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Chicken thieves raid the parsonage coop | It’s been said, “Never count your chickens before they hatch.”
But it’s praiseworthy for a Methodist pastor to rise up early to count his blessings that are almost mature enough for the dinner table.
“Rev. Mr. Ingalls, residing between this village (Sandy Hill) and Fort Edward, is a good man, a good preacher, an amateur gardener, and prides himself as an expert chicken raiser, and after expending fabulous sums in securing the most desirable broods has been wont at early dawn to look with admiration upon the hundreds of well-grown chicks safely housed in their respective dwellings,” The Granville Sentinel reported July 30, 1886, in an article republished from the Sandy Hill Observer.
“And in imagination his mouth watered at the prospect of the deliscious broils which would soon grace his table, and not wholly unmindful of the profits that would soon be derived from the sale of several hundred that were nearly ready for market.”
One Sunday, the pastor came home from evening service and discovered that a thief had stolen 200 of his most-prized chickens.
The preacher, relating the incident to a newspaper reporter the next day, “didn’t swear a word, but something he said, not audible to the scribe, was not exactly in accord with the text of the previous evening.”
The reporter was understanding.
“The reverend gentleman has the sympathy of the entire community, and Officer Morrison is determined to hunt down the thieves.”
Fort Edward residents were not as sympathetic with a preacher that agreed to umpire a baseball game.
“The ball game Saturday between the Stars of this village and the Glens Falls club broke up in a row, owing to the unfairness of the umpire,” the Fort Edward correspondent reported Aug. 6, 1886 in The Granville Sentinel.
“Mr. C. was no doubt unfit to umpire the game, not having experience in that line. We know he is capable at leading a prayer meeting, and we would advise him to be consistent and keep off the ball grounds.” | https://medium.com/@writermaury/chicken-thieves-raid-the-parsonage-coop-867a707c4f2b | ['Maury Thompson'] | 2020-12-23 19:11:44.092000+00:00 | ['Baseball', 'History', 'Religion', 'Farming', 'Hudson Falls'] |
The 10 stocks I purchased with my new Robinhood investing account | This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions. | https://medium.com/@eliinvesting/the-10-stocks-i-purchased-with-my-new-robinhood-investing-account-6a848c4168ef | ['Eli Investing.'] | 2020-12-23 18:49:23.932000+00:00 | ['Finance', 'Money', 'Stocks', 'Investing', 'Stock Market'] |
State Department Records Show Senate Republicans Knew About Russian Disinformation & Failed to Tell the Public — Again | Peer-Reviewed Politics
State Department Records Show Senate Republicans Knew About Russian Disinformation & Failed to Tell the Public — Again
US intelligence analysts picked up chatter last month that emails like those revealed yesterday by the NYPost would be leaked in October, having been stolen by the same GRU unit that hacked the DNC. One worry was Russia would mix in forgeries.
Foreign Influence and the Trump Administration | Karl Evers-Hillstrom on 5 Jun 2019
The Hunter Biden investigation that spent taxpayer dollars investigating known Russian disinformation, found nothing illegal and no new information on Hunter Biden. The timeline on it should also raise some flags. For a more full report on what about this investigation should raise red flags, you can read the follow-up and consider the pattern of behavior described below.
What they did find is more shocking in the context of yesterday’s New York Post, given the federal government knew about it.
The GOP Senate investigation gave the Russian disinformation on Hunter Biden credibility, or as Mitt Romney says it was a “political exercise.” Using the state against political opponents is the hallmark of Russian and Chinese regimes. That this furthering of disinformation and withholding of the truth is neither the first instance nor the only type of use of the federal government against an opponent should worry anyone who values democracy.
US intelligence analysts picked up chatter last month that emails like those revealed yesterday by the NYPost would be leaked in October, having been stolen by the same GRU unit that hacked the DNC. One worry was Russia would mix in forgeries.
Despite this, Americans were not warned just as they were not warned when we received reports early in the year that Russia would further the idea that Vice President Joseph Biden’s stutter was evidence of degenerative illness. For further information on that, see DHS Withheld Intelligence on Russian Disinformation. How it Happened is the real story. | https://e-rosalie.medium.com/state-dept-records-show-senate-gop-knew-of-disinformation-failed-to-warn-public-7a017f91dcc9 | ['E. Rosalie'] | 2020-10-15 16:45:34.128000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Election 2020', 'Politics', 'Govenrment', 'Psychology'] |
Document Your Existing API’s With (Open API) Specification in ASP.NET Core | API 📗 Swagger
In this article, we will learn how to document our already existing APIs with .Net and.Net Core. Many developers absolutely deplore writing documentation. It’s boring to put all these things together in a document by manually writing them. To overcome this we have Swagger to implement documentation and it’s an open-source API documentation tool.
Packages required to configure Swagger,
Swashbuckle.AspNetCore (latest version) — This package adds Swagger and Swagger UI and other libraries to make it easy for us to create API documentation.
Step 1
After installing the package to the respective project, here I am sharing the screenshot for your reference if you are new to Swagger in ASP.Net Core
Fig-1
Step 2 -Setup
We need to enable our project to generate XML comments. The comments come from Triple-slash (///) comments throughout the code.
First, in the project properties, check the box labeled “Generate XML Documentation”
Right Click on the Solution and click on the Properties
Fig-2
You will probably also want to suppress warning 1591, which will now give warnings about any method, class, or field that doesn’t have triple-slash comments.
Fig-3
Step 3 -Configure Swagger
Startup.cs
launchSettings.json
XML Comments
In our XML Comments for methods.
WeatherController.cs
Here are XML nodes in use:
Summary: A high-level summary of what our method /class/field is or does.
remarks: Additional detail about the method/class/field
param: A parameter to the method, and what it represents
returns: A description of what the method returns.
Output — View Swagger
Fig-4
Here is a clear description of what is what in Swagger UI
Fig-5
Thank you for reading, please let me know your questions, thoughts, or feedback in the comments section. I appreciate your feedback and encouragement.
Move your project on next level by hiring skilled and seasoned ASP.NET core developers.
Keep Learning and Exploring…. !!! | https://medium.com/devtechtoday/document-your-existing-apis-with-open-api-specification-in-asp-net-core-a4a2bf1910d8 | ['Jay Krishna Reddy'] | 2021-06-07 04:57:23.799000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Tech', 'Software Development', 'Programming', 'Technology'] |
Yes, Men Can Have Nipple Orgasms | Octavio experienced nipple orgasms from nipple torture.
As much as I’ve witnessed men enjoy sensual nipple stimulation, I’ve also encountered men who like to have their nipples tortured. These men also experience nipple orgasms, only the way they achieve them is through pain.
Nipple torture consists of anything from pinching, clamping or even piercing the nipples. I know it seems counterintuitive that torture could be sexually satisfying but it is.
I like nipple torture myself, though I can only handle it once I’m very turned on — especially when I’m close to coming. At that point, having my nipples squeezed and bitten hard can be exquisite.
However, I’ve had quite a few male clients who get off from having their nipples tortured even if they’re not aroused.
Instead, the act of torturing their nipples is what’s arousing to them. I’ve seen a man’s penis go from flaccid to erect just from having his nipples pinched.
Some men like me to dig my fingernails into their nipple flesh. For that reason, I always keep my nails long.
Even more painful (and pleasurable) is when I clamp a man’s nipples. I own clamps of all strengths and sizes including sadistically “biting” devices called alligator clamps.
These clamps are named such because of the small metal teeth that run up and down the length of either side of the clamps’ “jaws.” I only leave this type of clamp on for short periods though. Otherwise, they can harm the flesh.
Instead, clamps that can be adjusted in strength are what can be left on much longer.
Octavio had a nipple orgasm every session we did together.
Though I call it nipple torture, I can attest that this isn’t really “torture” for many of my clients. At least not for the type of man who loves pain on his nipples. I’ve seen men experience nipple orgasms from nipple torture.
Octavio was like this. For our sessions, I would tie Octavio’s limbs to a bondage table then set into an hour’s worth of torture to his nipples. Octavio had a nipple orgasm every session we did together.
I typically began our session by squeezing his nipples between my fingertips. I worked up from there. Soon, I’d get out the clamps though sometimes he was satisfied with just a couple of old-fashioned clothespins.
To create new sensations, though, I’d also pierce his nipples with hypodermic needles that I’d procured from a medical supply store.
Before you go thinking I did any kind of irreparable harm to his flesh, his nipples were quite calloused from having been tortured on so many different occasions.
The result was he now needed even more intense torture on his nipples to feel the same effect. He gladly offered his nipples to be clamped by me as, within minutes, he’d experience a nipple orgasm without even having touched his penis. | https://medium.com/ecstatic-cling/yes-men-can-have-nipple-orgasms-d9f05d84bd33 | ['Mysterious Witt'] | 2020-01-01 19:04:46.259000+00:00 | ['Men', 'Sex Work', 'Sex', 'Sexuality', 'Relationships'] |
Finding the Oracle in Delphi | Ancient Greeks considered Delphi to be the center of the world.
Zeus set out to determine the center of his “Grandmother Earth” (Gaia). He began by releasing two eagles. One flew from the eastern hemisphere and one from the western hemisphere. When the paths crossed over Delphi, Zeus declared it to be the naval of Gaia (earth).
Standing on the mountainside enjoying the views offered by Delphi, you certainly get the feeling you are standing at the center of the world.
Random Facts About Delphi
Recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its influence in the ancient world.
Also called Python after the dragon who guarded the area for Gaia. Apollo killed the dragon (according to Greek mythology) and that led to his worship in the area.
Starting in 586 BC athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the Pythian Games every four years. It was a precursor to the modern Olympics.
Home to the Oracle of Delphi
As you head through the town to the archeological site, you will see the Castalian Spring. The spring offered Delphi visitors a place to refresh before consulting the Oracle. Roman poets felt like the spring offered inspiration. It was here that Apollo killed the dragon, Python. The water from Castalian Spring still feeds the fountain at the entrance of the area (near the street).
According to our guide, the spring holds magic-making those who drink from it find their love soon after. While we listened to her stories a local drove up to fill his bottle. He jumped out of his car with several bottles and his pants undone. Seeming not to care about the pants situation he filled his bottles and was on his way. No word on if he has found love, but we filled our bottles with the fresh spring water and started the hike to the ruins.
Entering the area you immediately feel the history. It is a familiar and welcome feeling after a few days in Greece. This time there is not a city built around an ancient gathering place. This time it is ancient ruins on a beautiful hillside making it feel even more authentic to its time.
The first notable area you will come to is the Roman Agora at the entrance of the Sacred Way. The area was “remodeled” when the Romans took control of Delphi. It became known as the Roman Agora at that time due to the Roman appearance of the buildings. It was the first stop along the Sacred Way where the temple visitors purchased their offerings.
We climbed the mountain passing ruins of many treasuries. A well-preserved building loomed over us as we climbed until we arrived at the Treasury of Athens. The thick walls have withstood centuries of elements with little restoration. The treasury stands at 10 x 6 meters to hold the offerings to the Delphi oracle.
Climb some more. (See the theme) The existing columns and flooring for the Temple of Apollo are the next imposing ruin. First built in the 7th century BC the structure withstood a fire in the 6th century BC and was rebuilt. At that time it was renamed the Temple of Alcmeonidae in a tribute to the Athenian family who oversaw its construction. The temple was of the Doric order with six columns at the front and 15 columns on each side. Destroyed by an earthquake in 373 BC it was rebuilt for a third time in 330 BC to be similar to the Alcmeonidae version.
Today the Doric column columns remain. The temple was accessed by a ramp (because why not climb a little more). Parian marble sculptures depicted the epiphany of Apollo, Dionysus, and Maenads. According to ancient sources, the maxims of the Seven Sages were carved at the entrance.
“Know thyself” — maxims of the Seven Sages
The building housed works of art giving it a dual role of temple and museum. The oracle sat atop the Tripod of Plataea above the Chasm of Ghes. The cleft in the earth emanated vapors that inebriated the prophetess. In this trance-like state, she channeled Apollo. Consultations with the oracle could not happen in the winter months. During winter months Apollo lived among Hyperboreans. Dionysus would inhabit the temple during his absence.
The temple is about the halfway mark to the top (and the stadium). As we continued, we took a moment at the theater. Having worked a few concerts in my life in some great venues, I have to say this one was amazing! The 35 rows of seating can accommodate around five thousand spectators. The views of the surrounding valley must have amplified the beauty of the performer’s work.
Trekking further up the mountain we arrive at the stadium nestled between two small hills. It’s last “remodel” was in the 2nd century AD when Herodus Atticus financed an arched entry and stone seating (6500 spectators). Used for the Pythian and Panhellenic games and music festivals it is clear Ancient Greeks loved their entertainment.
(Tip make sure you turn around to enjoy the view of the ruins and the valley.)
Descending the mountain to street level is the Archeological Museum of Delphi. It is within these walls you can view the extensive artifacts unearthed here. The permanent exhibit covers more than a thousand years from the Mycenaean era to Greco-Roman times. It is a must-see museum while visiting Greece!
Angela’s Favorite Part of the Adventure
The views while standing in such historic ruins were incredible! The entire atmosphere transports you back to ancient times. It was standing on that mountainside when I got the idea for this site. Maybe it was the Oracle… 🤷🏼♀️
Vince’s Favorite Part of the Adventure
The stadium at Delphi is such an incredible sight. From the construction, to the fact that it is positioned against the mountain, and the view that any spectator has overlooking the valley below. Additionally, far below and across the main road is the practice stadium and dormitory for the athletes. It almost made me want to run a race! I said almost, as I got winded just climbing the steep walk to the stadium.
Getting to Delphi
Delphi is a couple of hours drive from Athens leaving many to take a day trip. But if you want a full Oracle of Delphi experience the magic is in the sunrise and sunset so grab a hotel for the night.
Tips for your Delphi Trip
Fill your bottle at the Castalian Spring fountain. We were told the water is safe and had no issues.
While filling your bottle turn around. Look across the road and down the hillside. You will see more ruins and a 1,000-year-old olive tree.
The Charioteer statue is inside the museum (near the end).
Hike to the top. Plan for it. Take water. Take your time if you need it. The views and archeological ruins are well worth it!
In the town of Delphi, you will find a beautiful church (Haigos Nikolaos) and some small shops with work from the local art students.
https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d3123.3178520865163!2d22.49760515070755!3d38.48030697892649!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x135f797aa96fe533%3A0x6b00be44fb12457e!2sDelphi+Archaeological+Museum!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1566238666231!5m2!1sen!2sus
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Reddit | https://medium.com/@angeladiloreto/finding-the-oracle-in-delphi-44a4af10a60f | ['Angela Diloreto'] | 2019-09-03 17:40:23.337000+00:00 | ['Travel Tips', 'Greece', 'Travel Writing', 'Greece Travels', 'Delphigreece'] |
Breakout Startups for 2020 by Xpo Network | About Xpo
Xpo is a talent network built for Engineers by Engineers. We help ambitious engineers find breakout companies to work by researching startups from them.
Learn more 👇
Why We Started Writing Breakout Startups
Here’s what Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, told Sheryl Sandberg when she was hunting for a job,
Get on a rocket ship. When companies are growing quickly and they are having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves. And when companies aren’t growing quickly or their missions don’t matter as much, that’s when stagnation and politics come in. If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.
Sheryl has a knack of finding rocketships. First, she found Google, then helped Facebook become a “mature company”.
However, finding a rocketship company is not easy. It usually requires two things(As Naval Ravikant says)s:-
Research Networking
Out of these two points, Networking has become relatively easier with the advent of Twitter.
It’s the research that matters.
Breakout Startups Is an attempt to solve for research catering to people who want to get in on rocketships. | https://medium.com/the-spectrum/breakout-startups-for-2020-by-xpo-network-f1482564b299 | ['Ankit Kumar Singh'] | 2019-12-30 16:57:34.373000+00:00 | ['Xpo Network', 'Startup', 'Breakout Startups', 'Career Advice', 'Career Development'] |
Ads Review | I run some ads starting from 1 December. First set aiming on Mesermang Facebook Page Like, 2nd set aiming on Instagram post popularity, 3rd set aiming on spesific Product Promotion on Instagram and Facebook, 4th set on the most important one : App Installation.
In general i am trying to setting up a fan base for Mesermang Facebook Audience and follower based on Instagram so in mid 2021 there will be enough audience to start socialcommerce engagement such as Instagram Shop. While from product promotion ads i am trying to figure out which one is more effective, web landing page or whatsapp chat link.
After about 2 weeks, this is how the ads become in terms of cost and quality ranking perfomance :
Instagram Posts Ads. Seems Black Pink ads is the best performer (Above Average)
Facebook Page Like Ads (the most optimum ads-visual after 2 weeks)
Product Promotion Ads. The Egg promotion perform badly, it’s 10x cost than Avocado ads.
App Install Ads. Still very expensive.
I will update the effects of these ads on each target on next post. But at least i can conclude that Instagram Post Ads does not impacting on your follower, but it helps to increase engagement on Mesermang account that might help increase awareness and confidence of follower candidate to at some point decide to follow Mesermang instagram account. | https://medium.com/@AM.Arifin/ads-review-1b6246985fc7 | ['Am Arifin'] | 2020-12-15 13:33:28.018000+00:00 | ['Indonesian Startup', 'Startup Life', 'Business'] |
Top 10 Video Marketing Agencies In USA | In order to stand out from the crowd, videos are the best and easiest way. Videos help you engage the right audience at the right time while expressing an idea or thought within a short amount of time.
Plan, create, edit, publish and promote video content as a means of promoting a brand, business, or product. It can be used to promote your brand, services, or products, as well as to help build customer relationships.
In fact, 85% of businesses use video marketing as a part of their marketing strategy. Choosing the right company is of utmost importance.
Here is a list of the top ten companies in the United States:
New York, United States, is home to Infographic World, founded by Justin Beegel in 2009.
The video marketing team at IGW does it all. After a client has established their goals, the team reverse engineers the process backward, incorporating the best strategies possible.
The entire video marketing process is handled by IGW from the initial strategy through scriptwriting, scrap boarding, voiceover, animation, and music.
Their services include integrating video into social media, SEO, email, conversion optimization, and more.
Founded year: 2009
Awards and achievements:
Won 1 Platinum (best in category)
2 Gold Awards at the 2013 Creativity
2019, Clutch Top Content Marketing Company
2. Casual FILMS
The Casual Film Company creates powerfully effective films for global companies that want to stand out from the crowd.
As a result of 14 years of learning from thousands of projects and iterating on best practices, ArielTM has become the name we use for our production approach.
Every client experience across all of Ariel’s offices and production teams is consistent, so no detail is missed and no shot is missed
Founded year: 2006
Awards and achievements:
The Telly Awards in 7 categories
New York Festivals World’s Best Television & Films in more than 10 categories
3. Incrementors
A digital marketing agency specializing in providing customized, tailored solutions that enhance your digital presence, Incrementors Web Solutions is a digital marketing agency for businesses across the world.
Offering enterprise-quality professional services from basic web design to eCommerce-based websites for online trade, research, and development. In addition to SEO, they also provide web design and development services to firms in the retail, business services, and automotive sectors.
The client said the team met the goal of 70k organic traffic before the deadline, combining SEO strategies, PPC initiatives, and web design.
Founded year: 2010
Awards and achievements:
India’s Best reviewed digital marketing agency in 2021
№1 SEO Agency, recognized by Clutch
№3, Top SEO Agency
4. THE DVI GROUP
With offices in New York and Tel-Aviv, is a marketing agency that specializes in mobile marketing, advertising, and branding. Founded in 2013, the agency has more than 20 employees.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, The DVI Group builds custom video solutions for businesses across a variety of industries.
Though they work with businesses of all sizes and industries, they specialize in enterprises in the retail and telecommunications sectors.
Founded year: 1999
Awards and achievements:
7 Davey Awards
5 Addy Awards
35 Telly Awards
6 MarCom Awards
9 Aurora Awards
5. Sparkhouse
The goal of this national video agency is to outdo itself and remain a leader in video strategy.
Full of silly, seasoned, super-talented creatives, they produce award-winning videos that meet all client requirements. Creating high-quality videos at a reasonable price has earned Sparkhouse the hearts of well-recognized brands.
In Sparkhouse, you will find the offbeat minds of passionate, hungry video pros making crazy, unexpected, and exciting videos that will push your business further than you imagined.
Based in Irvine, CA, it provides a range of video services including product videos, branding videos, animations, 3D animations, social videos, crowdfunding videos, website videos, and lifestyle videos.
Founded year: 2009
Awards and achievements:
2014 Best of Newport Beach Award
2012, Telly Award for Outdoor / Environmental Commercial — In-Store 2012
2012, Telly Award Internet/Online Programs, Segments, or Promotional Pieces Online Video — Motivational
6. RUCKUS
The company is based in New York, United States. For many years, the company has been satisfying clients.
Their main focus is to create and edit videos for marketing purposes that will also contribute to the branding and promotion of their client’s products and services.
Their clients can turn their ideas into realities with their wide range of services and capabilities.
Aside from concept development, casting, directing, sound design, animation, set and location design, etc, their in-house video team has extensive experience in all these areas.
Founded year: 2002
Awards and achievements:
2 Davey Awards
2 Summit Marketing Effectiveness Awards
2018’s opening quarter, Ruckus was in both Top-20 Digital Agency and a Top-20 Advertising Agency
DesignRush recognized Ruckus as a Top New York web design company.
7. VeracityColab
VeracityColab has its headquarters in Newport Beach, California. The company excels at editing animated videos.
Creative storytellers know exactly what audiences want, how to use brand guidelines to design, and how to communicate in a clear and concise way, saving time and making the workload lighter
Intuit, Google, and Adobe are among the many clients of VeracityColab, a top-of-the-line video agency. They generate ideas and execute them by combining live-action and motion graphics.
Founded year: 2008
Awards and achievements:
Clutch.co ranked VeracityColab as the #1 Video Agency in the nation.
8. LAI VIDEO
Video production agency LAI Video is based out of Washington, DC.
They produce powerful corporate, association, non-profit, and academic campaigns across the country and abroad Video editing company LAI Video has positioned itself as a specialist in handling creative storylines.
They have a team of talented video editors and scriptwriters who are dedicated to providing clients with high-quality videos.
In addition to small and large companies, LAI Video also serves a number of industries such as Finance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Non-Profit, and Technology.
Founded year: N.A.
Awards and achievements:
2020 TIVA Peer Awards with six awards including three golds
9. UMAULT
A delightfully geeky video marketing agency, Umault engages people with compelling content, promotes sales, and helps B2B companies generate more leads.
The Umault company produces videos with an experienced team of people. They are gaining traction and visibility and successfully creating happy customers.
B2B Ad campaigns that turn ordinary businesses into extraordinary brands are what they specialize in. They create concepts, script, and supervise B2B campaigns.
Founded year: 2010
Awards and achievements: No major achievements were found during the research
10. D-MAK
In Arizona, D-Mak Production is a reputable video editing company that specializes in producing corporate videos.
They also produce award-winning marketing videos, real estate films, and live events.
Usually, you will see video production companies emphasizing their equipment or facilities. D-MAK offers an impressive array of video production services.
Even though DMAK excels in these areas, they believe the most important aspect of using D-MAK is what they refer to as “attention magic”, which refers to how their creative team makes projects come to life and interact with your audience on an emotional level.
D-Mak Productions specializes in understanding clients’ needs and goals so we can come up with great stories that will resonate with the audience.
With over ten years of experience in producing professional video, event, event production, etc.
Founded year:
Awards and achievements: No major achievements were found during the research
Conclusion
The use of video marketing is getting more common — and more affordable — and is an essential component of content marketing. Regardless of the nature of the business, video marketing can help grow the brand, but creating visually appealing content requires creativity.
Video marketing has the power to influence people who are deciding between products or services. This is not easy to accomplish with other content types. You cannot afford to ignore it.
Ultimately, your videos need to be perfect to be effective; it’s also the content that counts. If you’re serious about content marketing, you should also focus on making videos. | https://medium.com/@tenbest/top-10-video-marketing-agencies-in-usa-47de0a69399b | [] | 2021-12-14 06:32:04.564000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'USA', 'Top 10', 'Video Marketing', 'Top Companies'] |
Airflow: Lesser Known Tips, Tricks, and Best Practises | There are certain things with all the tools you use that you won’t know even after using it for a long time. And once you know it you are like “I wish I knew this before” as you had already told your client that it can’t be done in any better way 🤦🤦. Airflow like other tool is no different, there are some hidden gems that can make your life easy and make DAG development fun.
You might already know some of them and if you know them all — well you are a PRO then🕴🎩.
(1) DAG with context Manager
Were you annoyed with yourself when you forgot to add dag=dag to your task and Airflow error’ed? Yes, it is easy to forget adding it for each task. It is also redundant to add the same parameter as shown in the following example ( example_dag.py file):
The example ( example_dag.py file) above just has 2 tasks, but if you have 10 or more then the redundancy becomes more evident. To avoid this you can use Airflow DAGs as context managers to automatically assign new operators to that DAG as shown in the above example ( example_dag_with_context.py ) using with statement.
(2) Using List to set Task dependencies
When you want to create the DAG similar to the one shown in the image below, you would have to repeat task names when setting task dependencies.
As shown in the above code snippet, using our normal way of setting task dependencies would mean that task_two and end are repeated 3 times. This can be replaced using python lists to achieve the same result in a more elegant way.
(3) Use default arguments to avoid repeating arguments
Airflow allows passing a dictionary of parameters that would be available to all the task in that DAG.
For example, at DataReply, we use BigQuery for all our DataWareshouse related DAGs and instead of passing parameters like labels , bigquery_conn_id to each task, we simply pass it in default_args dictionary as shown in the DAG below.
This is also useful when you want alerts on individual task failures instead of just DAG failures which I already mentioned in my last blog post on Integrating Slack Alerts in Airflow.
(4) The “params” argument
“params” is a dictionary of DAG level parameters that are made accessible in templates. These params can be overridden at the task level.
This is an extremely helpful argument and I have been personally using it a lot as it can be accessed in templated field with jinja templating using params.param_name . An example usage is as follows:
It makes it easy for you to write parameterized DAG instead of hard-coding values. Also as shown in the examples above params dictionary can be defined at 3 places: (1) In DAG object (2) In default_args dictionary (3) Each task.
(5) Storing Sensitive data in Connections
Most users are aware of this but I have still seen passwords stored in plain-text inside the DAG. For goodness sake — don’t do that. You should write your DAGs in a way that you are confident enough to store your DAGs in a public repository.
By default, Airflow will save the passwords for the connection in plain text within the metadata database. The crypto package is highly recommended during Airflow installation and can be simply done by pip install apache-airflow[crypto] .
You can then easily access it as follows:
from airflow.hooks.base_hook import BaseHook
slack_token = BaseHook.get_connection('slack').password
(6) Restrict the number of Airflow variables in your DAG
Airflow Variables are stored in Metadata Database, so any call to variables would mean a connection to Metadata DB. Your DAG files are parsed every X seconds. Using a large number of variable in your DAG (and worse in default_args ) may mean you might end up saturating the number of allowed connections to your database.
To avoid this situation, you can either just use a single Airflow variable with JSON value. As an Airflow variable can contain JSON value, you can store all your DAG configuration inside a single variable as shown in the image below:
As shown in this screenshot you can either store values in separate Airflow variables or under a single Airflow variable as a JSON field
You can then access them as shown below under Recommended way:
(7) The “context” dictionary
Users often forget the contents of the context dictionary when using PythonOperator with a callable function.
The context contains references to related objects to the task instance and is documented under the macros section of the API as they are also available to templated field.
{
'dag': task.dag,
'ds': ds,
'next_ds': next_ds,
'next_ds_nodash': next_ds_nodash,
'prev_ds': prev_ds,
'prev_ds_nodash': prev_ds_nodash,
'ds_nodash': ds_nodash,
'ts': ts,
'ts_nodash': ts_nodash,
'ts_nodash_with_tz': ts_nodash_with_tz,
'yesterday_ds': yesterday_ds,
'yesterday_ds_nodash': yesterday_ds_nodash,
'tomorrow_ds': tomorrow_ds,
'tomorrow_ds_nodash': tomorrow_ds_nodash,
'END_DATE': ds,
'end_date': ds,
'dag_run': dag_run,
'run_id': run_id,
'execution_date': self.execution_date,
'prev_execution_date': prev_execution_date,
'next_execution_date': next_execution_date,
'latest_date': ds,
'macros': macros,
'params': params,
'tables': tables,
'task': task,
'task_instance': self,
'ti': self,
'task_instance_key_str': ti_key_str,
'conf': configuration,
'test_mode': self.test_mode,
'var': {
'value': VariableAccessor(),
'json': VariableJsonAccessor()
},
'inlets': task.inlets,
'outlets': task.outlets,
}
(8) Generating Dynamic Airflow Tasks
I have been answering many questions on StackOverflow on how to create dynamic tasks. The answer is simple, you just need to generate unique task_id for all of your tasks. Below are 2 examples on how to achieve that:
(9) Run “airflow upgradedb” instead of “airflow initdb”
Thanks to Ash Berlin for this tip in his talk in the First Apache Airflow London Meetup. | https://medium.com/datareply/airflow-lesser-known-tips-tricks-and-best-practises-cf4d4a90f8f | ['Kaxil Naik'] | 2020-02-06 19:59:19.740000+00:00 | ['Apache Airflow', 'Python', 'Airflow'] |
The Prom: 10 Questions to Ponder After Watching the New Netflix Musical | When it comes to Netflix’s star-studded production of The Prom, one thing’s universal: this movie is a lot of fun. And mostly for the right reasons!
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Based on the short-lived Broadway musical, The Prom tells the story of Emma (newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman), an Indiana high schooler who isn’t allowed to attend the dance with her girlfriend Alyssa (Hamilton‘s Ariana DeBose). Well, that’s part of the story, at least. The movie is mostly about a quartet of washed-up actors — Dee Dee (Meryl Streep), Barry (James Corden), Trent (Andrew Rannells) and Angie (Nicole Kidman) — who decide to advocate for Emma in a last-ditch attempt at relevancy.
What ensues is a musical clash of ideologies, with school principal Tom (Keegan-Michael Key) joining the celebs in their fight against sinister PTA president Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington), who also happens to be Alyssa’s mother. The plot, it is thick!
Two hours and 17 minutes later, everything turns out OK — it is a musical, after all — but that doesn’t mean we aren’t left with a few questions. To that end, here are 10 follow-up thoughts we have about The Prom:
1. First things first: Why Corden? Critics’ biggest complaint across the board is Corden’s “offensive” performance as a gay man. Frankly, we’re surprised that Murphy — who recently brought us a Broadway production and film of The Boys in the Band featuring an all-gay cast — would put a straight man in the role of Barry, considering how much more weight a gay actor could have brought to the performance. (Bonus question: Which out gay actor would you have liked to see as Barry?)
2. Did anyone else feel like they were watching a really long episode of Glee? We swear we’re not just asking this because it was directed by Ryan Murphy. The vibrant colors, the podunk town that’s clearly getting money from somewhere, Trent’s entire backstory… it all felt extremely Glee-ful. And not in a bad way.
3. Where has Washington been hiding that voice?! If you happened to catch the former Scandal star’s performance of “Joy to the World” during ABC’s Disney Holiday Singalong, then Washington’s impressive pipes probably didn’t take you by surprise. So this one’s for everybody else: “What the what?!” Seriously, they should have written a new song just for her, runtime be damned. (Honorable mention to Key, whose last name perfectly matches his beautiful singing voice.)
4. How long did it take you to figure out that the first prom was a fake? Seriously, what gave it away for you? Was it when they cut to the real dance and it looked nothing like a high school gymnasium? Or was it when Emma’s truck was clearly the only vehicle in the parking lot? Either way, it took far too long for these characters to put the pieces together. How any of them even manage to get out of bed in the morning without hurting themselves is beyond us.
5. Did we get enough of Emma? We’re just going to say it — the story focuses too much on the Broadway actors and not enough on Emma and Alyssa’s relationship. Even after multiple viewings, it feels like they’re given the same amount of screen time as their bullies. Actually, let’s talk about those jerks for a second…
6. How are we supposed to feel about all these homophobic teens? We understand that they change their ways in the end, but we were subjected to so many musical numbers involving Emma’s happy-go-lucky bullies — from the promposals to the dance itself, and beyond — that I have to ask: Were we supposed to care about them? And on a related note…
7. For a town full of raging homophobes, wasn’t there a surprising amount of well-choreographed musical numbers? Just saying.
8. How did anyone even know that Emma wanted to take a girl to prom? Maybe things have changed since we went to high school [mumble] years ago, but we weren’t asked who we were taking as our date when we bought our prom tickets. And if they did ask Emma, what did she say? Her secret girlfriend?
9. Does the PTA really have that much power? Or any power, really? Parents, please correct me if I’m wrong, but does the head of the PTA usually walk around like they’re the mayor of the town? In her defense, Washington does technically own any room she’s standing in, but I’m talking about real life. For once.
10. Most importantly: This actually happened?! The Prom is loosely based on the story of Constance McMillen, a Mississippi student who fought to go to prom with her girlfriend in 2010. In response to her courage, several celebrities — including Lance Bass and Green Day — pitched in to throw an inclusive prom for everyone. Is it not wild (and heartbreaking) to think that was just 10 years ago?
OK, your turn to talk: What did you think of The Prom? And which burning questions (rhetorical or otherwise) would you add to our list? | https://medium.com/@sandipmarma/the-prom-10-questions-to-ponder-after-watching-the-new-netflix-musical-1126c2b6dea9 | ['Sandip Marma'] | 2020-12-12 17:06:46.458000+00:00 | ['News', 'Netflix', 'Prom', 'Questions', 'Music'] |
What I Learnt Trying to Build Two Apps Using JavaScript | So What NEXT?
TAKE A BREATHER
Sometimes you need to take a breather, a lot of things could cause you to feel this way, mine was information overload without practice. It could be any other set of reasons, like your actual learning speed, or your approach to the concept(s) in question, and in a field where things are constantly changing, the urge and rush to keep up with trends was simply annoying.
I found that to take a break completely, for even a whole day can go a long way. I used a 7-day process, for the first four days I did other things like upping my workout routine or reading a book. Then the three days left, I did a cross-examination of my learning process and how it can be improved. Then came the next step:
2. TALK TO SOMEONE
If you are learning a course by virtue of being Self-taught (Tutorials, Online Courses, Personal Documentation) then it may interest you to know that, “You can’t teach yourself everything”, if you tried to, it will be a long arduous, and sometimes unnecessarily painful process. There are some mistakes that could be avoided by actually asking and/or talking to someone in that field with a better experience and you must be willing to LISTEN. Don’t drown yourself in online certificates and feel you can do it all by yourself. I will admit, this can be scary, for fear of ridicule amongst many things, so start slow. For me I started interacting with other developers on Twitter and sharing my little knowledge with others that needed it. Then later I met someone that recommended a course by Gordon Zhu that helped me achieve the title of this article.
3. CELEBRATE LITTLE WINS (BE GRATEFUL)
As a developer, I would advise you to follow Danny Thompson on Twitter, he’d teach you how to do this and do it well. Before getting in this JavaScript pothole, I had learned the CSS pre-processor SASS and understood responsive Layouts better thanks to Kevin Powell’s course and this made significant changes to my CSS game, and it was a pretty big deal but I was ignoring it. But later, they would prove very helpful in one of my freelance commissions. Take time to acknowledge what you’ve been able to achieve, this makes you grateful.
Alright, you’ve applied these concepts and you’re ready to learn a new concept or take on a project, what’s next? | https://medium.com/weekly-webtips/what-i-learnt-trying-to-build-two-apps-using-javascript-2e2e2127b83e | ['Emmanuel Unyime'] | 2020-09-04 06:33:27.027000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Web Design', 'Process', 'Thoughts', 'Web Development'] |
How will DCI Tokenize your Company Assets into Digital Form? | From art to buildings, the way people invest is going to be transformed entirely with the arrival of asset tokenization. Asset tokenization is a predominant feature of blockchain that currently threatens to disrupt many industries, in particular, the finance and investment management space.
Let’s get an idea about What is Asset tokenization?
In the simplest terms, you can understand asset tokenization as a process of converting the rights of your real-world physical assets (e.g. gold, real estate property etc.) into a digital token that is prepared and managed via a blockchain.
A blockchain security token is generally a digital representation of a real tradable asset, or typically, it is termed by crypto experts as a unit of value. These tokens are generally issued during the security Token Offerings (STOs) by the companies to investors, allowing them to hold a piece of company shares, equity or ownership rights.
So, you must be wondering what does it all mean for your Business?
Well, the answer is quite intriguing. Tokenizing your company assets like shares, ownership, projects, etc. (typically issuing a security token) increases the investor trust on your firm and the STO organized by you for fundraising.
Security tokens are regulated, it offers investment protection to potential investors of your firm, which in turn help you raise funds easily.
Benefits of Asset Tokenization for Companies
Tokenizing your company assets provides greater liquidity to your investors. Tokenizing assets also brings higher transparency in company fundraising or STO event. Businesses can raise funds for early-stage projects that are mostly confined to venture capital funds or accredited angel investors via tokenizing them.
Tokenization Feature: DCI Ecosystem
Tokenization is a very innovative feature of DCI–a unique cross-asset investment ecosystem, that allows the investors to transform their real-world assets into a digital token with immediate market marking function.
The firms looking to raise funds for their existing projects or early-stage projects can take the help of the DCI ecosystem to tokenize their projects or other company assets.
DCI allows companies to generate various types of tokens like Digitized Project Backed Tokens (DBPT), Project Investment Tranches Token etc. for converting their assets into digital tokens.
How will DCI Do it?
The companies looking to raise capital are allowed to generate digitized project backed tokens (DBPT) for their existing projects to avail loan. The loan will be offered to the company based on the project funding needs as well as the annual revenue generated by the project.
The loan will continue until the company pays back 1.5 to 3 times of the actual loan amount (depending upon the initial agreement). This is highly beneficial for small businesses who have annual revenue of around one million to five million dollars.
Similarly, project investment tranches Token can also be issued by the companies to raise funds from investors. In case of project investment tranches token, the payments will be locked, until the company meets the specific contractual agreements.
DCI will ensure that the company receives the payment/funding upon the meeting of specific contractual conditions.
Third-party Support is There Too…!!!!
DCI will also partner with multiple third parties like Accountants, Lawyers/solicitors & legal firms, Fund Managers, Notary businesses, etc. who will assist both the investors and fundraising companies in the DCI Ecosystem.
Any disputes or legal issues that arise between the investor and fundraising company will be resolved by the solicitors/arbitrators.
The companies looking to raise funds via STO can take the help of accountants for financial feasibility analysis, firm auditing, and account management.
Similarly, the lawyers and legal firms will offer expert legal advice to companies about how to conduct their STO properly by staying compliant to jurisdiction.
To unlock more secrets about DCI, please visit the DCI Ecosystem and register on the website:
Register Here
Originally published on: DCI Ecosystem Blog | https://medium.com/@dciecosystem/how-will-dci-tokenize-your-company-assets-into-digital-form-bdaedd4ccb7a | ['Dci Ecosystem'] | 2019-06-21 09:59:46.634000+00:00 | ['Tokenization', 'Blockchain', 'Investors'] |
Freedom in the Fourth Industrial Revolution | Designing new technologies that aim at liberating human beings is first and foremost a matter of how to define and re-define human work and freedom in the age of automation.
Automation is arguably one of the most discussed and controversial topics of our times, and hardly a week passes by without new and surprising applications for collaborative robots (cobots) and AI being covered by the media. One sure thing about this new industrial revolution (the fourth one, also called Industry 4.0) is that it is a growing, global phenomenon and that it is not going to stop anytime soon. At the same time though, the impact it will have on the job market and society at large is still unclear.
Among institutional actors and tech companies alike, there is a widespread expectation that if the transition to Industry 4.0 will be handled correctly, automation will create more jobs than those it will render obsolete, and humans and machines will peacefully complement each other, just like the narrative about the previous industrial revolutions goes.
Both the marketing material of many cobots producers and the reports from actors such as Manpower and the World Economic Forum (WEF) present scenarios in which machines will increasingly take over repetitive, wearing, and dangerous tasks, and humans will be free to pursue more skilled and fulfilling jobs, all while increasing productivity and efficiency.
Clear win-win.
Or not? Because not everyone shares this optimistic view. For instance, in his bestseller The Rise of the Robots, technology expert Martin Ford argues that, unless significant structural changes are made to our societies, the impact of this new wave of automation on capitalism as we know it will inevitably turn it into a dystopian techno-feudal system in which the rich control both capital and labour (collapsed together into the machines) and most people simply will be left with no bargaining power in economic relations.
These two narratives, the optimistic and the dystopian seem to be the opposite of one another, but they actually share a common starting point: namely that the success or failure of the transition towards Industry 4.0 will depend on how society adapts to automation, rather than the other way around. Indeed, the WEF report referenced above includes recommendations for governments, for industries that will deploy robots, and even for workers on how to handle the transition to this new wave of automation. But what about the companies that develop these technologies to begin with? Do they not bear any responsibility?
It was with this question in mind that I recently conducted anthropological fieldwork in one of the most successful firms of the blossoming Odense Robotics cluster, located in Denmark.
During my research, I learned that, whereas the form of robots’ liberating potential appears to be clear in the minds of roboticists (i.e. taking care of undesirable tasks), the engineers’ vision of what this new freedom looks like (from the point of view of a worker whose job is automated) is more blurred and mostly limited to mentions of the possibility for re-skilling or up-skilling the work force. This is not only because robots can be deployed in many different contexts which makes it difficult to imagine a single way for such freedom to actually be practiced, to borrow philosopher’s Michel Foucault’s term. It is also because the responsibility of envisioning and realising such practices of freedom (basically how to do freedom) is seen by engineers as external to them. Hence, the roboticists themselves share the idea that others, typically decision-makers and industrialists, will not only have to prevent the robots from causing unemployment but that they will also have to define the practices of freedom through which unemployment can be avoided to begin with.
The problem with this view (and with the popular narrative about previous industrial revolutions) is that historical analyses of the implementation of industrial machines show that down-skilling has often been an effect of the implementation of automation, sometimes even an intentional one from the part of the industrialists. Likewise, contemporary anthropological research shows how the introduction of new technologies, in both the private and public sectors, is often an imposed, top-down process that can be a threat not only to employment but also to employees’ professional identities and job satisfaction.
Embedded in this widespread omission of the responsibility of tech companies lies the core assumption that technologies in themselves are neutral tools with no built-in politics or ethics, which is why the focus is often only on how they are used, rather than on how they are designed.
But this assumption is simply not true.
Since the early 1980s, scholars within Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Philosophy of Technology have shown compelling evidence that technologies themselves are always political and, as such, always bear ethical implications. This is because designing any artefact is not just a matter of problem-solving; of pragmatic “how do I get X to do Y” type of questions in which engineers usually frame their work since doing so also includes establishing what X and Y are to begin with, and what they ought to become.
In the case of automation then, designing new technologies that aim at liberating human beings is first and foremost a matter of how to define and re-define human work and freedom and how to inscribe these views and values in the different technical features of the robots.
However, if in the field of AI at least some conversations about ethics and politics are happening, during my fieldwork I have learned that it seems like the same cannot be said for robotics. Indeed, concerns about the ethical and political implications of robots were often met with scepticism and perplexity by my informants because they usually could not see the need nor imagine a place for such concerns in the way technological development at large is currently structured, conceived, and incentivised. Therefore, in their eyes, the non-conformity of such considerations with the current system makes them unworthy of even being discussed.
If we have learned anything from the development of social media platforms though, the public perception of which largely shifted from democracy-enhancers to democracy-underminers in less than a decade, it is that the ethical and political implications of technologies must be addressed, no matter how difficult that might seem, and the sooner the better.
This is not to say that the task is easy – very much the opposite. That is why this responsibility cannot be placed solely on the shoulders of corporations or public institutions, nor on the engineers alone.
Rather, a truly successful and liberating version of Industry 4.0 requires a multidisciplinary effort that includes all of these actors plus, I believe, a particular contribution from the side of the Social Sciences, particularly Techno-Anthropology, tasked not only with observing and reflecting on the different forms in which questions about the future of work and the role of technologies in society will present themselves in various contexts, but also with bringing attention to such questions and providing engineers and their companies with some of the tools to address them. | https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/ciao-casper-a6f570093368 | ['Luca Collalti'] | 2020-11-18 10:00:18.387000+00:00 | ['Freedom', 'Robots', 'Automation', 'Work', 'Technology'] |
NuviaGO is best protein bar product to maintaining Fitness | NuviaGo is a delicious protein bar with a cookie and cream flavor loved all over the world! Due to the large dose of protein and a small amount of sugar, this product can replace any meal. NuviaGo provides the body with an energy boost, helps build muscle mass and accelerates recovery after training.
NuviaGo bars are created with passion and in harmony with nature. This product contains the right proportions of macronutrients to strengthen the body and help maintain a fit-figure. NuviaGo bars are not only a delicious, sweet snack, but above all a real, wholesome meal.
If you want to buy it, click on the link given below.
https://nplink.net/uppl7wpt | https://medium.com/@trickotech8877/nuviago-is-best-protein-bar-product-to-maintaining-fitness-20c1472fccbc | ['Rishi Kannaujiya'] | 2020-12-23 07:30:56.749000+00:00 | ['Protein', 'Diet', 'Biskuit', 'Maintaining Good Health', 'Fitness'] |
Kenyatta, Farmaajo Meet At IGAD Summit Hosted By Djibouti’s Guelleh | Kenyatta, Farmaajo Meet At IGAD Summit Hosted By Djibouti’s Guelleh
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somalia counterpart Mohamed Farmaajo met in Djibouti on Sunday, days after the two nations severed diplomatic ties.
Although Somalia did not outline specific grievances when announcing its decision to cut ties with Kenya on Tuesday, only citing the violation of its territory, the announcement came as President Kenyatta hosted Somaliland President Musa Bihi Abdi, the leader of Somali’s northwestern region that declared independence from in 1991.
The two met during a meeting hosted by Djibouti’s Ismail Guelleh which was also attended by Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The four leaders were attending the 38th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) convened by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of Sudan who is the current Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly to discuss regional peace and stability.
At the meeting, also attended by the chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) Moussa Faki Mahamat, South Sudan and Uganda were represented by Vice President Rebecca Garang and Amb Rebecca Otengo, the country’s envoy to Djibouti respectively.
In his address, AUC Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said the diplomatic tension between Kenya and Somalia was a concern for the African Union.
Mahamat called for dialogue in de-escalating the tension saying the two countries share a long history of good neighbourliness and cited Kenya’s contribution of troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and its hosting of a large population of Somali refugees as key reference points.
On Ethiopia, the AUC Chairperson urged IGAD member states to assist the country in dealing with the humanitarian crisis arising out of the conflict in its Tigray region.
Host President Ismail Guelleh applauded the progress made in the search for sustainable peace and stability in the region despite disruptions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and other setbacks such as floods and the desert locust invasion
Speaking just before the leaders retreated into a closed-door session, Prime Minister Hamdok said the meeting was called to discuss ongoing regional peace and security processes in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
President Kenyatta, who arrived in Djibouti on Sunday morning, was accompanied to the summit by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo. | https://medium.com/@oceanstar843/kenyatta-farmaajo-meet-at-igad-summit-hosted-by-djiboutis-guelleh-b7288480a778 | ['Bigocean Star'] | 2020-12-23 07:17:24.497000+00:00 | ['Kenya', 'Somalia', 'Africa', 'Politics'] |
From dad: Important lessons on love & relationships. ❤ | The first year of love, and the danger of the White Knight.
Let’s start with an interesting fact about love. Research shows [1 ]that in approx. the first 12 months of a relationship, you will not be yourself. There are neurotransmitters in your brain which will change you into a white knight in shining armour. It’s true.. I experienced this for myself.
Although I didn’t have shining armour. I changed into the romantic Christobál David Marquis… I was the pleaser, Mr. Romance himself. Like I experienced, once you fall in love, you’ll gain the superpower to put your own goals, values (even irritations) aside and run to the rescue whenever duty calls. You’ll have the courage to last-minute cancel on your buddies and you’ll answer your phone ( or whatever you use in the future) whenever the black mirror lights up. You’ll do anything for love. Because that’s what you do right? Anything[2]…
This is all fun and dandy for the short term, because this will be rewarded by your date! And of course this happens. You’re litteraly doing anything to make her happy.
We used to watch Mr. Bean on the TV. I thought it was awesome.
But BEWARE for the long term. Because the test is still to come. There comes a time when the magic power stops. Suddenly, things will start to feel ‘normal’.
You’ll want to hang-out with your buddies again and you’ll notice that she has a morning temper. The way she eats chicken legs isn’t all that sexy anymore.. ( Was it ever?)
There comes a time when that shining armour you were wearing feels heavy. And that you want to be yourself. “ Not reply right away. Not being in service of someone else and taking some time for yourself.” The danger from being a white knight is that your lover will grow accustomed to something you can’t keep up. And of course she’ll be accustomed to that comfort - who wouldn’t?! Although there is nothing wrong with being kind, being a gentleman and going the extra mile — be careful you to stay true to yourself. If you live your life in service of someone else, you kill yourself…
Will she still love and like you when you drop the armour? When there doesn’t appear to be a white horse? When you happen to wear only Crocs[2] and white sport socks? Or when you finally are not ashamed to show off the fact you can lip-sync every Star Wars film? Will she have trouble leaving you alone with another girl?
This has been a big learning for me.. To be completely honest with one another. To be comfortable to say what you think, no matter how crazy it sounds. It’s what builds the foundation of trust.
One mistake I made is to think that people are static creatures. I used to think I was the same person at age 18 compared to myself when 25. That the only thing which changed is your body and memories. But boy was I wrong.. In fact we change all the time. I’m not the same person now you’re reading this. (I’ll be old, bald and grey.) At the moment of writing, I’m 28, I still have hair and I’ll probably have a different look on life.
When you’re in a relationship, always remember you’re growing as an individual. You’ll create new habits, be introduced to new adventures and make different decisions based on your shared visions. Figure out if you want to be the person you’re turning into. Don’t try to be something you’re not and NEVER lie to her or yourself. It will always come back to haunt you. Which is unnecessary, time-wasting and hurts like hell..
Be sure you’re able to let your guard down. To let your mind speak without it feeling weird. To talk to her as if you’re talking to your best friend. Because, if she isn’t already, she’ll be soon enough! Only when I realised that, I found the chance to make a partner out of my lover. | https://medium.com/fromdad/from-dad-important-lessons-on-love-relationships-28bb2fa7e506 | ['Christopher Marks'] | 2018-03-14 18:27:20.358000+00:00 | ['Romance', 'Love', 'Advice', 'Relationships', 'Philosophy'] |
Digitstore | People always ask what is Digitstore24? The easiest answer to that question is Digistore24 is an online retailer for manufacturers of mainly digital products. We mainly process the sales of eBooks, online memberships, software and seminars. It enables entrepreneurs like you to GROW THEIR SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS. Some of the products digitstore24 use is Fitness & Health, Physical Products, Digital Products, Social Media, Education & more you can find them all at the Marketplace on the website. On the Digistore24 marketplace, vendors offer their products to affiliates to promote. In the affiliate view, click on Marketplace in the menu to get to the Digistore24 marketplace. Take your time to look around until you’ve found a suitable product to promote. There is Free ways to promote your product on this platform just as well as paid ways to promote. But you don’t have to always use the paid option most people would choose the free way especially if you got an low budget. here is a YouTube video on how to promote the product for Free down below
List of all products that are best suited to being sold via Digistore24:
Download products such as e-books, video or audio files.
such as e-books, video or audio files. Digital content with physical add-on products such as DVDs, CDs, USB disks, brochures.
such as DVDs, CDs, USB disks, brochures. Membership sections/Online video courses.
Webinars.
Online services of every kind (e.g. server hosting)
AND THERES A LOT MORE WHERE THAT COMES FROM!
Digistore24 is the perfect partner for you if you want to make money online with digital products. Set up a variety of products with us, let affiliates successfully promote your products and use our promotional features to continually improve your conversion rate.
HERE IS A VIDEO TUTORIAL ON HOW TO USE AND MAKE MONEY ON DIGITSTORE24 DOWN BELOW
Digistore vs Clickbank
Digistore — Products. Here is the main difference between the two — ClickBank has many more products to offer than Digistore in various niches. On Digistore you can choose from around 100 products to promote while on Clickbank it’s more than 3000!
This article contains affiliate links which means that I am going to make a commission if you make a purchase through the links included. This however will not add to your cost. | https://medium.com/@swanncyrie/digitstore-fbdf80af122c | [] | 2020-12-27 18:25:21.497000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Affiliate Marketing', 'How To', 'Business', 'Marketplaces'] |
Top JavaScript Frameworks and Tech Trends for 2021 | Happy New Year! It’s time to review the big trends in JavaScript and technology in 2020 and consider our momentum going into 2021.
Our aim is to highlight the learning topics and technologies with the highest potential job ROI. This is not about which ones are best, but which ones have the most potential to land you (or keep you in) a great job in 2021. We’ll also look at some larger tech trends towards the end.
