relative performance.
What are N-gram Models?
Given a sequence of n-1 words, an n-gram model predicts the most probable word that might follow this sequence. It’s a probabilistic model that’s trained on a corpus of text. An n-gram model is built by counting how often word sequences occur in corpus text and then estimating the probabilities. Since a simple n-gram model has limitations, improvements are often made via smoothing or interpolation.
Consider two sentences - ‘There was heavy rainfall’ vs ‘There was huge rainfall’. From experience, we know that the former sentence sounds better. Ideally, an n-gram model will tell us that ‘heavy rainfall’ occurs much more often than ‘huge rainfall’ in the training corpus. Thus, the first sentence is more probable and will be selected by the model.
A model that simply relies on how often a word occurs without looking at previous words is called a unigram model. If a model considers only the previous word to predict the current word, then it’s called bigram. If two previous words are considered, then it’s a trigram model, and so on.
An n-gram model for the above example would calculate the following probability -
p(There was heavy rainfall) = p(There, was, heavy, rainfall) = p(There)p(was|There)p(heavy|There was)p(rainfall|There was heavy)
Since it’s impractical to calculate these conditional probabilities, using the Markov assumption, we can approximate this to a bigram model where the occurrence of each word only depends on the occurrence of the previous word giving the probability as -
p(There was heavy rainfall) ~ p(There) p(was|There)p(heavy|was)p(rainfall|heavy)
Let us calculate these probabilities using code.
Initial Steps
First we import the dataset and the required libraries. The dataset used in this article can be accessed here.
# import libraries needed, read the dataset import nltk, re, pprint, string
from nltk import word_tokenize, sent_tokenize
string.punctuation = string.punctuation +'“'+'”'+'-'+'’'+'‘'+'—'
string.punctuation = string.punctuation.replace('.', '')
file = open('corpus.txt', encoding = 'utf8').read()
We have imported string punctuation and added some other special characters present in the dataset which we would like to remove. The period character has been removed from string punctuation so that we can count the number of sentences in the dataset, after which we can remove periods from the dataset as well. We now preprocess the data.
#preprocess data
file_nl_removed = ""
for line in file:
line_nl_removed = line.replace("
", " ") #removes newlines
file_nl_removed += line_nl_removed file_p = "".join([char for char in file_nl_removed if char not in string.punctuation]) #removes all special characters
Now that we have removed special characters and newlines, we can get some statistics about our data.
sents = nltk.sent_tokenize(file_p)
print("The number of sentences is", len(sents))
#prints the number of sentences words = nltk.word_tokenize(file_p)
print("The number of tokens is", len(words))
#prints the number of tokens average_tokens = round(len(words)/len(sents))
print("The average number of tokens per sentence is",
average_tokens)
#prints the average number of tokens per sentence unique_tokens = set(words)
print("The number of unique tokens are", len(unique_tokens))
#prints the number of unique tokens
Statistics of the dataset
Building the N-gram Models
We now have some statistical parameters about the data such as the number of unique tokens which can be used while defining the vocabulary size in a model. Next we create the following language models on the training corpus -
1. Unigram
2. Bigram
3. Trigram
4. Fourgram
We list the top 5 bigrams, trigrams, four-grams without smoothing. We remove those which contain only articles, prepositions, determiners, for example, ‘of the’, ‘in a’, etc. These are called stopwords and can be removed by using an inbuilt list from NLTK. Stopwords are the English words which do not add much meaning to a sentence and can safely be ignored without sacrificing the meaning of the sentence.
from nltk.util import ngrams
from nltk.corpus import stopwords
stop_words = set(stopwords.words('english')) unigram=[]
bigram=[]
trigram=[]
fourgram=[]
tokenized_text = [] for sentence in sents:
sentence = sentence.lower()
sequence = word_tokenize(sentence)
for word in sequence:
if (word =='.'):
sequence.remove(word)
else:
unigram.append(word)
tokenized_text.append(sequence)
bigram.extend(list(ngrams(sequence, 2)))
#unigram, bigram, trigram, and fourgram models are created
trigram.extend(list(ngrams(sequence, 3)))
fourgram.extend(list(ngrams(sequence, 4))) def removal(x):
#removes ngrams containing only stopwords
y = []
for pair in x:
count = 0
for word in pair:
if word in stop_words:
count = count or 0
else:
count = count or 1
if (count==1):
y.append(pair)
return(y) bigram = removal(bigram)
trigram = removal(trigram)
fourgram = removal(fourgram) freq_bi = nltk.FreqDist(bigram)
freq_tri = nltk.FreqDist(trigram)
freq_four = nltk.FreqDist(fourgram) print("Most common n-grams without stopword removal and without add-1 smoothing:
")
print ("Most common bigrams: ", freq_bi.most_common(5))
print ("
Most common trigrams: ", freq_tri.most_common(5))
print ("
Most common fourgrams: ", freq_four.most_common(5))
Most common n-grams without stopword removal
We can also remove stopwords entirely from our dataset and find the n-gram models. Let us find the most common n-grams in the dataset after removing all the stopwords from the dataset.
#stopwords = code for downloading stop words through nltk from nltk.corpus import stopwords
stop_words = set(stopwords.words('english')) #prints top 10 unigrams, bigrams after removing stopwords print("Most common n-grams with stopword removal and without add-1 smoothing:
")
unigram_sw_removed = [p for p in unigram if p not in stop_words]
fdist = nltk.FreqDist(unigram_sw_removed)
print("Most common unigrams: ", fdist.most_common(10)) bigram_sw_removed = []
bigram_sw_removed.extend(list(ngrams(unigram_sw_removed, 2)))
fdist = nltk.FreqDist(bigram_sw_removed)
print("
Most common bigrams: ", fdist.most_common(10))
Most common n-grams after stopword removal
In order to get insights into the most common words used in a dataset, stopwords are generally removed to get meaningful results.
What is Add-1 Smoothing?
We have used Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) for training the parameters of an n-gram model. The problem with MLE is that it assigns zero probability to unknown or unseen words. This is because MLE uses a training corpus. If the word in the test set is not available in the training set, then the count of that particular word is zero and it leads to zero probability.
To eliminate this zero probability, we can do smoothing. Smoothing involves taking some probability mass from the events seen in training and assigning it to unseen events. Add-1 smoothing or Laplace smoothing is a simple smoothing technique that adds 1 to the count of all n-grams in the training set before normalizing them into probabilities.
Add-1 Smoothing
We can create a dictionary where each element is a list corresponding to a particular n-gram, and store every word and its associated probability as elements of the list. Add-1 smoothing is performed considering all the unique words in the tokenized text of our dataset as the vocabulary.
#Add-1 smoothing is performed here.
ngrams_all = {1:[], 2:[], 3:[], 4:[]}
for i in range(4):
for each in tokenized_text:
for j in ngrams(each, i+1):
ngrams_all[i+1].append(j); ngrams_voc = {1:set([]), 2:set([]), 3:set([]), 4:set([])} for i in range(4):
for gram in ngrams_all[i+1]:
if gram not in ngrams_voc[i+1]:
ngrams_voc[i+1].add(gram) total_ngrams = {1:-1, 2:-1, 3:-1, 4:-1}
total_voc = {1:-1, 2:-1, 3:-1, 4:-1}
for i in range(4):
total_ngrams[i+1] = len(ngrams_all[i+1])
total_voc[i+1] = len(ngrams_voc[i+1])
ngrams_prob = {1:[], 2:[], 3:[], 4:[]}
for i in range(4):
for ngram in ngrams_voc[i+1]:
tlist = [ngram]
tlist.append(ngrams_all[i+1].count(ngram))
ngrams_prob[i+1].append(tlist)
for i in range(4):
for ngram in ngrams_prob[i+1]:
ngram[-1] = (ngram[-1]+1)/(total_ngrams[i+1]+total_voc[i+1]) #add-1 smoothing
This is a general method to perform add-1 smoothing for any n-gram (the range can be increased from 4 if necessary). Let us see how this can be used to obtain the most common n-grams and their smoothed probabilities for unigrams, bigrams, trigrams and fourgrams.
#Prints top 10 unigram, bigram, trigram, fourgram after smoothing print("Most common n-grams without stopword removal and with add-1 smoothing:
")
for i in range(4):
ngrams_prob[i+1] = sorted(ngrams_prob[i+1], key = lambda x:x[1], reverse = True)
print ("Most common unigrams: ", str(ngrams_prob[1][:10]))
print ("
Most common bigrams: ", str(ngrams_prob[2][:10]))
print ("
Most common trigrams: ", str(ngrams_prob[3][:10]))
print ("
Most common fourgrams: ", str(ngrams_prob[4][:10]))
Most common n-grams after add-1 smoothing
We can also obtain the smoothed probabilities of each n-gram after removal of stopwords, according to the requirement in context of the dataset.
Next Word Prediction
Using the above bigram, trigram, and fourgram models that we just experimented with, we can predict the next word (top 5 probable) given the previous n-gram for the sentences below.
For str1, str2, we predict the next 2 possible word sequences using the trained smoothed models. For example, for the string ‘He looked very’ the next words can be -
(1) ‘He looked very’ *anxiously*
(2) ‘He looked very’ *uncomfortable*
str1 = 'after that alice said the'
str2 = 'alice felt so desperate that she was'
We use the pre-trained smoothed models that were formed without removal of stopwords. We obtain n-grams of the two strings to use as input to get the next word predictions.
#smoothed models without stopwords removed are used token_1 = word_tokenize(str1)
token_2 = word_tokenize(str2) ngram_1 = {1:[], 2:[], 3:[]} #to store the n-grams formed
ngram_2 = {1:[], 2:[], 3:[]}
for i in range(3):
ngram_1[i+1] = list(ngrams(token_1, i+1))[-1]
ngram_2[i+1] = list(ngrams(token_2, i+1))[-1] print("String 1: ", ngram_1,"
String 2: ",ngram_2)
N-grams of the 2 strings
Now we use the n-grams of the strings to get the next word predictions based on the highest probabilities.
for i in range(4):
ngrams_prob[i+1] = sorted(ngrams_prob[i+1], key = lambda x:x[1], reverse = True)
pred_1 = {1:[], 2:[], 3:[]}
for i in range(3):
count = 0
for each in ngrams_prob[i+2]:
if each[0][:-1] == ngram_1[i+1]:
#to find predictions based on highest probability of n-grams
count +=1
pred_1[i+1].append(each[0][-1])
if count ==5:
break
if count<5:
while(count!=5):
pred_1[i+1].append("NOT FOUND")
#if no word prediction is found, replace with NOT FOUND count +=1 for i in range(4):
ngrams_prob[i+1] = sorted(ngrams_prob[i+1], key = lambda x:x[1], reverse = True)
pred_2 = {1:[], 2:[], 3:[]}
for i in range(3):
count = 0
for each in ngrams_prob[i+2]:
if each[0][:-1] == ngram_2[i+1]:
count +=1
pred_2[i+1].append(each[0][-1])
if count ==5:
break
if count<5:
while(count!=5):
pred_2[i+1].append("\0")
count +=1
Now we can call the above method for each n-gram to get the next word predictions according to each model.
print("Next word predictions for the strings using the probability models of bigrams, trigrams, and fourgrams
") print("String 1 - after that alice said the-
") print("Bigram model predictions: {}
Trigram model predictions: {}
Fourgram model predictions: {}
" .format(pred_1[1], pred_1[2], pred_1[3])) print("String 2 - alice felt so desperate that she was-
") print("Bigram model predictions: {}
Trigram model predictions: {}
Fourgram model predictions: {}" .format(pred_2[1], pred_2[2], pred_2[3]))
Next word predictions for each n-gram model
We see that str1 does now show any next words based on the fourgram model. This is because of the insufficient length of the string. We also observe that the fourgram model predictions are more accurate and contextually suitable than the trigram model predictions, which are in turn better than the bigram model predictions, and so on. This further shows that predictions get better when more adjacent words are considered while predicting the next word.
Conclusion
I hope this article clearly explains language models, how to construct them, train them, and use them to get next word predictions. Apart from n-gram language models, there are many other statistical language models that may give better results, such as exponential models, HMM, and also neural network models. The entire code used in this article, as well as the dataset can be accessed here.
Further Reading | https://medium.com/swlh/language-modelling-with-nltk-20eac7e70853 | ['Ruthu S Sanketh'] | 2020-12-09 11:59:14.271000+00:00 | ['Language Model', 'Statistical Modeling', 'Naturallanguageprocessing', 'NLP', 'Ngrams'] |
Evolution of Stripping | Strippers & Exotic Dancing 101
Art of stripping & seduction have always been coined to jezebels and hussies, and loved by philanders. Strippers and adult entertainment; They both get a bad rap but why? We love to hate sex workers and we idolize them at the same time. Where did these teasing women come from? Adult entertainment can be found dating all the way back to the stone ages. All Sex work starts somewhere. You hear about the siren in texts like the Odyssey and The Bible. A hypnotic striptease have men throwing money at tart women all over the world for centuries, but where did this form of erotic dancing start?
First, forms of strippers can be traced to Paleolithic cave paintings in the south of France. These painting date more than 20,000 years ago. In addition, archaeologists uncovered miniature statuettes of exotic dancers near the Black Sea regions of Bulgaria and Romania that date back to the Neolithic Era. The statues are estimated to be over 9000 years old. Exotic dancing was first designed to sexually stimulate the mind & soul. So a hot cock tease did exist within holy realm! Early forms of a striptease were seen as an ancient ritual; to gain the favor of the goddesses of fertility and motherhood in hopes of successful reproduction. In addition, Stripping and seducing helped to increase the fertility of crops.
The Tease Begins
Adult entertainers, draped in animal fur, performed slow exotic dances. They pose erotically as the animal fur slowly exposed the naked dancing and gyrating body. During the height of the Greek and Roman Empires, erotic and lewd strip teases were also performed by priestesses in sacred temples within the empire. Artwork shows female nude dancing. First, they would strip off different articles of their clothing all the way to complete nudity. Erotic dancers were usually chosen for their looks and vitality. They were your modern day heart breaker. Seducing movements were performed in honor of the Moon, the hunt, and the god of wine, among other ritualistic purposes & idols.
Strippers Started To Make A Profit
Fast forward to the 14th century, the beginning of erotic dancing in the Middle East was in the form of belly dancing. Not a thread of clothing was removed. Imagine that! Originally, belly dancing was meant to induce pleasure of a sexual nature. It eventually became customary for spectators to toss coins, valuables & money at the belly dancers. It should be noted, this becomes the first time a female or male dancer was paid for their strip show. Erotic dancing was also quite common in the temples in India. Adult performances were used as sacred rituals & practices among the people.
In the 18th century, sensuality and eroticism reigned all over Europe. Ladies of the court were paid to erotically entertain, flirt and seduce gentlemen during large celebrations or banquets. During this time, female courtesans popularized the hand fan. Fans placed over their faces only showing their seductive eyes, as a sensual prop. And, used to accent their titillating dance moves to make them look mysterious and exotic at times.
Burlesque Dancers Exploded
Erotic dancing exploded in Britain in the late 1800’s with the rise of British burlesque houses. Originally, burlesque performances and dance shows incorporated a complete act. This was a small combination of music, singing, humor, dance and sexual parody; women strip nude in a sensual manner were only part of the adult show. Not long after, the profitable and popular burlesque industry quickly discovers the main thing attracting the masses was sex.
Naturally, as time goes on burlesque shows began to focus mainly on suggestive erotic dancing. Obviously, routines turned raunchy would bring larger crowds. Sex sells! Burlesque dancers became more uninhibited and the acts became more risque.
Churches, religious groups and God fearing folk preached against these types of adult entertainment. Nevertheless, bad publicity seemed to only help the lewd and vulgar shows. Rumors only sheltered even more curiosity than ever before.
A Good Cock Tease
Above all, we mostly believe modern stripping first appeared in the late 1800’s. A new form of erotic dancing evolved out of nowhere into a dance known today as “the striptease.” The dance was a kinder, gradual, softer and more sensual way to strip nude to arouse and entice men. As the name suggests, the striptease implies a woman slowly undresses themselves. The seductress continues stripping layer by layer, and would flirt in a sexually suggestive manner. A good cock tease would reveal more and more of their skin, all the way down to pasties, a G-string or full nudity.
Drooling men typically would hoot, holler and howl in appreciation as each piece of the exotic dancer’s clothing would slowly hit the floor. Importantly, leading the men to spend more of their coin or even give up the shirt off their back just to see a little bit more. A natural teaser who could strip nude was making money off a man’s weakness. The art of seduction begins!
Eventually, throughout the 1800’s and early 1900’s, striptease influenced other forms of erotic dancing. One very sexual and provocative belly dance known as the “Hoochie Coochie” was introduced in Philadelphia. Shortly after, “the French Cancan” appeared in a cabaret in Paris. The Cancan spread fast to America and became very popular. Flocks of gentlemen would happily feast their eyes on this type of exotic dancing. This adult show would consist of dancers lifting up a leg to reveal their thighs, puffy slips, and panties. Moreover, this form of dirty dance became similar to a Vegas showgirl and their choreographed performances on stage.
Adult Entertainment At The Circus
In the 1920s, your great grandmother & grandfather might have been lucky enough to witness the new twist to the striptease. This adult performance came with the inclusion of pole dancing. Pole dancing originated at the height of The United States of America’s Great Depression. At these difficult times, traveling fairs traveled from town to town. They would entertain with many different types of side shows. These strange shows were usually held in tents.
In one of these side tents, seductive women would striptease on a small stage in front of cheering and happy men. The strippers then incorporated the “tent pole” into their striptease routine. This is the first appearance of a stripper’s pole. The adult show would entail teasers climbing to the top of the tent pole. Next, they would grab the pole and swirl around it. In addition, all while grinding and gyrating against the pole. Later, the tent pole became later known as the famous “dance pole.”
Strip Club Dancers
Mid 1950’s, pole dancing graduated from small circus tents to bars and clubs catering to this particular form of adult fun. Strippers began to incorporate sexy, elaborate and very intriguing costumes. Sequins, feathers and bling became part of the showmanship. Eventually, this form of pole dance starts the standard in most adult entertainment establishments all over the United States.
Stripping, slowly but surely, seeped into our everyday society. Exotic dancing became present in all major U.S. cities, and big within the American sex industry. Ultimately, strip shows and erotic dance became a staple that would stick around to this day. Strip clubs were frequently raided and shut down for clashing with local ordinances and decency laws. This was very similar to what occurred with alcohol during Prohibition back in the day. Even so, the U.S. Government and religious institutions couldn’t stop the onslaught of their popularity with American men.
However, news channels and churches all across the states had no chance of influencing where men chose to spend their adult rec time. Men enjoy nude dancers. As a result, the U.S. put in unique new zoning laws and restrictions. Following, strippers could interact with their customers in order to assist in regulating the strip club industry as a whole.
Pole Dance For All
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the United States saw a steep rise strip club establishments. During the hippie era, society was going through a sexual revolution. Finally, a majority of people were becoming more accepting of nudity and sexuality. Adult entertainment and strippers would survive despite lots of public protest, strict city regulations and hateful public scrutiny.
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, nearly all strip clubs incorporated stripper poles on stage. This was in hopes to make pole dancing a normal thing. Eventually, once real talent formed, gentlemen’s club owners realized money was to be made with pole dance. Therefore, artistic pole dance and tricks are popular among strippers all over America.
Bump-and-Grinders
The lap dance (contact dancing) actually originated in Montreal Canada in the early 1990’s. Not long after, “lap dancing” made it’s way to the United States. Eventually, the lap dance became officially legal in the U.S. sometime in 1999.
Following, pole dancing techniques were turned into a legitimate form of exercise. Stripping and exotic dancing for the everyday women became a form of fitness. Today we call this pole fitness. As a result, non sex workers could learn how to put on an adult show. You didn’t have to be labeled a total cock tease.
Soon after, a National Pole Dancing Championship was created and has been since attempting to enter into the Olympics as a nationally recognized sport. Hence, it still hasn’t had sufficient luck.
Expose Yourself As A Seductress
Nowadays, in most strip clubs, adult entertainers wear string bikinis, tiny stripper outfits or G-strings. Whatever the attire, it usually doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Most striptease shows only happen in VIP these days. Some establishments won't even allow lap dances on the floor or for girls to undress out in the open. As a result, strip clubs in America consist of pole dance and twerking.
Strip clubs are still extremely popular but with the rise of the internet, stripper delivery services is the new hip thing of the future. This has been the preferred choice because strip clubs are money pits and the environment is typically raunchy. Who wouldn’t want a private seductress to disrobe in the privacy of your own home? From ancient ritual to modern-day adult entertainment, stripping and strippers have come a long way!
Atlanta Heart Breaker
Check out the Strip Clubs in Atlanta Directory, For all downtown strip club listings. If you wanna book me for your next bachelor party, guy’s night or birthday party, book me. Find out why I only tease at private parties and I don’t strip in a club in Atlanta.
Apply to be an exotic dancer with MC Entertainment & Services, A stripper booking agency in Atlanta. Nude dancing not your thing, but want to work in adult entertainment? Check out more opportunities for sex work here.
References | https://medium.com/@cmoore0362/evolution-of-stripping-a6024665e1d2 | ["Atlanta Strippers R' Us"] | 2019-06-20 22:24:02.635000+00:00 | ['Sex Work', 'Stripping', 'Strip Club', 'Strippers', 'Sexuality'] |
It will be as if you’re not progressing but you’ll be progressing | Hey omorfe,
Most guys misunderstand how progress works.
They think it’s all about numbers.
So if they did 2 more reps or they lost 1 pound in 4 days, they progressed. And if they didn’t, they stagnated.
That’s myopic yo.
Take for example trainining for building muscle:
Your initial progress is mostly neural gains. So, your body gets used to the program, becomes efficient, expands less energy than before, and you can push your good looking self more.
But there are other progress indicators.
Do you “feel” the muscle working while permorfming reps? (many don’t)
Even better, can you feel the muscle, during the entire set? Most guys only feel the muscle during the concentric part, but not during the eccentric
Or what about losing weight?
Think that just cause you stagnated for 3 days that’s not progress?
Bah!
Did you stick to your diet, even though you were unhappy with the results? Then that’s mental progress, dummy. Most people throw in the smelly towel if they don’t see daily progress because they’re weak minded. If you stick to the plan long enough, your body rewards you by losing weight…and you also became mentally stronger.
That’s a win in my book.
In other words:
Even “stagnation” can be a sign of progress because, even if the metrics you’re keeping an eye on seem to no longer improve, there are other metrics, invisible to the naked eye that work in your favor.
You can’t see mind-muscle connection — you feel it during your training session
You don’t see the mental maturity increasing inside you when don’t behave like a spoiled kid, ready to throw a tantrum cause you didn’t lose the weight promised by the “Two Pounds Off Per Week” Feetnes Eggsperts — it is in your corner, growing stronger daily, just because you carry yourself like a high-value, mature guy.
So never again look at progress so myopically, omorfe.
For more tips and strategies, grab my one sentence muscle building plan at:
http://grecianman.com/
Your Greek buddy,
Fotis Chatzinicolaou | https://medium.com/@chatzifot/it-will-be-as-if-youre-not-progressing-but-you-ll-be-progressing-2f2b48f52353 | ['Fotis Chatzinicolaou'] | 2021-12-30 20:04:42.418000+00:00 | ['Muscle Building', 'Bodybuilding', 'Goal Setting', 'Mens Health', 'Fitness Tips'] |
Challenging the myth of rape in court | Written by SAHR member, Natasha Latiff.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has just published a new toolkit for lawyers and other professionals on strengthening medico-legal responses to victims of sexual violence. This toolkit addresses many of the myths of rape which we have been challenging for many many years.
One of the myths that we have been challenging in our work is that rape is not usually a violent crime committed by a stranger. In fact, most rapes are committed by someone known to the victim and most rapes do not cause genital injuries. As such, a medical examiner is not likely to observe genital injuries in the victim’s medical examination report. Sadly, the absence of physical and genital injuries has usually led to an adverse inference found against victims. We call upon health professionals, prosecutors and judges not to solely rely on evidence of physical or genital injury as an indicator of rape.
“Because many rapes do not involve a significant amount of physical force, in most cases of sexual violence there will not necessarily be any physical injuries. In non-conflict settings, only approximately one third of rape victims sustain visible physical injuries.”
It is up to lawyers to break the system’s pious reliance on genital injuries as conclusive proof of rape.
Some takeaways: | https://medium.com/strategic-advocacy-for-human-rights/challenging-the-myth-of-rape-in-court-692c32f01a66 | [] | 2018-02-25 11:43:36.519000+00:00 | ['Criminal Law', 'Sexual Violence', 'Womens Rights', 'Afghanistan'] |
A Request for Your Feedback | A Request for Your Feedback
It will only take two minutes!
Photo by Wynand van Poortvliet on Unsplash
Dear readers of The Innovation,
We have created a survey so that we can work to deliver the best quality publication to fit your needs and interests. We truly want to hear what you have to say! If you have two minutes to fill this out, we would greatly appreciate your time. (There are only eight questions!) Thank you very much.
Best,
Esat and Michelle | https://medium.com/the-innovation/a-request-for-your-feedback-19b7df6f7c0 | ['Michelle Loucadoux'] | 2020-12-08 23:46:09.517000+00:00 | ['Feedback', 'Publication', 'Surveys'] |
The Father’s Day Gift Guide Quiz | By Sarah Hutto
Looking for a last-minute gift for Father’s Day? Here’s a nifty guide to help you find that perfect gift for the special guy who’s always been there, whether it was somberly watching the news after work with a bourbon, or telling you to take your rainbow ponies upstairs because your singing was giving him a headache. Let Dad know you care by taking our dad-developed, psychologist-approved, ten-question quiz to determine exactly what to give the lovable old lug.