Language Rankings
JavaScript still reigns supreme on GitHub and Stack Overflow. Tip #1: Learn JavaScript, and in particular, learn functional programming in JavaScript. Most of JavaScript’s top frameworks, including React, Redux, Lodash, and Ramda, are grounded in functional programming concepts.
TypeScript jumped past PHP, and C# into 4th place, behind only Java, Python, and JavaScript. Python climbed past Java for 2nd place, perhaps on the strength of the rapidly climbing interest in AI and the PyTorch library for GPU-accelerated dynamic, deep neural networks, which makes experimentation with network structures easier and faster.
Source: GitHub State of the Octoverse, 2020
JavaScript is also #1 on Stack Overflow for the 8th year in a row. Python, Java, C#, PHP, and TypeScript beat out languages like C++, C, Go, Kotlin, and Ruby.
Frameworks
When it comes to front-end frameworks, a large majority of JavaScript developers use React, Vue.js, or Angular. jQuery still makes a surprisingly large showing, almost double the Vue.js showings, but it’s my guess that jQuery is used less in application work, and more in content sites and WordPress templates, so we’re going to exclude it this year.
Search Volume
React dominates search volume at 57.5%, with Angular collecting a large 31.5% share, and Vue.js picking up a respectable 11% slice.
*Methodology: All search trends were selected by topic rather than by keyword to exclude false positives.
Jobs
If you want to learn the framework that will give you the best odds of landing a job in 2021, your best bet is still React, and has been since 2017. React is mentioned in 47.6% of the listings which mention a common front-end framework, Angular picks up 41.2%, and Vue.js trails at 11.2%.
It’s important to mention that most job listings say that they require experience with one of a few named frameworks, but a large share of those listings are actually hiring for React work when you look at their listed tech stack, and will show preference to candidates with a strong knowledge of React. You’ll see some supporting evidence of that in the download trends, below.
*Methodology: Job searches were conducted on Indeed.com. To weed out false positives, I paired searches with the keyword “software” to strengthen the chance of relevance. I also omitted the “.js” from “Vue.js” because many listings don’t include the “.js”. All SERPS were sorted by date and spot checked for relevance.
Downloads
The npm download counts look fairly similar to the search trends, but reveal something interesting: The number of downloads for Angular 2+ and Vue.js are pretty much neck-and-neck, but if you add in the number of people using the old Angular framework, Angular has a solid lead over Vue.js in downloads.
If we look at recent download shares on a pie chart, it shows React at ~66%, Angular (all versions) at ~20%, and Vue at ~15%.
TypeScript vs JavaScript
10.6% of employers specifically mention TypeScript in job listings, up from 7.4% last year.
Developer interest in TypeScript is undeniably strong, and growing rapidly. I predict that this trend will continue in 2021, and users will learn to work around some of the costs of using TypeScript (for example, by favoring interfaces over inline type annotations).
The number of jobs that specifically mention TypeScript is still relatively small, but some experience with TypeScript will slightly increase your odds of landing a job in 2021. By 2022, some experience with TypeScript might give you an edge in the job market. However, because it’s easier for a JavaScript developer to learn TypeScript than a completely new language, TypeScript teams are usually willing to hire and train good JavaScript developers.
Server Frameworks
On the server side, Express still dominates in download counts, so much so that it’s difficult to see how popular contenders are doing relative to each other.
As I predicted last year, excluding express, we see that Next.js has emerged as the top contender, which is unsurprising because Next.js is a flexible, full-stack, React-based framework which can help you deliver statically optimized content, but can also fall-back on serverless functions for API routes and SSR when you need to generate content dynamically. You can even statically generate content on-demand the first time it’s requested, and subsequently serve cached static content served from CDN — useful for apps based on user-generated content.
Next has many other advantages, including automatic optimization of page bundles, automatic image optimization with the new Image tag and built-in performance analytics to help you improve your user’s page load experience.
If you use GitHub and deploy on Vercel, you’ll also get automatic deploys for every PR, and a buttery smooth CI/CD pipeline. Essentially, it’s like having the best full-time DevOps team on staff, but instead of paying them salaries, you save a significant amount of money in hosting bills.
Expect Next.js to continue to explode in 2021.
Remote Work Trends
In 2020, teams were forced to learn to collaborate remotely by a global pandemic. In 2021, remote work will continue to be an important topic. First, because it will probably be June before vaccination against COVID-19 is widespread, and second, because a lot of teams experienced increased productivity and reduced costs during lockdown, many employees will not return to offices in 2021.
Remote work has also led to more location freedom, prompting developers to move to places where they have access to things that are important to them, such as family and more affordable housing. Additionally, 72% of employers surveyed by KPMG said that remote work has widened their potential talent pool.
Remote-first and hybrid-remote teams will be the new normal in the new decade.
Average JavaScript Developer salaries dipped slightly in 2020, from $114k/year to $113k/year, according to Indeed, perhaps due in part to remote work expanding the employee pool beyond tech centers like San Francisco and New York, which tend to have a much higher cost of living, and demand higher salaries to compensate. The average JavaScript Developer salary in San Francisco is $130k.
Still, lots of companies with roots in San Francisco and other tech centers are paying remote workers somewhere between the US national average and San Francisco pay, which provides a premium on market rates to attract better talent, and still saves money over hiring locally and paying for office space.
Because of this trend, lots of remote jobs exist in the $115k — $130k range for mid-level developers. Senior developers often find jobs in the $120k — $150k range, regardless of location.
GitHub data suggests that rather than slowing down, teams were more productive working remotely in 2020. GitHub activity spiked when lockdowns began.
Source: GitHub State of the Octoverse, 2020
Volume of work on GitHub increased substantially, and average pull request merge times dropped by 7.5 hours.
Toss that onto the growing pile of evidence that remote work works.
Passwords are Obsolete
Passwords are obsolete, insecure technology and absolutely should not be used to protect your users or your app in 2021.
The crux of the matter is that about half of all users reuse passwords on multiple applications and websites, and attackers are financially incentivized to bring massive computing power to the problem of cracking your user’s passwords so they can try them on bank accounts, Amazon, etc.
If you’re not Google, Microsoft, or Amazon, chances are you can’t afford the computing power required to defend against modern password crackers. Don’t believe me? Check out HaveIBeenPwned. Spoiler: If you’ve used the internet, your passwords have been stolen.
I’ve been warning about the dangers of passwords for years, but in 2020, new options emerged which allow us to leave passwords behind, permanently. It was true in 2020, and it remains true: No new app should use passwords in 2021.
But once you leave passwords behind in exchange for cryptographic key pairs, your app also gains Web3 superpowers. Which leads me to the next topic: Crypto.
Crypto
Crypto will continue to be one of the most important and globally transformational technologies in 2021. Here are some highlights from 2020:
Bitcoin exploded to new all time highs, thanks in part to notable support from companies like PayPal. Expect more of the same in 2021.
to new all time highs, thanks in part to notable support from companies like PayPal. Expect more of the same in 2021. Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain launched , which lays the groundwork for Ethereum to become a much more scalable platform. Additionally, scalability solutions such as side-chains and zkRollups gained momentum in 2020. Expect to see more DApps (Decentralized Apps) integrate those scaling solutions in 2021.
which lays the groundwork for Ethereum to become a much more scalable platform. Additionally, scalability solutions such as side-chains and zkRollups gained momentum in 2020. Expect to see more DApps (Decentralized Apps) integrate those scaling solutions in 2021. DeFi (Decentralized Finanance) is now a $15 billion market (up from $650 million when I wrote last year’s edition of this post), mostly operating on the Ethereum blockchain. Many multi-million-dollar exploits plagued the DeFi ecosystem in 2020. Smart contract security will continue to be a hot topic and huge opportunity in 2021.
(up from $650 million when I wrote last year’s edition of this post), mostly operating on the Ethereum blockchain. Many multi-million-dollar exploits plagued the DeFi ecosystem in 2020. Smart contract security will continue to be a hot topic and huge opportunity in 2021. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) gained momentum in 2020, with several high profile sales of single tokens priced in the tens of thousands of dollars, each. Rarible introduced their own community token and began to airdrop it to marketplace users, fueling increased volume. Millions of dollar’s worth of NFTs are bought and sold daily, but this is just the beginning. Because they can represent virtually anything of value, the total addressable market is in the $trillions.
in 2020, with several high profile sales of single tokens priced in the tens of thousands of dollars, each. Rarible introduced their own community token and began to airdrop it to marketplace users, fueling increased volume. Millions of dollar’s worth of NFTs are bought and sold daily, but this is just the beginning. Because they can represent virtually anything of value, the total addressable market is in the $trillions. The Flow blockchain launched and brought with it lots of promise for mainstream blockchain adoption. NBA Top Shot has sold over $6 million in NBA-branded NFT moments, which represent short video clips of key moments in NBA games.
and brought with it lots of promise for mainstream blockchain adoption. in NBA-branded NFT moments, which represent short video clips of key moments in NBA games. Theta Network launched smart contracts and NFTs. Among other things, NFTs will be used for stickers and badges on Theta.tv, a decentralized alternative to Twitch with millions of monthly active users.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
2020 was a seminal year for AI. Via the GPT-3 launch, we learned that language models and transformers in general may be a viable path towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
The human mind’s ability to generally solve a wide variety of problems by relating them to things we already know is known in AI circles as zero-shot and few-shot learning. We don’t need a lot of instruction or examples to take on tasks that are new to us. We can often figure out new kinds of problems with just a few (or no) examples (shots).
That general applicability of human cognitive skills is known as general intelligence. In AI, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is “the hypothetical intelligence of a machine that has the capacity to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can.”
GPT-3 demonstrated that it could teach itself math, how to code, how to translate text, and a virtually infinite variety of other skills via its gigantic training set which includes basically the whole public web (Common Crawl, WebText2, Books1, Books2, and Wikipedia), combined with its enormous model size. GPT-3 uses 175 billion parameters. For context, that’s an order of magnitude (10x) the previous state of the art, but still orders of magnitude smaller than the human brain.
Scaling up GPT-3 is likely to lead to even more breakthroughs in what it is capable of.
Self Driving Cars
In October 2020, Waymo began offering fully driverless rides (with no human in the driver seat) on 100% of their rides. At the time of launch, there were 1500 monthly active users and hundreds of cars serving the Phoenix metro area.
In December, 2020, General Motors’ Cruise launched fully driverless rides on the streets of San Francisco.
Drone Delivery
UPS launched 2 drone trials in 2020. One to deliver prescriptions to a retirement community in Florida, and another to deliver medical supplies including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) between health care facilities in North Carolina.
Regulations, safety, noise, and technical challenges will likely continue to mean slow growth for Drone delivery services in 2021, but with continued COVID restrictions that will likely continue off and on through at least June, there has never been a better time to make quick progress on more efficient and contactless delivery.
Quantum Computing
Researchers in China have reported that they have achieved quantum supremacy that is 10 billion times faster than the quantum supremacy reported by Google last year. Researchers are making rapid progress, but quantum computing still requires extremely expensive hardware, and there are only a small handful of quantum computers in the world that have achieved any kind of quantum superiority.
Quantum-resistant cryptography, quantum-assisted cryptography, and quantum computing for machine learning are potential areas of focus where breakthroughs would have a significant industry-spanning, global impact. I believe that one day, the application of quantum computing in the field of AI will propel the technology forward many orders of magnitude — a feat that will have a profound impact on the human race.
In my opinion, that is unlikely to happen in the 2020s, but I expect to hear more quantum supremacy announcements in 2021, and perhaps breakthroughs in the variety of algorithms state of the art quantum computers can compute. We may also see more practical quantum-computing APIs services and use-cases.
Next Steps
Composing Software will teach you the foundations of functional programming in JavaScript. You can get the Composing Software e-book, print edition, or the blog post series that started it all.
Learn React, Redux, Next.js, TDD and more on EricElliottJS.com. Access a treasure trove of video lessons and interactive code exercises for members.
1:1 Mentorship is hands down, the best way to learn software development. DevAnywhere.io provides lessons on functional programming, React, Redux, and more, guided by an experienced mentor using detailed curriculum designed by Eric Elliott. | https://medium.com/javascript-scene/top-javascript-frameworks-and-tech-trends-for-2021-d8cb0f7bda69 | ['Eric Elliott'] | 2020-12-31 04:48:23.756000+00:00 | ['AI', 'JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Technology', 'Crypto'] |
Java Abstract Class What Is It Good For? | The Java abstract class eludes many Java developers. Let’s learn what it does for us and how to use it.
Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. Al Capp
I am guessing you have heard of the malady called ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder. On a recent trip to Paris, my son and I discovered we are suffering from another malady with similar initials. Art Deficit Disorder.
We can look at paintings and sculptures and find it uninspiring. Where my daughter enjoyed the d’Orsay we looked for the food court. Where we enjoyed some espresso and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Java Abstract Class
Java has abstract classes that are incomplete. They cannot be implemented like a regular class. Abstract classes must be subclassed to be used. In these classes, we can declare abstract methods. Abstract classes are similar to interfaces in Java. Let’s dive deeper into this comparison.
Compare
Like interfaces, abstract classes cannot be instantiated. Where the interface just will contain method signatures an abstract class can contain a method body. Abstract classes can declare fields that are not static and final.
Where interfaces have all fields automatically become public, static, and final. We can implement as many interfaces as we want. Abstract classes are like regular classes and we can only extend one.
The Java tutorial has some good guidance when to use abstract classes. When we “want to share code among several closely related classes” or “expect that classes that extend your abstract class have many common methods or fields”. Interfaces should be used when “expect that unrelated classes would implement your interface” or “want to specify the behavior of a particular data type”.
Java Abstract Class Example
Like all good coders let’s get our hands dirty with some code. First, we can look at an example abstract class to get us started.
This Battery abstract class has one implemented method and two abstract methods. There are also two fields defined as well.
ComputerBattery is a concrete Java class. Therefore, it needs to implement both of the abstract methods that Battery defined.
Abstract and Interface?
An abstract class can even implement an interface. This seems like mixing spaghetti and mashed potatoes but, hey it is legal!
Let’s take our Student interface and mix it in an abstract class.
In our ProbationaryStudent class, we don’t implement all the methods defined in the Student interface. This is possible since the class is marked as abstract.
Main?
Would you think if you had the main method in an abstract class that it would run?
I didn’t think it would either but in fact, it does run. I suggest you try it out for yourself. As you can see abstract classes have their place in Java. Similar to interfaces but used in a different way.
Where have you used Java interfaces?
Check out more great content and subscribe at MyITCareerCoach.com | https://medium.com/swlh/java-abstract-class-what-is-it-good-for-880cf0117648 | ['Tom Henricksen'] | 2019-10-16 07:54:32.279000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Software Development', 'Learning To Code', 'Programming'] |
V-Model ile Vue.js’de 2 Yönlü Veri İletişimi Nasıl Sağlanır? | At the Intersection of the Development, Front-End, Back-End, and Mobile || JavaScript, Python, and AWS || [email protected] | https://medium.com/@muumdev/v-model-ile-vue-jsde-2-y%C3%B6nl%C3%BC-veri-i%CC%87leti%C5%9Fimi-nas%C4%B1l-sa%C4%9Flan%C4%B1r-185995667914 | ['Murat Umutlu'] | 2020-12-23 08:18:54.894000+00:00 | ['Two Way Data Binding', 'Vuejs'] |
A beautiful process | Lines Depicting Simple Happiness
The shine on her buckle took precedence in sun
Her shine, I should say, could take me anywhere
It feels right to be up this close in tight wind
It feels right to notice all the shiny things about you
About you there is nothing I wouldn’t want to know
With you nothing is simple yet nothing is simpler
About you many good things come into relation
I think of proofs and grammar, vowel sounds, like
A is for knee socks, E for panties
I is for buttondown, O the blouse you wear
U is for hair clip, and Y your tight skirt
The music picks up again, I am the man I hope to be
The bright air hangs freely near your newly cut hair
It is so easy now to see gravity at work in your face
Easy to understand time, that dark process
To accept it as a beautiful process, your face
— Peter Gizzi
You protest when I take a photo of you but you don’t understand where I go when the editing program opens and I tweak the light and push the contrast and smooth out the grains. You think I’m touching up, erasing the imperfections. That’s not what I’m doing. The photograph isn’t you until I find you inside it, and every picture I have of you is the start of an exploration. It is a beautiful process, and you are the only one in the world who gives me that gift.
Happy Valentine’s Day. | https://medium.com/drmstream/a-beautiful-process-54faf612b3f9 | ['Dan Mccarthy'] | 2016-11-10 02:26:56.181000+00:00 | ['Desire', 'Peter Gizzi', 'Love', 'Photography'] |
Roam if you want to. | Roam if you want to.
Everywhere, but not too far.
To worlds where no one knows you.
I call out, but the room is empty.
Closed mouths don’t get fed.
Endeavors lost forever.
Not enough and too much time passes by.
Time lost is never found again.
—
Reach out.
Embrace me once again.
Tell me about your past;
In it might lie the key to our future.
Can’t you feel what I feel?
Entrust me with your thoughts,
No need to be reticent.
Time to let me in.
—
Regards to your thoughts,
Even though I never knew them.
Time and time again,
I tried to peer within.
Composed, calm, and collected.
Even now I still haven’t a clue.
Now, as our time comes near,
Timing shouldn’t have been my fear. | https://medium.com/@hemolo/roam-if-you-want-to-9ad907158991 | ['Kevin Costa'] | 2020-12-17 03:48:50.481000+00:00 | ['Time', 'Therapy', 'Thoughts', 'Hemolo', 'Poem'] |
Area Woman’s Vagina Penetrated With Pinky Finger During Foreplay | Area Woman’s Vagina Penetrated With Pinky Finger During Foreplay
There are monsters among us
Photo by Hunter Newton on Unsplash
ARAMOSA, CO — A local woman’s vagina was penetrated by her boyfriend’s pinky finger during foreplay on Tuesday, an event that sent shockwaves throughout a sleepy mountain community. The perverted act occurred around 9:30PM, when twenty-eight-year-old Susan Phillips, an elementary school teacher, was penetrated by her boyfriend, thirty-one-year-old Greg DeStefano. “We were in the living room, watching TV,” Phillips told reporters. “Things started to get, shall we say, hot and heavy between us, so we moved to the bedroom.”
It was there that things took a turn for the surreal. “I was naked, and Greg stuck his finger in my vagina,” said a tearful Phillips. “But not just any finger. He used his pinky.” Phillips immediately put her clothes back on and exited the bedroom. “He killed not only the mood, but our entire relationship,” said Phillips, who hasn’t spoken to DeStefano since the incident occurred.
The couple had only started dating recently, and even though they had had sex a few times before, Phillips claims that nothing like this had ever happened between them. “He was never specific, but he told me about a half an hour earlier that he was into some kinky stuff. I imagined whips and chains, or something like that. But this? This is just sick. I mean, who the hell does that?” Sex therapist Monique Soltani agrees with Phillips, saying, “There’s never an appropriate occasion when the pinky finger should be utilized in the bedroom. When people ‘flip you the bird,’ when they ‘give you the finger,’ which one do they use? The middle one, right? They give you the biggest one, not the smallest one. Mr. DeStefano is clearly abnormal and needs professional help.”
Phillips, who has now hired an attorney, said that she has “never felt so violated.” “You think you know a person, and then they go and do something like this.”
DeStefano claims that he was merely trying to “spice things up a bit” in the bedroom, and he is “shocked” that Phillips is seeking legal action against him. “Susan consented to being fingered,” he told reporters. “She didn’t specifically mention which finger she wanted me to use, but does that matter? What difference does it make? Is this not America?”
But even some of DeStefano’s closest friends are siding with Phillips. Todd Pelst, who has been friends with DeStefano since childhood, said, “I’ve known Greg for my entire life, but any man who treats a woman like that is someone I can no longer be associated with.”
More than seventy-five evangelical leaders will descend on Aramosa on December 6 to hold a rally. According to Ralph Reed, president of the Faith & Family Coalition, religious leaders will be protesting against not only DeStefano, but against Phillips as well. “Foreplay goes against the teachings of Jesus Christ,” he said. “God only wants married couples to have sex, and in the missionary position, and only for the purposes of procreation. That’s it!” “And besides,” he added, “If God wanted women to be fingered with pinky fingers, He would have given men ten of them.” | https://medium.com/sex-and-satire/area-womans-vagina-penetrated-with-pinky-finger-during-foreplay-a6479b6078d3 | ['Keith Malek'] | 2020-12-04 07:13:14.941000+00:00 | ['Pinky', 'Consent', 'Vagina', 'Humor', 'Foreplay'] |
Everything You Need To Know About IBM Research Internship At Bangalore | Hi Readers!
IBM Research has many internship positions available and is seeking highly motivated students with a background in computer science, artificial intelligence, applied mathematics, or equivalent areas.
IBM India Research Lab is a premier research lab not only in India but also in the Asia region. The India lab has an impressive list of achievements and innovations in AI, Hybrid Cloud, and Security. Here IBM focuses on a wide array of projects in exploratory and applied research from multiple domains like NLP, Conversation System, Data and AI, Distributed System, Cryptography, and many more.
Required Technical and Professional Expertise For Interns IBM Looking For Are As Follows
The student must be enrolled in one of the following degree program: Btech/MS/Mtech/PhD
Preferred degrees include Computer science, Mathematics.
The student should have good hands-on experience in one or more of these programming languages widely used in open source community projects such as Go, Python, Ruby, C/C++, Java, Node.js, Javascript, etc.
The student should have decent Linux programming exposure.
Good to have some exposure to open source projects within Kubernetes/Big Data platform communities such as Knative, Operators, Fluentd, Prometheus, Elasticsearch, etc.
Good knowledge of software engineering practices including agile processes
The student must have very strong problem-solving aptitude and the ability to delve into multifaceted pieces of knowledge
This Is a Great Opportunity for Students To Work At IBM
What’s Responsibility in the Internship?
As a Research Intern, you get involved in work that really changes the world? What about somewhere with incredible and diverse career and development opportunities — where you can truly discover your passion? Are you looking for a culture of openness, collaboration, and trust — where everyone has a voice? What about all of these? If so, then IBM could be your next career challenge. Join us, not to do something better, but to attempt things you never thought possible.
Students Can Apply for Position at https://careers.ibm.com/ShowJob/Id/1025187/Intern
Source: https://careers.ibm.com/ShowJob/Id/1025187/Intern
Thanks For Reading
Follow Bagcampus For More Updates. | https://medium.com/bagcampus/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ibm-research-internship-at-bangalore-bb976527106d | ['Krushabh Suryawanshi'] | 2020-12-13 09:42:56.912000+00:00 | ['Internship', 'Intern', 'Beyourself', 'Career'] |
#100DaysOfCode Day 40: A Breather to React.js — The Basics | Hello, World!
Today, I will be taking another intermission from the current project I am working on to go over the basics of React.js. I realized that I have never really touched on the fundamentals of React. And so, today I will be going over concepts such as the following:
What is a React component?
ReactDOM rendering
Class vs Functional Components
JSX
State
What is React?
React is a JavaScript library used to build user interfaces. It is known for being modular by letting users compose complex UIs from small and isolated pieces of code called “components”.
Example of a component-based user interface (freecodecamp.org)
In the picture above, we can separate the current user-interface into several different components. We have the Logo component, a WordBox for users to type in, a SearchButton to run the Google search, and a LuckyButton to automatically go to the first result of the search.
A React component is then individual code that represents a page; each component is a JavaScript function that returns a piece of code that represents a part of the website. And so, to build a page inside a website, we call these functions in a certain order, put together the results, and show it to the user via the browser. Something like building LEGO.
Let’s create a component! For this example, our component will be called OurFirstComponent . Here is the code:
const OurFirstComponent = () => {
return (
//Stuff to make
)
};
Inside the //Stuff to make part of the code, we will be using JSX — JavaScript XML. JSX allows users to write HTML code inside their JavaScript components, which is usually an illegal move.
Now, whenever we call our OurFirstComponent component, we will render the JSX code embedded inside. To do this, we will be using a function called ReactDOM:
ReactDOM.render(<OurFirstComponent />, placeWeWantToPlace);
The first parameter for ReactDOM is the component we want to render, while the second is the location in which we want to render our component. The value of placeWeWantToPlace is usually document.getElementById('root'); .
Putting Components Together
This is where the React magic happens. You can usually write code like the following:
const OurFirstComponent = () => {
return(
<p>My name is Cold Brew Code</p>
)
}; //export OurFirstComponent
and merge it with another component:
function Container(){
return(
<h1>Hello, World</h1>
<OurFirstComponent />
)
};
Now, you can just render Container and it will automatically bring OurFirstComponent with it.
ReactDOM.render(<Container />, document.getElementById('root'));
This is how pages are built using React — by nesting components inside of each other.
Class Components
In the code snippets above, we have been writing components as functions, which are usually called as functional components. However, ever since ES6, people have begun to write components as JavaScript classes, which are called as class components.
class Container extends React.Component {
render(){
return(
<h1>Hello, World</h1>
<OurFirstComponent />
)
}
};
When using Class Components, you must include a render() function. The render function will return the JSX part of the component. To call another component, you can use the same method as you would in functional components: <AClassComponent /> .
Here’s a Pro-Tip:
You should use functional components over class components because they’re easier to read unless you need a component that has states.
Utilizing JavaScript in JSX
You can also use JavaScript variables inside your JSX code like the following:
class Container extends React.Component {
render(){
const greeting = "Hello, World!";
return(
<h1>{ greeting }</h1>
<OurFirstComponent />
);
}
}
You can also call functions inside your JSX!
class Container extends React.Component{
render(){
const addNumbers = (x, y) => {
return x+y;
};
return(
<p>The sum is: { addNumbers(6, 9) }</p>
<OurFirstComponent />
);
}
}
The Component’s State
Class components can store data about their current state. This information can be saved inside the component’s state , which is stored in a JavaScript object.
In the code below, we have an object representing our component’s state. It has a key of isMusicPlaying which has a value of false . This object is assigned this.state in the constructor method, which is called when the class is first used.
class Container extends React.Componoent{
constructor(props){
super(props);
this.state = {
isMusicPlaying: false
};
} render(){
return(
<PlayButton />
)
}
};
The constructor method of a React component always needs to be called alongside super(props) .
Now, a component’s state can update your UI based on certain events. In this example, we will use state to change the play button from isMusicPlaying: false to isMusicPlaying: true . In other words, we are changing the state of an arbitrary music player from paused to playing. So, when the user clicks on the button, the state should update and these changes should also be reflected on the UI.
We can use a conditional operator to determine the value of a component’s state. A conditional operator takes three operands: a condition followed by a question mark, then an expression to execute if the condition is true, followed by a colon if the expression is false.
const Container extends React.Component {
constructor(props){
super(props); this.state = {
isMusicPlaying: false
};
} render(){
const status = this.state.isMusicPlaying ? 'Playing' : 'Paused'; return(
<h1>{ status }</h1>
<PlayButton />
);
}
}
In the render function, the this keyword is always referring to the component within.
Conclusion
Being able to self learn these kinds of things is really helpful, albeit being scary the first time (the thought of approaching a foreign concept is uncomfortable!) Nevertheless, we must always push ourselves to find the first principles in any subject. | https://medium.com/cold-brew-code/100daysofcode-day-40-a-breather-to-react-js-the-basics-7e288b24d726 | ['Richard Russell'] | 2020-07-25 14:32:36.182000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Reactjs', 'Programming'] |
Waiting For Your Big Break is The Worst Way to Succeed | Waiting For Your Big Break is The Worst Way to Succeed
Waiting to be discovered or handpicked is holding you back
Most people are waiting for a big break — the day, week, month or year everything falls into place. They live with the stubborn illusion that one day they will make it big without embracing the real work.
It’s the worst way to live or aim for success. Waiting for the next big break in your career is probably holding you back.
The best way to succeed is to embrace the work ahead and proactively plan the steps and actions you need to get closer to the life you want.
Napoleon Hill once said, “Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.”
Consistent steps beat one giant leap
Success is the result of consistent actions and small wins. Even when someone looks like an overnight success, there’s always a lot of work behind them.
Stop waiting for permission or approval. The longer you wait, the more deeply embedded you get in your current lifestyle. Your habits solidify. Your beliefs harden. You get comfortable and lazy.
“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction, ” says John F. Kennedy.
Waiting for anything outside of yourself to validate your art, your dream, your talent, or your worthiness is an illusion that will leave you empty.
“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it,” says Jordan Belfort.
Once you acknowledge this, you will embrace the action habit and you will do everything in your power every day to get closer to your goals or dreams.
There is never a perfect time for you to launch that side project, to write a book, change your habit, or embrace a new habit. There is no ideal time to do anything you care about. So do it now.
“We often avoid taking action because we think “I need to learn more,” but the best way to learn is often by taking action, says James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.
The results of action is an incredible feedback loop you can use to get better, improve, make smarter decisions and do more of what works.
You can only get better at anything with experience. And you can only gather experience if you stop waiting for a big break to change your life.
The 100th post as a writer will better than the 1st. Taking action accelerates progress better than waiting to be chosen.
More action = more feedback = ability to make real progress faster.
When you take your work and consistent action seriously right from the beginning, you will be ready for every opportunity in the future.
“Opportunities come — either by putting ourselves in the right place at the right time or simply by sticking around long enough. But good opportunities lead to great work when we make the most of them,” says Jeff Goins.
Many people are so busy scanning for big opportunities that they don’t start tackling the small actions that would add up to huge accomplishments. Everything takes practice. The more you work at it, the more opportunities you get to do your best work.
If you are serious about success, stop waiting to be discovered. Get started with small but consistent actions. Those steps will eventually get you somewhere awesome. Don’t wait for something good to happen to you.
Don’t waste your productive energy on getting “discovered” or “handpicked.” The only thing that’s guaranteed is the work — focusing on that will get you closer to breakthroughs.
Choose yourself, share your authentic work with the world, keep building your audience, take control of your career, and make good things happen for you. The long road to “success” is not a giant leap.
And always remember, the lessons, connections, strength, and confidence you acquire through incremental growth are what make the journey worthwhile.
Your job is to show up every day and work consistently and good enough that it’s worth noticing, sharing and recommending. Great things grow over time like a healthy financial portfolio. Give it time and compounding will take effect. Don’t wait for your big break. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/waiting-for-your-big-break-is-the-worst-way-to-succeed-58f36b341d04 | ['Thomas Oppong'] | 2020-12-21 12:31:22.466000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Productivity', 'Self', 'Creativity'] |
Saturn-Jupiter Conjunction on Solstice Inspires Planetary Celebration | The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21 will be the closest observable since 1226. This conjunction, also called the Christmas Star because the two planets appear as one, happens every 20 years but is not always visible in the sky for various reasons. Since the beginning of recorded history as told through temples like Stonehenge or the pyramids, humans have gathered in ceremony and celebration to mark the movement of celestial bodies. 2020 is no different except today we have the technology to connect these celebrations from sacred sites across the globe and create a shared coherence to mark the changing of ages.
A visualization of Saturn and Jupiter from October to December 21 Conjunction
UNIFY has been hosting globally synchronized livestream and meditation programs on equinoxes and solstices since December 21, 2012. 2020 has been challenging for all of us in different ways but the pandemic and lockdowns have also inspired tremendous innovation in these live-online events, educational programs, and virtual gatherings. Ceremonies will begin in places on the 20th and on December 21 at 10am PST we will see the next exciting episode in this unfolding global movement. The conjunction will be direct at 10:22am PST on the 21st.
Astronomy is the scientific study of the planets and stars. Though science itself is a magical story, humans have always attached meaning through metaphor, myth, archetype, and narrative to these cyclical planetary movements. Whether it is called the Christmas Star, or the Age of Aquarius, the spectacle in the sky is awe-inspiring and beyond words. Common themes throughout various religions and mythologies for this conjunction include a guiding star in the darkest night, a coming of the light, and a positive omen for the future. We could all certainly welcome these metaphors after a very tumultuous 2020.
Image from 5 Elements Dynamic Meditation shot in Bali that will stream on Dec 21
What is Your Soul Medicine? Music, dancing, nature, sports, exercise, food, meditation, prayer, and sacred plants are all paths to a healthy life. One component of World Spirit Day events is a global medicine ceremony. We are inviting people everywhere to take time being in your highest place mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually on this day. Light a candle along with the many fire ceremonies that will be happening around the world as people everywhere link up to raise the planetary vibration at this special time. If you would like to make a post on social media with your prayer, intention, or dreams please use the #worldspiritday and #firethegrid hashtags. We will look for them and feature them on the various UNIFY platforms through the week.
Sacred Sites: Any place of profound natural beauty like a mountain-top, a waterfall, or a flowing spring makes for a great place to hold ceremony. It has been like this since the beginning of time. Sometimes magnificent temples are constructed as places where people come together to honor the divine, the great mystery, and the changing of seasons. This is true for all world religions and even staunch atheists may find themselves awe-struck in these natural or man-made places. This is the power of sacred sites.
Perhaps the greatest temple of all is the human body. It is the place from which we experience the boundless delights and tribulations of being alive. Our planet itself is somewhat of a living temple. On December 21 there will be people in every continent, country, region, and state holding ceremony at sacred sites and temples. It is the intention of the UNIFY organizers to bring a taste of this magical medicine free through an online livestream. Places such as Uluru, Wat Phra Dhammakaya, Stonehenge, Chichen Itza, Hawaii, India, Giza Pyramids, Damanhur, Sedona, Mt. Shasta, Bali, Jerusalem, Palenque, and more will be participating and featured throughout the day.
“Furthermore, Dr. Persinger also suggests that the earth’s magnetic field can act as a carrier of information between individuals and that information, rather than the intensity of the signal carrying it, is important for interaction with neural networks.” -Global Coherence Initiative
Fire up the Grid: All life is interconnected on many levels and global coherence is scientifically documented. Though 2020 was a very hard year with a global pandemic there have been some spectacular creative breakthroughs. At the onset of lockdowns many individuals began to innovate with online events, Zoom Conferences, and virtual gatherings. The largest livestream meditation for UNIFY happened on April 4 with 25,000 people watching and chatting from around the world. Platforms like PORTL hosted Burning Man, and Global Eclipse as the emerging visionary culture continues to evolve despite many hurdles.
The Vision Train is a virtual art studio running Non-Stop since March. Together we are weaving a collective prayer by encouraging the creative potential in all as we sow the seeds for the Regenaissance (regenerative renaissance). All aboard! -Amanda Sage
These online gatherings are integrating and merging elements of gaming, learning, collaboration, entertainment, and now ceremony. For example, the Vision Train artists were “painting prayers” while watching the global eclipse stream live from Patagonia last week. In many ways 2020 forced us all into a cocoon as the world outside slowed down our internal lives sped up. Many of us have had the extra time to do personal growth and evolve spiritually since our normal distractions have been limited due to the pandemic. We have entered the virtual realm yet we still have the opportunity to go inwards together.
Humans have never experienced the ability to host a global, online celebration of this magnitude at any point in history. This was the original intention of the first UNIFY meditation on December 21, 2012 but it has taken years for the technology to catch up. We are still probably in the very early stages of what will be possible along these lines in our lifetime.
This year’s solstice program will include monks from the Dhammakaya Temple in Thailand and other events at sacred sites from around the world. Since visual art is central to documenting this great time of transition we will also have artists painting via livestream from the Vision Train Global Art Jam. Dashama Kona, renowned yoga-teacher and flow-state mentor, will be premiering a 22 min 5 Elements Dynamic Meditation Film shot in Bali that celebrates the abundance and nurturance of the divine feminine.
Wherever you are you can participate via social media by lighting a flame or making a short video and sharing on Instagram and Facebook using the #worldspiritday and #firethegrid hashtags. Event producers will be picking select posts to share on the UNIFY social platforms to feature throughout the week. The event starts at 10am PST and will stream live on the UNIFY Facebook Page but will also be available with added community chat tools at PORTL.
One thing that 2020 has shown us, despite the many hardships, is the resilience of the human spirit. We are going to get through this together! The solstice event will be a retrospective on 2020 while also creating a community celebration of our shared struggles and triumphs as we look to the future. Be sure to keep an eye on Saturn and Jupiter in the west each night after sunset as they inch closer to each other. This is a special time to be alive and we are all eager to put 2020 behind us as we build a better tomorrow. | https://medium.com/@jacobdevaney/saturn-jupiter-conjunction-on-solstice-inspires-planetary-celebration-6a0daa990c2a | ['Jacob Devaney'] | 2020-12-18 04:23:22.988000+00:00 | ['Astronomy', 'Online', 'Technology', 'Meditation'] |
None Will Ever Win In Levant | Know many would laugh at my naïveté. Many may consider it as an idiotic and absurd proposition yet I will write it. I think for too long, we humans have complicated situations due to our complex thinkings which otherwise could have been solved through simple way.
We all are upset at how Israel is attacking Palestine and the anger is not unjustified. But instead of grinding our political axes on a humanitarian crisis, if we are serious and sincere in attempting for a solution, we cannot put entire blame on one party as that will be the end of any resolution.
I have no doubt in my mind that being the more superior military power and for the might it has, Israel has larger responsibilities but to think that Palestinians have no responsibilities whatsoever will not lead us to anywhere.
As I always believed, digging too much of past is no good neither its good to use past as justification for present. Be it because of faulty British imperialism or be it because of the moral obligation of the west to resurrect a tremendously persecuted community, Israel was born legitimately in the land of Palestine through majority approval in UN council resolution. And seven decades have passed thereafter. So both Palestine and rest of Arab World have to wilfully accept the birth of Israel and it will only cost more if they are unable to accept so. I think in many ways that reluctance to accept Israel as a legitimate nation is at the heart of this conflict.
Since right from word go, this birth was met with hostilities, Israel always mistrusted the Arab people and as years went by, the mistrust has only grown. Israel felt threatened and to preempt it, it kept on gobbling up more and more Palestinian land under the garb of a highly racist and communal ideology which doesn’t recognise multiculturalism, a bedrock of modern society and its organisation in terms of a nation state.
As any map will show, how nefariously Israel had marginalised Palestinians into some corners and implemented a policy of apatheid between two communities, who both are citizens of same country. Ironically it may sound, the worst persecuted people of WW2 instead of being tolerant and merciful had shown the worst side of theirs for which Adolf Hitler used to despise them and the Jewish question raged through Europe for centuries together.
Israel’s ego is too strong as somewhere they are still under the false belief that they are some chosen people who are destined to rule over Levant as cited more by myth than by any true history.
Both parties while parking their individual ego could have thought who truly benefited in this constant struggle over 70–75 years. Both would have found both had suffered immensely and true peace has remained elusive. Palestinians must have suffered more but in their sufferance, Israel too could not as well breathed easy as in several parts of the world they were attacked and killed.
Its a piece of land no bigger perhaps than Uttar Pradesh state of India where both parties can peacefully coexist if they are able to forget history and start anew. Israel has to vacate land which its illegally occupying, it can ask for a global effort in ensuring complete surrender of arms and terroist activities of Palestinians groups with whom Palestinians authorities are in hand in glove or are in cahoots. In turn, Palestine has to accept the right of Israel to exist provided Israel stop its brutal Zionist policies to oppress Palestinians in their country. Both need to understand that their faiths come from same single Father and they are sister faiths which have grown side by side for years and have several common heritage and history. Some of the first Islamists were indeed Jews of Medina who took to Mohammad and Islam always recognised Moses and others as prophets no less.
The areas on which both parties have demands can be either shared or can be declared as independent nation state like say Jerusalem on which there is maximum bone of contention. I am of the view considering the massive importance of the city in all three religions, it can be declared a nation state like Vatican under the aegis of UN. UN can think of building a multi faith complex inside the holy area whereby a jewish temple of David can be constructed near to Al Asqa Mosque along with a site for Christian faith. It can be developed further as a tourist centre and revenue can be shared. Jerusalem has nurtured three great faiths and its about time it becomes a modern example of tolerance, acceptance and brotherhood.
I truly want basic human values of compassion, coexistence and cooperation should be the constituents of the new age solution of this ravaged region where the current mix of politics, persecution and perversion of human rights have become the norm.
The holy land demands humans to become humans and to not remain animals even after so many years. The region will lose in this pyrrhic victory of aggressive Israel. The world demands peace there.
© Manas Sinha, Pune, May-21 | https://medium.com/@manassinha2111/none-will-ever-win-in-levant-f2d6be7be8d1 | ['Manas Sinha'] | 2021-05-18 15:12:47.068000+00:00 | ['Palestine', 'British', 'Israel', 'Jewish', 'Muslim'] |
Elite: Dangerous — the essential kit for explorers | X-Plane 11, DCS, and Elite: Dangerous
My friend is a commercial pilot, a captain with many years flying for Air Portugal, going there directly from the Portuguese Air Force, where he was a pilot. I wanted to have his feedback on X-Plane 11, which by chance had just received an updated beta version with some radical changes to the flight model, the day he came to visit. I also promised him a ride in DCS, because of the different experiences, available, and he was amazed with the glimpses of the F/A-18 Hornet, the cockpit of the Aero L-39 Albatros, the visibility of the AV-8B Harrier and the helicopter Bell UH-1H Huey, which is a challenge for pilots of fixed wing aircrafts, and something he wants to explore further in the simulation.
The unanimous approval of DCS came after his son also tried the Huey and flew the Christian Eagle II, which is a nice aerobatic plane but really needs some extra work to make it go up to the level of other DCS modules. It’s a pity the developer has not kept its promises of updating the module. We did not have much time, so these experiences were short, but it was interesting to see a real pilot pick the HOTAS and, even without knowing all the keys and commands in this interface, work in sync with the machine. Great moments of the visit!
X-Plane 11 also received a positive note, both for the scenery and planes — he tried the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, and the VSKYLABS Phoenix Air U15 S-LSA Project, which I acquired recently and its a great flyer, although I would like to see the canopy reflection effects slightly reduced in the new version, or the option to simply remove them. The scenery used was Anacortes and Washington, from Orbx’s TrueEarth series. My friend was so amazed with the views that he decided we will have to visit the area when he flies to the United States. He even said that now he already knew what Anacortes looked like from the air, so it would be easy to land there. Again, it was great to see how he handled the planes, despite being limited to a few controls, as he is not used to a HOTAS system, and the “blindness” that comes with Virtual Reality.
Yes, we used the Oculus Rift S for these flights, because that was the idea. It radically changes the way you fly, and my friend and his son both agreed that after the experience, it is hard to go back to a flat screen for this type of software.
Hooked on Elite:Dangerous
Having worked through the flight simulations, I showed them Elite, using some of the training missions, as they are a good way to show newcomers what ED is all about. The images I’ve captured and the articles I’ve written helped them to make an idea of the potential of the simulation, but when they sat on the cockpit and saw in in VR, they were hooked. They want to try this too…
I promised to give them some hints and suggestions, to make their journey easier, so I picked a series of apps that I use, added the links and sent them the information. Then I looked at it and said; this can be a good guide to anyone wanting to start exploring Elite Dangerous. So, here is my Essential Kit for Explorers. This “explorers” means anyone who wants to take the plunge and buy Elite Dangerous.
One first note, and this is my opinion, for Elite: Dangerous and the other software mentioned here: if you’ve a chance, buy it free from any gaming platform you may be using. In the case of DCS and X-Plane 11, you get updates and access to beta versions earlier, an important aspect for me. I don’t know about Elite Dangerous, but for me, all the simulation software I own — except FSX-SE, which I am not using now — is acquired outside of any gaming platform, even if I have to pay more for it. Just my two cents!
So, after this long intro, here goes the essential kit, with some footnotes to each option. | https://medium.com/outpost2/elite-dangerous-the-essential-kit-for-explorers-348970b0917b | ['Jose Antunes'] | 2019-09-13 01:14:52.706000+00:00 | ['Space Simulation', 'Space Exploration', 'Elite Dangerous', 'Virtual Reality'] |
Download luxury Nissan GTR Wallpaper for your desktop and mobile screens. These high-resolution images will make your day | Download luxury Nissan GTR Wallpaper for your desktop and mobile screens. These high-resolution images will make your day Harmony True Dec 28, 2021·1 min read
Nissan is a Japanese automobile manufacturer founded in 1933. The company has introduced a total of six generations of GTR, all of which have become a success in the racing world.
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Nissan GTR Wallpaper
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It’s time to show off your GTR with the best Nissan GTR wallpaper. These high quality wallpapers will make you feel like you’re driving the car of your dreams every day.
I’m a proud owner of a Nissan GTR and I wanted to share my experience with you. It’s a really beautiful car, but it requires a lot of maintenance. My mechanic advised me to install a tire pressure monitoring system. This way I know when one of the tires is about to lose air pressure. It could be because of a puncture or simply because the tire pressure has lowered over time. | https://medium.com/@trueharmony670/download-luxury-nissan-gtr-wallpaper-for-your-desktop-and-mobile-screens-81e505deba1e | ['Harmony True'] | 2021-12-28 00:50:49.726000+00:00 | ['Download', 'Wallpaper', 'Nissangtr', 'Nissan Cars', 'Nissan'] |
The Old Poems | Photo by Sarah Arista on Unsplash
The Old Poems
I dusted the old poems
and saw the colours of life
the many hues holding stories.
I dusted the old poems and
found the many pieces which
once belonged to me. | https://medium.com/blueinsight/the-old-poems-ddca2d49a750 | ['Priyanka Srivastava'] | 2020-12-22 16:43:06.933000+00:00 | ['Writing Life', 'Writers On Writing', 'Blue Insights', 'Writing', 'Poetry'] |
‘Every Act of Life’ Director Jeff Kaufman on Filmmaking, Collaboration, and Learning from Playwright Terrence McNally | “You cannot tell the history of the American theater without celebrating the work of Terrence McNally,” says performer and Broadway heavyweight Audra McDonald. McNally is the prolific playwright, librettist, and screenwriter behind dozens of plays, including four Tony Award-winners: Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Ragtime. Most recently, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Anastasia.
Director Jeff Kaufman and producer Marcia Ross first met McNally, now 79, several years ago while working on their documentary The State of Marriage. They interviewed McNally and his husband, theater producer Tom Kirdahy, for the film, which traces the origins of the marriage equality movement in the United States. “It was really moving to hear Terrence speak so openly about love, need, commitment, being true to oneself, and the importance of making life matter,” Kaufman says of their first meeting. “We thought, ‘Why hasn’t anyone made a documentary about this man?’ Then we said, ‘Well, we should.’”
Now, after two years of filming and a Kickstarter campaign to fund post-production, Every Act of Life premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 23. The documentary traces the playwright’s involvement in the LGBTQ rights movement, his battles with alcoholism and cancer, the highs and lows of his fifty-year career in the American theater — amid his many successes, he’s also learned from his share of flops and failures — and his commitment to finding love and inspiration in “every act of life.”
Ahead of the film’s premiere at Tribeca (one of twelve Kickstarter-funded films screening at the festival this year) we spoke with Kaufman about McNally’s indelible legacy, the collaborative nature of the filmmaking process, and his advice for young documentary filmmakers. | https://medium.com/kickstarter/every-act-of-life-director-jeffrey-kaufman-on-filmmaking-collaboration-and-learning-from-733fff7ded61 | [] | 2018-05-31 09:00:38.740000+00:00 | ['Documentary', 'Film', 'Theatre', 'Kickstarter', 'Filmmaking'] |
5 Makeup Tips For Dusky Skin Tone | Photo by Amir Seilsepour on Unsplash
Dusky or Tanned skin has become the desire for many Americans. Not black-brown but a little darker than whitish skin tone. While every skin has its own beauty and glow. To categorize shades of color and makeup ideas, each skin color has attribute a name. Like The dusky tone. Remember there is nothing comparable when the skin is healthy and glowing.
To keep your skin accentuating and glowing, here are some makeup tips to consider to make a good change. Herbeautysecret has been showing some of the best ways to elevate the beauty with regular skin care tips
Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash
Foundation
Foundation is the base of any makeup. And for dusky tone, it requires a little extra effort to find the right shade according to their skin tone. Never choose a shade lighter than your natural skin tone, it will make your skin look patch and dull. Foundation is used to create an even base not for brightening.
Concealer
Go for concealer and bronzers too. Add them in your makeup routine, to hide blemishes and highlight the face features. Carry out yourself with pride!
Blush
Its a myth that dusky tone should stay away from blush. Never skip it. Instead use some shades like rose, deep orange and coral. Try to avoid shades like brown and beige, as they won’t suit you. With Dusky tones you have to be a little careful with color choices.
Glossy Eyelids
The best way to highlight your eyes is to use glossy eyelids. Use a cream based eye shadow on your lids in coral, brown, or rose gold shade that will bring out the beauty of your beautiful dark eyes.
Lip Shade
When you choose your lipstick, look for deep and dark colors. The most suited colors like plum, maroon, burgundy and berry goes well with dusky complexion. If you like wearing nude shades, choose one that matches your skin tone. Too light a shade can make your face appear washed-out. | https://medium.com/@herbeautyandsecret/5-makeup-tips-for-dusky-skin-tone-cabdd4a5d7fc | [] | 2021-11-25 06:20:32.278000+00:00 | ['Makeup Tips', 'Beauty', 'Makeup', 'Beauty Tips', 'Dark Skin'] |
Endless Learning Through Spaced Repetition | As the Mindhood family, our goal is to become the micro-learning platform for 21st-century global citizens and future change-makers. We want a community of knowledgeable people willing to take simple, daily actions to create change. But in order to act with purpose, we need to be more aware and more educated. To this end, we have been searching for ways to facilitate learning, improve recall, and enhance memory. So, we continued to test the time-honored and the new ways to commit things into memory to determine what works best.
We found that while most strategies give you some improvement in memory and recall, they are just not powerful enough. One strategy, however, stood out from the rest, and we realized it was one of the oldest strategies for memorizing. Having stood the test of time, Spaced Repetition drastically changed the way we retained knowledge. As a team, we were amazed by how powerful and simple this tool really was. It also had a wide range of applications, from memorizing vocabulary to learning general facts, and could easily be adapted to a mobile environment. So, we started our implementation process.
What is this simple yet very powerful tool that we call spaced repetition?
Spaced repetition, in short, is testing yourself on a fact repeatedly while spacing out the repetitions over time. Spaced repetition uses spacing effects which “demonstrate that learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out.” You might be wondering who came up with this idea and how. Here’s is the history in a nutshell:
Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologic, discovered during his studies a phenomenon he called ‘the forgetting curve’. The forgetting curve shows how the memory of new information decays in the brain as time passes. However, he also realized that there were ways to fight this forgetting curve. He noted that we can stop this process of decay by reminding ourselves of the memory in different time intervals (“The Spacing Effect”).
Forgetting and remembering are more linked to each other than one might think. After each repetition, it will take more time to forget the information, that is why we “space out” our repetitions. Check out the following forgetting curves to understand the effect of spaced repetition on our memory:
In the first forgetting curve, you can see that the percentage retained decays over time, yet in the second one through spaced repetition the forgetting curve changes. In general, a memory’s “rate of decay” slows down each time you actively recall it. But when should we do this recalling process? To best recall and remember something, “you need to recall it just as you’re about to forget it.” These recalls have to spaced out in time because each time you recall something, the memory’s decay slows down meaning that it’ll take more time for you to forget it. (How To Remember Anything Forever-Ish).
How can we implement spaced repetition in our daily lives?
So, the mechanics are simple: you take a box, divide it into 7 levels (or use 7 different boxes). All of your cards start at the first level, and when you review a card and get it correct, the card goes up to the next level, and so on. The card retires when you reach your final level. You review by doubling the gap (number of days between reviews) for each level. For example, you will be reviewing level 1 cards every day, level two cards every 2 days, level three cards every four days, level four cards every eight days, and so on.
It seems easy enough, right? However, there are some important tricks when it comes to spaced repetition: Our memory is not an accumulation of different pieces: every bit of information we have in our brain is connected to each other and they cannot be considered separately. “Thus, to get the most out of Spaced Repetition, you must make your cards small, connected, and meaningful” (How To Remember Anything Forever-Ish)
All in all, spaced repetition is a learning life-hack and what makes it more interesting is that it is very easy to implement in our daily lives. Setting aside thirty-minutes every day to learn can change your mindset and approach. We remember in order to change, grow, and learn more. With spaced repetition, we can adopt a lifelong and continuous learning habit which is the most important skill of the 21st century. As Alvin Toffler wrote: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Why it is important to remember?
The worst part of learning new things is that sooner or later, we forget. The system in which we live is designed to make us forget and become indifferent, benumbed, and less aware. After some time, we even forget some meaningful events and experiences that we have had. Days, weeks, and months pass and get so overburdened with new and shiny information, that we start forgetting.
Last year, gun violence was a big issue that took a lot of media coverage. We were bombarded with images of kids crying, and we met some very courageous young kids who, after a horrific event, decided to try and move an entire country into action. Yet today, even though the situation is not solved, we have moved the conversation to the back burner and we have started slowly forgetting about the countless lives that were lost. And the media constantly switches gears to keep us “entertained” and glued to the TV. Personally, I am constantly traumatized when I see the news regarding sexual assault, harassment, and rape. However, even I start to forget as time passes by.