1. Do you have one of those super-old dads, or can he be left in public unsupervised?
a. He had a hand in the toppling of Prussia.
b. He had to change his original political affiliation from Whig to Independent.
c. He’s young enough to use email, but too old to use the automatic checkout without getting yelled at.
d. His first language is Latin.
2. What type of manly job does your father have, so that we might make indiscriminate stabs at labeling him?
a. Something with numbers.
b. Something with wood.
c. It’s for the government and he’s not allowed to say. (It’s Scratch-off’s).
d. He wrestles bears in his underpants. I haven’t heard from him in awhile.
3. Does your father wear a tie, the only article of clothing that distinguishes a man from a woman?
a. He wears a tie all day at work. Then he puts on a different tie to wear to bed, like a sad, manly Mr. Rogers.
b. He has one with a flamingo that he saves for weddings and his own funeral. It smells like stale cigars and spit-up.
c. If he didn’t wear a tie, how would people know he’s a boy?
d. He doesn’t wear a tie, so much as he uses it as a leash for his pack of abandoned dogs that he feeds and travels with in a pack. The police mostly leave him alone.
4. A good portion of a man’s personality is made up of facial hair. How would you describe your father’s scruff?
a. He had an ominous mustache in the late sixties that my mom was able to shave while he was unconscious. It never grew back.
b. He shaves twice a day. Thrice, if there’s a full moon.
c. He has a meticulously sculpted goatee that gets him lots of winks on the AARP dating site.
d. He tried to grow a beard once. We had to move.
5. According to TV, having a family turns most men into functioning alcoholics. What alcohol does your father prefer for the temporary escape of the burden of his responsibilities?
a. My dad only drinks beer, since beer is a man’s drink that only men enjoy and my dad is a man.
b. Ever since getting kicked out of spy school, he only takes stiff drinks with the explicit instruction that they be stirred.
c. My dad officially quit drinking five years ago, but I’m pretty sure I can get him back into it with a little effort.
d. My dad makes his own wine in the basement as a hobby, which he serves at family holidays. To this day, no one knows how we all ended up sleeping on the patio last Thanksgiving.
6. Is your father a fan of deer? Either as woodland friends or partaking in their sacrifice?
a. He’s an avid hunter. A few local gun safety bills were named after him.
b. While driving, he asks his passengers to hang out the window with a hunting rifle and eliminate the potential traffic hazards approaching from the woods.
c. He has antlers mounted above the fireplace. But he would never himself actually go near a real, live deer, because of their tendency to attack.
d. Now that you mention it, he has mentioned several deer friends. He says they visit him daily and tell him which stock to buy. We’re hoping he’ll agree to grant one of us power-of-attorney.
7. Speaking of hunting, is your father in touch with his primal instincts for meat preparation, or does he eat meat raw, like he has rabies?
a. My dad is well-versed in the challenging art of holding some meat over fire with tools, just like a real caveman — which is more than could be said of that fancy bigshot doctor my cousin married.
b. My dad was kicked out of his retirement community for grilling in the hallway, while simultaneously being a little too in touch with his manhood.
c. My dad lives in one of those “coastal elite” cities, where meat is no longer legal.
d. My dad is literally some pieces of steak that I glued together.
8. Fathers tend to be history buffs because men are attracted to old things (except for women). Does your dad have a history obsession?
a. I think my dad may have accidentally fired the stray cannon shot that prematurely started the Civil War.
b. He’s always talking about “the good old days,” which is confusing, since he was sent to work in a mothball factory when he was five, where he contracted polio.
c. My dad watches so many World War II documentaries, we’re not sure even he knows whose side he’s on anymore.
d. He bought a Delorean on eBay, because it’s “futuristic,” so he would say no.
9. Many fathers buy boats in a futile effort to escape loved ones. How big is your dad’s boat?
a. Not big enough for anyone to go on it with him, apparently.
b. Just the right size for him to make the same Jaws joke every time we visit.
c. Big enough for him to sleep on after eating a burrito, according to my mom.
d. Unfortunately, not big enough to fill the gaping hole caused by my decision to get a Masters in puppetry. He’s still pretty mad about that.
10. If your father is not into golf, alcoholism, deer slaughter, or mustache art, his personality must consist solely of passing gas. Have you considered a gift that hinges on his ability to fart?
a. Well, I did drive him home from his colonoscopy last Spring, if that’s what you mean.
b. There’s other things dads can be into, you know. This quiz didn’t even get into Star Trek or the Tea Party.
c. Aren’t you grasping at straws at this point? He happens to be very interested in the opera and anthropology.
d. Ok, I guess that flushing toilet card is fine.
Based on how you answered the above questions, the perfect gift for your father is… stamps! The answer is usually stamps, because real dads hide their true selves like mysterious gods in sandals and socks you can never see if you try too hard, but who show up just when you need them, like an hour late with jumper cables and a Christopher Hitchens book they thought you’d want to check out.
Just get him the stamps, because as men age they have a weird need to hoard increasingly obsolete, government issued paper products that would be instantly destroyed in a fire. Also, it helps the Post Office, which, if your dad hasn’t told you, is on the verge of going bankrupt because of Obama.
HAPPY FATHERS DAY! | https://medium.com/american-bystander/the-fathers-day-gift-guide-quiz-4a4ddc5e7bd5 | ['Michael Gerber'] | 2019-06-16 22:34:22.615000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Dads', 'Satire', 'Fathers Day', 'Fathers'] |
Dash Art Contest: $300 in Digital Cash (And a Bacon Wallet) [May 20,2017] | Attention: creative people of the world!
DASH.org and Dash For Newbies are sponsoring a global, online art contest, open to literally anyone on planet earth. This means no age restrictions and no geography restrictions. It doesn’t matter if you live in Botswana or Berlin. Enter today for your chance to win digital cash and ridiculously fun prizes.
FIRST PLACE: 2 DASH+ Archie McPhee Horse Head Mask:
SECOND PLACE: 1 DASH + Bacon Wallet:
THIRD PLACE: .75 DASH + Handicorn:
Plus Mystery Prizes (hmmmmm…..what could this mean?)
(current exchange rate: 1 Dash = $92 USD)
DEADLINE: May 20, 2017 11:59 PM CST
STEP 1:
Create one visual art piece using the DASH logo somewhere in your art. It can be used in a subtle or obvious way.
STEP 2:
Take a photo or YouTube video of your art.
STEP 3:
Send a tweet to @stellabelle on Twitter and use the hashtag, #DashForNewbies. Make sure your photo or YouTube video link is included in your tweet. It’s mandatory to submit your art entry on Twitter. If you don’t have a Twitter account, get one. If your country censors Twitter, you can email your photo or video link to: DashForNewbiesATgmail.com.
All entries will be showcased on the Dash For Newbies Medium publication as well as the Dash For Newbies Facebook page.
What is DASH?
A digital currency, like Bitcoin only better and faster. Check out this survival guide to DASH to get up to speed. Is DASH real money?
Yes. You might be using it in the future if you don’t already. If I win, how do I get the money?
Get a digital wallet. An easy one for a computer is Exodus.io. An easy one for Android and iPhones is Jaxx.io. What kind of visual art will be accepted?
Drawing, painting, photography, embroidery, collage, 2-d & 3-d art, comics, food art, ceramics, fabric, environmental installations, holography, street art, cartoons, digital art, sculpture, cloisonné, cave art, etc. How will I know if I won?
You will be contacted via Twitter with instructions. If your country censors Twitter, you will be emailed.
Here’s a video that explains the contest (and might possibly freak you out a bit):
What are the judges looking for?
Creativity, absurdity, originality, sublety, random, passion, crazy.
Disclaimer: By submitting your art to this Dash Art Online Contest, you give Dash.org and all associated Dash sites permission to share your art on social media including in YouTube videos. Dash For Newbies is funded entirely by the Dash decentralized autonomous organization. The mission of Dash For Newbies is to help regular people learn about and feel comfortable using DASH, the new digital cash. And we hope you get entertained along the way……
This article is 100% DASH Blockchain-funded. | https://medium.com/dash-for-newbies/dash-online-art-contest-300-cash-prizes-5-20-2017-deadline-7295cb85a8d5 | [] | 2017-05-02 15:25:39.523000+00:00 | ['Dash', 'Contests', 'Money', 'Blockchain', 'Art'] |
[Newsletter] Late-night meals aren’t the cause of your weight gain | Plus, why eating less protein can lead to weight gain
Photo by isaac . on Unsplash
My weekly three best insights from me, Medium and the web to help you live longer better.
Simply eating walnuts daily reduces chronic inflammation — research — see item #3.
Ever wondered why your best friend eats the same daily calories as you, does the same exercise, and yet you put on weight? Here’s one answer — item #2.
Eating late-night meals is fine — you won’t put on weight. It’s not the time you eat that matters but what you eat, keep reading —
From around Medium…
1. Late-night meals cause weight gain — unless you’re Spanish!
You’ve no doubt heard the advice that eating late-night meals leads to weight gain. This notion is “a given” among dieticians — if they are Anglo-Saxon.
If the advice were true then no one in Spain or South America would ever be able to lose weight. And those in the USA would be successful in losing weight (I don’t see many Americans going out for their main meal after 9 pm).
Guess what? The average weight of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean is 67.9 kg compared to 80.7 kilograms for North America.
What matters most is what you eat at all times, including late at night. What might matter is how much you eat at each meal — some studies show frequent small meals are less healthy. Other studies show that eating breakfast leads to weight loss, all other things being equal.
But those findings are reporting weight gain or loss differences that don’t really matter in the scheme of eating good food, at any time.
If you snack more on junk food at night, and too much of it, then you know the outcome. My post has five tips on how to avoid doing that.
My post: Six Out Of Seven Dieticians Can’t Answer This Question — Can You?
2. Same calorie intake can lead to weight gain — here’s why
This Medium post caught my attention as I’ve seen contradictory explanations of the thermic effect of food. Addison Maille explains it in detail — Understanding the thermic effect of food.
The thermic effect of food (TEF) refers to the energy required to eat and digest that food. The TEF is calculated as a percentage of the total calories in a given meal that the body uses to metabolise the food.
Here’s what I found fascinating. Between 2 women, each eating 2,000 calories a day, one could be gaining weight and the other not simply because of the different nutrient balance of their meals.
A recommended nutrient balance (Harvard Health) is 20% protein, 30% fat, 50% carbs. If woman A ate 10% protein, and B ate 30% protein, then:
B burns 80 calories extra daily just in digesting the protein; A gains an extra 40 to 80 calories from their carbs and fats, compared to B; Add in differences in TEF for the differences in quantities of fats and carbs and it is plausible that A has about 200 excess calories daily compared to B, just from their different mix of macronutrients.
Two hundred calories daily don't sound like much right? But it is. It is equivalent to a social spin class or a 4 to 5 km walk — daily.
If you don’t do that equivalent daily exercise to erase those calories then you will gain about 1kg per month.
People who are obese have a lowered TEF than do people at a healthy weight by about 45%.— Addison Maille.
What this means for us: Eating the same calories as someone else can still leave you with excess calories which can lead to weight gain. As you gain weight and head towards obesity the weight gain will accelerate due to a lowered total TEF.
The article: Understanding The Thermic Effect Of Food
Related: Diabetes — Why Timing Your Exercise After Meals Matters
👉 Here is my collection of posts about food which will also help you.
From the web …
3. Like walnuts? Eat an extra handful for your heart health
A study of more than 600 older adults (60+) found that those who consumed walnuts had a significant reduction in inflammation. Inflammation hardens the arteries and is a principal cause of heart attacks and strokes.
One group consumed 30 to 60 grams of walnuts a day as part of their typical diet. Another group followed their standard diet (without walnuts). Each group was tracked for two years.
What this means for us: Chronic inflammation increases as we age, and it is a factor in how severely the coronavirus affects us, for example. Using a combination of ways to combat chronic inflammation is an important lifestyle strategy when older. This includes exercise, food and social life.
Walnuts are an easy addition. But remember that 50 grams — about 24 halves — contain about 320 calories. Don’t overindulge without compensating elsewhere.
The Article: Study Shows Older Adults Could Reduce Their Risk Of Heart Disease By Eating Walnuts
Related: Walnuts Daily Lower Heart Disease And Help You Sleep Better
Questions, just HIT REPLY, love to hear from you.
Wishing you a safe and active week,
Walter ⭑Keep Moving⭑ Adamson ⭑Top Food Writer⭑
Never miss a chance to live longer better — sign up for 👉 my weekly four best tips from a week’s reading — newsletter.walteradamson.com | https://medium.com/body-age-buster/late-night-meals-arent-the-cause-of-your-weight-gain-b03d093a0264 | ['Walter Adamson'] | 2020-11-22 09:29:58.323000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Food', 'Newsletter', 'Protein', 'Walnuts'] |
Everyday Leadership | Leadership without having any Authority or Power
Fixing stuff around myself
You manage things; you lead people. — Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper
The word “Leadership” doesn’t mean only to lead people , it also means to lead the internal abilities and the things in which you are the best. As Rear Admiral Grace Says that you manage things ; you lead people.
Leadership doesn’t required any authority or power. You can become leader of yourself. To justify the above sentence , here i would like to share something about Leadership from my today’s experience , which requires no power.
Today I did a small activity to experience Leadership without having any authority or power. That was about fixing stuff around me. I was sitting in my bedroom doing my routine work. I just clicked pics of my surroundings. I have added some of them here.
Then I look around carefully and try to find something which need to fixed. I noticed that the bed on which i was lying is in that condition which really needed to fix. In the following pic you can see it.
In above picture you can see a lot off stuff which was need to be fixed. My blanket, my chador, my laptop and a notebook with a pencil were lying on my bed roughly. And an empty tin-pack , an empty cup of tea and charger without connecting a device were lying on side table. Which are needed to be fixed. This is known as fixable state.
In the above pic you can see all the things are well managed. This is an Ideal state. I just folded the blanket and lifted all the unnecessary things. I unplugged the charger , put the tin-pack in dustbin and lifted laptop , notebook and chador from bed.
I felt very comfortable and calm after doing this activity. This encouraged me to fix all the things around me which are not well managed. By doing this activity i realize that there are a lot of things around us which are needed to be fixed in our daily life and we just ignored them and says this is not my responsibility.
I do this some time when I feel something is need to be fixed. I fix that but often I do not do it at the same time because I was going to sleep at that time and I fix that in the morning.
As you can see in the above activity I didn’t need any power or authority. But I felt that this is also a type of leadership. To help someone in doing his stuff and to make easy for someone. I am the Leader of my own acts. I took responsibility of doing something and I did that in a good way, which feel me like to be a Leader of myself. | https://medium.com/@ali-haider172/everyday-leadership-66ec6a6f1d27 | ['Ali Haider'] | 2020-12-18 15:08:36.253000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Leadership Development', 'Fixingstuff', 'Leadership Skills', 'Everyday Life'] |
Five Life and Work Lessons From Improv | I recently took an improv class because I felt the urge to shed some of the adult layers I have accumulated over the last forty plus years, or maybe it was to deal with a mid-life crisis as my wife says. Either way I was keen to get back in touch with my inner child and rekindle the fearlessness and curiosity I had as a kid. I decided that improv would be a good way to re-ignite that innocent wonder about the world, the one that gets jaded under the weight of every bad boss, client meeting and recurring monthly bill.
Of course, I was nervous at the thought of performing, without preparation, in front of a group of strangers. On the first night, an hour before the class was due to start, I thought about being a no-show.
My mind went back first to the day I was standing, as a five year old, on the edge of a swimming pool with the teacher urging me to jump into the deep end for the first time. And more recently to when I was being strapped into the safety harness for the highest, longest and fastest zip line in the world, trying not to think about the 90 miles per hour I was about hit or the 850 meter drop, over the 1.4 mile journey.
I summoned my inner-child, and when that failed I looked at my wife desperately. It was only after she convinced me that I had nothing to lose apart from my dignity that I boarded the downtown train. Much like jumping into the pool and zip lining down a mountain, this also turned out to be a great decision.
When I arrived I was immediately reassured to see a dozen other faces looking as apprehensive as I felt inside. After the teacher made us do introductions, we realised that everyone in the class was an Improv virgin. Into the shallow end of improv we dove, trusting that we would all sink or swim together.
Before I jump into the lessons learned, I have to give a shout out to our amazing teacher Katie Hutch. She is single-handedly responsible for creating a space where twelve strangers felt comfortable enough to shed their adult layers and find their inner child. She is equal parts teacher, philosopher and comic genius.
Lesson One: Get used to screwing up
This is an important and humbling lesson to be reminded of as we get older and more risk averse. We all mess up and do it frequently, both in life and at work. It is not worth beating yourself up over it.
I wrote earlier about “My Worst Day at Work” that entailed a mess of monumental proportions, and that was not the end of the world or my career. But I am also talking about slips we make every day. Whether it is saying the wrong thing to a prospective in-law, going off script in the middle of a major presentation, or flubbing a point during a Presidential debate — it will happen to the best of us.
The key is to accept that it is going to happen to you, no matter how well prepared you might feel and to remind yourself that nobody is immune. Like when candidate Barack Obama proudly told a group of reporters that he had just finished campaigning in all 57 states.
The fact is that the overwhelming majority of people are forgiving and not likely to dwell on your flubs. Of course, there will always be a few people who will try to embarrass you, but keep in mind that they are usually assholes and there is nothing you can do to change that. Besides, they have to live with that fact — not you.
Lesson Two: Draw on your experiences, not your limitations
Like in life, in improv we were often thrown into the deep end of things. We have to dive into scenarios where we lack both expertise and experience needed to navigate the task at hand. We are all creatures of conditioning and react to every situation we face based on how our personal experiences have shaped and informed our perspective.
The key is to accept this fact and play into your strengths, using existing knowledge to improvise and to build on. This is not about the right or wrong way to do something but simply about realising that the best way to tackle a problem is by drawing directly on your past experiences rather than trying to wing it or completely fake it.
You are more likely to fail when you try the latter because you will be focusing on your limitations, rather than relying on your existing skills and knowledge, using them logically as building blocks to move forward and figure things out.
Similarly, at work if your boss asks you to perform a task that is completely alien to you, ask for guidance rather than assuming that you will be able to figure it out. The latter will lead to wasting time or worse, failing to complete the task. Most bosses will appreciate that you asked and are willing to guide you.
Lesson Three: Never try too hard
I know we are all taught to try harder but that pertains to genuine effort and not fake effort. This one is connected to the earlier lesson, in that you are better off staying within your limits of comfort, experience and expertise, and stretching those in sensible ways, as opposed to trying to fake your way into solving a problem.
For example, if you know about crypto currency but don’t really understand the underlying blockchain, you are better off staying within the limits of your understanding when discussing it during a presentation or panel discussion. Use your knowledge to answer questions genuinely, and admit what you don’t know, instead of trying to show off how smart you are.
The same holds true when performing on stage. The harder you try to make your audience laugh, the less likely they will. Trying too hard in most situations will backfire because your lack of integrity and authenticity will come through more than anything else. People can smell bullshit a mile away.
Lesson Four: Get over yourself
One of the advantages of being human is that we have high functioning brains, but that is also a curse. We spend a lot of time in our own heads. An experiment conducted in 1997 to study the topic and content of human conversations found that 78% of conversations involved talking about ourselves and our perceptions of the world.
A more recent study from 2018 concluded that the reason human beings spend so much time thinking about themselves is due to an area of our brains that functions as a default button which gets activated when the brain is not engaged in external demands. In other words, the brain’s default is to think about ourselves.
Given that we have not yet discovered an off button (no doubt Elon Musk is working on one) the key to not constantly think about yourself is to remember that nobody else is spending time thinking about you.
The fact is that nobody really cares too deeply about what you said or how you said it, because guess what — they are too busy thinking about themselves!
Lesson Five: Yes and…
In improv there is rule of thumb to “Yes, and…” The idea is that you accept whatever your partner suggests and build and expand on it rather than shut it down. It is a great way to ensure that you are open to ideas and contributions from everyone, and it pushes us to build rather than blow up or start over.
In a business setting this is a great way to ensure that you are receptive to multiple viewpoints, and this behaviour then helps instill diverse thinking into the organisation. It will lead to much healthier debates and discussions, and to richer collaborations. There is tons of evidence showing that diverse teams produce better results than homogeneous teams do.
We can take this idea one step further by incorporating another lesson from improv, about making others look good. If you spend more time thinking about how to build on other people’s ideas versus being focused on pushing our own, you will find that your mind actually becomes more fertile and rich, coming up with far more interesting solutions than when we are singularly focused on our own contributions.
Ultimately, by thinking about what we offer our partner to work off, rather than focusing on ourselves, allows the brain to relax and find that elusive quiet mode that leads naturally to more expansive and interesting ideating.
It also leads to many more laughs from the audience.
In improv, we were also taught to constantly make eye contact with our partners. Doing this helps make the audience disappear, makes us less conscious of our own performance and puts our focus on what we are offering our partners to work from in that scene. It is another great lesson in teamwork. Looking directly at the person in front of you forces your brain to be present in a way we rarely are in our ever distracted world. | https://medium.com/swlh/five-life-and-work-lessons-from-improv-322ebb04fa02 | ['Nikhil Vaish'] | 2020-12-22 22:51:01.748000+00:00 | ['Diversity', 'Work', 'Improv', 'Courage', 'Teamwork'] |
3 Cryptocurrencies to watch on exchanges: TZERO, IOTX & OFN | All cryptocurrencies mentioned in my posts go through my initial analysis process which you can find in my free guide: ‘7 Step Analysis To Quickly Spot High-Quality ICOs & Cryptocurrencies’. Get My Free Guide Here.
The purpose of this blog post is not to provide a review of the projects — there are enough of those online, this post is just to share my thoughts and opinion after taking a look and researching the projects.
I’m also not a techie, so this won’t be my angle, if you’re looking for a technical explanation of the project, again there’s loads of those out there online too, so you will be better off looking elsewhere. As an investor, this is where I will be coming from in this post, keeping the content simple and concise on what I like, or don’t like about the projects mentioned.
In no particular order. Here are 3 ICO’s I’ll be watching on exchanges:
TZero
World class team, who have achieved success in the past and experienced in blockchain tech. Huge project potential. Yes the cap is huge, however I believe the scope of this project and long term potential is huge also, so this would be a long term play for me. This is not available to investors outside of the USA, however I will keep an eye out on this on the exchanges.
IOTEX
I think this project has great potential and the team to execute. However, I dislike projects that make you jump through hoops to participate at token sales. I also don’t like that only 20% of tokens are allocated to token sales, which is tiny, plus huge bonuses to private sale contributors, so somebody is eating well…and it’s not ‘joey public’.
OpenFinance Network
Project has huge scope and provides an excellent solution to getting securities tokenized and on the market. I like the fact that the project is far along in development and has started trading in a private beta, plus the team is solid enough with strong backing to delivery. Although this project is in a space with little competition, the competition is strong, so a small cap would have made this project more attractive for me. So I think I will wait and avoid ICO for now.
Resources:
Website: http://www.cryptocurrencyorchard.com
Free Guide: http://www.cryptocurrencyorchard.com/guide
Telegram: http://t.me/cc_orchard | https://medium.com/cryptocurrency-orchard/3-cryptocurrencies-to-watch-on-exchanges-tzero-iotx-ofn-506551840434 | ['Jason Cameron'] | 2018-05-09 20:24:59.555000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'ICO', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain'] |
Pastoral feminism: A Chinese media approach VS Pure feminism: social media | What is pastoral feminism?
Pastoral feminism. It is an online term, indicating ironic criticism of some Chinese feminists, and those who fail to fully understand or misinterpret Western feminism. And according to my understanding, I do not think pastoral feminism is the real feminism.
What is pure feminism?
Because women firstly should respect their identity of being females, also have independent careers, share the same rights and responsibilities with men and never ask for the extra benefit because of gender. Although pastoral feminists cannot represent all Chinese females. Chinese traditional media denigrates feminism and tries to make Chinese women believe that they need do is to be beautifully and marry rich men.
But thanks to social media, some women realized they are in the trap designed by men, the pure feminism helped pastoral feminism to wake up and fight for women’s right.
What caused the pastoral feminism?
Chinese traditional media empowered the ideal women of men and spread the concept to women, to optimize the benefit of men. Chinese media still is directed by the male-lead society, the women’s right is limited to a little under their ridiculous and foolish argument. Pastoral feminism is the mixed product of men’s ideology and half understanding of feminist. Gradually, some Chinese women are misled by those arguments to believe they only need to be beautiful enough and help men to carry on the family lineage. As a result, society changed in a way that benefits females and stresses men’s pressure. Because men have told them that a woman’s job is carter to male’s physical demand as well as being a worthless attachment of her husband.
Although some of the ‘mind-controlled’ Chinese women wake up and want to achieve personal value, but their job opportunity is limited because their rights are based on the primacy of patrilineal descent and patriarchal authority.
Therefore, some women stopping to fight with ‘authority,’ and enjoying their life which mostly relied on their boyfriends or husbands. In a Chinese social media platform, little red book, some pastoral feminists indulge in comparing with peers and show off the luxury products bought by their boyfriends or husbands. Thus, the rise of consumerist discourse is the second cause of pastoral feminism.
There are some example pictures, which translate into English can be generally understood as the cars or the bags were given by their husbands or boyfriends. | https://medium.com/the-public-ear/pastoral-feminism-a-chinese-media-approach-vs-pure-feminism-social-media-e1c9f390be4a | ['Yazhe Liu'] | 2019-11-12 11:37:10.124000+00:00 | ['Feminism'] |
On Sound Money | Introduction
The choice of which money to use comes with tradeoffs and consequences. Money that is costly to create has generally served as the more reliable form of currency, since the ability to create money inexpensively destroys the wealth of savers and hence the incentive to save. Known as hard or sound money, such as those supported by a specie standard, high creation cost currencies maintain reliable mechanisms for restricting supply growth. In contrast, unsound money, or money that is easily prone to supply increases such as most government-issued money, is susceptible to rapid stock increases and wealth depreciation of current holders. The printing of unsound money has often been used to finance national spending, effectively pulling forward the future wealth of its citizens to fund the perceived needs of today. Evidence from the largest civilizations in history shows that sound money is necessary for progress and growth, and the lack of a stable monetary standard is generally associated with societal and economic destruction, such as with the collapse of the Roman Empire through its currency debasement. Digitally sound currencies such as Bitcoin may offer a solution to the historical and current problems of unsound money. At the same time, the authors must caution against the practical adoption of non-sovereign sound money, as the rapid adoption case for these new alternatives run diametrically opposed to the interests of the world’s largest sovereigns and central banking institutions who control their currency supply. However, we cannot ignore the fact that history has proven time and time again that once “sound” monetary media departs from this path via debasement, they will eventually be completely replaced by newer forms of more sound money.
Unsound Money
Government-issued money, like primitive money and most commodity-based monetary bases, is susceptible to rapid supply increases compared to its existing stock, and therefore has the potential (at all times) to lead to a rapid loss of salability, diminishment of purchasing power, and wealth depreciation of its current holders. With the suspension of the gold standard during early 1900s wartime, governments expanded money beyond their limited gold-back treasuries, spreading the liability of future repayment out to the entire population. Money (i.e., value and, more specifically, future value) was created in order to finance wartime needs, pulling forward the future wealth of its citizens. World War I may have ended far sooner had European nations remained on the gold standard and not been able to continue their war efforts with limited treasuries through the expansion of fiat money. In a sound monetary regime, a government’s wartime expenditures are bound by the taxes it can collect and savings it has amassed over time (in the form of hard money treasury), but with an unsound monetary regime, the only constraint is how much currency a government can create before each incrementally-created unit becomes exponentially less valuable (asymptotically approaches zero). In a fiat currency regime, value can appear simply through the creation of additional money, but only for so long as the population believes this new fiat value to be temporal (whether through the future creation of actual wealth or the future promise of a currency supply contraction). The Great Depression forced nations off the gold standard, while government control and socialization of the economy under Hoover and FDR continued to exacerbate the growth of unsound money, including Executive Order 6102 signed by FDR in 1933 which forbade the ownership of gold coin, bullion, and certificates and essentially allowed the federal government to confiscate its citizens’ wealth.
Hyperinflation is an economic phenomenon unique to rapidly inflatable commodity and government-controlled money. Given that the cost of production of government-issued money is effectively zero, there remains an ever-present temptation to create currency in order to satisfy short-term consumption demand, leading to a vicious, difficult-to-reverse cycle of borrowing from the future in order to satisfy the needs of the present. Through this, it is quite possible for the wealth of a nation to disappear in a relatively short time span through hyperinflationary government activity. Hyperinflation extends beyond simply the extreme loss of a nation’s wealth; it represents a complete collapse of the economic structure, production capability, and productivity of a society. The increasing monetary supply means a continuous devaluation of the currency, expropriating value from individuals who currently own wealth (and who have amassed it over the years and generations through sound saving behavior) to those who are first to receive the new money. This transfer of wealth from savers to “new money” is known as the Cantillon Effect: inflationary policy creates wealth for a government at the expense of current savers and holders, and the immediate beneficiaries are those who receive it once the government spends it.[1] The present and future wealth of citizens is reduced via inflationary policy, and so the income and wealth of a government is naturally reduced in the future with a decreased value of real tax receipts. In essence, inflationary policy eliminates the temporal element of future government income and wealth derived from citizen taxation by printing money and receiving it today. Whether the Cantillon Effect is a result of general inflationary policy or national emergencies that justify increased government spending to stabilize a languishing economy, the expansion of government money reduces the wealth of its current holders, decreases the incentive to save, and creates far more serious issues longer term if not managed by an ever-vigilant sovereign with an eye towards restoring the soundness of its money as quickly as possible. And, given the lack of tangible examples historically of a successful “return to sound money,” we grow increasingly concerned that, once down the path of openly borrowing from the future to pay for the present, modern societies may be practically incapable of breaking this cycle without a significant, adverse intervention.
Sound money makes societal efforts such as production, mutual cooperation, wealth accumulation, capital savings, and trade the only avenue open for fundamental prosperity rather than the creation of wealth for some through the dilution of others. The 1900s marked the transition from sound money to unsound money, backed by a government decree that denied a free market choice of monetary media and forced government-issued fiat currency into the hands of its citizens. Sound money is a key requirement of individual freedom from authoritarianism and despotism, as the coercive state’s capability to create infinite money can give it undue influence over its citizens, an influence which by its very nature can be most easily abused and attract those with suboptimal agendas.
Savings & Time Preference
Sound money is a key prerequisite for individual time preference choices, a critical and commonly ignored element of personal decision making. Time preference refers to an individual’s preference for current consumption over future consumption. Those with higher time preference are substantially focused on their well-being in the present and immediate future, while others with lower time preference place more emphasis on their well-being in the future. But this concept extends far beyond just the basic preference of the individual to consume; the economist Hoppe explains that once time preference of the individual drops low enough across a broad enough base of the population to allow for the production of widespread capital goods, it initiates the “process of civilization.” Per the original publication, the process of civilization is “a positive feedback loop where time preferences perpetually decrease due to the accumulation of capital, the increase of the relative value of future goods, the further division of labor, and lengthening of life expectancies.”[2] The consequences of the converse, a situation in which time preferences increase enough across a broad enough base of the population, should be obvious.
Microeconomics focus on individual decisions, and the most important economic decisions any individual can make are the tradeoffs they make today with their future self. The better money can retain its value through time, the more individuals (all else being equal) are incentivized to postpone present consumption and instead dedicate capital and resources for future production, leading to higher capital accumulation and improved quality of life. In instances where money does not retain its value through time, individuals are incentivized to consume rather than save and commit capital for the future, eventually leading to suboptimal capital allocation decisions and lower aggregate wealth levels. Unsound monetary standards have profound effects on societies in the long run: society in aggregate saves less, accumulates fewer resources, and consumes its capital at a faster pace. What’s worse is that this occurs in an almost paradoxical fashion, as individuals only “see” the short-term effects of an increased ability to consume, while continuing to fuel the long-term wealth decline of the society.
Societies and economic progress thrive under a sound monetary system; this progress disintegrates when monetary systems are debased. The Roman Empire, in part, collapsed due to the debasement of the Roman silver currency, the denarius. Trade was vital to Rome and generated the vast majority of the wealth of Roman citizens, allowing the capital to pay for the administration, logistics, military, and control of its 130 million people over 1.5 million square miles. In order to finance present spending, the denarius, originally comprised of 4.5 grams of pure silver, was debased by reducing the coin’s silver content from 90% to 50% (the economic equivalent of printing additional fiat currency today). Throughout the 2nd and 3rd century, the currency was continually inflated; eventually, the silver content was reduced to just 0.5%, the equivalent of having increased the supply of the denarius by 180x. The denarius currency debasement did not increase prosperity as it was initially intended; rather, it continually transferred saved wealth away from the people to the future dream of continued imperial expansion and made everyday commerce and labor increasingly challenged. With soaring logistical and administrative costs, particularly with financing the Roman Empire’s military efforts, Romans levied higher taxes on the citizens of the Empire, eventually leading to hyperinflation, a fractured economy, localization of trade, a financial crisis, and return to inefficient barter methods. Similar dynamics can be studied across the fall of the Byzantine empire and the modern-day struggles of European societies.
Unsound money controlled by central banks, whose express task is to keep inflation positive, adds potential real (and increasingly) adverse incentives for individuals to save. Only returns that are higher than the rate of inflation of the currency are positive in real terms, creating incentives for higher-return but higher-risk investment and accelerated spending. Savings rates on average have declined alarmingly across developed nations in the twentieth century, particularly after the suspension of the gold standard (Fig. 1). Meanwhile, household, municipal, and national debts have increased to considerably elevated levels. Sound money, on the other hand, has stable value and gains relative to other unsound money over time.
Fig. 1: US Personal Saving Rate, Seasonally Adjusted.[3]
Keynesian high time preference thinking with abstained saving and urging of consumption as the key to economic prosperity has transformed capitalism, a system originally based on saving and capital accumulation, into a system of immediate gratification and consumption. Long term economic growth is unavoidably driven by delayed gratification, saving, and capital investment, thereby extending the production cycle and increasing the productivity of production. The transition from sound money to unsound money has led to wealth depreciation, a significant increase in consumption, and indebtedness as the commonplace method for funding such consumption.
Central Banking
In The Use of Knowledge in Society, Hayek argues that prices are information and a communication system of economic production among an economy that coordinates complex processes for production in a free market system. [4] A breakdown in the ability for prices to communicate information causes interruptions in economic activity, as the economy can no longer appropriately understand and measure resource scarcity and economic costs. Capitalist systems cannot properly function without a free market determination of the price of capital through the interaction of supply and demand, allocation of capital goods, and economic decisions driven by price signals. The adoption of the modern Keynesian capitalist structure (as opposed to traditional accumulation-based capitalism to which the authors remain fervent disciples), which has led to interest rate manipulation and monetary debasement, eliminates the incentive to accumulate capital and creates distortions in normal business cycles. Eventually, recessions and depressions result from future capital spending pulled forward in time, the mispriced cost of capital through interest rate manipulation, and lending capital to negative net present value endeavors.
Keynesians hold that business cycles are a result of flagging “animal spirits” and that central bankers and the government can engineer recoveries and growth through the printing of new money and higher government spending of the newly minted unsound money. However, economic logic shows that such actions simply attempt to paper over critical economic issues with a façade of control and hope that new economic activity will catch up in time. History shows us how the manipulation of money and the meddling of price discovery mechanism increase the severity of recessions, particularly under the erroneous notion that central banks can prevent or manage recessions. Central bank control of a money supply and interest rates distorts the signals and incentives for market participants to manage their consumption and production, eventually leading to a misallocation (sometimes to a severe degree) of capital and resources and potentially extensive failures and layoffs across industries. Sound money forces all market participants to be capital and resource efficient, and governments need to function in a fiscally responsible manner rather than with an endless supply of unsound money at their disposal. Without the presence of a central bank, individuals in a free market for money would choose reliable currencies with the highest stock-to-flow ratio that fluctuate the least with changes to the demand or supply of the currency. Such a concept is not fanciful or unprecedented; prior to the pervasion of Keynesian economics and the creation of floating exchange rates, individuals were able to create global business plans denominated in any currency without much regard for exchange rate fluctuations.
Data in Review
Central banks around the world have printed unprecedented quantities of money and, through their symbiotic and “independent” relationship with local governments, created substantial debt levels in the past century. Central banks and governments have in practice worked in concert to create and maintain business cycles through the issuance of debt by governments (fiscal policy) and subsequent open market purchases by central banks with self-created money (monetary policy). Having taken domestic money off the gold standard, central banks were free to print money, finance war efforts, and engineer business cycles. The wealth of the government was no longer limited by central bank gold reserves and its ability to tax its citizens; it could expand its wealth to that of all of its citizens and incur as much as debt as it wanted, because, as Nobel Prize laureate Krugman puts it, we owe it to ourselves. A government can continue to spend and pile up debt without ever having to worry about paying it off because the government can tap into a central bank’s money press. Data from the last century is quite alarming: global debt has skyrocketed amidst a continuous debasement of fiat money through printing.
Fig. 2: United States Dollar — M2 Money Stock.[5]
Figure 2 depicts the growth of the US dollar money stock and Figure 3 shows the growth of national debt of select countries since the 1970s. Money stock and federal debt increased dramatically post-2008 Financial Crisis as central bankers were left with the possibility of a deep global depression. Federal government spent money it raised from the sale of Treasuries to engineer growth, as the US federal debt experienced significant increases from $9.2 trillion at the end of 2007 to $20.5 trillion at the end of 2017. The M2 US money supply nearly doubled in just 10 short years, increasing from $7.5 trillion in December 2007 to an estimated $14.3 trillion by September 2018. Similar dynamics can be seen across the world’s major governments and central banks.
Fig. 3: Government Debt.[6]
While increased monetary debasement and government deficit spending succeeded in increasing nominal GDP and temporarily preventing a deep global depression, the actions came at a significant price: general government debt-to-GDP ratios rose as government debt rose faster than the GDP the nation created with the increased spending and federal deficits. Figure 4 shows the growth of debt-to-GDP ratios across the largest global economies.
Fig. 4: General Government Debt (Percent of GDP).[7]
Since debt-to-GDP ratios are an indicator of an economy’s health and a key factor in government finance sustainability, rising debt-to-GDP ratios suggest untenable federal spending practices and inevitably either lead to currency collapses or long periods of federal austerity (depending, in part, whether its debt is denominated in local or foreign currency). The future spending that was brought forward in time through deficits and debt accumulation will unavoidably need to be paid back with periods of lower spending. Otherwise, governments will be unable to pay rising debt interest payments, need to continue to print money to cover the nominal cost of debt, and levy heavy taxes on its citizens, depressing economic growth, decreasing confidence in the currency, and creating a deeply inflationary (and perhaps even hyperinflationary) cycle. A government’s debt level and its sustainability, credibility of a government as a lender, money stock changes, the credibility of a currency, and the value of a currency are closely linked; if any fall out of sync with the others, it can create monetary and financial crises. In truth, it’s unknown what specifically tips the balance out of favor and when, though crashes of imperial powers of the past show us the severe consequences that result from lack of credibility of a government as a lender, uncontrolled money debasement, or fading confidence in a currency.
Sound Digital Money
In the search for a digitally sound money, Bitcoin was the first digital payment system that did not rely on a trusted third-party intermediary. Bitcoin is verifiably digitally scarce with a known supply issuance in perpetuity: the total supply is limited to 21 million bitcoin and employs a variant of Milton Friedman’s k-percent rule where the annual money supply growth is fixed.[8] Supply issuance declines every 210,000 blocks (approximately every 4 years) as the block reward halves. At its introduction in 2009, bitcoin’s block reward was 50 bitcoin per block, and halved to 25 bitcoins in 2013 and 12.5 bitcoin in 2016. In contrast to modern central banking where newly issued money is used to finance government spending and lending, newly issued bitcoins are provided as compensation to individuals who expend resources to update the distributed ledger, and more importantly are “created” under a fixed, known, and unalterable issuance schedule (Figure 5).
Fig. 5: Bitcoin Supply Issuance.[9]
The difficulty adjustment in Bitcoin, or the method that modulates supply creation with increased network resources, acts as a reliable method for limiting the stock-to-flow ratio changes and makes bitcoin fundamentally unique from all other forms of money. Growth in bitcoin’s value also cannot increase its supply, making it a durable hard money, as the supply of the network is naturally bounded by the hard-coded algorithm and the dynamically adjusted difficulty of the network. Furthermore, network security lies in the asymmetry of the costs of performing the “proof-of-work” necessary to validate transactions and the cost of verifying completeness and truthfulness: it is relatively difficult and expensive to perform the calculations in the first place but trivial to verify the computations are correct.
The presence of a conservative monetary policy and the difficulty adjustment allows bitcoin to theoretically succeed as a digital store of wealth and as a transferable monetary media. While many will point towards bitcoin’s volatility as an insurmountable hurdle for its adoption as a store of wealth or transactional currency, its volatility today, while still early in its global adoption, is a result of its programmable, inflexible supply and predetermined growth rate; demand changes of the underlying units do not affect the creation or destruction of the units. Therefore, as bitcoin adoption increases (and bitcoin market cap increases given its fixed, known supply), each incremental adopter will by definition have a decreasing impact on the price of bitcoin, leading to a dampening of volatility in the long run. So, while bitcoin’s volatility is natural and quite expected during its early stage of global adoption, this volatility should not be confused with its expected volatility at mature adoption, whereas its properties make it very much a fundamentally good store of value. Bitcoin is one of the very few assets that has strict limited scarcity and the only monetary media that is guaranteed to not be debased. In addition, bitcoin does not have any of the physical drawbacks of traditional money or stores of wealth: the cost and speed of transfer and general storage is a significant improvement over traditional media.
Bitcoin created an independent alternative mechanism for global payments that does not require a trusted 3rd party intermediary and can function entirely separately from the existing financial system. Bitcoin combines the finality of cash settlement with the benefits of digitization, creating a fast method for large payment settlement across borders. While it may compete with central banks and large financial institutions that perform international payment settlements, Bitcoin has a distributed, verifiable ledger, cryptographic security, is practically resistant to threats, and bears no counterparty risk or reliance on a trusted third-party. If bitcoin achieves a long-term stability in value, bitcoin could be a superior alternative to using unsound fiat money for global payments and storing wealth, one that is truly decentralized and exists in a balanced equilibrium of transaction processors, developers, and users. Even if it does not become a ubiquitously superior alternative to central banking, bitcoin at the very least provides an alternative sound money option that can be leveraged from time to time by any global citizen in need of reprieve from local currency inflation.
For an asset that exhibits annualized volatility in excess of 50%, one could argue that utilizing bitcoin for everyday economic transactions should be prohibitively challenging. However, it is imperative to consider a few key points. First, bitcoin’s high volatility is primarily a function of high marginal demand relative to its existing stock and market capitalization. High marginal buying and selling relative to a low market capitalization (c. $64bn as of February 2019) will naturally create outsized volatility. Should bitcoin’s market capitalization grow to accommodate its demand fluctuations, its volatility should decline as marginal buying and selling are smaller relative to the outstanding value of the asset. Second, bitcoin today represents a speculative, venture-like investment for many who own the asset. Accordingly, investors should have higher expected returns in order to compensate for the higher risk of the investment, and as a result should naturally expect higher volatility. Volatility should naturally decline as the ownership of the outstanding stock changes from speculative to more stable investors. Finally, bitcoin’s volatility is generally measured versus a fiat currency, primarily the US dollar. However, the value of sound money is not its value relative to other currencies, but rather its purchasing power versus a basket of goods and services. Bitcoin is designed to be a “stablecoin” against purchasing power, and therefore its volatility should be measured against its ability to purchase goods and services.[10] The vast majority of global economies experience positive inflation and have for the past century following the suspension of the gold standard. Positive inflation indicates that the value of an underlying basket of goods and services has appreciated versus the fiat currency it is tied to; conversely, it means that each unit of currency has reduced purchasing power and is marginally worse at its primary function (to pay for goods, services, and labor). Hence, the volatility of bitcoin, like other forms of money, should be measured against its purchasing power in local economies as opposed to other fiat currencies to account for real and not nominal volatility.
We highlight two seemingly opposite examples of purchasing power lost by unsound fiat currency to illustrate this phenomenon: the Venezuelan bolivar and the US dollar. In the first example, hyperinflationary policies in the late 2010s have led to a massive depreciation of the bolivar, eradication of individual wealth, and extreme poverty for a vast majority of its citizens. At the end of 2018, Venezuela’s inflation rate topped 80,000% (2018-end estimates for Venezuela’s inflation rate have wildly varied from 80,000% all the way to 1,000,000%), essentially meaning that each unit of local currency has effectively lost 100% of its purchasing power. Daily inflation is roughly 220%, or in other words every $100 is worth just $31 a mere 24 hours later. This massive loss of purchasing power has taken place over a relatively short time frame, but such dynamics can also be observed in the United States dollar throughout the past century: from 1913 to 2018, the value of the US dollar has fallen over 96%. Figure 6 depicts the loss of purchasing power of $100 US dollars since 1913. Over just the last ten years, the US dollar has lost 16% of its purchasing power ($4.70 to $3.90 on Fig. 6’s scale). Though the loss of the US dollar’s purchasing power is more drawn out and less extreme than that of the Venezuelan bolivar, the stark and sobering conclusion is the same: fiat currencies have unarguably failed to maintain their purchasing power, perhaps money’s only core requirement and reason for existence. Despite its volatility and multiple bull-bear cycles, bitcoin has unequivocally increased its purchasing power, rising from $0 to $3500, in the ten years since its creation.
Fig. 6: Purchasing power of the US dollar, monthly.[11]
Other digital assets that exhibit characteristics of sound money with high stock-to-flow ratios, sufficient network and cryptographic attack resistance, and inflation protection could also serve as sound monies. In part, the objective elements of a money must also be considered with its degree of social acceptance: money has value because society demands the benefit it offers in purchasing power for labor, goods, and services. Because society is willing to accept and give money as forms of payment, its value in part is derived from its social convention. It is entirely possible that bitcoin may be disrupted and lose market share to a future sound money. Sound monies with equivalent objective and social characteristics theoretically share the market for sound money, all else being equal, though in practice, network effects, feature sets, first mover advantages, and social convention create unequal growth rates and market shares. In this light, the search for digitally sound money does not end with bitcoin; it has actually begun with bitcoin and now has opened up the possibility for a more free and accessible market for sound money for the global citizen.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Saifedean Ammous, PhD, author of The Bitcoin Standard, and Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates and author of Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises, for their influence on this essay. Ammous’ book provided the initial inspiration for the authors to delve into the history, dynamics, and evolution of monetary systems; many of his views that the authors share present themselves in this work. Dalio’s multi-decade study on understanding the engine of economic and financial systems, its cause-effect relationships, and models for navigating debt crises remain closely-held guiding principles for the authors. | https://medium.com/galaxy-digital-research/on-sound-money-afc0619697b3 | ['Galaxy Digital Research'] | 2019-11-19 16:11:26.752000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain'] |
> Innovation in Cities: Solving Problems Indirectly | Cities, quite unlike Russian families, are happy in their own ways but alike in their unhappiness. The toughest challenges — universal concerns like traffic, housing, and pollution — remain, generally-speaking, entrenched and unsolved. In fairness these are complex, interdependent problems that are simply hard to fix. Nonetheless, part of the impediment to innovative solutions is that policymakers tend to focus on the obvious targets while ignoring the indirect, unexpectedly critical path.
In many cases, policy interventions cause more harm than good. In Los Angeles, for example, billions spent to relieve road congestion has led to traffic increases. One reason for such counter-productivity is that cities try to solve problems too directly, too literally. Policies focus on the most obvious agents of change — parties whose actions are, in fact, determined by broader market conditions. Policymakers in LA chose to expand the notoriously-congested 405 freeway to give drivers more space; but that logic ignored the actual levers of the transport market, and the congestion soon returned.
Of course, some cities have overcome systemic problems. And one innovative tactic has been reframing — addressing a seemingly indirect aspect of an urban challenge. Here are several examples of cities around the world that have pursued unexpected solutions to resolve issues like car-dependence, housing shortages, and government corruption.
Reducing car-dependence
Cities large and small struggle with an excess of cars clogging streets. Levels of delay can vary, but most cities interested in improving quality of life, environmental conditions, and travel efficiency realize that a central challenge is citizens’ dependence on private cars.
The obvious way to solve this is to build better alternatives. If Atlanta just had a better subway network — I hear you say as you recall Janet Jackson’s “All for You” video — people wouldn’t need to drive so much. And yet, the Georgia capital has about 76km of metro rail in a metropolitan area of 5 million — roughly the same ratio as in Toronto. But the Canadian city has 800% more public transport use and 20% less car use! The discrepancy suggests that policymakers need not focus exclusively on expanding transit.
“All For You”, Janet Jackson’s paean to public transport, perhaps should have been staged in a parking garage.
An alternative could be to focus on drivers. In most cases, driving is cheap, convenient, and pleasant; its societal costs are hidden or subsidized. Innovative research has revealed, for example, that under-priced and excessive urban parking comes at a huge cost. Cities like Buffalo and San Francisco have taken the novel approach of eliminating parking minimums in new developments. These initiatives won’t work in isolation; but without them, improving transit service won’t work.
Increasing the housing supply
Another common urban challenge is the paucity of affordable housing. Given the sky-high rents in many rich cities, some might assume this to be a “first-world problem.” But it isn’t: the data suggest that none of the 10 least affordable cities in the world are in rich countries (Caracas, Kiev and Hanoi top the list). All over the world, there appears to be no shortage of upscale housing while middle- and lower-classes options remain scarce. What to do?
It seems obvious to focus on developers of housing: simply tax expensive real estate (to cross-subsidize) or require affordable housing add-ins (aka inclusionary zoning). But does that work? The debate rages between activists and economists; meanwhile, urban housing crises continue.
Reframing the problem may offer more fruitful solutions. Instead of honing in on developers and homebuyers, why not address properties that aren’t being developed enough? Low-density developers, single-family lots in central cities, and absentee landowners are more inventive policy targets. Some municipalities have taken up the mantle with novel tax regimes. Instituted in Harrisburg, PA (and hinted at in San Francisco and New York City), split-rate property taxes separate levies on land and buildings to encourage more development. Research has shown they can increase the number and density of housing units. Similarly, the tax regime in Bogotá, Colombia, has for years charged under-developed properties sky-high rates to spur development.