Yet, it is so wrong to forget: When we forget, we don’t take action, and when we don’t take action, nothing changes and increasingly more lives are affected by these situations. We have to remember to act in order to have an impact. Activism derives from never forgetting and taking action to build on the memory of that pain and anger. We achieve remembrance through spaced repetition because we break that cycle of continuous chaos and we remember what is important. We become active and responsible rather than passive and forgetful. We stop being bystanders and open ourselves up to feel and to take control. As the Mindhood family, we invite you to remember and act!
If you’re looking to start forming a new habit this month, try spaced repetition! You can use the most basic shoebox method or you can download our mobile application. When you start discovering how much your brain can learn and recall with such short, spaced-out repetitions, you’ll be happy you did! | https://medium.com/mindhood/endless-learning-through-spaced-repetition-48419c7d97d6 | ['Burcu Cetin'] | 2019-11-20 18:31:01.724000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Education', 'Learning', 'Spaced Repetition', 'Microlearning'] |
網站部署(使用 Heroku) | Heroku
是對 Ruby/Rails 專案最友善、部署最簡單的選擇。
不只支援ruby ，還有其他Node.js 及其他 PHP 、 Go 等等，相關說明可以參考看官方介紹或是維基百科。
What is Heroku | Heroku
申請 Heroku 帳號
目前申請 Heroku 帳號是免費的，只要填寫一些簡單的基本資料即可申請。
安裝 Heroku Cli
可以參考：Getting Started on Heroku with Ruby
依照環境在終端機執行指令，目前示範macOS操作：
$brew install heroku/brew/heroku
安裝完後使用以下heroku login登錄到Heroku CLI：
$heroku login
heroku: Press any key to open up the browser to login or q to exit
› Warning: If browser does not open, visit
› <https://cli-auth.heroku.com/auth/browser/***>
heroku: Waiting for login...
Logging in... done
Logged in as [email protected]
此命令將Web瀏覽器打開到Heroku登錄頁面。
如果你的瀏覽器已經登錄到Heroku，只需單擊 Log in 頁面上顯示的按鈕。
heroku和git的指令能正常操作，必須進行此身份驗證。
準備應用
在此步驟中，先在GitHub上準備了一份專案。
$git clone <https://github.com/kyuyui/rails_blog.git>
$cd rails_blog
會要使用Git是因為…
Heroku 平台是使用 Git 進行部署，所以，專案必須要有 Git 的版本控制。
部署準備
確認好專案有Git 版控後執行 heroku create 指令：
$heroku create
Creating app... done, evening-ravine-70505
<https://secret-tor-42278.herokuapp.com/> | <https://git.heroku.com/evening-ravine-70505.git>
此指令會幫你做幾件事：
在 Heroku 上開一台伺服器(instance)，如果沒有指定名稱，Heroku 會隨機幫你搭配，例如此處我的伺服器的名字就是 evening-ravine-70505。如果在建立的時候是下 heroku create kyu-yui-1213 ，只要這個名字沒被用掉，它就可以建立 kyu-yui-1213 的伺服器。
會幫 Git 加上一個名為 heroku 的遠端節點：
$ git remote -v
heroku <https://git.heroku.com/evening-ravine-70505.git> (fetch) heroku <https://git.heroku.com/evening-ravine-70505.git> (push) origin <https://github.com/kyuyui/rails_blog.git> (fetch)
origin <https://github.com/kyuyui/rails_blog.git> (push)
另外，可以通過運行以下指令來驗證是否已將網站中的遠端節點增加到專案裡了：
$git config --list | grep heroku
remote.heroku.url=https://git.heroku.com/evening-ravine-70505.git
remote.heroku.fetch=+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/heroku/*
如果還沒有遠端節點的話，要記得用以下指令將 Heroku 上的應用程式和 Git 做連結：
heroku git:remote -a 這裡輸入各自 Heroku 的 App 名稱
例如筆者上方建立在 Heroku 上的 App 名稱為 evening-ravine-70505 ，那指令就如下：
heroku git:remote -a evening-ravine-70505
推向 Heroku
接下來要開始上傳專案了。此時若使用使用 git push 指令來把專案推上 Heroku的話：
$git push heroku main
此時會噴出錯誤訊息！！！
remote: ! Failed to install gems via Bundler.
remote: ! Detected sqlite3 gem which is not supported on Heroku:
remote: ! <https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/sqlite3>
remote: !
remote: ! Push rejected, failed to compile Ruby app.
remote:
remote: ! Push failed
原因是因為 Heroku 不支援 SQLite 資料庫，所以如果你的專案是使用 SQLite 的話，直接推上去就會看到這個錯誤訊息。
此時就要更改使用PostgreSQL 資料庫了！
Heroku 預設支援 PostgreSQL 資料庫，所以請在 Gemfile 裡做一下修改：
source '<https://rubygems.org>'
git_source(:github) { |repo| "<https://github.com/#{repo}.git>" } ruby '2.7.1'
...<略> group :development, :test do
# Call 'byebug' anywhere in the code to stop execution and get a debugger console
gem 'byebug', platforms: [:mri, :mingw, :x64_mingw]
# Use sqlite3 as the database for Active Record
# gem 'sqlite3', '~> 1.4'
end group :production do
gem 'pg'
end ...<略>
# Windows does not include zoneinfo files, so bundle the tzinfo-data gem
我把 gem ‘sqlite3’, ‘~> 1.4’ 給註解掉(直接刪除也可以)，並加入
group :production do
gem 'pg'
end
注意！另外在config/database.yml的檔案裡，
也要確認將sqlite3更改成postgresql
可以使用此指令查看：
$ cat config/database.yml
# PostgreSQL. Versions 9.1 and up are supported.
#
# Install the pg driver:
# gem install pg
# On OS X with Homebrew:
# gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/usr/local/bin/pg_config
# On OS X with MacPorts:
# gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/pg_config
# On Windows:
# gem install pg
# Choose the win32 build.
# Install PostgreSQL and put its /bin directory on your path.
#
# Configure Using Gemfile
# gem 'pg'
...<略>
或是手動更改也可以～
原先：
更改至：
手動更改放大版：
# SQLite. Versions 3.8.0 and up are supported. # gem install sqlite3 # Ensure the SQLite 3 gem is defined in your Gemfile # gem 'sqlite3' default: &default adapter: postgresql pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS") { 5 } %> timeout: 5000
development: <<: *default database: 專案名稱_development # Warning: The database defined as "test" will be erased and # re-generated from your development database when you run "rake". # Do not set this db to the same as development or production. test: <<: *default database: 專案名稱_test production:
<<: *default database: 專案名稱_production
以上範例，可搜尋關鍵字：Database.yml rails pg
參考至：https://gist.github.com/jwo/4512764
修改完 Gemfile 後，需要再執行 bundle install 確保每個套件都有正確安裝。
如果在 bundle 的過程發生失敗，可能是目前的環境還沒安裝 PostgreSQL 資料庫，所以在 bundle install 的過程會發生錯誤。解決方法有兩種：
就是把 PostgreSQL 資料庫安裝起來。( PostgreSQL 官網) 如果你還不想安裝PostgreSQL 資料庫，也可改執行 bundle install --without production 指令，暫時「跳過」安裝 production 這個群組裡面的套件。
把 SQLite 換成 PostgreSQL之後，也要確認Heroku上也有PostgreSQL資料庫h才能儲存～
如果是第一次部署的話，會需要執行 rails db:migrate 指令，確保所有的 Migration 都有被執行到。
但… 如果只是單純的執行本地的 rails db:migrate ，所以需要請 Heroku 執行這個指令：
$ heroku run rails db:create
$ heroku run rails db:migrate
第二次推向 Heroku
$ git push heroku main 枚舉物件: 11, 完成.
物件計數中: 100% (11/11), 完成.
使用 4 個執行緒進行壓縮
壓縮物件中: 100% (6/6), 完成.
寫入物件中: 100% (6/6), 743 位元組 | 371.00 KiB/s, 完成.
總共 6 (差異 4)，復用 0 (差異 0)，重用包 0
remote: Compressing source files... done.
remote: Building source:
remote:
remote: -----> Ruby app detected
remote: -----> Installing bundler 2.1.4
remote: -----> Removing BUNDLED WITH version in the Gemfile.lock
remote: -----> Compiling Ruby/Rails
remote: -----> Using Ruby version: ruby-2.7.1
remote: -----> Installing dependencies using bundler 2.1.4
rn-v1.22.4
remote: -----> Detecting rake tasks
remote: -----> Preparing app for Rails asset pipeline
remote: Running: rake assets:precompile
remote: yarn install v1.22.4
remote: [1/4] Resolving packages...
remote: [2/4] Fetching packages...
remote: info [email protected]: The platform "linux" is incompatible with this module.
remote: info "[email protected]" is an optional dependency and failed compatibility check. Excluding it from installation.
...<略>...
remote: For all available Ruby versions see:
remote: <https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/ruby-support#supported-runtimes>
remote:
remote: ###### WARNING:
remote:
remote: No Procfile detected, using the default web server.
remote: We recommend explicitly declaring how to boot your server process via a Procfile.
remote: <https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/ruby-default-web-server>
remote:
remote:
remote: -----> Discovering process types
remote: Procfile declares types -> (none)
remote: Default types for buildpack -> console, rake, web
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remote: Done: 78.1M
remote: -----> Launching...
remote: Released v8
remote: <https://evening-ravine-70505.herokuapp.com/> deployed to Heroku
remote:
remote: Verifying deploy... done.
To <https://git.heroku.com/evening-ravine-70505.git>
8cbef6e..6d5bbf9 main -> main
接著打開瀏覽器，輸入網址https://evening-ravine-70505.herokuapp.com/ 應該就可以連上專案了，其中網址前面的 evening-ravine-70505 就是Heroku上我們這台機器的名字。
看到成功推上網站的畫面才能安心喔！
之後如果專案有任何修改，就是照著以下流程操作：
把有修改的檔案透過 git add 加進版控 git commit 把目前的進度存進 Git 的 Repository git push heroku main 必要的時候請 heroku run 幫你執行需要的指令，例如 rails db:migrate | https://medium.com/@kyuyui/%E7%B6%B2%E7%AB%99%E9%83%A8%E7%BD%B2-%E4%BD%BF%E7%94%A8-heroku-ea19efe992d9 | [] | 2020-12-23 11:13:06.682000+00:00 | ['Ruby on Rails'] |
7 Pandas Functions to Boost Your Productivity | 7 Pandas Functions to Boost Your Productivity Moeedlodhi Follow Oct 11 · 5 min read
Basic Pandas Functions to help you in your data preprocessing
Photo by Sid Balachandran on Unsplash
If you’re working within Data Science, You must be familiar with Pandas.
Specifically designed to carry out Data preprocessing tasks, Pandas has a ton of functionalities that can make managing, cleaning, visualizing, and retrieving data extremely easy. And as anyone would know, A large chunk of a Data Scientists' time goes into getting the data into a clean and understandable format for machine learning.
In this article, I will be going over the basic Pandas functions which have made my life as a Data Science intern, a whole lot easier.
For this article, I will be using the Titanic dataset from Kaggle. Let’s get started.
Loading the data in.
data = pd.read_csv('train.csv')
data
Titanic dataset
1) data.isnull().sum()
The first command I would like to go over is the “data.isnull().sum()” command which gives us the number of null values present in our dataset.
Before beginning any sort of preprocessing task, It is a must to check what is the number of null values present in our dataset. So we can either remove or impute Null values and the command below does just that.
Let’s check the output
data.isnull().sum()
Null values present in our dataset
2)data.fillna()
We have a number of null values present that need to be dealt with.
data.fillna() replaces all null values with a value of our choice. Let’s use it on the Embarked column and Age columns.
The Embarked column has three values ‘S’, ‘C’, and ‘Q. I would like to impute the null values with the “most occurring value” or “mode” of the embarked column whereas the Age column can be imputed with the “mean of the Age column”
The mode of the Embarked column and the mean of the Age column can be represented as
data['Embarked'].mode()[0]
data['Age'].mean()
And we can add that into our “data.fillna()” code to impute the null values
data['Embarked'] = data['Embarked'].fillna(data['Embarked'].mode()[0]) data['Age'] = data['Age'].fillna(data['Age'].mean())
3).Label Encoder
When working with categorical values, It’s a must to understand how we can map categorical variables into numeric categorical variables.
Luckily the sci-kit learn library has the “LabelEncoder” library to help us take care of that.
For the above example, I would like to convert the values in the Sex and Embarked column into numeric values. Let’s check it out.
from sklearn import preprocessing
le = preprocessing.LabelEncoder()
le.fit(data['Sex'])
data['Sex'] = le.transform(data['Sex'])
data le = preprocessing.LabelEncoder()
le.fit(data['Embarked'])
data['Embarked'] = le.transform(data['Embarked'])
data
We get:
4)data.drop()
There are situations where we don’t need certain columns as a part of the data frame and that is why we should know how to remove them.
The data. drop() function gives us the ability to drop columns that have no use to us. Let’s remove the “Ticket”, “Cabin” and “Name” column.
data.drop(['Name','Ticket','Cabin'],axis=1,inplace=True)
data
The “axis=1” tells pandas we are removing “columns” and the “inplace=True” makes the change permanent.
We get:
After the removal of the Names and Embarked column
5) data.corr()
The data.corr() function helps us to understand the correlation of all the variables present in the dataset and helps us to pick variables for the machine learning part of the project. Let’s give it a try
data.corr()
correlation matrix
The above table is extremely handy for us to understand which variables are highly correlated with each other.
6)data[‘column name’]. value_counts()
Now that our data has been cleaned and processed, I would like to move towards analyzing the different columns of our data frame.
We have the ‘Survived’ column which has the people who survived labeled as 1 and the people who did not survive labeled as 0.
The above function gives us the count of the unique values present in our columns. Let’s give it a try.
data['Survived'].value_counts()
Implementing the above command gives us:
Survived vs Not Survived
We can implement the above command for all the columns to analyze the data frame.
7) data.groupby()
The groupby is an extremely handy function that gives us the “aggregated mean” or “aggregated sum” of our values. For example:
Let us groupby the entire data frame on the Survived column and find the mean.
data.groupby('Survived').mean()
The result we get is:
groupby table
Looking at the groupby table, We can see that individuals who did not survive were slightly older in Age than the ones who did survive but had a very low Fare indicating a difference in class. The groupby function can be applied to any column of our choice to better understand the data.
Conclusion
I went over 7 basic Pandas functions which are extremely handy when it comes to preprocessing data. There is more command than the ones I just mentioned and I will hopefully go over them in some of my next articles. | https://medium.com/swlh/7-pandas-functions-to-boost-your-productivity-c56f274de639 | [] | 2020-10-11 19:55:00.212000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Pandas', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Cleaning', 'Data Science'] |
Making Money As A Practitioner: Step 3 — Pricing | Welcome to part three of this Money Mindset series. In part one, we talked about making sure you are legally set up to make money, and in part two, we covered the really important issue of how to bust money blocks that are holding you back. Now that both of those foundations are in place, we can get into a topic many people struggle with — pricing.
I saved the pricing segment for last because if you want to play full out, it’s critical to move through each of the stories in your head, forgive yourself, and let go of them. Doing that shift first will make pricing so much easier.
So, let’s dive in, shall we?
3 Ways To Set Your Pricing As A Practitioner
There are different ways to set your pricing — conventionally or unconventionally — but they all have to do with your head, your heart, and your gut.
I want you to start by thinking of pricing like this:
Setting your prices and taking money is how money flows through your business like a river or a stream. You enable the river and the stream of clients to come your way.
Where the clients cross the money path is where you are able to make a profit and grow your business so you can create that flight plan life I’ve mentioned before.
Method 1: Set Prices With Your Head
Setting prices with your head starts with facts.
How much does it actually cost to stay open?
Now, this is a relatively simple formula but until somebody told me about it, I didn’t have the aha moment. This might be the same for you so the formula goes a little something like this.
Step 1: Write down all monthly costs
First, I want you to write down all of the costs you pay for each month.
What are your monthly outgoings? How much does it actually cost you to stay open for a month?
There are differences between where your money goes in an online model vs. an offline model. But either way, there are certain costs you pay each month to run your business.
It’s very easy with our frames and the way that we look at things to think the money going out for our online is kind of just play money. Because it just disappears online.
But in actuality, you’re paying on a monthly basis for things like:
booking systems
client management systems
advertising and marketing
website hosting or platform subscription
graphic design work
accounting systems
social media
team members (such as a virtual assistant)
All of those things add up.
And don’t forget the hard costs of actually having a home-based business, such as things like electricity and internet services.
No matter which model you have (online or offline), you also need to consider your insurances, associations, and any other fees you pay to make sure you are legally allowed to operate.
Step 2: Figure out how many hours you work each month
Once you have the dollars worked out, figure out how many hours you actually work each month. That includes ALL the hours you put towards:
face to face with clients
working on courses or membership
running events
networking and marketing
And any other time you spend working on your business. You need to include everything you do for your business — not just client work.
Step 3: Divide outgoing costs by number of hours you work
Once you have those numbers written down, it’s as simple as dividing the outgoings by the number of hours you actually work.
That gives you the amount per hour it costs you to stay open.
Now, the first time I explored this, I was shocked to discover how much my brick and mortar business cost to stay open per hour. To actually, physically open the doors and let people in — whether they were there or not — to actually open the doors cost me well over a hundred dollars per hour.
And I was NOT making that same amount of money.
So the goal here is to make sure you take into account what it actually costs for you to stay open and remove the story out of it. Just stick with the facts.
Once you have that hard data in front of you, you can make a fact-based decision on what your price needs to be to cover all your expenses and still earn you a profit.
Alternate Method to Set Prices With Your Head
Another way to set your prices with your head is the old-school method of comparison. Go and compare prices from all the practitioners based in your local area and then pick a number.
Now, again — I want to stress the reason we talked about money stories before talking about pricing, is because anytime someone sets a price, there is going to be a money story behind it.
So the risk of the comparison method is that you are taking on someone else’s money story.
It’s not a bad idea to have that comparison information, but always remember that there are 3 ways to think about pricing, not just one.
So, stick with the facts, to begin with, but remember there’s a bit more to it.
Run Experiments to Check Pricing Based On Logic
Setting prices with your head also includes logic. Logic doesn’t come with the emotion attached to it — it’s just how much value are you creating in a certain time frame vs how much value you will receive. It’s just value to value.
That can get a little funny when you talk about things like helping someone finally have the family they’ve always craved. Being in a situation where you have created enough health in that body that it becomes pregnant is value that can’t possibly be measured.
And that makes the logic a little fuzzy when you’re trying to set a price with your head. So if setting up a price solely using your head resonated with you, you need to first run an experiment.
When I first started out in practice and wanted to create an eCourse because I noticed that I could make money while I wasn’t even there. So, I ran an experiment.
Here’s what I did. I:
saw how much it cost me to host an eCourse
figured out how much it would cost to create it
compared it with similar other practitioners running eCourses online
thought about how much value someone would get from my course
did some work on my money blocks
set my price
And I sold three eCourses.
Now, three eCourse sales at the time might sound great. But I had put ten thousand dollars into creating that eCourse, so it didn’t quite have the result I was hoping for. I had to go back and look at my money blocks, stories, and a whole bunch of other things again.
Then, having a background as a scientist and continuing to use my head, I ran the experiment again.
The second time, I only changed two parameters — I changed the price and the copy (the wording on the sales page), and I ran the experiment again. Then I checked the results, pivoted and shifted, and did the same thing again.
So, if you want to set your pricing using your head, my suggestion is to run an experiment. Have a hypothesis, see what happens, and then pivot afterwards.
Method 2: Set Prices With Your Heart
A lot of us practitioners have very high empathy in our strengths. With empathy, we have a way of sensing ourselves and others through feeling. That is what setting prices with your heart is about.
When I set up pricing for my first, initial consultations, I used my heart.
I knew I needed to raise my prices up because I was getting busier, and my rent went up, as well. So I started to feel into what my price should be.
But my science head kicked in, so instead, I thought about the amount of money I needed and set a price using my head. I ran an experiment and nothing happened. Nobody booked.
That made me think, hmm — there’s something missing there. Apart from the money block stuff, there’s heart missing.
I know, this doesn’t sound very scientific. But it is a feeling way of setting your prices.
Let’s go back to my eCourse experiment. So my logical eCourse pricing experiment didn’t work very well, so I tried looking at it from a heart-centred viewpoint. It went something like this:
“Well, my eCourse didn’t sell for the $297 that I priced it at. I sold three of them.” I didn’t feel confident asking for that amount of money, I felt a little bit of a niggle. That price made me feel a bit cold. Setting my price that way felt quite clinical and the $297 came from trying to understand marketing (and a bunch of other things).
It didn’t come from a feeling about the value I would create for my client through the course.
Step 1: Pick a Number and Feel It
If setting your prices this way sounds interesting to you, give a little experiment feel into it and pick a number.
So, if I was to pick a number, I could say — $500. What you want to do is pick a number that is relatively high or relatively low. Then you feel that number. And you might think that’s a bit high or way too low.
Then you pick a number that is much lower or higher (whichever one you’re feeling). What if it $150? Feel it — does it feel contractive or expansive? Then go higher (or lower) again. What about $297?
When I did this for my eCourse, I got to $297 again and I thought, “No, that’s not quite it either.” But then there was a shift in the feeling and I started to realise that if I set it at the $200 mark, it was much easier.
$200 felt like a no-brainer, like flow for me. I didn’t feel like I was ripping anyone off. There was a sense of feeling in there.
Once I felt that I was like, “Okay, we’ll go with $199. That’s it.” I committed to that price and I sold two and a half times a many on that round.
Head or Heart?
So, when you’re considering what to set your prices at — it could be your head, it could be your heart, and it can definitely be a combination of both. Because this feeling aspect also goes along with the neural pathways that I’ve talked about.
It’s important to go with the flow of your feelings and do the work on those stories so that you can confidently ask for what you’re actually worth.
Method 3: Set Prices With Your Gut
This is the method that I recommend for most practitioners. Using your gut to set prices is a perfect merge of your head and your heart together.
Use a combination of all the steps described above, taking into considering how you feel plus what’s logically going to recoup your costs. This method meets not only your needs but also your clients’ needs.
For this method, it’s really important to tap into your ideal client while ignoring any assumptions you might want to make about them not being able to afford it or that they won’t pay for it (as discussed in money blocks).
You must let those stories go and follow the fact that you don’t know what they will or won’t pay.
Focus on your ideal client’s world — what will they consider valuable?
And then, you have to ask confidently, once you have balanced your head and your heart.
FAQs About Pricing
Here are my answers to a couple of questions I’ve received many times around pricing for practitioners.
Q. Should I lower my prices when I take my practice online?
A. If you are thinking this, my first response is that you absolutely need to do some work on your money stories. Because the inherent value you provide to your clients doesn’t change at all when you change how you deliver them. You still have the same value, the same knowledge, the same abundance of information that can change your clients’ lives in incalculable ways.
Do some work around your inherent value. Discover what stories come up around that for you and work through them. What does it feel like for you when you ask for those prices? And are you logically taking into account all of the costs it took for you to set up online?
Q. How do I address clients who have paid a higher price for my services if I choose to reduce them?
A. The key here is to focus on the facts and let go of any stories you might have around this.
Stick to the facts they need to know. As an example, perhaps you changed your prices due to:
the current health crisis
decreasing costs associated with your practice
some other reason
For whatever reason, you’ve been able to give your clients the benefit of something at a reduced price.
But again — I’d love to stress that it cost you a certain amount of time, energy, and money just to actually acquire the knowledge you have. And that knowledge you have is valuable for them. That hasn’t changed a bit. And the value that comes from you sharing that knowledge hasn’t changed for them either.
So explore your decision to lower your prices. Are you putting your own money stories about value or cost on your clients? Check in with whether what you deliver to them is still as valuable as what you delivered before. Maybe it’s even more valuable now, because there may be benefits that weren’t there before (timeliness, availability, etc.).
Take Action
If you are struggling with pricing your services, eCourses, or other offerings, work through these steps. Go with whichever method feels right for you, whether it’s using your head, your heart, or (for most) both!
And watch for places you may be letting your own money stories influence you. When you realise one has cropped up — write it down and work through it. The more work you do on this, the better you will get at pricing in a way that is right for you and your business. | https://medium.com/@tammyguest/making-money-as-a-practitioner-step-3-pricing-6672504590c0 | ['Tammy Guest'] | 2021-02-02 08:02:10.608000+00:00 | ['Money Mindset', 'Pricing Strategy', 'Budget', 'Entrepreneur', 'Systems Thinking'] |
Asians For Black Lives | “This is a perfect example of what Hollywood should be like, what it needs to do” Harry Shum Jr., actor in Crazy Rich Asians
In the fall of 2018, I wrote a blog post about going to dinner with the creators of the movie Crazy Rich Asians, to discuss what Asian Americans around the country could do to help rally support for the film. It was such an important cultural moment for our community as there had not been a Hollywood studio film featuring an all Asian American cast in 25 years.
Our inspiration for that meeting was watching how African Americans have been so vocal and committed in coming together to support black filmmakers over the years. Just a few months earlier, the amazing movie Black Panther premiered as the biggest budgeted comic genre blockbuster by a black director, screenwriter and cast. It would go on to be the highest grossing film of the entire year, not only because it was a great movie deserving of its huge success, but also because African Americans chipped in with their own superpower: a love for their community that’s beautiful, energizing, and infectious and drew people of all ethnicities, genders, and ages to their art. As Vanessa Kelly, spokeswoman for the Urban League of Greater Atlanta Guild, would say: “Everyone is claiming Wakanda”.
A month later, Crazy Rich Asians would become the highest grossing romantic comedy of the past decade, aided by a grassroots effort called GoldOpen that galvanized the Asian American community to buy out theaters on opening weekend. It was a brilliant tactic taken straight from the pages of cultural unity that African Americans set, and Asian Americans followed.
And then at the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards the following January, this happened:
The casts of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians at the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards
That photo was the perfect celebration of two of the biggest cultural moments of 2018. When diverse people told diverse stories and generated not only critical success, but commercial success. When that success was then celebrated at the highest levels for the entire world to see. Crazy Rich Asians actor Harry Shum Jr. would say of the picture: “It’s just a celebration of being there at this award show when so many faces have been erased or have been invisible.”
African Americans and Asians Americans were not invisible that night. | https://medium.com/@efeng/asians-for-black-lives-a12e2a3142d4 | ['Eric Feng'] | 2020-12-29 03:54:46.855000+00:00 | ['BlackLivesMatter', 'Black Panther', 'Representation', 'Crazy Rich Asians', 'Asian American'] |
Walking the Water-Pipe Trail | We walked the water-pipe trail
spreading old peanuts along the way
we had spotted a chipmunk recently
and wanted to encourage it to make a home
I imagine my ancestors offering food back
to the hills and hollers and creeks between
sharing the abundance first shared with them
a harmony in the giving of a gift
It’s easy to imagine them in a place like this
wild with green leaves turning their fall colors
a balance between changing seasons
an orchestra of a thousand transformations
This wild place near my home
where we had spotted the little chipmunk
playing its part in the orchestra of change
we walked the water-pipe trail | https://medium.com/loose-words/walking-the-water-pipe-trail-115fdd775c89 | ['Gregory D. Welch'] | 2020-10-14 12:10:02.289000+00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Poetry', 'Nature', 'Self', 'Poem'] |
Save Money, Time and Nerves: Four Secrets to Successful Localization | Sooner or later, many developers come to the realization that they will have to reach new markets if they want to boost their profits. If you’ve just started considering this, then our article will help you avoid many problems and pitfalls that arise along this difficult journey. And if you’re not sure yet whether trying to conquer new horizons is worth it, we recommend checking out our study of the return on investment for localization.
Secret # 1. Preparation is Your Best Friend
The secret to success lies in the fact that localization quality rests primarily on the shoulders of the developers, not the localizers. That’s right. Sounds outrageous, but it’s true. It’s not as simple as handing all the in-game text over for translation, then adding it to the game to rake in the piles of cash coming from this new market. First and foremost, you must prepare thoroughly, which take several steps: localization workflow planning, completing localization engineering, and creating effective communication channels between the development and localization teams.
Secret # 2. The Plan is Everything
Let’s start with planning the workflow. It’s no news to hear that the result of any activity largely depends on proper planning, and localization is no exception. It is necessary to factor in many important points from start to finish, such as making the project charter, planning out your time (not only for localization, but for the prep work too), appointing responsible parties and calculating the risks. Remember that risks come in all manner of shapes and sizes, from technical issues to overlooking cultural context. For example, if you need a Chinese translation, under no circumstance can you plan a project start date for February, since China has a long holiday season during this month. Finding contractors native speakers will be quite difficult, and if you happen to locate someone, they’ll come at significant cost.
Secret # 3. How to Keep the Text from Getting Lost?
The next step is to perform the localization engineering. In other words, you must resolve the project’s technical issues: select the plugins for exporting/importing the text, databases and fonts. Plugins must ensure that the text (stored in a organized database) is replaced with the right translation. Font also plays an important role. It determines the line lengths and translation limits, but must still look nice in aesthetic sense and be easy to read. Many problems that stem from points can be identified through what is referred to as pseudo-localization. For this, you use any machine translation program (even Google Translate will do) to translate the entire text into the target language, then try uploading the results into a build of the game. This will help you ascertain whether the target language is supported and if the text fits in the interface. Then you can make decisions as needed to extend the text areas, set line limits, order a new font and so on.
Important: No one except the developer should notice the quality of the source text. So, the engineering must include additional proofreads of the original, with a special focus on consistent use of terminology, which will help avoid issues when translating into other languages. For example, there have been instances where the original text referred to “boosters”, “bonuses” and “enhancers”, which were all the same type of item in the game itself. If you don’t have the in-house resources to take on this task, it is advisable to give it to the localizer, who will considerably simplify the translation process and ensure you receive a quality text.
Secret # 4. Do you copy? Over.
The last step is to create effective channels for exchanging information. It is so important to shorten the number of links in the communication chain between the developer and localization teams. In addition to the usual tools like Google Sheets and group chats in Skype or Telegram, a good solution may be to give the localizers access to translate the text directly inside the code. We call this seamless localization. This can be done using co-development services, like Bitbucket. This option will be of particular interest to small indie studios, as it will bypass problems that arise with configuring text exports and imports from the game engine or application, with the bonus of being an additional reference for the translation. The golden rule of localization: you can never have too much context. If you can include a screenshot or image with a line, then it needs to be there. Also, don’t forget to give feedback and ask questions that come up during the process. This lets the teams nip potential problems in the bud, which will improve the final product.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us
An incredibly rare example of when a game becomes popular after a bad localization (Zero Wing)
In summary, we would like to answer the main question: What was the point of all this? It’s simple. If you follow all the tips listed above, you’ll make life easier for your localizers, which lets them produce a better translation that will appeal to your players. And happy players are a key indicator of a project’s success. Of course, a poor localization may work in your favor and promote the game, but this is the oh-so-rare exception to the rule.
Author: Valentine Pronin, Editor at Allcorrect Group
E-mail: [email protected] | https://medium.com/software-and-games-localization/save-money-time-and-nerves-four-secrets-to-successful-localization-c8da37849764 | ['Allcorrect Blog'] | 2019-08-21 14:18:56.814000+00:00 | ['Game Design', 'Localization', 'Game Development', 'Translation'] |
How JavaScript works: class static blocks + 6 proposed semantics | This is post # 43 of the series, dedicated to exploring JavaScript and its building components. In the process of identifying and describing the core elements, we also share some rules of thumb we use when building SessionStack, a JavaScript application that needs to be robust and high-performing to help companies optimize the digital experience of their users.
Introduction
Class static blocks are currently a stage 3 proposal of the TC39 proposal process.
Class static blocks provide a new way to perform static initialization in a JavaScript class. They are not meant to replace class fields but augment the use case of class fields declarations.
Class static blocks are not new to programming. They have been in use in languages such as Java and C# that use classical inheritance. In Java, they are called Static Initializers, and in C# they are called Static Constructors.
Since JavaScript uses prototypal inheritance, there was no class in JavaScript, until it was added in ES6.
ES6 classes give us a way to emulate classic class inheritance. Hence features such as class static blocks can now be added to the JavaScript language.
It is important to note that classes in JavaScript still use the prototypal inheritance pattern under the hood. They simply provide syntactic sugar for the prototypal inheritance pattern.
To understand class static blocks, we need to have a good understanding of JavaScript classes. And this requires knowledge of object-oriented — OOP JavaScript concepts such as the prototypal inheritance pattern.
So in this article, we would lay the groundwork by learning about some important OOP JavaScript concepts such as the prototypal inheritance pattern, ES6 classes, and the class fields declaration. Then building on our knowledge, we would learn about class static blocks.
Let’s get started with OOP JavaScript in the next section.
ES6 classes and the prototypal inheritance
The term inheritance refers to the procedure in which one object gets access to the properties and methods of another object.
The general idea of inheritance is implemented differently in different languages. Both classical and prototypal inheritance are two different ways of sharing properties and methods between objects.
Classical inheritance is the most popular method of implementing inheritance. Languages such as Java and C# use this pattern.
JavaScript, however, implements inheritance using the prototypal inheritance pattern.
The prototypal inheritance pattern is much simpler, flexible, and easier to extend. It involves the concept of the prototype.
All objects in JavaScript have a prototype property that references the proto object in memory. And the proto property of an object is the prototype of that object.
Consider the code below:
In the code above, we created the john object using Object.create() a JavaScript method that enables us to create a new object using an existing object as its prototype.
Thus, in our code above, the person object is the prototype of the john object and john.__proto__ is the person object.
Also, a prototype can have its own prototype and when the JavaScript engine fails to find a property or method in an object it would look for it in its prototype and continue its search down the prototype chain. It returns the property or method if it finds it or `undefined` if it is not found.
Consider the code below:
In our code above, by setting john as the prototype of the johnson object, we can access the isHuman property from the johnson object. Even if the isHuman property is in the person object which is the prototype of john . This is simply because the JavaScript engine searches for this property down the prototype chain.
The prototype chain should not be confused with the scope chain although they are similar. The scope chain is about looking for where we have access to a variable while the prototype chain is about where we have access to a property or method amongst a sequence of objects connected via the prototype property.
Also, two objects can share the same prototype and this provides a great way of sharing properties and methods between objects. We will learn more about this in the next sub-section.
CustomType declarations
In ES5 there were no classes. The closest thing to a class is a method referred to as creating a custom type. It involves creating a constructor and assigning methods to the prototype of the constructor as seen below:
In the code above, PersonFn is a constructor that creates a single property called name.
And we share the sayName method with all instances of the PersonFn constructor by adding it to the prototype of the PersonFn constructor.
This is because an instance of a constructor will have the same prototype as the prototype of the constructor. Thus, in our code above, both the malePerson and the femalePerson object have access to the sayName method via prototypal inheritance since they are both instances of the PersonFn constructor.
ES6 class declaration
Consider the code below:
The PersonClass declaration above behaves quite similarly to the PersonFn constructor.
But class declaration gives us a concise syntax and allows us to declare the constructor inside the class using the constructor keyword. So there is no need to define a function as the constructor.
The result is quite the same as with the PersonFn constructor. But why classes?
Despite the similarities between classes and custom type declaration, below are some advantages of using classes:
Classes give us a cleaner and concise syntax All code in a class declaration runs in strict mode automatically and there is no way to opt-out of strict mode inside of a class. Class declarations, unlike function declarations, are not hoisted.
Unlike function constructor, calling a class constructor without the new operator throws an error.
The anatomy of a JavaScript class
As we have seen above, ES6 classes are simply syntactic sugar on top of the existing custom type declarations. In this section, we would take a deeper look at classes.
A JavaScript class is a special function. And just as we have function declaration and function expression we can also have class declaration and class expression.
We have already seen a class declaration in the previous section.
A class expression can be either named or unnamed as seen below:
Consider the code below:
The Class constructor
The class constructor is a special method that initializes the instances of the class. It is the place where we set the initial values of the class fields.
Consider the code below:
In the PersonClass above, the constructor has one parameter called name that is used to set the initial value of the name field. Also, in the example above, the name property is an own property.
Own properties are properties that occur on the instance rather than the prototype.
Class fields and the class field declaration proposal
Class fields are the properties of the class. They are variables that hold information. And they can be:
Instance fields — fields that are present on every created instance of a class.
Static fields: static fields are declared using the static keyword. When we declare a field using the static keyword, the field must be accessed from the class directly. And it cannot be accessed from the instance of the class.
Also, class fields have two levels of accessibility:
Public — this field is accessible anywhere, including outside the class
Private — this field is accessible only within the class declaration
Let’s learn about these in detail.
Public class fields
Consider the code below:
In the code above, the PersonClass constructor initializes an instance field called name . we then accessed name from the class instance — the malePerson class using a property accessor. Thus name is a public field.
Also, note that we have to explicitly hard bind the this variable to prevent loss of context in certain cases.
With the class field declaration proposal, we can declare class fields explicitly rather than implicitly as seen above. This approach makes the class self-documenting and more readable.
Consider the code below:
In the code above, we see that the public instance field — name and method — sayName are accessible from the class instance. However, the public static field — PERSON_ROLE could only be accessed from the class using Person.PERSON_ROLE .
Public static fields can be useful for implementing caches or fixed configurations. Also, they can be used for any data you don’t want to be replicated across instances.
Another advantage of using the pattern above is that instance methods like sayName , can be defined as a class field and assigned using the ES6 => arrow function, which is automatically bound to the defining object.
Consequently, it’s no longer necessary to add bind declarations using bind() as seen in the previous example.
It is important to bind this to prevent loss of context. You can learn all about the this variable in our previous article in this series. Also, you can get a deep knowledge of the bind method by reading our article on call, apply, and bind.
Class fields are public by default, but we can create private fields and methods by using the # hash prefix as seen below:
In the code above, we see that #name is a private class field that we can only access within the class declaration using the #getName private method.
Since the sayName instance method calls the #getName private method — which accesses #name within the class declaration, we get John Doe when we call john.sayName().
Also, we are only able to access the private static field — #PERSON_ROLE by using Person.#PERSON_ROLE within the class declaration.
Note, only the class which defines the private static field can access the field.
JavaScript developers often use the conventions such as _FIELDNAME , weakmaps, closure, or symbols to denote private properties but with private class fields, we can simply use the # prefix.
Class static blocks are intended to provide new use cases not handled by public and private class fields and also to augment their existing use cases. Let’s learn about them in the next section.
Class static blocks
In the previous section, we learned that we can create a static class member by prefixing that member with the static keyword. Also, to create a static block, we prefix a code block {} within a class declaration with the static keyword as seen below:
Why class static blocks
The static private and public fields can only enable us to perform per-field initialization of static members during class definition evaluation. In cases where we need to evaluate a statement such as try … catch during initialization or set multiple static fields from the same value, we would have to write this logic outside the class.
Consider the code below:
The code above throws an error. However, we can refactor it using class static block as seen below:
Without static block
With static block
As seen above, with class static blocks, we can evaluate the try…catch statement within the class declaration.
Also, class static blocks provide privileged access to lexically scoped private fields and methods.
This can be useful in cases where we need to share information between a class with an instance private field and a function in the same scope.
Consider the code below:
In the code above, we were able to share the private instance property of the Person class with the readPrivateData function.
This is interesting because as noted above, a private instance property is only accessible within the body of the class that defines it.
Proposed semantics
Below are the proposed semantics of class static blocks:
A static initialization block creates a new lexical scope that is nested within the lexical scope of the class body, granting privileged access to instance private properties for the class.
A class may have multiple class static blocks.
While class fields are a valid target for decorators, class static blocks cannot be decorated. However, you can decorate the class itself. If you are new to JavaScript decorators, you can learn more about them by reading our previous article on decorators in this series.
When evaluated the this variable within the static initialization block is the constructor object.
variable within the static initialization block is the constructor object. It is a Syntax Error to call super — super() within the static initialization block.
to call — within the static initialization block. It is a Syntax Error to reference arguments from within a static {} initialization block.
Conclusion
Class static blocks are useful additions to the JavaScript programming language. They enable new patterns for code sharing and provide new methods of performing static initialization for JavaScript classes.
As a stage 3 proposal, you can enjoy this feature by using compilers such as babel. And after going through this tutorial you should surely be ready to give it a try.
Every new layer of abstraction to make your code more readable and reusable can potentially lead to more difficulties when it comes to troubleshooting. Since code quality and extensibility are critical to every project, you can make the decision of adding more layers of abstraction and compensate for the risk by adding better monitoring and analytics solutions.
A solution like SessionStack will make the debugging process much more efficient as it allows you to replay customer journeys as videos. This allows you to see how customers interacted with your web app and what happened on their screen when an issue occurred. Combining this visual information with all of the technical details from the browser, device, network, and environment will give you all of the context needed to reproduce the problem and resolve it efficiently.
There is a free trial if you’d like to give SessionStack a try.
SessionStack replaying a session
If you missed the previous chapters of the series, you can find them here: | https://blog.sessionstack.com/how-javascript-works-class-static-blocks-6-proposed-semantics-3487d3821b45 | ['Lawrence Eagles'] | 2021-09-09 19:39:27.899000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Web Development', 'Software Engineering', 'ES6', 'Software Development'] |
Local Cluster vs. Remote Cluster for Kubernetes-Based Development | Local Cluster vs. Remote Cluster for Kubernetes-Based Development
Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of local Kubernetes clusters and remote Kubernetes clusters for development.
If you are one of the many companies using Kubernetes as an infrastructure technology, you might now ask yourself how to guide your engineers to use Kubernetes in the development phase of the software. There are several degrees of how far you want to go with introducing Kubernetes into your development process. One general question you have to answer in any case of developer access to Kubernetes is if they should rather use local clusters or work with remote Kubernetes clusters in the cloud. In this post, I will compare the two general approaches and describe their main strengths and weaknesses.
Local Cluster
For many developers, the first time they are in direct contact with Kubernetes is in a local environment. That means that they are running Kubernetes on their machines instead of the usual cloud environments Kubernetes was initially made for.
Since the developer is the only one who has to access this cluster for development, local clusters can be a feasible solution for this purpose. Over time, several solutions have emerged that are particularly made for running Kubernetes in local environments. The most important ones are Kubernetes in Docker (kind), MicroK8s, minikube and k3s. For a comparison of these local Kubernetes options, you can look at this post.
Advantages of Local Kubernetes Clusters
Running Kubernetes on your local machine during development has some advantages compared to using a cloud-based environment:
Direct Kubernetes Access: At first, the developers are admins of their own clusters and can thus freely configure everything as they need it and they can play around with all available Kubernetes features.
At first, the developers are admins of their own clusters and can thus freely configure everything as they need it and they can play around with all available Kubernetes features. Perfect Isolation: Due to the use of individual clusters on their own computers, the developers are perfectly isolated from each other. They could even use the local clusters without an internet connection. This has the advantage that the different engineers cannot interfere with each other even if someone messes up something. In such cases, it is also easily possible to start from scratch with a clean system. Additionally, strict isolation enforces a clear responsibility. If something breaks, there is only one person to blame.
Due to the use of individual clusters on their own computers, the developers are perfectly isolated from each other. They could even use the local clusters without an internet connection. This has the advantage that the different engineers cannot interfere with each other even if someone messes up something. In such cases, it is also easily possible to start from scratch with a clean system. Additionally, strict isolation enforces a clear responsibility. If something breaks, there is only one person to blame. No Computing Cost: Finally, local clusters run on the existing machines of the developers and therefore, there will be no extra cost associated with their use (compared to sometimes costly cloud resources). In some companies, this has the additional benefit that no complicated budget approvals are necessary to work with local Kubernetes solutions.
Disadvantages of Local Kubernetes Clusters
While the use of Kubernetes on your local machine might seem to be very attractive at first sight, it also comes with some disadvantages:
Kubernetes Knowledge Necessary: The first drawback of using local clusters during development is that the developers need to have some Kubernetes knowledge. While it would be certainly great if every engineer would be a Kubernetes expert, the complexity of Kubernetes makes this quite unrealistic and undesirable given the effort to master it. However, for the management and the setup of the cluster, at least some knowledge is required.
The first drawback of using local clusters during development is that the developers need to have some Kubernetes knowledge. While it would be certainly great if every engineer would be a Kubernetes expert, the complexity of Kubernetes makes this quite unrealistic and undesirable given the effort to master it. However, for the management and the setup of the cluster, at least some knowledge is required. Repeated Significant Setup Effort: The lack of knowledge can also become a problem if there are issues during the setup process of the local clusters, which can happen if specific configurations are needed or if your local computer is set up in a less compatible way (sometimes, it is even complicated to get a local cluster running on Windows). To make things worse, this setup process needs to be done for every engineer and every computer. And due to the individual local environments, it is not possible to centrally manage and maintain them.
The lack of knowledge can also become a problem if there are issues during the setup process of the local clusters, which can happen if specific configurations are needed or if your local computer is set up in a less compatible way (sometimes, it is even complicated to get a local cluster running on Windows). To make things worse, this setup process needs to be done for every engineer and every computer. And due to the individual local environments, it is not possible to centrally manage and maintain them. Less Realistic Environment: As can be seen from the name “k3s” as an allusion to the Kubernetes abbreviation “k8s”, the local Kubernetes solutions usually are pared-down versions of Kubernetes. This is necessary to make them run on limited local machines. However, this also means that some features are not available. In general, a local environment is different from cloud environments which are the real environment of the production systems. This, for example, makes tests in local clusters less realistic compared to remote environments and can lead to undesired “it-works-on-my-machine”-problems that you actually wanted to avoid by giving the developers Kubernetes access in the first place.
As can be seen from the name “k3s” as an allusion to the Kubernetes abbreviation “k8s”, the local Kubernetes solutions usually are pared-down versions of Kubernetes. This is necessary to make them run on limited local machines. However, this also means that some features are not available. In general, a local environment is different from cloud environments which are the real environment of the production systems. This, for example, makes tests in local clusters less realistic compared to remote environments and can lead to undesired “it-works-on-my-machine”-problems that you actually wanted to avoid by giving the developers Kubernetes access in the first place. Limited Computing Resources: A final weakness of local Kubernetes environments is their limitation in terms of computing resources. Running local Kubernetes already consumes some resources that will not be available for other tasks anymore and often, the local machines simply are not powerful enough to run more complex software, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning software. So, while you save some cost for cloud computing resources, you might have to invest more in the local hardware for your engineers.
Use Cases for Local Kubernetes Clusters:
Overall, there are valid reasons to use local Kubernetes clusters during development and some use cases that are particularly compatible with it:
First Kubernetes Experiments: The ability to run local clusters on already available computers without further budget approvals and no access to a cloud environment makes them the typical environment for first experiments with Kubernetes.
The ability to run local clusters on already available computers without further budget approvals and no access to a cloud environment makes them the typical environment for first experiments with Kubernetes. Small Teams and Standardized Hardware: They can also be a good solution for smaller teams with standardized hardware, so admins with more Kubernetes experience can either set up the local clusters on every machine themselves or write step-by-step guidelines for their setup with the specific hardware.
They can also be a good solution for smaller teams with standardized hardware, so admins with more Kubernetes experience can either set up the local clusters on every machine themselves or write step-by-step guidelines for their setup with the specific hardware. Teams of Kubernetes Experts: Using a local environment to run Kubernetes is also a feasible option if every team member is a Kubernetes expert already, so they know how to care for the setup and how to solve potential configuration issues.
Using a local environment to run Kubernetes is also a feasible option if every team member is a Kubernetes expert already, so they know how to care for the setup and how to solve potential configuration issues. Low Computing Needs: Since it is hardly feasible to run very complex applications on local machines, having rather “simple” applications in terms of computing resources is a requirement to use local Kubernetes clusters for development.
Remote Cluster
The alternative for giving developers access to Kubernetes is a remote cluster in a cloud environment. In another article, I described the underlying methodology of cloud development and why it might become a new standard in the future.
Providing developers with a direct access to remote clusters can either be achieved by giving every engineer an own cluster that they can manage themselves in the cloud or by sharing a cluster with several developers with tools such as Loft or kiosk. I wrote a separate post about the difference between these two methods of working with a remote cluster, but both have some common strengths and weaknesses that I want to focus on in this post.
Advantages of Remote Kubernetes Clusters
The opportunity to use a cloud environment for development and testing purposes has some benefits that are contrary to the local environment:
Easy Replicability: A first benefit of working with remote clusters is that the setup process is easy, especially in public clouds, and can be very much standardized as the underlying infrastructure is always the same. This reduces the general setup effort and facilitates the onboarding of new team members. It also allows experienced Kubernetes experts to help less experienced colleagues as problems can either be replicated or the experts can also get a direct access to the cluster to solve the issue.
A first benefit of working with remote clusters is that the setup process is easy, especially in public clouds, and can be very much standardized as the underlying infrastructure is always the same. This reduces the general setup effort and facilitates the onboarding of new team members. It also allows experienced Kubernetes experts to help less experienced colleagues as problems can either be replicated or the experts can also get a direct access to the cluster to solve the issue. Centralized Management: No matter if shared clusters or individual clusters in the cloud are used, the administrator of the shared cluster or the cloud environment has some oversight about what everyone is doing. They can manage the access of the developers and usually also set limits to control the cost. Sometimes, especially in shared clusters, it is possible to set smart defaults that are automatically applied to newly created environments.
No matter if shared clusters or individual clusters in the cloud are used, the administrator of the shared cluster or the cloud environment has some oversight about what everyone is doing. They can manage the access of the developers and usually also set limits to control the cost. Sometimes, especially in shared clusters, it is possible to set smart defaults that are automatically applied to newly created environments. Realistic Environment: Another advantage of a remote environment is that it can be configured in a way that is exactly like the production environment. And even if there are minor differences, e.g. in terms of scale, the environments of the development and the live system are essentially the same in terms of all important aspects. This avoids unexpected problems after deployment and eliminates “it-works-on-my-machine”-problems. Additionally, it can increase the feeling of responsibility among developers to create software that can be deployed to the live system without issues and so supports a DevOps culture.
Another advantage of a remote environment is that it can be configured in a way that is exactly like the production environment. And even if there are minor differences, e.g. in terms of scale, the environments of the development and the live system are essentially the same in terms of all important aspects. This avoids unexpected problems after deployment and eliminates “it-works-on-my-machine”-problems. Additionally, it can increase the feeling of responsibility among developers to create software that can be deployed to the live system without issues and so supports a DevOps culture. Infinite Computing Power: Since the computing resources in the cloud are almost endless, it is possible to run even very complex systems such as large-scale microservice systems and computing-intense applications such as machine learning and AI software. The local machine of the engineer is not an issue anymore and can thus also be easily switched, e.g. if working from home with a private computer.
Disadvantages of Remote Kubernetes Clusters
Of course, using a remote Kubernetes cluster for development is not the holy grail that will solve all your issues. It also has some downsides to go for this approach:
Computing Cost: The first disadvantage of using a cloud environment is the computing cost that is associated with it. While this is mostly a one-time cost in private clouds, using a public cloud can become quite costly in the long run. While it is possible to reduce the cost by limiting the usage of the resources by the developers or by features such as the sleep-mode of Loft, the cost for using cloud-based Kubernetes for development will often be higher than local solutions. I wrote a separate post about how to save cost in this scenario.
The first disadvantage of using a cloud environment is the computing cost that is associated with it. While this is mostly a one-time cost in private clouds, using a public cloud can become quite costly in the long run. While it is possible to reduce the cost by limiting the usage of the resources by the developers or by features such as the sleep-mode of Loft, the cost for using cloud-based Kubernetes for development will often be higher than local solutions. I wrote a separate post about how to save cost in this scenario. Management Effort: While the setup of an environment for the developer is quite easy in the cloud, the management of the cloud environment needs to be taken care of. This can include the management of the access to the cloud environment itself, i.e. who can create clusters in a public cloud, or the management of the Kubernetes cluster that is shared by the developers. For example, if a new engineer wants to start working in the cloud environment, the admin of the cloud or the cluster manager needs to provide the engineer with an own access and some explanation about the processes. This will lead to some distraction for the designated manager of the development infrastructure. ( I believe this role can be described as Developer Experience Owner and could become more important in the future.) Fortunately, it is in the interest of public cloud providers as well as the providers internal Kubernetes platforms such as Loft to make the onboarding process as easy as possible, which has led to some improvements in this area already.
While the setup of an environment for the developer is quite easy in the cloud, the management of the cloud environment needs to be taken care of. This can include the management of the access to the cloud environment itself, i.e. who can create clusters in a public cloud, or the management of the Kubernetes cluster that is shared by the developers. For example, if a new engineer wants to start working in the cloud environment, the admin of the cloud or the cluster manager needs to provide the engineer with an own access and some explanation about the processes. This will lead to some distraction for the designated manager of the development infrastructure. ( I believe this role can be described as Developer Experience Owner and could become more important in the future.) Fortunately, it is in the interest of public cloud providers as well as the providers internal Kubernetes platforms such as Loft to make the onboarding process as easy as possible, which has led to some improvements in this area already. Isolation and Limits: Especially in a shared environment, the developers need to be isolated so they cannot interfere with each other. It is also important to enforce limits for the computing resource consumption so that they are fairly shared and cost are not exploding. There are some tools that support these multi-tenancy tasks for Kubernetes such as kiosk, but it is still something that needs to be taken into account when using remote Kubernetes clusters for development.