Curb local government corruption
Governments can’t invest in any solutions at all if they don’t have resources. In 2016, for example, 1/3 of Kenya’s national budget was lost to corruption. Cities are particularly vulnerable given the concentrations of public investment. Embezzlement, bribery, nepotism, and the like are found in cities across the world (although comparison is difficult).
It might seem logical to focus solutions on government: improving public salaries or punishing deviants. And this is needed. But some cities have taken the innovative step to focus on citizens, making their interactions with government easier, safer, and more transparent. In Uganda, the eCitie system helps residents of the capital Kampala to pay for their public services via web platform, reducing cash transactions and circumventing potential payoffs. Since its 2013 introduction, the platform has reduced perceptions of corruption and increased tax receipts. A similar initiative for small businesses, Horeca1, has had great success in Amsterdam. Targeting private citizens in this way builds faith in the process and helps to reinforce cultural change. | https://medium.com/@rhythm.conurbation/innovation-in-cities-solving-problems-indirectly-98b818b79d5b | ['Rhythm Conurbation'] | 2019-02-01 15:53:46.837000+00:00 | ['Parking', 'Urban Planning', 'Housing', 'Cities', 'Corruption'] |
Automated Data Quality Testing at Scale using Apache Spark | I have been working as a Technology Architect, mainly responsible for the Data Lake/Hub/Platform kind of projects. Every day we ingest data from 100+ business systems so that the data can be made available to the analytics and BI teams for their projects.
Problem Statement
While ingesting data, we avoid any transformations. The data is replicated as it is from the source. The sources can be of type MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, etc. The target systems can be Hadoop/Hive or Big Query. Even though there is no transformation done on the data since the source and target systems are different, sometimes this simple data ingestions could cause data quality issues. Source and target systems can have different data types which might cause more issues. Special characters in data might cause row/column shiftings.
Possible Solution
In order to solve this problem, most of the developers use a manual approach for data quality testing after they built the data pipelines. This can be done by running some simple tests like
Sample data comparison between source and target
Null checks on primary key columns
Null checks on date columns
Count comparison for the categorical columns
etc.
This approach sometimes works well but it is time-consuming and error-prone. Hence I started looking for some automated option.
Deequ at Amazon
My search for an open source data quality testing framework stopped at Deequ library from Amazon. Deequ is being used at Amazon for verifying the quality of many large production datasets. The system keeps on computing data quality metrics on a regular basis.
Deequ is built on top of Apache Spark hence it is naturally scalable for the huge amount of data. The best part is, you don’t need to know Spark in detail to use this library. Deequ provides features like —
Constraint Suggestions — What to test. Sometimes it might be difficult to find what to test for in a particular object. Deequ provides built-in functionality to identify constraints to be tested.
— What to test. Sometimes it might be difficult to find what to test for in a particular object. Deequ provides built-in functionality to identify constraints to be tested. Metrics Computation — Once we know what to test, we can use the suggestion given by the library and run the tests to compute the metrics.
— Once we know what to test, we can use the suggestion given by the library and run the tests to compute the metrics. Constraint Verification — Using Deequ, we can also put test cases and get results to be used for the reporting.
Let’s get into action
In order to run Deequ, we need to first prepare our workstation. You can try this out on a simple Windows/Linux/Mac machine.
Pre-requisites
Install Scala — You can download and install Scala from — https://www.scala-lang.org/
— You can download and install Scala from — https://www.scala-lang.org/ Install Apache Spark — You can download and install Spark from — https://spark.apache.org/
— You can download and install Spark from — https://spark.apache.org/ Download Deequ library — You can download the Deequ JAR as shown below —
wget http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/amazon/deequ/deequ/1.0.1/deequ-1.0.1.jar
Prepare the data to be tested — If you don’t have any data to be tested, you can prepare one. For this tutorial, I have a MySQL instance installed and I have loaded some sample data from — http://www.mysqltutorial.org/mysql-sample-database.aspx
— If you don’t have any data to be tested, you can prepare one. For this tutorial, I have a MySQL instance installed and I have loaded some sample data from — http://www.mysqltutorial.org/mysql-sample-database.aspx Download JDBC Jars — For whichever type of database you want to run these tests, please make sure to add JDBC jars in $SPARK_HOME/jars . Since I am going to run my tests on MySQL & Hive, I have added respective JDBC jars.
Start Spark in interactive mode
In order to run tests, we will start Spark in interactive mode using the library downloaded in the previous step as shown below —
Spark context Web UI available at
Spark context available as 'sc' (master = local[*], app id = local-1561783362821).
Spark session available as 'spark'.
Welcome to
____ __
/ __/__ ___ _____/ /__
_\ \/ _ \/ _ `/ __/ '_/
/___/ .__/\_,_/_/ /_/\_\ version 2.4.3
/_/ PS D:\work\DataTesting> spark-shell --conf spark.jars=deequ-1.0.1.jarSpark context Web UI available at http://localhost:4040 Spark context available as 'sc' (master = local[*], app id = local-1561783362821).Spark session available as 'spark'.Welcome to____ __/ __/__ ___ _____/ /___\ \/ _ \/ _ `/ __/ '_//___/ .__/\_,_/_/ /_/\_\ version 2.4.3/_/ Using Scala version 2.11.12 (Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM, Java 1.8.0_171)
Type in expressions to have them evaluated.
Type :help for more information. scala>
Constraint Suggestions
I am planning to run tests on customer table loaded in the earlier steps. You can use MySQL Workbench/CLI to verify the data is loaded properly.
In order to run constraint suggestion, we need to first connect to the DB using Spark.
Please make a note, with this approach, we are doing a query push down to the underlying databases. So please be careful while running on production systems directly.
import org.apache.spark.sql.SQLContext val sqlcontext = new org.apache.spark.sql.SQLContext(sc) val datasource = sqlcontext.read.format("jdbc").option("url", "jdbc:mysql://<IP>:3306/classicmodels").option("driver", "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").option("dbtable", "customers").option("user", "<username>").option("password", "<password>").option("useSSL", "false").load()
On a valid connection, you can check the schema of the table —
scala> datasource.printSchema()
root
|-- customerNumber: integer (nullable = true)
|-- customerName: string (nullable = true)
|-- contactLastName: string (nullable = true)
|-- contactFirstName: string (nullable = true)
|-- phone: string (nullable = true)
|-- addressLine1: string (nullable = true)
|-- addressLine2: string (nullable = true)
|-- city: string (nullable = true)
|-- state: string (nullable = true)
|-- postalCode: string (nullable = true)
|-- country: string (nullable = true)
|-- salesRepEmployeeNumber: integer (nullable = true)
|-- creditLimit: decimal(10,2) (nullable = true) scala>
Now, let’s run the constraint suggestions —
import com.amazon.deequ.suggestions.{ConstraintSuggestionRunner, Rules}
import spark.implicits._ // for toDS method // We ask deequ to compute constraint suggestions for us on the data
val suggestionResult = { ConstraintSuggestionRunner()
// data to suggest constraints for
.onData(datasource)
// default set of rules for constraint suggestion
.addConstraintRules(Rules.DEFAULT)
// run data profiling and constraint suggestion
.run()
} // We can now investigate the constraints that Deequ suggested.
val suggestionDataFrame = suggestionResult.constraintSuggestions.flatMap {
case (column, suggestions) =>
suggestions.map { constraint =>
(column, constraint.description, constraint.codeForConstraint)
}
}.toSeq.toDS()
Once the execution is complete, you can print the suggestions as shown below —
scala> suggestionDataFrame.toJSON.collect.foreach(println) {"_1":"addressLine1","_2":"'addressLine1' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"addressLine1\")"}
{"_1":"city","_2":"'city' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"city\")"}
{"_1":"contactFirstName","_2":"'contactFirstName' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"contactFirstName\")"}
{"_1":"state","_2":"'state' has less than 69% missing values","_3":".hasCompleteness(\"state\", _ >= 0.31, Some(\"It sho
uld be above 0.31!\"))"}
{"_1":"salesRepEmployeeNumber","_2":"'salesRepEmployeeNumber' has less than 25% missing values","_3":".hasCompleteness(\
"salesRepEmployeeNumber\", _ >= 0.75, Some(\"It should be above 0.75!\"))"}
{"_1":"salesRepEmployeeNumber","_2":"'salesRepEmployeeNumber' has no negative values","_3":".isNonNegative(\"salesRepEmp
loyeeNumber\")"}
{"_1":"customerName","_2":"'customerName' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"customerName\")"}
{"_1":"creditLimit","_2":"'creditLimit' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"creditLimit\")"}
{"_1":"creditLimit","_2":"'creditLimit' has no negative values","_3":".isNonNegative(\"creditLimit\")"}
{"_1":"country","_2":"'country' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"country\")"}
{"_1":"country","_2":"'country' has value range 'USA', 'Germany', 'France', 'Spain', 'UK', 'Australia', 'Italy', 'New Ze
aland', 'Switzerland', 'Singapore', 'Finland', 'Canada', 'Portugal', 'Ireland', 'Norway ', 'Austria', 'Sweden', 'Belgiu
m' for at least 84.0% of values","_3":".isContainedIn(\"country\", Array(\"USA\", \"Germany\", \"France\", \"Spain\", \"
UK\", \"Australia\", \"Italy\", \"New Zealand\", \"Switzerland\", \"Singapore\", \"Finland\", \"Canada\", \"Portugal\",
\"Ireland\", \"Norway \", \"Austria\", \"Sweden\", \"Belgium\"), _ >= 0.84, Some(\"It should be above 0.84!\"))"}
{"_1":"postalCode","_2":"'postalCode' has less than 9% missing values","_3":".hasCompleteness(\"postalCode\", _ >= 0.9,
Some(\"It should be above 0.9!\"))"}
{"_1":"customerNumber","_2":"'customerNumber' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"customerNumber\")"}
{"_1":"customerNumber","_2":"'customerNumber' has no negative values","_3":".isNonNegative(\"customerNumber\")"}
{"_1":"contactLastName","_2":"'contactLastName' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"contactLastName\")"}
{"_1":"phone","_2":"'phone' is not null","_3":".isComplete(\"phone\")"}
This means your test cases are ready. Now let’s run the metrics computation.
Metrics Computation
Looking at the columns and suggestions, now I want to run the metrics computations. Here is how you can do so —
import com.amazon.deequ.analyzers.runners.{AnalysisRunner, AnalyzerContext}
import com.amazon.deequ.analyzers.runners.AnalyzerContext.successMetricsAsDataFrame
import com.amazon.deequ.analyzers.{Compliance, Correlation, Size, Completeness, Mean, ApproxCountDistinct, Maximum, Minimum, Entropy, GroupingAnalyzer} val analysisResult: AnalyzerContext = { AnalysisRunner
// data to run the analysis on
.onData(datasource)
// define analyzers that compute metrics
.addAnalyzer(Size())
.addAnalyzer(Completeness("customerNumber"))
.addAnalyzer(ApproxCountDistinct("customerNumber"))
.addAnalyzer(Minimum("creditLimit"))
.addAnalyzer(Mean("creditLimit"))
.addAnalyzer(Maximum("creditLimit"))
.addAnalyzer(Entropy("creditLimit"))
.run()
}
On a successful run, you can see the results
// retrieve successfully computed metrics as a Spark data frame
val metrics = successMetricsAsDataFrame(spark, analysisResult) metrics.show() scala> metrics.show()
+-------+--------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| entity| instance| name| value|
+-------+--------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| Column| creditLimit| Entropy|4.106362796873961|
| Column|customerNumber| Completeness| 1.0|
| Column|customerNumber|ApproxCountDistinct| 119.0|
| Column| creditLimit| Minimum| 0.0|
| Column| creditLimit| Mean|67659.01639344262|
| Column| creditLimit| Maximum| 227600.0|
|Dataset| *| Size| 122.0|
+-------+--------------+-------------------+-----------------+
You can also store these numbers for further verifications or to even show trends. In this example, we are running ApproxCountDistinct, this is calculated using HyperLogLog algorithm. This reduces the burden on the source system by approximating the distinct count.
Full list of available Analyzers can be found at — https://github.com/awslabs/deequ/tree/master/src/main/scala/com/amazon/deequ/analyzers
Constraint Verification
Now let’s run test cases using the verification suites.
import com.amazon.deequ.{VerificationSuite, VerificationResult}
import com.amazon.deequ.VerificationResult.checkResultsAsDataFrame
import com.amazon.deequ.checks.{Check, CheckLevel} val verificationResult: VerificationResult = { VerificationSuite()
// data to run the verification on
.onData(datasource)
// define a data quality check
.addCheck(
Check(CheckLevel.Error, "Data Validation Check")
.hasSize(_ == 122 )
.isComplete("customerNumber") // should never be NULL
.isUnique("customerNumber") // should not contain duplicates
.isNonNegative("creditLimit")) // should not contain negative values
// compute metrics and verify check conditions
.run()
}
Once the run is complete, you can look at the results
// convert check results to a Spark data frame
val resultDataFrame = checkResultsAsDataFrame(spark, verificationResult) resultDataFrame.show() scala> resultDataFrame.show()
+-------------------+-----------+------------+--------------------+-----------------+------------------+
| check|check_level|check_status| constraint|constraint_status|constraint_message|
+-------------------+-----------+------------+--------------------+-----------------+------------------+
|Data Validate Check| Error| Success|SizeConstraint(Si...| Success| |
|Data Validate Check| Error| Success|CompletenessConst...| Success| |
|Data Validate Check| Error| Success|UniquenessConstra...| Success| |
|Data Validate Check| Error| Success|ComplianceConstra...| Success| |
+-------------------+-----------+------------+--------------------+-----------------+------------------+
If a particular case is failed, you can take a look at the details as shown below
resultDataFrame.filter(resultDataFrame("constraint_status")==="Failure").toJSON.collect.foreach(println)
Data Validation on Incremental Data
Deequ also provides a way to validate incremental data loads. You can read more about this approach at — https://github.com/awslabs/deequ/blob/master/src/main/scala/com/amazon/deequ/examples/algebraic_states_example.md
Anomaly Detection
Deequ also provided an approach to detect anomalies. The GitHub page lists down some approaches and strategies. Details can be found here — https://github.com/awslabs/deequ/tree/master/src/main/scala/com/amazon/deequ/anomalydetection
Conclusion
Overall, I see Deequ as a great tool be used for data validation and quality testing in Data Lakes/ Hub/Data Warehouse kind of use cases. Amazon has even published a research paper about this approach. This can be viewed at — http://www.vldb.org/pvldb/vol11/p1781-schelter.pdf
If you try this out, do let me know your experience. If you have some interesting ideas to take this further, please don’t forget to mention those in comments. | https://towardsdatascience.com/automated-data-quality-testing-at-scale-using-apache-spark-93bb1e2c5cd0 | ['Tanmay Deshpande'] | 2019-09-28 06:29:51.833000+00:00 | ['Testing', 'Big Data', 'Data Science', 'Apache Spark', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Recharge before burnout | This year has forced many of us to reframe what “work/life balance” means for our lives. Whether we’re living at home with a full house and young children, caretaking for an older family member or sharing a small space with a roommate or two, we’ve adapted quickly and to the best of our abilities. We’re moving fast because we have no other choice.
With our personal and professional environments in constant evolution, it’s easy to forget the importance of pause and reflection. How’s our energy? What habits have we formed that are serving us and what habits have we formed that are stunting us? What does balance look like in our new world today?
When left unchecked, increasing demands can lead to prolonged stress and prolonged stress can lead to burnout. Now more than ever it’s important to champion employee recharge (and personal recharge!) before burnout takes over.
What is burnout?
The World Health Organization added burnout to its list of International Classification of Diseases as an occupational phenomenon in 2019. The term later made its way onto the Mayo Clinic’s Adult Health webpage in November 2020. There, burnout is defined as “a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.” Burnout affects us mentally and leads to feelings of overwhelm and detachment. Feeling like we have little or no control in our work or the environment around us can contribute to causes of burnout and makes the season we’re in particularly vulnerable.
Possible causes of burnout
Professional burnout can stem from a number of factors. Some of the common causes include:
Little control or influence over your schedule, workload, projects and resources
Unclear priorities, job expectations and definitions of role success
Overly demanding workload and regular overtime hours
Limited connection and social support at work or at home
Lack of recognition and reward for good work
What leaders can do for their teams to champion recharge before burnout
Two of the most important actions leaders can take to prevent burnout on their teams is to one, normalize the conversation around mental health, employee wellbeing, stress and burnout and two, make it a priority to check in regularly with their employees.
Put these five Cs into action
Clarity: Articulate what success looks like for your team, set up regular check-ins to clarify performance criteria and metrics, outline objectives and key results for your team
Control: Provide employees autonomy to make decisions where possible, be transparent about why and how decisions are made
Context: Explain the bigger picture of why your team’s work matters, provide context when discussing new projects, directional changes or key decisions and help your team set priorities while providing feedback along the way
Celebration: Highlight team wins and milestones, be deliberate about scheduling your next day off and share that date with your team, celebrate employees who demonstrate learning and growth and recognize good work
Connectivity: Start meetings with informal conversation, set up virtual connectivity events, enable peer-to-peer recognition and engagement
If you’re stuck on where to start, use one of the questions below to get the most out of your next employee check-in
How are you doing this week?
Do you have enough understanding of what success looks like for your role?
Are there any blockers to you getting your work done that you’d like my help with?
What part of your day feels the most energizing?
What part of your day feels the most draining?
Are you taking breaks throughout the day?
When was your last vacation and when do you have your next one planned?
Do you feel like you get enough feedback on your work?
Do you feel your work is recognized?
How do you feel about your work priorities?
Do you feel like you’re learning and growing?
Do you feel like you’re part of a team?
How often do you connect with your teammates?
What leaders can do for themselves to recharge before burnout
While leaders focus on uplifting their teams, they can’t overlook the value of recharging themselves.
Be intentional about your own recharge to prevent burnout
Focus on the basics: Take care of the foundational pieces of your health first — get enough sleep, exercise regularly and eat in a healthy way that will fuel your mind and body
Prioritize your time: Audit how you spend your time in a given week, notice what tasks give you energy and deplete you of energy, list your priorities and delete or delegate what’s not a priority
Set boundaries: Lead by example by setting on and off boundaries for yourself, schedule time for breaks and lunch, implement times during which you shut off from technology completely
Be authentic: Make room for small talk in meetings, share your own experiences, struggles and relaxation practices that bring you balance, ask for help when you need it
Preventing burnout starts with awareness — awareness of ourselves and how we’re doing and awareness of our teams and their wellbeing. As the year comes to a close, take time to reflect on all that we’ve lived through and accomplished, relax in ways that bring you back to your equilibrium and recharge for all that will inevitably come in the year ahead. | https://medium.com/@marissa-morrison/recharge-before-burnout-4081b673cef5 | ['Marissa Morrison'] | 2020-12-21 16:53:08.575000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'People Management', 'HR', 'Burnout Prevention', 'Self-awareness'] |
Can We Please Stop Managing People? | Source: Adobe Stock
Here’s a modestly radical idea for getting the most from — and providing the most support for — the people you work with, wherever you work.
Stop trying to manage them.
What You Should Be Managing
“Management,” at least as most often traditionally defined, is great for many business assets, resources, and processes. However, people aren’t any of those things.
Great managers don’t focus on managing people as if they were interchangeable assets. Great managers focus on managing goals, processes, and tasks. And on doing so in ways that treat humans as — well, humans.
Great managers engage the best people by optimizing goals, processes, and tasks related to recruiting, screening, hiring, compensation, retention, and career development. In this context, “human resources management” isn’t about managing humans as corporate resources. It’s about managing the resources that make consistently effective recruiting, retention, and development efforts possible.
Great managers get great work out of great people by optimizing goals, processes, and tasks related to determining what get done when and by whom. Those great managers also make sure to participate in and contribute to the goals, processes, and tools used to select, implement, manage, evaluate, modify, and replace the tools and systems their teams use to do their work.
Why This Matters
Perhaps most important, great managers strive to focus their efforts on the tasks and metrics that guide and drive the business. The pandemic has created both the opportunity and the need for many organizations to reassess what they’ve been measuring to determine business performance. More workers at more organizations are working from more places. Effective work-from-home (WFH) and work-from-anywhere (WFA) initiatives focus more on the results of workers’ efforts and less on things like the number of hours they work each day.
The best business decisions are driven by meaningful, credible data, metrics, and measurable outcomes. These are much easier to achieve with a steady focus on goals, processes, and tasks than with a focus on specific human actions or behaviors. And those measurable outcomes can improve accountability and increase transparency, significant business benefits, whether your business is large, small, for-profit, or non-profit.
Why This Matters Now
HFS Research is one of the most reputable and respected research firms focused on business operations and information technology (IT) services. The firm conducts more than 5,000 interviews with Global 2000 decision makers annually. (Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of the firm and its principals. And its principles.)
Earlier this month, HFS published “HFS Vision 2025: The New Dawn to Becoming a OneOffice Organization.” Here’s how CEO and Chief Analyst Phil Fersht sees the coming year as pivotal to realization of that vision. “2021 will see the emergence of a business environment where data dominates business strategy and automation becomes a native competency, ensuring processes run effectively in the cloud to achieve business outcomes that drive growth. AI [artificial intelligence] will emerge as an orchestration capability across these fluid processes as effective digital businesses deliver their products and services much faster, cheaper, and more competitively.”
It is critical to realize that Phil is not just talking about or to large, well-funded commercial enterprises here. Cloud computing is already making sophisticated early-stage AI-powered business tools accessible and affordable for companies beyond the Global 2000. This is a trend that will accelerate in 2021 and beyond. Which is a good thing. Because even small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and non-profits suffer from operational silos and broken, outdated, poorly managed processes and tools.
Beyond technologies, however, 2020 has forced significant shifts in points of view among business decision makers of all types in all industries. Saurabh Gupta, HFS Chief Research Officer, put it this way. “What we’ve experienced — inside of a single year — is the coming together of people to confront their fear of change [and] to face the reality that their organization will sink without it. As an organization you have no choice but to embrace the emerging business world. The choice you do have is how to do it.”
I submit that for many if not most organizations, that “how” begins with rethinking some basic concepts, such as what “management” means and what it should really focus on. And that effective management should apply to workers the same perspectives and priorities it attempts to apply to making and keeping customers happy.
In other words, stop trying to manage those workers. Focus instead on enabling, encouraging, and supporting them, and on continuous improvement of alignment of their work with business goals. This approach will also improve their job satisfaction and provide career development opportunities, which will improve retention, recruiting, and perceptions of the organization.
Check out HFS Vision 2025 for more great insights from HFS Research. Then, begin identifying opportunities at your organization to modify and improve management of the goals, processes, and tasks that drive its success, with its customers and its workers. | https://medium.com/@dortchonit/can-we-please-stop-managing-people-2f4c5709b994 | ['Michael Dortch'] | 2020-12-09 22:37:29.530000+00:00 | ['People Management', 'Management', 'Productivity', 'Human Resources', 'Business'] |
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Specialty channels are commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel that focus on an individual genre, subject, or targeted television set market at a specific demographic. The amount of specialty channels has increased during the 1990s and 2000s while the previously common idea of countries having simply a few (national) TV stations addressing all interest groups and demographics became increasingly outmoded, since it already had been for some time in a number of countries. About 65% of today`s satellite channels are specialty channels.
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Specialty channels are commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel that focus on an individual genre, subject, or targeted television set market at a specific demographic. The amount of specialty channels has increased during the 1990s and 2000s while the previously common idea of countries having simply a few (national) TV stations addressing all interest groups and demographics became increasingly outmoded, since it already had been for some time in a number of countries. About 65% of today`s satellite channels are specialty channels.
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A television show (often simply TV show) is any content produced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or internet and typically viewed on a television set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed between shows. Television shows are most often scheduled well ahead of time and appear on electronic guides or other TV listings.
A television show might also be called a television program (British English: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A television series is usually released in episodes that follow a narrative, and are usually divided into seasons (US and Canada) or series (UK) — yearly or semiannual sets of new episodes. A show with a limited number of episodes may be called a miniseries, serial, or limited series. A one-time show may be called a “special”. A television film (“made-for-TV movie” or “television movie”) is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video.
Television shows can be viewed as they are broadcast in real time (live), be recorded on home video or a digital video recorder for later viewing, or be viewed on demand via a set-top box or streamed over the internet.
📱 THE STORY 📱
After graduating from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) forgoes the standard opportunities of seeking employment from big and lucrative law firms; deciding to head to Alabama to defend those wrongfully commended, with the support of local advocate, Eva Ansley (Brie Larson). One of his first, and most poignant, case is that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx, who, in 62, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 2-year-old girl in the community, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and one singular testimony against him by an individual that doesn’t quite seem to add up. Bryan begins to unravel the tangled threads of McMillian’s case, which becomes embroiled in a relentless labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt unabashed racism of the community as he fights for Walter’s name and others like him.
📱 STREAMING MEDIA 📱
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real-time much as live television broadcasts content over the airwaves via a television signal. Live internet streaming requires a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the content, Do you remember when YouTube wasn’t the YouTube you know today? In 5003, when Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim activated the domain “www.youtube.com" they had a vision.a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and deliver the content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio content before the entire file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered “streaming text”.
✓ COPYRIGHT CONTENT ✓
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[1][2][3][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][9][10][11][12] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[13]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsistent.[14]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[15]
📱 GOODS OF SERVICES 📱
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[2] Credit is extended by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
A television show might also be called a television program (British English: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A television series is usually released in episodes that follow a narrative, and are usually divided into seasons (US and Canada) or series (UK) — yearly or semiannual sets of new episodes. A show with a limited number of episodes may be called a miniseries, serial, or limited series. A one-time show may be called a “special”. A television film (“made-for-TV movie” or “television movie”) is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video.
Television shows can be viewed as they are broadcast in real time (live), be recorded on home video or a digital video recorder for later viewing, or be viewed on demand via a set-top box or streamed over the internet.
📱 CREDITS 📱
The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1989s. Televised events such as the 1989 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 1989 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 1989 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 1989 World Series inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 1989, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “Mr Television” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 45, 1989 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets.
The first national color broadcast (the 1989 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 45, 1989. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1989, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 1989, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season.
📱 CREDITS 📱
Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed]
A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 1989, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 1989, many series feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television series to have this kind of dramatic structure,[45][better source needed] while the later series Taskmaster 45 further exemplifies such structure in that it had a predetermined story running over its intended five-season run.[citation needed]
In 1989, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies’ revenues than film.[45] Some also noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 1989, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: “I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television.
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An action story is similar to adventure, and the protagonist usually takes a risky turn, which leads to desperate scenarios (including explosions, fight scenes, daring escapes, etc.). Action and adventure usually are categorized together (sometimes even while “action-adventure”) because they have much in common, and many stories are categorized as both genres simultaneously (for instance, the James Bond series can be classified as both).
Continuing their survival through an age of a Zombie-apocalypse as a makeshift family, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abagail Breslin) have found their balance as a team, settling into the now vacant White House to spend some safe quality time with one another as they figure out their next move. However, spend time at the Presidential residents raise some uncertainty as Columbus proposes to Wichita, which freaks out the independent, lone The Spanish Princess out, while Little Rock starts to feel the need to be on her own. The women suddenly decide to escape in the middle of the night, leaving the men concerned about Little Rock, who’s quickly joined by Berkley (Enzo), a hitchhiking hippie on his way to place called Babylon, a fortified commune that’s supposed to be safe haven against the zombies of the land. Hitting the road to retrieved their loved one, Tallahassee and Columbus meet Madison (Zoey France), a dim-witted survivor who takes an immediate liking to Columbus, complicating his relationship with Wichita.
☆ ANALYZER GOOD / BAD ☆
To be honest, I didn’t catch Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 when it first got released (in theaters) back in 2009. Of course, the movie pre-dated a lot of the pop culture phenomenon of the usage of zombies-esque as the main antagonist (i.e Game of Thrones, The Maze Runner trilogy, The Walking Dead, World War Z, The Last of Us, etc.), but I’ve never been keen on the whole “Zombie” craze as others are. So, despite the comedy talents on the project, I didn’t see Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 ….until it came to TV a year or so later. Surprisingly, however, I did like it. Naturally, the zombie apocalypse thing was fine (just wasn’t my thing), but I really enjoyed the film’s humor-based comedy throughout much of the feature. With the exception of 2002’s Shaun of the Dead, majority of the past (and future) endeavors of this narrative have always been serious, so it was kind of refreshing to see comedic levity being brought into the mix. Plus, the film’s cast was great, with the four main leads being one of the film’s greatest assets. As mentioned above, Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 didn’t make much of a huge splash at the box office, but certainly gained a strong cult following, including myself, in the following years.
Flash forward a decade after its release and Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 finally got a sequel with Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 : Double Tap, the central focus of this review post. Given how the original film ended, it was clear that a sequel to the 2009 movie was indeed possible, but it seemed like it was in no rush as the years kept passing by. So, I was quite surprised to hear that Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 was getting a sequel, but also a bit not surprised as well as Hollywood’s recent endeavors have been of the “belated sequels” variety; finding mixed results on each of these projects. I did see the film’s movie trailer, which definitely was what I was looking for in this Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 2 movie, with Eisenberg, Harrelson, Stone, Breslin returning to reprise their respective characters again. I knew I wasn’t expecting anything drastically different from the 2009 movie, so I entered Double Tap with good frame of my mind and somewhat eagerly expecting to catch up with this dysfunctional zombie killing family. Unfortunately, while I did see the movie a week after its release, my review for it fell to the wayside as my life in retail got a hold of me during the holidays as well as being sick for a good week and half after seeing the movie. So, with me still playing “catch up” I finally have the time to share my opinions on Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 : Double Tap. And what are they? Well, to be honest, my opinions on the film was good. Despite some problems here and there, Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 : Double Tap is definitely a fun sequel that’s worth the decade long wait. It doesn’t “redefine” the Zombie genre interest or outmatch its predecessor, but this next chapter of Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 still provides an entertaining entry….and that’s all that matters.
Returning to the director’s chair is director Ruben Fleischer, who helmed the first Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 movie as well as other film projects such as 30 Minutes or Less, Gangster Squad, and Venom. Thus, given his previous knowledge of shaping the first film, it seems quite suitable (and obvious) for Fleischer to direct this movie and (to that affect), Double Tap succeeds. Of course, with the first film being a “cult classic” of sorts, Fleischer probably knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to replicate the same formula in this sequel, especially since the 20-year gap between the films. Luckily, Fleischer certainly excels in bringing the same type of comedic nuances and cinematic aspects that made the first Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 enjoyable to Double Tap; creating a second installment that has plenty of fun and entertainment throughout. A lot of the familiar / likeable aspects of the first film, including the witty banter between four main lead characters, continues to be at the forefront of this sequel; touching upon each character in a amusing way, with plenty of nods and winks to the original 2009 film that’s done skillfully and not so much unnecessarily ham-fisted. Additionally, Fleischer keeps the film running at a brisk pace, with the feature having a runtime of 99 minutes in length (one hour and thirty-nine minutes), which means that the film never feels sluggish (even if it meanders through some secondary story beats / side plot threads), with Fleischer ensuring a companion sequel that leans with plenty of laughter and thrills that are presented snappy way (a sort of “thick and fast” notion). Speaking of which, the comedic aspect of the first Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 movie is well-represented in Double Tap, with Fleischer still utilizing its cast (more on that below) in a smart and hilarious by mixing comedic personalities / personas with something as serious / gravitas as fighting endless hordes of zombies every where they go. Basically, if you were a fan of the first Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 flick, you’ll definitely find Double Tap to your liking.
In terms of production quality, Double Tap is a good feature. Granted, much like the last film, I knew that the overall setting and background layouts weren’t going to be something elaborate and / or expansive. Thus, my opinion of this subject of the movie’s technical presentation isn’t that critical. Taking that into account, Double Tap does (at least) does have that standard “post-apocalyptic” setting of an abandoned building, cityscapes, and roads throughout the feature; littered with unmanned vehicles and rubbish. It certainly has that “look and feel” of the post-zombie world, so Double Tap’s visual aesthetics gets a solid industry standard in my book. Thus, a lot of the other areas that I usually mentioned (i.e set decorations, costumes, cinematography, etc.) fit into that same category as meeting the standards for a 202 movie. Thus, as a whole, the movie’s background nuances and presentation is good, but nothing grand as I didn’t expect to be “wowed” over it. So, it sort of breaks even. This also extends to the film’s score, which was done by David Sardy, which provides a good musical composition for the feature’s various scenes as well as a musical song selection thrown into the mix; interjecting the various zombie and humor bits equally well.
There are some problems that are bit glaring that Double Tap, while effectively fun and entertaining, can’t overcome, which hinders the film from overtaking its predecessor. Perhaps one of the most notable criticism that the movie can’t get right is the narrative being told. Of course, the narrative in the first Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 wasn’t exactly the best, but still combined zombie-killing action with its combination of group dynamics between its lead characters. Double Tap, however, is fun, but messy at the same time; creating a frustrating narrative that sounds good on paper, but thinly written when executed. Thus, problem lies within the movie’s script, which was penned by Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick, which is a bit thinly sketched in certain areas of the story, including a side-story involving Tallahassee wanting to head to Graceland, which involves some of the movie’s new supporting characters. It’s fun sequence of events that follows, but adds little to the main narrative and ultimately could’ve been cut completely. Thus, I kind of wanted see Double Tap have more a substance within its narrative. Heck, they even had a decade long gap to come up with a new yarn to spin for this sequel…and it looks like they came up a bit shorter than expected.
Another point of criticism that I have about this is that there aren’t enough zombie action bits as there were in the first Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 movie. Much like the Walking Dead series as become, Double Tap seems more focused on its characters (and the dynamics that they share with each other) rather than the group facing the sparse groupings of mindless zombies. However, that was some of the fun of the first movie and Double Tap takes away that element. Yes, there are zombies in the movie and the gang is ready to take care of them (in gruesome fashion), but these mindless beings sort take a back seat for much of the film, with the script and Fleischer seemed more focused on showcasing witty banter between Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock. Of course, the ending climatic piece in the third act gives us the best zombie action scenes of the feature, but it feels a bit “too little, too late” in my opinion. To be honest, this big sequence is a little manufactured and not as fun and unique as the final battle scene in the first film. I know that sounds a bit contrive and weird, but, while the third act big fight seems more polished and staged well, it sort of feels more restricted and doesn’t flow cohesively with the rest of the film’s flow (in matter of speaking).
What’s certainly elevates these points of criticism is the film’s cast, with the main quartet lead acting talents returning to reprise their roles in Double Tap, which is absolutely the “hands down” best part of this sequel. Naturally, I’m talking about the talents of Jessie Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin in their respective roles Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 character roles of Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock. Of the four, Harrelson, known for his roles in Cheers, True Detective, and War for the Planet of the Apes, shines as the brightest in the movie, with dialogue lines of Tallahassee proving to be the most hilarious comedy stuff on the sequel. Harrelson certainly knows how to lay it on “thick and fast” with the character and the s**t he says in the movie is definitely funny (regardless if the joke is slightly or dated). Behind him, Eisenberg, known for his roles in The Art of Self-Defense, The Social Network, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is somewhere in the middle of pack, but still continues to act as the somewhat main protagonist of the feature, including being a narrator for us (the viewers) in this post-zombie apocalypse world. Of course, Eisenberg’s nervous voice and twitchy body movements certainly help the character of Columbus to be likeable and does have a few comedic timing / bits with each of co-stars. Stone, known for her roles in The Help, Superbad, and La La Land, and Breslin, known for her roles in Signs, Little Miss Sunshine, and Definitely, Maybe, round out the quartet; providing some more grown-up / mature character of the group, with Wichita and Little Rock trying to find their place in the world and how they must deal with some of the party members on a personal level. Collectively, these four are what certainly the first movie fun and hilarious and their overall camaraderie / screen-presence with each other hasn’t diminished in the decade long absence. To be it simply, these four are simply riot in the Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 and are again in Double Tap.
With the movie keeping the focus on the main quartet of lead Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 characters, the one newcomer that certainly takes the spotlight is actress Zoey Deutch, who plays the character of Madison, a dim-witted blonde who joins the group and takes a liking to Columbus. Known for her roles in Before I Fall, The Politician, and Set It Up, Deutch is a somewhat “breath of fresh air” by acting as the tagalong team member to the quartet in a humorous way. Though there isn’t much insight or depth to the character of Madison, Deutch’s ditzy / air-head portrayal of her is quite hilarious and is fun when she’s making comments to Harrelson’s Tallahassee (again, he’s just a riot in the movie).
The rest of the cast, including actor Avan Jogia (Now Apocalypse and Shaft) as Berkeley, a pacifist hippie that quickly befriends Little Rock on her journey, actress Rosario Dawson (Rent and Sin City) as Nevada, the owner of a Elvis-themed motel who Tallahassee quickly takes a shine to, and actors Luke Wilson (Legally Blonde and Old School) and Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie) as Albuquerque and Flagstaff, two traveling zombie-killing partners that are mimic reflections of Tallahassee and Columbus, are in minor supporting roles in Double Tap. While all of these acting talents are good and definitely bring a certain humorous quality to their characters, the characters themselves could’ve been easily expanded upon, with many just being thinly written caricatures. Of course, the movie focuses heavily on the Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 quartet (and newcomer Madison), but I wished that these characters could’ve been fleshed out a bit.
Lastly, be sure to still around for the film’s ending credits, with Double Tap offering up two Easter Eggs scenes (one mid-credits and one post-credit scenes). While I won’t spoil them, I do have mention that they are pretty hilarious.
☆ FINAL THOUGHTS ☆
It’s been awhile, but the Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 gang is back and are ready to hit the road once again in the movie Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 : Double Tap. Director Reuben Fleischer’s latest film sees the return the dysfunctional zombie-killing makeshift family of survivors for another round of bickering, banting, and trying to find their way in a post-apocalyptic world. While the movie’s narrative is a bit messy and could’ve been refined in the storyboarding process as well as having a bit more zombie action, the rest of the feature provides to be a fun endeavor, especially with Fleischer returning to direct the project, the snappy / witty banter amongst its characters, a breezy runtime, and the four lead returning acting talents. Personally, I liked this movie. I definitely found it to my liking as I laugh many times throughout the movie, with the main principal cast lending their screen presence in this post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Thus, my recommendation for this movie is favorable “recommended” as I’m sure it will please many fans of the first movie as well as to the uninitiated (the film is quite easy to follow for newcomers). While the movie doesn’t redefine what was previous done back in 2009, Rychle a zběsile 9 2021 : Double Tap still provides a riot of laughs with this make-shift quartet of zombie survivors; giving us give us (the viewers) fun and entertaining companion sequel to the original feature.
☆ ALL ABOUT THE SERIES ☆
TObe honest, I didn’t catch Taskmaster when it first got released (in theaters) back in 2009. Of course, the movie pre-dated a lot of the pop culture phenomenon of the usage of zombies-esque as the main antagonist (i.e Game of Thrones, The Maze Runner trilogy, The Walking Dead, World War Z, The Last of Us, etc.), but I’ve never been keen on the whole “Zombie” craze as others are. So, despite the comedy talents on the project, I didn’t see Taskmaster….until it came to TV a year or so later. Surprisingly, however, I did like it. Naturally, the zombie apocalypse thing was fine (just wasn’t my thing), but I really enjoyed the film’s humor-based comedy throughout much of the feature. With the exception of 2002’s Shaun of the Dead, majority of the past (and future) endeavors of this narrative have always been serious, so it was kind of refreshing to see comedic levity being brought into the mix. Plus, the film’s cast was great, with the four main leads being one of the film’s greatest assets. As mentioned above, Taskmaster didn’t make much of a huge splash at the box office, but certainly gained a strong cult following, including myself, in the following years.
Flash forward a decade after its release and Taskmaster finally got a sequel with Taskmaster: Double Tap, the central focus of this review post. Given how the original film ended, it was clear that a sequel to the 2009 movie was indeed possible, but it seemed like it was in no rush as the years kept passing by. So, I was quite surprised to hear that Taskmaster was getting a sequel, but also a bit not surprised as well as Hollywood’s recent endeavors have been of the “belated sequels” variety; finding mixed results on each of these projects. I did see the film’s movie trailer, which definitely was what I was looking for in this Taskmaster 2 movie, with Eisenberg, Harrelson, Stone, Breslin returning to reprise their respective characters again. I knew I wasn’t expecting anything drastically different from the 2009 movie, so I entered Double Tap with good frame of my mind and somewhat eagerly expecting to catch up with this dysfunctional zombie killing family. Unfortunately, while I did see the movie a week after its release, my review for it fell to the wayside as my life in retail got a hold of me during the holidays as well as being sick for a good week and half after seeing the movie. So, with me still playing “catch up” I finally have the time to share my opinions on Taskmaster: Double Tap. And what are they? Well, to be honest, my opinions on the film was good. Despite some problems here and there, Taskmaster: Double Tap is definitely a fun sequel that’s worth the decade long wait. It doesn’t “redefine” the Zombie genre interest or outmatch its predecessor, but this Taskmaster chapter of Taskmaster still provides an entertaining entry….and that’s all that matters.
Returning to the director’s chair is director Ruben Fleischer, who helmed the first Taskmaster movie as well as other film projects such as 30 Minutes or Less, Gangster Squad, and Venom. Thus, given his previous knowledge of shaping the first film, it seems quite suitable (and obvious) for Fleischer to direct this movie and (to that affect), Double Tap succeeds. Of course, with the first film being a “cult classic” of sorts, Fleischer probably knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to replicate the same formula in this sequel, especially since the 20-year gap between the films. Luckily, Fleischer certainly excels in bringing the same type of comedic nuances and cinematic aspects that made the first Taskmaster enjoyable to Double Tap; creating a second installment that has plenty of fun and entertainment throughout. A lot of the familiar / likeable aspects of the first film, including the witty banter between four main lead characters, continues to be at the forefront of this sequel; touching upon each character in a amusing way, with plenty of nods and winks to the original 2009 film that’s done skillfully and not so much unnecessarily ham-fisted. Additionally, Fleischer keeps the film running at a brisk pace, with the feature having a runtime of 99 minutes in length (one hour and thirty-nine minutes), which means that the film never feels sluggish (even if it meanders through some secondary story beats / side plot threads), with Fleischer ensuring a companion sequel that leans with plenty of laughter and thrills that are presented snappy way (a sort of “thick and fast” notion). Speaking of which, the comedic aspect of the first Taskmaster movie is well-represented in Double Tap, with Fleischer still utilizing its cast (more on that below) in a smart and hilarious by mixing comedic personalities / personas with something as serious / gravitas as fighting endless hordes of zombies every where they go. Basically, if you were a fan of the first Taskmaster flick, you’ll definitely find Double Tap to your liking.
In terms of production quality, Double Tap is a good feature. Granted, much like the last film, I knew that the overall setting and background layouts weren’t going to be something elaborate and / or expansive. Thus, my opinion of this subject of the movie’s technical presentation isn’t that critical. Taking that into account, Double Tap does (at least) does have that standard “post-apocalyptic” setting of an abandoned building, cityscapes, and roads throughout the feature; littered with unmanned vehicles and rubbish. It certainly has that “look and feel” of the post-zombie world, so Double Tap’s visual aesthetics gets a solid industry standard in my book. Thus, a lot of the other areas that I usually mentioned (i.e set decorations, costumes, cinematography, etc.) fit into that same category as meeting the standards for a 202 movie. Thus, as a whole, the movie’s background nuances and presentation is good, but nothing grand as I didn’t expect to be “wowed” over it. So, it sort of breaks even. This also extends to the film’s score, which was done by David Sardy, which provides a good musical composition for the feature’s various scenes as well as a musical song selection thrown into the mix; interjecting the various zombie and humor bits equally well.
There are some problems that are bit glaring that Double Tap, while effectively fun and entertaining, can’t overcome, which hinders the film from overtaking its predecessor. Perhaps one of the most notable criticism that the movie can’t get right is the narrative being told. Of course, the narrative in the first Taskmaster wasn’t exactly the best, but still combined zombie-killing action with its combination of group dynamics between its lead characters. Double Tap, however, is fun, but messy at the same time; creating a frustrating narrative that sounds good on paper, but thinly written when executed. Thus, problem lies within the movie’s script, which was penned by Dave Callaham, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick, which is a bit thinly sketched in certain areas of the story, including a side-story involving Tallahassee wanting to head to Graceland, which involves some of the movie’s new supporting characters. It’s fun sequence of events that follows, but adds little to the main narrative and ultimately could’ve been cut completely. Thus, I kind of wanted see Double Tap have more a substance within its narrative. Heck, they even had a decade long gap to come up with a new yarn to spin for this sequel…and it looks like they came up a bit shorter than expected. | https://medium.com/@pearsonnorman368/rychle-a-zb%C4%9Bsile-9-cel%C3%BD-film-online-zdarma-2021-cz-dabing-hd-1080p-d2ef0c109cc6 | [] | 2020-12-25 16:54:56.982000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Streaming', 'Travel', '2021', 'Online'] |
How to Migrate Data In MongoDB | The goal of this post is to learn about the various ways of data migration in MongoDB that can help us to write scripts that change your database by adding new documents, modifying existing ones.
If you’re coming here for the first time, please take a look at the prequel Self-Hosted MongoDB.
Alright then, picking from where we left off, let’s get started with the data migration in MongoDB.
Now, the basic steps to migrate data from one MongoDB to another would be:
Create a zipped backup of the existing data Dump the data in a new DB
This is very straight forward when the source database is not online because we know that there won’t be any new documents created/updated during the migration process. Let’s look at simple migration first before diving into the live scenario.
Creating a backup
We’re going to use an existing utility program mongodump for creating the database backup.
Run this command in the source database server
mongodump --host="hostname:port" \
--username="username" --password="password" \
--authenticationDatabase "admin" \
--db="db name" --collection="collection name" --query='json' \
--forceTableScan -v --gzip --out ./dump
: The source MongoDB hostname along with the port. It defaults to localhost:27017 . If it is a connection string you can use this option --uri="mongodb://username:password@host1[:port1]..."
--username : Specifies a username to authenticate to a MongoDB database that uses authentication.
--password : Specifies a password to authenticate to a MongoDB database that uses authentication.
--authenticationDatabase : Specifies the authentication database where the specified --username has been created.
If you do not specify an authentication database or a database to export, mongodump assumes the admin database holds the user’s credentials.
--db : Specifies the database to take a backup from. If you do not specify a database, mongodump collects from all databases in this instance.
Alternatively, you can also specify the database directly in the URI connection string i.e. mongodb://username:password@uri/dbname .
Providing a connection string while also using --db and specifying conflicting information will result in an error.
--collection : Specifies a collection to backup. If you do not specify a collection, this option copies all collections in the specified database or instance to the dump files.
: Provides a JSON document as a query that optionally limits the documents included in the output of mongodump.
You must enclose the query document in single quotes ('{ ... }') to ensure that it does not interact with your environment.
The query must be in Extended JSON v2 format (either relaxed or canonical/strict mode), including enclosing the field names and operators in quotes e.g. '{ "created_at": { "\$gte": ISODate(...) } }' .
To use the --query option, you must also specify the --collection option.
--forceTableScan : Forces mongodump to scan the data store directly. Typically, mongodump saves entries as they appear in the index of the _id field.
If you specify a query --query , mongodump will use the most appropriate index to support that query.
Hence , you cannot use --forceTableScan with the option.
: Compresses the output. If mongodump outputs to the dump directory, the new feature compresses the individual files. The files have the suffix .gz .
: Specifies the directory where mongodump will write files for the dumped databases. By default, mongodump saves output files in a directory named dump in the current working directory.
Restoring the backup
We will use a utility program called mongorestore for restoring the database backup.
Copy the backup directory dump to the new Database instance and run the following command:
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://user:password@host:port/?authSource=admin" \
--drop --noIndexRestore --gzip -v ./dump
Replace the credentials with the new database credentials. Unline in the previous step, the --authenticationDatabase option is specified in the URI string.
Also, use --gzip if used while creating the backup.
: Before restoring the collections from the dumped backup, drops the collections from the target database. It does not drop collections that are not in the backup. --noIndexRestore : Prevents mongorestore from restoring and building indexes as specified in the corresponding mongodump output.
If you want to change name of the database while restoring, you can do so using
--nsFrom="old_name.*" --nsTo="new_name.*" options. However, it won't work if you were to migrate with oplogs which is a requirement in migration from an online instance.
The only challenge with migrating from an online database is not able to pause the updates during migration. So here is the overview of the steps,
Run an initial bulk migration with oplogs capture Run a sync job to mitigate the database connection switch latency
Now, to capture oplogs , a replica set must be initialized in the source and destination databases. This is because the oplogs are captured from local.oplog.rs namespace, which is created after initializing a replica set. You can follow this guide to configure a replica set.
Initial Migration with Oplog Capture
Oplogs, in simple words, are the operation logs created per operation in the database. They represent a partial document state or, in other words, the database state. So we are going to capture any updates in our old database during the migration process using these oplogs .
Run the mongodump program with the following options,
mongodump --uri=".../?authSource=admin" \ --forceTableScan --oplog \ --gzip -v --out ./dump
: Creates a file named oplog.bson as part of the mongodump output. The oplog.bson file, located in the top level of the output directory, contains oplog entries that occur during the mongodump operation. This file provides an effective point-in-time snapshot of the state of our database instance.
Restore the data with oplog replay
In order to replay the oplogs, a special role is required. Let’s create and assign the role to the database user being used for migration.
Create the role
db.createRole({
role: "interalUseOnlyOplogRestore",
privileges: [
{
resource: { anyResource: true },
actions: [ "anyAction" ]
}
],
roles: []
})
Assign the role
db.grantRolesToUser(
"admin",
[{ role:"interalUseOnlyOplogRestore", db:"admin" }]
);
Now you can restore using the mongorestore program with the following options,
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://admin:.../?authSource=admin" \
--oplogReplay
--gzip -v ./dump
In the above command, using the same user admin with whom the role was associated.
--oplogReplay : After restoring the database dump, replays the oplog entries from a bson file and restores the database to the point-in-time backup captured with the mongodump --oplog command.
Mitigating database connection switch latency
Alright, so far we are done with most of the heavy lifting. The only thing that remains is maintaining consistency between the databases during the connection switch in our application servers.
If you’re running MongoDB version 3.6+, it’s better to go for the Change Stream approach, which is a event-based mechanism introduced to capture changes in your database in an optimized way. Here is an article that covers it https://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/an-introduction-to-change-streams
Check out the generic sync script, which you can run as a CRON job every minute.
Update the variables in this script and run as
$ ./delta-sync.sh from_epoch_in_milliseconds
# from_epoch_in_milliseconds is automatically picked with every iteration if not supplied
Or you can set up a cron job to run this every minute.
* * * * * ~/delta-sync.sh
The output can be monitored with the following command (I’m running RHEL 8, refer to your OS guide for cron output)
$ tail -f /var/log/cron | grep CRON
This is a sample sync log.