Use Cases for Remote Kubernetes Clusters
Different from local clusters, remote clusters can be used in any scenario as there are no hard limitations for settings that they cannot be used in. However, there are some situations that they seem especially fitting:
Heterogeneous Teams: If the requirements, backgrounds, and needs of the engineers in a team are very different and the hardware of every team member is individual, a remote environment helps to cater for these needs while it still offers the standardization of the processes. An example of such a situation could be a setting in which every engineer can choose their own hardware and they work on different tasks, such as frontend, backend, and testing but all want to work with Kubernetes.
If the requirements, backgrounds, and needs of the engineers in a team are very different and the hardware of every team member is individual, a remote environment helps to cater for these needs while it still offers the standardization of the processes. An example of such a situation could be a setting in which every engineer can choose their own hardware and they work on different tasks, such as frontend, backend, and testing but all want to work with Kubernetes. Teams With Little Kubernetes Knowledge: The standardization of the processes in a cloud Kubernetes setting can be very helpful for developers without extensive knowledge about Kubernetes. With additional tools such as DevSpace or Skaffold, the Kubernetes development workflow can be streamlined to a large extent, so it is possible to work with Kubernetes seamlessly. This also prevents distractions of developers from their actual focus at work.
The standardization of the processes in a cloud Kubernetes setting can be very helpful for developers without extensive knowledge about Kubernetes. With additional tools such as DevSpace or Skaffold, the Kubernetes development workflow can be streamlined to a large extent, so it is possible to work with Kubernetes seamlessly. This also prevents distractions of developers from their actual focus at work. Special Hardware Requirements: A remote cluster solution is also the best approach if specific hardware is required for running the developed software. Nowadays, this often means GPUs that are quite expensive to buy but are available on-demand in the cloud. The same goes for some specific services of cloud providers that can be only used if the software is also running in the cloud.
I also wrote a separate article where I compare the different Kubernetes development environments in some more detail.
Conclusion
Both approaches to give developers direct access to Kubernetes come with pros and cons and are the preferred solution in some situations. While the engineers are not distracted by additional tasks in remote environments, additional cost for infrastructure, its management, and additional tools are often inevitable. Local clusters will not cost you money at the beginning, but their use can still be expensive if the time engineers spend on additional tasks is accounted for.
Overall, this means that using Kubernetes during development comes at a price even if you use free, open-source solutions. However, I believe that it will pay off over time given the clear drawbacks of no Kubernetes access: unrealistic environments, separation of dev and ops (“works-on-my-machine”-problems), and missing replicability of issues. Finally, more complex applications may even force companies to give developers access to Kubernetes.
This is why I believe that it will become more common in the future for developers to directly interact with Kubernetes, one way or the other. Potentially, even a combination of both approaches becomes the standard, e.g. if local environments are used only for quick tests while major changes as well as the staging environment are running in a remote environment. | https://medium.com/swlh/local-cluster-vs-remote-cluster-for-kubernetes-based-development-6efe2d9be202 | ['Daniel Thiry'] | 2020-10-13 13:10:29.910000+00:00 | ['Cloud Native', 'Cloud Development', 'Software Development', 'Kubernetes Cluster', 'Kubernetes'] |
Token Analysis (BNB) Updated Valuation — Binance uncomplicated growth story continues on the back of 66% increase in quarterly profits (Target Price: $30.11) | Token Analysis (BNB) Updated Valuation — Binance uncomplicated growth story continues on the back of 66% increase in quarterly profits (Target Price: $30.11) Lennard Neo Follow May 9, 2019 · 6 min read
On 9 May 2019, Picolo Research released an updated Secondary Token Research Report on BNB. View the full report here.
**Update 22 May 2019: Target Price Hit ($30.11) from Closing Price of $20.75 (45% Upside)
Company Overview
Binance started in Jul 2017 and is an exchange platform for crypto to crypto transactions. It is one of the largest exchanges by trading volume, serving over 450 token pairs for trading.
The exchange boasts a matching engine that can perform 1.4m transactions per second (TPS) and is known for its high liquidity. Behind the platform is a professional team of 800+ employees with an influential CEO Zhao Changpeng at its helm.
Updates from the previous report (Jan 2019)
Picolo Research has updated our valuation on Binance taking into account the firm’s last quarter developments and current market conditions. Having seen a significant rise in BNB price since Jan 2019, our analysts revisited the valuation and highlighted several changes from the previous report.
Updated target price of BNB to $30.11 from $10.08 prior
Valuation methodology updated to reflect Binance additional expansion and service offerings
Drop in correlations between BNB and BTC/ETH, signifying divergence between the tokens
A significant rise in MV/Vol multiple (from 3.67 to 8.10), with markets perceiving higher valuations of exchanges on the back of IEO hype
Number of employees doubled from 400+ to 800+ signalling aggressive hiring for future growth
Regulatory threat not as significant as the firm strengthens its compliance department and continual expansion efforts in different jurisdictions
Thematic Views
Binance Chain the Catalyst. The launched of Binance Chain, its native blockchain, in April 2019 emphasise Binance’s vision of empowering a decentralised ecosystem. A week later, the launch of Binance DEX (Decentralized Exchange) follows suit with several projects (Mithril, Red Pulse, Gifto) announcing that they will migrate over to Binance Chain. This creates a shift of power within the top 10 blockchain infrastructure projects and adds another element to the utility of Binance token (BNB). Our analysts foresee a significant spillover effect of the market share on infrastructure projects into Binance Chain, which eventually provides another dimension of valuation on the token.
Growing profits on top of increasing trade volumes — Binance saw a 66% jump in QoQ profits in Q1 2019, the first positive gain after a consecutive decline in profits in the past five quarters. This was back by increased total trade volumes, which has picked up significantly in 2019 from $500b in Dec 2018 to all-time highs of $1,240b in Apr 2019. In addition, CME Bitcoin Futures volume also saw a huge surge with a 3x gain on the number of contracts traded in Apr 2019 as compared to the prior month, lifting sidelined monies into the market. More importantly, Binance market share of trade volumes has remained stable above the 30% level relative to its peers, which further emphasise its footing as a dominant crypto exchange platform for investors.
Launchpad and DEX a source of direct and indirect revenues — Binance recently unveiled guidelines for their listing process on Binance DEX. Concurrent to that, a listing fee of 2,000 BNB (~$44k) will be charged to the project upon having a successful vote proposal. Indirectly, both Launchpad and DEX have generated a significant amount of trading volumes, which in turn translate into trading revenue for Binance. The first 7 days of listing volume for a Launchpad project post-IEO such as BTT, FTT and CELR compromise of 11.2%, 6.3%, 6.3% of total Binance Volume respectively, which easily places them as the top 3 trading coins over that same period. That is approximately half of BTC/USDT (12.5–15%) average daily trading volume on Binance.
Competitor Analysis
Valuation
Picolo adjusted several parameters and adopted the sum of the parts valuation to reflect Binance additional service offerings. We adopted a three-prong approach to the fundamental valuation of BNB to determine the intrinsic value of the token. The three parameters include:
Value derived from token discounts Value derived from token repurchases and BNB burnt % proportion of market share derived from Binance chain as an infrastructure project
Our analysts assumed an implied quarterly growth rate of 22.8% and a quarterly discount factor of 6.8% (30% annualised), and after adding the parts together, we derived an intrinsic valuation of $33.79. In addition, a relative valuation was utilised to determine market sentiments of comparable exchanges. Based on the industry Market Value/Volume multiple (MV/Vol), BNB is valued at $26.43
Overall, an average of both fundamental and relative valuation was taken to derive a value of $30.11 per BNB token, which represents a 45% upside. | https://medium.com/astronaut-capital/token-analysis-bnb-updated-valuation-binance-uncomplicated-growth-story-continues-on-the-back-45a2ecc9c29e | ['Lennard Neo'] | 2019-05-22 01:47:46.233000+00:00 | ['Binance', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
How the United States Created Iran’s Nuclear Program | How the United States Created Iran’s Nuclear Program
It seemed like a good idea at the time
The Iranian flag (iStock.com/Rainer Puster)
President Dwight Eisenhower recognized a paradox concerning the new field of nuclear physics: on the one hand, uranium could be militarized into nuclear weapons, and on the other hand, it could be utilized to produce energy.
In 1953, Eisenhower delivered his “Atoms for Peace” speech to the United Nations General Assembly. Among other aspects of the speech, Eisenhower outlined a program between the United States and developing nations that wished to develop civilian nuclear programs. The United States would provide reactors, fuel, and scientific training; in return, participating developing nations would agree to use the technology only for peaceful purposes.
Eisenhower’s speech provided the ideological basis for the International Atomic Energy Agency and provided some political cover for the arms race. He also publicly channeled his desire to ensure global peace and bring prosperity to the developing world. The “Atoms for Peace” program, however, would have some unintended consequences in the following decades.
President Eisenhower and Mohammad Reza Shah in Tehran, 1959. (Source Unknown; Public Domain)
Among the participating developing nations eager for nuclear technology was Iran. Under Mohamed Reza Shah’s thumb due to a 1953 coup that Eisenhower supported, Iran signed a civilian nuclear cooperation arrangement with the United States in 1957. The Shah established the Tehran Nuclear Research Center (TNRC) at the University of Tehran in 1959. In 1967, the United States supplied the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR), along with highly enriched uranium, to the TNRC. This five-megawatt nuclear reactor is still operational to this day.
The Shah believed that Iran’s nuclear program was central to the country’s economic development. The TRR was nearly empty for the first decade of its existence, Iran simply did not have enough nuclear scientists to run the reactor properly. As a result, in 1975 the Shah made an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to train Iranian students in their Nuclear Engineering Master’s program. This program would provide the first class of Iranian nuclear scientists with technological training on nuclear energy. The Shah budgeted $1 billion to this venture — oil money went a long way. The MIT hired extra professors and allocated research labs specifically for the influx of new Iranian students, and the size of the Nuclear Engineering Master’s program effectively doubled.
While Iran’s nuclear program is a source of instability in the Middle East today, this was not the situation in the mid-1970s. State Department archives show that American officials encouraged the Shah to invest Iran’s immense oil profits into expensive American nuclear technology. For his part, the Shah wanted to convert Iran’s energy grid to nuclear energy, which would free up its vast oil reserves for export. The price of oil was unstable during this decade. Stabilizing the oil market while ensuring investment in American technology was seen as a mutually beneficial arrangement.
The program had its critics, and the Iranian students’ arrival was controversial among MIT faculty and students. Noam Chomsky was critical that the university was, “leasing the Nuclear Engineering department to the Shah in exchange for an unspecified amount of money.”
Anti-Shah demonstrators protest in Tehran, 1978. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz)
The arrangement was ultimately short-lived. The first students arrived in 1975, but by 1979 the Shah had fallen due to the Iranian Revolution. While some students had already returned to Iran, the ones still studying then faced a choice: either remain in the United States or return to a new, fundamentally different, Iranian regime that was hostile to the West.
The Boston Globe attempted to track down the thirty-five Iranian students in the program. Of those thirty-five students, it located twenty-eight in total. About two-thirds of the students stayed in the United States.
Of the former students who returned to their home country, two became instrumental to Iran’s nuclear program: Mansour Haj Azim, the supposed leader of a suspected nuclear weapons site and deputy director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, and Mohammad Zaker, who became head of a research reactor in Tehran. Their work in their country’s nuclear program in part contributed to the tense relationship between the United States and Iran. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/how-the-united-states-created-irans-nuclear-program-9511ce89983e | ['Jacquie Devigne'] | 2020-12-01 09:01:47.380000+00:00 | ['USA', 'Foreign Policy', 'Nuclear', 'Iran', 'History'] |
Announcing Ome: Our Story | Today, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Ome.
Until now, you’ve known us as Inirv — we build smart technology to help you cook smarter and live better. We’ve created the first connected device that can turn any gas or electric stove into a smart appliance in minutes. Our Smart Knobs seamlessly replace your existing stove knobs so you can monitor and control your appliance with ease, from anywhere. You can set cooking timers, make sure your stove is off after you leave the house, and remotely adjust burner settings. Ome Knobs even automatically turn off your burner if you leave it on by accident!
While we’ve learned so much as Inirv, “Inirv” as a name itself never quite encompassed our vision and a lot of reflection went into our decision to rebrand as Ome. It’s derived from “Om” — a sacred Sanskrit symbol and sound that signifies peace and tranquility. Our mission is to create experiences that bring “Om” to your home every day.
More on our rebrand soon, but for now, I’d like to take this moment to share how far we’ve come. Because we’re just getting started.
let’s begin…at the beginning
My road to becoming a consumer hardware founder was a bit unconventional. I was a neuroscience major at Duke, narrowly focused on what I needed to do next to secure my degree and become a doctor. That is until a personal experience — right at home — led me down a different path.
During my gap year working at Duke Hospital, my mom started a house fire because she left the stove on by accident. It wasn’t the first time the stove was left on and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. I needed a solution. My parents were getting older, they were cooking every day, and I had to make sure they could continue to do the things they loved at home without worrying. In my search for solutions, a huge problem came to the forefront — unattended cooking is still the #1 cause of house fires. To me, that made sense. How many times had I gotten distracted and left food cooking for just a few minutes too long? Chicken overcooks, boiled eggs explode, or veggies burn.
I stayed up night after night thinking about the problem. The kitchen is so behind in technology while the rest of the home is saturated with smart devices that bring safety and convenience to everything we do. I noticed companies trying to build new smart appliances, which puzzled me. How’s that going to work when appliances last for decades? Not many people have the means to spend thousands on new appliances when the ones they have work perfectly fine. So why aren’t we learning from what’s worked in the smart home already? Think door locks, doorbells, and thermostats. Why not modernize the kitchen through retrofit? It’s worked everywhere else! I pulled in my husband to brainstorm and this concept sounded like a slam dunk. Even though we had little idea what building something from nothing would entail, Ome was born.
rejection as an aid
When we started, our thought was “How hard can it really be to create a smart stove knob?” You need plastics, a motor, a battery, and a circuit board. Easy! In many ways, I’m glad we were blissfully unaware of the challenges we would inevitably face but I can certainly appreciate that thought now. At the time, I truly didn’t understand the complexity of starting a business, creating a product from scratch, or how to build the infrastructure necessary to support that business for the long haul. We were also the first to bring something like this to market — there was no other smart knob to test, inspect, or research.
For two years, we bootstrapped. We didn’t have funds for any full-time resources so we utilized contractors to get to our first “working” prototype. But limited resources meant piece-mealing things together, which meant there was usually (okay, always) something that didn’t work. Firmware, the app, mechanical issues — it seemed if one thing was working, it was guaranteed something else wasn’t.
As we slowly got to our first prototype, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself — Shark Tank. This really felt full circle because we were Shark Tank watchers for years, and it was because of the show that we had the courage to take the entrepreneurial leap in the first place. With some stroke of luck, we made it through the audition process and found ourselves swimming with the Sharks. We spent over 90 minutes going back and forth, ultimately getting offered a deal but for more equity than we presented initially. And boy, it’s so hard to turn down money sitting right in front of you, especially when you’re perpetually riding on the edge of a cliff. But our visions didn’t align. We believed in our business and where it could go, so we turned the Sharks down and walked away empty-handed.
I always get asked whether I regret that decision and in the moments after exiting the Tank, maybe. But hindsight is always 20/20. Ultimately, that was one of the best decisions we ever made. We were still developing, trying and failing at the whole startup thing and attempting to conquer a massive learning curve. If we had taken that money then, we wouldn’t have utilized the capital the right way and certainly not the smart way. More importantly, turning it down allowed us to gain perspective and a renewed mindset. We were forced to find ways around our obstacles, think outside the box, and build the resilience that allowed us to see another day. I believe that sometimes, capital can blind a founder and I’m thankful for experiences like this one that pushed me to see things clearer.
On the plus side, the visibility from airing on the show allowed us to hear from thousands of potential customers to refine our product and how it works. We listened, asked questions, and iterated quickly. Shark Tank gave us a direct line to our future customers that changed the game in more ways than one.
Post-Shark Tank, however, we still had no money, no team, and no clear path forward. We had to (re)start, somewhere, somehow.
learn as you go
Fundraising. The lifeblood of every startup; the bane of every founder. I had no understanding of how to navigate the capital raising game, not to mention how to do it successfully. I started pitching to hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds) of angel investors, VCs, accelerators, and pretty much anyone who would give me a minute of their time — for nothing ever to come through. For years, I heard “no,” after “no,” after “no.” I got every reason for a “no” you could think of — “too early,” “hardware’s hard,” “there’s no market,” “I don’t cook, so who would use this,” etc etc. It took me a while to recognize and make the necessary mental shift from a founder asking for investment, to a founder presenting an opportunity. Once that mindset changed, the responses did too.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before any “yeses,” as I was still wading through rejection, I also had to figure out how to manage highly technical engineers as a “non-technical” CEO. I was just a few years out of school and never worked in a corporate environment, managed a team, or built a product as technically complex as this one. I wondered how I could be an effective manager while also learning how to build and grow a business. Hindsight again — team. I was fortunate to find talented engineers who didn’t mind stumbling with me as I learned the ins and outs of product development, from working in sprints and managing supply chain to designing a PCB and building AWS architecture. As a remote workforce using primarily Slack and Zoom, it was most certainly rocky at first. I still have a lot to learn but I’ve grown into the leader I am today because of a team that believed I could get here, investing the time to educate me whenever possible. And it’s here that I would like to say: Thank you to my lean but mighty powerhouse — Hans, Terrance, Will, Phil, and Rich. I’m humbled to work alongside you every day.
purposeful persistence
In all fairness to investors who said “no,” on paper I didn’t make sense. What business does a neuroscience grad have building a smart home startup? Well, resumes aren’t everything. We’ve managed to build and ship a connected hardware product on just $1.5M of outside capital (if you know hardware, you know this isn’t much). We’ve built countless prototypes, rebuilt firmware code from scratch, navigated the global chip shortage and still, we’ll have thousands of devices in homes by the end of the summer. And that’s not even the best part. Despite all the setbacks, I’ve somehow found investors who understand and embrace me and my vision. I now have an incredible group of both men and women (woo!) around the table, supporting me every day through the inevitable trials and tribulations of launching, growing and scaling this business. Thank you to our investors — Outlander, Halogen, Zane, Techstars, Crescent Ridge, Third Act, igniteXL, Techsquare and our angels for seeing something in me that I likely didn’t see in myself. I’m grateful to continue building Ome, together.
We have much more to share in the coming months, but for today I’d like to end with a few more overdue, heartfelt thank yous. Thank you to my partner Ranjith, my family, friends, advisors, mentors, and fellow founders for helping me navigate these hard but rewarding years. There are many more successes and failures to come, but because of your encouragement and guidance, I feel more prepared than ever to lead Ome through this next phase of our story.
Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this. I’m so proud of how Inirv has evolved, but even more excited for what Ome will become. We’re about to turn up the dial in the kitchen (pun definitely intended) and hope you will continue to follow our journey.
- Akshita
CEO & Cofounder, Ome
[email protected] | https://medium.com/@akshita.iyer/announcing-ome-our-story-e7e3b95a9053 | ['Akshita Iyer'] | 2021-06-14 22:19:56.998000+00:00 | ['Smart Home', 'Hardware Startup', 'Startup', 'Female Founders', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
The Youngest U.S. President | Note:
Vice-president Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, following the assassination of the 25th U.S. President William McKinley. President McKinley was the third president to be assassinated in U.S. history. Teddy Roosevelt was 42 years and 322 days old when he assumed office, becoming the youngest president in U.S. history.
After finishing out the rest of McKinley’s elected term, Roosevelt ran for president in the 1904 election. President Roosevelt won the election against the Democratic candidate Alton B. Parker. Essentially, Roosevelt had served nearly two full terms by 1908 and promised not to run for re-election. Instead, Roosevelt endorsed Republican candidate William Howard Taft in the 1908 presidential election. Taft proved victorious in this election, becoming the 27th U.S. President after defeating the Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan.
While Roosevelt had initially endorsed Taft for president, he became irate after Taft raised tariff duties and opened some public lands for development. A furious Roosevelt decided to create his own political faction called the Progressive Republican Party or Progressive Party. Roosevelt’s party was also often referred to as the Bull Moose Party as President Roosevelt once boasted that he was “as strong as a bull moose.”
Roosevelt ran for re-election in the 1912 presidential election against sitting Republican President Taft and the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt’s entrance into the race as a Progressive candidate ended up splitting the Republican vote, leading to Woodrow Wilson winning the election and becoming the 28th President of the United States.
While Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party didn’t prove to be successful, President Roosevelt made lasting contributions to the nation through his progressive ideas. Roosevelt is best remembered for being a champion of conservation, consumer protection, and control of corporations.
Conservation
During this presidency, Teddy Roosevelt set aside 230 million acres for public lands for the creation of wildlife refuges, national forests, and national parks.
Consumer Protection
Roosevelt also brought the U.S. better consumer protection through the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. These laws helped to prevent foods and pharmaceuticals from being contaminated or mislabeled as federal inspection was now made mandatory.
Control of Corporations
President Roosevelt also helped to put in more regulations on corporations during his presidency. Roosevelt worked to curb abuse that he felt was prevalent within giant corporations throughout the United States. In 1902, President Roosevelt sided with striking coal miners seeking better working conditions and workers’ wages. Roosevelt threatened to send in federal troops if mine owners didn’t create a better working environment. Roosevelt went after unfair business practices in the railroad, meat, and sugar industries too. His work against unfair practices among corporate monopolies earned him the nickname “trust-buster.”
Overall, the youngest president in U.S. history was a progressive man who left a lasting impact on the nation. | https://medium.com/a-few-lines-of-history/the-youngest-u-s-president-1dcb5c7fb115 | ['Danielle Gibson'] | 2020-12-23 20:15:32.313000+00:00 | ['History', 'Poetry', 'President', 'Poem', 'American History'] |
The Toils of Software Development | Fatigue
Mental fatigue is my worst enemy, probably more than any other toil of development. When you face fatigue, it’s hard to get started on new projects or complete existing projects because of the technical debt you’ve created for yourself that you now need to fix.
This kind of fatigue also comes about from working on many different projects, working in many different languages on the same project, or just working on a project in a language you don’t know. You overwork your thinking cap, and development slows to almost a grinding halt.
The best way to take care of fatigue is to do something else not related to development, better yet, computers period. Go outside and walk around the building for 15 minutes with someone else. It helps keep you distracted for a while and, if they are a developer, you can bounce ideas off of each other about how to solve an issue one of you might have.
When I’m at home, I might fire up a game I don’t have to think too hard about and play for about 30 minutes. | https://medium.com/better-programming/the-toils-of-software-development-23b8989e70f4 | ['Bob Roebling'] | 2019-12-16 16:14:05.442000+00:00 | ['Problem Solving', 'Programming', 'Failure', 'Education', 'Software Development'] |
Mobile App User Experience Design Case Study by Mesrop Janoyan | Project Brief
Ignite is a multiplatform VPN venture by engage:BDR, a cross-device display and video advertising company based in West Hollywood, California. As a virtual private network service reseller, Ignite seeks to provide online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection using a white-label VPN implementation.
Project Objectives
The primary objective was to design an engaging, trustworthy, and memorable user experience on iOS through a white-label VPN API and market it to consumers who are growing increasingly aware of online cybersecurity and data privacy risks. The iOS experience and visual design were subsequently adapted to Android, macOS, and Windows platforms.
My Role
Over 11 months, I served as Ignite VPN’s Principal and sole UX/UI Designer. During that time, I designed Ignite’s user experience, user interface, and interaction design on mobile, desktop, and web platforms, as well as brand identity and style guide.
Project Overview: Product Design Sprints
I conducted the product design portion of the project in a series of five iterative design sprints to answer crucial product questions through data-driven design, prototyping, and testing. Each sprint was designed as a microcosm of the overall design thinking process employed in this project. | https://medium.com/@mesropj/ignite-vpn-mobile-app-design-989a8873c096 | ['Mesrop Janoyan'] | 2020-11-30 21:19:25.121000+00:00 | ['Rapid Prototyping', 'User Experience Design', 'Product Design', 'Wireframe Design', 'User Interface Design'] |
How To Have Fun | Life is all about having fun. If you are not having fun, then you are not trying hard enough. Schedule some fun time today.
There are many things you can do that are fun that don’t cost a lot of money. Here are some examples.
Virtual Reality (VR). You can get an inexpensive VR goggle and then find some free VR games. I tried the game with dinosaurs and that was fun, and I plan on trying more games.
Play board games. Long before the internet, people played board games with each other and had fun. It is a great time for all.
Make videos and post them online to sites like YouTube. People can enjoy them all over the world.
Try cooking desserts. This can be a fun activity for the whole family. Even if they don’t turn out perfect, the desserts will be delicious for sure.
Watch television together. Family night at my house often includes watching a movie together so that we have a shared experience.
These are just a few ideas of ways to have fun. There is no need to waste all of energy on work and paying bills. Do something that you really enjoy and have fun doing so. | https://medium.com/@darrinatkins/how-to-have-fun-7a228844637a | ['Darrin Atkins'] | 2020-12-19 22:22:57.297000+00:00 | ['Fun', 'Family', 'Activities For Kids', 'Games', 'Life'] |
Air per Capita | Air per Capita
Photo by Tim Hüfner on Unsplash
One deep breath costs one lung,
And an exhale, costs another,
I have two of my hands to sell to
Repurchase it again,
As the cycle goes on, so does
My spiraling ethic,
It moves as fast as
My heart and mind could function,
It’s pulsating through overtime,
More breath is being taken
In,
It breathes in and out
Like it’s being
Transplanted,
In and out,
In and out,
In a faster rate,
It breaks down through the long hours,
The warm body is the embodiment of
Hot comfortable air,
Until leaving the door to go home,
As the cold air released night winds
That blew fast,
A tsunami of icicles
Stabbing
The baggy lungs,
Heavy with impenetrable
Coinage. | https://medium.com/illumination/air-per-capita-fc120e32bc19 | ['Enne Baker'] | 2020-12-16 21:15:26.289000+00:00 | ['Money', 'America', 'Finance', 'Poetry', 'Capitalism'] |
從 RGB 判斷顏色深淺(dark/light) | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/%E5%BD%BC%E5%BE%97%E6%BD%98%E7%9A%84-swift-ios-app-%E9%96%8B%E7%99%BC%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C%E8%A7%A3%E7%AD%94%E9%9B%86/%E5%BE%9E-rgb-%E5%88%A4%E6%96%B7%E9%A1%8F%E8%89%B2%E6%B7%B1%E6%B7%BA-dark-light-f7b116528966 | ['彼得潘的 Ios App Neverland'] | 2020-12-16 14:50:49.322000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Xcode', 'Swift'] |
What Kept the Weinstein Allegations Quiet For So Long | New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey share new details about their blockbuster investigation.
Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor. Photo: Getty Images
Nearly two years ago, the New York Times published reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s groundbreaking investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations that surrounded Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein for decades. The report helped ignite the current #MeToo movement — but the behind-the-scenes story of Jodi and Megan’s work was unknown until now. In their new book She Said, the journalists share new details from the investigation, and even feature interviews with Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. I recently sat down with Jodi and Megan. You can read most of our conversation below, but stay tuned to Wake-Up Call for more.
Katie Couric: ‘She Said’ is a blockbuster, and the reaction has been pretty extraordinary. What are you hearing from your readers, Megan?
Megan Twohey: I think there were readers who were reluctant to pick up a book, thinking, “Do we really need to know more about Harvey Weinstein?” But what we realized when we broke the first story about Weinstein in 2017, it was really just the beginning. We had been able to connect some of the dots about his alleged predation and how he had been able to cover it up for so many years. But since then — in the process of reporting this book — we were able to bring together so many other pieces of the puzzle and really pull the curtain back on the machinery that was in place to silence his accusers and to try to stop our investigation.
There were individuals and institutions who got glimpses of the wrongdoings over the years. We really probed the questions of: What did they know? When did they know it? What did they try to do about it? And that really spoke to a larger question that stretches across workplaces: When you see something, how do people intervene? How do they become complicit?
I think you pulled the curtain back and in many ways, it’s the anatomy of a story and the anatomy of a movement. It’s a modern day version of ‘All The President’s Men’, but in this case, it’s ‘All the Predator’s Enablers.’ Jodi, can you tell us a bit about some of the people and the forces that kept this guy’s secret for so long?
Jodi Kantor: That’s a great question, because it’s what we felt we needed to get to the bottom of. Look, we don’t know if Harvey Weinstein is going to be convicted or not at this criminal trial that is set to begin in January. But we felt like we have a responsibility to dig deeper and to answer some of these moral mysteries. He basically was able to use his company to both further his alleged predation and to cover up some of what he was doing. Some of the most esteemed lawyers in America helped him: David Boies, who helped win gay marriage; Lisa Bloom, a famous feminist attorney who’s known for being a writer for women, helped him beyond what we had even originally understood; Linda Fairstein, probably one of the most famous sex crimes prosecutors in the U.S. was on Weinstein’s team. Part of what this book is about is the surprise of who helped and who hindered.
What surprised you about those people? Did you know the extent of the protective web that surrounded this guy? Or were you like “holy *$&%” when you really dug in and wrote the book?
Megan: We had some glimpses of the activity of some of these figures who had been by Weinstein’s side as he tried to silence his accusers and push back the investigation. But we didn’t know the whole picture. In fact, Lisa Bloom had long maintained that she crossed sides to work with Weinstein because she thought that he had only engaged in inappropriate comments towards women and that she wanted to help him apologize for his behavior. Well, in the course of reporting this book, we obtained confidential records in which she was basically spelling out all of the underhanded tactics she was going to use to undermine his accusers. Here’s a lawyer who had spent years working with victims and she was promising him that she was going to harness all of that experience and help him use it against the women who might go public with him.
It wasn’t just Lisa Bloom that you wrote about in the book. It was also her mom, Gloria Allred, whose name has become synonymous with protecting and defending the victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Did that surprise you? It really surprised me.
Jodi: It really did. It surprised the whole New York Times team. We should explain that Gloria Allred played a different role than Lisa Bloom did in this whole story. You’ve got this powerful mother-daughter feminist lawyer team and Lisa Bloom, as Megan just explained, crossed lines to work with Weinstein. Gloria Allred didn’t exactly do that. She did something else that, to be honest, most attorneys in this arena do: secret settlements, in which an accuser pays a woman money and she has to keep everything confidential. Because what she does is actually very common, it calls our whole system into question.
And in fact, reaching those settlements basically prevented the story from getting the lid blown off of it and protecting all these other victims, right?
Megan: Over the course of our reporting, we time and again were encountering these secret settlements. It was roadblock after roadblock after roadblock. We, in the end, were able to determine that Weinstein had paid as many as eight secret settlements going back to 1990. There was a young woman who had worked in his first company, Miramax, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by him — and within days had been silenced by a secret settlement. I tracked her down at a home outside New York, knocked on the door. She opened it and had a young daughter by her side looking up at me. When we explained what we were doing, she said: “I have been waiting for this knock on my door for 25 years.” But she was legally prohibited from telling us what happened to her.
I also think this gets into the nitty-gritty and the less glamorous part of being investigative reporters. These great, incredible stories take hours and hours — weeks, sometimes months — of work. Tell us a little bit about some of the biggest challenges of reporting this story.
Jodi: Well, there was the fact that Megan and I did not know any actresses when we started. We had these conversations that were absurd in retrospect. We would sit around the New York Times’ investigative unit and say: “Okay, how do we get Gwyneth Paltrow’s phone number? How do you get Uma Thurman’s phone number?” We knew we couldn’t go through their publicists or their agents, and then we thought, “Okay, even if we could get those women’s phone numbers and we called them — what would you say in the first 45 seconds on the phone to begin to win some trust, some confidence, given that everybody has been silent about this for so long?”
And how did you? Can you reveal your tricks?
Jodi: I can, because it’s actually sort of core to our partnership. Megan and I did not really know each other before we started working on this. Rebecca Corbett, our editor, recommended that I call Megan at the outset of the Weinstein investigation. I was working alone, and Megan was on maternity leave. But Megan had done some really crucial reporting in 2016 about allegations that women were making against President Trump. She had also done a lot of sex crimes reporting. She said that sometimes the way she made the case to victims who were very scared on the phone was by saying: “Look, I can’t change what happened to you in the past. But if we worked together, we may be able to do something constructive here and help other people.”
What do you think was in the ether and in the culture that made this story explode, in addition to your intrepid reporting?
Jodi: I think the reaction once that story was published touched on the widespread anger about these allegations towards Trump but I have to tell you that in those months of reporting, it cut in another direction. You’d be on the phone with these women and you’d be trying to persuade them and give them the confidence to come forward, and they’d say, “Jodi, Megan, even if I do, it won’t matter. Look at those women who came forward about Trump, and he was elected anyway, so why could this possibly be worth it for me?”
Megan: We spend a lot of time talking about why certain allegations stick and why others don’t. We begin our book with the reporting on Trump, we push into Weinstein, and we push up in the year that followed into Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford coming forward. What we realized is that time and again, when these allegations are made in the political realm, it quickly descends into holy war and people on both political sides take up arms against each other — and that the women can basically be forgotten.
In fact, Christine Blasey Ford is interviewed for this book, not once but several times. Why was it important to include her in this book?
Jodi: We felt it would be way too easy to end this book with us publishing the Harvey Weinstein story, because we all know that #MeToo has become much more complicated since then. There are basically three big questions about #MeToo that we think are going unanswered. First of all, what’s the scope of behaviors that we’re talking about? Number two, how are we getting to the bottom of what happened? What are the tools we’re using to figure out which information is correct? And then, number three, what does punishment look like? Those questions all get very intertwined.
As we began to see the Blasey Ford story emerge onto the public stage, we said to ourselves, “This is really going to reflect the complexity of #MeToo right now. This is going to capture the really complicated things that people are feeling.”
In closing, I’m curious to ask you all, sitting here now, how far have we come, really? Has the culture changed? How have you seen the world transform itself on the heels of this seismic shift in how we view people in the workplace and people in general? That’s a long question!
Jodi: I think what’s so confounding is that everything has changed, and nothing has changed. So we all have this question: What am I going to tell my grandkids and my great-grandkids about this period? Are we going to say: I lived through this thing and then it petered out? Or are we going to be able to say: I was there when everything changed.
Megan: We always point out that you can’t solve a problem that you can’t see, so as a society there’s still a lot of work to do to make sure everybody receives adequate fairness. In the meantime, we as reporters are going to do what it is we do, which is to help unearth the facts and help bring them to life.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length.
This originally appeared in the September 24, 2019 edition of Katie Couric’s Wake-Up Call newsletter. Subscribe here. | https://medium.com/wake-up-call/katie-couric-megan-twohey-jodi-kantor-she-said-8f95736c4742 | ['Katie Couric'] | 2019-09-24 09:01:01.289000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Jodi Kantor', 'Megan Twohey', 'She Sai', 'Harvey Weinstein'] |
Walking on Water with Christo | Christo has no time to waste. On his 81st birthday, a few days before the opening of The Floating Piers, his monumental walkway across the waters of Lake Iseo in Italy, I was trailing the artist along with several of his assistants and a camera crew. We couldn’t keep up. He strode down a pier lined with dinghies for the project’s teams of divers, yelling, “We built this!” without turning back to face the scrambling group behind him. He reached the pier’s edge and swung his wiry frame around, launching into a description of the project’s engineering feats as we caught up with him.
Lake Iseo lies 60 miles northeast of Milan. The serene waters are encompassed by steep slopes of forest and the occasional rocky-faced mountain; small clusters of creamy yellow houses with terra cotta roofs dot the sparsely populated shores. The idyllic scene is the site of what may be Christo’s most magical installation, The Floating Piers — a 3.5-mile golden yellow path through the medieval streets of Sulzano on the shoreside, from where pedestrians walk across the water to Peschiera Maraglio on the peaked island of Monte Isola, and circle the tiny, castle-dotted island of San Paolo. Covered in dahlia yellow fabric, the path is the same sunshine color as the saffron robes of Buddhist monks; it brightens and darkens with the changing light, and as the walkway undulates with the waves.
The numinous effect of the walkway stands in stark contrast with the engineering and construction blitz that filled the lake with the sound of helicopters and motorboats in the lead-up to opening day. “Building this matrix — ” Christo pointed to the lattice of plastic cubes on which he stood, “is like building a highway.” He indicated the floating helicopter pad, the journalists’ dock, the boat wharf — all areas built just to support the construction of the final walkway — and counted off statistics of the total undertaking: 190 concrete anchors, each weighing five tons, installed by a team of six French divers, working at a depth of 300 feet. All of this cantilevered to a floating pontoon walkway that stretches across nearly two miles of water, piecing together 220,000 of the 20-inch cubes, and all of it to be recycled after July 3. Work began in November with a team of 50 Bulgarian installers, then came the divers, then, this month, 600 additional workers.
Christo, born in Bulgaria, was a political refugee in Paris at age 21 when he met the love of his life and fellow mononym Jeanne-Claude. (Formerly possessors of the surnames Javacheff and Denat de Guillebon, respectively.) They worked side by side for fifty years, creating an art form all their own: large-scale installations that exist at the intersection of architecture, urban planning, and art, wresting a sublime experience from familiar landscapes and cityscapes.
Christo closed his eyes as he recounted their history: 22 projects rejected, 37 completed — in 1972, the giant Valley Curtain in Colorado; in 1985, the wrapping of Paris’s Pont Neuf, then Berlin’s Reichstag in 1995; in 2005, The Gates in Central Park; in 2009, Jeanne-Claude passed away. He opened his eyes. “Now we are here,” he said, the plastic pier creaking underfoot with the waves, “and I don’t have a lot of time.”
Christo had told his nephew and long-time operations manager, Vladimir Yavachev, that he was going to turn 80 in 2015, and he wanted to get something done quickly. Christo wanted to make people walk on water. He chose the height of summer for the installation — longer sunshine — and invoked the water, sky, and mountains as elements in his composition. He pronounced, his Bulgarian accent thickening, an emphatic prescription: “It’s not a project to look at, it’s a project to walk. Real walk, not virtual. Not virtual sun. Not virtual wet. The real walk.”
Despite the incredible engineering complexities of The Floating Piers, the project came together in less than two years — a breeze compared to the decades-long process of several prior projects. Christo first conceived of the idea in 1970, but settled on Lake Iseo for the site in 2014, long after having tried in Argentina and later Japan. It will last, like all of his installations, for just a brief moment — sixteen days, until July 3, free and open to the public 24 hours a day.
“These precious sixteen days, that’s because these projects of mine cannot be bought, cannot be owned, cannot be possessed,” Christo said, yelling into the wind as a helicopter transported building materials overhead. “They are projects of total freedom. Nobody can own these, because if you own something, it’s not free. This is why they are made for everybody. They exist only in this very precious time, and never again, like our life. We’re gone, and then we will never be again.”
Christo stared into the distance for a moment, strands of his white hair flapping in the wind, before speedboats of his young crewmembers caught his eye. They were on their way to install a rehearsal run of the fabric that would be sewn to the long walkway for opening day. They whooped and yelled “Happy birthday!” to Christo as the boats ferried them towards the San Paolo pier. He waved and smiled, seeing it was time to get work. Stepping into a speedboat, he took off towards his floating esplanade, yelling goodbye to us without turning around. | https://medium.com/@lrysman/walking-on-water-with-christo-a9982553d094 | ['Laura Rysman'] | 2020-06-01 21:04:16.118000+00:00 | ['Death', 'Artist', 'Art', 'Christo', 'Italy'] |
Trump 2024. | Losing a presidential election is a crushing experience. In 2004, shortly before midnight on the day of the election, it became clear that President Bush would win Ohio and thus win re-election. The networks, out of an abundance of caution, didn’t call it until later the next day. It took Senator John Kerry, the Democratic Party’s nominee, longer still to accept the outcome.
President Clinton’s former press secretary, Mike McCurry, served as the go-between for the two campaigns, “negotiating” (if you will) Mr. Kerry’s inevitable concession. Messages went back and forth. President Bush was content to wait; he’d been there the night his father lost to Clinton and witnessed crushing defeat first hand.
After a while, Kerry accepted the inevitable and delivered his concession speech. In the aftermath, a conspiracy theory emerged. Ohio had been “stolen” from Kerry. The maker of (some of) Ohio’s voting machines, Diebold Corporation, had diabolically reported Kerry votes as Bush votes, tipping the final result Mr. Bush’s way. Chief among the promoters of this theory were Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who wrote a lengthy article about it for Rolling Stone magazine) and none other than Roger Stone, whose activities in 2015–16 on behalf of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump would lead to his prosecution and eventual conviction on seven counts of lying to Congress.
In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, a much grander, global conspiracy has emerged, involving (among others) a dead Venezuelan president, shady Cuban operatives, a nefarious corporation (Dominion) and one of the American right-wing’s favorite villains, George Soros. (Soros’s staying power as mastermind of global conspiracies remains one of the wonders of the modern world). Said conspiracy theory asserts that President Trump won the election in a “landslide” and that corrupt Black people in urban precincts in key states denied him victory in the Electoral College.
Not even the normally reliable Fox News Channel talk show host Tucker Carlson believes this, and for good reason. It’s bonkers. Even shards of supporting evidence are non-existent. Trump campaign operatives and an apparently large number of White House “aides” and “advisors” don’t believe it either, telling the press “on background” that the president will eventually accept the outcome and concede, he just needs time to let crushing reality sink in. The “give him time, he’s just having trouble adjusting, he’ll eventually do the right thing” narrative has been adopted by virtually every Republican Party elected official in the country.
It’s been 18 days and there’s no sign that presidential “adjustment” is imminent. If anything, he appears headed in the opposite direction. The latest scheme is to block certification of the results in enough states to prevent President-elect Biden from attaining an Electoral College victory and have Republican state legislators in those states vote to void the election returns and declare Mr. Trump the winner.
No one (or almost no one) thinks this is going to work.
If you’re a White House aide or Trump family member, getting The Big Guy to a safe space where he is able to accept the election’s outcome has become Job One. Said aides and family members appear to have settled on a narrative about the glorious promise of his post-presidency.
He might buy a cable news network or streaming service and lay waste to the suddenly disloyal Fox News Channel. He might buy Fox News Channel and return it to its rightful mission (supporting Trump). He might buy CNN from AT&T and have his revenge. Or he might sign a gigantic “talent” contract and host his own show on a cable news channel; which one to be decided later. A 5-star menu of choices awaits.
Back in June, I wrote a column on the subject of Trump TV that walked through how it might come together (and how it might not). Two or three of the scenarios still make sense, but the notion of the soon-to-be-former president running a cable news network makes no sense. He’s particularly ill-equipped to do so. His strength is showmanship, not stewardship.
So the question is, where would The Trump Show land?
It might land at the Trump Network, if enough private equity/family office/investment bank money can be marshaled and the Murdochs or AT&T decide to sell Fox News Channel or CNN, respectively. The president would probably insist that either network be re-branded as the Trump Network as part of the deal. He would not insist he be involved in its management (except, perhaps, as Chairman of the Board). Management is for less important, nameless people. Trump is only interested in being the star of the show.
The Trump Show will not land at OANN or Newsmax; the Fox News Channel wannabees. You don’t go from being president of the United States to hosting a TV show on a third-rate cable news “network” with limited distribution and a bargain basement brand. If you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it on the big stage.
Aside from Fox News Channel and CNN, the only other available “big stage” is CNBC, whose new management has been murmuring about revamping its primetime programming and using those three hours to attack Fox News Channel from the right. Putting Mr. Trump on once or twice a week in the 9pm time slot would catapult CNBC into a dominant position in the ratings immediately, at least on that night or those nights when “The Trump Show” ran. And CNBC would fit with Trump’s idea of himself; the self-described master of the “art of the deal” housed at the nation’s leading business network.
Part B of the promising Trump post-presidency is the do-over 2024 presidential campaign. Assuming no health issues arise, Mr. Trump would tower over the emerging field of GOP hopefuls, in the way that Ronald Reagan towered over the field in 1980, only more so. The Republican Party, after all, is no longer the Republican Party. It’s the Trump-Populist Party. And the Trump-Populist Party will nominate as its 2024 standard-bearer Donald Trump, not, say, Sen. Tom Cotton or Sen. Josh Hawley.
Part B is, I would guess, the exit ramp that finally enables Trump to concede-but-not-really the election results and leave the White House “bloody but unbowed.” He would do so with a mighty army of voters committed to his restoration. He would loom, on TV, as a one-man shadow government.
Whatever happens, the idea that he will go gently into that good night is as deranged as the conspiracy theories currently on display. On January 20th, shortly after noon Eastern Time, the Trump “re-election” campaign will commence. It may not make it to 2024, for any number of reasons. It won’t be for lack of trying. | https://41jellis.medium.com/trump-2024-8659ef4fc449 | ['John Ellis'] | 2020-11-22 08:10:55.879000+00:00 | ['President Trump Tv Show', 'Conspiracy Theories', 'Cnn', 'Fox News', 'Trump'] |
CelebA Attribute Prediction and Clustering with Keras | The Model
The model we are going to build is heavily based on the MobileNetV2 architecture, basically is the same model but without the top classification layers (MobileNetV2 is built to output 1000 class probabilities).
First, the model takes one image (3 channels, 224×224 in size) at a time as input, and outputs a vector of probabilities of size n (typically, the size vary according to how much attributes you want to detect). The i-th element of the vector is a real number between 0 (attribute i is not present) and 1 (attribute i is present).
Note that the output vector can contain more than one non-zero elements, meaning that more than one attribute can belong to a face.
Model Architecture
To define the model architecture we have to load the MobileNetV2 architecture without its top layers, set the input size to be 224×224, and add the new top layers. The following code implements all the needed operations:
Then to create the model and display its summary (layers, number of parameters, …), run the following code:
model = build_model(num_features=celeba.num_features)
model.summary()
As you can see, creating the model is simple. Here, we will review the newly added top layers:
The model’s top layers. Image created with Netron.
GlobalAveragePooling2D: uses a kernel big as the last convolutional layers’ kernel to produce 1×1 feature maps. So, if the last convolutional layers outputs n feature maps, each of them wide w and tall h, the global average pooling layer will apply a kernel (w, h) to each feature map to obtain n confidence scores. When the kernel is big as the feature map, the result is a scalar or, equivalently, a 1×1 feature map. Doing so, allows to reduce the number of Fully-Connected (Dense) layers (usually, being at least 2 — thanks to GlobalAveragePooling only one is necessary), thus, reducing the number of parameters, training time, and speed-up inference. The GlobalAveragePooling layer was one of the key innovation of the GoogleLeNet model.
Note that without the GlobalAveragePooling layer, a Flatten layer is necessary. Flattening (w, h, n) feature maps results in a layer with w×h×n units, instead of n resulting from the application of global average pooling (the number of parameter is, thus, considerably less).
Dense: after that, we use a dense layer with 1536 units ReLU -activated, to perform nonlinear combinations of the confidence scores (this increases the model capacity as well its discriminative ability).
after that, we use a dense layer with 1536 units -activated, to perform nonlinear combinations of the confidence scores (this increases the model capacity as well its discriminative ability). BatchNormalization: the model is based on a very deep architecture with hundreds of layers. In order to speed-up training and to reduce the chances for the gradient to vanish or explode, we apply Batch Normalization that normalizes , scales , and shifts the inputs right before applying an activation function. Batch normalization does this by learning four additional parameters. In some cases, batch normalization has regularizing effects.
the model is based on a very deep architecture with hundreds of layers. In order to speed-up training and to reduce the chances for the gradient to vanish or explode, we apply Batch Normalization that , , and the inputs right before applying an activation function. Batch normalization does this by learning four additional parameters. In some cases, batch normalization has regularizing effects. Dropout: randomly deactivates units during training, according to a probability p. In this way, a neuron (unit) is less depended on its neighbor units. This forces the model to generalize better. In addition, dropout can be seen as a simple and efficient (but approximated) method to train an ensemble of many neural networks: at each iteration, different neurons are deactivated resulting in a different network. When training ends, the resulting network performs roughly as averaging all the different networks obtained during training time.
randomly deactivates units during training, according to a probability p. In this way, a neuron (unit) is less depended on its neighbor units. This forces the model to generalize better. In addition, dropout can be seen as a simple and efficient (but approximated) method to train an ensemble of many neural networks: at each iteration, different neurons are deactivated resulting in a different network. When training ends, the resulting network performs roughly as averaging all the different networks obtained during training time. Dense: this is the output layer of the network. Here we use sigmoid as activation function because it allows to have classes (attributes) that are not mutually exclusive (with a softmax layer only one output element can be 1), and more importantly, to directly estimate the probability for each attribute.
Finally, the model is pretty simple to create and is even small: it has only 4.3M parameters, being lightweight and fast, making it also suitable for mobile and web applications.
Training
Sometimes, training a neural network to solve a certain task given a dataset, can be seen as trying to make the network fit the true underlying probability distribution that generates the dataset and the real-world data (the dataset is only a part of the whole data). Usually, the true probability distribution is unknown and can only be partially estimated thanks to the use of a dataset during training.
Trying to capture the data distribution through training-data. Source.
The amount of training data impacts directly the generalization capability of the network we are trying to train. Briefly, the generalization error drops as the amount of training data increases.
The sad news is that, usually, the training data cannot capture the entire probability distribution, because there could be no examples that cover a particular case of the distribution.
Actually, what we can do is to slightly “edit” the training data in order to intentionally introduce some variations (e.g. rotations, shifts, …) — we assume that the real-world data could have such variations.
Example of image augmentations.
Data Augmentation
The practice of Data Augmentation is an effective way to increase the size of the training set. Augmenting the training examples allow the network to “see” more diversified, but still representative, datapoints during training.
The following code defines a set of augmentations for the training-set: rotation, shift, shear, flip, and zoom.
Note that both the validation-set and test-set must not be augmented.
Then we define a couple of data generators: one for training data, and the other for validation data.
When we deal with big datasets that doesn’t fit into memory, we have to find a way to load only the data actually needed.
A data generator is capable of loading the required amount of data (a minibatch of images) directly from the source folder, convert them into training data (fed to the model) and training targets (a vector of attributes — the supervision signal).
For my experiments, I usually set the batch_size = 80 . In general a value between 64 and 128 should work well. Usually you want to increase/decrease the batch size according to computational resources and model’s performances.
Optimizer, Loss Function and Metrics
At this point we select the adadelta optimizer (adam optimizer is fine too, but it seems to perform slightly worse) with default values: like adam, adadelta is an optimizer that requires little tuning because it is capable of automatically adapting the learning rate (slowing down when things go wrong, or moving faster towards promising directions).
The next step, is to chose the loss function: responsible of monitoring the model’s performance and guiding the optimization process.
I find out that a good loss function for attribute prediction task, is a function able to discriminate the single elements of the attribute vector rather than considering the whole vector as a single object. I mean that the loss must understand that the vector [0, 1, 1, 0] is a lot different from this vector [1, 0, 0, 1] (the loss should be high); what is meaningful is the amount of 1s and 0s, and the exact location of the single elements within the input vector.
Loss functions like Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Square Error (MSE) or Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) are not capable of doing this kind of distinction: intuitively, they just count the 1s over a vector, and average on them, consequently loosing information about position.
Instead, loss functions like binary cross-entropy and cosine proximity are the ideal choice. Empirically, the latter seems to perform slightly better.
The last step, is to choose our target performance measure. In this case, we care about maximizing the binary accuracy of the model’s predictions.
Finally, we can compile our model:
model.compile(loss='cosine_proximity',
optimizer='adadelta',
metrics='binary_accuracy')
Fitting
Before training the model is useful to define one or more callbacks. Pretty handy one, are: ModelCheckpoint and EarlyStopping .
ModelCheckpoint: when training requires a lot of time to achieve a good result, often many iterations (or a few costly one) are required. In this case, it is better to save a copy of the best performing model only when an epoch that improves the metrics ends.
when training requires a lot of time to achieve a good result, often many iterations (or a few costly one) are required. In this case, it is better to save a of the best performing model only when an epoch that improves the metrics ends. EarlyStopping: sometimes, during training we can notice that the generalization gap (i.e. the difference between training and validation error) starts to increase, instead of decreasing. This is a symptom of overfitting that can be solved in many ways (reducing model capacity, increasing training data, data augmentation, regularization, dropout, etc). Often, a practical and efficient solution is to stop training when the generalization gap is getting worse.
Early stopping. Source.
Actually, I’ve used only the ModelCheckpoint callback because there was no need to use early stopping. Anyway, if you want to play around by changing the model architecture, hyperparameters, loss and optimizer, the use of early stopping is suggested.
The following code will start training, collecting fitting info into the history variable that provides two learning curve: one for loss, and another for accuracy; which can be both plotted.
Usually, I set num_epochs to be between 10 and 20. Note that the model reaches more or less 89% of accuracy in the first two epochs. But requires longer training to stuck at about 91% (well, at least this is the maximum accuracy I’ve got).
Note: each epoch took around 40 minutes to complete (on Google Colab GPU).
Evaluation
To evaluate the model on the test partition of the dataset, we have to set the test data generator, and let the model make a prediction for each test-data:
The test accuracy I’ve got is about 90.95%. In particular, each facial attribute is detected with the following accuracy: | https://towardsdatascience.com/celeba-attribute-prediction-and-clustering-with-keras-3d148063098d | ['Luca Anzalone'] | 2021-02-17 11:09:41.413000+00:00 | ['Keras', 'Attribute Prediction', 'Clustering', 'Computer Vision', 'Deep Learning'] |
Choropleth Maps using Plotly | I have been working as a Data Analyst for almost 5 years now but, in this time I have mostly used business intelligence software for all my data visualization tasks. So my experience with visualization has been limited to knowing when to plot a bar chart vs a line chart. To correct this, I have recently taken up to learn matplotlib and other plotting and graphing libraries. This is an attempt in that direction. You can use this as a guide to choropleth maps, or plotly, or both. Hope this helps.
Map by Our World in Data
Choropleth Maps are a type of thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to a statistical variable (from Wikipedia). This map for example shows the share of adults who were obese in 2016.
Plotly is a company based in Canada, that develops analytics and data visualization tools. They have created an open-source scientific graphing library for Python, which I am using here.
For this task, I am looking at data for Religious Adherents in the United States (Source: theARDA.com). The data contains County-level information for different religious groups for the years 1980, 1990, 2000 & 2010. It also includes the population of the counties in that year, along with some other information.
So let’s first load the data and the libraries we are going to need.
#import libraries
%matplotlib notebook
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import plotly.express as px
import plotly.graph_objects as go
from plotly.subplots import make_subplots #import raw data
df = pd.read_excel(‘RCMSMGCY.xlsx’, dtype={“FIPSMERG”: str})
df.head()
Now, the next 3 steps involve cleaning, filtering, and summarizing the data for analysis, so if you want you can skip this and move directly to the Choropleth maps.
Data Cleaning
To plot the US county data, I am going to use the FIPS code, stored in column FIPSMERG here. The FIPS code is a unique 5-digit code that identifies counties in the United States. As you can see from the data snapshot above, in the first 5 rows, the FIPSMERG has only 4 digits. This means, that the leading zero is missing. Let’s add that using the lambda function.
#adding 0 to FIPS code
df[‘FIPSMERG’] = df[‘FIPSMERG’].apply(lambda x: str(0)+str(x) if len(str(x))<5 else x)
Now, each religious group has been categorized into a religious tradition and family which is represented by the columns RELTRAD & FAMILY. I am adding the names of these categories and the State names to make the data more comprehensible.
#religious family name mapping (FAMILY)
rel_fam = pd.read_csv(‘religious_family.csv’)
#religious tradition name mapping (RELTRAD)
rel_trad = pd.read_csv(‘religious_tradition.csv’)
#merging the 2 dataframes on group Code to get the corresponding religious family name & religious tradition catgeory
df = pd.merge(pd.merge(df, rel_fam, left_on=’FAMILY’, right_on=’FAMILY’, how=’left’), rel_trad, left_on=’RELTRAD’, right_on=’RELTRAD’, how=’left’)
print(‘Shape: ‘+str(df.shape)) #state names mapping (STATEAB)
state_code = pd.read_csv(‘us_state_code_data.csv’)
#merging the dataframes
df = (pd.merge(df, state_code, left_on=’STATEAB’, right_on=’Postal
Code’, how=’inner’)).drop([‘Postal Code’], axis = 1)
Filtering the data
For the first part of the analysis, I want to look at the percentage of adherents in 2010 at the state and county level. For this, I need the population and the count of adherents.
#filtering data for only 2010
df_2010 = df[df['YEAR']==2010] #population at county level (year wise)
pop_county = df[[‘YEAR’,’FIPSMERG’,’STATEAB’, ‘State Name’, ‘CNTYNM’, ‘TOTPOP’]].drop_duplicates().reset_index(drop=True) #population at state level (year wise)
pop_state = pop_county.groupby(by=[‘YEAR’,’STATEAB’, ‘State Name’]).agg({‘TOTPOP’:sum}).reset_index()
Summarizing the data
The next step is to calculate the percentage of adherents at the state and county level. Using the pandas groupby function and the population estimates, I have created two dataframes, one summarizing the data at the state level and the other at the county level.
#creating state level data for %of adherents
adh_state = df_2010.groupby(by=['STATEAB','State Name']).agg({'ADHERENT':sum}).reset_index()
adh_state = pd.merge(adh_state, pop_state[['YEAR','STATEAB', 'TOTPOP']], left_on='STATEAB', right_on='STATEAB', how='inner')
adh_state['PER_ADH'] = np.round(adh_state['ADHERENT']/adh_state['TOTPOP']*100,decimals=1)
State-level summary
#creating county level data for %of adherents
adh_county = df_2010.groupby(by=[‘FIPSMERG’, ‘CNTYNM’, ‘STATEAB’]).agg({‘ADHERENT’:sum}).reset_index()
adh_county = pd.merge(adh_county, pop_county[[‘FIPSMERG’, ‘TOTPOP’]], left_on=’FIPSMERG’, right_on=’FIPSMERG’, how=’inner’)
adh_county[‘PER_ADH’] = np.round(adh_county[‘ADHERENT’]/adh_county[‘TOTPOP’]*100,decimals=1)
County-level summary
Choropleth Maps
Now, that we have the dataframes ready for state and county-level, we can plot the Choropleth maps. I am using the function choropleth from plotly.express.
The locations parameter of the choropleth function works in tandem with the locationmode parameter. For US State data, the locationmode = “USA-states”, and the location parameter will take the state code (AL, CA, etc).
#shows %adherents at state level for the year 2010
fig1 = px.choropleth(adh_state, locations=adh_state[‘STATEAB’], locationmode=”USA-states”,
color=’PER_ADH’,color_continuous_scale=”inferno”,
range_color=(0, 100),scope=”usa”,labels={‘PER_ADH’:’%Adherents’},hover_name=’State Name’,
hover_data={‘STATEAB’:False,’State Name’:False,’ADHERENT’:False,’TOTPOP’:False,’PER_ADH’:True}) fig1.update_layout(margin={“r”:0,”t”:0,”l”:0,”b”:0})
fig1.show()
To plot data for counties use the parameter geojson, which takes in a feature collection of polygons. You can find this collection for US counties here. Also, set the locations parameter to the FIPS code.
counties = json.load(response) with urlopen(‘ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plotly/datasets/master/geojson-counties-fips.json' ) as response:counties = json.load(response) #plot %adherents at county level for the year 2010
fig1 = px.choropleth(adh_county, geojson=counties, locations=’FIPSMERG’, color=’PER_ADH’,color_continuous_scale=”inferno”,
range_color=(0, 100),scope=”usa”,labels={‘PER_ADH’:’%Adherents’},hover_name=’CNTYNM’,
hover_data={‘FIPSMERG’:False,’CNTYNM’:False,’STATEAB’:False,’ADHERENT’:False,
‘TOTPOP’:False,’PER_ADH’:True})
fig1.update_layout(margin={“r”:0,”t”:0,”l”:0,”b”:0})
fig1.show()
So now that we know how to create Choropleth maps, let’s try to add some more functionality to them. For the second part of the analysis, I want to look at how has the largest religious traditional group in each state changed between 1980 and 2010. I will add a slider to my choropleth map, and use that to change the years.
First I need to determine the largest traditional group in each state for each year.
df_ = df.copy() reltrad = df_.groupby([‘YEAR’,’STATEAB’,’State Name’,’RELTRADNM’]).agg({‘ADHERENT’:sum}).reset_index()
reltrad = pd.merge(reltrad, pop_state, left_on=[‘YEAR’,’STATEAB’,’State Name’], right_on=[‘YEAR’,’STATEAB’,’State Name’], how=’inner’)
reltrad[‘PER_ADH’] = (reltrad[‘ADHERENT’]/reltrad[‘TOTPOP’])*100 #adding Ranks and filtering Rank = 1
reltrad[‘RANK’] = reltrad.groupby([‘YEAR’,’STATEAB’])[‘PER_ADH’].rank(ascending=False,method=’first’)
reltrad_top = reltrad[reltrad[‘RANK’]==1].reset_index(drop=True)
To add the slider, use the parameter animation_frame of the function choropleth.
n = [‘Evangelical Protestant ‘,’Mainline Protestant ‘,’Black Protestant ‘,’Catholic ‘,’Orthodox ‘,’Other ‘]
cdm = dict(zip(n, [‘#003f5c’,’#444e86',’#955196',’#dd5182',’#ff6e54',’#ffa600'])) figz = px.choropleth(reltrad_top, locations = ‘STATEAB’, locationmode = “USA-states”, scope = “usa”,
color = ‘RELTRADNM’, hover_name = ‘State Name’,
color_discrete_map = cdm,
hover_data = {‘YEAR’:False,’STATEAB’:False,’State Name’:True,’RELTRADNM’:False,
‘ADHERENT’:False,’TOTPOP’:False,’PER_ADH’:False,’RANK’:False},
animation_frame=’YEAR’) figz.update_layout(margin={“r”:0,”t”:0,”l”:0,”b”:0})
figz[“layout”].pop(“updatemenus”)
figz.show()
I don’t think the slider serves the intended purpose here. It’s cumbersome to compare the states when you have to keep moving between the years. So, I think subplots would serve better.
Now because a choropleth is not referenced to a cartesian system of coordinates, we can’t use the plotly.express’ Choropleth function in subplots. So I will use the choropleth function from plotly.graph_objects here.
ndf = reltrad_top[[‘YEAR’,’STATEAB’,’RELTRADNM’,’State Name’]]
ndf = pd.merge(ndf, df_[[‘RELTRADNM’,’RELTRAD’]].drop_duplicates(), left_on=’RELTRADNM’, right_on=’RELTRADNM’, how=’left’)
ndf[‘text’] = ‘State: ‘ + ndf[‘State Name’] + ‘<br>’ + ‘Tradition: ‘+ ndf[‘RELTRADNM’] years = (ndf[‘YEAR’].sort_values(ascending=True).unique()).tolist() cscale = [‘#003f5c’,’#444e86',’#dd5182',’#ffa600',’#ff6e54',’#955196']
rows = 2
cols = 2
fig = make_subplots(rows=rows, cols=cols,
specs = [[{‘type’: ‘choropleth’} for c in np.arange(cols)] for r in np.arange(rows)],
subplot_titles = years, vertical_spacing=0.1, horizontal_spacing=0) for i, y in enumerate(years):
fig.add_trace(go.Choropleth(locations=ndf.STATEAB[ndf[‘YEAR’]==y],z = ndf.RELTRAD[ndf[‘YEAR’]==y],
locationmode = ‘USA-states’, zmin=1, zmax=6, colorscale=cscale,hoverinfo=’text’,
hovertext=ndf.text[ndf[‘YEAR’]==y]), row = i//cols+1, col = i%cols+1) fig.update_layout(title={‘text’:’Religious Tradition by Year’, ‘xanchor’: ‘center’,’x’:0.5},
**{‘geo’ + str(i) + ‘_scope’: ‘usa’ for i in [‘’] + np.arange(2,rows*cols+1).tolist()},
coloraxis_showscale=False, margin={“r”:10,”t”:70,”l”:10,”b”:0},
hoverlabel=dict(bgcolor=’#e6e6e6', font_size=12, font_family=”Rockwell”)) fig.update_traces(showscale=False)
fig.show()
And, there we have it. Hope this guide can help you in some way. You can find the data and the full source code here. | https://towardsdatascience.com/choropleth-maps-101-using-plotly-5daf85e7275d | ['Shreyeshi Somya'] | 2020-10-04 16:45:46.814000+00:00 | ['Choropleth Map', 'Plotly', 'Python', 'Data Visualization'] |
The Sun. The Moon. And the Dusk, the Dawn. | THE SUN
She might have been the Sun but he was the Dawn and hues of Dusk.
He, the final rays of evening, while she was the relentless blaze of half past morning.
She was made of beating heat.
He comprised every first gentle breeze of the day.
While he was the warmth, she was everything that burned.
Not entirely two ends of the spectrum. Not entirely born of the same matter.
It mattered that they were not entirely intertwined.
And he.
He was closer to the stars so it was no wonder he fell for the Moon.
THE DAWN
How he marvelled.
How her quiet seemed fitting to balance the wonders that he spun.
How she continued to open her arms — silent — and the world stayed unmoving to look at the sky.
He watched as she made it a habit to try and tamper her brilliance. Moonshine that would have otherwise left them blinded.
She seemed to blanket the world in this soft light when she smiled.
When she collected her tears, she tenderly sprinkled them around her, as if to say,
“Here. For you.”
Putting them on display for the tiny ones to stare in in awe.
To point at and to connect and to study.
He didn’t get to see her for very long, but in those fleeting moments before she left, he knew it was enough.
It was always enough.
And she.
She never knew.
THE MOON
That she teased him with her star-shine.
She didn’t know that it was he who had whispered to them — those tiny ones — and told them that tears were beautiful.
That hers seemed to sparkle so brightly they deserved their very own name.
She always seemed to look away.
Never thinking once that he would look her way.
But he always has.
And, maybe, he always will.
But he.
He didn’t know that it was because of him, she was filled with the desire to wake every night.
To want to get up and try.
Again and again and again. | https://medium.com/@libbysetiadi1/the-sun-the-moon-and-the-dusk-the-dawn-59f10856b58 | [] | 2020-12-20 00:00:54.230000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Prose', 'Fiction Writing', 'Fiction'] |
Understand Dockerfile | Introduction
Dockerfile is the basic concept for building Docker images. It is better to understand it if you want to dig into Docker image building scenarios a bit more deeply.
Dockerfile is a text file that contains a list of commands (instructions), which describes how a Docker image is built based on them. The command docker build tells Docker to build the image by following the content (instructions) inside the Dockerfile.
Structure and Format
Dockerfile starts with a FROM command which indicates the base image. The subsequent commands in the Docker file are executed on the base image which must be a valid image.
Here is the format:
# Comments
COMMAND arguments
A comment line starts with # and describes the purposes or whatever you want.
The COMMAND is not required to be uppercase but it is a convention here to distinguish them from arguments obviously.
An example of Dockerfile:
# The latest version of Ubuntu is used as the base image for this Dockerfile.
FROM ubuntu:latest # Set the author field for the generated image.
MAINTAINER [email protected] # Run some commands.
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -yq curl
RUN apt-get clean # Commands to run when the generated image gets launched.
CMD ["top"]
CMD ["ls", "-l"] # Set working directory and environment variables.
WORKDIR /root
ENV VAR1 version1 # Add a shell script to the generated image.
ADD run.sh /root/run.sh
RUN chmod +x run.sh # Set entry point and argments for the generated image.
ENTRYPOINT ["./run.sh"]
CMD ["arg1"]
Build Context
To build your Docker image, you could call docker image build command by specifying building directory with the Dockerfile in the terminal and some arguments can be provided as well. For example:
$ docker image build .
It tells Docker to build an image according to the Docker file in the current directory, called the context of the build.
An important note here is the build is run by the Docker daemon instead of the CLI, so the entire context is transferred to the daemon. From the output of the building command above, this was shown at the beginning:
Sending build context to Docker daemon 3.584kB
As you noticed, the output also tells how many data transferred (3.584kB in the example). Therefore, a warning from Docker document is:
Do not use your root directory, / , as the PATH as it causes the build to transfer the entire contents of your hard drive to the Docker daemon.
A .dockerignore file is useful sometimes when you want to ignore some files in the Docker image context directory.
Layers
When the Docker daemon builds your image, it executes the steps defined in the Dockerfile. A container is generated in each step and the instruction is run inside of the generated container. Once the instruction succeeds, the container is stored as a new image, as a new layer is added. The next instruction will build another new one on top of the previous one.
Let’s have a quick look on the fully output of building the example Dockerfile:
Sending build context to Docker daemon 3.584kB
Step 1/12 : FROM ubuntu:latest
---> d70eaf7277ea
Step 2/12 : MAINTAINER [email protected]
---> Running in 5d1f44d64602
Removing intermediate container 5d1f44d64602
---> 82eb396b28ec
Step 3/12 : RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -yq curl
---> Running in cc6adb835c4d
...
Removing intermediate container cc6adb835c4d
---> bbd0dc87c576
Step 4/12 : RUN apt-get clean
---> Running in 7664a4778017
Removing intermediate container 7664a4778017
---> a9ed19e6119d
Step 5/12 : CMD ["top"]
---> Running in 7e37bb170506
Removing intermediate container 7e37bb170506
---> d6c8736f0e9f
Step 6/12 : CMD ["ls", "-l"]
---> Running in cbd1a7512232
Removing intermediate container cbd1a7512232
---> 0c087c832e7f
Step 7/12 : WORKDIR /root
---> Running in 3068d7075458
Removing intermediate container 3068d7075458
---> d80343d04808
Step 8/12 : ENV VAR1 version1
---> Running in ae6480ddac50
Removing intermediate container ae6480ddac50
---> 3c649e8e249c
Step 9/12 : ADD run.sh /root/run.sh
---> b0419c4d6864
Step 10/12 : RUN chmod +x run.sh
---> Running in 12520302b333
Removing intermediate container 12520302b333
---> f52955a93631
Step 11/12 : ENTRYPOINT ["./run.sh"]
---> Running in 22bc5cc335b1
Removing intermediate container 22bc5cc335b1
---> 409dee822026
Step 12/12 : CMD ["arg1"]
---> Running in 44cf42bcd050
Removing intermediate container 44cf42bcd050
---> 8c2b84201d65
Successfully built 8c2b84201d65
Successfully tagged myimage:latest
There are 12 steps per the output texts because there are 12 lines of instructions in the Dockerfile.
After all steps complete, the image could be shown in the output of the command docker image ls :
$ docker image ls
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
my_image latest 6c284ed9fe68 17 minutes ago 115MB
Cache
Let’s run the build command again with the same docker file:
$ docker build -t my_image .
Sending build context to Docker daemon 3.584kB
Step 1/12 : FROM ubuntu:latest
---> d70eaf7277ea
Step 2/12 : MAINTAINER [email protected]
---> Using cache
---> 82eb396b28ec
Step 3/12 : RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -yq curl
---> Using cache
---> bbd0dc87c576
Step 4/12 : RUN apt-get clean
---> Using cache
---> 738becba91a0
Step 5/12 : CMD ["top"]
---> Using cache
---> 58e31420c1dd
Step 6/12 : CMD ["ls", "-l"]
---> Using cache
---> ec643d75f7ee
Step 7/12 : WORKDIR /root
---> Using cache
---> 4c79437f5c37
Step 8/12 : ENV VAR1 version1
---> Using cache
---> 8ce59472dc52
Step 9/12 : ADD run.sh /root/run.sh
---> Using cache
---> ab7f0e31b020
Step 10/12 : RUN chmod +x run.sh
---> Using cache
---> 769075a61ee3
Step 11/12 : ENTRYPOINT ["./run.sh"]
---> Using cache
---> 26b434f12885
Step 12/12 : CMD ["arg1"]
---> Using cache
---> 6c284ed9fe68
Successfully built 6c284ed9fe68
Successfully tagged my_image:latest
You would notice the ‘Using cache’ in each step that indicates the Docker daemon used cache directly to generate the intermedium image instead of building again.
The cache is used when the instructions in the Dockerfile are same or unchanged with the previous version.
Image Launch
Once the image is built successfully, it is stored in the local registry by default. To list all images, use following command:
$ docker image ls -a
Next, we could start to launch the image with a Docker container. First, let’s get started with a simple version of Dockerfile:
# The latest version of Ubuntu is used as the base image for this Dockerfile.
FROM ubuntu:latest # Set the author field for the generated image.
MAINTAINER [email protected] # Run some commands.
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -yq curl
RUN apt-get clean
Then, build it with:
$ docker build -t my_image .
Now, we have an image in the Docker local registry and launch it:
$ docker run -it --rm my_image /bin/bash
root@8f4991177fe8:/# curl
curl: try 'curl --help' or 'curl --manual' for more information
The -it instructs Docker to allocate a pseudo-TTY connected to the container’s stdin.
The —rm means deleting the container after it exits.
As instructed in the Dockerfile, the curl tool is installed in the image.
Instruction — CMD
CMD command is to provide defaults when a contain is being launched, including an executable or arguments for ENTRYPOINT .
The CMD instruction has three forms:
CMD ["executable","param1","param2"] (exec form, this is the preferred form) CMD ["param1","param2"] (as default parameters to ENTRYPOINT) CMD command param1 param2 (shell form)
For CMD , there are some notes:
Only the last one CMD instruction takes effect in a Dockerfile.
instruction takes effect in a Dockerfile. If CMD provides the default arguments for ENTRYPOINT , both CMD and ENTRYPOINT must be JSON array formatted.
provides the default arguments for , both CMD and must be JSON array formatted. In JSON array format, double-quote ( " ) must be used.
) must be used. Exec format does not invoke a command shell.
For example, CMD ["echo", "$HOME"] outputs $HOME exactly instead of the environment value of $HOME. To echo the value, do this:
CMD echo $HOME
or
CMD ["sh", "-c", "echo $HOME"]
Instruction — ENTRYPOINT
The ENTRYPOINT specifies an executable as an entrypoint of a container. When the container is launched, the command specified by ENTRYPOINT will be run first.
For ENTRYPOINT instruction, there are two forms:
The exec form (preferred):
ENTRYPOINT ["executable", "param1", "param2"]
The shell form:
ENTRYPOINT command param1 param2
Some notes for ENTRYPOINT :
Any command arguments passed to docker run will be appended to the ENTRYPOINT command. The command arguments passed to docker run will override the ones provided by CMD . ENTRYPOINT could be overridden by running docker run —entrypoint <command and arguments> .
Now, let’s go back the our first Dockerfile example. Before building the image, here is the content of run.sh file in the same directory with Dockerfile:
#!/bin/sh echo "The current directory : $(pwd)"
echo "The VAR1 variable : $VAR1"
echo "There are $# arguments: $@"
Then, build it and run:
$ docker build -t myimage .
$ docker run -it --rm myimage
The current directory : /root
The VAR1 variable : version1
There are 1 arguments: arg1
We can see the output reflects ENTRYPOINT and CMD instructions in the last two line of the Dockerfile.
Now, let’s try to push some arguments to docker run :
$ docker run -it --rm myimage arg2 arg3
The current directory : /root
The VAR1 variable : version1
There are 2 arguments: arg2 arg3 | https://medium.com/swlh/understand-dockerfile-dd11746ed183 | ['Rocky Chen'] | 2020-12-13 06:51:50.283000+00:00 | ['Dockerfiles', 'Docker', 'Docker Image'] |
The ‘Other Side’ Is Not Dumb | This story is part of the Internet Time Machine, a collection about life online in the 2010s.
There’s a fun game I like to play in a group of trusted friends called “Controversial Opinion.” The rules are simple: Don’t talk about what was shared during Controversial Opinion afterward and you aren’t allowed to “argue” — only to ask questions about why that person feels that way. Opinions can range from, “I think James Bond movies are overrated,” to, “I think Donald Trump would make an excellent president.”
Usually, someone responds to an opinion with, “Oh my god! I had no idea you were one of those people!” Which is really another way of saying “I thought you were on my team!”
In psychology, the idea that everyone is like us is called the “false-consensus bias.” This bias often manifests itself when we see TV ratings (“Who the hell are all these people that watch NCIS?”) or in politics (“Everyone I know is for stricter gun control! Who are these backward rubes who disagree?!”) or polls (“Who are these people voting for Ben Carson?”).
Online it means we can be blindsided by the opinions of our friends or, more broadly, America. Over time, this morphs into a subconscious belief that we and our friends are the sane ones and that there’s a crazy “Other Side” that must be laughed at — an Other Side that just doesn’t “get it,” and is clearly not as intelligent as “us.” But this holier-than-thou social media behavior is counterproductive, it’s self-aggrandizement at the cost of actual nuanced discourse and if we want to consider online discourse productive, we need to move past this.
Illustration: Tom Gauld/TwitterSource
What is emerging is the worst kind of echo chamber, one where those inside are increasingly convinced that everyone shares their worldview, that their ranks are growing when they aren’t. It’s like clockwork: An event happens and then your social media circle is shocked when a non-social media peer group public reacts to news in an unexpected way. They then mock the Other Side for being “out of touch” or “dumb.”
Fredrik deBoer, one of my favorite writers around, touched on this in his Essay “Getting Past the Coalition of the Cool.” He writes:
[The Internet] encourages people to collapse any distinction between their work life, their social life, and their political life. “Hey, that person who tweets about the TV shows I like also dislikes injustice,” which over time becomes “I can identify an ally by the TV shows they like.” The fact that you can mine a Rihanna video for political content becomes, in that vague internety way, the sense that people who don’t see political content in Rihanna’s music aren’t on your side.
When someone communicates that they are not “on our side” our first reaction is to run away or dismiss them as stupid. To be sure, there are hateful, racist, people not worthy of the small amount of electricity it takes just one of your synapses to fire. I’m instead referencing those who actually believe in an opposing viewpoint of a complicated issue, and do so for genuine, considered reasons. Or at least, for reasons just as good as yours.
This is not a “political correctness” issue. It’s a fundamental rejection of the possibility to consider that the people who don’t feel the same way you do might be right. It’s a preference to see the Other Side as a cardboard cut out, and not the complicated individual human beings that they actually are.
What happens instead of genuine intellectual curiosity is the sharing of Slate or Daily Kos or Fox News or Red State links. Sites that exist almost solely to produce content to be shared so friends can pat each other on the back and mock the Other Side. Look at the Other Side! So dumb and unable to see this the way I do!
It’s a preference to see the Other Side as a cardboard cut out, and not the complicated individual human beings that they actually are.
Sharing links that mock a caricature of the Other Side isn’t signaling that we’re somehow more informed. It signals that we’d rather be smug assholes than consider alternative views. It signals that we’d much rather show our friends that we’re like them than try to understand those who are not.
It’s impossible to consider yourself a curious person and participate in social media in this way. We cannot consider ourselves “empathetic” only to turn around and belittle those who don’t agree with us.
On Twitter and Facebook, this means we prioritize by sharing stuff that will garner the approval of our peers over stuff that’s actually, you know, true. We share stuff that ignores wider realities, selectively shares information, or is just an outright falsehood. The misinformation is so rampant that the Washington Post stopped publishing its internet fact-checking column because people didn’t seem to care if stuff was true.
Where debunking an Internet fake once involved some research, it’s now often as simple as clicking around for an “about” or “disclaimer” page. And where a willingness to believe hoaxes once seemed to come from a place of honest ignorance or misunderstanding, that’s frequently no longer the case. Headlines like “Casey Anthony found dismembered in truck” go viral via old-fashioned schadenfreude — even hate. … Institutional distrust is so high right now, and cognitive bias so strong always, that the people who fall for hoax news stories are frequently only interested in consuming information that conforms with their views — even when it’s demonstrably fake.
The solution is, as deBoer says, “You have to be willing to sacrifice your carefully curated social performance and be willing to work with people who are not like you.” In other words, you have to recognize that the Other Side is made of actual people.
But I’d like to go a step further. We should all enter every issue with the very real possibility that we might be wrong this time.
Isn’t it possible that you, reader of Medium and Twitter power user, like me, suffer from this from time to time? Isn’t it possible that we’re not right about everything? That those who live in places not where you live, watch shows that you don’t watch and read books that you don’t read, have opinions and belief systems just as valid as yours? That maybe you don’t see the entire picture?
Think political correctness has gotten out of control? Follow the many great social activists on Twitter. Think America’s stance on guns is puzzling? Read the stories of the 31% of Americans that own a firearm. This is not to say the Other Side is “right” but that they likely have real reasons to feel that way. And only after understanding those reasons can a real discussion take place.
Isn’t it possible that you, reader of Medium and Twitter power user, like me, suffer from this from time to time? Isn’t it possible that we’re not right about everything?
As any debate club veteran knows, if you can’t make your opponent’s point for them, you don’t truly grasp the issue. We can bemoan political gridlock and a divisive media all we want. But we won’t truly progress as individuals until we make an honest effort to understand those that are not like us. And you won’t convince anyone to feel the way you do if you don’t respect their position and opinions.
A dare for the next time you’re in discussion with someone you disagree with: Don’t try to “win.” Don’t try to “convince” anyone of your viewpoint. Don’t score points by mocking them to your peers. Instead, try to “lose.” Hear them out. Ask them to convince you and mean it. No one is going to tell your environmentalist friends that you merely asked follow-up questions after your brother made his pro-fracking case.
Or, the next time you feel compelled to share a link on social media about current events, ask yourself why you are doing it. Is it because that link brings to light information you hadn’t considered? Or does it confirm your world view, reminding your circle of intellectual teammates that you’re not on the Other Side?
I implore you to seek out your opposite. When you hear someone cite “facts” that don’t support your viewpoint don’t think “that can’t be true!” Instead consider, “Hm, maybe that person is right? I should look into this.”
Because refusing to truly understand those who disagree with you is intellectual laziness and worse, is usually worse than what you’re accusing the Other Side of doing. | https://humanparts.medium.com/the-other-side-is-not-dumb-2670c1294063 | ['Sean Blanda'] | 2020-05-26 17:55:28.004000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Internet Culture', 'Identity', 'Social Media', 'Internet Time Machine'] |
Top 6 Instagram Mistakes To Avoid in 2022 | Digital Lavika | Is your Instagram presence falling? Is it true that the number of your followers isn’t increasing? All this points concludes: you’re not playing your cards correctly on Instagram.
Agreed, mastering social media is difficult, especially in today’s environment, when thousands of new influencers appear every day. However, there’s a strong possibility you’re committing some typical Instagram errors that are limiting your Instagram growth.
What Instagram mistakes are you making and how can you avoid them?
Many people believe that mistakes are unavoidable. I would like to respectfully disagree. There are a few things every creator should stay away from. And to assist you, we’ve developed a list of typical mistakes. These are minor details that might cost new influencers a lot of money.
1. Inconsistent postings
When it comes to staying relevant on Instagram, consistency is crucial because the platform’s popularity is so fragile. You may be trending one day and battling to get the bare minimum of likes the next. As a result, it’s critical to update on a frequent basis in order to keep fresh in the thoughts of your followers.
However, publishing on a regular basis does not imply posting on a daily basis. You should pick a few days during the week to post a photo or video. Determine when and where the highest levels of interaction occur, and tailor your content accordingly. The peak traffic hours are 6:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., although this may vary based on your specialization.
2. Images or videos of poor quality
Let’s face it, it’s time to confess it once and for all!
Instagram is a visual platform, therefore beautiful photos and videos are essential. That doesn’t imply you have to make the shot perfect in every way. It will make you appear shallow. Rather, invest in a high-quality camera that can catch the true essence of whatever you’re trying to convey.
Then, with minor modification, alter it a bit more.
The goal is to capture clean, sharp photographs under suitable lighting. Some influencers stick to a theme, but it’s entirely up to you and depends on the material you’re sharing. If you have a photographic or flat lay page, theme editing makes more sense. Fashion and cuisine pages benefit from bright colors. Check out these pointers on how to take Instagram-worthy photos.
3. Not paying attention to hashtags
Hashtags make your post more visible and discoverable to those who aren’t already following you. If people enjoy your stuff, they will follow you. As a result, you may employ hashtags to reach out to potential users. You can write them in the captions or in the comments section.
Make use of both particular and general hashtags. Specific ones have a smaller audience, but they’re more focused, and the leads they produce are more likely to become followers. Generic or trendy hashtags, on the other hand, are widely used and so keep you relevant (more tips on how to use the right hashtags).
Click here for additional information on how to choose best Instagram hashtags.
4. Maintaining a private profile
Instagram, as previously said, is a visual media. Users make decisions about whether or not to follow you depending on the stuff you publish. New individuals will be less interested in following you if your profile is private since they won’t be able to see anything!
Furthermore, individuals are hesitant to click the follow button on private accounts. In addition, the following request must be accepted, which might take anywhere from a minute to a day.
Keep a public profile if you wish to be a creator. Seriously, it’ll be 2022, and we have no business telling you this.
5. An Instagram bio that is empty
When someone visits your Instagram profile, the first thing they see is your bio. It has to be relevant to your content. Make the most of this area and keep it as clean as possible.
Mention your name, location, genre, contact information, and what visitors to your page may anticipate. In the website field, enter your blog’s link, website address, e-commerce page link, or any other relevant URL.
6. Captions that are poorly written
Although photos and videos are the “stars of the show” on Instagram, captions play a significant role. They set the scene for the images and aid to elicit discussion.
Users who don’t comprehend the picture’s intent will scroll away if there isn’t a caption. However, avoid crafting phrases that are excessively long or too intricate. Keep your captions to a minimum. To increase engagement, include a question or a call-to-action.
What are some more Instagram mistakes to avoid?
Instagram is a social networking site. As a result, being active and aware is crucial in this situation. Users are prone to ignoring or forgetting inactive or inconsistent pages. So be proactive and take advantage of all of the options available.
Don’t miss out on our comprehensive guide to become an influencer and content marketing trends to follow in 2022.
That’s it, guys! | https://medium.com/@digitallavika/top-6-instagram-mistakes-to-avoid-in-2022-digital-lavika-82ef414c142e | ['Digital Lavika'] | 2021-12-30 09:00:11.365000+00:00 | ['Instagram', 'Instagram Mistakes', 'Instagram Tips', 'Instagram Marketing'] |
Enjoy the Flow and Be Rewarded With Real Love | FLOW = LOVE
Once I was a pond,
small and insecure.
Often feeling
not good enough.
I lashed out at others,
felt angry and sad.
For the world was not fair
to a small pond.
I was a curious pond, though.
Desperately searching
beyond my shore’s horizon.
I created rivers to other ponds.
And my edges stretched.
Automatically.
Then I was a lake,
bigger than the pond
I once was.
Knowing and feeling clear, wide wisdom
and healthily able to digest it.
And the not-knowing?
It became bigger.
As shorelines do
when ponds become lakes
and expand.
The vast not-knowing
doesn't scare me anymore.
It’s become a source
of daily joy.
The rivers are the real gems.
They tumble and play,
get dammed, be opened,
and flow.
And as long as I keep flowing,
they rivers send me love
real love. | https://medium.com/be-unique/enjoy-the-flow-and-be-rewarded-with-real-love-6a3a5352f2c4 | ['Desiree Driesenaar'] | 2020-12-24 07:07:48.972000+00:00 | ['Connection', 'Wisdom', 'Nature', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Spirituality'] |
Nazi-Normalizing Barf Journalism: A Brief History | by Dorothee Benz
In the beginning was the profile of the Nazi next door, an inexplicable decision by the New York Times ( 11/25/17) to profile a right-wing extremist in the most sympathetic light possible. It was the most outrageous example of an outrageous genre of MSM — and particularly NYT — reporting: the never-ending effort to profile, study, explain, excuse and rationalize Trump voters. Without, of course, referring to them as racists. White men are always news that’s fit to print.
The article was met with howls of protest across Twitter, but among the many apt responses, Bess Kalb’s description ( 11/25/17) captured my heart and gave me the single most useful phrase of the Trump era: “Nazi-normalizing barf journalism.”
Again and again during Trump’s presidency, corporate media have fallen over themselves to find acceptable ways to describe utterly unacceptable behavior, policies and decisions-none more so than the New York Times. In every era, the Times ‘ center of gravity has been the legitimation of power, and the Trump era is no different. The paper’s obvious disdain for Donald Trump is continually cloaked in rationalizing headlines and descriptions. It’s as if they can’t help themselves-the stability of US institutions is more important than their integrity, and so they must normalize what should never be normalized.
Just three examples:
“Trump’s Embrace of Racially Charged Past Puts Republicans in Crisis” (8/16/17): This headline refers to Trump’s “very fine people” defense of neo-Nazis at the Charlottesville white supremacist rally where James Fields drove a car into a crowd of protesters, killing one (Heather Heyer) and injuring dozens, many seriously. “Racially charged past” = Confederate monuments celebrating the defense of chattel slavery.
“Ocasio-Cortez Calls Migrant Detention Centers ‘Concentration Camps,’ Eliciting Backlash” (6/18/19): The headline suggests that the veracity of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s description is up for debate, when, in fact, it is simply accurate terminology. Indeed, the subsequent rise of #JewsAgainstICE underscored that truth with the particular credibility that Jewish people bring to conversations about ethnic cleansing. The Times chose to cover the moment as a “she said, she said” debate between liberal Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez and Republicans like Liz Cheney.
chose to cover the moment as a “she said, she said” debate between liberal Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez and Republicans like Liz Cheney. After a Green Bay rally (4/27/19) in which Trump called the media “sick people” and the officials he’s forced out of government “scum,” and accused Democrats of supporting infanticide (Vox, 4/29/19), the Times put out a tweet (4/28/19) saying that with the infanticide charge, “Trump revived an inaccurate refrain.”
You get the idea.
All of it is Nazi-normalizing barf journalism. In wrapping human rights abuses, lawbreaking, lies, corruption, cruelty, racism, misogyny and other abhorrent dimensions of the Trump administration in the familiar language and themes of Washington politics, the Times is actively helping stabilize the regime. We read these headlines and think “business as usual” rather than “this is intolerable, I must act.”
In a recent example I find particularly troubling, the New York Times ( 10/13/19) reported on a video meme mashup, shown at a pro-Trump conference at one of Trump’s resorts in early October, showing Trump massacring members of the media and political opponents.
In an era where both hate crimes and domestic terrorism (including mass shootings) are rising at an alarming rate, the celebration of violence in the name of the Trump brand is a disturbing escalation in the normalization of political violence.
Trump has long invited his followers to violence. On the campaign trail, he promised to pay legal costs if his supporters beat up protesters, and advocated for torture “ much stronger than waterboarding.” In September, he suggested that whistleblowers should be executed. He has pardoned war criminals and other human rights abusers (e.g., Michael Behenna, Joe Arpaio). Trump also admires and glorifies violent authoritarians, like Rodrigo Duterte, Recep Ergodan, Kim Jong-un and, of course, Vladimir Putin. All this in addition to the violence his policies are wreaking.
There is not a direct line between Trump referring to immigrants as vermin who will “infest our country” and the massacre of immigrants at an El Paso Walmart. Neither the antisemitic conspiracy theory that George Soros was funding migrant “caravans” from Central America, nor Trump’s lie about Middle Easterners infiltrating the caravans, is solely responsible for the murderous attack on a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh. Yet if these bigoted tropes did not cause massacres, surely they are part of the environment that has fueled them.
Speaking of antisemitism, Trump’s “fake news” has always been one shade shy of Hitler’s “Lügenpresse” (“lying press”). White supremacists have long referred to the paper of record as the “ Jew York Times.” Given Trump’s constant description of the media as “the enemy of the people,” the possibility is ever-present, in this age of mass shootings, that someone will walk into a newsroom and open fire. If I’m honest, it surprises me that this has happened only once since Trump took office.
None of this found its way into the Times ‘ coverage of the video. Instead, there are denials by lots of people, saying they neither saw nor knew about the video; and then this at the end:
Throughout his 2016 campaign and presidency, Mr. Trump has sought to demonize the news media, partly out of frustration about the coverage of his administration and partly because he likes to have an opponent to target.
This is Nazi-normalizing barf journalism. Poor Trump; he’s just frustrated by the bad press. Responding by labeling journalists liars and enemies of the people is just what most of us would do in the same situation. Plus, he likes having a foil. A reasonable strategy.
I want to know how Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman (the bylined reporters) know that these are Trump’s reasons for demonizing the fourth estate. It’s a pretty definitive sentence, assigning motivation without any source or documentation. (Unlike the following sentence, which has at least anonymous sources: “Mr. Trump has also sought to undermine confidence in the mainstream media, some of his advisers acknowledge privately, to make people doubt the accuracy of less favorable accounts of what goes on in his administration.”)
But more importantly, no, it is not OK for the president of the United States to baldly claim that documented reporting is “fake news”; that media are the enemy; and that journalists are bad people. It is, in fact, extremely dangerous. It undermines one of the most important checks on government power, and, as the video itself attests, it invites violence against journalists. The New York Times should say so.
You can send a message to the New York Times at [email protected] (Twitter:@NYTimes). Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. | https://drbenz3.medium.com/nazi-normalizing-barf-journalism-a-brief-history-9e39b17f8121 | ['Dorothee Benz'] | 2019-11-04 15:30:23.227000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Media Criticism', 'Politics', 'Media'] |
Oh, Shit | It’s gonna get raw in this piece.
To an outside observer (perhaps yourself), cycling appears to roughly fall into two camps: rough and rowdy mountain bikers and shaven legged (across all gender identities), somewhat effeminate, folks in pseudo-superhero outfits. The former may seem boorish and the latter may seem, well, a bit punctilious, peevish, prim, and prissy.
Road Cyclist One: “Oh a bee flew into my helmet!”
Road Cyclist Two: “Get it out, get it out!”
Stereotypes are easy and, surprise, completely inaccurate. In fact, at least when you’re the kind of cyclist who spends ten hours or more a week on “all the kinds” of bikes, it’s all quite dirty.
Things you learn to deal with as a cyclist:
Other human’s spit
Other human’s mucus
Dirty hands and nowhere to wash them satisfactorily (grease, human contamination)
Bugs flying into your throat
Dirt in your teeth
Dirt in your food
Your own spit/mucus/whatnot decorating your kit (jersey, bibs, et cetera)
Droplets of your own piss
Blood
Shit
Oh yes, this is really the story of how, after over two decades of being a cycling enthusiast, I shit my pants.
If you’re a bicycle bigot, my Rodeo Labs Flaanimal is either a lightweight, but terrible rigid mountain bike or a portly, but resilient road bike. Or it’s a rad bike that reminds me of riding as a teenager and can handle any road, trail, or party.
Step back in time, to the halcyon date of May 5th, 2019 (yesterday, as I type this). The crew from Rodeo Labs and I had decided to attend the annual Cinco de Grindo, an informal “all the roads” (tarmac, dirt, 4x4 roads, a pinch of singletrack) celebrating Mexican culture (sort of), despite the fact that we all know that “Cinco de Mayo” has never been much of a holiday in Mexico (victory over the French in a battle, in a war they lost) and the real holiday of import is “Grito de Delores”, which is on the 16th of September.
It’s a fun event, though is it culturally insensitive? Not my pig, not my farm.
I have/had (depending on when you read this) signed up for another crack at the Dirty Kanza 200 (though I keep telling myself doing it once and finishing is really satisfactory, so why bother) and have only cracked the century mark (e.g. 100 miles) a handful of times, thus far this year. Given that the DK200 (the informal name for the Dirty Kanza 200) will probably take me between 13 and 16 hours to complete, I need some serious time in the saddle. And I only have/had a few weeks.
To that end, we met up at the REI flagship store at 5:30 am on May 5th, 2019, with the goal(s) of:
Riding to Boulder (~31 miles or so)
Participating in Cinco de Grindo (~60–70 miles)
Riding back to Denver (same as going)
All told, this would be in the neighborhood of 120 miles or so, which is to say good training for DK. The Flaanimal, with its 650x47 mm knobby tires, is a chore to ride at road race speeds so it encourages a “work hard, but not too hard” sort of attitude that one needs to survive 200 miles of rough Kansas farm road.
After arriving in Boulder, we swung into the Whole Foods on Pearl St to grab some breakfast (it was around 7:30 or so).
This is the point in the story wherein a hackneyed author of fiction would insert a “Little did he know…” tidbit to foreshadow what was to come. I won’t do that, though I kind of just did.
After a rather harried (time had slipped by much faster than anticipated) breakfast under a cloudy gray sky, we made haste to Kettle and Spoke brewery (the start of the Grindo) and fell into pre-adventure banter with many of our friends. For what it’s worth, the route (even the quarter of it I did) was fantastic, everyone was friendly, the games at each checkpoint were fun, et cetera, et cetera.
Before I go further, consider the words of Greg LeMond (AKA “Le Man”), the greatest American cyclist:
“It never gets easier, you just get faster.”
Now that you’ve been introduced, Mr LeMond has one of the most famous shit stories in cycling, involving the 1986 Tour de France. Here’s an excerpt:
Up the outside the four-man train continued, the three worker bees escorting their stricken leader back to the front, where, as one of the favorites, LeMond needed to be. But at least one rider, sitting towards the rear of the peloton, saw the brown liquid streaking the insides of the American’s legs, running into his shoes. It was a bad peach, LeMond reckoned. After eating it, his stomach reacted violently. He turned to a teammate: “Pass me your hat.”
For the curious: that piece is part of the first chapter of the book, Slaying the Badger, which was also adapted into a 30 for 30 film by ESPN. It’s used as an analogy regarding the notion that Bernard Hinault shit all over LeMond (he was supposed to be helping him, but seemed to be threatening him), but LeMond had actually done it first… poop jokes, folks.
Back to the events of Cinco de Grindo 2019…
The details of the ride and the experiences of riding it are never terribly interesting to describe in prose. Was it beautiful? Yes. Did climbing the final 16% grade pitches of “Super Flag” hurt? Always. Was it rewarding to bomb down through fields of Aspens, bunnyhopping rocks and turning my bars in the air like a child? Absolutely. Can I relate that in a terse fashion that moves the narrative along? Hell no.
I felt normal, strong even, as we approached the wonderful and rocky 68 J road. It’s the prefect road for my perverted “hard alt road” bike and I should have been quite enthused.
I was not.
Not my photo, but yeah that’s 68 J
My stomach had begun acting a wee bit peculiar. What began as minor discomfort soon developed into belches accompanied by that terrible, acid meets vegetable soup and orange juice taste of vomit. That’s when I knew something was awry.
One of my compatriots from Rodeo also had a similar problem (for the sake of privacy, I’ll call him “S Thompson”… no, that’s too obvious. “Sheldon T.”)
We decided to forgo the rest of the Grindo, head back to the Rapha Boulder Clubhouse, rally over Topo Chicos and head back to Denver.
A plan, as they say, is a list of things that don’t happen.
After a descent down Magnolia and Boulder Canyon, we procured our fizzy drinks at the clubhouse and I had the first hint of something more than just some belching. Let’s just say with immediacy and conviction, I ran into the wonderfully clean water closet at Rapha, peeled off my jersey, and deposited what looked like (apologies for the graphic description) an unshaken bottle of cold pressed “Kale, Apple, Ginger, Romaine, Spinach…” juice into the receptacle.
Food or waste? I kid. I love pressed juice.
After the use of far too many squares of toilet roll, I felt much better. The old axiom “better out than in” led me to feel some sense of relief. It was over.
So with a lightened load, we left Boulder and began making our way back towards Denver.
For those familiar with the route, one of the least enjoyable bits of the climb is the slog up to McCaslin road on the 36th bike path. It’s not really a long climb, it’s just hot (white concrete everywhere that does naught but reflect the sun) and if you’ve, say, already been on a bike for nearly 80 miles with around 7k of climbing, it’s annoying to have weekend warriors decide to “kick your shaved-leg ass” up. So we abstained from that route and cut over via dirt (“yay!”) to Marshall Road.
It was somewhere between Marshall Road and the small town of Superior, CO that it happened.
I couldn’t stop it.
I will spare you the graphic details, but needless to say I knew that another round of “cold pressed juice” was now hanging around in my chamois.
A note for the uninitiated: “chamois” refers to the pad in cycling (preferably) bib shorts. The name actually refers to leather from an animal, which is what they were made out of until the 80s. Now they’re made of cuts of foam. Clutch for reducing friction between your nether regions and a saddle. I’ve heard the more “traditional”, mildly boorish, weekend MTB types even call it “a diaper.” A fitting description for this tale.
We made haste to the nearest gas station.
I had another session of “meditation” and carefully rinsed out my bibs (fully naked in a one person only truck stop bathroom) over the toilet (using a water bottle I would not be drinking from again that ride). Again, it was “juice” so the cleanup wasn’t as gnarly as it could have been.
Sheldon gamely hung out outside, where I met up with him after procuring the only diarrhea medicine available at the shop (Pepto Bismol), which also didn’t have ginger ale (which I know isn’t scientifically proven to help an “upset” stomach, but the placebo works on me).
The remaining details of the day are unimportant. I made it back to the Cap Hill neighborhood, immediately cleaned up things and chugged as much water as I could stand.
What have we learned, at this point?
Cycling can be rugged . If you don’t think cyclists are tough, you try doing cardio for 20 hours a week and dealing with shit like… well, shit.
. If you don’t think cyclists are tough, you try doing cardio for 20 hours a week and dealing with shit like… well, shit. Poop is funny.
According to some, the aesthetic of Rodeo Labs is wrong. We’re basically riding either “bad mountain bikes” or “bad road bikes.” I say that’s foolish bullshit posturing. If riding from the densest part of a decently sized city to the top of remote, rugged mountain roads, shitting your bib shorts, and living to tell about it is wrong, well… warts and all, I don’t want to be right.
“The Wrong Way” . E’ry day.
Never forget:
Addendum: Sheldon T, I mean, “S Thompson” did not shit himself. That was solely the milieu of the author. But really, if you’re gonna be up for adventure, that means you might end up with some poop in your pants. Rugged is rugged. | https://medium.com/@ezweave/oh-shit-472227a0dffe | [] | 2019-05-06 15:54:13.898000+00:00 | ['Cycling'] |
“Huh? I don’t get it!”. The most common reaction among high… | Why people avoid short fiction
The most common reaction among high school students at the end of a short story is, “Huh? I don’t get it!”
Adults often have the same opinion.
People often don’t enjoy “short stories” because the term is a misnomer. Like most novels, a short story has a beginning, middle, and end — except the end is abrupt, as if pruned by the author. Like a rose, the pruning gives it a special life.
Take “Cathedral” (1981) by Raymond Carver. It’s about a blind man, Robert, who visits a woman who, years earlier, used to read to him when they lived in Seattle. Their lives have diverged; she’s moved to the East Coast. Nevertheless, they’ve stayed in touch through cassette tapes.
One evening the blind visits his friend, who lives north of New York City. The woman (who’s never named) has a husband (also unnamed) who’s a misanthrope. He hates his job and spends his evenings watching TV and smoking weed in a cloud of cynicism. After she announces her friend’s visit, he says, “Maybe I could take him bowling.”
She pleads with her husband to be cordial. He isn’t. Robert has arrived via train up the picturesque Hudson River.
“Did you have a good train ride?” asks the husband. “Which side of the train did you sit on?”
After supper, during which the wife and Robert reminisce, her energy flags. Her husband is left to entertain Robert, who’s become wise to the sarcastic
quips. Lots of Scotch is consumed and weed smoked. The husband turns on the TV. A program about cathedrals comes on.
Robert asks his host to describe what a cathedral looks like; the husband tries and tries and fails miserably: “I’m sorry, but it looks like that’s the best I can do for you,” he laments. “I’m just no good at it.”
“That’s all right, bub,” says Robert.
He asks the husband to fetch heavy paper and a pen so they can draw a cathedral together. Though skeptical, the husband retrieves the materials.
Pressing hard, both their hands on the pen, the two men draw. By now, the wife has opened her eyes and is watching.
“Swell. Terrific. You’re doing fine,” Robert says. “Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you, bub?” and “Put some people in there now. What’s a cathedral without people?”
Finally, Robert tells him to close his eyes. The story, narrated by the husband, concludes:
“Are they closed?” he said. “Don’t fudge.”
“They’re closed,” I said.
“Keep them that way,” he said. He said, “Don’t stop now. Draw.”
So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now.
Then he said, “I think that’s it. I think you got it,” he said. “Take a look. What do you think?”
But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.
“Well?” he said. “Are you looking?”
My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.
“It’s really something,” I said.
THE END.
My students want to know:
a. What happened at the end?
b. Did the husband feel what it was like being blind?
c. What did the drawing look like?
d. Did Robert teach the cynic a thing or two?
e. Will the husband and wife’s marriage be better now?”
My response: Those questions are the pay-off of a short story. Let’s talk about it!
A short story is not a piece of a novel.
Neither is it a miniaturized version of a novel.
A novel is a life lived over a period of time. A short story is a single incident that changes a life.
It is a conversation overheard in a bar in which the eavesdropper knows little of what came before and nothing what comes after. On the basis of what was heard, she must speculate on her drive home. The form emerged in the 19th century, well after novels, poems, and theater. It is storytelling for busy people in the modern world who often have no time for the grand sweep and moral outlook served up by novels.
A short story is a tonic to the pessimism of our age. It prods readers to consider the possibility of change and hope and — what the hell — to reach for both, even in the midst of exhaustion and doubt. | https://medium.com/@mrvescovi/baffled-by-short-fiction-read-this-f3beb942ea4 | [] | 2020-12-16 22:05:18.654000+00:00 | ['High School', 'Short Story', 'Short Stories And Poems', 'Short Fiction', 'Raymond Carver'] |
Story Point Estimating Taking the Guessing out of it | A lot of teams still struggle with giving accurate time estimates using story points. It’s among the most difficult, if not the most difficult, aspects of the software team’s entire job functions. The same team can solve the most complex software problem, however, find it very difficult to estimate the simplest of tasks.