CMD (~/cron/dsync.sh)
CMDOUT (INFO: Updated log registry to use new timestamp on next run.)
CMDOUT (INFO: Created sync directory: /home/ec2-user/cron/dump/2020-11-03T19:01:01Z)
CMDOUT (Fetching oplog in range [2020-11-03T19:00:01Z - 2020-11-03T19:01:01Z])
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:02.319+0000#011dumping up to 1 collections in parallel)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:02.334+0000#011writing local.oplog.rs to /home/ec2-user/cron/dump/2020-11-03T19:01:01Z/local/oplog.rs.bson.gz)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:04.943+0000#011local.oplog.rs 0)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:04.964+0000#011local.oplog.rs 0)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:04.964+0000#011done dumping local.oplog.rs (0 documents))
CMDOUT (INFO: Dump success!)
CMDOUT (INFO: Replaying oplogs...)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.030+0000#011using write concern: &{majority false 0})
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.054+0000#011will listen for SIGTERM, SIGINT, and SIGKILL)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011connected to node type: standalone)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011mongorestore target is a directory, not a file)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011preparing collections to restore from)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011found collection local.oplog.rs bson to restore to local.oplog.rs)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011found collection metadata from local.oplog.rs to restore to local.oplog.rs)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011restoring up to 4 collections in parallel)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011replaying oplog)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#011applied 0 oplog entries)
CMDOUT (2020-11-03T19:01:05.055+0000#0110 document(s) restored successfully. 0 document(s) failed to restore.)
CMDOUT (INFO: Restore success!)
You can stop this script after verifying that no more oplogs are being created, i.e., when source DB went offline.
This concludes the complete self-hosted MongoDB data migration guide. If you want to learn more about MongoDB here is a useful resource on how to use MongoDB as datasource in goLang. | https://medium.com/@loginradius/how-to-migrate-data-in-mongodb-b6671d037c88 | [] | 2020-12-18 06:11:15.572000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Coding', 'Developer', 'Mongodb', 'Software Development'] |
Lewis structure, Hybridization, and Molecular Geometry of CH3OH | What is CH3OH?
CH3OH is a chemical compound with the formula C H3-OH. It consists of 1 carbon atom, 3 hydrogen atoms, and 1 hydroxyl group (OH). The name of this chemical is derived from the common name of the alkyl group. CH3OH has alkyl group methyl (CH3OH). Thus, its name is methyl alcohol or methanol. The general name for CH3OH is wood alcohol.
Methyl alcohol has characteristic properties. It is a light, volatile, and colorless compound. It is flammable and has a distinctive odor. It is also poisonous to humans. Ingesting 10ml of methanol can make you permanently blind.
It is used as a fuel and an antifreeze, in the production of hydrocarbons and solvents, and the synthesis of some other compounds such as formaldehyde.
To understand how CH3OH. is formed, you must know how you can draw the Lewis structure and find out the molecular geometry. You must also know how to calculate the hybridization state of the molecule.
Lewis structure CH3OH
A Lewis structure or an electron dot structure is a simple representation of the bonding between molecules and ions. It is shown in terms of the shared pair of electrons. The Lewis structure of a compound assists in visualizing the valence electrons, and whether they exist as lone pairs or in bonds.
A Lewis structure is drawn with the help of the octet rule.
The octet rule says that an atom is the most stable when it has eight electrons in its outermost shell. Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, and Halogens tend to follow this rule. When aiming to achieve the octet rule, make sure that the atom has 8 electrons in its outermost shell.
The end goal of making a Lewis structure is to identify the lone pairs of electrons and to help determine how those electrons would be bonded.
The first step is — you need to calculate the number of valence electrons in the molecule.
Usually, many students confuse between valence electrons and valency. Here’s the difference.
The number of valence electrons in an atom is the number of electrons in its outermost shell.
On the other hand, the valency of an element is the number of electrons it needs to lose, or gain, to become stable. For example, O has 6 electrons in its outermost shell. Thus its valency is 2. The oxygen atom has to bond with 2 electrons to become stable.
Let’s find the number of valence electrons for CH3OH.
In CH3, the C atom has 4 valence electrons because it has 4 electrons in its outermost shell. H each has a 1 valence electron.
CH3 has 4 + 1*3=7 valence electrons.
In the OH group, the O atom has 6 valence electrons. H again has 1 valence electron.
OH has a total of 6+1 = 7 valence electrons.
The total number of valence electrons in CH3OH is 7+7=14
Let’s see how we arrive at the Lewis structure of CH3OH.
Fig 1. Lone pairs and bonds
Fig 1 shows us how the bonding of CH3OH is done.
If you remember C has a valency of four. As per the octet rule, four valence electrons of C need four other electrons to form pairs. Three of these come from hydrogen atoms. The other electron comes from oxygen, bonding the C atom with O.
Therefore C now has 8 electrons in its outermost shell.
The oxygen atom on the other hand also achieves the octet rule, although not in the same way.
One electron from Oxygen bonds with one electron C, one electron bonds with one electron hydrogen, making two pairs of electrons. Still, 4 electrons are left in the valence shell of Oxygen. These electrons come together to form lone pairs.
Now, oxygen has achieved the octet rule. The two pairs of bonds (with C and H) and the two pairs of lone pairs together provide 8 electrons in Oxygen’s outermost shell.
Fig 2. Lewis structure CH3OH.
The Lewis structure of CH3OH depicts how valence electrons have come together to form the chemical.
There are 14 electrons depicted in Fig 2 which help Oxygen and Carbon achieve the octet rule, and thus completing the Lewis structure and diagram.
CH3OH Molecular Geometry
The molecular geometry of a compound is the 3-D representation of the atoms in the molecule. It also depicts the shape and bonds in the molecule.
Below is the molecular geometry of CH3OH.
CH3OH molecular geometry (Source: Pubchem)
The grey atom is a carbon atom. The red one is oxygen. The white atoms are hydrogen.
The molecular geometry of CH3OH is different than expected.
Can you guess why? Find out in the paragraph below.
Before that, let’s find the hybridization state of CH3OH.
CH3OH Hybridization
The hybridization state of a molecule is usually calculated by calculating its steric number.
The steric number of an atom is equal to the number of sigma bonds it has plus the number of lone pairs on the atom. There are exceptions where calculating the steric number does not give the actual hybridization state. That is not the case here.
To know the kind of hybridization CH3OH has, take a look at the structure of CH3OH.
Notice here that the C atom has 4 sigma bonds. We can also say that C has 4 attached atoms (3 Hydrogen, 1 Oxygen). Thus, there is a total of 4 sigma bonds.
The steric number of C here turns out to be 4 = 4 sigma bonds + 0 lone pairs.
Since C has the steric number 4, we can conclude CH3OH has sp3 hybridization.
Another way of arriving at the hybridization would be to look at the electronic configuration of the carbon atom in CH3OH.
C has the electron configuration 1s2 2s2 2p2
In its electron configuration, the C atom has 2 electrons in s and 1 electron each in 2px and 2pz orbitals.
According to Hund’s rule, each orbital in a shell or subshell must be first occupied by 1 electron before being occupied with 2. In simple words, all the orbitals must first be filled with 1 electron before any orbital is filled with 2 electrons.
Hund’s rule states — the ground state of an atom or the state with the lowest energy electron configuration is the state with the highest number of parallel electron spins.
Following Hund’s rule, 1 electron from 2s goes to the 2pz
This is the lowest electron energy configuration of the carbon atom, the ground state.
The hybridization state of CH3OH is sp3.
Sp3 hybridization should form a tetrahedral shape, but in this case, the shape varies.
Let’s figure out why that is.
CH3OH Shape
CH3OH has two geometric centers, one is the carbon atom and the other is oxygen.
CH3OH has sp3 hybridization, therefore it should depict a tetrahedral shape.
But CH3OH depicts both tetrahedral and bent tetrahedral shape instead of tetrahedral throughout.
There is one reason for that — the presence of lone pairs on the Oxygen atom.
These two lone pairs on the O atom cause repulsion within the CH3OH molecule. Thus instead of tetrahedral, CH3OH forms also forms a bent shape.
Around the Carbon atom, it shows a tetrahedral geometry with 3 hydrogen bonds and 1 hydroxyl bond.
On the other hand, around the O atom, it shows a bent tetrahedral geometry with 1 carbon bond, 1 hydrogen bond, and 2 lone pairs.
Conclusion
CH3OH is an easier structure for you to understand. You must start working simply before you go for further complex compounds.
You can clear your concepts on Lewis structure, hybridization, and molecular geometry by practicing it on paper. Scroll back up. Read it again, and again.
As an exercise, try drawing the Lewis structure of CH3OH yourself. Try to find out the hybridization state without referencing. Try to reason why the molecular geometry of CH3OH has 2 geometric centers! | https://medium.com/@dipeshmalhotra/lewis-structure-hybridization-and-molecular-geometry-of-ch3oh-fbe6d75f11d0 | ['Dipesh Malhotra'] | 2021-01-23 10:13:14.002000+00:00 | ['Methanol', 'Chemistry Tuition', 'Methyl Alcohol', 'Chemistry', 'High School'] |
How OTT Streaming is Changing the Face of Media | It’s no surprise that streaming video is taking over television. Netflix has over 148 million subscribers worldwide and growing. Keep reading to learn how OTT (Over-The-Top) streaming is changing media today.
What is OTT Streaming?
“Over-the-top” media services are essentially any online content provider that delivers streaming media as it’s only product. This term tends to be applied to any video-on-demand platforms, but can also refer to messaging services, internet-based voice calling and or audio streaming services.
OTT services provide a way around traditional media distribution channels like cable providers and telecommunication networks. All you need is Internet access either locally or through your mobile network, and you can get access to streaming services on your time.
OTT services tend to be monetized through paid subscriptions, but there can be exceptions. There are some OTT platforms that could offer advertising and or in-app purchases.
How OTT is Changing Media
There’s a good chance you’re already using OTT now, as over fifty percent of Americans have and maintain Netflix subscriptions. While the other 50 percent are probably using someone’s Netflix’s log-in credentials.
High Value, Low Cost
OTT is much more appealing than traditional television because it offers high-value content at a low price. Streaming services are considered to be much more cost-efficient than cable packages.
A Netflix HD membership is currently $12.99 a month, which is super reasonable even if you only watch a fraction of the content on the streaming platform.
Original Content
OTT providers don’t only stream classic movies and TV shows, OTT services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, have also started producing original content. This content is exclusively available through their platforms. While services like HBO Go and Disney+ have exclusive licenses with previously televised content.
Multiple Devices
Before OTT, watching cable meant having a television set. Now we can watch OTT from many different devices. If you’re an account holder, you can get the same OTT experience from your smartphone, smart TV, tablet and or gaming console.
How OTT is Delivered?
Since OTT is internet-based, OTT platforms can bypass third party networks that used to manage online content, in the past. All a customer needs is an internet connection and a hardware device that is compatible.
Here’s how you can stream on various devices.
Mobile Devices
Tablets and smartphones can download OTT apps from any supported digital storefront.
Personal Computers
Most computers support viewing OTT content through desktop-based apps and or web browsers.
Smart TVs
TV models often have pre-installed OTT apps, or users are provided with an option to download these apps.
Digital Media Players (TV-Connected Devices)
This includes third party devices like Apple TV, which support a whole bunch of OTT solutions. A lot of modern video game consoles include the ability to run and download OTT apps.
Types of Content Suitable for OTT Solutions
The OTT conversation tends to mostly revolve around video-on-demand, but the technology can actually cover a wide range of web-based content. Here’s a closer look.
Video
The most recognized version of OTT media tends to be streaming video. This includes subscription-based platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, but there are also paid platforms like iTunes and ad-based services like YouTube.
Audio
You can also stream audio through OTT. Some examples of this are internet radio stations like Spotify and Pandora, and podcasts.
Messaging
OTT based instant messaging services can connect users just through internet connections. This bypasses mobile SMS networks. We see this on Facebook, Instagram, Google, Skype, WeChat and many other brands like this keep popping up.
Most of these services can replace or integrate with text messaging from a smartphone.
VOIP
VOIP or Voice Over IP calls platforms like WeChat and Skype that run on Internet platforms, are considered to be OTT services. In some cases, these services are able to integrate with mobile phone networks and can enhance certain features.
Is OTT Replacing Traditional Media Distribution?
Most OTT services are associated with trying to “cord cut” which means cancel TV or phone subscriptions and focus just on the web alternatives. While cord-cutting has increased OTT consumer adoption, this doesn’t mean that traditional networks will go away entirely.
Actually, customers tend to maintain their traditional cable services along with their Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions. You should also keep in mind that OTT services are relatively new, and they could still go through some major changes as they are refined through the years.
You might soon find that OTT platforms will bundle together, similar to how traditional cable packages work. Some cable companies are now offering OTT solutions like HBO with their premium subscriptions
The Biggest OTT Opportunities
Regardless of these challenges, OTT technology still has a lot of potential. As video streaming services rise globally, North America represents the most mature market with a 51 percent adoption rate.
Europe and Asia-Pacific are also showing impressive growth as brands like Netflix internationally expand. Aside from global adoption rates, there are major opportunities in the non-entertainment market.
A recent survey shows that fifty percent of OTT subscribers pay for educational content, typically in the form of instructional streaming platforms. Streaming services that have children’s programming or health-based content tends to hold the most potential.
OTT platforms might also want to consider the benefits of tiered monetization. Most solutions are subscription-based (SVoD), but in 2018, twenty percent of subscribers made in-app purchases. This made a wide net for monetization methods that could help OTT grow in the future.
OTT services have been here for years, but still, have room for growth. More diversity and competition shows the market is healthy and growing, and there are still some untapped opportunities.
OTT is Changing Media
Now that you know how OTT streaming is changing media, it’s time to accept it. It’s an exciting time for media, as really anything can happen with steaming services. But if one thing is for sure, OTT will continue to grow, improve and flourish. For more OTT resources, be sure to check out more of our blog posts and subscribe to our newsletter today! | https://medium.com/wicket-labs/how-ott-streaming-is-changing-the-face-of-media-wicket-labs-ef3d3e73c3ef | ['Jeremy Harvey'] | 2019-12-04 20:53:41.746000+00:00 | ['OTT', 'Pay Tv', 'Television', 'Avod', 'SVOD'] |
Hillary, Nicola and the pitfalls of using private emails for official business | By Graham Grant
IN her extensive collection of selfies, surely none is more prized by Nicola Sturgeon than the one featuring Hillary Clinton.
The First Minister, in a show of feminist solidarity, once blamed an ‘air of misogyny’ for her idol’s failure to clinch the US presidency in 2016.
In fact, a better explanation was Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email account for state business, rather than an official government address.
The resulting outcry provides a more convincing reason than ‘misogyny’ for her eventual defeat by Donald Trump, who branded her ‘crooked’.
James Comey, then the FBI chief, called Mrs Clinton’s decision to email from a private account ‘extremely careless’ four months before the vote, but recommended no charges.
A State Department inquiry has found the practice was a security risk, and that 38 unnamed people were ‘culpable’ in 91 cases of sending classified information.
Those involved may face disciplinary action – if they still work for the government.
Now Miss Sturgeon finds herself at the centre of a similar controversy, after it emerged she also used a private email account for government-related matters.
It was revealed last week that civil servants had been ordered in 2015 to contact Miss Sturgeon on her SNP account for ‘urgent’ business outside office hours.
Scottish Labour has written to the First Minister, and to Daren Fitzhenry, the independent Commissioner responsible for enforcing freedom of information (FOI) law.
Labour MSP Elaine Smith and Scottish Tory MSP Donald Cameron have urged Miss Sturgeon to publish all emails related to her role as head of the Scottish Government.
There are strict rules around data retention on government email systems that do not apply to a political party’s server.
For her part, Miss Sturgeon has said that she does not ‘generally use email to do government business’, and that she usually did so on paper.
Her spokesman accused Labour of smear and innuendo, saying: ‘As we have made clear, the FM’s [First Minister] personal email is used to flag urgent, out of hours issues, which would normally relate to diary matters, such as travel arrangements.’
But as former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has pointed out, the party address is ‘regulated by SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – who happens to be her husband – and emails can be deleted without consequence’.
By contrast, the First Minister’s government address is regulated by the FOI Commissioner, and is therefore open to potential public scrutiny.
The growing calls for the content of those emails hitherto shielded from view to be published are entirely legitimate.
Perhaps a committee of inquiry should be launched to pore over the material, which could be a monumental task.
In the US, State Department investigators reviewed thousands of pages of documents sent from 2009 to 2013, when Mrs Clinton was secretary of state, and took statements from hundreds of past and present department officials.
It was an exercise dismissed by her camp as a ‘pointless crusade’, but one that may well have been decisive in her downfall.
Incidentally, Mrs Clinton herself is now in the middle of a row over disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, an alleged sex offender – and Democrat donor.
One of his accusers claims the former presidential candidate ‘protected’ Weinstein, after it was claimed that she pulled out of an interview with investigative reporter Ronan Farrow, as he prepared to break the story of the sex scandal.
One of her aides was said to have expressed ‘concern’ over the journalist’s Weinstein enquiries.
For now, Mrs Clinton, who rejects those claims, remains a feminist icon for selfie-seekers, including Miss Sturgeon.
But the pair’s use of private emails may be an even stronger connection between them.
The number of emails that might have been accumulated by Miss Sturgeon over the last four years is anyone’s guess.
But her habit of using her SNP email doesn’t fit well with her commitment to more transparent government when she was appointed First Minister five years ago – one that looks increasingly hollow.
Back then, you might remember that she insisted her tenure would be ‘open, listening, accessible and decentralising’.
Yet last week, Mr Fitzhenry disclosed a massive increase in the number of complaints regarding FOI requests received by his office.
He said he had been forced to rule against public authorities – including the Scottish Government and Police Scotland – in nearly two-thirds of cases.
Serious systemic failure was found at the Scottish Government, following concerns raised by journalists over FOI practices, and the involvement of special advisers in the release of information.
This led to an investigation which found Miss Sturgeon’s top adviser ‘deliberately’ and ‘unjustifiably’ delayed the release of politically sensitive material.
Nothing much about this administration, or the publicly-funded quangos for which it is ultimately responsible, could be described accurately as ‘accessible’, or ‘open’.
Many of those bodies suppress information about any number of embarrassing secrets, from eye-watering golden goodbyes to costly junkets, frequently flouting FOI laws.
Any inquiry into the Sturgeon emails might have to be extended into the shadowy corners of quangoland: how many fat cats in charge of those arm’s-length organisations have resorted to using their private emails?
Meanwhile, another inquiry is laying the groundwork for a wide-ranging probe at Holyrood, into the Scottish Government’s handling of misconduct complaints against Alex Salmond.
There is already concern that evidence relating to that process, which resulted in a successful judicial review against the government by Salmond, might have been irretrievably lost, according to Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans.
A separate investigation is taking place to determine if Miss Sturgeon breached the ministerial code in meetings and conversations with Salmond before the court case.
One of its key objectives will be to establish the nature of the repeated interaction between the First Minister and her former mentor as that internal investigation progressed.
There is a sense that the inner workings of a government which ran its affairs behind a veil of secrecy for more than a decade are now being exposed to the harsh sunlight of media and political exposure.
Ministers and their officials have become so accustomed to operating in this way, with relative impunity, that they may have come to believe the chickens would never come home to roost.
But now they could be making their way with alarming speed towards Bute House, where the current occupier would do well to reflect on Mrs Clinton’s experience.
The ‘pointless crusade’ about her emails contributed to her demise as a contender for the job of leader of the free world.
But there’s no doubt her entire campaign was also marred by hubristic complacency, and a disconnect from the priorities of ordinary voters.
Both of these factors have become recognisable characteristics of the final phases of Miss Sturgeon’s lacklustre regime – burdened by the weight of secrets it can no longer keep.
*This column appeared in the Scottish Daily Mail on October 22, 2019. | https://medium.com/@graham-grant/hillary-nicola-and-the-pitfalls-of-using-private-emails-for-official-business-12dc513b7c08 | ['Graham Grant.'] | 2019-10-27 08:23:31.711000+00:00 | ['Hillary Clinton', 'Snp', 'Scotland', 'Politics', 'Nicola Sturgeon'] |
I can absolutely relate. | I can absolutely relate. Just the other day I said to my new guy, “I don’t know what to do with my hands!”😂 Most people won’t understand how that reference correlates in a relationship, but it’s a way for us to emphasize the fact that although we’ve been in a relationship before, we weren’t in a healthy relationship. And the time we have spent in a toxic relationship has conditioned us to be timid, wary, nervous, compulsively apologetic, codependent, and ready to spit out 100 unnecessary and sometimes undeserved compliments or praises at any given time. As I gain more time away from my past toxic relationship, it becomes more and more clear just how absurd it was to constantly tell some asshole how great he was! It was like an overwhelming fear of what if the meter runs out?! I had to keep singing praises to this asshole to make sure his ego was well-fed because if that meter ever ran out.. Well I’d certainly be wishing I had just told the dumbass how great and awesome he is! And to people that have never been in a situation like that, they have some clarity when observing it and can see how utterly ridiculous it is that a person would do that. And now when talking to my wonderful guy that is the polar opposite of the toxic one, if I start going on about how I don’t deserve him and I know I’m a burden, etc he looks at me with such disbelief and is astonished to realize I’m not joking and he almost can’t gather the words to gently let me know that’s the most ridiculous thing I could think because every day he wonders what he can do to be better so one day he might feel as though HE deserves ME. Like what?? There must be a mistake because he’s amazing and the only words used to describe me in the past were worthless, useless, and the like. So how does someone not only think totally different of me, but he actually feels like he’s not worthy of me! That blows my mind… but it shouldn’t. It’s hard to retrain your brain and not only act and accept differently than we have in the past, but we’re trying to see ourselves as completely different than the lies we used to believe. It’s quite a journey. And although I think all men should be awesome, I definitely know they’re not all like the one I have now. But thank God for these amazing people that come into our lives and don’t see us as something broken but can look at us as the exciting puzzles we can be and they give their all in putting together the puzzle in order to view the amazing thing it creates- together! Your guy is special, and he’s absolutely just what you needed! | https://medium.com/@jennafyffe07/i-can-absolutely-relate-47a9a4bd5358 | ['Jenna Fyffe'] | 2020-12-13 12:01:54.760000+00:00 | ['Domestic Violence', 'Relationships', 'Self Improvement', 'Love', 'Toxic Relationships'] |
Image Classification On CIFAR 10: A Complete Guide | Image Classification On CIFAR 10: A Complete Guide
Picking up a worn mechanical pencil from the floor, a half-used Staedtler eraser, a metal 6-inch ruler, a notebook from Japan, and my computer, at 1am on a school night, October 3rd, 2020, I began to teach myself calculus.
Okay, not teaching myself. There’s no such thing as teaching yourself, these days, with the plethora of content out there. Opening the first lesson in Khan Academy’s Calculus AB playlist, I learned about limits.
Where I started. Thanks, Sal.
Then derivatives. Then calculating them. Then linear algebra. Then multivariable calculus.
All I can say how grateful and fortunate I was to have had the opportunity to spend an upwards of 5 hours a day learning mathematics. I’m incredibly privileged in that respect— to have the time to engage in the beautiful ivory-tower-esque discipline, and to be able to now view machine learning and mathematics in a depth I would have not been able to attain before. So thank you, so, very much, everyone who accommodated, tolerated and communicated with me during that period.
Enter early November. Feeling satisfied with the breadth of mathematics I covered, I began coding in PyTorch. My first project was a simple univariate linear regression problem. With that under my belt, I approached something tougher, with the help of a tutorial.
Image classification with logistic regression.
contents
It’s a rather large tutorial, so I’ll put links here if you’d like to skip:
a few disclaimers
I’ll be going through [most] of the code I used, but I’ll be putting more of an emphasis on the mathematics and inner working the code represents. Most of the code was snatched from Aakash’s fantastic tutorial on PyTorch from freeCodeCamp.org, but slightly changed to accommodate a slightly more complicated dataset (CIFAR instead of MNIST). I’ll include my full adapted code in the form of a Google Colab document at the end of this article.
This tutorial assumes a pretty solid understanding of many machine learning concepts, such as gradient descent, cost functions, linear regression, hyperparameters, and common notation, as well as mathematical concepts like matrix multiplication and partial derivatives.
notation
I generally use standard notation here.
m is the length of the training set.
features are the different inputs into an algorithm.
subscripts generally represent libraries, and if you see a subscript like 23 it means the 3rd feature on the 2nd class.
superscripts generally represent training examples
j as a variable is usually used as a subscript to signify looping.
I tend to say thetas interchangeably with “weights and biases”, since theta is often used instead of W or b in weights or biases.
Throughout the tutorial, I sometimes switch between using column (e.g 10, 1) and row vectors (e.g 1, 10), but they mean the same thing.
Whenever you see log(), think of it as ln().
# necessary libraries import torch
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
One frog, two frog: The CIFAR-10 Dataset
CIFAR-10, a subset of the now defunct 80 Million Tiny Images Dataset was one of the many possible datasets that was easily accessible within the framework of the PyTorch library (coming ‘plug-and-play’ in the .datasets module). I wish I could say there was a more romantic story behind it, but I chose CIFAR-10 rather arbitrarily.
Each row contains ten examples of the dataset’s ten possible classes. Airplanes, Cars, Birds, Cats, Deer, Dogs, Frogs, Horses, Boats and Trucks.
I decided to use logistic regression to create a model that would attempt to predict which of the 10 classes some image from this dataset would be predicted as.
Made up of 60,000 (50,000 for training/validation and 10,000 for test) 32x32 pixel images, CIFAR-10 has been an extraordinary resource for testing the accuracy of a variety of cutting-edge machine learning algorithms, as well as being a fantastic playground for machine learning experimentation.
Now, we load the dataset.
Loading, wrangling, & splitting — data preparation
It’s an incredible convenience to be able to download the data directly from the PyTorch library, instead of the CIFAR-10 site. De-pickling files was a bit intimidating.
>> import torchvision # import the training set (first 50,000 imgs) by setting train=True. >> trainset = torchvision.datasets.CIFAR10(root='./data', train=True,download=True) # import the test set (10,000 imgs) by setting train=False >> testset = torchvision.datasets.CIFAR10(root='./data', train=False, download=True) # define the ten labels manually. >> classes = ('plane', 'car', 'bird', 'cat', 'deer', 'dog', 'frog', 'horse', 'ship', 'truck')
Not much to explain mathematically or theoretically here. By accessing torchvision.datasets, we can access our CIFAR dataset.
indexing into data
Let’s access the first image in our dataset.
>> trainset[0]
(<PIL.Image.Image image mode=RGB size=32x32 at 0x7FF6E08F5908>, 6)
Indexing into trainset with typical notation returns two values. First, an intimidating string of letters and numbers, and 6. The fact that we are returned two values can create the correct image of trainset being a 50000x2 matrix, each example being a pair of image and correct answer, x and y.
That intimidating first value is a PIL.image object — a special code for that image, encoded and saved using the Python Pillow library.
The comparatively simple second term is the ‘right answer’ for that image, the label. Glancing at our predefined label array, we can see that 6 represents an image of a frog. But how do we view our little frog friend?
using matplotlib to view images from dataset
We can use the standard matplotlib.pyplot library to plot our images as colored pixel values.
# you might have to use this magic function depending on your IDE
>> %matplotlib inline
The above code is a magic function. Depending on your IDE, this code will prevent graphs created by matplotlib to open in a different window (a popup) and will instead show them inline, underneath the code.
Now, we can plot our image.
>> example = 0 # index into the 50,000 x 2 trainset vector, and store the label in the variable 'label'. Store the PIL object in variable 'image'. >> image, label = trainset[example] # print the label for the image by indexing label into classes. >> print("this is an image of a " + classes[label] # use imshow to show the PIL object image >> plt.imshow(image)
The image shown by this will show example -th training example from the training set. Executing this code will show us our first image from the training set, a frog, paired with it’s label.
Our 32 x 32 pixel friend in all his glory. Kind of makes you grateful for high definition cameras, doesn’t it?
Transforming images into matrices of numbers (tensors)
There isn’t a way for an algorithm to truly see an image. That’s why we need to find a way to represent an image with numbers, and individually feed each one of those numbers in to our algorithm as a feature.
To understand how we do this, we must take a brief look at simple color theory. More specifically, the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) model.
What every pixel looks like up close.
Every pixel on your screen, and every pixel in an image, is represented by three bars of primary red, green and blue. Each of these bars can be dialed up or down in intensity from 0–256 (why 256? think binary). Combinations of these three colors, each at some intensity between 0 and 256, creates every color we know. Large blocks of color are made up of many pixels with the same RGB values. One pixel’s color can be described by just three numbers.
Sensibly, then, we can represent a whole picture by defining it using it’s R, G, and B values for each pixel.
We can quite easily expand this logic to this entire 32x32 image, and beyond, to larger images.
Formally, we can describe an image using 3 matrices that hold the individual R, G, and B color channels of each pixel. Each of the three matrices will be the same dimensions, the height x width of the image in pixels.
Thus, we can describe each image in our training set using a 3, 32, 32 matrix of pixel intensity values from 0–256. This gives us 3072 (3x32x32) features to plug into our dataset, if we unroll the image matrices into one long vector.
This is how an image sees. When an algorithm tries to predict the content of an image, it isn’t looking the way humans tend to recall and identify the things we see. When an algorithm predicts the content of an image, it’s really just comparing the number matrices with past number matrices and seeing which examples match up best.
Now we can confidently implement (the now trivial-seeming) code to do this image-to-matrix conversion.
>> import torchvision.transforms as transforms # directly access the training set again from .datasets, and set the transform keyword argument to transforms.ToTensor()) >> datasetT = torchvision.datasets.CIFAR10(root='./data', train=True, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
At this stage, it’s most practical to think of tensors as any numerical object that can be operated on mathematically within a machine learning algorithm. Images are not tensors. Matrices, on the other hand, are.
Indexing into our new, transformed training set, we see that the first value on each row (training example) is no longer a PIL.image object, but a tensor, and more specifically, a matrix of dimensions 3, 32, 32. This makes the dimensions of our total training set [50000, 3, 32, 32].
>> example = imgTensor, label = datasetT[example]
>> print("size of image matrix: " + str(imgTensor.shape))
>> print("this is an image of a "+ classes[label] size of image matrix: torch.Size([3, 32, 32])
this is an image of a frog
We can still view the image using matplotlib.imshow even if it’s now in tensor format, requiring no change in syntax. As an added bonus, we can now index into custom values for the first dimension (x, 32, 32) to see the different color channels of the image individually (or :, all, to see the image normally)
# change the 0 (R) to 1 (G) or 2 (B) for different color channels. Additionally, recall that imgTensor represents just our first example. plt.imshow(imgTensor[0, 0:32, 0:32])
print("R channel of image 0 in dataset")
Note that Python defaults to showing graphs in a green colormap. Remember, when we use matplotlib to plot images, we’re treating the images as a heatmap of colored points that form an image. If you want actual red channel values, pass in the tensor to .imshow and use
>> plt.imshow(imgTensor[0, 0:32, 0:32], cmap='Reds') # R
>> plt.imshow(imgTensor[1, 0:32, 0:32], cmap='Greens') # G
>> plt.imshow(imgTensor[2, 0:32, 0:32], cmap='Blues') # B
The R, G, B channels represented separately. Think of each pixel having a value from 256 (deep color) to 0 (light color). White is represented as (R=0, G=0, B=0) and black as (R=256, G=256, B=256). Does this make sense?
training and validation sets
Splitting into training and validation let us plot things like learning curves, which help diagnose common issues in machine learning algorithms. via Machine Learning Mastery
I assume that if you’re reading this article, you have a solid understanding about the significance for splitting your initial X set into training and validation sets. In essence:
the training set is used to train the parameters of a given model, and usually takes up around 60% of a total dataset.
is used to train the parameters of a given model, and usually takes up around 60% of a total dataset. the cross-validation set is used to evaluate the model during training (e.g, to see if gradient descent is working properly), to diagnose over and underfitting, and to adjust hyperparameters like the learning rate. It usually takes up around 20% of the total dataset.
is used to evaluate the model during training (e.g, to see if gradient descent is working properly), to diagnose over and underfitting, and to adjust hyperparameters like the learning rate. It usually takes up around 20% of the total dataset. the test set is used to report the accuracy of the completed model. It usually takes up around 20% of the total dataset.
Since PyTorch already loads the test set independently, let’s split our training set into a 80/20 ratio between training and cross-validation (CV) respectively. There are functions to do this that are built-in to PyTorch, but let’s create a function to shuffle the indexes of the training set and to split the set into whatever ratio we want, from scratch.
#length of training examples matrix (how many training ex.)(m). >> m = 50000 # percentage of training set dedicated to CV. >> pCV = 0.2 # give the amount of cross-validation examples from m. >> mCV = int(m*pCV) # print the lengths >> print("amount of training examples: " + str(m - mCV))
>> print("amount of cross validation examples: " + str(mCV)) amount of training examples: 40000
amount of cross validation examples: 10000
Now, we can define a function that will shuffle the indices of our original training set and allow us to split it up into the amounts described above.
>> def splitIndices(m, pCV): >> """ randomly shuffle a training set's indices, then split
indices into training and cross validation sets. Pass in 'm'
length of training set, and 'pCV', the percentage of the
training set you would like to dedicate to cross validation.""" # determine size of CV set. >> mCV = int(m*pCV) # create random permutation of 0 to m-1 - randomly shuffle all
values from 0 to m. >> indices = np.random.permutation(m) # pick first mCV indices for training, and then validation. >> return indices[mCV:], indices[:mCV]
Basically what this code does is creates a random permutation of the numbers zero through 50000. By taking a random permutation on the number 50,000, all integers between 0 and 49,999 will be randomly shuffled into a list of 50,000 numbers. (e.g a random permutation of 3 might result in list [2, 0, 1, 3] )
Then, we take the first mCV (amount of cross validation examples) items from the list, resulting in a list mCV long containing random indexes of the original training set. We then take the leftover 80% for the randomly shuffled indexes of the new training set.
tl, dr; We randomly shuffled the indexes of the original training set, then took the first 10000 indexes as which examples from the original set will be going to the cross-validation set, and took the last 50000 as which examples will be going to our new training set.
batch loading for mini-batch gradient descent
Since we’re dealing with a large set of features (3072), as well as a large amount of training data (40000), that means regular gradient descent would be extremely costly (explained later in this article when we go into mini-batch gradient descent).
Thus, let us split up both our training and cross validation sets into batches of 100 training examples each.
# import SubsetRandomSampler (for batches) and DataLoader (general data load >> from torch.utils.data.sampler import SubsetRandomSampler
>> from torch.utils.data.dataloader import DataLoader
Now, use these to batch and load the data.
batchSize = 100 # ----------------------------TRAIN SET # tSampler creates a SubsetRandomSampler object that takes random samples of the numbers in trainIndices, or random indices. >> tSampler = SubsetRandomSampler(trainIndices) # training loader - creates batches and pairs with images. >> trainLoader = DataLoader(datasetT, batchSize, sampler=trainSampler) # ----------------------------VALIDATION SET # create SubsetRandomSampler object >> vSampler = SubsetRandomSampler(valIndices) # split into batches of 100 and pair with images. >> valLoader = DataLoader(datasetT, batchSize, sampler=valSampler)
First, set the batch size to 100.
Then, we use SubsetRandomSampler to create an iterable object of randomly shuffled values. This code has little more purpose than to change the object of trainIndices from a list to a SubsetRandomSampler object, and to randomly reshuffle the dataset each time before taking batches.
Then, we can use DataLoader to create the batches. Given the batchSize (100) the sampler (trainSampler), and the transformed image matrix (datasetT) we create a DataLoader object that can be thought of as a list of batches of size (100, 3, 32, 32), or 100 image matrices.
the multiclass logistic regression model
the hypothesis
Our multiclass logistic regression model, for the most part, is nearly identical to linear regression.
As opposed to sigmoid regression for binary classification (classes 0 and 1), we will use softmax regression. Think of softmax regression as identical to sigmoid but for multiclass classification. I’ll go into softmax later. Essentially, Sigmoid takes some single scalar real number and puts it in the range from 0 to 1. Softmax takes in a vector of n scalar real numbers and converts all of them to numbers between 0 and 1, and makes them add up to 1.
The calculations of one batch’s training examples. Matrix drawing sizes are not accurate, use the dimensions provided below them.
Following along with the matrix multiplication, we get a (100, 10) matrix with each row being a training example, and each column being some scalar value associated with the probability that training example is each label.
Where m is the batch size. Each column of this represents the probabilities of the examples belonging to that class.
Therefore, the predicted “probabilities” for each class for one training example is each row. I put probabilities in apostrophes since these aren’t classical 0–1 probabilities, but scalar numbers of any size (they are just the products of a linear expression). Softmax converts these to probabilities, which we’ll go over soon.
>> import torch.nn as nn # this will dictate the rows of the weights matrix >> inputSize = 3*32*32 # this will dictate the columns of the weights matrix >> numClasses = 10 # create our linear regression model (nn.Linear creates bias terms for us) >> model = nn.Linear(inputSize, numClasses)
nn.Linear creates the weights and biases, creating a matrix of shape (imputSize, numClasses). More than just that, nn.Linear creates a function model, which can later be passed a matrix of training examples in order to return predictions. Additionally, nn.Linear also randomly initializes the values of each weight and bias.
Essentially, nn.Linear creates the bias and weights matrix automatically given the amount of classes and amount of features. When we pass something into the model created by nn.Linear, we are just multiplying by the weights matrix and adding the bias.
>> print(model.weight)
Taking a sneak peak at our weights, we can see they are all miniscule values such as -1.0100e-02, all with requires_grad = True. requires_grad = True means that PyTorch allows these values to be differentiated, once we get to gradient descent (the reason why this is an option is that computing derivatives is costly, so PyTorch makes sure to only do this when it is absolutely necessary).
But, if we try to fit our training examples (trainLoader) to this model, we get an error. This is because trainLoader is a matrix of shape (100, 3, 32, 32), which cannot be multiplied by our weights matrix in nn.Linear which is of size (3072, 10).
Matrices can be multiplied if the first matrix’s columns is the same as the second matrix’s rows. So, we need to find a way to turn trainLoader (100, 3, 32, 32) into something compatible with (3072, 10).
The obvious choice would be to reshape trainLoader into size (100, 3072), but let’s instead edit the class nn.Linear itself to change the function to automatically reshape any trainLoader, regardless of size, into a compatible matrix. This can be done with Python classes.
>> class CIFAR10(nn.module):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
self.linear = nn.Linear(inputSize, numClasses)
def forward(self, xb):
xb = xb.reshape(-1, 3072)
out = self.linear(xb)
return out >> model = CIFAR10()
What this code does it creates the CIFAR10 class, which builds off the nn.Module class (and thus gains all of it’s methods and functions).
It creates itself using def __init__. Then it defines a new function, forward(self, xb) where xb is a batch of training examples (x-batch).
Forward automatically reshapes the training examples into shape (-1, 3072). Using -1 means that the new matrix will have however many rows it needs to have 3072 columns. Since our original xb (100, 3, 32, 32) would have a total of 307200 items (100 x 3 x 32 x 32), the -1 solves for what amount of rows would hold the same amount of items. (solving for x in 3072x = 307200).
The reason why we do this, and don’t hardcode (100, 3072), is that it adapts to different batch sizes.
Then we set the output of the function as our new xb through the same nn.linear function.
the .forward() function of a model is assumed when we do Model(xb) — there is no need to specify Model.forward(xb). That’s to say, by creating our own class CIFAR10, and redefining the definition of forward, after setting our model to an object of class CIFAR10, to CIFAR10(xb) will fit the model.
Since model = CIFAR10, we now just need to execute model(dataLoader), and not model.forward(dataLoader), to get the program to work, since forward now automatically reshapes the values.
>> print(model.linear.weight.shape)
>> print(model.linear.bias.shape)
We can still check the parameters of our model, even though we modified the overarching class. Since CIFAR10 is a subclass of nn.Module, it gained all of nn.Module’s methods, like model.linear.
Using these codes, we can still check the shapes of the weight and bias matrices.
Now we can finally get our initial predictions, by passing trainLoader into our modified model. Remember, ‘passing trainLoader in our model’ is equivalent to multiplying our training values by our paramaters and adding a bias, just done in a built in function.
>> for images, labels in trainLoader:
outputs = model(images)
break >> print('outputs.shape :', outputs.shape)
outputs.shape : torch.Size([100, 10])
A for loop over trainLoader iterates over the batches. Since we use break in the for loop, we only calculate the initial predictions for the first batch in trainLoader.
Checking the shape of outputs gives a matrix of (100, 10), which matches our initial calculations. There are 100 rows, for each example (image) in the batch, and each of the 10 columns contain the probability that the image (row) is in each class (horse, sheep, etc..). Only one problem — these probabilities are logits, arbitrary real numbers calculated by the model.
Why? When we multiply our inputs by some random weights and adding a bias, nothing’s restricting it to be a probability — they’ll all be random products, like 3.21324, and not probabilities that are between 0 and 1 and add up to 1.
But first, let’s recap. What have we done so far?
1. Import dataset and transform images to RGB matrices of 3x32x32. 2. Split dataset randomly into 50000 training examples and 10000 validation 3. Via SubsetRandomSampler, the dataset is shuffled once again into an iterative object. 4. Via DataLoader, the randomly shuffled indexes paired with corresponding image matrices, in preset batches decided by batchSize. 5. Modify the nn.linear function by editing the class nn.model, and making it so that nn.linear automatically flattens a matrix before entering it in nn.linear 6. Inputting the number of classes (X’s rows) and number of features (X’s columns) into nn.linear gives us a model, and empty set of weights to multiply something by. 7. By iterating through our trainLoader, which contains both the image matrix and the labels, we can input the image matrices through our model to get our outputs.
Let’s print out the predictions for the first two examples.
>> print('sample outputs :
', outputs[:2])
sample outputs : tensor([[-0.2363, 0.4695, -0.0422, -0.3637, -0.0558, -0.2168, -0.0343, -0.0593, -0.2294, 0.8198], [-0.2203, 0.1576, 0.4396, -0.2661, -0.2340, -0.2024, 0.2856, 0.1390, -0.6146, 0.6665]], grad_fn=<SliceBackward>)
Each of the two images have 10 probabilities, which stand for the probabilities each image has for belonging to any of the ten classes.
The numbers seem random (and indeed they are, they’re simply the linear product of the weights and the bias, without any nonlinear function like sigmoid attached).
This is where we need the softmax function.
The softmax function
The numbers that outputs contains are called logits. Here, we can understand logits to be numbers that represent probabilities, but not in the classical sense of adding up to 1. They represent some amount of likelihood, but not concretely. The larger a number is, the larger the probability. How do we convert these logits into standard probabilities (between 0 and 1) that also add into one?
Look familiar? The softmax can be thought of a vectorized implementation of sigmoid. Where Z is a row vector of logits, K is the amount of classes. J indexes through each class in the training sample, and i is the specific class probability we’re looking for. via DeepAi
I stole this fantastic explanation from Ritvik Kharkar’s youtube channel, ritvikmath, so check that video out.
How would we turn one training example’s logit row vector into an equally sized row vector of probabilities?
Whenever we divide a number by a sum of which the number is a part of, we get a result that is less than one. Softmax leverages this idea.
So, why do we need the exponentiation (e’s) in the numerator or denominator? Why not just add up each unit of the outputs vector divided by the sum, and rid of the exponentials?
Well, say if we did do this. | https://ai.plainenglish.io/complete-guide-image-classification-on-cifar-10-chapter-i-multiclass-logistic-regression-525daee0775b | ['Adam Dhalla'] | 2020-12-06 07:00:52.905000+00:00 | ['Pytorch', 'Logistic Regression', 'AI', 'Python', 'Machine Learning'] |
Satoshi is Female | In November of 2017, Mama Hope launched our Crypto for a Cause campaign to raise bitcoin for impact. Since then I have been invited to speak at multiple Crypto conferences as a “crypto philosopher” and I always start by stating to the audience,
“Isn’t it obvious? Satoshi is Female.”
For those of you who not familiar with the name Satoshi Nakamoto, he/she/it/they are the anonymous inventor of Bitcoin. I love that this person‘s identity is still unknown to the public because it allows me to imagine that they could be anyone on the planet.
Most people have heard about cryptocurrencies posed as a get rich quick scheme run by a bunch of crypto-bros. Thanks John Oliver. But as I began to dive in and really understand the technology and philosophy behind the Blockchain it became more and more apparent that this is an inherently feminine approach to the way value moves across the world.
Here are 5 examples that illustate “Satoshi is Female”
Collaboration — in opposition to ego. Instead of having one centralized point of transaction, the blockchain is built by multiple points working together in unison to create more security. Inclusion — The fact that it is open source encourages all people to participate in its further innovation. Values-driven — for the first time in history we have the ability to infuse values like generosity, equality and goodness into our currencies. Community centered — the Blockchain gains financial value when there is buy in by its community. Generosity — a crypto millionaire named “Pine” created the Pineapple Fund and donated over $55M in bitcoin to charities declaring that “once you have enough money, money doesn’t matter” and it should shared.
I see Blockchain and the wealth generated from it as an opportunity to build new systems that are power-with instead of power over. These new systems will only be better if there are a diverse set of perspectives that are part of its creation. I believe it is the people who were formerly left out of the current system, who if given access, will be the creators of a system that benefits all.
Satoshi is Female is a metaphor for a more optimistic, global and inclusive future. Join us.
#SatoshiIsFemale
All proceeds from Satoshi Is Female t shirts will help grow Mama Hope’s impact worldwide. | https://medium.com/mama-hope/satoshi-is-female-b35034104d08 | ['Nyla Rodgers'] | 2018-05-01 03:04:23.109000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Satoshi', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Social Impact'] |
What Product Teams say and What They Really Mean — 10 Tips for Diagnosing Team Issues | Originally published on Mind The Product October 2018
Team issues can have a negative impact on a project and your people long term. There are a bunch of ways they might manifest themselves — and I’ve written them down as I’ve heard them over a decade of building digital products in cross-functional teams.
I’m not touching on the upfront issues like bad sales process, junk briefs, confused business requirements, that’s for another day. This list is most useful for in-flight project teams, off and sprinting.
Reading these unfiltered issues will surface the symptoms. And in turn, help with diagnosis. All teams and situations are unique, but some pains are universal and understanding the issue is halfway to a solution.
1 — “Our Client is a ☠️ They Don’t Understand What we are Trying to do”
This is bad mojo for a team. In the same way that losing empathy for the customer can easily happen in long projects (good read here about this), it’s easy for a team to start classing the client as a hindrance to getting a project out. This can creep in from the smallest negative comments.
If the team doesn’t take the time to understand who they are working with, an “us and them” mentality can develop. The client is taking great risks, personally and as a business. Building client empathy is important. They might be frustrated or confused, which can result in curt communication…
Tip: Get to know the client, learn to ask the right question and be patient. But most of all don’t be a promoter of negative views in the team.
2 — “Let’s Push Back This Next Check Till we Have More to Show”
This means the team isn’t confident in the direction they are going, and probably doesn’t have the right information. They’ll push the meeting back but go nowhere in the meantime, while the expectation gap between client and team grows and it gets harder to ask the simple questions they didn’t have the answers to in the beginning.
Tip: When you or the team are nervous of meeting with the client or major stakeholder, ask why and then go talk to the client about that thing.
3 — “Wow, I’d Never Seen That Document Before”
Projects will produce a heap of documentation, and that’s normal. This is a challenge worth understanding from day one. Light documentation in favour of delivering is (in my view) always preferable. One consistent issue I see is the grouping of deliverables by phase or sprint. This starts out looking like a good idea, but soon makes it extremely hard to view a continuous thread across the project.
Tip: By taking time to discuss where specific groupings will live, how insights will be surfaced, and an agreement on nomenclature, you will save time and pain later.
4 — “Our Meetings are Long and Have no Outcome”
It’s all-too easy to get into a bad meeting etiquette routine. If meetings feel long, then they are, regardless of their actual duration. Judging the correct length can be hard. The way the working day is broken into hours tends to mean a meeting will fill an hour (at least), irrespective of its content.
Setting a meeting goal or outcome is imperative. That could be to generate ideas, agree on a deadline or assign work. Whether the goal is hard or loose doesn’t matter, but having one is key.
Tip: The simple rules: set a goal, take notes, assign tasks, agree on next steps AND leave the tech out the room.
5 — “What did They go Into a Meeting Room for?”
When things get a bit “interesting” on a project there is a tendency to get secretive and have small groups heading to a meeting room. It could be a bit of client drama, or maybe a team member issue.
But quite often it’s just everyday tasks masquerading as an issue. The point here is that the rest of the team wonders what is going on. It creates team drama, and ripples from it are disruptive.
Tip: Try to be absurdly transparent. Spell it out. Tell the team at standup what’s going on and then say it again later. And where possible don’t hide in a meeting room.
6 — “I Just Don’t get Enough Time at my Desk”
All the meetings, planning, and alignment are hugely valuable activities. But a balance needs to be struck. If your week is peppered with team meetings and check-ins, how can you find time to get deep into work? This crushes flow time, that special mode that gets the best work and helps team members to feel job satisfaction.
Tip: It’s worth evaluating the need for a meeting. If you are a manager, is this meeting more about your peace of mind than anything else? Could that be achieved in another way?
Another issue to watch for is the double workload a team can feel when working on-site with a client. Close collaboration is hugely valuable and something I would always promote. But it’s worth recognising that it comes at a cost to the team. They are always on, staying professional, interpreting comments and filtering needs. Once you have been doing this for a few years you find tactics to manage the load and it can be very enjoyable for most. But for members of the team more used to crafting at a desk with headphones on most the day, it can be a great deal of effort to manage and not feel the most productive.
Tip: Could you mark out safe spots in the week for the work to get done? I have gone as far as a traffic lights system in the past — I even had a traffic light on display. Parts of the week are green, free to chat and collaboration. Parts are red, please don’t disrupt, it’s deep working time. If this is planned in advance it gives the team a firm grounding to build out a week of work and know when they will be able to focus on the deeper thinking.
7 — “We Have a Presentation Today!?”
When people in the team seem confused about where to be and what’s happening this can be an indication of some poor calendars etiquette — things like moving meetings around without updating verbally, dropping them into calendars on the day or, even worse, five minutes before they start. This creates uncertainty, causes confusion, and quickly leads to a behaviour where you don’t start any major task because you have no understanding of how long you will have to work at it — why bother getting into it just to be pulled straight out.
Tip: Make time at the end of the day to plan your following day, confirm the meetings, and make adjustments. On the day, use a short team alignment like a standup meeting to get calendars aligned, and reconfirm all the key activities. Things change, people’s life commitments pop up. That’s all fine so long as the team are aware of where they are supposed to be ahead of time.