Determining whether your team has an estimation deficiency?
Does your team do any of the following:
The team uses hours instead of Point system Estimates are typically wildly off what they had originally stated The team is frustrated and don’t see the value in estimating work item
Fortunately, there are methods that we can use to develop reasonable estimates. One of the most effective methods, in my opinion, is a group discussion with a slightly diverse audience.
A story point is a unit of measure to express the overall effort that will be required to fully implement a work item. Varying teams use a different approach to measure:
T-shirt size (S, M, L, XL)
Fibonacci (1,2,3,5,8)
A story point is a unit of the collective team effort.
Setting the Team formation
It’s important to have the right people involved in the estimation process. By incorporating persons from other teams (Software developers, UX designers, QA, ….Everyone) each role brings a different perspective on the product and the work required to deliver a user story.
Take for example, creating a login page.
As a Customer, I want to be able to input my username and password to get access to the application, this will ensure my personal information is secure.
Most developers will say this is a pretty cut and dry User Story, however that is one perspective of the whole.. Here are the others:
Software Developer: focus on the functionality of the log in such as the user credential and how the information will be pulled from the database to verify the user.
UX Designer: focus point will take into consideration the look and feel of the login page, how to maximize the user experience, color layout, etc.
QA Tester: focus goes beyond functionality and how it works but to take into consideration scenarios and how the system reacts to having consecutive invalid password entry.
Architect: focus at a high level on how this basic functionality integrates with the larger system as a whole.
By including the various focal points in the estimation process a higher quality estimate is created.
Estimate made in a Vacuum, it is a fast track to Failure!
Where to Start — Collaborate with Product Owner
The Product Backlog is an ever-growing list of user stories that connect the business requirements and defects identified within the system. These are all managed by a single individual, the Product Owner.
The entire team needs to rally around the Product Owner, who provides the list of priorities and details regarding each user story. This phase of collaboration links the business requirements (Needs) to the technical implementation (How). It also starts the estimation process as the team asks questions for items that require further clarity. Answers, in turn, will provide the team with enough context to accurately estimate the User Story.
Additionally, the story points help the Product Owner prioritize which User Story can be grouped into which sprint cycle based on the team’s capacity and velocity. It is very common for a product owner to reorder items on the backlog based on the collaboration with the entire team. Typical for the Scrum to tackle these activities during the Sprint Grooming ceremonies.
Running Estimation sessions — Playing a Game of Point Poker
Now that you have formed your team, how do we avoid groupthink and disagreements for the final estimate? The true strength of a diverse group is its diversity. Therefore, use that which makes us different as the core purpose in every estimation session by allowing every individual to base their estimates base on their domain expertise.
Let’s move into the game of Pointing poker.
At its simplest, Planning poker is a gamification approach of estimation sessions wherein a team of estimators follow an iterative process of blind estimating with cards on a Fibonacci scale until the team agrees on one final estimate for each development task.
The team will take an item from the backlog, beginning with the highest priority and going down the list. The Product owner will give a brief description, and each member of the team will estimate its effort. The members will formulate a whole estimate, and everyone will reveal their estimate at the same time to prevent groupthink. There are many tools out there to engage in planning poker, for example, T-shirt size or Fibonacci numbers
There are three (3) possible outcomes:
If everyone selects the same value then, it’s given to the User Story. If two or more persons have a wide variance of the estimate, then the members discuss how they arrived at those estimates and the team makes the final decision. If the User Story has too many uncertain elements for the team to commit an estimate to, then the Product owner can intervene for further clarity or request clarification from the business.
Bench-marking Stories
It has been proven that Humans are much better at estimating using relative rather than absolute estimates. If our teams compare one User Story to another it’s much easier to estimate the Story point. Relative estimation is the use of current and/or past features as a benchmark for the sizing of new ones.
For example, if Feature A was estimated at a story point of 3 and Feature B is a less complex feature in comparison to Feature A then the team can assign a Story point of 1.
Teams must keep this in mind when providing relative estimates on a specific story. It is a combination of the amount of work required, the complexity of the functionality or even familiarity with building the said feature, and finally the level of risk or uncertainty. In using relative estimation with an already estimated User Story, teams can decide to go higher or lower. Teams tend to iterate on this process and will only get more accurate over time as they work together.
Using the Relative estimating technique will allow teams to have more confidence, decrease the estimated variance, and decrease the effort exerted to give accurate estimates.
From Story Points to Hours
Now, although Agile teams work in Story point, the business we serve requires some level of the timeline for implementation. Therefore it is left to the Project Manager to translate the Story Points into hours. Here is a really effective way of doing so, first we have to introduce a few new terms:
Capacity — The amount of work a team can do in a specific Sprint
Velocity — Measure of the amount of work a Team can tackle during a single Sprint and is the key metric in Scrum
Using these metrics can help the Project Manager create a better timeline to share with the key business stakeholders. Based on the team, velocity determines how many User Story, based on the estimated size, can be completed within a given sprint, taking into consideration the team capacity during those sprints. This can be used to forecast how long it will take to complete a backlog of activities.
The forecast completion gets more accurate over time. The team performance data over a longer period will help the Project Manager better assess the team’s projected end date. Notwithstanding that the core of Agile is doing an incremental release, therefore, the most important features would be live before the entire project wraps up.
Factors Affecting estimation: | https://medium.com/@oldane-graham/story-point-estimating-taking-the-guessing-out-of-it-29fe01ca049d | ['Oldane Graham'] | 2020-12-18 14:08:06.274000+00:00 | ['Estimating', 'Agile Methodology', 'Project Management', 'Agile', 'Scrum'] |
XinFin (XDCE) cryptocurrency exchange, AlphaEx launches new version | AlphaEx is a hosted solution which is secure, high-end, multi-tenant transaction processing infrastructure capable of handling several large-scale transactions through the cloud platform hosted at a secure data center. AlphaEx is a highly versatile, scalable and robust hosted exchange platform that covers all aspects of crypto exchange operations.
This past Thursday, May 17th2018, AlphaEx launched their new updated website after additional features were added to the platform. This announcement was well received by the investors on the platform as daily traded volumes traded on the exchange has slightly improved in the past week. The exchange was launched in 2017 in collaboration with XinFin Fin Tech in a bid to improve the uptake of the token on the exchange. The maintenance period started at 0600 UTC and completed at 1000 UTC marking the launch of the new AlphaEx cryptocurrency exchange.
One of the major challenges the crypto exchange community is facing is the expensive and difficult methods employed to gain listing to an exchange. The current cryptocurrency exchanges are also heavily controlled with a heap of rules and regulations making it almost impossible for new ICOs to gain listing on them. This will, in turn, stifle the development progress of these token’s and coin’s adoption. Smaller coins have had it rough in gaining listing on large exchanges due to these rules and regulations.
The other problem heavily crippling the young cryptocurrencies is delisting from the exchanges. The increasing number of coins delisted from exchanges is slowly increasing further crippling the industry. Simply put, the current state of cryptocurrency exchange is benefiting the larger coins while heavily incapacitating the small growing coins. However, AlphaEx is on track to solve these problems allowing users to privately host their exchange platform.
AlphaEx is a white label cryptocurrency exchange that offers a platform to trade exchange markets for the popular currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and XinFin (XDCE). The main pairs of trade are; XDC/BTC, XDC/ETH and XDC/XRP. The recent addition of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) trading pair with XDC is a sign of the increasing popularity the private exchange is facing. AlphaEx allows the user to have total control over the tokens traded, its volume and price. The exchange also provides an option to investors to trade on the tokens without fear of delisting, giving them confidence in their investment.
AlphaEx collaborated with XinFin Org., ‘eXchange InFinite’, to allow a quick privatized exchange of any cryptocurrency on the platform. Some of the projects set by the company is to facilitate fixed rate remittances, digitization of real-world assets, improve global trade through the XDC01 protocol and provide settlement for the internet of things (IoT) enabled projects.
XinFin token, XDCE in brief
XinFin (XDCE) is currently the main trading currency on the exchange. The token built to take over the $27 trillion USD global trade industry, is currently trading at $0.004841 USD, a 14% drop in a day. The drop is synonymous with the current market movement with a majority of the coins seeing red in the last 24 hours. The XDCE token has however seen an increase in the daily traded volumes as its 24 hour traded volumes crossed the $3 million mark for the first time this week. | https://medium.com/xinfin/xinfin-xdce-cryptocurrency-exchange-alphaex-launches-new-version-a9a1c781e58e | ['Xinfin Team'] | 2018-09-24 23:41:09.638000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin'] |
I write; therefore I am | I write; therefore I am
The Y generation, mine, of people born between 1982 and 1994 are questioners of the status quo about everything that happens around us. Generations change because society changes. It is not a question of which is the best, but how each one adapts to new realities. We question politics, music, the environment, religion and the way the world acts in the 21st century.
The questions don’t just cover the collective society. The questions are also internal. We ask ourselves if we are on the right path and if this path exists. We live in a world of possibilities. We can choose between being a carpenter, a musician, a writer or a designer.
Descartes’ half-truth
What is the basis for our existence? René Descartes once said: “I think; therefore I am”; I take this as a partial truth: our presence does not need to be around our thoughts. I can’t believe Rene was wrong, but I want to leave my upgrade in this sentence: I write, therefore I exist.
I’m not a thinker or a philosopher. My head orbits around connecting the past, bringing it into the future, and perhaps, adapting to a different reality. I think; therefore I am appeared in a time when the great men of the moment were the thinkers. His visions were to share these ideas in a time when visibility was limited.
Even Descartes had never seen the success of the book, “Discourse on the Method”; which talks about our existence. The author went beyond the dressing, so I exist; he recorded everything that his imagination created him to believe.
I write; therefore I am
I caught myself thinking about it the other day, this hidden idea that this phrase shows us. Let’s leave the year 1600 and go back to 2020. Have been many changes since then, but I will focus on the essence of this text: be noticeable.
Inventive figures don’t stay hidden at home producing their songs, writing their poems or drawing architectural projects. Those who feel the desire to make their “art” don’t want to leave it to themselves. It is even selfish to think that way. Other people will benefit from your work. The globe is diversified, and all diversity has admirers.
That’s why it’s almost impossible to create something that doesn’t exist. What we do is mix things that already endure with others. Add our individuality. How many books about trips that ended up going wrong at some point, then there was a turnaround? Several! Each story was different in the eyes of those who wrote it.
The face of its authenticity
Being authentic does not mean being revolutionary. I follow the profile of a Danish painter, Daniella Jones, who does some incredible work. What she does others do, have done before and will continue doing. The difference is in her attention, in her brushstroke, in each emotion she puts in each picture.
However, she doesn’t do it with closed doors. She shows the world her art. Daniella knows the value her work has, which would be selfish with herself in leaving it locked in the closet. People know her picture because she decided to show it. That painter decided to stamp her legacy in the world with her art.
“Thoughts that materialize become gold for society.” — Me
There are ’n’ ways to live in the world. Some are devoted to religion; some are there for a relationship; some like to accumulate wealth; each one’s choice is unique. Is it wrong? No. Each being makes his existence according to his reality and desires.
What makes more sense to me, which is neither right nor wrong, is to leave a legacy in the world. That is why I chose writing. The phrase, “I write; therefore I am”, fits on me because I feel comfortable writing. Other people will change for their craft: I draw; therefore I am; I sing, therefore I am; I dance, therefore I am.
Action plus its existence is the materialization of Descartes’ catchword: I think, therefore I am.
Legacy shapes the future
Existing to leave the legacy in the world, even if only for one person to benefit from it, drives me to want to keep creating as much as I can. I consume books from people who have already died but left their legacy somehow. Alexandre Dumas with his stories, Da Vinci with his personality and paintings, Napoleon in his sagacity, each historical figure was a real character in his time.
Their legacy keeps in vogue even after death. The world seen by my vision makes sense. I always felt connected to the works and teachings of those who no longer walk on earth. The legacy I want to leave for the beings in 200 years is: be remembered and have my ideas linked to the purpose of a person of the future.
Hemingway’s living came about through writing: I write; therefore I am. The existence of Shackleton was through navigation: I navigate, therefore I am. Steve Jobs, a recent case that will keep in history could be: I innovate, therefore I am.
Currently, we have the tools to boost our existence. In 1600 it was hard to be noticed. Just a small portion of the population had this possibility, educated and knowledgeable personalities, but this premise has changed nowadays. The Internet and technology became accessible for people.
I’m not going to talk about the population that doesn’t have access to these technologies, but on a comparative basis with the 15th century, we are making progress.
If I had been born at the same time as Descartes, I would hardly have written anything. I wouldn’t even know how to read at first. Today is different. We have this opportunity, which also comes with obstacles, to show our work. Our existence contributes to the world with our skills.
Someone is waiting for you on the other side of the door.
As I said before, we live amid diversity. For every skill you develop, an admirer you will conquer.
Today I lapse my existence through writing. Day after day, I leave a small footprint on the world. What I do, many people do. The way I accomplish my craft only exists by me. | https://medium.com/@phdalmolin/i-write-therefore-i-am-a6ccd720b796 | ['Pedro Dalmolin'] | 2020-12-16 16:26:38.820000+00:00 | ['Writing Life', 'Daily Blog', 'Creative Writing', 'Creative Process', 'Writers On Writing'] |
Add a New Organization on Existing Hyperledger Fabric Network | Introduction
In training classes, I always hear people say that Hyperledger Fabric is really complicated. And among everything, it is always the infrastructure part, that is, bringing up the fabric network with all the components, say the Peers, Orderers, Certificate Authority, with proper setup on the organizations and channels. After that, one can run chaincode on top of the network. That part is more “developer-friendly” compared to the underlying infrastructure.
If bringing up a fabric network is challenging, adding an organization in an existing network must be even more. There is a good tutorial in Hyperledger Fabric documentation (link). They provide very detail step-by-step instruction on building things up.
As usual I try to make it systematic such that learner can always have a bigger picture first, and detail step-by-step instruction with my own explanation. This article is serving the same purpose.
This article assumes one has already grasped some ideas about Hyperledger Fabric, both the infrastructure and the chaincode operation. Understanding the overall process of the Build Your First Network (BYFN) example is the foundation of learning this “Adding an Org to a Channel” Tutorial. Therefore make sure you have walked through the detail about BYFN. Of course, you can find good material in the documentation (link), or refer to my previous works on exploring the First Network.
We will first introduce the big picture of the whole process, understanding the overall flow before we go into each one by one.
Overall Process
Review: Build Your First Network
To make a good comparison, let’s review the Build Your First Network flow.
First Network contains two organizations (Org1 and Org2), each of which has two peers deployed (Peer0 and Peer1). One Orderer is setup for the network. A channel mychannel is established, and both organizations and peers join mychannel. After that a chaincode is installed in all peers and instantiated on mychannel. Finally we invoke and query on different nodes and observe the behaviour we define in the chaincode.
What we have done to bring up the First Network.
Prepare the configuration files for crypto-config and configuration transactions. Use cryptogen and configtxgen tools to create the crypto material and the files of transactions, respectively. Bring up the nodes of First Network using docker-compose. Use command line interface (cli) to create the channel mychannel and all peers joining the channel.
With that the First Network is done. We then perform the chaincode operations.
Install the chaincode to all peers. Instantiate the chaincode from a peer, with the initial arguments required per chaincode. Query the value stored in the ledger (in any peers). Invoke the chaincode and query the value again after invocation (in any peers).
Here is where we stop in the Build Your First Network process.
Process of Adding Org3 into First Network
We will walk through what is performed in the eyfn.sh script, and do it a step-by-step way using cli.
Prepare Org3 artifacts Update the network to include Org3 configuration Bring up Peers of Org3 and join mychannel Chaincode operations after Org3 is part of the network
We will go into more detail on each step.
0. Bring Up First Network with byfn.sh
The overall process is built upon a complete First Network setup. So make sure you have complete the whole process.
$ cd fabric-samples/first-network
$ ./byfn.sh up
(In case of any problems, try run ./byfn.sh down and then bring up again.)
After running the script you should see the END sign.
And there will be several points for further checking.
Check running containers: you should see NINE containers running. One Orderer, Four Peers, One CLI, and Three chaincode-related Containers.
Also access a Peer (say peer0.org1) and check the block height. It should be 5 after running the script.
We will explain what’s inside the block later, as it is relevant to the Org3 setup.
1. Prepare Org3 artifacts
The idea is close to what we have done on First Network setup. There are two files under first-network/org3-artifacts.
The configuration files to be used
org3-crypto.yaml
configtx.yaml
org3-crypto.yaml
The crypto part org3-crypto.yaml is similar to First Network script. Use cryptogen to bring up the directory structure for Org3.
According to the configuration, two peer nodes are created in Org3, with an Admin and an additional User. This setup is identical to First Network for Org1 and Org2.
To generate the crypto artifacts, use cryptogen,
// in first-network/org3-artifacts directory
$ ../../bin/cryptogen generate --config=./org3-crypto.yaml
A new directory crypto-config is created, and the resulting directory structure looks like this.
We also need to copy the Orderer from First Network to crypto-config as well.
// in first-network/org3-artifacts directory
$ cp -r ../crypto-config/ordererOrganizations crypto-config/
After that we will have the complete directory structure.
configtx.yaml
Unlike BYFN, this file only contains Org3 information. Obviously we are not following what we have done on BYFN script, using configtxgen to generate everything. Here we use option -printOrg to create a JSON file based on this configtx.yaml. The result is stored in org3.json, and store it into first-network/channel-artifacts directory.
// in first-network/org3-artifacts directory
$ export FABRIC_CFG_PATH=$PWD && ../../bin/configtxgen -printOrg Org3MSP > ../channel-artifacts/org3.json
Here we can take a look on the structure of org3.json, an object that contains the required configuration of Org3. Later we will revisit this file when creating the update.
org3.json, generated by configtxgen
2. Update the network to include Org3 configuration
The Idea
As a permissioned blockchain, “who can do what” is of the utmost importance. In Hyperledger Fabric, the network setup is in fact written onto the ledger, inside the block. We can perform this easily when we build a brand new fabric network, but becomes very challenging when we need to modify the fabric network when it is already running.
The whole idea is to create a new block containing the new organization configuration. After that the peers of new organization can join the channel, and the whole network knows this organization is part of the network.
It takes several steps “to create a new block containing the new organization configuration”. In this session we are exploring this.
Tool: configtxlator
As you will see, there is a tool we will use quite often. It is configtxlator. This tool comes in Hyperledger Fabric, usually inside fabric-sample/bin file. The tool is accessible in CLI.
The tool deals with a format called protobuf. Without further going into detail, we just treat it a binary format. It is corresponding to JSON format, which we will deal with quite a lot in this session.
There are several options we will use.
proto_encode : encodes JSON format to protobuf format
: encodes JSON format to protobuf format proto_decode : decodes protobuf format to JSON format
: decodes protobuf format to JSON format compute_update: computes the delta of two protobuf format in configuration and produces the configuration update from the first protobuf to the second
2.1 fetch the latest configuration block from the ledger
The first step is to fetch a configuration block from the ledger. And we will act upon this configuration block after.
Before everything, we first examine what are inside the blocks in the blockchain (ledger). As indicated in my previous work (link) after the byfn.sh, there are FIVE blocks on the ledger.
block #0: Genesis block (mychannel.block)
block #1: Anchor peer for Org1 update
block #2: Anchor peer for Org2 update
block #3: chaincode mycc instantiation (a, 100, b, 200)
block #4: chaincode mycc invoke (a, b, 10)
The first three are the configuration, and the last two involved chaincode operations. We need to get the latest configuration block, that is, #2.
First shell to cli. Note that the environment variables by default is on peer0.org1.example.com.
$ docker exec -it cli bash
The command to get the configuration block is peer channel fetch config . From cli to get the latest configuration block on the specific channel.
# export ORDERER_CA=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/ordererOrganizations/example.com/orderers/orderer.example.com/msp/tlscacerts/tlsca.example.com-cert.pem && export CHANNEL_NAME=mychannel
# peer channel fetch config config_block.pb -o orderer.example.com:7050 -c $CHANNEL_NAME --tls --cafile $ORDERER_CA
From the result we see block #2 is received, and it is stored in a file config_block.pb, which is a protobuf binary format.
Block #2 is the latest configuration block after running ./byfn.sh up script.
2.2 prepare the configuration update for Org3
We begin with the config_block.pb file. This file has all the information inside the block. We do not need the whole block. Instead we extract the portion relevant to our construction of configuration update.
Use configtxlator proto_decode config_block.pb into JSON format, and use jq to retrieve the required portion. The result is kept in config.json.
# configtxlator proto_decode --input config_block.pb --type common.Block | jq .data.data[0].payload.data.config > config.json
Right-hand-side is the useful extraction from the block
Inside config.json, we clearly see configuration of Org1MSP and Org2MSP. We are now to include the Org3MSP into it, and the Org3MSP is from org3.json we generated in Step 1.
# jq -s '.[0] * {"channel_group":{"groups":{"Application":{"groups": {"Org3MSP":.[1]}}}}}' config.json ./channel-artifacts/org3.json > modified_config.json
The command is to use jq to insert org3.json into config.json, at the right location and the key name “Org3MSP”. The result is modified_config.json.
The three files: org3.json is inserted into config.json, resulting modified_config.json
We now have the two JSON files,
config.json (which contains org1 and org2)
(which contains org1 and org2) modified_config.json (in which org3 is included)
The next step is to find out the delta between the two files in protobuf binary format. We first encode it back to protobuf format, and then find out the difference, which is the configuration update needed.
It can be done in three instructions using configtxlator. The result is org3_update.pb.
# configtxlator proto_encode --input config.json --type common.Config --output config.pb # configtxlator proto_encode --input modified_config.json --type common.Config --output modified_config.pb # configtxlator compute_update --channel_id $CHANNEL_NAME --original config.pb --updated modified_config.pb --output org3_update.pb
This file cannot be used yet. We have to add an envelope on it. Again, the envelope is in JSON. As the last step, we decode the org3_update.pb again, add a wrapper, and encode it back to org3_update_in_envelope.pb.
Here are the instructions.
# configtxlator proto_decode --input org3_update.pb --type common.ConfigUpdate | jq . > org3_update.json # echo '{"payload":{"header":{"channel_header":{"channel_id":"mychannel", "type":2}},"data":{"config_update":'$(cat org3_update.json)'}}}' | jq . > org3_update_in_envelope.json # configtxlator proto_encode --input org3_update_in_envelope.json --type common.Envelope --output org3_update_in_envelope.pb
We are curious enough to explore what is inside org3_update.json and org3_update_in_envelope.json.
The org3_updated.json is wrapped into org3_updated_in_envelope.json
The result org3_update_in_envelope.pb is the file for the next step.
It is not an easy task, but it is really logical when creating this configuration update. Here is a simple summary on what we have done so far.
From config_block.pb (latest configuration block) to the org3_update_in_envelope.pb
2.3 sends update to Orderer and a new block containing Org3 configuration is committed back to the ledger
The file org3_update_in_envelope.pb is the update transaction for the First Network.
The default policy to update the channel is by majority, which means a majority of administrator from existing organizations. In BYFN we only have Org1 and Org2, which means that we need both signatures.
By default, cli is acting on peer0.org1.example.com. We will open up another terminal for another cli acting on peer0.org2.example.com.
Open a new terminal with environment parameters.
// a new terminal for peer0.org2 $ docker exec -e CORE_PEER_LOCALMSPID="Org2MSP" -e CORE_PEER_TLS_ROOTCERT_FILE=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/peerOrganizations/org2.example.com/peers/peer0.org2.example.com/tls/ca.crt -e CORE_PEER_MSPCONFIGPATH=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/peerOrganizations/org2.example.com/users/[email protected]/msp -e CORE_PEER_ADDRESS=peer0.org2.example.com:7051 -it cli bash // perform export environment as well # export ORDERER_CA=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/ordererOrganizations/example.com/orderers/orderer.example.com/msp/tlscacerts/tlsca.example.com-cert.pem && export CHANNEL_NAME=mychannel
We will sign the update in peer0.org1.
// cli for peer0.org1.example.com # peer channel signconfigtx -f org3_update_in_envelope.pb
And then we send the update in peer0.org2, which will include signature from Org2 as well.
// cli for peer0.org2.example.com # peer channel update -f org3_update_in_envelope.pb -c $CHANNEL_NAME -o orderer.example.com:7050 --tls --cafile $ORDERER_CA
After the update is sent to Orderer, Orderer will process it and send a new block to the fabric network. Now the whole network should see the new block containing Org3 information.
Let’s check the block height now on both org1 and org2 cli.
// cli for both peer0.org1 and peer0.org2 # peer channel getinfo -c mychannel
It should show “height” as 6. Compared to Step 2.1, the ledger has one more block, and the network is ready for Peers of Org3 joining.
Now our First Network has a new block containing the Org3 configuration.
3. Bring up Peers of Org3 and Join mychannel
We have gone through the most tedious steps in updating the whole First Network with Org3 configuration. What remains is just normal steps. In this session we bring up the peers of Org3 and a cli by default acting on peer0.org3.example.com.
The docker-compose file for org3 is docker-compose-org3.yaml. Inside it two peers and one cli (Org3cli) will be up and running.
From a new terminal,
// a new terminal for Org3cli $ docker-compose -f docker-compose-org3.yaml up -d
Shell to Org3cli and set the environment variables.
// Org3cli $ docker exec -it Org3cli bash # export ORDERER_CA=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/ordererOrganizations/example.com/orderers/orderer.example.com/msp/tlscacerts/tlsca.example.com-cert.pem && export CHANNEL_NAME=mychannel
To make peers of Org3 joining the mychannel, we need the genesis block (block #0).
Go to peer0.org1 cli.
// cli for peer0.org1.example.com # peer channel fetch 0 mychannel.block -o orderer.example.com:7050 -c $CHANNEL_NAME --tls --cafile $ORDERER_CA
The file mychannel.block is the genesis block. We copy mychannel.block to Org3cli such that we can use it in Org3cli.
// my localhost $ docker cp cli:/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/mychannel.block . $ docker cp mychannel.block Org3cli:/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/
Now we can join the peers of Org3 using this file.
// Org3cli # peer channel join -b mychannel.block
Optionally we can use the same Org3cli to join peer1.org3, by specifying the environment variables.
// Org3cli # CORE_PEER_TLS_ROOTCERT_FILE=/opt/gopath/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/peer/crypto/peerOrganizations/org3.example.com/peers/peer1.org3.example.com/tls/ca.crt CORE_PEER_ADDRESS=peer1.org3.example.com:7051 peer channel join -b mychannel.block
How can we know the peers of Org3 already “in-sync”? We can check the blockchain height again.
// Org3cli # peer channel getinfo -c mychannel
We see “height” 6 again. That means peer0.org3 has already gets the ledger update.
4. Chaincode operations after Org3 is part of the network
The last step is about the chaincode. In BYFN script, a chaincode mycc is installed in the peers of Org1 and Org2, instantiated in mychannel. An invocation is done such that the state has been updated (for your information, the current state is the value of a is 90, of b is 210).
The interesting part is the the original chaincode mycc (version 1.0) is not yet installed in peers of Org3. Also, the endorsing policy should be updated such that Org3 is also a valid member to endorse invocation.
First we install a new version of chaincode (2.0) to all organizations. Now we just focus on peer0 of each organization.
// cli for peer0.org1.example.com # peer chaincode install -n mycc -v 2.0 -p github.com/chaincode/chaincode_example02/go/ // cli for peer0.org2.example.com # peer chaincode install -n mycc -v 2.0 -p github.com/chaincode/chaincode_example02/go/ // Org3cli # peer chaincode install -n mycc -v 2.0 -p github.com/chaincode/chaincode_example02/go/
Then we can upgrade the chaincode. Like instantiation, upgrade will execute Init() inside the chaincode. If any arguments are needed when we instantiate the chaincode, we also need to specify. Also, we specify the endorsement policy to include Org3.
// cli for peer0.org1.example.com # peer chaincode upgrade -o orderer.example.com:7050 —-tls $CORE_PEER_TLS_ENABLED —-cafile $ORDERER_CA -C $CHANNEL_NAME -n mycc -v 2.0 -c '{"Args":["init","a","90","b","210"]}' -P "OR ('Org1MSP.peer','Org2MSP.peer','Org3MSP.peer')"
As usual, it takes some time to build the container images and instantiate a running container. Once we see the instruction is done, we can issue query value from Org3cli.
// Org3cli # peer chaincode query -C $CHANNEL_NAME -n mycc -c '{"Args":["query","a"]}'
It takes the same a while, and the result 90 is shown.
Finally we will perform an invocation on Org3cli and query the value on Org2 for sake of demonstration.
// Org3cli # peer chaincode invoke -o orderer.example.com:7050 --tls $CORE_PEER_TLS_ENABLED --cafile $ORDERER_CA -C $CHANNEL_NAME -n mycc -c '{"Args":["invoke","a","b","10"]}' // cli for peer0.org2.example.com # peer chaincode query -C $CHANNEL_NAME -n mycc -c '{"Args":["query","a"]}'
Now we see the result on peer0.org2 cli it is 80, which means the invocation is completely processed and the ledger of the whole network is updated accordingly.
5. Clean Up
As good practice, we clean up everything after the exercise.
Exit all CLIs.
Use ./byfn.sh down to bring down the network. This script will tear down all configuration including that of Org3 as well.
// in first-network directory $ ./byfn.sh down
Closing
This ends our lengthy process. Again, adding one more organization is never an easy task due to the permissioning nature in permissioned blockchain like Hyperledger Fabric. Nevertheless, during this process we know more about some in-depth architecture of Hyperledger Fabric. I have to say the overall process is logical, though I am expecting some improvement later to make life easier. | https://kctheservant.medium.com/add-a-new-organization-on-existing-hyperledger-fabric-network-2c9e303955b2 | ['Kc Tam'] | 2019-08-21 00:42:51.096000+00:00 | ['Hyperledger Fabric', 'First Network', 'Blockchain', 'Blockchain Infrastructure', 'Enterprise Blockchain'] |
The worst TV shows of 2020 | It was a singular year for TV. The coronavirus pandemic made escapism and entertainment more crucial than ever in 2020, and many shows rose to the occasion. Unfortunately, some shows missed the mark.
Here are the worst offenders.
Somehow this poorly written, joyless, paper-thin sitcom lasted for two seasons until ABC finally kicked it to the curb. Dumb and dumber. ‘Nuf said. — MS
Just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it’s good. While it’s true that everyone was initially talking about the sordid docuseries following former zoo operator and convicted felon Joe Exotic, it’s telling that the buzz has died down just a few months later. After its initial shock value of mullets, murder plots, polyamory and severed limbs wears off, “Tiger King” is an empty story about unpleasant people who don’t deserve this level of attention. Beyond its surface, it isn’t even a well-made series — it’s got a disorganized, haphazard presentation. — LS
Netflix docuseries “TIger King” sure was popular — but did it deserve that?
Ryan Murphy’s origin story about evil “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson), for all its typical candy-colored cinematic flourishes and eye-catching costumes, was annoyingly over the top and violent — with a nonsensical storyline wrapped in a cartoonish cocoon and too much sexual content. I couldn’t get past four episodes — just didn’t care. — MS
This sci-fi-ish series about the search for a comic book with hidden meaning was canceled after one season: not only did it kill off a main character in Episode 2, but its plotline meandered into labyrinthian territory — taking its fine cast down the rabbit hole. — MS
The ill-fated mobile app had its share of nonsensical shows during its short life (from April to December) — but none more than “Dismantled.” Hosted by Titus Burgess, the concept of this cooking series is that chefs are blindfolded, shot in the face with food, and must try to guess and re-create the dish splattered all over them. It sounds like a joke — if only it was. — LS
Objectively, there was nothing wrong with this show about friends staying in touch via video chat during the COVID-19 pandemic. The acting was fine, and the plot wasn’t far-fetched or unrelatable. But watching people navigate a scenario that audiences are still in the thick of is the definition of “too soon.” It managed to be simultaneously boring and depressing — a reflection of an ongoing slog that nobody wants to be in. NBC axed it after a few episodes; good riddance. — LS
Jill Knox in a scene from NBC’s “Connecting.”
A single mom (Pauley Perrette) takes in her estranged sister and her family after they fall into financial trouble. There was nothing original or compelling about this sitcom — just tired jokes and cliches. And just like “Ted Lasso” came out at the right time, this show came out at the wrong time, when millions of Americans lost their jobs in the pandemic. Who wants to watch money struggles on TV? Nobody, causing CBS to pull the plug after one season. — LS
It was like a car crash you couldn’t look away from. The reality series — hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, in the ultimate “I guess nobody better was available” — saw couples get engaged sight unseen after spending a few days talking to each other through a wall. They then proceeded to meet in person and rush into preparations for a wedding. The show was packed with as many cringe-worthy moments as you’d expect, and it’s no wonder that it hardly worked, with most of the couples crashing and burning. — LS | https://medium.com/@molific668/the-worst-tv-shows-of-2020-15ff056b3a92 | [] | 2020-12-26 13:57:52.853000+00:00 | ['Tv Shows 2020', 'Worst Tv Shows', 'TV Series', 'Reality TV', 'TV Shows'] |
van gogh dream | van gogh dream
i sink into the waters of sleep…
…dreaming,
i wade through the river
of my mosaic subconscious mind
and see in its water
passing fractured images self-assembling
into swirling ruby-sapphire starry night eddies
until I am submerged
in van gogh magic
and then i arise
refreshed from the baptism of dreams | https://medium.com/@authenticphantasm/van-gogh-dream-cbeab031d575 | ['Jacob Hempel'] | 2020-12-27 21:33:54.308000+00:00 | ['Poetry On Medium', 'Poetry', 'Free Verse', 'Van Gogh', 'Surrealism'] |
CHAT SESSION 003: HD SUBSTANCE | Starting out his journey by hearing Depeche Mode in his pre-teenage years, he has contributed a lot since then. He is definitely not a stranger in the industry — being active for more than two decades, Luis Rozalén aka HD Substance is still rocking dancefloors with his dark and mystic energy. From being an explorer to creating his own label, he has quite an experience behind his shoulders. Releasing his EPs and albums on countless labels, still thriving with energy — there are no limits for his Spanish soul. We managed to catch this guy and have a few words with him.
Hello Luis! Nice to have you here with us today. How is your day?
A normal day in techno routine, listening and selecting promos, sorting rekordbox playlists, searching in the vinyl archive for some gems, synthesizing new sounds on my new Elektron Analog Keys, arranging a new track, doing some record label work, making 21 km mountain bike and listening to the new Depeche Mode álbum. Not bad.
One thing that captures about you is your alias. Makes me imagine things in my head. How did you even come up with it?
It was nothing serious, a long time ago back in 1994 I decided to start a solo project apart from what we were doing in Ballet Mecánico, I just collected a bunch of English words and a bunch of acronyms and match them randomly, the result was Hd from the 3’5 floppy disks of the era ….High Density and Substance because of the New Order compilation album. If it was today I would use my name instead, but on those days anything in English sounded like modern.
Your first approach with synthesized sound happened when you were 11 years old, which gave you the direction for where are you right now. Do you still remember the feelings you experienced back then? Was there “this is it” moment?
I just became fascinated by the non-conventional sounds, everything was guitar based and sounded the same, I was a lot into sci-fi toys and robots and space even back then, so that synths sounded like the soundtrack for that. Also that music made me dance and jump …not [like] conventional pop or rock.
What has motivated you to turn from sound consumer to sound producer?
When I was young everybody was in some kind of band or musical project, no matter the music skills, in my teen years I played drums in a semi punk project, one day we hired for a keyboard player and the guy who came had a synth and a drum machine. Instantly I realized that the sounds of the music I liked most was done with some of those things and I left the band and started a new project based on that ingredients …no more drums, just one finger synth lines and compulsive mechanical beats …with a vocal on top.
Long gone band you had — Ballet Mecánico. What happened with your buddies Groof and Daniel Erbe? I heard some of Groof productions — so melodic and dark, you guys have something in common with the style of production. What about Daniel?
We started as a techno pop thing, then mutate into something like EBM after stepping into trance and acid, and all kinds of dance stuff. Groof is still making things, he never stopped, Dani is also in the music but on other side, making the soundtrack for the Kids TV series ‘Pocoyó’ and scoring for films and adverts. He was the most talented of us, and still is.
The band name probably explains your obsession with the nuts on your cover art of your SUB tl label! Tell us more about this imprint. Who is this guy you co-run it with?
SUB tl is the label I run with my partner Leandro Gámez, we do a digital release per month and one vinyl per year, the label is doing really good and giving us a lot of satisfaction, although is a lot of work it kind of keep us young and musically active. We are just about to release our second annual vinyl release with Tensal and P.E.A.R.L. remixes from Leandro’s Qssett track.
Depeche Mode were the ones who introduced you to synthesized sound. Funnily enough, my dad introduced me to Depeche Mode when I was about 12 or so, too. Do you listen to them today? They are about to release some new stuff this month. Apart from techno, what are your other favorite genres anyways?
Of course, I also have tattoos with their logos from the 80’s …Imagine the level of a fan I am. As I told you in the first question I’m just listening to the new album right now. Being grown in the 80’s I was exposed to all kinds of quality music so I also really like Punk, New Wave, Gothic stuff, Industrial, Ambient, some Jazz and even Hip Hop.
You have been in the scene for more than two decades. You probably have been through a lot and seen it all. What was your most memorable moment?
In such a big gap of time I’ve seen a lot for sure, but the definitive moment was for sure being at the controls in the booth at Berghain. I have been dreaming of that for so long …
Are you one of the analog-only guys, or are you open for experimenting? What does your studio looks like today?
I have been collecting synths forever, back in the late eighties people was basically throwing away their analogue stuff for nothing, then was when I collected most of the stuff I have, from Roland to Moog, to Sequential Circuits, Korg …etc. I’ve been working with these tools for ages and now I want something else. So I am in the process of changing my setup. There is a lot of new analogue gear that I really like, specially the Elektron Stuff and I’m starting to sell some of my good old friends and start buying new stuff to replace them. I’m 46 now and I feel like its time to get ride of the past and start the second half of my life on a new perspective. New tools, new sound …always ahead.
This is where all of Luis’ magic happens
Surprised to see that you were playing in Russia once. How was your experience playing there?
Yeah I was playing at Rodnya in Moscow for the Unit party promoted by my friend Nikita Zabelin. Beautiful and energetic crowd, very musical, and a massive city. Can’t wait to come back.
Techno still lives today — probably in mode modern form though. What kind of advice you would give to a beginner techno producer in 21st century? Back then technology was much more limited than it is today and it’s so easy to get lost in whatever Internet has to offer.
Just make music, no matter the tools, learn as much as you can, put the more hours you can into it, try to be different, be influenced but do not copy, create a collective with like minded people, do it yourself if don’t find the sound you like in the market try to make it yourself, if you don’t find the place to enjoy just make a party, if you are not happy with the tools make your own tools (modular).
Any upcoming projects you are currently working on?
My main project right now is The Bass Valley, an academy I’m working in with some of my best friends, a house in the north of Spain made to teach people to do what we love.
A thousand thank yous to the man for taking his time for us. Be sure to check him out, as well as his academy. He also recorded a mix for us, be sure to give it a listen. One hour of dark and mystic techno trip full on.
The Bass Valley / Instagram / Facebook / ResidentAdvisor / SoundCloud / Discogs | https://medium.com/bassment/chat-session-003-hd-substance-c556c6719215 | ['Roman Martynov'] | 2017-03-10 14:41:36.222000+00:00 | ['Electronic Music', 'Chat Session', 'Techno', 'Hd Substance', 'Music'] |
Put That On Your Playlist: A Life In The Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete) | Song: A Life In The Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete)
Album: The Love Below
Honourable mention: Toilet Tisha (Stankonia)
— — —
At last, the start of the cult of Andre 3000, guest rapper. Though it comes on an actual OutKast album at the very end of the double LP Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, A Life In The Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete) has very little in common with the rest of that album.
By which we mean that A Life is a rap song through and through on an album that’s pretty much devoid of any of them. Andre flips the “day in the life” concept and instead narrates his entire life and career up to this point over the course of almost five minutes. There are no choruses because life has no chorus. It’s a great performance, far from the best of his career, but it’s impressive enough and functions as some sort of fleeting reminder that yes, Andre has still got it — or at least he showed he still had it in a not so distant past. He may not and will not bring it every time but he absolutely will rap circles around everyone if and when he does.
If, you know, the context, the song, the beat, the motivation, and mostly just everything else is right and just so. Otherwise, yeah no he won’t rap.
— — —
Beat: 7/10
Lyrics: 10/10
Overall: 8/10 | https://medium.com/amanmusthaveacode/put-that-on-your-playlist-a-life-in-the-day-of-benjamin-andr%C3%A9-incomplete-b6f50741ecd2 | ['Charles Blouingascon'] | 2020-12-15 12:32:52.588000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Culture', 'Outkast', 'Rap', 'Hip Hop'] |
From best practice adoption to value creation; where should business incubators focus? | Recent posts and blogs on the topic of value creation in Business Incubators (BI’s) have started the debate on the performance assessments that are currently in place. Are these assessments fair? Are the outcomes and the best practices derived from these outcomes usable?
The EBN, NBIA and similar organisations have been reporting incubator performance for many years now. Extensive and correct defined performance criteria are used, all constructed through with SMART properties in mind (see: this.pdf page 34). This gives a broad and clear image of the BI performance. The following indicators were used in the EC-BIC Observatory 2013 for example:
Based on these indicators, best practices are identified. But, is this approach the one we should use? Does it lead to the improvement that is sought after? Does the adoption of best practices based on SMART-constructed criteria lead to an increase in the value creation in the start-up firms? As incubators are focussed on laying the tracks for the train of success, who is powering the success-train? Merely facilitating the path for success does not automatically constitute value creation. After sitting down with the incubation manager of one of the major innovative regions in the Netherlands, it became clear that the challenges faced by the incubation managers have begun to change.
The issue is no longer the absence of information, but the selection and balancing of all the information that studies on BI’s have gathered. A mixture between academic studies, EBN/NBIA/etc reports and own experience leads to the initial programme set-up. Programme improvements are based on the EBN/NBIA reports and through networks with colleagues.
So it is time to get to the core of the BI business. Creating value in the tenant firms. Strengthening them in their fight for survival and growth. The focus needs to be on their needs and the drivers for their success. Why start offering more legal advice or revamp the marketing assistance when what your tenants truly need is help on their product development for example?
What lessons can we learn from literature?
Literature reveals some interesting insights on this subject. Mian (1996) was one of the first to assess the tenants’ view on the contributions of incubator services, from a value creation perspective. Mian interviewed six incubation managers and received 47 responses on the questionnaires by tenant firms. In the questionnaire the tenants had been asked about the listed services value added contribution (no value, minor value, moderate value or major value). In the graph below, the outcomes of the research can be seen.
We can see three business support services stand out:
Business connections outside the incubator Business connections between tenants Business planning
Besides these services, the value added contributions steadily drop. Some even drop to 40% (rent breaks), showing a a large part of the tenants doesn’t see value creation as a consequence of these services.
A slightly different methodology was used by Abduh et al (2007). Their results are not comparable when it comes to their direct score, but the rank is eligible for a direct comparison. Some differences between their rank and the findings of Mian seem to exist. Business planning does not stand out and assistance to gain government grants and loans is rated as the most important. So a shift has happened over time.
Limitations of these studies
The results of the two studies mentioned above, have more than 10 years between them. Some shifting in the results can be seen. But the most important part is the fact that these studies (and other similar studies) are not sector-specific. Now that sector- or even branchspecific incubators are coming to life across the globe, the need for specified data is high. But then again, how transposable are the outcomes of the sector-specific studies?
Focussing on the value creating aspects based on the needs of companies elsewhere can still result in business support services that are barely used. A study defining the supporting services that contribute most to value creation among IT & Internet startups will give more applicable data than a study carried out among a mixture of IT, life science, clean tech, nano tech, etc. companies.
Even though there will be differences in the needs of every start-up, with more in depth and sector specific studies on how to create value within these start-ups, a more suitable incubation programme can be formed. In the end, the incubator should focus on the value creation within its tenant firms. The next blog will be about how this focus can be generated.
Articles:
Abduh, M., et al. (2007). “Investigating and classifying clients’ satisfaction with business incubator services.” Managing Service Quality 17 (1): 74–91.
(1): 74–91. Mian, S. A. (1996). “Assessing value-added contributions of university technology business incubators to tenant firms.” Research Policy 25(3): 325–335.
This blog is part of a series reporting the progress of my bachelor thesis research: ‘Which support services deserve the focus of the incubator? A value creation perspective.’ | https://medium.com/golden-egg-check/from-best-practice-adoption-to-value-creation-where-should-business-incubators-focus-8d180b5abb51 | ['Thomas Mensink'] | 2017-08-24 06:53:10.006000+00:00 | ['Coaching', 'Literature', 'Mentoring', 'Business Support Services', 'Business Incubation'] |
I, too, discovered the secrets of the universe | I, too, discovered the secrets of the universe
Books have to be heavy because the whole world’s inside them.
– Cornelia Funke
We all have read books which made us almost wish “if only this book worked like the Tom Riddle’s diary” or “I so badly want to crawl inside this book and just reside in those pages, forever”.
But some books are a little different; the ones that make me really happy. I actually get so engrossed as if I were a part of the story all along.
This year I read two of such books that got me immersed, drowning out almost everything else. Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe and Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda helped me discover some of the secrets about myself; rating them 5 out 5 stars on Goodreads didn’t seem quite enough.
Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
Photo by Alex Bertha on Unsplash
I guess it was around midnight when I finished reading Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe. When I placed the book on my lap and looked up, I was phased out. I continued gazing out of the window and I figured it would rain — like it could actually rain. The feeling was so real. I was so happy as though I had smoked pot. I couldn’t rest or sleep; I lingered for hours, awake, tuning in to happy, chill songs.
I don’t know how to depict the book. I preferred it to such an extent.
Guess a really really really good book is enough to make me high. Isn’t it a wonderful — although weird — secret of the universe I discovered?
Simon vs the homo sapiens agenda
THE FEELING: When you end up sleeping at 4 in the morning reading a really really brilliant book and you don’t even want to sleep anymore. You just can’t stop thinking about it. You just want to Google all the fanart that are on Tumblr; download & listen to all the songs that have been mentioned in the book; reread the favourite paragraphs. Even three hours of sleep won’t make you feel tired or drowsy the next day.
I guess a good book always help us learn and uncover a lot of truth about ourselves while also offering us different perspectives to look at situations or people, even. So here’s to me hoping you find a book that helps you discover some of the secrets about yourself! | https://medium.com/the-yellow-wall-mag/i-too-discovered-the-secrets-of-the-universe-c2b38b487172 | ['Komal Dhobe'] | 2019-02-25 11:20:47.804000+00:00 | ['Universe', 'LGBTQ', 'Books', 'Gay', 'Queer'] |
Making the Yuletide Gay? Hits and Misses of “Happiest Season” | *SPOILERS AHEAD*
If you’re anything like me, Christmas movies are the highlight of the holiday season. I have all my favorites that I rewatch like “Elf,” “Home Alone,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but I also enjoy dabbling in the newest holiday flicks each year. As a queer woman with obviously a major crush on Kristen Stewart, I was so excited to watch the highly anticipated film, “Happiest Season” which centers on a lesbian couple, Harper and Abby, played respectively by Mackenzie Davis and Kristen Stewart.
The premise to the movie is simple. Harper loves Christmas, and Abby hates it. To convince Abby to join in on the Christmas cheer, Harper invites Abby to spend the holidays at her home with her conservative and competitive family whose political ambitions and obsession with reputation takes precedence over familial affection. Harper is the “golden child,” while her sisters, Sloane and Jane, are relegated to the role of grandchild-birthing and internet-fixing. The pressure of being the favorite child has kept Harper from coming out to her family, a fact she fails to mention to Abby until they are already half way to the family’s home. Abby, who had planned to propose over the holiday, is thrown back into the closet as well when Harper requests that she not only pretend to be Harper’s roommate instead of girlfriend — but that she pretend that she is Harper’s STRAIGHT roommate in front of the family. As the chaos of forced family festivities while hiding their love ensues, Harper and Abby are torn apart, until Harper finally gathers the courage to tell her family the truth. A happy ending of acceptance and second chances rounds out a pleasant Christmas romantic comedy.
As a queer person, pleasant is not how I would describe my experience watching this movie, however. While many parts of the movie were cute and comedic, I was left frustrated with the “perfect” ending and the levity given to some pretty serious issues of the plot.
Most of these issues concern Harper’s treatment of other queer people in the story. Her treatment of Abby, in my opinion, casts her as the villain in the movie. She not only manipulates her into hiding her sexuality, but she continuously neglects their relationship in order to appease her family’s demands. While we could consider Harper a victim of her circumstances, she is also seen flirting with her ex-boyfriend and ditching Abby, as well as refusing to defend Abby from the family’s criticism, after she is accused of stealing a necklace. Harper promises Abby that she loves her and will tell her family about them after the holidays, but when faced with the confession outright at her family’s holiday party, she denies it and refuses to acknowledge Abby as more than her roommate.
This scene is heartbreaking and would be completely unredeemable if not for the fabulous Dan Levy, playing Abby’s best friend, John. He comes to Abby’s rescue at the party and reminds her how much fear and anticipation can hinge on the single moment of coming out and allows the audience to see Harper’s perspective. The scene is a tear-jerker, and without its inclusion, I would be personally offended by the ending which, in true romantic comedy fashion, concludes with Harper and Abby getting back together and celebrating happily with Harper’s surprisingly quickly supportive family.
Some viewers may not see with the issue with this Harper’s behavior considering her circumstances, but let’s explore one other character to analyze the problem here. Stunning Aubrey Plaza plays Harper’s secret high school girlfriend, Riley, who befriends Abby when Harper abandons her for a party. The chemistry between these Plaza and Stewart is exceptionally more romantic within the first scene than Davis and Stewart portray in the entirety of the film, thus many viewers have taken to the internet to voice their frustration that the two do not end up together. More importantly, however, is a conversation had between Abby and Riley, where it is revealed that Harper’s intense need to hide her queerness has hurt others in the past. Riley explains that Harper outed her as a lesbian in high school in attempts to hide their relationship and make Riley out as an obsessive crush. This moment in the movie breaks all level trust of Harper for me, but is not fully developed in the film. Being publicly outed is an experience that leads to depression and even suicide for many queer teenagers, yet this behavior is essentially glanced over by the movie. Harper has a pattern of abusing the agency of others over their own sexuality as a shield from her family’s disappointment. Harper never fully reaps the consequences of the way she has hurt the queer people in her life, because ultimately she maintains her own agency in coming out (though her sister unsuccessfully attempts to out her at the party) and still ends up with Abby, who forgives her almost immediately.
I have conflicted feelings about this movie as a whole. Coming from a conservative family in the public light myself, I can empathize with the pressure to keep one’s sexuality a secret and the fear of what comes after finally saying those words. It is clear Harper has spent a long time hiding and hurting because of her family, but the movie seems to take this as a free pass to hurt and hide other queer people she loves. The repercussions of her behavior are seen when she almost loses Harper, but ultimately, they are very minimal and Riley’s perhaps even more serious incident is hardly addressed. As a queer person, I see this is a failed romance movie, because it shows an unhealthy relationship and justifies unacceptable behavior with little recompense. Needless to say, if a friend of mine was treated by a partner the way Abby is manipulated and controlled by Harper, I would not be like Dan Levy, excitedly clapping in the background when they reunite.
However, I do see some very strong points of merit in this movie, but these almost exclusively cater towards straight people. The fact that this movie has gotten attention from both straight and queer audiences and a wide range of media sources shows that it has successfully brought queer conversations into the holiday limelight. While representation seems too strong a word, considering its entire lack of inclusion of transgender characters or queer people of color, the film does bring a lesbian couple into the mainstream of holiday movies, which is yet to be as well accomplished by other films. The movie invites straight people to acknowledge the effects that being forced into the closet can have on a person and their relationships. I am hopeful that this movie encourages unsupportive families to see the hardship that they put on their children by upholding oppressive heteronormative ideals. In summary, I think this is a great gay movie for straight people. This is not a great gay movie for queer people.
I am only one perspective and do not speak for the whole of the queer community. I know that the movie has inspired many diverse reactions and opinions. I would love to hear yours in the comments!
Sincerely and Queerly,
Hope | https://medium.com/@sincerelyandqueerly/making-the-yuletide-gay-hits-and-misses-of-happiest-season-f4d519912da | ['Hope Morris'] | 2020-12-27 21:42:12.518000+00:00 | ['Queer Media', 'Lesbian', 'LGBTQ', 'Happiest Season', 'Film Reviews'] |
Top 3 WhyQ Eats in West! | We shared about our favourite WhyQ picks located in the East of Singapore 2 weeks back. Today, we turn our spotlight to the hawker eats located in the West of Singapore. Hawker food options in the west are not only delicious to boot but affordably priced as well! Read on to find out more about some of the picks you can find in the West of Singapore!
Boon Lay Fried Carrot Cake & Kuay Teow
For a start, we have Boon Lay Fried Carrot Cake & Kuay Teow. Located in Boon Lay Place Food Village, this stall, that is known for serving up old school fried radish cake, is one gem that is not to be missed.Imagine flash fried radish cake mixed with Chai Poh (Chinese dried radish), eggs and a garnishing of coriander leaves. This stall serves up both the “black” and “white” version of this Singaporean hawker favourite. The “white” version is stir-fried with a generous amount of eggs and Chai Poh, perfect for all the egg lovers out there. However, we would recommend that you order the “black” version if you prefer something more moist. The “black” version also gives off more flavour with the sweet sauce seasoning! Have a try at their carrot cakes by placing an order here: https://tinyurl.com/boonlay1
(Boon Lay Place Food Village, #01–125)
2.He Le Seafood White Bee Hoon
The next one on the list is one for those seafood Bee Hoon lovers out there! Located in Bukit Timah Market and Food Center, this stall offers a good variety of seafood beehoon you can choose from. The ingredients range from that of Lala, Crayfish and Red Grouper (for those who are in for something more fancy!) The seafood served up over at this stall has its freshness assured as well! Imagine, the beehoon being simmered in broth that offers the right tinge of seasoning as it soaks up the sweetness of the seafood that it is being cooked with. The seafood beehoon dish is then finished off with a dash of pork lard and fried garlic to further enhance the flavours. Are you salivating at the thought of this already? If so, place an order for their seafood white Bee Hoon with us over here : https://tinyurl.com/helebeehoon
(Bukit Timah Market and Food Center,#02–180)
3.Yong Kee Claypot Bak Kut Teh
Taman Jurong Market & Food Center is known for its variety of hawker stall offerings with food prices boasting as one of the most affordable that one can find in the whole of Singapore. Yong Kee Claypot Bak Kut Teh is one such stall located over at Taman Jurong Market & Food Center. This stall sports slightly more unique menu offerings when it comes to Bak Kut Teh. Yong Kee Claypot Bak Kut Teh offers both the herbal and the peppered versions of Bak Kut Teh , ensuring that people with varying Bak Kut Teh preferences can all have their Bak Kut Teh cravings satisfied. It may also interest you to know that this stall too serves up soup and dried version of Bak Kut Teh! So, go for that warm bowl of comforting soup on a rainy day or select the dried version for a flavourful punch! Of course when it comes to Bak Kut Teh, one doesn’t leave out peppered soup with pork innards. Rest assured,Yong Kee Claypot Bak Kut Teh carries this on their menu as well! Place an order for a satisfying serving of Bak Kut Teh with fall off the bone tender ribs over with us here: https://tinyurl.com/yongkeebkt ! We assure you this would definitely be worth the calories!
(Taman Jurong Market & Food Center ,#02–78)
We hope you have enjoyed this week’s read and till the next time, folks! | https://medium.com/@whyqsg/top-3-whyq-eats-in-west-e16edeb533f5 | [] | 2020-12-16 03:10:40.598000+00:00 | ['West', 'Local', 'Singapore', 'Foodies'] |
Spring core interview questions | SPRING CORE
Spring framework is an open-source Java platform that provides comprehensive infrastructure support for developing robust Java applications very easily and very rapidly
Spring IOC container:
The Spring container is at the core of the Spring Framework. The container will create the objects, wire them together, configure them, and manage their complete life cycle from creation till destruction. The Spring container uses DI to manage the components that make up an application.
Ques 1: How many types of injection?
Dependency Injection is the main functionality provided by Spring IOC(Inversion of Control).
Spring documentation strictly defines only two types of injection:
1. Constructor Injection: In this, the DI will be injected with the help of constructors. Now to set the DI as CDI in the bean, it is done through the bean-configuration file. For this, the property to be set with the CDI is declared under the <constructor-arg> tag in the bean-config file.
2. Setter Injection: In this, the DI will be injected with the help of setter and/or getter methods. Now to set the DI as SDI in the bean, it is done through the bean-configuration file For this, the property to be set with the SDI is declared under the <property> tag in the bean-config file.
Ques 2: At what time the object is created (reading or calling) in the main class? Is it eager or lazy loading, if it is lazy change it to eager and vice versa?
By default, Spring “application context” Eagerly creates and initializes all ‘singleton scoped‘ beans during application startup itself. It helps in detecting the bean configuration issues at an early stage, in most of the cases. But sometimes, you may need to mark some or all beans to be lazily initialized due to different project requirements.
Spring provides two easy ways to configure lazy initialization of beans based on which kind of configuration you are employing i.e. XML based configuration or java based configuration.
1. @Lazy initialized beans — Java configuration
@Lazy load specific bean
To lazy load, only specific beans, use @Lazy annotation along with @Bean annotation in java config.
AppConfig.java
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Lazy;
@Configuration
public class AppConfig {
@Lazy
@Bean
public EmployeeManager employeeManager() {
return new EmployeeManagerImpl();
}
}
Lazy load all beans
To lazy load, all beans, use @Lazy annotation along with @Bean annotation in java config.
AppConfig.java
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Lazy;
@Lazy
@Configuration
public class AppConfig {
@Bean
public EmployeeManager employeeManager() {
return new EmployeeManagerImpl();
}
}
@Autowired lazy beans
Generally, beans are injected into other components using @Autowired annotation. In this case, we must use the lazy annotation at both places:
· The bean definition which you want to lazy load
· The place it is injected along with @Autowired annotation
@Lazy
@Service
public class EmployeeManagerImpl implements EmployeeManager {
//
}
@Controller
public class EmployeeController {
@Lazy
@Autowired
EmployeeManager employeeManager;
}
NOTE: Without using @Lazy annotation at both places, it will not work.
2. Lazy initialized beans in XML configuration
→Lazy load specific beans only
To enable lazy loading for specific beans, use lazy-init=”true” attribute on bean definitions in bean configuration xml files.
→Lazy load all beans globally
To enable lazy loading for all beans, use default-lazy-init=”true” attribute on beans tag in bean configuration xml files.
beans.xml
<beans default-lazy-init=”true”>
<bean id=”employeeManager” class=”com.learning.spring.service.impl.EmployeeManagerImpl” />
<beans>
Ques 3: When we call get beans two times what happens how many object are created?
The Spring Framework supports the following five scopes, three of which are available only if you use a web-aware ApplicationContext.
singleton: only one instance of the spring bean will be created for the spring container. This is the default spring bean scope. While using this scope, make sure bean doesn’t have shared instance variables otherwise it might lead to data inconsistency issues.
prototype: A new instance will be created every time the bean is requested from the spring container.
Eg: <bean id = “Collectiontype” class = “com.spring.Collection.CollectionType” scope=”singleton”>
request: This scopes a bean definition to an HTTP request. Only valid in the context of a web-aware Spring ApplicationContext.
session: This scopes a bean definition to an HTTP session. Only valid in the context of a web-aware Spring ApplicationContext.
global-session: This scopes a bean definition to a global HTTP session. Only valid in the context of a web-aware Spring ApplicationContext.
Ques 4: Can we have duplicate id in xml bean?
No, we can’t have duplicate id’s. The given Spring context can only have one bean for any given id or name. In the case of the XML id attribute, this is enforced by the schema validation. In the case of the name attribute, this is enforced by Spring’s logic.
However, if a context is constructed from two different XML descriptor files, and an id is used by both files, then one will “override” the other. The exact behavior depends on the ordering of the files when they get loaded by the context.
So while it’s possible, it’s not recommended. It’s error-prone and fragile, and you’ll get no help from Spring if you change the ID of one but not the other.
Ques 5: What happens if we have constructer args and setter argument both in xml ?
There will be no error, but then it will execute the setter argument.
Ques 6: Can I instantiate the same property more than once?
It is valid as long as you are defining two bean definitions with the same id of the same bean on two different spring configuration files. And you are importing one configuration file into another (kind of merging), does not matter how you are importing. The later one or the last one bean definition will be overridden by the first one.
But if you are defining the two bean definitions with the same bean id of the same bean in the same file you will find spring application start-up failed. Spring would not let you define multiple bean definitions of the same bean with the same name in the same spring configuration file.
Ques 7: Can I give an alias name for my bean?
Yes, we can even create two alias (different names) for the same bean. An aliased bean will always have higher priority over a non-aliased one, and in case of having different beans with the same alias then the last one declared will have the priority. In other words, the aliased bean will override the non-aliased beans.
Ques 8: Can I create a relation between xml file?
Yes, by importing a property from one .xml into another .xml.
<import resource=”Spring-Datasource.xml” />
<import resource=”Spring-Customer.xml” />
Ques 9: Inheritance relation between classes?
<bean id=”employeeBean” class=”org.spring.learning.Employee” parent=”id
or name of parent bean”>
1. Class Person with id as “PersonBean”
2. Class Employee with id as “EmployeeBean”
We have used parent property to show that Person is the parent class of Employee
package org.spring.learning;
public class Person {
String name;
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
package org.spring.learning;
public class Employee extends Person{
int employeeNumber;
public int getEmployeeNumber() {
return employeeNumber;
}
public void setEmployeeNumber(int employeeNumber) {
this.employeeNumber = employeeNumber;
}
}
.xml file
<?xml version=”1.0" encoding=”UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:aop=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
xsi:schemaLocation=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd">
<bean id=”personBean” class=” org.spring.learning.Person”>
<property name=”name” value=”disha”/>
</bean>
<bean id=”employeeBean” class=” org.spring.learning.Employee” parent=”personBean”>
<property name=”employeeNumber” value=”178230" />
</bean>
</beans>
public class InheritenceInSpringMain {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext appContext = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(“ApplicationContext.xml”);
Employee emp=(Employee) appContext.getBean(“employeeBean”);
System.out.println(“Employee name:”+emp.getName());
System.out.println(“Employee number:”+emp.getEmployeeNumber());
}
}
Ques 10: How can we make use of the factory method to make an object?
In Spring framework, if you want to create a bean by invoking a static factory-method, whose purpose is to encapsulate the object-creation process in a static method then you could use factory-method attribute.
public class EmployeeDTO {
private Integer id;
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private String designation;
//Setters and Getters
@Override
public String toString() {
return “Employee [id=” + id + “, firstName=” + firstName
+ “, lastName=” + lastName + “, type=” + designation + “]”;
}
}
public class EmployeeFactory {
public static EmployeeDTO createEmployeeOfType(String type)
{
if (“manager”.equals(type) || “director”.equals(type))
{
EmployeeDTO employee = new EmployeeDTO();
employee.setId(-1);
employee.setFirstName(“dummy”);
employee.setLastName(“dummy”);
//Set designation here
employee.setDesignation(type);
return employee;
}
else
{
throw new IllegalArgumentException(“Unknown product”);
}
}
}
<bean id=”manager” class=”com.spring.learning.factory.EmployeeFactory”
factory-method=”createEmployeeOfType”>
<constructor-arg value=”manager” />
</bean>
<bean id=”director” class=”com.sping.learning.factory.EmployeeFactory”
factory-method=”createEmployeeOfType”>
<constructor-arg value=”director” />
</bean>
public class TestSpringStaticFactoryMethod
{
@SuppressWarnings(“resource”)
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(“applicationContext.xml”);
EmployeeDTO manager = (EmployeeDTO) context.getBean(“manager”);
System.out.println(manager);
EmployeeDTO director = (EmployeeDTO) context.getBean(“director”);
System.out.println(director);
}
}
Ques 11: How can we work with the interface?
When you define an interface for your classes, it helps with dependency injection. Your Spring configuration files don’t have anything about interfaces in them themselves àyou just put in the name of the class.
But if you want to inject another class that offers “equivalent” functionality, using an interface really helps.
public interface Shape
{
void draw();
}
public class Triangle implements Shape
{
private Point pointA;
private Point pointB;
private Point pointC;
public void setPointA(Point pointA) {
this.pointA = pointA;
}
public void setPointB(Point pointB) {
this.pointB = pointB;
}
public void setPointC(Point pointC) {
this.pointC = pointC;
}
public void draw()
{
System.out.println(“Drawing Triangle”);
System.out.println(“PointA is (“+pointA.getX()+”, “+pointA.getY()+”)”);
System.out.println(“PointB is (“+pointB.getX()+”, “+pointB.getY()+”)”);
System.out.println(“PointC is (“+pointC.getX()+”, “+pointC.getY()+”)”);
}
}
Circle.java
public class Circle implements Shape
{
private Point center;
public void setCenter(Point center)
{
this.center = center;
}
@Override
public void draw()
{
System.out.println(“Circle is drawn of center (“+center.getX()+”, “+center.getY()+”)”);
}
}
Point.java
public class Point
{
private int x;
private int y;
public int getX() {
return x;
}
public void setX(int x) {
this.x = x;
}
public int getY() {
return y;
}
public void setY(int y) {
this.y = y;
}
}
Spring.xml
<beans xmlns:aop=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop" xmlns:p=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/p" xmlns:security=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/security" xmlns:tx=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx" xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xsi:schemalocation=”http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans">
<bean class=”com.spring.learning.Triangle” id=”triangle”>
<property name=”pointA” ref=”pointA”></property>
<property name=”pointB” ref=”pointB”></property>
<property name=”pointC” ref=”pointC”></property>
</bean>
<bean class=”com.spring.learning.Circle” id=”circle”>
<property name=”center” ref=”center”></property>
</bean>
<bean class=” com.spring.learning.Point” id=”pointA”>
<property name=”x” value=”0"></property>
<property name=”y” value=”0"></property>
</bean>
<bean class=” com.spring.learning.Point” id=”pointB”>
<property name=”x” value=”-20"></property>
<property name=”y” value=”0"></property>
</bean>
<bean class=” com.spring.learning.Point” id=”pointC”>
<property name=”x” value=”20"></property>
<property name=”y” value=”0"></property>
</bean>
<bean class=” com.spring.learning.Point” id=”center”>
<property name=”x” value=”10"></property>
<property name=”y” value=”10"></property>
</bean>
</beans>
DrawingApp.java
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
public class DrawingApp {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
ApplicationContext context= new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(“spring.xml”);
Shape shape = (Shape) context.getBean(“triangle”);
shape.draw();
}
}
by Disha Saxena and Kshitiz Mohan. | https://medium.com/@disha3298saxena/spring-core-interview-questions-d3561f00e5b6 | ['Disha Saxena'] | 2020-11-21 18:15:26.405000+00:00 | ['Learning', 'Interview Questions', 'Spring Framework', 'Spring', 'Java8'] |
Its time to stand up to Boris Johnson. | When I was at primary school, teachers would always talk about bullying and the need to stand up to bullies. There was bullying at my school, as there is nationally, but we challenged it.
In 2019, the modern day, we have our own bullies in society. Their names — Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. They target the most vulnerable communities. They attack the most vulnerable for self-vanity and they cannot be leaders in our society. They are the bullies in disguise of politicians, and it is our moral responsibility to stand up against them and demand justice.
Its Farage that has suggested women should sit in a corner to breastfeed, women are paid less as they are worth less and its Johnsons that has suggested Burqas are like letter boxes among many other racist, sexist and homophobic comments. They are targeting the most vulnerable in society and using it to strengthen themselves.
Perhaps what’s most scary, is that Johnson and Farage are now leading a social movement in UK. This movement is characterised on using immigrants as scapegoats for the inequality in society, targeting the most vulnerable and ultimately, choosing fear over hope.
And, most crucially, this is all rooted to Brexit. Whilst Brexit is perceived as purely leaving the European Union, it is undeniable to repercussions this will have on public attitude and prospects of society. Brexit intensifies and consolidates the social conservative attitudes that Boris Johnson is utilising to bully those most vulnerable in society.
Essentially, by surrendering to the leaders of Brexit we are allowing the social conservative views of Farage and Johnson to shape the political climate of 2019.
Before I continue, I want to stress that its Johnson and Farage that are to blame, not the electorate. Millions across Britain were lied to and manipulated by these two as a way of gaining power and political strength. Johnson and Farage are a dangerous, scary force that can channel frustrations from society to blaming the most vulnerable. We need to listen to to the concerns of the leave voters but the solution is never to incite fear through Brexit.
We deserve better. For the sake of so many in society we deserve better and for the sake of history books, we deserve a society we can be proud of. One that champions love and hope, not one that is rooted in fear.
Since the Brexit vote of 2016, there’s has been a shocking and incredibly saddening increase in hate crimes.
In 2016 58% of ethnic minorities reported to facing racial discrimination (that’s still 58% too much and incredibly disappointing) however this increased to 71% in 2019. It’s shocking. An increase that should never have happened and one that saddens me to this day. The fact that in the modern day, people are still discriminated purely due to their race, and it’s not only a few cases, its 71% of Ethnic minorities. Racially motivated hate crimes have reached a record high of 71,251 incidents in 2018. We cannot let this happen. We need to stand up to the narrative of Brexit that is fuelling hate crimes and feeding on fear
As Omar Khan, the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, a race equality think-tank,
suggested, Brexit is directly “normalising hate and increasing division”. We cannot let this happen and we won’t let this happen.
We will stand up to the bullies that are Johnson and Farage. By resisting Brexit, we are rejecting the racist, sexist and homophobic rhetoric of the leaders. We are rejecting what Brexit embodies and we are striving for a society that encapsulates hope.
There is already a backlash to the social movement felled by Brexit. People across Britain are already uniting against Brexit and demanding change. This is the crossroads of modern society and there is hope of a better future.
As the tide is beginning to change, more and more people are resisting and challenging the narrative of Brexit and what it incites. There is a fightback and the people leading it are the generation of tomorrow, they are young and incredibly kickass.
Young people are more engaged than ever and now are becoming the architects in a potentially socially liberal, progressive Britain.
I’m sure you have all heard of Stormzy — He’s a rapper from London and has sky rocketed into fame. His most recent song, Vossi bop, has an incredibly poetic and poignant lyric ‘fuck the government, fuck Boris’. This lyric has transcended to many young people’s life and encapsulated the anger and frustration to the political climate. Stormzy performed Vossi Bop at Radio 1 Big Weekend and, unsurprisingly, the crowd literally screamed those lyrics.
Young people are angry and they aren’t hiding it any time soon.
The fightback is starting on the streets and in the polling station. In Nottingham, there was a 50% turnout for the European elections 2019. That was one of the highest turnouts but it doesn’t stop there. The youth led group, our future our choice was actively involved in the recent demonstration in London that brought together 1 million people.
As Kira Lewis suggested ‘Young people are rightly furious, watching older generations take our futures away from us’.
We are fed up with elite. We are angry at the narrative of Brexit. And we are not letting the bullies lead this nation.
And this isn’t just in the UK. This is in Europe. There is a new movement emerging Europe wide fronted by young people demanding hope and love.
The European election of 2019 were only the start of a new form of politics. The Green movement had an incredible surge in seats. In Germany, The Greens came 2nd. Many of this vote came from young people disillusioned with current politics. This is going to radically transform the political agenda in the European Union. This politics is fronted by the generation of tomorrow.
Like the UK, Europe has its own bullies like Marine Le Pen. Like Johnson they are targeting those most vulnerable in society and again, it is our moral responsibly to stand up to them.
Being socialist is being internationalist. It is about collaborating with a worldwide community of progressives to challenge movements formed by hate. We are at a crossroads in 2019. We can either leave the European union or remain and challenge the social conservative attitudes threatening Europe’s most vulnerable communities. We can work with our European partners to demand a better future.
This future can be great if we work hard enough. We can push a green agenda and invest in the climate. We can campaign for workers’ rights, Europe wide and a focus on hope in society.
The European elections of 2019 are only the start of this movement and the future looks bright within the EU.
We need to stand up to the hate that has threatened Britain’s and Europe most vulnerable community. We have the potential to not only challenge hate, but champion love. This can be a great moment in history, a turning point, but it relies on the actions right now. it relies on everyone challenging Johnson and resisting his leadership. It relies on us standing up the growing numbers of of hate crimes and it relies on us demanding a better future than leaving the European Union.
Stand up to the bullies that are Johnson ad Farage and demand a society that works for us all. For the sake of the generation of tomorrow, lets show the world that you don’t have to choose fear and by standing up against hateful leaders you can change society.
Let’s re-ignite our hope in humanity. | https://medium.com/@josiesawtellcousins_38767/its-time-to-stand-up-to-boris-8d4971cc0cb0 | ['Josie Sawtell'] | 2019-06-25 16:55:52.772000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Conservatives', 'Brexit', 'Bullying', 'Sexism'] |
Angel Protocol — building a world where all charities are financially free | Angel Protocol — building a world where all charities are financially free Angel Protocol Jun 16·3 min read
Angel Protocol is a global social enterprise that leverages revolutionary decentralized finance (DeFi) yield mechanisms such as Anchor Protocol’s 20% ‘Earn’ functionality to create perpetual charity endowments.
By doing so, we build a world where all charities can have financial freedom.
In short, Angel Protocol enables charities to get a better return on their deposits, and donors get to know their money is being put to more efficient use. Powered behind the scenes by the incredible possibilities created by ‘DeFi’ and importantly, Angel Protocol abstracts away the complexity of crypto for the everyday user.
Rather than have to go through multiple steps and have an in-depth knowledge of DeFi and Cryptocurrency, prospective donors will engage with a simple interface that allows them to donate to a charity or cause of their choice by selecting from a menu. In the MVP launching in the coming months, donors can choose to donate to a basket of charitable indexes aligned with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Importantly, charities will have a very easy onboarding process to enable them to collect the donations and benefit from a sustainable and continual source of income with as little fuss as possible.
Each charity will have their own page that includes additional information on that charity or cause (background, supporting information on the cause, data on charity’s use of user funds).
Charity leadership dashboards will be developed to help highlight community giving “heroes” with NFT badges available in the future thanks to partners such as Talis Protocol.
Angel Protocol provides easy access to endowments with no on-boarding cost or setup fees. An endowment is a donation of money or property to a nonprofit organization, which uses the resulting investment income for funding. Endowments are designed to keep the principal amount intact while using the investment income for charitable efforts.
To borrow phrasing from Terra’s defining white paper, there is demand for a decentralized, price-stable and transparent charity protocol in both fiat and blockchain economies. If such a protocol succeeds, then it has the potential to be the largest community-owned charity in the world.
Between the power of, initially, Anchor’s Earn yield and the magic of compounding interest, Angel Protocol has the potential to be the most effective charity protocol the world’s ever known. | https://medium.com/@angelprotocol/angel-protocol-redefining-social-giving-ffd4e5b561b5 | ['Angel Protocol'] | 2021-06-16 16:11:27.649000+00:00 | ['Giving', 'Charity', 'Fundraising', 'Defi', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
A Tango in Buenos Aires | The young man refills my glass with a smile. The room, the faded glamour, the young man, I began to take it all in. Especially the young man — lithe, dark-haired, in a red and black form-fitting dance outfit. Who on earth is he — Elsa Maria’s son, her lover? He looks over at her, with just a hint of a smile.
“Where are you from?” she asks.
“Chicago,” we say in unison, the awkwardness of the situation making us both jump in at once.
“What brings you here?”
“Our anniversary,” we say. “25 years,” Rex adds for no reason.
The young man raises an eyebrow. “Congratulations,” he says, raising his glass. I feel as if there’s some pity in those words.
“Then you will move well together,” Elsa Maria declares.
I seriously doubt that.
We regularly capsize canoes. We hit each other with balls in doubles tennis.
Rex and I are extremely compatible, but anything requiring duo-coordination is not a strength. We regularly capsize canoes. We hit each other with balls in doubles tennis. And suave we are not. Dress us up and we both react like cats in a harness — stiff with restraint and sitting forcibly upright. And tango requires, nay demands, suave. The delusional thinking of vacation has struck again, I realize, as Elsa Maria sets her champagne glass down and leads us into the ballroom.Like fellow grunts in a foxhole, Rex and I move instinctively closer to each other in a protective bond.
In the intervening 25 years, we’ve been to every continent except Antarctica. We’ve swam with thousands of stinger-free jellyfish in Palau, uncovered stone money in Yap, driven the coast from Sydney to Daintree in Australia, spent the night in the Sahara desert, climbed a glacier in Iceland, and watched the sun rise over the Moai on Rapanui. We’ve nursed sunburns from a convertible ride along the Natchez Trace, puked for two days from bad fish in Yap, endured 18 hours on a “VIP” bus in Thailand, sprinted in Birkenstocks across the unexpected snow on Mount Palomar, and careened downhill on mountain bikes in the Andes. So Tango should be nothing.
Your center of everything is right here,” he says, pointing to my belly button. “Hold it in!”
I am handed over to the young man and Rex goes with Elsa Maria. We begin with the basic steps in the capable hands of the pros.
“Not like this,” my beautiful boy keeps saying, pantomiming my bad posture. “Tango is about presence. Your center of everything is right here,” he says, pointing to my belly button. “Hold it in!”
Meanwhile, Elsa Maria is gently leading Rex through his role as the leader in this tango. “The men are in charge,” she’d reminds him. “The women embellish.”
“Not in my world,” he smiles.
“Not in any world,” she winks, “But for tonight the men lead.”
Rex and I lucked into each other. We met, randomly, which the world loves to do, on the last Wednesday in February in cold Minneapolis over two-for-one Old Styles (in a can). My roommate had a crush on the bartender so I had tagged along as wing-woman. And in walked Rex. He sat down near me. He was cute. My roommate was occupied. I moved over.
“Hi,” I said, “I think I’ll talk to you for a while.” He laughed, and turned to a guy to his left. “Unbelievable,” said the guy, shaking his head and getting up. I looked at Rex. “He was just saying how stuck up girls were in this bar.”
And so it all began. I slyly worked my new set of quiz questions into the conversation and he passed with flying colors. Do you own a car? Live with your mother? Have a job? Yes, the bar was quite high. We talked until the bar closed and then went for breakfast. He called me a few days later for a date, and we’ve been talking ever since. And protecting each other, and filling in the gaps, and playing to each other’s strengths. Leading and embellishing.
After a few turns with the pros, Rex and I are paired up to try it on our own. By now, Rex is sweating through his shirt, and my feet have swelled like sponges in the humidity and duress. Step, step, ochos ochos, and close. Or something like that. It is a lot to think about.
We are both trying hard to enjoy ourselves, here in the bosom of Buenos Aires dancing the tango. A once-in-a-lifetime treat.
We lurch forward, me wanting to lead, Rex wresting control. He grips my waist until I fear I’ll bruise. I overthink the steps. I forget to circle. I fiercely will Rex to avoid all dips. His back is tense and his shirt is sticking to him. A trickle of sweat slides down between my breasts. Don’t lean too far forward, avoid his toes, remember the next step, hold in my stomach.
As we collide after a move, we both start laughing. Even Elsa Maria must admit we are pathetic. The music blessedly comes to an end, and our torture is over. Elsa Maria rewards us with false praise and two tickets to see how it’s really done at a dinner show.
We are released to the hallway like kids to summer on the last day of school. Laughing, we walk arm in arm down the streets of Buenos Aires, alive with people on this summer evening. Life together is indeed a tango: One leads and the other embellishes. | https://medium.com/far-and-wide/a-tango-in-buenos-aires-f31f5e3aafee | ['Barbara Ray'] | 2019-07-22 20:41:01.824000+00:00 | ['Travel Writing', 'Travel', 'Buenos Aires', 'Memoir', 'Tango'] |
Past-Me Versus Future-Me | I awake to a beam of light focused squarely on my left eye and the faint sound of drilling outside my window. I turn over and hit the home button on my iPhone. It reads, “12:28 Friday, September 26”. I had slept through the morning.
The night before, I looked at my watch at least three dozen times. Every time the waitress came around, I would think to myself, “Just a few more minutes, and I’ll go home” and then I would sit back as my friends ordered another round of drinks. It wasn’t until around 2:30 a.m. when I finally stumbled onto an uptown N train.
Normally, whenever I ride the Subway, I imagine it transforming. During rush hour, Subway cars morph into cans of sardines, riders packed tightly and standing perfectly still as if they actually were suspended in some kind of brine. In the afternoon, trains transmute into parks, with kids swinging between the bars and the elderly gossiping.
At that moment however, the train felt like the aftermath of a party gone wrong. Bleary-eyed girls in tight fitting cocktail dresses staggered in from the platform with high heels in hand. A latino man who clearly had too much to drink was bent over clutching his head while his friend lay back snoring with the top three buttons of his shirt unbuttoned and his tie loosened around his neck. | https://medium.com/endless/past-me-versus-future-me-dc44a488544f | ['Arun Venkatesan'] | 2015-10-29 20:18:59.700000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Travel', 'Short Story'] |
RED-HOOD 2 Kola cringed with fear as he heard his name being called the second time by that person. | RED-HOOD 2
Kola cringed with fear as he heard his name being called the second time by that person. He looked up a bit to see if he could recognize her or anyone around but he couldn’t. The environment didn’t look familiar either. At the same time, he felt like he has been there severally. He was really confused as he couldn’t gather his thoughts properly.
The lady wearing the red hoodie and wide-brimmed hat had stopped tapping her foot. She raised up her head and smirked without opening her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak and suddenly, the clouds darkened and it seemed as though there was going to be a storm. Lightening flashed, with the sound of thunder accompanying it. One would have thought that it was as a result of the mysterious woman who opened her mouth to speak.
When she finally spoke, she asked, “Where is my due?"
Kola looked lost. It was obvious that he had no idea what she was talking about. He looked around as if to ask for a clue but of course, he was only met with deadly stares.
SECOND OFFERING
Kola was dragged roughly by a handsome-looking man in an orange suit towards the shack. As soon as they were in, he realized the shack was actually bigger than it looked from the outside. The inside looked and felt eerie not because it was dark but for some reasons unexplainable. It felt haunted. He was pushed down to his knees. In that position, he closed his eyes tightly, expecting the worse to happen. After about fifteen minutes, he realized that nothing happened. Gradually, he started to open his eyes until he saw that he was the only one left in the shack after he completely opened them, or maybe he thought so.
Kola began to contemplate on escaping from the place but at a second thought, reasoned that the place must have been tightly secured for his captors to have left him unbounded with no one guarding him. He also felt at disadvantage, thinking that even if he was left alone mistakenly, he wasnt sure he could make an escape because he neither know where he was nor remember the route to the place. He remembered that on his way down to the place, he didn’t notice any vehicle coming or going. Kola concluded that it was of no use trying to escape from the place.
After a long, troubled thought, he sighed. He wished there was at least a little more light in the shack so that it won’t feel scary. He had just finished thinking when he heard someone clapped twice. As soon as the person clapped, blue lights came on and they casted dancing shadows all over the walls. It was even scarier than before and he wished he had not wished for light. He turned back and saw the lady in a red hoodie behind him. Her wide-brimmed hat was off but she had her hood on. She faced him directly with her eyes closed, then said, “You seem quick witted. Im impressed. You made the right decision not to escape. Hmmm, but you are not so smart to have owed me, especially this long."
Her eyeballs rolled while they were still closed. It was as though she would open her eyes at any moment. Then she continued, "No one owes me..." She paused as if she remembered something, but then, abruptly, with a voice that seemed filled with compassion, she said, You shouldn’t have..." Although Kola was scared, yet he felt he should at least know what she was talking about. He tried hard to remember if he had ever met her or her men but he remembered nothing. So he summoned all the courage he could gather and asked her what he owed her. It was the greatest mistake he made in his life. It was too late to take back his words.
The lady became more inhuman. It was hard to tell if she got angry or crazy. She opened her eyes suddenly and uncovered her head. Kola was amazed at what he saw. She had exactly the eyes of a cat and her head was pierced with jewelries all over. The next moment, just half an inch away from him, she let out a hysterical laughter. He didn’t know how it happened but he just saw that they were so close that he could barely breathe. Kola cursed himself for ever wishing for her to open her eyes. He just wanted her to shut it back but she wouldn’t. Everything was happening like the horror movies he had seen in the past. He just didn’t expect that he would be faced with such in his life-time.
Amazingly, she did not hurt him physically but he already felt tormented. He wished those men he saw earlier could appear so he wouldn’t feel alone. When she spoke again, she said,
"This is the red-hood, I am the Red-hood. Seven years ago, you gave an abomination as a sacrifice. What did you dare?"
It was the first time she would speak in a loud voice. Since he met her, her voice was always small yet powerful whenever she spoke.
Kola remembered what happened seven years ago. He had joined the Lucky-guys club and it was with their help he was able to do all his exams easefully. He was even able to occupy some offices as the students representative in the university. He remembered that it was that very day his female friend, who always try to help him in reading and was trying to persuade him to put more effort to his studies, that he joined the club. It was one of the things he regretted doing. At that time, it seemed a great achievement but afterwards he understood better. The group seemed harmless and looked just like a meeting of boys who come together to help one another and have fun.
Although, he was warned by some of his fellowship brothers about the club. They told him that it was an evil-cult disguised as a harmless group. However, some guys in his hostel told him that the group is a harmless one. They told him that it was founded by some certain male students who had connections with the school authority. They use their connections to help group members that are faced with academic challenges. They also make an avenue to have fun so that student who are lucky to be a member would enjoy their stay on campus. It was also said that it was not easy to be a member of the group and only three people are recruited every year.
Kola remembered that he chose to listen to his hostel mates as against than his fellowship brothers. There were times that the school went on riot and it was rumored that the Lucky-guys club had started them. He dismissed it as a mere rumor and went ahead to join the group. He remembered that on the day he was recruited, he felt so lucky and happy. That day, they went through some rites and he was supposed to be skeptical about them but he dismissed it and felt that it was just a mere rite, just like the ones the school cadet often have yearly when they recruit new members.
On that day, his eyes were covered with a cloth. He remembered that he was taken to a place where he ate and drank with his eyes still closed. After that, he did some things that were inhumane. After all the activities were complete, he woke up and found himself on his bed. He let out a shout because he was scared of all the horrific things he saw himself do. He wondered at how he got to his bed so quickly. He had so many questions in his head. When he was fully awake, he found two of his group member looking at him with concern. They told him that he had so much to drink the night before and so they brought him home. When he told them everything he saw, they laughed and dismissed it as mere nightmare, the result of the drinks he had.
After that, he had similar occurrences. Sometimes, he would see himself master-minding a riot and after that, he would suddenly wake up to find himself on his bed and then he would hear the whole school talking about a riot that just happened.
When he was about to sit for his final exam, he dreamt that he sacrificed his father on an altar. He had hardly recovered from the dream that he got the news that his father was dead. He was devastated, he began to believe that something was not right, and that he was possibly in a cult. Of a truth, without any stress, ever since he joined the group, he always came out with flying colors. Yet, it was sad that he possibly lost his father due to the fact that he joined the group.
He went to meet the guy who was the head of the group at that time and accused them of manipulating him to do all sort of evil. He even stated his regrets of joining the group. He hoped that the leader would deny all the allegations but he only laughed and said to him, "Welcome. Now that your eyes are clearly opened, you have begun another phase, congratulations." Kola was very shocked. He was almost going ballistic with anger. He asked the leader, "What stupid congratulations is that? Are you admitting to the fact that you made me kill my father?"
The leader smiled and said, "That was supposed to be your last sacrifice for your first phase and also a thanksgiving offering for successful graduation but unfortunately, the great one rejected it. Now you are going to make atonement and ask for other options. So be prepared. Unless, you will lose all..." It was after the leader had spoken that he realized, that truly, he had been in a cult all along. He wept and pleaded with the man to reconsider. He even said that he was no longer interested in the group but the man replied and said, "No matter where you are and how old you get, you can never opt out."
Kola realized late that what he got was not success at all. He should have known that it wasn't just about the result but also the sincere efforts that one put into getting something that qualifies it as success. That same night, he had a dream and in the dream, he heard someone demanding for a due. Later, it stopped being just a dream as he would hear the voice when hes walking, having a conversation, eating, working etc. The voice seemed to follow him everywhere and every time. Sometimes, he would find himself subconsciously replying the voice and people began to think he was crazy. Kola lost his job, lost many of his relationship with people, and most devastatingly, lost himself.
Often, he would try to tell people that he wasn't crazy but his attempt at explaining alone makes him look crazier. He realized that whenever he tried to confide in someone and tell them what happened, he would totally forget what he wanted to say. As a result, he fell into depression and looked really sickly.
It happened that his elder sister was going to invite her pastor to their house. But while he was alone in his room, suddenly it got really dark and he heard a voice saying to him, "follow me, we are going on a journey." He was so terrified that he ran out of the house. It was then he saw the man in a black hoodie commanding him to stop. And after that, he found himself faced with the Red-hood in the shack.
Still, with all that he remembered, he didn't know how it all ties up with the Red-hood. He couldn't remember her and as far as he knows, he had never heard of the Red-hood. Red-hood raised up his chin and said to him, "Remember I told you, you either pay up your due or lose everything." After she had spoken, he remembered what his fellowship president told him. How that it is not everyone on campus that are students, that some just disguises as one. How it is not everyone you see that are humans but some are actually demons disguised as humans.
GOD’s SUCCESS MIRACLE MINISTRY
Kola' elder brother Felix, had started a ministry. At first he was a fervent worker in a very popular church. He was an usher and was privy to the amount donated to the church as offerings every time there was service. Every time the pastor was preaching, Felix would be day-dreaming of a day he would be like him, in fact even better than him. It was no news that the pastor owned a private jet and many cars. It was just as Felix wished for in the time past and the more he saw his pastor, the more he desired to be like him. He vowed that, one day, he would definitely become a successful pastor like his pastor.
Felix withdrew from the church, founded his own church and named it God’s Success Miracle ministry. The first lady, Ruth, who attended his church became his wife. You would be surprised to know that Felix had not stop his moral mis-conduct. He had made advances to Sister Ruth. At first sister Ruth declined but later she agreed. She saw it has an opportunity that should not pass her by. After all, she had long been praying to God to make her part of the successful ladies who got a husband. Sister Ruth had attended many of her friends wedding ceremonies and she often envied them for their successes. To her, ones she sees any lady flaunting an engagement ring, she would see it as great success irrespective of who the person is engaged to. She had always dreamt of the time she would also be able to post videos of her fiancé proposing to her.
The first time, she rejected pastor Felix because she knew he just wanted to have a fling with her. Afterwards, she came up with a plan to tie him down. After she agreed to date him, every Sunday after the church service, she would enter pastor Felix’s office pretending to see him for something important.
As soon as she enters, pastor Felix would grab her from behind and they would engage in lustful activities. Soon Sister Ruth became pregnant and she threatened to announce it on social media and to everyone who cares to listen if he doesn’t marry her. She also told him that she has a video of both of them having sexual activities together. Pastor Felix had no choice than to marry her and that was how she became his wife.
Pastor Felix was so impatient. Of course, he couldn’t do the work of the ministry rightly because his motive from the beginning was wrong and he was hooked-up with sinful activities. It happened that he was invited for a seminar where a pastor preached. The sermon touched him and he made a resolution. He did away with sexual lust but he found it hard to control his lust for money and fame. Every Sunday when he realized that the number of attendees did not increase, he would feel sad.
His wife Ruth was not helping matters at all as she would nag him and compare him to other men of God who are SUCCESSFUL. Soon he let his guard down and every dint of morals he had built-up crumbled.
On a Sunday while he was preaching, somebody walked in and it happened to be an old school-mate. He was really surprised. As soon as the service ended, the man walked into his office to see him. They exchanged pleasantries and talked about the old times. Then suddenly, the man, Ropo by name, said to Felix, "How far na, why is your church not full, abi you no dey use juju again?" Ropo ended his statement with a loud laugh. Felix was surprised and asked Ropo,
"Which juju, what are you talking about?"
Ropo, replying Felix, said to him that he should stop pretending. He told Bayo that back during school days everyone knew he was using juju to perform the miracles he did at the fellowship and also to gain recognition. He reminded him that he was aware of the girls he impregnated and how he asked them to abort it. So he said it was not possible for his kind of person to claim that he used the power of God.
Felix was really surprised and tried to defend himself but Ropo just dismissed him with a wave of his hand. He told Felix that he could help him to get fame that would boost the attendance of his church. Felix was delighted and asked how. Ropo told him that it was no big deal granted that he was ready to go on a journey. Felix shook with delight and said he was ready.
Back At The Red-hood
The bulky man received a call, the phone he used was connected to the one inside the shack. Ropo said, "Pastor Arifanla Felix is ready." The bulky man replied and said,
"Bring him over."
Kola knew without doubt that it was his brother they were referring to. He knew of his brother’s impatience and materialism.
It was too late to warn him... | https://medium.com/@damilolaadahunsi/red-hood-2-kola-cringed-with-fear-as-he-heard-his-name-being-called-the-second-time-by-that-person-fb81bb0251f7 | ['Damilola A Dahunsi'] | 2021-06-02 17:30:41.148000+00:00 | ['Mothers', 'Teens', 'Youth', 'Teenagers', 'Parents'] |
Why are Law and order required in Any Country? | Every country has a set of rules of conduct for the safety and well-being of every citizen of that particular country. These rules, often referred to as laws, are enforced and established by superiors like legislators, people in authoritative positions, a specific community head, etc.
The entire functionality of the country is based on these laws or regulations that are set. Every small aspect, be it the professional or personal front, all come under a certain set of rules says Attorney Miya Griggs. This article will understand the need for law and order and the importance of maintaining it.
What are the factors that determine Good law and order?
For a particular resolution or rule to be passed, it has to qualify as good law. When we refer to the term good law, we mean
The particular rule or regulation has to be in favor of people’s interests.
It should not discriminate against anybody based on their social standing, caste, creed, color, culture, race, or ethnicity. In short, it applies to everybody.
A good regulation or law should never be too rigid or too harsh but reasonable enough to send the message across.
The whole idea of setting laws is to ensure that the law suppresses no one. A person should be able to approach any law enforcement officer or institution without having to think twice.
What is the relationship between society and the law?
Whether it is criminal law, civil law, corporate law, or any other such category of law, there is a direct link between society and the rules set. Every form of law deals with specific issues that the people of a country may face.
For example, Criminal law is designed, keeping in mind the need for people’s safety and security. These guidelines help citizens to understand what is moral and immoral behavior. It also shows the reciprocation of the actions and reactions caused due to human behavior.
Similarly, corporate law helps to protect the well-being of every employee and company. It allows people to understand their rights when they work in a professional environment. This particular sub-category of law helps to establish the liabilities, and accountabilities companies have towards their employees says Attorney Miya Griggs.
Why do we need law and order in any country or community?
In any aspect of life, we need to follow some guidelines that help us understand what is accepted and what is not. Similarly, the country’s rules or laws help set a guideline of what people should and should not do. Some of the reasons why we need law and order in any country or community include
Law and order help to ensure a problem-free and peaceful environment for everybody in the country.
It also helps resolve various kinds of disputes that arise within the country, including those regarding natural resources like land, environmental issues, etc.
The concept of law and order targets the common good. People are expected to do the right thing and are encouraged to become law-abiding citizens.
Laws are meant to protect not only materialistic things like land or property but even lives.
A Final Note
For any country to function correctly, it needs to have a set guideline of what is acceptable and what is not. Laws or Rules and Regulations are guidelines set for the well-being of not just the citizens, the country in general for its growth and protection says Attorney Miya Griggs. It is also applicable to the natural resources on which the country is situated or available within the country. Also known as the laws of the land, these rules help to maintain a peaceful and crime-free environment in every way.
Originally Posted: https://www.allperfectstories.com/law-order-required-any-country/ | https://medium.com/@attorneymiyagriggs/why-are-law-and-order-required-in-any-country-2ffa76b7ea65 | ['Attorney Miya Griggs'] | 2020-12-24 09:32:21.460000+00:00 | ['Law', 'Attorney'] |
Time is of the essence: America must build its own solutions for the Coronavirus | Time is of the essence: America must build its own solutions for the Coronavirus
Tax cuts won’t do it
The potential scope of the coronavirus pandemic is staggering. We may see over a million cases in the United States within a month, with tremendous negative impacts on hospitals and the availability of life-saving medical devices and essential supplies, not to mention the economy.
More and more, the impact of the coronavirus seems likely to mirror the world wars of the early 20th century.
Much has been written elsewhere about the deficient response of our federal government: slow to take action, widely insufficient testing, no solutions for supply-chain shortages of respirators and ventilators. To be sure, local governments seem to be taking more decisive steps (like the recent tough decision by Austin to cancel SXSW), and some major corporations are stepping up in this time of crisis (like the Darden Restaurants decision to provide paid sick leave to 170,000 personnel).
But this is a crisis that requires action on every front, especially from the federal government.
We need a massive public health campaign to encourage hand-washing, social distancing, and special care for older Americans.
We need an immediate, comprehensive testing regime, along the lines of South Korea, which seems to have slowed the spread of the virus by testing 65,000 people within the first week of its first case, and is now testing 15,000 people per day.
We need economic support for individuals and small businesses that will suffer as our economy contracts. One solid idea on this front comes from Jesse Rothstein and Jared Bernstein: “Employers would continue to pay workers who are prevented from working by the virus, through direct deposits or paychecks in the mail. They would report this to their state [Unemployment Insurance] system, which would reimburse them through tax credits or direct payments and would in turn be reimbursed by the federal government.”
We need policy solutions, like universal paid sick leave, universal healthcare, and strong anti-trust policy to build true resiliency as a society.
And we need some courage to address the elephant in the room: that the United States does not build most of the products we consume, and this lack of self-sustainability is a huge threat at this moment.
A baseline concern that hurts us every day: we do not have sufficient testing kits. And of major concern in the near future: we face an incredible gap in access to life-saving devices like ventilators. Experts believe we will need a million or more of these devices as hospitalizations become widespread. We have less than 50,000 available today.
Under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when the time came to enter World War II and fight fascism abroad, we took decisive action. FDR convened the captains of industry and innovation to address the need for war materials. The U.S. used the Treasury to guide investment: to build facilities where U.S. manufacturers could immediately begin the construction of tanks, jets, ships, and more.
We need a similar, immediate, and massive show of leadership from the Executive Branch today. We also need the Legislative Branch to step up as a co-equal branch of government with the power of the purse. And once we tackle this public health crisis, let’s use the same approach toward the climate crisis. | https://siegelfortexas.medium.com/time-is-of-the-essence-america-must-build-its-own-solutions-for-the-coronavirus-91438429d3c | ['Mike Siegel For Congress'] | 2020-03-11 19:02:16.519000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Public Health', 'China', 'Coronavirus', 'Healthcare'] |
How Design Projects Wish Happy Holidays: Compilation Of Christmas & New Year’s Activities | The ‘ho ho ho’ season is here! Wherever you look, logos are wearing Santa hats, string lights are shining from all corners, festive patterns decorate each illustration.
Why are projects doing that?
To create an atmosphere, to become closer to their audience. We’re all sharing the same miracle, and we are just as excited as you are.
Themed activities are also a great way to engage the community, let them share something personal, or even receive some gift.
And who can be more creative about their festive designs than, well, designers? Today we’re looking into how design-related projects are approaching the holiday season, and what creative incentives they have for us in stock.
Hope this list will bring you some joy and inspiration. Let’s go!
Sketch is a vector graphics editor for macOS allowing to create, prototype, and collaborate on different projects.
On their Instagram, they have this program called #12DaysOfSketch. During 12 days leading up to Christmas, and a few days after it they publish a series of posts, featuring giveaways, small downloadable gifts, and even cool graphics. The team had been giving away 45 prints of the limited edition native Mac poster, and also allowed to download custom made wallpapers, movie posters, and a lot more.
I’d say, it’s a very nice campaign. They managed to engage their audience (who doesn’t want gifts after all), and redirected users to go try things in the app itself.
You can download all the cool gifts here.
Gingersauce is a professional online brand book maker, allowing you to create brand books automatically, from a logo.
This project’s holiday campaign consisted of a series of Instagram posts and articles. They have decided to put an emphasis on what will be useful for their audience — and were right. Here are some of the resources I marked for myself:
This blog post lists mistakes graphic designers constantly make, why they shouldn’t, and what they can do to avoid making them. First I was drawn by the title ‘How many sins are you guilty of’. Upon opening, I saw that it was a cool article with memes, and fun stuff. I already ticked my sins, go try too!
Gingersauce has also created downloadable Christmas cards you can share with your close ones. They actually played it off very cool. Since they are always teaching branding, they put it like this: We care about your personal branding, and can’t let you lose your reputation. If you forgot to wish someone Merry Christmas, use our cards. Kinda cool!
Crello is a web tool to create animations and graphics for social and web.
Crello decided to be relatable and created a Bingo game with all things you definitely did during 2020. What can I say, Covid was (and is) a nightmare, yet we’ve never been more similar in our day to day life before.
How many points did you get? My score is 9.
On their blog, Crello also recapped 2020, gathering a lot of interesting facts, such as how brands approached the corona crisis.
Genial.ly is a web-based tool to create presentations, infographics, guides, and many other visuals.
To sum up 2020, on their Instagram page Genial.ly team has posted a funny video featuring people trying to pronounce the name of their project. Fun to watch sets into a light mood and has a deeper meaning. With this video, the brand made sure their audience knew that no matter what they call them (whatever the circumstances) they are still thankful to them by their side.
Desygner is a web-based tool for content creation like social media posts, ads, presentations, business cards, flyers, and more
The team has decided to celebrate the holidays by introducing cute holiday-themed icons available to use inside their app. Since the platform allows to create content for social media, it can be rather useful for people to create their own holiday wishes post.
6. Adobe
Everybody knows what Adobe is, I’m sure. You’re 100% using their solutions, like Photoshop, or Illustrator.
The Adobe team has created a heartwarming video featuring a lot of creator’s works. They recapped how hard 2020 was, and put an emphasis on how creativity prevailed among everything. They ensured that if we keep that creativity flowing, 2021 will become our year.
Rather inspiring I’d say!
The Bottom Line
Holiday activities are a fun, creative, and strategic way to promote positivity and loyalty towards the brands. I hope my little compilation was useful and inspiring. Maybe I missed anything? Make sure to let me know. | https://uxplanet.org/how-design-projects-wish-happy-holidays-compilation-of-christmas-new-years-activities-3275f36d10c5 | [] | 2020-12-26 12:23:10.072000+00:00 | ['Graphic Design', 'Creative Marketing', 'Illustration'] |
How has planning changed my life? | The story behind why I always plan has two reasons.
I’ve learnt it out of my grand father. I would be ahead even if I fail to accomplish the goal.
Photo by Lital Levy on Unsplash
I was never a self disciplined person, but one instance always stuck in my head, that was as a kid I always was weak at math, looking at my class mates I always felt am I incapable of scoring in math or is it lack of planning and interest in it? that’s when I started to plan things and started to finish every work as planned without intricating it. The next test I scored better than I had expected(not a topper of the class though.).
“How has planning changed me as a individual?”
As A individual everyone’s got their own capabilities and interests, I would say that without denying because one individual good at something isn’t good at another. But even having the talent or a skill and not able to utilize is the saying I’ve come across with my friends and I too was one among them before.
But when I came across Elon Musk’s insane work ethic and work schedule I totally switched my thinking. One instance I would like to tell how has planning changed me is, if at all a friend calls me and asks out, the first thing I do is look at phone reminder and then decide, because if at all I sacrifice something for a sheer entertainment sake, I’ll never sleep peacefully that day in fact. As Warren buffet say’s
“A idiot with a plan can easily beat a genius without a plan.”
And this saying definitely comes handy and I myself have experienced it in many ways possible. With all these I’ve stopped overthinking, because once a person sticks to a plan and starts acting accordingly, there’s no one who can stop that person from gaining and achieving something.
“what are the benefits of planning?”
the change I’ve seen in myself over years of planning and doing it is immense.
Change in coherent thinking strong mindset reduced over thinking (in my case yes, this point is valid) active through out the day self discipline over all the satisfaction of doing something.
out of 168 hours, 56 hours of good nights sleep, 50 hours work, considering 10 hours of entertainment totaling to 116 hours, and the left over 50 hours can be feasibly used if a person plans out and starts sticking to it. No one here is actually busy, we’ve been a lazy sloth and prioritize sleep over our passion. | https://medium.com/@ak9734279/how-has-planning-changed-my-life-6de350b42262 | ['Ajay Kashyap'] | 2020-12-15 14:41:43.460000+00:00 | ['Discipline', 'Planning'] |
The Internet Told Me How to Make This Game | Recently, I put up a series of polls on Twitter asking for the public to pick elements of a game I would make up the rules for. Instead of asking for specifics, each poll adds a requirement to the final game without alluding to implementation. The votes are in and the game I will make will:
The primary play surface of the game will be a hexagonal grid
Each player will have four pieces to move
pieces to move There will be an additional special piece: a magic eight ball
The options a player has on their turn will not be random or earned — all turns will have the same options each time for each player
each time for each player I make drinking games; in this game, players will drink based on when and what kinds of mistakes they make
In a turn, players advance by answering trivia questions
Surprise! The twist is that there will be a second board
Finally, you win by gaining control of the board
Immediately, from these, several things are obvious:
First, I will need to balance win-by-control with the fact that each player only has four pieces. I’m going to handle this by including a second item each player can use to indicate control: markers. Like pieces, these will signal on the board that Player A exerts dominance in this space; unlike pieces, they cannot be moved once set down. In addition, to honor the four-piece maximum limit, you can only put a marker down in spots that have a relationship to the pieces.