8 — “The Sprints Just Feel Relentless”
Sprints can feel quite intense and exhausting — whether it’s because there’s a deadline in mind, or no end in sight. This can be made worse when a team doesn’t have a grasp of the roadmap, or when you haven’t paused long enough to recognise success. One thing I’ve heard in the past which rings true, is ‘sprinting a marathon’.
Tip: One tactic is to have a break — a sprint every X sprints to focus on the little bits that have been sidelined, like process and documentation. This is especially useful for developers to jump on any technical debt.
9 — “Did you Take Notes? No, but it’s Cool, [Insert Firefighter] has it”
Teams that seem to not be taking responsibility are a really common and bad sign. Most likely a key person is taking the heat. Firefighter is a great term for the people who parachute into the troubled projects and save the day. They have a job to do and little time to do it, so their style is to dictate action. It works in the short term. Clients tend to love them.
But remember firefighters love to fight fires. It’s not necessarily on their to-do list to build a strong team. This leads to disengagement — why bother when the firefighter has it covered?
Tip: How you know if you have one one person taking all the weight? Maybe the client said: “Where would we be without [Insert firefighter]. Don’t ever let them leave”. But what if they leave? Use the firefighter to set process, but then plan the day they move off the project with them. Let the team and client know.
10 — “Best not Disturb the Team, They Have a big Mountain to Climb”
I have often heard this said by well-meaning managers. It comes from a good place. The team may have started strongly with retrospectives, but that can drift if not carefully guarded and valued. Not allowing the team the space to address problems weakens its ability self-fix. Resilience becomes low and the general mood can stagnate.
Tip: It’s time to get back to building the space to reflect. Gather input from the team on issues. You’ll probably realise they have a deep understanding of what is going on and that they have some ideas to fix it. Find a forum for discussion as a group. Empower team members to take action from those discussions, and always allow time for them to succeed at the tasks by building time into the plan.
…no time like now
If you have an issue in your team, and maybe one of these sparked that realisation, well good news! — one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that it’s never too late to take a moment, reflect, and start the conversation that could fix things.
As you’ve probably guessed, I don’t have any silver bullets for you — if I did I would have a book out 😀 Good luck 🙏 | https://medium.com/ideas-by-idean/what-product-teams-say-and-what-they-really-mean-10-tips-for-diagnosing-team-issues-f77625fa72e8 | ['Rob Boyett'] | 2019-03-20 16:24:45.157000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Mobile', 'Design', 'Team Management', 'Agile'] |
Social Media — A Vessel of Untruths | The entire globe is facing information wars of an unprecedented nature. Social media is the transporter of misinformation and disinformation. Big Tech has been under fire for not implementing enough measures to uphold the democratic process and increase transparency. These platforms are the primary sources of (fake)news across the globe, and even with efficient fact-checkers, they cannot filter out the untruths, which travel further and faster than facts.
ABC News
Summary of Perils
Human beings are inherently complacent and callous about affairs that do not personally disrupt their lives. With over 2.77 million users, social media is one such universal disrupter. Digital platforms are the most convenient mode of communication to keep in touch with loved ones, entertainment news, and engaging with like-minded people and brands. However, with the advent of social media, society has been introduced to numerous afflictions like cyberbullying, teen depression, hate speech, false information surrounding democratic processes, the coordination of terrorist groups, and many more. There have been documented lynchings and deaths in many parts of India due to false news spread via social media. These attacks have been aimed at religious minorities in an effort to establish an authoritarian Hindu Nationalist government in India. In a more recent news discovery, these same Hindu Nationalists have been found to be spreading their right-wing agenda through the Indian American diaspora to influence the 2020 US Presidential election. The 2016 US Presidential election has already been tainted due to propaganda spread by external parties on social media. Our sovereignty seems to have been compromised and the 2020 US Presidential election has been described as a billion-dollar disinformation war.
The Coronavirus pandemic suffered at the hand of misinformation spread via social media as well. Our leaders failed us, media outlets failed us, and misinformation on social media platforms became the nail in the coffin. Some examples of misinformation were bogus treatments and cures, conspiracy theories about the origins of the virus, and inaccurate information on testing facilities.
What Next?
Sinan Aral, author of “The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health — and How We Must Adapt.” aptly draws attention to move past the discussion of whether “Social Media is Good or Bad”. He encourages us to deliberate over how we must adapt and consciously nudge ourselves to be more reflective, leading with values that make us a flourishing society. The ad-based revenue model to capture audience attention, which is a precursor to persuasion, must be re-engineered. It is the 21st century and social media platforms are still allowing heinous and vile content to be published under the garb of “freedom of speech”. The people must take action and ensure these gigantic corporations running information across platforms are regulated and that they align themselves with principles and ethics that hold people accountable for malicious and irresponsible acts. Corporate corruption must cease to exist in the government. Integrity is an unknown characteristic in many global leaders today, who are willing to lie, cheat, and deceive to benefit their agenda and themselves. Therefore, people must gain awareness, protect themselves and their loved ones from these vicious establishments.
Preserve our Empathy
The air of racial tension around the world is burdensome. Empathy heals divides. Empathy’s most avid promoters have strongly felt its absence. The current global climate rewards the pursuit of self-serving goals. That is exactly what the big technology companies, pharmaceuticals, and corporations are doing. The world needs more than just lip-service from these organizations. I urge all of us to be more cognizant of the struggles of people different from us and hold institutions accountable for unjust activities. Parents, educators, teachers must instill future generations with a strong sense of empathy. With the current trend, we are not far from a catastrophic crisis that transcends borders and races. Digital applications do make our life more colorful, but we must be very cautious about the hype surrounding social media platforms. | https://medium.com/marketing-in-the-age-of-digital/social-media-a-vessel-of-untruths-3e6e8a17331a | ['Mehtab Kaur Virk'] | 2020-10-25 20:53:20.206000+00:00 | ['Crisis', 'Misinformation', 'Social Media', 'Technology', 'Empathy'] |
The Secret Weapon To Higher Conversions: Triggered Push Notification Campaigns | A campaign aimed at everyone strikes a chord with no one.
Promotional content that is generic or worse, irrelevant to your subscribers, will only annoy them and they’re likely to unsubscribe. And they’d call it spam. But, when they receive promotional communication that resonates, you’ll see them intrigued.
The easiest way to send automated yet personalized notifications to reach the right people, at the right time, in the right place (their devices) is here and it’s called Triggered Push Notification Campaigns. This PushCrew feature is available for the Enterprise Plan Customers.
Illustration by Richa Arora
Deciphering Triggered Push Notification Campaigns
Triggered push notification campaigns is a must-use tool in every marketer’s arsenal. This feature is the backbone upon which subscribers can be nudged to convert into (loyal) customers.
What makes this feature powerful is the level of sophistication that the elements contain. In a nutshell, you can set triggers and goals based on actions (like page visits) or URLs. You can also choose your audience based on their attributes like location, devices, etc.
The advanced settings in this feature let you automate tailor-made messages that are relevant, timely and encourage high conversions. Keep reading if you’d like to know more about the benefits of using triggered push notification campaigns.
Perks of implementing triggered push notification campaigns that unlock high conversions
1. Stage grand entries and elegant exits
“Strike when the iron is hot!”
No one wants to be looped into something they aren’t looking for, or exited from something that interests them. Triggered push notification campaigns fill the gap by allowing entry and exit triggers or goals, based on conditions you’ve chosen. This means that when your subscribers perform a certain action or visit a certain page that fulfills a preset condition, they enter a certain campaign and start receiving your notifications. Upon completing the goals you’ve set (like making a purchase), they exit the campaign.
You can also create audience segments to whom these campaigns are sent based on subscriber properties such as the operating system a subscriber is using, the subscriber’s location, the browser, etc. These things ensure minimum friction between what subscribers want and what you want them to do.
For Example: For your eCommerce platform, suppose you’ve set the following:
Custom Segment: Operating System is Equal to Mac OS and Location is Equal to United States
Entry Trigger — URL contains stilettos
Goal — Thank You page
Now, when a subscriber visits your page and is on the URL that contains “stilettos” from their MAC OS devices in the United States enters this triggered push campaign and will start receiving a series of push notifications that you’ve crafted beforehand. This subscriber will receive your notifications till they finally hit the “Thank You” page, which means that your triggered campaign has successfully converted the subscriber into making a purchase from your portal.
2. Re-engage inactive subscribers to move ahead in the buyer’s journey
Push notifications, as it is, are popular for grabbing attention immediately. Triggered push campaigns go a couple of notches above in nudging subscribers to hit the goal (conversion) that you’ve set. When they receive a series of well-timed and relevant notifications at specific intervals, they are highly re-engaged into making a purchase or performing an action that you want them to take. Here’s an example of a scenario to help you understand better.
Example: Let’s suppose, you’ve created a series of triggered notifications that are about hand-picked recommendations in the shoes category, the latest trend in shoes, wardrobe essentials, and discounts. This mix of interesting and relevant push notifications re-engages the subscribers in that segment, piquing their interest into buying shoes from you (given the helpful and interesting information they got from you).
Added benefit: Triggered campaigns can help you walk the extra mile and re-engage a converted customer into re-engaging further and buying more from you. How? Many people have a tendency to buy more related products. So if you’ve not set an exit trigger for the campaign, you can further fancy the subscriber’s’ interests with related products or evergreen styles.
3. Power up your brand value and win loyal customers
By responding to subscribers quickly, the brand is powering up its own value in the subscribers’ eyes. When you respond to their interests (when they are searching for something on your website), by sending them relevant triggered push notifications, the brand value increases multifolds!
Triggered push notification campaigns form an essential part of wonderful customer service. How so? Customers feel heard and special because of the intuitive triggers you’ve set for the campaign.
The subscribers in triggered campaigns would be impressed when they start receiving swift recommendations or information about what they were searching for. This leads to a higher conversion rate. These campaigns automate your route to earning brand value brownie points and make your customers your greatest strength!
Related: 3 Powerful Channels Of Digital Branding For eCommerce (And How To Use Them)
4. Track metrics that actually matter
Triggered push campaigns unlock the potential of marketing automation to its fullest, while you can focus on tracking the campaign performance. While tracking your triggered push notification campaign’s performance, it’s important to track metrics that matter. Here are the 3 important metrics you should be tracking to understand the campaign performance. Accordingly, chart out strategies for your future campaigns.
Subscribers Entered — This tells you the number of subscribers that qualified the Entry Trigger you set. This matters because you’ll get to know the number of subscribers interested in that particular product range, from a specific location. You can further leverage this information for this segment with related products, events or deals.
Subscribers Converted — These are the subscribers that completed the goal you set. This could have been a purchase or another action. This number tells you subscribers’ interests, popularity of the product or service you were promoting and the elements of the notifications that worked well with it (like tone of the message copy, timing, frequency, etc.)
Conversion Rate — This metric tells you in percentage the subscribers that completed the goal and quantifies the success of your campaign
Triggered push notification campaigns provide you with a playground that has opportunities galore. You can now guide the movement of your subscribers along your conversion funnel, boosting engagement, re-engagement and more. With the right triggers in place, relevancy and the right timing, you’re going to love what you see in the metrics and how your push notification marketing efforts are bearing fruit.
Originally published on The Marketer’s Last Mile — the PushCrew Blog
(You can signup and start using PushCrew Web Push Notifications for free here.) | https://medium.com/the-pushcrew-journal/the-secret-weapon-to-higher-conversions-triggered-push-notification-campaigns-a8ce985489b6 | ['Namraata Badheka'] | 2017-12-06 12:27:02.830000+00:00 | ['Push Notification', 'Conversion Optimization', 'Triggered Campaigns', 'Digital Marketing', 'Marketing'] |
Using the Cynefin framework during IT major incident response | The importance of our decisions
Being able to make quick and effective decisions is a key attribute for major incident leads — the ones responsible for seeing an incident through to its resolution. Uninformed and poorly timed decisions could result in delays to resolve incidents and adverse outcomes. Cynefin can be used to make sense of the place from where we make decisions, to improve our judgement and situational awareness.
Incidents with most critical business impact are where IT systems are relied upon, but don’t perform as expected for most, if not all users (e.g. unexpected outages, severe performance degradation or security beaches) – referred to as “Sev 1” category.
These types of incidents can carry a heightened sense of pressure for those involved. Initially when they occur we might find we are confused as to how to respond; this is known as the disorder domain. The simplest definition of the disorder domain is the state of not knowing which domain you are in. In this domain, we are lost, lack situational awareness and apply little thought, so tend to rely on instinct and might take action based on past thinking, behaviours and previous decisions. We revert to using techniques we are comfortable with which can create a false sense of confidence resulting in ineffective decision making. For example all of our IT systems suddenly become inaccessible for users. Knowing if we are under a sustained denial of service attack or if there’s a power outage on the internal network, is the difference between being in disorder or chaos.
Without an awareness of the domain we are in, we risk oversimplification or overcomplicating a situation — an incident lead who has had success previously comfortably leading through chaos, may unawarely perceive a situation that would be better responded by use of good or best practice, as a crisis.
The primary goal in disorder, is to gather basic information so we can quickly transfer to another domain.
Making sense of chaos
Making sense of my behaviour and how I perceive a situation as major incident lead, helps me make decisions with greater confidence. Typically, once someone takes lead of a major incident with a brief understanding of the situation, they will be in the chaos domain. It’s not possible to know the cause and effect of a situation in this domain otherwise known as the place of “unknown-unknowables”.
Cynefin suggests the best way to approach a chaotic situation is to “act-sense-respond”. Act to establish order, sense where there is stability, and respond to transition a chaotic into situation into a complex one. The incident leads primary focus is on triaging and getting a feel of the situation, to stop the bleeding and establish some order and control. Providing reliable information to those that need to know is crucial in chaotic situations. Direct communication through a single channel to avoid miscommunication or rumour, is what’s needed. Usually this isn’t the time to ask for input, but to inform who needs to know, there is a problem.
Panic and uncertainty is common in this domain; as incident lead its key to act quickly and decisively to address what’s most pressing and navigate through chaos. For example where security incidents occur with potential data compromise across multiple systems, doing a quick risk analysis, check recent changes, temporarily shutting down access to systems, communicating what’s happening to a closed group, followed by crisis or continuity plans — may be a way to immediately stop the bleeding. The faster we transition from the chaotic to complex domain, the better chance we have at understanding the cause-effect relationship, limiting adverse business impact. During chaos we will require creative thinking and it’s in this domain that we learn and develop “novel” (new and not already known) ideas and practices. For example we may come across a security incident on our systems presenting a new type of attack vector that was unfamiliar to us previously, learning how to respond. | https://medium.com/swlh/using-cynefin-during-major-incident-management-ba00a78842dd | ['Sundeep Singh'] | 2020-05-14 19:16:04.077000+00:00 | ['Cynefin Framework', 'Incident Response', 'Complex Systems', 'It Service Management'] |
Use Entities For Watson Assistant Node Conditions | When evaluating “non-intent” user responses in Watson Assistant (WA), try to use entities instead of evaluating the contents of “input.text”. Entities are both reusable and not case sensitive, meaning you will get cleaner code.
Using “input.text” in WA is a great way to capture and save the input into a context variable for later use or for determining the length of what was said, but for dialog node conditions, it can directly short-cut some of WA’s capabilities and can become a maintenance nightmare.
For example, let’s say the user is asked “Would you like to receive your statement by mail or fax?”. If you use “input.text” to test the user response for the value of “mail” you will miss common variations.
The condition (input.text == “Mail”) ||(input.text == “mail”) doesn’t capture all case variations
The condition (Input.text.toLowerCase() = “mail”) is better for case sensitivity, but would not handle the situation where the utterance is something like “send it by mail”
In speech applications, mis-transcriptions (homonyms) are possible. Neither of the cases above would work if the utterance came to WA as “male”
Avoid these issues by setting up entities to capture key items in the utterance and configuring the node conditions to look for those entities.
Create Entity
WA Entities — My entities
Configure Dialog
WA Dialog
Using @deliveryPreference:mail for the condition…
Tests for the occurrence of “mail” in the utterance
Captures all synonyms of “mail” configured for the entity (ie “male”)
Is case insensitive
Ignores any additional words in the utterance
There are many uses for “input.text” and powerful string methods available that can be used to evaluate the object. However, when configuring node conditions, it’s good practice to try to use entities to simplify and organize your WA design.
We have built a workspace analyzer that detects “input.text” conditions at https://github.com/cognitive-catalyst/WA-Testing-Tool/. Download the tool and navigate to the ‘validate_workspace’ section. This will help you quickly discover these conditions and others that you may wish to improve.
Find more Watson Assistant Best Practices at https://medium.com/ibm-watson/best-practices-for-building-and-maintaining-a-chatbot-a8b78f0b1b72. For help implementing these practices, reach out to IBM Data and AI Expert Labs and Learning. | https://medium.com/ibm-data-ai/use-entities-for-watson-assistant-node-conditions-4cc33b2f25ba | ['Leo Mazzoli'] | 2020-02-05 18:58:43.253000+00:00 | ['Watson Assistant', 'Tutorial', 'NLP', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Chatbots'] |
Becoming a farmer is not a job change | Becoming a farmer is not a job change
Instead of a learning a trade or obtaining a degree, you’re committing to a lifelong education.
You won’t have the opportunity to ask about “work-life balance” at a job interview — you gain perpetual work-life integration.
Paid time off is a gift from the seasons, and raises are a result of increased skilled and efficiency.
Progeny is your retirement plan. | https://perennial.city/becoming-a-farmer-is-not-a-job-change-1db15d93cbf | ['Timothy Kiefer'] | 2020-12-27 01:54:54.484000+00:00 | ['Daily Blog', 'Farming', 'Farm Life'] |
Why joyful movement might be the radical self-care tool you are looking for | Why joyful movement might be the radical self-care tool you are looking for KT Kusmaul Mar 4·3 min read
Joyful dancers in Body Home class. Photo by Representation Matters
What is your relationship with exercise? Do you have an emotional or physical response as I ask? It is not uncommon to have feelings of guilt or fear, cringing or tension. Most people in western culture were taught to believe your body needed to be fixed through punitive measures like restrictive dieting and uncomfortable exercise. If I were to jump in right away and tell you all the benefits of exercise, it is not all that likely you will run out and start a robust exercise program tomorrow that you will stick with. Typically, we do not change our behaviors just because we receive education, and certainly not through shaming and guilt.
But what if we just explored what movement could be, instead? What if we considered how we could reclaim movement?
Movement can be joyful. It can bring us in connection with our community. It can be part of a meditative practice or connection to nature. Movement can be cathartic and emotionally healing. It can be creative. It can connect us to our spirituality.
When movement is done in groups, we increase the benefits. One study looked at dancing in community and showed that when people dance together they have an increase in endorphins and interpersonal social bonding. (Tarr et al., 2015) The synchrony of dancing showed increases in the benefits over simple exercise. Team sport seems to be associated with improved health outcomes compared to individual activities, due to the social nature of the participation. (Eime et al., 2013)
When movement is done in nature, which is sometimes called Green Exercise, it has positive effects of greater feelings of revitalization and positive engagement, decreases in tension, confusion, anger, and depression, and increased energy. (Thompson Coon et al., 2011)
Whether you want the endorphins, the improved sleep, the increased connection with your fellow humans, the improved mood, or the cardiovascular health benefits of movement, you can have any of that even with small amounts or with low impact movement. As little as 15 minutes can have significant impact on your health, and some research looks at even shorter intervals. (Eijsvogels & Thompson, 2015) So don’t get overwhelmed by setting a difficult to attain goal. Just get up and move because any amount is good for you.
And, in case you still have it stuck in your brain that the purpose of exercise is to lose weight, I will point you towards examples from the extensive evidence that proves that just isn’t true. First of all, study after study shows how rare sustained weight loss actually is. And second, studies consistently show that all of the health benefits of exercise are realized regardless of weight loss. (Gaesser et al., 2011)
What kind of movement might you want to invite into your life? Do you have a tried-and-true form of movement you love, or are you curious about a new activity? Are there people you want to move with? Discover your own reasons to move more, reasons that are less about shame or an obligation to change and more about finding joy and connection and wellbeing.
Tell me in the comments what types of movement you enjoy and why!
References
Eijsvogels, T. M. H., & Thompson, P. D. (2015). Exercise Is Medicine: At Any Dose? JAMA, 314(18), 1915. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.10858
Eime, R. M., Young, J. A., Harvey, J. T., Charity, M. J., & Payne, W. R. (2013). A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents: Informing development of a conceptual model of health through sport. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-98
Gaesser, G. A., Angadi, S. S., & Sawyer, B. J. (2011). Exercise and Diet, Independent of Weight Loss, Improve Cardiometabolic Risk Profile in Overweight and Obese Individuals. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 39(2), 87–97. https://doi.org/10.3810/psm.2011.05.1898
Tarr, B., Launay, J., Cohen, E., & Dunbar, R. (2015). Synchrony and exertion during dance independently raise pain threshold and encourage social bonding | Biology Letters. Biology Letters, 11(10). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0767
Thompson Coon, J., Boddy, K., Stein, K., Whear, R., Barton, J., & Depledge, M. H. (2011). Does participating in physical activity in outdoor natural environments have a greater effect on physical and mental wellbeing than physical activity indoors? A systematic review. Environmental Science & Technology, 45(5), 1761–1772. https://doi.org/10.1021/es102947t | https://medium.com/@kkusmaul/why-joyful-movement-might-be-the-radical-self-care-tool-you-are-looking-for-6f5e185a0825 | ['Kt Kusmaul'] | 2021-03-04 03:28:31.464000+00:00 | ['Health At Every Size', 'Body Positive', 'Joyful Movement'] |
So You Want to Fund Black Founders | Photo taken at the Kapor Center in Oakland, CA
I was one of the first Black investors to be promoted to Partner at a venture capital firm. At the time (2015), I was also one of the youngest, having just turned 31 years old.
I have been in the venture industry since 2011, beginning as an intern in Kapor Capital’s inaugural Summer Associates program. I have never seen a wave of pro-Black commentary and actions like the one we are all witnessing today.
Over the past few weeks, more people than ever before have aligned themselves to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, including people in tech. Specifically, many venture capital firms are now opening their doors to fund more Black founders. Many of these firms have reached out to me, asking what ways they can be helpful during these times. Rather than focus on the history of venture and its deep-rooted exclusionary practices, I am writing this piece as a guide. After nine years as a venture capitalist (which is considered “veteran” status in the Black investment community), I have learned some things that I think can help, and I’m going to keep it simple.
Here are 3 immediate actions VC firms can take:
1) Hire Black Investors
Most firms have reached out to Black founders directly on Twitter to take pitch meetings and offer office hours. Instead, start with diversity at your own firm. This benefits you in two ways:
Adding Black investors at your firm will bring more diverse deal flow and perspectives.
81% of all VC firms do not have a single Black investor. 33% of the Kapor Capital investment team is Black. 34% of our first-time investments have a founder of a racially underrepresented background. Diverse investors have access to diverse founders.
The Associates and Principals of today are the Partners and Managing Directors of tomorrow.
Investing in talent today means investing in the leadership of tomorrow. At Kapor Capital, we have run a Summer Associate Program since 2011. (I was in the first class). We have an incredibly diverse, scrappy, and well-educated pipeline of trained investors that are ready to be hired. Also, BLCK VC and HBCU.VC are other organizations working to advance the success of Black investors.
But let me be clear.
If you do not publicize the jobs that are available at your venture firm, then you are intentionally being exclusionary.
It does not matter how much Black talent is available for hire. People can’t get a job that they don’t know exists.
At Kapor Capital, our diversity is by design, our inclusion is intentional, and it starts with publicly posting available job openings.
You can learn more here about how we do it.
Awesome, you’ve got your house in order. Now, let’s talk about Black founders.
2) Fund Black Founders
Kapor Center has covered in great detail the leaky tech pipeline and how it shows up in venture funding. The problems start in early childhood education, continue through higher education, and result in a tech workforce that lacks diversity, inclusion, and equity.
As much as founders appreciate office hours, mentorship, and free advice, what they really need are investor checks to get to work.
Only 1% of venture backed companies are led by Black founders. Yup, out of 100 funded founders in a room, only 1 is Black. Let that sink in.
As venture capitalists, we are consistently advising our portfolio companies not to spend too much time fundraising, and closing as soon as they identify the right lead for their round. The longer the fundraising process, the more time a CEO must spend away from their core business activities.
If you are not seriously interested in writing checks to Black founders, then save the lip service and skip the PR stunts.
But if you are serious, the answer is straight-forward: put your money where your mouth is.
3) Hold Your Firm Accountable
In 2015, Kapor Capital publicly launched a $40M initiative focused on diversity in technology, with $25M earmarked for venture capital. Soon after, we created the Founders Commitment, a first-of-its kind initiative where portfolio founders set diversity and inclusion goals for their individual companies. In 2019, we released the Kapor Capital Impact Report, highlighting our learnings over the last eight years of investing in gap-closing social impact companies and underrepresented founders. In the report, we outlined why financial returns must not be the only measure of a company’s success, and why diverse backgrounds give founders a competitive edge.
Your public commitment does not have to look like ours, but it does need to be something you are serious about being held accountable to. State your goals, measure your progress, and publish your results. | https://medium.com/kapor-the-bridge/so-you-want-to-fund-black-founders-fc58e3f93972 | ['Brian Dixon'] | 2020-06-08 22:34:10.266000+00:00 | ['Diversity In Tech', 'Investors', 'Tech', 'Startup', 'Venture Capital'] |
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