Second, there is only one element of chance, the eight ball, so I need to make the rules guide players toward multiple strategic options. Chance in games does this for me — some players are more risk averse and some are more risk friendly, differentiating the way I play Trouble from how my husband plays Trouble. Games with less chance, though, need the rules to plant seeds of different methods of play. Chess has no luck, but the rules dictate how each piece moves; I tend to my rooks and my husband to his bishops because the rules allow aspects of our preferred communication and control strategies to flourish.
Third, I will need to choose whether the trivia will need to either directly control action across the hexagonal grid and a second board, or control one board which controls the other. For the former, the first correct trivia question you answer might let you move a piece on the hexagonal board and every question you get right after that lets you ask the 8 ball about changing some element on the second board. For the latter, you might advance pieces on the second board, and reaching point X on that board allows other pieces to move around the hexagonal board.
I’m not quite free to start choosing rules yet, as there are some other practical requirements that come along with this game I need to lay out simply:
This game will need to be playable over Zoom , with more than two players. As this game was posted on Twitter, we got a message about playing online, which sounds super fun! This impacts several things, but most notably the trivia requirement; online players will either need to use questions they have from trivia games they own or look questions up online. Either way, the game must assume trivia will come in diverse formats — open ended, multiple choice, true false, Family Feud lists, categories, etc. I cannot restrict what other players bring to the game the way I can when 100% of the game is in person with me. This is a feature not a bug!
, with more than two players. As this game was posted on Twitter, we got a message about playing online, which sounds super fun! This impacts several things, but most notably the trivia requirement; online players will either need to use questions they have from trivia games they own or look questions up online. Either way, the game must assume trivia will come in diverse formats — open ended, multiple choice, true false, Family Feud lists, categories, etc. I cannot restrict what other players bring to the game the way I can when 100% of the game is in person with me. This is a feature not a bug! This means the game will have perfect information aka no secrets. The physical board will be on our dining room, but we’ll have a camera show the online players what the boards look like and what options they have. One exception: it is feasible to have a mystery envelope component, where each player writes down some relevant information or instruction¹.
aka no secrets. The physical board will be on our dining room, but we’ll have a camera show the online players what the boards look like and what options they have. One exception: it is feasible to have a mystery envelope component, where each player writes down some relevant information or instruction¹. There needs to be some theme related to trans rights 🏳️, as a Twitter user with a locked account requested this game one day possibly be used on a trans sitcom. This means some component of the game will clearly spell out support for trans people.
Let’s Make This Game
I have an established template for how to write instructions for games on my Github repo devoted to Frankenstein games, so I’ll start with roughly that structure.
Setting the Game Up
We know there is one hexagonal board, which I will be taking from Top Gun Strategy Game, the only game I own with a hex grid. I’ll also be taking the markers from the game, which are pairs of hexagons that are the same size of the grid. These come in three colors, green pink and blue, which means this game will be ideally played by three people or three teams.
Now, the second board. Since I anticipate that my hex grid component is going to be difficult and strategy based, I want to balance that with something legible, clean, and unlikely to warp players into undesirable strategies. Basically, we need a game for three year olds. They’re so great! Big pieces, bright colors, clear divisions between what to do and what not to do. Games for preschoolers are, in my cursed opinion, the pinnacle of game design. So we’re going to use one.
The options in our house are:
Candyland (requires 1 piece per player; would cut into the 4 cap)
Hungry Hungry Hippos (cannot be played virtually)
Chutes & Ladders (requires 1 piece; one of the more boring kids games)
Hi Ho Cherry-O (debatable if cherries count as pieces)
Guess Who (cannot easily? at all? be played virtually)
To me, the clear winner is Hi Ho Cherry-O, because it also has three players, has perfect information, is controlled by a six-way spinner which can be easily replicated with a dice for remote players, and does not cut into the four pieces at work on the hexagonal ground.
Our setup now looks like this:
Starting the Game
Hi Ho Cherry-O is pretty easy: we’ll be playing the game basically as-is. The hex grid though, doesn’t give us any clues about how we’ll be working with it. To get clues, we’ll work backwards from Hi Ho Cherry-O.
We know it’s a pretty fast game (add or remove your cherries to or from the basket based on the spinner; first to add all cherries wins that round), so we can tie a high quantity element to winning Hi Ho Cherry-O. I’m picking that every time you win HHCO, you can place a double hex market on the board. I’m also going to choose here that you can only put a marker down on spots occupied by at least one of your pieces.
So how should the pieces start the game? Again, we’ll answer this by defining what the pieces are and letting their given characteristics determine the answer to what they do on the board. Like picking which preschool game to choose, we’ll go through a list of what pieces I have and what they usually mean in games. There is nothing tying old mechanisms to current uses, but it provides connectedness and makes it easier for players of one of my games to adapt to a new game.
Trouble & Sorry: these typically act as pawns with no special abilities and no special consequences
Clue: we use these as blockers; sometimes this means only that you can’t share a space with them, but other times means you cannot pass them or enter the spaces around them
Trivia: pieces from real trivia games usually come with a trivia advantage, such as only having to answer 2 out of 3 correctly or moving through trivia spaces at double speed
Candyland: These have really only dominated Candyland-related games, as I love Candyland so much, but are larger than most pieces, so they might be useful for conveying power or control visually
Chutes & Ladders: outside of C&L, it plays the king in the Loch Chess Monster. Because we don’t use it much, there’s an argument for better defining how this numerically-oriented piece can assert power
Shot glass: You have to drink the shot to move it. It’s not very high brow, but it does fucking work
Since it’s looking more and more like I’m just accidentally reinventing drinking Hex (of John Nash fame), we’ll start with the pieces off the board. Since I’ve identified woah this is getting a little close to a game that already exists, I’m going to choose pieces to use which will push this toward the Chess end of the Chess-Go-Crap-On-A-Grid-Board spectrum.
Specifically, all pieces will start the game off the board. On any turn you get one question right, you may move any piece onto any edge of the board or move any piece on the board to any hex. The chess part of this is that we’ll use four different piece types that control spaces in different ways.
Trouble: each player will have two Trouble pieces, which control their square only. The make up for this by being able to move to any unoccupied hex in the same turn as they are replaced by a marker. All other pieces are returned off the board and must come back out to be in play.
Trouble pieces, which control their square only. The make up for this by being able to move to any unoccupied hex in the same turn as they are replaced by a marker. All other pieces are returned off the board and must come back out to be in play. Trivia: since this is a trivia-driven game, each player will have one trivia piece. The player can declare they would like to move that piece before the start of the turn, and the person giving the trivia must make their trivia method arbitrarily easier for that person for both the HHCO segment and the hex segment.
trivia piece. The player can declare they would like to move that piece before the start of the turn, and the person giving the trivia must make their trivia method arbitrarily easier for that person for both the HHCO segment and the hex segment. Shot glass: Shot glasses are bigger than the hexes themselves, and we’ll use this as a feature not a bug. Each player gets one which must sits on up to three spaces, and controls every hex she wholly or partially occupies. Moving the shot glass, by movement or by replacement with a market requires taking the shot — but not quite! The requirements say the drinking has to be related to a die roll, so we need to add an element of chance here, where you only drink if you roll, say, a 1 or 6, but you don’t move at all if you roll a 2–5.
Our board now looks like this:
Filling in the Rules
Let’s restate everything we know about this game so far:
Each player begins the game with a full HHCO tree, two Trouble pieces, one trivia piece, and one shot glass, all of roughly their color
Since tokens are driven by HHCO wins and once you place a piece the only reason to move it is threat, we know most of the play should happen on HHCO. Therefore, we’ll need to structure turns so some correct trivia answers allow HHCO spins and a smaller proportion allow changes on the hex grid. To maximize “useful” turns, players get to declare their order of HHCO and marker turns . That is, before a turn begins, they say “my first correct answer will go to the board and every correct question after that goes to HHCO” or “my first and third correct answer will be HHCO; every other question I get right lets me move on the board”. This makes sure you are never caught with a full basket and no pieces on the board, but also aren’t forced to make board moves that have no purpose or advantage
. That is, before a turn begins, they say “my first correct answer will go to the board and every correct question after that goes to HHCO” or “my first and third correct answer will be HHCO; every other question I get right lets me move on the board”. This makes sure you are never caught with a full basket and no pieces on the board, but also aren’t forced to make board moves that have no purpose or advantage To win, you need control of the board. This is where I want to introduce the game’s built in trans support: what “control” means. We’re making the flag y’all. The blue team will need to control the top and bottom of the grid, the pink team will need two stripes which touch both sides but neither bottom and do not connect in the middle, and the (green) white team needs a thick stripe through the middle unbroken by pink or blue and not touching the top or bottom. This is nice because it’s a sick visual and also introduces slightly different methods of offense and defense for each color while being mostly² equivalent.
We’ve incorporated every requirement by now except the magic eight ball. I want the board to be somewhat mutable but not constantly in flux, so I’ll add the eight ball as a method for deciding who controls contested spaces. Say you have a marker next to a space partially occupied by my shot glass. If I win HHCO, I can place half my marker in the partially occupied spot and the other half… right where your marker is. Instead of automatically giving up the spot, we’ll send it to chance: get a Most Likely or higher to “Can I take this spot?” and it’s yours — the other player must remove that market entirely.
And that is how you play Eene Meene Hexerei³!
¹ You can cheat here. I don’t cheat at games. I (assume) my husband doesn’t cheat. Most games I play are only with him, so this doesn’t come up much. But, yes, you can cheat here. Don’t. It’s rude. | https://medium.com/@computingwithfeelings/the-internet-told-me-how-to-make-this-game-1e1da1fac2e9 | [] | 2020-12-24 23:37:40.706000+00:00 | ['Twitter', 'Hex', 'Games'] |
RBG and Spiritual Dysphoria — Sarahbeth Caplin | Every now and then, there is an event or a season in which I hearken back to my Jewish roots. It’s not that I shut down my Christian identity, but rather allow a part of me that normally lies dormant to temporarily take the stage.
The High Holy Days in Judaism are one such season. These events — the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement — are the Christian and Easter equivalent for my family in terms of religious importance. They also mark the anniversary of my father’s death (called yahrzeit in Yiddish).
The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg marks another season. For my family, my Jewish friends, and everyone who depended on her judicial work to defend their civil rights, this was one emotionally difficult weekend.
The Reckoning that Never Ends
I found myself reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish for her as I lit a candle. I had long FaceTime conversations with my mom and brother about the potential implications for families like ours, if the Supreme Court were to be stacked with conservative judges bent on turning the Land of the Free into a land of Christian theocracy.
In that time, I couldn’t turn to my usual comforts: the reminder that Christ is still King no matter who is president or on the Court, that Christians are not at home in any political party or place, etc. And I probably would have shut out any voices trying to comfort me in that way, for the time being.
Every now and then, there are moments that I must grieve — or simply respond at all — as a Jew. I can’t adequately explain the emotional tug-of-war that happens inside me…one that’s been happening since 2008, when I officially “gave my heart to Christ,” as I learned to call it. Bible verses like Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” do nothing but confuse me.
I was — am — a Jew first, after all. One does not simply forget the faith that raised them.
Chasing Clarity
Some strands of Christianity place great emphasis on the well-crafted testimony. There is a clear beginning, middle, and end that takes place: the period of being lost, the grappling in the dark, and the final conclusion where Jesus is realized. Suddenly, almost overnight, everything changes. Your path is set, your confusion evaporated.
I tried for years to mold my story to fit that narrative, and quickly realized that it couldn’t be done. Some of us live our testimonies forever.
There are some things I know for certain, and rest comfortably with. I know that Jesus is Lord, that he died for my sins and rose from the dead. I don’t ever really question that.
But does that declaration of faith erase the impressions from the tradition that nurtured me, grew me, and taught me my first baby steps in this world?
Yes. No. I don’t know.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Photo by Mike Labrum via Unsplash
*
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Just an author, blogger, and editor working hard so my cats can have a better life. I don’t respond to “Sarah.” View all posts by Sarahbeth Caplin | https://medium.com/@sbethcaplin/rbg-and-spiritual-dysphoria-sarahbeth-caplin-483e4c7a57ea | ['Sarahbeth Caplin'] | 2020-09-24 18:27:48.369000+00:00 | ['Jewish Heritage', 'Religious Conversion', 'Ruth Bader Ginsburg', 'Christian Living', 'Jewish Community'] |
Why We Should Cut “Doubting Thomas” Some Slack | © 2019 falco. All Rights Reserved. Pixabay
Used by permission.
I have long believed that Thomas got/gets a bad rap. You know to whom I am referring, right? — “Doubting Thomas.”
In case you’re not familiar with the backstory, Thomas was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, sometimes referred to as Didymus. Thomas is the poor sap who, through the uttering one brief statement, redefined his identity for centuries to follow.
Jesus rose from the grave and appeared in his resurrected form to just about everyone except Thomas. Later when Thomas was with the old gang, and they told Thomas, “Hey, we have seen Jesus. He is alive,” Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side I will not believe it” (John 20:25b, NIV-1973).
From that day forward, every sermon, every Bible study, every piece of devotional literature has referred to Thomas not as “Thomas,” but as “Doubting Thomas.” Today, we are going to set that record straight. Thomas was no more a doubter than you, me, or any of the rest of the disciples.
Doubting Disciples
Following the resurrection on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. Mary reported this appearance to the rest of the disciples, but the disciples refused to believe her.
“What?” you ask! “How can this be?”
Yes, I’m sorry to have to say that every one of the disciples was a “Doubting, Disbelieving Disciple.” But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it” (Mark 16:11, ESV). Doubting Matthew. Doubting Barnabus. Doubting Peter. et al.
Now, let’s go one step deeper. Jesus was none too happy about the disciples’ reaction to Mary’s report.
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. — Mark 16:14, ESV
Augh! Those doubting scoundrels!
Investigating Thomas
Scripture never says that Thomas touched the nail prints, or the sword-pierced side of Jesus, though Jesus invited him to do so. What scripture does tell us, however, is that Thomas gave us the first proclamation from human lips that Jesus is God.
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ — John 20:27–28, NIV-1973
Yes, Jesus told Thomas to stop doubting and to believe, but what Jesus did not do was rebuke Thomas for hardness of heart as he did the rest of the disciples.
The Berean Jews will always be considered noble because, unlike the Thessalonians, they examined the scriptures on a daily basis to confirm that what the apostle Paul was telling them was the truth (Acts 17:11). They, like Thomas, did not want to be fooled or deceived. They wanted confirmation. Once Thomas had confirmation, he proclaimed a status for Jesus (My Lord and my God!) that none before him had proclaimed.
Universally Hard Hearts
Beginning with Egypt’s Pharaoh, scripture is replete with references to those who harden their (our) hearts toward Yahweh. Having escaped Pharaoh’s clutches, the children of Israel became hardened toward the God who set them free, whining and moaning and accusing God of bringing them out of slavery only to let them die in the desert.
Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? — Exodus 14:11, ESV
God called it a hardened heart. “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work” (Psalm 95:8–9, NASB).
Jews and Gentiles … disciples and common folks … rulers and common citizens … Christians and non-Christians. Every one of us suffers from ‘sklerokardia’ — hardness of heart.
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. — Hebrews 3:12–13, NASB.
With this directive from Hebrews, I have a double responsibility: 1) guard against my own potentially unbelieving heart, and 2) encourage you day after day so that your heart does not harden in the face of sin’s deceitfulness.
Any one of us could be a hard-hearted doubter — “Doubting Damon.” Soften your heart. Allow God to remove any heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19). Do not be one about whom God says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people” (Romans 10:21b, NIV-1973).
Blessings upon you my friends.
Victoriously in Christ!
- damon
DamonJGray.org
Medium.com
Facebook Author Page
Twitter — @DamonJGray
Bible Gateway Blogger Grid
YouTube Channel | https://medium.com/@damonjgray/why-we-should-cut-doubting-thomas-some-slack-eed3d844bbf4 | ['Damon J. Gray'] | 2019-02-20 15:59:34.104000+00:00 | ['Bible', 'Doubt', 'Hard Heart', 'Christianity', 'Christian Living'] |
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https://amzn.to/2WLW7mf | https://medium.com/@faizan.irha/winter-2020-most-demanding-product-in-america-not-only-but-you-can-say-in-all-over-the-world-239541ff4398 | [] | 2020-12-27 18:36:35.527000+00:00 | ['Winter Clothing', 'Masks', 'Winter', 'Winter Collection', 'Corona Mask'] |
Should We Call Them Top Surgery “Scars?” | I had FTN (female to nonbinary) top surgery two months ago. Time flies when you’re in the middle of a worsening pandemic, recovering from a moderately-to-severely traumatizing election season, wondering what (if anything) American elected officials plan to do about systemic shittyness, and trying to navigate your sophomore year of college on Zoom, right?
As I’ve talked to friends and the Internet about my journey to the big teetus deletus, I’ve begun to feel a bit ashamed of the wording I’ve used to discuss my surgery. I’ve talked about my:
top surgery scars (introducing my new chest lines, Caspian and Eustace — just kidding),
recovery period following the operation (a wild and humbling ride),
whether or not I’m experiencing any regret (I’m not),
and how my nipples went from pepperonis to Neapolitan ice cream. (It’s a funny thing about being mixed race.)
I’m beginning to question the language we’ve set aside for top surgery as it relates to AFABs. I’m jazzed, relieved, comforted, and energized by my top surgery results, yet I’ve grown accustomed to referring to my surgery as if I’ve returned from an active warzone. (Arguably, gender dysphoria is an active warzone, but that’s beside the point.)
The author, seven days pre-op.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m honest without exaggeration when it comes to talking about the struggles of my recovery. To quote Daniel Levy, it “wasn’t the end of the world, but it was also not nothing.” I had trouble comfortably using the bathroom for the first week, couldn’t reach above my head for the first month, couldn’t sleep soundly for the first two weeks (until I finally decided to sleep on my side while holding my chest in place with my hands), couldn’t keep my post-op compression binder on because there was nothing there to hold it up, got tired after standing for more than five minutes for the first month, and generally hated the feeling of not being able to operate at full capacity.
I want to convey the struggles that one can expect when preparing for top surgery, but, now that my recovery is 98% over, I want to focus on celebrating this massive step forward in my journey toward unveiling and loving my most authentic self.
Calling my top surgery lines my “scars” feels like a slap in the face to several people and things: my top surgeon, the boobs that lived there before, and the pecs that are working their way to visibility now. My results are astounding. I have healed well, and I’m confident enough to walk around with my new chest lines on full display, whether that happens in mesh crop tops or in lowcut muscle tees.
I am proud of my results, and I am going to call them that (or my “new chest lines”) instead of calling them my “scars.” The synonyms for scar are blemish, disfigurement, discoloration, defacement, wound, and injury to name a few, and those words just don’t ring true for me and my new chest.
I am going to take steps to honor the chest that has been hand-crafted for my most loving and lovable self.
The author, three weeks post-op.
Changing a heavily used transition word such as “scar” may have other benefits that extend further than my own chest (bad joke intended). Trans-exclusionary individuals are quick to point to gender-affirming surgeries and label them “maiming,” “mutilating,” and/or “disfiguring.” (I’m not linking articles proving these points because we don’t need to bring that energy into a safe space.)
I’m not sure if we are helping our case by using a word that also holds these connotations. Granted, this shouldn’t be an issue that trans and gender non-conforming folks are required to lift a finger to help with, but I can see this linguistic shift making a tiny drop in the inclusion bucket.
Just to be clear, I am by no means declaring that all trans and gender non-conforming individuals who are (or have been) involved in the top surgery process need to make this change. I just like thinking about things that potentially nobody else cares about. I’m a philosophy major for a reason. (They say, only semi-joking.) I just know that I will feel better if I don’t use a word with negative connotations to describe a deeply positive aspect of my body, and that may just be a me-thing, which is cool too.
Oak
December 2020 | https://medium.com/prismnpen/should-we-call-them-top-surgery-scars-da03c14efba2 | [] | 2020-12-09 09:22:16.807000+00:00 | ['Queer', 'Identity', 'Creative Non Fiction', 'LGBTQ', 'Gender'] |
Top Leetcode Array Problems | Leetcode is a primary source to practice for enhancing the problem solving skills. Often the solution that is available is not intuitive enough for a new student to grasp it with clarity. Hence, the steps in this blog are broken down in such a manner that will make students grasp the approach with much more ease. Here, the emphasis is given on various approaches to solve the same problem so that different strategies can be applied to a host of other problems.
[1] Two Sum problem:
Given an array of integers, return the two numbers which add up to a given target. Assume exactly one solution, and the same element may not be used twice.
Problem Explanation: What this really requires us to write a function that determines if there is a pair of numbers in this array that sums up to the given target sum.
We will explain this problem and solution first by using a simple example.
Suppose we have been given [4,6,1, -5,8], and we got the target sum as 9. We want to find if there is a pair of number in this array that sums up to the given target sum.
As you would note that the function should return 8 and 1 which would add up to 9, which is indeed our given target sum.
So, the question here is what is the best approach to attack this problem?
Well, there can be multiple approaches to tackle this problem. We will start wth the most simple one.
1.1 Two For Loops — Not so optimal solution but still good to go
The naïve approach is to have two for loops and travel through the entire array twice to get the target sum.
So how that would work is that we would travel through the array once, while go through each of the numbers individually, and while you are at each of these numbers, travel through the rest of the array to check if you found the sum of the two numbers equal to the given sum.
For instance, we could start at number 4, and travel through each of the remaining numbers [6,1, -5,8] to see if adding 4 to any of the remaining numbers would result in 9. Since, adding none of the number in the array with 4 results in our target sum, 9, we would move to our next number, 6, and travel through all the remaining numbers [1, -5,8] to see if adding 6 to any of the number from this array would result in 9, and keep traversing in the array.
The point here is to note that while doing this may not be a very optimal way from the time standpoint. Since, two for loop is going to result in O(n²) time complexity because traveling two times using two for loop would mean we are traversing n² time from time complexity standpoint. Nevertheless, since, we are not storing any numbers, the space complexity is O(1).
This leads to the second possible solution which is to use a Python dictionary. That will require an extra space, but the algorithm will be much more optimal from time complexity standpoint.
1.2 Using Dictionary or the Hash Table:
In this approach, we can store every number of the array in a dictionary so each number can be accessed in constant time by the virtue of the key-value property of the python dictionary.
We will make this problem simpler by using the same example of array [4,6,1, -5,8]. Creating an empty dictionary or the hash table would initially look like below:
hashtable={ }
Next, we are going to check if the difference of the target sum and the number we are checking from [4,6,1, -5,8] is present in the hash table or not.
Using the previous example, suppose we are first at number 4, the difference between the target sum,9, and the first number of the array, 4, is 5. Since, 5 is not present in the hash table, 4 gets stored in the hash table, which now looks like below:
hashtable={4: True}
We move further in our array, now at number 6, we will check if the difference between the target sum,9, and number 6, which is 3, is present in the hash table or not. Since, the number 3 is not present in our hash table, the number 6 also gets stored in the hash table. Now the hash table looks like below:
hashtable={4: True, 6: True}
Next, we go to 1 and check if the difference between the target sum,9, and given number 1 — which is equal to 8 — is in hash table or not. The hash table contains 4 and 6 so far, and 8, is not present in the hash table. So, we will store 1 also in the hash table.
hashtable={4: True, 6: True, 1: True}
Next, we go to the following number of the given array, -5, and check if the difference between the target sum,9, and given number -5 — which is equal to 14 — is in hash table or not. The hash table contains 4, 6, and 1 so far, and -14, is not present in the hash table. So, we will store -5 also in the hash table.
hashtable={4: True, 6: True, 1: True, -5: True}
Next, we go to we go to the last number of the given array, 8, and check if the difference between the target sum,9, and given number 8 — which is equal to 1 — is in hash table or not. The hash table contains 4, 6, 1 and -5. Since, 1 is present in our hash table, we get the pair of numbers that we have been searching, which is 8 and 1.
We can print 8 and 1, as the required pairs which will give us the given sum 1, and we have found the answer we were looking for. Since we are only traveling through our array only once, the time complexity is O(n). The space complexity is also O(n) as we are storing all the numbers in the hash table.
The python code using the dictionary is given below:
1.3 Two Pointer Solution by using the sorting algorithm
In this method, we will make use of sorting algorithm as sorting requires nlog(n) time-steps so it is much more optimal than O(n²), the approach which was used using two for loops in the first strategy.
First step in this approach is to sort the numbers in the array. We will have two pointers, first a left pointer at the first number of the array and second a right pointer, located at the last number of the array.
We will simplify this problem again by using the prvious example of the array which is [4,6,1, -5,8]. We then sort it to reflect a sorted array which is [-5,1,4,6,8]. We will have our left pointer at -5 and the right pointer at 8. We will check if -5 +8 equals the given sum, 9. The answer is no, since 3 is less than given sum 9, we will move our pointer in the ascending order, that is from left to right.
Now we move to 1, and check if the sum of 1 and 8 is equal to 9, which is indeed the case. This gives us the pair that we care about. We will now print the pairs 1 and 8 as the pairs that would give the required two number sums.
Let us make this problem, a bit more complex. Imagine, if the target sum was 10, and the sum of 1 and 8, is less than 10, we will move the left pointer in the ascending order, now to 4.
The sum of 4 and 8 is 12 which is more than the target sum. So, we will move the right pointer in the descending order, or from right to left. Now the left pointer is at 4 and the right pointer moves to the number 6.We are at the required pair 4 and 6 that will give us the required sum of 10 in this case.
From a spcae complexity standpoint, the last approach uses O(1) as in space as we are not storing any numbers, and hence,the space complexity is better than the hashing solution given in the second approach. In terms of time complexity, we are using O(nlogn) due to sorting, hence, the time complexity is better than the approach which is given in the first solution, which is a bit more expensive as it uses O(n²).
Python code using the two-pointer solution is given below.
[2] Merged Intervals
The problem: Given an array of integers, merge all overlapping intervals, and return an array of the non-overlapping intervals that cover all the intervals in the input.
Problem Explanation: What this really requires us to write a function that will print the merged interval for the given set of numbers in an array if there is an overlap in the interval.
Input: intervals = [[1,3],[2,6],[8,10],[15,18]]
Output: [[1,6],[8,10],[15,18]]
So between [1,3] and [2,6] there is an overlap so the goal is to print the numbers [1,6] which result from the merged intervals between [1,3] and [2,6].
Further, to emphasise the point that the function will keep the array unchanged in case there is no overlap in the intervals — for example the 3rd array, [8,10] and 4th array, [15,18], there is no overlap so the function will keep the array as is.
Hence, the output printed by our function is a 2-dimensional array as shown below:
Output: [[1,6],[8,10],[15,18]]
So how can we determine this programetically?
To simplify this problem, we can simply consider a number line and place these intervals to figure out the tasks.
So we are given this two dimensional array- [[1,3],[2,6],[8,10],[15,18]] and there is clearly an overlap between the 1st and 2nd array but there is no overlap between the 3rd and 4th array. So the required function should be able to print the merged intervals which can be pictured on the number line as shown below.
This suggests that if the array number are sorted, similar to how the numbers are placed in a number line.
This problem becomes very simple, and can be thought to have following three steps algorethmically
a) Sort the arrays in the order of their first number.
a) Check the condition-if the ending number of the first array is bigger than the starting number of the 2nd array- this would mean that there indeed exists an overlapping interval. Otherwise there is no overlapping interval.
Just to illustrate, the ending number of the first array[1,3], which is 3, is bigger than the starting numberof the second array[2,6], which is 2, this would indicate that there exists an overlapping interval. However, as explained before, the number needs to be sorted by the first element of all the arrays, otherwise this condition would fail.
Python code for the same is given below:
[3] Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock
In this problem, we are given an array prices where prices[i] is the price of a given stock on ith day. We want to maximize our profit by choosing a single day to buy one stock and choosing a different day in the future to sell that stock. We need to basically write a function that returns the maximum profit we can achieve from this transaction.
To illustrate the problem, we have the stock price results from the Day-1 to Day-6 as shown below:
Now the profit can be computed by subtracting the buy price from the sale price.
The option below would provide a maximum difference in the two prices but will not result in a maximum profit as we can only sell a stock once we have already bought it.
However, once we have already bought it at the minimum price, 1, we can sell it at the maximum price, which is 6, after we have bought the stock.
We can solve this problem using a Brute Force approach as below, which will use two for loops. | https://medium.com/@vshfrm/leetcode-problems-made-easy-33da15bbfb9c | ['Vishal Srivastava'] | 2021-06-12 01:17:35.061000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Leetcode Medium', 'Python Data Structures', 'Leetcode Easy'] |
Compassion, It’s Root and Transformative Power | with permission from friend
The body, is it safe?
If you grew up in a city you possibly have had the shock of strangers expose themselves. In parks. Or subways. Or alleys.
Discuss. Fear. Anger. Shame. These were the emotions I felt back then. Now, as an adult, I’ve come to understand that society had failed them. But how to explain this? It isn’t a #metoo story, or is it?
Today both the photo above showed up on my Facebook feed. Also today an article crossed my path. Not on Facebook. Serendipitous and liberating. A quote form the article explains my logic more clearly than I could. “Often we respond to oppresive behavior as if it’s located within the individual, rather than it being linked to broader systems. Understanding the social roots … makes us aware that the problem is larger than any individual and that we are all implicated in the structures that cause the problems. This provides us with the ability and responsibility to work toward transforming the roots.”
This is the work that matters. How can we transform our personal ways and start compassionate ripples so our society can evolve to help those in need?
Engaging with the Facebook post was my first attempt to transform my own ways. Why be silent when othering happens. The word weirdo isn’t inclusive. It harms. My silence would have perpetuated. harm.
This confession, this story is my second step and ripple of compassion. I know I’m not alone, that others have found ways to forgive those that have harmed them. Please share your story with the tag: forgivethem. | https://medium.com/illumination/compassion-its-root-and-transformative-power-c589496e43e2 | ['Corina Oana'] | 2020-12-07 06:37:38.343000+00:00 | ['Compassion', 'Transformation', 'Forgivethem'] |
What is Blockchain and Smart Contracts? Brief introduction | All this hype has been rising exponentially, however, most of the people know nothing about how blockchain technology works, what is a smart contract and how it could be used. For this very reason, I decided to give a gentle introduction to blockchain technology.
Blockchain. What is it and how does it work?
Blockchain is a decentralized distributed ledger.
Speaking in a human language — it is a network of computers having an identical copy of the database and changing its state (records) by a common agreement based on pure mathematics.
It means, that there is no need for any central server or agent to trust to. The blockchain is the technological base for all those names like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger.
Bitcoin vs Ethereum
Let’s compare two most popular blockchain networks. Bitcoin has been dominant in the cryptocurrency field for a long time and is not planning to stop.
It was launched with the intention to bypass government regulations and create online payments without the need of intermediary to confirm transactions. Ethereum is another cryptocurrency project, however with much greater possibilities.
Ethereum introduced so-called smart contracts and a way to perform actions by the rules defined in the contract. Simply speaking Bitcoin is a platform for decentralised currency while Ethereum is a platform for decentralised currency and most important — engine for applications which can be run without a need of trusted third party (some central server).
I personally like the analogy of the Ethereum as a global computer to which anyone has access to.
Smart contract
Smart contract — is a piece of code which is stored in the blockchain network (on each participant database). It defines the conditions to which all parties using contract agrees. So if required conditions are met certain actions are executed.
As the smart contract is stored on every computer in the network, they all must execute it and get to the same result. This way users can be sure, that outcome is correct.
Sounds complicated? It’s not.
Let’s simplify everything using an example. As I am familiar with the logistics, I will take a use case from this industry. Let’s say you want to ship a pallet of goods to your friend Bob.
You trust Bob, but you don’t trust trucker Tom, who will carry your pallet. On the other hand, Tom does not trust you as well, maybe you won’t pay him?
Therefore, you have to sign an agreement with Tom that you will pay for the shipment in a few days after delivery. Usually third party is involved in this process, legal papers, contracts are scanned, printed, signed.
Can we simplify the process? Yes! We can do that with the help of smart contracts. We could define those rules in code.
You make a payment for shipment to smart contract on a day of loading. It holds payment till shipment delivery is confirmed by Bob. Then smart contract releases the payment and money is transferred to Tom automatically.
Let’s move a little bit forward. What if we would have a GPS tracker attached to the pallet? Then we simply could eliminate Bob from this process and just release the payment automatically, when the location rule is met.
Conclusion
It was just a short intro to the broad Blockchain and Smart Contracts topic. This technology opens a lot of possibilities for new decentralized businesses and removes the need of expensive third party.
Many new startups are working on this technology, and big enterprises are testing it in closed networks to collaborate with each other directly without the need to intermediary.
Most secure crypto currency hardware wallet is Ledger Nano. It provides hardware security for every user only for €59. Find out more here.
If you want to learn how smart contracts are executed check: This is How Smart Contracts and Ethereum Work. Brief Introduction | https://medium.com/startup-grind/gentle-intro-to-blockchain-and-smart-contracts-part-1-3328afca62ab | ['Lukas K'] | 2019-01-11 18:22:08.408000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain', 'Smart Contracts'] |
The Allman Betts Band LIVE! at the Ocean City Music Pier | By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
Music lovers are ready and waiting outside the Ocean City Music Pier in Ocean City, NJ this Monday, July 8, 2019, for a rare Jersey Shore performance by the Southern rock group, The Allman Betts Band.
As we wait in the Music Pier’s outdoor pavilion overlooking the blue Atlantic, we catch up with three long-time friends who came together tonight to enjoy The Allman Betts Band’s potent mix of original songs and timeless covers.
First, we chat with Martin from Asbury Park, an Allman Betts devotee who is sporting an Allman Brothers’ Eat a Peach for Peace 1993 Summer Tour T-shirt.
When asked if Martin is a long-standing Allman Brothers fan, Martin smiles and exclaims, “I saw The Allman Brothers play 238 times at the Beacon Theater in New York City — which is four and a half more times than even Greg Allman did!”
Explaining, “I was one of the house managers at the Beacon Theater where The Allman Brothers performed for 238 shows,” Martin notes, “Greg did 233 of the shows, but then he had to leave after the break of his 234th show.”
Adding, “Not only was I was there for all of the shows at the Beacon, but I also saw the group perform at other venues,” Martin recalls, “I can remember sneaking out from my parents’ house in New Jersey and taking the bus to New York City to see The Allman Brothers Band — that was the first concert I ever went to.”
When asked why he and his friends are here tonight to see The Allman Betts Band, Martin declares, “This band is great! I’m proud to see what they’re doing with their music,” before acknowledging, “I guess you could call it a ‘proud papa’ kind of thing.”
Says Martin’s friend, Charlie from Red Bank, “I started listening to The Allman Brothers Band way back in 1970. They were musically superior to most other bands. Their ability to jam was different — it was sophisticated. Even back then, you recognized that what they were doing was something special — it was sort of like what Miles Davis was doing in jazz, yet it was in the genre of Southern Rock.”
Recalling, “I saw The Allman Brothers many times,” Charlie acknowledges, “Once, in the summer of 1971 in Central Park, I even got to see Duane Allman perform.”
Explaining, “I was really far back, but it was cool getting to watch him play,” Martin reveals, “And it wasn’t the way people think — where they picture Duane Allman just standing there playing his instrument; he was very animated playing his guitar, and I even remember him holding it up and down vertically as he performed,” before noting, “And since then, I’ve become a collector of Allman Brothers’ memorabilia. In fact, today, I own the actual cotton shirt that Duane wore the night of that show.”
When asked to express his thoughts on the stars of tonight’s show, The Allman Betts Band, Charlie asserts, “The Allman Betts Band is a generational continuation of the music we all want to hear. In addition to performing their own material, they also do a genuine tribute to The Allman Brothers. It’s not in any way an exploitation — it’s in the spirit of authenticity, and it comes across as carrying the torch. There’s a sincerity to what they do, where it’s all about the musicianship and the music,” before concluding, “It’s a nice extension of the music we love that we never thought we’d ever have.”
Lastly, we chat with Robert from Ridgewood, who agrees with Charlie adding, “It’s really great that we can all come together to see The Allman Betts Band,” acknowledging, “I’ve been following the group since Greg Allman’s son, Devon Allman, started doing his Devon Allman Project concerts with Duane Betts, the son of Dickey Betts.”
“As individual artists, Devon Allman and Duane Betts are really good musicians,” continues Robert,” and now along with Berry Oakley’s son, Berry Oakley, Jr., The Allman Betts Band does a great job playing their own material, but they also do some great Allman Brothers’ covers, too,” before concluding, “It’s really neat how they’ve been able to blaze a trail for themselves doing their own music while, at the same time, paying tribute to the music of their fathers.”
Inside the historic Ocean City Pier auditorium, the lights dim and tonight’s opening act, British blues musician Jack Broadbent, takes his place on the stage.
Opening with “On the Road Again,” Broadbent holds his electric guitar on his lap and slides up and down on the instruments’ neck with a metal flask. Keeping a bluesy rock beat with his powerful strumming, Broadbent wails, “Well, I’m so tired of crying but I’m out on the road again.”
The packed house claps along with Broadbent’s soulful bluesy groove on “Making My Way,” and heads bop in the audience to the driving and then bluesy feel of “She Said,” a song which features Broadbent’s soulful voice and conventional guitar playing talents. | https://medium.com/spotlight-central/the-allman-betts-band-live-at-the-ocean-city-music-pier-d85f36c6e634 | ['Spotlight Central'] | 2019-07-22 11:52:27.624000+00:00 | ['Concerts', 'New Jersey', 'Music', 'Southern Rock', 'Rock'] |
Autocrats’ 12-step Playbook: Poland-Kaczynski, Hungary-Orban, Turkey-Erdogan | There’s a great speech “Defending Liberal Democracy from the Slide Toward Authoritarianism” from 3 years ago that professor Larry Diamond of Stanford & the Hoover Institution gave at the 2017 European Democracy Conference in Bratislava, November 21, 2017.
Worth reading to understand the Autocrats’ modus operandi.
In a nutshell / TLDR version: | https://medium.com/@kowalskr/autocrats-12-step-playbook-poland-kaczynski-hungary-orban-turkey-erdogan-6a672da1788d | [] | 2020-12-19 13:36:31.886000+00:00 | ['Hungary', 'Authoritarian', 'Poland', 'Democracy', 'Turkey'] |
How I Met an Ethiopian Prince | I received a message from someone who was not my ‘friend’ on Facebook. I checked the message with a bit of reluctance because I had been getting a lot of messages from Nigerian princes who were eager to give their inheritance away. The message was sent by a man named “Beidemariam” from Ethiopia. I initially thought it was yet another scam, but I quickly recognized the name; Beidemariam was the very first child I sponsored through Compassion International.
When I was an undergrad, I learned about poverty stricken places around the world: Kampung in Indonesia, Kowloon walled city in Hong Kong, Favelas in Brazil, slums in India, Skid Row in L.A., etc. I got increasingly uncomfortable that I was not doing anything about it, and I had to do something.
Compassion International runs child sponsorship programs where the donor and the sponsored child exchange letters in addition to providing food, water, education, and vocational training. The organization has been maintaining good ratings from independent charity watchers, and I love that Compassion partners up with local Christian churches.
I thought sponsoring a kid via Compassion was a good initial step to take. When I signed up for the program, I got connected to Beidemariam. He was in his mid-teens, and he had been waiting for a sponsor for a very long time. (I was told that it is much harder for teenage boys to find sponsors). We would exchange letters back and forth, and I enjoyed getting letters and photos from him. We last wrote to each other when he graduated from the program a few years ago. We said goodbye, and I thought I would never hear back from him. Snail mails through Compassion was the only way I could contact him, and I did not know how else I could contact him.
Since our last exchange, I graduated, got married, and moved to Korea.
Then, this message popped up in my Facebook messenger.
“Hi My Brother Hong yoon kim….I have no word to express about u….u’re support make me Ivery strong……Thank u very much ….Good Bless u …..Thank u Thank u Thank u million times”
I was totally shocked and dumbfounded; I was glued to my phone for the next hour trying to catch up with what he had been upto. I found out he has been chugging along major milestones of his life as well. He graduated, got a job, and had a beautiful daughter. I felt privileged to be welcomed into his life again. Judging by how he is thriving as a father, I assume he would have been just fine without my help. Nevertheless, I am thankful that I was able to give a tiny little push to get him over the financial hump. Reconnecting with Beidemariam will go down as one of greatest pleasant surprises of my life, and I very much look forward to being a better friend with him.
Since Beidemariam, the number of kids I sponsor steadily grew over the years; my wife and I now support 11 kids via Compassion. Carol Ryrie Brink once famously wrote “The most truly generous persons are those who give silently without hope of praise or reward.” I wrote about Beidemariam because I am not a truly generous person. To whomever reading this, I demand your praise, adoration, and flattery!
But I do know there are truly generous people out there, and I hope my experience will nudge everyone to consider giving. You never know how big of an impact you can make.
P.S. — Special shout out to my friends working at Facebook for making this a reality. | https://medium.com/@acuriouscanofwarmth/how-i-met-an-ethiopian-prince-de87f55322f4 | ['A Curious Can Of Warmth'] | 2020-12-25 06:14:55.619000+00:00 | ['Compassion', 'Charity'] |
Top 5 Italian sofa brands in the USA | If there’s something Italians are famous for, is their desire for comfiness: explore the top 5 Italian sofa brands in the USA!
There are indeed many things Italy is famous for: of course, the first that comes to mind is food. You know how Italians care about having a well-balanced, full-course meal: appetizers, pasta dish, main course, and so on. Now, if you’re familiar with the feeling of having a full belly, you also know the cherry on top is sitting on a soft, firm, comfy sofa. Possibly because nothing else feels so amazing, Italians have spent decades perfecting the art of manufacturing the comfiest sofas, designed with traditional Italian quality in mind. So, there you go: if you’re looking for suggestions, here are the top 5 Italian sofa brands in the USA!
DOUBLE Outdoor sofa by Roda
ARFLEX
Arflex has been around for years, and in fact, the modular sofa Strips has been designed during the 70s: it’s characterized by the laid-back and chilled spirit of that magical decade. Arflex was established in 1947 in Milan by a group of four Italians who, up until then, had been working for Pirelli. And in fact, the name Arflex is a reference to their goal of creating fashionable but comfortable and flexible furniture. Could you expect any more desire for flexibility by four people who so far had been working for top-quality tyre manufacturers? It’s not by chance that their first creations, besides being characterized by an aerodynamic shape, were also quite specifically car seats.
All the dynamism and flexibility you need. STRIPES Sofa by Arlex
DOIMO SALOTTI
Doimo Salotti has more that five decades of experience in the design and manufacturing of fine upholstery sofas. The company has always managed to be successful and create designs that could meet the needs and tastes of clients all over the world. Their designs can be extremely essential, but can also recall some of the greatest sofa models ever created, like the traditional Chesterfield sofa Byron, named after the famous English poet.
BYRON Sofa by Doimo Salotti. Italian class and quality
FRIGERIO
Frigerio is a family business that was established in Meda, a small town in Northern Italy, and it specializes in luxury upholstery products. The Frigerio Salotti brand places a large importance on innovation, artisan handcrafted production methods and the finest materials. Even though the superb quality and the handcrafting techniques are undeniably Italian, inspiration really comes from all over the globe. The Kimono sofa is a good example. This design was inspired by the zen peace and tranquillity that we so often connect with the Japanese natural world: a soft retreat and shelter from the outside world. The upholstery of this sofa should preferably be in beige or soft, warm, earthy use, in order to highlight the feeling of peace and relaxation.
KIMONO Sofa by Frigerio
BAXTER
An incredible, stunning mixture of classic and contemporary is one of the keys to the success of Baxter. Of course, it is not the only one, but it is probably the most noticeable and remarkable characteristic, at least in the eyes of someone who is discovering Baxter for the first time in their life. Baxter’s love for craftsmanship can be found in the way their artisans work the brand’s main material: leather. The search from leather starts in the mountains of northern Europe, and then, it goes all the way back to the Italian Brianza area, where the leather that has been collected is treated and worked to perfection by skilled craftsmen and artisans who employ techniques their family-run businesses have been employing for centuries. In their hands, leather becomes a magical material, capable of being shaped into a thousand different styles, decorated with an almost endless range of colors.
TAIPEI Sofa by Baxter.
MOLTENI&C
It was 1934 when Angelo Molteni opened his own carpentry workshop in Brianza: a debut as a small local reality, something in common with many other companies in the furniture industry, which over time has become a consolidated international brand, a point of reference in the world of designers and manufacturers. It is clear we are talking about a story of perseverance, hard work and passion. They say that in order to look towards the future, one must always keep in mind his own past, and Molteni&C made this his motto: Italian traditions and values are the most precious treasure, and also the key to international success. it as a springboard to establish, first in Italy and then abroad, his high-level profile. Starting from traditional craftsmanship techniques, soon the company soon got to identify its own personal road to success in technological progress and in the quality of its design and raw materials.
LUCAS Sofa by Molteni &C. A traditional touch to your living room | https://medium.com/@eurooolink/top-5-italian-sofa-brands-in-the-usa-15bc01e458d0 | ['Eurooo Luxury Furniture'] | 2019-06-17 09:18:12.617000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Interior Design', 'Furniture', 'Home Decor', 'Luxury'] |
The Dilemma of the Nigerian Electricity Sector: A simple solution. | Paying bills is not as easy as it sounds –
The elements weren’t feeling particularly generous that afternoon; it was beyond hot and the back of my neck got the heavy hand of the sweltering weather. I kept my head down as I hurriedly moved towards the IKDC dealer down the street from my house. Strangely, I felt like I needed more speed added to my already sprint-like pace.
On arrival, I was greeted by a wrinkled forehead mixed with a toothy smile on the face of the attendant. I smiled back in response as a cold wave from the airconditioned room rescued me from the prevailing heat as I made my way into the shop.
“oga, wetin you come do?” I smiled at his question but deep inside me I wore a terrible frown that would have made a playful child suddenly burst into tears. But almost immediately, my spirit came into reconciliation with my outward smile as I thought to myself, this man’s question is valid.
This morning, I realized I had used up the worth of N3,000 unit of electricity. How? Well, in the past one month, I had between 15 hours to 20 hours steady supply of electricity daily- the same amount I spend in 4 months before now.
I’d most likely continue this spending pattern except I regulate it by controlling my use of electricity remotely, in the case of low funds.
Now, what if, we are all metered?
Would we not likely visit the Electricity dealer often?
Would the issues of broken-down transformers, poles and faulty electrical lines be attended to almost immediately?
Would distribution companies risk losing money due to faulty connections and unavailability of electricity to customers?
People say the problems of Nigeria are too complex and it requires an extraordinary intervention which is either too costly, requires foreign intervention or is “out of the black man’s intellectual capacity”. In the end, we tend to pass on the responsibility to the unknown and seek refuge in the claim that only a divine intervention can take us to the ‘promise land’ — But what would you say is complex about the push of a red button that can start a nuclear war?
Many of the solutions to the huge problems can come about by simple actions that produce a ripple effect. A simple turn of a car key starts a 1,350 horse power engine moving at about 440km/hr. If we have established that a lot of ‘huge’ problems require simple and effective events as solution, then we will begin to see that, perhaps our issues remain problematic because we simply lack the will to effectively interrogate them.
Let’s take a look at the Nigerian Electricity sector, whether it requires a simple or complex solution.
The Journey of power generation in Nigeria dates back to 1886 when two (2) generating sets were installed to serve the then Colony of Lagos. By an Act of Parliament in 1951, the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) was established, and in 1962, the Niger Dams Authority (NDA) was also established for the development of hydroelectric power. A merger of the two (2) organizations in 1972 resulted in the formation of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).[1]
Prior to 2005, NEPA was in charge of generation, transmission and distribution of electric power in Nigeria with a generating capacity of about 6,200Mega Watt from 2 Hydro and 4 Thermal Power Plants for a population of 138.9m people as at 2005.[2]
The Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act was signed into law in March 2005, enabling private companies to participate in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. The government unbundled PHCN into eleven electricity distribution companies (DisCos), six generating companies (GenCos), and a transmission company (TCN). The Act also created the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) as an independent regulator for the sector. At present, the Federal Government has fully divested its interest in the six GenCos while 60% of its shares in the eleven (11) DisCos have been sold to the private operators. However, the Transmission Company still remains under government.[3]
The Problem
Nigeria’s installed electricity capacity is 12,522Mega Watt, well below the current demand of 98,000Mega Watt. The actual output is about 3,800Mega Watt, resulting in a demand shortfall of 94,500Mega Watt throughout the country. As a result of this wide gap between demand and output, only 45% of Nigeria’s population has access to electricity. [4]
It has been established that there is a constant demand for electricity as residential, commercial and industrial operations depend on its availability but only between %3.9 — %5.33 of the demand for electricity is met. Besides curtailing domestic business activities, the poor state of electricity in Nigeria deters foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the country, as investors are weary of high electricity costs and massive shortages.
As at March 14, 2015, a peak power generation of about 4,822 Mega Watt for distribution, but according to The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatude Fashola, the current problem is not power generation, its more of distribution since electricity is not stored. Fashola insisted that 7,500MW of power can be generated. In August 3, 2018, Fashola claimed that generation and transmission has reached 7,000MW, while distribution is at a National high of 5,222MW. (www.vanguardngr.com)
With the current statistics on power generation, transmission and distribution, we can evidently say that distribution of electricity is at %74.6 with the generation and transmission at maximum.
(No, that’s too serious, I need to ease the tension from the read so far, smiles)
Ok, lets talk about two key words here, DEMAND and SUPPLY (disregard the “and” it doesn’t count, does it?)
The Solution
It is a global phenomenon that whenever there is a demand for goods and services, a supply space is always created, a void that needs to be filled up. Every successful business enterprise has always filled the void left by demand, whether publicly evident or hidden — In fact most times, the void left by demand is hidden and that’s why we are not all business owners because not all see these opportunities to supply the demand for a specific product or service.
One can argue that the demand for electricity cannot be 100%, but since we have had up to 74.6% distribution of electricity, it’s safe to pick that as the demand indicator. So, we say that the demand for electricity in Nigeria stands above 74.6% and not bellow it, which is 73,108 Mega Watt of electricity for an ever-increasing population of 210m Nigerians (new population figures by UN)
Now how do we supply 73,108 Mega Watt demand?
Let’s all get into character, be it Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Travis Kalanick…I choose Aliko Dangote, no offense, I have a condition called ‘naija bias’
I propose a prepaid/postpaid metering system for every Nigerian… Simple right? And of course, it’s common knowledge, but don’t be disappointed yet, let’s dive into details.
A metered community will create a visible digital blueprint of the demand and supply data which would in turn affect the power sector analysis and reforms.
Unequivocally, metering the Nigeria population will increase quantity and quality of service delivery with more responsibility placed on service providers with a ripple effect on the Transmission and Generating companies. Increased demand has been seen to lower cost for customers and increased profit margin for producers, same as the communications industry in Nigeria. Apart from the fact that initial high tariffs were as a result of the Investment cost recovery, mobile communication is now cheaper because of the increased number of subscribers — My uncle bought his first SIM card for N34,000.
Wouldn’t the DisCos put pressure on Generating companies to generate more power? Wouldn’t GenCos be looking for innovative ways to generate more electricity? If for nothing but for the huge demand available and the huge profits to be made.
You… yes you. Thinking of how such a simple thing can affect a large industry like this? That is a valid question, and if you don’t agree with me, just think about it… what’s there to lose? Prepaid meters are not liabilities and there is no harm trying a simple solution like this when other big and complex solutions have failed in the past.
And if as an industrial expert or stakeholder, you’re thinking, “this guy doesn’t know what he is saying…things are not that simple”
Well, I am here to tell you that you are right but might be suffering from a bias: blind spot, ambiguity effect, the ostrich effect and the irrational escalation/escalation of commitment, basically all or either of the aforementioned.
Don’t continue to rationalize a previous decision and action by repeating it… (see what you made me do, you made me go all professional on you, when I was super friendly before…Smiles)
Prepaid meters are already in effect; we just need the whole of Nigeria to be metered.
We can now get prepaid meters by paying for it ourselves.
Let’s create the digital blueprint of our demand.
Go get your prepaid meter today.
[1] (https://www.nercng.org/index.php/home/nesi/403generation)
[2] (World Bank, United States census bureau)
[3] ownership (https://www.nercng.org)
[4] (Wednesday, September 26, 2018 / 08:47 AM / FDC Research) | https://medium.com/@eniolaprice/the-dilemma-of-the-nigerian-electricity-sector-a-simple-solution-4ab6de5e1b32 | ['Eniola Price'] | 2019-09-02 12:00:42.847000+00:00 | ['Electricity', 'Maps', 'Power Sector', 'Nigeria', 'Prepaid Meter'] |
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